Underdeveloped Concept Research Articles

Exploring Purpose-Driven Leadership: Theoretical Foundations, Mechanisms, and Impacts in Organizational Context

Leadership has been extensively studied in organizational contexts, with numerous theories examining how leaders influence success and employee engagement. Most recently, integrating organizational purpose—the core reason for an organization’s existence—into leadership has garnered substantial interest, resulting in the underdeveloped concept of Purpose-Driven Leadership. This paper presents a systematic review of Purpose-Driven Leadership in organizations. We employed the PRISMA guidelines and searched WoS and SCOPUS, identifying 58 relevant research papers for inclusion in our review. The success of Purpose-Driven Leadership, as a nexus of individual and organizational purposes, hinges on defining and implementing an organizational purpose that resonates at all levels, based on the inverted pyramid of purpose, from overarching organization to individual roles. Our review suggests several positive outcomes associated with Purpose-Driven Leadership. These include increased work engagement, where employees are more invested in their roles; enhanced organizational commitment, reflecting stronger loyalty to the organization; improved employee performance, demonstrating higher productivity and effectiveness; and overall organizational performance. Additionally, this leadership approach promotes a cohesive and motivated workforce by aligning individual goals with the broader organizational purpose, fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation. Several moderators were also identified, including effective purpose communication, impact perception, autonomy, and balance of work–life.

Professional skill priorities: Comparison views of osteopathy industry professionals and osteopathy students

ObjectiveThis paper investigates the perceptions, attitudes and experiences of osteopathy students who had opportunity to engage with differing curriculum interventions focused on patient communication, and compare these with those of industry professionals. MethodThree different osteopathy student cohorts had opportunity to engage with different communication curriculum interventions. Using focus group discussions, perceptions, attitudes, and experiences about patient centred care were gathered and thematically analysed using a realist lens. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with industry professionals to capture their perceptions, attitudes and experiences about patient centred care and compared with the students. ResultsCohorts with zero or one semester of advanced communication curriculum displayed underdeveloped concepts about the professional skill sets needed of an osteopath, patient-centred care and confidence and readiness for supervised clinical practise. In stark contrast, the one cohort who had opportunity to engage with the full communication curriculum i.e. introductory and advanced displayed views about patient centred care closely aligned with the views of industry professionals, demonstrated advanced ideas about skill sets of an osteopath, and were eager to commence supervised clinical practise. ConclusionAn explicit and appropriately integrated curriculum appears to expedite student confidence and maturity to align more closely with industry professional views regarding the skill priorities needed of an osteopath.

Application of Agency Theory in Administrative Accountability and Public Service Delivery in Local Government Councils in Delta State

The Agency Theory was extensively covered in this study. The investigation used secondary data from books and articles that had already been published. Despite objections, changes in the government, and reservations from some sections of the public, the agency theory has proven to be a useful paradigm in enhancing public accountability and improving the delivery of public services. Local government councils in Delta State may benefit from applying agency theory, which can enhance the provision of public services, employee performance, administrative accountability in the public sector, and public confidence in elected officials. The majority of public administration research reflects agent theory-related presumptions that support public administrators' capacity for learning and effectiveness. As a result of the aforementioned, it is crucial for Delta State's local government council leaders to strictly adhere to accountability in the management of local government affairs in order to encourage quality service delivery. The study comes to the conclusion that in Nigerian public administration, administrative accountability is a crucial but underdeveloped concept. The phrase is freely used by academics and professionals to refer to accountability for one's actions or behavior. Administrators and organizations are responsible in the sense that they must account for their actions. Beyond this fundamental idea of answerability, the term has not undergone much development in Delta State's local government councils.

