Purpose Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs) are critical community-based/informal financial mechanisms, especially in underserved markets. Despite their enduring relevance, ROSCAs remain underexplored. This study aims to systematically map and synthesize 50 years of ROSCA-related scholarship, highlighting intellectual structures, thematic trajectories and emerging research opportunities relevant to financial inclusion and grassroots finance. Design/methodology/approach A bibliometric analysis was conducted using 177 peer-reviewed articles indexed in Scopus from 1973 to 2024. We employed the PRISMA protocol for article selection and utilized Bibliometrix (R package) for performance, network and thematic evolution analysis. Key indicators such as citation trends, co-authorship patterns and co-word clusters were visualized and interpreted. Findings Four dominant thematic clusters emerged: (1) informal financial practices and saving behavior; (2) ROSCAs as vehicles for social capital and gender empowerment; (3) developmental finance in low-income economies and (4) trust, reciprocity and group enforcement mechanisms. The analysis also traces the field's intellectual progression from descriptive ethnographies toward theoretical and digital financial inclusion discourses. Practical implications Findings offer insights for marketers and financial service providers targeting unbanked populations. ROSCAs provide scalable models for inclusive financial innovation, relationship marketing and culturally embedded service design. This study supports the integration of ROSCAs into mobile banking, agent banking and trust-based community outreach strategies. Originality/value This is the first comprehensive bibliometric review focused exclusively on ROSCAs. By bridging informal finance and banking marketing, it offers a strategic roadmap for future academic inquiry and innovation in inclusive financial services.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of young entrepreneurship on the evolution of sustainable corporate governance in Pokhara Metropolitan City, Nepal. The study employed a mixed-methods approach and analyzed the data from 36 young entrepreneurs through a survey and semi-structured interviews with six people to evaluate the awareness, practices, and difficulties related to the modern corporate governance principles. The findings of the study show that young entrepreneurs in Pokhara Metropolitan City exhibit moderate levels of awareness of formal corporate governance principles (mean familiarity score: 3.47), with strong adherence to core operational practices. In particular, this study shows a predominant emphasis to specific area of tax compliance (mean: 4.58) and systematic financial record-keeping (mean: 4.42) and relatively less focus to the area of engagement with advanced methods, where regular stakeholder meetings (mean: 3.58) are presented. Interestingly, modernization occurs via digital tools such as significant barriers include administrative e-complications (mean: 3.75), lack of knowledge (mean: 3.25), and resource shortages (mean: 3.14). The qualitative data through interviews reveal a tension between traditional informal practices and professional models. The findings suggest a need for specific training, policy changes, and support. This study fills empirical gaps and offers implications for policymakers, educators, and business associations in creating accountable and innovative governance frameworks to enhance economic resilience and attract investors.

ABSTRACT This case study presents qualitative observations and interview data to explore the operation of an informal urban garden in Shenzhen. In contrast with formal urban horticulture practices in neighboring areas, observation reveals that grower-squatters claim usufructuary rights to engage in informal horticulture activities which are commonly transferred through informal transactions. Non-confrontational land claims, social networks governed by tacit understandings, and self-motivated recycling of resources, all rooted in informal arrangements, have collectively sustained flourishing urban horticultural practices for the past decade. Strikingly, these informal arrangements have not only endured but consistently outperformed adjacent formal community gardens, which, despite official sanction and investment, fell into neglect. Such informal practices can contribute to the development of sustainable, self-organizing urban gardens in megacities.

The advertising industry has transitioned into a highly fragmented and dynamic environment, yet the nature of conflict within agency-client relationships remains under-researched, particularly in transitional markets. While literature extensively covers “success factors,” there is a notable gap in under standing the pragmatic, day-to-day conflict resolution strategies employed by practitioners. This study ex plores how advertising practitioners in Romania perceive the causes of conflict and identifies the informal practices used to prevent, manage, and resolve these tensions. Specifically, it examines the “expectation-ex pertise asymmetry” that characterizes modern digital advertising services. Using an exploratory qualita tive design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five Romanian advertising professionals. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis framework. Findings reveal five dominant themes: (1) an epistemic gap where execution-level practitioners view academic theory as dis connected from rapid digital shifts; (2) a pervasive “expectation asymmetry” driven by “dreamer” clients seeking instant ROI; (3) the emergence of “technical translation” as a critical relationship-maintenance tool; (4) the proactive use of value-based boundaries to protect agency reputation; and (5) a deliberate shift from creative logic to contractual pragmatism during conflict resolution. The study concludes that conflict stems from role ambiguity and technical knowledge gaps. It identifies the Account Manager as a critical “boundary spanner” and informal media tor. By bridging conflict theory with practitioner-led solutions, this research contributes to a grounded understanding of how professional service relationships are sustained in emerging European markets. Keywords: Advertising agency, agency-client relationships, conflict management, account management, Romania, qualitative research, thematic analysis.

