Search Results (2,518)

Background: Micromanagement is an extensively prevalent yet relatively under-theorized management process in healthcare organizations. This narrative review synthesizes the literature on micromanagement and related leadership practices in healthcare, focusing on its antecedents, manifestations, consequences, and mitigation strategies. Methods: A structured literature search was conducted on 10 May 2024 across eight electronic databases. Eligible studies included qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, and applied studies published between 2003 and 2024. The main outcomes were the underlying causes and behavioral measures of micromanagement, examined directly, or closely related constructs such as excessive supervision, reduced autonomy, authoritarian leadership, toxic leadership, and controlling managerial behavior. The secondary outcomes involved organizational and patient-related effects and their respective interventions. Results: A total of twelve studies were selected. The identified antecedents of micromanagement were authoritarian leadership styles, autocratic and toxic leadership personality traits, overly intrusive supervisory practices, poor employee empowerment, complicated regulation, unclear definition of professional roles, and inherent structural challenges. Micromanagement behavior was seen in authoritative decision-making, transactional supervision, systematic reduction in employee autonomy, and institutionalized distrust. The consequences recorded include high levels of occupational stress, poor organizational productivity, poor quality of healthcare services, high employee turnover rates, and psychological problems. Conclusions: This review represents a preliminary conceptual synthesis of the literature that addresses micromanagement in healthcare. The evidence base is inconsistent, with many studies focusing on constructs that relate to micromanagement while not studying it directly. In future research, validated tools to assess micromanagement should be designed, as well as leadership interventions that benefit both workplace and patient outcomes. Full article

Ulomoides dermestoides (Yangchong) is a tenebrionid beetle used in traditional medicine across Asia and Latin America. While crude extracts show effects on inflammation, oxidative stress, and other conditions, systematic integration of its bioactive substances, mechanisms, and translational potential is lacking. This review consolidates its chemical basis, comprising volatile benzoquinones, terpenes, and alkenes, alongside non-volatile fatty acids, proteins (antioxidant enzymes, glycoproteins), and phenolics. Pharmacological evidence indicates multi-target modulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), cytokines, leukocyte recruitment, endothelial activation, and thromboinflammation. Recent advances include proteomic identification of antioxidant protein complexes, neuroprotection in a Parkinson’s disease model, chromosome-level genome assembly, and isolation of the UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase 2a (UGP2A) glycoprotein, which alleviates thrombosis partly via toll-like receptor 4/myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (TLR4/MyD88)-mediated endothelial anti-inflammatory effects. However, most evidence remains preclinical, relying on non-standardized crude extracts, and benzoquinone-containing fractions display potential cytotoxicity and genotoxicity. Future research should integrate bioassay-guided isolation, structural characterization, multi-omics, pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) analysis, standardized quality markers, and rigorous safety evaluation to transform U. dermestoides from an empirical insect-derived medicinal resource into a scientifically validated source of preclinical antioxidant and anti-inflammatory candidate substances. Full article

Digital inclusive finance (DIF) is gradually becoming an important driver of the high-quality development of rural industries. Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2013 to 2023, building the high-quality development of rural industries index system and the digital new quality productivity (DNQP) index system, this study tests the impact and mechanisms of DIF on the high-quality development of rural industries. The main results show that DIF significantly promotes the high-quality development of rural industries. Furthermore, DIF facilitates this development by fostering DNQP. The study also identifies threshold effects, with DIF and DNQP serving as threshold variables. Additionally, the study examines the heterogeneity of the empowerment effect, demonstrating that this promoting effect is more pronounced in non-major grain-producing areas and regions with high-level fiscal support for agriculture. The findings provide theoretical and empirical evidence to support sustainable rural industrial development and offer policy implications for leveraging digital finance in rural contexts. Full article

The digital economy has become an emerging driver of rural industrial revitalization. Based on an input-output model and a production-network framework, this study first constructs time-series input-output tables for the digital economy and urban-rural industries from 2002 to 2021. It then identifies key recipient nodes, urban-rural disparity paths, and priority optimization paths of digital value flows. The results show that urban-rural disparities in digital empowerment have narrowed, but the digital divide between urban and rural industries remains substantial. The direct integration of the digital economy into rural industries is still limited, whereas urban-rural industrial integration plays an important mediating role. At the same time, the urban-rural disparity paths in digitally enabled rural industrial revitalization are mainly concentrated in rural capital allocation, asset services, circulation systems, basic agricultural production, and agricultural science and technology services. The counterfactual simulations show that prioritizing the direct embedding of the digital economy into rural manufacturing, agricultural value chains, and public-service sectors, while improving coordinated transmission between urban and rural industries, can strengthen the overall empowerment effect. These findings provide empirical support for more precise and targeted policies to promote rural industrial revitalization through the digital economy. Full article

