scholarly journals Collective Public Commitment: Young People on the Path to a More Sustainable Lifestyle

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 11349
Author(s):  
Petra Lindemann-Matthies ◽  
Ellinor Hoyer ◽  
Martin Remmele
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Suitable Method ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Sustainable Lifestyle ◽  
Sustainable Lifestyles ◽  
Public Commitment ◽  
The Individual

Society’s development toward more sustainable lifestyles can only succeed if changes are also performed at the individual level. We, therefore investigated whether the participation of teenagers (14–19 years old) in a collective public commitment and accompanying workshop on plastic consumption strengthened their willingness and ability to take action. Previous projects such as the EcoTeam Program served as workshop templates. Over a period of five weeks, the teenagers met once a week for the workshop, an exchange of ideas, and the establishment of weekly goals for their commitment. Semi-structured interviews were carried out to investigate the outcomes directly after the project and three years later. Participants developed a more conscious environmental perception, which led to behavioral changes and the willingness to maintain or improve those changes. Beyond this outcome, most participants functioned as multipliers and ambassadors for a more sustainable lifestyle in their social environment. Even three years after the commitment project, all former participants had maintained their behavioral changes. Collective public commitment could thus be a suitable method for ESD, and a vehicle to support young people on their path to a more sustainable lifestyle.

The Innovators

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Risman
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Gender Expectations ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Gendered Expectations ◽  
Level Of Analysis

This chapter introduces the innovators and provides a portrait of them. The chapter analyzes these innovators at the individual, interactional, and macro level of the gender structure. The chapter begins at the individual level of analysis because these young people emphasize how they challenge gender by rejecting requirements to restrict their personal activities, goals, and personalities to femininity or masculinity. They refuse to live within gender stereotypes. These Millennials do not seem driven by their feminist ideological beliefs, although they do have them. Their worldviews are more taken for granted than central to their stories. Nor are they consistently challenging gender expectations for others, although they often ignore the gender expectations they face themselves. They innovate primarily in their personal lives, although they do reject gendered expectations at the interactional level and hold feminist ideological beliefs about gender equality.

Where the Millennials Will Take Us

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Risman
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Gender Categories ◽  
The Individual ◽  
New Research ◽  
Fourth Wave

In this book Barbara J. Risman uses her gender structure theory to tackle the question about whether today’s young people, Millennials, are pushing forward the gender revolution or backing away from it. In the first part of the book, Risman revises her theoretical argument to differentiate more clearly between culture and material aspects of each level of gender as a social structure. She then uses previous research to explain that today’s young people spend years in a new life stage where they are emerging as adults. The new research presented here offers a typology of how today’s young people wrestle with gender during the years of emerging adulthood. How do they experience gender at the individual level? What are the expectations they face because of their sex? What are their ideological beliefs and organizational constraints based on their gender category? Risman suggests there is great variety within this generation. She identifies four strategies used by young people: true believers in gender difference, innovators who want to push boundaries in feminist directions, straddlers who are simply confused, and rebels who sometimes identify as genderqueer and reject gender categories all together. The final chapter offers a utopian vision that would ease the struggles of all these groups, a fourth wave of feminism that rejects the gender structure itself. Risman envisions a world where the sex ascribed at birth matters has few consequences beyond reproduction.

A qualitative exploration of young people and prison officers’ experiences of empathy within a young offenders’ institution

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Anne Tarrant ◽  
Alison Torn
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Institutional Investment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Relationship Factors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This study aims to explore the ways in which young people and prison staff (Prison Officers) within a youth custodial establishment experience empathy. Previous research tends to view empathy as a stable trait and one which people can develop through individual-centred therapy. There has been little consideration of the impact of relationship factors and context in relation to empathy experience and expression. The current study aims to address this by exploring the role of the custodial context in shaping empathy, including the potential impact of relationships, environmental factors and culture. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach was used to enable breadth and depth in the exploration of this area. Individual, semi-structured interviews were carried out with a purposive sample of three young people and three Prison Officers. Data was analysed using inductive thematic analysis informed by the guidelines of Braun and Clarke (2006) and King and Horrocks (2010). Findings Constructed themes included “constructions of empathy”, “recipe for empathy”, “institutional investment”, “the value of empathy” and “doing empathy”. Together, they provide detailed insight into the interplay of personal and wider contextual factors influencing the experience of empathy in a custodial setting. The findings suggest that the way in which young people and staff experience empathy in the custodial environment is unique. The findings suggest that empathy takes place within the context of relationships and is influenced by the nature of those relationships, along with the wider social context within which it occurs. Practical implications The findings of the current study support a move away from understanding empathy as an individual personality trait and instead viewing it as a dynamic experience that is changeable based upon the relationship and the context within which it occurs. The findings suggest that interventions aiming to develop empathy should look beyond the level of the individual and the relationship and focus upon developing environments that are supportive of empathy. Originality/value This study provides unique insights into the subjective experience of empathy in a custodial setting, presenting as one of the first to take a more holistic approach to understand this phenomenon.

