Aurélie Brunie, Diana Rutherford, Emily B. Keyes and Samuel Field
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of savings and loan groups (SGs), alone and combined with a rotating labor scheme (Ajuda Mútua), on the economic conditions of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of savings and loan groups (SGs), alone and combined with a rotating labor scheme (Ajuda Mútua), on the economic conditions of the rural poor in Nampula province in Mozambique.
Design/methodology/approach
Three pairs of districts were randomized into receiving SG, SG and AM, or no intervention. The study used a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design. Data from a longitudinal survey of 1,276 households were analyzed using difference-in-difference estimation to assess the impact of SGs on income and asset ownership. Thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 72 program participants explored specific contributions of SGs to economic outcomes.
Findings
Survey results show that program participation had a significant, positive impact on income and asset ownership. Qualitative results indicate that SGs allowed households to bridge seasonal food consumption gaps and meet cash needs during crises. Accumulated savings supported asset purchases. Program activities supported agricultural activity, but enterprise development had limited scope. Challenges to economic development included cultural aversion to risk, inadequate agricultural inputs, low market integration, and limited business opportunities.
Practical implications
SGs helped reduce vulnerability to stress events. Programs should analyze the wider structural context to foster a positive enabling environment, and combine SGs with relevant enterprise development services for additional benefits.
Originality/value
The importance of savings is increasingly acknowledged, but the contributions and limitations of SGs are not fully understood. This paper also highlights the role of structural context, which remains undervalued in the literature.
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Diana Gómez-Bruna, Clara Martín-Duque, Aurkene Alzua-Sorzabal and Aurora Ruiz-Rua
Assessing the impacts generated by tourism has become an essential element for the industry’s sustainability. The increasing intensity of the impacts and the need to evaluate them…
Abstract
Purpose
Assessing the impacts generated by tourism has become an essential element for the industry’s sustainability. The increasing intensity of the impacts and the need to evaluate them from a resident’s perspective calls for new approaches to assist tourism management. This paper aims to advance from the pressure-state-response framework (PSR) to measure the tourism impacts in urban destinations with a holistic model called PSR-ti.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple linear regression method was adopted to apply the PSR-ti model in the city of Madrid, estimating the relationship between the pressure (objective) and state (subjective) variables. Local statistical yearbook data was used to construct the pressure variables. Regarding the state variables, a survey was designed to assess residents’ perceptions of tourism. A total of 652 responses were obtained.
Findings
The results obtained from the study of pressure indicators unveil that these indicators can support decision-making processes as an underused management tool. This work represents a step forward in considering the transversality of tourism concerning urban planning, the development of equipment and infrastructures or activities such as commerce and culture for the analysis of the state indicators; the results obtained determine the need to periodically evaluate the perception of residents on the impacts of tourism, given its crucial role in the sustainability of the destination.
Originality/value
The PSR-ti model offers a holistic vision, including objective and subjective indicators in the model, which enhances the appraisal of the impacts of tourism by identifying pressure and state factors as a starting point for possible responses by the decision makers of the tourist destination.
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Judie Gannon, Diana Clayton and Anna Klenert
Purpose: This chapter aims to critically explore the nature of mentoring initiatives through the conceptual lenses of social capital and communities of practice offering a…
Abstract
Purpose: This chapter aims to critically explore the nature of mentoring initiatives through the conceptual lenses of social capital and communities of practice offering a distinctive understanding of talent management (TM) innovations in the international hospitality industry.
Methodology/approach: It achieves its aim through identifying and analysing current mentoring initiatives operating in the international hospitality sector, and scrutinises how they provide a sector level approach to TM challenges.
Findings: Industry level mentoring initiatives emerge as TM innovations connecting employees within networks across the international hospitality sectors. Mentoring creates bonds and bridges between senior and junior employees beyond their own workplaces, connecting them to the industry and supporting TM by enhancing the identification of opportunities and the recognition of talent. These initiatives also act as learning communities where contemporary TM dilemmas can be explored by participants from diverse backgrounds and between generations.
Research limitations/implications: The findings rely on the identification and exploration of publically available data, and therefore future primary data collection would yield richer insights into the experiences of stakeholders of these mentoring initiatives as TM innovations.
