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The core goal of the “micro-foundational” agenda appears to be less an institutionalism founded in the micro, or reduced to the micro, and more some form of integrative institutionalism: that is, an institutionalism that does justice to the perpetual, co-constitutive interplay of local activities (the micro) and trans-local patterns (the macro). In this chapter, thus, the authors argue for a conscious, explicit embrace of integrative institutionalism; and of the broader agenda that this terminology opens up. Based on this overdue rewording the authors highlight additional problems and possibilities – providing a constructive reformulation and elaboration of the “micro-foundational” agenda as it currently stands.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to establish some of the reasons why there exists a chasm between micro and macro disciplines of organizational sciences. We aim to suggest some fecund areas for bridging the gap between the micro and macro side of our science.

Methodology/Approach – In this chapter, we have polled our colleagues to ascertain the areas that they believe have the most potential to bridge the micro–macro divide. In addition, we have reviewed extant literature to identify some of the areas where bridging work has already started.

Findings – Through our survey and literature review, we have identified a number of areas which can help in narrowing the micro–macro divide.

Social Implications – By suggesting some ways to bridge the micro–macro divide, this chapter helps in setting future research agenda that will help in viewing organizational problems from multiple lenses. Our work also encourages the scholars from various disciplines to explore ways that can integrate the broad disciplines of organizational sciences.

Originality/Value of Paper – We have attempted to take the pulse of researchers in management disciplines concerning the chasm between micro and macro disciplines, and we have tried to integrate this information with the bridging research that has already been reported. Moreover, we have suggested a number of reasons why this gap is so difficult to remediate. We discuss how bridging the gap is connected to the way in which we train, develop, and reward nascent scholars in our field.

Micro hospitals are a new form of for-profit health-care facility with rapid expansion in some parts of the country. They continue to grow in Texas without in-depth public understanding or explicit policy guidance on their role in the health-care system. Our project aims to define socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of areas served by micro and regular hospitals, and by doing so help assess micro hospitals' impact in expanding health-care access for disadvantaged populations in Texas.

We (1) estimated hospital service areas (catchment areas) with a spatial model based on advanced Geographic Information System (GIS) methods using a proprietary ESRI traffic network; (2) assigned population socioeconomic measures to the catchment areas from the 2014–2018 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, weighted with an empirically tested Gaussian distribution; (3) used two-tailed t-tests to compare means of population characteristics between micro and regular hospital catchment areas; and (4) conducted logistic regressions to examine relationships between selected population variables and the associated odds of micro hospital presence.

We found micro hospitals in Texas tend to serve a population less stressed in health-care access compared to those who are more in need as measured by various dimensions of disadvantages.

Our analysis takes a cross sectional look at the population characteristics of micro hospital service areas. Even though the initial geographic choices of micro hospitals may not reflect the long-term population changes in specific neighborhoods, our analysis can provide policy makers a tool to examine health-care access for disadvantaged populations at given point in time. As the population socioeconomic characteristics have long been associated with health-care inequality, we hope our analysis will help foster structural policy considerations that balance growing health-care delivery innovations and their social accountability.

We used GIS based spatial modeling to dynamically capture the potential patient basis by travel time calculated with a street network dataset, rather than using the traditional static census tract to define hospital service areas. By integrating both spatial and nonspatial dimensions of healthcare access, we demonstrated that the policy considerations on the implications of equal opportunity for health-care access need to take into account the social realities and lived experiences of those experiencing the most vulnerability in our society, rather than a conceptual “equality” existing in the spatial and market abstraction.

The focus of this chapter is on micro-credentials in higher education. In the current complex and fluid context, there is a demand for higher education providers to be able to respond with flexible and targeted provision of learning opportunities. Crafting micro-credentials, or disaggregating credentials, can be effective in reaching target audiences. For students, the availability of micro-credentials allows them to satisfy immediate learning needs. For industry, micro-credentials can provide elements of vocational training. On the other hand, it is a challenge to design micro-credentials that provide the cognitive perspective associated with higher education to ensure an appreciation of an associated body of knowledge or field of study. Further, education offered by universities and other higher education providers needs to have the potential to support the ongoing academic life of the institution, which is dependent on teaching being informed by research and current understandings in the field, and the research area being refreshed with talent with an appreciation of their field of study and associated bodies of knowledge. This, therefore, can be seen as something of an eco-system, which is dependent for its sustenance on learners acquiring more than fragments of knowledge or information. There are consequences for devising policies and procedures for the design, recognition, and provision of micro-credentials in higher education. Policies and procedures need to explicitly relate micro-credentials to the current and emerging understandings in an academic discipline or field of study. Academic standards that apply to offering credentials need to be maintained. Associated staff support and development is a requirement.

At the centre of Chapter 2 is higher education that places greater emphasis on lifelong learning journeys and equitable access to quality education at all stages of an individual's life and career. This chapter articulates the relevance of learning outcomes for both the world of work and for citizenship in a global and interconnected world. One way to operationalize this dual emphasis is through micro-credentials, which offer a flexible and modular way to learn new skills and knowledge. The chapter notes current challenges with implementing micro-credentials in a robust and quality assured manner, and suggests ways to overcome these.