When leaders disappoint: rejection and denial of leadership roles in international politics

International leadership failure by states is an underdeveloped concept in International Relations. Existing approaches commonly equate leadership with hegemony, arguing that leadership success and failure are contingent on primacy or shared material interests among states. In this article, we introduce a role theoretical approach, which defines international leadership as a social role that emerges from shared expectations among states pertaining to leadership purpose, group cohesion and time horizon. Accordingly, leadership failure occurs when role expectations between states diverge and states are unable to generate commensurate role-taking via alter-casting. Four leader-follower constellations can be distinguished: leadership enactment, denial, rejection and vacuum. The paper utilizes this theoretical heuristic to understand two cases of leadership failure. The first case involves Brazil’s attempted leadership role in response to the Latin American migration crisis following the political crisis in Venezuela. The second case examines Indonesia’s attempted leadership role in the South China Sea dispute. The empirical findings contribute to existing work on hegemony and leadership in international relations theory by showing that leadership failure comes in different variants and these variants are contingent on shared role expectations and alter-casting capacity of states involved.

Creating Informal Learning in Ocean Museums in China: A Case of Shenzhen Shekou Aquarium

Enhancing informal learning through technology in museums is a relatively underdeveloped concept in China. This paper aims to investigate the potential of incorporating technology into ocean museums to facilitate informal learning from the perspective of an educator. The background of the museum and the existing challenges are discussed in detail, followed by the selection of suitable technologies and their rationale. The major theories guiding this approach are immersive learning, learning by doing, and productivity orientation.

The Enterprise at the Service of Society in the 21st century

The Enterprise at the Service of Society in the 21st century

Role‐Modeling Leadership in Small and Medium Enterprises: The Role of Leader Identification, Leader–Member Exchange, Job Stress, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Intent

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are instrumental to most economies and leadership offers a means for SMEs to face today's business challenges. Despite the need for effective leadership in SMEs, researchers rarely examine leadership theories in this context. The SME context is characterized by proximal conditions that are conducive to role‐modeling leadership. Role‐modeling leadership, although popular in the practitioner literature, is an underdeveloped concept in the scientific literature because such leadership has been confounded with other leadership theories and behaviors. The present study showcases role‐modeling leadership as a distinct style of leadership and investigates its nomological framework between SMEs and large organizations. Using a sample of 371 employees across the UK, the findings supported (a) leader identification as an antecedent of role‐modeling leadership and (b) a chain of outcomes between role‐modeling leadership, leader–member exchange, job stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intent. However, the moderating effect of organization size was not supported. The present study contributes to theory by unraveling how a novel style of leadership is predicted as well as its relationship with important organizational outcomes. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Conceptual Analysis of Public Policy Failures in Nigeria: Tract to Economic Underdevelopment

The study examined the conceptual issues of public policy failure in Nigeria and how it affects economic development. The main objective of the study is to conceptually analyses public policy failures in Nigeria as a tract to economic underdevelopment. Contents method was used in the analysis. This means that the study uses conceptual analysis and rational analysis in assessing the public policies failures in Nigeria. The study was based on the thesis of elite theory. The study reveals that public policies are not effective in Nigeria. The paper also reveals the consequences of public policies failure in Nigeria. The study analyzed the concept of public policy and economic underdevelopment. The study concludes that constant changes of government in Nigeria, high level of corruption among government officials of these public policies agencies among others affected the smooth operations of public policies in Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that there should be continuity in public policy implementation even where there is change in government as government is a continuum; and parochial and primordial interests should be avoided during policy formulation and implementation in the country. There should be capital punishment in the country constitution to address the issues of corruption in Nigeria.

