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The purpose of this paper is to present a mixed method study of social capital development and use, based on an intervention which provided women from refugee backgrounds with social capital development skills and tools.

In total, 111 Afghan, Burmese and Sudanese women living in Melbourne, Australia, received peer-support training and a free unlimited fixed-dial mobile phone for one year.

Interview and call log data suggest that the training sessions and mobile phones played important roles in bonding social capital development, resulting in a complex support network among participants. To a lesser extent, there was also evidence of bridging social capital creation. By providing linkages to government institutions through an interpreter service, the mobile phones gave participants easy access to linking social capital, in their heritage language.

The program supplements existing community resources with mobile phone technology to create social capital rich networks within these disadvantaged communities, and the authors describe the community characteristics that make participants amenable to such an intervention.

This paper presents a framework which combines data and text retrieval techniques to exercise and evaluate ontology based query expansions. We prepare by using linguistic techniques to identify query and document concepts, locating them in a ontologically defined semantic space. Expansions originate from the identified query concepts, with success determined by matching in the relevant document set. We identify three orthogonal dimensions that can affect query expansion success; relationship source, success measure technique, and query expansion technique. Expansion technique is further divided into six different categories: simple pruning, complex probability, voting, directional, semantic propagation, and multiple source concept. We describe each technique and show examples where they would be useful. The system architecture used facilitates plugging in of various expansion and evaluation routines, and flowing results from one method to the next. The system is useful for microanalysis of query expansion, discovering which components of ontological derived knowledge most influence query expansion success. In this work, we apply our framework to the medical domain.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic search of the literature as it pertains to interventions delivered by peers to refugees and asylum seekers during the resettlement process.

A preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis-compliant scoping review based on Arskey and O’Malley’s (2006) five steps was used. Four databases, Scopus, Embase, Ebsco and ScienceDirect, were searched for peer-reviewed articles published in English from 2000 to 2021. Studies were included if they reported on interventions, outcomes or the training received by adult peers to support refugees and asylum seekers during the resettlement process. Of an initial 632 journal articles retrieved, 14 met the inclusion criteria for this review.

Most included studies were conducted in Western high-income countries, with the exception of one. Studies were heterogeneous in terms of the nationalities of peers and those receiving peer interventions, the outcomes reported on, the content of interventions and the methodologies used. Findings suggest that peer interventions seem to be effective in addressing many of the challenges faced by refugees and asylum seekers. Community integration, acculturation and reductions in psychological distress are some of the key benefits. When such interventions are co-produced in participatory research involving refugees, asylum seekers and the civil society organisations that support this population, they are naturally culturally responsive and can, therefore, address issues relative to different ethnic needs during the resettlement process.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first scoping review to be conducted in this area and adds to what is a very limited body of research.

Scaling is an important concern in the management of information systems projects. E-Government projects are no exception to the challenges of scaling. The problem is more severe because of a large and diverse population of target users and more crucial because of the vulnerability of the target population in case of failure of such initiatives (in projects, such as public distribution system of food). In spite of a significant awareness of its importance among implementers, scaling still remains a challenge. This paper aims to examine this important issue.

The case study method has been used to demonstrate the relationship between integration and scaling of e-Government projects. This study uses analytic generalization from field case as a method to theorize a broad framework for the integration of information and communications technology projects. The context of this study is an e-Government project in West Bengal, India. The selection of the case involved theoretical sampling apart from considerations for the possibility of access to the project and its appropriateness with respect to the topic under study.

Five different levels of integration in e-Government projects, namely, interface, data, electronic communication, application, and knowledge, have been identified. Further, it has been demonstrated that each of these integration mechanisms impacts scaling of e-Government projects. Also, the nature of the impact has been identified.

This paper demonstrates the impact of integration on the scaling of e-Government projects. It analyzes the phenomenon of integration in terms of five different levels. All the levels of integration impact scaling of e-Government projects in different ways.

This chapter provides an overview of the current political regulations on aviation’s climate relevant emissions in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand and of the planned regulations in other parts of the world. In a next step, the cost impacts of most of these regulations on air freight will be quantified. This way, the economic impacts of environmental regulations on air freight can be estimated.

The main results indicate that cost impacts on air freight services induced by political measures for the reduction of aviation’s climate relevant emissions turn out to be small. This is true for both local emission charges on nitrous oxide (NO_X) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions which are in force at a number of European airports and the European emissions trading scheme for the limitation of CO₂ emissions.

The purpose of this study is to propose a methodological approach for modeling catastrophic consequences caused by black swan events, based on complexity science, and framed on Feyerabend’s anarchistic theory of knowledge. An empirical application is presented to illustrate the proposed approach.

Thom’s nonlinear differential equations of morphogenesis are used to develop a theoretical model of the impact of catastrophes on international business (IB). The model is then estimated using real-world data on the performance of multinational airlines during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The catastrophe model exhibits a remarkable capability to simultaneously capture complex linear and nonlinear relationships. Through empirical estimations and simulations, this approach enables the analysis of IB phenomena under normal conditions, as well as during black swan events.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first attempt to estimate the impact of black swan events in IB using a catastrophe model grounded in complexity theory. The proposed model successfully integrates the abrupt and profound effects of catastrophes on multinational corporations, offering a critical perspective on the theoretical and practical use of complexity science in IB.

