Positive Social Action Research Articles

Corporate Social Responsibility and Organizational Performance: A Theoretical Review

This paper utilized a theoretical approach to examine the impact of corporate social responsibility on organizational performance. The paper notes that corporate social responsibility is an essential strategic component of several business organizations as they try to navigate the highly changing business environment. Some benefits of corporate social responsibility involvement identified includes assisting business firms to gain competitive edge over by increasing their reputation and acceptability, market share, improve profitability as against their rivals with less or unrecognised social involvement in their operating environment. The paper concluded that corporate social responsibility drives organizations profitability, and helps organizations gain competitive advantages over rivals in the market arena. It is recommended that managements should make social responsibility involvement a key strategic part of its business operations. Management should scan their environment to identify the appropriate need of their operating environment so as to understand what the people actually need, than just initiating and carrying out projects that may not be beneficial to the society, as this will put the organization in bad light, and their efforts may not be recognized and appreciated. Additionally, organizations should ensure that they disclose all their social responsibility actions to the appropriate stakeholders. This is because, the more people notice the positive social actions of an organization, their perception about such organization change, and this boost their images and reputation of the organization before the general public.

Who will remember?: Racial identity and civil rights literature for Black children at Freedom School

Within Freedom Schools, the intellectual identities of academic achievement and success for Black children are fostered with positive cultural identity and social action as the foundation. This is partially accomplished with access to positive cultural messages in children’s and young adult literature. The study in this article contributes to existing literature on the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools and focuses on the ways in which Black children’s positive racial identity development is supported through the use of culturally sustaining content and pedagogical practices at Freedom Schools. Specifically, this research explored racial identity development through examining the educational experiences of Black children’s interactions with Movement Oriented Civil Rights-Themed Multicultural Children’s Literature.

Using Adaptive Interaction to Simplify Caregiver’s Communication with People with Dementia Who Cannot Speak

Caregivers find it difficult to interact with people with dementia who have lost the capacity for speech. Adaptive Interaction is a simplified approach that uses the nonverbal fundamentals of communication to connect with people who can no longer speak. Here we present Adaptive Interaction as a method for equipping caregivers with these nonverbal skills to increase communication with the people they care for. Six caregivers were each paired with one individual with dementia and trained in Adaptive Interaction. After receiving training in Adaptive Interaction, caregivers identified more communicative behaviours in their interactions partners and engaged in more frequent positive social behaviours and meaningful actions during interactions. These findings suggest that it is possible to equip staff to use simplified communication based on nonverbal fundamentals to connect with people with dementia who can no longer speak.

Positive Sociology: Supporting Systemic Social Strengths and Solidarity

Sociology has historically focused on negative social interactions and social problems, leaving all but silent positive social interactions, until very recently. This paper discusses concepts about “positive sociology” originally introduced by Robert Stebbins. Positive sociology is a relatively new field within academia that is lending itself to a deeper understanding of positive social interaction while maintaining focus on social strengths. Positive sociology readjusts the focus of the discipline and integrates ideas about positive emotions, volunteerism, charity, altruism, humanitarian action, and positive psychology. Social interactions may be prioritized by sensations of positivity; motivations for positive social action are additionally reviewed. Sociology of emotion is considered for its involvement in the formation of well-being; Sociology of leisure is discussed for its influence in uncoerced volunteer activities. Qualitative and quantitative studies are considered for evidential reference and methodological suggestions. Because this academic field is still young, it was found that additional analysis is required to determine how we can study social strengths. The inspiration for social action in positive interpersonal relations is currently weighed by indistinct variables that demand further research in existing data; a multi-disciplinary method of research is proposed for this cause. If we were to understand how we positively interact with each other, especially when we work together for a greater good, and how these interactions encourage us to feel good in and about the world we live in, it could increase the desire to act selflessly, promote positive social change, as well as support and inform additional theories and research within sociology and other social science disciplines.

Keeping Faith in the Public Square: An Autobiographical and Contextual Approach

How do we live authentically as a people of faith within our secularized societies? The challenges to public representations of faith underline the tension between personal expression and corporate identity. This article argues for engagement in the public square that signifies being present in positive social action and change. Charles Mathewes's A Theology of Public Life offers a useful lens through which to interrogate this argument. Through biblical examples, we recognize the epicenter of this notion of engagement as relational, at an individual and a collective level. Faith intersecting with the public square emphasizes the recognition of the other and of their need, as well as our own identity as a people called to bear witness. This article explores this integrated and holistic approach that decompartmentalizes faith and affirms its rightful location in the public square.

