Service Organizations Research Articles

Reaching national Covid-19 vaccination targets whilst decreasing inequalities in vaccine uptake: Public health teams' challenges in supporting disadvantaged populations

BackgroundUK local authority public health teams (LAPHT) supported delivery of the Covid-19 vaccination programme, particularly to disadvantaged populations. We explored the challenges encountered and lessons learnt by LAPHTs in tackling low Covid-19 vaccine uptake. The aim of this study was to understand what works, and how, in addressing local inequalities in relation to uptake of the Covid-19 vaccination with a view to generalising insights to building back fairer after the pandemic and into the future. Study designQualitative. MethodWe conducted in-depth on-line interviews with Directors of Public Health or their representatives from 21 English local authorities covering a total population of over 8 million people. Data were analysed thematically. ResultsAccessing the requisite (and accurate) data, engaging with communities, and working with National Health Service (NHS) organisations presented challenges in delivering initiatives to improve vaccine uptake, particularly for disadvantaged groups. LAPHT’s assets beneficial to the programme - in-depth knowledge and experience of their communities and locality - were not considered in the national vaccination programme. Community engagement and relationships with local NHS featured heavily in the majority of LAPHTs responses to improving vaccine uptake rates. ConclusionsIncorporating local public health infrastructure, expertise and existing relationships into national vaccination planning during epidemics or pandemics is crucial. Community engagement and good relationships with NHS staff help to reach and serve disadvantaged populations. How these can be developed and maintained in the longer term without future investment was a concern. Future research should explore the design and implementation of PH and NHS joint service delivery models to tackle health inequalities, informed by experiences of the Covid-19 vaccination programme and with input from community partners.

Exploring the experience of participants in a pilot scheme to recognise teaching excellence in healthcare: A mixed methods approach.

BackgroundWithin healthcare settings, practice-based healthcare professionals are expected to teach, supervise, assess and/or support learners in their respective disciplines. Ongoing development opportunities focusing specifically on teaching skills and support of students are varied and there are no mandatory requirements for practice-based healthcare professionals to develop formal teaching qualifications, despite their direct involvement with learners. ObjectiveTo explore the experience of participants in a pilot scheme to recognise teaching excellence in healthcare. DesignA mixed methods approach was used. Setting(s)One inner-city integrated health care system in the UK. ParticipantsThis study involved eleven participants in total: seven applicants who successfully completed the award and four mentors who supported them throughout the application process. Mentors were all Advance HE Fellowship holders employed within one National Health Service (NHS) organisation and one Higher Education Institution situated within the Northwest of England. MethodsData collection methods included an online anonymised survey followed by individual semi- structured interviews. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, and qualitative data were analysed using framework analysis principles. ResultsThe findings indicated that participants (applicants and mentors) found the overall experience positive and rewarding. The main positive aspects of taking part were:I. Increased confidence and sharing of teaching experienceII. Increased reflection and use of pedagogyIII. Formation of a teaching community of practiceIV. Perceived teaching career progression opportunitiesThe application process appeared to act as a catalyst towards re-engagement with underpinning pedagogy when considering the suitability and utility of effective teaching approaches for learners in practice. It also helped to promote a teaching community of practice where mentors were able to ‘pay forward’ and support practice colleagues to be recognised for their teaching roles.The main challenges were the competing demands on applicants’ time and the self-directed approach required to complete the award application. ConclusionGaining recognition of teaching excellence through an award scheme such as Advance HE Fellowship can foster a sense of empowerment, recognition and reward for educators who work with learners undertaking Higher Education Programmes, irrespective of the setting where teaching and learning takes place. However, without wider organisation support and resources, the benefits of such schemes can be diminished. RegistrationN/A Tweetable abstractWith institutional support, Advance HE Fellowships offer accessible recognition for healthcare educator's commitment to teaching excellence @AdvanceHE @NHSE_WTE

Influence of a community practice innovation on a statewide cancer drug repository network.

