Search results for: social engagement

Authors: Cecile Garry, Katia Rovira, Julie Brisson

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is defined by a qualitative and quantitative impairment of social interaction. Indeed early intervention programs, such as the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM), aimed at encouraging the development of social skills. In classroom, the children need to be socially engaged to learn. Early intervention programs can thus be implemented in kindergarten schools. In these schools, ASD children have more opportunities to interact with their peers or adults than in elementary schools. However, the preschool children with ASD are less socially engaged than their typically developing peers in the classroom. They initiate, respond and maintain less the social interactions. In addition, they produce more responses than initiations. When they interact, the non verbal communication is more used than verbal or symbolic communication forms and they are more engaged with adults than with peers. Nevertheless, communicative patterns may vary according to the clinical profiles of ASD children. Indeed, the ASD children with better cognitive skills interact more with their peers and use more symbolic communication than the ASD children with a low cognitive level. ASD children with the less severe symptoms use more the verbal communication than ASD children with the more severe symptoms. Small groups and structured activities encourage coordinated joint engagement episodes in ASD children. Our goal is to evaluate ASD children’s social engagement development in class, with their peers or adults, during dyadic or group activities. Participants were 19 preschool children with ASD aged from 3 to 6 years old that benefited of an early intervention in special kindergarten schools. Severity of ASD symptoms was measured with the CARS at the beginning of the follow-up. Classroom situations of interaction were recorded during 10 minutes (5 minutes of dyadic interaction and 5 minutes of a group activity), every 2 months, during 10 months. Social engagement behaviors of children, including initiations, responses and imitation, directed to a peer or an adult, were then coded. The Observer software (Noldus) that allows to annotate behaviors was the coding system used. A double coding was conducted and revealed a good inter judges fidelity. Results show that ASD children were more often and longer socially engaged in dyadic than in groups situations. They were also more engaged with adults than with peers. Children with the less severe symptoms of ASD were more socially engaged in groups situations than children with the more severe symptoms of ASD. Then, ASD children with the less severe symptoms of ASD were more engaged with their peers than ASD children with the more severe symptoms of ASD. However, the engagement frequency increased during the 10 month of follow-up but only for ASD children with the more severe symptoms at the beginning. To conclude, these results highlighted the necessity of individualizing early intervention programs according to the clinical profile of the child.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, preschool children, developmental psychology, early interventions, social interactions

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Authors: Ahmad Badawi Saluy, Novawiguna Kemalasari

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This study aims to examine, analyze and explain the impacts of compensation, career development and employee engagement to employee’s performance partially and simultaneously (Case Study at PT Bank XYZ). The research design used is quantitative descriptive research causality involving 30 respondents. Sources of data are from primary and secondary data, primary data obtained from questionnaires distribution and secondary data obtained from journals and books. Data analysis used model test using smart application PLS 3 that consists of test outer model and inner model. The results showed that compensation, career development and employee engagement partially have a positive impact on employee performance, while they have a positive and significant impact on employee performance simultaneously. The independent variable has the greatest impact is the employee engagement.

Keywords: compensation, career development, employee engagement, employee performance

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Authors: Iveta Ludviga, Agita Kalvina

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This paper aims to link together the concepts of job satisfaction, work engagement, trust, job meaningfulness and loyalty to the organisation focusing on specific type of employment–academic jobs. The research investigates the relationships between job satisfaction, work engagement and loyalty as well as the impact of trust and job meaningfulness on the work engagement and loyalty. The survey was conducted in one of the largest Latvian higher education institutions and the sample was drawn from academic staff (n=326). Structured questionnaire with 44 reflective type questions was developed to measure toe constructs. Data was analysed using SPSS and Smart-PLS software. Variance based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to test the model and to predict the most important factors relevant to employee engagement and loyalty. The first order model included two endogenous constructs (loyalty and intention to stay and recommend, and employee engagement), as well as six exogenous constructs (feeling of fair treatment and trust in management; career growth opportunities; compensation, pay and benefits; management; colleagues; teamwork; and finally job meaningfulness). Job satisfaction was developed as second order construct and both: first and second order models were designed for data analysis. It was found that academics are more engaged than satisfied with their work and main reason for that was found to be job meaningfulness, which is significant predictor for work engagement, but not for job satisfaction. Compensation is not significantly related to work engagement, but only to job satisfaction. Trust was not significantly related neither to engagement, nor to satisfaction, however, it appeared to be significant predictor of loyalty and intentions to stay with the University. This paper revealed academic jobs as specific kind of employment where employees can be more engaged than satisfied and highlighted the specific role of job meaningfulness in the University settings.

