Sustainable Socio-Intercultural Development

This chapter has the objective to explain and analyze the issues, problems, concerns, and tendencies related to the sustainable socio-intercultural development. The analysis departs from the assumption that the nature of a sustainable socio-intercultural development system should be based on the common socio-cultural values and public understanding to strengthen the sustaining practices of governance. The method employed is the reflective approach based on an analytical review of the theoretical literature and empirically derived current practices in communities, governments, and organizations. The analysis concludes that the implementation of a sustainable socio-intercultural socioeconomic and environmental development needs to be supported by a well-designed institutional governance. To achieve this, a commitment on the practice of effective community economic growth and socio-environmental sustainable development is required.

Governance, Real Output and Foreign Direct Investment in Asia: A Panel Data Analysis

This study intends to analyze the impact of governance (such as political, economic and institutional governance) on real output (GDP) and foreign direct investment (FDI) in 26 Asian countries during 1996 – 2019. Results of panel ARDL show the positive impact of capital, labor and trade openness on GDP and FDI. Institutional governance affects GDP and as well as FDI negatively and validates the notion that corruption greases the wheel of growth but when institutional governance is used with other indicators of governance in the model, it affects the FDI positively. Other dimensions of governance such as political and economic governance have a positive and significant impact on GDP and FDI in all model specifications. The results of the panel causality test that there is bi-directional causality from governance to GDP but evidence of bi-directional causality among governance indicators have also been found. The study emphasized on the policy making to improve the level of governance in Asian countries.

The transformative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global higher education systems

The article deals with the long-term implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for higher educational institutions in different countries. The lack of information and verified data relative to the impact of the pandemic on changes in the education systems in different countries, the topic is still poorly learned, and therefore, it is difficult to predict what transformation processes will occur in the near future. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed many challenges for higher education in terms of teaching, learning, research collaboration and institutional governance. At the same time, the pandemic has provided an excellent opportunity for various stakeholders to rethink and even reschedule higher education process with an effective risk management plan for future resilience. The crisis made it possible to reconsider the role of informational and communicational technologies (ICT) and analyze the effectiveness of online learning in higher education. The article attempts to systematize the information available in open sources and assess the impact of the pandemic on such aspects of higher education as problems connected with technical facilities provision, accessibility for different social groups, digitalization and international academic mobility. Methods of systemic and comparative analysis based on international research and online surveys were used. Recommendations are proposed for studying the impact of global politics and geopolitical factors on the future of international higher education.

Synergy and Correlation Optimization Analysis of Innovation System and Institutional Governance System from the Perspective of Cluster Ecosystem

Innovation and institutional governance are the key enabling factors of cluster ecosystem development. Its synergistic effects play an important role in enhancing ecosystem competitiveness. In this paper, pseudocode language is applied to cluster ecosystem cooperative model reasoning. The coordination and optimization of the innovation system and institutional governance system were studied in a biomedical cluster. Besides, Pearson algorithm was used to test the correlation degree of elements in three Chinese biomedical clusters. The results show that, in Zhangjiang and Nanchang biomedical clusters, the synergistic correlation coefficient between the innovation system and the institutional governance system fluctuates around 0.8. However, in Tonghua biomedical cluster, the synergy correlation coefficient fluctuated around -0.2. The fluctuation range between the two clusters was large. After adjusting the range of order parameters, the rank of synergy trend was Zhangjiang > Nanchang > Tonghua. Finally, further analysis shows that Zhangjiang and Nanchang biomedical clusters can achieve the optimal synergy state by adjusting innovation and institutional governance, but Tonghua cannot. Therefore, the collaboration between the innovation system and institutional governance system provides some reference for the high-quality development of the cluster ecosystem.

Institutional Governance of Innovations: Novel Insights of Leadership in Russian Public Procurement

In the modern conditions of the post-COVID world, the transformation of the world economy in the framework of the transition to the post-industrial paradigm, and the economy of “knowledge”, the national innovation system (NIS) plays a leading role in the formation of competitive sectors of any given country. Within this setting, the performance of the Russian innovation system significantly lags behind other countries and calls for modernisation based on the modern regulatory tools, policies, and world’s leading trends. The direct import of institutions of foreign innovation systems demonstrates its limited effectiveness due to the incompleteness of institutions and mechanisms for regulating the institutional environment of the Russian economy. One of the generally recognised, leading, and the most “universal” instruments for implementing innovation policy by government institutions is the public procurement of innovation. The analysis of international experience shows that the implementation of the innovation policy via innovative public procurement has a highly heterogeneous landscape even in such a “cohesive” jurisdiction as those represented by the European Union (EU) as far as different types of policy dominate in different countries of the world. There is no clear trend towards the only one mainstream regulatory approach. In this context, the Russian experience demonstrates de facto the absence of any centralised, transparent, and effective policy expressed in such pseudo-innovative procurement as refuelling cartridges or car repairs. This paper identifies the existing institutional failures of the Russian NIS on the example of the regulation of innovative domestic procurement. It proposes ways to modernise the current policy based on the institutional and narrative approaches in order to foster its leading position in the international competition. This article shows the gaps in the literature in institutional governance of innovations and innovation procurement in Russia and points at directions for future research based on narrative economics. Outlining the present knowledge as a foundation for future research in institutional governance of innovations, this article holds implications for both academics and practitioners in the field of the innovation policies and public procurement.

