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Only a small number of studies have analysed the sustainability of the socio-cultural impacts of volunteer tourism (VT). Existing research tends to focus on volunteers, the host communities and organisations, while the interconnectedness between theories (of capitals) and concepts (i.e. empowerment and sustainability) have received minimal attention. Sustainability is considered both an effect of empowerment and a means for achieving it. Drawing on the perspectives and theoretical concepts related to multiple forms of capital, this paper aims to take an interpretive stance to examine socio-cultural impacts.

This research draws on 37 semi-structured interviews conducted with stakeholders on the perceived socio-cultural impacts of VT on two farm communities in Vietnam. A qualitative thematic coding analysis was used to identify themes that explain the perceptions of the stakeholders within the host communities.

The findings of this study were divided into the nine themes of educational effects, job opportunities, cultural exchanges, relationships, health, awareness of environmental conservation, physical changes, promoting local products and tourism and community resource development. The research provides additional insights into the interconnectedness between different types of capital, empowerment and sustainability of socio-cultural impacts.

VT organisations should provide more opportunities for local residents to become involved in decision-making regarding volunteer activities and to share their voices and concerns about how the VT programmes are set up. The government could provide support services or training and skills to locals after the volunteers leave, which would be significant in developing and maintaining the sustainability of impacts on host communities.

This research creates a model for connecting capital to sustainability and empowerment to study the socio-cultural impacts of VT.

只有少数研究分析了志愿旅游（VT）社会文化影响的可持续性。现有的研究往往集中在志工、所在社区和组织上, 而理论（资本）和概念（即赋权、永续性）之间的相互联系很少受到关注。永续发展既被认为是赋权的效益, 也是实现赋权的一种手段。研究借鉴与多种资本形式相关的观点和理论概念, 并采取说明式立场来检视社会文化影响。

本研究借鉴了与利害关系人进行的 37份半结构化访谈, 了解 VT 对越南两个农场社区的社会文化影响。使用定性主题编码分析来确定能够解释主办社区内利害关系人看法的主题.

结果分为教育效果、就业机会、文化交流、人际关系、健康、环境保护意识、身体变化、推广当地产品和旅游业以及社区资源开发九个主题。该研究为不同类型的资本、赋权和社会文化影响的可持续性之间的相互联系提供了更多见解。

旅游志工组织应为当地居民提供更多机会参与志工活动的决策, 并分享他们对VT计画如何设立的意见与担忧。政府可以在志工离开后向当地人提供支持服务或培训和技能, 这对于发展和维持对东道社区影响的可持续性具有重要意义。

这项研究创建了一个将首都与永续发展和赋权联系起来的模型, 以研究 VT 的社会文化影响。

Sólo un pequeño número de estudios han analizado la sostenibilidad de los impactos socioculturales del turismo de voluntariado (VT). Las investigaciones existentes tienden a centrarse en los voluntarios, las comunidades de acogida y las organizaciones, mientras que la interconexión entre las teorías (de los capitales) y los conceptos (es decir, empoderamiento, sostenibilidad) han recibido una atención mínima. La sostenibilidad se considera tanto un efecto del empoderamiento como un medio para lograrlo. Basándose en las perspectivas y conceptos teóricos relacionados con múltiples formas de capital, la investigación adopta una postura interpretativa para examinar los impactos socioculturales.

Esta investigación se basa en 37 entrevistas semiestructuradas realizadas con partes interesadas sobre los impactos socioculturales percibidos de VT en dos comunidades agrícolas en Vietnam. Se utilizó un análisis de codificación temática cualitativa para identificar temas que explican las percepciones de las partes interesadas dentro de las comunidades anfitrionas.

Los hallazgos de este estudio se dividieron en nueve temas de efectos educativos, oportunidades laborales, intercambios culturales, relaciones, salud, conciencia de la conservación ambiental, cambios físicos, promoción de productos locales y turismo, y desarrollo de recursos comunitarios. La investigación proporciona información adicional sobre la interconexión entre diferentes tipos de capital, el empoderamiento y la sostenibilidad de los impactos socioculturales.

Las organizaciones de turismo de voluntariado deberían brindar más oportunidades para que los residentes locales se involucren en la toma de decisiones relativas a las actividades de voluntariado y compartan sus voces e inquietudes sobre cómo se establecen los programas de VT. El gobierno podría brindar servicios de apoyo o capacitación y habilidades a los locales después de que los voluntarios se vayan, lo que sería importante para desarrollar y mantener la sostenibilidad de los impactos en las comunidades anfitrionas.

Esta investigación crea un modelo para conectar las capitales con la sostenibilidad y el empoderamiento con el fin de estudiar los impactos socioculturales de VT.

The purpose of the study is to determine the local antecedents of subsidiary participation in global services and, subsequently, the impact on local performance.

The study is based on a survey with the local subsidiaries of 14 manufacturers engaged in global services as part of their servitisation strategy.

