Alternative Theoretical Framework Research Articles

A Conceptual Framework for National Dialogues: Applied Theories and Concepts

National dialogues are recognised as vital tools for resolving political conflicts, fostering state- and nation-building, enhancing social cohesion, and facilitating peaceful socio-economic and political transformation. Despite a growing body of literature examining national dialogues and their outcomes, there remains a gap in understanding their theoretical underpinnings and conceptualisations. This article addresses this gap by conducting a discursive analysis offering an alternative theoretical framework for national dialogues, drawing on three theories: social contract, consociationalism, and conflict transformation. Using secondary data from scholarly journals, reports, political agreements, and documented policies and strategies, this article assesses the theories’ applicability in developing a conceptual framework for national dialogues. An analysis of each theory demonstrates that, while they approach peacebuilding from different angles, they share unique and common themes such as participatory governance, addressing root causes, and building trust and cooperation, which are essential in designing and implementing successful national dialogues. Leveraging the unique elements of each theory, the observed insights provide a more comprehensive approach to planning and implementing national dialogues, even in diverse socio-economic and political contexts. This is pertinent to scholars in the field of peace studies, governments, political entities, civil society organisations, and international stakeholders engaged in national dialogue processes.

Green Pan-Africanism: Normative power and the making of a regional sustainability order

Abstract This article examines the role of normative power in shaping the global sustainability order. It challenges the prevailing focus on hegemonic leadership and norm diffusion from dominant states, arguing that less powerful states have contributed significantly to the global order by creating regional initiatives tailored to their unique contexts. The article adopts an alternative theoretical framework of norm-governed change, comprising norm-building, institutionalisation, and transformation. Using an illustrative case study of Africa’s regional economic institutions, it employs process-tracing and archival analysis of key policy documents. The study demonstrates how African states have proactively embedded environmental norms within their regional initiatives, while contributing to the global sustainability agenda, exemplifying a form of normative power referred to as ‘Green Pan-Africanism’. This approach broadens the understanding of global sustainability governance, positioning less economically powerful actors as active participants in world-making. The findings highlight the critical role of normative power in advancing global sustainability governance, particularly in addressing complex global challenges such as climate change.

Иррациональные начала политики в зеркале общественнополитической мысли (От Древней Греции к современности и дальше)

This article attempts to study the problem of the influence of irrational factors on politics and its reflection in the space of socio-political thought. Having started by identifying theoretical models of understanding the irrational in politics, the author fixes the theoretical and methodological framework, which is used by default when mastering the subject, and subsequently wonders: how else can the irrational be included in the sphere of political analysis and modelling? The author uses the texts of ancient Greek thinkers as the starting point. On their basis she reconstructs the basic set of approaches that form a conventional model to understand the role of the irrational in politics, and then highlights several features of the ancient discourse about the irrational. Firstly, this is the generative and teleological function of the irrational in connection with political reality: ancient thinkers primarily associated with irrational principles such matters as the origin of wars, power, law and the state, as well as the goals of political development. Secondly, the irrational factor limits the space of political subjectivity and, more specifically, free choice for a person and a citizen, because it is in the irrational field that the “last argument” is located. Thirdly, this is the trend towards the transition from metaphysics to psychology. Further analysis shows that this theoretical trajectory is preserved and consolidated within the framework of Western European political science discourse. Having established that the ancient Greek model of understanding the irrational is reproduced not only in discourse but also in practice, the author formulates an important question for political science: how productive are reflections that derive recommendations for socio-political coexistence from certain psychological human qualities or arbitrarily interpreted divine revelations? — and thereby invites the scientific community to revise classical approaches and to have an active dialogue within the topic. She proposes the concept of parallel discourses — verbal and non-verbal — as an alternative theoretical and methodological framework for the scientific study of irrational factors in politics.

