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The purpose of this study is to compare violent and non-violent extremists in terms of their age when they first perpetrate an extremist act, and to understand how this relates to other factors underlying extremist behaviours. While the end goal of many extremists may be functionally similar, the pathways into extremism vary, and the literature has demonstrated that a “one-size-fits-all” explanation does not exist. Motivational drivers are complex and dynamic; therefore, attempting to identify a terrorist “profile” has limited applied efficacy.

This study applied a temporal approach (“crime script analysis” or CSA) to identify, map and compare the sequential stages (or “scenes”) in the life histories of violent and non-violent extremists who have committed acts of extremism across different age groups. Crime scripts comprising mainly qualitative data for 40 male extremists (20 violent, 20 non-violent “cases”) were developed, and CSA was conducted according to the age at which they committed their first extremist offence.

Results demonstrated key temporal, developmental differences between the pathways of extremists who commit their first offence at different ages. One key difference was that for both the violent and non-violent extremists, those under 30 used the internet as a main means of joining networks and spreading information, whereas the over 30s made more personal, community links.

This research can aid identification of potential environmental triggers and potential increased susceptibility to triggers across certain age groups.

The global prevalence of social media and its potential to cause polarization are highly debated and impactful. The previous literature often assumes that the ideological bias of any media outlet remains static and exogenous to the polarization process. By studying polarization as a whole from an ecosystem approach, the authors aim to identify policies and strategies that can help mitigate the adverse effects of polarization and promote healthier online discourse.

To investigate online polarization, the authors perform a systematic review and analysis of approximately 400 research articles to explore the connection between cognitive bias and polarization, examining both causal and correlational evidence. The authors extensively evaluate and integrate existing research related to the correlation between online polarization and crucial factors such as public engagement, selective exposure and political democracy. From doing so, the authors then develop a PolarSphere ecosystem that captures and illustrates the process of online polarization formation.

The authors' review uncovers a wide range of associations, including ideological cognition, bias, public participation, misinformation and miscommunication, political democracy, echo chambers and selective exposure, heterogeneity and trust. Although the impact of bias on social media polarization depends on specific environments and internal/external conditions, certain variables exhibit strong associations across multiple contexts. The authors use these observations as a basis from which to construct PolarSphere, an ecosystem of bias-based polarization on social media, to theorize the process of polarization formation.

Based on the PolarSphere ecosystem, the authors argue that it is crucial for governments and civil societies to maintain vigilance and invest in further research to gain a deep comprehension of how cognitive bias affects online polarization, which could lead to ways to eliminate polarization.

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the discussion of wellbeing within the university education system by outlining the key issues and benefits and recognising future research on digital well-being for students. The JISC Digital wellbeing paper highlights the many positive and negative impacts associated with digital wellbeing. This paper explores how some of these features have been considered within institutions within the UK and Vietnam and highlights the emerging research in one Vietnamese institution in relation to student wellbeing, where digital wellbeing was identified as a key concern.

This is a technical review article which summarises key guidance for organisational digital wellbeing and then reflects on the application in the UK (a developed economy) and in Vietnam (one of the fastest growing economies). This is the first time a review has been conducted from the perspective of different countries. There are two aspects to digital wellbeing, individual and the social or organisational perspectives.

The JISC Digital wellbeing paper highlights the many positive and negative impacts associated with digital wellbeing. This paper explores how some of these features have been considered within institutions within the UK and Vietnam and highlights the emerging research in one Vietnamese institution in relation to student wellbeing, where digital wellbeing was identified as a key concern. The context of digital wellbeing within higher education is then discussed drawing similarities between the UK and Vietnamese student experiences whilst acknowledging the limitations of current research within the field.

Many institutions have seen a rise in the number of wellbeing challenges, and there are few examples of specific initiatives aimed at addressing digital wellbeing challenges for their stakeholders. Existing research on students' wellbeing is predominately focused on undergraduate students and does not differentiate between undergraduate and postgraduate students, nor between masters, doctoral and professional level students and does not explore the impact of digital wellbeing discretely; this is an area which would benefit from future research.

This study aims to examine social determinants and social strains of cyberbullying victimization among expatriate populations in high-income countries such as Qatar. The authors argue that expatriate students will be exposed to stains and pressures due to several factors, such as feeling alienated, lonely, homesick, insecure and helpless. This study examines a partial assumption of general strain theory (GST), which posits that expats’ cyberbullying victimization can create negative stimuli that lead to negative feelings and, as a result, to delinquent behavior. The delinquent behavior can be seen as a coping method in encountering strains. Logistic regression analysis is applied (using SPSS v. 21) to test the hypothesis that the victimization of expats’ cyberbullying could lead to strain and delinquency.

