Farveh Farivar, Jane Coffey and Roslyn Cameron
The purpose of this paper is to investigate which sociocultural and work conditions have the potential to change international graduates’ career mobility intentions and encourage…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate which sociocultural and work conditions have the potential to change international graduates’ career mobility intentions and encourage international graduates to stay in the host country when the initial intention was to leave the host country after graduating.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected via a web-based survey from international graduates and analyses suggest 129 (20 percent) of respondents changed their initial career mobility intentions. Data were analyzed using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.
Findings
Although previous studies report some pull–push factors such as attractive payment rates and work experience as being important in attracting potential workforce participants, these factors have no influence on changing the career mobility intentions of international graduates. In contrast, the work environment (WE) seems to be a strong condition for changing career mobility decisions. Results also reveal that the influence of sociocultural conditions on initial career mobility intention is more complicated than work conditions and varies from case to case.
Practical implications
The present study adopts the theoretical assumption that migration and mobility is a transition that forms over time and the findings suggest that international graduates’ global career mobility intentions depend on the WE. Therefore, government, higher education and industry development policy makers need to take this factor into account if they are interested in attracting and retaining global talent.
Originality/value
The majority of previous studies have focused on which push–pull factors encourage the recently graduated international student workforce to move or stay in a country while the current study argues which conditions have the potential to change initial career mobility intentions.
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Eileen Aitken-Fox, Jane Coffey, Kantha Dayaram, Scott Fitzgerald, Stephen McKenna and Amy Wei Tian
Eileen Aitken-Fox, Jane Coffey, Kantha Dayaram, Scott Fitzgerald, Stephen McKenna and Amy Wei Tian
The purpose of the paper is to investigate how human resource professionals (HRPs), in a variety of organizations, responded to the crisis brought about by the event of COVID-19…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to investigate how human resource professionals (HRPs), in a variety of organizations, responded to the crisis brought about by the event of COVID-19. In particular, it aims to show how organizations, across all sectors, in Western Australia responded with urgency and flexibility to the crisis and showed “resilience in practice”.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on 136 questionnaire responses, 32 interviews and 25 managerial narratives. The mixed qualitative methodology was designed to enable an investigation of the impact of COVID-19 and the response of HRPs.
Findings
HRPs have responded with agility and flexibility to the impact of COVID-19. They have done so through extensive trial and error, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. They have not simply activated a preconceived continuity plan.
Research limitations/implications
The research indicates that resilience is an ongoing accomplishment of organizations and the people in them. The objective was description rather than prescription, and the research does not offer solutions to future pandemic-like situations.
Practical implications
The research suggests that, given the impact of COVID-19 on organizations, HR practices, processes and policies will need to be thoroughly reconsidered for relevance in the post-COVID world. Possible future directions are highlighted.
Originality/value
The research considers the actions of HRPs as they responded to a global crisis as the crisis unfolded.
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Lindsey Coombes, Jane Coffey and Helen Bartlett
The importance of mental health promotion is increasingly being recognised as a policy issue in the UK, although little is known yet about progress towards implementing mental…
Abstract
The importance of mental health promotion is increasingly being recognised as a policy issue in the UK, although little is known yet about progress towards implementing mental health promotion approaches within mental health services. This paper presents an overview of the topic, and reports on a survey of local authorities in England to identify examples of good practice in mental health promotion and the extent to which they are underpinned by evidence.
Eva M. Gibson and Mariama Cook Sandifer
Institutions of learning are charged with the social responsibility to prepare future professionals for the ever-changing demands of modern society. Universities should provide…
Abstract
Institutions of learning are charged with the social responsibility to prepare future professionals for the ever-changing demands of modern society. Universities should provide expanded opportunities for learning and may choose to do so in many ways. Service learning is one approach designed to provide an educational experience that fosters a deeper community investment through involvement and outreach. Service learning engages students in the community in order to help meet the needs of that community (Osteen & Perry, 2012). Universities have begun to use this as an experiential learning approach to prepare professionals to better address the needs of the local communities. Instructors can integrate these opportunities into coursework. As universities respond to societal changes, the infusion of service learning may be the method to do so. While providing benefits to the local community, students also experience growth through the use of these practices. Specifically, service learning activities serve to improve critical thinking skills and improve multicultural competency (Coffey, 2010). This chapter will explore opportunities for universities to integrate social responsibility into the curriculum. Case examples will be provided to showcase possible strategies designed to foster engagement. These examples highlight educational experiences, while also demonstrating contributions that universities can make to the neighboring community.
