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This paper aims to assess whether incubation affects the technical efficiency of innovative firms after entering the market. The study of efficiency allows firms to understand how well resources have been used in production processes. The research intends to contribute to the literature on the performance of incubated firms.

This study estimates the relative efficiency of innovative firms adopting a DEA-based two-stage semi-parametric method. Incubation, firm age and initial capital are used for explaining the relative performance of previously incubated firms compared to non-incubated ones over a six-year period of activity. This research focuses on Italian innovative firms using a large sample of companies.

Results show that incubators have a positive and significant effect on efficiency for firms that have been in the market for more than two years. Efficiency also improves with age and with the level of initial capital of the firm.

This analysis is limited to the quantitative dimension of inputs as reported in the balance sheets, without qualitative considerations.

Findings enhance firms' understanding of the role of incubators as neutral places to develop a business culture of efficiency. From an empirical standpoint, this study provides useful insights to start-uppers who intend to attend incubation programs. Overall, incubators matter to the extent that they enable new firms, net of those that fail to survive in the first two years of activity, to improve their efficiency in the use of inputs. This research also suggests incubators consider the start-ups’ potential of being efficient.

Findings provide tips to policymakers when they are called upon to propose funding programs to support prominent firms entering the business scalability.

This study contributes to the literature on the relative performance of post-incubated firms, highlighting the efficiency frontier analysis. This methodological approach is relatively new in this field. It allows researchers to study the innovative firms' performance in relative terms, that is with respect to the input level. It integrates the performance-based with efficiency frontier analysis. Also, this study reinforces the idea that incubators prepare start-ups to develop capacities and managerial skills, which will be useful in post-incubation life to improve their cost competitiveness.

Recent changes in university systems, debates on academic freedom, and changing roles of knowledge in society all point to questions regarding how higher education and research should be governed and the role of scientists and faculty in this. Rationalizations of systems of higher education and research have been accompanied by the questioning and erosion of faculty authority and challenges to academic collegiality. In light of these developments, we see a need for a more conceptually precise discussion about what academic collegiality is, how it is practiced, how collegial forms of governance may be supported or challenged by other forms of governance, and finally, why collegial governance of higher education and research is important.

We see collegiality as an institution of self-governance that includes formal rules and structures for decision-making, normative and cognitive underpinnings of identities and purposes, and specific practices. Studies of collegiality then, need to capture structures and rules as well as identities, norms, purposes and practices. Distinguishing between vertical and horizontal collegiality, we show how they balance and support each other.

Universities are subject to mixed modes of governance related to the many tasks and missions that higher education and research is expected to fulfill. Mixed modes of governance also stem from reforms based on widely held ideals of governance and organization. We examine university reforms and challenges to collegiality through the lenses of three ideal types of governance – collegiality, bureaucracy and enterprise – and combinations thereof.

This article asks how gender, ethnicity and other identities intersect and shape the employment experiences of social workers. During recent decades, governments have contracted social care to for-profit and nonprofit organizations (NPOs) globally as a part of the adaption of the neoliberal approach. Most employees in these organizations are women. However, there is a lack of knowledge about women working in social service NPOs and their unique working environments.

This article explores the experiences of women employed as social workers in social care NPOs in Israel regarding intersectionality. 27 in-depth interviews were conducted with women social workers working in social service NPOs. Participants reflected diversity in ethnicity, religion and full-time and part-time jobs. Thematic analysis was used.

The findings shed light on: (1) the contradiction social workers experienced between the stated values of the social care NPO and those values’ conduct, (2) intersectional discrimination among social workers from vulnerable populations and (3) the lack of gender-aware policies.

The need to raise awareness of the social care sector and governments to those contradictions and to promote diversity through gender-aware policies and practices.

The article suggests a conceptualization describing gender employment contradictions in social care NPOs, discusses how the angle of intersectionality expands the understanding of the complexities and pressures exerted on social workers from minority groups and emphasizes the need for social care NPOs to acknowledge and deal with these contradictions.

Integrating transaction costs economics and task-technology fit theory, this study distinguishes two categories of social media–enabled interactions, namely task-related interactions and tie-related interactions, and explores the match between these two and firms' use of contracts in achieving safeguarding and coordinating purposes in interfirm governance.

Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses. In Study 1, this study collaborated with a professional market research firm and collected responses from Chinese manufacturing firms in a survey. In Study 2, this study designed a scenario-based experiment and collected 239 participants from the Credamo platform.

This study categorized social media–enabled interactions into task-related interactions and tie-related interactions and conducted two studies to reveal that the safeguarding purpose of contract specificity is amplified by tie-related interactions, whereas the coordinating purpose of contract specificity is strengthened by task-related interactions.

This study assumes that firms permit and encourage the use of social media. However, some firms might prohibit the use of social media due to risk issues, or their partners may be prohibited from using social media.

Given that social media–enabled interactions have joint effects with contracts in achieving safeguarding and coordinating purposes, a firm's employees should match their goals with an appropriate type of social media–enabled interactions.

This study enriches the interfirm governance literature by uncovering the roles of these two types of interactions in matching contract specificity to achieve safeguarding and coordinating purposes, which provides actionable insights for managers in governing interfirm relationships.

We examined how high school students demonstrated historical empathy through conducting local history place-based research to create an exhibit and companion book about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their community. The majority of existing historical empathy scholarship focuses on classroom-based inquiry of historical events, people and time periods. We contend that broader examination of how historical empathy can be promoted beyond school-based instruction can contribute to the field by examining how student analyses of historical contexts and perspectives, and making affective connections to historical topics of study are needed when engaging in placed-based local history projects.

