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The purpose of this paper is to measure prevalence and predictors of mobile phone access and use among adolescents in Soweto, South Africa.

The current study was an interviewer-administered, cross-sectional survey among adolescents 14-19 years living in a hyper-endemic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) setting in South Africa.

Of 830 participants; 57 per cent were female. The median age was 18 years (IQR: 17-18). Mobile phone access was high (91 per cent). Almost half of participants (42 per cent) spent more than five hours daily using their mobile phones. Two-thirds (62 per cent) had access to the internet, most (84 per cent) accessed the internet via their mobile phones. Mobile phone access was more likely amongst Sotho language speakers (aOR: 2.87, 95 per cent CI: 1.30-6.36), those living in formal housing (aOR: 3.55, 95 per cent CI: 1.97-6.42) and those who reported heterosexual orientation (aOR: 2.37, CI: 1.35-4.16).

This study substantially contributes to the literature about mobile phones usage and patterns among school-going adolescents in Soweto, South Africa.

The civil war prompted many Tamils to flee Sri Lanka as refugees. Several researchers have documented psychological distress and trauma among Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, but the literature lacks sufficient discussion of resilience among this population. Although Sri Lankan Tamil refugees have experienced conflict and loss, they have also demonstrated positive adaptation following these challenges. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The present study used an ecological approach, in which the effect of the environment on a person is regarded as significant, to explore resilience among Sri Lankan Tamils living in refugee camps in India.

Through a qualitative investigation of refugee experiences of war and camp life, the authors developed a conceptual framework for understanding individual and collective resilience among refugees.

Additionally, the results of this study need to be interpreted with caution because participants were camp refugees, which may limit the applicability of these results with refugees who live in different settings.

The current research results show that intervention programs should have multiple components, including trauma intervention to address the individual and community psychological and psychiatric effects of war and migration experiences and psychosocial interventions to address individual, family, community dynamics and daily stressors.

The study participants stated that Sri Lankan Tamil refugees are using their resilience traits including will power, positive talk, practical solutions, social support, religion and social networks to remake their broken souls.

Future studies need to be conducted with other refugee group to validate the findings of the paper.

This book offers theoretical frameworks and results of hundreds of empirical studies designed to investigate aspects of social identity dimensions of difference. Part I provides a foundation for examining social identity by defining it in terms of systems of power and hegemony, offering discussion of relationships between researchers and their participants (or, employees), and focusing on an ever-expanding literature which addresses the many ways that social identity dimensions overlap and intersect for individuals. Part II offers in-depth looks at specific social identity dimensions of culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, social class, physical and psychological ability, and faith/spirituality. As the final installment, Chapter 12 summarizes the book’s major themes. The message speaks to human resources and diversity managers in organizations as well as researchers; encouraging them to actively disassemble homogeneity at the top of organizations and to support enabling of all humans to reach their full human potential across organizations and in all social realms. Promoting and enabling social identity difference throughout organizations is no easy task due to multiple challenges. Indeed, incremental gains and small wins mean moving forward; the right direction.

This chapter proposes a comparative analysis of the monetary policies undertaken by the Federal Reserve Board and the European Central Bank after the 2008 subprime crisis. We point out the twin nature of the financial crises in Europe in comparison with the US crises: in addition to the role of bank funding, the euro area countries have also experienced a structural problem of balance of payment disequilibria. This explains why in the early stages of the subprime crisis, the Fed has succeeded in tackling the illiquidity problems facing the banking sector, while the ECB did not. The Fed could then focus on tackling the recession in the real sector by adopting quantitative easing policies to exert downward pressure on the long-term interest-rate. In the euro area quantitative easing policies came later, in 2013. Even the forward guidance policies have been different between the two central banks. Unlike the ECB, the Fed has gone through diverse forward guidance policies: qualitative, calendar-based, and state-contingent. The chapter proposes a new survey of the monetary policies after the subprime crisis by comparing two strategies in different contexts: the United States and the euro area.

The study aims to highlight and understand, and bring the human agency into the debate on the theory of normative control. While, the previous literature has highlighted the problem of the missing subject. However, the actual human agency in terms of agential properties has not been seriously addressed. This study is an attempt to overcome this problem of the missing subject.

A two-phase design inspired by retroductive inference was adopted for this study. In the first phase, abduction was used to explore the literature on normative control to highlight the forces of attraction, which may pull the employees to participate willingly within normative control systems. In the second phase, following retroductive inference, agential explanations of the forces of attraction identified in the first phase were explored by venturing into other related fields, e.g. psychology and sociology.

The study highlights four strategies used by organizations using normative control, i.e. comfort zoning, relational bonding, moral trapping and elitist appeal. These strategies rely on attractive forces. These forces of attraction pull employees to participate in the normative control system. The attractive element in the identified strategies is due to the fact that these strategies target specific agential properties, i.e. the need for comfort, sense of belonging, moral agency and pride. Overall, the findings suggest that individuals drive their concerns from culture but in relation to their capacity as needy beings for being enculturated.

Theoretically, this study adds conceptual strength to the explanations of normative control. It is suggested that neglect of human agency renders explanations conceptually weak. The study fills this gap in the research. Practically, this study would be beneficial for better design and implementation of normative control. Several studies have pointed out that normative control does not yield the intended results. Out of many reasons, a lack of understanding of human agency is a major cause of unsuccessful attempts to normatively control employees. This study provides some basis to understand the human subject for better design of soft systems of control.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research study that explores agential properties with reference to normative control systems. This study is important for researchers and practitioners.

Development of legitimate teaching cases demands cases be factual, that is that they use “real people, real companies, real situations,” and, usually, present time. Rarely, do cases deal with historical happenings in which lives, as well as fortunes, could be lost to achieve desired ends. History provides rich material on which to build teaching cases with the added advantage of acquainting students with the past and the influence the past has in shaping the future. Answers to the question of “Why use historical teaching cases” are related to the more general question of “Why study history.” Both questions are addressed.

This article draws on the literature on valuation and evaluation and the orders of worth framework to consider the process of knowledge commercialization from academia to practice. Based on the study of two knowledge commercialization projects in a business school, the study contributes by showing how the orders of worth framework may assist in understanding the assignment of worth to knowledge-based objects in the context of multiple and potentially competing systems of valuation. The study also adds to the literature on the orders of worth framework by showing how “composite objects” or “assemblages” that achieve compromise or synergy (i.e., mutual reinforcement) between different value systems may be constructed and potentially sustained.

Under the British Government’s current plan, the devolution of authority for civil service pay will be complete in 1996, with all departments and agencies receiving control over the pay of their employees. The process of pay delegation began some years ago with selected Next Steps executive agencies. What lessons does the progress of the Conservative administration’s pay reform programme hold for the future? In examining the success that the government has had so far with delegation of pay to executive agencies, centres on primary research involving a postal survey of executive agencies and in‐depth interviews with several agency human resources directors. Provides an insight into the shape that pay reform is likely to take as further devolution occurs. Reform is unlikely to be either as rapid, coherent or concerted as the government would like. Concludes that while there is little question that change is occurring, its pace has not kept up with the government’s deadlines, and its form is only partially in line with the government’s stated objectives. Identifies several factors explaining the slow progress, most importantly: the internal inconsistencies among the government’s pay reform objectives; the uncertain environment in which many agencies are operating; agencies’ lack of resources; and a failure to take account of the institutional context.