Search results

The practice of public relations (PR) is shaped by the ‘life world’ of the professionals; moreover, both the experiences of the professionals and societal changes shape the profession in a particular area (Hodges, 2006). Women have always played an important part in the development of PR as a profession and academic field in Turkey. Since PR Association of Turkey was established in 1972, five out of eight presidents have been women, and most of the members are also female. Female PR practitioners represent 70% of the total workforce of PR sector in Turkey, and most of the communication agencies are led by female entrepreneurs.

However, research on women' positions and their multiple roles in PR in Turkey are limited.

This chapter uses a qualitative study with 27 in-depth one-on-one interviews conducted in order to analyse female PR practitioners' experiences related to (1) the start of their careers, (2) their career experiences, (3) their evaluation of the profession, and lastly (4) their career goals. The interviewees included agency owners, managers, deputy general managers and group directors.

The research aimed to discover the female PR professional experience in respect of the difficulties they face in their practice and everyday life, advantages and/or disadvantages of being a female PR professional in Turkey and the ways women balanced their career and family duties.

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the dynamics and considerations of professionals regarding the sharing of tacit, personal knowledge in their practice.

Adopting a social-constructivist ontology, the qualitative design deploys semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Data were coded, and analysed through interrelating and reasoning.

Personal knowledge is difficult to share precisely, but can be shared to some extent using reflection and stories. Knowledge also provides a position and professional agency, emphasising boundaries and impacting the decisions on interaction and sharing. As such, professional commitment is vulnerable and contextual and, by extension, material becomes part of this interplay of professional practice and collaborative development.

Findings imply that exchange and use of knowledge and material present in organisations are impacted by individual professionals’ autonomy and decisions, which consequently impact on employees’ practice. This calls for research that focuses on individual factors such as autonomy, professionalism and attitudes in addition to organisational and facilitative matters.

Stimulating professional commitment and interpersonal learning is a matter of valuing personal knowledge and practice to avoid protectionism, boundaries and segregated agency. Management and professionals should consider how and why individuals exchange their personal knowledge, paying attention to social structures and individuals’ voices and objectives in forming communities.

This study combines the concept of tacit knowledge with the younger field of practice theory. By connecting personal knowledge to practice, it extends agency to the material world and offers a more individual perspective to knowledge sharing in and between entities.

This research was conducted as part of a PhD study. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors taken into consideration when multi-agency practitioners were considering financial harm in the context of adult protection and how this influenced their decision-making processes.

An adapted q sort methodology initially established the areas of financial harm considered to have additional factors, which led to complexity in adult protection decision making. These factors were further explored in individual interviews or focus groups.

The data identified that the decision-making process varied between thorough analysis, rationality and heuristics with evidence of cue recognition, factor weighting and causal thinking. This highlighted the relevance of Kahneman’s (2011) dual processing model in social work practice. Errors that occurred through an over reliance on System 1 thinking can be identified and rectified through the use of System 2 thinking and strengthen social work decision-making.

This paper considers the practice of multi-agency adult protection work in relation to financial harm and identifies the influences on decisions.

The purpose of this study is to propose and explore a conceptualization of decisional capital that is suitable for early career teachers.

This study uses exploratory factor analysis on a sample of early career teachers to examine a literature-derived conceptualization of decisional capital.

The factors that emerged support the literature-derived conceptualization. A subsequent confirmatory factor analysis on a second sample of early career teachers offers additional evidence for the proposed conceptualization. An exploration of the underlying factor structure comparing results across four competing models (i.e. unidimensional, correlated factors, second order, and bifactor) suggests that a second order factor explains the variance across the three proposed factors well. We conclude that this second order factor is decisional capital.

This is the first study that examines the discrete elements of decisional capital. Understanding these discrete elements is an avenue for investigation into the development of decisional capital beyond the acknowledgment that it takes time to develop.

The built environment is a complex sector that demands coordination and cooperation of stakeholders. Construction projects from the complex sector require skills, services, and integration of major disciplines in the built environment. Sustainability of the major disciplines' standards regarding the appropriateness of the built environment tertiary education cannot be over-emphasised in Nigeria. Studies concerning Nigeria's built environment programmes accreditation (BEPA) in the 21st-century education system are scarce. Thus, the study investigated the relevance and perceived factors hindering Nigeria's BEPA in the 21st-century education system. Also, the study proffered measures to improve Nigerian built environment tertiary education accreditation ranking.

Data were sourced from elite virtual interviews across Nigeria. The interviewees were knowledgeable about Nigeria's built environment programmes accreditation, and many of them have been directly or indirectly involved. The investigators utilised a thematic analysis for the collated data and enhanced it with secondary sources.

