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1 – 9 of 9The narrative surrounding shaheed, or martyrdom, among Gaza’s youth, unfolds against the backdrop of intensified Israeli–Palestinian conflicts. In this piece, the author explores…
Abstract
The narrative surrounding shaheed, or martyrdom, among Gaza’s youth, unfolds against the backdrop of intensified Israeli–Palestinian conflicts. In this piece, the author explores the layers of meaning that shaheed carries within this community, moving beyond the Western interpretations and stereotypes that often frame it within a solely negative light. Drawing from the Qur’anic concept of ayah and Kenneth Burke’s framework of narratives as “equipment for living,” the author offers an alternative viewpoint by showcasing how Palestinian youth, through the analytic of ayah, understand shaheed not as an endorsement of death but as a profound source of resilience and a scaffold for navigating the turbulent realities of conflict. In doing so, the author’s rhetoric analysis unveils the youth’s active role in shaping a narrative that bridges their immediate survival and broader existential beliefs, challenging the monolithic portrayal of their experiences and beliefs in mainstream media. This understanding positions shaheed within a broader existential and spiritual framework, revealing the complex relationship between cultural narratives, religious beliefs, and the lived realities of conflict.
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This paper aims to explore the interplay between methods and methodologies in the field of international relations (IR) over the 100 years of its lifetime reflecting on the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the interplay between methods and methodologies in the field of international relations (IR) over the 100 years of its lifetime reflecting on the relationship between the rise of new research methods and the rise of new methodologies.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper looks in retrospect into the field’s great debates using a historiography approach. It maps chronologically the interplay of methods and methodology throughout the stages of the development of the study of IR.
Findings
This paper argues that inspite of narratives of triumph being common in the field, the coexistence of competing research methods and methodologies is the defining feature of the field. All theories, all methods and all methodologies have undergone a process of criticism, self-criticism and change. New methodologies have not necessarily accompanied the rise of new research methods in the field.
Originality/value
Drawing a map of the field’s methodologies and methods reveals necessarily its dynamism and its plurality. An honest map of the field is one that highlights not only theoretical differences but also ontological, epistemological and methodological differences embedded in the field’s debates.
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Rita Basílio de Simões, Inês Amaral and Ana Marta M. Flores
This chapter focuses on the meanings that young adults ascribed to their practices on mobile app-based platforms, recurring to diary records. Combining their emic perspectives and…
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the meanings that young adults ascribed to their practices on mobile app-based platforms, recurring to diary records. Combining their emic perspectives and etic knowledge, we sought to identify young adults' performances, emotions and beliefs to make sense of contemporary digital practices' social and cultural role. Research has shown that, along with ordering everyday experiences and providing convenience, ease and speed, digital technologies also establish asymmetrical relations between the different actors in the mediation process, with platform affordances enabling or constraining specific actions based on power relations. Adopting this critical standpoint, the conceptual frames they trigger, and the patterns of usages that young adult users regard as distinct and significant, we argue that normalising apps' daily practices should be seen as embedded in broader neoliberal governmentality.
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The escalation of Turkish intervention in Arab internal affairs before and after the revolutions of the Arab Spring, particularly the military intervention. Sometimes Ankara…
Abstract
Purpose
The escalation of Turkish intervention in Arab internal affairs before and after the revolutions of the Arab Spring, particularly the military intervention. Sometimes Ankara threatens with military intervention and sometimes establishes large military bases in Arab countries: Qatar, Somalia and Iraq. Moreover, it carries out extensive military operations within the borders of some Arab countries such as Iraq and Syria. This type of behavior requires a study that takes into consideration the reasons of such behavior and future implications on the relations between the Arab and Turkish parties.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical framework of the study will follow neorealism, as the basis for understanding Turkish pragmatic foreign policy adopted in managing its international relations and interests with various countries.
Findings
The situation in Afrin after a year of Turkish occupation confirms this. Erdogan may not go ahead with a new military operation in east Euphrates and northern Syria. He may prefer instead he may deem it better to control the safe area in the north through the revival of the agreement of Adana of 1998. However, Turkey's desire to control northern Syria, which represents a quarter of the country, faces tough resistance of Turkish groups, Russian-Syrian rejection and European-American resentment. Control of the Syrian north may be subject to concessions and consensus among these powers without excluding any of them.
