Overcoming the liability of distance? An exploratory study of the associations between social networks, sense of community and spatial colocation

Purpose This study aims to examine the associations of social networks with the sense of community (SOC) construct and spatial colocation or having an office. The study site was an institute for health-care policy research formed in 2011 by bringing together scientists from more than 20 different university units. Only 30% of the scientists were had an office or physical presence at the institute. Therefore, the institute was an ideal site to examine whether SOC was correlated with different dimensions of network position – connectedness, reachability and brokerage – even when the authors account for the lack of spatial colocation for the off-site scientists. Design/methodology/approach A two-part (sociometric and workplace) internet survey instrument was administered in 2014 to the institute’s population of 411 individuals. The sociometric data were used to create an undirected interaction network and the following dependent variables (DVs) or network centralities: normalized degree to measure connectedness; average reciprocal distance to capture reachability; and normalized betweenness to proxy brokerage. Separate node-level network regressions were then run with random permutations (N = 10,000) and listwise deletion for each of the DVs with SOC and spatial colocation as the independent variables, and variables that controlled for gender, organizational affiliation and job category. Findings SOC and spatial colocation are both positively and significantly correlated with network connectedness and reachability. The results suggest that both SOC and spatial colocation have a larger impact on reachability than connectedness. However, neither SOC nor spatial colocation are significantly associated with network brokerage. Finally, the findings show that SOC and spatial colocation are more reliable predictors of network connectedness and reachability than are key individual- and unit-level control variables, specifically the individual’s sex, job category and organizational affiliation. The controls were not significantly associated with any of the three network centralities, namely, connectedness, reachability and brokerage. Originality/value This exploratory study used social network analysis and node-level network regressions to examine the associations from SOC and spatial colocation to dimensions of network position. SOC is positively and significantly associated with network connectedness and reachability, suggesting that SOC is an important consideration when individuals are disadvantaged from the absence of spatial colocation. The findings have implications for work in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic as they imply that interventions based on the SOC construct could potentially lessen the negative effects of remote work on workplace social networks due to factors such as the reduction of social contacts.

Attitudinal Barriers Hindering Adoption of Telepsychiatry among Mental Healthcare Professionals: Israel as a Case-Study

Despite proven advantages for the use of telemedicine in psychiatry, mental healthcare professionals have shown deep-seated mistrust and suspicion of telepsychiatry, which hinders its widespread application. The current study examines the attitudes of Israeli mental health professionals towards telepsychiatry and seeks to uncover the effects of experience and organizational affiliation on its adoption. The methodology included qualitative and thematic analysis of 27 in-depth interviews with Israeli mental health professionals, focusing on three major themes—clinical quality, economic efficiency, and the effects on the work–life balance of healthcare professionals. The attitudes of mental health professionals were found to be widely divergent and sharply dichotomized regarding different aspects of telepsychiatry and its suitability for mental healthcare services. However, there was a general consensus that telemedicine may not fulfil its promise of being a panacea to the problems of modern public medicine. In addition, attitudes were related to hierarchical position, organizational affiliation, and personal experience with telepsychiatry. Specifically, organizational affiliation influenced experience with and support for the assimilation of telepsychiatry. The study also revealed the role of organizational leadership and culture in promoting or inhibiting the proliferation and adoption of innovative technologies and services in modern medicine.

Attitudinal barriers hindering adoption of Telepsychiatry among mental healthcare professionals: Israel as a case-study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Despite obvious and proven advantages for the use of telemedicine in psychiatry, mental healthcare professionals have shown deep-seated mistrust and suspicion of telepsychiatry, which hinders its widespread application. OBJECTIVE The current study aims to examine the attitudes of Israeli mental health professionals towards telepsychiatry; seeking to uncover the relationship with experience with telepsychiatry, and organizational affiliation. METHODS A qualitative study, including 27 in-depth interviews with Israeli mental-health professionals, representing a diverse analytical, geographical, and gendered cross-section of the local professional community. A thematic analysis revealed three major themes – economic efficiency, clinical quality, and the effects on the work-life balance of healthcare professionals. Individuals’ responses were furthermore compared against hierarchical position, organizational affiliation, and experience with telepsychiatry. RESULTS Participants were evenly divided, between supporters of telepsychiatry and those who oppose and object to its widespread usage in routine mental healthcare. This division manifested itself most clearly in their assessment of the clinical quality of telepsychiatry. However, it was also palpable in their assessment of its efficiency and its effects for healthcare professionals. Furthermore, the study also revealed a positive correlation between participants’ experience with telepsychiatry, and their support for its usage. However, this relationship seems to be mitigated by one’s employment and organizational affiliations. Employees of at least one Israeli Health Maintenance Organization exhibited a negative trendline, where more experience with telepsychiatry also meant stronger opposition for its utilization. CONCLUSIONS Attitudes of mental health professionals were found to be widely divergent and sharply dichotomized regarding different aspects of telepsychiatry, and its suitability for mental healthcare services. However, there was general consensus that telemedicine may not fulfil its promise of being a panacea to the problems of modern public medicine. At the same time, attitudes were related to hierarchical position, organizational affiliation and personal experience with telepsychiatry. Specifically, organizational affiliation influenced experience with and support for assimilation of telepsychiatry. The study also revealed the role of organizational leadership and culture in promoting or inhibiting the proliferation and adoption of innovative technologies and services in modern medicine.

