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1 – 10 of over 1000Katja Rinne-Koski and Merja Lähdesmäki
Municipalities seek new opportunities for co-producing services in rural areas. One potential partner is community-based social enterprises (CBSEs). However, whilst service…
Abstract
Purpose
Municipalities seek new opportunities for co-producing services in rural areas. One potential partner is community-based social enterprises (CBSEs). However, whilst service co-production through CBSEs obscures the traditional roles of actors, it may lead to a legitimation crisis in local service provision. In this paper, the ways CBSEs are legitimised as service providers in rural areas are addressed from the CBSE and municipality perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data combine interviews with CBSE representatives and open-ended national survey responses from municipality decision-makers. The data analysis is based on a qualitative content analysis to examine legitimation arguments.
Findings
Results show that unestablished legitimacy and un-institutionalised support structures for co-production models build mistrust between CBSEs and municipalities, which prevents the parties from seeing the benefits of cooperation in service production.
Research limitations/implications
The research focusses on the legitimation of CBSEs in service co-production in rural areas. As legitimation seems to be a context-specific process, future research is needed regarding other contexts.
Practical implications
Municipalities interested in the co-production of services might benefit from establishing a collaborative and responsive (rural) service policy forum that would institutionalise new models of co-production and enable better design and governance of service provision.
Originality/value
Results will give new theoretical and practical insights into the importance of legitimacy in the development of service co-production relationships.
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Kirstin Abraham, Huw Thomas and Alyson Bryden
The dermatology service on the islands of Orkney, with a population of approximately 22,500, was taken over by National Health Service (NHS) Tayside in August 2018. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
The dermatology service on the islands of Orkney, with a population of approximately 22,500, was taken over by National Health Service (NHS) Tayside in August 2018. This paper aims to provide an overview of the planning and review of a highly efficient and effective dermatology service for a rural island population.
Design/methodology/approach
The service includes visiting dermatology consultants, enhanced electronic referral vetting, skin surgery services, a General Practice (GP) with extended role (GPwER) in dermatology, specialist virtual clinics, urgent advice for inpatients at the local district general hospital and remote systemic therapy monitoring. A new phototherapy service has been set up in an island GP practice.
Findings
Local GPs and consultant dermatologists find the enhanced vetting service useable, efficient and educational. Between August 2018 and November 2022, there have been 1,749 referrals. Of these referrals, 60% were seen in clinic or a GPwER surgery, with 40% managed remotely by providing advice back to the referring GP. The number of consultations performed by the GPwER has grown over the past 3 years, and in the last year, it accounted for more than 50% of patient appointments. The waiting time has been significantly reduced using this model.
Originality/value
This remote service uses an integrated approach of teledermatology (TD) whilst offering continual in-person services using local capabilities including a GPwER and island general surgeons. New treatment facilities are provided to the island population. Continual educational feedback to the primary care referrer is provided, and it enhances relationships that greatly aid the high-quality dermatology service provided.
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This paper explores the challenging nexus of police custody, risk and intra-organisational boundaries in the context of a recently reformed national police service. Police custody…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the challenging nexus of police custody, risk and intra-organisational boundaries in the context of a recently reformed national police service. Police custody is an often-hidden aspect of policing, away from the public gaze and scrutiny. Although there is increasing recognition of the importance of rural policing (e.g. Harkness (2020); Mawby and Yarwood (2011); Ruddell and Jones (2020); Yarwood and Wooff (2016)), there has been little or no focus on rural police custody. This paper seeks to begin to redress this by focussing on the challenges faced by rural police custody in the context of large-scale organisational change.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on data from a study funded by the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (2016–2018), entitled “Measuring Risk and Efficiency in Police Custody in Scotland”. The paper adopts a qualitative methodology to develop an understanding of the varying nature of police custody across Scotland. Two contrasting case study locations were selected, one urban and one rural. 12 semi-structured interviews and 15 hours of observation were carried out. Data was transcribed, coded and analysed and thematic analysis enabled themes to be developed. This paper draws on the data from the rural custody suite.
Findings
Drawing on the theoretical framework of Giacomantonio (2014) and more recent considerations of abstract policing Terpstra et al. (2019), this paper offers insights into the ways that police custody in rural Scotland has been organised, against the backdrop of challenging organisational change. I argue that as policing services in Scotland have become increasingly “abstract” from communities, police custody as a national division has witnessed the impact of this more greatly than other parts of local policing. Intra-organisational management around staffing has led to complex management of risk, illustrating some of the challenges of national organisational change on police custody.
Originality/value
This paper focuses on the impact of large scale organisational change on rural police custody and intra-organisational relationships and dynamics. Rural policing is still a largely neglected area of study and rural police custody is even less understood. This paper therefore provides an original contribution by focusing on this under-researched area of policing. It also illustrates complexity around risk, staffing and management of people being held in rural police custody suites. It is therefore of value to policing scholars in other contexts, as well as rural criminology more generally. It has applicability to international contexts where macro level policing reform is occurring.
