The overall objective of this research was to elucidate the ecosystem of women’s health social enterprises (WHSEs) based in the United States. The Aim I was to conduct a secondary…
Abstract
The overall objective of this research was to elucidate the ecosystem of women’s health social enterprises (WHSEs) based in the United States. The Aim I was to conduct a secondary data analysis of a random national sample of non-profit WHSEs based in the United States regarding their characteristics and areas of intervention. Aim II was to conduct a qualitative assessment of a sample of WHSEs based in the United States regarding their perspectives on the ecosystem of WHSEs. Aim I utilized the GuideStar database and assessed enterprise size, geographic location, financial distress, health intervention area, and health activity category using descriptive statistics, statistical tests, and multivariable regression analysis via SPSS. Aim II utilized in-depth interviewing and grounded theory analysis via MAXQDA 2018 to identify novel themes and core categories while using an established framework for mapping social enterprise ecosystems as a scaffold.
Aim I findings suggest that WHSE activity is more predominant in the south region of the United States but not geographically concentrated around cities previously identified as social enterprise hubs. WHSEs take a comprehensive approach to women’s health, often simultaneously focusing on multiple areas of health interventions. Although most WHSEs demonstrate a risk for financial distress, very few exhibited severe risk. Risk for financial distress was not significantly associated with any of the measured enterprise characteristics. Aim II generated four core categories of findings that describe the ecosystem of WHSE: (1) comprehensive, community-based, and culturally adaptive care; (2) interdependent innovation in systems, finances, and communication; (3) interdisciplinary, cross-enterprise collaboration; and (4) women’s health as the foundation for family and population health. These findings are consistent with the three-failures theory for non-profit organizations, particularly that WHSEs address government failure by focusing on the unmet women’s health needs of the underserved populations (in contrast to the supply of services supported by the median voter) and address the market failure of over exclusion through strategies such as cross-subsidization and price discrimination. While WHSEs operate with levels of financial risk and are subject to the voluntary sector failure of philanthropic insufficiency, the data also show that they act to remediate other threats of voluntary failure.
Aim I findings highlight the importance of understanding financial performance of WHSEs. Also, lack of significant associations between our assessed enterprise characteristics and their financial risk suggests need for additional research to identify factors that influence financial performance of WHSE. Aim II findings show that WHSEs are currently engaged in complex care coordination and comprehensive biopsychosocial care for women and their families, suggesting that these enterprises may serve as a model for improving women’s health and health care. The community-oriented and interdisciplinary nature of WHSE as highlighted by our study may also serve as a unique approach for research and education purposes. Additional research on the ecosystem of WHSE is needed in order to better inform generalizability of our findings and to elucidate how WHSE interventions may be integrated into policies and practices to improve women’s health.
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Hassan Raza, Brad van Eeden-Moorefield, Joseph G. Grzywacz, Miriam R. Linver and Soyoung Lee
The current longitudinal study investigated the within- and between-person variance in work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict among working mothers over time. It also…
Abstract
The current longitudinal study investigated the within- and between-person variance in work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict among working mothers over time. It also examined the effects of a nonstandard work schedule and relationship quality on work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict using bioecological theory. Results of multilevel modeling analyses showed that there was significant within- and between-person variance in work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict. The linear and quadratic terms were significantly related to family-to-work conflict, whereas the quadratic term was significantly associated with work-to-family conflict. There was also a positive relationship between a nonstandard work schedule and work-to-family conflict, whereas relationship quality was negatively associated with family-to-work conflict. Future studies should consider diversity among working mothers to adequately predict work–family conflict. The current study provides important implications for employers to consider, concerning within-and between-person differences among working mothers, which could in turn allow for accommodations and help to decrease work–family conflict.
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This study examines the information content of firms’ operations-related disclosures (ORDs) and the importance of these disclosures as an information source to stock markets…
Abstract
This study examines the information content of firms’ operations-related disclosures (ORDs) and the importance of these disclosures as an information source to stock markets relative to other commonly examined sources of information. I find that ORDs constitute a large portion of corporate press releases. These disclosures are associated with significant stock price reactions and trading volume. The stock price reactions to ORDs are greater than the reactions to 10-K/Q reports and are of similar magnitudes to the reactions to 8-K filings. On average, ORDs explain variation in firms’ quarterly returns to a similar degree as management earnings forecasts and 10-K/Q reports for the full sample and to a greater degree for small firms and firms with lower earnings quality.
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Agriculture is a sector highly dependent on climate, and thus it will experience multiple impacts from climate change. In contrast, agriculture is also one of the main…
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Agriculture is a sector highly dependent on climate, and thus it will experience multiple impacts from climate change. In contrast, agriculture is also one of the main contributors of climate change, emitting greenhouse gases, mainly related to land use, fertiliser application and livestock production. Higher temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentration, changes in precipitation patterns and more frequent extreme weather events are expected to have a negative impact on crop productivity, water and soil resources. Coordinated mitigation and adaptation practices have to be a worldwide priority in order to maintain productivity levels and food production.
