Inter-organisational communication: organisational future orientation, inter-organisational interaction quality and inter-organisational group mechanism

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of organisational future orientation and interaction quality on inter-organisational communication, and the mediating role of inter-organisational group mechanism on the relationship between organisational future orientation, interaction quality and inter-organisational communication. A questionnaire assessing the experience of organisational future orientation, inter-organisational interaction quality, inter-organisational group mechanism and inter-organisational communication was administered to 101 out of 136 humanitarian organisations delivering social services to refugee settlements in Uganda. The proposed hypotheses were tested using PLS-SEM in the SmartPLS version 3.3.0 for professionals. The paper found that organisational future orientation has a positive impact on inter-organisational communication. Inter-organisational group mechanism partially mediates organisational future orientation and inter-organisational communication whilst it fully mediates the relationship between inter-organisational interaction quality and inter-organisational communication. The findings of this research provide useful insights into the role of inter-organisational group mechanism in boosting the role of organisational future orientation and interaction quality in inter-organisational communication in humanitarian relief delivery. Hence, a high level of inter-organisational group mechanism not only improves inter-organisational communication in humanitarian relief delivery but also enhances the benefits of organisational future orientation and interaction quality for inter-organisational communication. This research is one of the limited studies that investigate the effect of organisation future orientation and interaction quality on inter-organisational group mechanism and inter-organisational communication in humanitarian relief delivery in sub-Saharan Africa.

Cognitive predictors of vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 mitigation behaviors in a population representative sample

With the continued threat of COVID-19, predictors of vaccination hesitancy and mitigation behaviors are critical to identify. Prior studies have found that cognitive factors are associated with some COVID-19 mitigation behaviors, but few studies employ representative samples and to our knowledge no prior studies have examined cognitive predictors of vaccine hesitancy. The purpose of the present study, conducted among a large national sample of Canadian adults, was to examine associations between cognitive variables (executive function, delay discounting, and temporal orientation) and COVID-19 mitigation behaviors (vaccination, mask wearing, social distancing, and hand hygiene). Findings revealed that individuals with few executive function deficits, limited delay discounting and who adopted a generally future-orientation mindset were more likely to be double-vaccinated and to report performing COVID-19 mitigation behaviors with high consistency. The most reliable findings were for delay discounting and future orientation, with executive function deficits predicting mask wearing and hand hygiene behaviors but not distancing and vaccination. These findings identify candidate mediators and moderators for health communication messages targeting COVID-19 mitigation behaviors and vaccine hesitancy.

Resilience and Sustainability Development

Informed action by the leaders of the future is critical for creating resilient communities. Preparing these future leaders through formal and informal education, research, and environmental/climate change programs that interweave local knowledge with the most current global science positions them to becomes the catalysts that propel community leaders to engage a wider range of possible futures. This chapter integrates findings from a SeaTrust Institute research project with the sustainable development goals in an analysis supporting dynamic and reconfigurable combinations of agents that promote the attributes of elasticity, future orientation, and motivation to address the high stakes choices for resilience to climate and environmental/social change. Author objectives in this chapter are to illustrate the optimum roles of youth in the process and what preparations and conditions are needed to instill and support youth in their ability to flip a process at the point of catastrophe to restore equilibrium and promote resilience.

The association of cultural and contextual factors with social contact avoidance during the COVID-19 pandemic

As a first line of defense to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, people reduced social contacts to avoid pathogen exposure. Using a panel of countries, this research suggests that this was amplified in societies characterized by high social support and future orientation. People reacted more strongly in dense environments; government orders had more effect in high power distance societies. Conversely, a focus on accomplishments was associated with lower changes. Understanding people’s actual behaviors in response to health threats across societies is of great importance for epidemiology, public health, international business, and for the functioning of humanity as a whole.

Future Orientation and Political Participation: The Moderating Role of Political Trust

Previous studies show consistent differences in how people evaluate future consequences and implications of this for a variety of phenomena. The implications for the individual propensity for taking part in different forms of political participation have received limited scholarly attention, however. This is unfortunate since it affects how people voice their concerns over future problems and thereby also whether and how decision-makers become aware of these concerns. We here examine this in a cross-sectional study conducted in Finland (N = 1,673). We apply the Considerations of Future Consequences (CFC) framework as a measure of individuals’ future orientation and distinguish between considerations of future consequences (CFC-future) and considerations of immediate consequences (CFC-Immediate). We study the direct associations with institutionalized and non-institutionalized political participation and the moderating role of political trust in shaping these associations. Our results show CFC-future has a positive association with both institutionalized and non-institutionalized political participation, while CFC-immediate has a negative association with participation. Political trust moderates the association with non-institutionalized political participation since the association is stronger for citizens with low political trust. This may suggest that citizens use particular participatory avenues to communicate their worries over future problems, and to which decision-makers must be attentive.

The Relationship between Social Norms, Avoidance, Future Orientation, and Willingness to Engage in Climate Change Advocacy Communications

This study examined factors associated with willingness to engage in communication behaviors related to climate change advocacy. Data were collected as part of an online, longitudinal US study beginning in March 2020. Outcomes included willingness to post materials online, contact state legislators, and talk with peers about climate change. Covariates included climate change-related social norms, avoidance of climate change information, and perceptions of the future impact of climate change. A minority of the 586 respondents (23%) reported regular conversations about climate change, while approximately half of the respondents reported willingness to discuss climate change with peers (58%), post materials online (47%), and contact state legislators (46%). Strong predictors of willingness to engage in each climate change communications behaviors included climate change social norms, not avoiding climate change information, and believing that climate change will have a negative impact on the future. Findings indicate the importance of designing programs to foster increased climate change communications in order to promote community-level climate change advocacy norms.

Understanding Different Approaches to ECE Pedagogy through Tensions

The concept of pedagogy is the key to understanding pedagogy in early childhood education (ECE) in the Nordic countries, which are known for their high quality of life and education. However, in ECE, there are several different approaches toward pedagogy and it can be said that pedagogy is a multidimensional and dynamic concept. In this paper, the different approaches to pedagogy are defined and reconceptualized through an integrative literature analysis focusing on scientific papers and research reports of the concept. Five approaches to pedagogy were constructed: pedagogy through interaction, pedagogy through scaffolding, pedagogy through didactics, pedagogy through expertise, and pedagogy through future orientation. The identified tensions and elements within the five approaches are presented. Finally, the shared elements among these pedagogical approaches are presented in a dynamic model.