Level Of Embeddedness Research Articles

The influence of job enrichment on job embeddedness and sick presenteeism among nurses.

To understand how job enrichment influences job embeddedness and sick presenteeism among nurses. Job satisfaction and retention are critical issues in healthcare, particularly among nurses. Job enrichment has been identified as a potential strategy to enhance job satisfaction and reduce turnover rates. Understanding its impact on job embeddedness and sick presenteeism can inform policies to improve nurse well-being and organizational effectiveness. A cross-sectional descriptive design following STROBE guidelines was used. Data were collected from 360 nurses working in critical care units of a large university hospital. Three scales were used to measure job enrichment, job embeddedness, and sick presenteeism. Nurses reported high job enrichment and embeddedness levels. However, a significant proportion also exhibited high levels of sick presenteeism. Strong positive correlations existed between job enrichment, job embeddedness, and sick presenteeism. Regression analyses revealed that job enrichment significantly predicted job embeddedness and sick presenteeism. The findings highlight the complex interplay between job characteristics, organizational commitment, and employee health behaviors among nurses. Job enrichment emerged as a critical factor influencing job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and sick presenteeism. The study underscores the need for health policies that promote job enrichment strategies, as they can contribute to nurse retention, reduce sick presenteeism, and enhance productivity in healthcare settings. Nurse retention and job satisfaction can be improved by implementing job enrichment practices in healthcare organizations. Policies to reduce sick presenteeism should prioritize creating healthier work environments and promoting employee well-being. Understanding the cost-effectiveness and productivity gains associated with job enrichment can inform workforce planning and staffing policies, ensuring adequate nurse staffing levels and quality patient care.

World Society, Cultural Diversity, and Gender Gap in Political Empowerment

Abstract This article studies the interactive effects of world society and cultural diversity on the gender gap in political empowerment. Focusing on the Women’s Share of Seats in National Parliaments (WSSNP) and the Gender Gap in Political Empowerment (GGPE) Index as two main outcome variables, the analyses use a growth curve approach to estimate nations’ trajectories of gender political inequality and explain them by time-invariant and time-varying independent variables. Overall, the results suggest that nations’ level of embeddedness in the world society, measured by the political globalization index of the KOF Swiss Economic Institute, closes the gender gap in political empowerment. Nevertheless, more culturally diverse societies, in terms of the level of religious fractionalization, are more susceptible to the equalizing impacts of globalization on the gender gap in political empowerment. Conversely, culturally homogenous nations appear to show some level of resistance to adopting the gender-equitable values prompted by world culture.

Refugee Entrepreneurship: Resolving Multi-contextuality and Differential Exclusion

This study examines the multi-contextual dynamics of refugee entrepreneurship through the lens of embeddedness. It attempts to explain the interplay of inclusion and exclusion within a host society. For this purpose, the study qualitatively analyses the narratives of 39 Syrian refugee entrepreneurs and four critical informants in Türkiye. Our findings reveal a diverse set of refugee entrepreneurs, categorized into survival, ethnic-targeting, and integrating entrepreneurs, based on their motivations and level of embeddedness. Interestingly, as refugee entrepreneurs become more embedded in the host country, they experience increased exclusion due to various societal factors. To navigate these challenges, entrepreneurs continually negotiate their societal position using innovative strategies to combat exclusion. Our study incorporates social, political, institutional, and spatial contexts across host, home, and third countries. Thus, it extends the embeddedness literature by highlighting refugee entrepreneurs' multi-layered and multi-locational embeddedness. Our findings also emphasise the significant role of political embeddedness, which Research often overlooks. Differentially excluding refugee entrepreneurs from society and their counter-strategies are closely tied to their limited political embeddedness. Finally, we discuss the ethical and policy implications of promoting the inclusion of refugee entrepreneurs and contributing to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. We argue that clear integration policies, removal of institutional barriers, and international cooperation are necessary.

