STORRE Community: This community contains the ePrints and eTheses produced by Management, Work and Organisation's staff and students.
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/41
This community contains the ePrints and eTheses produced by Management, Work and Organisation's staff and students.2024-03-29T11:02:10ZBuilding a Systems Map: Applying Systems Thinking to Unhealthy Commodity Industry Influence on Public Health Policy
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/35900
Title: Building a Systems Map: Applying Systems Thinking to Unhealthy Commodity Industry Influence on Public Health Policy
Author(s): Bertscher, Adam; Nobles, James; Gilmore, Anna; Bondy, Krista; Van Den Akker, Amber; Dance, Sarah; Bloomfield, Michael J; Zatonski, Mateusz
Abstract: Background Unhealthy commodity industries (UCIs) engage in political practices to influence public health policy, which poses barriers to protecting and promoting public health. Such influence exhibits characteristics of a complex system. Systems thinking would therefore appear to be a useful lens through which to study this phenomenon, potentially deepening our understanding of how UCI influence are interconnected with one another through their underlying political, economic and social structures. As such this study developed a qualitative systems map to depict the complex pathways through which UCIs influence public health policy and how they are interconnected with underlying structures. Methods Online participatory systems mapping workshops were conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. As a starting point for the workshops, a preliminary systems map was developed based on recent research. Twenty-three online workshops were conducted with 52 geographically diverse stakeholders representing academia, civil society, public office and global governance organisations. Analysis of workshop data in NVivo and feedback from participants resulted in a final systems map. Results The preliminary systems map consisted of 40 elements across six interdependent themes. The final systems map consisted of 64 elements across five interdependent themes, representing key pathways through which UCIs impact health policymaking: 1) direct access to public sector decision-makers; 2) creation of confusion and doubt about policy decisions; 3) corporate prioritisation of commercial profits and growth; 4) industry leveraging the legal and dispute settlement processes; and 5) industry leveraging policymaking, norms, rules, and processes. Conclusion UCI influence on public health policy is highly complex, involves interlinked practices, and is not reducible to a single point within the system. Instead, pathways to UCI influence emerge from the complex interactions between disparate national and global political, economic and social structures. These pathways provide numerous avenues for UCIs to influence public health policy, which poses challenges to formulating a singular intervention or limited set of interventions capable of effectively countering such influence. Using participatory methods, we made transparent the interconnections that could help identify interventions future work.2024-03-13T00:00:00ZComplex Interventions for a Complex System? Using Systems Thinking to Explore Ways to Address Unhealthy Commodity Industry Influence on Public Health Policy
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/35873
Title: Complex Interventions for a Complex System? Using Systems Thinking to Explore Ways to Address Unhealthy Commodity Industry Influence on Public Health Policy
Author(s): Bertscher, Adam; Matthes, Britta; Nobles, James; Gilmore, Anna; Bondy, Krista; Van Den Akker, Amber; Dance, Sarah; Bloomfield, Michael J; Zatonski, Mateusz
Abstract: Background Interventions are needed to prevent and mitigate unhealthy commodity industry (UCI) influence on public health policy. Whilst literature on interventions is emerging, current conceptualisations remain incomplete as they lack considerations of the wider systemic complexities surrounding UCI influence, which may limit intervention effectiveness. This study applies systems thinking as a theoretical lens to help identify and explore how possible interventions relate to one another in the systems in which they are embedded. Related challenges to addressing UCI influence on policy, and actions to support interventions, were also explored. Methods Online participatory workshops were conducted with stakeholders with expertise in UCIs. A systems map, depicting five pathways to UCI influence, and the Action Scales Model were used to help participants identify interventions and guide discussions. Codebook thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results Fifty-two stakeholders participated in 23 workshops. Participants identified 27 diverse, interconnected and interdependent interventions corresponding to the systems map’s pathways that reduce the ability of UCIs to influence policy, e.g., reform policy financing; regulate public-private partnerships; reform science governance and funding; frame and reframe the narrative, challenge neoliberalism and GDP growth; leverage human rights; change practices on multistakeholder governance; and reform policy consultation and deliberation processes. Participants also identified four potential key challenges to interventions (i.e., difficult to implement or achieve; partially formulated; exploited or misused; requires tailoring for context), and four key actions to help support intervention delivery (i.e., coordinate and cooperate with stakeholders; invest in civil society; create a social movement; nurture leadership). Conclusion A systems thinking lens revealed the theoretical interdependence between disparate and heterogenous interventions. This suggests that to be effective, interventions need to align, work collectively, and be applied to different parts of the system synchronously. Importantly, these interventions need to be supported by intermediary actions to be achieved. Urgent action is now required to strengthen healthy alliances and implement interventions.2024-02-27T00:00:00ZStreet‐level discretion, personal motives, and social embeddedness within public service ecosystems
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/35793
Title: Street‐level discretion, personal motives, and social embeddedness within public service ecosystems
Author(s): Knox, Stephen; Arshed, Norin
Abstract: Drawing on the sense of community responsibility concept, we explore the enterprise policy ecosystem in an extensive qualitative study of Scotland. We present a processual model which explains how policies are shaped in an on-going dynamic through street-level managers' individual agency. Our findings reveal that driving the process is an interplay between personal motives (compassion, relational strength, esteem, coherence) with a social frame of reference (policy group, locality, public organization) which is based on embeddedness within specific policy contexts. This interplay guides how managers translate policy as either an opportunity or a threat which then directs how they enact their discretion to adapt, advocate change, or resist implementation. This process offers an explanation as to how situated value is created for specific policy areas within public service ecosystems. The implications are discussed in relation to the existing literature on policy implementation.2023-11-02T00:00:00ZEcosystem Pipelines: Collective Action in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/35781
Title: Ecosystem Pipelines: Collective Action in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
Author(s): Hruskova, Michaela
Abstract: Entrepreneurial ecosystems comprise a range of different actors, structures, and processes that support entrepreneurs in starting and growing their ventures. They are governed through collective action, which helps ecosystem actors achieve common goals that otherwise would be beyond the scope of their individual abilities. However, we have a limited understanding of the key mechanisms through which they organise their interactions. This paper explores how ecosystem actors engage in collective action based on a case study of the Scottish entrepreneurial ecosystem. The main contribution is the introduction of a novel ecosystem governance mechanism coined ‘ecosystem pipelines’, which are logical pathways between ecosystem actors through which entrepreneurs can access support and resources as they progress their ventures. This paper highlights the importance of relational organising among ecosystem actors – as opposed to top-down or bottom-up approaches – in pursuit of a common purpose to promote entrepreneurship.2024-02-01T00:00:00Z