The influence of cultural friction on foreign divestment of multinational enterprises--the moderating role of formal institutional distance and political connections.

Multinational enterprises frequently divest their foreign assets in the current economic environment. Existing research, based on friction theory, has mainly focused on the impacts of political and economic disparities on foreign divestment while neglecting the nuanced influence of cultural factors. To address this gap, this paper draws on the cultural friction perspective to capture the diverse cultural resistance faced by each enterprise and explore the relationship between cultural friction and foreign divestment. Data from Chinese publicly listed enterprises engaged in foreign investment are leveraged, and a dual-level analysis is conducted using Logit panel regression and Cox survival analysis to examine the relationship between cultural friction and foreign divestment from both the viewpoints of the parent company and the overseas subsidiary. Additionally, the paper examines the marginal factors that affect the relationship between them from an institutional perspective. The findings reveal that cultural friction has a positive influence on the propensity of multinational enterprises to divest from foreign markets. Interestingly, a "formal institutional distance paradox" is demonstrated in our study, and politically connected enterprises are found to be more vulnerable to foreign divestment due to the "curse of political affiliations".

Perceptions and barriers about mental health services among Pacific Islanders: An interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Every year, millions of Americans do not receive needed mental health (MH) services. Although Pacific Islanders (PI) have a high need for MH services, this group has the lowest rate of MH care help seeking. This is especially concerning as the rate of suicide has been increasing within the PI community. This study explored how Pacific Islanders think about MH supports, including their attitudes toward and perceptions of barriers to receiving MH services. An interpretative phenomenological analysis focus group study was conducted with cross-generational Pacific Islanders residing in one western state. The findings include (a) PI perceptions that MH help seeking results in family burdensomeness, stigma, and shame; (b) negotiating PI social customs and beliefs related to MH help seeking, care, and support; and (c) PI mistrust of institutional resources. These themes seemed to interact with each other and create perpetuate barriers which prevent help-seeking behaviors. Clinical and research implications will be provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining the pedagogical practices that support cultural proficiency development in graduate health science students.

BACKGROUND: Health disparities are often a function of systemic discrimination and healthcare providers' biases. In recognition of this, health science programs have begun to offer training to foster cultural proficiency (CP) in future professionals. However, there is not yet consensus about the best ways to integrate CP into didactic and clinical education, and little is known about the role of clinical rotations in fostering CP. METHODS: Here, a mixed-methods approach was used to survey students (n = 131) from a private all-graduate level osteopathic health sciences university to gain insight into the training approaches students encountered related to CP and how these may vary as a function of academic progression. The research survey included instruments designed to quantify students' implicit associations, beliefs, and experiences related to the CP training they encountered through the use of validated instruments, including Implicit Association Tests and the Ethnocultural Empathy Inventory, and custom-designed questions. RESULTS: The data revealed that most students (73%) had received CP training during graduate school which primarily occurred via discussions, lectures, and readings; however, the duration and students' perception of the training varied substantially (e.g., training range = 1-100 hours). In addition, while students largely indicated that they valued CP and sought to provide empathetic care to their patients, they also expressed personal understandings of CP that often fell short of advocacy and addressing personal and societal biases. The results further suggested that clinical rotations may help students attenuate implicit biases but did not appear to be synergistic with pre-clinical courses in fostering other CP knowledge, skills, and attitudes. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the need to utilize evidence-based pedagogical practices to design intentional, integrated, and holistic CP training throughout health science programs that employ an intersectional lens and empowers learners to serve as advocates for their patients and address systemic challenges.

Equity and gender mainstreaming in public policy: A scoping review protocol.

BACKGROUND: Despite growing attention paid to health equity and efforts to promote gender mainstreaming-a global strategy to promote gender equality-how policymakers have 'institutionalized' this in their work is less clear. Therefore, this planned scoping review seeks to search the peer-reviewed and grey literature to compile evidence on the ways in which policymakers have routinely or systematically considered equity and/or gender in their work. METHODS: A scoping review will be undertaken by drawing on the PRISMA guidelines for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). With the expert guidance of a research librarian, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, PAIS Index, and Scopus databases will be searched, in addition to custom Google searches of government documents. The search will be conducted from 1995 and onwards, as there were no hits prior to this date that included the term "gender mainstream*" in these databases. The inclusion criterion is that: (i) texts must provide information on how equity and/or gender has been considered by government officials in the development of public policy in a routine or systematic manner (e.g., descriptive, empirical); (ii) both texts produced by government or not (e.g., commentary about government action) will be included; (iii) there are no restrictions on study design or article type (i.e., commentaries, reports, and other documents, would all be included); and (iv) texts must be published in English due to resource constraints. However, texts that discuss the work of nongovernmental or intergovernmental organizations will be excluded. Data will be charted by: bibliographic information, including the authors, year, and article title; country the text discussed; and a brief summary on the approach taken. DISCUSSION: This protocol was developed to improve rigour in the study design and to promote transparency by sharing our methods with the broader research community. This protocol will support a scoping review of the ways in which policymakers have routinely or systematically considered equity and/or gender in their work. We will generate findings to inform government efforts to initiate, sustain, and improve gender and equity mainstreaming approaches in policymaking.

