Conceptual underpinnings for transformative research in a service ecosystems context to resolve social issues – framework foundations and extensions

ABSTRACT

A number of services within society are designed to improve the well-being of its members and transform lives. Some services focus on the protection and support of vulnerable members of society, for example, those suffering the effects of drug use, mental health conditions, violence or poverty. Clients of such social services may also come from minority or marginalised cultural backgrounds. Typically, social services aim to reduce disparities and enhance individual and population well-being. A major challenge for social policy-makers and social service providers is to establish and maintain constructive engagement between the social services and those they are intended to serve. Some of these vulnerable clients are deemed ‘hard-to-reach’ (HTR) by policy-makers and service providers. Yet, the transformation of lives requires the involvement of the focal actor (client) and their service or activity system, as well as the engagement of other actors, such as the social worker embedded in their service or activity system. This paper aims to further unpack a novel approach, called integrative transformative service framework. This contribution extends its conceptualisation which fuses mainly three different approaches, namely Transformative Service Research (TSR), (Cultural-Historical) Activity Theory (CHAT) and (Regulatory) Engagement Theory (RET).     

Attitudinal loyalty and trust in entrepreneurship: building new relationships

This paper studies the impact of attitudinal loyalty and trust in entrepreneurship, following a client-focused strategy. In this context, trust and commitment are the cornerstone of relationship marketing, and contributes positively to achieving attitudinal loyalty, which is suitable for the maintenance of relationships over time. This variable also acts as a facilitator or mediator on the influence satisfaction has on loyalty. We show that satisfaction has a positive impact on trust and attitudinal loyalty. Following structural equation modelling methodology we test all the relationships in a sample composed by travel agency customers.     

‘Time-out’ with the family: the shaping of family leisure in the new urban consumption spaces of cafes,bars and restaurants

In many north-western European countries, the family practices of drinking and eating used to be largely located in the private domain of the home. This situation has recently begun to change, particularly in gentrified urban areas where middle-class families are growing in number and family outings in bars and restaurants are becoming more widespread. This paper examines the new practices of family consumption from two perspectives: the providers and the consumers. Entrepreneurs shape family-friendly spaces by reducing boundaries between eating, drinking and playing and by offering out-of-home pleasures in home-like environments for both parents and children. They balance between accommodating the families and retaining their childless clients. Families that consume in the food and drink spaces are primarily local middle-class families, and fathers and mothers equally participate. This study further reveals that leisure time spent with the family cannot always be classified as leisure time as a family. Parental involvement with the children differs. We distinguish leisured caring time with high parental involvement, own leisure time mainly directed at parents’ personal activities and social leisure time mainly directed at maintaining social relationships beyond the family. We discuss earlier research on the complicated character of family leisure related to the caring duties of parents. Empirical evidence comes from an exploratory study of ten consumption spaces in the inner city of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.     

Stakeholder management and sustainability strategies in the French nuclear industry

This paper describes how a nuclear power corporation integrates sustainability into corporate strategies and practices. The case study focuses on one of the world's largest nuclear power generators and describes the corporate capture of sustainable development in its strategic efforts to promote a growth strategy. The paper shows how corporate strategies to address sustainability concerns involve managing different stakeholders, enabling the corporation to sustain its economic growth strategy. Three types of stakeholder management strategy are identified: reinforcement strategies for supportive stakeholders, containment strategies for obstructive stakeholders and stabilization strategies for passive stakeholders. The paper argues that, despite claims of sustainable development in the nuclear industry, there is no significant shift in the ‘business as usual’ approach and that sustainable development is merely reframed as sustainable growth. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Specificity of reinforcement for risk behaviors of the Balloon Analog Risk Task using math models of performance

Risky decision-making has been studied using multitrial behavioral tasks. Concordance of such tasks to risky behaviors could be improved by: (1) mathematically modeling the components of decision change and (2) providing reinforcement specific to the risk behavior studied. Men completed two Balloon Analog Risk Tasks (BART). One provided financial reinforcement (money) and the other provided sexual reinforcement (seconds of erotic film viewing). Parameters of a mathematical model of BART performance were fit to each individual. Correlations between the model parameters and four risk categories (financial, sexual, antisociality, and substance use) demonstrated predictive utility for the same behaviors regardless of task reinforcement, providing little evidence of reinforcement specificity. A reward sensitivity parameter was uniquely related to sexual risk behavior. Additional analyses explored parameter stability fit to fewer trials.     

Rural land use policy at the local level : Mechanisms for collaboration

Countryside policies in the UK suffer from a lack of integration, and this may give rise to unbalanced or conflicting land use at the local level. Nevertheless, the UK policy-making style is typically one of consensus, and is thus conducive to collaboration between apparently conflicting Interest groups. This article examines five case studies in which multi-agency fora have been established to resolve local land use and economic development issues. Typically, they are initiated by planning authorities and entail the production of land use plans even though there are few planning powers over rural land. The success of the exercises is evaluated and it is noted that, although their performance is imperfect, there are distinct areas in which progress may be made.