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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a way to inspire business firms to perform in a manner appropriate to the desires of their stakeholders, thus, producing them to act dependably for the benefit of the business and society or community through creating a sustainable development program that could, in turn, gain credibility, positive image and reputation. This study highlights pharmaceutical companies’ practices in terms of CSR integration covering the four levels of CSR - philanthropic, ethical, legal, and economic. It will also discuss how do pharmaceutical companies integrate community empowerment in their CSR activities and up to what extent is the level of integration of community empowerment in terms of levels of society – micro, meso and macro. This research study will use the mixed method which are: qualitative and quantitative methods. The following are criteria in the selection of participants for interview. For qualitative approach, there will be twenty participants from five pharmaceutical companies. For quantitative approach (using survey questionnaire), there will be 360 respondents coming from 30 pharmaceutical companies. The extent of integration of community empowerment in CSR is highly linked to the extent of contribution to holistic and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a large number of studies concerning professional development at the micro level. However, little research has been particularly conducted to investigate professional development at the macro level. This study aims to explore professional development policy and practice in a Vietnamese government department. Using a qualitative with two focus group discussions including 11 participants and semi-structured interviews with 14 people, the study investigates professional development for state policy-makers in testing and quality assurance in Vietnam. Results show that these government officials themselves actively looked for professional development programmes together with receiving support from their organisational leaders. The research findings also reveal that top-down and bottom-up professional development mechanisms are being implemented. However, professional development policy has not been documented in this government agency. It is suggested that professional development policy aligned with best practices should be discussed, developed and evaluated by agency members and soon approved by the agency’s leader.

Copyright of Journal of Socioterapy / Journal Socioterapie is the property of Linguo-Cultural & Translation-Interpretation Centre of Excellence at the Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Circular economy (CE) is an interesting approach by many countries to address global environmental problems while gaining economic benefits. The implementation of CE is expected to minimize the use of resources and materials, thus contributing to sustainable development. Much literature has discussed CE assessment indicators and their evaluation, however to date, no single indicator has been proposed that can comprehensively measure the macro level of CE implementation. This study aims to develop a CE index to measure CE implementation at macro levels. In addition, it provides an overview of the impact of CE implementation on the financial, social, and environmental aspects of the economy. To this end, first, an in-depth literature review and descriptive analysis is conducted to identify existing global CE indicators and classify them into financial, social, and environmental categories based on available primary and secondary data. Then, the CE index is constructed using a mathematical equation by considering the CE framework, a single indicator of each aspect as a variable, and the variable’s weighting. Finally, the CE index is applied to evaluate the level of CE implementation of CE in Indonesia at macro level. This index is expected to be a valuable tool for measuring CE implementation and therefore improving CE performance.

Public and political discourse has routinely suggested that immigration is linked to higher community levels of violence and drug problems. In contrast to these claims, research has consistently shown that immigration is not associated with greater violence at the macro level. However, few studies have examined the links between immigration flows and community drug problems. The current study seeks to address this gap in research by providing a county‐level longitudinal analysis of immigration and drug overdose deaths both overall and by substance type for the 2000 to 2015 period and provides an analysis of homicide for comparison with prior immigration–crime research. In addition, this analysis compares immigration–overdose relationships across immigrant destination types. The current project relies on overdose and homicide data drawn from the Centers for Disease Control's Restricted Access Multiple Cause of Death Mortality files combined with data on county social, economic, health, and legal contexts drawn from multiple macro‐level data sources. Findings reveal that immigration is not associated with higher levels of overdose or homicide deaths, and when effects are significant, immigration is linked to lower levels of overdose mortality across multiple substances and destination types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to provide a meta-theoretical framework for the conceptualisation of the role of the corporate communication strategist. The latter has previously been conceptualised by the author as a role at the top management or macro level of the organisation. It entails gathering, interpreting and disseminating strategic intelligence on stakeholders and issues amongst decision-makers (obtained by means of environmental scanning) - to be used as input in the organisation's strategy formulation processes. The problem addressed in this research is the changing role of business in society and how the corporate communication function could assist the organisation in achieving a balance between commercial imperatives and socially responsible behaviour. Seven approaches to the role of business in society are identified and discussed. It is suggested that the meta-theoretical approach to the conceptualisation of the role of the strategist is a synthesis of six of these approaches, namely the social responsibility/ethical approach, corporate social responsiveness approach, the corporate social performance approach, the stakeholder approach, the issues approach and the corporate community approach.