A sample of 2,428 expatriate students (46% males and 54% females) was randomly selected from seven public schools in Qatar. The average number of siblings in the household was 2.7. Around 10.8% of the sample reported victimization by cyberbullying. Most came from intact families (80.6%) compared to 19.4 living in broken homes. Concerning the birth order of the student in the family, 25% of the sample were firstborn, and 20% were middle-born. Students’ mother relationships were higher than students’ father relationships (69% vs 51%, respectively). Fathers were higher in undergraduate education than mothers (60% vs 49%, respectively). Considering that 58% of women did not have a job, most fathers work in administrative positions (47% in administrative work and 39% in professional positions) as opposed to mothers’ positions (15% and 21%, respectively). The survey was distributed among expatriate students by trained researchers, teachers and social workers in public schools. The researchers explained the purpose of the study, confidentiality and potential risks and provided directions for completing the survey. Parents and their children provided signed informed consent before participation, following the institutional review boards of Qatar University’s Human Subject Research Committee and the Ministry of Social Development. The victimization of cyberbullying is measured at the dichotomy level by asking a general cyberbullying question (In the last 12 months, had you been bullied by other students using mobile messages, email, voice or video messages? Responses were 1 – yes and 0 – no). A definition of cyberbullying was included in the questionnaire. Independent measures are as follows: (1) demographic variables: gender, belief, health, number of friends and exposure to violence; (2) family variables: delinquent family, coercive parenting, family relations, family disputes, father absence and family ties; (3) school variables: school satisfaction, school violence, student fighting, teachers' violence, school truancy and going late to school; (4) imprudent behavior: smoking, alcohol, not using a seat belt, gambling, stealing less than 100 QR, chewing tobacco, stimuli, volatile drugs, sexual harassment, throwing garbage out of the car, cheating, vandalism and victimization.

Findings showed that n = 255, 10.8% of the expats’ sample N = 2,428 reported victimization of cyberbullying, of whom 46% were males and 54% were females. A total of 24% of the victims of cyberbullying were males, and 5.8% were females. About a third of the sample were cyberbullying perpetrators (n = 716, 29.5%). Victims of cyberbullying came from intact families (62.4%) compared to broken families (37.6%). A round third of the victims reported the absence of a father during their childhood (n = 78, 31.7%). Most of the victims came from a typical community compared to the delinquent community (71.2% vs 28.2%). About a third of the victims reported it was easy to talk with the father when needed (32% compared to 42.7%), who said it was easy. More than half of the victims do not use seat belts. A low percentage of them were gambling (n = 68, 27% or 2.9% of the total sample). Regarding escaping imprudent and delinquent behaviors, findings showed that a third and more than a tenth of the cyberbullying were smokers and alcoholics (n = 69, 27.4% and n = 42, 16.7% respectively). Moreover, among the most serious, widely spread student problems, around a quarter of the victims reported using chewing tobacco (Sweeka is the local name) (n = 54, 21.4%). Finally, drug use among victims was more than a tenth of them (n = 41, 16.3%). About a quarter of the victims reported stealing less than 100 QR (n = 67, 26.8% or 2.9% of the total sample). Concerning the crimes committed by victims, findings showed that more than forth of them committed assault (n = 71, 28.3%), student fights (n = 202, 80.8%), school violence (n = 117, 46.6%) and half of the victims (50.2%) were also victims of face-to-face bullying. Little below half of the sample was exposed to violence (n = 120, 48.6%) and was the victim of violence in the past 12 months (n = 100, 40.8%). A significant gender differences was found in the victimization of cyberbullying (1 = yes, 0 = no) (a = 000). Moreover, significant mean differences were found between expatriates student victimization of cyberbullying at (a = 000) in all strain variables. Using binary regression analysis to examine the equality of probability of being a victim of cyberbullying as accounted for by the independent variables, the model’s predictability was 89.4%. The Hosmer and Lemeshow test and omnibus tests support the model’s fit (a = 000). Nagelkerke R² shows that the stain variables accounted for 24% of the variance in the expat's student victimization of cyberbullying.

Conceptualization and determination of what constitutes cyberbullying from the criminal law perspective are needed. Cyberbullying is defined as a form of violence and crime involving new technologies (Sun et al., 2016, p. 62). Policymakers should provide accessible and equitable access to the criminal justice system, the integration of expatriates and the provision of support services to avoid delinquency.

