Conceptual Arguments Research Articles

Towards transforming teaching and learning in higher education: interrogating poverty through a decolonial perspective

This paper aims to address three questions relating to the imperatives of knowledge transformation, the impact of poverty broadly and material poverty in particular, and questions of pedagogy or approaches to delivering knowledge in higher education institutions. Transformation of teaching and learning in higher education is at a crossroads in South Africa. A major driver of this is the recently emerged student-led protests on decolonisation. At these crossroads are a number of factors with the potential to facilitate or inhibit the decolonisation process. First is a conceptual paralysis regarding understanding of the idea in the country’s higher education. Second are competing ideological imperatives which confound universities’ strategic choices. Third is the fact that the academy has a high proportion of staff who themselves are products of the system they hope to transform. The paper utilises conceptual and theoretical arguments to explore the state of teaching and learning in South Africa and to learn how the protests have enhanced or/and diminished educational gains among students who are poverty stricken and facing deprivation. The paper argues for a theory of decoloniality to shape thinking and practices which enable higher education institutions to transform teaching and learning and specially to drive the type of transformation which enhances poor students’ epistemological access. The paper recommends investment in further research to explore the impact of material poverty in higher education and how the transformation of knowledge and pedagogy could be better understood for the majority of students who live with poverty in higher education.

Analysis of Effectiveness Argument-Driven Inquiry to Improve Students’ Argumentation Skill and Conceptual Understanding

Objective: This study examined the effectiveness of the Argument-Driven Inquiry learning model in science learning in improving students' argumentation skills and conceptual understanding. Method: The techniques used are 1) searching articles on Scopus and Google Scholar using the keyword Argument-Driven Inquiry in science learning, 2) articles were selected focus on increasing conceptual understanding and argumentation skills, 3) the metadata was selected limited to 2015-2023, and 4) conducting the in-depth review. Results: The ADI model was able to improve students' argumentation skills. In general, students' argumentation levels are in levels 3-4. The quality of the arguments developed by students shows the understanding of the concepts possessed by students. Students can reach the cognitive level created (C6) by writing scientific reports. Novelty: This study reinforces previous research regarding the effectiveness of the ADI model in improving argumentation skills and conceptual understanding taken from recent articles. Therefore, this article can be the basis for developing learning tools for the ADI model.

Economic analyses of repugnant market transactions: a modest typology

AbstractEconomic accounts of repugnance concern two broad questions: the rationalisation of sentiments of repugnance (do emotional and visceral reactions of repugnance track valid reasons for not engaging in or condemning certain (trans)actions?) and institutional design (how to institute, regulate, or restrict markets in response to reasonable objections). If repugnance expresses valid practical reasons for regulating or limiting markets, our institutions should acknowledge and express these. If attitudes of repugnance are not rationalisable in the sense of instrumental or moral values, we should disregard or eventually counteract or reduce them. Focusing on a special case of repugnance, when commodification, i.e., the sale of goods or services for money meets societal disapproval, this paper identifies three characteristic ways to combine conceptual, empirical, and normative arguments and map repugnance into a disciplinary ‘epistemic frame’ of economics: repugnance as taste; repugnance as proxy for market failures or moral reasons; repugnance as hypocrisy or contingent cultural fact. Correspondingly, economists advise to (1) work around; (2) make sense of; and (3) explain away people's sentiments of repugnance.

A systematic review of meaningful work unifying 20 years of theoretical and substantive contributions (2000–2020)

PurposeMeaningful work is gaining importance in the core domains of human resources research. However, there is confusion regarding what constitutes meaningful work and its determinants and outcomes. Earlier studies have conflated conceptual and empirical arguments. Hence, researchers lack clear insights into factors related to employees' experiences of meaningfulness. This study aims to discuss the aforementioned issue.Design/methodology/approachThe authorsconducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of 88 studies (2000–2020) meeting relevant criteria to identify dominant trends and significant gaps in the authors’ understanding of meaningful work.FindingsThis review identified six aspects to conceptualize meaningful work. At the same time, the authors highlighted the dominant theory and the instrument used to explain and measure meaningful work. Based on the same, the authors identified different groups of individual and organizational-level determinants and outcomes of finding meaning in work. The analysis also indicates that the comprehension of meaningful work was restricted because most data were obtained from the USA, Europe and certain regions of Asia. During this assessment, the authors observed that several studies emphasized individual-level effects, self-reporting and cross-sectional studies, which restricted the ability to make causal inferences.Originality/valueThis study extends earlier works where the authors stock-take existing research for the past 20 years and build on past trajectories to enrich the authors’ understanding of meaningful work. Unlike earlier works that focused on a specific domain, such as human resource development, this work differentiates by taking an integrated framework-based approach leveraging the antecedents, decisions and outcomes (ADO) and the theories, contexts and method (TCM) framework to consolidate and advance knowledge in the field thoroughly.

