The Role of Cause Involvement and Assortment Size on Decision Difficulty via Communal Relationships

Social enterprises aim to achieve both social and economic goals by reaching broader consumer segments through extensive assortments, but research into how this product proliferation strategy affects consumer response is scarce. In the current research we examine how consumers judge social enterprises providing large product assortments. Three experiments show that choice overload (i.e., having a decision difficulty when faced with many options) can be reversed among target consumers of social enterprises—specifically those whose involvement in a social cause is high. Because more-involved consumers view large assortments of cause-related products as an indicator of the company’s commitment to addressing social issues, they identify with the company and thereby form communal relationships. Thus, the consumers’ focus shifts from comparing options to helping the company, leading to reduced decision difficulty. The findings contribute to existing research on assortment size and the understanding of the information consumers use to evaluate the company’s commitment to social causes.

YouTube fandom names in channel communities and branding

The YouTube channels Good Mythical Morning, grav3yardgirl, and the Vlogbrothers are analyzed to understand the function of fandom names on the platform. The selected YouTubers explain that their named fandoms create a sense of community on their channels. However, YouTube celebrities attempt to assert control over the narrative of their fan groups and encourage viewers to perceive them in a particular way. This control often relates to how content creators use the names to brand their channels and sell merchandise. Names of fan groups emphasize communal relationships but also perform a prominent business function. Understanding how the demonyms try to balance these different motivations reveals that the commercialization of fandom is embedded in everyday social media practices and the relationship between online celebrities and fans.

"Und ich hab damals für dich ge-Voted…" – Online-Kommentarforen zwischen Text, Diskurs und Gemeinschaft

<p class="Standardnachberschrift">Using examples from comment sections in the Swiss online news site <em>watson.ch</em>, we investigate the question whether such online reader communities show traces of communal relationships (in the sense of Max Weber) and if such an understanding is compatible with the concept of discourse communities. To this end, we first outline the conflicting theoretical assumptions that linguistic and sociological understandings of communities imply for the concept of discourse communities. Afterwards, we use selected online reader comments to show how traditional features of community formation can be detected empirically in the comment section. To conclude, we argue that Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory can serve as a framework to integrate different types of community formation processes on an empirical and a theoretical level.</p><p class="Standardnachberschrift"> </p><p class="Standardnachberschrift"> </p>

Basic residential neighborhood infrastructure financing in Nigeria urban cities: Community development associations (CDAs)-based approach

The study examined the community-based approach to finance basic public infrastructures in residential neighborhoods. The primary objectives of the study were to determine the condition of public infrastructures, the level of community engagement, the modalities of financing and the prominent influencing factors. The study adopted convenience sampling and questionnaire survey techniques. A total of 120 questionnaires were administered to residents of selected high-income communities (HICs) and low/medium-income communities (L/MICs), out of which 48 (80%) and 52 (86.67%) were retrieved, respectively, and analyzed. The study deployed descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation models and mean weighted score to analyze the data. The study found that the residents were satisfied with the security of the neighborhoods but deplored the state of the public potable water infrastructure in both communities. However, the residents in the HICs enjoy a better condition of road infrastructure compared with L/MICs. The residents in both communities indicated a high level of involvement in the financing of public infrastructures, with major engagement in security and waste disposal/management infrastructures. However, the HICs engaged more in road grading/maintenance, while the provision of community potable water was given as a priority by the L/MICs. The major mode of financing basic communal infrastructures is through membership levy/contribution, and prominent influencing factors are cooperation among members, fundraising and income status. Therefore, while private-sector support funds, such as from the CDAs, help in cushioning the effects of basic infrastructure decay, governments at all levels should provide an enabling environment that will motivate mutual communal relationships through integrated infrastructure policies.

