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This paper aims to explore the perception of successful entrepreneurs and resource providers regarding the minimum operational time necessary to legitimize an enterprise as an established company, as well as the tactics used by the entrepreneurs to minimize the distrust of society during this initial period of the life cycle of the organization.

Data collection from two groups: (i) interviews with 62 entrepreneurs and founders of established companies; and (ii) a questionnaire completed by 77 sales managers of companies that provide businesses with resources (they practice business-to-business). Regarding analyses: (i) to analyze information, this study applied the content analysis technique; and (ii) for data, this study applied the one-sample t-test, mean comparison t-test, Pearson’s correlation test, chi-square test of association, Mann–Whitney U test and correspondence analysis technique.

In this study, a period of 42 months was identified for the legitimization of enterprises by society, in other words, the time necessary for enterprises to be recognized as an established company and a company of low risk by customers and resource providers. A set of managerial and behavioral actions practiced by successful entrepreneurs to face the difficulties they experience during the legitimization period was also identified.

In addition to establishing a period of 42 months for the legitimization of an enterprise in the eyes of society, a set of 15 strategies used by successful entrepreneurs was identified to combat the prejudice associated with the youthfulness of their companies. Of these, 12 are linked to managerial actions and 3 to the entrepreneur’s behavior. It should be highlighted that eight of these strategies are innovative and have yet to be addressed in the literature on mitigating risks associated with the liability of newness principle.

The authors discuss the legitimization of enterprises based on the perception of actors who play a fundamental role regarding entrepreneurial action: resource providers for companies, customers and successful entrepreneurs. This is a triangulation of sources, as well as a triangulation of collected data and qualitative and quantitative techniques, which sought to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information that resulted from this analytical process.

Body weight has a long history of functioning as a symbol of one’s beauty, social status, morality, discipline, and health. It has also been a standard inflicted much more intensely on women than men. While US culture has long idealized thinness for women, even at risky extremes, there is growing evidence that weight standards are broadening. Larger bodies are becoming more visible and accepted, while desire for and approval of a thin ideal has diminished. However, the continued widespread prevalence of anti-fat attitudes and stigma leaves uncertainty about just how much weight standards are changing. This study used an online survey (n = 320) to directly compare evaluations of thin, fat, and average size women through measures of negative stereotypes, prejudicial attitudes, and perceptions about quality of life. Results indicated that, as hypothesized, thin women were perceived less favorably than average weight women. However, fat women were perceived less favorably than both average and thin women. Men were harsher than women in their evaluations of only fat women. Additionally, participants being underweight or overweight did not produce an ingroup bias in their evaluations of underweight and overweight targets, respectively. That is, participants did not rate their own group more favorably, with the exception of overweight participants having lower prejudice toward overweight targets. These findings add to the emerging evidence that women’s weight standards are in transition, marked by an increasingly negative perception of thin women, though not necessarily growing positivity toward fat women. This evidence further points toward the need for more extensive research on attitudes of people across the entire weight spectrum.

People, in general, seem to maintain a rather elementary meaning of rural marketing. Although there exists certain common features of rural marketing, there does not exist as yet, a reliable published work on this concept. The methods of rural marketing are very different from marketing in urban areas. These differences have usually occurred for a variety of reasons especially (a) paying careful attention to the development of urban markets and (b) a development in the marketing sector in the urban areas would be more visible than what they might be in the rural areas.

However, rural marketing stands for developing a form of marketing suitable for the rural areas. In this process of marketing, the marketeers and promoters will be required to consider the rural prejudices of the inhabitants therein, including those of the women consumers too. These markets also lack infrastructures, goods on demand are often different from those of the urban markets and lack of facilities proves to be a hazard for the suppliers of products. Nevertheless, it has been maintained in this work that rural marketing can be developed when it becomes a policy issues.

This paper aims to understand how virtual influencers (VIs) can promote interethnic tolerance, online, among youth as a social good.

This paper conducted qualitative research using interpretive analysis with RTA (Reflexive Thematic Analysis) on data collected through focus groups.

This paper revealed that the quality of the VI’s content is a leading factor influencing VI's ability to promote interethnic tolerance, but creating content that is constantly authentic, appealing and inclusive to diverse ethnic groups in a particular context is challenging.

The study has some limitations related to the specific context on which it is focused and therefore transferring the findings to different contextual conditions requires caution, and also can be extended with positivist validation.

