Conceptual Frame Research Articles

Attitudes toward sustainable development and employer brands: comparing generations X, Y and Z in two countries

PurposeThis study investigates how sustainability influences employer branding across generational cohorts – Generations Z, Y and X – and between two neighboring countries, Slovenia and Croatia, with different economic development levels.Design/methodology/approachA comparative cross-generational survey was conducted among respondents from Slovenia and Croatia to assess the impact of sustainability on employer brand perception. The survey explored generational attitudes toward sustainability and its integration into the employer value proposition.FindingsThe study found that all the generational cohorts view sustainability as an important factor in their evaluation of employer brands. Generation X showed the most favorable attitude toward sustainability, followed by Generation Z, highlighting the need for organizations to communicate sustainability efforts effectively to attract these groups. However, there were subtle differences between the countries, with Slovenian respondents indicating a slightly higher preference for sustainable practices. Additionally, while Generation Z may not have the same financial leverage as Generation X, their high valuation of sustainability in employer branding demonstrates their future influence as they enter the workforce.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations include the survey’s conceptual framing, which may be inherently biased toward the more affluent Generation X’s capacity to prioritize sustainability and the focus on USA-based generational definitions, which may not be fully applicable across different cultural settings. Future research could address these limitations by refining the conceptual approach and expanding the sample to include more diverse geographical contexts.Originality/valueBy comparing responses from two economically distinct neighboring countries, the study reveals complex inter-generational dynamics and national contexts affecting sustainability’s role in employer attractiveness.

Alan Fox and the managerial “unitary” frame of reference in unionised companies: context, roots, elaboration and international applicability

PurposeThis study investigates the origins and elaboration of the managerial “unitary” frame of reference associated with Alan Fox, focusing on unionised firms: the industrial relations context, intellectual roots, elaboration, adaptation by other writers, and international applicability.Design/methodology/approachTracing the above requirements through contemporaneous sources.FindingsFox’s designation of the unitary frame needs to be understood in its 1960s’ context, particularly the promotion of “productivity bargaining”, and its furthering through management training and education. Fox’s specific contribution is identified. Subsequent UK writers have underplayed the importance of the legal dimension of managerial authority, especially relevant in the US context, while other extra-economic factors bolster the managerial unitary frame in authoritarian societies such as China.Originality/valueThe use of Fox's neglected 1960s’ writings; tracking how Fox developed the unitary frame concept and how it was funnelled into the narrow parameters of non-unionism by subsequent writers; identifying its applicability beyond the UK (with the USA as a historical example and China as a contemporary one).

Laser and Astrophysical Plasmas and Analogy between Similar Instabilities

Multipulse laser–matter interactions initiate nonlinear and nonequilibrium plasma fluid flow dynamics and their instability creating microscale vortex filaments, loop-soliton chains, and helically paired structures, similar to those at the astrophysical mega scale. We show that the equation with the Hasimoto structure describes both, the creation of loop solitons by torsion of vortex filaments and the creation of solitons by helical winding of magnetic field lines in the Crab Nebula. Our experiments demonstrate that the breakup of the loop solitons creates vortex rings with (i) quasistatic toroidal Kelvin waves and (ii) parametric oscillatory modes—i.e., with the hierarchical instability order. For the first time, we show that the same hierarchical instability at the micro- and the megascale establishes the conceptual frame for their unique classification based on the hierarchical order of Bessel functions. Present findings reveal that conditions created in the laser-target regions of a high filament density lead to their collective behavior and formation of helically paired and filament-braided “complexes”. We also show, for the first time, that morphological and topological characteristics of the filament-bundle “complexes” with the loop solitons indicate the analogy between similar laser-induced plasma instabilities and those of the Crab and Double-Helix Nebulas—thus enabling conceptualization of fundamental characteristics. These results reveal that the same rotating metric accommodates the complexity of the instabilities of helical filaments, vortex rings, and filament jets in the plasmatic micro- and megascale astrophysical objects.

Envisioning Information Access Systems: What Makes for Good Tools and a Healthy Web?

