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Article
Publication date: 2 May 2023

Michael F. Steger, Angelina Sung, Truc Anh L. Dao and Trudy M. Tompkins

The purpose of this paper is to examine meaning in life as an important resource during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine meaning in life as an important resource during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper summarized key research establishing links between meaning in life and mental health and well-being variables, reviewed the literature on meaning as a protective factor and meaning-making as a coping mechanism amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as provided focal points in cultivating meaning in life.

Findings

Studies strongly support the notion that meaning in life is essential for health and well-being. Research also suggests that meaning protects against worsening mental health, and that engaging in meaning-making is a coping process that ultimately leads to improved adjustment despite the stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight themes are also identified in cultivating skills to build meaning during adverse times.

Practical implications

Integrating what research has found about meaning, resilience and coping can help individuals develop practical strategies to cultivate meaning in their lives to support themselves and their communities during stressful times.

Originality/value

Understanding the ways in which meaning can support individuals’ health and well-being is critical during a global upheaval such as that of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Details

Mental Health and Social Inclusion, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-8308

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 January 2024

Ritva Rosenbäck and Ann Svensson

This study aims to explore the management learning during a long-term crisis like a pandemic. The paper addresses both what health-care managers have learnt during the COVID-19…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the management learning during a long-term crisis like a pandemic. The paper addresses both what health-care managers have learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the management learning is characterized.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a qualitative case study carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic at two different public hospitals in Sweden. The study, conducted with semi-structured interviews, applies a combination of within-case analysis and cross-case comparison. The data were analyzed using thematic deductive analysis with the themes, i.e. sensemaking, decision-making and meaning-making.

Findings

The COVID-19 pandemic was characterized by uncertainty and a need for continuous learning among the managers at the case hospitals. The learning process that arose was circular in nature, wherein trust played a crucial role in facilitating the flow of information and enabling the managers to get a good sense of the situation. This, in turn, allowed the managers to make decisions meaningful for the organization, which improved the trust for the managers. This circular process was iterated with higher frequency than usual and was a prerequisite for the managers’ learning. The practical implications are that a combined management with hierarchical and distributed management that uses the normal decision routes seems to be the most successful management method in a prolonged crisis as a pandemic.

Practical implications

The gained knowledge can benefit hospital organizations, be used in crisis education and to develop regional contingency plans for pandemics.

Originality/value

This study has explored learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and found a circular process, “the management learning wheel,” which supports management learning in prolonged crises.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 September 2022

Burhan Cinar, Derya Toksoz and A. Celil Cakici

Discussions of authenticity in touristic experiences indicate that it is a significant area in the search for meaning. This study aims to demonstrate that the quest for…

Abstract

Purpose

Discussions of authenticity in touristic experiences indicate that it is a significant area in the search for meaning. This study aims to demonstrate that the quest for authenticity in a tourist experience begins in the pre-travel period by associating it with meaning in life.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected via survey from 356 people planning to participate in tourism activities. The survey included demographic questions, the meaning in life scale and the quest for authenticity (QfA) scale, designed by previous researchers.

Findings

The analysis revealed that meaning in life levels significantly explained the quest for subjective authenticity (R2 = 0.303) and objective authenticity (R2 = 0.131) in tourist experiences. The search for objective authenticity in a tourist experience significantly mediated the relationship between meaning in life and subjective authenticity.

Research limitations/implications

The research has several limitations. Primarily, the sampling group of the research consists of Turkish tourists who are planning to participate in tourism mobilities, and mostly females volunteered to respond in the data collection process. Hence it is necessary to study potential tourists from other countries for a more generalized conclusion. Second, the authors did not specifically ask the sample group which forms of tourism they are planning to participate in, heritage and culture, fair, etc. Subsequent studies may address this distinction and the explanatory power of the independent variable may differ according to plan to participate in different forms of tourism.

Practical implications

Tourism has an important place in individuals' search for meaning in life and authenticity. Because it offers an environment/setting where individuals can find answers to these searches. As a result of modernism, individuals become alienated from themselves, and their environment and the meanings they attribute to life are sometimes blurred. Some individuals experiencing this tend towards tourist mobility. This process individuals go through also includes the need for authenticity. Thus, such tourist behaviors cause the emergence of different authentic products that can meet the expectations and wishes of individuals.

Social implications

One of the main elements that encourages people to travel is quest for authenticity, which they feel is lacking in modern life. Thus, tourists are more likely to experience meaning in life based on subjective experiences than viewed objects.

Originality/value

The study offers three novel findings: individuals seek authenticity in tourist experiences in order to find meaning in life; quest for authenticity begins in the pre-travel process; and objective authenticity is necessary to seek subjective authenticity through meaning in life. While a few studies have investigated these variables, the authenticity literature has neglected the pre-travel phase. However, this needs attention to better understand authenticity in tourism.

