Micro-level Issues Research Articles

Enhancing User Experience on Social Media Platforms: A Flow Theory-Based Approach

In recent years, social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter have seen rapid growth and are favored by users of all ages. However, in the age of information overload, the quality of interactions on social media platforms varies significantly, leading to negative feelings among users and affecting their overall experience and loyalty. This study takes the Flow theory as its starting point and investigates the needs of social media users at various stages of the flow experience. We propose modifications to the flow theory model with the aim of enhancing user experience and satisfaction. Firstly, based on literature review, we identify micro-level issues of the product, propose hypotheses, and construct validation experiments in the context of social media. The experiment collects Electrodermal Activity (EDA) and heart rate variability (HRV) data of 31 participants using a multi-channel physiological instrument and collects their emotional experience data using the Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (PAD) scale. Results indicate that a combined textual-graphical interface layout is superior to other layouts in positively inducing flow and emotional experiences. Positive content tonality is more effective at eliciting positive flow and emotional experiences than negative or neutral content. Video presentations have a stronger sense of immersion and emotional expression, making them more conducive to inducing flow experiences and positive emotional feedback. This study, grounded in user psychology, provides a theoretical framework based on flow and emotional experiences for social media product design, quantitatively examining the positive psychological activities of users when using social media.

Rehabilitation models for community integration of adults with acquired brain injury in rural areas: a scoping review.

Community integration (CI) is recognised as an overarching goal for the rehabilitation of individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI). However, adults with less severe ABI often experience a lack of support when they return home after discharge from hospital or inpatient rehabilitation, despite having persistent impairments and ongoing needs. Individuals living in rural areas are even less likely to receive adequate support during this period, which is often marked by challenges and uncertainty. This review aims to map and explore the research literature to identify existing models for rehabilitation service provision aimed at promoting the CI of home-dwelling adults with ABI living in rural areas. A scoping review of the research literature was conducted. The study followed the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines for scoping reviews and the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews. The databases searched were MEDLINE, Embase, AMED, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PsycInfo, and Google Scholar. No limitations were set for the study design, time of publication, or country of origin, but only literature in English, Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish was considered for inclusion. Twenty-seven articles were included. All of them originated from four Western and predominantly English-speaking countries: Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US. A thematic analysis identified six model categories that reflect different strategies for providing rehabilitation that promote CI in adults with ABI in rural areas. Sorting the model categories into micro (individual, interpersonal), meso (organisational, community), and macro (policy, society) levels highlighted that most of the included literature concentrates on microlevel issues at the individual or interpersonal level. Microlevel model categories encompass self-management and education, the use of navigators, and the incorporation of everyday life activities into rehabilitation. Far fewer articles addressed mesolevel issues such as service development in rural areas or the development of inclusive rural communities, and only a single article addressed policy development at the macro level. The relatively low number of included articles and limited geographical distribution of studies indicate that more research is needed on rehabilitation models aimed at promoting CI in adults with ABI in rural areas. Although we identified several existing approaches to rehabilitation service provision in rural areas, there is still a need to develop models that fully consider the complexity and long-term nature of CI after ABI. The results also demonstrate that CI in rural areas not only is dependent on professional service delivery aimed at the individual with ABI but also can be promoted by supporting significant others, developing inclusive communities, and improving policies. More knowledge on such issues may facilitate a wider reorganisation of care systems to enhance the CI of adults with ABI in rural areas. However, this will require more research with a wider scope than microlevel service delivery.

Benchmarking sustainability of pilgrimage cities: a case of three cities in Tamil Nadu, India