According to Sustainable Development Goal 4.2 (SDG 4.2), Equal Access to Quality Pre-primary Education, governments throughout the world are working to ensure that all children have access to high-quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education by 2030. In order to organize available evidence into a coherent framework, the current scoping review represents an exploratory synthesis addressing the broad question of what qualitative and inclusive Early Childhood Education and Care strategies are currently being established globally to achieve SDG4 targets. The goal of this scoping review in this respect, was to map the available research and offer an overview of micro-, meso-, and macro-level perspectives on evidence-based interventions and strategies, for the promotion of SDG4 globally. A layered model of early childhood education that is both inclusive and egalitarian education emerged, starting with themicro level: child, family and community, mezo level: nursery, and kindergarten and macro level: national policies and SDG 4.2 Agenda for 2030. The mezzo level connects the micro and macro levels, being the most solicited level of implementing inclusive and qualitative ECEC strategies. Thus, starting with putting a real emphasis on children rights, creating a qualitative and inclusive culture with a holistic understanding of child development, then investing in teacher preparation and instilling a strong belief and positive attitudes toward equity in early childhood services, developing inclusive educational policies with an authentic community support offered by all stakeholders, then adapting curriculum and assessment methods to all early childhood educational contexts and lastly piloting and up-scaling good practices, and investing in infrastructure, facilities and innovative educational services, SDG4.2 targets could transparently and efficiently be attained by 2030, with all the setbacks arisen from the pandemic context. The data provide light on a vast topic range, including human rights and values, policy actions, and ideologies. The micro-level themes emphasized the importance of fostering equitable and inclusive environments for children., as well as instructional approaches that encourage positive attitudes toward diversity and instructors' levels of experience in dealing with diversity. We also discovered the significance of creating chances that promote socialization, connection development, and a sense of belonging. Meso-level principles emphasized the relevance of schooling in a child's holistic development and skill acquisition. Mainstream availability for all children, national curriculum regulations, teacher preparation for inclusive early childhood education, excellent funding and governance, evaluation and monitoring, and research on inclusive early childhood education comprise the macro level. As a concept and an approach, inclusive and qualitative education necessitates the preparedness of all relevant educational components to participate. Providing inclusive education in the early years requires setting the foundation for subsequent levels of schooling. The active engagement of a young kid should be directed by developmentally and individually suitable curricula. Access to and participation in age-appropriate general curricula becomes critical in identifying and providing specialized support services. Inclusive programming does not imply that the educational programs will necessarily be of good quality. Efficiency and wellbeing are synonymous with equity. Equitable education investment benefits everyone in society, not just the most marginalized. Investing in education will help communities achieve all of the Sustainable Development Goals related to education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An issue that has not yet been explored in the religiosity‐health literature is the macro‐level effect of religiosity on health—the effect of the religiosity of a society on the absolute health of the population of that society as a whole. We address this issue using two panel datasets: The first is a time‐series cross‐sectional panel dataset for 17 countries from 1925 to 2000. The second is a cross‐sectionally dominated panel dataset of up to 92 countries for the period 1981–2016. Our main findings are as follows: first, religiosity has a significant negative causal effect on health at the macro level; second, a substantial part of this effect can be attributed to an indirect effect via public health expenditures; and third, changes in population health do not cause significant changes in societal religiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Sustainable Development Goal 4.2 (SDG 4.2), Equal Access to Quality Pre-primary Education, governments throughout the world are working to ensure that all children have access to high-quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education by 2030. In order to organize available evidence into a coherent framework, the current scoping review represents an exploratory synthesis addressing the broad question of what qualitative and inclusive Early Childhood Education and Care strategies are currently being established globally to achieve SDG4 targets. The goal of this scoping review in this respect, was to map the available research and offer an overview of micro-, meso-, and macro-level perspectives on evidence-based interventions and strategies, for the promotion of SDG4 globally. A layered model of early childhood education that is both inclusive and egalitarian education emerged, starting with the micro level: child, family and community, mezo level: nursery, and kindergarten and macro level: national