Linked models and theories: a tool for school nutrition policies deployment

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (4) ◽  
pp. 975-990
Author(s):  
Sima Hamadeh ◽  
Marie Marquis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the pertinence of using an integrated conceptual framework based on several theories and models to guide interviews with adults and youth as a prelude to school nutrition policy (SNP) deployment. Design/methodology/approach Appropriate socio-behavioral and communication theories and models within a social marketing approach were used to build the integrated conceptual framework of this study. The target population consists of 115 multidisciplinary key stakeholders in Lebanon. Directed and semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups were conducted by using questionnaires associated with the variables of the framework. Collected data have been submitted to a thematic qualitative analysis. Findings Combining theories and models increases the potential for understanding the broader determinants of SNP deployment. It is important to choose a holistic theoretical perspective: to study key stakeholders’ perceptions of the facilitators and barriers of SNP development and implementation, to emphasize the active participation of communities and to guide the work of policy and decision makers. Practical implications This research offers perspectives on determinants factors envisaged in the deployment of SNP that help key stakeholders in their promotion and communication practices. Social implications For public policy makers, this research suggests a need to address communities perceptions’ of an eventual SNP deployment. Originality/value The comprehensive integrated conceptual framework proposed in this study amalgamates several variables involved in the process of health promotion under various categories to facilitate SNP deployment.

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Aboramadan

Purpose From one year to another, more researchers join in the ever-growing field of interest of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Nevertheless, the literature on NGOs management is not as rich as what has been developed for private companies and bodies in the business world. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for managing NGOs effectively. Design/methodology/approach Reviewing the literature on NGOs management from different areas, the paper proposes a conceptual framework. Findings The paper provides a conceptual framework on how different management functions are involved in a mutual framework for managing NGOs. Research limitations/implications The author needs to empirically test the suggested framework using qualitative and qualitative techniques. Originality/value The author’s perspective on NGOs management is a subject of great interest for different NGOs stakeholders including: donors, communities, volunteers, managers and policy-makers.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Barney-McNamara ◽  
James Peltier ◽  
Pavan Rao Chennamaneni ◽  
Keith Eric Niedermeier

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a detail review of the social selling literature and to offer future research needs. Social selling has gained the attention of sales researchers. Rather than merely a new tool, social selling redefines the traditional sales process. However, the literature is spread across topics of social media and sales, social customer relationship management, salesforce automation and social selling, and does not provide an agreed-upon definition or tested construct for implementation. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents a comprehensive literature review of social selling and all related terminology. Findings The authors propose a social selling framework that includes personal branding, information exchange, networking and social listening to define and outline the construct while suggesting the antecedents and outcomes to guide future research. Findings from a literature review include outlining key theories used in social selling research. Originality/value This review offers a conceptual framework of social selling, including both antecedents and outcomes, to inform future research and guide academics and practitioners.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (9) ◽  
pp. 2813-2829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Baum ◽  
Shelagh K.K. Mooney ◽  
Richard N.S. Robinson ◽  
David Solnet

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the hospitality workforce in situ between mid-April and June 2020. Design/methodology/approach This is a viewpoint paper that brings together a variety of sources and intelligence relating the impacts on hospitality work of the COVID-19 pandemic at three levels: macro (global, policy, government), meso (organisational) and micro (employee). It questions whether the situations faced by hospitality workers as a result of the pandemic are seed-change different from the precarious lives they normally lead or just a (loud) amplification of the “normal”. Findings In light of the fluid environment relating to COVID-19, conclusions are tentative and question whether hospitality stakeholders, particularly consumers, governments and the industry itself, will emerge from the pandemic with changed attitudes to hospitality work and hospitality workers. Practical implications This raises questions about hospitality work for key stakeholders to address in the future, some of which are systemic in terms of how precarious labour forces, critical to the global economy are to be considered by policy makers, organisations in a re-emerging competitive market for talent and for those who chose (or not) to work in hospitality. Social implications This paper contributes to ongoing debates about precarious work and the extent to which such practices are institutionalised and adopts an “amplification model” that may have value in futures-orientated analysis about hospitality and tourism. Originality/value This paper is wholly original and a reflection on the COVID-19 crisis. It provides a point of wider reference with regard to responses to crises and their impact on employment in hospitality, highlighting how ongoing change, fluidity and uncertainty serve to magnify and exacerbate the precarious nature of work in the industry.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 315-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matuka Chipembele ◽  
Kelvin Joseph Bwalya

