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1 – 10 of 97
Article
Publication date: 13 June 2016

Ebony O. McGee, Devin T. White, Akailah T. Jenkins, Stacey Houston, Lydia C. Bentley, William J. Smith and William H. Robinson

Much of the extant research, practice and policy in engineering education has focused on the limited persistence, waning interest and lack of preparation among Black students to…

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Abstract

Purpose

Much of the extant research, practice and policy in engineering education has focused on the limited persistence, waning interest and lack of preparation among Black students to continue beyond the post-secondary engineering pipeline. However, this research suggests that many Black PhD students persist and succeed in engineering, fueled by various motivational strengths. To better understand the motivations of Black students in engineering doctoral programs, this study aims to explore the factors that influence their decision to enroll in either an engineering or a computing doctoral program.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses an intrinsic and extrinsic motivational framework to investigate the inspiration of 44 Black engineering doctoral students in PhD engineering programs in 11 engineering schools across the country.

Findings

Results show that the participants’ motivation to pursue a PhD in engineering comes from several distinct factors, including the following: an unyielding passion for their particular discipline, a sense of responsibility to serve marginalized peoples and society, a path toward autonomy, pre-PhD mentorship and research opportunities and family and prior work experience.

Research limitations/implications

Based on this study’s findings, a reconceptualization of graduate engineering education that incorporates the importance of “being Black” and its relationships with motivating and, potentially, retaining Black science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students is also offered.

Originality/value

This paper seeks to expose particular constructs and behaviors surrounding Black students’ motivation to learn and achieve in engineering at the highest academic levels, offering a more nuanced perspective than currently is found in traditional engineering education literature.

Details

Journal for Multicultural Education, vol. 10 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-535X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 April 2019

Lyndie Bayne, Sharon Purchase and Ann Tarca

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, the use of power in a business network context is investigated, in relation to companies’ environmental reporting and practice…

1172

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, the use of power in a business network context is investigated, in relation to companies’ environmental reporting and practice choices. Second, the environmental reporting-practice portrayal gap is examined, focussing on inter-organisational environmental practices (such as green supply chain management).

Design/methodology/approach

A network case study was undertaken in the Western Australian agrifood sector, with the two large, dominant supermarkets as focal actors. Data were drawn from 34 in-depth interviews from 2011 to 2013 and a document review including 15 years of supermarket reports.

Findings

The study showed the exercise of government power bases and its effect on supermarket and other supply chain actors’ reporting and practice choices. The data suggest a differential use of power by supermarkets with suppliers, depending on supplier type and environmental practice characteristics. The study revealed surprisingly transparent reporting of the lack of whole-of-supply-chain approach by the supermarkets and admission of shareholder power over reporting and practice choices. In addition, other reporting-practice portrayal gaps relating to inter-organisational environmental practices were found.

Originality/value

The study provides a unique network level analysis of how power relations interact and influence companies’ choices of environmental reporting and practice, thereby contributing to prior power and environmental reporting literature. Contributions are made to extant literature dealing with the reporting-practice portrayal gap by focussing on inter-organisational environmental reporting and practice.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 August 2012

Chris O'Riordan and Aoife McDermott

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and value of the clinical management role undertaken by primary care doctors in Ireland. To date, a majority of research has…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and value of the clinical management role undertaken by primary care doctors in Ireland. To date, a majority of research has focused on clinical management roles in the acute sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a sub‐set of data from a mixed methods study. In total, 14 semi‐structured interviews are drawn upon to identify the nature and value of the clinical management role in primary care.

Findings

Comparison with acute sector research identifies considerable differences in the nature of the clinical management role across sectors – and in the associated value proposition. Structural and role‐related contingencies affecting the potential value of clinical management roles in Irish primary care are discussed. Structural influences include the private ownership structure, low complexity and limited requirement for cross‐professional coordination. Role‐related influences include the primacy of the clinical identity, time constraints and lack of managerial training.

Research limitations/implications

The findings provide a limited basis for generalisation, premised on 14 interviews in one national context. However, given the international shift towards the provision of health services in primary care, they provide a research agenda for an important healthcare context.

Practical implications

The findings draw attention to the need for policy consideration of the value of the clinical manager role in primary care; how policy can support effective primary care management; and the need for specialised management training, which takes account of the small‐firm context.

