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While the potential for digital innovation (DI) to transform organizational practices is widely acknowledged in the information systems (IS) literature, there is very limited understanding on the socio-political nature of institutional interactions that determine DI and affect organizational practices in social cash organizations. Drawing on the neo-institutionalist vision, the purpose of the study is to examine the unique set of institutional exchanges that influence the transition to digital social cash payments that give rise to new institutional arrangements in social cash organizations.

The paper draws on an in-depth case study of a government social cash organization in Pakistan. Qualitative data were collected using 30 semi-structured interviews from key organizational members and stakeholders.

The results suggest that DI is determined by the novel intersections between the coercive (techno-economic, regulatory), normative (socio-organizational), mimetic (international) and covert power (political) forces. Hence, DI is not a technologically deterministic output, but rather a complex socio-political process enacted through dialogue, negotiation and conflict between institutional actors. Technology is socially embedded through the process of institutionalization that is coupled by the deinstitutionalization of established organizational practices for progressive transformation.

The research has implications for government social cash organizations especially in the Global South. Empirically, the authors gained rare access to, and support from a government-backed social cash organization in Pakistan (an understudied country in the Global South), which made the data and the consequent analyses even invaluable. This made the empirical contribution within this geographical setting even more worthy, since this case study has received little attention from indigenous scholars in the past. The empirical findings showcased a unique set of contextual factors that were subject to BISP and interpreted through an account of socio-cultural sensitivities.

The paper provides practical implications for policymakers and practitioners, emphasizing the need to address institutional challenges, including covert power, during the implementation of digitalization projects in the public sector. The paper has certain potential for inspiring future e-government related (or public sector focused) studies. The paper may guide both private and government policy-makers and practitioners in presenting how to overcome certain institutional challenges while planning and implementing large scale multi-stakeholder digitization projects in similar country contexts. So while there is scope of linking the digitization of public sector organizations to anti-corruption measures in other Global South countries, the paper may not be that straightforward with the private sector involvement.

The paper offers rich social insights on the institutional interchanges that occur between the social actors for the innovation of technology. Especially, the paper highlights the social-embeddedness nature of technology that underpins the institutionalization of new organizational practices. These have implications on how DI is viewed as a socio-political process of change.

This study contributes to neo-institutional theory by theorizing covert power as a political force that complements the neo-institutional framework. This force is subtle but also resistive for some political actors as the force shifts the equilibrium of power between different institutional actors. Furthermore, the paper presents the social and practical implications that guide policymakers and practitioners by taking into consideration the unique institutional challenges, such as covert power, while implementing large scale digital projects in the social cash sector.

Psychiatric patients’ post-treatment identities are one of the potent indicators reflecting the efficacy of the medical intervention. This study aims to explore how psychiatric patients construct their post-treatment social identities through a gender lens.

This study used a descriptive phenomenological approach, and in-depth interviews were undertaken on 29 informants with experience of psychiatric treatment for at least one year and who are in the remission stage. The lived experience of each informant was scrutinised, which covered how psychiatric post-treatment affects and alters their personal life, work and social relationships. Data collected were then analysed using thematic analysis.

The result found two mutually reinforced identities, namely, self-empowerment and resilience emerged from their experience with psychiatric post-treatment. Firstly, self-empowerment themes include acceptance of the disorders, meaningful choices, assertiveness and helping others. Such self-empowerment attributes enabled them to negotiate with the doctors during the treatment and also with their family members and partners. Secondly, psychiatric post-treatment allows them to be resilient; their good feeling of being liberated from the symptoms while allowing them to partake in a normal lifestyle. Meanwhile, gender differences were found to have diverse meaning-making that positively impacted their lives, particularly among female informants.

Firstly, the data collection was only made in two states in North Peninsular Malaysia; hence, it would be biased in this sense to generalize to a larger population. At the same time, a prevalent study could be undertaken to view the pervasiveness of mental illness among Malaysians. Secondly, the study did not investigate the social institutions that are linked to the relief of psychiatric patients in the country. Thus, there is a grey area on how at the systemic level aid is given to the patients and the impact of such action.

