This study is concerned with furthering an understanding of the behaviour of organisational boundary personnel, or more exactly, with how boundaries act as psychological environments. The study has two complementary aims: to describe the psychological environment encountered by boundary personnel and to offer a theoretical model of the organisation as a psychological environment, the latter being a prerequisite of the former. It is held that a social psychological perspective is needed which can deal adequately with organisations as antecedent conditions of behaviour, and that situational analysis offers a useful social psychological framework for this purpose. The empirical investigation is an initial descriptive study of the psychological environment encountered by boundary personnel. It is argued that initial descriptive studies are necessary when dealing with largely unstudied phenomena, and that this stage in the scientific process has often been undervalued by social psychologists. A diary analysis followed by interviews were used to elicit a range of situations encountered by boundary personnel having direct and frequent contact with customers and clients. Four organisations were studied, each having a different primary task. A self-completion questionnaire was administered to elicit judgemental data, using the situations as stimuli. Multidimensional scaling was applied to analyse the data, treated as four sub-sets. This yielded the dimensions underlying each data set and the representation of situations according to these dimensions in each case. The results suggest that three common dimensions (formality, anxiety and socio-emotionality) underlie the cognitive representations of boundary personnel, and that the psychological environment encountered is complex. A taxonomy of situations is constructed and several important hypotheses relating to the psychological environment of boundary personnel formulated. Implications for future research are discussed.

The thesis analyses the systems, dynamics and conditions of international cooperation/non-cooperation in the international community that is embodied through international/regional institutions and organisations. As Robert Cooper describes, the international community consists of the three worlds in which the differences between them may be confrontational in international cooperation. While the post-modern civilisation and values are introduced into the institutions and organisations for international peace and security, the state actors from the pre-modern and modern civilisations and values are vigorously defending the traditional version of state sovereignty. Then, all these are equally the member of the international community and, as Robert Axelrod¿s Prisoner Dilemma game sets, neither state actors nor structural actors of international relations can escape from it. Therefore, it is hoped that, as Axelrod¿s theory suggests, the closed community, in the end, produces cooperation and a positive peace for a better future for all. In the case studies, the OSCE faces a number of non-cooperative state actors, like Russia. An anti-OSCE civilisation exists and is resisting the organisational values, while it is staying in the framework. Thus, the organisation is suffering from defectors and free-riders. Knowing the limitation of the organisation, it still has a space for improvement and a useful function which is to provide a long term process to make a non-cooperate actor cooperative.

This thesis explores how research is implicated in the constitution of post-war environments, and gives an account of being and becoming a researcher in post-war Bosnia. My main contention is that when peace and conflict researchers conduct research in post-war contexts, their presence, practices, and the consequential production of knowledge and representations, have political effects. I argue that the implications of this have not been fully explained, acknowledged, or problematised within Conflict Resolution, which tends to rely on research approaches and assumptions taken from ‘normal’ science. This thesis suggests how reflexivity and alternatives methodologies, including visual research might be used to represent the emotional, sensory, and often intangible elements of post-war realities. It enacts an engagement in the politics of research and uses reflexive writing and visual methods to draw attention to the importance of the relational aspects of research in postwar environments. Visual journeys are also used to argue that visual methods can provide a way of revisiting the epistemological and ontological assumptions about lived experiences and realities in post-war settings. The thesis is based upon one year of ethnographic fieldwork undertaken in Bosnia, and is also informed by eighteen months of volunteer work with a Bosnian Community Centre in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. / Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Educational collaborative networks (ECNs), as instruments for achieving educational goals through the integration of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), have become frequent elements of public education worldwide. Despite their contribution of additional resources to the education enterprise, the roles of philanthropic foundations in ECNs are particularly controversial. Research suggests that leaders of ECNs such as policy makers, administrators, and school principals design and coordinate governance structures to guide participants’ behaviour. However, the importance of governance design and coordination in ECNs for governing philanthropic roles is yet to be systematically analysed. This article centres on the relationship between the design and coordination of governance boards and role-related participation of philanthropic foundations. A mixed methods design is implemented based on secondary analysis of a German large-scale standardised survey and an in-depth case study conducted in a south German municipality. Results confirm that leaders of ECNs impact philanthropic engagement via the design and coordination of governance boards. Participation in ECNs can take on diverse roles of representing particular interests, pursuing innovation, or providing services and are explained by underlying governance-related mechanisms. Identified associations within governance boards and role-related participation of philanthropic foundations in ECNs offer valuable insights for leadership in education.