Purpose This study aims to examine supply chain resilience (SCR) in the defence industry by mapping supply-side, demand-side and internal risk dimensions and corresponding mitigation strategies disclosed by seven publicly listed defence firms over 2014–2024. Drawing on Resource Dependence Theory (RDT), the study introduces the Strategic Risk and Resilience Roadmap (S3R) to explain how firms use bridging and buffering to manage evolving resource dependencies. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a longitudinal qualitative content analysis of annual reports. It combines artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted extraction using large language models (LLMs), iterative prompt engineering and manual cross-validation against source reports to categorise risks, trace mitigation strategies and track shifts in disclosed mitigation postures across three disruption eras: Baseline (2014–2019), Pandemic (2020–2021) and Emerging Risk (2022–2024). Findings Firms adapt SCR by rebalancing bridging and buffering as resource dependencies change across disruption eras. In the Baseline era, firms rely mainly on bridging to stabilise external dependencies; during the Pandemic, they scale buffering to protect continuity under acute shocks; from 2022, they combine to adopt a hybrid posture as constraints persist and multiply. Supplier capacity and availability dominate post-2022 and customer-side risk reorients from funding uncertainty to delivery–performance exposure during ramp-ups. S3R traces a path-dependent process in which shifts in resource dependence drive risk reassessment, posture recalibration and learning that strengthens SCR over time. Research limitations/implications While based on publicly available reports and AI-extracted content, the analysis may omit informal or undisclosed practices. Future research should triangulate findings with interviews and firm-level performance metrics to deepen the insights. Originality/value This paper applies a longitudinal, AI-assisted qualitative content analysis of annual reports across supply-side, demand-side and internal risk dimensions, and it extends RDT into SCR by revealing dynamic bridging and buffering cycles across three disruption eras. It offers theoretical insight into the temporal evolution of defence SCR and a practical, multi-dimensional diagnostic framework.

Robust evidence confirms that physical activity (PA) levels among older people who live in care homes are considerably lower than those who live in their own homes. Low PA in care homes may reduce independence, function, and quality of life. To explore social ecological factors that influence PA facilitation in care homes. Focussed ethnographic study informed by social ecological models in five care homes for older people comprising 54 h of non-participant observation and 15 in-depth interviews with care workers. Observations focused on key interactions between staff and residents, the daily routines of care homes, and the physical environment. Interviews were informed by observations and sought explanations for observed behaviour. Data were subjected to reflexive thematic analysis. The findings show how care workers' perceived roles, identity, and sense of purpose influenced how (or if) PA was facilitated. The study identified blurred role boundaries between formal and informal care practices in relation to PA. Blurred role boundaries led to a continuum between formal and informal PA facilitation practices that were mediated by intrapersonal, interpersonal, organisational and physical environmental factors. Formal roles in PA promotion were defined by their explicit inclusion in job descriptions, for example, staff employed as activity coordinators, and were highly demarcated leading to limited interprofessional collaboration among care workers regarding PA. Conversely, informal roles reflected how recognising and creating incidental opportunities to promote PA occurred for all staff as they enacted their roles during day-to-day work. Social spaces in the care home physical environment acted as destinations that encouraged walking and incidental PA, especially when supported by staff creativity and encouragement. These findings provide evidence to support the transformation of care worker roles in a way that emphasises PA facilitation as a key part of the role. Care home staff, residents, and family members contributed to the design of the observation topic guide and the practical procedures to implement the observation element of the ethnography. Member checking of the themes with two care home managers and three members of care home staff that were participants in the study was conducted to obtain feedback on the findings.

