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Digital Financial Inclusion through Entrepreneurship in Africa
No full textThis chapter explores digital financial inclusion in Africa through the development of a Network-Centric Theory of Financial Innovation. Using a systematic review of 87 studies (2020–2024) with digital ethnographic analysis of 250 entrepreneur profiles and 45 fintech forums across 15 African markets, we examine the complex interplay between digital entrepreneurship, regulatory frameworks, and financial inclusion outcomes. Our findings reveal that the effectiveness of digital financial interventions varies by market maturity, regulatory frameworks exhibit bi-directional influences on entrepreneurial innovation, and network effects play a pivotal role in shaping financial inclusion. We challenge traditional institutional void perspectives, arguing that financial inclusion emerges through dynamic interactions rather than linear progressions. Our contribution underscores the need for sophisticated entrepreneurial ecosystems tailored to local market conditions. We conclude with implications for policy and practice, alongside directions for future researc
Home, Parents and Siblings
No full textIt has been known for some time that the home environment has a major influence on children’s literacy practices as well as their literate identities. For example, studies have shown how young children arrive at school with their own unique reading histories, which have been influenced by the individual social and cultural contexts within their own homes and communities. Maintaining a focus on the ‘socialisation of reading’, this chapter examines how factors within the home environment can influence children’s reading for pleasure. In particular, the chapter demonstrates how the role of parents (including all adults with caring responsibilities) and siblings have an impact on children’s relationships with reading and volitional reading practices. We explore how factors such as parents’ priorities for shared reading activity with their children can influence children’s reading for pleasure. We then examine the specific ways in which siblings’ shared reading practices are linked with positive relationships with reading. Embedded within this, we also explore how factors such as the texts that are used and shared by parents and siblings within the home environment are associated with children’s interest and motivation for reading. By reflecting on the various factors within the home context that can impact on children’s reading for pleasure, this chapter provides important implications for schools and practitioners who want to encourage children and young people to enjoy reading for themselves
Causal AI for Business Decision Making:A Multi-Domain Investigation, Practical Applications and Implementation Challenges
Get PDFThis working paper presents an investigation into the emerging field of Causal Artificial Intelligence (Causal AI) and its transformative potential for business decision-making processes. While traditional machine learning methodologies excel at identifying correlational patterns within complex datasets, they fundamentally lack the capacity to address critical "why" questions essential for strategic business decisions. Our research employs a multi-domain case study methodology across financial services, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors to examine how contemporary organisations are implementing causal inference frameworks to enhance decision-making robustness. The findings reveal that successful causal AI implementation necessitates not merely technical sophistication but also substantial organisational readiness factors, including causal literacy among executive decision-makers, integrated decision processes, and appropriate governance frameworks. Furthermore, we identify significant implementation challenges regarding data quality requirements, model validation approaches, and ethical considerations specific to causal reasoning systems. The paper concludes with a proposed developmental trajectory model for organisational adoption of causal AI and practical recommendations for businesses seeking to transcend correlation- based analytics paradigms
Strategies for Carbon Reduction Maturity: A Longitudinal Case Study of Unilever PLC
No full textThis case study of Unilever PLC, an acknowledged leader in green strategy, builds on a sustainability maturity model to develop a specific carbon reduction maturity model to show how a consumer goods company has evolved its strategies towards carbon reduction. Based largely on 10 years of archival data (2011–2020), this research analyses the narrative in the company's annual reports and carbon disclosure survey responses, using both quantitative (form‐oriented) and qualitative (meaning‐oriented) content analysis, to position it in a carbon reduction maturity model. Our results show the stages in Unilever's carbon maturity journey in terms of their strategies and performance over the 10 years and captures (through supplementary interviews) how various interested parties view this journey. This research demonstrates how the company's strategies and leadership may influence carbon reduction beyond the consumer goods sector, helping to define green stewardship
A Match Made in Heaven: Entrepreneurship Among Evangelical Immigrants in the UK
Get PDFEvangelical immigrants from the Global South have a high degree of confidence in their own ability to start a business in the UK, and they report a significant amount of entrepreneurial engagement within their communities. This article explores how these Christians developed their skills and dispositions, how they are launching businesses in the UK, and—most importantly—how the action of God can be perceived through their experiences. The author constructs a metanarrative which begins in the Global South. Through their encounter with evangelical faith, women and men are developing the ‘spiritual capital’ that has historically been proven to foster entrepreneurship. In many instances, however, this potential for success lies latent in a societal context that hampers and threatens entrepreneurial enterprise. The story then shifts to the UK. When these evangelicals immigrate, many find success in business as they choose to put their spiritual capital to work. It is here argued that the actions of God can be discerned within this story. In the same way that God acted in Biblical times to raise the helpless and to bless exiles in a foreign land, so he seen by his people to be working today
Enhancing Agile Model-Driven Engineering with Automated Formal Verification of BPMN Models