The security of new energy vehicle (NEV) industry chains has become a strategic issue for industrial competitiveness, the energy transition, and economic security. This study examines how digital economy capabilities jointly support NEV industry chain security across 30 provincial-level administrative regions in China. Drawing on Organizational Information Processing Theory and Dynamic Capability Theory, we conceptualize artificial intelligence capability (AIC), big data analytics capability (BDA), cloud computing infrastructure (CCI), and blockchain application level (BCL) as complementary information-processing and reconfiguration capabilities. We combine Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA), fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), and Random Forest/SHAP analysis. The revised results show that AIC is a practically necessary condition for supply chain resilience, BDA is a necessary condition for achieving a high cybersecurity level, and BCL is a dimension-specific necessary condition for data security. Four sufficient configurational paths—technology-driven, data-driven, infrastructure-driven, and security-synergistic—lead to high comprehensive NEV industry chain security. Robustness checks using alternative calibration anchors and consistency thresholds show that the core configurations are stable. A revised machine learning specification using only digital economy predictors confirms the high relative importance of AIC. It also shows that the marginal contribution of AIC tends to flatten beyond the upper-middle range. The findings provide a configurational and regionally differentiated perspective on digital economy empowerment while avoiding overgeneralization beyond the Chinese provincial context. Full article

Nighttime destinations, characterized by distinctive lighting, atmosphere, and activities, provide rich cognitive stimuli for university students. However, university students’ cognition regarding authenticity within such settings remains underexplored. Grounded in psychological empowerment theory, and the cognition–affect–conation framework, this study investigates how university students’ perceptions of objective and existential authenticity (i.e., intrapersonal and interpersonal) in a nighttime destination coincide with the meaning of nighttime destination and subsequent critical reflection. It further investigates the moderating role of nocturnal escapism between the meaning of nighttime destination and critical reflection. Using survey data from 764 university students at the “City of Sleepless in the Song Dynasty,” this research employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The results indicate that intrapersonal authenticity shows the strongest association with the meaning of nighttime destination and critical reflection. The fsQCA reveals four distinct configurations consistently associated with high critical reflection, highlighting configurational complexity. This study offers insights into university students’ cognition of nighttime destination authenticity and discusses perceived experiential qualities that may coincide with critical reflection. Full article

This study examines the rituals and identity formation processes of a women’s motorcycle group in Adana (Türkiye) through an autoethnographic perspective. While motorcycles are often associated with male-dominated cultures, women riders have increasingly established their own communities and collective practices. Drawing on participant observation, the study introduces the concept of “ethnomotography” to describe autoethnographic research conducted within motorcycle culture. Data were collected through long-term participation in group activities, meetings, rallies, and everyday interactions as a member of the group between September 2022 and June 2024. The findings demonstrate that group identity is constructed and maintained through a series of rituals that resemble “rites of passage”. These rituals include initiation processes, the symbolic use of club insignia and vests, participation in weekly meetings and rallies, collective social responsibility projects, and mechanisms regulating membership continuity. The findings demonstrate that these rituals function as cultural mechanisms through which belonging, solidarity, and collective identity are produced. At the same time, the study shows that while the women’s motorcycle group provides an important space for mutual support, visibility, and empowerment within a predominantly male motorcycle culture, it also selectively reproduces organizational norms commonly associated with motorcycle clubs. Finally, the study suggests that belonging may persist beyond formal organizational membership, indicating that ritual participation produces identities that extend beyond institutional boundaries. By introducing ethnomotography as a perspective for studying motorcycle cultures from within, this research contributes to discussions of ritual, gender and identity. Full article

