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There is substantial research on the experiences, needs and well-being of unaccompanied refugee adolescents, but less is known about existential aspects of their lives. The purpose of the current study is to explore existential meaning-making among unaccompanied refugee children.

The informants in this study are young unaccompanied refugees (n = 30) living in Norway, and young Norwegians (n = 46). The authors undertook a secondary analysis of in-depth qualitative refugee interview data and a quantitative analysis of questionnaire data from Norwegian informants.

Both the refugee youths and the Norwegian youths expressed that social relationships and connections to others were most important for meaning. Moreover, both groups emphasized the importance of relatedness and generativity, i. e. commitment to worldly affairs beyond one’s immediate needs. The main differences between the two groups were related to the significance attached to religion and to loneliness.

The comparison between the two groups is only possible to some degree. Secondary analyses have some limitations, as well as strengths.

The findings may be useful for supporting young refugees, as they provide insights into less-studied aspects of their lives.

The originality of this study lies in the focus on and broad interpretation of meaning, of secondary data analyses, and of comparisons between youths that are refugees versus non-refugees.

This study aims to analyse how top-level policymakers across the political left-right spectrum in a social-democratic welfare state understand social enterprise (SE), its relation to existing welfare institutions and their intentions of policymaking towards SE.

This study conducted in-depth interviews explicitly focused on SE with policymakers at the national level in Norway. The informants collectively represented most political parties in Norway’s Parliament in 2017–2021. Data were analysed using a historical institutional perspective.

Centre-right wing policymakers predominantly consider SE as commercial enterprises not requiring specific policies. Left wing policymakers prefer that SEs operate like voluntary organizations and advocate policies preventing extraction of profit and competition with public service providers. Hence, policymakers positioned SE within an overarching political debate on the privatization of welfare services. They expressed little interest in developing policies aimed at strengthening SE opportunity structures.

Policy inaction impedes recognition of SEs as different from commercial and voluntary organizations, as well as their ability to compete for tenders. Thus, SE will likely remain a rather marginal phenomenon in Norway. Further research is needed to establish whether and how Norway’s universal welfare state inhibits social entrepreneurship on the society-wide level.

This article details how SE is understood within a social democratic welfare regime and the likely consequences thereof for SEs. It contributes with new knowledge of why policymakers may be reluctant to develop policy dedicated to further SE, across different political party affiliations. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study in Norway to analyse how existing institutions and political controversies influence how policymakers at the national level approach SE.

The learning region has over the years become popular as a concept to portray and analyse subnational geographic entities heading for future growth and well-being. Claiming analytic and political relevance, the concept nevertheless retains much unclarified ideological content.

This study traces its roots to varieties of heterodox economic thinking where it has gained a prominent place.

While being strong on the value of different kinds of knowledge to economic development, the concept has a much weaker grip on the cultural rationales for knowledge and learning.

Thus, the study concludes with a need for a cultural reorientation to take place if the concept is going to retain its significance in the future academically as politically.

This study aims to examine the awareness of the inhabitants regarding energy consumption in relation to comfort in Tlemcen and analyze the paths of influence and the effects of individual objective and subjective characteristic factors. This determines the factors' level of perception of the importance of energy retrofitting.

As part of an exploratory empirical study, this paper further discusses accompanied survey data from a sample of 208 properties, through a triangulation of in-depth qualitative studies and quantitative studies developed and analyzed by SPSS software (the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences).

Analysis of the results of the survey shows that the respondents have a level of awareness on comfort linked to energy savings but they lack guidance and recourse to specialists. The conclusion is that resident awareness is crucial and beneficial and that the key socio-demographic characteristics to determine the perception factors are related to age, occupation, household size and time lived in the house.

By exploring some of the key insights from the survey, this research improves residents' perception of the importance of energy retrofitting in the residential sector, highlighting the importance of priorities. This influences public attitudes and contributes to raising awareness in order to provide useful results for developing, in future studies, motivational strategies for these inhabitants. The present research is expected to add value to existing studies academically and methodologically and provide policy guidance to policy makers and other energy efficiency (EE) practitioners in the Maghreb region and beyond.

This story crosses two continents and takes place in Russia and the United States. It is unique as it follows my emotional responses to events that took place first, during my childhood and later, during transformational and volatile periods in the history of Russia. Simultaneously, the story should resonate with any woman who experienced adversity, was rerouted from her native place, had to witness collective upheavals of her people, and came to realize a strong connection between her experiences and her leadership path. This is the story of a bicultural woman’s courage, hope, and resilience.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to reveal the relationship between perceived bullying and the features of a favourable working environment; and second, to indicate bullying factors that especially worsen the working environment and working environment factors that contribute to the bullying experiences.

In Spring 2014, 864 staff members—including teachers, researchers, administrators, project workers and service staff—from nine Estonian universities answered an e-mail questionnaire.