Academic Freedom and its impact on Organizational Affiliation: An applied study on faculty members at the College of Fine Arts - University of Babylon: الحرية الأكاديمية وأثرها على الانتماء التنظيمي دراسة تطبيقية على أعضاء الهيئة التدريسية في كلية الفنون الجميلة – جامعة بابل

Academic freedom is an important and irreplaceable necessity by the faculty member and it is his right to practice his various activities and express his views, ideas and philosophy without any external pressure exerted on him, and the current research aimed to measure academic freedom in its fields (participation in decision-making, scientific research, teaching Community Service) and its impact on the organizational affiliation of faculty members at the University of Babylon / College of Fine Arts in the Republic of Iraq, the study tool was a survey list consisting of (32) questions, the group was (98), the results reached to That the level of both academic freedom and organizational affiliation was (average), And that there is a statistically significant relationship between academic freedom and organizational affiliation at a level of significance (0.05), and one of the most important recommendations is the need to pay attention to academic freedom by the university presidency and provide financial support to faculty members to conduct their scientific research.

“A Question of Integrity”: Academic Values Torn Between Organizational Affiliation, National Competitiveness and the Global Academic Community

Values of higher education, as supported by the IAU, are grounded in the belief-systems and behaviour of the individual researchers/teachers and the academic community more generally. Although these values are influenced from the outside by educational policies and economic considerations, and although they also encompass societal views on science (e.g. trust in science), it is academia itself that has to uphold, and sometimes defend, the inner principles of higher education.

The Structuration of Identification on Organizational Members’ Social Media

The structurational model of identification is applied to test structures that may lead to sharing organizational membership on social media and increased organizational identification. We propose and test how antecedents (e.g., social media use, organizational prestige) relate to acts of identification on social media and promote organizational identification. United States working adults ( N = 303) responded to an online survey about hypothesized motivational structures, online disclosures of organizational affiliation, and organizational identification. Results show three specific structures significantly predicted one’s willingness to share her or his organizational affiliation across social media: personae overlap, social media use, and organizational prestige. Commitment and turnover intentions were, surprisingly, not direct predictors of organizational affiliation disclosure. Implications for individuals, organizations, and both organizational and computer-mediated theory are presented.

Contribution of the Teaching Staff of the College of Education at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University in the Educational Decision Making and its Association with the Organizational Affiliation from their Viewpoint: مشاركة أعضاء هيئة التدريس بكلية التربية جامعة الإمام محمد بن سعود الإسلامية في صنع القرار وعلاقته بالانتماء التنظيمي من وجهة نظرهم

The study aimed to know the reality of participation of the teaching staff of the College of Education at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University in the educational decision making from their viewpoint and its association with the organizational affiliation among them. For fulfilling the study objectives, the research used the descriptive survey method, and the study tool was by applying questionnaires for 157 participants members from the teaching staff of the College of Education at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. Main findings: overall tool of degree of contribution in decision making and its association with organizational affiliation according to responses of the teaching staff of the College of Education at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University gained total average of (3.95/5) and at the both fields level. Also, the field of contribution of teaching staff member in decision making gained an average of (4.02/5), while the field of organizational affiliation gained an average of (3.88) and both gained a nearly high level. There’s a statistically significant correlation found between degree of contribution of the teaching staff of the College of Education at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University in decision making and organization affiliation (P value= 0.39) which is a moderate positive correlation, in which whenever the contribution in decision making increases, the organizational affiliation increases. According to these results, a set of recommendations and suggestions are given for increasing the level of contribution and improving the organizational affiliation at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University particularly and the Saudi Arabian and Arabic Universities generally.

Organizational affiliation, age and training experience of people who train karate Kyokushin and the rank of the most important professional activities of the coach

Introduction: The aim of this study was to collect and analyse the opinions of people who train karate Kyokushin regarding the importance (hierarchy) of individual professional activities of the coaches. Material and methods: The research involved 54 practitioners from 25 karate Kyokushin sports clubs in Poland. Respondents were aged 35.0 ±12.0 years, and their training experience was 15.9 ±8.7 years. All respondents had a technical level of at least 1 dan. Survey method was used, and the questionnaire developed by Tumanian and modified by Januszewski and Sterkowicz was applied. Results: The most important professional activities of a karate Kyokushin coaches reported include three types of management: managing physical, technical and tactical preparation of athletes. Regardless of organizational and age divisions, opinions regarding the importance of particular professional activities of coaches were convergent (rsp = 0.79 −0.92, p <0.001). Conclusions: Structure professional activities deemed most important, allows classified karate Kyokushin as more of a sport than a martial art of self-defense.