PurposeRapid urbanization and development of pilgrimage cities cause significant problems for the environment and society, leading to long-term challenges. Despite several discussions on city sustainability, the literature does not address some of the specific problems of pilgrimage cities. Hence, this study attempts at developing a method to examine the growth pattern and sustainability of pilgrimage cities in southern part of India.Design/methodology/approachThe benchmarking method and the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability are considered to construct the Pilgrimage City Sustainability Index (PCSI). Appropriate variables and categories are identified through a literature review and expert opinion survey. The benchmark values of the variables are derived by contemplating the pilgrimage cities of Tamil Nadu, one of the states with the largest tourist arrivals in India. Subsequently, three prominent pilgrimage cities from Tamil Nadu were chosen for the case study and the method was tested.FindingsThe result reveals that the cities investigated are performing above average in the sustainability index, with slight variations in their dimension scores. While the category scores of cities assist in identifying macro-level issues, the variable scores provide an insight into micro-level issues. Furthermore, the gap analysis between the benchmark and the present value of each variable discloses the immediate area of attention in each city. Thus, the cities could set more specific targets, frame strategies and/or collaborate with matching cities to bridge these gaps.Social implicationsThis index assessment provides a comparison of the pros and cons of these pilgrimage cities and helps identify their demand and supply. Policymakers can find appropriate tools and approaches that aid in sustainable urban development and tourism management.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in emphasizing the application of the benchmarking method to assess the sustainability of Indian pilgrimage sites. With appropriate modifications, this method can be used in varied contexts across the globe.

Supporting dentists' health and wellbeing - workforce assets under stress: a qualitative study in England.

Background Multiple determinants influence dentists' health and wellbeing. In light of recent concerns, the aim of this research was to explore contemporary influences on dentists' health and wellbeing in England, drawing on their lived experience.Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of dentists working in England, taking into account age, gender, career stage, work sector, geographical area, position and route of entry to registration. A topic guide, informed by the literature, was used to guide the discourse. Dentists were approached via gatekeepers, supported by snowball sampling. Interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis. Framework analysis was used, taking an interpretative phenomenological approach to develop theory.Results Twenty dentists, from a range of backgrounds, participated in this research. While health and wellbeing was reported to be more positive among dentists in their later career, those in their early career and/or with high NHS work commitments shared concerns about their physical, psychological and emotional health. Influences ranged from macro-level issues relating to professional regulation and health systems, through meso-level, notably their workplace and job specification, to micro-level issues relating to their professional careers, relationships and personal life. Dentists highlighted ethical concerns and feeling driven to deliver, together with being demoralised by a survival culture, all leading to perceived lack of control and reduced professional fulfilment. In contrast, being able to deliver quality care, innovate and effect change, as well as being valued for their delivery, were perceived to positively contribute to general health and wellbeing.Conclusion Dentists have a vital role in providing care for patients, so there are serious public health implications if urgent action is not taken to improve and sustain their health and wellbeing. This study confirms that dentists are affected by multiple contemporary influences, and although greater support is needed for individuals, organisational, system and policy changes may be required to fully address the challenges they face.Supplementary InformationZusatzmaterial online: Zu diesem Beitrag sind unter 10.1038/s41415-021-3130-9 für autorisierte Leser zusätzliche Dateien abrufbar.

Careers advancement of women: Applying a multi-level relational perspective in the context of Turkish banking organisations

This article investigates the question of why women remain underrepresented in management positions despite their increasing presence in the Turkish banking sector context. By using an integrative framework that brings together the relational and institutional perspectives, this article seeks to understand how macro-level contextual influences reflect on meso-organisational processes and practices, which in turn influence women’s micro-individual career trajectories. This article explores the careers experiences of 49 female banking professionals from three distinct banking organisations (Turkish, western and Islamic). The findings reveal that women’s limited representation at managerial level is an outcome of the interplay between macro-, meso- and micro-level issues. At the macro-level, the article highlights religion-based fragmented social structure as a key factor in the socio-cultural context of Turkey. At the meso-level, the analysis of the three different cases identifies factors relevant to both western and Middle Eastern societal contexts. At the micro-level, the analysis highlights how women’s perceptions of macro-level barriers change depending on their organisational context, emphasising the interrelatedness between these three levels. The article contributes to women’s career literature by providing the Turkish perspective and introducing novel insights into the interplay between societal forces, organisational practices and individuals’ perceptions.

Robbed: a serial autoethnography of a tourism researcher as a robbery victim

ABSTRACTThis article seeks to ameliorate the current imbalance in the study of tourist-oriented crime, between the predominant macro-level quantitative studies and the relatively scarce micro-level qualitative studies. I deploy a variant of the autoethnographic method to gain insight on aspects of crime against tourists which are not generally noticed in the literature, owing to the difficulty of directly accessing either the perpetrators or the victims of particular tourist-oriented crimes. By a detailed description of four cases of robbery/theft which I have experienced in the course of my own travels, I point to several significant but under-researched micro-level issues, such as, on the one hand, the conduct of the perpetrators and their techniques in committing the crime, and on the other, the tourist-victims’ experience and reaction to the crime, their quest for assistance, and the crime’s consequences for them. The article concludes by pointing to the absence of supportive frameworks for tourist-crime victims in host countries, which leaves them on their own to deal with the impacts and consequences of the crime.

