Search results

This study aims to investigate the relationship between individual-level psychological resources and team resilience in the context of expatriate project management teams. It seeks to understand how personal psychological resources contribute to team resilience and explore the dynamic evolution mechanism of team resilience. The goal is to enhance team resilience among expatriates in a BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible) world, where organizations face volatile and uncertain conditions.

An online survey was applied for data collection, and 315 valid samples from Chinese expatriates in international construction projects were utilized for data analysis. A structural equation model (SEM) examines the relationships between personal psychological resources and team resilience. The study identifies five psychological factors influencing team resilience: Employee Resilience, Cross-cultural Adjustment, Self-efficacy, Social Support, and Team Climate. The hypothesized relationships are validated through the SEM analysis. Additionally, a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) is constructed to explore the dynamic mechanism of team resilience formation based on the results of the SEM.

The SEM analysis confirms that employee resilience, cross-cultural adjustment, and team climate positively impact team resilience. Social support and self-efficacy also have positive effects on team climate. Moreover, team climate is found to fully mediate the relationship between self-efficacy and team resilience, as well as between social support and team resilience. The FCM model provides further insights into the dynamic evolution of team resilience, highlighting the varying impact effects of antecedents during the team resilience development process and the effectiveness of different combinations of intervention strategies.

This study contributes to understanding team resilience by identifying the psychological factors influencing team resilience in expatriate project management teams. The findings emphasize the importance of social support and team climate in promoting team resilience. Interventions targeting team climate are found to facilitate the rapid development of team resilience. In contrast, interventions for social support are necessary for sustainable, long-term high levels of team resilience. Based on the dynamic simulation results, strategies for cultivating team resilience through external intervention and internal adjustment are proposed, focusing on social support and team climate. Implementing these strategies can enhance project management team resilience and improve the core competitiveness of contractors in the BANI era.

This study aimed to develop and test the impact of a social media-based intervention for improving the business skills and income of young smallholder farmers.

First, the researchers used an exploratory approach to develop a social media-based intervention for acquiring business skills and improving income. Second, the researchers tested the effectiveness of the developed programme on a sample of 506 young smallholder farmers. Finally, the intervention and data collection took place over five years (2017–2021).

The result showed steady improvements in business skills and income from 2017 to 2021 for the treatment group, unlike the control group. Also, improvements in business skills led to a reduction in expenses and an increase in profit from 2017 to 2021. A further evaluation of the result showed that an addition of 5.1 mean scores in business skills led to the addition of $91 income between 2017 and 2018; for 2018–2019, 2.6 improvements in business skills increased income by $123. For 2019–2020, a 2.7 improvement increased income by $209, whilst for 2020–2021, a 1.6 improvement increased income by $320.

The results of this study could help explore ways of using social media to change behaviour aimed at improving income amongst young smallholder farmers.

This paper aims to provide an overview of a social marketing intervention that aimed to increase physical activity (aligned to UN SDG 3) among adolescents in Bali, Indonesia.

Three sequential phases were followed to deliver the social marketing intervention. Phrase 1 (formative research) gained insights that guided a subsequent social marketing intervention. Phase 2 (pilot intervention) gathered preliminary results, to support the development of the final intervention. Phase 3 (intervention) evaluated the effectiveness of the two-month social marketing intervention.

The results from the intervention tested in this paper identified significant behaviour change in physical activity, demonstrating the effectiveness of the intervention. Furthermore, the paper identifies which intervention inputs contribute to behaviour change and which do not.

This paper describes the outcomes from an eight-week pilot programme that aimed to increase rates of physical activity for Indonesian adolescents and provides early evidence of impact.

This study found that providing adolescents with the opportunity to play team sports increases physical activity behaviour.

There is a lot of ground that needs to be made in terms of designing programs capable of achieving impact in the Global South. The approach reported in this paper can serve as a best-practice model for researchers wanting to drive lasting behaviour change to overcome known inequities in the Global South.

Alternative theoretical perspectives on performance measurement and management (PMM) have been advanced in response to shortcomings observed with the dominant control systems-based paradigm. The purpose of this investigation is to ascertain whether one such perspective, rooted in social systems theory and practice theory, can accommodate these shortcomings and positively impact organisational effectiveness (OE) and performance.

