Search results

This paper explores the implications of financial inclusion and financial development for the conduct of monetary policy in achieving price stability and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

The paper employs the system-generalized methods of moment (GMM) estimation technique using panel data spanning 2004 to 2019 and sourced from Databases of (International Monetary Fund's) IMF's Financial Access Survey (FAS), IMF's International Financial Statistics (IFS), World Bank's Global Financial Development Database (GFDD) and World Bank's World Development Indicators (WDI).

The authors find that financial inclusion has a double-edge effect in SSA. That is, it increases economic growth and lowers inflation in SSA. Furthermore, the results show that a simultaneous increase in financial inclusion and financial development have restrictive effects on economic growth. On the evidence provided, the authors conclude that financial inclusion is an important predictor of economic growth and the conduct of monetary policy in the sub-region.

This paper expands and contributes to the frontier of knowledge how financial inclusion is important for the conduct of monetary policy by monetary authorities in achieving its intended objectives in SSA. The paper highlights the need for ongoing enhancement of financial inclusion of many governments in the sub-region to achieving high economic growth and price stability. Thus, there is the need for policy makers to ensure that a more stringent, effective and appropriate policies and measures are put in place to enhance financial inclusion while taking into consideration the extent of financial development in SSA.

The purpose of this bibliometric study is to report research output and publications on the social determinants of health and health outcomes. This study condenses numerous studies into a single paper, which not only provides insights into the worldwide growth and advancement of the study field but also establishes a research agenda for the future.

Using the Scopus database, a thorough bibliometric study of the worldwide scientific output on social determinants of health from 2000 to 2021 was conducted. With the assistance of VOS viewer and R-based scientometric software, the worldwide development of research on social determinants of health was analysed through performance analysis and network map visualisation.

This study identified the most influential authors, studies, journals and affiliations in the field of social determinants of health, as well as the most co-cited authors and journals, based on a bibliometric analysis of 1,203 research papers retrieved from the Scopus database during the past two decades (2000–2021). Beginning in 2000 with one publication and ending in 2021, 274 articles were viewed online, relevant to the social determinants of health. From 2014 to 2021, publications continue to grow at an accelerating pace.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to review the social determinants of health and its outcomes. The findings of the chosen studies represent a novel and important addition to the study of social determinants of health. It offers a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of publications, in addition to the identification of vital research trends.

Parental advocacy is an emerging area of research and policy interest in Wales and across the UK. Although there is little research in the UK context to date, international research has indicated that parental advocacy can improve the relationship between parent and professional in the field of child protection social work. This paper aims to ascertain how the implementation of a parental advocacy programme supports parents to play a meaningful role in decision-making when children’s services are working with them and their families.

This study used interviews, surveys and focus groups to obtain qualitative data from 18 parents, seven parent advocates, two advocacy managers and four social workers, to explore the potential impact of parental advocacy on decision-making. The study identified challenges in implementing parental advocacy, particularly relating to awareness of the service. Participants also discussed experiences of the child protection system and how parents are supported by advocates.

Despite challenges surrounding implementation, initial findings were encouraging, and generated examples of how parental advocacy services have helped parents to understand children’s services and develop relationships of trust with social care professionals. In doing so, this study identified potential mechanisms that may be useful to support future service delivery.

This paper and research is novel as it explores parental advocacy within the Welsh context. Although there has been research conducted into parental advocacy, this has largely come from the USA. This research comes from the evaluation of an innovative and promising parental advocacy scheme in Wales.

Professional Identity Formation is the dynamic evolution to “think, act and feel” to become part of a professional community. This document presents the development and the study that aimed to assess the usability of a m-Learning Identity App (MLIA) focused on the formation of professional identity among undergraduate medical students.