We observe a recent trend toward applying large language models (LLMs) in search and positioning them as effective information access systems. While the interfaces may look appealing and the apparent breadth of applicability is exciting, we are concerned that the field is rushing ahead with a technology without sufficient study of the uses it is meant to serve, how it would be used, and what its use would mean. We argue that it is important to reassert the central research focus of the field of information retrieval, because information access is not merely an application to be solved by the so-called ‘AI’ techniques du jour. Rather, it is a key human activity, with impacts on both individuals and society. As information scientists, we should be asking what do people and society want and need from information access systems and how do we design and build systems to meet those needs? With that goal, in this conceptual article we investigate fundamental questions concerning information access from user and societal viewpoints. We revisit foundational work related to information behavior, information seeking, information retrieval, information filtering, and information access to resurface what we know about these fundamental questions and what may be missing. We then provide our conceptual framing about how we could fill this gap, focusing on methods as well as experimental and evaluation frameworks. We consider the Web as an information ecosystem and explore the ways in which synthetic media, produced by LLMs and otherwise, endangers that ecosystem. The primary goal of this conceptual article is to shed light on what we still do not know about the potential impacts of LLM-based information access systems, how to advance our understanding of user behaviors, and where the next generations of students, scholars, and developers could fruitfully invest their energies.

From the Phenomenon of Self-Sufficiency to the Mechanisms of Self-Determination

The paper presents a systematic analysis of key explanatory concepts of different levels of abstraction, being used in the psychological and interdisciplinary concepts for the explanation of the phenomenon of self-sufficiency. The phenomenon of self-sufficiency is defined basing on the understanding of person as the instance which human being as an autonomous agent may oppose to both internal impulses and external pressures, biological and social determinants acting both from within and from outside. The closest construct is that of agency. Agency is viewed as personality variable, reflecting the person’s capacity to initiate and control their actions. Agency appears as the explanatory construct as regards the observable phenomenon of self-sufficiency. However, being holistic and indivisible, it, in its turn, needs a more detailed analysis. Such a brief analysis is provided for the psychological constructs of proactivity, autonomy, personal causation and self-determination as well as for more specific theoretical models of intrinsic / extrinsic motivation, phases of a motivated action, personality potential as the potential of autoregulation, and freedom and responsibility as two sides of personal causation and autodetermination, taking shape during the transition from childhood to adulthood. Freedom is treated as the highest form of activity, a side of personal causation and autodetermination which allows us feeling independent of outer pressures and inner impulses. Responsibility is the second side of personal causation and autodetermination, the highest form of autoregulation, associated with viewing oneself as a cause of some events in the world, it is a controlled capacity of producing goal-directed changes in oneself and in the world. In conclusion the construct of personal life position as an integral person’s attitude to one’s own life is introduced. The constructs analyzed in the paper present the multilevel conceptual frame for treating the phenomenon of self-sufficiency.

Plantation Technologies

In this article we investigate plantation agriculture as a technology aimed at extracting natural resources, utilising unpaid labour, and installing regulatory authority. Using the oil palm plantation territories of Johor State in Malaysia – a core zone of palm oil production, manufacturing and export – as a case study, we ask how more-than-human assemblages enabled the expansion and refinement of oil palm plantations in Malaysia and contributed to the material transformation of the territory. We also explore how plantations can be mobilised as an analytical device to study the urbanisation of territory through agro-industrial production. To explore those questions, we present three episodes of more-than-human involvement in assembling oil palm plantation territories in Johor. Through the conceptual frame of the operationalisation of territory, we bring into dialogue literature on the Plantationocene with critical urban studies and the history of urbanisation.

In/exclusion in fashion discourse: Are we in or out?

This article analyzes the conceptual framing of inclusion and exclusion in fashion discourse, discussing how women are denied or restricted the access to the bounded space of fashion based on a part of their identity, be it their race, religion, disability, gender identification, body weight, or social class. It relies on the data corpus is 1061 Vogue articles, collected between July 2019 and June 2020 and analyzed qualitatively. The current study complements ample research on the container metaphor in political discourse and aims to open a debate on the role of this metaphorical model in a so far largely overlooked discourse of fashion. Drawing on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Critical Discursive Psychology, I demonstrate how the container metaphor pinpoints the repertoire of inclusivity, problematizes the dichotomous relationship between the center and periphery of the fashion industry, and normalizes roles of insiders and outsiders in fashion.