Keywords: job satisfaction, job meaningfulness, higher education, work engagement

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Authors: Sara Corvino

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The aim of this study is to explore the potential of inclusive learning and assessment strategies to foster students' engagement with historical debates surrounding the field of graphic design. The goal is to respond to the diversity of L4 Graphic Design students, at Nottingham Trent University, in a way that instead of 'lowering standards' can benefit everyone. This research tests, measures, and evaluates the impact of a specific intervention, an assessment task, to develop students' critical visual analysis skills and stimulate a deeper engagement with the subject matter. Within the action research approach, this work has followed a case study research method to understand students' views and perceptions of a specific project. The primary methods of data collection have been: anonymous electronic questionnaire and a paper-based anonymous critical incident questionnaire. NTU College of Business Law and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee granted the Ethical approval for this research in November 2019. Other methods used to evaluate the impact of this assessment task have been Evasys's report and students' performance. In line with the constructivist paradigm, this study embraces an interpretative and contextualized analysis of the collected data within the triangulation analytical framework. The evaluation of both qualitative and quantitative data demonstrates that active learning strategies and the disruption of thinking patterns can foster greater students' engagement and can lead to meaningful learning.

Keywords: active learning, assessment for learning, graphic design, higher education, student engagement

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Authors: Jihan Albayati, Kim Abdullah

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This poster focuses on the significance of active learning strategies and their usage in the ESL classroom. Active learning is a big shift from traditional lecturing to active student engagement which can enhance and enrich student learning; therefore, engaging students is the core of this approach. Students learn more when they participate in the process of learning such as discussions, debates, analysis, synthesis, or any form of activity that requires student involvement. In order to achieve active learning, teachers can use different instructional strategies that are conducive to learning and the selection of these strategies depends on student learning outcomes. Active learning techniques must be carefully designed and integrated into the classroom to increase critical thinking and student participation. This poster provides a concise definition of active learning and its importance, instructional strategies, active learning techniques and their impact on student engagement. Also, it demonstrates the differences between passive and active learners.

Keywords: active learning, learner engagement, student-centered, teaching strategies

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Authors: K. Durairaj, I. N. Umar

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Lately, asynchronous discussion forum is integrated in higher educational institutions as it may increase learning process, learners’ understanding, achievement and knowledge construction. Asynchronous discussion forum is used to complement the traditional, face-to-face learning session in hybrid learning courses. However, studies have proven that students’ engagement in online forum are still unconvincing. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the motivating factors and obstacles that affect the learners’ engagement in asynchronous discussion forum. This study is carried out in one of the public higher educational institutions in Malaysia with 18 postgraduate students as samples. The authors have developed a 40-items questionnaire based on literature review. The results indicate several factors that have encouraged or limited students’ engagement in asynchronous discussion forum: (a) the practices or behaviors of peers, or instructors, (b) the needs for the discussions, (c) the learners’ personalities, (d) constraints in continuing the discussion forum, (e) lack of ideas, (f) the level of thoughts, (g) the level of knowledge construction, (h) technical problems, (i) time constraints and (j) misunderstanding. This study suggests some recommendations to increase the students’ engagement in online forums. Finally, based upon the findings, some implications are proposed for further research.

Keywords: asynchronous discussion forum, engagement, factors, motivating, limiting

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Authors: Sibylle Tellenbach, Julie Haddock-Millar, Francis Bidault

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The aim of this research is to understand the extent to which hybrid working models have influenced employee engagement in the Swiss financial sector. The context for this research is the transition out of the pandemic and the changes that have occurred between 2020 and 2023. Since the pandemic, many financial services companies have had to rethink their working model for office-based employees, as this group of employees has been able to experience a new way of working and, thus, greater freedom and flexibility. For a large number of companies, it was a huge change to shift from the traditional office-based to a new hybrid working model. A heightened focus on employee engagement has become a necessity in order to understand and respond to the challenges presented by the shift in a working model. This new way of working, partly office-based and partly virtual, has led to ambiguities about the impact on the engagement of hybrid teams. Therefore, the research question is: How hybrid working models have influenced employee engagement to what extent? The methodological approach is a narrative inquiry with four similar functional teams within four Swiss financial companies. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with managers from middle management and their individual team members. The findings will demonstrate whether this shift in the working model influenced individual team members’ engagement and to what extent. The contribution of this research is two-fold. First, the research makes a theoretical contribution, presenting evidence of the impact of hybrid working on individual team members’ engagement in a specific sector and context, enhancing current knowledge on the challenges in working model transition. Second, this research will make a practice-based contribution, recommending ways to enhance the engagement of hybrid teams in a specific context. These recommendations may be applied in wider sectors and teams.

Keywords: employee engagement, hybrid teams, hybrid working models, Swiss financial sector, team engagement

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Authors: Genevaive Melendres

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School administrators face the reality of teachers losing their engagement, or schools losing the teachers. This study is then conducted to identify a structural model that best predict work engagement of private secondary teachers in Davao City. Ninety-three teachers from four sectarian schools and 56 teachers from four non-sectarian schools were involved in the completion of four survey instruments namely Organizational Climate Questionnaire, Leader Behavior Descriptive Questionnaire, Organizational Commitment Scales, and Utrecht Work Engagement Scales. Data were analyzed using frequency distribution, mean, standardized deviation, t-test for independent sample, Pearson r, stepwise multiple regression analysis, and structural equation modeling. Results show that schools have high level of organizational climate dimensions; leaders oftentimes show work-oriented and people-oriented behavior; teachers have high normative commitment and they are very often engaged at their work. Teachers from non-sectarian schools have higher organizational commitment than those from sectarian schools. Organizational climate and leadership behavior are positively related to and predict work engagement whereas commitment did not show any relationship. This study underscores the relative effects of three variables on the work engagement of teachers. After testing network of relationships and evaluating several models, a best-fitting model was found between leadership behavior and work engagement. The noteworthy findings suggest that principals pay attention and consistently evaluate their behavior for this best predicts the work engagement of the teachers. The study provides value to administrators who take decisions and create conditions in which teachers derive fulfillment.