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Evaristo Haulle and Gabriel Kanuti Ndimbo
Tanzania is rich in small hydropower (SHP) potentials. However, many of these potentials have yet to be fully used, and more than two-thirds of its rural population lacks access…
Abstract
Purpose
Tanzania is rich in small hydropower (SHP) potentials. However, many of these potentials have yet to be fully used, and more than two-thirds of its rural population lacks access to electricity. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of SHP stations in improving rural welfare in the southern highlands of Tanzania. It further explores the history, cost-effective analysis and threats to the sustainability of SHP as one of the renewable energy sources.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a qualitative research design to explore respondents’ views on the role of SHP stations in facilitating rural electrification and welfare improvement. Primary data were gathered using semi-structured interviews with the 27 key informants and beneficiaries of SHP stations from the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. In addition, the study used documentary research to complement the information from the field survey.
Findings
The findings found that SHP stations enhance rural electrification and welfare by providing electricity in remote areas with sparse populations. They operate as standalone off-grids, often by church communities and individuals. However, the sustainability of SHP stations is hampered by challenges such as climate change impacts, high capital investment costs, heavy siltation of small reservoirs, skilled manpower shortages, limited local manufacturing capabilities and infrastructural issues.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the ongoing debate on renewable energy supply and uses, focusing on how SHP stations could contribute to sustainable rural electrification and achieve the 2030 United Nations agenda for sustainable development, which, among other things, aims to safeguard access to sustainable and modern energy and alleviate energy poverty.
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Noha Emara and Raúl Katz
The purpose of this study is to use the structural model to determine the influence of mobile telecommunication on Egypt’s economic growth from 2000 to 2009. By focusing on mobile…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to use the structural model to determine the influence of mobile telecommunication on Egypt’s economic growth from 2000 to 2009. By focusing on mobile unique subscribers and mobile broadband-capable device penetration as indicators of telecommunications adoption, the authors seek to understand their overarching effects on the nation’s economic landscape.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses quarterly time-series data set over the period 2000–2019 and uses a structural econometric model based on an aggregate production function, a demand function, a supply function and an infrastructure function to detect causality and examine long-run relationships between variables.
Findings
The findings of the structural model reveal that both mobile unique subscribers and mobile broadband-capable device penetration significantly contributed to Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth from 2000 to 2019. Specifically, a 1% increase in mobile unique subscriber penetration and mobile broadband-capable device adoption is estimated to result in an average annual contribution to GDP growth of 0.172% and 0.016%, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
The scarcity of panel data is the main research limitation for comparative study with other Middle East and North African Region (MENA) countries. Research extensions would include testing the significance of complementarities such as improving governance measures and building human capacity for both households and firms, which are necessary to boost the impact of telecommunication on economic growth in the MENA region.
Practical implications
Based on these findings, the study puts forth policy recommendations aimed at maximizing investment in network utilization, including mobile and internet services, as well as fixed broadband subscriptions. It highlights the crucial role of these investments in promoting social and economic development, not only in Egypt but also across the MENA region as a whole.
Social implications
The findings of this research emphasize the importance of strategic investments in network utilization, encompassing mobile, internet services and fixed broadband subscriptions. Such investments are pivotal for fostering social and financial inclusion. The study underscores the potential of these investments to drive social and economic progress, not just within Egypt but throughout the entire MENA region.
Originality/value
Overall, existing literature generally supports the notion that the telecommunications sector has a positive economic impact. However, there is a gap in the literature when it comes to understanding the specific effects of the Egyptian telecommunications sector on the country’s economy, particularly in relation to the Egypt Vision 2030. The study aims to fill this gap by focusing specifically on Egypt and providing additional insights into the direct and indirect effects of the Egyptian telecommunications sector on the economy. By conducting a thorough analysis of the sector’s role, the authors aim to contribute to the existing literature by providing context-specific findings and recommendations.
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The study compares the social services functioning in two local contexts, one urban and one rural, in the same Italian region, to understand how contextual features affect…
Abstract
Purpose
The study compares the social services functioning in two local contexts, one urban and one rural, in the same Italian region, to understand how contextual features affect frontline workers' work.
Design/methodology/approach
By applying the framework of the street-level bureaucracy theory (SLB) and proposing a framing of the spatial contexts under analysis, the present study adopts a qualitative approach. In particular, semi-structured interviews were conducted among street-level workers, decision-makers and privileged witnesses.
Findings
The study shows how the typical features of the rural and urban Italian contexts analyzed impact differently on the working conditions of frontline workers, leading to substantive differences in the possibility of exercise their role at the street-level.
Originality/value
The article contributes to a wider understanding of social services provision in a highly fragmented system like the Italian one by taking into consideration contexts that are usually little investigated in SLB and welfare studies in the Mediterranean Europe area: those rural and, in particular, those belonging to the so-called “inner areas”.
