Elizabeth Meggetto, Fiona Kent, Bernadette Ward and Helen Keleher
Healthcare systems are increasing in complexity, and to ensure people can use the system effectively, health organizations are increasingly interested in how to take an…
Abstract
Purpose
Healthcare systems are increasing in complexity, and to ensure people can use the system effectively, health organizations are increasingly interested in how to take an organizational health literacy (OHL) approach. OHL is a relatively new concept, and there is little evidence about how to successfully implement organizational health literacy interventions and frameworks. This study, a literature review, aims to explore the operationalization of OHL.
Design/methodology/approach
A realist literature review, using a systems lens, was undertaken to examine how and why the operationalization of OHL contributed to changes in OHL and why interventions were more effective in some contexts than others. Initial scoping was followed by a formal literature search of Medline, CINAHL plus, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase and PsychINFO for original peer-reviewed publications evaluating OHL interventions until March, 2018.
Findings
The search strategy yielded 174 publications; 17 of these were included in the review. Accreditation, policy drivers, executive leadership and cultures of quality improvement provided the context for effective OHL interventions. The dominant mechanisms influencing implementation of OHL interventions included staff knowledge of OHL, internal health literacy expertise, shared responsibility and a systematic approach to implementation.
Research limitations/implications
This study outlines what contexts and mechanisms are required to achieve particular outcomes in OHL operationalization. The context in which OHL implementation occurs is critical, as is the sequence of implementation.
Originality/value
Health services seeking to implement OHL need to understand these mechanisms so they can successfully operationalize OHL. This study advances the concept of OHL operationalization by contributing to the theory underpinning successful implementation of OHL.
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The aim of this paper is to examine the role of children in an emergent Irish consumer culture and advertising from 1848-1921. In particular, the significance of children's gender…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine the role of children in an emergent Irish consumer culture and advertising from 1848-1921. In particular, the significance of children's gender and reading materials in the process of consumption will be evaluated.
Design/methodology/approach
An analysis of primary sources, literature and secondary sources substantiates this research.
Findings
By evaluating advertisements, magazines, school textbooks and children's literature from the 1848-1921 period, this article argues that Irish children were encouraged to engage with an emergent consumer culture through reading. This article also evaluates the importance of gender in considering children as consumers and it focuses upon a number of critically neglected Victorian, Irish, female authors who discussed the interface between advertising, consumption and the Irish child.
Originality/value
This article is an original contribution to new areas of research about Irish consumerism and advertising history. Substantial archival research has been carried out which appraises the historical significance of advertisements, ephemera and critically neglected children's fiction.
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Lori Leach, Bradley Hastings, Gavin Schwarz, Bernadette Watson, Dave Bouckenooghe, Leonardo Seoane and David Hewett
This paper aims to extend the consideration of distributed leadership in health-care settings. Leadership is typically studied from the classical notion of the place of single…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to extend the consideration of distributed leadership in health-care settings. Leadership is typically studied from the classical notion of the place of single leaders and continues to examine distributed leadership within small teams or horizontally. The purpose is to develop a practical understanding of how distributed leadership may occur vertically, between different layers of the health-care leadership hierarchy, examining its influence on health-care outcomes across two hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach
Using semi-structured interviews, data were collected from 107 hospital employees (including executive leadership, clinical management and clinicians) from two hospitals in Australia and the USA. Using thematic content analysis, an iterative process was adopted characterized by alternating between social identity and distributed leadership literature and empirical themes to answer the question of how the practice of distributed leadership influences performance outcomes in hospitals?
Findings
The perceived social identities of leadership groups shaped communication and performance both positively and negatively. In one hospital a moderating structure emerged as a leadership dyad, where leadership was distributed vertically between hospital hierarchal layers, observed to overcome communication limitations. Findings suggest dyad creation is an effective mechanism to overcome hospital hierarchy-based communication issues and ameliorate health-care outcomes.
Originality/value
The study demonstrates how current leadership development practices that focus on leadership relational and social competencies can benefit from a structural approach to include leadership dyads that can foster these same competencies. This approach could help develop future hospital leaders and in doing so, improve hospital outcomes.