Qualitative case study methodology was implemented for this study. A Likert-scale survey with a questionnaire was distributed to 30 high school study participants. Thirteen students gave follow-up interviews. Students’ responses on the surveys, interviews and questionnaires were organized into three categories that aligned to the theoretical framework – identification of historical contexts of the sources that students collected, analysis of how contexts shaped the perspectives expressed in the collected sources and expression of reasoned connections between the students’ emotions and experiences during the pandemic. A rubric was used to examine how students’ writing samples and reflections reflected demonstration of historical empathy.

Students responded that their local history research about the pandemic contributed to their displays of historical empathy. Students displayed weaker evidence of historical empathy while examining archival resources to explain the historical contexts of the pandemic. Student demonstration of historical empathy was stronger when analyzing community-sourced documents for perspectives and making reasoned affective connections to what they learned about the historical significance of the pandemic. The place-based aspects of this project were strongly connected to the students’ engagement in historical empathy because the sources they analyzed were relevant to their experiences and identities as citizens in their community.

Documenting the diverse human experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial to preserving the history of this extraordinary time. Every person around the globe experienced the pandemic differently, hence riding out the same storm in different boats. At some point, the pandemic will appear in historical narratives of the social studies curriculum. Therefore, now is an opportune time to ascertain whether place-based local history research about the contexts, perspectives and experiences of community members and children themselves, during the pandemic can foster historical empathy.

The COVID-19 outbreak reached a critical stage when it became imperative for public health systems to act decisively and design potential behavioral operational strategies aimed at containing the pandemic. Isolation through social distancing played a key role in achieving this objective. This research study examines the factors affecting the intention of individuals toward social distancing in India.

A correlation study was conducted on residents from across Indian states (N = 499). Online questionnaires were floated, consisting of health belief model and theory of planned behavior model, with respect to social distancing behavior initially. Finally, structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that perceived susceptibility (PS), facilitating conditions (FC) and subjective norms are the major predictors of attitude toward social distancing, with the effect size of 0.277, 0.132 and 0.551, respectively. The result also confirms that the attitude toward social distancing, perceived usefulness of social distancing and subjective norms significantly predict the Intention of individuals to use social distancing with the effect size of 0.355, 0.197 and 0.385, respectively. The nonsignificant association of PS with social distancing intention (IN) (H1b) is rendering the fact that attitude (AT) mediates the relationship between PS and IN; similarly, the nonsignificant association of FC with IN (H5) renders the fact that AT mediates the relationship between FC and IN.

The results of the study are helpful to policymakers to handle operations management of nudges like social distancing.

The research is one of its kind that explores the behavioral aspects of handling social nudges through FC.

Racially and ethnically minoritized (REM) women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs and careers. Peer mentoring is one strategy that can support their participation. This study explores the experiences of Black women peer mentors in an online peer mentoring program at two historically Black institutions.

A qualitative case study approach was utilized to explore the impact of an online peer mentoring program on peer mentors' STEM self-efficacy, sense of community, STEM identity and intent to persist in STEM.

Analysis identified five themes relating to peer mentors' experiences in the program: (1) an “I can do this” approach: confidence and self-efficacy; (2) utility of like others; (3) “beacons of light”: intersecting and malleable identities; (4) skills development and (5) motivation and reciprocity. Further, challenges of the online relationship were shared.

The study contributes to the body of knowledge by demonstrating the utility of an online peer mentoring model among women mentors enrolled in STEM programs at two historically Black institutions. The findings support those who are historically marginalized in participating in and remaining in STEM.

The purpose of this study is to build on previous literature in this area thus, the views of professionals working with those who report institutional abuse was sought using a Delphi method.

Professionals working with those who report institutional abuse, such as psychologists, social workers and personal injury lawyers, were invited to engage in the Delphi study. Sixteen professionals completed the final round (with four rounds in total). This method was used to gain professional consensus on the considered impacts of institutional child abuse and what factors influence impacts.

Eight superordinate themes were developed, as follows: institutional abuse has lasting negative effects on well-being, functioning and behaviour; loss of trust in others and the system is a potential outcome of institutional abuse; negative impacts on future life chances; negative impacts of institutional abuse are exacerbated by numerous factors; protective factors reduced negative impacts; psychological intervention is useful for survivors; positive and negative impacts of disclosure – the response of others as important; and keep impacts individualised.

The need for an individualised approach when working with those reporting institutional abuse was a salient finding.

Institutional abuse is known to result in several negative impacts, although research into this area is limited with a need to better understand what may protect or exacerbate impacts.

Given that 45% of new businesses fail in their first five years (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020), individuals often observe others' entrepreneurial failures (EFs) in their vicinity. The purpose of this paper is to review the effects of vicarious EFs on individuals by proposing both entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial identity aspiration as mediators, which are widely studied proximal antecedents of entrepreneurial intent.

Using structural equation modeling, the authors empirically test survey data collected from 10,020 college students across 46 colleges or universities in Brazil. The hypothesized model examines the mediating effects of vicarious EFs on individuals' entrepreneurial intent via entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial identity aspiration.

The findings confirm that vicarious EFs negatively affect one's entrepreneurial self-efficacy and that entrepreneurial self-efficacy mediates the effect of vicarious EFs on one's entrepreneurial intent. On the other hand, vicarious EFs positively affect one's entrepreneurial identity aspiration, and entrepreneurial identity aspiration mediates the effect of vicarious failures on entrepreneurial intent.

The entrepreneurship literature focuses mainly on the consequences of EF on those entrepreneurs who have experienced failure. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding how that failure impacts others in its vicinity. This study provides new insight into the effects of vicarious EFs in facilitating individuals' entrepreneurial intent and presents theoretical and practical implications to promote greater levels of entrepreneurial intent in individuals.