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess e-readiness (preparedness) of the Copperbelt University (CBU) with a view to ascertain the likelihood of the university benefiting from various opportunities unlocked by the adoption and use of ICT in advancing its core mandate of teaching, learning and collaborative research. Design/methodology/approach The study used the network readiness model emanating from the socio-technical theory, which underpins the extended technological enactment framework. Further, it employed a positivist approach and adopted a case study method coupled with methodological triangulation at data collection stage. With a 95 per cent confidence level of a possible sample frame of 2,980, the study sampled 353 respondents with a response rate of 81 per cent. Findings The results show that anticipated ICTs users have not leveraged available ICT infrastructure or are unaware of its existence. Further, quantitative constructs: “accessibility to ICTs” and “requisite ICTs skills” has significant impacts on e-readiness indicators and in integration of ICTs in CBU core business activities. Also, the study argues that institutional ICT policy and working environments reshape users’ perception of ICTs for teaching, learning and research. Research limitations/implications The proposed conceptual framework only accounted for 43 per cent variance of the factors determining e-readiness of CBU. Originality/value Investigating CBU’s e-readiness will enable policy-makers to prioritise interventions needed for transforming the university into an e-ready entity favourably placed to benefit from digital opportunities. Also the emanating conceptual framework is important to theory and practice in integrating ICTs universities business value chains especially in contextually similar environments.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 156-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samnan Ali ◽  
M. Amaad Uppal ◽  
Stephen R. Gulliver

Purpose E-learning has gained much focus from educators and researchers, with many extolling e-learning over traditional learning. Despite this focus, implementation of e-learning systems often fails. The purpose of this paper is to consider a range of barriers, impacting the success of e-learning implementations, yet to the best of the authors’ knowledge no conceptual framework is able to consolidate existing research. Design/methodology/approach This paper undertook an in-depth review of literature concerning e-learning implementation barriers. Papers were extracted from established peer-reviewed journals and open sources. Articles not related to e-learning implementation barriers were discarded. A total of 259 papers were identified, published between 1990 and 2016. Hermeneutics and data-driven qualitative content analysis was used to define 68 unique barriers. Findings The 68 unique barriers were thematically grouped into four conceptual categories, i.e. Technology (T), Individual (I), Pedagogy (P), and Enabling Conditions (EC). These four categories led to the conceptualization of “TIPEC” framework, which highlights the key concepts hindering e-learning implementation and delivery. Results show that most articles only consider a narrow range of success barriers. Practical implications The proposed TIPEC framework acts as a guide for education practitioners, system developers, policy makers, and researchers. It provides stakeholders with a summary of e-learning barriers. Originality/value This paper fulfils an identified need for a conceptual framework that consolidates all current research related to e-learning implementation barriers.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rasela Tufue

<p>This is a qualitative study designed to investigate how the concept of inclusive education (IE) is understood and applied at a number of levels in the Samoan education system. It aims to identify barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the IE policy in this context. The study seeks an answer to the question: What are the beliefs, experiences, expectations and practises of key stakeholders of IE? The stakeholders include practising teachers in primary education classrooms, policy-makers in education, parents of children who are physically and intellectually challenged, teacher-trainers, and local community leaders. The study uses a phenomenologically oriented approach to gain insight into participants’ perspectives and experiences about IE and the implementation of this policy in Samoa. It draws upon document analysis, individual interviews, and focus group discussions as methods for data collection. The results indicate a paradox in participants’ beliefs and practices of IE. Participants, particularly the policy implementers (teachers), tend to be inclusive in their thinking and behaviour at home. However, in the classroom, although participants seem to operate from an inclusive mindset, the practice tends to be exclusive and thus grounded in the medical model of disability. Rather than creating inclusive environments, IE appears to have created another type of exclusion. A number of implications for practice are detailed and future research ideas are outlined.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 92-114
Author(s):  
A. A. Muravyeva ◽  
O. N. Oleynikova ◽  
N. M. Aksenova ◽  
E. M. Dorozhkin

