scholarly journals No inventor is an island: Social connectedness and the geography of knowledge flows in the US

2022 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 104416
Author(s):  
Andreas Diemer ◽  
Tanner Regan
Author(s):  

Background: Caregiver burden has negative effects on mental and physical health along with quality of life. Meanwhile, social and physical distancing protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic have created additional impacts on informal caregiving in a rapidly changing environment. Early research over the past year suggests that the pandemic has caused increased caregiver burden as well as caregiving intensity among these individuals. Purpose: Our primary purpose in this informational literature review is to describe the impacts of the pandemic on informal caregiver burden and the sudden shift in roles and responsibilities as a result of pandemic-related changes in caregiving. This review will describe emerging effects on various aspects of health among informal caregivers and explore the growing need to support unpaid caregiving during this time. Methods: A streamlined search was conducted to fit the scope of this review, with key terms determined to identify relevant publications. Common research databases and up-to-date mainstream resources were utilized. Notably, we focused on research published or released since March 2020, primarily rapidly reviewed studies, to align with the timing of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Results: Early research suggests that the pandemic has worsened caregiver burden and increased caregiving intensity and hours of care among unpaid, informal family caregivers. Reported health impacts include higher stress, pain, and depression, along with decreased social connectedness and quality of life. Notably, however, COVID-related research generally does not focus on the positive aspects of caregiving, such as its role as a source of purpose in life, creating an opportunity to explore ways to boost certain valuable personal resources among caregivers. Conclusions: Informal family caregivers face their own negative health outcomes and distress as a result of greater caregiver burden, intensity, and the changing landscape of caregiving during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Immediate policy and support recommendations should be considered to alleviate informal caregiver burden and provide ongoing resources over the longer term. In addition, future work should explore the potential of boosting positive resources such as resilience and purpose to ease caregiver burden.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Alexander Yudkin

For millennia, humans have sought out experiences that dissolve, transcend, or change their sense of self. Such experiences are frequently associated with participation in mass gatherings such as festivals or pilgrimages, and are thought to be epistemically and personally transformative. By weakening the boundary between the self and others, such transformative experiences may lead to enduring changes in moral orientation, such as increased generosity and an expanded circle of moral regard (“moral expansion”). Here we investigated the nature of transformative experiences and their prosocial correlates at multi-day mass gatherings by studying participants before (n = 600), during (n = 1,217), 0-4 weeks after (n = 1,866), and 6 months after (n = 710) they attended a variety of secular, multi-day mass gatherings in the US and UK. Transformative experiences at mass gatherings were self-reported as common, increased over time, and characterized by increased feelings of social connectedness. We observed high levels of generosity at mass gatherings, but generosity onsite was unrelated to transformative experience and did not increase over time. Meanwhile, participants’ moral circle expanded with every passing day spent at mass gatherings, an effect mediated by transformative experience and social connectedness. Immediately and six months following event attendance, self-reported transformative experience persisted and predicted both generosity and moral expansion. The nature of transformative experience and its prosocial correlates did not depend on whether event norms were communal or market-based. These findings characterize the psychological nature of transformative experience at secular mass gatherings and highlight how these experiences may be associated with lasting changes in moral orientation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-155
Author(s):  
Feng Zhang

Purpose With considerable attention paid to the motives and process of idiosyncratic internationalization trajectory of multinationals from emerging economies (EMNCs), little is known on whether, and if so how, new competitive advantages of EMNCs are created and accumulated over time. MNC and EMNC literature agrees on the importance of external and internal knowledge linkages in technological competence creation. By building upon this framework, this paper aims to evaluate EMNCs’ external and internal knowledge flow patterns by benchmarking their counterparts from mature industrialized countries (MMNCs). Design/methodology/approach This study analyzes US patents granted between 2000 and 2014 to leading innovation-oriented EMNCs from China and India, and their matched MMNCs. Being the first to use the US patent and citation data in studying leading innovation-oriented EMNCs, the authors use a descriptive statistical method. Findings The findings offer empirical insights of the scale, scope and quality of EMNC technological competence creation. Moreover, in contrast to existing EMNC literature, it is found that EMNC parents have been the most important center of EMNC technological knowledge generation. The matched group comparisons of external and internal knowledge flows further reveal detailed similarities and differences of competence creation between EMNCs and MMNCs, and among EMNCs. Originality/value This study represents one of the first attempts to investigate the post-internationalization technological competence creation of EMNCs by using a novel data source. This study sets the foundation to deepen the understanding of EMNC technological competence creation. The findings suggest interesting propositions and offer important implications for future researches.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 238-238
Author(s):  
Jonix Owino ◽  
Heather Fuller