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Keywords
- Civic engagement
- community asset perspective
- community partnerships
- community impact
- cultural-based service learning
- service learning
- high impact practices (HIPS)
- civic engagement
- experiential learning
- Jane Addams
- John Dewey
- Hull House
- multicultural competency
- pedagogy
- student engagement
- social capital
- social capital theory
- social responsibility
- theoretical framework
- Wisconsin Idea
The growth of online communities and social media has led to a growing need for methods, concepts, and tools for researching online cultures. Particular attention should be paid…
Abstract
The growth of online communities and social media has led to a growing need for methods, concepts, and tools for researching online cultures. Particular attention should be paid to polarizing online discussion cultures and dynamics that increase inequality in online environments. Social media has enormous potential to create good, but in order to unlock its full potential, we also need to examine the mechanisms keeping these spaces monotonous, homogenous, and even hostile toward some groups. With this need in mind, I have developed the concept and theory of othering online discourse (OOD).
This chapter introduces and defines the concept of OOD and explains the key characteristics and different attributes of OOD in relation to other concepts that deal with disruptive and discriminatory behavior in online spaces. The attributes of OOD are demonstrated drawing on examples gathered from the Finnish Suomi24 (Finland24) forum.
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This chapter challenges and augments the received view of the history of symbolic interaction at the University of Chicago. The history of the discipline’s development at the…
Abstract
This chapter challenges and augments the received view of the history of symbolic interaction at the University of Chicago. The history of the discipline’s development at the University of Chicago between 1889 and 1935 is well-known, especially the work of George Herbert Mead and John Dewey, sometimes called “the Chicago school of sociology” or symbolic interaction. But the Hull-House school of sociology, led by Jane Addams, is largely unknown. In this chapter I explore her founding role in feminist symbolic interaction. Her perspective analyzes micro, meso, and macro levels of theory and practice. Feminist symbolic interaction is structural, political, rational, and emotional, and employs abstract and specific models for action. Addams led a wide network of people, including sociologists, her neighbors, and other citizens, who implemented and institutionalized their shared visions. Addams led many controversial social movements, including the international peace movement, recognized in 1931 by the Nobel Peace Prize. “Feminist symbolic interaction” expands the scope of symbolic interaction by being more action-oriented, more political, and more focused on a successful social change model than the traditional approach to this theory. In addition, many new sociologists are added to the lists of important historical figures.
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Fiona Jane Factor and Elizabeth Lillian Ackerley
The purpose of this paper is to describe a youth work model of participatory research practice which utilises a range of methods within non-traditional research settings…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe a youth work model of participatory research practice which utilises a range of methods within non-traditional research settings, highlighting the importance of trust, risk-taking and the creation of mutually respectful and non-hierarchical relationships. The paper suggests that such methods enable the development of new insights into previously intractable challenges when working with adolescents needing a safeguarding response from professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reflects on the challenges and successes of a project which brought police officers and young people together to develop solutions to improving safeguarding responses to young people affected by sexual violence and related forms of harm in adolescence. In particular, this paper focuses on a residential held in October 2016 in the Lake District involving 7 officers and 15 young people.
Findings
Despite a number of ethical challenges throughout the project, this paper makes the case that potentially high-risk participatory research projects can be supported and managed by university research centres. However, for these to be successful, staff need to work in trauma-informed ways, and possess high-level expertise in group work facilitation. Transparency, honesty, constancy and a range of different and creative activities, including mental and physical challenges, all contributed to the success of the project.
Originality/value
By detailing the empirical steps taken to develop, support and realise this project, this paper advances a youth work model of participatory research practice, filling an important gap within the methodological literature on participatory work with young people affected by sexual violence.
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Zachary A. Schaefer and Owen H. Lynch
The authors use concepts from the “communication constitutes organizations” (CCO) literature in combination with Cooren’s (2010, 2012) ventriloquism to demonstrate the symbolic…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors use concepts from the “communication constitutes organizations” (CCO) literature in combination with Cooren’s (2010, 2012) ventriloquism to demonstrate the symbolic uses of texts and shifting interpretations of authority during a negotiation regarding the future of a nonprofit educational institution. The two sides negotiating over how to resolve a fiscal crisis struggled to achieve legitimacy through competing institutional logics, and this paper captures this process through a detailed account. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This study emerged from a multi-year full immersion ethnography undertaken by the second author, who spent over 5,000 hours as a participant observer at the organization. The quotes and observations come form field notes taken during this time.
Findings
Communication constitutes the nonprofit institution through two communication flows – self-structuring processes and institutional positioning – and these flows symbolically and materially unified the opposing negotiation parties during the negotiation process as each side struggled to gain legitimacy through competing institutional logics. The process of ventriloquism was the mechanism through which different actors and texts negotiated their levels of authority.
Practical implications
This case demonstrates how oppositional groups used and viewed texts throughout a negotiation process, revealing the agency, authority, legitimacy, and symbolic power of texts. This case also highlights the political struggle between institutional logics backed by financial models and professional logics backed by traditional organizational values.
Originality/value
At a material level, this case is a detailed examination of organizational members navigating the negotiation process during a fiscal crisis, but on a symbolic level this case demonstrates the communicative means through which oppositional groups negotiate core organizational values, and whether past values can lead organizations to a sustainable future. The observational depth of this case study was only possible through long term, full immersion ethnography, and this depth provides clarity to abstract concepts from CCO, ventriloquism, and institutional theory.