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1 – 10 of 102Erica Gilbertson, Amy Murphy, Sonia Janis, Kathy Thompson and Michael Harris
The purpose of this action research study was to design, implement and evaluate interventions that enhanced the induction program for new teachers in a P-12 school district. At…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this action research study was to design, implement and evaluate interventions that enhanced the induction program for new teachers in a P-12 school district. At the outset, we hoped the study would provide new teacher support resulting in improved teaching practices, increased job satisfaction and/or increased teacher retention among the target population. With this in mind, our research question was: What structures and supports from a school-university partnership facilitate capacity-building among university teacher education faculty, school and district leaders, mentor teachers, and new teachers in the context of an induction program?
Design/methodology/approach
This study used an intervention-centered mode of action research methodology that aims to make systems-level change. This type of action research intends to solve real organizational problems with a focus on conducting “research in action” rather than “research about action” (Coghlan and Brannick, 2014, pp. 5–6). This approach necessitates that data collection and analysis are iterative processes, occurring throughout the research process, instead of solely at the end stages of the research process. Our action research process used Coghlan and Brannick’s (2014) action research cycle model. The cyclical four-step process includes constructing (verifying the problem in the local context), planning action, taking action and evaluating action. Facilitated by the interim director of a Professional development schools (PDS) partnership in the Southeastern United States, a team of co-researchers which included three university teacher education faculty and four school district administrators used action research methodology to create systemic change that enhanced the district’s induction program. We collected data through multiple qualitative methods, including surveys, focus groups, observations and interviews during the course of three action research cycles. These data and our theoretical framework (complex adaptive systems theory and social network theory) informed two major interventions that supported new teachers during the challenging first year of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Findings
The interventions and the research process were mutually beneficial for both institutions and contributed to professional learning and growth at the individual, group and system levels. The three major findings described include: (1) engaging in collaborative action research is mutually beneficial for both schools and universities; (2) induction programs benefit from university resources; (3) learning communities build all educators’ professional capacity.
Research limitations/implications
Our research recommendations are: (1) more research is needed on the benefits of school-university partnerships to induction programs; (2) school-university partnerships should leverage action research to improve systems; (3) within school-university partnerships, the connection between collaborative leadership and sustainability requires further research. One limitation was that this study was conducted in a single school-university partnership context involving a large public university and a mid-sized public school district that had a well-established partnership. More induction-centered research is needed in different types of school-university partnership contexts that have varying levels of longevity and partnership structures.
Practical implications
Our recommendations for practice include (1) school-university partnerships should leverage collaborative learning communities to catalyze individual, group and systems-level learning and change, and (2) school-university partnerships must prioritize induction support to strengthen the teaching profession.
Originality/value
Since Hunt’s (2014) literature review on induction support in PDS partnerships, very few empirical studies have been conducted in this research area. This study, which examined induction support in a PDS partnership over a two-year period, makes a significant contribution to the scholarly literature on induction teacher support in school-university partnership contexts. Facilitated by the interim director of a PDS partnership, a team of co-researchers, which included three university teacher education faculty and four school district administrators, used action research methodology to create systems-level supports that enhanced the district’s induction program.
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What kinds of support do interstate rivals provide to domestic actors in ongoing civil wars? And how do domestic actors utilize the support they receive? This chapter answers…
Abstract
What kinds of support do interstate rivals provide to domestic actors in ongoing civil wars? And how do domestic actors utilize the support they receive? This chapter answers these questions by comparing Iranian and Saudi military and non-military (mediation, foreign aid and religious soft-power promotion) support to the Houthis and to the Government of Yemen (GoY) during the Saada wars (2004–2010) and the internationalized civil war (2015–2018). It also focuses on the processes through which the GoY and the Houthis have utilized this support for their own strategic purposes. This chapter applies a structured, focused comparison methodology and relies on data from a review of both primary and secondary sources complemented by 14 interviews. This chapter finds that there were less external interventions in the conflict in Saada than in the internationalized civil war. During the latter, a broader set of intervention strategies enabled further instrumentalization by domestic actors, which in turn contributed to the protracted nature of the conflict. This chapter contributes to the literature on interstate rivalry and third-party intervention. The framework of analysis is applicable to civil wars that experience intervention by rivals, such as Syria or Libya.
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Organizational sociology and organization studies have a long history together, while also sharing a proclivity to self-diagnose crises. Instead of taking these assessments at…
Abstract
Organizational sociology and organization studies have a long history together, while also sharing a proclivity to self-diagnose crises. Instead of taking these assessments at face value, this paper treats them as an object of study, asking what conditions have fueled them. In the case of organizational sociology, there are indications of a connection between rising levels of discontent and community building: self-identified organizational sociologists have progressively withdrawn from general debates in the discipline and turned their attention to organization studies, which, they suspect, has seen dramatic levels of growth at their expense. Organization studies, on the other hand, are still haunted by “a Faustian bargain”: leaning heavily on the authority of the social sciences, business school faculty were able to facilitate the emergence of a scholarly field of practice dedicated to the study of organizations, which they control. However, in doing so, they also set organization studies on a path of continued dependence on knowledge produced elsewhere: notably, by university disciplines such as sociology.
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Yanrui Michael Tao, Farzana Quoquab and Jihad Mohammad
There is a dearth of research in the field of social marketing that attempts to understand why consumers prefer to use plastic packages when using online food delivery services…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a dearth of research in the field of social marketing that attempts to understand why consumers prefer to use plastic packages when using online food delivery services. In addressing this issue, this study aims to investigate the role of moral disengagement, myopia and environmental apathy in the young generations' intentions to use plastic bags while ordering food online. It also examines the mediating role of moral disengagement and the moderating role of guilt in the context of the online food delivery service industry in China.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was designed to collect data, which yielded 256 usable responses. The partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique (SmartPLS 4.0) was used to test the study hypotheses.