Findings show support for considering the local ability for global services as an antecedent for local subsidiary participation in global services and the local service performance as an outcome. In addition, the results reject our hypotheses related to the specific roles of local opportunity and motivation for global services.

This study provides novel insights on the global service operations of manufacturers by highlighting the perspective of subsidiaries engaged in the local service delivery and development of global services. This perspective sets the conditions of the global-local collaboration in the context of global service strategy with local service delivery.

This study explores a program to transform rural schools in Kwara State, Western Nigeria, into community knowledge hubs by leveraging local networks and community-based workshops. It aims to demonstrate how local resources are utilized to enhance educational outcomes and community engagement in rural settings.

Employing a qualitative research methodology, the study analyzes the implementation of this program through interviews with 13 teachers and in-field participation, examining the perspective of local teachers.

The findings reveal that this program has significantly enriched community engagement with practical skills both for students and the adult population, fostering collaboration between community and schools. Local teachers, leveraging their rural networks and knowledge, have been central to mobilizing networks and integrating practical education that addresses community-specific issues.

The critical role of participatory educational strategies is highlighted, designing interventions for the distinct needs of communities. It notes the variability in potential outcomes due to the self-designed networks by local teachers, suggesting a need for exploration into how these networks’ configurations are developed in different places.

This study advocates for the creation of comprehensive programs including all local stakeholders in developing a dedicated support community network. It emphasizes non-formal education to offer a variety of learning experiences, which may be more effective in fostering community-wide educational engagement.

This study contributes to the academic literature by highlighting the critical role of local networks in African rural education settings. It provides a novel perspective on how rural schools can serve as hubs for community development and lifelong learning for the whole community, extending beyond traditional educational outcomes only for students.

This study extends the current understanding of halal tourism at an island destination. Specifically, this study aims to explore the attributes of halal tourism in the local islands of the Maldives, a fully Muslim country where tourism is the primary source of income for residents. To accomplish this, Muslim travellers’ experiences were examined using the process theory of travel, the halal tourism concept and the service marketing perspective.

The study used a qualitative research methodology and conducted interviews with Muslim travellers visiting the local islands of the Maldives.

The findings affirmed the five established generic attributes of halal tourism and generated another three emergent attributes of halal tourism, specific to an island destination. The study further enhances the existing knowledge of the generic attributes of halal food and beverage, prayers and mutual respect and benefits. It also establishes that the dimensions of safety and privacy, value for money, perishability and heterogeneity characterise all the emerging halal tourism attributes. The study concludes that halal tourism is an experience imbued with values that promotes dignified tourism.

The findings on the specific attributes of halal tourism at an island destination extend overall understanding of the halal tourism concept and process. The fact that the Maldives is entirely Muslim offers a unique opportunity to explore the normative attributes of halal tourism in an island destination. This enhanced understanding contributes to effective managerial practices aimed at developing competitive halal tourism services.

This study aims to discuss the contribution of street art projects to the place-making of villages and the effects it generates for local stakeholders.

A conceptual framework is developed based on the main characteristics of the place-making process, street art, creative place-making, as well as place identity, revitalisation and regeneration. This framework defines a set of thematic categories for the qualitative content analysis of online information, e.g. websites, media and blog posts, as well as in-depth interviews with local stakeholders.

This research presents the contribution of street art in place-making involving citizens, local businesses and international artists in a collective act to preserve local identity and revitalise and regenerate villages.

The research is focused only on villages. Cities are not considered in the research.

Street art projects provide villages with several opportunities, such as stimulating place regeneration and revitalisation, giving new shape and decoration to neighbourhoods and streets and attracting visitors and business. Moreover, street art is commonly used to communicate local history, culture, traditions and social and political facts, helping places to vehiculate their identity and their messages to the next generations. Street art is also used as a part of a place branding strategy.

The village gets the opportunity to exploit the street art value proposition to stimulate the restocking of the place, if the primary stakeholders of the place are ready to invest in the new place identity giving trust to the street art project.

Street art projects contribute to the place-making of villages. They are used to communicate place identity, fostering cooperation between local stakeholders and economic and social development.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of a policy, the 2014 UK Supply Chain Plan, which aimed to create a local supply chain in a sector (offshore wind) where the central manufacturing node capabilities and knowledge are not possessed locally. It aims to address the following question: can policy create a new manufacturing supply chain from a void?

A qualitative field research approach is used to derive an original set of theoretical propositions explaining the motivation behind the Supply Chain Plan policy. The outcomes of this policy are examined 10 years later in order to provide an opportunity to observe the impact of the policy.

The conclusion is that the policy has been successful in increasing local content, and some of that local content has benefited local manufacturers. However, a lot of the increase in local content has been achieved in non-manufacturing areas or in new areas. The main issue, i.e. the lack of a central manufacturing capability, remains unaddressed. The impact of the local content policy on cost is undocumented.

There is an increasing amount of interest in regional/local supply chains after the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing geopolitical tensions. This paper's originality is to document with an industry case study the fact that manufacturing knowledge and capabilities are the central growth engine of supply chains and that creating a new manufacturing supply chain competing with well-established clusters is not a simple matter that can be achieved through a local content policy. Such policies raise critical questions about the policy makers' implicit valuation of manufacturing technology.

