Understandings Of Stakeholders Research Articles

Transgender Rights Law in Pakistan: Mental Health Perspective

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018 is an exclusive statutory law dealing with the rights of transgender persons in Pakistan, the greatest strength of which is the right given to transgender persons to be recognized based on their self-perceived gender identity. However, in its recent judgement, the Federal Shariat Court struck down some of the key sections of this act by declaring them unIslamic. Gender is a social construct and is different from the biological sex. Gender identity, which is the innermost feeling of a person, cannot be changed. Moreover, transgender identity is not a mental disorder and is different from gender dysphoria. This paper discusses the transgender law in Pakistan in detail and the insights from the field of mental health to understand the transgender phenomenon and to handle transgenders' rights in Pakistan by bridging the gaps between the understandings of relevant stakeholders.

The Voting Scheme Determines the Winner. Considering Possible Options for Designing a Delphi Study

The Delphi technique is an important tool for structuring a group communication process among key stakeholders to inform the development of an intervention. However, when designing a Delphi study the scarcity of information on different voting schemes to analyse key stakeholders’ responses became evident, despite the fact that selecting the voting scheme a priori is paramount, since the selected method can influence the outcome. To fill that gap in literature, this article introduces key concepts derived from social choice theory to inform Delphi design. This includes optimising collective decisions by gaining deeper understandings of key stakeholders’ preferences, reducing avoidable unhappiness and minimising possibilities of insincere voting strategies. Four voting schemes (majority, approval, Borda, range) are presented and their implications are discussed. Since the purpose of each Delphi study is unique, we aim to increase awareness of the differential utility of voting schemes and encourage researchers to make an informed choice.

A socio-technical systems analysis of the application of RFID-enabled technology to the transport of precious laboratory samples in a large acute teaching hospital

The scale and pace of improvement in patient safety in healthcare has been unacceptably slow. A paucity of research into the application of systems-thinking concepts and a failure to appreciate health systems complexity are cited as barriers to sustainable health systems improvement. This study reports on a socio-technical systems analysis, called the CUBE, of the characteristics of a large acute teaching hospital's system for the transport of precious specimens, a system enabled by radio-frequency identification tracking technology. The CUBE proved itself to be an effective analytic tool. The analysis provided a constructive framework to link diverse data and documentation; explicitly inviting consideration of the roles and understandings of different stakeholders; as well as broader cultural factors that could influence current or future activity. The analysis also supported recommendations to improve and extend operations. This study supports the argument for systems understanding and systems thinking being at the core of new approaches to patient safety.

Defining Success for A Declining Resource: Mental Models of Oyster Management in Apalachicola, Florida

Wild oyster populations are in decline globally, affecting communities of generational fishers and changing the cultural dynamics of coastal communities. Managers have employed a range of approaches to conserve and restore oyster populations and sustainable fisheries; yet there is little agreement among managers, scientists, and resource users regarding what constitutes success. This study uses a qualitative, mental models approach to compare understandings of management, perceptions of management success, and barriers to achieving successful management outcomes among three critical stakeholder groups: natural resource managers, oyster harvesters, and aquaculture farmers. We found similarities among the mental models of all three groups in the causes and consequences of the oyster fishery decline, but major differences in definitions of management, factors needed for successful management, and barriers to success. This study takes a more comprehensive look at the understandings of stakeholders than previous research by mapping the causes and effects, from the decline of the oyster fishery to expectations of future success. Managers can improve stakeholder investment in management projects by gaining a better understanding of the differing definitions of project success, stakeholder participation, and stakeholder understanding of the role of management.

Equity in environmental governance: perceived fairness of distributional justice principles in marine co-management