Governing the Ungovernable? Conceptualising embeddedness in Ghana's gold mining sector

The term “artisanal” refers to primitive, non-industrial, or pre-industrial handicrafts. Because they contribute less revenue to state agencies, produce lower mineral export volumes, apply less sophisticated technologies, frequently violate mining certification and licensing arrangements and/or evade state oversight, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activities are typically viewed less favourably by host governments than large-scale mining. Despite commitments to render ASM governable, formalisation practices overlook specific dynamics in the sub-sector: notably, the increasing uptake of advanced technologies, its multi-actor nature, and its untold capacity to create employment opportunities and provide adequate raw materials for the domestic jewellery industry. Moreover, unsanctioned mining activities persist despite formalisation efforts. Based on an extensive qualitative study and institutional-level interviews, this article highlights the inevitable complementarities between large-scale mining and ASM. It reveals collaborations between diverse formal and informal actors and institutions that enable and constrain responsible mining in Ghana. It also shows how ASM, and large-scale mining interdependencies maintain each mining scale's operational efficiency and profitability, contributing to this blurring. To grasp the governance challenges in Ghana's gold mining sector, we introduce the “mining-scale embeddedness” framework, focusing on institutional, operational, and actor levels of embeddedness to elucidate dilemmas surrounding gold mining governance.

The strength of a weak tie in the innovative performance of firms: A case of Korean high‐tech manufacturing small and medium‐sized enterprises

AbstractThis study explores whether the ‘strength of weak ties’ theory, derived from social network theory, can equally apply to business activities. To address this question, we conduct an empirical analysis, utilising 3‐year panel data encompassing 3881 samples of Korean small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the high‐tech manufacturing sector. The primary objective is to examine the effects of inter‐corporate tie strength on innovative performance. The results reveal an interesting pattern in high‐tech manufacturing corporations, where the strength of a tie demonstrates an inverted U‐shaped relationship with an SME's patent achievement. Moreover, we observe that the effect of tie strength on an SME's patent achievement is positively moderated by its research and development (R&D) intensity. Furthermore, when an SME maintains weak ties within its relationship with a large corporation, its innovative performance experiences a more positive impact than in cases where no relationship with a large corporation exists, or strong ties are maintained. These findings suggest that for SMEs, maintaining an appropriate level of embeddedness with large corporations is an effective strategy for generating sustained innovative performance within an environment characterised by active technological innovation and intense competition. The principal contribution of this paper lies in the empirical validation of the theory of weak ties concerning a firm's innovative performance.

Sight unseen: The visibility paradox of entrepreneurship in an informal economy

In many informal economies, entrepreneurs face a visibility paradox: increasing visibility to resource-granting stakeholders simultaneously increases exposure to resource-extracting stakeholders. To investigate this phenomenon, we leverage a unique, hand-collected, small-area census dataset of firms in the township of Delft in Cape Town, South Africa, providing rare insight into a population of otherwise unobserved firms. Through an abductive, multimethod approach, we address three interrelated research questions: (i) How do informal economy entrepreneurs make their firms visible? (ii) Which informal economy entrepreneurs make their firms visible? (iii) How does firm visibility relate to firm performance? Our analysis identifies distinct dimensions of authority- and community-oriented visibility and introduces the concept of selective visibility, which refers to making a firm visible to certain stakeholders (e.g., community members) but not others (e.g., authorities). Using a social embeddedness lens, we find that while highly embedded entrepreneurs are more associated with invisibility, less embedded entrepreneurs are more associated with community-oriented selective visibility. The QCA results also indicate a configurational relationship such that visibility's association with performance varies with an entrepreneur's level of embeddedness. As a whole, our study builds theory regarding the taken-for-granted concept of firm visibility and provides important insights that are generative for entrepreneurship research in informal economies and other difficult-to-access settings.

Differences in Direct Geothermal Energy Utilization for Heating and Cooling in Central and Northern European Countries

Geothermal energy has emerged as an alternative heating source that can replace fossil energy. This mature technology is already in use all over Europe, but there are significant differences in its use between European countries. One possible explanation for this phenomenon concerns societal differences directly related to geothermal energy, the topic that is investigated in this study. The present work proposes using the societal embeddedness level (SEL) method to analyze and compare the status of non-technical factors affecting geothermal energy use in Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Poland, and Slovakia. The method considers four dimensions: environment, stakeholder involvement, policy and regulations, and markets and financial resources. Only Iceland fully covers the four dimensions by reaching all the milestones in the SEL framework. Iceland has the advantage of a long history of active use of geothermal energy for domestic use. The other countries face challenges within several of the dimensions, while the form and cause of these challenges are specific to each country. The findings illustrate that to mitigate climate change and drive the energy transition forward, both technical and societal factors related to various renewable energy sources must be assessed.

