Search results

Professional touching behavior (PTB), defined as intentional touching behavior that occurs between organizational members and that falls within the boundaries of appropriateness and professionalism in the workplace, is prevalent in organizations. Scholars from multiple disciplines, including human resources researchers, have acknowledged the importance of physical contact for facilitating interpersonal communication and relationship-building. However, PTB may not only elicit positive reactions from those who receive it but also negative reactions as well, with implications for social dynamics in organizations. PTB can, on the one hand, fulfill employees’ desires for interpersonal connection; at the same time, such physical contact at work can represent a threat to employees’ health. To explain the nature and implications of these divergent effects of receiving PTB, the authors draw upon sociometer theory and behavioral immune system (BIS) theory to model the emotional, cognitive, and physiological processes via which, and the conditions under which, receiving such behavior will result in socially functional responses and prompt subsequent prosocial behavior, and when PTB will be perceived as a health risk and prompt withdrawal behavior. The theoretical framework of this chapter expands our conceptual understanding of the consequences of interpersonal physical contact at work and has important human resources management (HRM) implications for organizational managers.

Institutional complexity shapes what is perceived as possible by framing cultural debates about practices, but organizations in turn shape how logics interpenetrate fields, suggesting that we must consider both the degree of compatibility between logics and the degree of practice variation in a field. Our exploratory study of three entrepreneurial impact finance organizations considers how they situate their practices between the market and community logics. We offer a recursive view that considers how multiple institutional logics shape practices and how entrepreneurial organizations adapt and invent new practices that, through their continued use, can influence the institutional complexity of a field.

The last two decades have seen an increase in service user involvement (SUI) in the training of Mental Health Professionals (MHP). There is developing empirical support for SUI in MHP training, however, there is no published research into SUI in the training of Cognitive Behavioural Therapists. The purpose of this paper is to explore cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) trainees’ experience of SUI in their training. The study focuses on how an individual service user (SU) led training session is experienced and how this differs to routine CBT training.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Data revealed three superordinate themes: first, predisposing influences on learning; second, factors associated with emotional processing of experience; and third, impact upon learning outcomes. The results suggest that participants’ appraisal of their learning from SUI maybe influenced by how they accommodate the emotional impact of the experience.

The paper makes recommendations for educators on courses involving service users (SUs), acknowledges the study’s methodological limitations and suggests areas for future research.

Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Minister of Health, speaking at a luncheon given by the Provision Trade Section of the London Chamber of Commerce, on November 24th, said that anyone who occupied his office must in doing his duty take whatever steps might seem to be necessary in order to preserve and to maintain the public health. It might be that in the execution of those measures it was necessary to inflict some inconvenience, and even some hardship, upon individual members of the community, but he had always found that those who were so affected, if they could be convinced that the action taken was necessary in the interest of the community, were willing to accept those hardships and to make the sacrifices necessary without complaint. On the other hand, it was his duty to recognize public spirit of that kind, and to do all that was in his power to minimize the hardship, to remove inequalities, and to take away as far as possible the objections that might be made to him by those concerned. As one who was a trader for a good many more years than he had been a politician, he looked upon any measures which might be likely to interfere with trade with a particular desire to make them as easy as possible, because the very last thing they wanted to do today was to reduce employment or to make trade and industry more difficult. The question of the harmfulness of preservatives in food had received a great deal of attention both in this country and in other countries for a good many years, but up to the present this country bad not gone so far in the matter as others. When it was decided to set up a new committee to investigate the question afresh in this country, great care was exercised to constitute the committee of men who were competent by reason of their training and their experience to pronounce authoritatively upon the matters submitted to them. The committee divided preservatives into three groups, arranged in order of harmfulness to health. In the first group they placed formaldehyde and hydrofluoric acid: in the second, boric and salicylic acid: and in the third, benzoic acid and sulphur dioxide. They came to the conclusion that the preservatives in the first two groups should be prohibited altogether, and those in the third group should be permitted only to a limited extent. As a result of discussions that had taken place between the London Chamber of Commerce and the officers of his department, a very large number of concessions were made, but the department felt that in considering the objections they must not lose sight of the main principles which underlaid the committee's report, and in particular they did not see their way to remove the prohibition of boron compounds, which really formed the crux of the difficulties. These compounds were poisonous; they did not add anything to the nourishment of the human body, but they were very readily soluble and were conveyed by the blood stream to every part of the body. Moreover, they were cumulative in effect. They certainly should not lose sight of the fact that during the last forty years, in which the use of boric acid bad been gradually increasing, there had been a very considerable increase in the prevalence of certain digestive disorders. In certain countries the use of these preservatives was absolutely prohibited, and it seemed to him that as Minister of Health he could not go on defending a system which was clearly open to the accusation that it was injuring the health of the people, even if it could not be clearly proved that it could be done without. Another point was that by the use of preservatives it was possible to mask the signs of putrefaction. Time was being allowed traders, importers and manufacturers to make the adjustments in their business and equipment that were necessary on account of the new regulations, and he felt confident that he would have their co‐operation in carrying them to a successful conclusion.

