Understanding Opportunities in Social Entrepreneurship: A Critical Realist Abstraction

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.This paper extends social entrepreneurship (SE) research by drawing upon a critical realist perspective to analyse dynamic structure/agency relations in SE opportunity emergence, illustrated by empirical evidence. Our findings demonstrate an agential aspect (opportunity actualisation following a path-dependent seeding-growing-shaping process) and a structural aspect (institutional, cognitive and embedded structures necessary for SE opportunity emergence) related to SE opportunities. These structures provide three boundary conditions for SE agency: institutional discrimination, an SE belief system and social feasibility. Within this paper, we develop a novel theoretical framework to analyse SE opportunities plus, an applicable tool to advance related empirical research

Strategies for mlearning integration : evaluating a case study of staging and scaffolding mlearning integration across a three-year bachelor’s degree

This paper outlines the third iteration of integrating mobile web 2.0 within a Bachelors level course. An analysis and comparison of the impact of mobile web 2.0 across all three years of the 2009 course enables the development of implementation strategies that can be used to integrate mlearning into other tertiary courses, and inform the design of further Product Design mlearning integration iterations

Social representations of value : an empirical investigation

The importance of value and value creation for the success of business activity has been increasingly recognised theoretically and practically. The concept of value has been defined on the basis of various foundations and from different perspectives. Despite the extant conceptualisations of value in business literature, social representations of value (i.e. common sense knowledge about value) are yet to be fully understood. Thus, this paper investigated these social representations as well as the relationship between extant representations of value by employing the structural social representation theory and its related methodology strategy as proposed by Doise et al (1993), as well as the ontology engineering method (Ma, et al, 2014). The analysis revealed that economy-based concepts constitute the core elements of value representation in the overall value network, while exchange- and experience- based concepts form the sub-networks (clusters) for value. Exchange-centricity, with economy-based concepts as its foundation, is the dominant representation of value, while experience-centred concepts constitute the peripheral elements in the overall network of value. Despite the different positions of these sub-networks (clusters) of value in the value network, they share common core elements, i.e. economy-related concepts. It can be suggested that creating worth for firms is still the dominant representation of value that is shared in the public sphere and well-documented in business literature. In terms of the extant representations of value in business literature, the exchange-based notion of value (Goods-Dominant Logic) is more representative than the experienced-based notion of value (Service-Dominant Logic) for its common understanding in the public sphere. Service-Dominant Logic as proposed in the business community is an accepted concept, although still from a peripheral position. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed

UM OLHAR DO DESIGN ESTRATÉGICO PARA OS DESAFIOS DA EDUCAÇÃO NO CONTEXTO PANDÊMICO BRASILEIRO

By increasing the social gap between students in private and public schools, the pandemic crisis has aggravated existing social problems, exposing the inequalities in Brazilian society and revealing that their consequences do not affect everyone in the same manner. Therefore, this study aims to discuss the relevance of Strategic Design as an agent of transformation through seeding strategy, envisioning social innovation in education. The research ensues from an inductive approach of exploratory nature, the collection of secondary data on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on education, and the works of Ezio Manzini, Anna Meroni, and Francesco Zurlo. It also analyzes solutions already in place, referring to social projects aimed at equity in vulnerable communities. To conclude, this study presents four axes that can be the starting point to disseminate social innovation seeds aiming at constructing innovative models of social work that may reflect on a fairer and more inclusive world.Ao aumentar o abismo social entre estudantes de escolas particulares e públicas, a crise pandêmica agravou problemas sociais existentes, escancarando as desigualdades brasileiras e revelando que suas consequências não atingem a todos da mesma forma. Diante disso, o objetivo deste estudo é dissertar sobre a relevância do Design Estratégico como agente propulsor de transformação, por meio da estratégia de semeadura, vislumbrando a inovação social na educação. O desenvolvimento se dá por meio de uma abordagem indutiva, de natureza exploratória, pela coleta de dados secundários sobre o impacto da pandemia de COVID-19 na educação, e através das obras de Ezio Manzini, Anna Meroni e Francesco Zurlo. Também se dá pela análise de soluções já existentes através de referências a projetos sociais desenvolvidos visando à equidade em comunidades vulneráveis. Para finalizar, este estudo apresenta quatro eixos que podem ser o ponto de partida para disseminar sementes de inovação social, visando à construção de modelos de serviços sociais inovadores que possam refletir em um mundo mais justo e inclusivo

The Delicate Process and Relational Style of Solution Focused Brief Therapy: Ericksonian Hypnotherapy Resemblances in SFBT