Do the networks always reveal the truth? The case of tripartite business incubator in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia

PurposeThe existing literature on business incubators has rarely addressed network establishments thus far. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the process of network formation and its structure during the incubator creation process. The study focuses on establishing a network involving three key types of partners in the initial phase of setting up four agribusiness incubators. These partners come from universities, research organisations and private companies operating in a developing context.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses social network theory, using a combination of qualitative and network survey approaches in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. The qualitative data were used to investigate partnership formation, while the network survey was conducted to map the organisational network of business incubator partners. Constructs of social network theory, including relational content, relational form, centrality of actors and instrumentality, were qualitatively measured in this study.FindingsThe findings indicate that partners rely on previous informal relationships, which are formalised during the creation of business incubator partnerships. In the African context, once these relationships are formalised, they become part of what is referred to as business networks, irrespective of the nature of the relationship content. Personal networks serve as precursors to establishing organisational networks that cater to incubated firms. Incubator partners facilitate the networking process and enhance the formation of new connections in the early-stage partnership-based tripartite business incubators. They act as brokers, bridging structural holes by coordinating actors across the hole and linking disconnected nodes by activating their sub-networks. The results reveal that the partners' level of embeddedness in various organisational settings increases the diversity of contacts integrated into the incubator networks. In terms of relational content, partners tend to perceive the ties as business-oriented, even though the content of the relationship may differ. The strength of relationships depends on their formalization and the frequency of interaction.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of the study contradict the reviewed social network literature, emphasising the necessity to adapt methodological approaches based on the cultural and institutional context in which they are applied. The social network questionnaire requires modification when used in different contexts and settings. Specifically, methodologies should be adjusted in situations where actors need to be discreet concerning their various relationships. It is important to note that organisational culture does influence actors' behaviours.Practical implicationsThis study is deemed relevant to managers and practitioners of business incubators alike. It highlights that understanding the contextual factors that influence networking practices, the type and strength of networks and the resources provided to participants are crucial elements that should be considered in future policy and intervention initiatives.Originality/valueThis paper addresses the identified gap in examining network formation during the establishment of business incubators. The research is significant as it provides insights into networking at the incubator level of analysis within a tripartite business incubator setup. Ultimately, this paper helps increase our understanding of networking within the context of emerging countries.

Embedding offshore campuses in skill formation in Singapore: From ‘globalising’ domestic higher education to ‘localising’ foreign universities

With operating offshore campuses, universities perform key education and training functions in regional economies worldwide. Few studies have acknowledged universities’ expanded role in knowledge and skill formation as both local providers and transnational managers of education and training. Not enough is known about the embedding of transnational universities in local skill formation and varying levels of embeddedness, as well as about the role of hosting states therein and consequences for local economies. This paper addresses this gap in the context of the city-state of Singapore, exploring how skill development at foreign universities has been locally embedded, and why this embeddedness of offshore campuses in local skill formation has changed over time. Empirical evidence is drawn from semi-structured interviews with managers of foreign university subsidiaries. It is found that the Singapore state has changed its role in engaging with foreign universities, from a first phase of importing ‘global’ knowledge in teaching and training to a second phase of strengthening ‘local’ knowledge and skill formation. With being distinctively more embedded than older offshore campuses, recently established subsidiaries perform specifically ‘local’ functions in Singapore’s progressing knowledge-based transformation project. The paper provides better understanding of varying/changing levels of offshore campus embeddedness and the interconnections between changing roles of the state, integration of foreign universities and regional development. A further contribution lies in presenting a conceptualisation of offshore campuses with high levels of embeddedness, helping shed light on the dynamics in local skill formation and in foreign actors’ functions for the regional economy more generally.

