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1 – 10 of over 7000Anthony Amoah and Benjamin Amoah
Lockdowns are generally characterised by financial depletion, loneliness, stress, depression, loss of jobs and businesses, among others. The effect of the recent lockdown in Ghana…
Abstract
Purpose
Lockdowns are generally characterised by financial depletion, loneliness, stress, depression, loss of jobs and businesses, among others. The effect of the recent lockdown in Ghana as a result of COVID-19 pandemic has not been different. The primary question this study seeks to answer is: are lockdowns only characterised by negativity, or could there be a positive side that has not yet been harnessed?
Design/methodology/approach
To answer this question, the authors rely on a dataset of 879 observations obtained through an online survey administered from 25 April to 3 May 2020. Using a regression approach, the authors applied an ordered probit econometric technique with its associated predicted margins.
Findings
The authors show evidence that in the midst of the negativity surrounding the lockdown, social connectedness is evident, especially in relatively less busy cities. The authors recommend that instead of losing oneself through social isolation and loneliness during lockdowns, people should use lockdowns as an opportunity to build and exhibit social capital and harness the opportunities associated with it. The authors also recommend that during lockdowns, channels of social connectedness should be made easily accessible and cheaper through a well-targeted government subsidy programme for the poor.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is a novel study that provides the first empirical evidence on the relationship between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown and social connectedness.
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Fiona Rowe, Donald Stewart and Carla Patterson
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to demonstrate the contribution of whole school approaches embodied by the health‐promoting school approach, to the promotion…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to demonstrate the contribution of whole school approaches embodied by the health‐promoting school approach, to the promotion of school connectedness, defined as the cohesiveness between diverse groups in the school community, including students, families, school staff and the wider community.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross‐disciplinary review of literature was conducted to identify strategies consistent with the health‐promoting school approach and the values and principles that promote school connectedness. The review included peer‐reviewed articles and published books and reports identified from the databases spanning the education, health, social science and science disciplines and used search terms encompassing health and mental health promotion, schools, social connectedness, belonging and attachment. The paper is also a framework of the contribution of the health‐promoting school approach to promoting school connectedness and was developed drawing on health promotion strategies at the broader community level known to foster connectedness.
Findings
The paper found that the framework developed illustrates how the health‐promoting school approach has the potential to build school connectedness through two major mechanisms: inclusive processes that involve the diversity of members that make up a community; the active participation of community members and equal “power” relationships, or equal partnerships among community members; and supportive structures such as school policies, the way the school is organised and its physical environment, that reflect the values of participation, democracy and inclusiveness and/or that promote processes based on these values.
Practical implications
In this paper the detailed mechanisms outlined in the framework provide practical strategies for health promotion practitioners and educators to use in the everyday school setting to promote school connectedness.
Originality/value
This paper draws together substantial bodies of evidence and makes a persuasive case for the contribution of the health‐promoting school approach to building school connectedness.
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Dustin K. Grabsch, Alexander Jennings-Rentz, Robert M. Kunovich, Sakshi Hinduja and Dedeepya Chinnam
This research study set out to answer the following question: How does social class relate to social connectedness in college?
Abstract
Purpose
This research study set out to answer the following question: How does social class relate to social connectedness in college?
Design/methodology/approach
The authors operationalized a nonexperimental, cross-sectional and analytical study design to analyze 271 survey responses.
Findings
This study illustrates that discretionary income has the most dramatic practical significance on the social connectedness of undergraduate students at the research site. As the body of knowledge regarding effective measures of social class for collegians increases, institutions should consider more innovative measures like discretionary spending, perceived social class and others during this unique transitional period of life.
Originality/value
A widened perspective of social class in college could aid in supporting the university and college goals of student success and social well-being.
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Nina Åkestam, Sara Rosengren and Micael Dahlen
This paper aims to investigate whether portrayals of homosexuality in advertising can generate social effects in terms of consumer-perceived social connectedness and empathy.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate whether portrayals of homosexuality in advertising can generate social effects in terms of consumer-perceived social connectedness and empathy.