Background: While the consumer experience of psychosis has received significant attention in Western research, a substantial gap exists regarding the experiences of women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). In this context, religious, cultural, familial, and gender-specific factors uniquely shape the experience of psychosis, help-seeking behaviors, and recovery. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of Saudi women with psychosis across three phases: first-episode onset, hospitalization or follow-up, and community living after discharge. Methods: This hermeneutic phenomenological study, guided by van Manen’s methodology, employed all six lifeworld existentials: lived space, lived body, lived time, lived self-other, lived thing, and lived cyborg. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 women diagnosed with psychosis at two hospitals in Riyadh, KSA. Data collection included 13 audio-recorded interviews and eight documented via field notes, supplemented by creative methods such as drawings, poems, and written texts analyzed using van Manen’s vocative method. All Arabic data were professionally translated and verified for accuracy. Results: Three overarching themes emerged. First, women’s lived experiences of first-episode psychosis highlighted the process of understanding causes and developing insight during onset. Second, experiences during admission and follow-up revealed the impact of clinical encounters, nursing care, and the critical need for therapeutic healing spaces. Third, living with psychosis in the community emphasized the complexities of medication adherence, family dynamics, and the pursuit of recovery through education, employment, and religious practice. Conclusions: The participants articulated user-based recovery perspectives, including empowerment, shared decision-making, and hope, which contrasted sharply with the service-based approaches they received. Culturally specific stressors and pervasive stigma shaped every phase of their journey. To the authors’ knowledge, no prior study has examined this population using a hermeneutic phenomenological framework; these findings provide a women-focused, culturally situated evidence base for developing gender-specific recovery models and enhanced discharge planning within the KSA mental health system. Full article

Background and Purpose: Contemporary digital government initiatives in China face a well-documented real-world paradox: massive fiscal outlays on digital governance coexist with marked disequilibrium in regional innovation returns. Two structural mismatches define this paradox. First, local governments overwhelmingly prioritize high-visibility hardware investments such as data centers and large AI models, while neglecting deep-seated institutional reforms including cross-departmental business process reengineering and factor market liberalization. The pervasive phenomenon of “aggregated but non-interoperable data, and interoperable data left unused” reflects a severe asynchrony between rapid technological deployment and lagging institutional restructuring. Second, comparable digital investments yield vastly divergent innovation dividends across eastern, central, and western regions, with regional divergence entrenching into a rigid “higher in the east lower in the west, higher in the south lower in the north” pattern. Extant literature, largely confined to the lens of “instrumental rationality,” reduces digital government to an exogenous technological variable, leaving it unable to explain this core practical puzzle of “homogeneous inputs generating heterogeneous returns.” Moving beyond the narrow “technology-enabled governance” narrative, this study draws on the Digital-Era Governance (DEG) paradigm to investigate the actual impact of institutional restructuring on regional scientific and technological innovation capacity, aiming to provide empirical evidence to unlock the inefficiency lock-in prevalent in digital governance practices. Research Methods: This study uses 280 prefecture-level cities and above in China from 2018 to 2023 as the research sample and constructs a two-way fixed-effects model for benchmark regression analysis. To address endogeneity, the average level of digital government development in other cities within the same province is used as an instrumental variable, and the 2SLS method is employed to identify the causal effect. On this basis, a series of robustness checks are conducted, including excluding the special impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, substituting core variable measures, and decomposing the dimensions of the core explanatory variables, to ensure the reliability of the research conclusions. For mechanism identification, the Bootstrap sampling method is used to test the dual mediating effects of “digital industry agglomeration” and “resource misallocation alleviation”; furthermore, moderating effects and heterogeneity analysis models are introduced to reveal the boundary constraints of regional economic development levels and city types on the empowerment effect. Main Findings: Empirical results show that: (1) Digital government construction significantly improves regional scientific and technological innovation capacity, and this conclusion remains valid after endogeneity treatment and robustness checks. (2) Mechanism analysis demonstrates that digital government drives innovation through the dual paths of “promoting digital industry agglomeration” and “alleviating resource misallocation,” with the marginal contribution of alleviating resource misallocation being significantly higher than that of industrial agglomeration. This suggests that, in transitional economies, eliminating institutional frictions in factor mobility brings greater innovation dividends than simply building physical spatial clusters. (3) Moderating effects indicate that the higher the level of regional economic development, the stronger the innovation empowerment effect of digital government. (4) Heterogeneity analysis further reveals that the innovation dividends of digital government are significant only in non-resource-based cities, non-central cities, and large and medium-sized cities, while in resource-based cities, central cities, and small cities, the effects are systematically absorbed and not significant. Research Conclusions and Contributions: This study breaks through the ontological limitations of existing research that views digital government as a technological tool, grounding it within the DEG theoretical framework and confirming that digital government is an institutional force in the reconstruction of regional innovation ecosystems. The findings suggest to policymakers that digital government construction should promote a shift from a “technology-oriented” to an “institution-oriented” approach. The policy focus should shift from mere infrastructure expansion to the elimination of deep-seated institutional frictions, the improvement of factor allocation efficiency, and the advancement of gradients and the implementation of classified governance, all guided by regional economic foundations and heterogeneity characteristics. Full article

