Tom Daniels, Iestyn Williams, Suzanne Robinson and Katie Spence
The aims of this paper are to explore the experiences of budget holders within the English National Health Service (NHS), in their attempts to implement programmes of…
Abstract
Purpose
The aims of this paper are to explore the experiences of budget holders within the English National Health Service (NHS), in their attempts to implement programmes of disinvestment, and to consider factors which influence the success (or otherwise) of this activity.
Design/methodology/approach
Between 24 January and 15 March 2011 semi-structured, telephone interviews were conducted with representatives of 12 Primary Care Trusts in England. Interviews focussed on: understanding of the term “disinvestment”; current activities, and perceived determinants of successful disinvestment decision making and implementation. Data were organised into themes according to standard qualitative data coding practices.
Findings
Findings indicate that experiences of disinvestment are varied and that organisations are currently adopting a range of approaches. There are a number of apparently influential determinants of disinvestment which relate to both health system features and organisational characteristics. According to the experiences of the interviewees, many of the easier disinvestment options have now been taken and more ambitious plans, which require wider engagement and more thorough project management, will be required in the future.
Research limitations/implications
Findings from the research suggest that issues around understanding and usage of disinvestment terminology should be addressed and that a more in-depth and ethnographic research agenda will be of most value in moving forward both the theory and practice of disinvestment.
Originality/value
This research suggests that, in the English NHS at least, there is a disjuncture between common usage of the term “disinvestment” and the way that it has previously been understood by the wider research community. In addition to this, the research also highlights a broader range of potential determinants of disinvestment than are considered in the extant literature.
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Katie McIntyre, Wayne Graham, Rory Mulcahy and Meredith Lawley
This chapter proposes a conceptualization of joyful leadership as a unique leadership style and identifies a future research agenda to further explore the concept. While the…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter proposes a conceptualization of joyful leadership as a unique leadership style and identifies a future research agenda to further explore the concept. While the concept of joyful leadership appears repeatedly in the nonacademic literature, including in blogs, vlogs, and podcasts, there is limited reference to joyful leadership in the academic literature highlighting a lack of academic rigor around the concept. Joyful leadership is proposed as a unique leadership style with specific patterns of behavior demonstrated by the leader. This research draws on understandings of emotion, positive affect, and leadership in the academic literature to develop a conceptualization of joyful leadership.
Design
The proposed conceptualization is based on an extensive literature review drawing from both the leadership field and the study of emotions including various theoretical perspectives from these diverse fields.
Findings
Based on discrete emotion theory a conceptualization of joyful leadership as a unique leadership style is presented, identifying key patterns of behavior associated with joyful leadership including discrete autonomic patterns, actions, nonverbal signals, and identified feelings.
Value
This research outlines a conceptual model to provide an understanding of the concept of joyful leadership as a unique leadership style. It draws on the current study of emotion, positive affect, and leadership and more specifically examines the concept of joyful leadership aligned to discrete emotion theory. This particular theory of emotion, when examined in relation to leadership, provides a basis for the concept of joyful leadership as a leadership style and the basis for its proposed characteristics and outcomes.
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In public health and sustainable transport campaigns, walking is positioned as an important way families can become more active, fit and spend quality time together. However, few…
Abstract
In public health and sustainable transport campaigns, walking is positioned as an important way families can become more active, fit and spend quality time together. However, few studies specifically examine how family members move together on-foot and how this is constitutive of individual and collective familial identities. Combining the notion of a feminist ethics of care with assemblage thinking, the chapter offers the notion of the familial walking assemblage as a way to consider the careful doing of motherhood, childhood and family on-foot. Looking at the walking experiences of mothers and children living in the regional city of Wollongong, Australia, the chapter explores how the provisioning and enactment of care is deeply embedded in the becoming of family on-the-move. The chapter considers interrelated moments of care – becoming prepared, together, watchful, playful, ‘grown up’ and frustrated – where mothers and children make sense of and enact their familial subjectivities. It is through these moments that the family as a performative becoming, that is always in motion, becomes visible. The chapter aims to provide further insights into the embodied experience of walking for families in order to better inform campaigns which encourage walking.
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Brandon W. Smit and Katie M. Lawson
Although flexible work arrangements (FWAs) are widely regarded as a desirable employee benefit, questions remain about which factors drive (or attenuate) applicant attraction to…
Abstract
Purpose
Although flexible work arrangements (FWAs) are widely regarded as a desirable employee benefit, questions remain about which factors drive (or attenuate) applicant attraction to them. The authors offer a novel theoretical account by advancing the concept of lay theories (i.e. mindsets) around an individual's ability to juggle work and life responsibilities, defined as beliefs that the ability to juggle is either malleable (i.e. growth) or cannot be changed (i.e. fixed), which suggests greater efficacy increases attraction.
