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Article
Publication date: 28 October 2014

Sarah Fotheringham and Chad Saunders

– The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of social enterprise as a strategy for poverty reduction for women.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of social enterprise as a strategy for poverty reduction for women.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature synthesis on the topic was conducted and patterns, linkages and gaps were examined among key themes to identify how social enterprise can potentially serve as a poverty reduction strategy for women.

Findings

The paper presents the findings in terms of specific factors contributing to women’s poverty and hypothesizes mechanisms through which social enterprises can mitigate or address these factors in practice. The paper organizes these findings in an integrative framework that highlights the need to ensure a solid policy foundation is in place before a number of key support mechanisms are enabled, which then facilitate specific types of work that can then grow in a sustainable manner.

Research limitations/implications

While the mechanisms and proposed framework are based on the extant literature, additional empirical investigation is required.

Practical implications

Women are disproportionately burdened by poverty and the framework presented provides a very practical tool to guide the design of new or diagnosing existing social enterprises targeting poverty reduction for women.

Social implications

Without a strategic approach, the risk is either perpetuating the status quo, or worse, placing those women engaged in social enterprises in a worse financial and social position.

Originality/value

There is limited research on the poverty reducing role of social enterprise for women and the proposed mechanisms and integrative framework presented provide a means of synthesizing our current knowledge while providing the basis for future investigations.

Details

Social Enterprise Journal, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-8614

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 28 October 2014

Bob Doherty

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Abstract

Details

Social Enterprise Journal, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-8614

Article
Publication date: 7 November 2023

Elise Stephenson and Sarah Furman

This paper aims to explore synergies between feminist, first nations and queer theories and social, circular and climate entrepreneurship, to build a framework for supporting…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore synergies between feminist, first nations and queer theories and social, circular and climate entrepreneurship, to build a framework for supporting climate just entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on an extensive qualitative review of the literature on gender justice, equality, social entrepreneurship, the circular economy, climate entrepreneurship and climate action, as well as theorising feminist, first nations and queer approaches to climate action through entrepreneurship.

Findings

Whilst climate change is a “threat multiplier” for existing gender (and other) inequalities, gaps remain in engraining gender equality and gender justice principles in social, circular and climate entrepreneurship. Through analysing the literature for critical gaps and theorising at the intersection of climate entrepreneurship and feminist, first nations and queer theories, the authors advocate that a framework for climate just entrepreneurship could play a pivotal role in combining proactive climate action and gender equality measures through entrepreneurship. It could also be a significant step towards ensuring entrenched, systemic inequalities are not perpetuated in nascent and rapidly evolving fields such as the circular economy, social enterprise and climate entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

The literature on climate entrepreneurship is burgeoning, yet key entrepreneurial concepts lack an explicitly feminist or gender lens approach, even whilst being inextricably linked to effective climate action. This paper seeks to rectify this gap by promoting climate just entrepreneurship as a model for effective climate action.

Details

International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 16 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-6266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 October 2024

Chloe Shu-Hua Yeh, Jermaine Ravalier and Kirk Chang

There is an urge worldwide that school leaders’ mental health and well-being must be prioritised within the education recovery at the local, national and global policy levels…

Abstract

Purpose

There is an urge worldwide that school leaders’ mental health and well-being must be prioritised within the education recovery at the local, national and global policy levels. This research identified the intentional well-being practices that school leaders cultivated as they faced unprecedented challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected through one-to-one in-depth semi-structured interviews with ten senior school leaders from primary and secondary schools in England. During the pandemic, online interviews were organised using Zoom. An inductive followed by deductive approach qualitative data analysis was employed to offer insights into the multidimensional and sensitive nature of school leaders’ well-being.

Findings

The findings indicated that despite a reported decline in well-being, the participants intentionally engaged in well-being cultivation practices which were both relational: developing multi-faceted support networks, and individual: developing self-care and self-regulation skills. These practices provided different psychological and practical needs necessary for maintaining their well-being and work functioning facing the pandemic.

Originality/value

This study affirms school leaders’ well-being cultivation is an intentional and effortful process involving relational and individual practices to support their multidimensional well-being during extreme challenges. These practices can be mindfully and strategically cultivated. This study enhances the theoretical understanding of school leader well-being and offers timely insights into well-being initiatives in leadership development programmes for educational leaders and policymakers amid global challenges.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 27 August 2024

Carla Canelas, Felix Meier zu Selhausen and Erik Stam

Female smallholder farmers in low-income countries face barriers to accessing capital and commodity markets. While agricultural cooperatives provide services that contribute to…

Abstract

Purpose

Female smallholder farmers in low-income countries face barriers to accessing capital and commodity markets. While agricultural cooperatives provide services that contribute to the income and productivity of small-scale producers, evidence of cooperatives' social and economic empowerment of female smallholders remains limited. We apply Sen's capability approach to female entrepreneurs' socioeconomic empowerment to examine whether women's participation in a coffee and microfinance cooperative from rural western Uganda benefits their social and economic position within their household. First, we study the relationship between women's cooperative participation and their household coffee sales and savings. Second, we investigate the link between women's cooperative participation and their intra-household decision-making and whether the inclusion of the husband in his wife's cooperative strengthens or lowers women's decision-making power.

