Mechanisms and Contextual Factors Affecting the Implementation of Animal Health Surveillance in Tanzania: A Process Evaluation

A strong animal health surveillance system is an essential determinant of the health of animal and human population. To ensure its functionality and performance, it needs to be evaluated regularly. Therefore, a process evaluation was conducted in this study to assess animal health surveillance processes, mechanisms and the contextual factors which facilitate or hinder uptake, implementation and sustainability of the system in Tanzania. A mixed-method study design was used to evaluate the national animal health surveillance system guided by a framework for process evaluation of complex interventions developed by Moore and others. The system was assessed against standard guidelines and procedures using the following attributes: fidelity, adherence, exposure, satisfaction, participation rate, recruitment and context. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a cross-sectional survey, key informant interviews, document review, site visits and non-participant observation. Data from questionnaires were downloaded, cleaned and analyzed in Microsoft™ Excel. Qualitative data were analyzed following deductive thematic and content analysis methods. Fidelity attribute showed that case identification is mainly based on clinical signs due to limited laboratory services for confirmation. Data collection was not well-coordinated and there were multiple disparate reporting channels. Adherence in terms of the proportion of reports submitted per month was only 61% of the target. District-level animal health officials spent an average of 60% of their weekly time on surveillance-related activities, but only 12% of them were satisfied with the surveillance system. Their dissatisfaction was caused by large area coverage with little to no facilitation, poor communication, and lack of a supporting system. The cost of surveillance data was found to be 1.4 times higher than the annual surveillance budget. The timeliness of the system ranged between 0 and 153 days from the observation date (median = 2 days, mean = 6 days). The study pointed out some deviations in animal health surveillance processes from the standard guidelines and their implication on the system's performance. The system could be improved by developing a user-friendly unified reporting system, the active involvement of subnational level animal health officials, optimization of data sources and an increase in the horizon of the financing mechanism.

The Influence of State-Level Contextual Factors on State/Federal System Vocational Rehabilitation Employment Outcomes for Persons With Traumatic Brain Injury

The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop a preliminary understanding of the influence of state-level contextual factors predictive of employment outcomes for State/Federal Vocational Rehabilitation System (State VR) participants with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Participants were 5,213 individuals with TBI with Individualized Plans for Employment closed during Federal Fiscal Year 2016. A four-step hierarchical logistic regression model (5.6% explained variance) containing five demographic, three state-level economic, six state TBI service climate, and nine State VR service variable expenditures correctly classified 57.0% of cases as attaining or not attaining an employment outcome at closure. Significant predictors associated with an employment closure were (a) education, veteran status, and presence of a secondary area of disability impairment; (b) state-level per-capita income; (c) State VR specialized acquired brain injury (ABI)/TBI service and state TBI Implementation Partnership grant funding; and (d) State VR service expenditures on diagnosis and treatment, occupational or vocational training, on-the-job training, job readiness training, transportation, maintenance support, and benefits counseling. The practice, policy, and research implications of these findings are presented.

Two-Step Estimation of the Impact of Contextual Variables on Technical Efficiency of Hospitals: The Case Study of Public Hospitals in Iran

Background: Measuring the efficiency and productivity of hospitals is a key tool to cost contamination and management that is very important for any healthcare system for having an efficient system.Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of contextual factors on hospital efficiency in Iranian public hospitals.Methods: This was a quantitative and descriptive-analytical study conducted in two steps. First, we measured the efficiency score of teaching and non-teaching hospitals by using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. Second, the relationship between efficiency score and contextual factors was analyzed. We used median statistics (first and third quarters) to describe the concentration and distribution of each variable in teaching and non-teaching hospitals, then the Wilcoxon test was used to compare them. The Spearman test was used to evaluate the correlation between the efficiency of hospitals and contextual variables (province area, province population, population density, and the number of beds per hospital).Results: On average, the efficiency score in non-teaching hospitals in 31 provinces was 0.67 and for teaching hospitals was 0.54. Results showed that there is no significant relationship between the efficiency score and the number of hospitals in the provinces (p = 0.1 and 0.15, respectively). The relationship between the number of hospitals and the population of the province was significant and positive. Also, there was a positive relationship between the number of beds and the area of the province in both types of teaching and non-teaching hospitals.Conclusion: Multilateral factors influence the efficiency of hospitals and to address hospital inefficiency multi-intervention packages focusing on the hospital and its context should be developed. It is necessary to pay attention to contextual factors and organizational architecture to improve efficiency.

Attitudes, Subjective Norms, and Perceived Control Versus Contextual Factors Influencing the Entrepreneurial Intentions of Students From Poland

Purpose: The article analyses the influence of personal and contextual variables on entrepreneurial intentions of students from Poland. The article presents a structural model that has been developed from a set of student perceptions. Chosen variables included in the model allows explaining and managing the formation of the intention in the context of higher education. This study provides answers to the following questions: What role and which personal variables do play importance in the formation of entrepreneurship intention in the case of young people? Which and how contextual variables are important to enhance personal variables for entrepreneurial intentions? Methodology: The research was carried out by using critical literature analysis as well as statistical research. In carrying out this work, a causal quantitative methodology (structural equation modeling) was applied using the Amos program. Factor analysis has also been used in a descriptive methodological context. The empirical research was conducted in first quarter of 2020. Findings: Research conducted on a sample of over 330 Polish students has shown that not all personal factors are statistically significant in assessing the entrepreneurial intentions of young people. As the results show, subjective norms do not play a significant role in the intention to take up self-employment. External (contextual) factors related to the broadly understood environment supporting the future entrepreneur play an important role, but much less clear than the factors at the individual level and generally indirectly influence entrepreneurial intentions, strengthening the entrepreneur's personal factors. Practical Implications: The results suppose a theoretical and practical contribution to the promotion of entrepreneur intentions of university students inside and outside the educational context. Entrepreneurship promotion programmes run by universities must focus on developing the attitude of the potential entrepreneurs, conveying the message that, despite all the obstacles that exist when launching a business, the entrepreneurship route can be an interesting alternative. Originality/Value: In the study, the personal and contextual factors influencing the entrepreneurial intentions of students were taken into account. The causal model generated on a sample of 332 Polish respondents shows the importance of individual factors on entrepreneurial intentions and the impact of contextual constructs on personal factors. Contextual variables (i.e. education, public policy, supporting entrepreneurial environments) were found to have a positive impact on personal variables as well as entrepreneurial intentions.

