An important element in dealing with HIV/AIDS is to disclose of its status to others. One of the problems faced by HIV/AIDS sufferers in disclosing their status is finding people they can trust, who can keep information about their HIV/AIDS status and not divulge it to other parties without their permission. Not many people can accept them without prejudice and stigma. This article discusses the communication efforts carried out by female AIDS activists in the community as co-owners who receive information from people with HIV/AIDS and subsequently become confidants and assist them in medical and psychological and social aspects. This study used a qualitative method. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with 9 Community AIDS activist women from 7 regions. The results of the study reveal the process of housewives transforming into community AIDS activists, how they get personal information about the status of HIV/AIDS and eventually become co-owners of information who eventually become confidants, have responsibilities and help people with HIV/AIDS in health, psychological and social aspects.
We present an interdisciplinary exploration of technostress in knowledge-intensive organizations, including both business and healthcare settings, and its impact on a healthy working life. Technostress, a contemporary form of stress induced by information and communication technology, is associated with reduced job satisfaction, diminished organizational commitment, and adverse patient care outcomes. This article aims to construct an innovative framework, called The Integrated Technostress Resilience Framework, designed to mitigate technostress and promote continuous learning within dynamic organizational contexts. In this perspective article we incorporate a socio-technical systems approach to emphasize the complex interplay between technological and social factors in organizational settings. The proposed framework is expected to provide valuable insights into the role of transparency in digital technology utilization, with the aim of mitigating technostress. Furthermore, it seeks to extend information systems theory, particularly the Technology Acceptance Model, by offering a more nuanced understanding of technology adoption and use. Our conclusion includes considerations for the design and implementation of information systems aimed at fostering resilience and adaptability in organizations undergoing rapid technological change.
The performance of Public Enterprises (PEs) in Namibia has been a long and contentious issue, clamored by continuous bailouts in the face of constant poor performance. The trend of financial bailouts to PEs in Namibia over the years has attracted increased attention into the dynamics of poor PE performance and their fiscal burden on the state. The Namibian government has taken active steps in cutting on PE bailouts and demanding improved performance or face closure. By looking at recent developments in the governance of PEs in Namibia, the purpose and objective of the current study is to analyze whether the current stance and trajectory of government decisions spells a post-honeymoon period in which poor performing PEs will ‘wither and survive or die’ if they do not improve their sustainability index by not relying on financial bailouts. This analysis is aided by the insights provided by the stakeholder, institutional and principal-agent theories. Through the qualitative research method, this study finds that the Namibian government has taken a new attitude and approach in which it will no longer blindly accept and tolerate the poor performance of PEs through continuous bailouts as seen in the past. PEs that are withering will now either survive (through reforms) or die (through liquidation or dissolution).
Sustainability has turned into a critical focus for businesses, drawing considerable interest from the commercial sector and scholarly environments. While empirical investigations have been conducted regarding sustainability reporting within small and medium enterprises, only a limited number of companies are subjected to increased pressure to adopt sustainability reporting practices, thereby ensuring enhanced transparency and disclosure in their financial and sustainability disclosures. This research, framed by Institutional Theory, delves into how challenges in sustainability reporting obstruct organizations from properly evaluating and sharing their progress on sustainability aims. With an explanatory research framework in place, we circulated survey questionnaires to 400 participants, who were randomly drawn from a population of 28,927 registered SMEs in Metro Manila, Philippines. The application of Interpretative Structural Modelling and MICMAC Analysis revealed that the absence of regulatory frameworks, governmental assistance, and sustainability infrastructure constitutes the most critical obstacles impacting other determinants. In contrast, neither the deficiency in sustainability awareness nor the inadequacy of training and skills demonstrated a considerable impact on the other identified barriers. This study clarifies the complex interactions and interrelations among the obstacles to sustainability reporting, thus providing significant perspectives for organizations aiming to overcome these difficulties. The findings suggest that business leaders and stakeholders can formulate targeted strategies and interventions to facilitate the adoption of sustainability reporting practices within organizations. The application of the institutional theory framework highlights that pressures arise from a diverse array of institutional actors, including regulators, customers, and local communities, which collectively shape corporate behavior and reporting methodologies.
STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education has recently been encouraged and attracted much national attention. This qualitative study aimed to conduct a thematic analysis of college student STEAM open responses to provide an examination of college students’ perceptions of their STEAM experiences into the STEAM field. Based on transformative learning theory, a thematic analysis of 756 written responses to seven prompts by 108 college student participants revealed three primary themes: (1) exciting and challenging difficulties, and transdisciplinary learning in STEAM; (2) STEAM learning of gradual process, problem-oriented instruction, and creative problem solving; and (3) metacognition development in STEAM. The findings revealed that undergraduates’ STEAM perceptions provide strong support for STEAM implementation to enhance teaching effectiveness in higher education.
The existence of residential well-being of the locals in the sense of equilibrium-state is a competitive advantage for tourism in a given destination. The rise of overtourism could jeopardize this equilibrium and ultimately the effectiveness of tourism in a vulnerable destination. The research question of the study aimed to answer: what are the spiral dynamics of the multifactorial characteristics of the sense of place that can be mapped under the influence of overtourism. Answering the question draws attention to the sense of place—which can be interpreted as a synonym for local character—of the issues of overtourism and residential well-being. Mapping the mechanism of action of the multifactorial characteristic of locality can help to identify non-supportive functions, to pinpoint the balance point for moving towards a supportive quality, and to answer the “how yes” questions at individual, local and collective levels. The answer to the research question is the result of concluding three district-specific sub-questions. The assessment of the results was based on the content analysis of 251 posts (2017–2021) in the local public Facebook group (supplemented by a questionnaire survey of local residents (2022), 30 in-depth interviews with experts and residents (2022) conducted as part of the cross-sectional research, and 10 additional in-depth interviews with residents (2024) conducted for the last sub-question. The flowchart showing the current state of the district along a negative spiral dynamic, the possibility to turn it in a positive direction, and the mind-map-like summary of local, individual and collective mitigation and solution alternatives supporting the change of direction can be considered as a novel scientific result.
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