Concerns with distributional justice invariably arise in environmental governance, especially in the conservation and management of common-pool resources. These initiatives generate an array of costs and benefits that are typically heterogeneously distributed. Distribution of these impacts in a way that is considered fair by local stakeholders is not only a moral imperative, but instrumental to achieving social and ecological success given perceived unfairness fosters conflict and undermines cooperation. However, understandings of local stakeholders’ conceptions of distributional fairness are rare because research often assesses distributional outcomes based on tacit assumptions about what constitutes fairness (e.g. equality). We examine what local stakeholders consider distributional fairness with respect to monetary benefits arising from a collective payment for ecosystem services scheme in a co-managed marine protected area in Fiji. In six villages associated with the co-managed marine protected area, we elicited individuals’ fairness judgements of five distributional justice principles: equality, need, and three forms of proportionality based on customary rights, fisheries opportunity-costs, and involvement in co-management. We examine how fairness judgements are associated with socio-demographic characteristics indicative of key identities, thereby building on socially-aggregated approaches typical of the nascent literature on perceived fairness. We find the rights-based principle was considered the ‘most fair’ and the opportunity-costs principle the ‘least fair’. Our findings challenge prevailing understandings of distributional justice in conservation and commons management, which favour the principles of equality or opportunity-cost. We also find that education was significantly positively related to fairness judgements of all principles, whilst wealth was significantly related to the equality and the opportunity-based principles. These results provide insights into how fairness judgements could be influenced by key elements of current social change in the Global South (e.g. increasing formal education, market engagement and wealth accumulation). Overall, our results suggest that fair environmental governance requires explicit identification of distributional fairness conceptions of those most affected by such initiatives, especially in a context of increasing globalisation of conservation knowledge and practice.

Governance and Business-Society Relations in Areas of Limited Statehood: An Introduction

In this introductory article we explore the relationship between statehood and governance, examining in more detail how non-state actors like MNCs, international NGOs, and indigenous authorities, often under conditions of extreme economic scarcity, ethnic diversity, social inequality and violence, take part in the making of rules and the provision of collective goods. Conceptually, we focus on the literature on Areas of Limited Statehood and discuss its usefulness in exploring how business-society relations are governed in the global South, and beyond. Building on insights from this literature, among others, the four articles included in this special issue provide rich illustrations and critical reflections on the multiple, complex and often ambiguous roles of state and non-state actors operating in contemporary Syria, Nigeria, India and Palestine, with implications for conventional understandings of CSR, stakeholders, and related conceptualizations.

Writing Stars in the Sky or Decentring the Glocal Discourse of the ‘War(S) on Terror’ through Narratives of Those Displaced

ABSTRACTInscribing names into the firmament of symbolic orders is crucial argues Rancière who traces the symbolic distribution of bodies into those that ‘one sees’ and those that ‘one does not see’. The issue of accounted visibility-cum-audibility does not only lie within the specific conflict configuration but also within the geopolitical dynamics of the ‘border’ as well as ‘body-borders’ within individuals and communities concerned. One such case can be found at the borderlands of Pakistan with Afghanistan, of the trans-local post-9/11 ‘Wars on Terror’ as well as at the borderlands of Pakistan itself, subjected to invisibility and rumbling noises of conflict and displacement through hegemonic centring of discourses and exclusionary, violent practices of the ‘Wars on Terror’. This article is a collaborative work on experiences of conflict-induced displacement, political violence and narratives of everyday life negotiations thereof, based on field research and interviews (individual as well as group ones) conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and around the capital of Islamabad with those internally displaced from North Waziristan, South Waziristan and Kurram Agencies. The aim is to juxtapose vociferous and deliberate hegemonic practices of invisibility and de-solidarisation in public discourses and counter-insurgency interventions vis-a-vis certain marginalised communities and citizens with the latter’s own narratives about their experiences and understandings of state-society relations, relevant stakeholders, public discourses and labelling practices used (such as ‘polio threat’ and ‘terrorist’). We attempt to trace and map how people experience and negotiate political violence, (protracted) conflict-induced displacement and the paucity of governance service provisions in a wider context of contested nation-building and transnational high-intensity conflict. Given repeated, cyclic and/or protracted experiences of displacement, flight and migration, combined with emerging narratives of marginalisation, exploitation and sociopolitical exclusion, one needs to ask what are the consequences of such transnational conflict and displacement configurations for individual as well as collective social resilience, withstanding ideological manipulation and cooptation into the conflict theatre, as well as for the capacity to develop and implement (alternative and sustainable) livelihoods in the different spaces one has to move in as an individual as well as a family-cum-community member in times of protracted conflict and displacement.

