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This paper describes the process, advantages and limitations of a qualitative methodology for defining and analyzing vulnerabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Implemented in Italy in two sites (Rome and outside Rome, in some small-medium sized municipalities in Latium) in 2021, this investigation employed a mixed digital research tool that was also used simultaneously in four other European countries. Its digital nature encompasses both processes of data collection. Among the most salient is that the pandemic catalyzed new vulnerabilities in addition to exacerbating old ones, particularly economic. Many of the vulnerabilities detected, in fact, are linked to previous situations, such as the uncertainties of labor markets, having in COVID-19 to the greatest negative effects on the most precarious workers (non-regular, part-time, and seasonal). The consequences of the pandemic are also reflected in other forms of vulnerability that appear less obvious, having exacerbated social isolation, not only out of fear of contagion, but because of the psychological challenges posed by containment measures themselves. These measures created not mere discomfort, but behavioral changes characterized by anxiety, fearfulness, and disorientation. More generally, this investigation reveals the strong influence of social determinants throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, creating new forms of vulnerability, as the effects of social, economic, and biological risk factors were compounded, in particular, among already marginalized populations.

BackgroundAlthough it is accepted that long-lasting insecticidal net (LLIN) use is an effective means to prevent malaria, children aged 5 to 15 years do not appear to be sufficiently protected in Madagascar; the malaria prevalence is highest in this age group. The purpose of this research is to summarize recent qualitative studies describing LLIN use among the Malagasy people with a focus on children aged 5–15 years.MethodsQualitative data from three studies on malaria conducted between 2012 and 2016 in 10 districts of Madagascar were analysed. These studies cover all malaria epidemiological profiles and 10 of the 18 existing ethnic groups in Madagascar. A thematic analysis was conducted on the collected data from semi-structured interviews, direct observation data, and informal interviews.ResultsA total of 192 semi-structured interviews were conducted. LLINs are generally perceived positively because they protect the health and well-being of users. However, regional representations of mosquito nets may contribute to LLIN lower use by children over 5 years of age including the association between married status and LLIN use, which leads to the refusal of unmarried young men to sleep under LLINs; the custom of covering the dead with a mosquito net, which leads to fear of LLIN use; and taboos governing sleeping spaces for siblings of opposite sexes, which leads to LLIN shortages in households. Children under 5 years of age are known to be the most vulnerable age group for acquiring malaria and, therefore, are prioritized for LLIN use when there are limited supplies in households. In contrast, children over 5 years of age, who are perceived to be at less risk for malaria, often sleep without LLINs.ConclusionsPerceptions, social practices and regional beliefs regarding LLINs and vulnerability to malaria contribute to the nonuse of LLINs among children over 5 years of age in Madagascar. Modifying LLIN policies to account for these factors may increase LLIN use in this age group and reduce disease burden.

Previous research have opposed secrecy and openness as mutually exclusive processes. In this paper, we suggest a more nuanced approach to secrecy in open innovation, drawing from Philosophy and Sociology. We have conducted a two-year research program in the defense industry, collecting data on the practices of concealment in open innovation activities. We found that focal actors utilize distinct cognitive techniques to decontextualize knowledge in the course of open innovation projects in order to safeguard secrecy while preserving mutual learning. Further, focal actors design contrasted relational approaches to secrecy with their open innovation partners. Such approaches are based on the positions of secrecy boundaries, which are internal or external to the relationship. In fact, actors intentionally make use of the reversible nature of secrecy, balancing inclusion and exclusion of knowledge in partnerships, to meet objectives that sometimes go beyond knowledge protection. Finally, we build on our findings to introduce a capability-based framework of secrecy management in openness processes. This framework, which we call Knowledge Discretion, suggests that actors overcome tensions stemming from secrecy and openness playing on the contextual depth and relational breadth of external knowledge sharing.

This paper was submitted to the Research Network Q “Asian Capitalisms” of the 2019 SASE annual conference in New York and won the 2019 FFJ/SASE Award for the Best Paper on Asia. This research was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP16H03688.; Why does Japan have a large earnings gap between regular and non-regular employment? We attempt to answer this question through the lens of the legitimation of inequality, assuming the possibility that the inequality remains unresolved because it is legitimized due to institutional settings in Japanese society. In this paper, we explore to what extent the inequality is legitimized, as well as how it is legitimized, in Japanese society by analyzing data collected from a comparative vignette survey on the just income of fictitious workers in comparison with South Korea and the United States. The results of multilevel model analysis show that the income gap between regular and non-regular employees is accepted as just in Japan and South Korea. Moreover, non-regular worker respondents think that the income gap should be wider than regular worker respondents do (against their own interests) only in Japan. To some extent, the acceptance of income inequality and its over-acceptance by non-regular workers can be explained by the assumed difference in the duties and opportunities in the workplace between regular and non-regular employees, which is brought about by the male breadwinner model and Japanese firms’ practices to secure the livelihood of employees and their families. Based on the results, we argue that the income inequality between regular and non-regular employment in Japan has a stronger logic of legitimation and, therefore, is more likely to persist than in other countries.

