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Listening to the customers has long been a key phrase and success element in product branding. This paper aims to highlight the importance of listening to residents during the branding of a place. The study explores ways of listening to residents to ensure they are heard and also discusses the challenges and benefits related to place branding flowing from having residents participate in decision-making processes.

Listening to residents and offering opportunities to participate requires place branders to fully attend to, comprehend and respond to residents’ comments, requests, ideas and feedback. This study reports on how two Nordic cities – Turku and Helsinki – listen to their residents. The data used comprise face-to-face interviews, telephone and e-mail conversations and documentary material.

Residents should not be considered as one homogeneous target; participation options and channels should be adapted to the demographics and geographic issues of the different regions and resident groups.

The role of residents and the importance of listening are crucial features in the emerging concept of inclusive place branding (Kavaratzis et al., 2017); its future conceptual development could benefit from the case examples at hand.

City authorities should listen to residents and provide them with opportunities to actively contribute to decision-making. Other cities could learn from the examples introduced in the paper.

This paper documents two Nordic examples of cities putting into practice a policy of listening to the residents, a previously neglected research area.

The global financial crisis led to increasing distrust in economic research and the economics profession, in the process of which the current state of economics and economic education in particular were heavily criticized. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to conduct a study with undergraduate students of economics in order to capture their view of economic education.

The paper is based on the documentary method, a qualitative empirical method, which combines maximum openness with regard to the collection of empirical material coupled with maximum rigor in analysis.

The empirical findings show that students enter economics curricula with epistemic, practical or moral/political motivations for understanding and dealing with real-world problems but end up remarkably disappointed after going through the mathematical and methods-orientated introductory courses. The findings further indicate that students develop strategies to cope with their disappointment – all of them relating to their original motivation. The theoretical contextualization of the empirical findings is based on the psychological concept of cognitive dissonance.

A socially and politically responsible economic education, however, should provide students guidance in understanding current and prospective economic challenges, thereby enabling them to become informed and engaged citizens. Therefore, it is essential that the students’ criticism of the current state of economic education be taken seriously and BA programs reformed accordingly.

The originality of this paper lies in the application of a qualitative methodology and explicit focus on the student perspective on economics education. The study provides empirical evidence for a lack of real-world orientation in economics education.

The study explored the impact of the King and Queen of Mathematics Initiative (KQMI) in promoting students’ interest in learning mathematics and improving their achievement. The specific objectives of the study focused on the impact of the initiative in promoting interest in mathematics, assessing the contribution of the initiative to students’ achievements and investigating challenges encountered by the initiative.

The study used a case study design with a mixed-method approach. One ward secondary school was involved. The sample size was N = 79, where 77 were grade three students in a science class and two teachers. Data collection involved documentary review, observation and interviews. Data analysis employed both content analysis and a dependent t-test to determine the effect size of the initiative.

The findings revealed that KQMI had a significant impact on improving performance in mathematics among students (t (71) = −7.917, p < 0.05). The study also showed that male students improved their performance more than their counterparts throughout the KQMI. The mathematics teacher revealed that students still need assistance to solve mathematical questions with different techniques to develop the expected competencies.

The initiative was conducted only in one school, limiting the findings’ generalization. Also, the innovation faced different challenges, such as accessing adequate resources and students with little knowledge of mathematics, which the initiative aimed to address.

Pedagogical innovations enhance the promotion of students’ interest in learning mathematics and hence improve their performance. Also, through pedagogical innovations, teachers improve their teaching skills and practices from students’ feedback.

The KQMI is a new pedagogical innovation modified from the existing innovations such as game-based method, task design, mobile learning and mathematics island.

In the early to mid-twentieth century, psychiatrist-led occupational therapy departments emerged in Irish psychiatric hospitals. This marked a transition towards establishing rehabilitative services in institutional settings. This paper aims to examine the development of occupational therapy in Grangegorman Mental Hospital and its auxiliary hospital, Portrane Mental Hospital from 1934-1954.

Historical documentary research methods were used to analyse primary source data from Grangegorman Committee Minutes, Inspector of Mental Hospital Reports, Boroughs of Mental Hospitals, Department of Foreign Affairs documents and newspaper archives. The archival data was analysed using both a chronological and thematic approach.

The main key event emerged in 1935 when four Grangegorman nursing staff were sent to Cardiff Mental Hospital to undergo a six month training course in occupational therapy. The following themes emerged – “establishing occupational therapy in Grangegorman and Portrane”; “the role of short-course trained nursing staff in providing occupational therapy services” and “therapeutic rationales vs hospital management rationales”.