Consequences that matter: Community insights from the Southwestern Puerto Rico Seismic Sequence

International studies report that teachers increasingly seek safety through compliance rather than pursue professional autonomy. Yet what remains insufficiently explored is the way in which teachers inhabit imposed educational policies without adhering to their intended logic. This article mobilizes Michel Foucault’s concept of counter-conduct and Karen Barad’s diffractive reading to analyze multiple enactments of everyday resistance through an empirical case of a South Korean teacher. By diffractively reading qualitative data drawn from a teacher’s experiences within state-led educational policies, this article reveals how a teacher’s day-to-day counter-conduct emerges through material and discursive entanglements. This article foregrounds the subtle and informal practices through which teachers inhabit power differently. It advocates creating new spaces for unheard or unvoiced empirical cases of teachers’ everyday resistance within contemporary educational reforms.

Land disputes constitute a persistent and destabilising governance challenge in Puntland, Somalia, driven by weak land administration systems, contested public land allocations, and widespread informal occupation. In contexts where enforcement mechanisms are limited, such disputes can escalate into organised violence and large-scale displacement, undermining social cohesion and local governance structures. This study examines the scale, dynamics, and implications of land disputes in Puntland, particularly their impact on governance systems and social stability. To address these dimensions, the study adopts a qualitative research design, framed as a program evaluation with a case-oriented analytical approach, drawing on numerous data sources, including analysis of unpublished training and field reports from seven districts, and key informant interviews with purposively selected local government officials, judicial actors, land conflict management committee members, and community representatives who participated in the Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs, and Democratization of Puntland interventions. In addition, a case study of the Sheerbi conflict is used to illustrate the dynamics and severity of land disputes. Through this integrated design, the study assesses how these interventions have influenced local dispute resolution practices, mediation processes, and compliance with Puntland’s Urban Land Management Law (Law No. 2 of 25 August 2020). Data were analysed using thematic content analysis to identify recurring patterns and institutional challenges. The findings indicate that land disputes remain among the most critical drivers of instability in Puntland. These conflicts often stem from the absence of effective state control over land governance, contestation over public land allocations, and the prevalence of informal settlement practices involving individuals who are often involved with armed actors capable of mobilising. In some instances, the public officials, particularly those serving as mayors or executive secretaries within local governments, are among the primary actors involved in land grabbing and as major beneficiaries of illicit land accumulation, contributing to governance deficits. The study highlights the need for reforms to strengthen land governance systems, including the digitalisation of land registration processes, enhanced community engagement mechanisms, alignment and enforcement of local by-laws with state legislation, and setting up systematic land dispute incident reporting frameworks. These measures are critical to promoting sustainable conflict resolution and long-term stability in land administration.

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) reported 93% completion of private house reconstruction after Nepal’s 2015 earthquake, but this achievement largely ignored local building cultures and community needs. Uniform enforcement of building codes and “Build Back Better” guidelines led to standardized concrete “grant houses” that often failed to reflect climate adaptation, livelihoods, social organization, economic capacity, or cultural practices. Many households view these houses as temporary and are modifying them informally, often without technical support. With the end of NRA, ongoing reconstruction relies heavily on untrained masons and informal practices, increasing vulnerability. The 2023 Jajarkot earthquake exposed persistent construction flaws, limited code compliance, and weak dissemination of earthquake-resistant knowledge. Traditional stone-and-mud housing was mistakenly blamed for failures, accelerating inappropriate adoption of industrial materials. Poor land-use governance and unresolved land ownership further compounded risks. Drawing on a decade of experience, ASF Nepal highlights lessons from community-based, socio-technical reconstruction programs that integrate local knowledge, skills, and livelihoods to achieve safer, culturally rooted, and sustainable housing outcomes.