A rigour campaign on promoting mental health should be undertaken to create an inclusive environment for the patients. This is consistent with the aspiration of deinstitutionalization and the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 agenda by the Malaysian government. This is a call for an allotment in special education, training, and funding, employment, housing and other aspects that are significant for their livelihood.

The findings discovered that their social environment primarily caused the depression suffered by the patients. The remark is particularly true for female informants who had very little control over their lives and bodies. Hence, health professionals should consider practicing cultural and gender-sensitive treatment for these patients. Such treatments are to avoid re-discriminating, or re-victimisation feelings to occur during the treatment.

Patients’ post-treatment social identity construction is seldom reported systematically through a gender lens. This study is one of the early efforts on gender lens that allow one to understand how it influences social structures and institutions, especially in the Malaysian realm.

The paper examines the historical shifts in policing strategies towards individuals with SMI and vulnerable populations, highlighting the development of co-response models, introducing the concept of “untethered” co-response.

This paper conducts a review of literature to trace the evolution of police responses to individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) and vulnerable populations. It categorizes four generations of police approaches—zero-policing, over-policing, crisis intervention and co-response—and introduces a fifth generation, the “untethered” co-response model exemplified by Project SCOPE in Philadelphia.

The review identifies historical patterns of police response to SMI individuals, emphasizing the challenges and consequences associated with over-policing. It outlines the evolution from crisis intervention teams to co-response models and introduces Project SCOPE as an innovative “untethered” co-response approach.

The research acknowledges the challenges in evaluating the effectiveness of crisis intervention teams and co-response models due to variations in implementation and limited standardized models. It emphasizes the need for more rigorous research, including randomized controlled trials, to substantiate claims about the effectiveness of these models.

The paper suggests that the “untethered” co-response model, exemplified by Project SCOPE, has the potential to positively impact criminal justice and social service outcomes for vulnerable populations. It encourages ongoing policy and evaluative research to inform evidence-based practice and mitigate collateral harms associated with policing responses.

Given the rising interactions between police and individuals with mental health issues, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the paper highlights the urgency for innovative, non-policing-driven responses to vulnerable persons.

The paper contributes to the literature by proposing a fifth generation of police response to vulnerable persons, the “untethered” co-response model and presenting Project SCOPE as a practical example.

This paper aims to offer a new history of management by tracing a religious dimension of scientific management. The thesis is that the good was foundational for bringing scientific management to success in Taylor’s native Quaker Philadelphia in the 1880s. The paper’s main contribution is to contrast the philosophical origins of Taylor’s ideas in scientific management to his native Quaker roots, and how Taylor, over time, into the 1910s, wrestled with this issue.

The paper is situated in historical interpretivism and subjectivism, leaning on contextual and narrative research on religious morality.

Quaker morality prevented managerial opportunism at Taylor’s Midvale Steel in the 1880s. Conversely, by the 1900s and 1910s, interest conflicts between workers and managers escalated when scientific management moved out of its traditional cultural contexts of Quaker Philadelphia and spread across the USA. The historical implication is, already for Taylor’s time, that scientific management never was the “one-best way” of management.

Future research needs to deepen and broaden research on scientific management when tracing the significance of religion and culture in management thought.

The paper has implications for modern studies of business morality by uncovering the practical relevance of religious business ethics at the outset of management studies.

The historic emergence of scientific management points to a theory of institutional evolution and economic growth, when religiously grounded governance of the firm deinstitutionalized, and institutional economic governance, with different but superior economic advantages, progressed by the 1900s.

The paper suggests an alternative version of the intellectual heritage of management studies by tracing the legacy of Taylor’s Quakerism and how religious and cultural ideas contributed to the formation of science in management.

The purpose of this article is to synthesize the topics, conceptualizations and measurements of value-based management (VBM) and to suggest a research agenda covering its next evolution as sustainable governance.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review of 80 seminal studies published between 1979 and 2022. The authors synthesized the studies by their conceptualizations of VBM in an inductively developed framework.

The authors find that scholars explore diverse topics related to VBM with a prevailing focus on shareholder primacy. There is a paucity of studies that focus on the integration of shareholder maximization and stakeholder management practices. The authors explain which studies will form a promising foundation for advanced research on sustainable governance that will reach beyond current VBM research.

