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The work of caring has assumed utmost importance during the devastation caused by the pandemic. We employ the feminist theory of care ethics within the context of food provisioning during the pandemic, and examine the work of Food for Chennai, a group of micro-volunteers in the city of Chennai, India who provide home-cooked meals, free of charge, to COVID-19 patients and households that are in quarantine. Using textual and visual data from social media posts (Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram), interviews with an organizer of the movement, and print – media articles, we trace the evolution of this movement, and argue that this network of care could not have developed or grown without the use of digital infrastructure and the affective campaigning that it enables. We add to the scholarship of three linked bodies of work – digital activism, food ethics, and the ethics of care – by grounding our analysis in the immediacy of the crisis and suggesting avenues for thinking about ethical issues and digital activism as crisis response in the future. We conclude by offering ways of reimagining food systems that could embrace values of care in the post-pandemic world.

This chapter examines what was the feminist approach of the political crisis communication adopted by the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, within the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on a specific time frame: 17 March 2020–30 December 2020. It identifies and examines the feminist values that shaped her crisis communicational approach through a content analysis implemented on a selection of speeches delivered at media briefings. The analysis is conducted using the theory of ethics of care, with a focus on four concepts related to it, namely: delayed reciprocity, social change, sense of responsibility and relationality. The chapter, further on, detects patterns shaped mostly by feminist values gathered under the umbrella of longing for social change and sense of responsibility and identifies specific contexts while each of the analysed concepts was used, how often and together with each other one. The results also show that three other feminist traits participate strongly in building the given speeches, which can be summarized in: a sense of gratitude, personal honesty and well-being for others.

The purpose of this study was to explore how care theory and the ethics of care are explained by students in the online environment to clarify the factors that are more relevant in establishing and maintaining caring relations in online learning context.

Utilizing naturalistic inquiry, the researchers interviewed online students and coded transcripts using multiple coding methods within two phases of analysis. Noddings' framework for ethics of care was utilized to identify strategies and practices that enhance each of Noddings' elements in an online course experience.

The findings of this exploratory study provide evidence on how learners perceive being cared for and highlight specific instructor behaviors and course design elements that support the emergence and maintenance of a climate of care in an online learning environment. Indicators of all four elements of Noddings' framework were present in the interviews. Within the themes of each element, strategies and practices to enhance each element in an online course experience are further explained.

Establishing a climate of care, whether in traditional or online learning, leads to more inclusive learning experiences that are responsive to the needs of all learners. This study brought to light some of the factors that are more relevant in establishing and maintaining caring relations in online learning context.

The findings of this study add to the literature on the role of emotions in an online learning as viewed through the lens of care theory. The findings highlight some strategies and behaviors that promote a climate of care in an online environment from a learner's perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the reciprocal relations between the caregiving imparted by immigration centre managers and the role of the researcher in responding to the care that is given by managerial caregivers. To enable this, we draw on a feminist theory of care ethics that considers individuals as relationally interdependent.

The analysis draws on a semi-structured interview study involving 20 Finnish immigration reception centre managers.

Insight is generated by reflecting on moments of care that arise between research participants and the researcher in a study of immigration centre management. We emphasise the importance of mature care, receptivity and engrossment in building caring relationships with research participants by acknowledging the care they give to others. Our findings draw attention to the moral and epistemological responsibility to practice care in organizational research.

The paper highlights the relationality between practicing care in immigration centre management and doing qualitative organizational research, both of which rely on mature care, receptivity and engrossment in order to meet the other morally. We draw attention to the moral responsibility to care which characterises researcher–researched relationships and emphasise the importance of challenging methodological discourses that problematise or dismiss care in qualitative organizational research.

This commentary questions commonly held assumptions about corporate social responsibility (CSR). It discusses the morality of altruistic CSR – philanthropic CSR activities that are not necessarily beneficial to the firm’s financial position. Evaluating altruistic CSR from all major ethical perspectives – utilitarianism, rights, justice and care – leads to the conclusion that, for publicly held corporations, such activity is immoral. This is because altruistic CSR violates shareholder property rights, unjustly seizing stockholder wealth, and it bestows benefits for the general welfare at the expense of those for whom the firm should care in close relationships. The paper also determines that what are often considered mandatory ethical and social corporate duties are actually optional activities that should only be undertaken when it appears that they can enhance the value of the firm, i.e. when they are used as strategic CSR. However, using ideas taken from secular and Judaeo‐Christian authors on the meaning of work, the article also concludes that altruistic activities are appropriate and commendable for private firms and individuals. It offers suggestions for practitioners of CSR and for future academic research.

The authors' purpose is to illuminate ways in which care within the mentor–mentee relationship influences the efficacy of mentoring for/in the professoriate, within and beyond the novel circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A narrative inquiry design drew on the authors' distinct positionalities and experiences of mentoring and being mentored by one another to provide a multi-layered analysis of mentor–mentee relationships. Utilizing care theory, we paid particular attention in our narratives and analysis to the affective dimensions of mentoring within the distinct context created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our data analysis revealed three themes: (1) mentor humility was relevant to mentees' success, (2) relationship longevity mattered, and (3) caring mentoring relationships were affectively and empirically generative.

Narrative inquiry, generally, is limited in its generalizability but can be a powerful tool to facilitate knowledge sharing. Our analysis suggests areas which merit further research and may have broader implications. Namely, during trying times the normalization of professor humility may enhance the quality and generativity of the mentoring relationships, especially when combined with networking support.

We make seven recommendations to enhance the efficacy of professors as mentors and mentees in need of mentorship.

Mentors who practice care-for their mentees, as opposed to care-about, enhance the efficacy of the mentoring relationship.

The purpose of this study is to draw on feminist ethics of care theory to examine motives for accessing a women‐focused, small business programme (Centre). Perceived differences between women‐focused and other small business advisory agencies are discussed.

An online survey captured verbatim responses from 212 respondents. Qualitative data were subjected to content analysis using NVivo8.

Most respondents were growth‐oriented, well educated and employed prior to start‐up. Clients employed the Centre for three reasons, including acquisition of managerial, social capital and gender‐related motives. The Centre was perceived as being “different” to other agencies such that staff implicitly understood their needs as businesswomen, services were targeted specifically to women and clients felt empowered and comfortable seeking business advice in an inviting, low risk learning environment. Findings contradict studies and argument that targeted (gender‐based) programming offers few advantages.

Future research might investigate how “gendered” client motives and learning needs are reflected in mainstream and gender‐based entrepreneurship policy and programme design. The geographic scope is limited to Nova Scotia (eastern Canada).

The study helps to explain observations that women‐focused small business training centres are modifying mandates from a focus on start‐up to growth, modifications that reflected client aspirations.

The study provides insights about the genderedness (Calás and Smircich) of small business programming and helps to define feminine ethics of care within the small firm training context.