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This paper aims to explore the problem of power imbalance within decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and propose potential solutions that could contribute to enhancing the democratic nature of DAOs.

In this paper, the authors apply a qualitative methodology. Using a thematic coding analysis, the authors process data collected from interviews with 11 experts.

Multiple factors contribute to the perceived lack of democracy within DAOs, such as token concentration and effective stakeholder communication. Next, quadratic voting has the potential to enhance democracy within DAOs, but this mechanism must be implemented mindfully. Finally, the results were nuanced when it comes to the effectiveness of liquid democracy in DAOs to enhance voter participation and representation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first research contributions to propose recommendations to address the power imbalance within DAOs and to contribute to the advancement of decentralized decision-making structures.

The research aims to provide a longitudinal case study to understand how digital transformation can be embedded in municipal reporting frameworks. The central role of such technology becomes increasingly evident as citizens demand greater transparency and engagement between them and governing institutions.

Utilising a longitudinal case study methodology, the research focusses on Turin’s Integrated Popular Financial Report (IPFR) as a lens through which to evaluate the broader implications of digital transformation on governmental transparency and operational efficiency.

Digital tools, notably sentiment analysis, offer promising avenues for enhancing governmental efficacy and citizenry participation. However, persistent challenges highlight the inadequacy of traditional, inflexible reporting structures to cater to dynamic informational demands.

Embracing digital tools is an imperative for contemporary public administrators, promoting streamlined communication and dismantling bureaucratic obstructions, all while catering to the evolving demands of an informed citizenry.

Different from previous studies that primarily emphasised technology’s role within budgeting, this research uniquely positions itself by spotlighting the transformative implications of digital tools during the reporting phase. It champions the profound value of fostering bottom-up dialogues, heralding a paradigmatic shift towards co-creative public management dynamics.

This study aims to understand the importance of participatory governance in the identity of social enterprises (SEs). To this end, this paper provides a framework by means of the value co-creation process and by drawing from the service-dominant logic perspective and the stakeholder theory. An explanation is also provided regarding the opportunity to include fundamental issues in defining SE collective identity, such as those related to an organisation’s participatory nature of involving the stakeholders affected by its activities, the exercise of democratic decision-making and its autonomy from the state and market.

On the statistical exploitation of a large international data set, the authors approach the conceptualisation of SEs by providing an index to measure their social, economic and governance characteristics, thereby enabling these enterprises to be categorised into different groups.

This study found that the inclusion of the governance dimension in the research incorporates the greatest variability between the various models of SE, thereby justifying participatory governance as the raison d’être of the two fundamental schools in SE, namely, Anglo-Saxon and European.

This research offers a tool to policymakers to be used as a criterion of classification and hierarchical organisation for public procurement. It enables the various organisations to be ordered and takes social and cultural influence into consideration. This tool would be highly useful as a support of social entrepreneurship from the public environment, especially at the local level.

This study justifies the value of incorporating participatory governance as a distinctive dimension for the definition of categories of SEs. Furthermore, an index to craft taxonomies of SEs is developed based on social, economic and governance indicators, which provides a framework that facilitates the empirical research of the SE.

Librarianship’s dominant conception of the freedom to read is governed by a liberal principle of noninterference, wherein free readers are those who face no intentional intervention in their choice of materials. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how this account fails to adequately capture systemic threats that impoverish people’s reading lives.

This conceptual paper deploys informal argumentation to expose a flaw in the dominant account of the freedom to read. The author uses a case study of comparative titles or comps, an editorial decision-making and justificatory convention that reproduces racial inequality in Anglophone trade publishing.

Comps present one example of how everyday norms and practices of literary production render people’s reading lives pervasively unfree, even absent some intent to interfere in them. The going account of the freedom to read calls, at best, for a greater diversity of book-commodities from which consumers may choose. However, the comp case suggests that this distributive remedy will be insufficient without relevant changes to the institutional arrangements that condition readers' choices in the first place.

This paper draws together insights from Library and Information Science, political philosophy and print culture studies to illuminate limitations in librarianship’s standard conception of the freedom to read. This reveals the need for an alternative, structural account of that freedom with significant implications for practice.

This paper analyzes how a national social enterprise policy encourages the social missions of social enterprises and uncovers the relationships between social enterprise governance and labor equity, an area that has been rarely studied in nonprofit governance studies.