The study revealed that several Nigerian academia in the built environment lack fame in research, publication, and citations due to barriers in their workplace. It has hindered their global institution's accreditation and ranking standards. Findings identified inadequate basic infrastructure, obsolete curricula, lack of research novelty, lack of higher education institutions funding, inadequate staffing and lax upskilling and reskilling, and unethical practices “systematic corruption” as major factors hindering BEPA. Also, findings proffered measures to improve Nigeria's BEPA global ranking.

The study is limited to the perceived barriers and measures to improve BEPA in the 21st-century in Nigeria via semi-structured virtual interviews. Future study is needed to validate the findings as highlighted in the thematic network.

The paper confirms that the BEPA requires innovative and multidisciplinary measures to improve the global ranking of these programmes and, by extension, the higher education institutions ranking globally. The paper would stir major stakeholders and advance the built environment programmes quality accreditation regarding international best practices and maintain the minimum standards.

The paper comprehensively analyses the perceived factors and proffered measures to improve Nigeria's BEPA in the 21st-century via a thematic network. The outcome intends to improve the global ranking and stir stakeholders to reposition and showcase Nigeria's built environment programmes to the world.

Drawing on the experiences of healthcare professionals in one paediatric hospital, this paper explores the influence of context and organisational behaviour on the implementation of a person-centred transition programme for adolescents and young adults (AYA) with long-term conditions.

A single embedded qualitative case study design informed by a realist evaluation framework, was used. Participants who had experience of implementing the transition programme were recruited from across seven individual services within the healthcare organisation. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews (n = 20) and analysed using thematic analysis.

Implementation of the transition programme was influenced by the complex interaction of macro, meso and micro processes and contexts. Features of organisational behaviour including routines and habits, culture, organisational readiness for change and professional relationships shaped professional decision-making around programme implementation.

There exists a significant body of research relating to the role of context and its influence on the successful implementation of complex healthcare interventions. However, within the area of healthcare transition there is little published evidence on the role that organisational behaviour and contextual factors play in influencing transition programme implementation. This paper provides an in-depth understanding of how organisational behaviour and contextual factors affect transition programme implementation.

This case study explores trust at work, described by young professionals in the early stages of their careers. In this article, trust is approached as the study participants' experiences of interpersonal trust. More specifically, it refers to relationships between colleagues, among individuals or at group level (Ma et al., 2019). Supervisors or managers did not take part in this study. The research question was “What do young professionals tell about trust and its importance at work?”

The empirical study consists of qualitative data, focus group (5) interviews (n = 20) of young professionals who are in the early stages of their careers (1–3 years after graduation). The study is contextualized in Finland, in Helsinki metropolitan area, in three social and healthcare workplaces and two information technology (IT) organizations. Both public and private sectors are represented. The data were analysed by theory-based content analysis.

According to the study results, descriptions of trust and its importance at work can be placed in three main categories. First, trust is an important element in improving young professionals' adaptation into the working community. Second, trust strengthens young professionals' professionalism and professional development at work. Third, trust at work highlights ethical issues and their significance in workplace relationships. Practical implications and limitations are also discussed.

Due to the nature of this study, the research results should be viewed critically. The results can be seen as one suggestion to structure and increase understanding of trust in working life, from the perspective of young professionals in the early stages of their careers. As all research, the studies included in this review had several limitations that need to be taken into account. First, one of them is the size of the data, also in this study. Second, although literature has been searched carefully, there is always a chance of better literature existing for discussion on trust at work from young professionals' points of view, even though there is not a lot available on this specific topic. Nonetheless, literature of this study includes the most relevant classics of trust research. Third, the method has its own limits because it is based on focus group interviews, not interviews of individuals. On the other hand, it offered time for the team to reflect on trust in their own team. Still, this study offers one option for discussion of trust in work relationships. Additionally, it was noteworthy that the subjects were at the beginning of their careers, joining a new working community. They were in the early stages of building a professional identity, seeking confirmation of their skills and position in the working community. Thus, we recognize that this may have contributed to the collection of research data, which was a focus group interview. Few participants in the interview wanted to strongly point out the factors related to distrust, even if they had appeared at work. The authors recognize that exploring trust requires trust and acknowledge it. Data have been collected before the COVID-19 pandemic (see, e.g. van Zoonen et al., 2021).

This study implies that trust at work should focus on discussing young professionals' thoughts, expectations, feelings and experiences of trust at work as part of transitioning from graduation into working life or in early stages of their careers. Trust should not only be discussed in dyadic discussions between young professionals and supervisors but also as part of team discussions. The authors’ suggestion is that trust should be in the core of team discussions, not just as part of teams' social and emotional dimensions of their functionality and capacity. Courage and skills to take part in such discussions is needed from all parties. Especially leaders have to have the ability to create a trusting environment to talk about trust. In particular, the importance of peers in trust and their importance at work should be taken into account. By understanding young professionals’ point of view, we can prevent job changes or dissatisfaction at work too. The purpose of this study was to contribute to this line of research on trust at work. The trust resource contributes to and promotes the realization of participation in working life.

