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1 – 10 of over 2000Zerrin Karakavak and Tuğba Özbölük
This study aims to examine the functions of hijab fashion among hijab-wearing women and explore the role of social media and influencers in hijab fashion.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the functions of hijab fashion among hijab-wearing women and explore the role of social media and influencers in hijab fashion.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 29 hijab-wearing women in Turkey. The authors collected data in June–November 2020.
Findings
Findings show that hijab fashion functions as encouragement, attraction, modesty and social image among Turkish Muslim women. This study also shows that social media and influencers change the meaning of the hijab while promoting hijab fashion. Findings reveal that Instagram boutiques act as digital fashion magazines, which enable women to integrate faster into popular culture today. While influencers have increased the number of hijab-wearing women, they have also turned the hijab into a commodity in the market by degenerating its true meaning.
Research limitations/implications
This study has several limitations regarding the sample and geographic context of consumers. This study may not represent Turkish Muslim women’s behavior as our sample consists of 29 women. Therefore, larger samples are needed to generalize our findings. Undertaking cross-cultural studies will also enable marketers to make cultural comparisons.
Practical implications
This study offers some insights for Islamic marketing practitioners in terms of influencer using in hijab fashion.
Originality/value
This study adds to the previous research on hijab fashion and hijab consumption on Instagram. This study also extends the previous literature by examining the role of social media and influencers in hijab fashion. Findings revealed that the hijab is gradually losing its spiritual value by becoming a commodity packaged and marketed through Instagram and influencers.
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Anthony Nkrumah Agyabeng, Justice Nyigmah Bawole, Albert Ahenkan, James Kwame Mensah and Alexander Preko
The study examined the influence of slums on policies affecting the slums' lives in Ghana.
Abstract
Purpose
The study examined the influence of slums on policies affecting the slums' lives in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory qualitative approach based on in-depth interviews (IDIs) was used to select 24 respondents using purposive and snowball sampling techniques.
Findings
The findings show that slum dwellers have an adequate understanding of policies that affect the dwellers' lives. Furthermore, slum dwellers use statutory, technological, media and right-to-vote-based strategies to influence government policies. This also indicates that implemented policies do not align with realities in the slums
Research limitations/implications
The outcome of this study cannot be generalised to represent the whole population of slums due to the inherent limitations associated with a qualitative design
Social implications
This study uncovers context-specific strategies through which slum residents influence policies. The study concedes that policy actors involve the slums in policies that affect their livelihoods
Originality/value
The results are unique not only to developing countries, but are also useful to other economies with similar characteristics.
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Lluis Francesc Peris Cancio and Maria Alexandra Monteiro Mustafá
The purpose of this article’s research was threefold. Firstly, it aimed to investigate how social services professionals coped during the pandemic period by comparing their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article’s research was threefold. Firstly, it aimed to investigate how social services professionals coped during the pandemic period by comparing their involvement in five different national contexts. Secondly, it analysed how these professionals have performed their duties according to the street-level bureaucracy theory. Finally, the third question examines social workers' strategies to guide their professional role when they may have had more discretion in their actions. The research also examined whether discretion has increased during this phase and, if so, how it has been exercised.
Design/methodology/approach
This article is based on the findings of the project called “Theory and Practice of Social Work in the World in Times of Pandemic”, which was funded by the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). The project involved 11 universities across five countries in Europe and Latin America, including Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Spain and Sweden. The research was conducted over 24 months to analyse the practices and measures taken to protect vulnerable people by adapting social services during the extraordinary period of the pandemic. In addition, the research explored how the awareness of emergency arose among social workers and how it influenced the services delivered from the perspective of the street-level bureaucracy theory. In different countries, the level of resourcefulness of services has varied based on their recognition of the severity of the pandemic and the impact of the government’s narratives. In some cases, these narratives have been conspiratorial or even anti-scientific. Additionally, there has been a reduction in the distance between professionals and clients, increased inequalities in access to services and a positive reassessment of the potential of new professional tools, such as digital social work, in establishing a trusting relationship.
Findings
As revealed in the interviews, the elements shaping this high degree of discretion among social workers can be classified into three levels: macro- and micro- (Saruis, 2015) plus a meso-level. Each level has four significant aspects. At the macro-level, these are legislation, public information, large associationism and integration of the social services-health system. At the meso-level, these are interpretations of role performance by managers technical equipment, self-organization and community action. The micro-level pertains to personal and family situations, emotions, ethics and social workers' direct relationships with those in charge.
Research limitations/implications
This study investigated how social workers responded to the Covid-19 pandemic. The data gathered sheds light on their understanding of the situation, as well as the differences in experiences across the five countries studied. However, it is essential to note that the findings may not apply to all situations or countries. Nevertheless, this research serves as a stepping stone for future studies to delve deeper into the results and explore them in greater detail .