Moduli of spaces with prescribed homotopy groups

We describe a homotopy-theoretic approach to the theory of moduli of realizations of Blanc-Dwyer-Goerss, reproducing their obstructions to realizing a given Π-algebra as homotopy groups of a pointed space. Our techniques are based on the ∞-category PΣ(Sph) of product-preserving presheaves on finite wedges of positive-dimensional spheres, leading to more conceptual and streamlined arguments.

Business Model Research: Past, Present, and Future

AbstractBusiness model research has grown into an insightful area of inquiry, and articles in the Journal of Management Studies (JMS) have greatly contributed to this topical area. This introductory article to the thematic collection of business model research offers an overview of the pertinent literature as well as foundational knowledge, so it is suitable for scholars who are familiar with the topic, but it is also helpful for those wishing to join the conversation. Business model research has thrived at the intersection of strategy, innovation management, and entrepreneurship studies. This body of research is characterized by both a bold vision to improve our understanding of the architecture and building blocks of business models as well as conceptual and empirical debates about the way forward in the digital age of continuing disruption, platformization, and ecosystem transformations. We suggest three promising areas for future research: business model portfolios, competitive dynamics between heterogeneous business models, and business model design for more sustainable economy.

(Mis)Understandings of defence diplomacy as public diplomacy: Insights from three Spanish elites

Defence diplomacy and public diplomacy are two diplomatic practices often treated in the literature as two disconnected realms. While the former focuses on the peaceful and cooperative use of armed forces, the latter emphasizes on the advancement of strategic communication in the international policy of actors. However, it is possible to bridge the differences between the two using the concept of soft power. By doing so, defence public diplomacy can be understood as a set of practices developed by states seeking to influence and attract third states while employing military force within these parameters. This paper contributes firstly to the conceptual debate bridging both types of diplomacies. Secondly, it selects a case study, Spain, to examine the perceptions of three different Spanish elites involved in the formulation and implementation of defence public policy: politicians, the military and defence industry managers. This paper adopts a qualitative methodology, including in-depth interviews, focus groups with experts, and manual content analysis of primary documentary sources. The results show that these elites agree on the importance of defence diplomacy for the achievement of state goals but continue to understand it fundamentally from a classical diplomatic prism. They also discuss the inclusion of new concepts, such as deterrence, as part of a defence public diplomacy.

Mindfulness and workplace safety: An integrative review

AbstractMindfulness has recently gained popularity in applied settings to enhance workplace safety, especially in safety‐critical occupations such as healthcare and construction. In this review, we synthesize existing research across disciplines to establish a theoretical model of mindfulness and safety. Based on 32 empirical studies, we first summarize and critically analyze how mindfulness and safety are conceptualized and operationalized in the literature. We then consolidate empirical findings and conceptual arguments and draw upon the job demands–resources model to propose a theoretical model linking the basic benefits of mindfulness to safety‐related job demands. Specifically, we propose that mindfulness (a) improves detection of and responses to workplace risks and hazards, (b) enhances concentration and self‐monitoring of safety behaviors in cognitively demanding situations, and (c) facilitates more adaptive responses to emotional burdens. We further propose that the mindfulness–safety link can vary across boundary conditions, including personal and contextual characteristics. Our theoretical model serves as a foundation to integrate existing knowledge and guide future research. We conclude by highlighting specific opportunities for researchers and practitioners to advance research and applications of mindfulness and workplace safety.