Design/methodology/approach

We carry out a case study of a hybrid coffee and microfinance cooperative that promotes social innovation through the integration and empowerment of female smallholders in rural Uganda. Using a cross-sectional survey of 411 married female cooperative members from 26 randomly selected self-help groups of Bukonzo Joint Cooperative and 196 female non-members from the identical area, employing propensity score matching, this paper investigates the benefits of women's participation in a coffee and microfinance cooperative in the Rwenzori Mountains of western Uganda. We present and discuss the results of our case study within an extensive literature on the role of institutions in collective action for women's empowerment.

Findings

Our findings provide new empirical evidence on female smallholders' participation in mixed cooperatives. Our results indicate that women's participation in microfinance-producer cooperatives appears to be a conditional blessing: even though membership is linked to increased women's intra-household decision-making and raised household savings and income from coffee sales, a wife with a husband in the same cooperative self-help group is associated with diminished women's household decision-making power.

Research limitations/implications

The focus of this study is on female coffee smallholders in an agricultural cooperative in rural western Uganda. In particular, we focus on a case study of one major coffee cooperative. Our cross-sectional survey does not allow us to infer causal interpretations. Also, the survey does not include variables that allow us to measure other dimensions of women's empowerment beyond decision-making over household expenditures and women's financial performance related to savings and income from coffee cultivation.

Practical implications

Our empirical results indicate that female smallholders' cooperative membership is associated with higher incomes and coffee sales. However, husband co-participation in their wives' cooperative group diminishes wives' decision-making, which suggests that including husbands and other family members in the same cooperative group may not be perceived as an attractive route to empowerment for female smallholders. For these reasons, an intervention that encourages the cooperation of both spouses and that is sensitive to context-specific gender inequalities, may be more successful at stimulating social change toward household gender equality than interventions that focus on women's autonomous spheres only.

Originality/value

While the literature thus far has focused on microfinance's potential for women's empowerment, evidence on agricultural cooperatives' affecting women's social and economic position is limited. First, our findings provide novel empirical evidence on the empowering effects of women's participation in a self-help group-based coffee cooperative in rural Uganda. Second, our data allows us to explore the role of husbands' participation in their wives' cooperative and SGH. We embed our hypotheses and empirical results in a rich discussion of female entrepreneurship, microfinance and cooperative literature.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 31 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 November 2023

Nitha Palakshappa, Sarah Dodds and Loren M. Stangl

The world continues to grapple with grand challenges – climate change, pandemic, poverty, social injustice and diminishing resources – requiring mitigation if we are to focus on…

Abstract

Purpose

The world continues to grapple with grand challenges – climate change, pandemic, poverty, social injustice and diminishing resources – requiring mitigation if we are to focus on well-being and move towards a more sustainable future. Cultivating sustainable ecosystems offers a possible solution. The purpose of this paper is to understand how sustainable organizations at the meso level can nurture sustainable service ecosystems that provide the potential for greater well-being outcomes for individuals, business, society and the planet.

Design/methodology/approach

Case study data is gathered from 11 sustainable fashion organizations operating at the meso level within a complex ecosystem. The analysis includes interviews with founders and/or key managers and secondary information from company websites and publicly available reports.

Findings

The findings identify key value co-creation sustainable practices at the meso level that facilitate the function of the service ecosystem to create well-being outcomes. Value co-creation practices include – embedding a sustainable ethos; implementing sustainable strategies that embrace innovation, transparency and stakeholder collaboration; and incorporating sustainable communication practices that engage.

Originality/value

Encapsulating sustainability within macromarketing and service ecosystems enables the development of a sustainable service ecosystems framework that has the potential to offer enhanced well-being. Implications for marketing practice in terms of important factors that facilitate service-sustainable ecosystems to enhance well-being are considered.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 38 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 June 2022

Sarah Dodds, Nitha Palakshappa and Loren M. Stangl

Retail organizations that consider a service ecosystems view of sustainability focused on transformation have the potential to contribute to the wellbeing of individuals, business…

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Abstract

Purpose

Retail organizations that consider a service ecosystems view of sustainability focused on transformation have the potential to contribute to the wellbeing of individuals, business and society. The purpose of this paper is to explore the transformative nature of sustainable retail fashion organizations and their impact on wellbeing within a sustainable retail service ecosystem.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative in-depth case study research design was implemented using four sustainable fashion brands. Data were collected from multiple sources including secondary data from company websites and publicly available reports and interviews with founders and/or high-ranking managers within the organization.