Keywords: leadership behavior, organizational climate, organizational commitment, private secondary school teachers, structural model on work engagement

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Authors: Pinn Tsin Isabel Yee

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Students are increasingly turning towards online learning materials to supplement their education. One such approach would be the gamified student engagement platforms (GSEPs) to instill a new learning culture. Data was collected from closed-ended questions via content analysis techniques. About 81.8% of college students from the Monash University Foundation Year agreed that GSEPs (Quizizz) was an effective tool for learning. Approximately 85.5% of students disagreed that games were a waste of time. GSEPs were highly effective among students to facilitate the learning process.

Keywords: engagement, gamified, Quizizz, technology

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Authors: Amanda Andrea Beatrix Brita, Dominic J. Buenaventura, Charmaine A. Seromines, Antonne Noel V. Chua, Ma. Luisa G. Badilles

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Online ranting, or the act of forcefully expressing your opinion towards other people over the Internet, has been an ongoing issue ever since the creation of the Internet. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of active users has been observed to have increased during this time, thus increasing the number of people being engaged in online activities, which consequently affects the number of individuals who participate in online ranting. However, with all that is observed, what is usually not a topic being discussed about this event are the motivations that lead people to do online ranting. The study was undertaken to discover the level of aggression, Satisfaction, and online engagement in their environment. We utilized 2 researcher-made questionnaires that were validated by three experts, namely for the Satisfaction and engagement levels. We adapted Cyber-Aggression Typology Questionnaire (CATQ) for the level of aggression. Quota sampling was used in determining the respondents. A quota of 250 students was recommended. The results showed that the students in every institution have a deficient level of aggression, and the majority of the institution has a shallow level of Satisfaction when it comes to online ranting. Similar findings are presented in the level of engagement; 2 out of 3 of the institution students have shallow engagement in the general settings that expound students' engagement. Although the result shows deficient levels, there are still instances and possibilities that students may still engage in an online rant regarding various circumstances when triggered. Researchers assumed that there are restrictions on movements likely to show opinions online because of consequences.

Keywords: aggression, satisfaction, online rant engagement, online rant

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Authors: D. Szinay, O. Perski, A. Jones, T. Chadborn, J. Brown, F. Naughton

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Background: The uptake of health and wellbeing smartphone apps is largely influenced by popularity indicators (e.g., rankings), rather than evidence-based content. Rapid disengagement is common. This study aims to explore how and why potential users 1) select and 2) engage with such apps, and 3) how increased engagement could be promoted. Methods: Semi-structured interviews and a think-aloud approach were used to allow participants to verbalise their thoughts whilst searching for a health or wellbeing app online, followed by a guided search in the UK National Health Service (NHS) 'Apps Library' and Public Health England’s (PHE) 'One You' website. Recruitment took place between June and August 2019. Adults interested in using an app for behaviour change were recruited through social media. Data were analysed using the framework approach. The analysis is both inductive and deductive, with the coding framework being informed by the Theoretical Domains Framework. The results are further mapped onto the COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation - Behaviour) model. The study protocol is registered on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/jrkd3/). Results: The following targets were identified as playing a key role in increasing the uptake of and engagement with health and wellbeing apps: 1) psychological capability (e.g., reduced cognitive load); 2) physical opportunity (e.g., low financial cost); 3) social opportunity (e.g., embedded social media); 4) automatic motivation (e.g., positive feedback). Participants believed that the promotion of evidence-based apps on NHS-related websites could be enhanced through active promotion on social media, adverts on the internet, and in general practitioner practices. Future Implications: These results can inform the development of interventions aiming to promote the uptake of and engagement with evidence-based health and wellbeing apps, a priority within the UK NHS Long Term Plan ('digital first'). The targets identified across the COM-B domains could help organisations that provide platforms for such apps to increase impact through better selection of apps.

Keywords: behaviour change, COM-B model, digital health, mhealth

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Authors: Kenneth N. Ohei, Roelien Brink

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For decades, teaching and learning processes have centered on the traditional approach (Web 1.0) that promoted teacher-directed pedagogical practices. Currently, there is a realization that the traditional approach is not adequate to effectively address and improve all student-learning outcomes. The subsequent incorporation of social software, Information, and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in universities may serve as complementary to support educational goals, offering students the affordability and opportunity to educational choices and learning platforms. Consequently, educators’ inability to incorporate these instructional ICT tools in their teaching and learning practices remains a challenge. This will signify that educators still lack the ICT skills required to administer lectures and bridging learning gaps. This study probes a methodological concept with the aim of developing a framework towards the adoption of social software in HES to help facilitate business processes and can build social presence among students. A mixed method will be appropriate to develop a comprehensive framework needed in Higher Educational System (HES). After research have been conducted, the adoption of social software will be based on the developed comprehensive framework which is supposed to impact positively on education and approach of delivery, improves learning experience, engagement and finally, increases educational opportunities and easy access to educational contents.