Research limitations/implications
States in the international system, such as companies in the local economy, have the same main interest: that’s survival. It is worth noting that Waltz’s neorealistic theory cannot be applied to domestic national politics. It cannot contribute to the development of state policies relating to its international and internal affairs. His theory only helps to explain the reason behind the similar behavior of countries despite having different forms of governments and diversity of political ideologies. It also explains why the comprehensive international relations have not changed despite the growing decentralization of these countries.
Originality/value
How does neorealism explain Turkish military intervention in Syria since 2016?
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This paper aims to unravel the puzzle that the United Kingdom’s high-quality government accounting and fiscal architecture is associated with low-quality outcomes, including poor…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to unravel the puzzle that the United Kingdom’s high-quality government accounting and fiscal architecture is associated with low-quality outcomes, including poor productivity growth, high public debt, public services which do not meet citizen expectations and historically high levels of taxation. It contributes to public sector accounting research in the fields of fiscal transparency and governance.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses Miller and Power’s (2013) economization framework and Dunsire’s (1990) concept of collibration to explain why being a global leader in public sector accounting reform and in fiscal and monetary architecture has not protected the UK from weak governance. The intersection of economization’s roles of accounting with modes of government accounting clarifies the puzzle.
Findings
Whereas accruals government accounting contributes to fiscal transparency, this is not a sufficient condition for well-judged policy and its effective application. Collibration is the dominant mechanism for mediation in the fiscally centralized UK, but it has failed to deliver stable outcomes, in part because Parliament is limited in its ability to hold back inappropriate behaviour by the Executive. Subjectivization has disrupted adjudication because governments at all levels resist constraints on their behaviour, with unpredictable and often damaging consequences.
Originality/value
This paper provides insights through the combined lens of economization and modes of government accounting, demonstrating the practical value of this conceptualization. Although some causes for unsatisfactory outcomes are specific to the UK, there are cautions for accounting and fiscal reformers in other countries, such as Member States of the European Union.
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Nurul Amirah Othman, Nik Mohd Hazrul Nik Hashim and Norzalita Abdul Aziz
Personalization is a key element of restaurant innovation. Few studies in the business literature have examined its influence on table-service consumer behavior, including the…
Abstract
Purpose
Personalization is a key element of restaurant innovation. Few studies in the business literature have examined its influence on table-service consumer behavior, including the factors that strengthen or weaken domain relations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of personalization on brand identification and repurchase intention by providing a contingent view of several crucial factors.
Design/methodology/approach
Online surveys were distributed to restaurant customers who received personalized menus, services and promotions. The authors collected data using purposive sampling and tested this study’s hypotheses using regression analysis.
Findings
The results indicate that personalization influences brand identification and loyalty behaviors. Not all aspects of employee friendliness, notably conversational skills, strengthen the links between personalization and consumer behavior. In fact, informal frontline employee attitudes negatively moderated customer brand identification. The results, however, suggest that humorous and approachable behaviors of frontline employees are essential in enhancing the effects of personalization on brand identification and revisiting intentions.
Originality/value
Drawing on self-categorization theory, this study introduces personalization as a key factor in improving brand identification and repeat purchase intentions in full-service restaurant settings. This study incorporated social exchange theory and motivational theory to construct a contingency view of frontline employee friendliness and customer motivation to better understand how customers’ dining experiences impact their post-consumption behaviors. By investigating the potential interactions between the three theoretical perspectives, this study demonstrates the relevance of personalization, cultural sensitivity and intrinsic motivation as vital components for Asian restaurants.
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Asif M. Huq, Katarzyna Cieślak and Klas Sundberg
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether board composition affects corporate sustainability (CS) levels in private firms. Additionally, the study examines a potential…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether board composition affects corporate sustainability (CS) levels in private firms. Additionally, the study examines a potential interplay between CS levels and CS reporting, and the impact of EU Directive 2014 / 95/EU (Non-Financial Reporting Directive [NFRD]) on resources spent on CS.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors surveyed the chief executive officers (CEOs), chief financial officers (CFOs) and Environment Officers of Swedish private firms subject to NFRD, receiving 149 valid responses (a response rate 24%). The authors coded the responses using van Marrewijk and Werre’s (2003) CS levels framework. The levels are Pre-CS, Compliance-driven, Profit-driven, Caring, Synergistic and Holistic. The study then explained the CS levels with board characteristics.
