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The index case of COVID-19 in Nigeria was reported on 27 February 2020. Subsequently, the exponential increase in cases has brought about the partial and total lockdown of cities, the closure of all schools and the shutdown of government offices in order to curtail the spread of COVID-19. COVID-19 and its subsequent drastic curtailment policies have implications on vulnerable groups, especially, informal workers who constitute about 70% of the active working population in Nigeria. This reflective discourse critically engages the plight of informal workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

The research was guided by the epistemology of pandemic interpretationism. It engages contextual reflections of the plight of economically vulnerable informal workers in Nigeria. Data were collected from secondary sources while rapid case studies were conducted with ten informal workers in Lagos and Ibadan. Afterwards, data were contextually analysed.

Economically vulnerable informal workers in Nigeria have contextually interpreted COVID-19 as an elite disease, imported into Nigeria by the wealthy. In addition, the mass population views COVID-19 containment measures such as lockdowns, movement restrictions and stay-at-home orders as elitist policies, which are aimed at protecting the wealthy and frustrating the poor and economically vulnerable who live on the fringes of poverty. Many informal workers have slipped below the poverty line while struggling to supply livelihood needs, as they were unable to earn daily income and cannot access palliatives. Consequently, they are of the opinion that “Hunger Virus is deadlier than Corona Virus”.

This paper is a contextual reflection on the plight of economically vulnerable informal workers during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and movement restrictions in Nigeria. It presents pandemic interpretationism as an epistemological guide and reflectively examines the poverty impact of COVID-19 on the Nigerian informal sector via contextual analyses of secondary data and rapid case studies. The paper uncovers various COVID-19 livelihood experiences and the responses of the informal workers; furthermore, it provides policy recommendations.

During the 1995 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, I presided over a panel discussion on new perspectives in the sociology of culture. Most of the papers are being published in this volume. The contributions by Annie Ruth Leslie and myself are additional papers.

This paper provides an analysis of the experiences of undergraduate business students undertaking reflective writing as a series of incremental assessments. Using Moon’s map of learning (1999) as an analytical framework, it explores the value of reflective writing to students studying Asian culture in the business context during the first semester of 2017.

With 200 enrolments, the authors taught a core business course, Asian culture in the business context, in the first semester in 2017. The value of the assessments is analysed based on two data sources: written course feedback via a course survey and a combination of semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The written course feedback was collected by the university during the semester. Approximately, one-third of the students (n = 63) participated in the survey. The other data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus groups for nine students. Ethical approval for the collection of data was obtained from the university ethics committee.

The study confirms that reflective writing enables students to make meaning of their learning and transfer it to the cultural context of business practice. In addition, the assessments help the students develop logical thinking and academic writing skills. To increase the use of reflective assignments in business programmes, further research and teaching practice is required.

A limitation of this research was the relatively small sample size. Even though written survey feedback (n = 63) was used to complement the number of interviewees (n = 9), the findings of the data analysis may not represent the experiences of all students in the course. However, the data are valuable to bridge a gap between the existing research and teaching practice on the use of reflective writing in other disciplines and business education.

Although the transfer of academic knowledge to business practice is a core capability of the business programmes, business students may not obtain this during their study in the programme. Several students mentioned a lack of opportunity to apply reflective writing skills to other courses in their business degree, except one core course using a reflective essay as an assessment. This implies that the majority of the students in the degree are not exposed to situations that require them to critically evaluate, consolidate and consider what has been taught in relation to future practice.

Further research and practice will increase the popularity of reflective writing assessments in business programmes. As Hedberg suggests, reflective practice should be integrated into all classrooms in business education. Together with analysis and action, reflection should be a core capability for managers (Hedberg 2009). In addition, the business faculty needs to work in a reflective manner that encourages students to be familiar with the reflective practice.

This paper analyses the pedagogical aspects of reflection based on the experience of undergraduate business students undertaking reflective writing assessments.

This essay is not a typical essay that follows the norms of academic discourse which have become standardized by the bureaucratization of the academy and academic publishers in the name of neoliberal economic policies. The abstract is a function of that bureaucratization. It provides a summary taste of what follows so that the reader can make a quick judgment as to whether the words contained therein are worthy of their time. The typical scholarly article gets few readers beyond the author, editor, and reviewers. If and when the abstract succeeds in making a reader turn to the pages, all too often today, this means only reading the introduction and conclusion, with a cursory scanning of the intermediate pages for “data.” Theory resists this informationalization. Rather, theory must reside within the realm of knowledge; and knowledge takes time and effort. It forces the reader to make a choice, to use their agency to decide to spend their time on this mental task and to decide what to do with the knowledge they gain. Planetary sociology contends that working toward knowing our self and society, their interconnections and coconstructions, is a necessary precondition for confronting the global endgame on our horizon. Critical socioanalysis provides a model for how to engage in this practice. In the following pages I offer my own life as a brief example of the process while demonstrating the role that theory must play. It cannot be summarized in an abstract. It must be read and digested. It must be the subject of thought, the cause of our engaging in thinking. Theory makes demands of its readers, and it forces us to choose. You cannot be a passive reader of theory. This abstract provides the first chance for the reader to act as an agent, to reject theory's demands or to keep seeking and discover for one's self if it is worth the effort.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that, in order to achieve teaching excellence, student engagement in dialogue on this important matter is needed. Students’ conceptualisations of good teaching are fundamental when building an understanding of what this is and how it can be developed.

