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1 – 10 of 32Lucas Olmedo, Mary O. Shaughnessy and Paul Holloway
This study aims to conduct a geographical analysis of the distribution and type of activities developed by social enterprises in rural and urban areas of Ireland.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to conduct a geographical analysis of the distribution and type of activities developed by social enterprises in rural and urban areas of Ireland.
Design/methodology/approach
The study analyses data of more than 4,000 social enterprises against a six-tier rural/urban typology, using descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests to test six hypotheses.
Findings
The study shows a geographical rural–urban pattern in the distribution of social enterprises in Ireland, with a positive association between the remoteness of an area and the ratio of social enterprises, and a lack of capital-city effect related to the density of social enterprises. The analysis also shows a statistically significant geographical rural–urban pattern for the types of activities developed by social enterprises. The authors observe a positive association between the remoteness of the areas and the presence of social enterprises operating in the community and local development sector whereas the association is not significant for social enterprises developing welfare services.
Research limitations/implications
The paper shows the potential of using recently developed rural–urban typologies and tools such as geographical information systems for conducting geographical research on social enterprises. The findings also have implications for informing spatially sensitive policymaking on social enterprises.
Originality/value
The merging of a large national data set of social enterprises with geographical tools and data at subregional level contributes to the methodological advancement of the field of social enterprises, providing tools and frameworks for a nuanced and spatially sensitive analysis of these organisations.
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Using the theoretical framework of the substantive economy, this study aims to point out the main aspects of the substantive mode of operation that help the integration of…
Abstract
Purpose
Using the theoretical framework of the substantive economy, this study aims to point out the main aspects of the substantive mode of operation that help the integration of disadvantaged people while at the same time shedding light on the barriers that hinder economically efficient functioning in a market economy.
Design/methodology/approach
Research focuses on Hungarian rural work integration social cooperatives, which are engaged in producing activity by the employment of disadvantaged people. In the research, mixed methods were applied: results of a questionnaire survey covering 102 cooperatives, as well as 20 semi-structured interviews and experiences from the field. A total of 17 indicators were used to explore the substantive operational features, promoting mechanisms and problems in the following areas: organisational goals and outcomes; integrating roles and functions; productive functions; and the embeddedness of cooperatives.
Findings
As for results, substantive operational mechanisms and tools that support the integration of disadvantaged people have been identified such as mentoring, social incentives, the ability to create local value or the expansion of local community services. At the same time, several barriers have been detected that make it difficult to operate economically, such as cooperatives being a stepping stone for workers, excessive product heterogeneity or the lack of vertically structured bridging relationships.
Originality/value
The value of the study is to counterpoint the mechanisms promoting social purposes of work-integration social cooperatives and the obstacles to their long-term sustainability within the framework of the substantive economy, to better understand their functioning and the less quantifiable factors of their performance.
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Political Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), based on ideas about deliberative democracy, have been criticised for increasing corporate power and democratic deficits. Yet…
Abstract
Purpose
Political Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), based on ideas about deliberative democracy, have been criticised for increasing corporate power and democratic deficits. Yet, deliberative ideals are flourishing in the corporate world in the form of dialogues with a broad set of stakeholders and engagement in wider societal issues. Extractive industry areas, with extensive corporate interventions in weak regulatory environments, are particularly vulnerable to asymmetrical power relations when businesses engage with society. This paper aims to illustrate in what way deliberative CSR practices in such contexts risk enhancing corporate power at the expense of community interests.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a retrospective qualitative study of a Canadian oil company, operating in an Albanian oilfield between 2009 and 2016. Through a study of three different deliberative CSR practices – market-based land acquisition, a grievance redress mechanism and dialogue groups – it highlights how these practices in various ways enforced corporate interests and prevented further community mobilisation.
Findings
By applying Laclau and Mouffe’s theory of hegemony, the analysis highlights how deliberative CSR activities isolated and silenced community demands, moved some community members into the corporate alliance and prevented alternative visions of the area to be articulated. In particular, the close connection between deliberative practices and monetary compensation flows is underlined in this dynamic.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to critical scholarship on political CSR by highlighting in what way deliberative practices, linked to monetary compensation schemes, enforce corporate hegemony by moving community members over to the corporate alliance.
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Aryaning Arya Kresna, Pamerdi Giri Wiloso, Wilson Therik and Willi Toisuta
The paper aims is to see why social conflict caused by class segregation did not occur in Gading Serpong? What factors prevent conflict from occurring? This research seeks to find…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims is to see why social conflict caused by class segregation did not occur in Gading Serpong? What factors prevent conflict from occurring? This research seeks to find the causes of the nonoccurrence of social conflict due to class segregation in the Gading Serpong cluster area and explore the factors that restrain conflict there.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is qualitative research with data collection techniques through in-depth interviews with several parties identified as brokerages in the research object area. In this context, one of the media and analytical tools is to recognize agents or brokers who connect two groups of people. Brokerage occurs in sectors, patterns or forms of informal, personal relationships; to understand it, one must pay close attention to micro-level relationships and social psychological processes. However, brokerage can have a significant impact on macro-level social relations, as it is generally associated with social integration processes.