Keywords: blended and integrated learning, learning experience and engagement, higher educational system, HES, information and communication technology, ICT, social presence, Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0

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Authors: Ann Dashwood

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Using Standard Australian English with confidence is a cultural expectation of parents of primary school aged children who want to engage effectively with their children’s teachers and school administration. That confidence in support of their children’s learning at school is seldom experienced by parents whose first language is not English. Sharing language with competence in an intercultural environment is the common denominator for meaningful communication and engagement to occur in a school community. Experience in relevant, interactive sessions is known to enhance engagement and participation. The purpose of this paper is to identify a pedagogy for parents otherwise isolated from daily use of functional Australian cultural language learned to engage effectively in their children’s learning at school. The outcomes measure parents’ intercultural engagement with classroom teachers and attention to the school’s administrative procedures using quantitative and qualitative methods. A principled communicative task-based language learning approach, combined with intercultural communication strategies provide the theoretical base for intensive English inquiry-based learning and engagement. The quantitative analysis examines data samples collected by classroom teachers and administrators and parents’ writing samples. Interviews and observations qualitatively inform the study. Currently, significant numbers of projects are active in community centers and schools to enhance English language knowledge of parents from Language Backgrounds Other Than English (LBOTE). The study is significant to explore the effects of an intensive English pedagogy with parents of varied English language backgrounds, by targeting inquiry-based language use for social interactions in the school and wider community, specific engagement and cultural interaction with teachers and school activities and procedures.

Keywords: engagement, intercultural communication, language teaching pedagogy, LBOTE, school community

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Authors: Pankaj Kumar Kalita

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Ineffectiveness of formal institutional mechanisms such as official audit to improve public service delivery has been a serious concern to scholars working on governance reforms in developing countries. Scholars argue that public service delivery in local self-governing institutions can be improved through application of informal mechanisms such as social accountability. Social accountability has been reinforced with the engagement of citizens and civic organizations in the process of service delivery to reduce the governance gap in developing countries. However, there are challenges that may impede the scope of establishing social accountability initiatives in the performance of local self-governing institutions. This study makes an attempt to investigate the factors that may impede the scope of establishing social accountability, particularly in culturally heterogeneous societies like India. While analyzing the implementation of two rural development schemes by Panchayats, the local self-governing institutions functioning in rural Assam in India, this study argues that the scope of establishing social accountability in the performance of local self-governing institutions, particularly in culturally heterogeneous societies in developing countries will be impeded by the absence of inter-caste and inter-religion networks. Data has been collected from five selected districts of Assam using in-depth interview method and survey method. The study further contributes to the debates on 'good governance' and citizen-centric approaches in developing countries.

Keywords: citizen engagement, local self-governing institutions, networks, social accountability

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Authors: Prashant Das, Tushar Singh, Virendra Byadwal

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The present study attempted to understand the role of cognitive flexibility and employee engagement in predicting employees’ turnover intentions. Employee turnover is a significant problem that many organizations are facing these days. Employee turnover is not only extremely expensive for the employer but also results in poor production levels. In developing countries like India, organizations once believed to have most stable employees, are facing major turnover problems. One such organization is banking organizations. Due to globalization, banks are now changing their work scenarios under which the employees have many different roles to perform. Cognitive flexibility which refers to an individual’s ability to shift cognitive sets and to adapt to one’s changing environment, thus seems to be an important factor that are responsible for the employee turnover in organizations. It is hypothesized that those with higher cognitive flexibility would be more able to adapt to the changing work demands of the organizations and thus would show less turnover intentions. Another factor that seems to be important in predicting turnover is employee engagement. Kahn referred to engagement in terms of the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles [by which they] employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances. Studies have shown a strong relationship between employee engagement and turnover intentions. Those with higher engagement with their jobs have found to show low turnover intentions. This study thus hypothesizes that employees with higher engagement will show lower levels of turnover intentions. A total of 150 bank employees (75 from private and 75 from public) participated in this study. They were administered Cognitive Flexibility Scale, Gallup Questionnaire and Intention to Stay Questionnaire along with another questionnaire asking for their demographic details. Results of the study revealed that employees with higher levels of cognitive flexibility and employee engagement show lover levels of turnover intentions. However, the effect is more prominent in case of employees of private banks. Demographic characteristics such as level of the employee and years of engagement in the current job have also been found to be influencing the relationship between cognitive flexibility, employee engagement and turnover intentions. Results of the study are interpreted in accordance to the prevalent literature and theoretical positions.