A social cohesion, inclusion and well-being policy is needed for expatriate students and their families in Qatar. In particular, cultural diversity policy and programs, a source of strength and enrichment should be promoted in educational settings. Social inclusion and cultural diversity programs could ease the alienation and marginalization that expatriate students may encounter in their host societies to prevent stains and negative emotions that lead to delinquency and criminal behaviors. Access to support services without discrimination to avoid health and psychological strains and risk factors. This includes but is not limited to avoidance of stigmatization, embarrassment, sense of helplessness, humiliation and other negative feelings toward expatriates. Awareness and promotion of cultural diversity values are needed to enhance cultural acceptance to reduce victimization among the expatriate population. Criminal law and security implications conceptualization and determination of what constitutes cyberbullying from the criminal law perspective are needed. Cyberbullying is a form of violence and crime involving new technologies (Sun et al., 2016). Policymakers should provide accessible and equitable access to the criminal justice system, integrating expatriates and providing support services to avoid delinquency. There is a pressing need for further research within the realm of crime and law to establish the precise legal boundaries surrounding cyberbullying and to delineate the potential scope for legislative measures aimed at safeguarding against victimization in Qatar. Although the state of Qatar has taken steps to address cyberbullying by incorporating it into relevant legal frameworks, there remains a gap in terms of specifically targeting cyberbullying involving children and adolescents. Despite the introduction of the new Cybercrime Prevention Law, the issue of cyberbullying among these vulnerable groups is not adequately addressed.

Social implication includes but is not limited to avoidance of stigmatization, embarrassment, sense of helplessness, humiliation and other negative feelings towards expatriate. Awareness and promotion of cultural diversity values is needed to enhance cultural acceptance to reduce victimization among expatriate population.

The present study examines some strain theory assumptions and the victimization of the cyberbullying expatriate population. This study tests a partial assumption of GST, which states that the expatriate population’s exposure to the victimization of cyberbullying can lead to negative stimuli that, in return, create negative feelings and, as a result, imprudent and delinquent behavior. The cyberbullying behavior can be seen as an escaping and coping method in encountering strains. This study underscores the presence of cyberbullying within high schools among expatriate students, exerting significant effects on their personal, social and emotional behaviors. The novel insights gleaned from this investigation contribute substantively to the comprehension of both the pervasiveness and repercussions of cyberbullying on the well-being of expatriate students. This contribution is particularly vital, given the dearth of research in the field, largely attributable to the growing dependence of students on the internet for various cyber activities. This study examines a partial assumption of GST (in non-Western country). Moreover, it uses an advanced statistical analysis and large sample.

The purpose of this study is to briefly reflect on the continuing relevance of the arguments of “The Audit Society” thesis after 25 years and to consider whether they need to be adapted in the face of advances in digitization.

This essay develops a series of critical reflections on the main arguments in “The Audit Society” (Oxford University Press, 1997).

There is a need for critical accounting and management research to explore how audit society themes require adjustment in the face of “surveillance capitalism” and how the boundaries between accounting, security and surveillance are becoming blurred.

This essay is a personal and self-critical account of the genesis of The Audit Society thesis which looks forward to how this thesis can develop. It also offers a defence of the value of books in enabling the travelling of ideas across fields.

This study investigates the observed resurgence in religious beliefs seen across many societies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the economic theory of religious clubs, the author models religious participation during the pandemic as a mechanism for alleviating the financial distress associated with the health distress from the pandemic.

Using data from the COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey (NLPS) in Nigeria, the author investigates the economic motivation for religious intensity during the COVID-19 pandemic. To address endogeneity concerns, the author exploits geographic variables of temperature and longitudes as sources of COVID-19 risk.

Overall, health distress stimulates religious intensity. Consistent with the economic theory of religious clubs, adverse health shocks stimulate financial distress, and the effect is stronger among religious participants. Similarly, people see God and not the government as a source of protection against COVID-19.

The study’s model sees religious organizations as public goods providers, especially when governments and markets are inefficient.

The study’s recommendations support an expanded role for religious networks in healthcare delivery and more public funding to attenuate the post-pandemic resurgence of social violence in economically distressed regions.

Despite the research interest in the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-term implications, many of which relate to social behavior adjustments that cause individuals to identify more closely with their social group, need greater understanding. Suppose religious intensity is linked to economic distress. In that case, this is a major source of worry for countries whose economies are subject to higher fluctuations and where the governments and markets are inefficiently organized. These regions may be more susceptible to a resurgence in religious fundamentalism associated with the economic shocks from the pandemic. Consequently, these regions would require more public funding to attenuate the potential for costly activities like organized violence, suicide attacks and terrorist activities in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Prompted by the observation of the increase in religious identity through religious intensity during the pandemic, the author contributes by developing theoretically-based hypotheses that are incentive-compatible to provide a rational justification for the observation. The author empirically validates the hypothesis by taking advantage of the COVID-19 National Survey in Nigeria by specifically using survey rounds 4 and 7 which have more comprehensive religious items included.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2022-0719

In this study, the authors look at the case of Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines between 1965 and 1986. Documenting the life and career of Marcos on Wikipedia provides an excellent example of the pitfalls confronting those seeking to address disinformation without first reflecting deeply on the reasons why people subscribe to views deemed outlandish by the intellectual or cultural mainstream.