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Lucy Asquith and Bernadette Scott
This paper summarises the roundtable discussions convened by the charity Carr‐Gomm in October 2007. Participants included providers of services to vulnerable people, policy makers…
Abstract
This paper summarises the roundtable discussions convened by the charity Carr‐Gomm in October 2007. Participants included providers of services to vulnerable people, policy makers and academics, creating a useful mixture of theoretical and practical knowledge. The Social Exclusion Task Force report in 2006 gives a clear indication of the picture of unemployment for vulnerable people. In addition, developments in funding for key government departments, coupled with population projections, suggests that there is a strong external impetus for vulnerable people to be employed. Discussions covered a range of topics including Who benefits when vulnerable people work?, What constitutes good work? and Barriers to supporting vulnerable people into work.Overall, the group concluded that the most urgent priority is for third sector employers themselves to create flexible work opportunities which can be taken up by vulnerable people. This experience should then be used to disseminate learning and to make the case for change with other employers.
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Tanja Petry, Corinna Treisch and Bernadette Bullinger
Applying the institutional logics perspective to applicant attraction, this study investigates the level of uniformity among preferences for consulting job attributes associated…
Abstract
Purpose
Applying the institutional logics perspective to applicant attraction, this study investigates the level of uniformity among preferences for consulting job attributes associated with the institutional logics of the corporation, the profession and the family, and tests for the influence of anticipatory socialization differences.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a discrete choice experiment with 232 business students. A hierarchical Bayes approach to conjoint analysis uncovers part-worth heterogeneity and allows for subsequent cluster and regression analysis of the choice data.
Findings
The findings identify a dominant job-oriented preference type and a minor career-oriented preference type. Anticipatory socialization through personal prior work experience and the occupation of friends decreases adherence to the logic of profession and increases the relevance of the family logic. The parents' occupation has only a minimal influence on preferences.
Practical implications
The study provides attribute-based recommendations on how professional service firms can effectively address the complex expectations of potential applicants in their job ads for an entry position and underlines the role of intra-generational reference groups as important anticipatory socializers.
Originality/value
By testing individual socialization effects at the pre-hire stage and beyond the organizational level, the study fills a void in both the recruitment and the institutional literature.
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Maxwell Awando, Ashley Wood, Elsa Camargo and Peggy Layne
This study examines and describes the experiences and perceptions of women and men associate professors from various academic disciplines as they chart and navigate their academic…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines and describes the experiences and perceptions of women and men associate professors from various academic disciplines as they chart and navigate their academic career trajectories.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a case study approach, we interviewed 11 purposively selected mid-career faculty members and five department heads.
Findings
Through the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), we identified issues of clarity, climate, self-efficacy, and gender disparity as major concerns for mid-career faculty.
Research limitations/implications
This research is limited to a research-intensive university in the southeastern United States. The small study population and unique context limit the generalizability of the study.
Practical implications
Findings of the study provide a lens for university and college administrators, human resources professionals, and other institutional leaders to view professional development programs for mid-career faculty members at their own institutions. The findings also suggest a need for improvements to current family-friendly policies to reduce gender bias and retain women faculty members.
Originality/value
This paper offers practical recommendations to higher education administrators and human resources professionals on how to positively cultivate a better work climate and culture for mid-career faculty members. It also offers suggestions on how to be sensitive to and improve gender equity among mid-career faculty in higher education.
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Liz Jones, Bernadette Watson, Elizabeth Hobman, Prashant Bordia, Cindy Gallois and Victor J. Callan
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of organizational level on employees' perceptions and reactions to a complex organizational change involving proposed work…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of organizational level on employees' perceptions and reactions to a complex organizational change involving proposed work force redesign, downsizing and a physical move to a new hospital.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants included executives, supervisory and non‐supervisory staff in a major tertiary hospital. Recorded in‐depth interviews were conducted with 61 employees about the positive and negative aspects of the change.
Findings
A total of 12 themes were identified from content coding, including emotional responses and attitudes toward the change, issues about the management of the change process and about change outcomes. Supervisory and non‐supervisory staff referred more to conflict and divisions, and expressed more negative attitudes toward the change, than did executives. Executives and supervisory staff focused more on planning challenges and potential outcomes of the change than did non‐supervisory staff. Finally, compared to other staff, executives focused more on participation in the change process and communication about the change process.
Research limitations/implications
This study examines the organizational change at only one time point in one organization. Perceptions of the change may change over time, and other identities like professional identity may influence perceptions.
Practical implications
These findings suggest that change agents should consider the needs of different organizational groups in order to achieve effective and successful organizational change.
Originality/value
This study clearly shows the impact of organizational level, identifying similarities and differences in perceptions of change across level.