Findings
While on average the sample firms have a profit-driven CS level, the authors find that CS level is positively driven by female Chairs, female CEOs and external CEOs. Early voluntary reporting before NFRD does not explain the CS level. On adoption of the NFRD, mandatory reporters increased resources spent on CS activities and CS reporting more than early voluntary-reporters. Nonetheless, slightly over half of the sample firms reported no significant impact of the NFRD on resources spent on CS.
Practical implications
The findings may be useful for stakeholders interested in corporate governance and CS levels. Also, the findings support further regulation such as EU Directive 2022/2464 (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive [CSRD]).
Social implications
In private firms, female leaders are likely to play a significant role in driving altruistically motivated CS practices.
Originality/value
The focus is on private firms in Sweden which, unlike those in other jurisdictions, were subject to NFRD. Methodologically, the use of a survey provides an alternative to the previous heavy reliance on archival research.
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Ingrid Marie Leikvoll Oskarsson and Erlend Vik
Healthcare providers are under pressure due to increasing and more complex demands for services. Increased pressure on budgets and human resources adds to an ever-growing problem…
Abstract
Purpose
Healthcare providers are under pressure due to increasing and more complex demands for services. Increased pressure on budgets and human resources adds to an ever-growing problem set. Competent leaders are in demand to ensure effective and well-performing healthcare organisations that deliver balanced results and high-quality services. Researchers have made significant efforts to identify and define determining competencies for healthcare leadership. Broad terms such as competence are, however, inherently at risk of becoming too generic to add analytical value. The purpose of this study is to suggest a holistic framework for understanding healthcare leadership competence, that can be crucial for operationalising important healthcare leadership competencies for researchers, decision-makers as well as practitioners.
Design/methodology/approach
In the present study, a critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) was conducted to analyse competency descriptions for healthcare leaders. The descriptions were retrieved from peer reviewed empirical studies published between 2010 and 2022 that aimed to identify healthcare services leadership competencies. Grounded theory was utilised to code the data and inductively develop new categories of healthcare leadership competencies. The categorisation was then analysed to suggest a holistic framework for healthcare leadership competence.
Findings
Forty-one papers were included in the review. Coding and analysing the competence descriptions resulted in 12 healthcare leadership competence categories: (1) character, (2) interpersonal relations, (3) leadership, (4) professionalism, (5) soft HRM, (6) management, (7) organisational knowledge, (8) technology, (9) knowledge of the healthcare environment, (10) change and innovation, (11) knowledge transformation and (12) boundary spanning. Based on this result, a holistic framework for understanding and analysing healthcare services leadership competencies was suggested. This framework suggests that the 12 categories of healthcare leadership competencies include a range of knowledge, skills and abilities that can be understood across the dimension personal – and technical, and organisational internal and – external competencies.
Research limitations/implications
This literature review was conducted with the results of searching only two electronic databases. Because of this, there is a chance that there exist empirical studies that could have added to the development of the competence categories or could have contradicted some of the descriptions used in this analysis that were assessed as quite harmonised. A CIS also opens for a broader search, including the grey literature, books, policy documents and so on, but this study was limited to peer-reviewed empirical studies. This limitation could also have affected the result, as complex phenomenon such as competence might have been disclosed in greater details in, for example, books.
Practical implications
The holistic framework for healthcare leadership competences offers a common understanding of a “fuzzy” concept such as competence and can be used to identify specific competency needs in healthcare organisations, to develop strategic competency plans and educational programmes for healthcare leaders.
Originality/value
This study reveals a lack of consensus regarding the use and understanding of the concept of competence, and that key competencies addressed in the included papers are described vastly different in terms of what knowledge, skills and abilities they entail. This challenges the operationalisation of healthcare services leadership competencies. The proposed framework for healthcare services leadership competencies offers a common understanding of work-related competencies and a possibility to analyse key leadership competencies based on a holistic framework.
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