Social Transformations in India, Myanmar, and Thailand: Volume II: Identity and Grassroots for Democratic: Progress

This book explores the multifaceted obstacles to social change that India, Myanmar and Thailand face, and ways to overcome them. With a collection of essays that identify common challenges and salient features affecting diverse communities, this volume examines topics from subnational and local perspectives across the peripheries. The book argues that identity-based divisions have created a system of oppression and political contention that have led to conflicts of different kinds, and hence serving as the common cause of different social issues. At the same time, such issues have created space for marginalized groups around the world to call for change. The volume recognizes that social transformation comes into being through an active process of deconstructing and reconstructing shared norms and ideas. The contents in this book are thus centered around two focuses: The impacts of identities and grassroots. Both of these aspects are at the heart of each country's transformations towards democracy, peace, justice, and freedom. Under this framework, the chapters cover a diverse range of common issues, such as, minority grievances, gender inequality, ethnic identity, grassroots power in alliance-making towards community peace, recovery and resilience, digital freedom, democracy assistance and communication, and bridging multiple divides. As identity-based cleavages are daily lived experiences for individuals and communities, it requires grassroots initiatives and alliances as well as democratic communication to tackle obstacles at the root. Ultimately, the book convinces readers that social transformations must begin at the individual to communal level and local to national level. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Lessons Learnt and Policy Implications from Implementing the POWERPOOR Approach to Alleviate Energy Poverty

Energy poverty is a multifaceted phenomenon that affects many Europeans. Alleviating energy poverty is high in the EU, national, and local policy agendas. Despite the attention the phenomenon has been gaining from a policy perspective, especially after the current energy crisis, there are still some gaps due to the complexity of the issue and its vastly different manifestations across Europe. This manuscript presents the policy implications stemming from the implementation of the POWEPROOR approach in alleviating energy poverty in eight European countries, as co-created with relevant stakeholders in each country. The knowledge gained from empowering energy-poor citizens by promoting behavioural changes and small-scale energy efficiency interventions, as well as by encouraging the uptake of renewable energy sources in the form of collective energy initiatives while leveraging innovative financing schemes, resulted in policy recommendations for national and sub-national governments and lessons for civil society and the private sector.

Beckoning a new post- Covid higher education engagement agenda: Lessons from Nelson Mandela University Covid-19 responses

The COVID-19 pandemic set higher education institutions on an unprecedented path requiring of them to identify alternative strategies and implement various initiatives to sustain their academic projects. With the widespread devastation of the pandemic, the purpose of universities within their communities were again in the spotlight. A sensibility of the intertwinement between the local university and the community was also reemphasised in the pandemic's wake, with the recognition of COVID-19 as a crosscutting problem. This paper examines Nelson Mandela University's engagement initiatives during the pandemic to underline its fundamental strategic undertakings within its positioning as a "transformative, responsive university in service of society". Through an interpretive paradigm, the paper presents lessons from a qualitative, explorative case study inquiry of Nelson Mandela University reports during the pandemic. The findings indicate that the initiatives deployed by the university during the pandemic strengthened its overall community engagement strategy.

Bringing resilience together: On the co-evolutionary capacities of boundary organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Rotterdam.

For a city to maintain its vitality during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, social resilience is pivotal. It is a manifestation of adaptive and transformative capacities in a city, through a multitude of interactions between initiatives and organizations, including local government. Resilience can take many forms: coping, adaptive, transformative; community-based, organizational, and institutional. Due to this hybridity and multiplicity, it remains to be seen how all forms of resilience interact and mutually benefit from one another in a city under crisis. Building further in the relational and dynamic dimensions of resilience, we conceptualize these mutual influences as co-evolution and hypothesise that for mutually beneficial co-evolution a city requires boundary organizations, i.e., organizations that facilitate collaboration and information-flow between differently organized societal domains. In our study of the activities of boundary organizations in the Dutch city Rotterdam during the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that boundary organizations were indeed supportive in building social and especially community resilience, but mainly coping and adaptive. Evidence for co-evolutions between various forms of resilience and institutional transformative resilience remained limited. Transformative potential seemed to get lost in procedural translations, was jeopardized by recentralization policies, and seemed only possible on the currents of already ongoing change.

