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1 – 10 of over 12000Joyce Hlungwani and Adrian D. van Breda
The purpose of this study is to explore the contribution of what the authors have termed, “managed opportunities for independence” (MOI) in building the resilience of young people…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the contribution of what the authors have termed, “managed opportunities for independence” (MOI) in building the resilience of young people in care.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a qualitative, grounded theory methodology. Nine child and youth care workers were purposively sampled from various child and youth and care centres in South Africa.
Findings
Findings indicate that MOI contribute to the development of resilience of young people in care.
Originality/value
Care-leaving literature recognizes that too much protection does not adequately prepare young people for independent living. There is also increasing attention to the resilience processes that enable care-leavers to thrive during the transition from care to independent living. However, there is limited empirical research that looks at how in-care programmes develop young people’s resilience. In addition, very little is said about what it means for child and youth care practice. This study’s focus on the contribution of “managed opportunities for independence” in building the resilience of young people in care provides a foundation for understanding the care-leaving process better.
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Roanne van Voorst, Ben Wisner, Jörgen Hellman and Gerben Nooteboom
Vidmantas Tūtlys, Ilze Buligina, Juris Dzelme, Genutė Gedvilienė, Krista Loogma, Biruta Sloka, Tarja Irene Tikkanen, Ginta Tora, Lina Vaitkutė, Terje Valjataga and Meril Ümarik
The paper seeks to disclose the features and implications of the neoliberal VET and employment policy agendas for the social and institutional VET ecosystems and the integration…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to disclose the features and implications of the neoliberal VET and employment policy agendas for the social and institutional VET ecosystems and the integration of at-risk youth in the labour market in the Baltic countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on the comparative policy analysis approach with reference to the theories of social and skill formation ecosystems and the historical institutionalism perspective.
Findings
The research has revealed three interconnected and alternately/simultaneously applied development pathways in the skill formation and vocational education of at-risk youth in the Baltic countries: (1) the market-oriented approach based on fostering immediate employability based on the momentary skills needs in the economy; (2) the state-assistance approach based on ensuring equal access to the VET and employment services by the state and (3) the approach of systemic support to socially disadvantaged or at-risk young people in developing their capabilities.
Originality/value
The originality of the paper lies in a new, holistic and comparative perspective in analysing the implications of the “Baltic neoliberalism” for the development of skill formation systems, VET and employment of at-risk youth in this region.
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This paper sets out to corroborate the existing literature on investors' risk tolerance and to assess how the 2008 financial crisis has affected risk tolerance among Italian…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper sets out to corroborate the existing literature on investors' risk tolerance and to assess how the 2008 financial crisis has affected risk tolerance among Italian investors.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a unique dataset of real-world portfolio choices made by 1,245 Italian investors over a period of 15 years (from 2003 to 2017), this paper presents two steps of analysis. In step 1, the whole period 2003–2017 is considered with the aim to integrate and corroborate the existing literature on the topic of risk tolerance, considering a complete economic and financial cycle. Step 2 took 2008 as the pivotal point between pre-crisis (2003–2008) and crisis (2009–2017) with the aim to observe the influence on risk appetite of the economic and financial effects of the crisis.
Findings
The results obtained confirm that men are more risk tolerant than women and older people are less risk-taking than their younger counterparts, although the relationship between age and risk tolerance is not necessarily linear. Moreover, our paper demonstrates that a crisis scenario has an influence on Italian investors' risk tolerance.
Practical implications
Our results are of interest to financial advisors, financial planners, asset managers, psychologists, behavioral researchers and more in general to providers of financial products and services.
Originality/value
The results presented in this paper are relevant and original because they are based on real investors who made real choices concerning their portfolio asset allocations.
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Pattaraporn Khongboon and Jiraporn Kespichayawatt
This study assesses the prevalence of accidental falls in Thailand's older adult population and the contingent influences surrounding this prevalence.
Abstract
Purpose
This study assesses the prevalence of accidental falls in Thailand's older adult population and the contingent influences surrounding this prevalence.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were drawn from the Cross-Sectional National Surveys of Older Persons in Thailand, pooling of four survey datasets which took place in 2007, 2011, 2014 and 2017. Stratified two-stage sampling was employed. Interviews were conducted with sample sizes of 11,370, 11,061, 13,775 and 12,457 senior citizens, aged 60 and above, in the respective survey years. Further investigation was conducted on subjects who reported to be of good health and without any disability, yet experienced accidental falls. The prevalence of accidental falls was examined, and variable aspects concerning fall risk were assessed with probability-weighted multiple logistic regression.