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Louisa Ha, Debipreeta Rahut, Michael Ofori, Shudipta Sharma, Michael Harmon, Amonia Tolofari, Bernadette Bowen, Yanqin Lu and Amir Khan
To provide human judgment input for computer algorithm development, this study examines the relative importance of source, content, and style cues in predicting the truthfulness…
Abstract
Purpose
To provide human judgment input for computer algorithm development, this study examines the relative importance of source, content, and style cues in predicting the truthfulness ratings of two common types of online health information: news stories and institutional news releases.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a multi-method approach using (1) a manual content analysis of 400 randomly selected online health news stories and news releases from HealthNewsReview.org and (2) an online experiment comparing truthfulness ratings between news stories and news releases.
Findings
Using content analysis, the authors found significant differences in the importance of source, content, and style cues in predicting truthfulness ratings of news stories and news releases: source and style cues predicted truthfulness ratings better than content cues. In the experiment, source credibility was the most important predictor of truthfulness ratings, controlling for individual differences. Experts have higher ratings for news media stories than news releases and lay people have no differences in rating the two news formats.
Practical implications
It is important for health educators to curb consumer trust in misinformation and increase health information literacy. Rather than solely reporting scientific evidence, educators should focus on addressing cues people use to judge the truthfulness of health information.
Originality/value
This is the first study that directly compares human judgments of health news stories and news releases. Using both the breadth of content analysis and experimental causality testing, the authors evaluate the relative importance of source, content, and style cues in predicting truthfulness ratings.
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Sue Hrasky and Bernadette Smith
Corporate reporting is an important component of the investor relations function, and the aim of this paper is to seek evidence as to whether, as is often assumed, concise…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporate reporting is an important component of the investor relations function, and the aim of this paper is to seek evidence as to whether, as is often assumed, concise financial reports result in clearer communication between the company and its report users. If concise reports are genuinely being prepared in an attempt to improve the clarity of communication with stakeholders, it is to be expected that other disclosures in the annual reports in which they are disseminated should similarly reflect strategies that are consistent with enhancing the user‐friendliness of communication.
Design/methodology/approach
Characteristics of the chairperson's annual report letter and graph use in annual reports containing a concise financial report were compared to those in traditional full reports of listed Australian companies.
Findings
Consistent with the argument that adoption of concise reporting is more symbolic than instrumental, the results show no differences in the letters' complexity or in graph use across the two report types.
Practical implications
If concise reporters genuinely wish to improve the clarity of their communications, greater attention needs to be paid to how information is presented in their broader annual report.
Originality/value
This study is the first to attempt a systematic analysis of the rationale that seems to underpin adoption of concise reporting – that of improved communicative clarity. It casts doubt as to whether preparers are acting in accordance with this rationale.
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Sara H. Goodman, Matthew Zahn, Tim-Allen Bruckner, Bernadette Boden-Albala, Janet R. Hankin and Cynthia M. Lakon
The study examines health care inequities in viral load testing among hepatitis C (HCV) antibody-positive patients. The analysis predicts whether individual and census tract…
Abstract
Purpose
The study examines health care inequities in viral load testing among hepatitis C (HCV) antibody-positive patients. The analysis predicts whether individual and census tract sociodemographic characteristics impact the likelihood of viral load testing.
Methodology/Approach
This a study of 26,218 HCV antibody-positive patients in Orange County, California, from 2010 to 2020. The case data were matched with the 2017 American Community Survey to help understand the role of neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics in testing for viral load. Multivariable logistic regression was used to predict the probability of ever testing for HCV viral load.
Findings
Thirty-six percent of antibody-positive persons were never viral load tested. The results show inequalities in viral load testing by sociodemographic factors. The following groups were less likely to ever test for viral load than their counterparts: (1) individuals under 65 years old, (2) females, (3) residents of census tracts with lower levels of health insurance enrollment, (4) residents of census tracts with lower levels of government health insurance, and (5) residents of census tracts with a higher proportion of non-white residents.
Research Limitations/Implications
This is a secondary database from public health department reports. Using census tract data raises the issue of the ecological fallacy. Detailed medical records were not available. The results of this study emphasize the social inequality in viral load testing for HCV. These groups are less likely to be treated and cured, and may spread the disease to others.
Originality/Value
This chapter is unique as it combines routinely collected public health department data with census tract level data to examine social inequities associated with lower rates of HCV viral load testing.