scholarly journals The use of Twitter for innovation in business markets

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 587-601
Author(s):  
Helen Cripps ◽  
Abhay Singh ◽  
Thomas Mejtoft ◽  
Jari Salo
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Peer Interactions ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Business Relationships ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
B2b Marketing ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to investigate the use of Twitter in business as a medium for knowledge sharing and to crowdsource information to support innovation and enhance business relationships in the context of business-to-business (B2B) marketing.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a combination of methodologies for gathering data in 52 face-to-face interviews across five countries and the downloaded posts from each of the interviewees' Twitter accounts. The tweets were analysed using structural topic modelling (STM), and then compared to the interview data. This method enabled triangulation between stated use of Twitter and respondent's actual tweets.FindingsThe research confirmed that individuals used Twitter as a source of information, ideas, promotion and innovation within their industry. Twitter facilitates building relevant business relationships through the exchange of new, expert and high-quality information within like-minded communities in real time, between companies and with their suppliers, customers and also their peers.Research limitations/implicationsAs this study covered five countries, further comparative research on the use of Twitter in the B2B context is called for. Further investigation of the formalisation of social media strategies and return on investment for social media marketing efforts is also warranted.Practical implicationsThis research highlights the business relationship building capacity of Twitter as it enables customer and peer conversations that eventually support the development of product and service innovations. Twitter has the capacity for marketers to inform and engage customers and peers in their networks on wider topics thereby building the brand of the individual users and their companies simultaneously.Originality/valueThis study focuses on interactions at the individual level illustrating that Twitter is used for both customer and peer interactions that can lead to the sourcing of ideas, knowledge and ultimately innovation. The study is novel in its methodological approach of combining structured interviews and text mining that found the topics of the interviewees' tweets aligned with their interview responses.

scholarly journals Achieving radical change

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 428-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noel Hyndman ◽  
Mariannunziata Liguori
Keyword(s):  
Performance Management ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Practice Variation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Incremental Change ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Perceived Outcomes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on strategies and “spoken discourses” used to construct legitimation around change at the individual level. Comparing changes in financial accounting, budgeting and performance management at two government levels (Westminster and Scotland), it explores the use of legitimation strategies in the implementation of accounting change and its perceived outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on semi-structured interviews, six legitimation/delegitimation strategies are used to code the transcribed data. Patterns with the perceived outcomes of change are explored. Findings Changes introduced to enhance “rational” decision making are often received as pushed by some source of authority. Regardless of the interviewees’ background and level, the results suggest that for radical accounting change to embed, it is necessary for it to be perceived as rational, rather than merely driven by authorisation-based pressures. Conversely, incremental change is associated with modest legitimation via rationalisation and delegitimation based on pathos and rationalisation. Research limitations/implications The study deals with actors’ legitimation strategies and perceptions of change. These may not correspond to actual substantial change. Taken-for-granted ideas often remain “under the radar”, therefore care must be taken in interpreting the results. The focus of the empirical study is on the UK, therefore conclusions are restricted to this context. Originality/value Existing studies struggle to explain organisations’ heterogeneity and practice variation; this study sheds light on how individual legitimation, which may lead to different organisational results, occurs. Differences in how actors interpret changes may be based on their position (central vs devolved administration) and on their ownership of the changes.

Rocks in the Stream: An Exploration of Knowledge Flow Inhibitors and Modulators within Organizations

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Kasten
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Knowledge Flow ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual

This study analyzes the flow of knowledge within firms at the individual level. Managers participate in semi-structured interviews. Content analysis identifies factors that obstruct or modulate the flow of knowledge such as knowledge filtering and packaging. These must be understood in order to create more effective knowledge flow within organizations.Cette étude analyse la circulation des connaissances dans les organisations au niveau individuel. Les gestionnaires participent à des entrevues semi-structurées. Une analyse du contenu identifie les facteurs qui entravent ou modulent la circulation des connaissances, comme le filtrage et l’intégration des connaissances. Ces facteurs doivent être compris de manière à créer une circulation des connaissances plus efficace dans les organisations. 

Leadership in Vietnamese state owned enterprises (SOEs)

