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1 – 10 of 29In this chapter, rephrasing Spivak's question into ‘can subaltern children speak?’, I reorient the research on China's gigantic population of children and youths in rural migrant…
Abstract
In this chapter, rephrasing Spivak's question into ‘can subaltern children speak?’, I reorient the research on China's gigantic population of children and youths in rural migrant families towards a critical interpretative approach. Based on life history and longitudinal ethnographic interview gathered with three cases, I unpack the multiple meanings migrants' children attach to mobility in their childhood experiences. First, despite emotional difficulties, children see their parents' out-migration more as a ‘mobility imperative’ than their abandonment of parental responsibilities, which should be contextualized in China's long-term urban-biased social policies and the resultant development gaps in rural and urban societies. Second, the seemingly ‘unstable’ and ‘flexible’ mobility patterns observed in migrant families should be understood in relation to a long-term family social mobility strategy to promote children's educational achievement and future attainment. The combination of absent class politics in an illiberal society with an enduring ideology of education-based meritocracy in Confucianism makes this strategy a culturally legitimate channel of social struggle for recognition and respect for the subaltern. Last, children in migrant families are active contributors to their families' everyday organization amidst mobilities through sharing care and household responsibilities, and developing temporal and mobility strategies to keep alive intergenerational exchanges and family togetherness. The study uncovers coexisting resilience and vulnerabilities of migrants' children in their ‘doing class’ in contemporary China. It also contributes insights into our understanding of the diversity of childhoods in Asian societies at the intersection of familyhood, class dynamics and cultural politics.
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Prem Chhetri, Thomas Ombati, Melissa Shahrom, Kan Tsui and Naima Saeed
Thailand has seen waves of youth-led protests over the past three years. Pro-democracy youth activists have vociferously criticised authority figures: teachers, parents and…
Abstract
Thailand has seen waves of youth-led protests over the past three years. Pro-democracy youth activists have vociferously criticised authority figures: teachers, parents and political leaders, especially the king. Drawing on vignettes assembled over a 14-year ethnographic work with young people in Thailand, as well as on current research on youth (online and offline) activism in Bangkok, I examine the multi-layered meaning of kinship in Thai society. The chapter reveals the political nature of childhood and parenthood as entangled modes of governance that come into being with other, both local and international cultural entities. I argue that Thai youth activists are attempting to rework dominant tropes that sustain “age-patriarchy” in the Buddhist kingdom. Their “engaged siblinghood” aims to reframe Thailand's generational order, refuting the moral principles that establish citizens' political subordination to monarchical paternalism and, relatedly, children's unquestionable respect to parents. As I show, Thai youth activists are doing so by engaging creatively with transnational discourses such as “democracy” and “children's rights,” while simultaneously drawing on K-pop icons, Japanese manga and Buddhist astrology. In articulating their dissent, these youths are thus bearers of a “bottom-up cosmopolitanism” that channels culturally hybrid, and politically subversive notions of childhood and citizenship in Southeast Asia's cyberspace and beyond. Whatever the outcome of their commitment, Thai youth activism signals the cultural disarticulation of the mytheme of the Father in Thailand, as well as the growing political influence of younger generations in the region.
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Neelam Qasim, Muhammad Arshad, Omer Farooq and Rabeeya Raoof
This study aims to investigate the effect of differentiated empowering leadership on employees’ depression. Using the behavioral theory of depression, this study further explores…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the effect of differentiated empowering leadership on employees’ depression. Using the behavioral theory of depression, this study further explores the simultaneous moderation of gender and employees’ envy on the relationship between such leadership and employees’ depression.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using two surveys conducted with a time lag of one week. In Time 1, data on differentiated empowering leadership and employees’ envy were collected. After a week, data on employees’ depression were collected. Model testing was conducted using data on a sample of 420 employees from 87 departments in 27 service sector organizations in Pakistan. Hypotheses were tested using the structural equation modeling technique in Mplus.
Findings
Results indicate that perceived differentiated empowering leadership positively affects employees’ depression. In addition, this positive effect is further moderated by employees’ envy and gender simultaneously, such that this effect is weakest among the male individuals who feel low envy, whereas, for highly envious females, this effect is strongest.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effect of differentiated empowering leadership on employees’ depression along with the moderation of employees’ envy and gender. Furthermore, this study provides some policy implications based on its findings to decrease employees’ depression.
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Lisa Hansson, Claus Hedegaard Sørensen and Tom Rye
A general global wave of public participation is occurring. Students and researchers as well as civil servants, policy-makers, and NGO representatives are encouraged to study…
Abstract
A general global wave of public participation is occurring. Students and researchers as well as civil servants, policy-makers, and NGO representatives are encouraged to study, propose, and engage in public participation. New innovative forms of participation are suggested, and experiments in participation are ongoing locally and nationally. Within the transport sector, most studies of participation focus on road infrastructure and other land use changes. However, for other areas within transport, studies are limited and fragmented. Based on this, we see a need for a volume on public participation in transport, aimed at practitioners, students, and researchers, in what are unarguably times of change. The overall aim of the volume is to provide examples of different forms of public participation in transport, which can work as a setting for further analyses and discussions of public participation in transport. Drawing on different cases, eight empirical chapters are presented covering three main themes: grass-roots participation initiatives, participation in unconventional areas, and public participation that throws up unexpected results. In this introductory chapter, we set the scene for later discussions and analyses of public participation in transport. This chapter also provides an overview of the structure and content of the volume.