“You See the Very Sharp Edge of the Problems of Prejudice in Town”: Youth Service Providers’ Perceptions of a Regional Community Facebook Group

The prolific growth of social media in recent years has provided new forums which allow engagement in local town discussions; particularly via community Facebook groups. This study seeks to understand the role of community Facebook groups in a regional town in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia; particularly how they are used to portray youth, and their relevance to a grassroots youth justice reinvestment process. This research arose due to direct concern from a community working group. Seventeen semi-structured interviews, with 18 participants, were conducted with service providers in Katherine, NT. The data was then inductively thematically analyzed, resulting in six themes: staying informed in a regional context; vilifying youth and combating this; racism; impact on youth; tensions in positioning youth: right versus left; and adopting a strengths-based approach to youth. Community Facebook groups were noted as an important factor for staying informed in a remote context. As a key medium within the town, Facebook groups should be considered a source of community discussion and an appropriate avenue to influence community opinion. The racialization of community discussions about “problem youth” indicates a segregation issue in the town, which has been noted for many years. Community education and the promotion of the youth justice work currently being implemented in the town were considered key in changing mindsets and ultimately behaviors. Importantly, research and community development programs alike should consider the community Facebook group as a medium for positive social action.

Conceptualization of the Notion “Musical Project of Academic Art”

The relevance of the issue of mastering technology management fundamentals involves the use of the musical project as a promotional product in the realities of the modern economic world. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the attempt to single out and specify the theoretical aspects of projecting in academic music art. It is the first research to deal with the concept of ‘music project’ in academic music art and to suggest its definition. The research is aimed at the conceptualization of the notion of «musical project of academic art», its interpretation in the context of development of academic music art management.The methodology of the research is characterized by a complex combination of a number of interdisciplinary theoretical approaches and scientific principles of systematization and generalization of the researched issue, which made it possible to identify the meaning content and range of the notion of “project” in a scientific discourse.The findings and conclusions. So, summarizing theoretical developments, we propose author’s definition of the concept of «musical project of academic art»: it is a unique step-by-step organization of resonance events of academic musical art on a national or local scale as a form of communication program in the process of management and as a type of communication program in the system of strategic process of functional management in order to attract it as a mechanism of positive social action. The classification of a musical project of academic art according to the following criteria is offered: by concept (commercial, socially-oriented, educational), volume (widescale and chamber) and perspective (formation of a new listening audience and expansion of the fan-music zone). Musical, like any other artistic project, involves the use of products of socio-cultural activity and the involvement of appropriate universal techniques (Event management, PR-service), which contribute to effective management. The significant signs of a musical project of academic art: actuality, which depends on socio-cultural conditions and can be dictated by these conditions, and independently dictate the favorable conditions of society and acts as a consolidating and motivational force of all components of the project; motivation, which is dictated by the personal goals of managers and executors (social significance, professional competence, and, as a consequence, the desired reward); talent of contractors, managers, as a guarantee of the success of the project, determines its quality and makes it possible to compete in the socio-cultural market. All of these criteria and characteristics of the music project are interrelated and complementary, convincing that the field of academic art in the Ukrainian socio-cultural space can produce a positive cultural image of the state in the world civilization arena. Prospects for further explorations relate to music management in contemporary Ukraine, peculiarities of its formation and development, revealing the institutional structure of academic music management, expressing the role of personality and so on.

A Data Envelopment Analysis-Based Methodology Adopting Assurance Region Approach for Measuring Corporate Social Performance

Many research papers calculate corporate social performance (CSP) with the net score method, i.e., by subtracting the number of concerns from the number of strengths. Although widely adopted, this method implies, perhaps mistakenly, that each indicator is of equal importance and that however serious the social misconduct a firm may have engaged in, it can be completely offset by some positive social action. The method also implies that a given firm that has done both a lot of harm and a lot of good will have CSP similar to that of another firm that has done little harm and little good. In this study, however, we question the appropriateness of the net score method in terms of its ability to truly reflect CSP and truly identify the real effects of CSP on various characteristics. We therefore propose a data envelopment analysis-based methodology that adopts the assurance region approach for evaluating CSP, through which various CSP indicators are converted into a single composite measure of CSP. Our findings show that our proposed methodology consistently performs better than the net score method in evaluating CSP.

Engaging residents in affordable housing—resident engagement pilot at Denver Housing Authority Westridge apartments

Denver Housing Authority (DHA) has invested considerably into designing, building, and maintaining a resource efficient portfolio and this effort is becoming increasingly comprehensive as they continuously refine and build upon their approach. One of the more recent strategies was to incorporate resident engagement efforts focused on energy and water efficiency into their programming as a way not only to maximize realized energy savings from these investments but to also to engage with building occupants around sustainability initiatives and develop a holistic approach to reducing their resource consumption. In 2014, DHA hired Energy Outreach Colorado and Group14 Engineering (the Team) to develop and implement a voluntary program designed to encourage positive environmental and social actions around energy and water use. The Team developed a comprehensive resident engagement and outreach program involving on-site staff, resident leaders, and residents. The program plan identified both low/no-cost solutions and more extensive outreach efforts targeted at the DHA Westridge community. Upon completion of the pilot, the program achieved 24,864 kWh (4.5%) savings in electricity consumption. Valued at the 2014 effective blended rate for Westridge, this equals $3493 dollars in annual savings and a program payback of 11 years. The project’s participation goal was exceeded, with 60% of the neighborhood households participating in the program. The team concluded that achieving savings through resident engagement is possible but also the level of effort put forth in the project is important to consider.

