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This first phase of a three-phase action research project aims to define leadership practices that should be used during and after the pandemic to re-imagine and rebuild the health and social care system. Specifically, the objectives were to determine what effective leadership practices Canadian health leaders have used through the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, to explore how these differ from pre-crisis practices; and to identify what leadership practices might be leveraged to create the desired health and care systems of the future.

The authors used an action research methodology. In the first phase, reported here, the authors conducted one-on-one, virtual interviews with 18 health leaders from across Canada and across leadership roles. Data were analyzed using grounded theory methodology.

Five key practices emerged from the data, within the core dimension of disrupting entrenched structures and leadership practices. These were, namely, responding to more complex emotions in self and others. Future practice identified to create more psychologically supportive workplaces. Agile and adaptive leadership. Future practice should allow leaders to move systemic change forward more quickly. Integrating diverse perspectives, within and across organizations, leveling hierarchies through bringing together a variety of perspectives in the decision-making process and engaging people more broadly in the co-creation of strategies. Applying existing leadership capabilities and experience. Future practice should develop and expand mentorship to support early career leadership. Communication was increased to build credibility and trust in response to changing and often contradictory emerging evidence and messaging. Future practice should increase communication.

The project was limited to health leaders in Canada and did not represent all provinces/territories. Participants were recruited through the leadership networks, while diverse, were not demographically representative. All interviews were conducted in English; in the second phase of the study, the authors will recruit a larger and more diverse sample and conduct interviews in both English and French. As the interviews took place during the early stages of the pandemic, it may be that health leaders’ views of what may be required to re-define future health systems may change as the crisis shifts over time.

The sponsoring organization of this research – the Canadian Health Leadership Network and each of its individual member partners – will mobilize knowledge from this research, and subsequent phases, to inform processes for leadership development and, succession planning across, the Canadian health system, particularly those attributes unique to a context of crisis management but also necessary in post-crisis recovery.

This research has shown that there is an immediate need to develop innovative and influential leadership action – commensurate with its findings – to supporting the evolution of the Canadian health system, the emotional well-being of the health-care workforce, the mental health of the population and challenges inherent in structural inequities across health and health care that discriminate against certain populations.

An interdisciplinary group of health researchers and decision-makers from across Canada who came together rapidly to examine leadership practices during COVID-19’s first wave using action research study design.

Aim of this study is to examine how environmental concern and perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) mediate the effect of consumer optimism and pessimism on Generation Z's intention to purchase sustainable clothes.

A survey was administered to 247 Gen Z students using a quantitative methodology. Structural equation modeling was used for hypothesis testing.

The examination of findings provides support for the idea that both optimism and pessimism have a direct impact on environmental concerns and perceived consumer effectiveness. Additionally, it reveals that environmental concerns and perceived consumer effectiveness play a positive role in influencing sustainable clothing purchases.

This study is one of the first marketing studies to explore the relationship between personality traits, environmental concerns and the intention to purchase sustainable clothing, providing insight into their relationship.

Some methodological limitations impact the contributions of this cross-sectional investigation. It only tested a few variables predicting the intention to purchase sustainable clothing.

This research provides decision-makers, including marketers, with insights on leveraging dispositional traits to increase consumers' purchase intention of sustainable clothing.

Environmental concerns and PCE have a positive effect on sustainable clothing purchases, which are influenced by both optimism and pessimism.

During the apartheid era many women, such as Albertina Sisulu and Lilian Ngoyi to name only two, spent time in solitary confinement. Women were punished for taking part in political activities by being issued with banning orders or placed under house arrest. Women placed under banning orders were treated differently to men. At the Special Hearings which were organised by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) women were provided with an opportunity to talk about their experiences as women living under apartheid instead of talking about what had happened to someone in their family. The silencing of women continued even after the new government came to power. This is clearly illustrated in the negligible space allotted to the experiences of women’s oppression and human rights violations in the hearings before the TRC. My concern that an understanding and appreciation of the suffering, oppression, political activism and contribution by South African women during apartheid will be lost to future generations is shared by Annie Coombes’s statement in her book History After Apartheid: Visual Culture and Public Memory in a Democratic South Africa (2003).

Through a survey of 200 employees working in five of the thirty establishments analysed in previous research about the microeconomic effects of reducing the working time (Cahier 25), the consequences on employees of such a reduction can be assessed; and relevant attitudes and aspirations better known.

This quantitative phase of a mixed-methods study aims to describe the effect of the Transitional Care Bridge (TCB) programme on functional decline, mortality, health-care utilisation and health outcomes compared to usual care in a regional hospital in the Netherlands.

In a pre- and post-cohort study, patients aged ≥70 years, admitted to the hospital for ≥48 h and discharged home with an Identification of Seniors at Risk score of ≥2, were included. The TCB programme, started before discharge, encompassed six visits by the community nurse (CN). Data were obtained from the hospital registry and by three questionnaires over a three months period, addressing activities of daily living (ADL), self-rated health, self-rated quality of life and health-care utilisation.

In total, 100 patients were enrolled in this study, 50 patients in the TCB group and 50 patients in the usual care group. After three months, 36.7% was dependent on ADL in the TCB group compared to 47.1% in the usual care group. Mean number of visits by the CN in the TCB group was 3.8. Although the TCB group had a lower mortality, this study did not find any statistically significant differences in health outcomes and health-care utilisation.

Challenges in the delivery of the programme may have influenced patient outcomes. More research is needed on implementation of evidence-based programmes in smaller research settings. A qualitative phase of the study needs to address these outcomes and explore the perspectives of health professionals and patients on the delivery of the programme.