ABSTRACT This paper explores the still under-researched implications of the migration – aging nexus for adult education and learning, drawing on the perspective of a caring society that positions care as integral to democratic life. It argues that theoretical frameworks and social movements – including care-democratic, care-revolutionary, and convivialist approaches – offer powerful insights for rethinking how adult education and civic learning can empower older migrants, foster active citizenship, and promote social inclusion. Highlighting the complex intersectional vulnerabilities faced by older migrants – including socioeconomic disadvantages, racism, ageism, and limited access to care – the paper emphasizes the need to move beyond deficit perspectives and to recognize their contributions as active, caring citizens through informal practices and community-based engagement. Adult education plays a critical role in supporting the development of relational, civic, and transformative competences and in co-creating participatory learning spaces where care and democracy can be practiced and expanded. The paper concludes by calling for more research on the migration – aging nexus and by underlining the value of integrating care ethics into educational frameworks. This has significant implications for policy and practice: it advocates for public spaces as inclusive learning environments that strengthen older migrants’ participation in community life and help build democratic structures centered on care. Positioning civic learning as a caring practice, the paper contributes to redefining adult education as a lever for solidarity, social justice, and democratic renewal in diverse societies.

Knowledge management (KM) plays a critical role in enhancing the performance and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), yet challenges such as limited resources, technological adoption, and informal knowledge practices hinder effective knowledge utilization. This review investigates the influence of KM practices, absorptive capacity, and innovation strategy on SME performance, providing a structured framework for understanding their interrelationships. A systematic literature review was conducted using databases including Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, applying inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify high-quality studies relevant to SMEs. The review highlights that KM practices encompassing knowledge creation, sharing, storage, and application positively impact operational efficiency, innovation, customer satisfaction, and strategic decision-making. Absorptive capacity acts as a mediator, transforming knowledge into actionable insights, while innovation strategy aligns KM initiatives with organizational objectives, enabling sustainable growth. Technology-enabled KM tools, including digital platforms, cloud systems, and emerging AI and blockchain solutions, further enhance knowledge accessibility, integration, and utilization. The synthesized insights culminate in a conceptual framework linking KM practices to SME performance, illustrating pathways through which knowledge-driven mechanisms foster competitiveness and growth. This study contributes theoretically by integrating mediating and enabling mechanisms into SME KM literature and practically by offering guidance for managers, policymakers, and KM system developers. Future research directions include empirical testing of KM frameworks, exploring contextual variations, and investigating technology-enabled solutions to strengthen absorptive capacity and innovation in SMEs. Overall, the study underscores the strategic importance of knowledge management for sustainable SME performance and growth.

Background: This study examines the competitive dynamics of the artisanal wooden furniture industry in Misantla, Veracruz, Mexico, a predominantly informal productive system characterized by family-managed production units and strong territorial embeddedness. Methods: A mixed-methods research design was employed. Quantitative data were collected from 187 family-managed production units (86 woodworking units and 101 workshops) using a structured questionnaire based on five-level Likert scales assessing external efficiency, collective efficiency, and innovation. Statistical analyses included descriptive measures and chi-square tests to examine associations between competitiveness and collective strategies, while qualitative validation and thematic interpretation based on expert assessments were used to contextualize sectoral practices and structural constraints. Results: The findings indicate a low overall competitiveness score (1.92/5), associated with informal practices, limited technical training, and weak supply chain integration. Despite these constraints, the sector maintains a strong cultural identity and contributes to its local economy. Conclusions: Artisanal supply chains can achieve functional levels of logistics performance through internal coordination dynamics. Strengthening collaboration mechanisms is a viable strategy for improving logistics performance in artisanal manufacturing systems in emerging economies. These findings provide empirical evidence to support the design of collaborative strategies that integrate traditional craftsmanship with modern supply chain practices in artisanal micro-industries.

Affordable homeownership schemes aim to mitigate housing inequalities and broaden access to homeownership among low-to-middle-income households. In urban China, affordable homeownership governance followed a path-dependent market logic institutionalised since the late 1990s, frequently generating dysfunctions and conflicts. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed these governance failures and necessitated renewed state intervention, constituting a critical juncture. Building on a case study of Xinjia Yuan, a state-led affordable homeownership scheme in Shanghai, this article examines how governance practices evolved and adapted to China’s broader governance transformations before, during, and after the pandemic. The study draws on historical institutionalism to analyse how grassroots actors developed informal practices amid the path dependence of state entrepreneurialism and the critical juncture of state reassertion. The findings reveal how informal practices among grassroots actors gained legitimacy over time. While direct state intervention sustained market-oriented governance frameworks, the pandemic outbreak reasserted grassroots party-state authority, further facilitating the state-led mobilisation of active residents to address market limitations in the post-pandemic era. This article offers critical insights into governance transitions in affordable housing management by highlighting the grassroots state’s role as an essential safety net and extending the analytical lens to grassroots adaptive practices.