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, vol. 6 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9792

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 5 October 2023

Eneli Kindsiko and Maaja Vadi

This chapter offers a dynamic model of authentic leadership that links authentic leadership to situational leadership theory and shows how dynamics in the academic environment…

Abstract

This chapter offers a dynamic model of authentic leadership that links authentic leadership to situational leadership theory and shows how dynamics in the academic environment, one of the most difficult settings that leaders face, can be addressed. Kindsiko and Vadi detail the concept of situational authenticity, which reveals how authentic leadership takes place via forms of sensing – sense-giving, sense-making, sense-breaking and sense-keeping – in work-related situations. The authors highlight questions for future research: Is sensing the key to success? Are situational ethics valid if they adapt to evolving circumstances? Are situational ethics, in effect, just another way of expressing relativism? If so, can that be reconciled with authentic leadership theory?

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Authentic Leadership
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-014-6

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 6 November 2023

Gørill Warvik Vedeler and Kristin Elaine Reimer

In this chapter, we present a collaborative autoethnographic study with two main layers: first, we share experiences of two separate educational research projects and explore how…

Abstract

In this chapter, we present a collaborative autoethnographic study with two main layers: first, we share experiences of two separate educational research projects and explore how different dialogic research practices facilitate both participants and researchers to discover the phenomenon being studied; second, we engage in a dialogic conversation to discover our own research practices. Focussing on projects in two different countries (Norway and Canada), our initial centring question for this chapter is: how do our research practices facilitate insight into participants’ real-life experiences and practices? Then turning the light on our own research practices, we ask: what onto-epistemological assumptions shape our dialogical research practices? The chapter reveals that dialogic research practices allowed collective wisdom to be discovered and ensured that we were able to break through the taken-for-grantedness both of the concept being studied and of our own research practices.

Details

Researching Practices Across and Within Diverse Educational Sites: Onto-epistemological Considerations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-871-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 November 2022

Tianshu Xu, Dongyi Jiang and Dong Li

Study on the internal legalization process of strategic change for a large number of ultra-large enterprises in China.

Abstract

Purpose

Study on the internal legalization process of strategic change for a large number of ultra-large enterprises in China.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper takes formulation process of Suning Appliance Group’s 10-year strategy (2010–2020) as the research case, designs the research issues, propositions and analysis unit of the case study, and uses the data collection and analysis methods in the grounded theory to realize the theoretical development from data to viewpoint conceptualizing and to proposition categorizing.

Findings

There are four key concepts that affect the judgment of overall strategic legitimacy of super-large enterprises: Emerging-market opportunities and strategic operational positioning, legitimacy perspective mainly manifests as legitimacy judgment of strategic direction within organization. Positioning of core resources (including intangible resources) and their value identification methods or value evaluation criteria, the legitimacy perspective is mainly reflected in the organization's internal legitimacy judgment of functional planning, especially implementation path. The impact factors of the key performance of each SBU are positioned, and the legitimacy perspective is mainly reflected in the organization’s internal judgment on the legitimacy of strategic supporting measures, especially the resources needed for the implementation of the strategy and capacity development. The periodical strategic objectives and performance measurement indicators of each SBU are mainly reflected in the organization’s internal legitimacy judgment on strategic alignment and specific action plans for strategic operational units. The legitimacy of these four key concepts is strongly influenced by the rationality of these strategic concepts, which are closely related to their shaping patterns driven by right-brain and left-brain thinking modes.

Research limitations/implications

This case is a longitudinal study of the strategic decision-making process, not a longitudinal follow-up of the actual implementation of the strategy. In addition, given that the case enterprise was facing the emerging market at that time and focused on pushing firms to seize opportunities, not much research has been done on the impact of external legitimacy on the strategic formulation process, a variable that is increasingly being focused on today.

Practical implications

This model has guidance significance and practical demonstration role for a large number of enterprises that are implementing the “+Internet” strategic change under traditional offline operation.

Social implications

According to the summary of the connection between data and propositions in several rounds, this paper constructs a theoretical model of left and right brain thinking mode driving key concepts to achieve the internal legalization process of strategic changes.

Originality/value

In the analysis process, the legalization theory and the sense-making method are introduced into enterprises’ strategy making process. Based on this analysis framework, this paper analyzes in detail that the top decision-making level and the middle and high executive level form key strategic concepts to promote the internal legalization process of strategic decision-making driven by the right-brain intuitive thinking mode and the left-brain rational thinking mode, which greatly improves the quality of strategy formulation and the operability of strategy implementation.