This study provides valuable information on the transitional care programme in a smaller setting.

The worldwide imposition of lockdown measures to control the 2020 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has shifted most executive communications with external stakeholders online, resulting in quick responses from stakeholders. This study aims to understand how presentational styles exhibited in online communication induce immediate audience responses and empirically test the effectiveness of reactive impression management tactics.

The authors analyze presentational styles using MP3 files containing executive utterances during earnings call conferences held by S&P 100-listed firms after June 2020, the quarter after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Using timestamps, the authors link each utterance to a 1-minute interval change in the ask/bid prices of the stocks that occurs a minute after the corresponding utterance begins.

Exhibiting an informational presentation style in earnings calls leads to positive and immediate audience responses. Managers tend to increase their reliance on promotional presentation styles rather than on informational ones when quarterly earnings exceed market forecasts.

Drawing on organizational genre theory, this research identifies the discrepancy between the presentation styles that audiences positively respond to and those that managers tend to exhibit in earnings calls and provides a reactive impression management typology for immediate responses from online audiences.

The purpose of this study is to comprehend how individuals analysed organisational initiatives while responding to the COVID-19 crisis through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives through both in-kind and in cash (funding-based) forms. CSR actions manifested finally towards the achievement of organisational reputational and economic egoism.

The study was conducted on 331 respondents during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown in India. Moderated mediation analysis was conducted for data analysis and hypothesis testing. Two models were tested. The research models were tested using a statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) and AMOS.

This study considered the evaluation of the in cash (funding-based) and in-kind CSR types of CSR initiatives by individuals with personal cultural characteristics of independence, interdependence and altruism. The results of the first model indicated a significant positive relationship between independence, utilitarian thinking (UT) and organisational economic egoism (OEE). The mediating effect of UT between the independence-OEE relationship was significant. The results of the second model also found a significant relationship between interdependence, deontological thinking (DT) and organisational reputational egoism (ORE). Similarly, there was a significant positive relationship between altruism, DT and ORE. The mediation effect of DT was significant for both the relationships. The moderated mediation relationship of both the first and second model has been found to be significant.

In the research integrated models were developed associating individual personal cultural characteristics of independence, interdependence and altruism with UT and DT and subsequently to organisational economic and reputational egoism.

Managers undertaking CSR initiatives through both in-kind and in cash (funding-based) would be better able to understand based upon these study insights what nature of CSR initiatives (in-kind or in cash) are more appropriate for what kind of individual context (independence, interdependence and altruism) in decision-making (UT and DT) with organisational context (organisational economic and reputational egoism).

In the trying realities of the COVID-19 context, firms were contributing to society through CSR initiatives which were both in-kind and in cash (funding-based) in nature. This study emphasised what kind of CSR initiative was more appropriate for what kind of context for both enhanced social good and increased organisational gains.

This was one of the first studies in the context of CSR initiatives during COVID-19 times that analysed evaluation of in cash (funding-based) and in-kind CSR actions. CSR initiatives by individuals with personal cultural characteristics of independence, interdependence and altruism were related to UT and DT and finally manifested towards organisational economic and reputational egoism.

Companies are increasingly incorporating support for social causes in advertising to improve brand image and increase sales, but it is unclear how these behaviours influence purchase intentions. This paper aims to analyse this relationship from a strategic perspective to assess whether the degree of fit of any of the five strategic dimensions that Zdravkovic et al. (2010) propose influence purchase intentions synergistically.

This study includes two stages: a qualitative stage to build brand–cause relationships and a quantitative study of one of these relationships to examine which fit dimensions are involved and whether they generate synergy in purchase intentions.

Results demonstrate that adjustment to two of the five dimensions is sufficient to influence emotional responses positively.

This study presents limitations, as it has been developed using a particular sample of university students.

These analyses provide tools for managers to verify which types of strategic fit operate in this relationship and facilitate co-branding planning to achieve financial goals.

The analysis provides tools for managers to verify which types of strategic fit operate in this relationship and facilitate co-branding planning to achieve financial goals.

Circular procurement is assumed to foster innovation and influence demand for and supply of goods through criteria setting and dialogue with suppliers. However, even in countries placed at the forefront of sustainability practices such as Sweden, examples of procurement that can truly be considered to be circular are rare. This paper aims to examine circular public procurement practices in a selection of Swedish municipalities and regions through the lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework. The authors propose a categorisation of municipalities by circular procurement uptake and identify factors that support the acceleration of the circular transition in Sweden.

Using the key informant approach, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with employees of seven municipalities, one region and one external procurement agency, as well as seven suppliers of various sizes. The authors also analysed procurement documents received from municipalities. Participating organisations represented a variety of Swedish local government structures and local conditions.

The authors proposed a categorisation of circular procurement uptake. Notably, beginners differ from leaders in circular procurement, most importantly by the level of flexibility policy brokers have within their organisations and by policy brokers’ ability to accommodate changes that materialise between existing organisational structures and set routines.

The fragmented uptake of circular procurement poses a challenge for local businesses interested in implementing circular business models. It also both highlights and exacerbates inequalities in access to resources between sparsely populated, rural municipalities and more urbanised areas.

Despite existing national government guidelines for the circular economy transition in Sweden, circular procurement is not fully realised at the local level. In this paper, the authors examine the Swedish experience with circular procurement and propose several steps to improve the uptake of circular procurement by the public authorities. The authors' findings concerning the role of policy brokers may well be generalised to similar socio-cultural contexts.