scholarly journals AI invading the workplace: negative emotions towards the organizational use of personal virtual assistants

Author(s):  
Olivia Hornung ◽  
Stefan Smolnik

AbstractPersonal virtual assistants (PVAs) based on artificial intelligence are frequently used in private contexts but have yet to find their way into the workplace. Regardless of their potential value for organizations, the relentless implementation of PVAs at the workplace is likely to run into employee resistance. To understand what motivates such resistance, it is necessary to investigate the primary motivators of human behavior, namely emotions. This paper uncovers emotions related to organizational PVA use, primarily focusing on threat emotions. To achieve our goal, we conducted an in-depth qualitative study, collecting data from 45 employees in focus-group discussions and individual interviews. We identified and categorized emotions according to the framework for classifying emotions Beaudry and Pinsonneault (2010) designed. Our results show that loss emotions, such as dissatisfaction and frustration, as well as deterrence emotions, such as fear and worry, constitute valuable cornerstones for the boundaries of organizational PVA use.

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rayan Korri ◽  
Sabine Hess ◽  
Guenter Froeschl ◽  
Olena Ivanova

Abstract Background The war in Syria caused the forced displacement of millions of Syrians to neighboring countries. Lebanon is the host country with the largest overall number of Syrian refugees per capita. Adolescent refugee girls experience a unique level of vulnerability during human emergencies and are at increased risk of suffering from poor sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes. We conducted an exploratory qualitative study to learn about the SRH perceptions and experiences of refugee adolescent girls living in Bourj Hammoud, an urban setting in Lebanon. Methods We employed a qualitative design with eight focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted with 40 Syrian Arab and Syrian Kurdish adolescent girls between January and March 2020. Every FGD consisted of five participants aged 13 to 17 years. A semi-structured guide was used covering multiple themes: menstruation, puberty, SRH awareness, and sexual harassment. FGDs were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings The participants discussed adolescent girls’ health and named six elements of good health, such as healthy activities and self-protection. The majority of the FGD participants reported a lack of awareness about menstruation when they experienced it for the first time and the social stigma associated with menstruation. When defining puberty, they indicated its social link to a girl’s readiness for marriage and her need to become cautious about sexual harassment. Most FGD participants had very poor knowledge of the female reproductive system. Mothers were the most approached persons to receive information on SRH issues; however, the girls indicated a wish to receive advice from specialists in a comfortable and private atmosphere. All the girls reported that either they themselves, or an acquaintance, had experienced some type of sexual harassment. The girls rarely reported those incidents due to fear of being blamed or subjected to mobility restrictions, or forced to drop out of school. Conclusions The findings show the refugee girls need for satisfactory knowledge on SRH issues and interventions to prevent sexual and gender-based violence that take into consideration the complexity of urban settings.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina I. Tobias ◽  
Sourav Mukhopadhyay

This article explores the experiences of social exclusion of individuals with visual impairment (IWVI) as they negotiate their daily lives in their homes and societal settings in the Oshana and Oshikoto regions of Namibia. Employing qualitative research approach, this research tried to better understand the lived experiences of IWVI. Nine IWVI with ages ranging from 30 to 90 years were initially engaged in focus group discussions, followed by semi-structured in-depth individual interviews. The findings of this research indicated that IWVI experience exclusion from education, employment and social and community participation as well as relationships. Based on these findings, we suggest more inclusive policies to address social exclusion of IWVI. At the same time, this group of individuals should be empowered to participate in community activities to promote interaction with people without visual impairments.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Oumou Diallo ◽  
Guang Xin Wang ◽  
Hamadoun H. Toure

<p>This study is based on the livelihood used by street children for survival in Bamako, Mali. Two bus stations were selected for this study: Sogoniko bus station and Medina bus station. Most buses leave from these stations to the vicinity of the country. Data was collected through individual interviews (one by one), focus group discussions and interviews. A sample of one hundred and twenty street children aged between 8 and 17 years were selected for this study. Thirty people were also selected to give their opinions on street children. The results indicate that most of street children survive by selling small objects and through begging, 32.5% and 22.50% respectively. Our survey indicates that there are different factors pushing them to the streets, and as a way of survival on the streets, there is need to be organized, hence, they are organize themselves into groups for protection against violence and aggressions.</p>


2021 ◽  
pp. 133-144
Author(s):  
Aubrey Chichonyi Kalungia ◽  
Micheal Chigunta ◽  
James Sichone ◽  
Bugewa Apampa ◽  
Sarah Marshall ◽  
...  

