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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 27 June 2024

Rajan Varadarajan

This paper aims to provide insights into the potential of digital technologies-based innovations for more inclusive healthcare by alleviating the affordability, accessibility and…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide insights into the potential of digital technologies-based innovations for more inclusive healthcare by alleviating the affordability, accessibility and availability barriers to utilization of healthcare services. Also, it aims to provide insights into the potential of digital technologies-based innovations for more inclusive services, broadly.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual framework is inductively developed by analyzing real-world examples of digital technologies-based innovations for more inclusive healthcare through the lenses of economics of information in digital form and certain characteristics of services.

Findings

Concurrent implementation of digital technologies-based healthcare innovations with innovations and/or modifications in service processes can enable greater inclusivity by alleviating the affordability, accessibility and availability barriers to utilization of healthcare services.

Research limitations/implications

Issues relating to inequities in healthcare, as a social problem, are the focus of research at multiple levels (e.g. global, national, regional and local) in several academic disciplines. In relation to the scope of the problems and challenges pertaining to providing quality healthcare to the unserved and underserved segments of society, worldwide, the contribution of the proposed framework to practice is modest. However, by highlighting the promise and potential of digital technologies-based innovations as solutions for alleviating barriers to affordability, accessibility and availability of healthcare services during various stages (prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and post-treatment follow-up) with illustrative vignettes and developing a framework, the article offers insights for future research. For instance, in reference to mission-driven social enterprises that operate in the product-market space for inclusive innovations under resource constraints, a resourcefulness-based view of the social enterprise constitutes a potential avenue for theory development and research.

Practical implications

Given the conceptual nature of the article, the implications for practice are limited to cognitive implications. Action implications (instrumental implications or implications for practice) are outside of the scope of the article.

Social implications

Innovations that are economically viable, environmentally sustainable and socially impactful is one of the important issues of our times.

Originality/value

The proposed framework provides insights into the potential of digital technologies-based innovations for more inclusive healthcare by alleviating the affordability, accessibility and availability barriers in the context of emerging and less developed country markets and base of the pyramid segments of society in these markets.

Article
Publication date: 20 June 2024

Eugene Evsikov, Velina Hristova, Ivo Vlaev and Sonya Karabeliova

The aim of this study is to utilise the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to identify the main barriers and facilitators of positive attitude towards trying Virtual Active…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to utilise the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to identify the main barriers and facilitators of positive attitude towards trying Virtual Active Sports (VAS).

Design/methodology/approach

200 individuals took part in an online cross-sectional survey based on 11 domains within the TDF. Linear logistic regression analysis was performed on the participant’s self-reported attitudes and believes. Based on the results from the regression analyses, a list of suggested behaviour change techniques was designed using the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) framework and the BCT taxonomy (BCTTv1).

Findings

This research suggested that Beliefs about Consequences, Beliefs about Capabilities, Goal Conflict, Coping Planning, and Environmental Context and Resources are the main factors, influencing the positive attitude towards VAS and the self-reported desire to try it in the future. Future interventions were recommended and supported by 22 possible BCTs identified using the BCW approach. The TDF and BCW proved to be useful models for identifying both internal and external factors influencing fitness fans during the adoption of the new sportstech.

Originality/value

The main contribution of the present work was the implementation of a structured and effective approach derived from the healthcare domain to design solutions for behaviour change in the emerging and expanding virtual sports context.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 25 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 19 January 2024

Roosa Amanda Lambin and Milla Nyyssölä

Mainland Tanzania has seen two decades of significant social policy reforms and transformations in its social and economic structures, whilst the country continues to grapple with…

850

Abstract

Purpose

Mainland Tanzania has seen two decades of significant social policy reforms and transformations in its social and economic structures, whilst the country continues to grapple with persisting gender inequalities. This article examines Tanzania's social policy developments from a gender perspective. The authors analyse the level, reach and quality of social policy delivery to working-age women across the areas of health policy, social protection and employment policy during 2000–2021.

Design/methodology/approach

The article draws on qualitative research deploying the scoping review method. The data consist of diverse secondary materials, including academic publications, government policy documents, relevant statistics and other types of “grey” literature.

Findings

Tanzania has made significant advancements in the legal frameworks around welfare provision and has instituted increasingly gender-responsive government policy plans. The health and social protection sectors, in particular, have witnessed the introduction of large-scale measures expanding social policy implementation. However, social policy delivery remains two-tiered, with differences in provisions for women in the formal and informal sectors.

Originality/value

Social policy delivery and implementation have increased and diversified in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) during the new millennium, with a growing integration of gender-specific policy objectives. However, limited social policy scholarship has focused on the gendered effects of broader social policy models in SSA. The article remedies the concomitant knowledge gaps by examining various social policies and their impacts on working-age women in Mainland Tanzania. The authors also engage with the theoretical welfare regime literature and present an analytical framework for gender-sensitive assessment of emerging social policy models in the Global South.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 44 no. 13/14
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 February 2024

Vicente Peñarroja

Previous research has focused on the outcomes of telework, investigating the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking for employees. However, these investigations do not…

1114

Abstract

Purpose

Previous research has focused on the outcomes of telework, investigating the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking for employees. However, these investigations do not examine whether there are differences between teleworkers when evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking. The aim of this study is to identify of distinct classes of teleworkers based on the advantages and disadvantages that teleworking has for them.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used secondary survey data collected by the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE). A sample of 842 people was used for this study. To identify the distinct classes of teleworkers, their perceived advantages and disadvantages of teleworking were analyzed using latent class analysis.

Findings

Three different classes of teleworkers were distinguished. Furthermore, sociodemographic covariates were incorporated into the latent class model, revealing that the composition of the classes varied in terms of education level, household income, and the amount of time spent on teleworking per week. This study also examined the influence of these emergent classes on employees’ experience of teleworking.

Originality/value

This study contributes to previous research investigating if telework is advantageous or disadvantageous for teleworkers, acknowledging that teleworkers are not identical and may respond differently to teleworking.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 45 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 September 2024

Chloe Devereux, Sophie Yohani, Melissa Tremblay and Joud Nour Eddin

Since March 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted refugees by compounding preexisting and systemic health, social and economic inequities. In Canada…

Abstract

Purpose

Since March 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted refugees by compounding preexisting and systemic health, social and economic inequities. In Canada, approximately 50,000 Syrian refugees arrived between 2015 and 2020 and were in the process of rebuilding their lives when the pandemic started. This study aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for Syrian refugees in Canada and identify supports needed.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on frameworks for refugee psychosocial adaptation and social integration and a qualitative descriptive design, the study used thematic analysis to examine semi-structured interviews with 10 Syrians.

Findings

Findings indicated four themes that provide a snapshot of impacts relatively early in the pandemic: facing ongoing development, inequity and insecurity during integration; disruption of settlement, integration and adaptation due to the pandemic; ongoing adaptation and resilience during integration in Canada; and ongoing needs and solutions for integration and adaptation.

Originality/value

This study builds upon growing research concerning Syrian refugees and psychosocial adaptation, particularly during the pandemic. The findings highlight the impacts of the pandemic on a population already facing inequities in a resettlement country. While the findings emphasize the resilience of the Syrian refugee community, the study also demonstrates the need for ongoing supports and justice-oriented action to fulfill resettlement commitments, especially in the face of additional stressors like the COVID-19 pandemic. Implications for policy, practice and future research are discussed.

Details

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-9894

Keywords

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