1,294 research outputs found

    Information actors beyond modernity and coloniality in times of climate change:A comparative design ethnography on the making of monitors for sustainable futures in Curaçao and Amsterdam, between 2019-2022

    Get PDF
    In his dissertation, Mr. Goilo developed a cutting-edge theoretical framework for an Anthropology of Information. This study compares information in the context of modernity in Amsterdam and coloniality in Curaçao through the making process of monitors and develops five ways to understand how information can act towards sustainable futures. The research also discusses how the two contexts, that is modernity and coloniality, have been in informational symbiosis for centuries which is producing negative informational side effects within the age of the Anthropocene. By exploring the modernity-coloniality symbiosis of information, the author explains how scholars, policymakers, and data-analysts can act through historical and structural roots of contemporary global inequities related to the production and distribution of information. Ultimately, the five theses propose conditions towards the collective production of knowledge towards a more sustainable planet

    Effective Strategies for Midsized Nonprofit Human Service Organizations in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area to Maintain Financial Sustainability

    Get PDF
    This qualitative multiple case study explored the perspectives of nonprofits on factors impacting and challenges associated with utilizing revenue diversification and structured spending in midsized nonprofit human service organizations (NHSO) in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The researcher conducted semi-structured one-on-one interviews with eight nonprofit officials in Washington, D.C., to gain insight into their perspectives on revenue and spending strategies. The researcher also used document review to compare and verify the information from the semi-structured interviews and add more nuances to what the interviews provided. The findings of the study demonstrated that NHSOs could implement revenue diversification and structured spending through community engagement, partnerships, and optimal resource utilization. The results also revealed that revenue and expense strategies allow nonprofit organizations (NPOs) to achieve financial stability and flexibility in terms of organizational viability. Moreover, the results unveil the need for financial independence is a substantial barrier for NHSOs to implement financial strategies. The study\u27s findings proposed some practical recommendations to help nonprofits and financial advisors improve their services and avoid economic unsustainability

    NEMISA Digital Skills Conference (Colloquium) 2023

    Get PDF
    The purpose of the colloquium and events centred around the central role that data plays today as a desirable commodity that must become an important part of massifying digital skilling efforts. Governments amass even more critical data that, if leveraged, could change the way public services are delivered, and even change the social and economic fortunes of any country. Therefore, smart governments and organisations increasingly require data skills to gain insights and foresight, to secure themselves, and for improved decision making and efficiency. However, data skills are scarce, and even more challenging is the inconsistency of the associated training programs with most curated for the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Nonetheless, the interdisciplinary yet agnostic nature of data means that there is opportunity to expand data skills into the non-STEM disciplines as well.College of Engineering, Science and Technolog

    INCREASING ACCESS TO QUALITY EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FOR MINORITY CHILDREN IN DURHAM COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

    Get PDF
    Sherry Linton-Massiah, Anthony Maldonado, Sydney Scott, Elizabeth Stromberg Shumate, Aishwarya Venkatesh: INCREASING ACCESS TO QUALITY EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FOR MINORITY CHILDREN IN DURHAM COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA The purpose of this paper is to examine preschool education as a social determinant of health (SDOH). Healthy People 2030 recognizes education as a key component of health outcomes, and outlines access to high quality preschool education as a strategy to improving short and long-term health and overall wellness outcomes. (Social Determinants of Health - Healthy People 2030 | health.gov., n.d.). This paper explores challenges young, minority students in Durham County, North Carolina are facing in accessing high-quality early childhood education. The paper recommends an evidence-based program to mitigate these challenges. The barriers discussed include higher prevalence of poverty, lack of geographic accessibility, and non-traditional hours of operations that accommodate unpredictable work schedules. All Our Kin is identified as the program most aligned with the assets while addressing the needs of the population of interest. (Creating the Conditions for Family Child Care to Thrive, 2019). The paper recommends diversifying the modalities of licensed high quality preschool and early child care providers in Durham County by increasing access to licensed family child care. This change to the Durham County educational system, is intended to increase access to quality early childhood education and decrease related inequities faced by young, minority children. Key words: social determinant of health, early childhood education, minority students, Durham County, evidence-basedMaster of Public Healt