Free vibration of sandwich beams with graphene nanoplatelets reinforced piezoelectric face sheets

Owing to its exceptional physical properties, graphene is considered as an excellent reinforcement for composite materials. However, the existing higher-order models encounter significant hurdles when attempting to accurately predict the natural frequencies of sandwich beams with graphene nanoplatelets reinforced composite (GNPRC) piezoelectric face sheets. If transverse shear deformations are not accurately modeled, the dynamic behavior of piezoelectric sandwich beams will be noticeably influenced by the disparities of material properties at the interfaces of adjacent layers, as well as the inherent electromechanical coupling characteristic. To overcome these challenges, an advanced electro-mechanical coupling theory will be introduced for the vibration analysis of sandwich beams featuring GNPRC piezoelectric face sheets. Compared to previous higher-order models, the proposed beam model introduces an enhanced interlaminar shear stress field incorporating electromechanical properties. This improved stress field can be involved in the equations of motion based on the Hamilton principle, significantly enhancing the precision in analyzing the free vibration behavior of piezoelectric sandwich beams. Furthermore, a simplification of finite element implementation can be achieved by removing the second-order derivatives of in-plane displacements from the transverse shear stress field. Consequently, a C0-type three-node beam element is constructed for the dynamic analysis of sandwich beams with GNPRC piezoelectric face sheets. To validate the performance of the proposed theory, the 3D elasticity solutions and results obtained from alternative theoretical frameworks are used. Numerical results demonstrate that the present model offers superior accuracy over the existing higher-order theories. Additionally, a comprehensive parametric investigation is conducted to explore the influence of key parameters on the free vibration characteristics of piezoelectric sandwich beams.

Exploring the Field of Virtual Avatar: A Bibliometric and Content Analysis

The virtual avatar (VA) concept has gained significant attention since the introduction of virtual products. This study aims to investigate the present level of advancement and forthcoming research directions in the domain of VA while also constructing a conceptual framework for VA. A thorough examination of the VA field was carried out by integrating bibliometric and content analytic techniques. Eight hundred ninety-nine journal articles underwent descriptive bibliometric analysis using CiteSpace and VOSviewer software to construct and visualize synthetic networks. Two hundred forty-eight documents were selected for content analysis. VA is mostly focused on a few specific disciplines and journals prioritizing innovation. Conducting empirical investigations in many settings can enhance the research areas of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Extended Reality (XR), including improving algorithms, exploring accessibility usage, and examining public service applications. Alternative theoretical frameworks can provide novel insights and additional directions for the development of the VA field.

Consumer Well‐Being at the Base of the Pyramid and Subsistence Marketplaces: A Review and Research Agenda

ABSTRACTA disparate collection of knowledge on the well‐being of low‐income consumers presents difficulties for both academics and practitioners. This review article addresses the critical need for a comprehensive synthesis of existing knowledge on well‐being of low‐income consumers. Focusing on Base of the Pyramid and Subsistence Marketplaces literature, we employed the SPAR‐4‐SLR protocol to structure our methodology and applied ADO–TCM framework for literature analysis. Our review uncovers conflicting evidence regarding the impact of conspicuous consumption, meeting basic needs and relative well‐being on consumer well‐being. Additionally, we highlight the diversity in conceptualisations of consumer well‐being, leading to inconsistent findings. We advocate qualitative methods, longitudinal studies and triangulation as potential research avenues. Our analysis underscores research gaps regarding the influence of culture, Western subsistence markets, alternative theoretical frameworks and under‐explored facets of consumer well‐being. We propose a set of research questions and objectives to guide scholars in this field.