Keywords: cognitive flexibility, employee engagement, organization, turnover intentions

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Authors: Carrie Prendergast, Lisa Bortman

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The focus of this presentation will be on non-traditional (adult) students as they seek their Bachelors’ degrees online. This presentation will specifically examine nontraditional online student perceptions of Tinto’s success conditions: expectations, support, assessment, and engagement. Expectations include those of the student, the faculty and the institution. Support includes academic, social, and financial support. Feedback and assessment encompasses feedback in the classroom, upon entry, and on an institutional level. The fourth success condition is involvement or engagement of students with their peers and faculty in both academic and social contexts. This program will review and discuss a rich, detailed description of the lived experience of the nontraditional online student to add to the paucity of research on this understudied population and guide higher education professionals in supporting this growing population of students.

Keywords: adult students, online education, student success, vincent tinto

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Authors: Lulu Sun

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In Addition is an after-school mathematics program in which students and their parents build mathematical confidence and competence by solving problems they curious about. It is a program consists of mix-grade from 4th to 6th grade of 10 to 20 students, including math problem solving and other activities. This partnership will focus on the relationship between the In-Addition and the parents’ engagement; in this kind of partnership, it has the In-Addition program teaching and the family engagement. This partnership is purpose to building cooperation between the program and parents, strengthening the links between the program and families.

Keywords: program-family, family engagement, positive bias, partnership

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Authors: Abiodun Odusote

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This paper gives content to the Provisions of Chapter II of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it offers new perspectives on the nature of fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy and the duties of citizens. It makes inquiries into the justiciability of these rights and examines the reasoning of the Nigerian courts in the interpretation and enforcement of the rights. The paper examines the emerging jurisprudence in India and South Africa and lessons are drawn from their respective models of enforcement of similar rights. The paper concludes by proposing more creative and novel alternatives to the enforcement and enjoyments of these rights, including: enforcement through Acts of Parliament, enforcement through other Constitutional provisions, indirect enforcement, enforcement through regional and international courts, enforcement by constructive engagement, and enforcement through electoral process. Overall, it is shown that there are available a variety of practical and effective ways of improving the realization and enjoyment of the provisions of Chapter II of the CFRN.

Keywords: constructive-engagement, indirect enforcement, judicial activism, justiciability, social rights

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Authors: Ju-Chun Chien

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The main purpose of this study was to figure out employees’ attitudes toward the new performance appraisal program and to examine whether three different types of appraisal processes differentially affected job satisfaction and employee engagement. The second purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between performance appraisal reform, job satisfaction, and employee engagement. A large polyester and textile corporation had 2046 non-operational employees in February 2014. The valid participants were 1474 (72.04%) in this study. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, one-way MANOVA, Pearson correlation, Content Validity Index, the exploratory factor analysis, and reliability analysis. The general results showed that employees who received the new performance appraisal program viewed the program more positively and showed more job satisfaction than those who did not. In particular, the implementation effects of this new performance appraisal program were most highly rated by employees who used the KPI to evaluate their job performance. Moreover, employees’ attitudes toward the new performance appraisal program were positively related to their job satisfaction and work engagement. On the other hand, most employees regarded themselves as engaged workers. To sum up, the HR department of this company has made an effective contribution to performance appraisal reforms.

Keywords: change management, employee engagement, job satisfaction, performance appraisal reform

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Authors: Simeon Adebayo Oladipo

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Institutional administrators are currently facing pressure and challenges in their daily operations. Reasons for this may include the increasing multiplicity, uncertainty and tension that permeate institutional leadership. Authentic engagement for institutional leadership is premised on the ethical foundation that the leaders in the schools are engaged. The institutional effectiveness is dependent on the relationship that exists between the leaders and employees in the workplace. Leader’s self-awareness, relational transparency, emotional control, strong moral code and accountability have a positive influence on authentic engagement which variably determines leadership effectiveness. This study therefore examined the role of authentic engagement in effective school leadership; explored the interrelationship of authentic engagement indices in school leadership. The study adopted the descriptive research of the survey type using a quantitative method to gather data through a questionnaire among school leaders in Lagos State Tertiary Institutions. The population for the study consisted of all Heads of Departments, Deans and Principal Officers in Lagos State Tertiary Institutions. A sample size of 255 Heads of Departments, Deans and Principal Officers participated in the study. The data gathered were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The findings indicated that authentic engagement plays a crucial role in increasing leadership effectiveness amongst Heads of Departments, Deans and Principal Officers. The study recommended among others that there is a need for effective measures to enhance authentic engagement of institutional leadership practices through relevant educational support systems and effective quality control.