Design and Development of Quadcopter’s Frame

The purpose of this research is to obtain a design and prototype of quadcopter’s frame, which be developed further as a quadcopter that capable of carrying payload of 1.5 kg with flight time of more than 20 minutes. The design begins with estimating the values of Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW), required thrust, propeller dimensions, and wheelbase dimensions of the quadcopter. The results show the MTOW of the quadcopter was 5 kg, with each motor requiring of 2.5 kg of thrust per arm. The wheelbase dimension was 790 mm, and the propeller diameter of 17 inches. A wheelbase dimension was utilized to develop three conceptual frame designs for the quadcopter. The three conceptual designs were selected using a decision matrix table. The selected design was calculated for its structural strength by applying a load of 2.5 kg on each motor mounting. The results show the maximum stress value of 21.17 MPa, the maximum deflection of 3.5 mm, and safety factor of 22.44. Then, the prototype of quadcopter’s frame was manufactured. Therefore, the producing of prototype was measured the mass and deflection. Based on the measurements conducted, the quadcopter frame has an actual mass of 595 grams and a maximum deflection of 3.7 mm. The actual deflection value and the actual mass are close to the deflection and mass obtained from the calculation.

Engaging diverse voices across sites of curriculum making in Australia: realities and possibilities

AbstractResearch to date has pointed out that during periods of curriculum reform, public debate gets politicised resulting in an over-emphasis on top-down approaches to curriculum making. As a group of curriculum inquiry researchers, we are concerned that teachers, students, school leaders and community organisations are often side-lined as integral curriculum actors in curriculum making processes. This paper challenges top-down, discipline-siloed conceptualisations of curriculum making by bringing together three separate curriculum projects, as illustrations, for the purpose of rendering diverse articulations of curriculum as a social process. We apply Priestley et al.’s (Priestley et al., Curriculum making in Europe: Policy and practice within and across diverse contexts, Emerald Publishing Limited, 2021) sites of curriculum making as a conceptual frame, to articulate the diversity of curriculum making activities, curriculum actors and sites of curriculum making in primary and secondary settings. The three illustrations include examining how teachers and students participate in curriculum making about Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia at macro and meso sites; how listening to secondary students as curriculum actors allows them to contribute to shaping school History beyond the nano sites of the classroom and how community and arts-based approaches empower primary students to engage in nano curriculum making (e.g. Hannigan & Kelly, Hannigan and Kelly, Lin et al. Sinner et al. Irwin (eds), Community arts education: Transversal global perspectives, Intellect, 2023). By engaging a collaborative approach that uses illustrations to draw a complementary transdisciplinary picture of the realities and possibilities of curriculum making across different sites, this paper makes a novel methodological contribution to the field of curriculum inquiry.

Психологическая непрерывность как онтологический критерий личной идентичности субъекта

In the current article the author considers the problem of the subject’s personal identity. The analysis of this concept seems to be very relevant, since in today’s public space the concept of identity is used, firstly, as non-problematic, and, secondly, as completely politicized. The analysis of the concept of identity is important because philosophy can look at the subject’s identity without prejudice and thereby depoliticize its concept. And ontology as a branch of philosophy is able to carry out a truly fundamental and comprehensive research of the concept of the subject’s identity. Personal identity turns out to be an ontological concept because the subject exists as identical to itself, and consistent reflection on the modes of existence of the subject inevitably leads us to discover the concept of its identity. The subject of the article is the subject’s personal identity. On the basis of philosophical methodology and on the method of historical analysis, the author of the study considers personal identity as something non-self-evident, placing it in the conceptual framework of subjectivity proposed by Levinas. The personal identity of the subject is endowed with the status of a mediator, smoothing out the collision of the same and the other. In this research, human identity appears as both a space and the result of a collision of familiar experience and new impressions – in the terminology of Levinas – identical and different. The temporal structure of the subject’s identity is revealed. The concept of an ontological criterion of personal identity is put forward and four historical concepts that offer such a criterion are considered: Locke, Hume, Kant and Parfit. Thus, four ontological criteria are found – consciousness, memory, transcendental criterion and psychological continuity. Each criterion is analyzed, integrated into the ontology of the subject’s personal identity and the role of each criterion is traced in the organization of its temporal structure. The results of the research are the reconstruction of the discovered concepts in the status of ontological criteria of personal identity, their comparative analysis is carried out. It is concluded that Parfit’s psychological continuity is the most consistent of all the analyzed criteria because it simultaneously affirms the possibility of the subject’s personal identity and outlines the boundaries of the application of this concept. Though psychological continuity doesn’t fit in Levinas’ conceptual frame because it doesn’t solve existential and ontological problems, that exist around concept of personal identity.

Duals of Continuous Frames in Hilbert C∗-Modules

The concept of frame is an exciting, dynamic, and fast-paced subject with applications in numerous fields of mathematics and engineering. The purpose of this paper is to introduce equivalent ∗-continuous frames and to present ordinary duals of constructed ∗-continuous frames by an adjointable and invertible operator. Also, we establish some properties.