Diagnosing climate change impacts and identifying adaptation strategies by involving key stakeholder organisations and farmers in Sikkim, India: Challenges and opportunities

Narrowing the gap between research, policy making and implementing adaptation remains a challenge in many parts of the world where climate change is likely to severely impact water security. This research aims to narrow this gap by matching the adaptation strategies being framed by policy makers to that of the perspectives of development agencies, researchers and farmers in the Himalayan state of Sikkim in India.Our case study examined the perspectives of various stakeholders for climate change impacts, current adaptation strategies, knowledge gaps and adaptation barriers, particularly in the context of implementing the Sikkim State Action Plan on Climate Change through semi-structured interviews carried out with decision makers in the Sikkim State Government, researchers, consultants, local academia, development agencies and farmers. Using Stakeholders Network Analysis tools, this research unravels the complexities of perceiving climate change impacts, identifying strategies, and implementing adaptation. While farmers are less aware about the global phenomenon of climate change impacts for water security, their knowledge of the local conditions and their close interaction with the State Government Agriculture Department provides them opportunities. Although important steps are being initiated through the Sikkim State Action Plan on Climate Change it is yet to deliver effective means of adaptation implementation and hence, strengthening the networks of close coordination between the various implementing agencies will pay dividends. Knowledge gaps and the need for capacity building identified in this research, based on the understandings of key stakeholders are highly relevant to both the research community and for informing policy.

Agriculture in Shifting Climates: The Configuration and Ripeness of Problem Understandings in Uganda and Senegal.

The international community has advocated the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) as lower-income countries deal with the negative consequences of climate change. Scaling up such policies, practices, and programs successfully will require support from a variety of local stakeholders. Such support requires alignment between CSA solutions and the problem understandings of stakeholders. However, problem understandings can differ across individuals, stakeholder groups, and geographic areas. Consequently, we examine understandings of climate problems and socioeconomic and infrastructure problems related to agriculture among different stakeholder groups in Uganda and Senegal. We operationalized and measured these problem understandings following the detailed guidance of the political will and public will approach for analyzing social change. Semi-structured interviews elicited stakeholder-generated lists of problems for each group. Limited quantification of problem understandings and their relative importance or "ripeness" demonstrates how contexts might shape opportunities for CSA.

Improving access to mental health care in an Orthodox Jewish community: a critical reflection upon the accommodation of otherness

BackgroundThe English National Health Service (NHS) has significantly extended the supply of evidence based psychological interventions in primary care for people experiencing common mental health problems. Yet despite the extra resources, the accessibility of services for ‘under-served’ ethnic and religious minority groups, is considerably short of the levels of access that may be necessary to offset the health inequalities created by their different exposure to services, resulting in negative health outcomes. This paper offers a critical reflection upon an initiative that sought to improve access to an NHS funded primary care mental health service to one ‘under-served’ population, an Orthodox Jewish community in the North West of England.MethodsA combination of qualitative and quantitative data were drawn upon including naturally occurring data, observational notes, e-mail correspondence, routinely collected demographic data and clinical outcomes measures, as well as written feedback and recorded discussions with 12 key informants.ResultsImprovements in access to mental health care for some people from the Orthodox Jewish community were achieved through the collaborative efforts of a distributed leadership team. The members of this leadership team were a self-selecting group of stakeholders which had a combination of local knowledge, cultural understanding, power to negotiate on behalf of their respective constituencies and expertise in mental health care. Through a process of dialogic engagement the team was able to work with the community to develop a bespoke service that accommodated its wish to maintain a distinct sense of cultural otherness.ConclusionsThis critical reflection illustrates how dialogic engagement can further the mechanisms of candidacy, concordance and recursivity that are associated with improvements in access to care in under-served sections of the population, whilst simultaneously recognising the limits of constructive dialogue. Dialogue can change the dynamic of community engagement. However, the full alignment of the goals of differing constituencies may not always be possible, due the complex interaction between the multiple positions and understandings of stakeholders that are involved and the need to respect the other’-s’ autonomy.