Design/methodology/approach
Utilizing an experimental policy-capturing design, 86 participants each rated a series of 64 job offers (N = 5,376) with several manipulated job attributes. Participants were randomly assigned into a growth or fixed mindset condition.
Findings
Multilevel regressions revealed that a growth (vs fixed) mindset caused participants to place greater weight on flexible work scheduling policies by reporting greater attraction to jobs with flexible arrangements.
Practical implications
Organizations may increase applicant attraction by taking steps to ensure that the value of work–life benefits is salient, such as offering concrete examples of how policies have been used.
Originality/value
This study questions the assumption that those who need flexibility are more attracted to FWAs and demonstrates that beliefs around one's ability to juggle work–life demands are a unique mechanism shaping applicant attraction.
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Alexis T. Franzese, Josh M. Kaufmann and Marissa M. Rurka
Perspectives on gender, gender expression, sexuality identity, and sexual orientation differ within and between generations given the great extent to which these concepts are…
Abstract
Perspectives on gender, gender expression, sexuality identity, and sexual orientation differ within and between generations given the great extent to which these concepts are embedded within social, cultural, and historical context. Across contexts, questions of authenticity are critical. This research compares generational perspectives about authenticity, gender and gender-related constructs, and sexuality. Through semi-structured interviews with a nonprobability, purposive sample of heterosexual and LGBTQ younger (aged 18–22) and older (aged 65+) adults, how a sense of authenticity is experienced and the degree to which individuals experience authenticity around sexual and gender identities are compared. Data were analyzed using the constant comparison method of analysis, and results indicate that while younger adult respondents held expansive terminology and knowledge related to sexual and gender identities, older adult participants lacked such fluidity, and that lack was an inhibiting factor in older adults being able to name and embody their authentic sexual selves. In conclusion, both position in one’s life course (age) and one’s generational cohort (historical, cultural, and social context) influence how individuals experience authenticity around gender and sexual identities.
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Jennifer Hall, Tess Kay, Alison K. McConnell and Louise Mansfield
Prolonged workplace sitting can harm employee health. Sit-stand desks are a potential workplace health initiative that might reduce and break up the time office-based employees…
Abstract
Purpose
Prolonged workplace sitting can harm employee health. Sit-stand desks are a potential workplace health initiative that might reduce and break up the time office-based employees spend sitting in the workplace. However, little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of providing sit-stand desks. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study sought stakeholder employee views surrounding sit-stand desk implementation within two UK-based non-profit organisations with open-plan offices. This paper draws on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 26 stakeholder employees and 65 days of participant observations. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, and organisational cultural theory framed the study.
Findings
Stakeholders employees’ positioning of sit-stand desks as a workplace health initiative reflected their perceptions of the relationship between sit-stand desk provision, employee health and organisational effectiveness. Perceptions were shaped by the nature and context of the organisation and by occupation-specific processes. Relatively fixed (e.g. organisational structure) and modifiable (e.g. selecting products compatible with the environment) factors were found to restrict and facilitate the perceived feasibility of implementing sit-stand desks.
Practical implications
The findings offer several recommendations for workplaces to improve stakeholder employee attitudes towards sit-stand desk provision and to increase the ease and efficiency of implementation.
Originality/value
Whilst extant literature has tended to examine hypothetical views related to sit-stand desk provision, this study consulted relevant stakeholders following, and regarding, the sit-stand desk implementation process.
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Mike Thelwall and Saheeda Thelwall
Public attitudes towards COVID-19 and social distancing are critical in reducing its spread. It is therefore important to understand public reactions and information dissemination…
Abstract
Purpose
Public attitudes towards COVID-19 and social distancing are critical in reducing its spread. It is therefore important to understand public reactions and information dissemination in all major forms, including on social media. This article investigates important issues reflected on Twitter in the early stages of the public reaction to COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach
A thematic analysis of the most retweeted English-language tweets mentioning COVID-19 during March 10–29, 2020.
Findings
The main themes identified for the 87 qualifying tweets accounting for 14 million retweets were: lockdown life; attitude towards social restrictions; politics; safety messages; people with COVID-19; support for key workers; work; and COVID-19 facts/news.
Research limitations/implications
Twitter played many positive roles, mainly through unofficial tweets. Users shared social distancing information, helped build support for social distancing, criticised government responses, expressed support for key workers and helped each other cope with social isolation. A few popular tweets not supporting social distancing show that government messages sometimes failed.
Practical implications
Public health campaigns in future may consider encouraging grass roots social web activity to support campaign goals. At a methodological level, analysing retweet counts emphasised politics and ignored practical implementation issues.
Originality/value
This is the first qualitative analysis of general COVID-19-related retweeting.