Keywords: authentic engagement, self-awareness, relational transparency, emotional control

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Authors: Sabina Ampon-Wireko

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Purpose: The study explores the influence of the organizational climate of silence on job performance through the mediating effects of work engagement (WE). Further, the degree to which supervisor support (SS) and work engagement moderate job performance are examined. Method: Using a questionnaire, the study collected 565 valid responses from frontline nurses in Ghana. The hierarchical regression technique was employed in estimating the relationship between the variables. Findings: The results showed a significant negative influence of top managers' and supervisors' attitudes to silence on both contextual and task performance. Communication opportunities, however, revealed positive and significant effects on contextual and task performance. Work engagement had no role in mediating top managers' and supervisors’ attitudes toward silence, communication opportunities, and task performance. Supervisor support acted as a moderating factor in the relationship between job engagement and task performance. In contrast, despite the direct positive relationship between supervisor support and contextual performance, it failed to moderate the relationship between work engagement and contextual performance. Practical implications: The study's findings demonstrate the need for health managers and supervisors to become more conscious of silence. The findings offer diverse recommendations for encouraging the sharing of relevant ideas, facts, and opinions within the health sector.

Keywords: organizational climate of silence, job performance, work engagement, supervisor support, frontline nurses

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Authors: Aaron G. Laylo

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This paper mainly assumes that social entrepreneurship contributes significantly to youth empowerment i.e., work and community engagement. Two questions are thus raised in order to establish this hypothesis: 1) First, how does social entrepreneurship contribute to youth empowerment?; and 2) secondly, why is social entrpreneurship significantly incremental to youth empowerment? This research aims a) to investigate on the social aspect of entrepreneurship; b) to explore challenges in youth empowerment particularly in respect to work and community engagement; and c) to inquire into whether social enterprises have truly served as a catalyst for, thus an effective response to, youth empowerment. It must be emphasized that young people, which comprise 1.8 billion in a world of seven billion are an asset; Apparently, how to maximize that potential is crucial. By utilizing exploratory research design, the paper endeavors to generate new ideas in regards to both components, develop tentative theories on social entrepreneurship, and refine certain issues that are under observation and seek scholarly attention— a rather emerging phenomenon vis a vis the challenge to empower a significant cluster of the society. Case studies will be utilized as an approach in order to comparatively analyze youth-driven social enterprises in the Philippines that have been widely recognized as successful insofar as social impact is concerned. As most scholars attested, social entrepreneurship is still at its infancy stage. Youth empowerment, meanwhile, is yet a vast area to explore insofar as academic research is concerned. Programs and projects that advocate the pursuit of these components abound. However, academic research is yet to be undertaken to see and understand their social and economic relevance. This research is also an opportunity for scholars to explore, understand, and make sense of the promise that lies in social entrepreneurship research and how it can serve as a catalyst for youth empowerment. Youth-driven social enterprises can be an influential tool in sustaining development across the globe as they intend to provide opportunities for optimal economic productivity that recognizes social inclusion. Ultimately, this study should be able to contribute to both research and development-in-practice communities for the greater good of the society. By establishing the nexus between these two components, the research may contribute to fostering greater exploration of the benefits that both may yield to human progress as well as the gaps that have to be filled in by various policy stakeholders relevant to these units.

Keywords: social entpreneurship, youth, empowerment, social inclusion

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Authors: Stephen Miller

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The act of applying game mechanics and dynamics (which have been traditionally used in video games) into business applications is being widely trialed in an effort to make conventional business software a bit more participative, fun and engaging. This new trend, named ‘gamification’ has its believers and of course, its critics who still need convincing that the concept is an effective and beneficial business tool worthy of investment. The literature reveals that user engagement of business intelligence (BI) tools is much lower than expected and investors are failing to get a good return on their investment (ROI). So, a software prototype will be designed and developed to add gamification to a BI tool to determine its effect upon the user engagement levels of test participants. The experimental study will be evaluated using the comprehensive User Engagement Scale (UES) to see if there are improvements in areas such as; aesthetics, perceived usability, endurability, novelty, felt involvement and focused attention. The results of this unique study should demonstrate whether or not ‘gamifying’ a BI tool has the potential to increase an individual’s motivation to use BI software more often.

Keywords: business intelligence, gamification, human computer interaction, user engagement

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Authors: Yohannes Bisa Biramo

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This study examined the meditational role of surface acting and deep acting on the relationship between calling orientation and work engagement of teachers in secondary schools of Wolaita Zone, Wolaita, Ethiopia. A predictive non-experimental correlational design was performed among 300 secondary school teachers. Stratified random sampling followed by a systematic random sampling technique was used as the basis for selecting samples from the target population. To analyze the data, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the association between the independent variables and the dependent variables. Furthermore, the goodness of fit of the study variables was tested using SEM to see and explain the path influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the validity of the scales in the study and to assess the measurement model fit indices. The analysis result revealed that calling was significantly and positively correlated with surface acting, deep acting and work engagement. Similarly, surface acting was significantly and positively correlated with deep acting and work engagement. And also, deep acting was significantly and positively correlated with work engagement. With respect to mediation analysis, the result revealed that surface acting mediated the relationship between calling and work engagement and also deep acting mediated the relationship between calling and work engagement. Besides, by using the model of the present study, the school leaders and practitioners can identify a core area to be considered in recruiting and letting teachers teach, in giving induction training for newly employed teachers and in performance appraisal.