Household earthquake readiness: Conceptualization and measurement

Decades of research have been dedicated to understanding and measuring the capacity of households to face and deal with earthquakes. A reflective-measure model equating household earthquake readiness to preparedness has been adopted assuming the presence of a common factor. However, using instruments with unknown psychometric properties is prevalent, instruments with known psychometric properties are unaligned with the construct, and information on the source of items is missing. This study proposes an alternative theoretical framework based on a causal indicator model equating household earthquake readiness to hazard adjustments applied to earthquakes; investigates the presence of a common factor; and, suggests a new measure constructed following the literature guidelines and based on prior research on household earthquake readiness: Earthquake Adjustments Checklist (EAC). Factor Analysis was used to analyze the data from 921 residents in the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago vulnerable to seismic risk. The final version of the EAC contains 13 items derived from the literature that are congruent with Portuguese household earthquake recommendations and with the supporting construct. These items were formulated to be applicable elsewhere. A four-factor solution was obtained differing from the three postulated dimensions of hazard adjustments. The results showed weak correlations, low commonalities and internal consistency pointing to a common factor that is nonexistent or at least insufficient to explain the variability in the adoption of household earthquake adjustments. Moreover, a weak correlation was found between two factors. These findings have implications for the understanding and measuring of household earthquake readiness and practice.

Intimate Partner Abuse and Homicide During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Situational Action Theory Analysis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, stay-at-home restrictions significantly changed people’s daily lives around the world. Opportunity and strain theories predict this would lead to an increase in intimate partner abuse (IPA), including intimate partner homicide (IPH). This paper applies an alternative theoretical framework—situational action theory (SAT)—to explain mixed findings regarding changes in IPA and unexpected findings regarding (a lack of) changes in IPH. It is argued that SAT may contribute to explaining the impact of stay-at-home restrictions on IPA and IPH in three important ways: 1. by addressing the fact that motivation is necessary but not sufficient for explaining action and better specifying how motivation translates into IPA and IPH; 2. by addressing the fact that people perceive different alternatives for action and better specifying why some people come to see IPA and IPH as acceptable action alternatives; 3. by addressing the fact that exposure affects people differently and better specifying how stay-at-home restrictions shaped people’s activity fields and, in turn, their perceptions and action choices.

Advancing elderly healthcare: adapting UTAUT2 with inhibitors for wearable device continuance

PurposeWearable health devices (WHDs) have demonstrated significant potential in assisting elderly adults with proactive health management by utilizing sensors to record and monitor various aspects of their health, including physical activity, heart rate, etc. However, limited research has systematically explored older adults’ continued usage intention toward WHD. By utilizing the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2), this paper aims to probe the precursors of elderly adults’ continuance intention to use WHD from an enabler–inhibitor perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe research model was developed based on UTAUT2 and examined utilizing the partial least squares technique (PLS). The research data were collected through in-person meetings with older people (n = 272) in four cities in China.FindingsResults reveal that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic values and perceived complexity are the positive predictors of elderly adults’ continuance intention to use WHDs. Technology-related anxiety and usage cost negatively influence the formation of older people’s continuance intention.Originality/valueThis work is an original empirical investigation that draws on several theories as guiding frameworks. It adds to the existing literature on the usage of wearable technologies and offers insights into how the elderly’s intentions to continue using WHDs can be developed. This study broadens the scope of the UTAUT2 application and presents an alternative theoretical framework that can be utilized in future research on the usage behavior of wearable devices by individuals.

Beyond the neoliberal label: A historical perspective on sexual actors and responsibility in HIV prevention in England (1986-2023).

Framed across three distinct periods of the history of neoliberalism and the HIV epidemic in England, this article conducts a detailed examination of the concept of personal responsibility and its contested uses within HIV prevention. The article questions the theoretical potential of neoliberal subjectivities to comprehend behaviours related to the pharmaceuticalised governance (or lack thereof) of gay men's sexual health, exploring the gap between theories emphasising individual responsibility and the practical experiences of gay men. The analysis draws on testimonials from gay men in oral history interviews and archival sources. The article illustrates how the pervasive notion of personal responsibility in England has been co-opted by neoliberal ideologies, leading to the stigmatisation of gay men whose sexual behaviours diverge from public health mandates. The widespread stigmatisation resulting from this ideology underscores a significant limitation in the theoretical framework of neoliberal subjectivities. This constraint extends beyond merely failing to grasp the complexity of sexual behaviours; it also reflects a lack of understanding of any other behaviour related to public health. Therefore, the article concludes by advocating the necessity of employing and constructing alternative theoretical frameworks to comprehend the pharmaceutical governance or lack thereof of gay men's sexual health. Through a concise autoethnography of the authors' pharmaceutical sexual health governance, the article introduces the concept of biocommesuration as an illustrative analysis that transcends the limitations of neoliberal subjectivities.