    Boundary Spanner Corruption in Business Relationships

    Get PDF
    Boundary spanner corruption—voluntary collaborative behaviour between individuals representing different organisations that violates their organisations’ norms—is a serious problem in business relationships. Drawing on insights from the literatures on general corruption perspectives, the dark side of business relationships and deviance in sales and service organisations, this dissertation identifies boundary spanner corruption as a potential dark side complication inherent in close business relationships It builds research questions from these literature streams and proposes a research structure based upon commonly used methods in corruption research to address this new concept. In the first study, using an exploratory survey of boundary spanner practitioners, the dissertation finds that the nature of boundary spanner corruption is broad and encompasses severe and non-severe types. The survey also finds that these deviance types are prevalent in a widespread of geographies and industries. This prevalence is particularly noticeable for less-severe corruption types, which may be an under-researched phenomenon in general corruption research. The consequences of boundary spanner corruption can be serious for both individuals and organisations. Indeed, even less-severe types can generate long-term negative consequences. A second interview-based study found that multi-level trust factors could also motivate the emergence of boundary spanner corruption. This was integrated into a theoretical model that illustrates how trust at the interpersonal, intraorganisational, and interorganisational levels enables corrupt behaviours by allowing deviance-inducing factors stemming from the task environment or from the individual boundary spanner to manifest in boundary spanner corruption. Interpersonal trust between representatives of different organisations, interorganisational trust between these organisations, and intraorganisational agency trust of management in their representatives foster the development of a boundary-spanning social cocoon—a mechanism that can inculcate deviant norms leading to corrupt behaviour. This conceptualisation and model of boundary spanner corruption highlights intriguing directions for future research to support practitioners engaged in a difficult problem in business relationships

    An empirical investigation of the relationship between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in supply chains

    Get PDF
    This research aimed to develop an empirical understanding of the relationships between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in the supply chain domain, based on which, two conceptual frameworks were constructed to advance the field. The core motivation for the research was that, at the stage of writing the thesis, the combined relationship between the three concepts had not yet been examined, although their interrelationships have been studied individually. To achieve this aim, deductive and inductive reasoning logics were utilised to guide the qualitative study, which was undertaken via multiple case studies to investigate lines of enquiry that would address the research questions formulated. This is consistent with the author’s philosophical adoption of the ontology of relativism and the epistemology of constructionism, which was considered appropriate to address the research questions. Empirical data and evidence were collected, and various triangulation techniques were employed to ensure their credibility. Some key features of grounded theory coding techniques were drawn upon for data coding and analysis, generating two levels of findings. These revealed that whilst integration and dynamic capabilities were crucial in improving performance, the performance also informed the former. This reflects a cyclical and iterative approach rather than one purely based on linearity. Adopting a holistic approach towards the relationship was key in producing complementary strategies that can deliver sustainable supply chain performance. The research makes theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to the field of supply chain management. The theoretical contribution includes the development of two emerging conceptual frameworks at the micro and macro levels. The former provides greater specificity, as it allows meta-analytic evaluation of the three concepts and their dimensions, providing a detailed insight into their correlations. The latter gives a holistic view of their relationships and how they are connected, reflecting a middle-range theory that bridges theory and practice. The methodological contribution lies in presenting models that address gaps associated with the inconsistent use of terminologies in philosophical assumptions, and lack of rigor in deploying case study research methods. In terms of its practical contribution, this research offers insights that practitioners could adopt to enhance their performance. They can do so without necessarily having to forgo certain desired outcomes using targeted integrative strategies and drawing on their dynamic capabilities

    Reshaping Higher Education for a Post-COVID-19 World: Lessons Learned and Moving Forward

    Get PDF
    No abstract available

    INCREASING ACCESS TO QUALITY EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FOR MINORITY CHILDREN IN DURHAM COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