Navigating transformations: Climate change and international law

Abstract The global climate crisis response envisioned by the Paris Agreement is commonly understood as demanding transformative change. International law, however, lacks a holistic conceptual framing for making sense of what such change would entail, how it might unfold, and who and what it will involve. Moreover, there has been little critical engagement with the question of what is at stake when invoking the notion of transformation. Contributing to the broader debate about what the climate crisis demands of international law, this article offers a critical conceptual appraisal of the notion of ‘transformation’. Conceptually, it describes transformative dynamics as processes which work towards radically different states of affairs that seem practically impossible under the status quo, but which could arguably be realized if different conditions were in place. Developing an ontology of transformative change, the article identifies heterogenous temporality, the actualization of impossible possibilities, and distributed engagement as three central features of transformations in climate crisis. Having laid the conceptual groundwork, the article then takes a critical turn and foregrounds unresolved tensions that run through transformation thinking. The aim here is to connect to critical discourses and show how these tensions can serve as entry points for international law to meaningfully engage with the notion of transformation. The article closes by offering some reflections on what engagement with the notion of transformation might mean for international law’s disciplinary identity, rationale, and sense of purpose.

Challenges and Risk Factors of Early Leaving from IVET: Perceptions of Students and Schools´ Staff

A concern across many vocational education systems is the high dropout rate from their programs. This problem is likely to be exacerbated at time of low unemployment rates when employers are less demanding about the certification of skills at the time of employment. This qualitative study examines the factors associated with students leaving early from Initial Vocational Education and Training (IVET) institutions in Estonia. The study analyses the challenges and potential risk factors of IVET early leaving from both the students and staff members points of view. The research participants were 20 Estonian IVET students and 12 staff members from various vocational schools. The study highlights the complex interplay of students’ challenges and emphasises the importance of addressing them to promote retention and success in vocational education and training programmes. The study employs the Self-Determination Theory, more specifically, the conceptual frame of basic psychological needs to interpret the data. The results of the research indicate that students at risk are mainly shaped by their primary school experience prior to vocational school, with teachers and peers as the main influencers.

The Circular Economy: Conceptual Definition and Framing for Socially Responsible Stakeholders

"The paper provides a definition of the circular economy, which could serve as a foundation for taking further actions to enhance the organizational and management mechanisms of the circular economy’s development, in particular through the formation of strategies for the transition to the circular economy both at the level of the state and at the level of the territorial community and individual enterprise as a social responsible stakeholders. This study performs a meta-analysis of the scientific publications indexed by the Scopus database, published from 2001 to 2023 by the keyword “circular economy”, taking into account interdisciplinary approach. Expert opinions and assessments were obtained through an expert survey, which included 300 territorial communities from all regions of Ukraine as one of the key stakeholder groups. Circular economy is understood as a concept that aims to create or develop economic relationships through the operation of sustainable business models based on business processes with an extended product life cycles, socially responsible behavior at micro, macro, and meso levels within the framework of planetary boundaries. The proposed definition is suitable for use by various groups of stakeholders, as it emphasizes that the development of a circular economy is only possible through the interaction of business, individual citizens, and the state."

Understanding Young Children’s Composition Across Three Key Components: Transcription, Connection, and Discourse

ABSTRACT Early writing (i.e. young children’s emerging skills prior to the onset of skilled writing) provides important foundations for literacy; however, its components are not evenly understood, assessed, or supported. Transcription skills (handwriting/spelling) are emphasized, while other aspects of composing are often sidelined. Understanding multiple composing components, including transcription, is critical. This study, examining a large corpus of composing samples (N = 394 samples) across two writing tasks, explores composing using a holistic conceptual frame and includes components of transcription in context (handwriting and spelling), connection (relationship between pre- and post-writing verbalizations), and discourse (quantity of ideas expressed). The results demonstrate variable skills (38%-41% of samples using scribbling and drawing; 63%-68% demonstrating connection between pre- and post-writing verbalizations) and further demonstrate that children express more ideas prior to writing, compared to following writing, on average (M = 3.48–4.12 ideas in pre-writing verbalization; M = 2.60–3.13 in post-writing verbalization), suggesting that many children transform and shorten their writing naturalistically and without prompting. Relationships between components were inconsistent (transcription and connection significantly related, ps < .05; other relationships were nonsignificant, ps > .05). The study provides insights into children’s writing processes and has implications for instruction and assessment.