The authors' research agenda addresses new future topics on conflicting goals within and between shareholder groups, offers specific suggestions for using new research methods and untapped data sources for VBM and paves the way to substantially extend the boundaries of the firm in VBM research to include stakeholders, strategic alignment and new sustainability measures.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how digital interventions are mediating the identity work of community health workers (CHWs) in the context of two African countries.

This paper analyzes the everyday work of CHWs in two low- and middle-income country (LMIC) contexts (Uganda and Malawi) and seeks to understand changes in collective identity and the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in mediating this “identity work”. As CHWs conduct their everyday tasks of care giving, data reporting and maintaining social interactions, they play two primary roles. One is the care giving role oriented towards the community, and two, is reporting and administrative work by virtue of them being affiliated with the Ministry of Health, either in formal or voluntary capacity. The ambivalence which they experience as they move back and forth between these two worlds of work is significantly now mediated through ICTs. The paper analyzes these dynamics and identifies three key sets of ambivalence in identity work: (1) role embracing-institutional distancing; (2) conformist-resistant and (3) dramaturgical-transformative. The paper makes unique contributions to information systems (IS) and ICT for development (ICT4D) studies in that it focuses on a nonprofessional group, which plays a fundamental role in providing care to underserved populations and also conducts data work which provides the foundation of the national health information system. This contrasts with dominant research in the field which focuses on professional groups, largely based in Western business organizations.

The paper identifies identity related tensions that emerge with the mediation of digital technologies in the work world of CHWs. These include tensions of conformist-resistant; and (3) dramaturgical-transformative. These findings are relevant and unique to the field of IS and ICT4D studies in that it focuses on a nonprofessional group, which plays a fundamental role in providing care to underserved populations and also conducts data work which provides the foundation of the national health information system.

While acknowledging identity construction and negotiation is a function of both work and social lives, in this paper we could only focus on the work lives.

As digital interventions in the health sector of low and middle income countries is becoming increasingly widespread, often the focus is more on the supply side (the supply of the technology) rather than on the demand side (users experiences and aspirations). Identity becomes a lens to understand these demand side dynamics, which helps provides practical guidance on implementation approaches to ensure that the technology adds value to user work processes and there is a seamless and not a disruptive transition.

CHWs are the most neglected cadre in the health system of low and middle income countries, even though they provide the cutting edge in care provision work to the most marginalized populations, living in rural and underserved areas. By focusing on how technologies can be more effectively implemented to support these care processes, the paper provides important social implications both for practice and research.

Analysis of identity construction and negotiation of informal groups in the unorganized sector of low and middle income countries has not received adequate attention in IS research. The paper seeks to fill this important gap.

Evidence suggests supported living can improve functioning and reduce need. However, its lack of a clear definition has presented significant challenges to establishing a definitive evaluation of its efficacy. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a defined model of supported living using in terms of reductions made to aspects of clinical and social recovery.

A naturalistic, non-controlled assessment was conducting using using the Camberwell Assessment of Need Clinical Scale with a sample of adults with severe and enduring mental illness residing with a UK-based mental health company at 1 of 12 UK locations.

Analysis regarding preliminary outcomes relating to health and social need is presented with comparison between admission and six-months post-admission (N = 90). Additional analysis relating to outcomes at 12 months is also provided (N = 39). Significant outcomes are noted at both timepoints in terms of reducing unmet need and levels of formal and informal help given/required during tenancy.

The findings support that, even in the absence of clinical recovery, opportunities exist to make meaningful and valuable improvements to unmet need and functional independence, with implications for clinical practice in the context of supported living.

The findings provide encouraging early indications of the benefits of the model in making meaningful reductions to functional and psychological needs in individuals with severe and enduring mental illness.

The global insurance industry has implemented International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 17 insurance contracts effective from January 1, 2023. The Islamic insurance (Takaful) industry would find itself at a crossroads if IFRS 17 should also be adopted for Takaful contracts. This paper aims to explore the process of IFRS 17 adoption for Takaful contracts in Malaysia and the implementation of the standard in the early adoption year.