115 Background: Cancer drug repositories (CDRs) have the potential to minimize cancer medication waste while improving medication access to patients in need. Despite multiple states having legislation allowing for CDR programs, implementation remains suboptimal. The first CDRs to launch in Michigan were a fortuitous result of the support provided in embedding clinical pharmacists into community oncology practices via the Pharmacists Optimizing Oncology Care Excellence in Michigan, POEM, program. We describe these grassroot efforts as well as barriers to sustainability, ultimately resulting in formation of a statewide CDR Network, YesRx. Methods: This qualitative analysis of barriers and facilitators was conducted from interviews with Michigan’s first CDRs. Virtual group meetings were conducted monthly for 6-months from January 2023 – June 2023. Meetings were led by the coordinating center team of POEM. Workgroup attendees included POEM pharmacists who established the first 3 CDR programs in the State, a medical oncologist and longstanding advocate of CDRs, and a patient representative. Brainstorming sessions included open ended questions on experiences to date, benefits of CDR programs, barriers to growth, limitations in current CDR models, and beneficial areas for support. Interview findings were categorized as barriers or facilitators of site-specific implementation and recommendations for CDR model optimization. Results: All 3 CDRs reported positive outcomes from initiating the CDRs related to patient benefit and physician satisfaction. Items reported as challenges/barriers in the sustainability of individual site-managed CDRs: space (inventory growth exceeded designated storage capacity), complexity of inventory tracking, resources (staff and financial), inability to search state-wide for available inventory, inability to easily transfer medications between CDR sites (due to cost, documentation, and staff), inability to ship medications directly to a patient’s home, inability to serve cancer patients across the State who may be in need of medication or interested in donating. The top recommendations for CDR model optimization formed by this workgroup were a centralized, shared database of CDR inventory across the State, support for CDR medication transfers, and additional resource and storage capabilities. YesRx, a nonprofit service organization, was founded in July 2023 in collaboration with the first 3 CDRs to address the experienced barriers resulting in exponential state-wide access. Conclusions: Grassroot efforts of community-based clinical oncology pharmacists resulted in the first CDR programs in Michigan and their experiences guided the launch of a statewide network of CDRs created to expand cancer medication access for vulnerable and underserved people and communities.

Determining What Proportion of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services–Transported Patients Are Urban Versus Rurally Based: A Retrospective 36-Year Geospatial Analysis of a Critical Care Helicopter Emergency Medical Services Organization's Patient Transports

ObjectiveThere is an increased mortality rate of patients residing in rural compared with urban communities. Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) decrease both the time to hospital arrival and trauma mortality in patients originating from rural areas. An unreported number of urban residents are served by HEMS. Our objective was to quantify the fraction of urban residents who live in the adjoining city of a HEMS base and are transferred by helicopter while they are in rural areas. MethodsThis was a retrospective analysis of HEMS charts between 1985 and 2022. Records were assessed for patients’ city and postal code. A secondary database was searched to assess mission location. ResultsThirty-five thousand nine hundred seventy-one cases were analyzed; 3,871 (10.76%) cases involved patients residing within the urban area of an open HEMS base, and 32,100 (89.24%) did not. This contrasts with 2.04% of all missions conducted in urban areas. Cases flown with patients from outside of the 3 provinces were as follows: British Columbia (1,233/21,941; 5.3% of Alberta cases), international (988/35,971; 2.7% of total cases), Ontario (177/4,691; 3.6% of Manitoba cases), and other provinces combined (158/3,5971; 0.4% of total cases). ConclusionWe highlight the impact of HEMS, where it serves both rural residents and all people who work in, travel through, visit, or recreate across the areas that our HEMS supports.

Emergency management decision-making in a changing world: 3 key challenges

Managing emergencies is taxing for individuals due to the stress of making decisions in dangerous, high-stakes and time-constrained environments. These complex, dynamic environments also make it difficult to coordinate as other responders perform different roles that may have conflicting goals. This study explored some of the challenges faced by emergency management decision-makers through a literature review of 70 papers identified from SCOPUS and EBSCO database searches. Three major challenges for emergency management were identified: stress and fatigue, interoperability and ethical decision-making. Each of these challenges is examined to explore their nature and how they are likely to evolve in the future. This paper provides helpful advice on how to mitigate these challenges. We argue that to better meet these challenges, emergency services organisations need to develop and maintain appropriate doctrine and training, develop a supportive organisational culture and effectively learn the lessons of previous critical incidents.

