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The purpose of this study is to identify how at‐risk high school students in an alternative school describe how they best learn and to extrapolate their preferred learning practices to improve teacher pedagogical practices.

The authors used a qualitative case study design to facilitate the first two stages of an appreciative inquiry (AI) 4‐D cycle – discovery and dream. Eight alternative high school students, four males and four females, were purposively selected as participants. Data collection methods included: group discussions, semi‐structured paired interviews, and participant generated documents and visual presentation for district administrators and teachers. Data were analyzed using content analysis, open coding, axial coding, text analysis software, and pattern matching.

The study produced four salient findings: relevant experiences were important for learning; a cooperative and respectful learning environment is a core value; learning should be enjoyable; and, the concept of family became an important metaphor for the learning environment.

The findings from this study suggest that further research with AI in educational settings may have important implications to inspire educators to think in new ways about learning.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of at‐risk students in a rural district in Midwestern USA.

This field‐based research study used a qualitative embedded case study of a middle and high school informed by an appreciative inquiry theoretical research perspective to identify a positive core of teacher and administrator experiences related to at‐risk students. At‐risk students are those who under‐perform in mandated academic assessments as well as school‐related academic achievement. Social capital and appreciative inquiry served as theoretical perspectives. Focus groups, semi‐structured interviews, and an online survey were the primary data‐gathering methods.

Three findings illustrated the gap between present practice and the ideal state. The research team concluded that there was a foundation of positive core experiences from which to build on the espoused theory of caring professed by teachers and administrators.

The study's results can further teachers' and administrators' understanding of their problem‐based language that emphasizes the deficits of at‐risk students and their parents.

In the last 10 years or so, a growing body of research has highlighted the importance of social movements as the mechanism through which fields change or new fields emerge. This article contributes to this body of research by studying how an organization was able to promote institutional change from the center of a field by channeling the legitimacy generated by local religious movements. Data comes from the archives of a special commission within the Catholic Church that developed rules for adjudicating miracles performed by candidates to sainthood. The social movement is composed of candidates and their supporters who mobilized local communities using miracles. The period of the analysis was the aftermath of the Protestant Schism, when long-established practices and beliefs were fundamentally challenged. By approving miracles that created ties between individuals that spanned across kinship and social status boundaries, the commission was able to channel legitimacy into the wounded core of the Church. At the same time, receiving Rome’s approval reduced the competition the candidate’s supporters faced from other religious activists. The noncontentious interaction that occurred between the two actors gave birth to the field of modern sainthood. The main implication for organization theory is that, even in the absence of conflict, a new environment and ideology can emerge endogenously from the center of a field and transform both the organization and the social movement.

The pandemic has enhanced the global phenomenon of disinformation. This paper aims to study the false news concerning COVID-19, spread through social media in Spain, by using the LatamChequea database for a duration from 01/22/2020, when the first false information has been detected, up to 03/09/2021.

A quantitative analysis has been conducted with regard to the correlation between fake news stories and the pandemic state, the motive to share them, their dissemination in other countries and the effectiveness of fact checking. This study is complemented by a qualitative method: a focus group conducted with representatives of different groups within the society.

Fake news has been primarily disseminated through several social networks at the same time, with two peaks taking place in over a half of the said false stories. The first took place from March to April of 2020 during complete lockdown, and we were informed of prevention measures, the country’s situation and the origin of the virus, whereas the second was related to news revolving around the coming vaccines, which occurred between October and November. The audience tends to neither cross-check the information received nor report fake news to competent authorities, and fact-checking methods fail to stop their spread. Further awareness and digital literacy campaigns are thus required in addition to more involvement from governments and technological platforms.

The main limitation of the research is the fact that it was only possible to conduct a focus group of five individuals who do not belong to generation Z due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, although a clear contribution to the analysis of the impact of fake news on social networks during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain can be seen from the privileged experiences in each of the fields of work that were identified. In this sense, the results of the study are not generalizable to a larger population. On the other hand, and with a view to future research, it would be advisable to carry out a more specific study of how fake news affects generation Z.

This research is original in nature, and the findings of this study are valuable for business practitioners and scholars, brand marketers, social media platform owners, opinion leaders and policymakers.

Many authors have called for a more humane and effective type of leadership. This article seeks to propose a research program on the content and process of integral leadership. This type of leadership has been exemplified by leaders known for their ethical and spiritual maturity, such as Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Mohandas Gandhi and Rachel Carson, among others, and by many men and women who have not achieved fame.

As this research requires a multi‐disciplinary, multi‐level and developmental approach, Ken Wilber's integral model is described and used as a frame for the research program, going beyond the limitations of current leadership inquiry.

After having presented both the critics offered on leadership research and the tenets of the integral model, the article proposes a research program articulated by the analysis of individual cases of this leadership pattern and the collective analysis of these cases. Further, it adopts a micro, meso and macro perspective through the use of three methodologies: interpretative biography, institutional analysis and historical inquiry.

This research program contributes to a developmental theory of leadership. Researchers will find in this paper an innovative and sounded research program which can generate results on both the practice and development of a type of leadership we badly need.

This paper aims to determine the relationship between dynamic marketing capabilities (DMCs) and the integration of distribution channels of exporting companies from Latin American (LATAM) countries and how this relationship will impact the international development of a company.

This qualitative study uses the explanatory multiple case approach of Yin (2011) to test the research questions, revise existing theories and establish causal relationships from semi-structured interviews that were applied to 15 Peruvian and Colombian companies. To analyze qualitative data and ensure credibility, the authors applied six stages of Sinkovics and Alfoldi’s (2012) methodology. For analysis, computer-based qualitative software was used.

The study reveals the following: a set of specific DMCs that effectively help agro-food companies generate synergy with their intermediaries to launch their first international ventures; a better understanding of how the market orientation as a DMC is, rather than a multi-dimensional organization which mediates other marketing processes; the impact of DMCs in channel integration that changes with respect to agents and distributors. Producers and distributors developed networking, market adaptation and innovation capabilities. At the same time, agents also developed market orientation capabilities to provide relevant product information, manage transactions and fulfill orders without regard to market adaptation capabilities.

Qualitative methodology was applied, limiting the generalization of the findings. The authors also emphasized the initial stages of internationalization without considering other advanced processes that could be useful for larger LATAM companies, which operate in different foreign countries and manage multiple channels. As a result, this study lays the foundation for establishing a model that will enhance a quantitative measurement to support the findings.

This study illustrates specific marketing techniques that are useful to better identify and coordinate intermediaries, especially agents and distributors to ease their internationalization processes. The research also provides a framework for marketing managers to leverage the DMCs developed by the different actors of the distribution channel, as well as, obtaining positive outcomes in communication, information on products and services, transactions and customer service functions. Finally, managers and professionals can find a methodology to evaluate how DMCs can be developed to optimize their internationalization processes through the integration of the main channel functions. This will broaden their vision on the usefulness and scalability of this type of dynamic capabilities in key business processes for the generation and sustainability of competitive advantages.

If producers identify DMCs, they will promote ethical business practices that may reduce their vulnerability and risk with more experienced international intermediaries. This leads to favoring the socio-economic equity of the territories with traditional economies in which they operate.

The study provides a set of DMCs that influence the functions of distribution channels and favors international processes in small and medium enterprises which then offer a better understanding of the definition and applicability of this construct in the agro-food sector in LATAM. This study also gives a structural perspective to determine which functions of the distribution channel should be integrated and how depending on the type of intermediary (agents and distributors).