Background: Factors influencing how pharmacy students learn and experience pharmaceutical education have not been elucidated in Zambia. Aim: To elucidate contextual factors affecting academic self-efficacy and learning experiences among undergraduate pharmacy students at a public university in Zambia. Methods: A qualitative study utilising focus group discussions was conducted at the University of Zambia. Thirty-two undergraduate pharmacy students participated in four focus group discussions. Qualitative data were thematically analysed. Results: Four themes and eight sub-themes emerged from the data. Notional time management, learning style, and motivation; educational programme-related factors such as course load, the pace of teaching; the learning environment; and assessment practices affected undergraduate pharmacy students’ self-efficacy and learning experiences. Conclusion: Addressing the student-related, educational programme-related, and the learning environment factors identified in this study will contribute to the improvement of undergraduate pharmacy students’ learning experiences. This is premised to improve their educational outcomes and future practice of pharmaceutical care.


Author(s):  
Fateme Alipour ◽  
Zahra Shahvari

Background: Management-level challenges are among the factors that undermine the individuals' adherence to professional behavior in clinical settings. This study investigated glitches of the management system in clinical settings from the perspective of staff, faculty members, and medical students/residents in hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in 2 parts by exploring the viewpoints of personnel and physicians. In this regard, 8 focus group discussions were performed with 85 faculty members, clinical residents, and interns. Furthermore, 15 focus group discussions were held with 165 staffs. Available sampling method was applied to collect the participants and the data were analyzed using the content analysis method. Results: A total of 22 focus-group discussions were conducted with 250 participants; Participants' age ranged from 24 to 65 years. Participants' education levels varied from diploma to postgraduate for the staff and from medical student to sub-specialist for the physicians. Finally, management-level barriers, which undermine the staffs' ability to adhere to professional behavior in clinical settings were explained with 315 codes, 12 subcategories, and 2 main categories of "macro management issues " and "hospital management issues". Conclusion: Managers are required to consider providing a proper context for enforcing the professional behavior law, selecting middle managers based on their empowerment in performing the professional behaviors, prioritizing the professional behavior in policy making, and promoting the professional behavior in an administrative system consistent with the health system. In selecting the hospital managers, authorities are recommended to consider the managers' professional behavior and power in implementing the professionalism leadership. Moreover, the possibility of conducting professional behavior should be considered in making the policies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Muslimah Muslimah ◽  
Dian Ayubi

Measles and Rubella (MR) is a disease that is highly contagious and usually occurs in children aged 9 months until the age of 15 years. One effort that can be done to reduce the incidence of the disease is through health promotion about the importance of immunization. Purpose the promotion was packaged in the form of advertisements on electronic media with the aim of building perceptions that the importance of immunization for public health. Methods this research was a qualitative study with a method of collecting in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The number of informants in this study was 19 mothers who had children aged 0.9 to 15 years in one of the Puskesmas work areas in Merangin District, Jambi Province. Before the data collection process, all informants were asked to see two MR immunization advertisements. Results that immunization advertisements are interesting and contain humor. Meanwhile, informants who did not give MR immunization to their children tended to be negative towards MR immunization advertisements and tended to ignore the effects that arose if they did not give immunizations to their children. The recommendation that MR immunization advertisements should avoid using the fear arousal method and use the pay off idea method in those ads


2020 ◽  
pp. 1476718X2097131
Author(s):  
Shu-chen Wu

In discussions about how to implement learning through/in/at play, there is still not a commonly agreed view. This qualitative study investigated Chinese teachers’ and parents’ perspectives on learning in play to attain a co-constructed picture of learning in play through real classroom practices and perceptions using the Mosaic approach. Fourteen teachers and six parents took part in this study. Among the participants, six kindergarten teachers were interviewed to obtain their perspectives on learning in play. They assisted the researchers in the selection of exemplary play episodes, which were filmed in their own classrooms. Four three-minute videos containing the largest amount of learning elements based on the teachers’ views were selected for further in-depth focus group discussions. The selected multivocal video-cued interview clips were shown to eight other teachers and six parents in focus groups to elicit their perspectives on learning in play. The co-constructed picture of learning in play that emerged included discipline in the classroom, more difficult and complicated learning matters, more freedom to play, and teachers’ intervention to facilitate children’s learning in play. The findings revealed different social representations of learning in play in the Hong Kong context, the contributions of which are important and useful for professional education practices and curricular policy currently undergoing reform.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-120
Author(s):  
Mulki Mohamed Al-Sharmani

I analyze how Somalis in Helsinki re-interpret religious norms on marriage in light of: 1) the challenges of socioeconomic hardships and marginalization in Finland; and 2) ethical principles in Islamic tradition that underlie religious rulings such as striving against the selfishness of the ‘nafs’ (self) and seeking spiritual advancement. I examine how norms on spousal roles and rights are contested and reinterpreted. I highlight how young women, in particular, foreground the ‘ethical' in their religious understandings of marriage norms. I explore if Veit Bader’s1 concept of ‘internal religious governance’ can analytically explain these processes. I draw on data from individual interviews and focus group discussions with women and men; and interviews with mosque imams and a clan elder.


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