Evaluation of "Age-Friendly City" Indicators in Golestan Province From the Perspective of the Older Adult Population

Objectives: To evaluate age-friendly city indicators from the perspective of the older adults in Golestan province in 2023. Design: A descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study. Setting(s): Golestan province, Iran. Participants: Individuals aged 60 years and above. Outcome measures: A sample of 310 participants was selected using proportional stratified sampling. Data were collected with a validated age-friendly city questionnaire. Results: The mean age of the participants in this study was 70.34±7.73 years (ranging from 60 to 99), with 64.5% being male. Among the three examined components, the component of respect and social security had the highest average among the older adults (4.65±17.72), followed by social participation (4.79±16.30) and civic engagement and employment (4.052±12.20). Agefriendly city indicators demonstrated statistically significant differences in variables such as city of residence (P=0.02), support source (P=0.009), income level (P=0.001), and marital status (P=0.05). Conclusions: None of the examined age-friendly city components in Golestan province met the necessary standards. Recommendations include enhancing efforts by service organizations to improve conditions for older adults.

A Canadian national study of provincial and territorial correctional workers' suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts.

Correctional workers (CWs) endure several operational stressors (e.g., exposures to potentially psychologically traumatic events) and organisational stressors (e.g., shift work, staff shortages), which are associated with positive screens for mental disorders and self-reports of suicidal behaviours and thus urgently warrant further inquiry. The Canadian Provincial and Territorial Correctional Worker Mental Health and Well-Being Study (CWMH) used an online survey to collect data from Canadian correctional service organisations across all 13 provinces and territories. This national Canadian study investigates suicidal behaviours among CWs across diverse occupational roles and provincial and territorial jurisdictions (n=3740, 50.1% female). The results estimated prevalence proportions for self-reported past-year and lifetime suicidal thoughts, planning, and attempts across the 13 Canadian provincial and territorial correctional systems, with the exceptions of past-year suicidal planning in Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, and Yukon where jurisdictional considerations and requests precluded the inclusion of select questions. Substantial proportions of participants reported past-year or lifetime suicidal ideation (i.e., 9.1%, 29.2%, respectively), planning (i.e., 4.1%, 14.7%, respectively), or attempts (i.e., 0.8%, 7.2%, respectively). Sociodemographic variables (i.e., sex, age, marital status, total years of service, occupational category) were associated with past-year and lifetime suicidal behaviours. Findings provide opportunities for future research and can inform tailored efforts by clinicians, service providers, and organisational leaders to support proactive interventions and treatments, including supporting the partners and families of CWs, fostering social support networks, and improving access to timely mental health treatment.

Suitability of smoking cessation support from social and community service organizations: perspectives of Dutch clients.

Social and community service organizations (SCSOs) may be a promising new environment to more successfully reach people with a lower socioeconomic position (SEP) for smoking cessation support. However, studies that investigate clients' perspectives of the suitability of SCSOs as a setting to discuss smoking are scarce. This study aimed to (i) investigate the suitability of smoking cessation support provided by SCSOs, according to people with a low SEP, and (ii) explore their reasons for considering it suitable or unsuitable. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 individuals with a low SEP who smoked regularly (N = 14) or had smoked regularly (N = 5). They have been in contact with SCSOs in a specific neighborhood in Amsterdam. Data were analyzed using a thematic approach. Participants generally considered SCSOs as suitable for providing smoking cessation support, as professionals are involved, build a relationship of trust, and offer personalized and holistic support. SCSOs are located nearby and familiar, they provide support in both group and individual settings and might offer additional supportive (group)activities. A number of participants expressed doubts about the waiting time for support, the fact that the needed support might exceed professionals' expertise, and the lack of aftercare. SCSOs can be an additional opportunity for providing smoking cessation support that aligns with the circumstances of lower SEP people. To harness the potential, smoking cessation could be integrated into education programs and training among professionalscould be promoted. Policy changes within and outside SCSOs would be needed.

Proposed categories for reporting of service organization in rehabilitation in clinical trials: a discussion paper.