The intersection of forced migration and disability is often overlooked, both in research, public discourse and political action. Building on the emerging literature looking at the situation in host countries and against the backdrop of the increasing focus on employment in both asylum and disability contexts, the thesis explores the access to the labour market for persons with disabilities and forced migration experience in Sweden and Germany. In order to answer the question of how pathways to the labour market for persons with disabilities and forced migration experience look like, the thesis combines a policy document analysis with four semi-structured interviews with organisations working at the intersection in both countries. The selected material and interviews are analysed with a reflexive thematic analysis approach following Braun & Clarke (2006) under an intersectional lens. The policy analysis shows, in addition to the lack of engagement with the intersection, that the respective asylum laws influence the access to the labour market through work permits and through their interplay with the provision of disability services. From the interviews, it appears that in both countries, persons with disabilities and forced migration experience get access to the labour market either through registration with the Employment Agency and their specific programmes for persons with disabilities, through sheltered workplaces in Sweden or sheltered workshops in Germany or personal contacts with diaspora communities or organisations. These different pathways are in both countries furthermore highly dependent on structural and personal prerequisites. Despite experiences of discrimination and ableism, the interviews highlight not only the complexity that comes with the intersection, but also that persons with disabilities and forced migration experience, often with the help of organisations, nevertheless navigate the pathways and find employment.

Our contact with nature is decreasing in what has been referred to as the “extinction of experience”. Consequences of the loss of nature experiences are far-reaching and involve not only changes in health and wellbeing, but also changes emotions, attitudes, and behaviour towards nature. This research aims to fill a knowledge gap in understanding specific characteristics of nature experiences in relation to both a) generating human wellbeing, and b) improving Human-Nature Connection (HNC), defined as how people relate to nature. The aim is to increase our understanding of the characteristics of nature experiences that can achieve both of these positive outcomes. Furthermore, this research explores an organisational perspective through interviewing organisations that are currently incorporating or thinking to implement practices that include nature experiences. To address the main aim, an integrative literature review was conducted, and the results revealed that intentional contact, active engagement (specifically appreciative outdoor activities, cognitive engagement, cues, and direct earth contact), and biodiversity and wildness to be significant characteristics that positively impact human beings. Moreover, appreciative outdoor activities and cognitive engagement have been shown to be beneficial even when passive. In addition, there is some evidence that there is a link between HNC and wellbeing, which suggests that improving HNC would increase the wellbeing effects experienced by an individual during a nature experience. This knowledge is crucial for designing nature experiences that are able to more efficiently improve wellbeing, as well as improve HNC. Regarding the organisational perspective, a barrier that needs to be overcome is reaching an understanding of the benefits of such experiences, not only for the employees but for the business. One major opportunity identified is the hybrid working model, which allows employees to work remotely, and the possibility for the company to actively encourage its employees to experience nature.

