This thesis explores whether and how the substantive representation of women has been enabled or constrained by specific features of the gendered institutional context during domestic abuse policy development in two new regional legislatures, in Wales and in Tuscany. The thesis uses a sociological institutionalist approach to explore the involvement of civil society women’s organisations in the everyday processes of domestic abuse policy development across the case study regions. Both regions are structured by uniquely advanced formal rules committing to the inclusion of civil society organisations and to the value of gender equality. A critical discourse analytic approach is used to investigate how pre-existing informal norms and discursive frames interact with these formal rules in shaping actors’ behaviour and the policy solutions proposed to tackle domestic abuse. Feminist political science scholars have hypothesised that changes in the political environment across the European Union, including decentralisation and the devolution of power to the sub-national level, have generated new institutions which may provide greater opportunities for actors making claims for women to participate in the policy process and to influence its outputs, thus improving the substantive representation of women. However, this thesis argues that in the case of domestic abuse policy development, new formal rules making a symbolic commitment to the inclusion of new actors in governing processes were often undermined by tenacious informal norms. Women’s organisations that were better equipped to play by pre-existing informal rules were more likely to be included. This thesis makes a contribution to theory-building in the field of feminist political science through an exploration of the nuanced effects of new governing structures on the participation of value-driven women’s organisations in policy development. It shows how gendered, culturally dominant discursive frames and wider, pre-existing norms shaping perceptions of appropriate behaviour can affect women’s organisations’ opportunities for action in the policy process, and their capacity to influence outputs.

The healthcare service sector has recently entered the global arena and many nations sectors has opened up for private initiatives, which is explained by the rapid development and structural changes within the industry. However, regardless of considerable interest in the area among academics, very little has been concluded in terms of investigating internationalization of healthcare related services. The purpose of this study is to contribute with an enriched understanding regarding how Swedish medical service SMEs internationalize and what factors influence how - and in what way - the process unfolds. A conceptual model is developed, extending the theoretical discussion by integrating established SME and entrepreneurship literature with extant IB literature relevant for political salient industries. Conducting an exploratory multiple case study, rich empirical data is collected and analyzed in the light of the conceptual model. The research findings indicate that knowledge, networks, and institutional factors influence how the internationalization process of medical service SMEs unfolds to a large extent. The research contributes by concluding that the nature of the service as well as the home market institutional context constitute pivotal influential factors on the firms’ internationalization process and are added to the refined conceptual framework.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:37:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Jose Lima.pdf: 1029426 bytes, checksum: 671e5a5f5fad98547306aea3501aca11 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-10-18 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Aiming to develop an analysis of psychologists perception about their competence working in institutions that serve the population living in social vulnerability, this research has turned to this context, exploiting the developed resources, facilitating and complicating factors and the comprehension that these professionals have of their own action, considering the facets of psychotherapy and social. Qualitative research-level exploratory and descriptive, made use of a questionnaire of the participant and the Technical Focus Group. The participants were psychologists working in institutions that serve the population living in socially vulnerable in São José dos Campos / São Paulo. The analysis of material obtained in the group was based on some tools of qualitative method of content analysis. For the interpretation phase, we used the theoretical contributions of systems thinking new paradigm. The results point to the perception of a place under construction, the institutional psychologist in search of identity and enhancement, as well as the need of building skills to work in that context. Participants perceive their actions as nonclinical and seek their place in society, given the current demands for greater involvement in contexts of vulnerability / Com o objetivo de desenvolver uma análise sobre a percepção de psicólogos sobre sua competência para trabalhar em instituições, que atendem à população que vive em condição de risco, esta pesquisa voltou-se para esse contexto, explorando os recursos desenvolvidos, seus aspectos facilitadores e dificultadores, assim como a compreensão que esses profissionais têm de sua ação, considerando as facetas do psicoterapêutico e do social. Pesquisa qualitativa, de nível exploratório descritivo, fez uso de um questionário de caracterização do participante e da técnica do Grupo Focal. Os participantes foram psicólogos atuantes em instituições que atendem à população que vive em risco social, em São José dos Campos / São Paulo. A análise do material obtido no grupo baseou-se em algumas ferramentas qualitativas do método de análise de conteúdo. Para a fase de interpretação, foram utilizadas as contribuições teóricas do pensamento sistêmico novo paradigmático. Os resultados apontam para a percepção de um lugar em construção, o do psicólogo institucional, em busca de identidade e valorização, assim como da necessidade da criação de competências para o trabalho nesse contexto. Os participantes percebem suas ações como não clínicas e buscam seu lugar no social, dada as atuais demandas de maior comprometimento em contextos de maior vulnerabilidade

Although civil societies in Central and Eastern Europe are often portrayed as similar, united by a shared communist past, they have developed along increasingly divergent trajectories over the past three decades. This article investigates the current state of civil society in the region and the role the institutional context plays in it. Drawing on historical institutionalism and the process of European integration, we classify the 14 countries under investigation into three distinct groups and analyze data from a survey of more than 350 local civil society experts. We find that, together with domestic governments, international donors and the EU are perceived as the most influential institutional actors for civil society organizations. Their respective influences, however, depend largely on a country's stage in the EU accession process. Overall, the study provides a differentiated mapping of civil society in this region and a better understanding of how the institutional context relates to a Country's civil society.