MLIA development included four phases: Conceptual, prototype, pilot and implementation, before further deployment. The conceptual model was designed by eight faculty members from three Latin American universities. The prototype was developed and tested with stakeholders. The pilot was performed during 5 weeks before the implementation. Cross-sectional data collected during implementation from 138 medical students who completed a survey to assess the usability of MLIA are presented. During deployment, 977 posts were made on Professional Identity Formation, and examples of these posts are presented.

The prototype and pilot phases demanded improvements. The survey explored (1) Familiarity, (2) Perceived ease of use, (3) Perceived usefulness for Professional Identity Formation, (4) Satisfaction, (5) Intention to reuse (6) Digital aesthetics and (7) Safety. Results from the usability assessment suggest that students perceived MLIA as a secure space with positive aesthetics and ease of use.

Important limitations of the present study include, firstly, that it does not provide information on the effectiveness of the MLIA in shaping professional identity in medical students, it focuses exclusively on its development (conceptual model, prototype, pilot and implementation) and usability. Secondly, the study design did not consider a control group and, therefore, does not provide information on how the App compares with other strategies addressing self-reflection and sharing of meaningful experiences related to professional identity.

MLIA introduces a different approach to education, simulating a secure, easy-to-use, social media with a friendly interface in a safe environment to share academic and motivational moments, transitioning from being to becoming a professional.

This study develops a measure of anticipated chilly climate for women and provides initial evidence of its validity.

We draw on three studies. Study 1 consisted of three focus groups to gain deeper insights into the meaning of the concept for prospective female jobseekers and generate scale items. In Study 2, we pre-tested job post vignettes (N = 203), refined the scale items and explored the factor structure (N = 136). Study 3 aimed to determine the convergent and discriminant validity of the new scale (N = 224) by testing its relationships with organisational attractiveness, person-organisation fit perceptions and gendered language.

The results show that the anticipated chilly climate is an important concept with implications for applicants’ career decision-making and career growth in the technology industry, where women tend to be underrepresented. Perceptions of anticipated chilly climate comprise expectations of devaluation, marginalisation and exclusion from the prospective employment. The masculine stereotypes embedded in the language of the job posts signalled a chilly climate for both genders, negatively affecting perceptions of fit and organisational attractiveness.

Most previous studies have focussed on the actual experiences of chilly climates in organisations. We extend this body of literature to anticipatory climates and draw on social identity threat theory and signalling theory to highlight that job applicants make inferences about the climate they expect to find based on job ads. Specifically, they may anticipate a chilly climate based on cues from job ads signalling masculine stereotypes. Whilst the literature has emphasised women’s perceptions of chilly climates within organisations, our results show that both genders anticipate chilly climates with detrimental consequences for both organisations and prospective job applications.

This collaborative paper presents three case studies on four scholars' experiences with remote data collection. The authors highlight the challenges and strengths of online qualitative research across three disparate projects: an interdisciplinary exploration of matrilineal heritage, an examination of Irish women's sexual identity and an investigation of dress practices among Tz'utujil-Maya.

Qualitative researchers traditionally go into the field to explore and understand social phenomena. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, while people faced the daily realities of a worldwide crisis from within their homes, remote data collection became a necessary strategy to pursue knowledge. As a result, researchers adapted to unknowns regarding recruiting, scheduling, technology, interviewing and analysis.

Participant and researcher experiences during the adaptation to remote interviewing yielded important lessons on research strategies.

Outcomes from these studies highlight the potential value of online data collection alongside the necessity for flexibility in designing and conducting qualitative research.

The process of redesigning is one of the essential steps in upcycling, which comprises ideation, reconstruction and fitting. This paper aims to study the best practice of upcycling in the clothing industry. This study is an attempt to standardise upcycling/redesign process.

An exploratory approach was adopted to perform the research. This study draws on the multiple organisations involved in the upcycling of clothes. The organisations chosen for this study are located in Sweden and Romania using the snowball technique. Semi-structured interviews, direct and participatory observation approaches were used to collect information. The collected data are systematically analysed using NVivo 10 software.