Findings
The lack of involvement of developers in overcoming social conflicts that occur between Gading Serpong natives and migrants in Gading Serpong housing has given rise to new actors. These new actors are what we can call brokers, where they have a role as brokers who are able to connect between migrants and natives in the Gading Serpong area. The broker phenomenon is actually familiar in academia, where in practice the broker acts as someone who is able to find solutions to problems. The broker is the reason even social segregation is created between migrant citizens and native citizens in Gading Serpong but never becomes a conflict between them.
Research limitations/implications
Even if the brokerage phenomenon is the reason why there is no conflict over social segregation brokerage is not the only factor in this nonconflict segregation. Therefore, to cover the larger area of these suburban segregation problems, there must be further research on this topic.
Practical implications
The practical implication of this research is to encourage the housing developers that create urban housing, such as clusters or other gated communities, to evaluate the social factors, such as potential segregation and conflict management. Also to encourage the developers to get involved and create some social engineering systems, like brokerage, market and other social agents, to create some nonconflict segregation or even more inclusive communities.
Originality/value
This research is uncovering the main reason why social segregation between migrant and native people in Gading Serpong, which could potentially lead to conflict, is never a conflict. The main reason is social actors like brokerage.
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Patricia Yocie Hierofani and Micheline van Riemsdijk
As populations are ageing and the global average life expectancy is rising, the provision of care for older people is an increasingly salient issue. This paper aims to focus on…
Abstract
Purpose
As populations are ageing and the global average life expectancy is rising, the provision of care for older people is an increasingly salient issue. This paper aims to focus on family-provided care for older immigrants, examining how older immigrants and care providers experience and construct family caregiving.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on interviews with care recipients, family care providers, municipal staff and representatives for migrant organisations in Sweden, this study presents a typology of family caregiving for older immigrants.
Findings
The authors found three caregiving types, namely, solely family-provided care and a combination of family care and public care (predominantly one or the other). The decision to select family-provided or publicly-funded care depends on personal and institutional factors.
Originality/value
The paper makes three empirical contributions to the literature on care provision for older immigrants. Firstly, this study provides insights into the structural and personal factors that shape care-giving arrangements for older immigrants. Secondly, this study examines the perspectives of care recipients and care providers on family-provided care. Care expectations differ between both groups and sometimes result in intergenerational disagreement. Thirdly, in terms of institutional support, this study finds that the Swedish state’s notion of individual needs does not match the needs of immigrant elderly and their caregivers. The paper places the care types in a broader discussion about eldercare provision in the Swedish welfare state, which has experienced a decline in publicly funded care services and an increase in family caregiving in the past 30 years. In addition, it addresses questions of dignified ageing from a minority perspective.
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Eli Paolo Fresnoza, Devan Balcombe and Laura Choo
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the incorporation, prioritization and depth of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives in tourism industry restart policies of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the incorporation, prioritization and depth of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives in tourism industry restart policies of Canadian provinces and territories. This study investigates how the detailing of EDI in policies determine the priority in emancipating tourism workers from the inequities exacerbated during the pandemic. Such investigation enables a better understanding of the complexities, tendencies and rationale of involving EDI in the tourism industry’s recovery.
Design/methodology/approach
The research investigated the presence and prioritization of equity, diversity, and inclusion using systematic text analytics of 38 publicly available restart plans and statements from 52 government and non-government agencies. Using web-based software Voyant Tools to assist in text analytics, a hybrid deductive-inductive coding approach was conducted.
Findings
Key outcomes from the analysis revealed scarce to no full and dedicated content on EDI as a holistic initiative necessary for tourism industry relaunch. This lack of EDI content was a result of the greater impetus to prioritize economic generation and limited data due to practical and ideological issues. Results also suggested the tokenizing of EDI in some policies.
Research limitations/implications
Difficulties in data used for research include the lack and availability of restart policies specifically for tourism; most policies were generalized and referred to economic recovery as a whole. Studies of tourism-specific EDI issues were also limited.
Originality
The research is revelatory for investigating EDI prioritizations in restart policies even among well-developed and worker-diverse tourism industries such as in Canada, where inequities and injustices to women, Black, Indigenous, gender-diverse, and newcomer tourism workers among others have been withstanding.