As the rise of tourism industry, and the rapid development of hotel industry in China, we are eager to learn how different hotel brands operate there. This research focus on the study of top management team leaders and service brand value in hotels, where we also discuss the issues such as institutional context, human resource practices, service culture, and employee service behaviour. The research was conducted using a qualitative approach, and samples are selected from international brands, regional brands, and local brands. The purpose of this research is to investigate how different hotel service branding will be influential on top management team leadership and how it eventually leads to employee service behaviour. Results reveal that different service brand value has huge impact on top management team leadership, human resource practices, service culture, and promoting employee service behaviour, and moreover, institutional context also act as an important role in this research.

In recent years Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been the subject of much attention and the concept has been referred to as a global movement and mega-trend, which has resulted in a long and diverse history in the academic literature. However, little attention has been paid to the part media plays in the construction and popularization of CSR. The aim of the thesis is to draw insights on how media frames and present the concept of CSR. In order to examine this a quantitative content analysis has been performed on two leading business papers in Sweden, during the years 2005-2014. The thesis builds on a previous study by Grafström and Windell (2011) in which they analyze how CSR is defined in English business press. The findings of this thesis suggest that corporations are the main actors in framing CSR and that Swedish business press mainly stress CSR as a management idea, containing several arguments for incorporating CSR. As oppose to Grafström and Windell (2011) our study presented some differentiating results, which might be explained by different institutional environments.