Designing Engaged Scholarship: From Real-World Problems to Research Publications

Engaged scholarship is a participatory form of research for studying complex real-world problems based on the different perspectives and understandings of key stakeholders. As such, it affords researchers the opportunity to contribute to practical problem solving while at the same time developing new theoretical insights. Although there is significant research methodology available to support engaged scholarship, we lack practical knowledge on how to navigate the complex and uncertain process from engagement with a real-world problem to publication of research results. In this essay, I present a tutorial on how you can design engaged scholarship by iterating between the key components of a study and the structure of the resulting publication. The approach helps you manage the complexities and uncertainties involved in engaged scholarship by designing your research activity and your research publication and by iteratively moving back and forth between these artifacts as you engage in your research and develop your publication. The approach draws on extant research methodology and on my practical experience coaching other researchers. I illustrate the different parts of this design approach to engaged scholarship and offer guiding principles to help you adapt and use it.

Objectives of Islamic banks: a missive from mission statements and stakeholders’ perceptions

PurposeIt is believed that the core aim of Islamic institution is idiosyncratic from conventional business entities. Considering this presumption, this study aims to reveal the understandings of various stakeholders about objectives of Islamic banks.Design/methodology/approachThe research endeavor is based on the findings of two distinctive studies, where Study 1 was aimed at investigating the communication of objectives through mission statements of Islamic banks and conventional banks with window operations. Here, mission statements were analyzed using content analysis and readability and understandability tests. Study 2, on the other hand, was aimed at investigating the understandings of various stakeholders, both internal (employees) and external (Muslim and non-Muslim customers of both Islamic and conventional banks, employees and management of conventional banks and business students). In total, 370 responses were received and analyzed in this study.FindingsThe findings (Study 1) unveil, the fact, that the mission statements of Islamic banks working in Pakistan are not good at communicating the corporate goals clearly. Out of ten banks investigated for Study 1, it is evident that only one bank (HBL, with window operations) was at par with readability threshold standards. Thus, it was imperative to share that mission statements of Islamic banks are difficult to read and comprehend. Study 2 adds further by revealing that most of the stakeholders are not clear about the objectives of these banks, while customers of conventional banks do not value the distinctive objectives of Islamic banks.Research limitations/implicationsThis study leaves a valuable message for the policy makers and top management of Islamic banks by focusing on the unattended part on their end, i.e. quality of mission statements and stakeholders’ perception about the objectives of their organization, thus highlighting the needs of greater emphasis on the communication flow to stakeholders, as the clarity of business purpose may change the way customers react toward the business and opt for banking – customer relation in future.Originality/valueThis study covers a multi-dimensional investigation of the understanding and communication of objectives of Islamic banks. There is dearth of literature focusing on the aspects of content analysis, mission statement readability and understandability and investigation of stakeholders’ perception in tandem.

Authenticity and Tourism in Kazakhstan: Neo-nomadic Culture in the Post-Soviet Era