Practical implications
The study highlights the crucial role of social workers as street-level workers in managing, negotiating and creating meaning in the interaction between professionals and the people they serve. This is especially relevant in Latin America. Additionally, the study emphasizes the significance of social workers as policy actors and the political nature of social work practice. The findings also underscore the importance of effective communication and collaboration between social workers, their teams and the organizations they work for. The sources cited in the study are Barberis and Boccagni (2014) and Cuadra and Staaf (2014). The research has also underscored the potential of social service workers to build networks and cooperate. Such networking can play a vital role in implementing their acquired knowledge. The study has, therefore, emphasized the importance of social workers being an integral part of the societies they serve. They need to continuously enhance their communication skills, using all the necessary tools to gain a comprehensive and updated understanding of the evolving needs of their clients. Integrating digital social work as a mode of service provision has emerged as a crucial aspect, especially in the three European countries observed. This approach has demonstrated its potential and is expected to continue being a part of services to some extent, even after the return to normalcy. However, it is essential to ensure that the accessibility and proximity of services are not compromised in any way.
Social implications
An unexpected result was observed during the research: the pandemic circumstances have led to valuable reflections. These reflections can help in rethinking and recreating social services. Social workers have been given a unique opportunity to return to the essence of their profession and develop less bureaucratic and more humane ways of working. This experience has also enabled them to recover a closer relationship with the people they serve. To sum up, this study emphasizes that social workers, when given more leeway in their work, rely on cultivating and upholding relationships with other professionals, organizations and stakeholders to stay connected with the community they serve. This is crucial for ensuring the delivery of effective and sustainable social services.
Originality/value
The research employed a thematic analysis approach (Bazeley, 2007) to identify themes related to the concept of consciousness as derived from the field experiences of social workers. Additionally, an in-case and cross-case analysis method (Fereday and Muir-Cochrane, 2006) was used to connect themes related to individual experiences with those gathered from the overall experiences.
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Margarida Rodrigues, Rui Silva, Mário Franco and Cidália Oliveira
The year 2020 was heavily marked by an unprecedented pandemic affecting society as a whole. However, under-represented groups may have seen their financial and social situation…
Abstract
Purpose
The year 2020 was heavily marked by an unprecedented pandemic affecting society as a whole. However, under-represented groups may have seen their financial and social situation affected differently from other groups. Thus, it was found that in the literature, the term inclusive entrepreneurship, which addresses these issues, was fragmented in view of its similarity and association with social entrepreneurship, inclusive business and sustainability. In this sense, this paper aims to map the scientific knowledge on this topic.
Design/methodology/approach
To fulfil this aim, a systematic literature review was supported by bibliometrics (performance analysis and scientific mapping) and by the use of the software Bibliometrix R and VoSviewer.
Findings
The results obtained show that in the Web of Science, there are 121 documents related to this topic whose content analysis revealed that they are distributed between sustainability, entrepreneurship and inclusive entrepreneurship in the close triple association.
Practical implications
The main contributions of this study are the connection established between the three concepts and the emergence of continuing to develop research on inclusive entrepreneurship, given its binary function: employment generation for disadvantaged groups and inclusive business creation.
Originality/value
The relevance of this bibliometric analysis stands out, providing the positioning of academics on the importance of leveraging emerging research on this topic, not only in poor countries but also in others.
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Maryna Murdock, Thanh Ngo and Nivine Richie
This study aims to investigate the effect of public corruption on the performance and risk of financial institutions domiciled in the USA..
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the effect of public corruption on the performance and risk of financial institutions domiciled in the USA..
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Public Integrity Section Reports to proxy corruption. The analysis is performed by bank size and includes robustness checks for omitted variables and endogeneity concerns.
Findings
The results show that a corrupt environment is associated with lower bank performance without a reduction in risk. Larger banks tend to underestimate the increase in credit risk. Small- and medium-size banks seek to “re-capture” returns in corrupt districts by reducing their liquidity.
Research limitations/implications
The implication of this research is that financial institutions do not thrive in corrupt environments and are unlikely to participate in corrupt practices. Overall, this study documents the tangible harm inflicted by corrupt practices.
Practical implications
A practical implication is that banks may attempt to re-capture lower returns resulting from corrupt environments by extending more risky loans, specifically, commercial real estate loans.
Social implications
This study demonstrates the costly impact of corruption on large and small banks. While larger banks report higher share of non-performing loans, smaller banks show an increase in the provision for loan and lease losses, suggesting that smaller banks may be more risk averse.
Originality/value
Prior studies investigate corruption in US firms while excluding financial institutions. This study fills this gap by investigating the effect of public corruption on the performance and risk of financial institutions domiciled in the USA.
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Revathi Ellanki, Marta Favara, Duc Le Thuc, Andy McKay, Catherine Porter, Alan Sánchez, Douglas Scott and Tassew Woldehanna
This paper draws on the results of telephone surveys conducted to assess the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the young people of two longitudinal…
Abstract
This paper draws on the results of telephone surveys conducted to assess the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the young people of two longitudinal cohorts (aged 19 and 26 years old at the time) of the four countries that participate in the Young Lives research programme: Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. We first review the pandemic experiences of these four countries, which differed significantly, and report on the responses of the individual young people to the pandemic and the measures taken by governments. Our main focus is on how the pandemic and policy responses impacted on the education, work and food security experiences of the young people. Unsurprisingly the results show significant adverse effects in each of these areas, though again with differences by country. The effects are mostly more severe for poorer individuals. We stress the challenges that COVID-19 is creating for meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, in particular in making it more difficult to ensure that no one is left behind.