Navigating Disruptive Times: How Cross-Sector Partnerships in a Development Context Built Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak

This article explores how cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) operating in a development context built resilience during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a qualitative analysis of eight partnerships operating in East-Africa, Central America, and Indonesia, I show how CSPs engaged in three practices of resilience building (i.e., forming unconventional alliances, mobilizing digital technologies, and building subnetworks), which allowed them to remain functional despite facing adversity. In addition to fostering their resilience, my findings show how engaging in these practices enabled the CSPs to develop new capabilities (i.e., improved abilities to engage with beneficiaries) that benefit them in the long run. Based on these insights, I advance our understanding of resilience building by unpacking this concept on a CSP level. Furthermore, by unfolding the relevance of incidental learning in a cross-sectoral setting, I widen our knowledge of learning processes in CSPs.

The Impact of the Scientific Metaverse on the Biotech Industry: How Virtual Reality Helped Researchers Fight Back Against COVID-19

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic not only precipitated a digital revolution but also led to one of the largest scientific collaborative open-source initiatives. The EXaSCale smArt pLatform Against paThogEns for CoronaVirus (EXSCALATE4CoV) consortium, led by Dompé farmaceutici S.p.A., brought together 18 global organizations to counter international pandemics more rapidly and efficiently. The consortium also partnered with Nanome, an extended reality software company whose software facilitates the visualization, modification, and simulation of molecules via augmented reality, mixed reality, and virtual reality applications. To characterize the molecular structure of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and to identify promising drug targets, the EXSCALATE4CoV team utilized methods such as homology modeling, molecular dynamics simulations, high-throughput virtual screening, docking, and other computational procedures. Nanome provided analysis of those computational procedures and supplied virtual reality headsets to help scientists better understand and interact with the molecular dynamics and key chemical interactions of SARS-CoV-2. Nanome's collaborative ideation platform enables scientific breakthroughs across research institutions in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and other diseases. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Problems and responses of schools in the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of Mountain Province

This study explored the problems faced by the schools in Mountain Province, Philippines with the implementation of distance education during the pandemic and looked into the schools' good practices to mitigate the problems. 26 schools participated in this study. Analysis of the data gathered highlighted the serious problems in Philippine education. The problems faced by the schools during the pandemic are similar to those faced by developing countries, however, the problems and responses faced by the schools in Mountain Province are specific to their context. The common problems identified during this pandemic are: difficulty in distributing and retrieving modules, unavailability of equipment and gadgets, poor internet access, poor quality of learning materials, the unpreparedness of parents taking on the role of teachers, teachers' lack of training on the modality of learning, lack of technological knowledge, a one-size-fits-all approach to instruction, an inadequate learning management plan for blended learning and the decreased income of private schools. The good practices implemented by the schools to address some of their problems are: home visits, tutorials, Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) involvement, remediation classes, a seminar on stress management and mechanisms for blended learning. There is a need for the school administration to provide learning management plans which should include short and long-term goals and professional learning initiatives like training to improve teachers' technological pedagogical knowledge. © 2023 by the author.

The importance of entrepreneurial leadership in fostering bank performance

PurposeThis study investigates how entrepreneurial leadership fosters market orientation, bank innovativeness and bank performance;it also investigates how market orientation contributes to brand orientation, bank innovativeness and bank performance.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 1500 questionnaires were distributed to 100 bank branches in Indonesia (500 to managers and 1000 to employees);300 responses (20% response rate) were used for further statistical analysis.FindingsThe results confirmed the existence of relationships among entrepreneurial leadership, market orientation, bank innovativeness, brand orientation and bank performance. The role of entrepreneurial leadership in fostering market orientation, bank innovativeness, brand orientation and bank performance demonstrates that leaders can motivate employees to complete their tasks.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that entrepreneurial leadership, new ideas and innovative products and services can foster bank performance.Originality/valueThe emerging banking industry in Indonesia has witnessed changing market conditions. Banks will benefit from being more market-driven and diverse in their customer relationships to generate value.