This paper reports on findings of a qualitative study of undergraduate students’ perceptions of a good university lecturer. The paper draws on the secondary dataset collected by four subject centres of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

The interpretive analysis of the data shows that, from students’ perspectives, a combination of the lecturer's subject knowledge, willingness to help and inspirational teaching methods makes a good university lecturer. Being humorous and able to provide speedy feedback were also perceived as important factors. These findings have some important implications for academic practice.

The key thesis advanced is that definitions of teaching excellence cannot be adequately obtained from typologies and descriptions of techniques and skills. The authors’ contention is that deeper understandings are built through engaging students in meaningful dialogue about pedagogy. This may uncover more profound layers of understanding of what makes good teaching at university and so probe the more elusive aspects which defy measurement via scales or performance indicators.

The purpose of authentic assessment can enrich students with a set of skills that can have a significant impact on their employability. The key aim of these actions is to equip students with the practical skills to be work ready. The focus here is to demonstrate effects on student satisfaction and observations from teaching staff accrued over several semesters in an educational institution after introducing authentic assessments.

This paper used a set of scaffolded authentic assessments for students in logistics and supply chain management (LSCM). A combination of literature and expert input was used to design and implement the authentic assessment. A multi-phase systematic approach using cyclical model steps articulated the course learning outcomes (CLOs).

Reinforced evidence that authentic assessments create options for divergent learners and provide opportunities for applying practical and higher-order cognitive skills in tertiary education system of an emerging economy. With the focus on student ability in doing things, students with diversified backgrounds and abilities in Asia can be encouraged to take an active role in their own learning. The formats of the newly redesigned assessments allow multidimensional cognitive capabilities such as art development (posters and video tasks) and reflective exercises. Importantly, formative types of authentic assessments help to decrease the level of anxiety by emphasising the aspect of doing and lead to better student satisfaction with the courses. All of these effects are shown to be repeatable in an Asian economy.

Authentic assessments prepare students for the new world of work through a more focused scaffolding of their learning.

Stimulation of deeper learning in tertiary education students is relevant for a top performing Asian economy.

Attempts to develop a conceptual model for analysing organisations as social systems from a systemic point of view. Develops aspects of a general theory for organisational innovation. Deliberates the way in which systemic thinking can be used as a means to understand, explain and predict stability and innovation in organisations regarded as social systems. Uses social autopoiesis theory expressed through an analytical model, conceptual models, and propositions.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the field of accounting as a nexus between the rise of industrial societies, strategies of elites to preserve and reproduce privilege, practices of state control and the external forces of colonisation and globalisation. The authors explore this field in the context of Cambodia which embodies a particularly diverse range of internal and external influences.

A qualitative research approach is employed. The research methods were an analysis of secondary sources and interviews with key officials former Head of State and academics. An effort was made to interview Khmer Rouge survivors about the nature of the accounting practices, class and state control.

During the pre-colonial and the period of French colonial influence, there was relatively accounting practice or distinctive professional bodies. Under the Khmer Rouge there was both a clear rejection of individuals with accounting skills while there were some attempts to use of elements of accounting as tools of central control. This use of accounting as a tool of control was further normalised under Vietnamese rule and socialism. Following the restoration of independence there was some French influence on the growth of institutional and practices of accounting. However, these institutions and practices have been modified and refined by recent growth of international accounting firms and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

This paper has significant implications for understanding the nature and development of the accounting in developing countries, recognising both national and internal influences.

This paper has practical implications for understanding the nature and changes associated with the accounting profession in a global context.

This paper adds new literature on accounting which recognises the nexus of interests, practices and institutions associated with the field of accounting.

The aim of this paper is to use the special context of the Kenyan encampment policy to interrogate the role of social capital as a driver of resourcing for entrepreneurial action in the resource-constrained environment of refugee entrepreneurship in Kenya.

This paper takes conceptual and case study approaches to investigate how refugees deploy social capital to aggregate and recombine resources for entrepreneurial action and livelihood outcomes. It draws on 21 selected secondary sources and semi-structured interviews of 24 respondents from Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei settlement, as well as Nairobi city in Kenya.

This study proposes a new conceptual framework that illuminates the interaction between social capital, resource aggregation and resource recombination for entrepreneurial action and livelihood recovery. This framework was elucidated within the specific Kenyan context, where social capital was found to play a key role in enabling access to other resources such as financial and human capital to refugee entrepreneurs that would otherwise be inaccessible within the resource-constrained context. It also underlines the capacity of refugees to mobilise these resources in the creation of new ecosystems and institutions.

While the conceptual contribution of the paper holds broad explanatory powers, the empirical aspect is limited in terms of its focus on the Kenyan contexts. Future studies can benefit from cross-country comparisons of empirical, including longitudinal, data.

This paper argues for a new approach that can enable better integration of refugees through the provision of opportunities for full economic participation for refugees. This will be a win-win outcome for both refugees and host communities.

This paper makes original contribution by proposing a new conceptual framework that explains the bricoleur’s resource process through the lense of social capital in a resource-constrained and challenging institutional environment. This framework is elucidated with empirical qualitative data from Kenya. This study also signposts new operational and policy directions for humanitarian action among refugees.