Keywords: calling, surface acting, deep acting, work engagement, mediation, teachers

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Authors: Vanessa Do, Lauren Smith, Leslie Carver

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It is widely known that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may exhibit sensitivity to stimuli. Even at a young age, they tend to display stimuli-related discomfort in their behavior during play. Play serves a crucial role in a child’s early years as it helps support healthy brain development, socio-emotional skills, and adaptation to their environment There is research dedicated to studying infant preferences for toys, especially in regard to: gender preferences, the advantages of promoting play, and the caregiver’s role in their child’s play routines. However, there is a disproportionate amount of literature examining how play patterns may differ in children with sensory sensitivity, such as children diagnosed with ASD. Prior literature has studied and found supporting evidence that individuals with ASD have deficits in social communication and have increased presence of repetitive behaviors and/or restricted interests, which also display in early childhood play patterns. This study aims to examine potential differences in toy preference between infants with (FH+) and without (FH-) a familial history of ASD ages 6. 9, and 12 months old. More specifically, this study will address the question, “do FH+ infants tend to play more with toys that require less social engagement compared to FH- infants?” Infants and their caregivers were recruited and asked to engage in a free-play session in their homes that lasted approximately 5 minutes. The sessions were recorded and later coded offline for engagement behaviors categorized by toy; each toy that the infants interacted with was coded as belonging to one of 6 categories: sensory (designed to stimulate one or more senses such as light-up toys or musical toys) , construction (e.g., building blocks, rubber suction cups), vehicles (e.g., toy cars), instructional (require steps to accomplish a goal such as flip phones or books), imaginative (e.g., dolls, stuffed animals), and miscellaneous (toys that do not fit into these categories). Toy engagement was defined as the infant looking and touching the toy (ILT) or looking at the toy while their caregiver was holding it (IL-CT). Results reported include/will include the proportion of time the infant was actively engaged with the toy out of the total usable video time per subject — distractions observed during the session were excluded from analysis. Data collection is still ongoing; however, the prediction is that FH+ infants will have higher engagement with sensory and construction toys as they require the least amount of social effort. Furthermore, FH+ infants will have the least engagement with the imaginative toys as prior literature has supported the claim that individuals with ASD have a decreased likelihood to engage in play that requires pretend play and other social skills. Looking at what toys are more or less engaging to FH+ infants is important as it provides significant contributions to their healthy cognitive, social, and emotional development. As play is one of the first ways for a child to understand the complexities of the larger world, the findings of this study may help guide further research into encouraging play with toys that are more engaging and sensory-sensitive for children with ASD.

Keywords: autism engagement, children’s play, early development, free-play, infants, toy

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Authors: Lubica Hikkerova, Jean-Michel Sahut

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Environmental protection remains a global challenge but, since 2012, there has been a progressive decline in corporate engagement in environmental protection issues. This study seeks to investigate the role of financial capacity and governance in improving the level of environmental engagement of companies. The regression technique is applied to data on 351 large European companies from the ASSET4-ESG database for the 2007-2015 period. Firstly, the results show that the companies in the sample are fairly engaged in environmental protection, with a strong dispersion representing nearly four times the average. This means that the companies in the sample do not share the same level of engagement in matters of environmental protection, some being more committed than others. Secondly, the results reveal that the financial capacity of the company, as assessed through its indicators, has a significant effect on its level of environmental protection engagement in the present sample. This effect is more positive the higher the profits the company makes, and more negative the more heavily indebted or, the higher the rates of dividends it pays per share. Lastly, the results also show that a better quality of governance plays an important role in the decision to undertake actions leading to environmental protection. More specifically, the degree of management implication in the running of the business, the respect of the rights of the shareholders, the effectiveness of the control exerted by the board of directors, and, to a lesser extent, the independence of the audit committee, are variables which have a positive and significant influence on the level of environmental engagement of companies.

Keywords: financial capacity, corporate governance, environmental engagement, stakeholder theory, theory of organizational legitimacy, theory of resources and capabilities

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Authors: Vasanthi Muniasamy, Intisar Magboul Ejalani, M.Anandhavalli, K. Gauthaman

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Social Media (SM) are websites increasingly popular and built to allow people to express themselves and to interact socially with others. Most SMT are dominated by youth particularly college students. The proliferation of popular social media tools, which can accessed from any communication devices has become pervasive in the lives of today’s student life. Connecting traditional education to social media tools are a relatively new era and any collaborative tool could be used for learning activities. This study focuses (i) how the social media tools are useful for the learning activities of the students of faculty of medicine in King Khalid University (ii) whether the social media affects the collaborative learning with interaction among students, among course instructor, their engagement, perceived ease of use and perceived ease of usefulness (TAM) (iii) overall, the students satisfy with this collaborative learning through Social media.

