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1 – 10 of over 5000Jiangnan Qiu, Wenjing Gu, Zhongming Ma, Yue You, Chengjie Cai and Meihui Zhang
In the extant research on online knowledge communities (OKCs), little attention has been paid to the influence of membership fluidity on the coevolution of the social and…
Abstract
Purpose
In the extant research on online knowledge communities (OKCs), little attention has been paid to the influence of membership fluidity on the coevolution of the social and knowledge systems. This article aims to fill this gap.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the attraction-selection-attrition (ASA) framework, this paper constructs a simulation model to study the coevolution of these two systems under different levels of membership fluidity.
Findings
By analyzing the evolution of these systems with the vector autoregression (VAR) method, we find that social and knowledge systems become more orderly as the coevolution progresses. Furthermore, in communities with low membership fluidity, the microlevel of the social system (i.e. users) drives the coevolution, whereas in communities with high membership fluidity, the microlevel of the knowledge system (i.e. users' views) drives the coevolution.
Originality/value
This paper extends the application of the ASA framework and enriches the literature on membership fluidity of online communities and the literature on driving factors for coevolution of the social and knowledge systems in OKCs. On a practical level, our work suggests that community administrators should adopt different strategies for different membership fluidity to efficiently promote the coevolution of the social and knowledge systems in OKCs.
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Dialogue in Darkness (DID) is a global social enterprise, which provides products and services such as workshops, exhibitions and activities in the dark in China. The corporate…
Abstract
Dialogue in Darkness (DID) is a global social enterprise, which provides products and services such as workshops, exhibitions and activities in the dark in China. The corporate workshops are designed for companies, institutions and government agencies to provide unique leadership training and some other training in teamwork, communication, innovation and change management. And education workshops are aimed at providing young people with unique leadership training and training in teamwork, innovation and empathy and so on for the educational institutions. Over the past five years, DID, headquartered in Shanghai, has expanded to Beijing, Chengdu and Shenzhen, realizing strategic coverage of East, West, North and South of China. DID achieved break-even within less than one year since its inception. Its sound and healthy development offers an innovative way for the sustainable development of social enterprises.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the food and beverage sector very severely. The complete breakdown of the supply chain and lack of customers was particularly challenging for…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the food and beverage sector very severely. The complete breakdown of the supply chain and lack of customers was particularly challenging for start-ups in the industry. Those that survived were the ones who made a timely and smooth transition in business models to become more technology driven. However, the issues faced and the ground realities of the extent of struggle that these start-ups went through are less understood in the scholarly literature, with most accounts being anecdotal. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study attempts to bridge this gap by conducting a qualitative study to collect data from 35 owners/employees of food and beverage start-ups and using the grounded theory approach to code it and identify key themes.
Findings
Content analysis of the 35 responses revealed three main themes: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on operations of food and beverage start-ups, challenges due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and combating the pandemic, divided into seven subthemes: differences in operations pre- and post-COVID, key changes experienced in operations post-COVID, problems arising in operations due to the pandemic, problems in the use of digital marketing due to the pandemic, problems in the use of technological platforms due to the pandemic, using innovative approaches and technological innovations and using disruptive technologies.
Originality/value
The study contributes novel insights by investigating the changes experienced by food and beverage start-ups due to the pandemic, the innovations introduced by them and the perception about the role of disruptive technologies in their postpandemic operations of food and beverage start-ups.
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The purpose of this study is to analyse the mediating effect of friends and family as sources of perceived social support in the relationship between loneliness and depressive…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyse the mediating effect of friends and family as sources of perceived social support in the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data sample consisted of 733 university students from January to May 2023. Participants completed the UCLA loneliness scales, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MPSS) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The SPSS programme with PROCESS macro (Model 6) was used to test the hypothesis regarding the mediation effect.
Findings
The bootstrap analysis found that friends as a source of social support mediated the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms. Similarly, loneliness had a significant indirect effect on depressive symptoms through the mediation of family as a source of social support. Moreover, it was found that the relationships of friends and family as sources of social support mediated the association of the aforementioned variables.
Originality/value
This research advances our understanding of social support sources from friends and family amongst university students whilst providing suggestions for interventions tackling loneliness and depressive symptoms in a university setting.
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Julia Viezzer Baretta, Micheline Gaia Hoffmann, Luciana Militao and Josivania Silva Farias
The purpose of this study is examined whether coproduction appears spontaneously in the literature on public sector innovation and governance, the citizens’ role in coproduction…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is examined whether coproduction appears spontaneously in the literature on public sector innovation and governance, the citizens’ role in coproduction and the implication of citizens’ participation in the governance of innovation networks.
Design/methodology/approach
The review complied with preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) protocol. The search was performed in the Ebsco, Scopus and WOS databases. The authors analyzed 47 papers published from 2017 to 2022. Thematic and content analysis were adopted, supported by MAXQDA.
Findings
The papers recognize the importance of the citizens in public innovation. However, only 20% discuss coproduction, evidencing the predominance of governance concepts related to interorganizational collaborations – but not necessarily to citizen engagement. The authors also verified the existence of polysemy regarding the concept of governance associated with public innovation, predominating the term “collaborative governance.”
Research limitations/implications
The small emphasis on “co-production” may result from the search strategy, which deliberately did not include it as a descriptor, considering the research purpose. One can consider this choice a limitation.
Practical implications
Considering collaborative governance as a governing arrangement where public agencies directly engage nonstate stakeholders in a collective decision-making process that is formal, consensus-oriented and deliberative (Ansell and Gash, 2007), the forum where the citizen is supposed to be engaged should be initiated by public agencies or institutions and formally organized, as suggested by Österberg and Qvist (2020) and Campomori and Casula (2022). These notions can be useful for public managers concerning their role and how the forums structure should be to promote collaboration and the presence of innovation assets needed to make the process fruitful (Crosby et al., 2017).
Originality/value
Despite the collaborative nature of public innovation, the need for adequate governance characteristics, and the importance of citizens in the innovative process, most studies generically address collaborative relationships, focusing on interorganizational collaboration, with little focus on specific actors such as citizens in the governance of public innovation. Thus, it is assumed that the literature that discusses public innovation and governance includes the discussion of coproduction. The originality and contribution of this study is to verify this assumption.
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Annie Williams, Hannah Bayfield, Martin Elliott, Jennifer Lyttleton-Smith, Honor Young, Rhiannon Evans and Sara Long
Using a mixed methodology comprising interviews, case file analysis and descriptive statistics, this study aims to examine the experiences of all 43 young people in Wales subject…
Abstract
Purpose
Using a mixed methodology comprising interviews, case file analysis and descriptive statistics, this study aims to examine the experiences of all 43 young people in Wales subject to secure accommodation orders between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2018.
Design/methodology/approach
Children in the UK aged 10–17 years who are deemed to be at a significant level of risk to themselves or others may be subject to a secure accommodation order, leading to time spent in a secure children’s home (SCH) on welfare grounds. Following a rise in the number of children in Wales referred to SCHs for welfare reasons, this paper describes these young people’s journeys into, through and out of SCHs, giving insight into their experiences and highlighting areas for policy and practice improvements.
Findings
Findings indicate that improvements in mental health support and placement availability are key in improving the experiences of this particularly vulnerable group of young people throughout their childhood.
Practical implications
Other practical implications of the study’s findings, such as improvements in secure transport arrangements, are also discussed.
Originality/value
While the findings are limited by the reliance on self-report methods and the size of the study, namely, the small number of young people with experience of SCHs who were able to participate, the findings build on the existing knowledge base around children’s residential accommodation and provide new insights into how best to support these children.
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