The role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and internal CSR communication in predicting employee engagement: Perspectives from the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

This study examined relationships among employees’ perception of CSR, three models of internal CSR communication and employee engagement. The findings, based on 516 valid survey responses from employees across different sectors in the United Arab Emirates, revealed that internal communication of CSR, both one-way and two-way symmetrical, predicted employee perceptions of CSR, with two-way asymmetrical communication being a negative predictor; perceptions of CSR predicted employee engagement; social and sustainable dimensions of CSR most strongly predicted social and affective dimensions of employee engagement; and both two-way symmetrical communication of CSR and employee perceptions of CSR strongly predicted employee engagement. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Making fathers relevant: How practitioners include both parents in talk about parenting programmes

Parenting programmes are recommended as an effective means to support parents in promoting positive relationships with, and managing the behaviour of, their children. One barrier that impedes their successful implementation is that partners, especially fathers, are less frequently recruited by child welfare services. This article reports on a study that investigated how both parents were engaged with parenting services. Direct recordings were made of initial telephone conversations between six practitioners and 28 parents referred to those services and investigated for evidence of how the other parent was recruited. Conversation analysis was used to identify how participants introduced the possibility of both parents being included in the service, how these possibilities were negotiated, and what eventual agreements were made for both parents to be included in future arrangements. Implications for practice, training, and future research are considered.     

Building relational capital: The contribution of episodic and relational community engagement

In this study, we provide evidence of the theorized connection between community engagement and the development of social capital, and the perceived value or worth of relationships among organizations and stakeholders. Using thematic analysis to understand the policy and practice frameworks of community engagement in Australian local government organizations, our analyses reveal two different types of community engagement—relational and episodic—each of which has the potential to contribute to relational dimension of social capital. The study introduces and develops new thinking around the ideas of episodic and relational engagement within the context of community engagement, and their respective contributions to the development of relational capital. Recognizing and identifying episodic and relational community engagement as separate phenomena allows researchers and practitioners to understand the theoretical dimensions of community engagement as a framework for practice.     

Terms of engagement: Facebook and Twitter use among nonprofit human service organizations

This study uses Lovejoy and Saxton's (2012) hierarchy of engagement to analyze how nonprofit human service organizations use Facebook and Twitter to engage stakeholders. Their framework has not been applied to this nonprofit subgroup, and most previous scholarship on this topic focuses on just one platform. We also contribute by drawing on organizational theory to better understand variation in the modes of engagement organizations emphasize. Based on our analysis, we add new subcategories to the hierarchy of engagement. In addition, we find that compared to other nonprofit subgroups examined in previous research, the organizations in our sample placed a greater emphasis on using social media messages to ask stakeholders to take action. We report only modest variations in how organizations were using Facebook and Twitter. Finally, according to our results, resource dependence and stewardship theories help explain the modes of engagement organizations prioritize.     

From Adaptivity to Adaptation: Examining the Career Construction Model of Adaptation

The author examined a multiple mediation model and a moderation model for the relationships among adaptivity (in terms of future work self and proactivity), career adaptability, adapting responses (in terms of career decision self-efficacy [CDSE] and career engagement), and adaptation (in the form of academic satisfaction) among 282 university students. Results showed that career adaptability, CDSE, and career engagement fully mediated the relations of future work self and proactivity with academic satisfaction. Career adaptability also had a mediation role in the relationships of future work self and proactivity with CDSE and career engagement. The relationship between career adaptability and academic satisfaction was fully mediated by CDSE and career engagement. Career adaptability did not moderate the relationships between adaptivity indices and adapting indices. These results support the serial multiple mediation model, which is introduced in the adaptation model. Career education and career coaching could improve clients' agency through working on their self-regulation resources, self-efficacy beliefs, and overt career behaviors.     

Engaging Children in Meaningful Charity: Opening-up the Spaces within Which Children Learn to Give

This paper presents qualitative evidence from an in-depth, participative action research project with 150 children aged 4–8 years old, exploring their experiences, perceptions and preferences regarding charitable giving. Most children positively engage in charitable giving through home, school and their community; however, less than 20% are aware of the cause area they are being asked to support, and most have little decision-making in their giving. Children’s willingness to engage increases when they critically examine the cause area and are facilitated to lead on giving decisions, often resulting in increased and sustained efforts to support cause areas that matter to them.     

Exploring the Ebbs and Flows of Community Engagement: The Pyramid of Engagement and Water Activism in Two Canadian Communities

In this article, we share results from a comparative study exploring the dynamics of community engagement surrounding local water advocacy organizations in two Canadian communities. Although emergent local issues and the perception of crisis triggered some short-term community engagement, social factors such as collective identity, a sense of community, and sense of efficacy appear to be more important for sustaining and deepening engagement. Drawing on the results, we show how the pyramid of engagement, by depicting activist engagement as a multilevel, developmental process, can serve as a useful tool for community engagement scholars and practitioners alike.     

Sharing beyond Slacktivism: the effect of socially observable prosocial media sharing on subsequent offline helping behavior

New forms of youth social and political participation have been termed ‘Slacktivism’ – low-cost online forms of social engagement that decrease subsequent offline participation. Previous experimental work has provided support for a ‘Slacktivism effect,’ but it is unclear if this theoretical model applies to youth media sharing on social networking sites. This study uses a novel sharing simulation paradigm to test the effect of publicly vs. anonymously sharing a social cause video on subsequent willingness to engage in offline helping behavior. Results show that publicly (as compared to anonymously) sharing a selected video on one’s own Facebook wall led to a greater willingness to volunteer for an issue-related cause. Participants’ existing use of social media for engagement in social issues/causes moderated the effect, such that only participants low in use of social media for social engagement were susceptible to the sharing manipulation. Implications for reconceptualizing media sharing as a unique form of online participation beyond ‘Slacktivism’ are discussed.     

Structural empowerment,psychological empowerment,and work engagement: A cross-country study

In this cross-country study we drew on job demands-resources theory to investigate whether psychological empowerment mediates the positive association between structural empowerment and work engagement and, consequently, task performance and intention to quit. A total of 1033 employees working in the service sector in Spain (N = 515) and the United Kingdom (N = 518) participated in the study. Multi-group structural equation modeling analyses revealed that psychological empowerment partially mediated the positive relationship between structural empowerment and work engagement, and that work engagement associated positively with task performance and negatively with intention to quit. Invariance analyses suggested that the positive link between psychological empowerment and work engagement was stronger for employees working in the UK than in Spain, providing support for partial structural invariance of the hypothesized model. These findings suggest that psychological empowerment is an underlying mechanism that may explain why structural empowerment relates positively to work engagement with implications for theory (i.e., extend the nomological network of the investigated constructs) and management practice (e.g., emphasize the role of structural empowerment for work design).