scholarly journals Information Sharing and Decision-Making: Attempts by Ghanaian Return Migrants to Enter through Libya

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 226-234
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Koomson-Yalley

This article examines the relationship between irregular migration, access to information and migration decisions. Using semi-structured interviews of thirty irregular return migrants who failed to reach their European destinations through Libya, I show that irregular return migrants from Ghana rely predominantly on interpersonal sources, including colleagues, neighbors, friends and relatives, for information on migration. Return migrants seek information from those who have relevant experience with that kind of migration. Existing research focuses on information from ‘formal’ sources such as traditional print media, social media, library or workshops. Here I argue that this focus on access to information conceals the activities and practices of irregular return migrants who perceive European destinations as ‘greener pastures’ and seek information to travel through dangerous routes. Most irregular return migrants interviewed in this study indicated they had access to information from ‘informal’ sources often shared as ‘jokes.’ Although irregular return migrants perceive the information they gather through their everyday activities as reliable, their interactions involve complex and unstructured social processes.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6581
Author(s):  
Jooyoung Hwang ◽  
Anita Eves ◽  
Jason L. Stienmetz

Travellers have high standards and regard restaurants as important travel attributes. In the tourism and hospitality industry, the use of developed tools (e.g., smartphones and location-based tablets) has been popularised as a way for travellers to easily search for information and to book venues. Qualitative research using semi-structured interviews based on the face-to-face approach was adopted for this study to examine how consumers’ restaurant selection processes are performed with the utilisation of social media on smartphones. Then, thematic analysis was adopted. The findings of this research show that the adoption of social media on smartphones is positively related with consumers’ gratification. More specifically, when consumers regard that process, content and social gratification are satisfied, their intention to adopt social media is fulfilled. It is suggested by this study that consumers’ restaurant decision-making process needs to be understood, as each stage of the decision-making process is not independent; all the stages of the restaurant selection process are organically connected and influence one another.


Author(s):  
Aysha Agbarya ◽  
Nicholas John

This study investigates the interface between increased religiousity among Muslim Arab women in Israel, and their social media use. To understand their use of social media as part of a profound change in social identity, fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with Muslim women aged 19-26 who are, or have been, social media users, who live in Israel, and who have become significantly more religious than they had previously been. The findings show two different logics of social media use in times of religious identity change. The first includes reconstructing social media ties to be an alternative, supportive environment, while the second relates to decision making based on the religious rules newly adopted by respondents. Two main social practices were related to the second kind of social media use: managing (and often removing) ties with male users, which raised profound personal dilemmas, and removing digital traces by deleting past posts and photos. Such decisions were made to obey religious rules rather than to gratify personal needs. Social media accompany and assist in the identity change, starting from its very beginnings, and throughout the process. While previous research shows that SNS tie management is an essential part of our identity, our findings show the religious identity of women to be a distinct case where religious rules guide behaviour and decision making. The very fact that these acts and dilemmas are visible to us is a result of paying special attention to identities in flux.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-309
Author(s):  
Joyce Cheah Lynn-Sze ◽  
◽  
Azlina Kamaruddin ◽  

Health opinion leaders have widely embraced social media for health promotion and public health communication which can make a strong influence on the public decision making. However, despite the growing relevance of public health threats such as infectious diseases, pandemic influenza and natural disasters, research has paid little attention to the qualities of opinion leaders. Moreover, there is limited evidence that public health organisations use social media appropriately to engage in meaningful conversations with audiences. Thus, the aims of the study are to describe principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders to promote health issues, to discuss the strategies of social media used, to explain the opinion leaders’ influence attributes in health decision making and finally to develop a model of online opinion leader in the contemporary health promotion era. Content analysis was conducted on Facebook postings of five selected health opinion leaders. In addition, semi-structured interviews with 10 followers were conducted. The findings of the study revealed that there are three principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders, which are language, interaction and themes. There are three strategies opinion leaders use to influence the public: social connectivity, social support and social consultation. Furthermore, there are five opinion leaders’ attributes that influence the public’s decision making, namely personality, authenticity, trust/credibility, professional knowledge and social position. The model would be beneficial in educating and guiding the current public health opinion leaders in order to establish health and social well-being. Keywords: Online opinion leader, online health communication, public health, two-step flow theory, decision making.