International audience; In the late 1960s, new environmental policies emerged that attempted to reach predetermined emissions standards in a cost effective way: i.e., the ‘standard-and-tax’ approach (Baumol and Oates [1971]) and the market system approach (Dales [1968]). Although they belong to different traditions, namely, Pigovian versus Coasean, and are frequently contrasted in the literature today, these least-cost solutions in fact emerged at the same time and for the same reasons. They both addressed the same dual issue: first, they tried to promote incentives-based policies as opposed to traditional standards that they considered to be inefficient; and at the same time, they attempted to find alternatives to the Pigovian tax, which is optimal but that they considered to be unworkable. So, more broadly, they emerged as a kind of compromise between the direct controls favored by regulators at that time and the idealized Pareto optimal policies.

Engaging in unethical consumption behaviors is an acute societal problem that can have severe consequences for adolescents, and businesses in particular have been accused of making such consumption particularly appealing and accessible. However, the causes of unethical behaviors are not well understood and research on the causes has been mixed. In this research, we investigate the effects of coping strategies for loneliness on adolescents’ adoption of unethical behaviors, a topic that business ethics research has not explored. In a large-scale study (n = 409) of adolescents (ages 13–17), we show that whether loneliness leads to the adoption of unethical behaviors depends on the strategies adolescents use to cope with their loneliness: active coping strategies are associated with fewer unethical behaviors, whereas passive coping strategies are associated with more unethical behaviors. In addition, we show that active and passive coping strategies can be executed through consumption practices. We show that the relation between active coping and fewer unethical behaviors is mediated by sharing of possessions, whereas the relation between passive coping strategies and more unethical behaviors is mediated by product acquisition. Finally, we also show that these mediated relations differ as a function of age cohort (grade level). The indirect effect of active coping on fewer unethical behaviors via sharing holds only for middle school adolescents, whereas the indirect effect of passive coping on more unethical behaviors via product acquisition holds only for high school adolescents. We shed new light on both the bright and dark sides of materialism and unethical behaviors and provide practical implications for research on loneliness, business ethics, and unethical behaviors.

International audience; What causes adolescents to develop consumer’ ethical beliefs? Prior research has largely focused on the negative influence of peers and negative patterns of parent–child interactions to explain risky and unethical consumer behaviors. We take a different perspective by focusing on the positive support of parents and peers in adolescent social development. An integrative model is developed that links parental and peer support with adolescents’ self-worth motives, their materialistic tendencies, and their consumer ethical beliefs. In a study of 984 adolescents, we demonstrate support for a sequential mediation model in which peer and parental support is positively related to adolescents’ self-esteem and feelings of power, which are each associated with decreased materialism as a means of compensating for low self-worth. This reduced materialism is, in turn, associated with more ethical consumer beliefs.

We test the trade finance channel of exports by controlling for the bank credit channel. Using Turkey’s July 2012 adoption of Basel II as a quasi-natural experiment, we examine whether shocks to trade financing costs affect exports. With data for 16,662 Turkish exporters shipping 2,888 different products to 158 countries, we find that the share of letters-of-credit-based exports decreases (increases) when the associated risk weights for counterparty exposure increase (decrease) after the adoption of Basel II. However, growth of firm-product-country-level exports remains unaffected. Trade financing might have a lesser role in exports than previously suggested by the previous literature. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved.

International audience; Coastal area is always a zone with complex problems. Due to the attraction they exert, are facing many social problems. Therefore, a coastal city is usually a city with problems. Its extension, caused by the influx of people from different backgrounds, creates an increased demand for services. One of the problems frequently encountered, especially in Senegal, is access to water. The problem of access to water is poorly treated, without being correlated with the urban evolution, i.e. with increasing population and demand growth. The water resource is facing numerous complications such as the lack of integrated management, integration issues at the governance level, where the local factor is often forgotten. The town of Mbour, object of our study, does not come out of that lot, being an attractive coastal city, from an African country. This indicates the need for an integrated management oriented from local to a global basis and not vice versa. The study presented in this paper indicates that a large proportion of the population has not access to a verified drinking water system and uses water from wells or standpipes. Half of the surveyed population (50%) has no access to a water supply system. The water poverty map of the town overlaps with that of the general poverty excepting few neighborhoods. This means that even areas that are not affected by poverty have a very low or poor access to water, which so far remains the perverse effect of the reform of the Senegalese water sector in 1995.