The lack of standardized reporting for crucial organizational factors in rehabilitation poses a significant barrier to understanding their impact on patient outcomes in clinical trials and meta-analyses. Based on the categories in the International Classification of Service Organization in Rehabilitation (ICSO-R 2.0), we aimed to develop reporting standards specifically for organizational factors in clinical trials. A comprehensive two-step process was conducted. In Step 1, important categories were identified. The identification was based on previous results from a Delphi survey with international stakeholder participation, two systematic literature reviews and results from focus groups with users in Germany, Indonesia and Norway. Step 2 involved the necessary reduction of categories and the proposal of reporting specifications, achieved through two voting rounds among key researchers, stakeholders and users. The suggested minimum reporting set comprises Context and Setting as well as Quality assurance and management. The Context and Setting is proposed to include whether the intervention is delivered by Hospital, Community or Other service providers. The Mode of delivery is proposed to be specified as Inpatient, Outpatient, In-home, or Tele-rehabilitation. Furthermore, the Level of specialization (Primary/Secondary) and the Phase of service delivery Acute, Subacute or Long-term rehabilitation services should be reported. The Quality assurance and management should be reported as Yes or No, with the option Yes requiring description of the quality assurance applied in the methods section. This study proposed a compulsory and standardized reporting of organizational factors in clinical trials to facilitate the generation of scientific evidence regarding effective service provision and delivery in rehabilitation medicine. Authors are encouraged to consider the proposed reporting set to testing, criticism, and modification to enhance its applicability and robustness.

Cross-sector collaboration to reduce health inequalities: a qualitative study of local collaboration between health care, social services, and other sectors under health system reforms in England

BackgroundPolicymakers across countries promote cross-sector collaboration as a route to improving health and health equity. In England, major health system reforms in 2022 established 42 integrated care systems (ICSs)—area-based partnerships between health care, social care, public health, and other sectors—to plan and coordinate local services. ICSs cover the whole of England and have been given explicit policy objectives to reduce health inequalities, alongside other national priorities.MethodsWe used qualitative methods to understand how local health care and social services organizations are collaborating to reduce health inequalities under England’s reforms. We conducted in-depth interviews between August and December 2022—soon after the reforms were implemented—with 32 senior leaders from NHS, social care, public health, and community-based organizations in three ICSs experiencing high levels of socioeconomic deprivation. We used a framework based on international evidence on cross-sector collaboration to help analyse the data.ResultsLeaders described strong commitment to working together to reduce health inequalities, but faced a combination of conceptual, cultural, capacity, and other challenges in doing so. A mix of factors shaped local collaboration—from how national policy aims are defined and understood, to the resources and relationships among local organizations to deliver them. These factors interact and have varying influence. The national policy context played a dominant role in shaping local collaboration experiences—frequently making it harder not easier. Organizational restructuring to establish ICSs also caused major disruption, with unintended effects on the partnership working it aimed to promote.ConclusionsThe major influences on cross-sector collaboration in England mirror key areas identified in international research, offering opportunities for learning between countries. But our data highlight the pervasive—frequently perverse—influence of national policy on local collaboration in England. National policymakers risked undermining their own reforms. Closer alignment between policy, process, and resources to reduce health inequalities is likely needed to avoid policy failure as ICSs evolve.

Bridging governmentality and economization: temporality as a financialization device

ABSTRACT Reflecting and reinforcing the financialization of everyday life, non-profit social service organizations, the primary deliverers of benefits and services in the US, are increasingly incorporating financial education and empowerment into their service repertoires. In this article, I examine and compare how financial educators in two organizations that target different populations/problems – women in (economic) transition and chronically/intergenerationally poor people – give financial advice to their clients. I draw a parallel between what Foucault calls the ‘repressive hypothesis’ and claims by personal finance experts and educators that we are silent about money. I suggest that these claims amount to a ‘money repressive hypothesis’ that gives experts what I call an ‘advisor’s benefit’: the appearance of being freed from silence about money and thus able to liberate others from silence and steer them toward financial wellness. I show that financial educators perform this benefit through temporal frames – meaningful ways of intersubjectively organizing experience in reference to time, that invite different levels and forms of attention to the past, present, and future – of their clients’ problems. Bridging literatures on governmentality and economization, I contend that these temporal frames are disciplinary financialization devices that act in connection with sociocultural constructions of populations/problems to assemble financial subjectivities.