Keywords: social media, Web 2.0, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, collaborative Learning

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Authors: Hye-Kyung Kang

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Social justice is a central principle of the social work profession and education. However, scholars have long questioned the profession’s commitment to putting social justice values into practice. Clinical social work has been particularly criticized for its lack of attention to social justice and for failing to address the concerns of the oppressed. One prominent criticism of clinical social work is that it often relies on individual intervention and fails to take on system-level changes or advocacy. This concern evokes the historical macro-micro tension of the social work profession where micro (e.g., mental health counseling) and macro (e.g., policy advocacy) practices are conceptualized as separate domains, creating a false binary for social workers. One contributor to this false binary seems to be that most clinical practice models do not prepare social work students and practitioners to make a clear link between clinical practice and social justice. This paper presents a model of clinical social work practice that clearly recognizes the essential and necessary connection between social justice, advocacy, and clinical practice throughout the clinical process: engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation. Contemporary relational theories, critical social work frameworks, and anti-oppressive practice approaches are integrated to build a clinical social work practice model that addresses the urgent need for mental health practice that not only helps and heals the person but also challenges societal oppressions and aims to change them. The application of the model is presented through case vignettes.

Keywords: social justice, clinical social work, clinical social work model, integrative model

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Authors: Xue Li, Hui Xu

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Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a clinical stage that occurs between normal aging and dementia. Although MCI increases the risk of developing dementia, individuals with MCI may maintain stable cognitive function and even recover to a typical cognitive state. An intervention to prevent or delay the progression to dementia in individuals with MCI may involve promoting social engagement. Social participation is the engagement in socially relevant social exchanges and meaningful activities. Older adults with MCI may encounter restricted cognitive abilities, mood changes, and behavioral difficulties during social participation, influencing their willingness to engage. Therefore, this study aims to employ qualitative research methods to gain an in-depth comprehension of the authentic social participation experiences of older adults with mild cognitive impairment, which will establish a foundation for designing appropriate intervention programs. A phenomenological research was conducted. The study participants were selected using the purposive sampling method in combination with the maximum differentiation sampling strategy. Face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted among 12 elderly individuals suffering from mild cognitive impairment in a community in Zhengzhou City from May to July 2023. Colaizzi 7-step method was used to analyze the data and extract the theme. The real experience of social participation in older adults with mild cognitive impairment can be summarized into 3 themes: (1) a single social relationship but a strong desire to participate, (2) a dual experience of social participation with both positive and negative aspects, (3) multiple barriers to social participation, including impaired memory capacity, heavy family responsibilities and lack of infrastructure. The study found that elderly individuals with mild cognitive impairment and one social interaction display an increased desire to engage in society. To improve social participation levels and reduce cognitive function decline, healthcare providers should work with relevant government agencies and the community to create a comprehensive social participation system. It is important for healthcare providers to note the social participation status of the elderly with mild cognitive impairment.

Keywords: mild cognitive impairment, the elderly, social participation, qualitative research

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Authors: Irene Kalemaki, Ioanna Garefi

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Social Innovation Education (SIE) is a new educational approach that aims to empower students to take action for a more democratic and sustainable society. Conceptually and pedagogically wise, it is situated at the intersection of Enterprise Education and Citizenship Education as it aspires to i) combine action with activism, ii) personal development with collective efficacy, iii) entrepreneurial mindsets with democratic values and iv) individual competences with collective competences. This paper abstract presents the work of the NEMESIS project, funded by H2020, that aims to design, test and validate the first consolidated approach for embedding Social Innovation Education in schools of primary and secondary education. During the academic year 2018-2019, eight schools from five European countries experimented with different approaches and methodologies to incorporate SIE in their settings. This paper reports briefly on these attempts and discusses the wider educational philosophy underlying these interventions with a particular focus on analyzing the learning outcomes and impact on students. That said, this paper doesn’t only report on the theoretical and practical underpinnings of SIE, but most importantly, it provides evidence on the impact of SIE on students. In terms of methodology, the study took place from September 2018 to July 2019 in eight schools from Greece, Spain, Portugal, France, and the UK involving directly 56 teachers, 1030 students and 69 community stakeholders. Focus groups, semi-structured interviews, classroom observations as well as students' written narratives were used to extract data on the impact of SIE on students. The overall design of the evaluation activities was informed by a realist approach, which enabled us to go beyond “what happened” and towards understanding “why it happened”. Research findings suggested that SIE can benefit students in terms of their emotional, cognitive, behavioral and agentic engagement. Specifically, the emotional engagement of students was increased because through SIE interventions; students voice was heard, valued, and acted upon. This made students feel important to their school, increasing their sense of belonging, confidence and level of autonomy. As regards cognitive engagement, both students and teachers reported positive outcomes as SIE enabled students to take ownership of their ideas to drive their projects forward and thus felt more motivated to perform in class because it felt personal, important and relevant to them. In terms of behavioral engagement, the inclusive environment and the collective relationships that were reinforced through the SIE interventions had a direct positive impact on behaviors among peers. Finally, with regard to agentic engagement, it has been observed that students became very proactive which was connected to the strong sense of ownership and enthusiasm developed during collective efforts to deliver real-life social innovations. Concluding, from a practical and policy point of view these research findings could encourage the inclusion of SIE in schools, while from a research point of view, they could contribute to the scientific discourse providing evidence and clarity on the emergent field of SIE.

Keywords: education, engagement, social innovation, students

Procedia PDF Downloads 116