Aquinas’s Principle of Misericordia in Corporations: Implications for Workers and other Stakeholders

Despite its central position in the history of European and Christian thought on the protection of human dignity, the virtue of mercy is currently a problematic and under-developed concept in business ethics, compared to related ideas of care, compassion or philanthropy. The aim of this article is to argue for its revival as a core principle of ethical business practice. The article is conceptual in method. An overview is provided of the scope of contemporary business ethics research on related topics and clarifies some of the similarities and differences between mercy and popular terms, such as compassion and prosocial behaviour. The question is then explored as to why mercy has so little traction in business ethics. Some of the history of the idea of mercy in European and Anglophone philosophy is discussed, from Anselm and Aquinas to the present day, showing how discourse on mercy came to be split into a wider concept of the prevention and alleviation of suffering (misericordia) and a narrower one of clemency or leniency. Aquinas’s wide concept of the virtue of misericordia is developed as the basis for a principle of mercy, which is applicable directly to corporations. The practical implications of this for standards of corporate behaviour towards employees and other stakeholders are then considered through the introduction of a ‘vulnerability grid’. The grid offers a critical contrast to other analysis tools, such as stakeholder power-interest matrices. Cases drawn from empirical studies are used to illustrate application of the grid and to challenge some common assumptions of stakeholder theory.

Развитие мышления у детей младшего школьного возраста с общим недоразвитием речи

This present research featured brain building in primary school students with speech problems. The article raises the issues of inclusive education, defines the concept of the so-called general speech underdevelopment, and describes its levels. The author studied various theoretical approaches to the problem in question and the cognitive development in children of primary school age. An ascertaining and formative experiment made it possible to study the specifics of mental operations in children with speech developmental issues. A number of non-verbal tests revealed poor formation of mental operations. The children found text-related tasks especially difficult and required additional explanations and visual examples, which was a clear sign of poor abstract thinking. The article introduces some ideas about correctional and developmental extracurricular activities that improve such cognitive skills as analysis, synthesis, and coherent writing.

Speciális régiótípusok az Európai Unió regionális egyenlőtlenségeiben

n the regional policy of the European Union, the importance of regional typologies linked to specific geographical elements has varied over the past decades. This article shows that since the 1990s the role of these specific regional typologies, and thus of regional characteristics, in European regional policy has been declining. However, the analysis of a wide range of socio-economic data reveals that some types of regions (sparsely populated regions, outermost regions, external border regions) are in a particularly unfavourable socio-economic situation, while others may need specific support not at European but at macro-regional level (for example, the coastal regions of the Mediterranean). The article concludes that, although the value of GDP per capita is indeed only marginally explained by the different regional typologies, broadening the concept of underdevelopment and recognising macro-regional challenges could be a priority for the European Union.

On the Duality of Marine Geoheritage: Evidence from the Abrau Area of the Russian Black Sea Coast

Marine geoheritage is an important but still underdeveloped concept. Field investigations in the Abrau area (Krasnodar Region, southwestern Russia) and subsequent interpretations allow for the characterization of its geoheritage. Two geosites, namely Abrau and Limanchik, are delineated and assessed semi-qualitatively. Their high heritage value, complexity, and appropriate “technical” properties are appraised. The Abrau geosite features Abrau Lake with its enigmatic origin and the outcrops of deformed Upper Cretaceous carbonate flysch deposits. The Limanchik geosite represents an outstanding example of coastal abrasion, Paleocene siliciclastic flysch with trace fossils, and a coastal lagoon separated from the sea by a bar. The heritage aspects of the study areas are related to the development of the Late Cretaceous, Paleocene, and Pliocene seas, as well as to the active dynamics of the Black Sea coastal zone. The duality of marine geoheritage is linked to its relation to both ancient and modern marine environments.

Logistics social responsibility

This paper aims at finding out what effort logistics-related companies based in the Slovak Republic demonstrate, concerning their social responsibility. Using a standardized questionnaire, addressing approximately 30 issues from the field of social responsibility, grouped in five categories, we approached over 100 members of the Association of Logistics and Freight Forwarding of the Slovak Republic, of which 29 provided answers. Despite the low number of respondents, it was still possible to formulate several findings. First, it was revealed that a part of the Slovak logistics industry cares about the issue of social responsibility although the level of such a commitment is uneven for the five analyzed dimensions. Second, the responding companies with employees, or a department, dealing specifically with corporate social responsibility, demonstrate more effort in the field. Third, the responding foreign-owned companies also demonstrate additional efforts towards social responsibility. These findings may become a starting point for further research on the topic and intensify the discussion on the still underdeveloped concept of logistics social responsibility, not only from a one-country perspective.