How and when internal marketing orientation affects frontline employees’ positive word of mouth: insights from a hotel in China

PurposeDrawing on the theoretical underpinnings of job crafting, this study aims to investigate how and when internal marketing orientation (IMO) promotes employees’ positive word of mouth (PWOM).Design/methodology/approachThe two-wave, multisource data came from frontline employees and their supervisors in a hotel located in Eastern China. The hypothesized relationships were tested with Mplus with multilevel path analysis.FindingsThe results reveal that IMO encourages frontline employees to change the task, cognitive and relational boundaries of their jobs. Nevertheless, it is through relational crafting that IMO ultimately affects employees’ PWOM, especially when they work with supervisors high in felt responsibility for constructive change (FRCC).Research limitations/implicationsTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies to investigate how organizations and supervisors can work together to encourage frontline employees’ PWOM.Practical implicationsThe findings carry important implications for practitioners on how to encourage frontline employees’ PWOM in the service sector.Originality/valueFirst, this research adds to the limited knowledge of how organizations and supervisors can work together to promote frontline employees’ PWOM in the service sector. Second, by proposing job crafting as a key intermediary mechanism underlying IMO’s impact on employee PWOM, this research not only offers a new theoretical perspective to understand how to promote frontline employees’ PWOM but also sheds new light on the underlying mechanisms through which IMO exerts its influence on frontline employees. Third, supervisors’ FRCC as a boundary condition of IMO can help service organizations more effectively capitalize on IMO to motivate frontline employees’ engagement in job crafting and subsequent PWOM.

Physical evidence, branding, and behavior intention: Differential policy in integrated resorts marketing

This study explores and evaluates the physical evidence construct in integrated resort marketing. It contributes to the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory by introducing the concept of physical evidence and developing a novel framework in the context of integrated resorts. This conceptual framework enhances academic understanding of the relationship between physical evidence, branding, and the behavioral intention of tourists. The results indicate that physical evidence positively impacts brand image, brand experience, and impulsive gambling; moreover, the study reveals that both brand image and brand experience partially mediate the relationship between physical evidence and gambling behavior. In terms of practical implications for service organizations, this study suggests integrated resorts should prioritize the development of physical evidence as a distinctive marketing policy. By incorporating physical evidence into the customer brand strategy, integrated resorts can create long-term impacts on brand image and brand experience, ultimately influencing gambling behavior among tourists and visitors.

Moving toward employees' flourishing-at-work, an Indian perspective

PurposeThis study explores the pivotal relationship between humble leadership (HL) and flourishing-at-work (FAW) in the context of the information technology-enabled services (ITes) industry. Specifically, it explores the mediating role of psychological empowerment (PE) and the moderating influence of proactive personality (PP) in this dynamic interplay.Design/methodology/approachData from a comprehensive survey of 342 full-time employees from information technology-enabled services (ITes) organizations in India were meticulously analyzed. Utilizing covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) in IBM AMOS 21.0.FindingsThe results illuminate the positive impact of HL on PE, subsequently enhancing FAW among employees. Furthermore, PE was identified as a partial mediator in the relationship between HL and FAW. Intriguingly, this mediation process was found to be significantly stronger when employees exhibited a higher degree of proactive personality.Practical implicationsThis research underscores the critical importance of cultivating humble leadership within organizations. The findings emphasize the potential of targeted training programs aimed at nurturing humble leadership qualities among managerial staff. By doing so, organizations can significantly contribute to the emotional, psychological and social well-being of their employees, ultimately fostering a state of FAW.Originality/valueThis research innovatively links the concepts of humble leadership and FAW within the specific context of the ITes industry. By integrating PE as a mediator and PP as a moderator, this study not only fills a critical gap in existing literature but also provides a robust framework for future research.

Анализ динамики заболеваемости туберкулезом в Кабардино-Балкарской Республике в 2020–2023 гг.