Hypervernacular Design: Rethinking the Vernacular Design Paradigm

Abstract Contemporary design discourse needs words to discuss its role in everyday life. Therefore, this article rethinks the meaning and value of the term “vernacular design” in contemporary society, with a focus on vernacular graphic design. We argue that the domain needs an interpretation that is more attuned to novel approaches around hybridity and plurality in design. We frame this development from a theoretical perspective by introducing the concept of hypervernacular as a relational and plural approach. We ground our conceptual argument through a case study description that explores the everyday, ubiquitous, and more-than-human position of the plant species Japanese knotweed through collaboration.

The Inconceivability Argument

This paper develops and defends a new argument against physicalist views of consciousness: the inconceivability argument. The argument has two main premises. First, it is not (ideally, positively) conceivable that phenomenal truths are grounded in physical truths. (For example, one cannot positively conceive of a situation in which someone has a vivid experience of pink wholly in virtue of the movements of colorless, insentient atoms.) Second, (ideal, positive) inconceivability is a guide to falsity. I attempt to show that the inconceivability argument enjoys a significant advantage over the more familiar conceivability argument. One can reasonably endorse the inconceivability argument without endorsing the conceivability argument, but one cannot reasonably endorse the conceivability argument without also endorsing the inconceivability argument.

Data, AI and governance in MaaS – Leading to sustainable mobility?

Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is regarded as key innovation for sustainable mobility, with data and AI playing a central role. This paper explores the nexus of data-AI-governance in MaaS to understand in how far sustainability is addressed. While the role of data and AI is covered by technical literature, and governance by social science literature, these discussions remain largely separate in MaaS. This paper aims to redress this issue through an interdisciplinary narrative literature review that brings together these literature sets. The research question is: How does the data-AI-governance nexus in MaaS give rise to hybrid forms of governance between humans and algorithms and what are the implications for sustainable mobility? Results show that: (1) The data collection and processing that is crucial to MaaS, might reproduce socio-political inequalities. (2) AI-driven customisation and nudging of end-user demand ignores rebound effects, that can only be avoided if sustainability objectives are central. (3) Inadequate integration of mobility service supply might exacerbate mobility challenges. (4) When mobility system optimisation through AI becomes more widespread, MaaS platforms might become a form of algorithmic governance. (5) Whether sustainability can be reached, depends on how and by whom (sustainability) objectives of algorithms will be decided. The paper concludes that hybrid governance for sustainability requires close collaboration between policymakers and industry players and acknowledging AI algorithms as important non-human actors. The paper contributes to conceptual debates on sustainability and data/AI, governance and data/AI in MaaS and beyond, and to policymaking on aligning platform systems with sustainability.

When Food is Finance: Seeking Global Justice for Migrant Workers

The steady growth of international labour mobility has been one of the defining features of globalization. Alongside the liberalization of international trade, labour mobility has been a key dynamic propelling economic development in the new millennium. In recent years, migrant labour is increasingly regulated via temporary schemes, deepening and widening migrant precarity. This paper argues that a growing reliance on temporary migrant workers reflects the financialization of global agriculture. Drawing on conceptual debates among scholars of critical finance studies, migration governance and food systems, it explores the implications of financialization for social justice work, asking how a systemic understanding of the migrant experience with financial institutions and practices might enhance rights-based advocacy.

Comparing Health Workforce Policy during a Major Global Health Crisis: A Critical Conceptual Debate and International Empirical Investigation.

The health workforce is central to healthcare systems and population health, but marginal in comparative health policy. This study aims to highlight the crucial relevance of the health workforce and contribute comparative evidence to help improve the protection of healthcare workers and prevention of inequalities during a major public health crisis. Our integrated governance framework considers system, sector, organizational and socio-cultural dimensions of health workforce policy. The COVID-19 pandemic serves as the policy field and Brazil, Canada, Italy, and Germany as illustrative cases. We draw on secondary sources (literature, document analysis, public statistics, reports) and country expert information with a focus on the first COVID-19 waves until the summer of 2021. Our comparative investigation illustrates the benefits of a multi-level governance approach beyond health system typologies. In the selected countries, we found similar problems and governance gaps concerning increased workplace stress, lack of mental health support, and gender and racial inequalities. Health policy across countries failed to adequately respond to the needs of HCWs, thus exacerbating inequalities during a major global health crisis. Comparative health workforce policy research may contribute new knowledge to improve health system resilience and population health during a crisis.