Findings
The average prevalence of accidental falls from the four surveys was 4.7%. Significant risk factors identified were advanced age, being female, living in a rural residence, having worked in the previous 7 days, lack of/excessive exercise, alcohol consumption, smoking and having an outdoor lavatory.
Originality/value
Accidental falls tend to increase among community-dwelling seniors aged 60 and above. Falls increase with age and are more common among the women in that demographic. Findings suggest the need for government and local agencies to consider tailoring some public health approaches to the prevention of accidental falls. This study also highlights the necessity of proper work environment maintenance to prevent these falls.
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Sujood, Sheeba Hamid and Naseem Bano
This paper aims to examine travelers’ behavioral intention of traveling in the period of coronavirus by using the theory of planned behavior. The framework incorporates attitude…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine travelers’ behavioral intention of traveling in the period of coronavirus by using the theory of planned behavior. The framework incorporates attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and a very crucial construct, i.e. perceived risk, as per the current critical scenario of COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was collected using a survey instrument on the internet by posting the questionnaire link over social network web pages of online traveling websites. The data was analyzed using structural equations modeling with AMOS 22.0 and SPSS software and the proposed hypotheses were statistically tested. The sample under consideration constitutes 417 responses.
Findings
Empirical findings suggest that attitude, perceived behavioral control and perceived risk are significant for predicting behavioral intention while subjective norms do not. Then, these variables explained about 35% of the variance in the behavioral intention of traveling in the period of coronavirus.
Research limitations/implications
This study can benefit travelers, the tourism and hospitality industry, governments, the aviation industry and other relevant organizations as this paper offers the latest updates and essential information regarding traveler’s intention of traveling in the period of coronavirus. The study mainly focuses on India, so the generalizations of results to other countries are unwanted.
Originality/value
The primary value of this paper is that it tested the theory of planned behavior by incorporating perceived risk in the context of COVID-19. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, in the Indian context, there is no study, which has tested the TPB by adding perceived risk in explaining the Indian citizens’ behavioral intention of traveling in the period of Coronavirus.
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Marewa Glover, Pooja Patwardhan and Kyro Selket
This paper aims to investigate the extent to which three subgroups – people with mental health conditions, people belonging to sexual minority and gender groups and Indigenous…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the extent to which three subgroups – people with mental health conditions, people belonging to sexual minority and gender groups and Indigenous peoples – have been “left behind” by countries implementing the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Design/methodology/approach
A general review of electronic bibliographical databases to provide an overview of smoking prevalence among the three groups and interventions designed specifically to reduce their smoking rates.
Findings
Although explanations and specific rates differ, two trends are consistent across all three groups. First, information reported in the past two decades suggests that smoking prevalence is disproportionately high among people with mental health conditions, and in the rainbow and indigenous communities. Second, most cessation programmes are targeted at majority politically dominant groups, missing opportunities to reduce smoking rates in these minority communities.
Research limitations/implications
There is a general dearth of data preventing detailed analysis. Better data collection efforts are required. Trials to identify effective smoking reduction interventions for marginalised groups are needed.
Social implications
It is socially unjust that these groups are being systematically ignored by tobacco control initiatives. A failure to equitably reduce tobacco harms among all groups across society has contributed to the perceived concentration of smoking in some subgroups. The increasing stigmatisation of people who smoke then adds a marginality, compounding the negative effects associated with belonging to a marginalised group. Ongoing marginalisation of these groups is an important determinant of smoking.
Originality/value
Cross-case analysis of neglected subgroups with disproportionately high smoking rates suggests social marginalisation is a shared and important determinant of smoking prevalence.
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Gonzalo Lizarralde, Holmes Páez, Adriana Lopez, Oswaldo Lopez, Lisa Bornstein, Kevin Gould, Benjamin Herazo and Lissette Muñoz
Few people living in informal settlements in the Global South spontaneously claim that they are “resilient” or “adapting” to disaster risk or climate change. Surely, they often…
Abstract
Purpose
Few people living in informal settlements in the Global South spontaneously claim that they are “resilient” or “adapting” to disaster risk or climate change. Surely, they often overcome multiple challenges, including natural hazards exacerbated by climate change. Yet their actions are increasingly examined through the framework of resilience, a notion developed in the North, and increasingly adopted in the South. To what extent eliminate’ do these initiatives correspond to the concepts that scholars and authorities place under the resilience framework?