policies and SDG 4.2 Agenda for 2030. The mezzo level connects the micro and macro levels, being the most solicited level of implementing inclusive and qualitative ECEC strategies. Thus, starting with putting a real emphasis on children rights, creating a qualitative and inclusive culture with a holistic understanding of child development, then investing in teacher preparation and instilling a strong belief and positive attitudes toward equity in early childhood services, developing inclusive educational policies with an authentic community support offered by all stakeholders, then adapting curriculum and assessment methods to all early childhood educational contexts and lastly piloting and up-scaling good practices, and investing in infrastructure, facilities and innovative educational services, SDG4.2 targets could transparently and efficiently be attained by 2030, with all the setbacks arisen from the pandemic context. The data provide light on a vast topic range, including human rights and values, policy actions, and ideologies. The micro-level themes emphasized the importance of fostering equitable and inclusive environments for children., as well as instructional approaches that encourage positive attitudes toward diversity and instructors' levels of experience in dealing with diversity. We also discovered the significance of creating chances that promote socialization, connection development, and a sense of belonging. Meso-level principles emphasized the relevance of schooling in a child's holistic development and skill acquisition. Mainstream availability for all children, national curriculum regulations, teacher preparation for inclusive early childhood education, excellent funding and governance, evaluation and monitoring, and research on inclusive early childhood education comprise the macro level. As a concept and an approach, inclusive and qualitative education necessitates the preparedness of all relevant educational components to participate. Providing inclusive education in the early years requires setting the foundation for subsequent levels of schooling. The active engagement of a young kid should be directed by developmentally and individually suitable curricula. Access to and participation in age-appropriate general curricula becomes critical in identifying and providing specialized support services. Inclusive programming does not imply that the educational programs will necessarily be of good quality. Efficiency and wellbeing are synonymous with equity. Equitable education investment benefits everyone in society, not just the most marginalized. Investing in education will help communities achieve all of the Sustainable Development Goals related to education.

The article examines the startup ecosystem and identifies its characteristics which determine the effectiveness and success of startups - the main producing elements of the system. The author points out the differences between startups and other small business entities, highlights their strengths and weaknesses, justifies the need to consider them within the ecosystems. The author identifies the micro and macro levels of the startup ecosystem which depend on the nature of the impact on startups. At the same time the article focuses on the development of the ecosystem itself, the factors that influence it are highlighted. The analysis of the elements of the startup ecosystem is carried out, the requirements for them are described, based on the results of the study is proposed a theoretical model of the startup ecosystem. The main characteristics of startups in the ecosystem are highlighted. The nature of relations with organizations and events providing startups with resources - the micro level of the ecosystem are described. A detailed assessment of the role of micro-level elements and their characteristics is given. The proposed model can be used to assess the level of development of a particular ecosystem, search for bottlenecks and problems of its functioning, and develop recommendations for creating and developing a startup ecosystem.

This paper critically analyses one of the unexpected results of qualitative research aimed at detecting the presence of unethical business practices in Slovakia. The authors seek to find out why entrepreneurs participating in this research do not take responsibility for the development of business ethics and why, in their primary reflections on unethical practices in the Slovak business environment, have they shifted it almost completely to the State level (1), and whether their attitude is morally justified (2). The main theoretical foundation in the following analysis is the theory of development of business ethics on three levels (micro, mezzo and macro), also known as the “subject-matter of business ethics” approach. The paper discusses attitudes of the research sample, including Slovak entrepreneurs and company representatives, towards the State, and the consecutive critical reflection of their opinions shows that businesspersons tend to give up on their own proactive approach to the development of business ethics and position themselves in the role of an “expectant” instead of a “creator” of ethical standards in society. Furthermore, the paper points out that businesses lack ethical self-reflection in relation to corruption, more precisely, they lack reflection of their place in the corrupt relationship with the State. Given these findings, the paper concludes that an essential basis for the long-term development of business ethics in our country is the establishment of partnerships between the State and business entities, while recognizing the place of nongovernmental democratic institutions.