The trust resource contributes to and promotes the realization of participation in working life. Leaders and coworkers can learn about trust as a phenomenon, while developing more emotionally sustainable working environments for young professionals. Trust should be seen as a skill or competence to improve various positive functional dimensions at work.

The results demonstrate that it is crucial to ensure emotional sustainability at work, and a positive feeling of belonging at work supports young professionals by developing a trusting work environment. It strengthens their engagement in a new work.

This study aims to examine the relationship between TQM practices and teachers' job satisfaction in Qatar, visualizing this relationship through a path causal model.

A cross-sectional survey from different schools in Qatar was conducted, using a questionnaire administered to 359 teachers. Factor analysis was used to establish the construct validity of the questionnaire, using two statistical tests: Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy, and Bartlett's test of sphericity.

The TQM practices measured were information, professional development, teachers' involvement in decision-making, teamwork and salary. Regression analyses showed that only four of the five constructs were significant in predicting teachers' job satisfaction. The path causal model's results revealed that each explanatory variable's direct effect was strengthened via the effect of the other independent variables.

Teachers who are highly satisfied with their jobs are willing to give their best. This study proposes a conceptual causal model for TQM adoption in the Qatar educational system. The proposed causal model will help policymakers and decision-makers in Qatari schools to draw strategies based on the antecedents and consequences of teachers' involvement in decision-making.

Empirically, this article has employed the concepts of TQM and job satisfaction to construct a causal model, demonstrating the effect of TQM practices on teachers' job satisfaction in schools in Qatar, thus bridging the gap between the two fields. To the best of the researcher's knowledge, no prior studies have examined this relationship within Qatari schools.

Young offender mentoring programmes aim to support young people’s desistance from offending, but despite the importance, there remains limited exploration into mentor experiences of supporting the young people. This study aims to explore how a community-based mentoring intervention supports desistance in young offenders by understanding the mentor's experiences, with a specific reflective focus on facilitators and barriers to their work.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven mentors from Northumbria Coalition against Crime, a youth and community service. Interview transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, with external auditing conducted by the research supervisor.

Two superordinate themes resulted: “Factors for engagement” and “Personal experiences”, with participant disclosures reflecting professional reward and a sense of success. This was interwoven with “burnout”, emotional investment and challenges linked to barriers to effectiveness. Challenges included the young people having external negative influences, multiple individuals involved in a person’s care and the barrier of in person activities during the coronavirus pandemic. The clinical importance of mentoring programmes, implications for future working practice and research limitations are considered.

The clinical importance of mentoring programmes, implications for future working practice and research limitations are considered.

These findings contribute to understanding mentors’ experiences of working with young people in the community, offering critical insight into the mentorship and wider service dynamics. Furthermore, it provides an inaugural evaluation of the Northumbria Coalition against Crime services.

Research shows that employers are demanding generic skills from employees to complement disciplinary expertise. Evidence shows that majority of the higher institutions are struggling to meet this demand, especially in developing nations. Hence, these skills may be acquired while in the workplace through training and retraining. Studies concerning the Nigerian built environment professionals (BEP) generic skills in the workplace are scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate Nigeria’s BEP generic skills in the workplace via an unexplored mechanism and proffer feasible policy solutions that can improve BEP generic skills development.

The views of BEP were collated via a phenomenology type of qualitative research design across two major Nigerian cities where construction activities are soaring. Virtual interviews were conducted for 20 selected BEP. Data saturation was accomplished and the emerged three themes were analysed through a thematic analysis.

Findings show that generic skills enhance value for money in construction project delivery. But many of these professionals do not possess these skills in their daily operations. This has raised concerns about the present curriculum for preparing the built environment graduates in today’s profession. Findings categorised the hindrances into employers related-hindrances and employees related-hindrances in Nigeria’s BEP context.

This study is confined to the relevance and hindrances of the generic skills for Nigerian BEP, and proffer feasible policies to promote generic skills in the workplace via a qualitative approach. Future study is needed to investigate the role of the various professional Institutes within Nigeria’s built environment in promoting generic skills.

The paper advanced key stakeholders including BEP Institutes and regulatory bodies to redirect their continuing professional development towards developing professional values and identities as a trajectory to promote the growth of BEP generic skills in the workplace.

The proposed framework can be used to promote the implementation of generic skills for BEP across all levels. This would assist and stir up policymakers and other stakeholders in connection with the implementation of generic skills within the BEP.