This study throws light on the early practitioners of occupational therapy in Grangegorman and highlights the complexities of occupational therapy’s role origins in mid-twentieth century Ireland. In line with contemporaneous psychiatric hospitals, the occupational therapy activities promoted in Grangegorman were mainly handicraft or productivity based. The absence of patients’ voices means there are limitations to determining the therapeutic nature of this early occupational therapy service.

The purpose of this study is to explore the tourism policy commitment of the government of Uzbekistan to bring back the tourists and sustain the tourism and hospitality sector during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study employed qualitative documentary research methodology using the thematic analysis with the support of the Nvivo 12 to analyze Google news articles published in the English language. The results demonstrated that the government of Uzbekistan employed a variety of policies and measures geared towards tourists and businesses during the pandemic. Mainly, the government showed confidence and trust in its policies by providing financial compensation to tourists if they get the Covid-19 infection, improved sanitary conditions and travel restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus. In terms of businesses, the government was dedicated to restoring and mitigating the adverse outcomes of Covid-19 in the tourism and hospitality sector by providing subsidies and certification that the company is following the sanitary protocols. The findings of this study illustrate that the government of Uzbekistan should continue feeding the media with the information related to strategies implemented towards reviving the tourism and hospitality sector, which will build the confidence of the tourists and businesses during the pandemic period.

The purpose of this paper is to deliver a detailed analysis of the functioning of upstream–downstream interface process of the tsunami early warning and mitigation system in Sri Lanka. It also gives an understanding of the social, administrative, political and cultural complexities attached to the operation of interface mechanism, and introduces an analytical framework highlighting the significant dynamics of the interface of tsunami early warning system in Sri Lanka.

Through the initial literature review, a conceptual framework was developed, highlighting the criteria against which the interface process can be assessed. This framework was used as the basis for developing data collection tools, namely, documentary analysis, semi-structured interviews and observations that focused on the key stakeholder institutions in Sri Lanka. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data according to the conceptual framework, and an improved and detailed framework was developed deriving from the findings.

The manner in which the interface mechanism operates in Sri Lanka’s tsunami early warning system is discussed, providing a detailed understanding of the decision-making structures; key actors; standardisation; technical and human capacities; socio-spatial dynamics; coordination among actors; communication and information dissemination; and the evaluation processes. Several gaps and shortcomings were identified with relation to some of these aspects, and the significance of addressing these gaps is highlighted in the paper.

A number of recommendations are provided to address the existing shortcomings and to improve the overall performance of tsunami warning system in Sri Lanka.

Based on the findings, a framework was developed into a more detailed analytical framework that depicts the interface operationalisation in Sri Lanka, and can also be potentially applied to similar cases across the world. The new analytical framework was validated through a focus group discussion held in Sri Lanka with the participation of experts and practitioners.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between psychiatry and occupational therapy in Ireland through a case study of the development of the occupational therapy department in St. Patrick’s Hospital, Dublin, from 1935 to 1969. Patronage by psychiatrists was an important factor in the professionalisation of occupational therapy internationally.

Documentary sources and oral history interviews were analysed to conduct an instrumental case study of occupational therapy at St. Patrick’s Hospital from 1935 to 1969.

The research identified key individuals associated with the development of occupational therapy at St. Patrick’s Hospital, including psychiatrist Norman Moore, occupational therapy worker Olga Gale, occupational therapist Margaret Sinclair, and social therapist Irene Violet Grey. Occupational therapy was considered by the hospital authorities to be “an important part in the treatment of all types of psychiatric illness” (Board Meeting Minutes, 1956). It aimed to develop patient’s self-esteem and facilitate social participation. To achieve these objectives, patients engaged in activities such as dances, arts and crafts, and social activities.

This study has highlighted the contributions of key individuals, identified the links between occupational therapy and psychiatry, and provided an insight into the development of the profession in Ireland prior to the establishment of occupational therapy education in 1963. Occupational therapy practice at St. Patrick’s Hospital from 1935 to 1969 was congruent with the prevailing philosophy of occupational therapy internationally, which involved treatment through activities to enhance participation in society.

This paper aims to explore the impacts and challenges of the Southern African Development Community’s industrialization agenda on the industrialization of two Sub-Saharan African states, Botswana and Tanzania.

The study adopts the documentary research method by carefully analyzing relevant policy documents, conference papers, reports, and journals.