Experience‐driven well‐being and purchase: An alternative model of memorable wine tourism experiences

AbstractWine tourism has several distinctive features that militate against using Kim et al.'s model of memorable tourism experiences to understand its antecedents and consequences. Accordingly, this study adopts an alternative theoretical framework—the stimulus–organism–response theory—to develop an alternative model. Data were collected from visitors to a well‐known vineyard in Yantai, China and structural equation modelling and multiple group analysis were used to analyse them. The results suggest that experience co‐creation, sensory experience, experiential satisfaction and appealing winescape are significant and positive antecedents of a memorable wine tourism experience, while eudaimonic well‐being and wine purchase intention are significant and positive outcome variables. Visit frequency was found to be a moderating variable linking the winescape to memorable wine tourism experiences. Those who travel to the region frequently form a bond with the winescape that not only contributes to their well‐being but also stimulates their future intentions to purchase its wine.

Investigation of the Electrokinetic Properties of HIV-Based Virus-Like Particles.

The antigen density on the surface of HIV-based virus-like particles (VLPs) plays a crucial role in the improvement of HIV vaccine potency. HIV VLPs consist of a dense protein core, which is surrounded by a lipid bilayer and whose surface is usually decorated with antigenic glycoproteins. The successful downstream processing of these particles is challenging, and the high-resolution and cost-efficient purification of HIV-based VLPs has not yet been achieved. Chromatography, one of the major unit operations involved in HIV VLP purification strategies, is usually carried out by means of ion exchangers or ion-exchange membranes. Understanding the electrokinetic behavior of HIV-based VLPs may help to improve the adjustment and efficiency of the corresponding chromatographic processes. In this study, we investigated the electrokinetics and aggregation of both undecorated and decorated VLPs and interpreted the data from the perspective of the soft particle model developed by Ohshima (OSPM), which fails to fully predict the behavior of the studied VLPs. Post-Ohshima literature, and particularly the soft multilayer particle model developed by Langlet et al., provides an alternative theoretical framework to overcome the limits of the OSPM. We finally hypothesized that the electrophoretic mobility of HIV-based VLPs is controlled by an electrohydrodynamic interplay between envelope glycoproteins, lipid bilayer, and Gag envelope.

Individual Dignity as the Foundation of an Inclusive Society

In Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, the Supreme Court considered voluminous evidence that Harvard discriminated against Asian Americans to keep the racial composition of its student body similar year after year. The Court held that Harvard engaged in unlawful discrimination, providing clarity to an area of the law that was filled with ambiguities and self-contradictions. The Court’s decision made clear that discrimination in favor of some racial groups necessarily inflicts discriminatory, race-based harms on others. This Article explores how Fair Admissions sheds light on the failure of identity politics to create a genuinely inclusive, egalitarian society. Practitioners of identity politics, whom this Article refers to as identitarians, argue that all “people of color” in the United States have a common political interest in uniting against the hegemony of the White majority. In reality, racial minorities experience both positive and negative interactions with members of the White majority and other racial minorities. Fair Admissions revealed how, in some circumstances, members of the White majority may unite with some racial minorities to perpetrate discrimination against other minorities. Identitarianism provides no account of how society should weigh the competing interests of different minorities in a manner that best serves the common good. Nor does it offer a vision for how the White majority and racial minorities can and should strive to live together in harmony and cooperation. This Article argues for an alternative theoretical framework for civil rights advocacy rooted in individual dignity. It argues that society should banish arbitrary racial categories from public life, enforce bans on discrimination against both overt and covert discrimination when justified by the evidence, foster talent-based institutions that are inclusive of all people, and promote honest discourse about race. Only a society that values and respects the dignity of the individual can be genuinely inclusive and egalitarian.