This paper provides empirical insights into the diverse practices of upcycling. Process, product and demand-based were three fundamental approaches to performing the redesigning process. The fabric quality and durability, variations in size, colour and pattern, skills and efforts required in the extraction of parts and environmental consciousness and awareness were the main factors influencing upcycling process.

The use of the European case may miss best practices from the other region. This study may help scholars to understand the method of upcycling. A practitioner of upcycling can use the findings to improve and standardise the existing process. This research is beneficial for society, as this leads to the reduction of textile wastage.

This paper conceptualises some of the best practices of clothes redesign. This provides a good insight for the organisation for the improvement in the redesign business.

This preliminary study aims to examine the use of a co-designed immersive virtual reality intervention programme in improving access to health care for people with intellectual disability.

A co-production approach was used to design a virtual reality intervention in collaboration with people with intellectual disability, their families and carers. A mixed-method single sample pre-test-post-test design examined using a virtual reality intervention simulating health-care environments to improve access of attending health-care appointments. Qualitative feedback was used to understand participants’ experience and opinions of using the digital technology.

The study found that the intervention did help people access health-care appointment and reduced their fear. Improvements were also found in quality-of-life post intervention. Positive feedback was provided from participants on using digital technologies indicating the novelty of the approach and potential further applications.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study which has used virtual reality to support people with intellectual disability access health care.

Based on the resource-based view (RBV) theory, this study examines how supply chain digitalisation affects firms’ performance by enabling firms to build supply chain agility and innovation capability.

Drawing from the dataset of 271 firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), we used structural equation modelling to validate the models. Mediation and moderation analyses were performed to test the research hypotheses.

The results suggest a positive correlation between supply chain digitalisation and a company’s performance, fully mediated by both supply chain agility and innovation capability. The interplay between supply chain agility and innovation capability has the potential to result in unfavourable outcomes for a firm’s performance. These results provide valuable insights into supply chain management during digital transformation.

The study advances the extant research on the antecedents of a firm’s performance by incorporating supply chain digitalisation and mediating mechanisms of supply chain agility and innovation capability that serve as a conduit between supply chain digitalisation and a firm’s performance based on RBV.

This paper aims to investigate the interrelated role of relational commitment and dependence as drivers of key performance outcomes. Specifically, the authors provide a conceptual model of the impact of commitment on relationship value dependence and switching cost dependence. The authors further investigate how these dimensions of dependence offer differing noneconomic and economic paths to strategic and financial performance.

Survey data was collected from 296 purchasing agents across multiple industries located in the USA. The conceptual model and accompanying hypotheses were tested via partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results show that the relational path is driven by affective and normative commitment, which are related to relationship value dependence. Conversely, calculative commitment is related to switching cost dependence. This economic path is related to both strategic and financial performance, whereas the relational path is more closely related to strategic as opposed to financial performance outcomes.

This study extends research on Business-To-Business (B2B) relationships by leveraging social exchange theory to examine the interrelated roles played by two forms of dependence on performance outcomes. Thus, the authors answer Scheer et al.’s (2015) call for research into the two distinct types of dependence – relationship value and switching cost dependence – and their roles in determining B2B relationship outcomes. The findings contribute to the literature by integrating social exchange and relationship marketing concepts to develop a dual pathway approach to B2B partnerships.

The results suggest that dependence is not necessarily negative for firms. Specifically, buyers can and do still exhibit positive performance, both strategic and financial, in relationships with suppliers even when dependent on the relationship. Regardless of whether buyers are dependent due to a relationship or economic factors, both can, in different ways, lead to positive strategic and financial outcomes. Together, the authors contribute to the understanding of B2B partnerships by offering guidelines for both buyers and suppliers in the dyad.

The authors derive a comprehensive model depicting primarily relational and economic paths to performance through different types of commitment and dependence. The authors contribute to the literature by demonstrating that relational and economic paths to success are not the same, highlighting how firms could influence performance even when the relationship is not necessarily characterized by generally positive relational benefits and behaviors.