Institutional governance and responsiveness to antimicrobial resistance: a qualitative study of Australian hospital executives

ObjectivesDespite escalating antimicrobial resistance (AMR), implementing effective antimicrobial optimisation within healthcare settings has been hampered by institutional impediments. This study sought to examine, from a hospital management and governance perspective, why healthcare providers may find it challenging to enact changes needed to address rising AMR.DesignSemistructured qualitative interviews around their experiences of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) and responsiveness to the requirement for optimisation. Data were analysed using the framework approach.SettingTwo metropolitan tertiary-referral hospitals in Australia.ParticipantsTwenty hospital managers and executives from the organisational level of department head and above, spanning a range of professional backgrounds and in both clinical and non-clinical roles, and different professional streams were represented.ResultsThematic analysis demonstrated three key domains which managers and executives describe, and which might function to delimit institutional responsiveness to present and future AMR solutions. First, the primacy of ‘political’ priorities. AMR was perceived as a secondary priority, overshadowed by political priorities determined beyond the hospital by state health departments/ministries and election cycles. Second, the limits of accreditation as a mechanism for change. Hospital accreditation processes and regulatory structures were not sufficient to induce efficacious AMS. Third, a culture of acute problem ‘solving’ rather than future proofing. A culture of reactivity was described across government and healthcare institutions, precluding longer term objectives, like addressing the AMR crisis.ConclusionThere are dynamics between political and health service institutions, as well as enduring governance norms, that may significantly shape capacity to enact AMS and respond to AMR. Until these issues are addressed, and the field moves beyond individual behaviour modification models, antimicrobial misuse will likely continue, and stewardship is likely to have a limited impact.

Intellectual capital and institutional governance as capital structure determinants in the tourism sector

PurposeThis study investigates the capital structure determinants of the Middle East tourism sector by examining intellectual capital (IC) efficiency and institutional governance along with firm-specific and macroeconomic variables. This research also identifies the determinants of capital structure for tourism companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and non-GCC countries.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 45 listed tourism companies of nine Middle Eastern countries over five years from 2014 to 2018. The data were analysed using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and checked for robustness using the generalised methods of moment (GMM) estimation.FindingsOverall, the results indicate that tourism companies rely more on short-term debt (STD) than long-term debt (LTD), thus decreasing liquidity and increasing financial risk. Furthermore, tourism companies in non-GCC countries have higher IC efficiency compared to those in GCC countries. The aggregate institutional index is much higher for GCC countries compared to non-GCC countries. The OLS estimations suggest IC efficiency and institutional governance index provide inconclusive evidence as a determinant of capital structure proxy. High capital employed efficiency (CEE) is associated with more leverage for tourism firms. Theoretically, the results support pecking order and trade-off theories due to the relationships between firm-specific indicators and debt.Originality/valueThis study closes the gap in the capital structure debate by providing valuable insights into IC efficiency and institutional governance. These two factors serve as capital structure determinants in the Middle East and the GCC and non-GCC regions.

Developing epistemic impartiality to deliver on justice in higher education South Africa

In South Africa, the scholarship of epistemic justice has taken on an historical gaze with higher education framed as a social institution that might ameliorate the historical traumas of colonialism. Undoing the legacies of colonialism has been framed as the democratisation of the knowledge project. Using the White Paper 3 of 1997 that posits academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability as fundamental to institutional governance, in part I of this analysis I broadened public accountability to include the social, political and economic factors that inhibit or act as catalyst to the attainment of educational desire. In this second part publication, I am interested in developing and proposing epistemic impartiality. This concept is developed from Mitova’s proposition of ‘decolonising knowledge without too much relativism’, which ultimately fosters epistemic justice through rigorously scrutinising each epistemic tradition. My suggestion is that epistemic impartiality enables dialogue between divergent traditions.

A historical and judicial approach on the transformation of the European Communities, the predecessors of the European Union, into an institutional model across the region

The process of European integration has never followed a clear path and the current EU predecessors had never been by far the only efforts of the regional integration in Europe. Created in the 1950s, the European Communities as today’s EU predecessors, have overdue emerged in a very broad area populated by international organizations and various cooperation institutions. This organization, only by matching economic and political challenges, succeeded in becoming the most important cooperation forum between European states. Although in the early 1950s the Western European states could often choose between various forms of regional cooperation, today the EU is frequently seen as the only available at the European level option and the only model of institutional governance.