PROFESSIONAL BURNOUT SYNDROME IN SOCIAL WORKERS, EMPLOYED IN COMMUNITY REHABILITATION CENTRES FOR ADDICTIVE DISEASES: THE CONTEXT OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

The article overviews the problematic questions of the study: 1) What interpersonal factors cause professional burnout syndrome in social workers, employed in community rehabilitation centres for addictive diseases; 2) How communal relationships with colleagues can help overcome professional burnout. Research object: interpersonal relationships of social workers. The aim of the article is to reveal possibilities of overcoming professional burnout syndrome on the basis of the experiences of social workers’ interpersonal relationships. Research methods: academic literature analysis, document analysis, the method of a semi-structured interview, quality (content) analysis, summarizing method were used. The study was conducted in January – March of 2020 in the community rehabilitation centre for addictive diseases. Empirical research has shown that social workers, employed in community rehabilitation centres for addictive diseases, believe that the threat and risk of professional burnout syndrome arise, first of all, from interpersonal relationships with clients: their negative attitude towards social workers, inadequate client communication culture, lack of positive feedback. Secondly, it is important for social workers to feel emotional and moral support and help of colleagues, share responsibility for work. Joint leisure time improves the quality of communication between colleagues, strengthens the inner relationship in the collective, increases work efficiency.

Perspective on COVID-19 Pandemic Factors Impacting Organizational Leadership

Employees are important assets of an organization. Therefore, the employee engagement in teamwork is extremely vital for long-term organizational development. Good managers need excellent leadership skills. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly spreads around the world, many countries implemented strategies to avoid infection, such as working from home, isolation of infected people from others, and 14 days of self-quarantine. These strategies impact the trust, communal relationships, and social exchange relationships among organizational employees. However, communal and social exchange relationships are necessary for organizational leadership, and they are considered as the basis of social networks. The trust, communal relationships, social exchange relationships, and leadership in an organization are an interesting issue, particularly in the COVID-19 time, since the role of leaders is very crucial for maintaining organizational sustainability. The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on leadership in organizations based on trust, communal relationships, and social exchange relationships. The study employed correlation analysis to explore the interrelationships between variables. The 220 samples collected consisted of basic, middle, and high managers of organizations. The findings show that COVID-19 impacted organizational leadership. COVID-19 (F1) and (F2) factors integrated with each variable: (1) trust, (2) communal relationships, and (3) social exchange relationships created a stronger relationship between trust and leadership, communal relationships and leadership, and also social exchange relationship and leadership in organizations. On the contrary, Covid-19 (F3) factors integrated with each variable: (1) trust, (2) communal relationships, and (3) social exchange relationships decreased a relationship between trust and leadership, communal relationships and leadership, and also social exchange relationships and leadership in organizations. These results can help CEOs in organizations to perceive what factors have a positive impact or a negative impact on leadership in organizations in order to improve their leadership skills, even post COVID-19. The managerial implications are that (1) leaders need good communication skills to share true information with empathy and optimism and (2) leaders need to be thoughtful and capable to handle change in uncertain situations ethically.

Introduction

The concept of madness as a challenge to communities lies at the core of legal sources. This book considers how communal networks, ranging from the locale to the realm, responded to people who were considered mad. The madness of individuals played a role in engaging communities with legal mechanisms and proto-national identity constructs, as petitioners sought the king’s mercy as an alternative to local justice. The resulting narratives about the mentally ill in late medieval France constructed madness as an inability to live according to communal rules. Although such texts defined madness through acts that threatened social bonds, those ties were reaffirmed through the medium of the remission letter. The composers of the letters presented madness as a communal concern, situating the mad within the household, where care could be provided. These mad were usually not expelled but integrated, often through pilgrimage, surveillance, or chains, into their kin and communal relationships.

Medieval Communities and the Mad

The concept of madness as a challenge to communities lies at the core of legal sources. Medieval Communities and the Mad: Narratives of Crime and Mental Illness in Late Medieval France considers how communal networks, ranging from the locale to the realm, responded to people who were considered mad. The madness of individuals played a role in engaging communities with legal mechanisms and proto-national identity constructs, as petitioners sought the king’s mercy as an alternative to local justice. The resulting narratives about the mentally ill in late medieval France constructed madness as an inability to live according to communal rules. Although such texts defined madness through acts that threatened social bonds, those ties were reaffirmed through the medium of the remission letter. The composers of the letters presented madness as a communal concern, situating the mad within the household, where care could be provided. Those considered mad were usually not expelled but integrated, often through pilgrimage, surveillance, or chains, into their kin and communal relationships.