The dynamics of framing:Image, emotion and the European migration crisis

The macro-framing literature presents something of a theoretical conundrum. While an inherently dynamic concept, most work has treated frames as static. In addition to leaving our theories of framing underspecified, this also has implications for how we go about understanding and resolving our major societal problems, including flows of displaced people, the setting for this paper. We also lack insight into the ways in which media organizations, some of the most important arbiters of understanding in our society, shape the framing process. We address these points by investigating the ways in which the photograph of Alan Kurdi lying dead on a beach in Turkey radically transformed the framing of the European migration crisis by UK newspapers. In so doing, we develop theory about two important aspects of framing change. First, in showing how macro-frames are more malleable than often perceived, we develop the concept of an emotional array that we show is central to understanding how frame composition changes over time. Second, we expose the distinct mechanisms by which framing change takes place in media organizations characterized by different ideologies

Negotiating masculinities in times of crisis:On the COVID frontline in Pakistan

This study provides a detailed analysis of the ways in which male Pakistani civil servants negotiated their masculinity while working as frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We show how these men, in high-pressure work environments, invoked multiple hegemonic and non-hegemonic manifestations of masculinities as they experienced extreme stress. We contribute to the existing hegemonic masculinity literature by illuminating the ways in which different types of masculinities can be performed, embodied, and disrupted in high-stress situations. We also explore the processes by which these different types of masculinities are negotiated in a Global South context allowing us to examine how masculinity is contested in a context with particular cultural and societal norms and expectations.</p

Engaging with grand challenges:An institutional logics perspective

The institutional logics perspective has the explanatory power and potential to further contribute to our understanding of some of the most pressing societal concerns of our time. In this article, we develop the logics perspective along four analytical dimensions – macro-level positioning, contextuality, temporality and value plurality – which, we argue, can be leveraged to research and address grand challenges. We elaborate the currency of these dimensions in the context of the grand challenge of climate change. In doing so, we demonstrate the overall value of a logics perspective for engaging grand challenges

Reframing childhood obesity:The role of local communities in change implementation failure

Childhood obesity remains one of the defining challenges of our time, with government response around the world being largely ineffective. This has been particularly the case in the USA, which continues to suffer high rates of childhood obesity despite numerous legislative interventions to combat it. In order to develop insight into this ongoing catastrophic change failure, we engaged in a three-year qualitative study of the implementation of policies in the USA designed to reduce childhood obesity through school-based interventions. We found that leaders in schools, as in many organizations, were faced with numerous, often conflicting, pressures from federal, state, and local community stakeholders. The resultant ambivalence led to change failure being reframed as success to in order to fit with locally expressed priorities. In bringing light to an understudied aspect of change implementation, local community pressure, we further theoretical understanding of why large change interventions often fail. We also offer insights more generally into the (re)framing of change and the influence of local communities on organizations. Policy and managerial implications are also discussed