This paper seeks to analyze how local media in Serbia, North Macedonia and Bulgaria have integrated digital technologies and tools into their work and corporate communication during the pandemic.

The methodology used in the research is based on a qualitative approach reflected in the use of semi-structured interviews with 26 media professionals. The research questions were: (1) In terms of their use of digital technologies, what are the differences and similarities between Serbia, Bulgaria and North Macedonia? (2) How did the local media digitize their work and internal communication during the state of emergency in the target countries? (3) Is there a digital divide between local and national media?

The results show changes in the work conditions for local media during the pandemic, both regarding the needs of the public and media professionals, along with a greater call for the integration of digital technologies and tools relative to the pre-pandemic period. The integration of digital technologies into local media’s daily work and the mechanisms in which they can change the way of reporting, production and work environment in this part of the world has been underresearched.

This research is limited by the number of interviewed media professionals as well as the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results can be the basis for broader research on local media in Balkan countries that have not been the focus of academics so far.

The study looks at how digital technologies are integrated into media production processes as well as into internal strategic communication and work organization under the influence and conditions of the pandemic. This type of analysis has not yet been carried out in any of the three countries, and it is especially pertinent because it compares data from nations that are culturally similar yet have distinct political, social, and digital development and features. In addition to that, the study focuses on the impact of local media and thus contributes to theory further, as the impact of local media has been underresearched internationally despite its large influence on public opinion formation.

This study investigates the underlying mechanism through which perceived local iconness increases customers’ purchase intentions for culturally mixed products.

It utilizes an online survey with purposive sampling to gather data. Structural equation modeling is applied to examine data gathered from 471 Chinese customers.

Consumers’ perceived local iconness of culturally mixed products positively influences their purchase intentions, and this connection is mediated by perceptions of quality, social and emotional values.

Incorporating Chinese cultural elements that can evoke local iconness perceptions among Chinese consumers is necessary for global brands. Moreover, when creating or promoting culturally mixed products, global brands should carefully consider consumers’ perceived quality, social and emotional values.

Drawing on the signaling theory, this study advances knowledge on how local iconness increases the value of and customers’ desire to purchase culturally mixed products. It provides practical suggestions on how global brands can succeed when launching culturally mixed products in emerging markets.

This article explores brand positioning and authenticity within the global-local continuum, utilizing the evolution of the Italian rock band, Måneskin, as a case study.

Employing Greimas’s (1987) semiotic framework, I analyze social media and media articles on Måneskin’s success, unveiling consumer perceptions of global, local and intermediate brand positionings and related authenticity dimensions. I particularly uncover a narrative centered on “global” versus “local” brand positioning and their counterparts (i.e. “not global” and “not local”), forming a semiotic square.

In the “global” perception, the band is evaluated in terms of conforming to global standards, while, in the “local” understanding, the emphasis shifts to connections to local roots. In the “glocalization” perspective (global and local), the band’s activities are assessed concerning an integration between global conformity and local connections. The “glalienation” viewpoint (neither global nor local) is related to consistency, in the sense of being unique and avoiding a commitment to either global or local values. The data also highlight issues of inconsistency regarding brand positioning’s contradictions, such as the band’s incoherently merging local and non-local elements.

The proposed structural semiotics approach enriches previous theories by examining authenticity within global-local dynamics, offering insights into various authenticity dimensions and their interplay. It underlines shifts in authenticity perceptions and challenges binary brand positioning, advocating for strategic placement across the global-local continuum. Moreover, it emphasizes leveraging cultural elements and semiotics to effectively communicate authenticity.

This paper aims to examine the role of local/provincial government in influencing corporate social and environmental reporting (CSER) in China, and more specifically, how the underlying economic and political factors associated with local government have influenced the quality of CSER.

The authors used 234 environmentally sensitive companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges during 2013 and 2015 as the research sample to test the relationship between CSER and local government’s political connection and economic prioritisation and the potential mediating effect of local economic prioritisation.

The analysis provides evidence that local/provincial government’s political geographical connectedness with the central government has directly and positively influenced the level of CSER, while local prioritisation of economic development has a direct but negative effect on CSER in China. In addition, local/provincial prioritisation of economic development has mediated the relationship between local–central political geographical connectedness and CSER.

While local/provincial governments are heavily influenced by the coercive pressure from the central government, they also act in their own political and economic interests in overseeing CSER at the local level. This study raises the question about the effectiveness of the top-down approach to improving CSER in China and suggests that the central government may need to focus more on coordinating and harmonising different local/provincial governments’ interests to enable achieving a common sustainability goal.

The authors provide evidence revealing how the economic and political contexts of local government have played a significant role in shaping CSER in China. More specifically, this paper addresses a gap in the literature by highlighting the importance of local government oversight power for CSER development and how such oversight is determined by local prioritisation of economic development and political geographical connectedness of local and central governments.