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Article
Publication date: 9 June 2021

Janet Davey, Eldrede Kahiya, Jayne Krisjanous and Lucy Sulzberger

While service inclusion principles raise the awareness of scholars to service that improves holistic well-being, little research explicitly investigates the spiritual dimensions…

Abstract

Purpose

While service inclusion principles raise the awareness of scholars to service that improves holistic well-being, little research explicitly investigates the spiritual dimensions of service inclusion. This study, therefore, aims to explore faith-based service inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative case study of the Salvation Army’s Chikankata Services in Zambia was undertaken. Semi-structured interviews with the organization’s leaders and professionals were analyzed thematically.

Findings

Service inclusion pillars evince contextualized meaning and priority. In resource-constrained, vulnerable communities, faith-based service inclusion prioritizes two additional pillars – “fostering eudaimonic well-being” and “giving hope,” where existence is precarious, fostering (hedonic) happiness is of low priority. Findings reveal that pillars and processes are mutually reinforcing, harnessed by the individual and collective agency to realize transformative outcomes from service inclusion.

Research limitations/implications

This paper provides unique insight into faith-based service inclusion but acknowledges limitations and areas warranting further research.

Practical implications

The study yields important managerial implications. Service providers can use the framework to identify the contextual priority and/or meaning of service inclusion pillars and relevant reciprocal processes. The framework emphasizes the harnessing potential of individual agency and capability development for transformative well-being.

Social implications

Faith-based service inclusion, predicated on inclusion, human dignity and holistic well-being, has important implications for reducing the burden on scarce resources while building resilience in communities.

Originality/value

By examining a faith-based service in sub-Saharan Africa, this paper provides a holistic framework conceptualizing pillars, processes, agency and outcomes to extend Fisk et al.’s (2018) service inclusion pillars and to better understand the shaping of service delivery for service inclusion.

Article
Publication date: 1 November 2003

Brian Gran

Charitable Choice Policy, the heart of President Bush’s Faith‐Based Initiative, is the direct government funding of religious organizations for the purpose of carrying out…

Abstract

Charitable Choice Policy, the heart of President Bush’s Faith‐Based Initiative, is the direct government funding of religious organizations for the purpose of carrying out government programs. The Bush presidential administration has called for the application of Charitable Choice Policy to all kinds of social services. Advocates for child‐abuse victims contend that the Bush Charitable Choice Policy would further dismantle essential social services provided to abused children. Others have argued Charitable Choice Policy is unconstitutional because it crosses the boundary separating church and state. Rather than drastically altering the US social‐policy landscape, this paper demonstrates that the Bush Charitable Choice Policy already is in place for childabuse services across many of the fifty states. One reason this phenomenon is ignored is due to the reliance on the public‐private dichotomy for studying social policies and services. This paper contends that relying on the public‐private dichotomy leads researchers to overlook important configurations of actors and institutions that provide services to abused children. It offers an alternate framework to the public‐private dichotomy useful for the analysis of social policy in general and, in particular, Charitable Choice Policy affecting services to abused children. Employing a new methodological approach, fuzzy‐sets analysis, demonstrates the degree to which social services for abused children match ideal types. It suggests relationships between religious organizations and governments are essential to the provision of services to abused children in the United States. Given the direction in which the Bush Charitable Choice Policy will push social‐policy programs, scholars should ask whether abused children will be placed in circumstances that other social groups will not and why.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 23 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 July 2021

Abdullahi A. Shuaib and M. Sohail

This study aims to examine the role of Islamic social finance (ISF) instruments such as Zakah, Sadaqah and Waqf in the provision of social services by Islamic faith-based

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the role of Islamic social finance (ISF) instruments such as Zakah, Sadaqah and Waqf in the provision of social services by Islamic faith-based organizations (IFBOs) in Southwest Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts exploratory approach based on field interviews conducted with leaders of IFBOs, whereas purposive sampling technique was used to select three case study organizations. Data collected from interviews and documents of case study organizations was analyzed using content and narrative analyses.

Findings

The first findings indicate faith in the Unseen God, scriptural texts and socio-economic factors as major motivation that accounted for the IFBOs’ concern for social services. The second finding shows that the ISF strategies used by the IFBOs to improve access to social services include Zakah, Awqaf, Sadaqah and gifts. The third finding reveals that the IFBOs have efficient stand-alone and windows operational structures that align with IFBOs corporate governance. The fourth finding also reveals the challenges facing the IFBOs such as inadequate funding, dearth of manpower, lukewarm and uncooperative attitude of Muslims and attitudinal behaviour of givers and takers.