Abstract This article examines the role of language in enhancing disaster resilience for cyclone-affected communities in rural Malawi. It focuses on the linguistic challenges faced in humanitarian aid efforts in a multilingual context, where English dominates institutional communication, and Chichewa is largely used for community outreach, despite most affected communities primarily speaking local minority languages such as Chiyao. Drawing on surveys conducted with NGO staff and affected populations, the study analyses patterns of language use, formal and informal translation practices, and technological communication methods. The findings reveal significant gaps in professional translation services, reliance on bilingual community members operating informally, and limited use of translation technologies. The absence of formal translation frameworks often results in barriers to communication, particularly with marginalized populations, including women and illiterate citizens. The article highlights the need for structured translation approaches, utilizing multilingual community members, culture- and gender-sensitive communication, and the integration of technology to ensure equitable access to disaster information with the aim of strengthening resilience and inclusivity in humanitarian responses.

ABSTRACT This paper examines how nurses in United States hospitals generate and rely on informal communication practices of collective care—what we call affective contextures of care—to sustain their work and well-being within an increasingly financialized healthcare system. This dynamic relational fabric weaves together the emotional, social, and material dimensions of collective care to compensate for insufficient state and organizational support. Drawing on a narrative case study based on interviews with hospital nurses, we argue that these institutionally invisible affective and informal practices of care among nurses are intertwined with and essential for organizational, institutional, and economic dimensions. Our analysis demonstrates how affective contextures of collective care play a crucial role in sustaining healthcare institutions. We critically examine how institutional discourses of resilience position nurses as personally responsible for their well-being while obscuring systemic issues. In contrast, the informal nurse-to-nurse resilience practices that nurses describe in this study reflect a form of solidarity that resists the extractive logic of neoliberal healthcare. Extending the communication theory of resilience, we argue that affective contextures of care enable a rhizomatic form of organizing resilience in the context of ongoing precarity. These practices of solidarity embody a dialectic in which the same resilience processes simultaneously help sustain the current financialized healthcare system and generate potential for transformation by reclaiming collective agency and envisioning more sustainable, humane systems of care work.

BackgroundInformal livestock slaughter is a common and legal practice in South Africa. It is performed by untrained community members permitted for cultural and religious purposes and for weddings, funerals, and subsistence. It is exempted from official meat inspection.ObjectiveTo investigate the practice of informal livestock slaughter in small‐scale farmers in south and eastern Gauteng Province with regard to the frequency and the associated zoonotic risk factors with an emphasis on brucellosis.MethodologyDuring the period 2017–2018, structured interviews were conducted in one‐on‐one sessions during which a pre‐tested questionnaire was completed. The questionnaire covered demographics, livestock information, informal slaughter practices, and veterinary public health and was delivered in one of the locally spoken languages.ResultsA total of 108 participants were enrolled in the study but not all questions were answered by each respondent. Informal livestock slaughter, predominantly of cattle, was commonly practiced by 64.0% of respondents at least once per year, with higher frequencies reported among younger individuals (< 36 years). In most cases (86.2%), the slaughter was performed by the farmers themselves or a family member. Cultural and religious events, weddings, or funerals were the most common purposes (59.0%), followed by home consumption (26.0%) and sale of products (9.1%). Personal protective equipment was used by 59.1% of participants overall, with the lowest usage observed among younger individuals (18–35 years; 38.5%).Offal, including lymph nodes, is consumed regularly and mostly cooked, but occasionally raw. Some respondents reported slaughtering sick animals and consuming abnormally appearing organ parts.ConclusionsThis first structured survey of informal slaughter risk factors in Gauteng identified multiple practices that pose risks for the zoonotic transmission of Brucella and other food‐borne pathogens associated with informal livestock slaughter. The findings highlight the need for education of livestock owners on the disease prevention and transmission as well as the development of relevant national guidelines alongside the Meat Safety Act.