This dissertation examines emergent forms of digitally enabled boundary-spanning by considering the within- and cross-field interactions developed by LGBTQIA* organisations on social media. Within scholarship on collective actors characterised by strong collective identities, LGBTQIA* collective action fields have been conventionally found to be rather fragmented and polarised, as well as isolated from other fields. Nonetheless, recent studies have shown evidence of the emergence of cooperative and solidarity efforts by LGBTQIA* actors, suggesting that such LGBTQIA* organisations may actively engage in crossing categorical boundaries and overcoming differences in the attempt to achieve social change. Within this framework, information and communication technologies (ICTs) may provide LGBTQIA* communities with spaces to converge, share experiences, and articulate politicised identities also through the connection with other collective actors. Despite these findings, we currently lack a systematic understanding of the extent to which LGBTQIA* collective actors span field boundaries through the development of digitally enabled interactions, of how such ties evolve over time, and on the circumstances that may favour or inhibit their emergence and duration. Furthermore, the role of ICTs in supporting the emergence of boundary-spanning processes has so far been rather understudied. This dissertation addresses these concerns by conducting a mixed-method comparative research on LGBTQIA* actors based in Madrid and Milan. In particular, it focuses on different types of interactions (mentioning, sharing, and promoting collective action events) developed by such organisations on their Facebook public pages during the 2011-2020 decade. To examine the role of both cultural patterns (collective identities and framing strategies) and structural circumstances (political opportunities and threats), this study combines network and text data, analysed through social network and frame analysis. The findings provided by this research show that Spanish and Italian LGBTQIA* organisations increasingly crossed categorical boundaries through social media between 2011 and 2020, thus suggesting that ICTs do play a role in sustaining boundary-spanning processes. Moreover, they find that collective framing and networking are inextricably entangled, and hence contribute to shedding light on both symbolic and behavioural dimensions of digitally enabled boundary-spanning. To conclude, they show that actors embedded in different socio-political contexts engage in networking and framing, thus emphasising the role of contextual opportunities and threats in moderating the nexus between ICTs and boundary-spanning, as well as between framing and networking. This dissertation contributes to both social movement literature and gender studies. On the one hand, by shedding light on emergent forms of boundary-spanning processes enabled by ICTs, it not only contributes to examining the role of ICTs in empowering marginalised communities, but also further elaborates the entanglement between digital, hybrid, and on-the-ground collective actions. On the other hand, by systematically investigating an emerging phenomenon over time and across contexts, it contributes to generating knowledge on the circumstances encouraging collective actors to overcome differences and cooperate. Understanding this is of utmost importance, since cooperative relations provide collective actors with additional and diverse resources and experiences, as well as political legitimation, to resist processes of democratic erosion and achieve social change.

This paper investigates the impact of place-based identity on trust in international organizations and examines the role of civic engagement in reinforcing or mitigating these attitudes. In an era marked by global challenges and increasing polarization, trust in international organizations has become crucial for effective cooperation. Previous research has identified place-based identity as a fundamental social identity that influences out-group attitudes and plays a role in shaping civic engagement outcomes. Drawing on social identity theory and social capital theory, this study employs quantitative methods, utilizing ANES survey data conducted in the United States to explore the relationship between place-based identity and trust in international organizations. Focusing on the distinction between rural- and urban-identifying American citizens, the results reveal that rural-identifying individuals exhibit lower levels of trust in international organizations compared to their urban counterparts. These differences are characterized by marginal yet statistically significant effects. Furthermore, although the conditioning effect of civic engagement is not statistically significant, it provides intriguing insights that suggest it may reinforce the impact of place-based identity, potentially leading to negative effects on trust in civil society. These findings contribute to a broadened understanding of the interplay between identity and political attitudes, shedding light on the factors that influence them.

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Digital transformation represents an unprecedented strategic challenge for established manufacturing companies, but the theoretical understanding of its implications is still lacking. It is accordingly difficult for management to develop an adequate digital transformation strategy and decide on appropriate organisational implementation measures. The aim of this work is therefore to address the organisational management challenges related to digital transformation of manufacturing companies through strategic digital transformation programmes. It is based on the input of 39 managers with diverse backgrounds, digital and non-digital, within the manufacturing industry. This study enhances the open systems organisational theory approach and the concepts of temporary organisations. It identifies 21 different organisational management factors that are relevant for the digital transformation of a manufacturing company. Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) has been applied to derive an empirical model that organises those factors according to their level of influence. The factors related to organisational leadership, internal organisational structures and operational capabilities have the strongest influence on the digital transformation challenges. This includes the understanding that in the context of digital transformation, a strategic programme cannot be conceived separately to the embedding company organisation. The practical implications of the empirical model on management are derived by this study as well. It suggests that the non-linear nature of digital transformation requires management to continuously embrace and not restrict organisational and operational complexity. Instead, focus should be placed on establishing frameworks that provide operational guidance, supported by substantial management efforts to foster commitment across all organisational levels towards digital transformation goals.