Mentoring is a valuable support system for academics wishing to implement micro-credentials and contribute to the achievement of all sustainable development goals. Mentors can help nurture initial ideas, guide the design and delivery of micro-credentials and ensure that they are aligned with the needs of students and university external stakeholders. The dialogue included in this chapter illustrates a specific scenario at undergraduate level. There is, however, recognition that a broader range of contexts for micro-credentials exists, where mentoring can provide equally valuable support towards achieving desired goals.

With specific reference to mentoring, the chapter discusses ways in which mentoring relationships can develop and be maintained over time. It considers the impact that the setting in which mentoring meetings take place can have on the quality of the learning experience. Equally importantly, discussion touches on digital dimensions of mentoring – the metaverse as a setting and artificial intelligence complementing a real mentor or coach.

Among the various global options for self-employment, venturing into the micro-enterprise sector has been recognized as an important way for employment generation and poverty alleviation in many developing/emerging economies. In this context, women-owned businesses at the grassroots play a vital role in developing countries like India far beyond contributing to job creation and economic growth. The informal sector is a sizeable and expanding feature of the contemporary global economy.

However, the informal economy operates at the cusp of the institutional framework, which makes them susceptible to many risks like lack of formal financing options, legal aid or increasing margin through access to formal markets. Non-Profit Development Agencies (NPDAs) have emerged as a viable and essential middle ground support in promoting women entrepreneurship in their capacity to contribute beyond governmental institutions.

The study adopted an inductive qualitative option through a case study design to explore the approaches adopted by NPDAs in promoting micro-entrepreneurship among women at the base of the pyramid (BoP) in the urban informal sector in India. The findings suggest that the NPDAs created an impact through the services, which translated into monetary earnings for the entrepreneurs. They could make financial contributions to their families, which boosted their self-confidence and overall personality. The findings also indicate positive changes like increased self-confidence, self-dependence, and inner strength as reported by the entrepreneurs.

This case study describes practices in a micro-entrepreneur peer-to-peer network (MicroENTRE network), an example of a community of practice (CoP) where entrepreneurs, researchers and local public business advisory services (PBAS) seek to promote entrepreneurial behaviour through joint activities, such as sharing ideas, peer learning and business development. The concept was originally established to address the practical needs of micro-entrepreneurs and business development agencies in sparsely populated areas (SPA). Through the network, micro-entrepreneurs and PBAS are provided with direct contact to the university research team, which transfers recent research-based knowledge to the network. This chapter bridges the literature on micro-entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behaviour in networks through an empirical description of micro-entrepreneurs’ activities in the context of a peer-to-peer network using the typical CoP activity classifications developed by Wenger as the framework. The case study is based on the longitudinal analysis of monthly meetings (from 2015 to 2019) of 13 micro-entrepreneur groups. The data consist of participatory observations during the network meetings and the audio recordings and meeting memos of the authors. The findings describe typical examples of CoP activities in the network. For example, entrepreneurs use the network to share ideas, make requests for advice based on experience of fellow entrepreneurs and reuse the assets of other network members. Moreover, the data show that regular, peer-to-peer network meetings, jointly facilitated by PBAS and researchers, are an acceptable and accessible platform for micro-enterprise development in SPA.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to review the responses of low-income earners to micro-takaful and its implementation in Banda Aceh.

Methodology/approach – The data for the study were obtained by interviewing three parties. These parties were practitioners, academic experts and low-income earners selected by purposive sampling in each zone of Banda Aceh.

Findings – The study found that there is a potential for micro-takaful to be offered in Banda Aceh due to the needs of low-income groups for it; however, there are many challenges which need to be overcome for successful implementation.

Research limitations – The study is limited to the potential implementation of micro-takaful in Banda Aceh. Therefore, the study involves only its residents.

Originality/value – This study makes a positive contribution to stakeholders by ensuring that they can provide micro-takaful schemes for the benefit of low-income earners. The study also adds to the literature on the concept of micro-takaful.

Purpose – This chapter examines the central and potent role of ‘micro-moments’ in relation to the development and construction of corporately responsible cultures and environments.

Methodology/approach – The chapter engages a participant observational method set within an interpretivist methodology. The data generated take the form of vignettes which are used to explore the issues.

Findings – The discussion and argument demonstrate that while much worthwhile attention has been paid to the macro aspects and dimensions of corporate social responsibility, less scrutiny has been focused on the myriad micro-moments that operate to ultimately create macro-settings. The chapter illustrates the nature of micro-moments and shows their interactive nature combined with their consequences and implications for building corporately social irresponsible or corporately social responsible environments.

Research limitations/implications – The chapter underlines the vital role of micro-moments for corporate social responsibility. The data consist of a number of vignettes which illustrate a particular circumscribed setting. As is commonly the case with inductive research, further work, mindful of on-going reliability and validity measures, will be required to assess the generalisability of the findings across other sectors and organisations.

Practical implications – The chapter affords people working in organisations the opportunity to reflect on their actions in the micro-moment and scale them towards corporately social responsible outcomes.

Social implications – Improvement of micro-moment interactions should work to improve corporate social responsibility across a range of organisational settings.

Originality/value – The chapter constructs a novel argument in relation to micro-moments and demonstrates through original vignette data the impact and interplay of micro-moments for corporate social responsibility/irresponsibility.