Details

Nankai Business Review International, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8749

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 July 2023

Alessandro Graciotti and Morven G. McEachern

This study aims to investigate consumers’ construction of food localness through the politics of belonging in a regional context.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate consumers’ construction of food localness through the politics of belonging in a regional context.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a socio-spatial lens and considering the “realm of meaning” of place, this research focusses on local consumers’ lived meanings of “local” food choice, and hence adopts a phenomenological approach to the data collection and analysis of 20 in-depth interviews with residents of the Italian region of Marche.

Findings

Drawing on Trudeau’s (2006) politics of belonging, this study reveals three interconnected themes which show how local consumers articulate a local food “orthodoxy” and how their discourses and practices draw and maintain a boundary between local and non-local food, whereby local food is considered “autochthonous” of rural space. Thus, this study’s participants construct a local food landscape, conveying rural (vs urban) meanings through which food acquires “localness” (vs non-“localness”) status.

Research limitations/implications

There exists further theoretical opportunity to consider local consumers’ construction of food localness through the politics of belonging in terms of non-representational theory (Thrift, 2008), to help reveal added nuances to the construction of food localness as well as to the complex process of formulating place meaning.

Practical implications

The findings provide considerable scope for food producers, manufacturers and/or marketers to differentiate local food products by enhancing consumers’ direct experience of it in relation to rural space. Thus, enabling local food producers to convey rural (vs urban) meanings to consumers, who would develop an orthodoxy guiding future choice.

Social implications

The findings enable regional promoters and food policymakers to leverage the symbolic distinctiveness of food autochthony to promote place and encourage consumers to participate in their local food system.

Originality/value

By using the politics of belonging as an analytical framework, this study shows that the urban–rural dichotomy – rather than being an obsolete epistemological category – fuels politics of belonging dynamics, and that local food consumers socially construct food localness not merely as a romanticisation of rurality but as a territorial expression of the contemporary local/non-local cultural conflict implied in the politics of belonging. Thus, this study advances our theoretical understanding by demonstrating that food “becomes” local and therefore, builds on extant food localness conceptualisations.

Details

Journal of Place Management and Development, vol. 17 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8335

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Learning Allowed
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-401-5

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 29 August 2023

Yoshija Walter

There is evidence that spirituality at the workplace has positive effects on work outcomes, and there are different models conceptualizing the construct. To date, there is no…

1544

Abstract

Purpose

There is evidence that spirituality at the workplace has positive effects on work outcomes, and there are different models conceptualizing the construct. To date, there is no discussion highlighting how digitalization is affecting workplace spirituality and vice versa. The present review tries to close this gap by discussing the psychological dynamics in light of digitalization and spirituality in the context of work.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual discussion based on an extensive narrative review. The conceptual design is further tested with a real-life case study.

Findings

The result is a model that may guide future research, which consists of the four highly interdependent domains, namely psychology (with the dimensions of emotion, cognition and behavior), digitalization (with the dimensions of platforms, data and algorithms), spirituality (with the dimensions of meaning, self-transcendation and belonging), as well as the workplace (with the dimensions of work tasks, location, community and culture and values). The discussion includes implications for the future of work, suggestions for management decisions and potential future research directions.

Originality/value

To date, there are many discussions about digital transformation and a limited amount of them have invested in analyzing psychological dimensions. The application to spirituality and the workplace – especially when the two are combined – is almost wholly absent, which makes the present discussion both innovative and original.

Details

Digital Transformation and Society, vol. 3 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2755-0761

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 October 2023

Alexander Bacalja and Brady L. Nash

This paper aims to explore the characteristics of playful literacies in case study research examining digital games in secondary English classrooms. It analyzes how educators use…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the characteristics of playful literacies in case study research examining digital games in secondary English classrooms. It analyzes how educators use play as a resource for meaning-making and the impacts of play on student learning.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a keyword search in relevant academic databases to identify articles within specified search parameters. This was followed by bibliographic branching to identify additional articles. Following the identification of 30 articles, two rounds of open coding were used to identify themes for analysis.

Findings

The literature revealed five types of playful pedagogical practices: single-player gameplay, turn-taking gameplay, multiplayer play, play-as-design and little or no gameplay. Discussion of these findings suggests that classroom play was a highly social activity across case studies. Furthermore, boundaries between types of play and their contributions to learning were blurred and often disrupted normative approaches to curriculum and teaching.

Originality/value

Given the novelty of replacing traditional texts with digital games in English classrooms, this study represents an important moment to pause and review the literature to date on a particular, understudied aspect of digital games in English curricula: their playfulness. This is especially important given the innovative ways in which digital play can shift thinking about meaning-making and narrative, two historically dominant concerns within the discipline of English.

Details

English Teaching: Practice & Critique, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1175-8708

Keywords

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