Abstract Refugees flee their home countries, migrating to countries such as the US for safety. The psychological distress they experience may compromise their adaptation and well-being. However, little is known about quality of life among aging refugees who migrate to the US as adults, and in particular whether quality of life varies among refugees by sociodemographic factors such as age, sex, country of origin, and length of residence. Moreover, limited research exists examining the role of social connectedness for aging refugees’s quality of life. The current study explores sociodemographic and social connection factors associated with quality of life among aging refugees (N = 108; aged 50+). Refugees from Bhutan, Burundi, and Somalia were recruited from a Midwestern small city to complete an in-depth survey assessing social factors and well-being. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that females, older individuals, and African refugees reported lower quality of life, while length of residence was not associated with quality of life. When controlling for sociodemographic factors, greater social integration and lower loneliness were significantly associated with higher quality of life. There was also a significant interaction between loneliness and sex in predicting quality of life, indicating that greater loneliness was associated with reduced quality of life for women but not men. Study findings will be discussed in light of cultural variations within refugee groups and with the goal of highlighting ways to best support aging refugees’ well-being and develop social programs that can effectively cater to issues of aging among refugees.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Desmond Ng ◽  
Leonardo F. Sanchez-Aragon

Purpose The purpose of this study is to theoretically and empirically advance a concept of competitive antecedents to absorptive capacity (AC) research and to explain their relationship to a firm’s innovative performance. A firm’s competitive antecedents involve a relative advantage in a firm’s ability to access external knowledge – (i.e. relative advantage in external knowledge flows) – and a relative advantage in appropriating these external knowledge flows (i.e. relative advantage in appropriability regime). Design/methodology/approach By drawing on network and market share explanations, hypotheses were developed in which a firm’s AC is argued to mediate the influence of these competitive antecedents on a firm’s innovations. In using linear and negative binomial estimation methods, a mediation analysis of the US biotechnology industry was conducted. Findings A firm’s competitive antecedents have a positive influence on a firm’s AC and that these influences indirectly impact a biotechnology firm’s product innovations. Originality/value While a firm’s innovation is widely attributed to its AC, this study’s concept of competitive antecedents shows that a firm’s competitive advantage lies upstream from its AC.


2004 ◽  
Vol 01 (02) ◽  
pp. 165-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROMANO DYERSON ◽  
ALAN PILKINGTON

Here we explore the role of possible disruptive technologies in the US automobile sector and the reaction of established firms to that threat. More specifically, US regulators have signalled a shift towards zero emission vehicles; threatening the hegemony of the high emission car built using conventional technology. This presents an opportunity to study the effect of regulation in shaping knowledge flows, an area somewhat neglected by innovation studies especially with regard to meeting environmental concerns. To do so, we use patent citations to explore knowledge flows in the development of the electric vehicle. Our analysis suggests that the strategic responses of the US incumbent firms have displayed a sophisticated short and long-term reaction.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 566-566
Author(s):  
Laura Samuel ◽  
Anthony Ong

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic likely altered many aspects of daily life for older adults, including social connectedness, technology use, financial resources and hopefulness. This symposium examines these exposures and changes during the COVID-19 pandemic and tests their associations with health and related factors. Analyses are all conducted among a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults aged ≥65 years who participated in the NHATS COVID-19 supplement, which was a mail-in survey with participant and proxy respondents conducted between June and October of 2020. Additional NHATS participant data collected between 2011 and 2019 was used to account for individual characteristics before COVID-19, including demographic, socioeconomic and relevant health characteristics. Sampling weights were applied to analyses to account for study design and non-response so that inferences can be drawn to the US population of adults aged ≥65 years. This symposium will present results from five COVID-19 pandemic focused studies that examine the associations between 1) financial changes and health, 2) loneliness and behavioral changes, 3) hopefulness with function, sleep and loneliness, 4) technology use and mental health, and 5) predictors of technology use. These results offer insights into the mechanisms that influence health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results have clinical, policy and public health implications because they can inform the development of interventions, programs and policies with potential to improve health and health care and advance health equity for older adults.


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