While there is an impact on policy provisions targeted towards industrialization, there are challenges such as poor policy implementation that, if not addressed, could dampen efforts by policymakers in achieving the goal of industrializing the countries.

Governments should ensure equal synergy relations amongst institutions tasked with implementation. Increase investment in research and development (R&D) and human capital as drivers of innovation are needed for industrialization.

This paper adds to the discourse on industrialization. It also highlights challenges faced by countries whose policies have had minimal impact on industrialization.

The strategic human resource management (SHRM) emerged in the middle of the 1980s and is currently seen as a relevant research and practical field in the area of business administration (Kaufman, 2015). Its academic relevance has been receiving international attention due to the importance of the strategic performance of human resource management (HRM) (Jackson, Schuler, & Jiang, 2014). It is possible to define SHRM as a vertical connection between HRM practices and international strategy and horizontally as the congruence among the several human resource practices (Wright & McMahan, 1992).

Taking into consideration the emerging research gaps in the area, the necessity to bring to attention the implementation of policies and strategic practices of human resource management became prominent. Our study characterizes the national scenario regarding this specific research theme. For such, we developed a bibliometric review of national journals in the area of business administration with level Qualis B2 [1] or above, described the institutionalization of the research in Brazil and established a sociogram with research relationship networks in the country.

Between 1997 and 2017, only 19 articles on the implementation of SHRM were published in the 32 journals researched. The characterization of the studies indicates a predominance of qualitative articles, which adopt as methodological approach the case study, and most of them use interviews and content analysis as techniques of data collection and analysis, respectively. The use of such investigation tools is in line with the nature of the phenomenon studied. The scenario indicates that the implementation of SHRM is still a developing theme in Brazil.

There is a lack of studies that combine the use of qualitative and quantitative approaches and focus on public organizations. Besides, the results indicate the need to diversify the methodological approaches used. Regarding the institutionalization of research in Brazil, it is possible to notice the growth of research groups investigating SHRM, even though their only focus does not rely on implementation. The academic production regarding the theme is regionally located in the state of São Paulo, even though academic production is also to be found in a decentralized way in the country, with rare networks.

This way, the main contribution of this article is the accomplishment of the first bibliometric review regarding the implementation of SHRM in Brazil, showing the scientific community that the theme still presents a gap to be explored in national studies and showing human resource professionals and the society that the transformational switch of human management to organizational outcomes – despite prolific in the academia – still has not been realized in practice.

In the articles analyzed, the most common finding was that the effective implementation of SHRM and strategic practices of HR, such as the competency management, still deserves attention of the academia through the accomplishment of deeper qualitative studies that exhibit not only interfering factors but also the initiatives that must be adopted by the organization to favor the implementation process.

The interventions occurred in an organization can or cannot stem from an articulated HR strategy. Some policies can be implemented without a previous explicit planning, and other planned strategies may never even be effectively implemented (Truss & Gratton, 1994). As reported by Kaufman (2015), some critical success factors to a large-scale organizational change – which is necessary for the effective adoption of strategic HR models – are the commitment of leaderships and a carefully planned and managed implementation. For such, it is necessary to manage programmed organizational changes properly and to act promptly on the cultural pressure perceived by all levels of the organization (Guest, 1987). Such premises are associated with the SHRM perspective proposed by Wright and Snell (1998), in which the authors claim that the main role of HR is to implement organizational strategies. Lengnick-Hall et al. (2009) present a research agenda that highlights the need to give more emphasis on issues related to the implementation of strategic human resource management, specifically regarding the vertical and horizontal alignment of HR systems.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and compare seven case studies of strategic innovation projects of the Brazilian army; these projects present high transformational potential and high investments and are supported by technology and science policies.

The authors present herein multiple case studies in which the authors conduct a documentary analysis of the innovation processes in the Brazilian army, as well as semi-structured interviews conducted with eight servicemen with more than 15 years of working experience.

The results obtained suggest that the innovation process occurs in four stages: creation, selection, development and diffusion of ideas.

The research is relevant because it presents how the interaction between the Brazilian army, companies and academia strengthens the innovation ecosystem, stimulating the development of best practices for the management of strategic projects.

The main contribution of this study is to present the strategic project management of innovation based on public policies and investment in projects of the Brazilian army, which are drivers for the development of ecosystems that promote the creation and expansion of companies, the diffusion of technological knowledge in universities, and suitable solutions for the military sector.