Nexus between green financing, renewable energy generation, and energy efficiency: empirical insights through DEA technique.

The study aims to test the nexus of green financing with renewable electricity generation and energy efficiency. The study used data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique during the year of 2016 to 2020 in developed and developing countries. The findings show that there is a 24% possibility of worldwide rise in expenditures in renewable energy through energy efficiency projects and probably could fall around 17% much further in 2017 and 2018. This may jeopardize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris climate change agreement. Lack of access to private financing slows the development of green initiatives. Now that sustainable energy is not about science and technology, it is all about getting financing in developed and developing countries. As policy measure, the study suggested to value environmental initiatives, like other infrastructure initiatives, for greater electricity generation and energy efficiency in developed and developing countries. Such infrastructural projects need long-term financing and capital intensiveness. It is further suggested to sustain growth, development, and energy poverty reduction, and around $26 trillion would be required, in terms of green financing, in the developed and developing countries alone by the year 2030 to enhance energy efficiency. To achieve energy sustainability goals in developed and developing countries, recent research suggested some policy implication considering the post COVID-19 time. If such policy implications are implemented successfully, there are chances that green financing would make energy generation and energy efficiency effective.

COVID-19: Solidarity initiatives for food security in the Mayan indigenous region of south-southeast Mexico.

The food sector was seriously affected by COVID-19 in southern-southeast Mexico, a Mayan region with high levels of poverty, malnutrition, and extreme weather events. The present study aimed to identify, from the dimensions of food security, citizen-led initiatives that emerged as strategies to guarantee food access in five states in the south-southeast of Mexico. A total of 7446 news articles were collected from five online newspapers and 53 food initiatives were identified. The six dimensions of food security analysis were used as a guide for our critical review of gathered media reports. The access dimension of food security was the most addressed using collection drives and food delivery to vulnerable populations. Review results underscore the critical role of community strengthening to increase and sustain food resilience.

Addressing employee turnover in retail through CSR and transformational leadership

PurposeEmployee turnover, a reality that Indian retail organizations cannot ignore, is the central theme of this paper. The authors have aimed to empirically establish corporate social responsibility initiatives (CSRI) and transformational leadership (TL) as rather unconventional predictors that can potentially influence retail employees' intention to stay (ITS) through sequential mediation by employer branding (EB) and organizational identification (OI).Design/methodology/approachData collected using a structured questionnaire from three hundred and five frontline employees working with twenty-nine Indian retail outlets in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) region was tested using structural equation modelling.FindingsFindings confirmed the impact of both CSRI and TL on ITS, with sequential mediation by EB and OI. While OI partially mediated the effect of EB on ITS, TL exerted more influence than CSRI in enhancing EB.Originality/valueThis study enhances retail literature by empirically testing a unique fusion of organization and individual-level predictors that influence ITS as an individual-level outcome. Having TL and a firm corporate philosophy of CSR spending can enhance a retailer's image as a preferred employer brand and generate OI to successfully address employee turnover

How have firms transformed and executed IT-enabled remote work initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic? Conceptualization and empirical evidence from Spain

This paper examines how firms have transformed and executed IT-enabled remote work initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic. After examining archival data on a sample of 100 firms in Spain, we discover three types of IT-enabled remote work firm's strategies: leader, agile, and survival. Leader companies have a competitive advantage over agile companies, which in turn have a competitive advantage over survival organizations. We find that firm size was crucial to executing remote work firm's initiatives as a leader or survival. The industry significantly affected the implementation of remote work firm's initiatives during the three pivotal periods in the telecommunications industry. © 2023

Strategic ambidexterity and its role in achieving contemporary initiatives: an exploratory study of opinions of a sample of managers of travel and tourism companies in holy governorate of Kerbala-Iraq