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This research proposes a framework to conceptualise the potential realm of data regarding shipping connectivity for application of data analytics which can be used to generate…
Abstract
Purpose
This research proposes a framework to conceptualise the potential realm of data regarding shipping connectivity for application of data analytics which can be used to generate deeper insights with respect to the state of such linkages and potential areas for practical application.
Design/methodology/approach
The study method involved comprehensive presentation of different perspectives of assessing shipping connectivity and levels of data contained within container shipping services and proposed potential application to analyse profitability, performance, competitiveness, risk and environmental impact.
Findings
Advances in capabilities to handle large volumes of data offer scope for an integrated approach which utilises all available data from various stakeholders in analyses of liner shipping connectivity. Research shows how different types of data contained in container shipping services are related and can be organised for application of data analytics.
Research limitations/implications
Research implications are offered to shipping lines, port managers and operators and policymakers.
Practical implications
This research presented a conceptual framework that captures the range of data involved in container shipping services and how data analytics can be practically applied in an integrated manner.
Originality/value
This paper is the first in literature to discuss in detail the different levels of data that reside within shipping services that constitute liner shipping connectivity for application of data analytics.
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Susanne Durst, Ingi Runar Edvardsson and Samuel Foli
The purpose of this paper is to structure existing research on knowledge management (KM) in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to offer a comprehensive overview of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to structure existing research on knowledge management (KM) in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to offer a comprehensive overview of research strands and topics in KM in SMEs to determine their evolution over time.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper, which is considered a follow-up literature review, is based on a systematic literature review that covers 180 scientific papers that were published since the review paper by Durst and Edvardsson in 2012 that covered 36 papers.
Findings
The findings of this review and those of the aforementioned review are brought together in the form of an overview that structures research on KM in SMEs based on themes that, in turn, allow the derivation of promising research directions and research questions aimed at structuring future research on KM in SMEs.
Originality/value
By combining the findings of this review with the findings from the review published in this journal in 2012, this paper offers, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the most comprehensive literature review on KM in SMEs produced to date.
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As part of a national plan to govern professional and organizational development in Norwegian specialist healthcare, the country’s hospital clinics are tasked with constructing…
Abstract
Purpose
As part of a national plan to govern professional and organizational development in Norwegian specialist healthcare, the country’s hospital clinics are tasked with constructing development plans. Using the development plan as a case, the paper analyzes how managers navigate and legitimize the planning process among central actors and deals with the contingency of decisions in such strategy work.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies a qualitative research design using a case study method. The material consists of public documents, observations and single interviews, covering the process of constructing a development plan at the clinical level.
Findings
The findings suggest that the development plan was shaped through a multilevel translation process consisting of different contending rationalities. At the clinical level, the management had difficulties in legitimizing the process. The underlying tension between top-down and bottom-up steering challenged involvement and made it difficult to manage the contingency of decisions.
Practical implications
The findings are relevant to public sector managers working on strategy documents and policymakers identifying challenges that might hinder the fulfillment of political intentions.
Originality/value
This paper draws on a case from Norway; however, the findings are of general interest. The study contributes to the academic discussion on how to consider both the health authorities’ perspective and the organizational perspective to understand the manager’s role in handling the contingency of decisions and managing paradoxes in the decision-making process.
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Anne K.H. Neal, Merridee Lynne Bujaki, Sylvain Durocher and François Brouard
The authors examine and compare accounting associations' identities in distinct segments of the accounting profession surrounding the 2014 merger of three Canadian accounting…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors examine and compare accounting associations' identities in distinct segments of the accounting profession surrounding the 2014 merger of three Canadian accounting associations.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conceive of accounting associations' magazine front covers as a setting for “identity performance” (i.e. a scenery through which identity dimensions are intentionally communicated to target audiences). The authors examine pre-merger and post-merger associations' identity performances that took place between January 2011 and December 2020 and identify 21 broad themes that the authors interpret in terms of identity logics (i.e. professionalism/commercialism) and audience focus (society/association members), underscoring (dis)similarities in identity performances pre- and post-merger.
Findings
The authors' analysis reveals distinct identity performances for the different segments of the pre-merger accounting profession and for the post-merger unified accounting association. Identity logics manifest differently: a commercial logic dominated for two of the associations and a professional logic dominated for the third. Identity fluidity was evident in the merged association's shift from commercial toward professional logic when the association ceased publishing one magazine and introduced a new one. Society rather than associations' members dominated as a target audience for all associations, but this focus manifested differently. Post-merger, identity performances continued to focus on society as the audience.
Originality/value
The authors highlight the Goffmanian identity performances (Goffman, 1959) taking place via accounting associations' magazines. The authors adopt a segment perspective (Bucher and Strauss, 1961) that demonstrates that commercialism does not trump professionalism in all segments of the profession. For the first time, the authors juxtapose identity logics (professionalism/commercialism) and targeted audiences to better understand how these facets of accountants' identities compare between segments.
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