2021 ◽  
pp. 264-277
Author(s):  
Roy David Samuel

Over the last decade, the athlete’s career transition literature has shifted from a deterministic (or linear) to a probabilistic (nonlinear) perspective. Athletes’ careers can be perceived as a roller coaster ride, shaped by transitions (i.e., normative, nonnormative, quasi-normative, dual career, cultural, crisis), a change-event, appraisals, decision-making, coping, and environmental influences. Athletes can enjoy a fruitful and meaningful career as long as they positively adapt to the various transitional periods and changes encountered, potentially creating multiple career pathways. Furthermore, research has expanded to additional sport performers, including coaches and referees. Finally, the lives of sport performers have tremendously changed in the past decade as a result of the globalization process, social media, and migration, requiring career researchers to modify existing conceptualizations. This chapter, therefore, provides a critical examination of the recent developments in the career transition and change literature, mainly focusing on critical questions to be asked and a prospective view of this field.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Umar Altahtooh ◽  
Thamir Alaskar

Despite the importance of milestone as a key knowledge in project management, there has been lack of research to understand the relationship between milestones and decision-making. This paper presents a pragmatic research context that aims understanding the nature of milestones and their relationship with different decision-making structures and responsibilities across projects. Data were collected through 14 semi-structured interviews with project managers and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings explore the concepts of project milestones among project managers in Saudi Arabia. The paper finds that there is a relationship between milestones and the impact on decision-making.


1992 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Hanson Frieze ◽  
Maureen C. McHugh

How important is the use of physical violence in determining the balance of power within marriage? Do women in violent marriages make more use of indirect strategies in attempting to persuade their husbands than do women in nonviolent marriages? Is marital satisfaction related to influence styles? These questions are investigated by looking at decision making in couples and how this is related to the forms of influence strategies used by wives and husbands in violent and nonviolent marriages. Data from in-depth structured interviews with 137 self-identified battered wives and 137 comparison wives, some of whom were also found to have experienced violence from their husbands, are used to answer these questions. Results indicated that women with violent husbands used more influence strategies overall, although these women had less overall power in terms of decision making than did women with nonviolent husbands. The relationship of influence strategies to decision making was different for women with violent husbands than for those whose husbands were not violent. As expected, the use of coercive strategies related negatively to marital happiness, whereas positive strategies were positively predictive. Violence and other negative strategies should be included in future research on influence strategies in close relationships, and a positive–negative dimension should be included as a way of categorizing influence strategies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Farid Shamsudin ◽  
Aeshah Mohd Ali ◽  
Rosni Ab Wahid ◽  
Zulkifli Saidun

Purpose:  This study conducted to classify factors of fixed Higher Education Institution (HEI) characteristics influenced students' decision making to enroll at private HEI and social media application as an external factor exclusively in Malaysia phenomena. The main focus of this research was to determine the relationship between independent variables (academic programs, tuition fees, location, institution rankings, institution facilities, employment opportunities, social media application) influence dependent variable (decision making); and to determine the major factor that influence students' decision making to enroll at private HEI. Methodology: The underpinning theory applied in this study was Theory Reason Action (TRA) for social media application, while Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) applied for academic programs, tuition fees, location, institution rankings, institution facilities, and employment opportunities. Five hundred (500) questionnaires distributed at selected private HEI around Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Respondent was an undergraduate student semester one the year 2018 only. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 24. Results: Findings indicated result for direct effect revealed decision making were significant in the relationship between tuition fees, location, institution ranking, institution facilities, employment opportunities, and social media application thus hypothesis H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, and H7 accepted. Implications: Therefore, the only academic program was insignificant with decision making thus hypothesis H1 rejected. While the major factor that influences students' decision making to enroll at Private HEI in rank number one was employment opportunities H6 (β = .301; p = .000 < .05). Thus, Results of direct effects indicated there is a relationship between employment opportunities and students’ decision making to enroll at private HEI.


2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (7) ◽  
pp. 1118-1133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vusilizwe Thebe

Studies on migrant-labour systems have focused on the negatives, particularly on women left behind as guardians of men’s interests, but with no real control. My extended research on former migrant-labour societies in north-western Zimbabwe has challenged this ‘doomsday’ narrative. It did not only reveal the feminisation of household and societal decisions, but also how the migration of men has liberated women and allowed them to play crucial roles within the household and society systems. My study thus illuminates differences between rural societies and cautions against the risks of over-generalisation when looking at the relationship between women and migration. It stresses the importance of migration on development, and the empowerment potential on women who take up prominent positions in the household and in society decision-making structures.


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