Towards Locally Embedded Beach Management Units in Tanzania for Legitimacy and Sustainability

Abstract Local embeddedness for beach management units is vital for legitimacy and sustainability. This paper employs the theory of local embeddedness to study the extent to which Beach Management Units (BMUs) will bring about the sustainability of fisheries at the community level. It draws from the perceptions of the communities living in Mtwara rural on how Beach Management Units are governed. Using key informant interviews in four villages of Mtwara rural, different levels of embeddedness were identified and measured. The findings show that although Beach Management Units were introduced to empower local communities to manage fisheries resources, they are not embedded within the community.

A feminist economics perspective on the agroecology-food and nutrition security nexus

This paper investigates how research documented and framed the agroecology-food and nutrition security (FNS)-nexus in Africa. Our first objective is to reveal the links research in Africa has established between agroecology and FNS. Our literature review of empirical studies located in African countries, published between 1996 to 2020, consolidates evidence that agroecology has contributed to food and nutrition security. Second, we question which pathways of influence of agroecology on FNS the selected papers chose to investigate. While neo-classical economics concentrates on production and on the level of embeddedness of the agricultural activity in the capitalist markets to solve the problem of FNS, feminist economics offers new perspectives by addressing both production and the reproduction processes necessary to support production. Our analysis of literature is structured around the feminist economics concepts of physical, household, and social reproduction, as well as agency. We show that activities of reproduction linked to agroecology at the level of households and territories are scarcely documented in the investigated papers, while the documentation of the contribution of agroecology to FNS via physical reproduction activities (e.g. soil fertility) dominates. We then propose a conceptual framework linking agroecology, reproduction activities, and FNS based and also illustrate the postulate that sustainable production practices such as agroecological practices are intrinsically linked to the social activities of farmers and cultural contexts in which farmers are embedded. Viewing agroecology both as a social and ecological process concomitantly will reveal numerous pathways between agroecology and food security and nutrition and agroecology's full value. • Rural households in Africa maintain themselves with alternative systems such as agroecology. • Research linking agroecology to food security focuses mainly on physical reproduction at the landscape. • Agroecology improves food security status through social and household reproduction. • Research analyzing social and household reproduction as part of households' socio-economic decisions is scarce.

Understanding Societal Requirements of CCS Projects: Application of the Societal Embeddedness Level Assessment Methodology in Four National Case Studies

The DigiMon project aims to develop and demonstrate an affordable, flexible, societally embedded, and smart digital monitoring early warning system for any subsurface CO2 storage field. The societal embeddedness level (SEL) assessment is a novel methodology which provides insight into the societal requirements for technological innovation to be deployed. The SEL assessment framework was applied in four case studies, concerning CCS development in Norway, the Netherlands, Greece, and Germany. The resulting societal embeddedness levels of CCS, on a scale of 1–4, were SEL 3 in Norway with considerable progress towards level 4, followed by the Netherlands with SEL 2 with several initiatives towards offshore demonstration projects, and then by Greece and Germany with SEL 1. The outcomes of the SEL assessments show which societal requirements have been met in current CCS developments and which ones should be improved for CCS deployment. They also show that monitoring currently is a regulatory requirement as part of permitting procedures, while it may alleviate community concerns on safety, provided that it has certain attributes. The insights from the four national case studies are further used in the DigiMon project to develop the innovative societal embedded DigiMon monitoring system.

Bridging Social and Technical Sciences: Introduction of the Societal Embeddedness Level

The successful and fast development and deployment of renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction technologies is a continuing and structural challenge. The deployment of these technologies is slowed down and sometimes even stalled due to societal challenges like public resistance, lack of appropriate policy and regulations, unsolid business cases and uncertainty concerning the impact on the environment. In this paper we elaborate on societal aspects that influence technology development and deployment and introduce the societal embeddedness level (SEL) framework. Building upon the technology readiness level (TRL), the SEL framework enables the assessment of the current level of societal embeddedness of energy technologies in order to identify the societal aspects which need to be taken into account to accelerate deployment of energy technologies. The SEL framework takes into account four societal dimensions (impact on the environment, stakeholder involvement, policy and regulations, and market and financial resources) and four stages of technology development (exploration, development, demonstration and deployment) that are linked to the TRL. The SEL framework has been elaborated for CCS technologies and is being applied to the monitoring of geological CO2 storage by the ACT II project DigiMon (Digital Monitoring of CO2 storage projects). DigiMon is an ACT second call project, funded by the national funding agencies in the period September 2019–August 2022.

