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Intractable conflicts are characterized as protracted, irreconcilable, violent, of zero‐sum nature, total, and central. They are demanding, stressful, exhausting, and costly both in human and material terms. Societies involved in this type of conflict develop appropriate psychological conditions which enable them to cope successfully with the conflictual situation. The present paper proposes the following societal beliefs which are conducive to the development of these psychological conditions: beliefs about the justness of one's own goals, beliefs about security, beliefs of delegitimizing the opponent, beliefs of positive self‐image, beliefs about patriotism, beliefs about unity and beliefs about peace. These beliefs constitute a kind of ideology which supports the continuation of the conflict. The paper analyzes as an example one such intractable conflict, namely the one between Israel and Arabs, concentrating on the Israeli society. Specifically, it demonstrates the reflection of the discussed societal beliefs in the Israeli school textbooks. Finally, implications of the presented framework for peaceful conflict resolution are discussed.

This paper aims to explore if and how changes in social representations of conflict are designed and constructed in the formal political discourse.

Taking a psycho‐sociological approach and by relying on discourse analysis, it explores the discursive patterns used by the political leadership in order to legitimize either war or peace actions. Through the analysis of speeches that were given by Israeli prime ministers in the Knesset and in the context of warfare or peace processes, the paper traces changes in the historical narratives that frame Israel's cluster of societal beliefs in regards to the conflict, and further explores how these are being re‐narrated in light of the process of transition to peace.

The paper argues that both warfare and peace processes, representing the extreme options available in conflict, require broad public recruitment and immense rhetorical efforts on behalf of the political leadership to reason and legitimatize actions through the formal political discourse. The findings highlight the ways through which the political leadership in Israel justifies its actions and attempts to enlist public support as a prism to trace how societal beliefs have been narrated for the purpose of justifying warfare, and how the same beliefs are re‐narrated to justify conflict resolution.

The paper strives to shed light on the role played by the interplay between political discourse and societal beliefs in the context of transition to peace, and thus advances understandings of the linkage between internal processes and external circumstances, as mitigated by political discourse, in the context of conflict and conflict resolution.

The purpose of this study is to support the integration of scientifically grounded linguistic knowledge into language teaching in English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms through building an understanding of what teachers currently know and believe about language.

In total, 310 high school English teachers in the USA responded to a survey about their language beliefs. Statistical analysis of responses identified four distinct constructs within their belief systems. Sub-scales were created for each construct, and hierarchical regressions helped identify key characteristics that predicted beliefs along a continuum from traditional/hegemonic to linguistically informed/counter-hegemonic.

Key findings include the identification of four belief constructs: beliefs about how language reveals speaker characteristics, beliefs about how society perceives language use, beliefs about how language should be treated in schools and beliefs about the English teacher’s role in addressing language use. In general, teachers expressed counter-hegemonic beliefs for their own role and their view of speaker characteristics. They expressed hegemonic beliefs for societal perceptions and the dominant school language narrative. Taking a linguistics class was associated with counter-hegemonic beliefs, and teaching longer was associated with more hegemonic beliefs.

The findings of this study suggest that the longer teachers teach within a system that promotes hegemonic language practices, the more they will align their own beliefs with those practices, despite having learned linguistic facts that contradict pervasive societal beliefs about language. The Dominant School Language Narrative currently accommodates, rather that disrupting, linguistic prejudice.

A current understanding of teachers’ language ideologies is a key step in designing teacher professional development to help align teaching practices with established linguistic knowledge and to break down a socially constructed linguistic hierarchy based on subjective, and frequently prejudicial, beliefs.

The study focuses on the inclusion practices and processes of five large organizations across diverse sectors where women are underrepresented. The purpose of this paper is to examine how organizations facilitate changes in behavior and mindset through formal and informal practices.

In-depth interviews of CEOs, HR team members, and diversity and inclusion leaders in the five organizations were used as data in this study. Coding was done over several rounds via content analysis for the development of themes around how organizations work toward women’s inclusion.

The findings indicate that in their inclusion practices, all five organizations took into consideration societal biases that often render women at a disadvantage. Some of the cultural biases regarding family role expectations and safety-related norms were recognized and incorporated in their practices, while other gender-based stereotypes impeding inclusivity were addressed with zero tolerance of prejudicial behaviors. Organizations achieved this balance through various communicative practices including lateral and informal communication, generalized and particularized conversations, and creation of alternate spaces for dialogue.

By examining women’s inclusivity initiatives of five large organizations working in India, this study helps create an understanding of how organizations can bring about such change, keeping in mind the societal and cultural context, for a more nuanced and achievable inclusion. This study also demonstrates how informal narratives enable deep-rooted organizational change such as inclusion. Such narratives facilitate in enhancing employee’s readiness to change, thereby laying foundations for a sustained impact.

Very few studies that focus on women’s inclusion practices also take into consideration both the demands of the organization as well as the societal expectations placed upon women. This study highlights how organizations try to manage this tension and refrain from “homogenizing” or fitting women into existing practices and routines.

The authors explore the metaphors people from Indonesia use to describe their propriety beliefs about the ethical legitimacy of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS). This paper aims to understand why there is a consensus of propriety beliefs about the ethical legitimacy of TAPS in the face of increased government regulations and international criticism of such marketing practices.

The data were collected from 71 study participants using both focus groups and in-depth photo-elicitation interviews.

The participants use three sets of metaphors to describe propriety beliefs. First, participants used metaphors that described the centrality of TAPS and smoking in Indonesian society. Second, they used metaphors that described TAPS regulations and regulators and third, they used metaphors that described the activities of tobacco firms. Participants’ photographs revealed strong collective validity of TAPS within Indonesia and strong propriety beliefs consensus.