The authors sampled the version of the Marcos article on Wikipedia as it existed after the first edit of each year since its inception (2002). This resulted in 22 texts for analysis. Content and thematic analyses were conducted on these texts as well as on the entire body of talk page comments for the article.

The authors' work suggests that the basic elements of responsible encyclopedic writing have prevailed in the case of Wikipedia's biography of Marcos. However, this is not an unalloyed victory, as issues of polarization remain unaddressed.

Underlying revisionist or distorted claims about Ferdinand Marcos (and other controversial topics) lie very real grievances that give these claims traction for many people. Hence, it is not enough to “just present the facts” to readers. Rather, the authors argue that what is needed is a synthesis of positions that would allow for common ground to be found between them. This could be done in the case of Wikipedia by cultivating editors who are capable and willing to engage with the subject literature in a deeper and richer fashion.

This paper aims to employ the use of focus groups composed of enforcement officers to explore and identify the financial methods used by terrorism-related organisations in Malaysia.

The study used an open-ended question and focus group methods to gather information from 20 Malaysian enforcement officers with extensive experience in dealing with terrorism-related activities, as they strive to prevent and counter terrorism incidents. In addition, experienced practitioners and field experts also contributed to the study.

The study reveals various innovative financial methods used by terrorist-linked organisations to evade detection by local enforcement agencies. These findings are consistent with previous research, which highlights the intelligence of these organisations in avoiding detection by financial regulators.

The findings are based on the perspectives of enforcement officers involved in preventing and countering terrorism activities. Further research could be conducted to gather insights from other government agencies, such as the judiciary or local agencies.

The study offers practical suggestions for organisations and institutions on effectively monitoring and taking appropriate actions in financial activities related to terrorism.

This study provides unique insights into the financial methods of terrorism-related organisations in an emerging country in Southeast Asia. Its findings can be applied throughout the region, given the country’s global connectivity. Furthermore, the study is distinctive in that it provides information from enforcement officers within terrorism-related government organisations, an area where resources are limited. The study also considers the impact of the pandemic on the development of these financial innovations by terrorist organisations.

We develop a conceptual framework as a basis for thinking about the impact of extractive industries and emancipatory potential of alternative accounts. We then review selected alternative accounts literature on some contemporary issues surrounding the extractive industries and identify opportunities for accounting, auditing, and accountability research. We also provide an overview of the other contributions in this special issue.

Drawing on alternative accounts from the popular and social media as well as the alternative accounting literature, this primarily discursive paper provides a contemporary literature review of identified issues within the extractive industries highlighting potential areas for future research. The eight papers that make up the special issue are located within a conceptual framework is employed to illustrate each paper’s contribution to the field.

While accounting has a rich literature covering some of the issues detailed in this paper, this has not necessarily translated to the extractive industries. Few studies in accounting have got “down and dirty” so to speak and engaged directly with those impacted by companies operating in the extractive industries. Those that have, have focused on specific areas such as the Niger Delta. Although prior studies in the social governance literature have tended to focus on disclosure issues, it is questionable whether this work, while informative, has resulted in any meaningful environmental, social or governance (ESG) changes on the part of the extractive industries.

The extensive extractive industries literature both from within and outside the accounting discipline makes a comprehensive review impractical. Drawing on both the accounting literature and other disciplines, this paper identifies areas that warrant further investigation through alternative accounts.

This paper and other contributions to this special issue provide a basis and an agenda for accounting scholars seeking to undertake interdisciplinary research into the extractive industries.

As the subject of female criminology in South Africa has only recently been dealt with in a qualitative manner, this paper aims to explore if there is a potential link between rehabilitation, reintegration support and recidivism as females are often placed back into the environment which prompted their criminal behaviour, further excluding them from rehabilitative reform, which might lead them to recidivate.

The research adopted a qualitative approach using in-depth, semi-structured interviews with six participants that were chosen purposively.

The paper notes a potential link between rehabilitation, reintegration support and recidivism as the female prisoners are imprinted with criminal dispositions since rehabilitation within the correctional facility has no implementation process to ensure that restoration can continue after they have been released.

Due to the limited number of the incarcerated female population and the scope of the preliminary study, the sample comprised of only six female offenders. As such, it contributes to the larger discourse of female criminality, but does not offer any recommendations.

Provides an understanding of the conditions in which the females are released. Allows for the inclusion of the female’s voice on, and reflection of, rehabilitation and recidivism. Notes a link between rehabilitation, reintegration and recidivism. Creates a pathway for further research in the exploration of a gendered reform approach.

While the subject of female criminology in South Africa has only recently been dealt with in a qualitative manner, this study offers an insight into how females who offend are often placed back into the environment which prompted their criminal behaviour.