According to WHO, tuberculosis remains one of the infectious diseases that kills the largest number of people in the world. Since 2014, there has been an upward trend in the incidence of tuberculosis worldwide, with the exception of 2020, when this figure decreased. In 2022, the number of people newly diagnosed with tuberculosis was 7.5 million. This is the highest rate since WHO began global monitoring of tuberculosis in 1995, which is likely due to limited access to medical services during the COVID‑19 pandemic. In contrast to global trends, the Russian Federation has seen favorable dynamics in the main indicators for tuberculosis since 2009. To assess the real epidemiological situation regarding tuberculosis, it is important to study the incidence of tuberculosis. The purpose of this study was to study the dynamics of the incidence of tuberculosis in the Kabardino-Balkarian republic in 2020–2023 in order to identify the main problems in the epidemiological situation. Materials and methods. A comparative analysis of the incidence of tuberculosis in 2020–2023 was carried out according to statistical materials from the State Budgetary Healthcare Institution of Ministry of Health of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic “Republican Anti-Tuberculosis Dispensary” for a 4-year period following the results of 2020–2023 after copying information and analyzing time series. Results. In the period from 2020 to 2023, against the backdrop of an improvement in tuberculosis incidence rates among first-time cases, an increase was revealed: the proportion of bacilli excretors with respiratory tuberculosis by 3.9%, including the proportion of patients with multidrug resistance among them by 17.8%; as well as the share of patients with fibrous cavernous tuberculosis of organs of morbidity by 10.4%, the share of cases with a phase of complications with organ tuberculosis by 5%, the share of patients with disseminated tuberculosis by 103.3%, the share of patients with HIV-associated tuberculosis by 25%, the incidence of the child population 0–17 years old – by 60.3%, 0–14 years old – by 54.5%, 15–17 years old – by 108.7%. Conclusions. Against the background of a decrease in the main indicators of tuberculosis incidence among the population of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic in 2020–2023, significant changes have occurred in the structure of the tuberculosis process. The results of the study require a systematic analysis of the treatment and diagnostic process of the anti-tuberculosis service and other medical organizations with the subsequent development of management decisions to improve the efficiency of the implementation of the regional plan of anti-tuberculosis measures in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.

A Global Study of Debate Extension Service Organizations (DESOs): Challenges and Opportunities

Debating is often seen as an extra-curricular activity, with debate clubs in secondary and tertiary level institutions being the main organizational unit. However, some organizations operate beyond individual schools and offer broader support to debate activities. This includes organizing tournaments, training coaches and adjudicators, executing debate workshops/camps, managing national debate teams, and promoting debate in non-school environments. These can be called Debate Extension Service Organisations (DESOs), are typically non-governmental organizations that vary in terms of structure, services, staffing, and funding. Generally, they aim to create positive change in the lives of their programme participants and to promote debate as a useful tool for society. Conducted in the Caribbean, this study uses a sequential mixed method approach consisting of a survey and a focus group discussion to explore the challenges confronting such organizations, and examines the extent to which they are similar across places, in addition to considering various solutions to such challenges. From this, it is noted that the strategies to overcome the challenges may be at least somewhat transferable, though contextual nuances remain relevant. It was found that the challenge of greatest concern to the organizations was funding, while participant buy-in was of least concern. Other concerns of staff turnover, public support, and organization capacity were moderate. Despite the concerns, the organizations remained optimistic in achieving their goals and believed that they would remain in existence.

Efforts to Introduce an Indigenous Identifier in a Canadian Provincial Health Authority

Across Canada, Indigenous identity data is not routinely collected in healthcare settings. This paper focuses on [province] and whether the largest and only province-wide healthcare services organization in Canada, [healthcare organization name] should implement an Indigenous identifier in their new electronic medical record system. Due to the current absence of an Indigenous identifier, it is difficult to identify Indigenous peoples in administrative healthcare data to guide healthcare decision-making specifically for Indigenous peoples and to assist with population-specific disease surveillance and prevention programs. Moreover, it is often challenging for Indigenous nations, communities, and organizations to access this data. The data that does exist in [province] frequently excludes large segments of the Indigenous population. Indigenous researchers globally have called for improved health data in alignment with Indigenous research principles, data governance and sovereignty. This paper reports on an exploratory study of potential avenues to enhance availability of Indigenous specific health data in [province]. Of interest are possible supports, concerns, and potential barriers for the introduction of a policy to collect self-disclosed Indigenous identity data in the [org] new electronic medical record system. This research included interviews and focus group sessions with diverse subject matter experts including academics, Indigenous health practitioners and healthcare administrators. The project was embedded in the [removed] which is an [province] based research network for improving primary health with and for Indigenous peoples