Rural entrepreneurship is a key driver of rural economic development. However, limited evidence indicates how financial support affects rural households’ entrepreneurship through integrated mechanisms. Using 2109 micro-survey data points from rural Henan Province, Probit and OLS models were used to examine the impacts, moderating effects, and mediating pathways of formal and informal finance on rural households’ entrepreneurial decision-making and performance. This study makes two contributions. First, it differentiates entrepreneurial decision-making and performance as two stages of the entrepreneurial process. Second, it proposes an integrated three-path framework incorporating one moderating effect (the interaction between financial support and financing constraints) alongside two mediating mechanisms (risk-taking willingness and investment scale), which enables a more refined interpretation of the heterogeneous impacts exerted by financial support throughout distinct entrepreneurial stages. Both formal and informal finance can positively facilitate entrepreneurial decision-making, with formal support having stronger marginal effects. Financial support has varied impacts on rural household entrepreneurship, depending on household income, entrepreneurship type, and region. By alleviating financing constraints and optimizing resource allocation, financial support improves rural households’ entrepreneurial probability and business performance. By enhancing households’ risk-taking willingness and expanding asset investment, this support injects endogenous impetus into rural development. This financial empowerment mechanism can remove entrepreneurship barriers, facilitate the expansion of opportunity-based entrepreneurship, drive rural economic resilience, and promote inclusive, sustainable regional development. Full article

Background: Education and employment are widely promoted as pathways to reducing intimate partner violence (IPV) through enhanced economic independence and bargaining power. However, evidence from settings characterised by entrenched gender inequalities suggests that these structural factors may not uniformly translate into protection. This study examines whether education and employment are associated with women’s experiences of IPV in South Africa. Methods: This study utilised nationally representative data from the South Africa Demographic and Health Survey (N = 2354). Education and employment were used as structural proxies for women’s socioeconomic positioning. Survey-adjusted logistic regression models were employed to estimate associations between these factors and lifetime IPV, controlling for key sociodemographic characteristics. Given the cross-sectional design and the use of lifetime IPV alongside contemporaneous measures of education and employment, findings are interpreted as associative rather than causal. Results: Education and employment were not significantly associated with women’s likelihood of experiencing IPV. Women with these characteristics were not less likely to report emotional, physical, or sexual violence compared to those without them. IPV prevalence was higher among women aged 25–34, those with secondary education, and those in lower wealth households. Marital status emerged as a strong correlate, with separated and divorced women facing substantially higher odds of IPV. Discussion: The absence of a significant association suggests that education and employment alone may be insufficient to reduce IPV risk in contexts where gender norms and relational power imbalances remain entrenched. These findings may also reflect the limitations of using structural indicators as proxies for empowerment, as such measures do not capture decision-making power, control over resources, or intra-household dynamics. Conclusions: Interventions to reduce IPV should extend beyond improving women’s access to education and employment to address relational, normative, and structural drivers of violence. Multidimensional approaches that incorporate gender-transformative strategies and strengthen women’s substantive agency are likely to be more effective. Full article

Background: Physical resilience (PR) plays a critical role in the functional recovery of older adults following fragility fractures, yet individual heterogeneity remains underexplored. Objective: To identify latent profiles of PR among older adults following fragility fractures and to examine their biopsychosocial predictors. Methods: From October 2025 to March 2026, 224 older adults with fragility fractures were recruited using convenience sampling from a tertiary hospital in China. Data were collected using demographic questionnaires, the Physical Resilience Instrument for Older Adults, Perceived Social Support Scale, and General Self-Efficacy Scale. Latent profile analysis identified profiles, followed by multinomial logistic regression examining biopsychosocial predictors. Results: Three distinct resilience profiles emerged: low resilience—physically and mentally vulnerable (31.7%); moderate resilience—limited adaptation (51.5%); and high resilience—potential activated (16.8%). Significant profile predictors included handgrip strength, nutritional risk, marital status, general self-efficacy, and perceived social support (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The distinct heterogeneity of PR among older adults with fragility fractures underscores the necessity for tailored, risk-stratified nursing. In clinical practice, interventions for the highly vulnerable low-resilience group should prioritize multidisciplinary nutritional optimization and early physical rehabilitation. For patients with moderate resilience, integrating spousal support and cognitive-behavioral strategies is crucial to enhance self-efficacy and prevent functional decline. For the high-resilience cohort, leveraging robust social support networks and empowerment-based strategies can maximize their intrinsic recovery potential. Full article