A Text Analysis of Four Levels of Librarian Involvement and Impact on Students in an Inquiry-Based Learning Course

Librarians at the University of Calgary collaborated with instructors on an inquiry-based learning course with varying involvement across four course sections. This study uses text analysis of student assignments to assess information literacy (IL) skill development across four levels of course participation: librarian as instructor-of-record, two levels of embeddedness, and a single ‘one-shot’ session. The methodology included the tracking of keywords generated using the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy and text analysis of student reflection assignments in an inquiry-based, research-focused first-year undergraduate course. The results suggest that the benefit to student IL skills is not related to amount of librarian instruction, but rather to the level of instructor buy-in with regard to library services and the importance of IL skills. We argue that the most impactful librarian involvement is as an IL course consultant rather than a full-time embedded librarian (which is surprising given the literature on the efficacy of embeddedness). Although further research is needed, the study results have significant implications for academic librarian instructional practices and collaborations on course content with faculty members.

Embeddedness and perceived oneness: Examining the effects of job embeddedness and its trajectory on employee proactivity via an identification perspective.

Although job embeddedness has consistently been shown to be associated with positive workplace behaviors, our theoretical understanding of such associations remains far behind our empirical knowledge. In particular, it is unclear how job embeddedness goes beyond its common conceptualization as "stuckness" to motivate employees' discretionary, change-oriented behaviors at work. To this end, we trace the original theoretical foundation of job embeddedness theory in field theory and establish its theoretical connection to social identity theory. We propose that increased organizational identification is an intrinsic psychological mechanism through which job embeddedness motivates proactive behaviors from employees. Further informed by field theory, we also examine the implications of job embeddedness change over time. We propose that a more positive trajectory of embeddedness over time contributes to enhanced organizational identification and employee proactivity, above and beyond the absolute level of embeddedness. We report a longitudinal study that surveyed 264 employees at three points in time over the course of 1 year and provide substantial support for the hypotheses. Implications of our work are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

A taxonomy of rural micro-enterprises: Disembedded or bedrock of the community

This paper develops a taxonomy of rural micro-enterprises based on their level of embeddedness in the rural. Drawing upon 19 in-depth narrative interviews we identify the classifications of ‘bedrock’, ‘anchored’, ‘disembedded’ and ‘perfunctory’ enterprises. This offers a new categorisation of rural micro-enterprises and challenges the notion that all rural micro-enterprises add value to the rural economy. Indeed, ‘disembedded’ rural micro-enterprises may have parasitical tendencies and be negative contributors to rural economic sustainability due to the actions and choices made by their owner-manager(s). Through the creation of an empirically and conceptually grounded taxonomy we reveal a number of important attributes which develop understanding of the nature of rural micro-enterprises and highlight the varied activities of such businesses. The implications of the taxonomy are discussed, and important policy implications are identified.