Marguerite Alice Nel, Pfano Makhera, Mabjala Mercia Moreana and Marinda Maritz
Although universities have extensive research and initiatives in place that align with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is still a significant gap…
Abstract
Purpose
Although universities have extensive research and initiatives in place that align with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is still a significant gap in documenting and assessing these efforts. This paper aims to discuss how academic libraries can apply their information management skills and open-access platforms, to facilitate the discoverability and retrieval of evidence on SDGs.
Design/methodology/approach
Introduced by a brief literature review on the role of libraries in contributing to the SDGs in general, the authors draw on their personal experiences as metadata specialists, participating in a project aimed at linking their university’s research output to the SDGs. A case study, from the University of Pretoria’s Veterinary Science Library, is used as an example to demonstrate the benefits of resourceful metadata in organising, communicating and raising awareness about the SDGs in the field of veterinary science.
Findings
Through practical examples and recommended workflows, this paper illustrates that metadata specialists are perfectly positioned to apply their information management skills and library platforms to facilitate the discoverability and retrieval of evidence on SDGs.
Originality/value
Although there are increasing reports on the contributions of libraries to support the successful implementation of the SDGs, limited information exists on the role of metadata specialists, as well as those with a practical focus.
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Tiina Putkuri, Anna S. Sarvasmaa, Mari Lahti, Camilla Laaksonen and Anna Axelin
This study aims to evaluate the participation and satisfaction of learners with the brief “Mental health promotion in school health care” e-learning course, and to describe…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the participation and satisfaction of learners with the brief “Mental health promotion in school health care” e-learning course, and to describe factors related to their participation and satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
A convergent mixed-method study with a descriptive, posttest-only design was conducted in Finland. Quantitative data was collected from the learning portal data and via an electronic feedback questionnaire and qualitative data in four focus group discussions.
Findings
The three modules of the course were opened altogether 12,922 times during the 21 months period. The identified factors influencing participation within the course were: favorite methods attracting attention, the relevance of additional information and postprocessing boosting diligence. The learners’ satisfaction with the course was high. The factors identified for improving satisfaction were: filling gaps in earlier education, clear and concise structure and content, inspiring and interesting design and suitability for clinical use. In addition to the primary target group (school nurses), the course was well-participated and evaluated as satisfying among other health and social care professionals as well as undergraduate students.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates demand for brief, fully online mental health trainings among school nurses, but also among other health and social care professionals and students. The results indicate that learners perceive such training as beneficial. This paper also presents a novel training intervention and its pedagogical base.
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This study has two objectives: (1) to identify gaps in the citizen scholar framework by comparing and synthesizing the relevant pedagogical literature and (2) to illustrate how…
Abstract
Purpose
This study has two objectives: (1) to identify gaps in the citizen scholar framework by comparing and synthesizing the relevant pedagogical literature and (2) to illustrate how 21st century graduate capabilities can be cultivated through teaching practices using the citizen scholar framework.
Design/methodology/approach
We briefly synthesize the relevant citizen scholar pedagogical frameworks and approaches. We use two case studies in two large classroom settings in Ireland and Australia to demonstrate how the citizen scholar attributes can be developed through curriculum design and multiple forms of assessment.
Findings
We identify that there is a need for digital literacy to be placed as a fifth attribution cluster in the citizen scholar framework. We also demonstrate that these graduate competencies can be developed at scale by embedding the citizen scholar framework in teaching practices.
Practical implications
We offer a practical implementation mechanism for cultivating 21st century graduate competencies, which will help further embed citizen scholar in pedagogy strategies, thus empowering learning at scale in business education.
Originality/value
The current study makes the first attempt to identify significant attribution gaps in the citizen scholar framework by synthesizing and mapping the relevant approaches. Detailed examples of curriculum design from the two countries also offer new insights into the implementation of a citizen scholar framework.
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Abasiama-Arit Aniche, Hannah Bundy and Katherine E. McKee
The Agents of Change program is a two-year, project-based learning program to develop Extension Professionals’ capacity to engage in Adaptive and Transformative Leadership. Its…
Abstract
Purpose
The Agents of Change program is a two-year, project-based learning program to develop Extension Professionals’ capacity to engage in Adaptive and Transformative Leadership. Its primary goal is to develop the capacity of Extension Professionals to engage in leadership to create more diverse, equitable, inclusive and just Extension programs and community change initiatives. This manuscript describes the program and an initial evaluation and results.
Findings
Results of an evaluation of the first year of the program indicate that regular training sessions and support are appropriate for leadership development and that Extension Professionals are using the learning, awareness and tools from this program to address challenges with Adaptive and Transformative Leadership elements. Also, Extension professionals demonstrated commitment to personal growth, community engagement and understanding of their multifaceted roles as change agents.
Originality/value
Participants are sharing resources from the program with colleagues, leading meetings differently, questioning the status quo and pushing others to try new ways forward.
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