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Jakob Müllner, Igor Filatotchev and Thomas Lindner
The purpose of this paper is to bridge the disciplinary divide between international finance and international business (IB) to realign academic research with business reality in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to bridge the disciplinary divide between international finance and international business (IB) to realign academic research with business reality in which strategy and finance align to determine firms’ success or failures.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors discuss theoretical differences between the fields of international finance and IB strategy that caused the fields to develop in isolation with little fertilization across disciplines. The authors review scarce interdisciplinary contributions between the fields. Finally, the authors identify complementarities that suggest fruitful avenues for future research.
Findings
The authors find a persistent disconnect between finance and strategy/IB literature that can be explained by fundamentally different aims and assumptions about the markets. While finance theory seeks to explain typical effects under functioning markets, strategy and IB theories focus inherently on exceptional effects and market inefficiencies.
Research limitations/implications
The fundamental theoretical differences that isolate finance and strategy/IB create avenues for interdisciplinary research that harness the complementarities of the two disciplines. These include strategic aspects of capital structure, internal capital market inefficiencies, corporate governance, capital market liability of foreignness and institutional aspects of financial management.
Practical implications
With this paper, the authors not only bring academic researchers in finance and strategy closer to corporate practice. The theoretical discussion also challenges the functional blind spots of practitioners and encourages more holistic decision-making.
Social implications
Challenging market functioning and recognizing market inefficiencies using strategy and IB foundations connects financial economics with non-market topics such as environment, society and governance or impact investing.
Originality/value
The value and originality of the paper come from the qualitative, epistemological approach to study and analyse the divide between international finance and strategy/IB scholarship.
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Cong Li, Gongxu Lan, Guitao Zhang, Peiyue Cheng, Yangyan Shi and Yangfei Gao
This paper aims to focus on corporate social responsibility in relation to economic policy uncertainty in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The following questions are addressed…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on corporate social responsibility in relation to economic policy uncertainty in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The following questions are addressed: How does policy uncertainty impact corporate M&A? Does social responsibility play a mediating role in this process? How does policy uncertainty affect corporate M&A through social responsibility?
Design/methodology/approach
This paper selects the major M&A events in China as the research object, and uses the Probit model to analyze the impact of policy uncertainty on M&A behavior and the business performance after the event, and further analyzes the internal mechanisms that cause these phenomena.
Findings
This paper shows that the higher the policy uncertainty, the lower the probability of a successful M&A, and the worse the business performance of the business after the event.
Originality/value
This paper provides useful reference for the study of M&A and social responsibility in different policy environments. At the same time, it provides direct empirical evidence to enhance the success rate of M&A.
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Nadia Aslam and Umar Farooq Sahibzada
The study seeks to propose a linear model by applying complexity theory and resource-based theory to investigate how hotels achieve competitive advantage and organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
The study seeks to propose a linear model by applying complexity theory and resource-based theory to investigate how hotels achieve competitive advantage and organizational performance during the Covid-19 pandemic from the perspective of hotel leaders.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a standardized questionnaire and convenience sampling approach hotel managers and administrative employees were surveyed online. A total of 354 participants from five provinces in China were examined using Smart PLS and fsQCA 3.0 for analysis. The utilization of the asymmetric method facilitates the elucidation of relationships that may not be readily apparent when employing conventional symmetric approaches.
Findings
The results display a significant impact of transformational leadership (TL) on market orientation (MO), competitive advantage (CA) and organizational performance (OP). The results show numerous combinations using fsQCA that can be utilized to increase OP within the hotel industry.
Originality/value
At present, there is a lack of substantial empirical evidence to comprehensively investigate the impact of TL on MO, CA and OP in the field of hospitality research specifically in the context of the Covid-19. The study also contributes by providing an explanation of the factors that contribute to the development of a higher organizational performance base through TL, MO and CA during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Parvathidevi A. and Naga Satish Kumar Ch
This study aims to assess the efficacy of thermal analysis of concrete slabs by including different insulation materials using ANSYS. Regression equations were proposed to predict…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the efficacy of thermal analysis of concrete slabs by including different insulation materials using ANSYS. Regression equations were proposed to predict the thermal conductivity using concrete density. As these simulation and regression analyses are essential tools in designing the thermal insulation concretes with various densities, they sequentially reduce the associated time, effort and cost.
Design/methodology/approach
Two grades of concretes were taken for thermal analysis. They were designed by replacing the natural fine aggregates with thermal insulation aggregates: expanded polystyrene, exfoliated vermiculite and light expanded clay. Density, temperature difference, specific heat capacity, thermal conductivity and time were measured by conducting experiments. This data was used to simulate concrete slabs in ANSYS. Regression analysis was performed to obtain the relation between density and thermal conductivity. Finally, the quality of the predicted regression equations was assessed using root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), integral absolute error (IAE) and normal efficiency (NE).
Findings
ANSYS analysis on concrete slabs accurately estimates the thermal behavior of concrete, with lesser error value ranges between 0.19 and 7.92%. Further, the developed regression equations proved accurate with lower values of RMSE (0.013 to 0.089), MAE (0.009 to 0.088); IAE (0.216 to 5.828%) and higher values of NE (94.16 to 99.97%).
Originality/value
The thermal analysis accurately simulates the experimental transfer of heat across the concrete slab. Obtained regression equations proved helpful while designing the thermal insulation concrete.
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