A dimensão política do pensamento de Celso Furtado

Objetivo: o presente estudo tem por objetivo apresentar os trabalhos políticos de Celso Furtado enquanto parte integrante de sua teoria do subdesenvolvimento. Métodos: o método histórico do contextualismo linguístico serve de base para investigar os usos e significados atribuídos por Furtado à ideia de desenvolvimento, conceito aqui interpretado como conceito essencialmente contestado. Resultados: argumenta-se que Furtado, ao apontar a centralidade dos conflitos como fonte de democratização e do planejamento como meio de transformação social, se defrontou com tensões sociais que se transformaram em obstáculos políticos intransponíveis para o sucesso de suas estratégias de mudança através da política econômica. Embora essas tensões, segundo interpretes do período, tenham se expressado em sua obra numa igual tensão entre uma dimensão democrática e outra tecnocrática de seu pensamento, argumenta-se que a complexidade de sua obra revela a complexidade de um sistema político e econômico no qual Furtado forjou uma nova concepção de desenvolvimento econômico, expressa no conceito de subdesenvolvimento

Fundamentos microdinâmicos do subdesenvolvimento: aportes evolucionários à teoria da dependência de Celso Furtado

O artigo objetiva revisitar o conceito de dependência cultural e de subdesenvolvimento de Celso Furtado a partir do approach evolucionário, mas especificamente através das abordagens institucionalista e neo-schumpeteriana, Nossa hipótese de trabalho é a de que a dependência cultural pode ser entendida como uma instituição histórica, uma espécie de hábito cognitivo de larga duração. O hábito da modernização de padrões de consumo estrangeiros é uma forma de aprisionamento institucional-cognitivo, que constrange o desenvolver da criatividade no agentes econômicos locais. Tal aprisionamento institucional restringe a dinâmica inovativa das empresas nacionais, pois desenvolvem-se em um sistema econômico onde a estrutura de incentivos premia ações imitativas em detrimento de processos de busca por inovações disruptivas. Temporalmente, o hábito emulador dos agentes locais, enraizado secularmente nos processos cognitivos da sociedade, leva as empresas a desenvolverem “genes pouco criativos”, limitando-as em termos microdinâmicos a liderarem a dinâmica competitiva schumpeteriana.

Safeguarding the Dynamic Legal Position of Children: A Matter of Age Limits?

In this article a critical reflection upon age limits applied in the law is provided, in light of the tension that exists in international children’s rights law between the protection of children and the recognition of their evolving autonomy. The main research question that will be addressed is to what extent the use of (certain) age limits is justified under international children’s rights law. The complexity of applying open norms and theoretically underdeveloped concepts as laid down in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, related to the development and evolving capacities of children as rights holders, will be demonstrated. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child struggles to provide comprehensive guidance to states regarding the manner in which the dynamic legal position of children should be applied in practice. The inconsistent application of age limits that govern the involvement of children in judicial procedures provides states leeway in granting children autonomy, potentially leading to the establishment of age limits based on inappropriate – practically, politically or ideologically motivated – grounds.

Inclusive talent management in the public sector: theory and practice

The ‘war for talent’, the knowledge economy, and subsequent aging and exodus of the Boomer generation have put the topic of talent management at the forefront of practitioner literature for the past 30 years. Academic research, however, has taken time to catch up; where the topic of talent management remains a relatively unexplored, underdeveloped concept today. With the dynamic nature of today’s world of work, this paper looks to close current gaps in the talent management literature and contribute to broadening its scope. By connecting social capital theory, the process of knowledge transfer, and the concept of talent management, this paper makes six propositions regarding the barriers to, and subsequent facilitating practices of, knowledge sharing specifically in the context of a public sector organisation. The contributions and implications are discussed.