Originality/value

The paper identifies that primary‐care clinical‐management roles focus on operational management and oversight and discusses the structural and role‐related factors which affect their efficacy.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 26 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2004

David Devins, Steve Johnson and John Sutherland

Workforce development is becoming a higher priority for government, both as a means of addressing social exclusion and raising competitiveness. However there is limited evidence…

4242

Abstract

Workforce development is becoming a higher priority for government, both as a means of addressing social exclusion and raising competitiveness. However there is limited evidence of the contribution of training to the success of individual firms and even less evidence of the impact of such training activity on small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) employees. This paper draws on a survey of 1,000 employees to investigate the impact of a training intervention on employees in SME workplaces. It explores issues associated with the equity of provision of training in the workplace and the impact of training on the employability of SME employees in the labour market. The results suggest that training interventions lead to positive outcomes for the majority of SME employees, particularly those working in organisations with relatively formalised training practices. It concludes by suggesting that there should be a greater focus on the employee dimension in research and policy regarding training in SMEs.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 April 2023

Bradley Robinson and William Terrell Wright

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the power of affective pedagogies and playful literacies to resist neoliberal framings of video game play and design in educational…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the power of affective pedagogies and playful literacies to resist neoliberal framings of video game play and design in educational contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

Focusing on the Giga-Games Camp, a video game design camp for adolescents, the authors mobilize different methodological impulses across a number of different registers, using interview data to trace institutional arcs, focal frames from a GoPro camera to see vitality in action and descriptions of platform events to follow these lines through the shift to online instruction brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings

The authors narrate three transversal movements of the Giga-Games Camp to reveal how play-centered pedagogies can challenge the neoliberal tendency to assimilate young people’s video gaming practices as a vehicle for future-proof science, technology, engineering and mathematics learning.

Originality/value

The authors offer the concept of actually existing vitality rights to describe how attending seriously to vitality in learning spaces will often manifest organically in very real strategies to reimagine and restructure preexisting, neoliberally sedimented uses of space, institutional configurations and constellations of sociopolitical power.

Details

English Teaching: Practice & Critique, vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1175-8708

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 March 2023

Brent Smith, Stephanie A. Tryce and Carol Ferrara

To measure the relationships between varieties of patriotism and fan reactions to anthem-linked athlete activism and to test the effects of teammate allyship.

Abstract

Purpose

To measure the relationships between varieties of patriotism and fan reactions to anthem-linked athlete activism and to test the effects of teammate allyship.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study of US sport fans (n = 519), the authors examine whether two varieties of patriotism—the affective “symbolic patriotism” and the cognitive “uncritical patriotism”—might explain fans' reactions (support v. opposition) to anthem-linked athlete activism. The authors also consider whether fans' acceptance of nonactivist teammate allyship moderates patriotism influences on those reactions.

Findings

Using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), the authors posit and show that fans' reactions to athlete activism are driven more strongly by uncritical patriotism than by symbolic patriotism. The authors also show that fans' acceptance of nonactivist teammate allyship significantly moderate the strength and direction of fans' reactions to athlete activism.

Research limitations/implications

The authors contribute substantive, new knowledge into the sways of athlete activism, teammate allyship and fan patriotism within the sport world. By way of novel heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations, the authors show evidence of discriminant validities of symbolic patriotism and uncritical patriotism. Using PLS-SEM moderation tests, the authors also show that fans' acceptance of teammate allyship moderates the influences of these patriotism types differently.

Originality/value

Few empirical studies to date have investigated sport fans' reactions to athletes' displays of social activism (e.g. taking a knee to protest racism).

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 24 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2008

John Devapriam, Catherine Thorp, Freya Tyrer, Satheesh Gangadharan, Lammata Raju and Sabyasachi Bhaumik

People with learning disabilities have high dependency needs and high prevalence of physical, psychological and social morbidities. Some studies have shown that South Asian and…

Abstract

People with learning disabilities have high dependency needs and high prevalence of physical, psychological and social morbidities. Some studies have shown that South Asian and white populations have a similar prevalence of learning disabilities and related psychological morbidity (McGrother et al, 2002), although other studies have shown an increased prevalence of severe levels of learning disabilities in the South Asian population (Emerson et al, 1997). The aim of this study was to compare stress levels and unmet service needs in informal carers of South Asian and white adults with learning disabilities.A sample of 742 informal carers was selected from the Leicestershire Learning Disability Register. Data on carers' and subjects' demographic details, stress levels and unmet service needs were analysed and compared using chi‐square tests and logistic regression analyses. Substantial differences were observed between the two groups. Carers of South Asian adults with learning disabilities reported significantly higher levels of care provision and unmet needs. Major stress was reported in 23% of carers. This was more common in carers with poor health, in those caring for younger adults, carers of adults with psychological symptoms, and in those with an expressed need for moral support or respite care.Stress is common among informal carers of adults with learning disabilities and inequalities, in reported care given and unmet needs, exist between carers of South Asian and white adults. Practitioners need to be aware of factors associated with stress when assessing carers in this population.