The importance of calibration in policy mixes: Environmental policy integration in the implementation of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy in Germany (2014–2022)

AbstractEnvironmental policy integration (EPI), that is, the incorporation of environmental concerns in non‐environmental policy areas, has been widely adopted in public policies. However, EPI research has found much discrepancy between environmental objectives and actual implementation. This paper argues that analyzing EPI in the context of policy mixes with multiple objectives, multiple instruments and their calibrations helps to better understand unavoidable tensions and limitations. We develop a framework to assess EPI at these three levels of policy output, synthesizing the EPI and policy mix literatures. We further distinguish four analytical dimensions to assess calibrations: stringency, specificity, flexibility, and temporality. A case study of the national implementation of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Germany 2014–2022 is used to elaborate the conceptual argument. The CAP has saliently incorporated environmental objectives, while implementation, including the calibrations of most instruments within predetermined corridors, is left to member states. A systematic meta‐review of 142 texts evaluating policy instruments and calibrations in the CAP 2014–2022, focusing on Germany, found that several CAP instruments link most farm income support to pro‐environmental behavior. These instruments could potentially have high environmental effectiveness and efficiency. But actual policy calibrations delivered weak EPI due to low stringency and specificity, while high flexibility and temporal accommodation of farmers' needs might support EPI by increasing acceptance. Weak EPI resulted from instrument calibrations in the face of unavoidable trade‐offs between competing objectives. Our results demonstrate that calibrations can significantly affect the strength of EPI adoption, and the priorities within policy mixes more generally.

The authoritarian narrator: China's power projection and its reception in the Gulf

Abstract This article argues that transregional communication mechanisms and the diffusion of narratives are important co-drivers towards autocratization. Offering a look beyond the ‘material’ in the study of global authoritarianism, it makes two conceptual arguments. It shows show transregional authoritarian practices are often discursively reinforced. Moreover, it demonstrates how narratives and their transregional diffusion are a form of authoritarian image management and a tool for fostering authoritarian stability. Departing from the basic assumption of authoritarian diffusion, the article is guided by two questions: which narratives of supremacy are used by the Chinese government in the context of the pandemic? And how are these narratives received, reproduced and contested in the Gulf? Based on a qualitative analysis of more than 3,000 media outlets (March–May 2020) from China and the Gulf region, the article shows how China strategically promotes authoritarian narratives regarding its international role, by telling stories of supremacy and heroism and by narratively conjuring a new world order. Moreover, it shows how the Chinese narratives are diffused to Iran, Saudi-Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar and depicts the different patterns of reception, reproduction and contestation.

World Bank Concept of Good Governance, Contemporary Nigerian Democracy, and the Place of the Media

This paper offers a conceptual debate on good governance from the perspective of the World Bank and other relevant scholars in this area. To effectively achieve good governance, everyone has a pertinent role to play - from individuals to the people, the government, and the media. Also, several factors contribute to good governance, these include accountability, equity, and justice, protection of life and properties, upholding the rule of law, amongst others. The mass media is regarded to be the greatest backbone of democracy and the most effective tool for investigating, informing, and educating the public on issues that are important to the everyday lives of the citizenry, to enhance participation, and ultimately for Nigeria to achieve adequate good governance. Thus, this paper recommends that to effectively achieve good governance, there is a need for absolute resolve and the willingness to change our mindset, way of life as well as partisan-media dynamics

Cohabitation: Conceptual Significance and Practical Inconsistency

Non-marital cohabitation is a rapidly rising universal phenomenon in this modern era. The post-modern or capitalist society, the concepts of relationships between man and woman particularly the way of thinking towards cohabitation or living relationship has seen a drastic change. The issue of cohabitation from a sociological perspective to comprehend the nature of such a shifting structure of marriage. In this context, to know the rise in rates of cohabitation and its different meanings and implications in related to the way of life in terms of personal and social relationships and consequences. It is more rational to rethink in these types of meanings and implications particularly in marriage systems. There is different social meaning and cultural significance between traditional marriage system and newly emerged cohabitation practice. This paper tries to analyze the conceptual debate and practical contradiction of cohabitation and conventional marriage system. Likewise, this study provides an analysis of causes and consequences of cohabitation in existing societies.