It was revealed that “professional understating”, “unreasonable work-related demands” and “work-related malpractice” are forms of bullying that negatively affect the working atmosphere. “Appreciation”, “vertical trust”, “predictability” and “quality of leadership” are working environment factors that contribute to the experiences of bullying. Experiences of “professional understating” seem to reduce feelings related to all features of a favourable working atmosphere. A lack of “appreciation” appears to be a key environment feature that also plays a role in workplace bullying.

In Estonian universities, first, “professional understating” negatively affects the feelings of “appreciation”; in contrast, a lack of “appreciation” contributes to feelings of “professional understating”. Second, “unreasonable work-related demands” is a sign of a shortage of “vertical trust” and the opposite of “trust” between management and employees, which obviously decreases perceived “workload”. The present results can be applied in at least three contexts: cultural and institutional studies, leadership practices and personal work control.

The detailed examination showed that it is possible to reveal certain bullying factors that specifically affect certain environment factors and find out particular working environment features that contribute specifically to certain kinds of bullying.

A growing body of research with contributions from different parts of the world documents accounts and analyses of negative behaviors by persons in leadership positions. Researchers today are acknowledging and paying increasing attention to the consequences of leadership that is characterized as being destructive. The chapter outlines organizational outcomes of destructive leadership and aims to emphasize the person–situation interaction in explaining these organizational phenomena. Both the direct outcomes that result from poor decision-making and the indirect effects that emerge as a consequence of the destructive leader's negative impact on the followers are discussed.

This research analyses challenges faced by users at various levels in planning and designing participatory simulation models of cities. It aims to identify issues that hinder experts from maximising the effectiveness of the SUMO tool. Additionally, evaluating current methods highlights their strengths and weaknesses, facilitating the use of participatory simulation advantages to address these issues. Finally, the presented case studies illustrate the diversity of user groups and emphasise the need for further development of blueprints.

In this research, action research was used to assess and improve a step-by-step guideline. The guideline's conceptual design is based on stakeholder analysis results from those involved in developing urban logistics scenarios and feedback from potential users. A two-round process of application and refinement was conducted to evaluate and enhance the guideline's initial version.

The guidelines still demand an advanced skill level in simulation modelling, rendering them less effective for the intended audience. However, they have proven beneficial in a simulation course for students, emphasising the importance of developing accurate conceptual models and the need for careful implementation.

This paper introduces a step-by-step guideline designed to tackle challenges in modelling urban logistics scenarios using SUMO simulation software. The guideline's effectiveness was tested and enhanced through experiments involving diverse groups of students, varying in their experience with simulation modelling. This approach demonstrates the guideline's applicability and adaptability across different skill levels.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived effects between soft management practices, employee behaviours and the implementation of digital technologies in manufacturing plants, as well as how these relate to the emergence of digital waste.

This paper uses case-based research. Data was collected in two large manufacturing companies based in Norway and Sweden through semi-structured interviews with two management representatives and four shop-floor employees. The data was used to evaluate 29 variables describing lean- and total quality management (TQM)-associated employee behaviours and soft management practices, in light of digital transformation.

The results suggest that several variables were positively influenced by the digital transformation process. These were top management leadership, middle management involvement, employee education, corporate social responsibility focus, innovation, knowledge sharing, work-family balance, psychological capital, job satisfaction and career commitment. Training employees, creativity, discretionary effort, turnover intention and proactivity appear to be negatively influenced by digital transformation The findings also indicate that several soft management practices and employee behaviours were not only influenced by manufacturing digitalization but also themselves influenced the process. The potential for digital waste creation was also detected in several variables, including reward and recognition and training employees.

Managers, practitioners and academics may learn about the importance of certain managerial practices and employees’ behavioural needs during the digital transformation process. The findings may help in prioritizing TQM and soft lean management practices and certain employee behaviours during the digital transformation and in creating awareness of digital waste.

This study builds on several existing studies discussing the impact of digital transformation on soft management practices and employee behaviours. It provides insights from a lean and TQM angle and offers a means of prioritizing certain practices and behaviours during a digital transformation. This study also highlights the significance of digital waste.

The purpose of this study is to the address the key factors of workplace bullying among hospitality employees, as workplace bullying results in damaging consequences on both individuals and organizations.

This study first defines the phenomenon of workplace bullying and then reviews the related literature. Data are collected from a sample population of 238 hospitality employees obtained from the latest European Working Conditions Survey. Logistic regression analysis is used to achieve the study objectives.

Results from the binary logistic regression model show the main personal and organizational factors related to the probability of workplace bullying. The logistic regression model explains 76.4 per cent of the total variations in the sample. The model correctly classifies 78.1 per cent of hospitality employees who did not feel bullied in their profession and 74.1 per cent of employees who did feel bullied.

The authors’ findings imply that responsible managers in hospitality enterprises may reduce the organizational levels of workplace bullying by adjusting certain working conditions and establishing a supportive environment.

Studies on personalities inclined to bullying are inconclusive. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to develop a comprehensive and exploratory conceptual model of workplace bullying that links personal variables, working conditions and contextual factors to the prevalence of workplace bullying within the hospitality sector in the European context.