A Systems Approach to Social Entrepreneurship

Currently, disabilities organizations are increasingly being challenged by the requirement for individualized service, expectations to show personal outcomes, and the need to base their services on evidence-based practices. Social entrepreneurship (SE) is being put forward as an innovative approach for dealing with these challenges. This article presents a systems approach to SE based on a program logic model. This model identifies the input factors (a strong social vision, exploiting opportunities, maximizing resources), throughput strategies (entrepreneurial orientation, critical thinking skills, networking, capacity building), and outcome components (improving people’s lives, community-building, improving society) of SE at the micro, meso, and macro level. Also, the importance of planning for contextual changes as a social entrepreneur is discussed. The article concludes with presenting three inspiring practices regarding SE in the field of disabilities organizations.     

Improvisation – An emergence theory perspective

The paper addresses the occurrence of improvisation and intuition within dynamic business environments from an emergence theory perspective. As argued, the dynamics of the so-called red queen principle forces competition towards the verge of the manageable, making improvised and intuitive action and decision-making not a shortcoming but a necessity in a successful business context. Particularly, the paper discusses how we may interpret the highly rationalistic acts and outcomes of planning and plans in such chaotic and uncertain contexts. We draw upon a longitudinal study of large industrial project deliveries incorporating more than 25 such deliveries.     

瑞典顾客满意度晴雨表

瑞典是世界上第一个在全国范围内测量顾客满意度的国家,建立了瑞典顾客满意度晴雨表(SCSB).SCSB基于瑞典30多个行业100多个企业的顾客年度调查数据对于整个国家经济产出的质量状况进行测量.根据SCSB 在瑞典前3年的发展状况,针对SCSB对瑞典国内各行业的影响结果进行分析,进而得出推论--顾客满意度在供给相同需求各异的行业偏低;在需求和供给相匹配的行业偏高;在高度依赖重复购买的行业偏高;而在垄断行业偏低.     

Author Index

Authors Index

Author Index     

12‐Month‐Old Infants' Perception of Attention Direction in Static Video Images

Twelve‐month‐old infants' ability to perceive gaze direction in static video images was investigated. The images showed a woman who performed attention‐directing actions by looking or pointing toward 1 of 4 objects positioned in front of her (2 on each side). When the model just pointed at the objects, she looked straight ahead, and when she just looked, her hands were hidden below the tabletop. An eye movement system (TOBII) was used to register the gaze of the participants. We found that the infants clearly discriminated the gaze directions to the objects. There was no tendency to mix up the 2 object positions, located 10° apart, on the same side of the model. The infants spent more time looking at the attended objects than the unattended ones and they shifted gaze more often from the face of the model to the attended object than to the unattended objects. Pointing did not significantly increase the infants' tendency to move gaze to the attended object, irrespective of whether the pointing gesture was accompanied by looking or not. In all conditions the infants spent most of the time looking at the model's face. This tendency was especially noticeable in the pointing‐only condition and the condition where the model just looked straight ahead.     

Transdiagnostic mechanisms involved in nonsuicidal self-injury,risky drinking and disordered eating: Impulsivity,emotion regulation and alexithymia

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the present study was to explore common and differential relationships between nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), risky drinking, and disordered eating attitudes and impulsivity, emotion dysregulation, and alexithymia. Methods: We investigated these associations in a sample of 951 college students (79.4% female, Mage = 21.86?years) by means of self-report questionnaires assessing the constructs of interest. Results: Overall, 28% of the students reported a history of NSSI, one third engaged in risky drinking, and less than 5% reported disordered eating symptoms. Negative urgency and difficulties in emotion regulation were both related to each of the three behaviors and can be considered as common transdiagnostic mechanisms. Conclusions: We discuss the implications of transdiagnostic mechanisms involved in these three dysregulated behaviors with respect to their assessment and treatment in college counseling settings.     

Risk Mapping of Groundwater‐Drawdown‐Induced Land Subsidence in Heterogeneous Soils on Large Areas

Groundwater leakage into subsurface constructions can cause reduction of pore pressure and subsidence in clay deposits, even at large distances from the location of the construction. The potential cost of damage is substantial, particularly in urban areas. The large‐scale process also implies heterogeneous soil conditions that cannot be described in complete detail, which causes a need for estimating uncertainty of subsidence with probabilistic methods. In this study, the risk for subsidence is estimated by coupling two probabilistic models, a geostatistics‐based soil stratification model with a subsidence model. Statistical analyses of stratification and soil properties are inputs into the models. The results include spatially explicit probabilistic estimates of subsidence magnitude and sensitivities of included model parameters. From these, areas with significant risk for subsidence are distinguished from low‐risk areas. The efficiency and usefulness of this modeling approach as a tool for communication to stakeholders, decision support for prioritization of risk‐reducing measures, and identification of the need for further investigations and monitoring are demonstrated with a case study of a planned tunnel in Stockholm.     

Employee correlates of sickness presence: A study across four European countries

The model of sickness presence (SP) proposed by Aronsson and Gustafsson consists of two parts. The first postulates SP as an employee's reaction to his/her general state of health, and as depending on employee correlates relating to the individual and the job. The second proposes longitudinal relationships between SP and future health. The present study is the first to test the first part of the model outside Scandinavia. Positive sickness presence factors studied were work involvement and job satisfaction; negative presence factors were financial household contribution, time pressure at work, and perceived job insecurity. Control variables were general health, age, gender and autonomy. Data (N=2348) were gathered from a total of 110 organizations in four European countries (Belgium, Spain, Sweden and the UK) with differing welfare state regime, degree of employment protection, labour market and sickness absence-related indicators. The data were analysed by hierarchical multiple regression per country. The findings partially confirmed the Aronsson and Gustafsson model. In all countries, employee general health status was a prerequisite of SP, and time pressure at work related to SP. In Sweden and the UK, job satisfaction related to SP. In the UK, work involvement related to SP.