TELEVISI PUBLIK LOKAL SEBAGAI RUANG PUBLIK DAN MEDIA PEMBANGUNAN PARTISIPATIF

Regional public television is a certainty, as the public sphere which disseminates the regional potency, local wisdom, motivation and awareness raising community to enhance competitiveness, independent and participate in regional development. Inside the broadcasting regulation of Indonesia, regional public television is called Lembaga Penyiaran Publik Lokal Televisi. The opportunities for the formation of regional public television in Banten province is very potential, because in the province of Banten has not yet own station TVRI itselfs, but that is still manage with TVRI Station Special Capital City of Jakarta. Diversity of Banten's culture and local language are a great potential for regional public television to make broadcasts program on several sub-languages in Banten province. However, the main issue in revision broadcasting regulation of Indonesia is no longer focused on the diversity of content and diversity of ownership. The substance of the regulations on the establishment of regional public television is no longer contained in the draft revision of the broadcasting law of Indonesia. In other side, regional peoples has a right to get localy information, not only followed hegemony’s preference and standard of Jakarta’s value. Indonesia is not only Jakarta. Regional peoples needs more quality broadcasting content as a form of representation of cultural identity; broadcasting program that contain a variety of content that can raise public awareness collectively to preserve culture values and perform positive social actions through regional public television.

Making Visual Rhetoric More Difficult

Making Visual Rhetoric More Difficult

Common Actions: Participatory Action Research as a Practice for Promoting Positive Social Action among and between New Canadian Church Planters and Denominational Leaders

The Greater Toronto Area remains the major immigrant destination centre in Canada. New Canadians are welcomed but not necessarily well integrated into the lives of churches. Our experience and research has shown that this lack of integration can extend to new Canadians who start churches yet are not integrated with denominations or church planting organizations. The New Canadian Church Planter project is an ongoing participatory action research project that brings together new Canadian church planters and denominational leaders as equals. It engages these groups in conversation to identify issues of concern, facilitate shared learning, and promote positive social action. This paper uses data from that project to explore the effectiveness of participatory action research in facilitating those objectives. The project was effective at breaking down isolation, encouraging limited collaboration, developing localized resource sharing, and in disseminating learning but not at developing positive social action external to the meetings themselves.

A Fair Exchange: The Reciprocal Relationship Between Universities and Clinical Placement Supervisors

Clinical psychology training in the UK relies heavily upon supervised clinical practice placements. Placement supervisors have a significant responsibility for providing trainees with the learning experiences required for qualification. The role is demanding and whilst the university benefits greatly, it is less clear what supervisors receive in return. This is important when one considers how positive relationships and social action are influenced by reciprocity and a sense of belongingness. Despite its importance, no research has directly explored the relationship between supervisors and the university in a clinical psychology training context. This novel study sought to explore how supervisors perceive their role and their connectedness / belongingness to the university, and whether technology utilized by other areas of pedagogy led to improvements. Access to electronic resources was sent to clinical placement supervisors (n=100). A subset of these (n=7) signed up to complete a semi-structured interview. The interviews were analysed using template analysis. Common themes emerged, including perceived benefits of the supervisor role, such as feeling connected to the training course, despite significant challenges and demands. The provision of electronic resources was found to have the potential to enhance connectedness for all stakeholders. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Flash mobs, Arab Spring and protest movements: Can we analyse group identities in online conversations?

The Internet has provided people with new ways of expressing not only their individuality but also their collectivity i.e., their group affiliations. These group identities are the shared sense of belonging to a group. Online contact with others who share the same group identity can lead to cooperation and, even, coordination of social action initiatives both online and offline. Such social actions may be for the purposes of positive change, e.g., the Arab Spring in 2010, or disruptive, e.g., the England Riots in 2011. Stylometry and authorship attribution research has shown that it is possible to distinguish individuals based on their online language. In contrast, this work proposes and evaluates a model to analyse group identities online based on textual conversations amongst groups. We argue that textual features make it possible to automatically distinguish between different group identities and detect whether group identities are salient (i.e., most prominent) in the context of a particular conversation. We show that the salience of group identities can be detected with 95% accuracy and group identities can be distinguished from others with 84% accuracy. We also identify the most relevant features that may enable mal-actors to manipulate the actions of online groups. This has major implications for tools and techniques to drive positive social actions online or safeguard society from disruptive initiatives. At the same time, it poses privacy challenges given the potential ability to persuade or dissuade large groups online to move from rhetoric to action.

