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1 – 10 of 586Dawn M. Francis and Stephanie L. Colbry
This chapter explains how the Social Change Model of Leadership served as the process for uniting the campus on Cabrini Day around one shared vision of Leadership for Social…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter explains how the Social Change Model of Leadership served as the process for uniting the campus on Cabrini Day around one shared vision of Leadership for Social Change. It also uses Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning to examine the resulting transformation that occurred among students engaged in this process.
Methodology/approach
In an effort to showcase students’ transformation into leaders for social change, the chapter focuses expressly on students enrolled in one particular course. These students worked together to develop a live simulation for Cabrini Day that brought campus community members through the real-world experiences of unaccompanied immigrant minors fleeing to the United States to escape violence in their home countries. The chapter employs an action research methodology to describe how, when, and why these students became transformed. Students’ planning steps, actions within the live simulation event, and reflections on their actions were analyzed using the individual, group, and community values of the Social Change Model, as well as the tenets of transformative learning theory.
Findings
Findings reveal that the Social Change Model is a viable process for integrating curricular and cocurricular endeavors on campus. Findings also show that this process can lead to transformative student learning outcomes.
Originality/value
Integrating curricular and cocurricular experiences on college campuses can lead to significant student learning outcomes and experiences.
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The pandemic presented many new challenges is all spheres of life including faith communities. Around the globe, lockdowns took pace at various stages with varying restrictions…
Abstract
Purpose
The pandemic presented many new challenges is all spheres of life including faith communities. Around the globe, lockdowns took pace at various stages with varying restrictions that included the closure of places of worship which significantly affected the way people serve God and gather as a community. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the wellbeing and resilience of members of Christian faith communities in Melbourne (Australia) who had experienced one of the longest lockdowns in the world.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw on online survey N = 106 collected between November 2021 and May 2021. Participants were over the age of 18 from Catholic, Anglican, Uniting Church, Baptist and Pentecostal/Evangelical faith communities. They employ thematic analysis to analyze, and code open-ended responses from four questions in relation to the research question: In what ways has your wellbeing been impacted during the pandemic?
Findings
Melbourne experienced one of the longest lockdown periods in the world between 2020 and 2021 when blended modes of worship forced people to congregate in new and different ways. The empirical insights of participants express their views in relation to celebrating faith and hope, connecting with community, pursuing leisure activities and pursuing leisure in relation to the PERMA model of wellbeing. The findings may resonate with other faith communities in Melbourne and around the globe. They may also lead to new and innovative ways of planning and envisioning modes of worship that may be helpful in a variety of faith contexts.
Research limitations/implications
The research was limited by its sample size (N = 106) and its geographical restriction of Christian faith communities in the Melbourne metropolitan area. This means that broad generalizations cannot be made. Nevertheless, the findings may resonate with other faith communities in Australian and in other parts of the world.
Practical implications
In highlighting the impact COVID-19 had in Australia and ways people balanced their sense of faith and wellbeing, this study raises concerns about the lack of funding that supports mental health initiatives in faith settings and the wider community. The study recommends that faith community leaders and members use informal communication channels to foster hope building wellbeing and resilience, and that pastoral care networks be established in the wider community to promote leisure activities that nurtures social connection, builds faith and resilience.
Social implications
Whilst the pandemic has provided new openings for members of faith communities to engage with God, the scriptures, each other and leisure, it remains “a balancing act of keeping the faith and maintaining wellbeing”. Such a balancing act may positively enliven a sense of wellbeing and resilience as people continue to navigate the uncertainty inherent in a milieu beginning to be named as “post-Covid”.
Originality/value
This is an original work carried out by the authors. It raises concerns about the lack of funding that supports mental health initiatives in faith settings and the wider community. While much research, news and social media discussed the pandemic's impact on communities, there is an urgent need for ongoing research that encourages, supports and connects people to faith and to leisure activities in order to promote a continued sense of wellbeing as communities begin to transition to a “post-Covid” world. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge about the impact COVID-19 had in Australia and ways people balanced their sense of faith and wellbeing.
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Rory Francis Mulcahy, Ryan McAndrew, Rebekah Russell-Bennett and Dawn Iacobucci
Marketers have begun to investigate the potential of gamification for influencing consumer behavior by using game design elements in realms varying from branding, retail, sales…
Abstract
Purpose
Marketers have begun to investigate the potential of gamification for influencing consumer behavior by using game design elements in realms varying from branding, retail, sales and health services. Marketers have also begun to explore consumer behavior in sustainability. This paper aims to provide contributions to build on both literatures.
