The Role and Activities of the Hellenic Red Cross During the First Five Years of the Economic Crisis in Greece (2010-2014)—A Retrospective Study

Aim. To investigate the contribution of the Hellenic Red Cross to the Greek Society during the first five and more severe years (2010-2014) of the profound financial crisis in Greece. Material And Methods. We retrospectively investigated the actions and contribution of the Hellenic Red Cross for the aforementioned five-year period. The research material was accumulated by research in the Internet, the archives, and the official webpage of the Hellenic Red Cross (Google, official web page of the ICRC and IFRC), from the Hellenic Ministry of Health and the Hellenic Ministry of Immigration and Asylum. Results. A huge amount of over 247 actions were detected for the research period. More than 17,708 people were examined and treated from the specialized medical personnel of the Hellenic Red Cross and 3,266 individuals were trained in basic first aid and hygiene. The final amount of 297,757€ were donated and 5,880 welfare packages were delivered. Conclusions. The current study has concluded that the contribution of the Hellenic Red Cross to the Greek society during the most severe phase of the recent financial crisis was outstanding and consists an example for any other Non-Governmental, Non for Profit Organizations in the future.

Challenges in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations

Given the variety of actions concentrating on peacekeeping with significant successful operations, the United Nations (UN) continues to encounter concerns and challenges that have hampered its peacekeeping operations’ efficiency, effectiveness, and performance. This article aimed to investigate the primary challenges that adversely influence peacekeeping operations and challenge them based on the security theory proposed by Barry Buzan. According to the study’s findings, UN peacekeeping missions have been successful in addressing conflict situations and promoting peace in many regions of the world. Nevertheless, faults and challenges, notably in terms of the operations’ political, economic, and societal factors, have restricted the peacekeeping operations’ ability to achieve their objectives successfully. Therefore, a better policy that includes all involved actors, especially local government and the population, should be established in order to rebuild a conflict-torn country.

On Budget Deficit under Economic Growth: Towards a Mathematical Model of MMT

Recently, a school of thought called Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has been attracting attention, but it has not received much theoretical or mathematical analysis. In this paper, we examine the theoretical validity of the MMT argument using an overlapping generations (OLG) model that includes economic growth due to population growth, and give a generally positive evaluation of MMT. The basic idea is that a certain level of continuous budget deficit is necessary to maintain full employment when the economy is growing, that inflation occurs when the budget deficit exceeds that level, that a recession occurs when the budget deficit falls below that level, and involuntary unemployment occurs. In order to recover from a recession, a budget deficit in excess of that level is required, and that deficit need not be covered by a future budget surplus. The same can be said for growth resulting from technological progress.

Reestablishing the Foundations: Investigating the Theoretical and Practical Boundaries of Criminology

Symbolic boundaries are essential to social functioning and, more narrowly, to the social functioning of academia. Yet the boundaries of the field of Criminology remain deeply ambiguous. What are the parameters of the field? What is agreed upon as foundational theory? What are the core research agendas? This lack of clarity and consensus hampers internal dialogue between interdisciplinary scholars and constrains efforts to meaningfully address critical societal ills. As such, with this review we seek to promote cohesion in the field and improve our ability to understand crime as a social phenomenon. To accomplish this, a team of researchers conducted a thorough review of criminology textbooks and top journals in the field. We first examine explicit and implicit definitions of criminology and next identify the major avenues of current research. We further highlight major avenues and oversights of research, making recommendations for further study to promote productive cohesion amongst criminologists. Finally, we combine theoretical conceptions of criminology with current research to offer a new, comprehensive definition: Criminology is the theoretically informed scientific study—and the resulting body of knowledge—of crime broadly understood as a socially constructed and embedded phenomenon as well as its causation and prevention.

A Study on Online Shopping Scams

Online shopping is becoming increasingly popular though there are several risks. Hence, this study investigates the language used by an international e-commerce platform customer to voice out their dissatisfaction, types of online shopping risks on the international e-commerce platform, and strategies acquired by the platform in addressing scamming issues on their site. A qualitative approach was used to analyse the data gathered from consumers’ feedback and review of the product they purchased on the international e-commerce platform. Data were analysed thematically. The study’s findings revealed that delayed delivery and receiving counterfeit products were the most frequent complaints reported. The shopping risks identified were quality of product and delivery risks. Furthermore, the findings also revealed that the international e-commerce platform used negotiation, mediation, confrontation, and litigation strategies to combat scamming issues on its platform. The study concludes with recommendations.

Antecedents of University Performance: Does Strategy Matter?