Research limitations/implications

Absence of documented directory about the role IFBOs usage of ISF in providing social services in Southwest Nigeria affected the study. Many IFBOs were eliminated during the process of selection because of lack of records to indicate their social services relevant to the study. As such, information that could have been collected from the eliminated IFBOs could have contributed significantly to the study.

Practical implications

The major implications of the study are that ISF has been reinvented as an ethical social welfare framework for supporting the disadvantaged members of the society with ISF instruments and also highlighted the dichotomy existing between IFBOs in the North and Southwest Nigeria with respect to the legal and operational activities of IFBOs usage of ISF.

Originality/value

This study has contributed to a better understanding of the role of ISF instruments in the provision of social services in an area that is largely under-researched in Nigeria.

Details

International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, vol. 15 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8394

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2017

Madeleine Power, Neil Small, Bob Doherty, Barbara Stewart-Knox and Kate E. Pickett

This paper uses data from a city with a multi-ethnic, multi-faith population to better understand faith-based food aid. The paper aims to understand what constitutes faith-based

Abstract

Purpose

This paper uses data from a city with a multi-ethnic, multi-faith population to better understand faith-based food aid. The paper aims to understand what constitutes faith-based responses to food insecurity, compare the prevalence and nature of faith-based food aid across different religions and explore how community food aid meets the needs of a multi-ethnic, multi-faith population.

Design/methodology/approach

The study involved two phases of primary research. In Phase 1, desk-based research and dialogue with stakeholders in local food security programmes were used to identify faith-based responses to food insecurity. Phase 2 consisted of 18 semi-structured interviews involving faith-based and secular charitable food aid organizations.

Findings

The paper illustrates the internal heterogeneity of faith-based food aid. Faith-based food aid is highly prevalent and the vast majority is Christian. Doctrine is a key motivation among Christian organizations for their provision of food. The fact that the clients at faith-based, particularly Christian, food aid did not reflect the local religious demographic is a cause for concern in light of the entry-barriers identified. This concern is heightened by the co-option of faith-based organizations by the state as part of the “Big Society” agenda.

Originality/value

This is the first academic study in the UK to look at the faith-based arrangements of Christian and Muslim food aid providers, to set out what it means to provide faith-based food aid in the UK and to explore how faith-based food aid interacts with people of other religions and no religion.

Details

Social Enterprise Journal, vol. 13 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-8614

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2021

Avraam Papastathopoulos, Christos Koritos and Charilaos Mertzanis

For more than 40 years, researchers have examined an exhaustive set of attributes as price determinants in tourism and hospitality. In extending this rich research stream, this…

Abstract

Purpose

For more than 40 years, researchers have examined an exhaustive set of attributes as price determinants in tourism and hospitality. In extending this rich research stream, this study aims to propose and empirically assess a new set of hotel attributes, namely, faith-based attributes that allow tourists to continue following the activities and rituals guided by their religions while on vacation.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the Bayesian quantile regression for the first time in the field of hotel pricing, the hedonic pricing models examine both internal and external faith-based attributes, namely, halal services, which cater to the needs of Muslim tourists, in a sample of 805 hotels across the top three non-Muslim country destinations (Singapore, Thailand and Japan).

Findings

By exploring the effects of faith-based (halal) attributes available in hotels located in the biggest cities of the above-mentioned destinations, this study provides evidence for the significant role of faith-based (halal) attributes in determining hospitality prices.

Practical implications

This study’s findings offer a resource for several implications for tourism and hospitality scholars, practitioners and policymakers, especially within the field of Muslim/halal tourism, to develop action plans and strategies.

Originality/value

This study is the first to introduce a novel set of faith-based hospitality attributes and empirically assess their impact on hospitality price formation. Additionally, it contributes to the hedonic pricing method by being the first to use the Bayesian quantile regression.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 33 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 19 May 2008

Ronald L. Akers, Jodi Lane and Lonn Lanza-Kaduce

This chapter focuses on restorative/rehabilitative faith-based programs, in particular, a youth mentoring program conducted by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. We begin…

Abstract

This chapter focuses on restorative/rehabilitative faith-based programs, in particular, a youth mentoring program conducted by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. We begin with a brief description of a faith- and community-based juvenile mentoring program of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (which we are in the process of evaluating) intended to provide community reintegration and restoration of adjudicated delinquents released from state juvenile correctional facilities. Then we move to the overlapping theoretical, philosophical, and empirical backgrounds of restorative justice, faith-based rehabilitative/restorative, and mentoring programs. We conclude with a review of programmatic and empirical issues in faith-based mentoring programs.