Yes / Little research has been done on female board representation in emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs). Our paper considers the role of female board representation and its impact on open innovation (OI) in the unique context of emerging markets. We draw on upper echelons and institutional theories to understand how female board representation and cross-country institutional contexts influence coupled OI. Combining a 10-year (2009-2019) dataset with a rich in-depth content analysis of 183 (EMNEs) engaged in OI, our results reveal a significant positive association between female board representation and a firm’s commitment to coupled OI initiatives. We also find that country-level institutional factors affect and positively moderate the relationship between female board representation and coupled OI. In emerging market environments where managerial perception and cultural beliefs sometimes hinder the promotion of females into top positions, our work has implications for EMNEs regarding how they harness diversity. We contribute to the OI literature by showing that female board representation enhances corporate OI investment within EMNEs.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:57:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luciane Weber Baia Hees.pdf: 1338606 bytes, checksum: ebd1c4446ec33f8346d476503634c4a1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-22 / This study is a result of an inquietation of a higher education teacher who after many years of undergraduate teaching proposes a reflexive thinking about the initiation of the professors in higher education. The scientific production about higher education teachers has been characterized by a few and isolates studies. The formation of this professional is one of the most important elements for the quality of the higher education, therefore, we understand that it is pertinent to take a close look at the history and legislation of higher education, the required qualities that this professor must have, the professionalism and the teacher s development in the beginning of this professional career. The goal of the study was to analyze how these teaching professionals live the beginning of their teaching in a confessional university center. The thesis is that the analyses of the reality lived by the professors in the beginning of their careers is able to propose initiatives of supporting the new teacher in higher education. Theoric framework were taken from Huberman (1992) who characterizes the 5 first years of teaching as a period of surviving and discovery; Marcelo Garcia (1999), Zabalza (1994), Cunha (2012), Andre (2012), Anastasion (2014), Vaillant (2014), Roldão (2006) among others, who study the formation, insertion and professionality of teachers and support this study. It was used the qualitative approach of research, beginning of the understanding that the professors, in the beginning of their teaching need to have a support and monitoring because the first years of professional work are permeated by many challenging situations that interfere significantly in their professional status. The semi-structured interview and the documental analysis were used as a methodological procedure. Themes were established in data analyzes which follows: who is the beginner professor, challenges and difficulties in the beginning of the career, the formative necessities of the beginner professor of higher education and how the institutional environment influences the teaching. Results indicated that the beginner higher education professor is responsible for his own insertion to find the way to adapt and survive his professional reality. The field of knowledge that the professor is going to teach and the necessity to impose the authority through the profession are the main concerns identified in the beginning of teaching. One of the characteristics from the institutional environment, the beginning professors demonstrated the desire to be part of and fit to the context of the institution. The organizational environment prevails in the professor s routine and produces a feeling of belonging to the institution. The beginner professors face the academic competition and they complain about the lack of time of living that enable exchanges and dialogues. It is necessary to rethink spaces to the teaching construction for shared teaching knowledge. The results led us to some notes for the elaboration of support proposes to the beginner professional / Esse estudo é resultado da inquietação de uma professora universitária que após vários anos de docência universitária propõe um pensar reflexivo acerca da iniciação dos professores na Educação Superior. A produção científica sobre o professor da Educação Superior tem se caracterizado por poucos e isolados estudos. A formação do docente para esse segmento constitui-se um dos elementos fundamentais para a qualidade da Educação Superior, portanto, entendemos que é pertinente um olhar minucioso sobre a trajetória e legislação da Educação Superior, as qualidades necessárias ao professor da Educação Superior, a profissionalidade e o desenvolvimento docente no inicio da carreira profissional. Objetivou-se analisar como os profissionais docentes vivenciam o inicio da docência em um centro universitário confessional. A tese contida é que a análise da realidade enfrentada pelos docentes no início de carreira possibilita propor iniciativas de apoio ao docente iniciante da Educação Superior. Os referenciais teóricos foram buscados em Huberman (1992) que caracteriza os cinco primeiros anos de docência como um período de sobrevivência e descoberta; Marcelo Garcia (1999), Zabalza (1994), Cunha(2010) Ruiz (2008), Dotta (2010), Vaillant (2012), André (2012), Anastasiou (2014), Pimenta (2014), Roldão (2006) entre outros, que estudam formação, inserção e profissionalidade de professores e sustentam esse estudo. Foi utilizada a abordagem qualitativa de pesquisa, partindo-se do entendimento de que os professores, ao iniciarem a docência, precisam do apoio e acompanhamento pois os primeiros anos de atuação profissional são permeados por muitos desafios e as situações pelas quais os professores passam nesse período interferem significativamente na sua constituição profissional. A entrevista semiestruturada e a análise documental foram utilizadas como procedimentos metodológicos. Foram estabelecidos eixos temáticos na análise dos dados, os quais abordaram: quem é o docente iniciante, desafios e dificuldades do inicio de carreira, as necessidades formativas do docente iniciante da Educação Superior e como o ambiente institucional influencia a constituição docente. Os resultados acusaram que o docente iniciante da Educação Superior é responsável pela sua inserção, é ele que tem que encontrar a maneira de adaptar-se e sobreviver a sua realidade profissional. O domínio dos conhecimentos que o docente vai ensinar e a necessidade de impor a autoridade através do papel que exerce são as principais preocupações identificadas no início da docência. Sobre as especificidades do ambiente institucional, os professores iniciantes demonstraram o desejo de fazer parte e se adequar ao contexto da instituição. O clima organizacional prevalece na rotina dos professores e produz, nos mesmos, sentimentos de pertencer. Os professores iniciantes entrevistados enfrentam o desafio de ser reconhecidos e legitimados pelos pares; se deparam com a competição acadêmica e reclamam da falta de tempo e de convívio que permitam trocas e diálogos. É necessário repensar espaços para construção conjunta da docência para viabilizar a elaboração do conhecimento docente compartilhado. Os resultados nos levaram a alguns apontamentos para elaboração de uma proposta de apoio ao docente iniciante

The focus of this thesis is on social workers’ role in assessing and making decisions in child welfare cases. The primary aim is to identify factors that influence decisions concerning reports assessed, investigated, dismissed or processed to intervention within child welfare agencies in Swedish municipalities. Social policy, professional and organisational factors are perspectives considered in the analysis. All reports and requests for support for children and adolescents in the 0–19 age group were collected during two months in two local agencies, in 2003 (n= 260) and followed by interviews with social workers. Factors connected to social workers’ assessments at different stages in the process were tested in regression models and grounds for their assessments explored. Main results: two-thirds of reports are sorted out without investigation. One-fifth led to interventions. The highest probability for a report to be investigated was if it was assessed as acute, concerned abuse, came from a professional (not the police) concerned a girl and handled in the integrated agency. The most common problems, such as family conflicts and antisocial behaviour were investigated the least. A majority of the children came from underprivileged families, mainly poor single mothers. The process draws the pattern of a heavily tapered funnel with few interventions at the end. Children are not in focus and the attitude is to keep them out of the system for their own good. Social policy and organisational factors restrict social workers’ discretion. Contradictory demands are solved by a ‘consensual ideology’. Parallel tracks appear on risks in a narrow perspective and on voluntary counselling mainly directed to mothers. This forms child welfare into a rejecting practice, where hard social conditions are individualized. Legislation gives municipalities considerable leeway to produce a variety of services and interventions, but practice works on the basis of another kind of rationality.