The study object are the processes of banks liquidity regulation. The banking system liquidity determines both the level of efficiency of banks and their ability to meet their liabilities. Today, ensuring the banks liquidity is one of the key problems in the Ukrainian banking system functioning. Banking system liquidity regulation is one of the three areas of monetary regulation, so the study of theoretical and practical features of banking liquidity regulation at the macro and micro levels is relevant today. In the course of the research the dynamics of the liquidity level was analyzed both for the banking system of Ukraine and for an individual bank (JSC “BANK FORWARD”) on the basis of various indicators used by the National Bank of Ukraine. Excess liquidity and the need to reduce it were identified. The lists of liquidity reduction measures that can be applied at the macro and micro levels are proposed. Improving the banking system liquidity regulation should be in accordance with the requirements of the new monetary policy regime — in accordance with the requirements and conditions of inflation targeting. Schematically, the approach to optimizing the regulation of banking system liquidity can be represented in two stages. In the first stage, there should be a transition from the dominant use of permanent access operations, which is taking place today, to discretionary monetary policy, which provides for stimulating lending to the economy and maintaining liquidity at an optimal level. In the second stage, the basic goal is to stabilize inflation in line with the target and promote sustainable economic growth. The study also states that in order to regulate the banking system liquidity during different phases of the financial cycle, it is advisable to use different tools and provides a list of actual instruments. If the threats of the bank liquidity regulation cone real, it is advisable to focus on micro-level measures, encouraging banks to independently balance their level of liquidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I discuss how social psychologists can think about identity change as a nested phenomenon. Identity change occurs at the micro level, but it is embedded in meso and macro levels of social reality. I use changes in the religious identity in the United States as an example of how we can conceptualize identity change in this way. This approach enables us to broaden the scope of social psychological work to be more inclusive of the various social forces at all levels of social reality that impact the human processes we study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 50th anniversary edition of Population Studies, John Hobcraft commented that demographers spend too little time trying to explain the phenomena they measure and describe. A quarter of a century on, this paper looks at the state of theory and explanation in contemporary demography. I ask how demographers have approached the task of explanation since Hobcraft's comment, grounding the discussion in the mainstream literature on low fertility in Europe. Using selected examples, I critically review macro- and micro-level approaches to explanation, highlighting some of the philosophical problems that each encounters. I argue that different conceptions of what demography is, and the explanatory language fertility researchers use, lead to differences in explanatory strategies that are rarely explicitly recognized. I also consider how critical theories challenge demographers to think in new ways. Despite the increasing attention paid to theory and explanation, I conclude that more engagement with the philosophy of social sciences is needed before fertility researchers can legitimately claim their studies do as much to explain and understand as to quantify and describe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This literature review analyzes studies that deal with the meanings that consumers form about firms' family nature. Through the analysis of 83 papers, we highlight the importance of firms' family nature from consumers' perceptual, social, and cultural perspectives, at the micro, meso, and macro levels. Beside the common meanings that consumers attach to firms' family nature, our review showed that in some cases, firms' family nature acquired meanings that were deemed to be so important that they eventually provided consumers with self-identification, communitarian identification, and novel market configurations, and even made the family firm the industry's prototypical organizational form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to achieve ambidexterity is seen as an important prerequisite for sustaining competitive advantages in organizations. One means to this end is ambidextrous leadership, which, by definition, attempts to achieve an improved corporate outcome on the macro level through leadership behavior on the micro-level. We present here a meta-review of the field of ambidextrous leadership research that indicates that the studies therein lack explicit definition of the levels analyzed within this multi-level concept as well as links between these levels. We first address the development of static and dynamic multi-level models in management and sociological research. Second, we describe the multi-level characteristics of the concept of ambidextrous leadership. Third, we use the static and dynamic multi-level models to analyze how current research reflects different levels of ambidextrous leadership and the links between these levels. Based on our meta-review, we identify new areas for future investigation and we develop an agenda for systematizing leadership research by explicitly considering the micro and macro level of an organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study intends to probe the impediments for the practicality of Critical language pedagogy (CLP) in higher education system of Iran. To do this, 20 Iranian university instructors, holding Ph.D. degrees in TEFL, were asked to read a passage reflecting the main characteristics of transformative pedagogy. To explore the main obstacles, they were invited for a semi-structured interview. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed using Thomas (2006) inductive approach including frequent, dominant, or significant themes. The results revealed a number of themes that illustrate macro and micro inhibiting factors Iranian EFL instructors encounter toward implementing the principles of CLP. The findings are discussed and suggestions are provided for teachers to transform transmission approaches into transformative and dialogic ones.