Design/methodology/approach
In three experimental studies, the effects of advertising portrayals of homosexuality were compared to advertising portrayals of heterosexuality. Study 1 uses a thought-listing exercise to explore whether portrayals of homosexuality (vs heterosexuality) can evoke more other-related thoughts and whether such portrayals affect consumer-perceived social connectedness and empathy. Study 2 replicates the findings while introducing attitudes toward homosexuality as a boundary condition and measuring traditional advertising effects. Study 3 replicates the findings while controlling for gender, perceived similarity and targetedness.
Findings
The results show that portrayals of homosexuality in advertising can prime consumers to think about other people, thereby affecting them socially. In line with previous studies of portrayals of homosexuality in advertising, these effects are moderated by attitudes toward homosexuality.
Research limitations/implications
This paper adds to a growing body of literature on the potentially positive extended effects of advertising. They also challenge some of the previous findings regarding homosexuality in advertising.
Practical implications
The finding that portrayals of homosexuality in advertising can (at least, temporarily) affect consumers socially in terms of social connectedness and empathy should encourage marketers to explore the possibilities of creating advertising that benefits consumers and brands alike.
Originality/value
The paper challenges the idea that the extended effects of advertising have to be negative. By showing how portrayals of homosexuality can increase social connectedness and empathy, it adds to the discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of advertising on a societal level.
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Kuo Feng, Levent Altinay and Hossein Olya
This empirical study aims to investigate the influence of socially supportive services provided by commercial senior living services on older customers’ social well-being. This…
Abstract
Purpose
This empirical study aims to investigate the influence of socially supportive services provided by commercial senior living services on older customers’ social well-being. This study seeks to test the moderating role of social connectedness on the above associations. It explores necessary conditions and causal recipes from the combination of interactions and social connectedness to predict customers’ social well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 190 older customers residing in commercial senior living services in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang in China. The proposed structural and configurational models were tested using structural equation modelling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).
Findings
The results of the model testing illustrate that peers have no influence on the social well-being of older customers. However, positive interactions with employees and outsiders are supportive resources that increase older customers’ social well-being. Social connectedness moderates the relationship between interaction with peers and the social well-being of customers. fsQCA results revealed that complex combinations of interactions and social connectedness predict social well-being. Interactions with employees, peers and outsiders appeared as necessary conditions to achieve social well-being.
Originality/value
This study provides evidence for how commercial senior living services can serve as a space to exchange socially supportive resources with employees and outsiders, which enhance older customers’ social well-being.
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Eva Neely, Mat Walton and Christine Stephens
The health-promoting schools (HPSs) framework has emerged as a promising model for promoting school connectedness in the school setting. The purpose of this paper is to explore…
Abstract
Purpose
The health-promoting schools (HPSs) framework has emerged as a promising model for promoting school connectedness in the school setting. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for food practices to promote school connectedness within a HPSs framework.
Design/methodology/approach
This study explores food practices within a New Zealand secondary school by using an ethnographic methodology, with interviews and observations, to explore in-depth the range of food practices that occurred within the school across a whole school year. Thematically the data were ready for school connectedness indicators across the recorded events, and categorically the practices were coded according to their level of occurrence within the HPS framework.
Findings
The findings showed that food practices occurred across class- and school-level organisation, ethos, environment, and community partnerships, and indicated that they may be valuable assets for a HPS approach to school connectedness. By integrating the findings of the present study with previous literature the authors suggest a HPS framework for promoting school connectedness through food practices.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the emerging research on whole-school approaches to building school connectedness, and provides a first contribution on the value of food practices for school connectedness.
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Ruqia Khan, Tahir Mumtaz Awan, Tayyba Fatima and Maria Javed
The purpose of this study is to identify the accelerators of sharing economy that lead to sustainability by adopting green consumption. Nostalgia is studied as a mediator along…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the accelerators of sharing economy that lead to sustainability by adopting green consumption. Nostalgia is studied as a mediator along with social connectedness and past orientation. Specifically, the study is based upon a framework to explore the outcomes of sharing economy through an individual's green consumption behavior from the perspective of mortality anxiety.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative research technique was employed by collecting data from 537 households through snowball sampling. The model was tested using partial least squares (SEM-VB). The validity of the theoretical and measurement model was assessed.
Findings
The results revealed that nostalgia positively influences social connectedness and past orientation, whereas social connectedness and past orientation accelerate green consumption. However, it was confirmed that nostalgia decreases green consumption.