Critical Look at the Bigger Picture

Despite its numerous benefits and potentialities for language learning and teaching, digital technology can also play a role in creating and maintaining inequality (Kern, 2014; Selwyn, 2013). While critical CALL often focuses on micro-level issues and contexts, macro-level perspectives, including discourses, are also essential to consider (Helm, 2015): From ecological and language-as-discourse perspectives, macro-level discourses have the potential to impact and shape CALL practices and contexts (Blin, 2016; Blommaert, 2005). Using critical discourse analysis methods (Blommaert, 2005; Fairclough, 2001), this article takes the 2017 American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) report, "America's Languages: Investing in Language Education for the 21st Century," as a window into macro-level discourses of language and technology in American society today. Findings reveal a series of interrelated frames and scales that, taken together, suggest a neoliberal discourse that positioned language, technology, and ultimately CALL as tools to enhance national competitiveness on a global marketplace. The article concludes with implications of these findings for the CALL field.

Why tuberculosis control programmes fail? Role of microlevel and macrolevel factors: an analysis from India.

India accounts for one-fourth of the global tuberculosis (TB) burden. The National TB Program was started in 1962. Over a period of time, some lacunae such as poor case detection...

Divergence and Convergence of Firm-Level Best Practices: The Case of Bajaj and Hero-Honda in India’s Two-Wheeler Industry

ABSTRACTThis article examines micro-level issues of competitive rivalry of firms and the consequent convergence of best practices. Multinational investment in developing economies is one of the means of technology inflows. If local firms have a critical level of capabilities and are able to compete with multinational firms, this can lead to convergence of best practices. This, in turn, helps local firms in a developing economy to acquire capabilities for internationalization. The issue of convergence is examined with the case of rivalry between a large local firm (Bajaj) and a giant multinational corporation (Hero-Honda) in India’s two-wheeler industry.

Divergence and Convergence of Firm-Level Best Practices: The Case of Bajaj and Hero-Honda in India's Two-Wheeler Industry

Literature in economic development shows how countries diverge and converge in economic growth owing to technological change and capital accumulation. This paper examines micro-level issues of competitive rivalry of firms and consequent convergence of best practices. Multinational investment in developing economies is one of the means of technology in-flows. If local firms have a critical level of capabilities and are able to compete with multinational firms this can lead to convergence of best practices and consequent economic growth. Some of the propositions of the literature are empirically tested with the case of rivalry between a local firm and a multinational firm in India's two-wheeler industry for a period of 15 years.

The roles of boundary spanners and mentalizing skills in alliance learning and knowledge transfer

Although there is growing awareness of the significance of learning and knowledge transfer in inter-firm collaboration, most studies have been at the firm or firm-to-firm level; few have investigated individual-level effects on learning and knowledge transfer. There is thus a gap in the literature on our understanding of micro-level issues. The individuals who are responsible for the day-to-day management of inter-firm collaboration are often referred to as boundary spanners. In this paper, we emphasize boundary spanners’ actions and interactions in learning and knowledge transfer between firms, and draw on theory of mind, particularly the concept of mentalizing skills. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework that examines the role of boundary spanners’ mentalizing skills, and posit a set of propositions that suggest how differences in mentalizing skills among boundary spanners may influence a firm’s ability to reveal the true intentions of its partner, identify the partner’s ability to absorb ne...

‘Smart Cities’ – Dynamic Sustainability Issues and Challenges for ‘Old World’ Economies: A Case from the United Kingdom

The rapid and dynamic rate of urbanization, particularly in emerging world economies, has resulted in a need to find sustainable ways of dealing with the excessive strains and pressures that come to bear on existing infrastructures and relationships. Increasingly during the twenty-first century policy makers have turned to technological solutions to deal with this challenge and the dynamics inherent within it. This move towards the utilization of technology to underpin infrastructure has led to the emergence of the term ‘Smart City’. Smart cities incorporate technology based solutions in their planning development and operation. This paper explores the organizational issues and challenges facing a post-industrial agglomeration in the North West of England as it attempted to become a ‘Smart City’. In particular the paper identifies and discusses the factors that posed significant challenges for the dynamic relationships residents, policymakers and public and private sector organizations and as a result aims to use these micro-level issues to inform the macro-debate and context of wider Smart City discussions. In order to achieve this, the paper develops a range of recommendations that are designed to inform Smart City design, planning and implementation strategies.