"Unpacking" cultural differences in social anxiety between Japanese and European Americans: the roles of threat appraisal and attentional bias.

Cultural differences in self-reported social anxiety between people of East Asian heritage and European heritage may be related to differences in independent and interdependent self-construals, which potentially influence the processing of social threat. We examined the roles of two different aspects of threat bias: threat appraisal (Study 1) and attentional bias (Study 2) to explain cultural group differences in social anxiety between Japanese and European American college students. Study 1 demonstrated that sequential mediations of lower independent self-construal and higher appraisal of threat among Japanese could explain their higher social anxiety compared to European Americans. However, Study 2 failed to find the relation between cultural group differences in self-construals and attentional bias. In addition, the cultural group differences in attentional bias were unexpectedly due to stronger selective attention toward neutral stimuli among European Americans, rather than bias toward social threat among Japanese. After selective attention was experimentally manipulated, there were significant cultural group differences in self-reported social anxiety and anxious behavior in a speech task. These conflicting findings suggested that an alternative theoretical framework other than the self-construal theory might be needed to fully account for cultural differences in attentional bias in explaining cultural group differences in social anxiety.

Recognising the recovering addict with Honneth: an intervention into the stigmatising language debate in the alcohol and other drugs field

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of the recommendation to replace identity-first language with person-first language on people who self-identify as recovering addicts as part of a recovery programme. Narcotics Anonymous (NA) will be used to illustrate the contextualised nature of the recovering addict identity.Design/methodology/approachTo demonstrate the value of the recovering addict identity and social relations in NA, this paper draws on Axel Honneth’s theory of mutual recognition and self-formation.FindingsPerson-first language overlooks the significance of identity-first language to people in 12-step recovery. This oversight is linked to the logic of stigma reduction which excludes all identity-first language by association rather than assessing the impact of such terms on a case-by-case basis. Honneth’s theory is used to show how the recovering addict identity facilitates self-confidence and self-esteem through relations of mutual recognition in NA.Research limitations/implicationsThe argument excludes people who identify as recovering addicts, but do not attend 12-step groups. Further research would be needed to understand how the recommendation to use person-first language instead of identity-first language impacts upon other recovery communities and pathways.Practical implicationsThe recommendation to replace identity-first language with person-first language might result in 12-step fellowships becoming marginalised within the broader academic and policy and practice arena. Language preferences can become a contentious issue when 12-step groups and their members enter the wider recovery arena where their preferred terminology is viewed as stigmatising and dehumanising.Originality/valueTo the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first article to propose an alternative theoretical framework to stigma reduction for judging morally appropriate language in the alcohol and drugs field.

Relational contract theory, the relevance of actual performance in contractual interpretation and its application to employment contracts in the United Kingdom and Australia

This article articulates a theory of relational contract, as an alternative to traditional freedom of contract philosophy. The law has moved away from freedom of contract to some extent, and it can be criticised on the basis of its unrealistic assumptions and detachment from the typical reality of parties’ contracting. Relational contract theory is a possible suitable alternative theoretical framework. It may be useful in relation to contract interpretation. Specifically, it can be utilised to support a broader approach to contract interpretation, with the court focussing on the entirety of the parties’ relations, including the written terms and also subsequent performance. It enjoys some support in the United Kingdom and in other common law jurisdictions. It can support the view taken by two justices of the High Court of Australia in a recent contract interpretation decision involving employment contracts. The article favours the approach taken by these justices, rather than that of the majority, whose judgment reflects classic contract law sentiments at odds with the general direction of contract law in comparative jurisdictions.