Social implications: Mentoring initiatives can exemplify innovative ways of supporting TM and addressing diversity and inequality issues in fragmented and dispersed sectors, such as the international hospitality industry.
Originality/value of paper: The exploration of contemporary mentoring initiatives in the international hospitality industry identifies the value of cross-industry TM innovations stretching beyond stakeholders, such as educators, employers and policy-makers. It identifies mentoring initiatives as mechanisms for creating bonds and bridges between those industry aspirants at various career stages where diversity and inclusion may be a challenge in a fragmented and dispersed sector.
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OUR article on Colonial Libraries in the March issue has been much appreciated and has already led to a good deal of correspondence on the subject. A letter has reached us from…
Abstract
OUR article on Colonial Libraries in the March issue has been much appreciated and has already led to a good deal of correspondence on the subject. A letter has reached us from Mr. H. Rutherford Purnell, of the Public Library of South Australia at Adelaide, which proves how very deeply he is interested in our affairs over here. We print it on another page and trust that somebody will take it upon themselves to answer his many queries in the same kindly spirit as they are asked.
Charles Thorpe and Brynna Jacobson
Drawing upon Alfred Sohn-Rethel's work, we argue that, just as capitalism produces abstract labor, it coproduces both abstract mind and abstract life. Abstract mind is the split…
Abstract
Drawing upon Alfred Sohn-Rethel's work, we argue that, just as capitalism produces abstract labor, it coproduces both abstract mind and abstract life. Abstract mind is the split between mind and nature and between subject/observer and observed object that characterizes scientific epistemology. Abstract mind reflects an abstracted objectified world of nature as a means to be exploited. Biological life is rendered as abstract life by capitalist exploitation and by the reification and technologization of organisms by contemporary technoscience. What Alberto Toscano has called “the culture of abstraction” imposes market rationality onto nature and the living world, disrupting biotic communities and transforming organisms into what Finn Bowring calls “functional bio-machines.”
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Dion Hoe‐Lian Goh and Chei Sian Lee
Grieving resulting from the death of a loved one or someone familiar is a painful process and individuals invariably seek support to help them through this difficult period. In…
Abstract
Purpose
Grieving resulting from the death of a loved one or someone familiar is a painful process and individuals invariably seek support to help them through this difficult period. In this study, the paper investigates the role microblogs play by exploring the types of messages following the death of a public figure, Michael Jackson, “the King of Pop”.
Design/methodology/approach
Content analysis was conducted using 50,000 tweets harvested from Twitter from the first 12 days after Michael Jackson's death. A coding instrument characterizing a set of categories that users posted about Jackson's death was inductively constructed, and then applied to the entire dataset of tweets.
Findings
About 50 per cent of tweets fell into categories commonly associated with expressions of emotions or thoughts due to death. However, as the single largest category, Twitter was used primarily as a platform for sharing news and other information. Surprisingly, categories not normally associated with grieving, such as spreading of rumours, expressions of hatred and spam, also occupied a high proportion of tweets.
Originality/value
There has been little work done in examining microblogs as platforms for giving and receiving support in general and, more specifically, for the expression of grief. Therefore, the present research is timely, as it seeks to understand the role microblogs play in the grieving process.
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Chei Sian Lee and Dion Hoe‐Lian Goh
Grieving resulting from death is a painful process and individuals invariably seek support to help them through this difficult period. The purpose of this paper is to investigate…
Abstract
Purpose
Grieving resulting from death is a painful process and individuals invariably seek support to help them through this difficult period. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role microblogs play in providing social support following the death of a public figure, Michael Jackson, “the King of Pop”.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 50,000 tweets from the first 12 days after Jackson's death were harvested from Twitter. A content analysis using a coding instrument characterizing a set of social support categories was conducted. Categories not related to social support were also inductively constructed and applied to the tweets.
Findings
Twitter was primarily used for providing informational support, followed by emotional support. Surprisingly, categories not normally associated with grieving, such as spreading of rumours, expressions of hatred, and spam, also occupied a large proportion of tweets.
Practical implications
Results suggest that microblogging has the potential to facilitate the grieving process and in some aspects of social support. However, information quality could be an issue that calls for better information management tools.
Originality/value
There has been little work done in examining microblogs as platforms for grieving in general, and more specifically, for providing social support during bereavement. The present research is timely, as we seek to understand the role microblogs play in the grieving process.