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The purpose of this special issue is to extend the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (ESRC)-funded UK seminar series–Challenging Gendered Media (Mis)Representations of Women Professionals and Leaders; and to highlight research into the gendered media constructions of women managers and leaders and outline effective methods and methodologies into diverse media.

Gendered analysis of television, autobiographies (of Sheryl Sandberg, Karren Brady, Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard), broadcast news media and media press through critical discourse analysis, thematic analysis, metaphor and computer-aided text analysis software following the format of the Gender Media Monitoring Project (2015) and [critical] ecological framework for advancing social change.

The papers surface the gendered nature of media constructions of women managers and leaders and offer methods and methodologies for others to follow to interrogate gendered media. Further, the papers discuss – how women’s leadership is glamourized, fetishized and sexualized; the embodiment of leadership for women; how popular culture can subvert the dominant gaze; how women use agency and how powerful gendered norms shape perceptions, discourses and norms and how these are resisted, repudiated and represented.

The papers focus upon how the media constructs women managers and leaders and offer implications of how media influences and is influenced by practice. There are recommendations provided as to how the media could itself be organized differently to reflect diverse audiences, and what can be done to challenge gendered media.

Challenging gendered media representations of women managers and leaders is critical to social justice and equality for women in management and leadership.

This is an invited Special Issue comprising inaugural collection of research through which we get to “see” women and leaders and the gendered media gaze and to learn from research into popular culture through analysis of television, autobiographies and media press.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the representation of women in Canadian broadcast news coverage, exploring the notion of substantive representation as it relates to gender, leadership and framing.

Using computer-aided text analysis software, the authors analyzed the frequency of women appearing in on-air roles, the way in which they are framed, as well as technical and expressive details, such as how they are featured. In total, the authors analyzed representation of 2,031 individuals in the four suppertime local news broadcasts from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Framed in an ecological model of complex social change, this paper focuses on understanding how women are presented in Canadian broadcast media.

This study finds that women are under-represented in Canadian broadcast media. Furthermore, it finds that women are less likely to be framed as leaders or experts and are less likely to hold news host or anchor positions. For all major news broadcasters analyzed, women are less likely to be portrayed positively or in leadership/expert positions and are more often represented as victims. They are less likely to appear on screen and are more likely to be referred to off-screen, paraphrased and cited rather than speaking for themselves.

By framing this study in an (critical) ecological, this study moved beyond required descriptive benchmarking to examine the degree of substantive representation of women. However, the sample of the study is only a snapshot of Canada’s largest city, and, therefore, more research involving further a comparative analysis of cities, a variety of print sources and online media outlets is needed. Future research might include more qualitative analysis of the representation, the type of representation and the factors affecting levels of representation. For example, such research might explore the practices in broadcast organizations, the way in which stories are framed and how guests selected. Also of interest is the relationship between women’s representation at the decision-making table, as an input, and the representation of women in on-air roles, as an outcome.

The implications of this article are important for understanding the complex factors affecting female leadership across sectors, particularly, the Canadian broadcast industry, the barriers they face and the strategies that may lead to their advancement.

This study moved beyond descriptive benchmarking to examine the degree of substantive representation of women by coding the frames, roles and means of quotation experienced by women on broadcast news.

The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss existing literature and available research findings related to understanding elder abuse and neglect in culturally diverse communities, particularly the Chinese immigrant community in Canada. The conceptual understandings of elder abuse are examined, based upon the socio-cultural context and challenges faced by aging Chinese immigrants.

Previous literature and research publications related to elder abuse and neglect related to Chinese in Canada were reviewed and synthesized. Statistical information and research findings were summarized to illustrate the socio-cultural context that defines elder abuse and neglect experienced by aging Chinese immigrants in Canada.

From a culturally diverse perspective, influence of race, ethnicity, immigrant status, and cultural norms on the recognition, identification, prevention and intervention of elder abuse and neglect are important to consider. A key message for professionals working with the aging population, particularly older immigrants from ethno-cultural minority background, is that understanding the social cultural context in which elder abuse or neglect emerges is critical. For many of the aging Chinese immigrants in Canada, the socio-cultural circumstances that they have experienced, their social environment, and various barriers and challenges further prevent them from being aware of this emerging concern. Cultural norms and practices have played a critical role in their access to preventive and intervention services.

Although this paper is not based upon a particularly empirical research study, the research and literature synthesized are both empirically and conceptually based. As indicated in the review of previous research publications on the subjective matter of elder abuse and neglect in aging Chinese immigrants in Canada is limited. Research on various issues related to elder abuse and neglect in ethno-cultural minority communities is also relatively scant. Evaluation research on prevention and intervention programs is desperately needed so as to facilitate the further establishment of best practice prevention and intervention models that are culturally appropriate and effective. While research engagement with minority groups such as the aging Chinese immigrants who do not speak English or are not familiar with the research culture in the western civilization could be challenging, academic researchers and service providers in both the mainstream and ethno-cultural minority communities should further align themselves in practice-research partnership endeavors to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the aging vulnerable individuals could be better maintained.