Introduction Household waste segregation is a central pillar of sustainable urban waste management, yet its everyday implementation in small cities in a low- to middle-income country like India remains uneven despite clear policy mandates and widespread awareness. This qualitative study examined how waste segregation is organised, negotiated, and stabilised in practice across three small cities in the country: Datia (Madhya Pradesh), Deoria (Uttar Pradesh), and Balasore (Odisha), selected to reflect diverse socio-cultural and infrastructural contexts. Methods Using an interpretive approach inspired by phenomenological design, 24 focus group discussions and 12 in-depth interviews were conducted with community residents and sanitation service providers. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed, and thematically analysed in MAXQDA using a reflexive approach. Results Five interrelated themes emerged, capturing how segregation practices were shaped by the temporal rhythms of daily life, lived material infrastructures, social logics and informal value systems, frontline sanitation workers’ mediation, and flows of institutional legitimacy. Rather than functioning as a stable household behaviour, segregation emerged as a situational accomplishment, continuously negotiated at the interface of household routines, collection practices, and governance arrangements. City-level contrasts revealed that clearer procedural design, women-led frontline engagement, and sustained mediation supported more stable practices in Balasore, while procedural ambiguity and uneven service signals in Datia and Deoria contributed to conditional and symbolic compliance. Discussion The findings demonstrated that persistent gaps between policy intent and everyday practice arise less from deficits in awareness and more from misalignments between service design and lived realities. The study underscores the limitations of standardised, metro-derived, technology-intensive waste management models and highlights the need for small-city policies that align service delivery with everyday routines, recognise informal waste practices, strengthen frontline mediation, and build institutional legitimacy through visible and credible waste flows.

Stroke remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally, with the greatest burden being borne by low- and middle-income countries such as Nigeria. Despite the high prevalence of modifiable risk factors, primary prevention strategies remain poorly implemented, and contextual barriers to prevention are underexplored. This study explored barriers to primary stroke prevention among high-risk adults in Nnewi, Anambra State, Southeastern Nigeria. A qualitative exploratory design was adopted, utilising in-depth interviews and focus group discussions among ten adults previously identified as at high risk of stroke in an earlier profiling study. Participants were recruited from Nnewi, a suburban industrial town in Anambra State, Nigeria. Data collection continued until thematic saturation was achieved. Transcripts were analysed using the General Inductive Approach to identify recurrent categories and themes. Participants aged between 38 and 67 years, and were predominantly male with varied educational and occupational backgrounds. Seven themes emerged: low risk perception and poor screening, misconceptions about stroke risk, faith and informal cultural prevention practices, poverty and access barriers, work and time constraints, difficulty sustaining lifestyle change, and family and gender role influences. Most participants reported that their present health status reduced the need for further screening and believed that their past normal body test createda sense of security regardingn their health. Our participants also reported not deeming the risk screening as necessary, and prioritized other household needs over health screening. Stress and familiar responsibilities were reported as unequally distributed, and yet they were unwilling to eliminate some stressors due to cultural expectations. Stroke prevention in Nigeria is hindered by an interplay of misconceptions, cultural practices, poor health attitudes, and financial constraints. This study points to the urgent need for context-sensitive interventions that integrate cultural and religious considerations, improve community awareness, and address affordability barriers. Policy makers should strengthen primary health care, expand insurance coverage, and invest in culturally-tailored health education.

Chief residents play a pivotal leadership role in postgraduate medical education. However, traditional seniority-based or informal selection practices may inadvertently miss out on essential qualities such as leadership and communication skills, professionalism, and peer trust. Evidence-based, merit-driven selection models in radiology, particularly from low- and middle-income country settings, remain scarce.Residents prioritize leadership, communication, professionalism, and advocacy over academic performance. Additionally, recent research demonstrates low awareness and limited perceived transparency of existing selection practices. Our aim, hence, is to develop and design a transparent, stakeholder-informed, merit-based chief resident selection framework in a radiology residency program.Implementation of a structured and contextually adaptable chief resident selection model can potentially offer a new and transformative approach to leadership selection in postgraduate radiology training, promoting meaningful, competency-based practices aligned with trainee expectations.