Mapping knowledge assets categories for successful crowdfunding strategies

PurposeCrowdfunding models recently emerged as relevant enhancing systems aimed at fostering innovation and entrepreneurial dynamics. Accordingly, great attention has been paid to seeker firms' characteristics and platforms. For this reason, adopting a holistic knowledge-based perspective on crowdfunding is essential. This paper first identifies and categorizes the potential knowledge-based dimensions grounding crowdfunding and technological scouting strategies to provide a theoretically-grounded framework potentially useful for driving decision-making processes. Then, it is applied to interpret a real crowdfunding strategy developed by an Italian platform in the field of the real estate sector.Design/methodology/approachThe paper combines deductive and inductive approaches. After elaborating a conceptual framework identifying the potential knowledge-based dimensions for a crowdfunding strategy, it is tested and applied by re-interpreting a real crowdfunding strategy.FindingsThe study identifies the potential knowledge assets dimensions grounding a crowdfunding strategy through elaborating a dedicated conceptual framework. Then, the case study enriches the proposed conceptual arguments with a set of empirical evidence.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper provides a conceptual framework capable of fostering a specific research stream and carrying out a first holistic and systematic knowledge-based perspective. The authors believe that their research may provide a relevant contribution to the existing literature, depicting a comprehensive picture of the intellectual capital components that seekers have to identify and manage in crowdfunding. While doing so, the study significantly addresses the challenge launched by Troise et al. (2021) in order to enrich prior but highly fragmented studies on the role of intellectual capital components in crowdfunding.Practical implicationsThe analysis of the models and tools developed and discussed can be useful to support the elaboration and the application of practical knowledge-based approaches, protocols and routines for the value generation in the crowdfunding field and to drive the designer of crowdfunding platforms and strategies to develop more effective and impactful initiatives and campaigns. Accordingly, when elaborating a crowdfunding strategy, it should be effectively highlighted that seekers have and are capable of managing intellectual capital in different manners. This is particularly true for new ventures that are generally challenged to provide information about their quality, in particular about founders, their previous experiences, potential and real networks and partnerships, innovation capacity.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the further development of the crowdfunding literature according to a knowledge-based perspective.

Insurgency and national security: a perspective from Cameroon’s separatist conflict

This study examines the nature and factors associated with the onset of the conflict in Cameroon’s North West and South West regions to contribute to conceptual, theoretical and methodological debates in war/conflict studies. It used an explorative approach, examining the immediate political tensions prior to hostilities and major government policy areas. It shows that teachers’ and lawyers’ protests (beginning in 2016) and strategic miscalculations by the government and rebels are the immediate factors associated with the onset of the conflict. The underlying factors include greed, colonial heritage, a history of insurgencies, an internal geography conducive to group conflict and guerrilla warfare, poor macroeconomic performance, the ability to finance authoritarianism without relying on taxes, political decay, slow political development, a turbulent regional neighbourhood and unfavourable international relations. The results enable four main contributions to longstanding debates in war/conflict studies. First, an insurgency is a distinct type of war. Second, insurgencies occur due to several immediate and underlying factors unique to each case. Third, studying insurgencies requires a holistic approach, examining immediate and underlying factors. Finally, although rebel victory is impossible in an insurgency, multiple and widespread insurgencies can nullify the essence of a state, making insurgencies important national security threats.

Sonic registers of belonging: British mobile young people in UK higher education

ABSTRACT Drawing on interviews with British passport holders who moved to the United Kingdom to start University, this paper explores slang and accent as sonic spatial identities. The paper analyses the inclusions and exclusions in belonging as articulated by British mobile young people through their sonic spatial identities. In doing so, the paper extends wider conceptual debates on embodied belonging by arguing for a need to further explore the sonic as a register of belonging. It argues that research on sonic spatial identities needs to be more attuned to mobility in order to explore and challenge wider discourses of exclusion. The article concludes by offering suggestions as to how to develop research in belonging and identity on an everyday sonic register.