Tourism, Value Appropriation, and Ecological Degradation

This article highlights the main characteristics of the rapid development of tourism during recent decades, as well as the limitations of the existing literature concerning this development. An alternative (Marxist) theoretical framework is then developed for the explication of the development of commodified tourism, the role of ecological and cultural (value) appropriation in the determination of capitalist profitability, and its developmental implications. As argued, this value and resource appropriation and the exploitation/appropriation dialectic have adverse socioeconomic and ecological implications, while leading to the rapid growth of tourism against other sectors. On the other hand, the cultural homogenization and ecological degradation brought about especially by mass tourism imply a self-limiting development of tourism itself. Concluding that the current mode of tourism development is ecologically and socially unsustainable, we end with a broad outline of a different perspective of decommodified tourism within a post-capitalist development.

Exploring lead users' continued participation intention in crowdsourcing innovation community in China: the effects of network externalities

PurposeLead users are essential participants in crowdsourcing innovation events; their continuance intention significantly affects the success of the crowdsourcing innovation community (CIC). Although researchers have acknowledged the influences of network externalities on users' sustained participation in general information systems, limited work has been conducted to probe these relationships in the CIC context; particularly, the predictors of lead users' continued usage intention in such context are still unclear. Hence, this paper aims to explore the precursors of lead users' continuance intention from a network externalities perspective in CIC.Design/methodology/approachThis work ranked users' leading-edge status to recognize lead users in the CIC. And then, the authors proposed a research model based on the network externalities theory, which was examined utilizing the partial least squares (PLS) technique. The research data were collected from an online survey of lead users (n = 229) of a CIC hosted by a China handset manufacturer.FindingsResults revealed that the number of peers, perceived complementarity and perceived compatibility significantly influence lead users' continuance intention through identification and perceived usefulness.Originality/valueThis work contributes to the crowdsourcing innovation research and provides views regarding how lead users' sustained participation can be developed in the CICs. This work also offers an alternative theoretical framework for further research on users' continued intention in open innovation activities.

Sick and working: Current challenges and emerging directions for future presenteeism research

SummaryPresenteeism refers to working despite ill health that might otherwise warrant sickness absence. Estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars in lost productivity, the concept has attracted the attention of different academic disciplines, policymakers, and practitioners interested in mitigating the problem. Although a topic of significant interest, the current understanding of presenteeism is compromised by a number of conceptual and methodological factors that follow from one another. We begin this introductory article by providing a brief overview on three specific challenges, namely, (1) presenteeism ill‐defined as a unitary construct, (2) narrowness of approaches to measure and study presenteeism, and (3) insufficient research on the social and relational dynamism that characterizes presenteeism. We then provide an overview of the eight articles that comprise this issue and analyze how they address the aforementioned three challenges by adopting alternative theoretical frameworks, utilizing new measurement approaches, and/or by shedding light on the dynamic nature of presenteeism. Finally, we discuss fresh perspectives and promising directions for future research endeavors on this topic, with the hope that this issue will inspire further research on the practical implications of presenteeism for promoting positive health and well‐being at the workplace.

Diversity, solidarity and the construction of the ingroup among (post)colonial migrants in The Netherlands, 1945–1968

ABSTRACT Concerns about the impact of immigration (‘diversity’) on welfare states (‘solidarity’) are widespread among political economists. This article presents an alternative theoretical framework for understanding their relationship. Using social and cultural theory, I argue that it is tautological to suggest that diversity and solidarity covary; both emerge out of the same ideological and material efforts to construct an ‘ingroup.’ I probe this theory with a historical case study of the inclusion of (post)colonial migrants in the Netherlands from 1945 to 1968. Complementing secondary literature with original archival research, I show key state and non-state agents of the emergent Dutch welfare state constructing racial categories by fixing ‘Westernness’ or ‘rootedness’ as a salient determinant of ingroup membership, locating (post)colonial migrants in relation to it, and distributing entry, citizenship and social rights accordingly. An elusive metric of cultural proximity, ‘Westernness’ was under construction at the same time as it was in use, as state officials, social workers, and private charities negotiated its meaning with the public. The article not only compels European welfare scholarship to acknowledge race and racism in its recent past, but also builds theory regarding the influence of identity on redistributive outcomes.