Stakeholder Relations Perspectives in Managing Nigeria’s Rising Crimes

In today’s Nigerian society, crime represents a critical stakeholder. The unprecedented rise in crimes, such as, armed robbery, cultism, kidnapping, terrorism, banditry and cattle rustling has constrained the Nigerian government to introduce several crime fighting approaches. Despite government efforts, especially through State security forces, crimes have assumed a worsening dimension with increasing cases of attacks and abduction of villagers, worshippers, travellers and other settlers around Nigeria. Schools around the country are not spared, as both students and staff of different levels of educational institutions are kidnapped for ransom and sometimes killed by bandits and terrorists. Many Nigerian farmers have also been forced to abandon their farms due to incessant attacks. Not only are lives and property threatened, the Nigerian economy is also distressed by the impacts of insecurity on agriculture and the attendant hike in the prices of essential food commodities. Following the seeming inability of regular government crime fighting approaches to substantially deal with Nigeria’s rising insecurity, this paper examined the application of stakeholder relations perspectives to approach the country’s worsening insecurity. The qualitative paper combined Stakeholder and Relational Dialectics as theoretical cornerstone. It examined the impacts of some crime-yielding challenges, such as, illiteracy, unemployment, poverty, economic inequality and pseudo-social participation on the meteoric rise in crime in Nigeria. The paper recommended the application of dialogue in managing the rising militia activities and crimes. It was also recommended that beyond equipping State security formations, Nigerian government should direct attention to the conditions that breed crimes in the country.

The meaning of misinformation and those who correct it: An extension of relational dialectics theory

What misinformation means and what it means to be someone who corrects it is socially contested, especially in interpersonal contexts where politeness expectations complicate correction. Given this flux in meaning, we analyze posts about misinformation correction in interpersonal contexts from the AmItheAsshole subreddit through a relational dialectics theory (RDT) lens. Findings revealed that discourses of misinformation as harmful and as innocuous and potentially helpful constituted the meaning of misinformation, while discourses of misinformation correctors as inconsiderate and as communal guardians constituted the meaning of misinformation correctors. The latter meaning was dependent on the meaning of misinformation and the adjacent ideology of politeness. Thus, we extend RDT by elucidating how the meaning of a semantic object is predicated on a web of larger intertextual meaning.

Introducing relational dialectics on actor engagement in the social media ecosystem

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth understanding of actor engagement (AE) on social media by proposing a holistic and integrative conceptual framework. Design/methodology/approach Based on a sample of 118 articles, the paper draws on the service-dominant logic (SDL)-based service ecosystem perspective combined with the tenets of relational dialectics as theoretical lenses to inform AE research in social media. Findings The paper proposes a framework of AE in social media called the TASC model, an acronym of Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis-Conflict. TASC introduces the dialectical nature of AE and discusses the contexts and levels of AE in the social media ecosystem and their evolving processes. Practical implications Firms can apply the knowledge provided by TASC to gather marketing intelligence and develop marketing strategies to anticipate tensions, motivate the desired AE intensity and valence and reinforce value co-creation in the social media ecosystem. Originality/value TASC is a comprehensive framework that, for the first time, explains engagement at all levels of the social media ecosystem by combining the SDL-based service ecosystem view with the relational dialectics perspective.

The Tensions of Strategic Communication Decision-Making: An Exploratory Examination of Theory and Practice

The Tensions of Strategic Communication Decision-Making (TSCD) is introduced as an applied theory describing the way decision-makers experience a risk or crisis and prioritize their strategic communication responses to maintain positive relationships with their publics. Relational Dialectics Theory is applied to illustrate how tensions between organizations and publics influence communication decisions. The strategic messages used by the World Health Organization regarding the Zika virus mega-crisis provide a backdrop illustrating how TSCD is enacted. Theoretical and practical implications for decision-making suggest that TSCD contributes to a more robust understanding of how the changing context in a crisis prompts the prioritization of strategic messages.

The Discursive Struggles of the Client–Worker Relationship in the Social Services

This study examines how disability service workers identify the discourses of the client-worker relationships. We studied the clientworker relationship from the perspective of the relational dialectics theory with a focus on relational contradictions and the meanings created within discursive struggles. We analyzed the interview data from 22 social workers using contrapuntal analysis. According to the social workers’ perceptions, two discursive struggles exist in client-worker relationships: i) the struggle of integration, consisting of the contradiction of the ideal and the real and the contradiction of closeness and reservedness and ii) the struggle of certainty, consisting of the contradiction of predictability and novelty and the contradiction of openness and closedness. These struggles and contradictions arranges on the societal and relational frames to fully depict the nature of social work. Overall, our analysis shows that the client-worker relationship is both bound to the norms of a professional and a close interpersonal relationship, making its study particularly interesting.

Transparency dilemma in interpersonal relationships

Humans as social animals move from being strangers to becoming intimate by taking risks of engaging in self-disclosure—from sharing insignificant bits of information to details about their beliefs, opinions, lifestyles, prejudices, and values. Romantic and intimate relationships come about when players peel away their outer layers and allow others to get closer to their core. However, as couples become more familiar, they experience certain tensions known as relational dialectics. These are autonomy versus connection, novelty versus predictability, and openness versus transparency (openness). This paper presents the findings of a survey of the perceptions about these tensions among the Hispanic-America college students (N=108). The subjects rank-order these tensions in terms of their importance, and the level of difficulty in dealing with the tensions.

A child for every family? Characterizations of “adoptable” foster children in online permanency advocacy publications

Despite the prevalence of children in need of adoption from the U.S. foster care system, only one of every 28 individuals who contact an adoption agency adopt from foster care. In response, adoption professionals create photolistings to maximize the pool of available prospective adoptive families and enhance the visibility of fostered youth. Yet, creating photolistings is challenging because professionals must navigate helping to place children without exploiting or misrepresenting them. Framed by relational dialectics theory, a contrapuntal analysis of 104 photolistings examined the discursive tensions of what it means to be an “adoptable” child. Findings revealed three discourses that constitute meaning: (1) discourse of child as unadoptable, (2) discourse of child as special, and (3) discourse of child as typical. The findings illustrate triadic interplay of all three discourses, wherein framing a child as special and/or typical counters culturally pervasive and damaging assumptions that fostered youth might be unadoptable or less adoptable than other children. Theoretical, methodological, and practical applications are discussed.

Relational dialectics: researching change in intercultural families

Purpose This paper aims to adopt a relational dialectics analysis approach to provide qualitative depth and insight into the ways intercultural families manage intercultural tensions around consumption. The authors pay particular attention to how a relational dialectics analysis reveals a relational change in the family providing evidence to demonstrate how a family’s unique relational culture evolves and transitions. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative insights from a relational-dialectic analysis on 15 intercultural families are used to illustrate the interplay of stability with instability in the management of intercultural dialectic tensions within these families. Findings Intercultural dialectical interplay around food consumption tensions are implicit tensions in the household’s relational culture. Examples of dialectical movement indicating relational change are illustrated; this change has developmental consequences for the couples’ relational cultures. Research limitations/implications This study provides qualitative insights on relational dialectics in one intercultural family context and reveals and analyses the dialectical dimensions around consumption in the context of intercultural family relationships. The research approach could be considered in other intercultural and relational contexts. Practical implications Family narratives can be analysed within the context of two meta-dialectics that directly address how personal relationships evolve; indigenous dialectic tensions within a family can also be identified. Originality/value This paper demonstrates the qualitative value of a relational dialectics analysis in revealing how food consumption changes within families are the result of reciprocal or interdependent learning, which has consequences for relational change.