Findings

Three overarching themes critical to transformation in sustainable retail service ecosystems were identified: (1) embedded core purpose or ethos, (2) relevance of fit and (3) breadth and depth of message. Corresponding wellbeing elements were found within the three themes – community and society wellbeing, environmental wellbeing, business strategy wellbeing, consumer wellbeing, leadership wellbeing, employee wellbeing, stakeholder and value chain wellbeing and brand wellbeing.

Research limitations/implications

Future research offers an important opportunity to further explore the relationships between sustainability, TSR and wellbeing in other service contexts.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to transformative service research literature by conceptualizing a sustainable retail service wellbeing ecosystem framework.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. 32 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 April 2024

Colin Michael Hall and Sara Naderi Koupaei

This paper aims to provide an examination of the use of the concept of resilience and its use in service organisation, ecosystem-related literature and the wider social sciences.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide an examination of the use of the concept of resilience and its use in service organisation, ecosystem-related literature and the wider social sciences.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper provides a critical review and commentary on the resilience literature in the social and business sciences and its relevance to service organisations.

Findings

Two main approaches towards resilience are identified (engineering and socio-ecological resilience) with each having different assumptions about the nature of resilience with corresponding implications for policymaking, indicator selection and application in a service context. These approaches operate at different scales and possess different properties with respect to the likelihood of enacting transformative service marketing.

Practical implications

Different conceptualisations of resilience have profound implications for resilience-related policymaking as well as understanding change and adaptation in service ecosystems and organisations.

Social implications

The transformative possibilities of resilience are connected to the active enhancement and construction of social capacity by service organisations and the persistent resilience of the resilience concept.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the importance of clearly defining the resilience concept and its implications for research and transformative service organisations.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 38 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 April 2024

Janet Davey, Jayne Krisjanous and Nicholas Ashill

This editorial introduces a special issue of the Journal of Services Marketing, dedicated to the concept of resilience in the services sector. This editorial aims to identify how…

Abstract

Purpose

This editorial introduces a special issue of the Journal of Services Marketing, dedicated to the concept of resilience in the services sector. This editorial aims to identify how service organizations, networks and systems are resilient in the face of or wake of marketplace disruptions.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on available literature in service research, the authors illustrate how service scholars can better understand the processes, relationships and outcomes that are a crucial part of resilience in service organizations.

Findings

This editorial presents a theoretical framework illustrating interactive, linked and interdependent resource-based resilience practices that enable service organizations and individuals to develop and grow resilience. The special issue papers identified six themes to guide future research: conceptual complexity and challenges of operationalization; culture, context and resilience; antecedents to resilience and outcomes; resilience and the complex world of artificial intelligence and technology; value co-creation; and service ecosystems.

Originality/value

This editorial presents service researchers with an overview of research examining the concept of resilience. It also demonstrates diversity in how the concept is defined and operationalized. Our theoretical framework illustrates a new way of conceptualizing service resilience by identifying three resource-based resilience practices in an increasingly ambiguous, dynamic and complex service world. Together these underpin the six themes for further research.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 38 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2024

Ataul Karim Patwary, Md Sazzad Hossain, Trishna G. Mistry and M. Omar Parvez

This study aims to analyze workplace ostracism, robot anthropomorphism, employees’ readiness to change and employees’ service adaptive behavior. The moderating role of performance…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to analyze workplace ostracism, robot anthropomorphism, employees’ readiness to change and employees’ service adaptive behavior. The moderating role of performance efficacy between employees’ readiness and service adaptive behavior was also assessed.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 591 restaurant employees in Malaysia. The data were analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling.

Findings

Workplace ostracism and robot anthropomorphism positively influence employees’ readiness to change and service-adaptive behavior. Employees’ readiness to change mediates the relationship between ostracism, robot anthropomorphism and service-adaptive behavior.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides an exclusively applied understanding of robot anthropomorphism and service employee adaptive behavior. In addition to restaurant employees’ readiness to change and collaborate with service robots, a longitudinal study can be conducted to track the advancement of restaurant employees’ technology adaptive behavior over an extended area.

Originality/value

Service robots have mainly been assessed from consumer perspectives in the hospitality industry. This research used the conservation of resources theory to evaluate the human–computer interaction of service robots and restaurant employees. Organizational and individual factors were considered to assess the impact on employees’ service adaptability.

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