Julie Gosselin and Katherine Rousseau
Difficulties in defining stepfamily roles remain an important issue for its members. A potentially important factor in defining roles in the family is the identification with a…
Abstract
Purpose
Difficulties in defining stepfamily roles remain an important issue for its members. A potentially important factor in defining roles in the family is the identification with a particular gender type and how it relates to one's expectations about one's place in the family system. The purpose of this paper is to explore how gender typing processes inform our understanding of the stepmother role construction process, and its link with stepfamily adjustment.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi‐structured interview data from six androgynous and six feminine stepmothers were selected based on gender type identification.
Findings
Results from this analysis were analyzed using a phenomenological approach, and are presented with the intent to explore how gender typing processes inform our understanding of the stepmother role construction process, and its link with stepfamily adjustment.
Originality/value
Gender typing has not been studied in the context of stepmother families, even though research on stepmothers’ adjustment has highlighted the ambiguous nature of their role in the stepfamily. Additionally, while qualitative inquiry continues to represent the favoured paradigm in the emerging area of stepmother research, studies of this type remain limited in scope.
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Louise St-Arnaud and Émilie Giguère
This paper aims to examine the experience of women entrepreneurs and the challenges and issues they face in reconciling the work activities of the family sphere with those of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the experience of women entrepreneurs and the challenges and issues they face in reconciling the work activities of the family sphere with those of the entrepreneurial sphere.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a materialist feminist perspective and a theory of living work that take into account the visible and invisible dimensions of the real work performed by women entrepreneurs. The methodology is based on a qualitative research design involving individual and group interviews conducted with 70 women entrepreneurs.
Findings
The results show the various individual and collective strategies deployed by women entrepreneurs to reconcile the work activities of the family and entrepreneurial spheres.
Originality/value
One of the major findings emerging from the results of this study relates to the re-appropriation of the world of work and organization of work by women entrepreneurs and its emancipatory potential for the division of labour. Through the authority and autonomy they possessed as business owners, and with their employees’ cooperation, they integrated and internalized tasks related to the work activities of the family sphere into the organization of work itself. Thus, not only new forms of work organization and cooperation at work but also new ways of conceiving of entrepreneurship as serving women’s life choices and emancipation could be seen to be emerging.
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Robert Hurst, Jerome Carson, Aishath Shahama, Hollie Kay, Courtney Nabb and Julie Prescott
The purpose of this paper is to review the 16 published non-student Recovery Heroes and Remarkable Lives accounts published in Mental Health and Social Inclusion, using the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the 16 published non-student Recovery Heroes and Remarkable Lives accounts published in Mental Health and Social Inclusion, using the connection, hope, identity, meaning and empowerment (CHIME) framework.
Design/methodology/approach
All 16 accounts were rated independently by four researchers and evaluated in terms of whether each account met the five criteria for the CHIME model.
Findings
All accounts met the criteria for the CHIME model, with the exception of one, which still met four of the five criteria. Evidence was presented which suggests that the model can be extended to creativity, connectedness, hope, identity, meaning and empowerment (C-CHIME), to incorporate creativity.
Research limitations/implications
While a certain level of subjectivity is required in deciding how each account meets the CHIME criteria, there were high levels of inter-rater reliability within the research team. Creativity had a central place in all the accounts.
Practical implications
The revised C-CHIME model can be used by practitioners to examine accounts of recovery in a more focussed manner and may also help in devising recovery action plans.
Social implications
The recovery model privileges both professional and lived experience perspectives on recovery. The current review highlights how much we can benefit from the wisdom contained in first person accounts.
Originality/value
This review adds to the existing literature and highlights the importance of creativity for mental health recovery.
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Yun Ling Li, Karoline Evans and Meg A. Bond
The current case study investigated how intentional, systematic planning can help organizations harness the energy of these willing allies who may be motivated to support change…
Abstract
Purpose
The current case study investigated how intentional, systematic planning can help organizations harness the energy of these willing allies who may be motivated to support change. The focus of the study is the development of a peer-to-peer approach, involving “Equity Leaders (ELs),” that was part of a larger, multi-level organization change initiative that addressed personal, interpersonal and structural considerations at a mid-sized public university in northeastern USA.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used multiple methods to collect data for the current study, including observations and interviews. Over the course of four years, the authors attended more than 50 EL meetings. In these meetings, the authors took notes regarding ELs' discussions on workshop development and planning, debates on workshop substances and ELs' personal reflections on these workshops. Following the fourth year of the program, the first two authors invited all current ELs to participate in semi-structured, open-ended interviews about their experience.
Findings
The case study shows that through careful planning, peer change can play multiple roles in pushing organizational changes. By embracing their formal responsibilities and yielding their informal power, change agents are able to cause radiating impact across as organizations. Organizations can also capitalize on the fact that employees are more likely to be engaged in the change effort when it is promoted by peers. Finally, the support and resources from the organizational leaders is important because these inputs not only legitimize change agents' roles but they also signify the importance of the actions.
Research limitations/implications
This study has limitations. First, the authors recognize that this was a qualitative study grounded in a single context. Although the study explored a novel context for understanding change agents—a deliberately planned initiative targeting social norms through addressing subtle biases like microaggressions—the authors recognize that additional examination would be necessary to understand how implementation may work in different contexts or organization types. Second, the authors also acknowledge that the authors’ positionality, as females studying a change initiative targeting gendered and intersectional microaggressions, may have shaped the role as researchers.
Originality/value
The findings underscore the notion that allies can serve as organized peer change agents to affect organizational culture. In alignment with the principles in the social ecological framework, the approach involved selecting change agents who are internal to the organization, have informal influence or power and can broaden the impact to other parts of the organization. Moreover, the results underscore the need for organizations to provide essential support and resources that can assist change agents to bridge organizational goals and individual actions.
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Despite the potential for research institutes to advance interdisciplinary research on university campuses, There have been few studies on how interdisciplinary research centres…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the potential for research institutes to advance interdisciplinary research on university campuses, There have been few studies on how interdisciplinary research centres integrate multiple disciplines in practice, how they influence the collaborative behaviours of scientists and how they establish collaborative communities. This study aims to provide a deeper understanding of how interdisciplinary research is being enabled at research institutes and offers signposts for how research institutes can further embed interdisciplinarity within their units.
Design/methodology/approach
Within this study, 30 interviews were conducted with leadership and faculty within 4 sustainability research institutes in the USA exploring how research institutes support interdisciplinary research within their units. A thematic analysis on the interview data revealed themes on how research institutes are enabling interdisciplinary research within their organisations and universities.
Findings
The study highlights eight themes on how research institutes are, and can further, enable interdisciplinary research within their organisations and universities. Some of the themes are fully implemented within the research institutes, whilst others are more aspirational and highlight where institutes can create additional capability and capacity for interdisciplinary research within their units and universities.
Research limitations/implications
Whilst the study is limited to four major sustainability research institutes the findings will be applicable to all research centres and institutes attempting to create interdisciplinary research environments.
Practical implications
The study will be of particular interest to research institutes and university leadership who wish to cultivate a deeper culture of interdisciplinary research within their organisations.
Social implications
The advancement of inter- and transdisciplinary research within universities are seen by many academic institutions, expert groups and funding bodies as essential for solving wicked problems and grand challenges facing society. The findings of this paper will help universities increase their capacity for interdisciplinary research.
Originality/value
There are few comparable publications in terms of methodology, approach and focus on research institutes.