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Mai Tran ◽  
Wayne Fallon ◽  
Margaret H. Vickers
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Critical Time ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Business Leadership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore multiple stakeholders’ perceptions of leadership in Vietnamese state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents findings from semi-structured interviews that were conducted in Vietnam, with seven different stakeholders who had varying understandings of Vietnamese business leadership within the Vietnamese business context. All interviews were transcribed, then translated into English, and thematic analysis of the interview data undertaken. Findings – The paper suggests that there was a significant variation in Vietnamese leadership perceptions when compared to Western leadership practices, especially when considering the perceptions of those stakeholders with regard to business leadership in the Vietnamese collectivist cultural context. The themes presented include: SOE decision making and responsibility; SOE promotions and appointments; and SOE performance. Research limitations/implications – In the absence of studies of leadership in Vietnamese SOEs, and leadership studies in the Vietnamese culture in general, this research was deliberately exploratory and qualitative. Future mixed methods or quantitative studies are recommended to offer more generalizable conclusions. Practical implications – Implications are discussed that point to leadership changes in Vietnamese organizations, and at the individual level, to assist the Vietnamese government, SOEs, and future leaders. Recommendations are also made that are intended to assist foreign business investors and multinational companies operating in Vietnam, now and in the future, to improve their leadership capacity within this context. Social implications – Vietnam is a country in social and economic transition. Understanding the leadership practices and perceptions, especially how that might differ from leadership in Western nations, is critical for the success of organizations in Vietnam and, in turn, for the economic and social prosperity of the Vietnamese people. Originality/value – The paper contributes perceptions of business leadership in Vietnamese SOEs that have not previously been explored and should be, especially given this critical time of economic and social transition for the Vietnamese nation and economy.

scholarly journals The Influence of Marginalization on Cultural Attitudes and Trash Disposal Practices in Esfuerzo de Paraíso of the Dominican Republic: A Qualitative Interview Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 2872
Author(s):  
Madison Sasman ◽  
Carrie B. Dolan ◽  
Daniel Villegas ◽  
Estelle Eyob ◽  
Catherine Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Major Public Health Problem ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cultural Attitudes ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
The Individual

The inadequate management of municipal solid waste (MSW) in fast-developing nations is a major public health problem. Trash collection is often inconsistent, leaving residents to use unsafe disposal methods such as incineration or unregulated dumping. The issue is especially pronounced in marginalized communities, where public service provision is scarce. Past research has identified factors that perpetuate harmful disposal practices. The current study expanded on previous work by exploring how individuals’ perceptions of political, spatial, and economic marginalization affected their agency with regards to waste management. Researchers focused on a marginalized community in the Dominican Republic known as Esfuerzo de Paraíso. There, they conducted semi-structured interviews to explore residents’ perceptions of marginalization at the individual, interpersonal, community, and institutional levels, and its effects on their agency. A qualitative coding process revealed that most community members were discontent with their trash disposal practices, but that long-standing marginalization left them feeling ill equipped to generate change at the individual level. Interviewees believed that change should be initiated at the community level and implemented with the support of institutional-level actors, namely the municipal government. Residents did not identify any non-governmental organizations as possible sources of help, which may suggest a limited view of institutional support networks.

Local capacity building after crisis

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 214-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wine Tesseur
Keyword(s):  
Capacity Building ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Local Capacity ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Local Capacity Building

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of languages and translation in the context of capacity building in NGOs in Kyrgyzstan. It argues that language barriers can impede local capacity building, while translation can help in overcoming some of the issues encountered. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports on what NGO workers have said on the role of languages and translation in their work in 34 semi-structured interviews conducted in Kyrgyzstan in January 2018. The discussion is structured around a theoretical understanding of capacity building at three levels: the organisational level, the individual level and a broader enabling environment. Findings First, the paper demonstrates that knowledge of English plays a key role in accessing international funding and information. Second, it describes the challenges that NGO workers encounter when translating information related to development into Russian and Kyrgyz. Third, it argues that donors do not overtly consider the important role of languages. Together, the findings suggest that ignoring the role of languages and translation can have a negative effect on project outcomes and power relationships. Practical implications Policy recommendations for international NGOs and donors drawn from this case study and from comparative case studies on Peru and Malawi have been published in Crack et al. (2018). Originality/value The paper argues that taking the role of languages and translation into account can result in a more in-depth understanding of aspects that may contribute to better local capacity building.

scholarly journals Racialised professionals’ experiences of selective incivility in organisations: A multi-level analysis of subtle racism

2020 ◽  
pp. 001872672095772
Author(s):  
Mustafa Bilgehan Ozturk ◽  
Aykut Berber
Keyword(s):  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Dynamic Changes ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Subtle Racism ◽  
Societal Level ◽  
Conditions Of Possibility ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Level Analysis ◽  
Organisational Level

This article explores how racialised professionals experience selective incivility in UK organisations. Analysing 22 in-depth, semi-structured interviews, we provide multi-level findings that relate to individual, organisational and societal phenomena to illuminate the workings of subtle racism. On the individual level, selective incivility appears as articulated through ascriptions of excess and deficit that marginalise racialised professionals; biased actions by white employees who operate as honest liars or strategic coverers; and white defensiveness against selective incivility claims. On the organisational level, organisational whitewashing, management denial and upstream exclusion constitute the key enablers of selective incivility. On the societal level, dynamic changes relating to increasing intolerance outside organisations indirectly yet sharply fuel selective incivility within organisations. Finally, racialised professionals experience intersectional (dis-)advantages at the imbrications of individual, organisation and society levels, shaping within-group variations in experiences of workplace selective incivility. Throughout all three levels of analysis and their interplay, differences in power and privilege inform the conditions of possibility for and the continual reproduction of selective incivility.

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