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On large engineering projects the capital spent in combating corrosion continues to rise, and the ability to maintain effective corrosion control during the designed operating…
Abstract
On large engineering projects the capital spent in combating corrosion continues to rise, and the ability to maintain effective corrosion control during the designed operating life means the engineer is able to design structures with less weight and higher stress loadings.
Maryam Haghighi and Karamatollah Rezaei
The aim of the paper is to present a preliminary study for the design of a new functional food by the incorporation of a collection of ingredients which are all based on an…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to present a preliminary study for the design of a new functional food by the incorporation of a collection of ingredients which are all based on an inexpensive by‐product of the food industries: apple pomace. The new product design was considered as a novel gelled dessert formulation which is functional, and totally nature‐based. In fact, the article reviews various raw materials obtainable from the source of apple pomace and gradually supports the hypothesis of such product design.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study was designed on the structural basis of paying attention to apple pomace as a byproduct and idea generation for product design, reviewing several ingredients based on apple pomace (available data from the literature) and discussing the suitability of such ingredients for a new functional product. Exclusive attention was made for the development of an apple‐pomace‐based gelled dessert targeting consumers on restricted diets such as diabetics and obese individuals. In these kinds of diets consumption of caloric sweeteners should be abandoned or decreased while increasing the amounts of dietary fibers and polyphenolic compounds can be health‐beneficial.
Findings
As an appropriate preliminary formula, amidated low methylester pectins were selected as gelling agents. High methylester pectins, phloridzin and quercetin were used as functional ingredients. Arabinose and fructose were considered as sweetening agents. Also, POPj (phloridzin oxidation product), which is a recently developed natural pigment, was offered as a colouring agent and citric acid for adjusting the pH. Apple specific flavours were also suggested to improve the consumer acceptance of the product. In each case, the evidences of functionalities considered for the target consumers (diabetics and obese individuals) were also discussed.
Originality/value
This fresh formula is novel and can attract both food industry and the consumers because of its natural and functional properties.
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A variety of gases, including water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), add to the radiative forcing of Earth's atmosphere, meaning that…
Abstract
A variety of gases, including water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), add to the radiative forcing of Earth's atmosphere, meaning that they absorb certain wavelengths of infrared radiation (heat) that is leaving the Earth and thus raise the temperature of its atmosphere. Since glass has the same effect on the loss of heat from a greenhouse, these gases are known as “greenhouse” gases. It is fortunate that these gases are found in the atmosphere; without its natural greenhouse effect, Earth's temperature would be below the freezing point, and all waters on its surface would be ice. However, for the past 100 years or so, the concentrations of CO2, CH4, and N2O in the atmosphere have been rising as a result of human activities. An increase in the radiative forcing of Earth's atmosphere is destined to cause global warming, superimposed on the natural climate cycles that have characterized Earth's history.
As I have reflected upon the last thirty years, since it was precisely thirty years ago that I started as a student at Stanford, I have wondered if there is an overall theme to…
Abstract
As I have reflected upon the last thirty years, since it was precisely thirty years ago that I started as a student at Stanford, I have wondered if there is an overall theme to how my professional career has unfolded and the role Stanford played in it. I believe Albert Bandura's (1982) paper, The Psychology of Chance Encounters and Life Paths, provides a good descriptive framework to work with. I am persuaded that at various points of time as I stood at the proverbial fork in the road, due to one chance factor or another, my decision was tipped one way. This is not to suggest that my career has been a sequence of random events; quite the contrary. While the specific fortuitous events occurred largely outside my control, my responses to them were quite systematic; some fortuitous events had lasting influence, and some even changed my life trajectory. But, what I am struck by, ex post, is that in 1973, as I was just finishing my undergraduate education in India, the ex ante probability of my ending up some years later as a professor at an Ivy League university was essentially zero. Yet, this did eventually happen.
Romie Frederick Littrell and Andy Bertsch
The purpose of this paper is to address issues relating to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG) in the Middle East, analysing socio‐cultural issues having…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address issues relating to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG) in the Middle East, analysing socio‐cultural issues having direct relevance to the region's progress toward “Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women”.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ meta‐analyses with data from the United Nations, the Arab Human Development Report, and various sources of measurement of national means for Hofstede's five‐dimensional model of cultural value.
Findings
The authors find that the percentage of women in employment, excluding the agricultural sector, in their sample of Middle East countries has declined since 2000, while in the samples of other Muslim‐majority and all other countries the percentage employed has increased.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of the authors' research are that complete sets of data for women in employment are not available for all years for all countries in their samples.
Practical implications
Implications for practice for governments and businesses in Middle East countries are that women are a valuable economic resource which is being excluded from contribution and for the past decade the change in the Middle East has been in a negative direction.
Social implications
The economic contributions and rights of women in the Middle East lag behind most of the developed and developing nations, including other Muslim‐majority nations.
Originality/value
This study provides empirical evidence from publicly available data concerning the employment status of women in Middle Eastern nations. The authors found no similar empirical studies in the literature. The study is of value to planners and policy‐makers in business, government, and non‐governmental organisations.