Design/methodology/approach
This research tests gamification principles in a large field study on real consumers that includes data from pre-post surveys, gamified app analytics and household energy meters. The data are analyzed using ANOVA’s and structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings demonstrate: gamification significantly enhanced consumers’ knowledge, attitudes, behavioral intentions and realized bill savings compared to a control group; reward-based game design elements including points, badges and other rewards contribute to enhancing sustainable behavior outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
Future research in settings outside of sustainability may extend upon the findings of the current research to further understanding the impact of reward-based game design elements in marketing.
Practical implications
The findings have important practical implications for how organizations might use serious games to promote sustainable and other desirable behavior. In particular, how reward-based game design elements, points, trophies and badges, can be used to create a chain of relationships that leads to reduced electricity consumption.
Originality/value
This paper fulfills the need to understand if the impact of gamification extends outside of controlled environments and into the field. Further, it demonstrates how reward-based game design elements contribute to consumers changing their behavior, a relationship that is not yet thoroughly understood in the marketing literature.
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Hannah Mead Kling, Julia R. Norgaard and Nikolai G. Wenzel
This paper aims to study Catholic Social Theory (CST) and its implications for economic development. From the early days of CST through the papacy of Benedict XVI, the Church has…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study Catholic Social Theory (CST) and its implications for economic development. From the early days of CST through the papacy of Benedict XVI, the Church has been consistent about the promise and limits of markets. Markets offer the necessary foundation for human flourishing – but they must be ordered toward the common good and they carry the potential for spiritual loss. Pope Francis has changed course from over a century of CST, with a markedly different view of business, labor and free markets.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper summarizes 130 years of CST regarding the economy and describes the turn Pope Francis takes from this tradition. This paper discusses economic theory and analyzes the importance of markets for economic development and assesses Pope Francis’ economics in light of this theory.
Findings
This paper discusses the findings that – despite what we assume to be good intentions – the economics of Pope Francis would condemn billions to poverty. Others (Whaples, 2017a) have discussed the economics of Pope Francis.
Originality/value
Others (Whaples, 2017a) have discussed the economics of Pope Francis. This paper finds, however, that most of the critiques are too gentle, and do not recognize the full deleterious impact of the application of the new teachings.
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This paper examines the labor policies of the United Typothetae of America (UTA) from its birth in 1887 through the late 1920s and argues that labor policy differences among its…
Abstract
This paper examines the labor policies of the United Typothetae of America (UTA) from its birth in 1887 through the late 1920s and argues that labor policy differences among its members (personified by two prominent New York City-based printing employers, Theodore DeVinne and Charles Francis) created a “house divided” that not only prevented it from creating and maintaining a unified labor policy but also ultimately led to its demise as an employers' association and reconstitution primarily as a trade association. It will do so by analyzing key episodes in the UTA's labor history to show how the two competing labor philosophies – DeVinne's absolute authority & independence and Francis's stability & order – interacted with industry conditions – intense price competition, a decentralized industry structure, proprietor autonomy, the relative power of unions, and economic conditions – to impact the UTA's labor policies and its institutional survival. The UTA's experience reveals the diversity of American employers' experiences as well as the challenges that they have faced when attempting to act collectively in the industrial relations arena. Moreover, recent IR research on employers' associations around the world also reveals that, as unions have declined in power, many also are shifting their focus away from labor relations to other member services.
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Ekta Shokeen, David Weintrop, Anthony James Pellicone, Peter Francis Moon, Diane Ketelhut, Michel Cukier and Jandelyn Dawn Plane
The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of perplexity in young players’ experiences within an educational videogame and how reflective thinking can help them to get…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of perplexity in young players’ experiences within an educational videogame and how reflective thinking can help them to get out of perplexing scenarios.
Design/methodology/approach
We used a constructivist grounded theory approach and the lenses of Dewey’s conceptualization of perplexity and reflective thinking to examine young players’ in-game experiences.
Findings
We find that perplexity in gameplay is an experience that occurs when players encounter uncertainty about where to go or what to do next in the game. Findings reveal that while playing an educational game players engaged in two forms of perplexity – exploration-based and puzzle-based. Additionally, we unpack how players overcome these perplexing scenarios by reflecting on the information provided in the game.
Research limitations/implications
While in a state of perplexity, reflecting on the in-game information aids players to think and make meaning, thus supporting learning. We provide suggestions for how to better utilize perplexity as an in-game design mechanism to encourage young players to reflect on in-game information.
Originality/value
This empirical study is original in its context of studying the phenomenon of perplexity in videogames and young players’ in-game reflection experiences.
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