Details

Restorative Justice: from Theory to Practice
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1455-3

Article
Publication date: 13 June 2017

John Frame

Faith-based organisations (FBOs) and secular NGOs provide important services to victims of trafficking, exploitation, and those involved in sex work, yet comparative analysis of…

Abstract

Purpose

Faith-based organisations (FBOs) and secular NGOs provide important services to victims of trafficking, exploitation, and those involved in sex work, yet comparative analysis of their approaches to care has lacked attention in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine these two types of organisations, exploring the extent to which faith influences the ways FBOs work with their clients.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 41 interviews were conducted with leaders of 13 Christian FBOs and 12 secular NGOs in Cambodia, and organisational mission statements were reviewed. An input-output conceptual model was used as a framework to gather and analyse data.

Findings

While all FBOs maintained a high regard for their clients’ spiritual needs and operated with a faith-related approach to care, secular NGOs also, at times, included culturally embedded religious elements into their programming. The nature of FBOs’ faith-related programming, however, clearly distinguished these organisations from their secular counterparts. Despite such distinctions, similarities were maintained among both types of organisations in the behavioural or recovery outcomes they sought in their clients.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations include the study’s focus on organisations that serve a specific clientele in one development context. Research implications include the study pointing to the necessity of acknowledging the development context as critical to the ways in which religion may or may not influence the approaches to care of both FBOs and secular NGOs. The paper also contributes insight into the relationship between the non-resource input of faith, and services provided by FBOs.

Practical implications

Given that both types of organisations sought change in their clients, practitioners should ensure that their organisational approaches to care are conducive to the outcomes they seek. Though organisational policy may stipulate that clients are free to choose whether or not to participate in faith-related programming, FBOs should always ensure a care environment in which clients feel free not to participate in such programming.

Originality/value

Though FBOs and secular NGOs sought many similar behavioural or recovery outcomes from their clients, the development context in which these organisations worked – unlike some other contexts – and the role of faith “infusing” FBOs, led to clear, observable differences in their approaches to care. The study highlights the importance of taking into account these factors when seeking to decipher differences that may or may not exist between faith-based and secular non-state social policy actors.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 37 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2012

Gilbert A. Jacobs and James A. Polito

The results from this qualitative study suggest that CEOs of Faith-Based Nonprofit Organizations (FBNPOs) define and measure their organization's effectiveness primarily based on…

Abstract

The results from this qualitative study suggest that CEOs of Faith-Based Nonprofit Organizations (FBNPOs) define and measure their organization's effectiveness primarily based on the outcomes achieved in meeting the immediate needs of their clients and in resolving root causes to those needs. Other indicators of organizational effectiveness- including financial reports, amount of services provided, client satisfaction, stake holder support and perceptions -were also used by the CEOs of FBNPOs to measure organizational effectiveness. The findings indicate that faith is the source of “why” and “how” these FBNPOs conduct their activities. Measuring the impact faith has on those whom they serve varies among the FBNPOs in this study along a continuum of not being measured to being intentionally measured.

Details

International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, vol. 15 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1093-4537

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2005

Faye Hall Jackson, Rachana Dinkar and Agnes DeFranco

This paper documents the effort of an urban university working collectively with a faith‐based organization, industry partners and the government to better the livelihood of…

1920

Abstract

Purpose

This paper documents the effort of an urban university working collectively with a faith‐based organization, industry partners and the government to better the livelihood of individuals in a community.

Design/methodology/approach

Conceptual paper that reviews current literature and applies it to a case study model.

Findings

This conceptual writing offers strategies for group success through discussions of goal setting, benefit articulation, necessary infrastructure, curriculum development, and concludes with an outline of a true case study.

Practical implications

Collaborative efforts of higher education, faith‐based organizations, government, and industry can work together to establish programs whose intent is to provide educational and training opportunities to at‐risk populations.

Originality/value

The value of the paper is in the coordination of resources to provide a service deliverable that will benefit the larger community.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 17 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2002

Richard L. Wood and Mark R. Warren

Questions whether, in the USA, faith‐based communities can have an important effect on politics. Contends that other areas, where there are poorer communities, are more likely to…

Abstract

Questions whether, in the USA, faith‐based communities can have an important effect on politics. Contends that other areas, where there are poorer communities, are more likely to be influenced politically in civil society although does not preclude other income sectors from being similarly affected just that deprived areas are more likely to listen to faith‐based organizers.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 22 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

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