The neighbor spectrum in community housing: Pro-social, anti-social and asocial neighboring in Vancouver

ABSTRACT This article presents focus group research with community housing residents in Vancouver, Canada, investigating the role, activities, and importance of neighboring to these individuals living in vulnerable situations. Neighborly relationships play a key role in connecting the private home with the larger urban community through processes of home-making, social inclusion and integration, but an increasing share of urbanites are excluded from the structural and social expectations of good neighboring. Although neighbors constitute weaker and different ties than friends and family, and although contemporary urban community housing situations present barriers to good neighboring, neighboring is nonetheless essential to urban quality of life. We propose a conceptual frame of a spectrum of neighboring and find that pro-social neighboring, anti-social neighboring, and a middle zone of asocial neighboring, all are important aspects of life in community housing that are also defined in a context-specific way by community housing residents. The outcomes of this research highlight the need for urban social and housing policy that addresses neighboring across the spectrum as an important part of social inclusion and well-being efforts in cities contending with increasing density, diversity, and vulnerability.

How institutional disruptions impact the choice of MNC subsidiary control systems

PurposeThis study seeks to explicate how institutional disruptions impact multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiary control choices. It uses institutional theory to understand the influence of formal and informal institutions across countries on the type of control system employed in an MNC manufacturing subsidiary.Design/methodology/approachThis study’s sample is based on a unique dataset from five trustworthy sources. We use multi-level models to account for the hierarchical nature of the sample of 1,630 multinational subsidiaries spread across 26 host countries by firms from 21 home countries.FindingsThe institutional distance between the host and the home country has a negative relationship with strategic control. In contrast, the home country’s power distance has a positive relationship with strategic control.Originality/valueStudy findings indicate the need to incorporate formal and informal institutional elements in the control system’s conceptual framing and design. This notion complements existing visualizations of optimizing MNC controls through extant articulations of minimizing governance costs through organizational design choices or strategic needs.

“I Know It is a Stereotype, but People Love to See It”: Chinese Journalists’ Perceptions of Sexual Violence Victims

ABSTRACT Drawing on the concept of framing, this paper investigates the perspectives of Chinese journalists on sexual violence against women. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 Chinese journalists from official, commercial, and freelance media outlets. The study identified two primary frames relating to female victims of sexual violence: the “idealness” of victims and the newsworthiness of victims. The paper examines how these frames relate to China’s socio-economic, cultural, and organisational context. It is argued that the perceptions and news values of Chinese journalists regarding sexual violence are influenced by both macro-level factors—such as socio-economic, organisational, and cultural factors, and micro-level factors, such as the journalists’ professional reputation and personal values. This interplay of factors results in the symbolic erasure of certain victims of sexual violence. The findings of this study underscore the importance of examining the cognitive frames journalists use when reporting on sexual violence, identifying key factors that influence their reporting. In doing so, the study contributes to existing literature on the framing of women’s issues.

Religio-temporal framing and religio-social synchronization in family discourse in Saudi Arabia

Studies on time and timing in language often adopt psychological or cognitive perspectives. This work aims to study the relationship between time, religion, and family discourse. An interactional sociolinguistic approach was used to collect data from spontaneous family interactions to study how religious activities govern how family members in Saudi Arabia organize their day and simultaneously how different times of day are organized though religious activities. This study draws on Gordon’s study of family discourse, Van Leeuwen’s concepts of timing and Goffman’s concept of framing to investigate how family members organize their time in what can be referred to as religio-temporal framing and religio-social synchronization, and how this plays a role in the co-construction of Muslim identity.

Consumption and place: the phenomenology of relational economic geography

ABSTRACT This article contributes to research on geographies of consumption and relationality in economic geography by analysing the interconnection of consumption and place in practice, based on ethnographic research. This text focuses on consumption defined broadly to include a choice of clothing and lifestyle among young people in a British town characterized as ‘chavs’. The research is grounded in ethnographic fieldwork, including photo-elicitation interviews, observations and participant observations. To analyse the ways in which consumption is related to place, this text integrates conceptual frames used in economic, cultural and social geography with perspectives developed in economic sociology and anthropology. The study takes a relational approach in both theory and fieldwork. Our empirical analysis demonstrates that place and style consumption are relationally constitutive through practices of association and dissociation. We thereby show that the meanings attached to a place may derive partly from acts of consumption by those living there, but also that the relationship of meaning construction goes from consumption to the constitution of place. Our analysis presents evidence that style and the value attributed to people’s practices are co-constituted by the inhabitants, as well by other, typically external actors, such as bloggers and the media.