Emotional exhaustion behind the badge: Examining the effects of affective commitment, surface acting, and gender among police personnel

Public service organizations, such as the police, place great value on employee commitment because the public interest is at stake. While previous literature establishes a negative association between affective commitment and emotional exhaustion, the underlying mechanism remains insufficiently explored. Drawing on the perspective of emotional labor, this paper investigates whether surface acting, which refers to the feigning of expected emotions, mediates the impact of affective commitment on emotional exhaustion among police personnel. Furthermore, the study aims to explore whether this mediating effect is influenced by gender. The dataset utilized in this research comprises responses obtained from a survey administered to 465 police officers employed by the Taipei City Police Department. Our findings reveal a significant suppression effect of surface acting in the affective commitment-emotional exhaustion relationship, suggesting that surface acting, as a result of low affective commitment, has a detrimental impact on emotional well-being. Interestingly, the effects of affective commitment and surface acting on emotional exhaustion are stronger in male police officers compared to their female counterparts. In summary, the results of this study contribute to the existing literature and have broader implications for high-stress work environments. The findings provide insights into how organizations can better support the well-being of their employees by promoting commitment and addressing surface acting. Moreover, the study underscores the importance of considering gender differences in understanding the impact of these variables on emotional exhaustion among police personnel.

A Socio-Political Aspect of Housing and Communal Sanitation in the USSR, 1950s–1960s (Based on Materials of Leningrad and Vyborg)

Introduction. The article examines the interactions between the sanitary service, other departments, and city residents in the 1950s and 1960s to improve sanitary conditions, using the examples of Leningrad and Vyborg. It shows how the level of housing safety increased as the state allocated material resources to service organizations and improved sanitary standards. Methods and materials. The article is based on materials from the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Central City Archive of St. Petersburg, and the Leningrad Oblast Archive, and a number of newspaper publications. Minutes of meetings, reports and explanatory notes, and citizens’ appeals to various authorities show that littered exits, uncollected cesspools, irregular cleaning of adjoining territories, and mountains of garbage often became a source of epidemics. Analysis. These problems were addressed as communication between government agencies and the public evolved. The legislative framework governing sanitary safety in cities was formed as early as the 1930s. The situation was aggravated by the lack of education of the population, which did not want to comply with sanitary rules. Solving the problem required concerted work by authorities, academics, and community activists. In order to reduce the risks of disease for city residents, city authorities organized trash pickups, lectures for citizens with representatives of sanitation services, etc. Thus, practices were formed to maintain compliance with the necessary norms. Results. The identified features of the implementation of housing and communal sanitation norms give the idea that established communication between government and public organizations was a channel for reducing the risks of epidemics and the comfort of the dwelling. Increased use of specialized machinery that allowed for garbage collection and a number of other problems was able to accelerate sanitation problems. This article illustrates how the risks – the high likelihood of epidemics – forced the state and citizens to seek effective ways to develop and maintain sanitary standards. The successful development of practices was thus related to the development of the necessary infrastructure and the awareness of city residents of the benefits of complying with practices.

Network versus spatial proximity and firm innovation: The case of the R&D service sector

AbstractThe paper analyzes the relationship between different types of proximities—network and spatial—in relation to innovation in the context of the R&D service industry. In doing so, it contributes to the recent debate in the literature on the effects of network connectivity versus geographical colocation. The paper uses original data from a survey of 145 R&D service establishments in Montreal (Canada) and their interactions with both local and nonlocal organizations. The findings of the paper indicate that collaborative networks (both local and nonlocal) have a stronger association with R&D service innovation than spatial proximity to R&D service organizations and other collaborators. However, when these two dimensions are interacted, they are shown to function as substitutes. The paper also demonstrates that the relationship between spatial proximity and networking varies across three dimensions: local versus nonlocal networking, the type of relationship (client, supplier, competitor, and research institutes and university), and the type of network connectivity—brokerage versus closure.