In order to provide culturally competent services, service providers should be aware of cultural differences in attitudes towards elder mistreatment, including the ways in which specific types of abuse (e.g. financial abuse) are defined within ethno-cultural communities, and the cultural values and experiences that shape these understandings and determine attitudes or barriers towards reporting, intervention, and service use.

This paper is a first attempt in the research community to synthesize a few critical issues related to elder abuse and neglect in the aging Chinese immigrant community in Canada. The paper has connected previous empirical findings related to Chinese older adults as well as other culturally diverse aging populations to the conceptualization of elder abuse and neglect by considering the unique socio-cultural context faced by the ethnocultural older adults.

This paper examines actors and discourses shaping new Canadian legislation designed to advance diversity in corporate governance.

This paper performs a stakeholder and discourse analysis drawing on texts of parliamentary debates.

The paper illuminates tensions regarding definitions of diversity, its importance for boards of directors and the mechanisms favoured for implementation. Official discourses examined show that, unlike for other political issues, opposition was largely muted, and most stakeholders engaged in the process supported legislation advancing diversity. Nonetheless areas of debate and positioning by actors and suggest important differences, with outcomes linked to non-traditional power bases.

This study provides insights into the discursive environments of organizations and processes relating to promoting diversity and equality in the political decision-making domain, a critical venue for understanding advancement of equity, often neglected in organizational studies.

By understanding the complex and competing discourses surrounding diversity and inclusion at the macro level this paper provides a context for understanding organizational (meso) and individual (micro) beliefs and behaviours.

This study shows how advocacy shapes how policy and legislation are framed and the ways mainstream organizations, including women's groups, may advance gender equality without regard to other dimensions of diversity or intersectionality.

This study maps the political discourse around recent Canadian legislation designed to improve diversity on boards that must, in the Canadian context, address more than gender.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine school health education in the USA and present alternative approaches for more critical and comprehensive health education.

An ecological model framework is used to identify the limitations and opportunities for improvement in school health education in the USA. An argument is made for school health education that embraces ecological approaches, political economy theory, and critical pedagogies.

US schools have been tasked with providing health education that is primarily rooted in individualistic approaches. Often missing from this education is recognition of the social and structural determinants of health that greatly influence one’s ability to practice the health behaviors promoted in schools. This raises pedagogical and ethical concerns, which can be addressed by teaching health education that is grounded in ecological and political economy understandings of health and in critical pedagogies that allow students to more comprehensively and accurately understand health, how their worlds influence health, and their agency within those worlds.

This paper offers justification for a critical model of school health education and for the professional preparation of school health educators that is grounded in critical pedagogy and ecological approaches.

This work complements other research on critical health education by adding explicit integration of the ecological model and the political economy theory within critical pedagogies.

To explore how Critical Management Studies can be used to frame a strategy to effect change and promote diversity and inclusion in organizations.

Drawing on the experience gained from a large multi-sector action research project aimed at promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in organizations, this chapter proposes a multilayer [Critical] Ecological Model.

While early critical theorists were committed to effecting change, the rise of post-modern critical theory eroded the ground on which to stand, widening the gap between theory and practice. Secondly, the chapter asserts the importance of linking empirical research and critical theory in order to advance equality seeking projects. Thirdly, the chapter provides a [Critical] Ecological model that bridges theory and action in Critical Management Studies, based partly on experience from a large community-based research project. The need for a multifaceted approach to advance equality and inclusion emerged as a way to bridge ideological differences among actors and academics committed to effecting social change.

By addressing directly the challenges of theoretical rifts as well as differences in research focused on micro, meso and macro levels, the chapter builds a framework to allow different stakeholders – scholars, practitioners, activists and change agents across sectors – to take action in advancing inclusion and equality as well as an understanding of interactions between levels.

While sharing similar goals, many approaches to change are fragmented on the level of analysis and by underlying paradigms. This chapter is unique in its focus on ways to bridge theory and practice and to develop a framework for action that accommodates equality seeking theorists and activists working on several levels.

We are currently experiencing what is often called the sixth period of mass extinction on planet Earth, caused undoubtedly by the impact of human activities and businesses on nature. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for accounting and corporate accountability to contribute to extinction prevention. The paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach, weaving scientific evidence and theory into organisational disclosure and reporting in order to demonstrate linkages between extinction, business behaviour, accounting and accountability as well as to provide a basis for developing a framework for narrative disclosure on extinction prevention.

The paper is theoretical and interdisciplinary in approach, seeking to bring together scientific theories of extinction with a need for corporate and organisational accountability whilst recognising philosophical concerns in the extant environmental accounting literature about accepting any business role and capitalist mechanisms in ecological matters. The overarching framework derives from the concept of emancipatory accounting.