Longitudinal critical realism-based case study research is employed in action research mode to investigate how adopting a social complexity perspective on PMM affected the behaviour and performance of a commercial organisation.

The case study observations suggest that by putting people and their behaviour and organisational practices at the centre of PMM, near-term organisational outcomes can be influenced favourably in complex and dynamic environments.

This investigation provides a tool for undertaking a social complexity interpretation of PMM.

This research supports the proposal that complexity theory provides an alternative paradigm for managing performance in organisations and describes the first practical application of a social complexity interpretation of PMM. It presents a model for use and further development by other researchers.

Loneliness and social isolation are risk factors for morbidity and mortality and a growing health concern. Peer support is an intervention that has shown efficacy in the wider health-care arena. However, little is known about its effectiveness when working with adults and adolescents experiencing these issues. The purpose of this study is to conduct a scoping review on loneliness and social isolation in adult and youth populations.

A preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses extension for scoping reviews was conducted. Five databases, Web of Science, Academic Search Complete, Embase, PsycINFO and Scopus were searched for peer-reviewed literature published in English from inception to 2023.

The search yielded 2,402 articles of which (N = 12) met the inclusion criteria for this review. Peer support interventions for loneliness and social isolation are a relatively new topic of interest for academics. However, it is apparent that loneliness and social isolation cut across populations experiencing various health and social issues. More experiential research is needed to evidence the effectiveness of peer support in these areas with both adults and adolescents. Emerging areas of interest include the use of technology to deliver interventions and the use of technology to facilitate peer support implementation with populations difficult to reach.

Peer support may be a promising social intervention to help those experiencing loneliness and social isolation associated with a range of health conditions. However, further research needs to be undertaken in this emerging area of practice.

Loneliness and social isolation are of increasing concern. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first scoping review conducted in this area

The Social Norms Approach (SNA) is a health behaviour intervention which promotes positive behaviour change by challenging and reducing misperceived social norms of peer behaviours and attitudes. This study reports a novel qualitative evaluation of an in-school SNA intervention which aimed to reduce 11-to-12-year-old students’ unhealthy snacking behaviours by reducing misperceived peer norms.

A qualitative evaluation of seven teachers’ and eighteen students’ experiences of taking part in the SNA intervention based on focus group discussions and an open-ended survey.

An inductive reflexive thematic analysis indicated that the SNA intervention was an effective and engaging means of delivering normative feedback to younger adolescents. The use of a paper-and-pens creative poster-making activity, where students were tasked with designing the intervention materials featuring normative feedback based on their baseline data, encouraged students to discuss and reflect on the discrepancies between their perceived norms and the actual reported unhealthy snacking norms. Challenges were identified with ensuring intervention fidelity and in students’ understanding of how to record survey responses using Likert scales.

This study demonstrates the usefulness of exploring post-intervention perceptions of SNA interventions, particularly from the perspective of the intended recipients. The study also provides useful information for those intending to develop in-school SNA interventions in the future, particularly the importance of involving participants in the designing of intervention materials as a means of promoting engagement with an SNA-based dietary behaviour intervention.

Given the lack of understanding of social marketing success in theory and practice, this study aims to investigate how social marketing experts conceptualize success.

In this qualitative study, the authors conducted an open-ended online questionnaire with 48 worldwide social marketing experts, most with more than 20 years of experience in the field. The authors analyzed data using topic modeling, a machine-learning method that groups responses/terms into cluster topics based on similarities. Keywords in each topic served to generate themes for discussion.

While behavior change is mentioned as paramount to conceptualizing success, participants prefer to use more tangible and less complex forms to define/measure success, such as campaign recall uptick. In addition, lack of funding was considered an important factor in measuring success. This study provides a two-stage taxonomy to better understand success in social marketing.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to conceptualize success in social marketing practice.

This study evaluates the impact of government social protection interventions on households’ welfare in South Africa.

The study uses survey data comprising 393 observations and the multinomial logistic regression technique to analyse the effect of government interventions on households’ welfare. For robustness purposes, a negative binomial regression model is also estimated whose results corroborate the main results from the multinomial regression model.