Goal and objectives of the dissertationGoalThe overall aim of this study is to investigate the perception of authenticity in Kazakhstani tourism practices through the lenses of visitors, community members, policymakers and tourism developers involved in the development of eco-cultural tours. Using two embedded case studies in Central and South Kazakhstan, the study aims to advance theoretical and empirical understandings of various stakeholders' perceptions of authenticity in the comprehension of destinations' cultural heritage. The research explores new directions in which to apply the concept of authenticity in eco-cultural tourism by theorising the link between both the perception of authenticity and the access to higher levels of cultural penetration and as a basis for interaction and social exchange within the host-guest relationship.Objectives1. To critically discuss models and dimensions of authenticity in the Kazakhstani tourism destination context.2. To record and review various stakeholders' perceptions of authenticity in Kazakhstani eco-cultural tourism practices.3. To examine in what ways a deeper understanding of authenticity can be used to inform the planning and future development of tourism.4. To evaluate the contribution of grounded theory methodology when exploring various stakeholders' authentication positions in ecocultural tourism practices.MethodologyTaking into account the exploratory nature of doctoral study and the limited amount of existing academic literature surrounding the subject of authenticity in Kazakhstan, grounded theory was considered an appropriate methodology to adopt for this research. Grounded theory is a proper design to use when a theory is not available to explain a process (Creswell, 2007), like understanding various stakeholders' perceptions of authenticity in a tourism destination that has not been researched before. Using grounded theory, the researcher elaborated around a central phenomenon which included the concept of authenticity in tourism studies, causal conditions, strategies for eco-tourism development, the Kazakhstani socio-cultural context and consequences for the local tourism industry.Empirical research is based on in-depth semistructured interviews conducted between August 2011 and May 2012 which were carried out with various stakeholders including visitors, community members, policymakers, tourism developers and specialists in nomadic culture. At the first qualitative exploratory stage, the study used twenty four in-depth semi-structured interviews with different tourism stakeholders involved in the development of eco-cultural tours in Kazakhstan, comprising local government officials, tourism operators, home-stay providers, NGO coordinators and experts in nomadic culture. At the second qualitative stage, a total of twenty five semistructured interviews were undertaken with visitors during the 'Kyzylarai' tour in Central Kazakhstan and the 'Tulip' tour in South Kazakhstan. As part of the informant triangulation and theoretical sampling strategy, twenty nine Free Independent Travellers FITs were additionally interviewed.ResultsThe study reveals various perceptions and conceptualisations of authenticity in Kazakhstani tourism practices through the lenses of visitors, community members, policymakers and tourism developers involved in the planning and development of eco-cultural tours in Kazakhstan. By reflecting on the multiple stakeholders' perceptions of authenticity of various topic areas in Kazakhstani cultural heritage, the study provides a depth of understanding of various stakeholders in the process of authenticating neo-nomadic culture and their perceptions of authenticity; and focus on identifying indicators of the authentic/inauthentic heritage experiences.The study details that three themes authenticated by tourism providers can contribute to an authentic eco-cultural tourism experience for visitors: the geographical imagination (nomadic cultural landscapes), crafts purchased by tourists, and performative spaces (nomadic home-stays and nomadic food). …

SoFISHticated policy – social perspectives on the fish conflict in the Northeast Atlantic

Ecosystem changes currently question the traditional allocation of fishing rights and quotas in the fishery of Northeast Atlantic mackerel and Norwegian spring-spawning herring in the Northeast Atlantic. Variability in the distribution of these highly migratory species escalated in a political conflict between member states of the European Union, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway, which is a driving force for unsustainable fishery. The aim of this paper is to investigate this conflict by outlining the social understandings of diverse stakeholders by using the Q methodology. The method reduced the complexity of numerous opinions, detected four distinct perspectives and simultaneously categorised the participating stakeholders. Although the perspectives differ in various elements, the protection of economic interests seems to dominate over the quest for sustainability. The call of all stakeholders in this study to clarify the fishing rights in the Northeast Atlantic reveals a clear deficiency of the current international fishery management in handling abrupt ecological changes and the necessity to acknowledge this as a complex adaptive system.

Universal financial protection through National Health Insurance: a stakeholder analysis of the proposed one-time premium payment policy in Ghana

Extending coverage to the informal sector is a key challenge to achieving universal coverage through contributory health insurance schemes. Ghana introduced a mandatory National Health Insurance system in 2004 to provide financial protection for both the formal and informal sectors through a combination of taxes and annual premium payments. As part of its election promise in 2008, the current government (then in opposition) promised to make the payment of premiums 'one-time'. This has been a very controversial policy issue in Ghana. This study sought to contribute to assessing the feasibility of the proposed policy by exploring the understandings of various stakeholders on the policy, their interests or concerns, potential positions, power and influences on it, as well as the general prospects and challenges for its implementation. Data were gathered from a review of relevant documents in the public domain, 28 key informant interviews and six focus group discussions with key stakeholders in Accra and two other districts. The results show that there is a lot of confusion in stakeholders' understanding of the policy issue, and, because of the uncertainties surrounding it, most powerful stakeholders are yet to take clear positions on it. However, stakeholders raised concerns that revolved around issues such as: the meaning of a one-time premium within an insurance scheme context, the affordability of the one-time premium, financing sources and sustainability of the policy, as well as the likely impact of the policy on equity in access to health care. Policy-makers need to clearly explain the meaning of the one-time premium policy and how it will be funded, and critically consider the concerns raised by stakeholders before proceeding with further attempts to implement it. For other countries planning universal coverage reforms, it is important that the terminology of their reforms clearly reflects policy objectives.