The research aim to explore influential role of strategic ambidexterity through its two contradictory dimensions (exploration and exploitation) as two strategies that contemporary organizations can adopt in light of achieving contemporary initiatives required by current environment, especially tourism sector in Iraq after the paralysis it suffered as a result of spread of Corona virus and impact of repercussions of this pandemic on various Both industrial and service sectors, as researchers targeted tourism companies in Karbala governorate, which are characterized by attracting tourists to various visitors for religious tourism and in return, it is a port for their roaming to other cities and countries through tourism companies that need to keep pace with surrounding environment of developments and changes based on adoption of the two strategies of ambidexterity in Facing those changes and responding to them, as well as their readiness for rapid developments in this sector, as the questionnaire was adopted as a main tool for collecting data on this study by presenting it to the executive directors of those companies with (40) respondents, and after conducting necessary statistical tests using SPSS program, it was found that there are a strong positive and significant correlation between study variables, as well as a significant effect For strategic ambidexterity across its two dimensions in achieving and promoting contemporary initiatives at corporate level, the study community © The Author 2023. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) that allows others to share and adapt the material for any purpose (even commercially), in any medium with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

The transformative virtual experience paradigm: the case of Airbnb's online experience

PurposeThis research paper aims to explore Airbnb's online experience initiative, which has sparked a new wave of virtual tourism to improvise a large assortment of experiential activities through cyberspace. It works to answer questions pertinent to the type of virtual experiences tourists seek and how these experiences could fulfill tourist needs, thereby rendering favorable socio-mental outcomes through experiences encountered.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on travel experience and transformative tourism theoretical tenets, this qualitative inquiry used data collected from social media posts from virtual tourists.FindingsResults reveal four major themes of online experiences – hedonism, attention restoration, social relatedness and self-exaltation – that encompass 12 experiential categories. They further underscore four types of transformative mechanisms pinpointing hedonic well-being, environmental-mastery well-being, social well-being and eudaimonic well-being.Research limitations/implicationsResearch findings demonstrate how Airbnb exercised marketing agility during severe environmental plight;while expediting strategic initiatives that offer tourists and residents alike a means to reengage in leisure and travel activities at home. They also salvage the peer-to-peer community by turning accommodation hosts into online experience ambassadors.Originality/valueThe contribution of this inquiry lies in assessing virtual experiences and reconnecting how different cyber experiences can meet an array of tourist needs. This study further highlights the transformative virtual experience paradigm to lay the necessary theoretical foundation for future research on virtual transformative tourism. This research goes beyond the common understanding of transformative tourism that relies merely on corporeal encounters. From a practical point of view, this study brings light to a novel concept – sharing experience economy – that incorporates the nuances between sharing economy and experience economy.

MEASURING UP

Rehman discusses the importance of a strong control environment to support environmental, social, and governance initiatives. The organizations are expected to be sustainable in terms of operations and corporate governance. Sustainability requires leaders to look into the future of their organizations and plan for long-term operations, discouraging short-term strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic only reinforced the issue of sustainability. Many organizations that were shortsighted were forced to shut down operations permanently, whereas long-term and visionary organizations were able to sustain themselves during the pandemic. With the introduction of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in 2016, the notion of sustainability has grown beyond the expectation of sustainable corporate governance. The UN's 17 goals target problems such as poverty, health, hunger, pollution, and inequality, and 140 nations are now working toward the attainment of these goals by 2030.

COVID-Vis: Visualizing knowledge exchange on scientific software development in the COVID-19 era

As the world is still recovering from the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, one key aspect of the pandemic era were the global efforts for containment, case tracking and several other factors. While the scientific and governmental initiatives were largely successful and effective, a notable surge was observed in contributions from individuals and programming communities that developed their own software for COVID-19 by using data retrieval and analysis along with visualization methodologies. To achieve their goals, they turned their attention to knowledge exchange portals and asked questions regarding technological queries. In this paper, we present a collective platform that retrieves such questions from a well-known Q&A portal and visualizes the contained information. This platform serves as a useful tool for assessing programming and technological interest in COVID-19 related software development efforts while also promoting the open science principles. © 2022 ACM.