Introduction. The article offers an insight into an epistemological perspective of establishing the national qualifications system in Russia that is critical for creating a “market of qualifications in the country that would be adequate to the current context.The aim of the research was to examine the context and factors underpinning the formation and evolution of the structure of knowledge relating to the national qualification system in Russia.Methodology and research methods. The methods applied comprise a mixed-method approach that included: review and analysis of official documents, semi-structured background and individual interviews with key stakeholders (line ministries, experts from industry and qualifications awarding bodies etc.) and desk research.Results and scientific novelty. The performed analysis of documents and of research data has revealed that the process of generating and enhancing knowledge about the national qualifications system semantically and methodologically is in broad terms contingent on the needs and objectives of social and economic development, and in narrower terms – on the development of occupational standards that underpin the standards of vocational and higher education, as well as on the enhanced institutionalisation of employers’ involvement in the training of personnel and in the search of effective mechanisms and instruments of independent assessment of qualifications.It also offers an insight into current key paradigmatic gaps in the NQF-related epistemology in Russia that account for the specificity of the observed state of play and for the key conceptual epistemological contradiction that has been identified by the authors as the opposition of and conflict between occupational and education qualifications. The authors propose ways out of the situation based on international practices in this area starting from aligning the terminology and conceptual approaches with international ones. The performed epistemological research and the conclusions made by the authors contribute to the national qualifications system discourse. It is stressed that core principles underpinning the development of the national qualifications system should be adapted to the social and economic and local factors.Practical significance. The material of the article can be used by policy-makers dealing with the NQS development and implementation of the NQS.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Kalina ◽  
Dianne Scott

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the author’s research experiences in northern Mozambique in order explore the multiplicity of gatekeeper relations that arose while seeking to arrange access to both “the field” and respondents, as well as the impacts that these relationships had on the research process. Although this dynamic has been thoroughly described within methodological literature, there exists a tendency to presume research–gatekeeper relations as static; once established, there is little discussion on how the relationships develop or can be managed, once access has (or has not) been achieved. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws upon qualitative fieldwork conducted predominantly in rural communities in northern Mozambique. The study analysed the development of the Nacala Development Corridor programme and the N13 Highway Rehabilitation Project in northern Mozambique in order to examine the impacts of the development on local citizens and examine the relationship between citizen and state within development processes. Fieldwork consisted of three different phases of semi-structured and open-ended interviews with key stakeholders and affected persons, spanning five different interview schedules, and a total of 77 individual interviews and 27 community focus groups conducted along the N13. Findings The study found that duality of Mozambican governance which includes both local officials and traditional leadership contributed to a multiplicity of local gatekeepers which impacted the research process in a multitude of ways. As a result, researcher–gatekeeper relations were not static, but had to be managed throughout the duration of the study. Originality/value This discussion provides a more dynamic representation of the challenges involved with establishing and managing gatekeeper relations in rural, developing, and in particular, southern African, contexts, while offering cautious practical advice to researchers working within rural or southern African contexts.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 786-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aarti Singh ◽  
Sushil

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework of waste management by using total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) technique in the Indian organizational context. Design/methodology/approach TISM technique has been used to develop a conceptual framework of waste management in the organizational context, where the waste management factors have been identified and verified through content analysis. Findings The conceptual framework of waste management in the organization has been developed using TISM that contributes to the development of important links and the hierarchical relationships among the factors. In addition to it, the model also figures out the driving and dependent factors of waste management. Research limitations/implications This study has its implication for both organizations and policy makers. It provides the important factors for managing waste in the organization which must be considered before planning the waste management practice in an organization. For policy makers, it highlights the waste management paths and important linkages required for the development of waste management policies in the organizations. Originality/value This study has made its contribution by providing the conceptual framework for waste management in the Indian organizational context which has been developed through qualitative modeling technique. The conceptual framework also provides important paths of managing waste in the organization which is a new effort in the Indian organizational context.


2015 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 172-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie-Lee D. McIsaac ◽  
Cindy L. Shearer ◽  
Paul J. Veugelers ◽  
Sara F.L. Kirk

Many Canadian school jurisdictions have developed nutrition policies to promote health and improve the nutritional status of children, but research is needed to clarify adherence, guide practice-related decisions, and move policy action forward. The purpose of this research was to evaluate policy adherence with a review of online lunch menus of elementary schools in Nova Scotia (NS) while also providing transferable evidence for other jurisdictions. School menus in NS were scanned and a list of commonly offered items were categorized, according to minimum, moderate, or maximum nutrition categories in the NS policy. The results of the menu review showed variability in policy adherence that depended on food preparation practices by schools. Although further research is needed to clarify preparation practices, the previously reported challenges of healthy food preparations (e.g., cost, social norms) suggest that many schools in NS are likely not able to use these healthy preparations, signifying potential noncompliance to the policy. Leadership and partnerships are needed among researchers, policy makers, and nutrition practitioners to address the complexity of issues related to food marketing and social norms that influence school food environments to inspire a culture where healthy and nutritious food is available and accessible to children.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document