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Article
Publication date: 2 February 2023

Nur Zafifa Kamarunzaman

Psychiatric patients’ post-treatment identities are one of the potent indicators reflecting the efficacy of the medical intervention. This study aims to explore how psychiatric…

Abstract

Purpose

Psychiatric patients’ post-treatment identities are one of the potent indicators reflecting the efficacy of the medical intervention. This study aims to explore how psychiatric patients construct their post-treatment social identities through a gender lens.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used a descriptive phenomenological approach, and in-depth interviews were undertaken on 29 informants with experience of psychiatric treatment for at least one year and who are in the remission stage. The lived experience of each informant was scrutinised, which covered how psychiatric post-treatment affects and alters their personal life, work and social relationships. Data collected were then analysed using thematic analysis.

Findings

The result found two mutually reinforced identities, namely, self-empowerment and resilience emerged from their experience with psychiatric post-treatment. Firstly, self-empowerment themes include acceptance of the disorders, meaningful choices, assertiveness and helping others. Such self-empowerment attributes enabled them to negotiate with the doctors during the treatment and also with their family members and partners. Secondly, psychiatric post-treatment allows them to be resilient; their good feeling of being liberated from the symptoms while allowing them to partake in a normal lifestyle. Meanwhile, gender differences were found to have diverse meaning-making that positively impacted their lives, particularly among female informants.

Research limitations/implications

Firstly, the data collection was only made in two states in North Peninsular Malaysia; hence, it would be biased in this sense to generalize to a larger population. At the same time, a prevalent study could be undertaken to view the pervasiveness of mental illness among Malaysians. Secondly, the study did not investigate the social institutions that are linked to the relief of psychiatric patients in the country. Thus, there is a grey area on how at the systemic level aid is given to the patients and the impact of such action.

Practical implications

A rigour campaign on promoting mental health should be undertaken to create an inclusive environment for the patients. This is consistent with the aspiration of deinstitutionalization and the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 agenda by the Malaysian government. This is a call for an allotment in special education, training, and funding, employment, housing and other aspects that are significant for their livelihood.

Social implications

The findings discovered that their social environment primarily caused the depression suffered by the patients. The remark is particularly true for female informants who had very little control over their lives and bodies. Hence, health professionals should consider practicing cultural and gender-sensitive treatment for these patients. Such treatments are to avoid re-discriminating, or re-victimisation feelings to occur during the treatment.

Originality/value

Patients’ post-treatment social identity construction is seldom reported systematically through a gender lens. This study is one of the early efforts on gender lens that allow one to understand how it influences social structures and institutions, especially in the Malaysian realm.

Details

Mental Health and Social Inclusion, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-8308

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 July 2024

María del Carmen Triana, Orlando Richard, Seo-Young Byun, Kendall Park, Dora Delgado and Jorge Delgado

The present study examines head of state gender and national collectivism to explain how some leaders have been able to manage a pandemic better than others.

Abstract

Purpose

The present study examines head of state gender and national collectivism to explain how some leaders have been able to manage a pandemic better than others.

Design/methodology/approach

We measure pandemic deaths per million using objective numbers for each country. Country collectivism is measured using the GLOBE study. Qualitative analyses of world leader speeches are used to examine how health-focused leaders’ language is. Media attention with sentiment analysis about each leader’s handling of the pandemic is also used to show how others reacted to leaders.

Findings

Countries with female leaders showed fewer pandemic deaths than those led by male leaders. The interaction between leader gender and country collectivism predicted death. Media sentiment was more favorable for women leaders than men leaders.

Practical implications

During times of crises, women’s more careful tendencies keep their constituents safer than their male counterparts. Country collectivism also aids male leaders in keeping constituents safe.

Social implications

The present study helps unpack when women leaders thrive and outperform their male counterparts. This furthers United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: gender equality.

Originality/value

The study examines leader gender and national collectivism to predict pandemic deaths.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 August 2024

Gloria Agyemang, Alpa Dhanani, Amanze Rajesh Ejiogu and Stephanie Perkiss

This paper introduces the special issue on Race and Accounting and Accountability. In so doing, it explores racism in its historical and contemporary forms, the role of accounting…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper introduces the special issue on Race and Accounting and Accountability. In so doing, it explores racism in its historical and contemporary forms, the role of accounting and accountability in enabling racism and racial discrimination and also efforts of redress and resistance.

Design/methodology/approach

We reflect on several critical themes to demonstrate the pervasive and insidious nature of racism and, review the literature on race and racism in accounting, focusing on studies that followed the seminal work by Annisette and Prasad (2017) who called for more research. We also review the six papers included in this special issue.

Findings

While many overt systems of racial domination experienced throughout history have subsided, racism is engrained in our everyday lives and in broader societal structures in more covert and nuanced forms. Yet, in accounting, as Annisette and Prasad noted, the focus has continued to be on the former. This special issue shifts this imbalance – five of the six papers focus on contemporary racism. Moreover, it demonstrates that although accounting technologies can and do facilitate racism and racist practices, accountability and counter accounts offer avenues for calling out and disrupting the powers and privileges that underlie racial discrimination and, resistance by un-silencing minority groups subjected to discrimination and injustice.