Beyond embedded or not embedded: immigrant entrepreneurs’ embeddedness levels

Purpose This paper aims to review the immigrant entrepreneurship literature to locate how researchers consider embeddedness to home and host countries beyond the “embedded” or “not” dichotomy. Design/methodology/approach The paper conducts a systematic literature review. The authors found 106 articles in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, using a structured search and selection protocol. Findings Few articles perceive embeddedness openly as a gradual phenomenon. However, articles in the review use different approaches for considering relative levels of embeddedness, such as depth of social ties. In addition, some articles take a dual perspective or make multi-contextual comparisons to acknowledge immigrant entrepreneurs’ embeddedness levels. These articles emphasise embeddedness as a gradual phenomenon to understand the complexity of immigrant entrepreneurs’ contextualisation better. Based on the review, the paper develops a model, considering embeddedness as an emergent result of the immigrants’ engagement with spaces, networks, markets and institutions of a given home or host context. It also accounts for the dynamic interaction between contextual factors as embeddedness levels change. Research limitations/implications The paper has located all relevant papers in the used databases. However, the systematic review protocol naturally limits its scope. Nevertheless, the developed model based on the review helps researchers develop a more comprehensive understanding of embeddedness and possibly ask novel questions. Social implications This paper can help policymakers improve their policies for the progressive social integration of immigrants, as it helps consider different embeddedness levels. Originality/value Researchers mainly consider individuals’ embeddedness as either “embedded” or “not.” However, we can also understand embeddedness at various levels, e.g. partial, increasing/decreasing and gradual. Significant changes occur in the embeddedness of individuals during immigration. Additionally, contextual relations intertwine immigrants’ entrepreneurial activity over time. The paper reviews embeddedness in the immigrant entrepreneurship literature, searching beyond the dichotomic use of embeddedness. Then, it develops a theoretical understanding of embeddedness levels.

Bankfull shear velocity predicts embeddedness and silt cover in gravel streambeds

AbstractExcess fine sediment (<2 mm) deposition on gravel streambeds can degrade habitat quality for stream biota. Two measures of fine sediment deposition include embeddedness and silt cover (<62.5 μm). Embeddedness measures fine sediment in interstitial pore spaces, whereas silt cover, primarily deposited during low flows, measures fine sediment draped on the streambed's surface. Here, we demonstrate that a baseline level of embeddedness and a maximum value of silt cover can be predicted from bankfull shear velocity, which can be estimated from river channel and streamflow characteristics, independently of knowing the sediment supply. We derive an equation for bankfull shear velocity that only requires knowing bankfull flow, channel width, and channel slope, which can be readily obtained in the United States from freely available, remotely sensed data. We apply this methodology to data collected at 30 sites in the Piedmont region of Virginia and North Carolina. This work is an important step in developing statistical models of stream ecosystems in which geophysical variables can predict embeddedness and silt cover, which commonly limit biotic assemblages.

Patterns of Social Embeddedness in Later Adulthood: Gender and Other Covariates

The concept of social exclusion is widely used in academia and social policy discourse in European countries. However, one of the constituents of social exclusion, namely, exclusion from social relationships, remains unclear and underdeveloped both conceptually and empirically. Moreover, knowledge on the patterns of exclusion from social relationships among men and women in later adulthood is even less advanced. Therefore, we developed a multidimensional scale for measuring an individual's level of embeddedness in social relationships and examined the gender patterns of social embeddedness. We applied latent class analysis to survey data collected on a sample of 2015 residents of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia aged 50+. We derived a seven-class model based on a continuum from strong to weak social embeddedness. We identified two classes with a high level of exclusion from social relations and, conversely, two classes with a high level of social embeddedness. Subsequent multinomial regression analysis revealed that gender was a statistically significant predictor in the cases of the most excluded class and one of the most socially embedded classes.

The ties that bribe: Corruption's embeddedness in Chicago organized crime*

AbstractThe crime of corruption ranges from politicians involved in high‐profile scandals to low‐level bureaucrats granting contracts and police officers demanding bribes. Corruption occurs when state actors criminally leverage their positions of power for financial gain. Our study examines how corruption varies by political power position and within criminal contexts by measuring the embeddedness of corruption within Chicago historical organized crime. We analyze Chicago's organized crime network before and during Prohibition (1900–1919 and 1920–1933) to compare differences across embedded network positions between political, law enforcement, and nonstate actors. Our findings show that more police were in organized crime than politicians before Prohibition, but the small group of politicians had higher embeddedness in organized crime. During Prohibition, when organized crime grew and centralized, law enforcement decreased in proportion and became less embedded in organized crime. Politicians, however, maintained their proportion and high level of embeddedness. We argue that everyday corruption is more frequent but less embedded when criminal contexts are moderately profitable. As criminal contexts increase in profitability, however, corruption moves up the political ladder to include fewer people who are more highly embedded. This work has theoretical implications for the symbiotic relationship between corruption and criminal organizations.