Public housing in the Global South often prioritises the physical delivery of shelter at the expense of the social infrastructures needed to sustain collective life. In Malaysia’s Program Perumahan Rakyat (PPR), participatory efforts are frequently treated as brief consultative exercises that rarely reshape governance relations. This paper reconceptualises iterative participatory urbanism as a process through which community spatial agency is progressively formed through repeated engagement rather than isolated events. Unlike conventional participatory planning or co-production models centred on discrete consultation or project delivery, this approach frames participation as an evolving governance ecology. Drawing on a 12-month embedded case study of the ECHO Project at PPR Sri Cempaka, Kuala Lumpur, the study combines focus group discussions, participatory mapping, co-design workshops, and longitudinal facilitation observations to examine how residents’ relationship to shared space changed over time. Findings reveal a shift from passive expectations of state-led provision toward collective coordination, informal stewardship, and emerging shared governance practices. Spatial agency emerged not through design interventions alone but through relational continuity, visible responsiveness, and evolving shared responsibility. The study contributes to participatory urbanism and spatial agency scholarship while offering a practical framework for housing authorities and urban practitioners to institutionalise community stewardship within state-led housing systems. Full article

Although artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping music education, outcome-oriented quantitative syntheses remain relatively limited. This mixed-methods review examined the effects of AI-assisted music learning on learning motivation, self-regulated learning (SRL), and creative performance, while identifying learner-, task-, and time-related boundary conditions and clarifying how AI support is implemented and experienced. A three-level meta-analysis was used for quantitative integration, complemented by a qualitative synthesis of implementation pathways and learner experiences. Results showed positive trends across all three core domains, with different levels of statistical support and substantial heterogeneity. Learning motivation showed the most robust evidence (g = 1.28), creative performance showed a larger but highly heterogeneous effect (g = 1.21), and SRL showed a preliminary positive trend (g = 0.57). The task complexity × prior ability interaction provided tentative, directional evidence for learner–task fit, mainly for motivational outcomes. Dose-related analyses suggested a possible asynchronous pattern: motivational gains may emerge rapidly in the short term, whereas gains in higher-order cognition may become more evident under sustained intervention. Qualitative synthesis identified three AI implementation pathways—evaluative feedback, generative support, and adaptive personalization—suggesting that effectiveness depends less on technological complexity itself than on aligning AI roles with task demands and learner needs. Future research should strengthen long-term designs, deepen SRL-related evidence, and examine the adaptive effects of different AI roles across diverse music learning contexts. Full article

Severe occupational burnout among inclusive teachers poses a significant threat to building resilient and sustainable inclusive education systems. In the context of educational digital transformation, digital literacy emerges as a vital resource with the potential to reduce excessive job demands. However, the underlying pathways of this protective role remain underexplored. Addressing whether technological empowerment can effectively sustain inclusive educators, this study examined the serial mediating roles of time poverty and inclusive teaching efficacy in the relationship between digital literacy and teacher burnout. Based on a cross-sectional sample of 492 Chinese inclusive teachers, observed-variable path analysis was used to test the theoretical model across three core dimensions of occupational burnout. The results confirmed a full serial mediation model: digital literacy yielded no significant direct association with burnout; instead, its negative relationship with burnout was fully accounted for by lower time poverty and higher inclusive teaching efficacy. Furthermore, heterogeneous indirect pathways emerged across the burnout core dimensions: the indirect link to emotional exhaustion operated exclusively through perceived time poverty, whereas depersonalization and personal accomplishment were associated with both time poverty and teaching efficacy via independent and serial indirect paths. Although this cross-sectional design precludes inferring strict temporal sequences among the variables, these findings indicate that mere technical proficiency is insufficient to sustain teachers’ professional well-being. To effectively alleviate burnout among inclusive educators, digital literacy development must translate into tangible time savings and rebuild their confidence in inclusive teaching practices, thereby sustaining a healthy and effective inclusive teaching workforce. Full article