Planning and executing complex large-scale exercises.

Increasingly, public health departments are designing and engaging in complex operations-based full-scale exercises to test multiple public health preparedness response functions. The Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) supplies benchmark guidelines that provide a framework for both the design and the evaluation of drills and exercises; however, the HSEEP framework does not seem to have been designed to manage the development and evaluation of multiple, operations-based, parallel exercises combined into 1 complex large-scale event. Lessons learned from the planning of the Mississippi State Department of Health Emergency Support Function--8 involvement in National Level Exercise 2011 were used to develop an expanded exercise planning model that is HSEEP compliant but accounts for increased exercise complexity and is more functional for public health. The Expanded HSEEP (E-HSEEP) model was developed through changes in the HSEEP exercise planning process in areas of Exercise Plan, Controller/Evaluator Handbook, Evaluation Plan, and After Action Report and Improvement Plan development. The E-HSEEP model was tested and refined during the planning and evaluation of Mississippi's State-level Emergency Support Function-8 exercises in 2012 and 2013. As a result of using the E-HSEEP model, Mississippi State Department of Health was able to capture strengths, lessons learned, and areas for improvement, and identify microlevel issues that may have been missed using the traditional HSEEP framework. The South Central Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Center is working to create an Excel-based E-HSEEP tool that will allow practice partners to build a database to track corrective actions and conduct many different types of analyses and comparisons.

The Governance Challenges of Corporate Political Activity

This article explains the rationale for study of the governance challenges of corporate political activity. The topic is important, especially in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, but understudied to date. The authors review the literature bearing on this topic. The authors separate consideration of the topic into macro-level and micro-level issues. The macro level concerns the societal perspective. At this level, key research questions concern whether corporate political activity be allowed, and how it should be regulated. The micro level covers managerial and shareholder control over corporate political activity. At this level, key research questions include concern whether the firm should practice political activity and how to regulate practice through professional self-regulation, ethical guidelines, and corporate governance systems control. The remainder of this article contains focused summaries of the articles selected for this Special Issue. Each article is introduced and evaluated against the key research questions at the macro or micro levels of analysis.

Levels of Linkage: Across-Agreement versus Within-Agreement Explanations of Consensus Formation among States

Decisions in international institutions such as the European Union (EU) are often made by consensus, even when it is not required. Tit-for-tat exchanges provide an explanation for this phenomenon, as such exchanges can help to build up support for agreements states might otherwise not have had an incentive to support. Tit-for-tat exchanges are typically analyzed as trades of support across agreements. However, we argue that the priority of negotiators to further their national and bureaucratic interests makes exchanges across micro-level issues within a single proposal for agreement more prevalent than exchanges across agreements. Using both qualitative and quantitative analyses, we show that such within-agreement, rather than cross-agreement, linkages are related to an increased likelihood of consensus across an array of different EU agreements. To understand consensus in international institutions, more broadly, it is therefore necessary to look at the substantive issues at stake within each agreement.

Discursive construction of polyphony in healthcare management

The aim of the paper is to understand and define how the polyphony of management is constructed in interaction and to describe this through concrete management meeting cases. Polyphony refers to the diverse voices of various organization members, and how these voices are present, disclosed and utilized in management. The study is based on the social constructionist and discursive perspectives of management, which question the traditional, individualistic approaches of management. The issue was examined through a qualitative case study by analysing the micro-level management discourse in three healthcare organizations. Discursive practices that enhance or inhibit polyphony are often unnoticed and unconscious. Key moments of management discourse are an example of unconscious mundane practices through which members of organizations construct the reality of management. The empirical results are locally contextual. In the future, research will be able to apply the approach to diverse contexts as well as link micro-level discourses to the construction of broader health and social management discourses. The paper increases the understanding of how to enhance participation and staff contribution, and how to utilize the knowledge of all members of the organization. Both managers and other staff members are fully involved in the social construction of management. Micro-level discourse should be paid attention to in management work as well as in the education of managers and staff. The study increases the understanding of micro-level issues of management and challenges the conventional, taken-for-granted assumptions behind organization and management theories.