Contextual factors moderating the impact of strategic management accounting on competitive advantage

PurposeThis study investigates the influence of six interrelated contextual factors, namely organisational structure, quality of information technology, business strategy in terms of deliberate strategy-formulation, market orientation, market competition and perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU), on the usage intensity of innovative management accounting techniques commonly referred to as strategic management accounting (SMA); the impact of SMA usage on competitive advantage; and the moderating influence of the contextual factors on the relationship between SMA usage and competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were obtained through a structured questionnaire from publicly listed manufacturing companies on the main board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and moderated regression were used to analyse data. Both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to examine the validity and reliability of variables as first and second order of analysis. Structural equation modelling (SEM) (maximum likelihood estimation method) was applied to assess the robustness of result.FindingsMarket orientation and deliberate strategy-formulation emerged as significant determinants of SMA usage intensity. Although there is a significant relationship between SMA usage and competitive advantage, the strength of the relationship is moderate. Organisational structure, deliberate strategy-formulation and PEU significantly moderate the relationship between SMA usage and competitive advantage.Research limitations/implicationsThe emergence of deliberate strategy-formulation, as both a significant predictor of SMA usage intensity and as the strongest moderator of the relationship between SMA usage and competitive advantage, establish that it is organisations that take a proactive approach to strategy issues that may derive the most benefit from SMA utilisation.Practical implicationsThe result from this study brings to fore the need to involve management accountants in strategy-formulation and implementation in order to leverage their competence in deploying SMA techniques to enhance organisational competitiveness.Originality/valueThe current study is the first, to the researcher's knowledge, to specifically examine interrelated contextual factors distinctively affecting SMA usage and organisational competitiveness in a developing country. Whilst these six factors have been stressed as important determinants of the adoption of innovative management accounting techniques, the study provides empirical evidence on the extent to which they exert on SMA. The study presents empirical evidence on the relevance of market orientation—a construct which has surprisingly received little research attention in management accounting literature—as a variable which could affect the adoption of management accounting innovation.

In trust we trust: The impact of trust in government on excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought forward myriad challenges to public policy, central of which is understanding the different contextual factors that can influence the effectiveness of policy responses across different systems. In this article, we explore how trust in government can influence the ability of COVID-19 policy responses to curb excess mortality during the pandemic. Our findings indicate that stringent policy responses play a central role in curbing excess mortality. They also indicate that such relationship is not only influenced by systematic and structural factors, but also by citizens’ trust in government. We leverage our findings to propose a set of recommendations for policymakers on how to enhance crisis policymaking and strengthen the designs of the widely used underlying policy learning processes.

The importance of narrative learning and reflexivity at work with foreigners granted asylum and the context of a non-governmental organization

This paper discusses the importance of narrative learning and reflexivity at work with foreigners granted asylum. The discussed data is from 1 year duration fieldwork at NGO working with refugees in Lithuania. In this paper the examples from 4 narrative portraits of NGO workers are presented. It is argued that narrative learning is an interactive and co-constructed process and there is the need of awareness about the narratives and narrative learning, and how storytelling could be used for effective social work practice. The paper discusses the doctoral research data and explores the links between narrative learning and reflexivity. It is argued that reflecting about their practice critically, the workers can create new narrative identities and better understand and analyse their own identities, values, choices, practices and wider local and international contexts. Therefore, it is important to increase reflexivity and awareness of workers about various contextual factors and discourses, which might be influencing their narratives about their work and refugees, and further research on narrative learning and narratives of NGO workers.

Dynamics of Contextual Factors, Technology Paradox, and Job Performance in Smartphone Usage

The purpose of this paper is to explore the theories pertaining to the dynamics of contextual factors, technology paradox, and job performance of employees so as to answer specific questions related to the theories’ progressive advancement, and to evaluate the relationships among them in the context of mobile phones, using the evidence-based systematic review methodology. The term technology paradox has evolved over past decades, and theories have been postulated to explain its nature and relationships with its antecedents and outcomes; however, there is a dearth in the integrative models. Thus, the theory of paradox has been combined with other theoretical lenses to conceptualize tensions and responses to enrich extant theories on technology paradox and job performance. The finding of the study identifies seven research gaps in the available literature, which need to be plugged so that a holistic model is developed to address the interrelationships among the aforementioned research constructs.

Academic Integrity of Tourism Students

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the academic integrity of undergraduate tourism students amid the new normal. The chapter focuses on understanding the underlying reasons that instigate tourism students to cheat in written assignments. The findings reveal that tourism students are motivated to cheat by both internal and external factors. Individual or personal factors, such as students' characters, their knowledge, abilities, interests, levels of motivation, and commitment would affect the intention to cheat. Furthermore, time-related situations, the course itself, the assignment topic, demands of the assignment and the informing process, the teacher and the teaching process, the course materials, availability of the academic sources, the teaching, and the assessment environments are situational and/or contextual factors that instigate the students to cheat on their written assignments.