Details

Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-0980

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2000

David Devins and Jeff Gold

A recent learning programme funded by Sheffield TEC, targeted specifically at “tough nuts”, i.e. small organisations with no history of formal training and development for those…

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Abstract

A recent learning programme funded by Sheffield TEC, targeted specifically at “tough nuts”, i.e. small organisations with no history of formal training and development for those in management positions, is examined. The background to the approach based on mentoring and coaching is explained. Findings from an impact study of 20 case organisations are presented.

Details

Career Development International, vol. 5 no. 4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1362-0436

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 September 2020

Monideepa B. Becerra, Devin Arias, Leah Cha and Benjamin J. Becerra

The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of low self-esteem among college students and how exogenous and endogenous factors, such as experiences of discrimination…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of low self-esteem among college students and how exogenous and endogenous factors, such as experiences of discrimination and psychological distress, respectively, impact such an outcome.

Design/methodology/approach

General education courses were used to conduct a quantitative cross-sectional study among undergraduate college students. The primary outcome variable of interest in this study was self-esteem, which was measured using the Rosenburg’s self-esteem scale. Primary independent variable was psychological distress (measured using Kessler 6 scale). Discrimination experiences were measured using the Everyday Discrimination Scale (EDS). Descriptive, bivariate and multiple linear regressions were conducted to find associations among such variables.

Findings

Among 308 young adults in this study, psychological distress was significantly related to low self-esteem (ß = −6.50, p < 0.001). In addition, increasing EDS score (ß = −0.37, p = 0.019) and women gender (ß = −1.29, p = 0.038) were also associated with low self-esteem.

Research limitations/implications

The study was cross-sectional and thus cannot provide causal relationship. The self-reported data is susceptible to recall bias. College students continue to face negative social experiences that impact their self-esteem, and discrimination plays a substantial role.

Practical implications

Gender-specific self-esteem coaching is needed among college students with psychological distress and among those with experiences of discrimination.

Social implications

The results of the current study provide information for understanding the role of discrimination and psychological well-being on self-esteem of college students, and thus further address the importance of social determinants of health and well-being.

Originality/value

This study provides a unique insight into the disparities faced by college students. Understanding self-esteem at the individualistic and collectivistic levels will allow for the planning and implementation of comprehensive interventions that address gender differences and psychological distress that will increase the positive health outcomes and decrease the negative health outcomes.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 February 2015

Devin Ellsworth, Jenny Ernst and Anastasia Snelling

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of a nutrition-education intervention delivered at low-income middle schools in Washington, DC in the USA, using a mobile…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of a nutrition-education intervention delivered at low-income middle schools in Washington, DC in the USA, using a mobile farmers’ market to bring hands-on lessons to schools. The program was a partnership between a local farm and university and was funded by the United States Department for Agriculture (USDA) Team Nutrition grant.

Design/methodology/approach

Seven low-income middle schools received the intervention, which included 45-minute lessons focussed on nutrition education and sustainable farming concepts. The farmers’ market was delivered via a converted school bus, allowing for full market setup at each school to provide local fruits and vegetables as teaching tools. The nutrition-education lesson focussed on the USDA MyPlate and healthy meal planning. The farm education component focussed on organic farming principles, sustainability of local food systems, and seasonality. A six question pre- and post-survey was administered to 408 participating middle school students to assess changes in knowledge.

Findings

Overall, average scores increased from 51 to 58 percent. Nutrition knowledge questions increased from 58 to 74 percent, while agriculture questions remained constant at 43 percent. Both increases significant using a two-sample t-test (p<0.001). This suggests that students gained more nutrition education concepts in this format as compared to the agricultural concepts.

Originality/value

Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic that affects low-income communities disproportionally. Innovative strategies must be implemented to increase healthy food consumption. This case study presents such an approach and its value in increasing student knowledge of healthy behavior.

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