Research limitations/implications
The drivers of sharing economy lead toward environmentally friendly consumer behavior by providing opportunities for different agents to increase the usage of shared consumption. The model can be improved by introducing other mediating variables to enrich understanding.
Practical implications
The study may provide opportunities for practitioners and the government to identify the key factors in a sharing economy, specifically with reference to green consumption and social connectedness. It is predicted that it will help reduce environmental deterioration.
Originality/value
This study identifies the role of mortality anxiety and nostalgia toward green consumption, predominantly in the context of a sharing economy. It is a forward to collaborative consumption.
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Charlotte Struyve, Alan Daly, Machteld Vandecandelaere, Chloé Meredith, Karin Hannes and Bieke De Fraine
The number of early career teachers leaving the profession continues to be an ongoing issue across the globe. This pressing concern has resulted in increased attention to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The number of early career teachers leaving the profession continues to be an ongoing issue across the globe. This pressing concern has resulted in increased attention to the instructional and psychological conditions necessary to retain early career educators. However, less formal attention has been paid to the social infrastructure in which early career teachers find themselves. The purpose of this paper is to foreground the role of social capital and its effect on job attitudes and educators’ intention to leave the profession.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 736 teachers within ten secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium). Using social network and multilevel moderated mediation analysis techniques, the relationships between teachers’ social connectedness, job attitudes, and the intention to leave the profession for both novice and experienced teachers were analyzed.
Findings
Findings indicate that being socially connected to other educators within the school is associated with a reduction in teachers’ intention to leave the profession, mediated by their job attitudes, for both early career and experienced teachers. However, social connectedness was significantly more important for early career teachers. No significant effects are found for being socially connected to the mentor.
Originality/value
This study provides evidence for the importance of social capital for teachers, particularly early career educators. Moreover, by introducing teachers’ social connectedness as related to intention to leave, this study makes a significant and unique contribution to the literature.
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Maximilian Stieler and Claas Christian Germelmann
This paper aims to focus on similarity cues that may strengthen bonds among crowd members and that serve as “glue” between individual group members in the context of collective…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on similarity cues that may strengthen bonds among crowd members and that serve as “glue” between individual group members in the context of collective football-viewing events.
Design/methodology/approach
Study 1 is a qualitative field study that focused on the subjective socio-emotional experiences of event visitors, whereas Study 2 tested the hypotheses quantitatively.
Findings
The qualitative pre-study revealed a variety of discrete emotions that consumers experienced through the course of consumption. Apart from individualistic emotions, respondents reported feeling common bonds with fellow crowd members. Respondents used a variety of emotion terms to express this experience. Moreover, we found different types of similarity cues which strengthen feelings of connectedness among crowd members in a football-watching scenario. Collaborative actions and team identification, as a sports-specific variable, foster a feeling of social connectedness, which in turn directly positively affects consumer enjoyment.
Research limitations/implications
Experiencing a feeling of social connectedness may serve as a starting point for a long-term relationship with the service itself or with associated brands. Future experimental studies might isolate the antecedents of a feeling of social connectedness and, thus, enhance the understanding of consumers’ emotional states during the course of hedonic consumption.
Practical implications
Service providers should encourage consumers to perform collaborative actions, as consumers potentially infect others and start a ripple effect.
Originality/value
This paper differs from existing work on crowds, in that the authors focus on similarity cues as antecedents of feelings of connectedness among group members.
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Melissa Graham, Beth Turnbull, Hayley McKenzie and Ann Taket
Women’s reproductive circumstances and choices have consequences for their experiences of social connectedness, inclusion and support across the life-course. Australia is a…
Abstract
Women’s reproductive circumstances and choices have consequences for their experiences of social connectedness, inclusion and support across the life-course. Australia is a pronatalist country and women’s social identity remains strongly linked to motherhood. Yet the number of women foregoing motherhood is increasing. Despite this, women without children are perceived as failing to achieve womanhood as expected by pronatalist ideologies that assume all women are or will be mothers. Defying socially determined norms of motherhood exposes women without children to negative stereotyping and stigma, which has consequences for their social connectedness, inclusion and support. This chapter examines theories of social connectedness, inclusion and support, drawing on Australian empirical data to explore how women without children experience social connectedness, inclusion and support in a pronatalist society within their daily lives.
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