In a bid to contribute to the increasing body of extant interdisciplinary research within the antecedents of university performance and strategic management domains, this study investigates the role of generic strategies in the perceived performance of universities. Using a case study of eight Nigerian universities and survey responses from 380 academics and administrative staff from these universities, the study tested four succinct hypotheses using the covariance structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) technique. Findings revealed that while there was a limited link between differentiation strategy and performance, there was a substantially strong link between focus strategy and performance according to the findings. Similarly, findings revealed that respondents from public-private universities perceived their institutions as having the strongest generic strategy-performance connection, followed by respondents from the public sector. The cost leadership-performance path demonstrated no significant effect.

The Genesis of Corruption—the Dominant Features of Contemporary Societies of the Colonial Past Inheritance

One of the most significant characteristics of the contemporary society is the continuous and an intense social change. This continuous social change initiates a special subject of research into social practice, which envisages in social innovations, influencing to change the life style of citizens of a society. Social innovations are encouraged through the interaction of the institutional networks and individuals and changes can be visible in practice, processes, business models, and organizational forms, all in order to respond to a social problem. In addition to historical and political conditions, social innovations are also determined through cultural patterns, in a manner that not every social innovation will aim to develop potential and seek to answers to social problems. In contemporary societies of the 21st century with a colonial past (inheritance), the inherited cultural and historical patterns are just the crucial components which creating social problems, by developing organizational models of corruption, as a parallel form of functioning of the rule of law. The institutional practice within the Serbian institutions through a direct research in the form of this paper, considering period from 2009 to 2021, serves to analyze the genesis of the emergence and development of corruption, i.e., an illegal use of the system of positions (status) for the purpose of gaining one's own benefit and collapsing the rule of law. Simultaneously, the paper provides with a hypothetical answer to explain how corruption, as the primary form of a social innovation in the countries of “colonial democracy inheritance”, can potentially suppress.

The Mediating Role of Knowledge Creation on the Market Sensing- Innovation Nexus

This study examined the influential role of knowledge creation in facilitating the effect of market-sensing on innovation. It specifically examines this phenomenon among small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. The study hypothesized that market sensing will exogenously have a significant and positive effect on knowledge creation, which will in turn have a positive effect on innovation. Data was collected from strategic managers from the top management teams of 310 small and medium scale enterprises randomly selected from the country’s six geopolitical zones. Using covariance based structural equation modeling (SEM) carried out via version 23 of IBM’s AMOS software. Findings confirmed all four hypotheses specifically demonstrating that market sensing positively impacted knowledge creation and innovation, while knowledge creation was both found to have a positive effect on innovation and to also significantly mediate the effect of market-sensing on innovation. The study then discusses the implication of the findings for both literature and practice, while recommending areas for future research.

Experience of LGBT+ Employees at the Workplace in India: Diversity and Inclusion

Introduction: Not many individuals belonging to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) community are open about their identity in society or at their workplace. There is scarcity of data on LGBT+ employees at workplace in India with very few employers encouraging active hiring of the community or considering having policies in place for these individuals.Objective: The objective of this study is to understand the current situation of LGBT+ employees in India and find out about their experiences related to their sexuality.Methods: A survey of 10 questions was conducted and answered by LGBT+ individuals who are employees and currently work in India. The employees of any type of organization were allowed to take the survey. The questionnaire probed into various aspects of their experience at the workplace.Results: 103 individuals answered the survey. Only 17 (16.50%) responders are completely open about their orientation whereas 6 are partially open. 8 survey takers reported to have faced negativity after opening about their sexuality at the workplace whereas 16 out of 23 have faced some form of discrimination. Only 18 survey takers said that they wish to come out to their colleagues in near future.Conclusion: Very few LGBT+ employees are open about their sexuality at the workplace. Discrimination and harassment are likely to happen to these individuals. Hence, there is a need for protective laws for LGBT employees.

Beyond Slacktivism: The Cases of K-pop Fans and Tiktok Teens

With recent technology and social media, new forms of political activism have become widespread. Young people in particular, have been willing to embrace these new forms of activism. This paper examines new trends in digital activism through qualitative observations of Twitter and Tiktok, and three case studies of young people’s digital activism. In the first case study, Korean pop music (K-pop) fans thwarted police’s attempts to identify protesters by crashing police apps. In the second, they rendered white supremacist hashtags useless, by drowning out the hashtags with their own tweets. Finally, K-pop fans, along with Tiktok users, played a prank which humiliated the Trump reelection campaign. The study expands upon the life cycle effect and generational effects theories of political behavior, and develops a continuum with which to conceptualize and understand the nature of activism. It concludes that digital activism is characteristic of Gen Z, and has real-world impacts. This article pushes back on the notion that digital activism is mere “slacktivism” (low effort token support of a social movement). Instead, it argues that activism evolves along with technology and time, and that digital activism’s real-world impacts can be just as effective as conventional political activism.