The outcome of the writing is to: present an emancipatory “extinction accounting” framework which can be embedded within integrated reports, and a diagrammatic representation, in the form of an “ark”, of accounting and accountability mechanisms which, combined, can assist, the authors argue, in preventing extinction. The authors suggest that the emancipatory framework may also be applied to engagement meetings between the responsible investor community (and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)) and organisations on biodiversity and species protection.

The exploratory extinction accounting and accountability frameworks within this paper should provide a basis for further research into the emancipatory potential for organisational disclosures and mechanisms of governance and accountability to prevent species extinction.

The next steps for researchers and practitioners involve development and implementation of the extinction accounting and engagement frameworks presented in this paper within integrated reporting and responsible investor practice.

As outlined in this paper, extinction of any species of flora and fauna can affect significantly the functioning of local and global ecosystems, the destruction of which can have, and is having, severe and dangerous consequences for human life. Extinction prevention is critically important to the survival of the human race.

This paper represents a comprehensive attempt to explore the emancipatory role of accounting in extinction prevention and to bring together the linkages in accounting and accountability mechanisms which, working together, can prevent species extinction.

This study aims to investigate supply network (SN) resilience capabilities across the organizational, supply chain (SC) and industry levels by drawing on the complex adaptive systems (CASs) theory and the social–ecological perspective of resilience. An empirically grounded framework operationalizes the concept of social–ecological resilience by expounding resilience capabilities across phases of the CAS adaptive cycle.

This research uses a qualitative multiple case study approach. It draws on the case of the Australian Defence Manufacturing SN (ADM SN) during COVID-19 disruptions. A total of 28 interviews with senior decision makers from 17 companies, complemented by 5 interviews with the Australian Defence SC organizations and secondary data analysis, support the findings.

Individual organizations’ SC visibility and flexibility enabled by effective risk management and collaboration enhance the ability of the SN to anticipate and prepare for disruption. At the same time, the strength of SC relationships reduces resilience. SN disruption response velocity is enabled by inventory redundancy, process flexibility at the organizational level and visibility and collaboration at the SC level. Institutional support at the national industry level, development of value-adding capabilities and manufacturing process flexibility at the organizational level enhances the SN’s ability to re-organize. The transition from hierarchical to decentralized collaborative governance enhances SN resilience.

From a practitioner’s perspective, the findings highlight the need to embrace a broader view of SC beyond immediate tiers. Decision-makers in multinational companies must recognize the long-term impact of their procurement decisions on the supplier ecosystem. Developing local supplier capabilities rather than relying on established global SCs will pay off with future resilience. It, however, demands substantial investment and radical changes across all SC tiers. The lesson for smaller firms is not to over-rely on the existing relationships with supply partners. Although trust-based relationships and collaboration are essential, over-commitment can be counterproductive during global disruptions. With a lack of visibility and control over the SC, operational flexibility is critical for small firms to adapt to shifts in supply and demand.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this empirical research is one of the first attempts to operationalize the social–ecological perspective of SN resilience. Evidence-based theoretical propositions contribute to the emerging conversation about the CAS nature of resilience by demonstrating the multi-level effects of resilience capabilities.

This paper aims to present a discursive and evaluative analysis of Energy + Illawarra, an Australian Government Low Income Energy Efficiency Program (LIEEP) funded interdisciplinary social marketing energy efficiency programme. Energy + Illawarra was a community programme working with low-income older people in Australia and involving social marketers, human geographers and engineers. The paper aims to identify how ecological systems theory can inform social marketing, and what practicalities there may be in doing so. The paper also aims to assess whether a social marketing programme that draws on ecological systems theory can have a positive impact on people’s thermal comfort.

First, the paper uses critical discursive analysis to examine the use of various elements of a social marketing energy efficiency programme in relation to the different levels of ecological systems theory. Second, a longitudinal cohort survey study design is used to evaluate the programme’s influence on people’s perceptions of thermal comfort and satisfaction with thermal comfort in their homes.

The study found that ecological systems theory could be an effective framework for social marketing programmes. The evaluation study found that the intervention had a positive impact on participant’s perceptions of thermal comfort, satisfaction with thermal comfort and attitudes towards energy efficiency. However, the paper identifies some potential tensions in using ecological systems theory and suggests that issues of power, representation, agenda setting, the need for reflexive practice and consideration of unintended consequences are important considerations in social marketing programmes.

The work presented here suggests that multi-level social marketing programmes that draw on ecological systems theory can make a useful contribution to social change as demonstrated by the evaluation survey finding positive impacts on thermal comfort and attitudes of participants. However, issues of power, representation, agenda setting, the need for reflexive practice and consideration of unintended consequences should be considered in social marketing programmes.