Applying a qualitative approach, this study uses a literature review search and interviews to analyze deeper into the adoption process in Malaysia. Using institutional work, this paper analyses the process timeline, the actors and their roles and actions in the adoption process. The authors interviewed 12 informants from different backgrounds comprising the national standard setters, preparers and the IFRS 17 consultants.

The adoption process of IFRS 17 in Malaysia is an interplay between the accounting standard setter, the government and the industry associations who are the major actors in the process. These actors have different roles and contributions, but they work together to accomplish a single vision, adopting IFRS 17 for all. There is an interplay between actors to disrupt the accounting practice and involved in creating various institutional work to ensure the concerns of Takaful practitioners are well addressed. This research also found that the companies faced significant challenges in applying the standard in the early months of implementation.

This paper contributes to the literature by providing an explanation and examples of the IFRS adoption for Shariah transactions. The story of Malaysia can become a case study for other countries that are still deciding on adopting IFRS 17, especially for the Islamic insurance industry.

The story of Malaysia can become a case study for other countries that are still deciding on adopting IFRS 17, especially for the Islamic insurance industry.

This paper contributes to the literature on the debate of the application of IFRS to Shariah transactions by using institutional work theory as a framework.

This paper aims to explore how historical context influences the content and selection of rhetorical legitimation strategies. Using case study method, this paper will focus on how insurance companies and labor tried to defend their legitimacy in the context of enactment of Medicare in the USA. What factors influenced the strategic (rhetorical) decisions made by insurance companies and labor unions in their institutional work?

The study is empirically grounded in archival research, involving an analysis of over 9,000 pages of congressional hearings on Medicare covering the period 1958–1965.

The authors show that rhetorical legitimation strategies depend significantly on the specific historical circumstances in which those strategies are used. The historical context lent credibility to certain arguments and organizations are forced to decide either to challenge widely held assumptions or take advantage of them. The authors show that organizations face strong incentives to pursue the latter option. Here, both the insurance companies and labor unions tried to show that their positions were consistent with classical liberal ideology, because of high respect of classical liberal principles among different stakeholders (policymakers, voters, etc.).

It is uncertain how much the results of the study could be generalized. More information about the organizations whose use of rhetorics the authors studied could have strengthened our conclusions.

The practical relevancy of the revised paper is that the authors should not expect hegemony challenging rhetorics from organizations, which try to influence legislators (and perhaps the larger public). Perhaps (based on the findings), this kind of rhetorics is not even very effective.

The paper helps to understand better how organizations try to advance their interests and gain acceptance among the stakeholders.

In this paper, the authors show how historical context in practice influence rhetorical arguments organizations select in public debates when their goal is to influence the decision-making of their audience. In particular, the authors show how dominant ideology (or ideologies) limit the options organizations face when they are choosing their strategies and arguments. In terms of the selection of rhetorical justification strategies, the most pressing question is not the “real” broad based support of certain ideologies. Insurance company and labor union representatives clearly believed that they must emphasize liberal values (or liberal ideology) if they wanted to gain legitimacy for their positions. In existing literature, it is often assumed that historical context influence the selection of rhetorical strategies but how this in fact happens is not usually specified. The paper shows how interpretations of historical contexts (including the ideological context) in practice influence the rhetorical strategies organizations choose.

This review aims to summarize the extent to which sustainability dimensions are covered in the selected qualitative literature, the theoretical and ontological underpinnings that have informed sustainability research and the qualitative methodologies used in that literature.

This study uses a systematic review to examine prior empirical studies in sustainability reporting between 2000 and 2021.

This review contributes to sustainability research by identifying unexplored and underexplored areas for future studies, such as Indigenous people’s rights, employee health and safety practice, product responsibility, gender and leadership diversity. Institutional and stakeholder theories are widely used in the selected literature, whereas moral legitimacy remains underexplored. The authors suggest that ethnographic and historical research will increase the richness of academic research findings on sustainability reporting.

This review is limited to qualitative studies only because its richness allows researchers to apply various methodological and theoretical approaches to understand engagement in sustainability reporting practice.

This review follows a novel approach of bringing the selected studies’ scopes, theories and methodologies together. This approach permits researchers to formulate a research question coherently using a logical framework for a research problem.