The study analyzes the effects of four legal requirements for work-integrated social enterprises (WISEs) codified by the Social Enterprises Promotion Act (SEPA, 2007) in South Korea. Then, it relies on panel regression analysis (2020–2022) to examine how the compositions of the governance of WISEs are related to their hiring and wage equity.

The institutional arrangements required by SEPA have resulted in positive social impacts for most WISEs. However, the results of regression models show that individual participant groups in the WISE governance achieved mixed results depending on the labor issue.

Generally, this research explores the concept of diversity and its utility in nonprofit governance, with a particular focus on targeted diversity policies, demonstrating that governance arrangements influence the success of these policies.

The findings bring new insights for policymakers about “altruistic economic entities.” For practitioners in social enterprises, the results of the regression models underscore the importance of understanding the participant composition of decision-making meetings.

This study sheds light on labor equity, which government-certified social enterprises should achieve from the perspective of nonprofit governance.

This chapter explores the vital connection between ethics and community development, underlining the fundamental role of ethical considerations in shaping fair, just, and sustainable communities. It begins by emphasizing that community development is inherently ethical and delves into the concept of ethics, examining ethical theories like consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics in the context of community development. Real-world case studies from diverse countries, such as South Africa, Australia, and India, are interwoven throughout the chapter to provide practical insights. These case studies illustrate the complexities of ethical implementation in community development, from navigating power dynamics to addressing conflicts of interest and balancing immediate needs with long-term sustainability. The chapter also explores macro-level considerations, highlighting the need for systemic change to create a more just and equitable society. It guides practitioners on integrating ethics into their work, establishing a strong moral framework for community development. Continuous learning, reflective practice, and adaptability are underscored as essential in responding to evolving societal contexts, norms, and challenges.

In the context of the digital age, this study aims to investigate the impact of citizens' digital participation on the scientific and democratic decision-making processes of the government. Specifically, the authors focus on the factors influencing citizens' digital participation, with a particular emphasis on their digital skills.

Exploring the influence of citizens' digital skills on their digital participation is of great practical significance for eliminating the digital divide and for promoting a life characterized by enriched digital interactions with the public. This study selected the social consciousness survey database of Chinese netizens in 2017, used ordered Probit and OLS models, and comprehensively used the instrumental variable method (IV), causal stepwise regression method and bootstrap method to empirically verify and construct a mechanism model of the influence of digital skills on citizens' digital participation.

The empirical findings indicate a noteworthy positive association between citizens' proficiency in digital skills and their active engagement in digital activities. This relationship is positively mediated by factors such as political interest and attention to social issues, underscoring their role in encouraging greater digital participation. Conversely, national identity exhibits a counteractive influence on this mechanism, potentially discouraging digital engagement. Notably, the impact of digital skill mastery on digital participation is more pronounced among non-elderly individuals and those residing in metropolitan areas, highlighting the significance of demographic characteristics in this context.

These research results can help the government and other organizations make better decisions and facilitate improvement of citizens' digital participation by promoting their mastery of digital skills.

The marketisation of higher education fosters the notion of students as consumers, highlighting the shifting dynamics of student–teacher relationships. This paper aims to contribute to ongoing discussions about students as consumers and their involvement in pedagogical practices. We explore students’ experiences in short-term study abroad (SA) programmes that involve collaborative learning, examining how a consumerism-oriented approach affects students’ perceptions of their pedagogical identities and student–teacher pedagogical relationships.

A qualitative exploratory study was conducted to capture students’ rich and subjective perceptions and experiences. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 15 Chinese undergraduate students who participated in a short-term SA programme at a UK university. Following data translation and transcription, a thematic analysis approach facilitated our exploration.

Chinese students engage in SA programmes as a strategic investment in personal growth and transformation, with their consumer-oriented identity fostering a mutually beneficial relationship with educators and group members. This consumer mindset appears to enhance active student engagement and, to some extent, create reciprocal student–teacher interactions through power sharing and collaborative involvement.

This study presents empirical data exploring the impact of consumer identity on the dynamics of student–teacher relationships in the SA context. It provides recommendations for implementing pedagogical approaches designed to mediate the influence of consumerism on student engagement, particularly in shaping collaborative student–teacher relationships. This study offers insights for future research on the effects of consumerism in higher education within cross-cultural contexts.