CSR Strategies in Response to Competitive Pressures

Is corporate social responsibility (CSR) a tool for strategic positioning? While CSR is sometimes used as part of a differentiation strategy, this article analyzes which specific CSR strategies arise in response to competitive pressures. The results suggest that competitive pressures lead firms to increase their positive social actions without necessarily decreasing their social weaknesses. This positive impact varies with specific dimensions of CSR and industry specificities: (1) Competition improves social performance toward core stakeholders to a greater extent than social performance toward peripheral stakeholders. (2) This effect is more pronounced in B2C industries than in other industries. (3) Competition leads firms in “dirty” industries to ignore environmental initiatives.

Model rodziny i wychowania rodzinnego w parafialnej prasie wielkopolskiej w II Rzeczypospolitej na przykładzie „Tygodnika Parafji Zbąszyńskiej”

Local press played a significant role in 2nd Polish Republic both from the perspective if state administration, territorial autonomies, political parties and the expectations of wide social environments and local communities. It fulfilled the need of information on the social, political, educational, cultural and economical life of specific environments. It also worked as a tool in propaganda and political agitation, it familiarized ideologies of political parties and expressed views and idea of local communities. It played an important part in local economy life; it educated and actively took part in popularization of interests in regional issues.Local press was both: amirror of contemporary social relations, political and national divisions and the important agent in initiatives such as cultural events. It registered and pictured life of the town and its area citizens, gave pedagogical impact on the young generation by giving them patterns and forms of positive social actions, popularized specific ideologies, educational concepts, patterns of behavior, it created and influenced the local communities attitudes and actions. Its role was especially visible in Great Poland, where local press helped in creation of socio-cultural life in small towns and education. In the group of magazines that specifically influenced local communities cultural character and had an important educational impact we should (undoubtedly) include the parish press.

Using Human Rights-based Approaches to Support the Engagement and Empowerment of Young People

This paper explores questions about the value of human rights-based approaches in supporting the engagement and empowerment of young people. It will examine how rights-based approaches allow education about human rights to take on the characteristics of transformative learning, with consequences for increased possibilities of engagement of young people in positive social action both inside and outside the school setting. Key characteristics of rights-based approaches are introduced and their connection to skills supporting empowerment examined. Case studies of rights-based approaches from around the globe drawn from a wide spectrum of countries (including both north and south) are used to illustrate both positive effects and explore challenges and limitations. The work discussed in this paper sits at the intersection of education, public health and health promotion, and is underpinned by values of social justice, equity and participation.

Tax avoidance, tax management and corporate social responsibility

This study examines the effect of three measures of corporate social responsibility (CSR) — corporate governance, community and diversity on tax avoidance in firms that use auditor‐provided tax services. This is one of the first studies, to our knowledge, to empirically relate tax avoidance, tax management and CSR literature. By separating the strengths and concerns for each CSR measure, we are able to analyze the effects of a firm's negative and positive social actions on tax avoidance. We find that the interaction of community concerns with tax management fees positively affects both GAAP and Cash ETR, while the interaction of corporate governance strengths and diversity concerns with tax management fees negatively affects Cash ETR. Our results are similar when we use Excess ETR that is not explained by firm specifics. We find additional evidence that CSR affects tax avoidance when we divide firms into portfolios based on CSR levels. Our findings suggest that future studies on tax avoidance and tax management should incorporate CSR.

Children show heightened memory for threatening social actions

Three experiments investigated whether a negativity bias in social perception extends to preschool-aged children’s memory for the details of others’ social actions and experiences. After learning about individuals who committed nice or mean social actions, children in Experiment 1 were more accurate at remembering who was mean compared with who was nice. In Experiment 2, children showed a memory advantage for the specific details of actions committed by mean individuals compared with nice individuals. In Experiment 3, children exhibited better memory for the details of mean actions compared with nice actions when the vignettes were presented from the perspective of the recipients instead of the perpetrators of these actions. Taken together, these findings suggest that children show heightened memory for the details of negative social actions over positive social actions. Such a memory bias may be advantageous in helping children to predict potentially threatening situations in the future.

Teachers as Moral Compasses: Exploring Critical Literacy through Digital Social Justice Book Talks

A classroom-based study aimed to scaffold preservice teachers’ critical literacy through an exploration of trade picture books. The paper discusses preservice teachers’ shifting views of critical literacy and the place of critical literacy in the language arts classroom. It also assesses the usefulness of digital book talks for engaging preservice teachers with social justice issues. The book talks provided novice teachers with opportunities to question and challenge assumptions, evaluate their own actions and attitudes toward accepted moral standards, and to engage in positive social action. The preservice teachers’ responses to the assignment suggest a number of ways in which teachers can effectively use new media to explore social justice and equity issues with young students.