Originality/value

This introduction and the papers in the special issue offer rich empirical and theoretical contributions to accounting and accountability research on race and racial discrimination. We hope they inspire future race research to nurture progress towards a true post-racial society.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 17 May 2024

Monia Castellini, Caterina Ferrario and Vincenzo Riso

Since the 1980s, New public management has fostered the introduction of managerial approaches similar to those of the private sector in public administrations. Recently, the…

Abstract

Purpose

Since the 1980s, New public management has fostered the introduction of managerial approaches similar to those of the private sector in public administrations. Recently, the advantages of performing risk management in the public sector have been recognized; however, to the best of our knowledge, research on risk management in public administrations is underdeveloped, and there is a need to understand how risk management is performed. This paper addresses these issues and investigates whether and how risk management is performed in Italian public administration.

Design/methodology/approach

This study focused on a sample of 503 Italian municipalities and used a mixed research method. Through a qualitative content analysis of documents published on municipalities’ websites, data and information were collected and elaborated using quantitative indicators.

Findings

The main results are that a high percentage of large Italian municipalities perform risk management and comply with theoretical provisions on risk management, sometimes displaying isomorphic behavior in risk management practices.

Originality/value

This study provides a new perspective on risk management in Italian municipalities, contributes to filling a gap in the literature and suggests a theoretical perspective on municipalities’ approaches when introducing new managerial practices.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 July 2024

Renato Russo, Paulo Blikstein and Ioana Literat

This study aims to identify how Brazilian followers of an X/Twitter profile engage in theory-building processes leading up to the January 8, 2023 riots in Brasília, the Brazilian…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to identify how Brazilian followers of an X/Twitter profile engage in theory-building processes leading up to the January 8, 2023 riots in Brasília, the Brazilian capital. This paper seeks to understand how cognitive and sociocultural processes weave together to weaponize collective knowledge construction that, in isolation, could be seen as virtuous but, in specific contexts, might lead to radicalization.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses qualitative content analysis of comments on ambiguous X/Twitter posts published by a conspiratorial profile associated with former President Jair Bolsonaro. Content was published in the three weeks that preceded the coup d’état attempt by Bolsonaro supporters on January 8, 2023.

Findings

Findings point to users’ resorting to intuitive knowledge to support sensemaking processes in their search for subliminal meanings in tweets. That includes, for example, attempts to crack binary code-encrypted messages. This study also identified practices of cross-media sourcing, where users collect evidence from alternative social media channels to interpret messages containing verbal and visual information. Finally, this study found that religious symbols are often instrumentalized and become a lens through which followers organize information to integrate with their existing knowledge and assumptions.

Research limitations/implications

With this work, the authors build on existing scholarship on epistemologies used by conspiratorial and radicalized groups as they engage in systematic sensemaking and often refer to religion to interpret messages that motivate extreme political position-taking. This study addresses a similar phenomenon as it unfolds in an understudied geographical context (Brazil) and seeks to demonstrate how individuals engage in collective sensemaking practices. The authors hope that their findings inform educators as they explore the affordances of social media to foster positive collective learning experiences in reasoning supported by social media.

Originality/value

The originality of this study is twofold. First, this study uses an analytical lens that draws on the learning sciences and cognitive science for inquiry of radicalization happening around social media. The authors understand that social media lend themselves particularly interesting to the analysis, as they are settings where notions of mastery blur, and individuals engage in conversations on complex, controversial topics. With that engagement, they demonstrate willingness to reason collectively. Second, this study investigates how those phenomena unfold in an understudied context, responding to calls for more diversity in research in the learning sciences as well as in media studies.

Details

Information and Learning Sciences, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5348

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 April 2024

Alex Iddy Nyagango, Alfred Said Sife and Isaac Eliakimu Kazungu

Despite the vast potential of mobile phone use, grape smallholder farmers’ satisfaction with mobile phone use has attracted insufficient attention among scholars in Tanzania. The…

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the vast potential of mobile phone use, grape smallholder farmers’ satisfaction with mobile phone use has attracted insufficient attention among scholars in Tanzania. The study examined factors influencing satisfaction with mobile phone use for accessing agricultural marketing information.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a cross-sectional research design and a mixed research method. Structured questionnaire and focus group discussions were used to collect primary data from 400 sampled grape smallholder farmers. Data were analysed inferentially involving two-way analysis of variance, ordinal logistic regression and thematic analysis.

Findings

The findings indicate a statistically significant disparity in grape smallholder farmers’ satisfaction across different types of agricultural marketing information. Grape smallholder farmers exhibited higher satisfaction levels concerning information on selling time compared to all other types of agricultural marketing information (price, buyers, quality and quantity). Factors influencing grape smallholder farmers’ satisfaction with mobile phone use were related to perceived usefulness, ease of use, experience and cost.

Originality/value

This study contributes to scientific knowledge by providing actionable insights for formulating unique strategies for smallholder farmers’ satisfaction with agricultural marketing information.

Details

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9342

Keywords

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