Solution focused brief therapy (SFBT) is an approach that facilitates movement of problems toward solutions. If applied as Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer intended, this approach requires a “delicate process” of attentive observational skills and use of language. This delicate process can be seen in SFBT with several resemblances of Ericksonian hypnotherapy. Through James Paul Gee’s discourse analysis, these resemblances were explored in two commercially available videos of SFBT sessions facilitated by Insoo Kim Berg. Both SFBT features and Ericksonian features were noted in these sessions, as well as an overlap of both approaches, and Ericksonian resemblances in SFBT. In both sessions, Berg appeared to work in clusters with a figured world that attends to strength and resilience, a common theme of bridging and building throughout, and great attention and significance to exceptions. These features are common in Ericksonian hypnotherapy as well, and appear significant in a relational style of training new therapists to utilize the SFBT approach as Berg and de Shazer intended

Exploring Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Building at Offshore Technical Support Centers

This is an exploratory investigation into knowledge transfer and knowledge building processes observed at offshore Technical Support Centers (TSCs) in China. Utilizing a multiple case study approach, the study examines how knowledge was transferred from the US-based support center to the China-based offshore support center, and how individuals and the organization built and expanded knowledge in a dynamic changing business context. The field cases were three Technical Support Centers in China. Three models were developed from the qualitative analysis of the field data to explain how knowledge is transferred and built in offshore TSCs. The knowledge transfer type adoption model identifies the relationships amongst the levels of knowledge (novice, advanced beginner, competency, and proficiency), the types of knowledge and the knowledge transfer approaches (structured transfer stages, unstructured copy, unstructured adaptation, and unstructured fusion). The basic individual tacit knowledge building model shows that tacit knowledge is acquired and built through two continuous knowledge building loops, an explicit learning loop and an implicit learning loop. The organizational knowledge building model demonstrates the interaction amongst knowledge flow, absorptive capacity, knowledge stock and knowledge intermediary in offshore knowledge transfer and building within the three levels (individual, group and organization levels) of the SECI spiral (socialization, externalization, combination and internalization). The three models provide new insights into the knowledge transfer process for different levels of knowledge acquisition, individual tacit knowledge building processes and organizational knowledge building processes in an offshore outsourcing business context. By applying these models to appropriate field situations, both practitioners and academics may be able to gain a deeper understanding of knowledge transfer approaches, be able to better guide new employees’ expertise and confidence building through controlled and monitored experiential learning process, and be able to improve understanding of how knowledge is built and evolves within organizations

The Chief Executive Officer of Charter Management Organizations and their Perspective on Instructional Leadership to Improve Student Achievement

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between academic emphasis and executive leadership from the perspective of a California charter management organization (CMO) chief executive officer (CEO). Executive leaders in California CMOs have a unique perspective that needs investigated. They experience educational leadership differently depending upon their individual backgrounds, educational experiences, and the families they serve. This study seeks to understand the experiences of a specific group of executive leaders and how they define academic emphasis in their CMO. The theoretical framework used to interpret the research findings was instructional leadership. The framework effectively built a lens for the reader to conceptualize the research of this study. The theoretical framework worked to guide and frame interpretation of respondent data. The research served to inform the research questions, not answer them explicitly. The research used a qualitative case study design approach focused on the story of the lived experience from the individual. The design aspired to interpret meanings and experiences from responses to uncover deep and detailed understanding. A CMO CEO responded to semi-structured interview questions. The interview protocol consisted of various question types: open-ended questions, follow-up questions, and classification questions. As transformational and educational leadership collide in Dr. Viviane Robinson’s current instructional leadership framework, the capability that is not explicitly presented is the ability for school leaders to build capacity for equity consciousness in all teammates in their organization and/or school. The findings from this study suggested that a fourth leadership capability is emerging in Dr. Robinson’s framework. There is a critical need for organization and school leaders to be equipped with the skills to seed an equity consciousness across teammates and other stakeholders

Remote Working and Collaboration in Agile Teams

Agile software development relies heavily on tight and continuous collaboration, which becomes a challenge when team members work at a distance. Despite significant focus on distributed Agile working, remote working, when only one or two individuals are not co-located with the rest of the team, remains largely unexplored. We focus on one organisation with several such teams and investigate one in detail using distributed cognition – a theoretical framework for studying collaborative work. We present the results of a group retrospective, and a comparative analysis of collaboration in the team, taking the contrasting perspectives of the remote worker and his co-located teammates. The analysis shows substantial differences in three aspects: virtual artefacts; information flow; and the primacy of structure and facilities provided by collaborative platforms. Platforms that support meaningful collaboration and engagement for the remote worker, and create parity between all members of the team are crucial to integrating capability