Findings
The results indicate that environmental apathy, myopia and moral disengagement exert significant negative effects on consumer intention to use plastic. In addition, moral disengagement was able to mediate the links between “environmental apathy”, “myopia” and “plastic usage intention”. Lastly, consumers’ guilt was found to be a significant moderator in the link between moral disengagement and plastic usage intention.
Practical implications
This research holds significant importance for social marketers in the online food delivery service industry. Particularly, by understanding consumers' negative behavioural aspects, social marketers can implement marketing strategies that emphasise green practices for environmental well-being.
Originality/value
This is a pioneer study that focuses on the negative aspects of consumer behaviour, such as myopia, environmental apathy and moral disengagement, to understand what drives young consumers to use plastic. Additionally, this study investigates several new relationships in the social marketing field, such as the mediating effect of moral disengagement between myopia, environmental apathy and plastic usage intention. It also tests the moderating effect of guilt on the link between moral disengagement and use intention.
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Isaac Nyarko Adu, Kwame Owusu Boakye and Michael Kyei-Frimpong
This current study examines the moderating role of gender in the nexus between the dimensions of work-family culture and work-family enrichment in the hospitality industry.
Abstract
Purpose
This current study examines the moderating role of gender in the nexus between the dimensions of work-family culture and work-family enrichment in the hospitality industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a cross-sectional survey approach to conveniently gather data from a sample of 296 respondents in the Ghanaian hospitality industry. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to examine the data received from the respondents with the aid of IBM SPSS Statistics (V26.0) software and the PROCESS macro for SPSS (V3.5).
Findings
As hypothesised in the study, the dimensions of work-family culture significantly predicted work-family enrichment. Further, the results revealed that gender moderated the nexus between the dimensions of work-family culture and work-family enrichment.
Practical implications
The findings of this study imply that hotels in the hospitality industry should foster a working environment that embraces a positive work and family culture that ultimately influences the quality of work and family life of an employee, taking into consideration their gender.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this current study is amongst the first to examine the moderating role of gender in the nexus between the dimensions of work-family culture and work-family enrichment in the hospitality industry.
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Michael D. Smith, Ran Niboshi, Christopher Samuell and Simon F.N. Timms
Drawing primarily on the Japanese context, this study aims to highlight this setting to emphasise the potential for tertiary-level self-access language centres to develop lifelong…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing primarily on the Japanese context, this study aims to highlight this setting to emphasise the potential for tertiary-level self-access language centres to develop lifelong global citizenship, self-reflection and cross-cultural collaboration.
Design/methodology/approach
This inquiry calls on the community of practice approach to account for the shared interests motivating lifelong cross-cultural participation, the quality of social engagement between actors, and the material and cognitive tools called upon to realise global citizenship’s shared enterprise.
Findings
As argued here, embracing various cultures and inclusive participation can lead to a broader understanding of global citizenship, avoiding narrow-minded views of globalism through shared knowledge and critical practices. Further, self-access provides a cost-effective, technology-mediated alternative to bilateral student mobility, whereby digital community-building occasions cross-cultural practice that may be extended throughout a learner’s life, irrespective of their financial status or place of study.
Originality/value
This study is one of a select few drawing on the community of practice framework within the context of lifelong global citizenship. Nevertheless, such an approach remains primed for future development. With a social constructivist philosophy in view, the authors suggest complementary qualitative research approaches that highlight the socially situated nature of both disciplines.
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Noel Scott, Brent Moyle, Ana Cláudia Campos, Liubov Skavronskaya and Biqiang Liu
Ashleigh Haw, Jay Daniel Thompson and Rob Cover
Widespread news coverage, politicised debate and social media commentary have given prominence to COVID-19 as an unparalleled threat to global health and mortality, intensifying…
Abstract
Widespread news coverage, politicised debate and social media commentary have given prominence to COVID-19 as an unparalleled threat to global health and mortality, intensifying panic and insecurity worldwide. In response, the endorsement and amplification of false claims about the pandemic has proliferated, in many cases, by public figures in the online ‘wellness’ realm. Using COVID-19 as a case study, this chapter interrogates observed connections between digital wellness cultures and informational disorders in times of crisis. The authors discuss the bourgeois liberal-individualist ideals that increasingly underpin much of this communication, exemplified through the co-option of social justice rhetoric and narratives of the ‘persecuted hero’. The authors also recognise the growing number of wellness influencers openly resisting pandemic-related mis/disinformation, and note the forms of anti-individualist, mutual care demonstrated in these ‘debunking’ efforts. The authors argue that these practices reflect a form of networked solidarity – enacted alongside a discursive distancing from individualist modes of thinking – that can be understood by applying a social ecological framework for understanding ‘resilience’.
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The 50th anniversary of Fox's Beyond Contract and Man Mismanagement coincides with another vital contribution to the sociology of work from 1974: Braverman's Labor and Monopoly…
Abstract
Purpose
The 50th anniversary of Fox's Beyond Contract and Man Mismanagement coincides with another vital contribution to the sociology of work from 1974: Braverman's Labor and Monopoly Capital. This article analyses these two scholars' complementary approaches to job design and the extent to which Fox's ideas influenced subsequent labour process thought.
Design/methodology/approach
The article's methodological approach is a historiographical reading of Fox and Braverman's thought in the context of their times and later scholarship.
Findings
The article demonstrates that despite some noteworthy overlap with Braverman concerning scientific management, Fox's insights were marginal to later iterations of labour process analysis. It delves into the reasons for this relative neglect, providing an understanding of the dynamics at play.
Originality/value
This paper's value lies in its combined industrial relations and labour process historiography. It offers a fresh perspective on Alan Fox's relationship to the latter field of study.
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