This study is one of the first to integrate legitimacy-as-perception theory and the ecological systems framework to gain a multilevel insight into the TAPS activities are perceived as legitimate and, therefore, not unethical.

The findings have important implications for tobacco control regulators who wish to curtail TAPS in a country where all levels of the ecological system reinforce their collective validity. Policy and regulative initiatives must, therefore, be used in a systemic way to change this collective validity.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to use a legitimacy perspective to understand the ethical legitimacy of TAPS in marketing literature. It is also the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to use the three legitimacy-as-perception constructs: propriety beliefs, collective validity and consensus of propriety beliefs. The authors show that despite increased government regulations and international disapproval, TAPS continues to be considered ethically legitimate in Indonesia.

The purpose of the paper is to discuss and examine the development of frameworks and models to guide future research into studies of women's paths to educational leadership worldwide.

A grounded theory approach to the development of a model of the factors and their interaction that determine the path to educational leadership for women is adopted, drawing on existing research for world‐wide studies.

Past studies in this field have focused on identifying barriers and opportunities that are gender sensitive. With an increasing interest in developing educational preparation programs that are context and gender specific, there is a need to provide research frameworks to allow for meaningful comparisons between contexts to identify commonalities and differences, and for models to predict the likely outcomes of interventions in current procedures for drawing women into educational leadership. The model presented in the paper allows for the identification of those factors in any given context that influence the success of women aspiring to leadership.

Understanding the culturally determined interaction of social and institutional factors that create unique contexts for career building is a prerequisite of developing leadership preparation for women designed to increase their successful entry into, and practice of, school leadership and to rectify their under‐representation in this field worldwide.

Conceptualizing educational leadership for women at an international level is a newly emerging theme that this paper hopes to advance.

This paper examines the career progression of women auditors working in auditing firms in Tanzania and the strategies employed by women auditors to cope with the masculine nature of audit firms.

Data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with current and former female and male auditors in two auditing firms. A thematic approach to the analysis is adopted.

The study reveals that career progression of women auditors studied is constrained by gender-related barriers such as motherhood, pregnancy, maternity leave and limited coaching and networking, as well as household and caring responsibilities. These barriers are facilitated by the patriarchal system, which regards women as wives and mothers rather than professional workers. As a result, women auditors balanced work and family responsibilities by employing various coping strategies including establishing informal network organization, hiring nannies, living with family members, enrolling children to boarding schools and lobbying in the allocation of audit assignments. Despite employing these strategies, very few women reach top positions in audit firms in Tanzania.

The findings reveal a need for wider engagement on the role of women and men in society, particularly to address the gender-related barriers faced by women in the accountancy profession.

Most previous studies of gender in the accountancy profession have focused on Western contexts. This is one of few to examine the phenomenon in an African context.

This study aims to systematically review the existing literature and develop an understanding of work-life balance (WLB) and its relationship with other forms of work-related behavior and unearth research gaps to recommend future research possibilities and priorities.

The current study attempts to make a detailed survey of the research work done by the pioneers in the domain WLB and its related aspects. A total of 99 research work has been included in this systematic review. The research works have been classified based on the year of publication, geographical distribution, the methodology used and the sector. The various concepts and components that have made significant contributions, factors that influence WLB, importance and implications are discussed.

The paper points to the research gaps and scope for future research in the area of WLB.

The current study uncovered the research gaps regarding the systematic review and classifications based on demography, year of publication, the research method used and sector being studied.

When social marketing tries to influence behaviours to increase societal welfare, erroneous shared beliefs of the target audiences can become impediments to success. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to categorize shared beliefs that can be obstacles for social marketing programmes and to identify the main sources of those shared beliefs.

A qualitative approach was used to examine the specific case of Type 1 diabetes. In-depth interviews with 12 experts and focus groups with 17 adults who had been living with Type 1 diabetes for five years or more were performed. The information was analysed applying thematic analysis.

The results indicated that there are two types of shared beliefs that can hinder social marketing efforts (misconceptions and ideological convictions) and three main influencers (primary groups, communication media and authority figures).

Target audiences can be segmented by their shared beliefs, and a specific message could be designed to reach each group.

Obstacles that could prevent the audience from engaging in a desired positive behaviour could be identified.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that uses social representations to categorize erroneous shared beliefs that could be barriers for impacting behaviours, as well as the first to identify the main sources of those beliefs. This approach could provide guidelines for the design of social marketing campaigns that could achieve better public engagement.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the wider societal issues that can impact on the success of a TB programme.

The paper is a qualitative study of the experiences of people involved in a community‐based DOTS programme in Lubombo, Swaziland, involving patients, DOT treatment supporters, clinic nurses and other key informants.

The paper finds that study participants spontaneously raised two main societal issues, which had major impact on the success of the TB programme: health beliefs and poverty. It is seen that health beliefs can have a major impact on treatment‐seeking behaviour and outcomes of TB treatment. Problems related to poverty were of two main types: insufficient funds to attend for review, and lack of food whilst on TB treatment.

This paper discusses why these issues, although strictly outside the remit of the health services, are important factors to consider when implementing TB programmes. It suggests further research that may help break the link between TB and poverty (particularly relating to food insecurity) and recommends considering local health beliefs when dealing with individuals and the community. Neither the impact of health beliefs nor the impact of poverty are new ideas, yet these issues tend to be forgotten by quantitative researchers who perhaps understandably focus on issues that may be perceived as being easier to measure. This paper serves to remind one of their importance and to illustrate the value of qualitative research in highlighting them and ensuring that issues that are important to participants are not neglected.