Get PDFMisinterpretation of requirements remains a major challenge in software development, often leading to project failures. Agile Model-Driven Engineering promotes iterative modeling and validation to enhance software quality and adaptability. Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) serves as a widely adopted standard for visually representing system processes, ensuring a shared understanding among stakeholders. However, the complexity of BPMN can introduce structural errors, compromising model accuracy and reliability. This paper presents a formal verification approach leveraging Object Constraint Language (OCL) to enforce BPMN structural correctness, aligning with Agile principles by enabling early error detection and refinement. Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques are employed to automate the translation of BPMN standard rules into OCL constraints, enhancing model validation
Lived experiences with inclusive education from the perspective of a pupil with visual impairment and his mother—a case study
No full textIn 2016, there was an important legislative change toward inclusive education (IE) in the Czech Republic, affecting students with different types of Special Educational Needs (SEN) such as visual impairment (VI). As no prior research has investigated the experiences of IE for Czech pupils with VI and their parents, we conducted this phenomenological case study to understand the experiences of a boy with VI and his mother in relation to IE at primary school. Methods: The case study was based on Van Manen's methodology, using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. The results (eight themes) show the importance of family support and parental engagement, which helped to overcome some of the education system's shortcomings (e.g., the teacher's unwillingness to cooperate with the family). However, the mother expressed fears about her son's education as he gets older. The boy experienced satisfaction with his education and was proud of his achievements thus far. The case study showed that pupils with VI and their parents may face specific barriers associated with the availability of assistive technologies for VI, and limited provision of support for self-care and orientation. Importantly, these barriers may extend to students with other types of SEN, such as limited awareness of appropriate teaching strategies for pupils with SEN or challenging attitudes of teachers. Involving parents in the educational process may serve as a strategy to overcome these barriers and facilitate inclusion in mainstream settings
The Impact of State Depression on Proactive Control and Distractor Processing in a Memory Task: An Electrophysiological Study
No full text(1) Background: Individuals with high levels of state depression are hypothesized to have an impairment of attentional control functions necessary for filtering irrelevant information. This study used the event-related potential of early PD, a marker of distractor suppression, and N2pc, an indicator of attentional capture to investigate whether high state depression affects selective attention in ignoring or suppressing distractors. (2) Methods: Thirty-three undergraduate students completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) and performed a modified, delayed match-to-sample task. Participants encoded abstract shapes under low or high perceptual load conditions in the visual working memory while ignoring a lateralized Chinese character as a task-irrelevant singleton distractor. (3) Results: Individuals with high state depression failed to suppress the distractor, as evidenced by the absence of early PD. Under low perceptual loads, they also displayed a significant N2pc component, indicating attentional allocation to the distractor. In contrast, low-state-depression participants successfully suppressed the distractor, showing early PD and the absence of N2pc. (4) Conclusions: These findings suggest that high-state-depression individuals have an impairment in top–down attentional control, particularly in feature-based selective attention. This deficit hinders the ability to filter out irrelevant information, potentially contributing to cognitive difficulties associated with depression
Islamic Ethics and AI: An Evaluation of Existing Approaches to AI using Trusteeship Ethics:Islamic Ethics and AI: An Evaluation of Existing Approaches to AI using Trusteeship Ethics
No full textArtificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are revolutionising key sectors such as healthcare, finance, and governance, while raising ethical challenges, including algorithmic bias, privacy violations, and environmental sustainability. Dominant Western ethical paradigms, such as Luciano Floridi’s Information Ethics, emphasise procedural integrity and transparency but often lack spiritual and metaphysical grounding prevalent in global traditions. Most approaches to Islamic ethics for AI have employed Maqasid al-Shariah (objectives of Islamic law) and Qawaid Fiqhiyya (legal maxims), that apply legal principles to ethical questions but face limitations in addressing the complexities of emerging technologies especially that they, initially, were developed to address problems in Islamic law and not in Ethics. This paper introduces the prospects of Taha Abdurrahman’s I’timāni (trusteeship) framework as a unified ethical model for AI technologies. Rooted in the concept of divine trust (amana), the framework integrates three foundational covenants—Ontological, Epistemological, and Existential—offering a comprehensive vision of human responsibility toward God, knowledge, and creation. This approach provides ways to prioritise moral accountability with actionable governance strategies, as we demonstrate its practical applicability. We show that from the Islamic perspective, a philosophy of ethics approach is not only more appropriate, but more promising and comprehensive than ones based on jurisprudential rulings, as combating the ethical concerns of data-driven AI in a neoliberal environment requires an overhaul in worldview with cross-cultural respect and care for all
Mental Health Literacy in Adults: Turkish Mothers’ Knowledge of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Get PDF© 2025, Hogrefe. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Kindheit und Entwicklung uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self- archiving policy. The final published version (version of record) is available online at the link. Some minor differences between this version and the final published version may remain. We suggest you refer to the final published version should you wish to cite from it