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Socio-economic impacts of Geothermal Energy in a developing country: A case study of Kenya
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Surviving the COVID-19 pandemic : European and African SMEs and domestic public policies compared
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The paper investigates factors that contribute to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) surviving major exogenous shocks. Global crises such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have increasingly heightened scholarly interest in post-crises responses. However, studies that compare the relative responses to external shocks and the outcomes for SMEs operating in different institutional settings are limited. We examine the relative degrees of success European and African SMEs experienced in avoiding the worst consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
We use the resource dependency theory (RDT) with variants of institutional theory since the RDT has been shown in practice to have greater explanatory power when used in this way. We augment our framework with a feminist theory dimension. To test our hypotheses, we apply regression analyses using cross-sectional data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES), which include responses from private enterprises in 26 European and eight African countries. We construct our data by combining the COVID-19 follow-up surveys with relevant firm-specific characteristics from the WBES conducted in 2020–2021 using firm-specific unique IDs. After removing the firms with missing observations, the sample number of SMEs is 15,178.
Findings
Our empirical findings support the theoretically posited positive effects of innovativeness, institutional connectedness and governance capability on SMEs’ survival in the face of external shocks. Further, we confirm the importance of firm-specific characteristics (financial status, size and age) for SMEs’ survival. Female-owned SMEs are more likely to suffer during COVID-19, especially in Africa. The results are more nuanced when we consider industry specificity and heterogeneity of government support.
Originality/value
Our article helps answer the theoretical (and policy-relevant) question of whether SMEs that are resilient to major exogenous shocks may share certain characteristics despite operating in different institutional environments. If that is so, then it may be that lessons from one continent may have at least some relevance for the other. Our approach’s broad value lies in its capacity to test the degree to which established bodies of theory developed in the Northern Hemisphere may be deployed in Africa, well beyond the contexts which provided their initial empirical basis. This paper also contributes to the literature on the effect of environmental-change shocks on entrepreneurship performance outcomes.acceptedVersio
Collaboration with clients to create journal notes : a mixed methods evaluation of a pilot intervention study in a municipality mental health services team
Full text linkIntroduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate an intervention designed to encourage therapists in a municipality mental health services team to collaborate with their clients when writing journal notes. The team was part of a low-threshold mental health service for children, adolescents and their parents. The therapists offered individual therapeutic sessions with children, adolescents and parents, as well as family sessions. The therapists documented their encounters in the clients' electronic health records. Methods: The study used a convergent mixed methods design. First, the quality and quantity of documented therapist–client interactions were measured before and after the intervention using the Scale for the Evaluation of Staff-Patient Interactions in Progress Notes (SESPI). Cross-tabulation and logistic regression analyses were used to examine potential differences in the recording of therapists' approaches before and after intervention. Second, we explored the therapists' experiences of participating in this project by conducting individual in-depth interviews. Qualitative interviews were analysed by systematic text condensation. Finally, the quantitative results from assessing the journal notes were contextualised with the qualitative results from the interviews. Results: The number of journal notes describing therapist approach and client response increased by 25% points after the intervention. In the interviews, the therapists acknowledged the intervention's relevance to their practice. However, they invited only a limited number of clients to co-create journal notes. The clients welcomed the invitation. Conclusion: Collaborative documentation challenges established journal documentation practices and may strengthen the client's voice. This study provides suggestions for strengthening the intervention in the future full-scale studies.publishedVersio