Evolution of Research Areas, Themes, and Methods in Electronic Commerce

The purpose of this study is to review the state-of-the-art of electronic commerce (EC) research by focusing on its multidisciplinary nature. Using an integrative model of EC research areas, themes, and methods, this study analyzed 1792 articles published in six EC specialty journals and four information systems (IS) journals over the 1996–2009 period. The findings provide meaningful views of current EC research. First, EC research has focused on micro-level issues such as consumers or technologies, enhancing the relevance to practice. Second, many research themes have been investigated in heterogeneous research areas through various research methods: retailing, privacy/fraud/piracy, auction, strategy/marketing/advertising, and adoption/implementation. Third, while the survey method has been predominant over the years, sophisticated methods such as laboratory experiment and secondary data analysis have also gained increasing attention. Overall, the results from an integrative model indicate two diverging EC research practices: moving toward the micro-level issues versus research from multidisciplinary perspectives. Because these two practices can be viewed as two sides of the same coin, the field of EC research should endeavor to achieve these two practices in a balanced way. In so doing, the field of EC can constantly reinvent itself and grow as an established field of research in the future.

Ethics and HRM

The development of an ethical perspective of HRM that is both employ- ee centered and explicitly normative and, as such, distinct from dominant and criti- cal perspectives of HRM has progressed in recent years. Reliance on the traditional threesome of rights/justice theories, deontology and consequentialism, however, has limited debate to micro-level issues and the search for a solution. By understanding the employment relationship as a stakeholder relationship, we open the ethical analy- sis of HRM to the pluralism and pragmatism that stakeholder theory has to offer. In doing this, we can address both the broader need for HRM to offer a more comprehen- sive account of our humanity and the specific requisite for HRM to treat employees as moral persons with names and faces.

Conceptions Regarding Children’s Health: An Examination of Ethnotheories in a Sending and Receiving Community

Ethnotheories are beliefs that adults hold about children and the factors that impact upon their development. Scholars suggest that “ethnotheories” serve as cultural models that underlie motivations for parenting practices and the way adults organize children’s early experiences. This study examines Mexican adults’ ethnotheories about children’s health in two communities that are linked by transnational migrants and serve as sending and receiving communities for workers. Forty-four Mexican adults in six focus groups discussed well-being issues affecting children in their communities. Qualitative analyses using grounded theory revealed a complex conception of children’s health issues that included physical, psychological, and behavioral components and an interwoven system of causes with microlevel issues embedded in broader social, economic, and cultural contexts.

Guest editorial on cultural issues in global e-commerce diffusion, adoption and use

It gives us great pleasure to welcome you to this special issue of DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, the focus of which is on "Cultural Issues in Global E-commerce Diffusion, Adoption and Use." Electronic (e)-commerce is expanding at a rapid rate, with the online population approaching almost one and a half billion, and global online revenues being measured in trillions of dollars. This global expansion of e-commerce represents growth opportunities for businesses worldwide. However, one of the obstacles for companies attempting to extend their e-business internationally is to understand global consumers and overcome cultural barriers and language differences on the web (Singh and Pereira, 20051; Violino, 20012). Many companies are realizing that building an e-commerce website to suit an international audience is a more complex endeavor than they expected (Sheldon and Strader, 20023). As companies set up their global e-businesses, it is important for them to understand, what global trends are facilitating the rise of the web, what cultural factors influence consumer use of international websites, what motivates global consumers to make purchases at international websites, and what cultural barriers exist to diffusion and adoption of e-commerce. This Special Issue of DATA BASE aims to advance the knowledge on the role of national culture in global e-commerce expansion. More specifically, it aims to address issues related to the impact of national culture on macro-level issues related to diffusion and adoption of ecommerce, and micro-level issues related to web site localization, international web site usage, and global online consumer behavior. The Special Issue has solicited theoretical, conceptual, and empirical studies that are inter-disciplinary in nature, as global e-commerce research is not just emerging as an important area of study in the information systems domain, but also in marketing, international business, linguistics and other disciplines.