The Odyssey of Integration: Is Management its Achilles' Heel?

Introduction:The importance of management to the implementation of integrated care is recognised in evidence and practice. Despite this recognition, there is a lack of clarity about what ‘good’ management of integrated care looks like, if the competences are different to management for ‘traditional’ care, and how such competences can be acquired.Theory and methods:This exploratory study is based on qualitative interviews with participants with extensive experience of implementing integrated care in senior professional, research, administrative and/or policy roles. It conceptualises management as working at ‘strategic’ and ‘operational’ levels.Results:Management of integrated care was seen to require an ability to create networks across professions and organisations, to be comfortable with distributing responsibilities, and to thoroughly understand the wider system. Competences to support these new ways of working included an understanding of how to implement people-centredness, to have courage to challenge the status quo, and to demonstrate humility to learn from others. Structured development opportunities for managers were lacking, but seen as vital for the sustainability of change.Discussion and conclusion:Management for integrated care remains an underdeveloped concept and practice. A first formulation of the competences necessary was achieved, but more work is urgently required to understand how to better prepare and support managers to achieve necessary changes in practice and culture.

Revisiting the fallacies in Hegemonic Stability Theory in light of the 2007–2008 crisis: the theory’s hollow conceptualization of hegemony

In light of the renewed popularity of Hegemonic Stability Theory (HST) in the context of governance debates in the aftermath of the 2007–2008 crisis, this paper revisits, from a conceptual angle, the shaky basis upon which the theory draws a causal link between hegemony and stability. The paper is a critique of HST as a theory of hegemony that contains an underdeveloped concept of hegemony only defined ex post, highlighting that it is precisely this hollow conceptualization that has allowed for the perceived compatibility between US power and stability at a point in time (the Bretton Woods years) to be erroneously generalized into a causal relationship. The paper also shows, via the example of Germany in the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), how inattention to the conceptual content of HST has permitted the heedless extension of a problematic understanding of hegemony through stability to cases of regional hegemony.

Degenerative Disc Disease: What is in a Name?

A systematic search and review OBJECTIVE.: The aim of this study was to investigate the term, degenerative disc disease, to elucidate its current usage and inform clinical, research, and policy recommendations. Degenerative disc disease has long been a dominant concept in common, painful spinal disorders. Yet, despite its pervasiveness and important clinical consequences and controversies, there has not been a systematic examination of its use and meaning in the scientific literature. We conducted a systematic search of publications using the term degenerative disc disease from 2007 through 2016 in Ovid MEDLINE (R), Embase, CINAHL, and Scopus. Two investigators independently reviewed all publications in the primary sample. Publication and author identifiers, and qualitative study descriptors were extracted. Finally, the definition of degenerative disc disease was placed in one of eight categories. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics. Degenerative disc disease appeared in the titles of 402 publications in the primary sample and increased in frequency by 189% from the first to the last 3 years of the decade. No single definition was used in the majority of publications, and most frequently, the term was used without any definition provided (30.1%). In other cases, degenerative disc disease specifically included radiculopathy or myelopathy (14.4%), or only back or neck pain (5.5%), or was equated with disc degeneration regardless of the presence of symptoms (15.4%), or with discogenic pain or disc degeneration as a presumed cause of axial pain (12.7%). Another 7.2% comprised a mix of broad ranging findings and diagnoses. The most notable differences in definitions occurred between surgeons and other disciplines, and when applied to cervical versus lumbar regions. Despite longstanding use and important consequences, degenerative disc disease represents an underdeveloped concept, with greatly varying, disparate definitions documented. Such inconsistencies challenge clear, accurate communication in medicine and science, create confusion and misconceptions among clinicians, patients and others, and hinder the advancement of related knowledge. 4.