Design/methodology/approach
Three longitudinal case studies in Yumbo, Salgar and San Andrés (Colombia) serve to investigate narratives of disaster risks and responses to them. Methods include narrative analysis from policy and project documents, presentations, five workshops, six focus groups and 24 interviews.
Findings
The discourse adopted by most international scholars and local authorities differs greatly from that used by citizens to explain risk and masks the politics involved in disaster reduction and the search for social justice. Besides, narratives of social change, aspirations and social status are increasingly masked in disaster risk explanations. Tensions are also concealed, including those regarding the winners and losers of interventions and the responsibilities for disaster risk reduction.
Originality/value
Our findings confirm previous results that have shown that the resilience framework contributes to “depoliticize” the analysis of risk and serves to mask and dilute the responsibility of political and economic elites in disaster risk creation. But they also show that resilience fails to explain the type of socioeconomic change that is required to reduce vulnerabilities in Latin America.
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Anne M. Sanquini, Sundar M. Thapaliya and Michele M. Wood
The purpose of this paper is to apply social theory to the creation of a mass-media communications intervention designed to encourage earthquake-resistant construction in Nepal…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to apply social theory to the creation of a mass-media communications intervention designed to encourage earthquake-resistant construction in Nepal.
Design/methodology/approach
A three-step process was employed in this study: first, a narrative literature review was completed regarding the motivation of protective action. Second, key informant elicitation interviews with 15 community members at five public schools who supported making their buildings earthquake-resistant informed the script for a documentary film. Finally, the film was reviewed with stakeholders, plus 16 community members associated with a school in need of seismic work. Sociograms were used to determine relative closeness of the study participants to the film role models.
Findings
Motivating factors identified in the literature synthesis were included in the film, which focussed on effective actions taken by role models, and avoided the use of fear-based appeals. Key informant interviews yielded role-modeling details for the film script, including triggers and obstacles faced by the community members, and outcomes of their actions. Sociogram outcomes guided film editing and increased relative screen time for those community members with whom the study participants felt greater closeness. A pretest-posttest cluster randomized trial (details reported elsewhere) showed greater gains in knowledge, perceived outcome effectiveness, and intended behaviors among intervention film viewers than control participants.
Originality/value
This three-step process yielded the information required by a practitioner to develop a theory-based, culturally appropriate mass-media intervention designed to motivate reduction of disaster risk.
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Aizhan Tursunbayeva, Claudia Pagliari, Stefano Di Lauro and Gilda Antonelli
This research analyzed the existing academic and grey literature concerning the technologies and practices of people analytics (PA), to understand how ethical considerations are…
Abstract
Purpose
This research analyzed the existing academic and grey literature concerning the technologies and practices of people analytics (PA), to understand how ethical considerations are being discussed by researchers, industry experts and practitioners, and to identify gaps, priorities and recommendations for ethical practice.
Design/methodology/approach
An iterative “scoping review” method was used to capture and synthesize relevant academic and grey literature. This is suited to emerging areas of innovation where formal research lags behind evidence from professional or technical sources.
Findings
Although the grey literature contains a growing stream of publications aimed at helping PA practitioners to “be ethical,” overall, research on ethical issues in PA is still at an early stage. Optimistic and technocentric perspectives dominate the PA discourse, although key themes seen in the wider literature on digital/data ethics are also evident. Risks and recommendations for PA projects concerned transparency and diverse stakeholder inclusion, respecting privacy rights, fair and proportionate use of data, fostering a systemic culture of ethical practice, delivering benefits for employees, including ethical outcomes in business models, ensuring legal compliance and using ethical charters.
Research limitations/implications
This research adds to current debates over the future of work and employment in a digitized, algorithm-driven society.
Practical implications
The research provides an accessible summary of the risks, opportunities, trade-offs and regulatory issues for PA, as well as a framework for integrating ethical strategies and practices.
Originality/value
By using a scoping methodology to surface and analyze diverse literatures, this study fills a gap in existing knowledge on ethical aspects of PA. The findings can inform future academic research, organizations using or considering PA products, professional associations developing relevant guidelines and policymakers adapting regulations. It is also timely, given the increase in digital monitoring of employees working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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