Knowledge integration and the adoption of new agricultural technologies: Kenyan perspectives

Despite gains in agricultural yields, access to food remains a serious challenge in many parts of the world. It is now recognized that improving food security requires a more integrated understanding of food systems and that key under-explored areas of these systems are likely to be crucial in developing effective policy change. In Kenya, institutional changes have occurred to facilitate knowledge integration within the agricultural sector. Drawing on the experiences and understandings of key stakeholders in Kenya, this paper aims to identify and better understand the barriers to knowledge integration for improved agricultural technologies and their adoption. A number of barriers to the flow of knowledge to and from those working to develop new agricultural technologies and farmers are identified. The results of this study suggest a potential link between farmers’ levels of community organization and levels of trust with levels of knowledge integration surrounding agricultural technologies and their adoption. The findings suggest that increasing the planning and follow-up of newly introduced agricultural technologies has the potential to encourage interdisciplinary approaches and improve food security outcomes.

`Let the Streets Take Care of Themselves': Making Sociological and Common Sense of `Skid Row'

This essay develops a conceptualisation of skid row as a cultural and historical space for the containment of moral and material dereliction. First, the social scientific literature is reviewed, revealing the historical shift by which skid row became understood as a site for the containment of moral decay. Then, a Weberian `ideal type' is constructed to account for the use of skid row as an analytical concept. This ideal type is contrasted with two other prevalent patterns of urban displacement and effacement: the slum and ghetto. The conception is further tested through a consideration of two ethnographic studies of skid row districts, focusing on the everyday perceptions and experiences of community stakeholders. It is concluded that the range of cultural strategies of naming engaged in, support the retention of this contested term as a way of rendering the analytical aims of social scientists accountable to the commonsense understandings of community stakeholders.

A social interaction analysis methodology for improving E-collaboration over the Internet

Collaborative projects are relatively complex and are therefore difficult to handle. The effective management of the distributed processes and knowledge is essential to enhancing the electronic collaboration over the Internet. This paper presents a systematic approach to support online collaboration by modeling and analyzing stakeholders’ knowledge perspectives within their social interactions. By investigating the key issues relating to cooperative activities, it obtains deep understandings of stakeholders’ perspective and its impacts to collaboration. This research develops a computational knowledge perspective model and a perspective analysis methodology, which can provide the basis for collaboration support based on the social construction theory. It also introduces a Web-based information system to improve the collaboration by providing perspective analysis function.

Personal transformation in multistakeholder environmental partnerships

This paper examines some of the secondary or indirect consequences of multistakeholder collaborative processes in the environmental arena. Its thesis is that such collaborative processes constitute fertile ground for participating actors to experience change in their subjective understandings of and relationships to each other, themselves, and environmental action. This exposition draws upon ethnographic research performed with a U.S.-based multistakeholder environmental partnership over a two year period in 1997–1998 as well as a theoretical perspective conceptualizing these personal transformations in terms of social learning, cultural production, and identity formation. Three main findings are explored that support the proposed thesis. The first concerns contributions toward personal transformation made by typical partnership structures and operations. The second pertains to the existence of a commonly shared belief among partnership participants demonstrating an expectation for such changes. The third involves evidence that such transformations actually do take place. Examples from the case study include changes to participants’ understandings of other environmental stakeholders, the development of new relationships among participating actors, the adoption of new ways of approaching environmental problem solving and decision making, and the formation of altered identities. The paper explores some of the implications, both positive and negative, that this transformative quality of multistakeholder environmental partnerships has for both environmental problem solving and some of the enduring conflicts that have impeded satisfying environmental action in the past. Finally, recommendations are made for how practitioners may organize, manage, and evaluate multistakeholder partnerships to promote such changes.

Rethinking the Applied Social Sciences of Sport: Observations on the Emerging Debate

The emerging debate about the applied sociology of sport is analyzed. It is noted that vigorous pursuit of application is likely to further theoretical, substantive, and methodological advance in sport sociology. It is shown that practical applications of social scientific data and theories require researchers to elucidate social scientific interpretations while simultaneously specifying the naive understandings of stakeholders. The resulting work will be self-reflexive and will require ongoing collaboration with the individuals, groups, and communities under study. It is concluded that the applied sociology of sport must necessarily become a sociology that empowers.