Search results for "General Social Sciences"
showing 10 items of 574 documents
Strengthening Institutional Isomorphism in Development NGOs? Program Mechanisms in an Organizational Intervention
2017
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in international development struggle between being actors in the mainstream or representatives of alternatives to it. However, many NGOs all over the world align with the mainstream and are increasingly similar to each other. This homogenization results from institutional isomorphism, which is affected by their aspirations to be legitimate vis-á-vis the international field. Consultancies are among the main practices to promote normative isomorphism, but little is known about their micro-level dynamics. Drawing on the notion of program mechanisms in realistic evaluation, we scrutinize how external facilitators in organizational development processes enab…
The Conference Reimagined. Postcards, Letters, and Camping Together in Undressed Places
2019
In this paper, five authors account for the rethinking of a conference as a series of postcards, letters, rules and silent moments so that traditional hierarchies of knowledge could be overturned or, at least, sidelined. We recount how the place we convened was enlisted as an actor and the dramas and devices we applied to encounter it. We use this accounting to problematize the conventional practices of goal-oriented meetings and co-authored papers as forms of academic meaning-making. In finding a meeting point where expertise was disorientated and status undressed, we were able to investigate the idea of co-being between human and nonhuman realities as the step social theory needs to take …
Reducing Relationship Conflict in Virtual Teams With Diversity Faultlines: The Effect of an Online Affect Management Intervention on the Rate of Grow…
2020
The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of an online affect management intervention on relationship conflict through the rate of growth of team resilience in virtual teams with diversity faultlines. Fifty-two 4-person teams participated in a randomized controlled trial design with repeated measures (i.e., three measurement occasions). Teams were randomly assigned to either an intervention designed to help them manage emotions in virtual teams or a control condition. Our findings showed that affect management can reduce the level of relationship conflict in virtual teams with diversity faultlines and that this effect can be explained by the pattern of change in team resilience in re…
Teachers’ Work-Related Well-Being in Times of COVID-19: The Effects of Technostress and Online Teaching
2022
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the first measures implemented in Italy was the transition from frontal teaching to online teaching. The sudden need to use technologies to perform their job has added a source of stress to teachers’ work: so-called technostress. The difficulties experienced in this transition may also have affected the perception of work-related well-being, although other variables, such as the perception of the meaningfulness of work, could alleviate this sense of uneasiness. The study aims to examine the relationships between technostress, online teaching, pleasure in working, and meaningful work perceptions among 219 teachers from different school …
Not just daycare: nordic mothers in research, development and innovation navigating work and childcare
2022
Nordic welfare policies mitigate work–childcare reconciliation; however, they are not enough for mothers working in intensive work cultures. In addition, there are differences among the three Nordic states in both work–family policies and cultural norms as to how they should be used. In this article, we study the resources mothers who work in research, development and innovation (R&D&I) in Finland, Norway and Sweden rely on in their work–childcare reconciliation. Thematic analysis of interviews with 74 professionals resulted in identifying four main resources: father involvement, parental leave system and daycare, flexible working, and grandparent help and networks. Our analysis brings to v…
Temporal perspective on the gender-related differences in online learning behaviour
2022
Although several studies suggested considering gender in online learning, the literature about how male and female students would behave is fragmented. Little attention has been paid to the effect of gender on online learning behavioural patterns. This study aimed at investigating the roles of gender in online learning behaviours by analyzing the gender-related differences of students’ online learning behavioural patterns. We used the case study approach with descriptive statistical analysis, lag sequential analysis, and temporal log data analysis to investigate gender-related differences in students’ online learning behaviours. The results indicated no significant difference in the counts …
Empowering Absence? Assessing the Impact of Transnational Male Out-Migration on Left behind Wives
2023
Experiences of left-behind family members of transnational migrant workers have been in the shadow of academic discourse on migration. To contribute to the slowly growing body of literature, this study explores the impact of male out-migration on left-behind wives. The study proposes and applies a novel framework to estimate Women Empowerment Index (WEI) for comparing the empowerment level across households with and without men in transnational labor. Cross-sectional surveys and unstructured interviews were used to collect data from 373 respondents from three selected areas in Nepal. Results indicate that left-behind wives experience a higher degree of decision-making authority, physical mo…
Discussions of Fatherhood in Male Batterer Treatment Group
2013
The aim of this study was to examine how men who have perpetrated violence toward their partners and participated in batterer group talked about being a father and how they perceived their own fatherhood. The discussion in the group was analyzed qualitatively by using the methods of content analysis. In traditional fatherhood, they talked about avoidant, passiveness, distant, indifference, and authoritative controlling ways of acting. These men also created an image of themselves as active and caring fathers, thus including empathy and nurture in the concept of fatherhood. This new fatherhood was considered an achieved goal and an objective for the men as being a father. Talking about fath…
Researching Children’s Multiple Family Relations: Social Network Maps and Life-Lines as Methods
2015
Visual methods are reported to have certain advantages when conducting interviews on sensitive topics, such as intimate spaces, home-related ethical issues, and vulnerable families. In this article, we concentrate on two visual methods: social network maps and life-lines. In our research project on children’s well-being and emotional security in multiple family relations, we collected data by interviewing children and asking them to complete social network maps and life-lines. We discuss the suitability of these two visual methods for describing children’s close relationships with their family members and significant others. Combining these two methods during an interview process with child…
A qualitative study of pre-service teachers’ experienced benefits and concerns of using motivational interaction in practice after a training course
2022
This is a pre-print of a published study: Renko, E., Koski-Jännes, A., Absetz, P. et al. A qualitative study of pre-service teachers’ experienced benefits and concerns of using motivational interaction in practice after a training course. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 9, 458 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01484-y Despite its positive effects on physical activity promotion, motivational style of interaction by health professionals is not easily taken up, as shown by meta-analyses of training courses. The concerns professionals experience for taking up the novel skills remain an open question. Preservice physical education teachers were offered a 16-hour training course on motivational i…