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Mapheto J. Mamabolo and Oluwole Olumide Durodolu
This study aims to determine the requirements and find out the challenges for the use of digital library services for rural areas of Capricorn District Municipality, Limpopo…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to determine the requirements and find out the challenges for the use of digital library services for rural areas of Capricorn District Municipality, Limpopo province. The research questions of the study are: What are the requirements for the use of digital library services in rural areas of Capricorn District Municipality? What are the challenges of accessing digital library services in rural areas?
Design/methodology/approach
Data was analysed thematically and deductively in this study, as researcher required to accomplish the purpose of the study through consistent structure (Zalaghi and Khazaei, 2016). In deductive analysis, the researcher starts with a set of categories, which are then used to categorize and organize data (Bertram and Christiansen, 2020). The researcher got familiar with data from the interviewing process and when transcribing data from audio tape. The transcription process was done for the coding purposes. Coding allows the researcher to simplify and focus on specific characteristics of data.
Findings
The study findings advocate for the establishment of digital libraries in rural areas. The library authorities are challenged to adapt digital ways of information provision. Since librarians have been providing digital content in libraries for use on users’ laptops and other gadgets, this implies that the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has been lagging behind in finding innovative ways to provide information, especially in rural areas. To successfully keep libraries as sources of information, transformative measures have to be taken, and where possible, revisit the policies and keep drifting with the societal changes. The library authorities have to delve into new ways of providing LIS to the communities. Unquestionably, information and communication technologies have penetrated our societies and became a way of life. In addition, there are unlimited benefits which can be derived from digital technologies, especially given the lack of physical libraries in rural areas.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the academic research is original and has not been published anywhere before.
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Maria Teresa Ferazzoli and Lily Kpobi
This paper aims to provide new insights into and offer potential solutions to the challenges encountered by mental health services working with remote, rural or underserved…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide new insights into and offer potential solutions to the challenges encountered by mental health services working with remote, rural or underserved communities in the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors reflect on the utility of integrating conventional clinical approaches, with preventive care and empowering work within the community, to provide culturally sensitive and accessible mental health services. The authors describe an example of community intervention from a mental health service in Ghana designed to enhance reach within remote and rural communities and identify potential lessons for practice in the UK.
Findings
The partnership between community mental health services and the rural communities, including families and existing social frameworks, applies collaborative care to overcome the lack of resources and facilitate the acceptability of mental health services to the local population. There are a series of important lessons from this experience including the importance of understanding the culture of a community to optimise reach and the importance of working IN the community and WITH the community.
Originality/value
This paper is novel because it provides learning from a model of care applied in the global south that has potential for implementation with underserved populations in the UK. The authors suggest a reframing of the notion of community care to encompass existing frameworks of community, not merely a biomedical conceptualisation.
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Helene Ahl, Karin Berglund, Katarina Pettersson and Malin Tillmar
Policy for women's entrepreneurship is designed to promote economic growth, not least in depleted rural areas, but very little is known about the contributions of rural women…
Abstract
Purpose
Policy for women's entrepreneurship is designed to promote economic growth, not least in depleted rural areas, but very little is known about the contributions of rural women entrepreneurs, their needs or how the existing policy is received by them. Using a theoretical framework developed by Korsgaard et al. (2015), the authors analyse how rural women entrepreneurs contribute to rural development and discuss the implications for entrepreneurship policy. This paper aims to focus on the aforementioned objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors interviewed 32 women entrepreneurs in rural Sweden representing the variety of businesses in which rural Swedish women are engaged. The authors analysed their contributions to rural development by analysing their motives, strategies and outcomes using Korsgaard et al.’s framework of “entrepreneurship in the rural” and “rural entrepreneurship” as a heuristic, interpretative device.
Findings
Irrespective of industry, the respondents were deeply embedded in family and local social structures. Their contributions were substantial, multidimensional and indispensable for rural viability, but the policy tended to bypass most women-owned businesses. Support in terms of business training, counselling and financing are important, but programmes especially for women tend to miss the mark, and so does rural development policy. More important for rural women entrepreneurs in Sweden is the provision of good public services, including for example, schools and social care, that make rural life possible.
Research limitations/implications
Theoretically, the findings question the individualist and a-contextual focus of much entrepreneurship research, as well as the taken-for-granted work–family divide. How gender and how the public and the private are configured varies greatly between contexts and needs contextual assessment. Moreover, the results call for theorising place as an entrepreneurial actor.
Practical implications
Based on the findings, the authors advise future policymakers to gender mainstream entrepreneurship policy and to integrate entrepreneurship and rural development policy with family and welfare state policy.
Originality/value
The paper highlights how rural women respond to policy, and the results are contextualised, making it possible to compare them to other contexts. The authors widen the discussion on contributions beyond economic growth, and the authors show that policy for public and commercial services and infrastructure is indeed also policy for entrepreneurship.
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