That social franchising programs induce favorable outcomes is readily taken for granted, albeit lacking robust empirical support. Addressing this situation, this paper takes a closer look at a fractional social franchising program in the public health-care sector in Vietnam to better understand how such programs work. This paper aims to expand the nascent body of empirical research that has examined the inner workings of social franchising programs from the perspective of clients by focusing on the health professionals who work there.

Using an exploratory qualitative research design, the authors conducted 25 semistructured interviews with health professionals of a fractional franchising program called Sisterhood, which introduced reproductive health and family planning services into existing health facilities in Vietnam. Interviews were triangulated with Sisterhood’s internal documents as well as with publicly available reports.

The analysis highlights two pathways through which the social franchising program brought about positive change. On the one hand, the analysis suggests that many of the positive outcomes reported by public health professionals were consistent with the stated goals and measures used by the Sisterhood program, providing evidence that improving the quality of health care for disadvantaged communities can be achieved through careful design and execution. On the other hand, the analysis revealed beneficial outcomes that were outside the scope of the Sisterhood program and, in this sense, “unexpected.” Specifically, the paper sheds light on unintended knowledge spillover effects in which nonfranchised health professionals began to adopt new practices and principles introduced by the social franchising program.

The paper taps into a largely under-researched phenomenon – fractional social franchising – from the perspective of health professionals. Unpacking how the social franchising program created favorable outcomes, some by design and others by accident, the paper opens new empirical and policy insights into how social franchising can improve public health in hard-to-reach communities in the global South. Based on the findings, the authors argue for the intentional promotion and institutionalization of knowledge transfers from franchised to nonfranchised health facilities to reinforce and scale up the positive impact of social franchising. The authors conclude by emphasizing the need for future research to adopt a complexity-sensitive approach that accounts for the dynamic, nonlinear adoption pathways social franchising can take. Such an approach is essential to uncover the beneficial outcomes that can result from social franchising programs but cannot be readily predicted by program design.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a new measure called the “culture cushion” to account for the inherent positivity surrounding the inter‐cultural tourist experience.

The first study involved the identification of items for the culture cushion construct and included a semi‐structured questionnaire and a panel discussion. The second study assessed unidimensionality and the convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity of the culture cushion dimensions. Respondents were asked to answer questions about a specific international consumption experience and responded to scale items measuring the culture cushion construct.

A two‐dimensional measure of culture cushion was found to predict satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Judgments were more positive when the encounter was novel relative to previous experiences.

Additional studies involving travel locations other than those used in this study should be conducted to investigate alternate effects of the culture cushion.

A major motivation of recreational tourists traveling internationally includes the ability to observe and participate in activities that are culturally unique. Firms that cater to international tourist clientele should focus on operationalizing country‐specific cultural aspects of the experience to enhance overall perceptions.

The international tourist operates within a dual country framework, using his/her own cultural “lens” to notice the uniqueness of the foreign culture while striving to understand and participate in authentic encounters. The culture cushion construct offers a novel measure of the positivity that occurs in culturally unique inter‐cultural experiences.

Digital transformation, and the use and pervasiveness of social media in particular, have changed society. Politicians and political institutions increasingly use social media channels; hence political communication is changing as well. Continuous availability through smartphones and other devices has not only led to more information exchange between political and public actors, but also lobbyists, who classically communicate remotely, are also starting to respond to these changes and use tools such as Twitter, Facebook and the like. Against this background, this study provides insights into the effects of digital transformation, especially social media, on lobbying in Germany. Data were gathered from 15 interviews and seven focus groups with lobbyists and political decision makers in Berlin. The analysis shows that digital lobbying operates within a novel logic, due to the public context of social media. It is the human element that becomes the decisive factor in digital lobbying due to the social aspect in social media. Accordingly, investigating digital lobbying is critical to establish implications for theory and for practice.