Public Health Practice and Health Equity for Vulnerable Workers: A Public Health of Consequence, May 2023

Structured vulnerabilities that threaten the health of meat- and poultry-packing workers are driven by a complex and complicated host of economic, occupational, social, and health care access-related factors. Recognition of these complexities is a first step. More challenging, yet critical to sustaining a commitment to social justice for these frontline workers, are public health practice initiatives rooted in health equity that work toward eliminating health disparities.In this issue of AJPH, Porter et al. (p. 500) describe implementation of a public health practice initiative aimed at reducing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and increasing vaccine uptake among poultry industry workers. This editorial seeks to contextualize this initiative as one investment in a larger constellation of investments that are needed to provide resources and services equally to all members of our society.

Finding Comfort in Discomfort Reflecting on Stories Told.

INTRODUCTION: The 2022 Presidential Address for the Association for Academic Surgery was focused on better understanding the personal and professional challenges faced by surgeons during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: As part of this work, we embarked on a listening tour, inviting surgeons from all over the country to tell us their stories. This led to forming a panel of five selected participants based on how their stories crosscut many of the most prevalent themes during those conversations. Here, we present thematic excerpts of the 2022 presidential panel, intending to capture that moment and challenge surgeons to contribute to an ever-evolving movement that pushes us to unpack some of our greatest areas of discomfort. RESULTS: We found that, in many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic brought into focus what many surgeons from marginalized groups have historically struggled with. Dominant themes from these conversations included the role of surgery in informing identity, the tensions between personal and professional identity, the consequences of maintaining medicine as an apolitical space, and reflections on initiatives to address inequities. Panelists also reflected on the hope that these conversations are part of a movement that leads to sustained change rather than a passing moment. CONCLUSIONS: The primary goal of this work was to center voices and experiences in a way that challenges us to become comfortable with topics that often cause discomfort, validate experiences, and foster a community that allows us to rethink what and whom we value in surgery. We hope this work serves as a guide to having these conversations in other institutions.

Iranian nongovernmental organizations' initiatives in COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: With the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus crisis worldwide, including Iran, the need for corona prevention and treatment has become a national priority. With many businesses closed in the wake of COVID-19 and job losses and declining incomes, vulnerable individuals' and families' access to the minimum wage and healthcare facilities is falling, and their health is exposed to a great risk. In Iran, a significant number of vulnerable groups are supported by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). This study is designed to understand the performance of NGOs after the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was carried out based on qualitative research between June and September 2020 in Tehran. This study was conducted using individual interviews with 33 managers and experts of 24 active NGOs providing services to vulnerable groups and a member of an NGO network. Data were analyzed using content analysis. RESULTS: Two main themes of service initiatives were extracted: (a) service initiatives to protect the target population against COVID-19 infection and its aftermath and (b) management initiatives to retain staff, finance, and adapt the organization to crisis situations. Service initiatives included five categories of health service initiatives, livelihood, employment, education, and leisure initiatives, while organizational management initiatives include human resource management, financial management, and communication with organizations. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 breadth and its special features have set it apart from other crises and have led NGOs to work hard on several fronts to care for the most vulnerable people against the epidemic and its consequences and maintain the performance of their organizations. The unique role of cyberspace has made it one of the definitive pillars of the activities of NGOs, not only during the epidemic but also after its end.

How assessing district response to COVID-19 can lead to positive change

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the lives of students everywhere. This study sought to understand how effective one school district's response was to COVID-19 regarding emergency remote learning from the student and parent perspectives. Participants and data collected in Cycle 1 consisted of parents and students within the school district who had gone through the emergency remote learning period. Action steps were designed, implemented, and evaluated in Cycle 2 to provide additional resources for the school district to support the growing and changing needs of the community. The Social Opportunities website was created to include a wide variety of organizations and opportunities aimed at increasing access and hopefully improving engagement. Parent and student participants provided critical feedback that assisted in the modification and development of the website in the pursuit of creating a more useful resource for all. The study concluded that there is a need for additional support within the district and that the Social Opportunities website is an efficient avenue to fulfill this need. Implications for the organization included increased engagement among students and families within the school district, an established plan to incorporate the resource within the district, and opportunities for growth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)