    Get PDF
    The purpose of this paper is to examine preschool education as a social determinant of health (SDOH). Healthy People 2030 recognizes education as a key component of health outcomes, and outlines access to high quality preschool education as a strategy to improving short and long-term health and overall wellness outcomes. (Social Determinants of Health - Healthy People 2030 | health.gov., n.d.). This paper explores challenges young, minority students in Durham County, North Carolina are facing in accessing high-quality early childhood education. The paper recommends an evidence-based program to mitigate these challenges. The barriers discussed include higher prevalence of poverty, lack of geographic accessibility, and non-traditional hours of operations that accommodate unpredictable work schedules. All Our Kin is identified as the program most aligned with the assets while addressing the needs of the population of interest. (Creating the Conditions for Family Child Care to Thrive, 2019). The paper recommends diversifying the modalities of licensed high quality preschool and early child care providers in Durham County by increasing access to licensed family child care. This change to the Durham County educational system, is intended to increase access to quality early childhood education and decrease related inequities faced by young, minority children. Key words: social determinant of health, early childhood education, minority students, Durham County, evidence-basedMaster of Public Healt

    Towards a Digital Capability Maturity Framework for Tertiary Institutions

    Get PDF
    Background: The Digital Capability (DC) of an Institution is the extent to which the institution's culture, policies, and infrastructure enable and support digital practices (Killen et al., 2017), and maturity is the continuous improvement of those capabilities. As technology continues to evolve, it is likely to give rise to constant changes in teaching and learning, potentially disrupting Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) and making existing organisational models less effective. An institution’s ability to adapt to continuously changing technology depends on the change in culture and leadership decisions within the individual institutions. Change without structure leads to inefficiencies, evident across the Nigerian TEI landscape. These inefficiencies can be attributed mainly to a lack of clarity and agreement on a development structure. Objectives: This research aims to design a structure with a pathway to maturity, to support the continuous improvement of DC in TEIs in Nigeria and consequently improve the success of digital education programmes. Methods: I started by conducting a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) investigating the body of knowledge on DC, its composition, the relationship between its elements and their respective impact on the Maturity of TEIs. Findings from the review led me to investigate further the key roles instrumental in developing Digital Capability Maturity in Tertiary Institutions (DCMiTI). The results of these investigations formed the initial ideas and constructs upon which the proposed structure was built. I then explored a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to substantiate the initial constructs and gain a deeper understanding of the relationships between elements/sub-elements. Next, I used triangulation as a vehicle to expand the validity of the findings by replicating the methods in a case study of TEIs in Nigeria. Finally, after using the validated constructs and knowledge base to propose a structure based on CMMI concepts, I conducted an expert panel workshop to test the model’s validity. Results: I consolidated the body of knowledge from the SLR into a universal classification of 10 elements, each comprising sub-elements. I also went on to propose a classification for DCMiTI. The elements/sub-elements in the classification indicate the success factors for digital maturity, which were also found to positively impact the ability to design, deploy and sustain digital education. These findings were confirmed in a UK University and triangulated in a case study of Northwest Nigeria. The case study confirmed the literature findings on the status of DCMiTI in Nigeria and provided sufficient evidence to suggest that a maturity structure would be a well-suited solution to supporting DCM in the region. I thus scoped, designed, and populated a domain-specific framework for DCMiTI, configured to support the educational landscape in Northwest Nigeria. Conclusion: The proposed DCMiTI framework enables TEIs to assess their maturity level across the various capability elements and reports on DCM as a whole. It provides guidance on the criteria that must be satisfied to achieve higher levels of digital maturity. The framework received expert validation, as domain experts agreed that the proposed Framework was well applicable to developing DCMiTI and would be a valuable tool to support TEIs in delivering successful digital education. Recommendations were made to engage in further iterations of testing by deploying the proposed framework for use in TEI to confirm the extent of its generalisability and acceptability
    • …
    corecore