Findings from our study can drive future projects where real VI artifacts will play the role of a mediator in building strong relational trust among youth belonging to different ethnic groups. The findings indicate that VIs can be effectively used to foster interethnic tolerance if involve diverse team members who understand the ethnic culture deeply and social media experts, to create high-quality content to overcome some limitations.

VIs can be used as social interventions to promote interethnic tolerance and to reduce prejudices and anxiety in online youth communication.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no known studies investigated the potential of VIs for promoting interethnic tolerance among ethnically diverse youth groups. Hence, this study paves the way for further refinement on using cutting-edge technology for social good, since it is highly challenging, often resulting in wasted money.

This study aimed to identify and describe how mentoring influences the mentor, by operationalising and specifying learning outcomes involved in mentoring.

This study used an action research approach, by uniting theory and practice to explore new ways of learning and evolve the field of practice in education. Thematic analysis was used to identify and organise patterns or themes that emerged from the data.

The results showed that mentoring changed the mentors' perspectives towards improved understanding, more flexibility and approval of other cultures. It seems that mentoring expanded the mentors' search for values, wishes and resources, including an awareness that our values, wishes and needs are more similar than different. Mentoring also seems to have improved the ability to reformulate, be flexible, strive to optimise user engagement and engage with people as they are, based on their own prerequisites.

The low number of participants means the results cannot be generalised, and voluntary participation may have led to more motivated involvement and positive results.

This study shows that mentoring has had an impact on students' development of intercultural competence and cultural sensitivity through regular meetings with individuals from a different cultural background. Mentoring seems to have revealed insights into underlying prejudices and changed perspectives towards better understanding, thus increased acceptance of other cultures.

Search for similar studies shows a lack of research that operationalises and specifies the learning outcomes that mentors gain from being a mentor.

A growing body of evidence suggests that experiences of discrimination may affect physical and mental health through multiple pathways. This paper aims to characterize the extent of everyday perceived discrimination among Brazilian and Cape Verdean immigrant adults in Portugal, to identify its forms and analyze its association with mental health.

This study draws on data from the EQUALS4COVID19 (Equity in health in times of pandemic) project that implemented a cross-sectional survey combining online and face-to-face questionnaires for data collection between February and November 2022.

Women were less likely than men to report no discrimination experiences and more likely to report combined bases of discrimination. While Brazilian women were more likely than Cape Verdean counterparts to report gender and nationality-based discrimination, Cape Verdean women and men were more likely to report experiencing race-based discrimination. Gender (being identified as a woman) and length of stay in Portugal were the main predictors of depression, while resilience and perceived social support were protective factors. Participants with higher levels of resilience showed a significantly diminished association between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms.

This study highlights the need for further research on the interlocking influences of gender, race, nationality and other structures of power, on health and illness to increase our understanding of what would help meet the specific needs of migrants’ mental health and improve equitable health care.

The findings on the multiple and intersectional discrimination perceived by the Brazilian and Cape Verdean populations in Portugal illustrated the ways mental health can be affected by social structures, such as gender and ethnic hierarchies, and can be used to inform the relevance to design and implement programs on combating individual and institutional discrimination and improving the rights of all people.

Children's film and fiction often portray a witch as either an evil hag or an incompetent older woman yet when the male witch is within the narrative, he is named Sorcerer or Wizard, suggesting therefore that (unlike the hag) age and gender is not a factor when performing witchcraft. Moreover, the male witch identity is introduced from the position of empowerment and competency rather than prejudice. Witch identities are gendered, and the male witch is underappreciated and overlooked by the historical identity of the female witch.

This chapter analyses how the male witch is presented in selected children's film and fiction through the frameworks of Hegemonic, Hybrid, and Mosaic Masculinity. Hegemonic Masculinity demonstrates the toxic performance of the male witch, indicating to readers and audiences that to be male and a witch, a heterosexual man must be cruel and manipulative. Hybrid Masculinities relate to some patriarchal behaviours such as violent outbursts, that also blend with more empathetic and emotional behaviours. Mosaic Masculinity presents the male witch in a way that is fluid and disrupts the binary of Hegemonic and Hybrid Masculinity.

This chapter acknowledges the absence of presence of the male witch and encourages a more authentic representation of the male witch that is akin to those who practice witchcraft. There are non-toxic examples of masculinity that challenge the potential for stereotyping, hence there is a need for a better representation of what it means to be a witch within popular culture.