The study’s findings show that government economic interventions through social protection significantly reduce the likelihood of a decrease in household income or consumption. COVID-19 grant/social relief of distress grant, unemployment insurance, tax relief and job protection and creation are all significant in sustaining household income and consumption.

The findings have policy implications for social development. Specifically, the findings support the use of government social protection as a safety net for low-income groups in South Africa.

The study presents preliminary evidence on the effectiveness of several measures used to ameliorate the COVID-19-induced recession within the South African context.

Brief loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is introduced here as a valid social marketing intervention. LKM positively influences prosocial cognitions and affects. However, it remains unclear whether brief meditation interventions can influence prosocial behavior. This study aims to provide evidence of the effects of short LKM on prosocial behavior.

This study reports the results of three experiments examining the effects of brief LKM on donations to unknown others. The results are then integrated with the results of seven other studies testing the effects of brief LKM on prosocial behavior using a meta-analysis (n = 683).

LKM increased love more than the control group (focused breathing) in the three experiments; however, its effects on donations were mixed. The meta-analysis shows that LKM has a small-to-medium significant effect compared to active control groups (d = 0.303); moreover, age and type of prosocial measure used moderate the effects.

Results suggest that LKM can nurture prosocial emotions such as love and lead young individuals to donate. However, these emotions may not be sufficient to lead adult meditators to share their resources with unknown others. This study presents the first meta-analysis of brief LKM and provides insights into the use of meditation in social marketing programs.

Mental well-being is associated with positive outcomes throughout the life course. This study aims to examine interventions delivered by allied health professionals (AHPs) to alleviate community stressors adversely impacting public mental health and well-being.

Review inclusion criteria comprised experimental and qualitative process evaluations of public mental health interventions delivered by AHPs. Electronic searches in Cinahl, Embase, Medline, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Library, were combined with grey literature searches of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence public health guidance. A narrative synthesis and the Effective Public Health Practice Project appraisal tool were used to evaluate the evidence.

A total of 45-articles were included in the review describing AHP-delivered interventions addressing social disadvantage, trauma, bullying, loneliness, work-related stress, transitional stress, intersectionality, pain and bereavement. No articles were identified evaluating interventions delivered by operating department practitioners or orthoptists. A conceptual map was developed summarising the stressors, and a typology of public mental health interventions defined including: place-based interventions, discrete/one-off interventions, multi-component lifestyle and social connector interventions and interventions targeting groups at risk of mental health conditions.

Many mental health conditions begin in childhood, and a strength of the review is the life course perspective. A further strength is compiling a compendium of public mental health outcome measures used by AHPs to inform future research. The authors excluded many articles focussed on clinical interventions/populations, which did not meet review inclusion criteria. While playing a key role in delivering public mental health interventions, clinical psychologists are not defined as AHPs and were excluded from the review, and this may be construed a limitation. Given heterogeneity of study designs and interventions evaluated numerical analyses of pooled findings was not appropriate.

The review highlights the breadth of community stressors on which AHPs can intervene and contribute in public mental health contexts, stressors which correspond to those identified in UK Government guidance as currently important and relevant to address. The findings can inform developing community public mental health pathways that align with the UK National Health Service (NHS) Long Term Plan, on prevention and early intervention to protect community mental health and well-being. Further can inform the NHS strategic direction for AHPs including informing ways of increasing utilisation of core AHP skills to optimise contributions in public mental health agendas.

It is surprising there were not more AHP delivered evaluations of interventions for other stressors important to address in public mental health settings, for example gambling, domestic violence or that used digital technology, and these are areas for future research. Future research should identify the most active/effective dimensions of multi-component interventions which could be informed by frameworks to guide complex intervention development. The relative paucity of research identified, highlights the predominant focus of research to date on interventions for clinical mental health conditions and populations. The lack of preventative approaches is evident, and an important area for future research to align with UK health and social care priorities.

The review highlights AHP-delivered interventions impacting diverse community stressors across the life course. The findings can inform developing public mental health pathways aligned with government health service priorities to protect mental health and well-being, prioritise prevention and early intervention and increase utilisation of AHP skills across public mental health settings.