The purpose of this study is to develop understanding of the extended self-theory by focusing on the influence of other people in identity constructions as experienced in collectivist Eastern contexts. It specifically addresses the impact of being treated as an extended self on Arab-Muslim women’s identity constructions.

This study uses a qualitative research approach consisting of 23 in-depth semi-structured interviews. Nonprobability, purposive sampling is followed as the study targets Kuwaiti women who identify as former hijab/veil wearers. Sample diversity is attained in terms of Kuwaiti women’s demographical characteristics, including their age range, marital status and social class.

The findings of this study reveal paradoxes of experiencing the collective extended self through familial pressure to (un)veil and the strategies used by women to reject engaging with the collective extended self, including contextualizing, substituting and sexualizing the veil.

Existing studies related to the notion of the extended self are primarily conducted in Western contexts, and as such, are oriented toward personal accountability related to identity constructions. To complement this perspective and address the call for research on the extended self in collectivist societies, this study highlights the importance of recognizing the role of other people in influencing identity constructions in Eastern contexts.

The authors explored clinical staff perceptions of their interactions with middle management and their experiences of the uncongeniality of their working environment.

Semi-structured interviews of clinical staff from an Australian public health service's Emergency, Surgery and Psychiatry departments. Volunteer interview transcripts were inductively coded using a reflexive thematic content analysis.

Of 73 interviews, 66 participants discussed their interactions with management. Most clinicians considered their interactions with middle management to be negative based on a violation of their expectations of support in the workplace. Collectively, these interactions formed the basis of clinical staff perceptions of management's lack of capacity and fit for the needs of staff to perform their roles.

Strategies to improve management's fit with clinicians' needs may be beneficial for reducing uncongenial workplaces for healthcare staff and enhanced patient care.

This article is among the few papers that discuss interactions with management from the perspective of clinical staff in healthcare. How these perspectives inform the perception of workplace uncongeniality for clinicians contributes greater understanding of the factors contributing to adversarial relationships between clinicians and managers.

Formal structured leadership training is increasingly incorporated as a regular fixture in developed nations to produce competent leaders to ensure the provision of quality patient care. However, most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) rely on one-off external training opportunities for selected individuals as they lack the necessary resources to implement long-term training for a wider pool of potential health care leaders. This case study shares the establishment process of the Talent Grooming Programme for technical health care professionals (TGP), a three-year in-house leadership training programme specially targeted at potential health care leaders in Malaysia.

This case study aims to share a comprehensive overview of the ideation, conceptualisation and implementation of TGP. The authors also outlined its impact from the individual and organisational perspectives, besides highlighting the lessons learned and recommendations for the way forward.

TGP set out to deliver experiential learning focusing on formal training, workplace experiences, practical reflection and mentoring by supervisors and other esteemed leaders to fulfil the five competency domains of leadership, organisational governance, communication and relationship, professional values and personal values. The successes and challenges in TGP programme delivery, post-training assessment, outcome evaluation and programme sustainability were outlined.

The authors’ experience in setting up TGP provided valuable learning points for other leadership development programme providers. As for any development programme, a continuous evaluation is vital to ensure its relevance and sustainability.

Certain aspects of TGP establishment can be referenced and modified to adapt to country-specific settings for others to develop similar leadership programme, especially those in LMICs.

Hospitals need highly trained and competent managers to be responsible for the strategic development, overall operation and service provision. The identification and confirmation of core management competency requirements is a fundamental first step towards developing the competent management workforce for sustainable hospital service provision. This paper reports on the finding of a recent study focusing on identifying managerial competencies required by middle and senior-level managers in the public hospitals in Iran.

The qualitative research design included position description analysis and focus group discussions with middle and senior-level public hospital managers in Iran. When analysing the identified knowledge, skills and attitudes, the validated MCAP framework was used to guide the grouping of them into associating management competencies.

The study identified 11 to 13 key tasks required by middle and senior-level managers and confirmed that the position descriptions used by current Iranian hospitals might not truly reflect the actual core responsibilities of the management positions. The study also confirmed seven core managerial competencies required to perform these tasks effectively. These core competencies included evidence-informed decision-making; operations, administration and resource management; knowledge of healthcare environment and the organisation; interpersonal, communication qualities and relationship management; leading people and organisation; enabling and managing change and professionalism.

Competencies were identified based on managers' perceptions. Views and experiences of other stakeholders were not captured.

The seven core management competency identified in the current study provides a clear direction of competency development among senior and middle-level managers working at the Iranian public hospitals. The study also confirms that position descriptions do not reflect the actual responsibilities of current hospital managers, which are in need to urgent review.

This is the first study that has identified the core managerial competencies required by middle and senior-level hospital managers in Iran.