There are a significant number of people who live under the breadline in South Africa. Especially women and children are vulnerable when they end up on the streets, owing to a number of reasons such as economic hardship and unemployment. Women are also often caregivers of their young children and to seek fulltime employment is not always feasible. Several of these vulnerable women resort to alcohol or drug abuse as a means to at least temporarily cope with their problems. It is usually social workers who render services to vulnerable groups and in this instance to vulnerable women. The aim of this study was to explore the challenges experienced by vulnerable women who abuse alcohol or drugs, in order to improve service rendering by social workers. There is an increase worldwide in the abuse of harmful substances. Although statistics indicate that more men than women succumb to substance abuse, affected women often do not seek help, owing to several factors such as the stigma attached thereto, and the lack of sufficient services to assist them. Research indicates that economic hardship could contribute to substance abuse. Little research has been done on the unique challenges facing vulnerable women who are prone to substance abuse. These women often end up on the street, heightening the risks of their falling prey to violence and sexual assault. The ecological perspective was chosen as a theoretical framework for this study as the different systems could shed light on the research question: "What are the challenges of vulnerable women who resort to substance abuse?" Stressful situations could contribute to a life of substance abuse. Especially women who leave their families for a life on the streets are suffering emotional stress. The three levels of the ecological perspective that were utilised were the micro, meso and macro levels. A qualitative approach of an exploratory nature was chosen to meet the goal of the study, namely to explore the challenges facing vulnerable women succumbing to alcohol and drugs as a last resort. An NGO was approached to collect a sample of 15 participants. Criteria for inclusion were that the participants had to be women; over 21 years old; had to have used alcohol and/or drugs during the course of the study or six months prior to the study; had to be sober during the interviews; and had to be clients of the NGO that delivered the sample. Data were collected by means of a semi-structured interview guide. The interviews were recorded with the permission of the participants and transcribed by the researcher. Ethical clearance was obtained for the study. The data were analysed and categorised into relevant themes. Data verification was also done by member checking and the use of an independent coder. The study was limited in that only a small sample was used and that it was done only in the Western Cape. Theme 1 concerned a traumatic childhood. All participants had lived through a traumatic childhood and still struggled in adulthood to work through different issues. Significantly, a number of the participants ' own family members were directly or indirectly responsible for the childhood trauma. Theme 2 pertained to difficulties in adulthood varying from subjecting to violence, being cheated on, having been victims of rape, serving jail terms, living on the streets, and attempting suicide. Closely related to theme 2, are challenges in the environment (theme 3). Notable stumbling blocks pertained to participants living with sickness, relationship challenges, gang violence, hunger and conflict with the police. The abuse of alcohol or drugs, as well as the misuse of pain killers as a coping mechanism was identified as theme 4. One of the participants also struggled with a dual diagnosis of bipolar disorder and substance use disorder. Hope was identified as the 5th theme. Despite the listed challenges, some participants still retained a flicker of hope and resilience, wishing to improve their lives and reclaim custody of their children. It can be concluded that vulnerable women who abuse alcohol or drugs face several challenges and that specialised intervention is needed to help them to come to terms with childhood trauma, adversities in adult life, challenges in the environment and, in addition to all of the above, with substance dependency. More research is recommended, specifically focused on vulnerable women who succumb to substance abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular economy (CE) is emerging as a solution for a thriving economy within regional and planetary boundaries for environment and social justice. CE is multifaceted with interconnected processes and therefore rather difficult to assess comprehensively. This paper reviewed the corpus of macro-level CE assessments, to find the best practices in CE assessments of regions scaling from neighborhoods to planetary. The extensive content analysis on the corpus of 165 studies used a novel mixed methods of meta-analysis, taxonomy and integrative review. This review investigates the comprehensiveness of CE assessments. Findings include three types of CE performance monitoring, four types of resource clustering, five scales, and a 5-step procedure to evaluate CE. CE can be monitored on: (a) absolute performance, quantifying economic resource-input, stock and waste-output; (b) efficiency performance, monitoring the optimization of CE processes similar to recycling, reuse, or even sharing and virtualizing; (c) policy performance to monitor strategies from regional stakeholders. Resource clustering can create hierarchies by metrics, uses, system-boundaries, or emergy. Identified scales are: XL for the planet; L for continents; M for large provinces, states and smaller countries; S for cities; and, XS for neighborhoods. Scales assist in comparing and benchmarking, but are also required for a proposed policy of localizing CE. This review found the ReSOLVE-framework as relatively comprehensive on CE processes. Also, multiple knowledge gaps were identified among resources, processes and regions. This review aids CE knowledge accumulation across regions and scales, to accelerate implementing the CE.