Greening the economy: how culture values shape environmental policies in America and Europe.

This research explores the theory that cultural factors shape how people feel about the environment. Both theoretical and empirical approaches are used in our investigation of this problem. In the theoretical part of the study, we provide a model for transferring cultural practices from one generation to the next. To provide empirical evidence for the existence of this cultural factor in environmental views, we analyze survey data from the European Values Research. Using a comparative method, we use differences caused by migration patterns in Europe and America. According to our research, cultural influences on migrants' ecological beliefs are long-lasting and statistically significant. Variations in migrants' environmental views may be traced back to societal norms that endure in their home countries. We also demonstrate that ecological views are robust in the face of incentives originating from the external environment, demonstrating that migrants' choices in the host nation are not much influenced by the environmental circumstances they were exposed to in their home countries. We uncover fascinating variations in the cultural transfer procedure, and our results hold up under various hypotheses. These findings suggest that, in light of the prevalence of ecological problems requiring community action, it is crucial to formulate policies that consider the factors that led to the development of ecological cultures.

Influence of digital finance on export green-sophistication.

The export green-sophistication (EGS) is not only an important engine for the high-quality development of China's economy but also the external embodiment of the core international competitiveness and the key to resisting external competition and realizing the upgrade of the value chain. Using the database of China's digital finance development, China's A-share listed enterprises, and the China Customs database, we test the relationship between digital finance (DF) and the EGS of enterprises. It shows that DF significantly promotes listed enterprises' EGS, and compared to the depth of use of DF and digitization degree of DF, the promotion effect of coverage breadth of DF is the most significant. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect is more conspicuous for promoting the EGS in private enterprises, general trade enterprises, central and western regions' enterprises, and enterprises exporting to developed countries. The mechanism test finds that alleviating financing constraints and promoting green technological innovation are the two channels for DF to promote the enterprises' EGS. This study not only advances the understanding of the economic effects of DF but also implies the green transformation of China's exports.

We built this culture (so we can change it): Seven principles for intentional culture change.

Calls for culture change abound. Headlines regularly feature calls to change the "broken" or "toxic" cultures of institutions and organizations, and people debate which norms and practices across society are now defunct. As people blame current societal problems on culture, the proposed fix is "culture change." But what is culture change? How does it work? Can it be effective? This article presents a novel social psychological framework for intentional culture change-actively and deliberately modifying the mutually reinforcing features of a culture. Synthesizing insights from research and application, it proposes an integrated, evidence-based perspective centered around seven core principles for intentional culture change: Principle 1: People are culturally shaped shapers, so they can be culture changers; Principle 2: Identifying, mapping, and evaluating the key levels of culture helps locate where to target change; Principle 3: Culture change happens in both top-down and bottom-up ways and is more effective when the levels are in alignment; Principle 4: Culture change can be easier when it leverages existing core values and harder when it challenges deep-seated defaults and biases; Principle 5: Culture change typically involves power struggles and identity threats; Principle 6: Cultures interact with one another and change can cause backlash, resistance, and clashes; and Principle 7: Timing and readiness matter. While these principles may be broadly used, here they are applied to the issue of social inequality in the United States. Even though culture change feels particularly daunting in this problem area, it can also be empowering-especially when people leverage evidence-based insights and tools to reimagine and rebuild their cultures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Country experiences of applying behavioural and cultural insights to health: qualitative baseline study

This report summarizes the conclusions of an interview study with public health authorities in Europe and Central Asia, exploring the barriers and drivers to advancing the use of behavioural and cultural insights (BCI) for health. With a regional WHO resolution related to this field and a regional 5-year plan with five concrete strategic commitments, WHO Regional Office for Europe jointly with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in January–February 2023 wished to gain a deeper understanding and context to the official reporting. The findings highlighted commitment to and optimism about BCI-related work and indicated that the WHO regional resolution, BCI action framework and reporting requirements are drivers of change. Barriers to advancing BCI work were related to skills (behavioural science, problem definition, trialling and impact evaluation, and translating evidence into policy or interventions); staff, funding and time; communicating messages to decisionmakers; bridging processes for research and decision-making; and organizational culture. Suggestions for possible solutions included the use of case examples to demonstrate the impact and value of BCI-related work; training; funding and staff; and awareness raising among decision-makers. Regional and international partners were asked to establish networking structures; ensure advocacy; collate good practice and case examples; and offer training and capacity-building.

Sustainable behaviours for environment and health challenges: Behavioural and Cultural Insights policy brief

Behaviours are central to many environmental and health challenges, including actions by individuals, communities, commerce, industry and health service providers. Infrastructure, service and information provision, legislation, and regulation all play critical roles in enabling, supporting and promoting positive behaviours for a sustainable future. Behavioural and cultural insights (BCI) provide an approach to systematically understand behaviour and facilitate the changes needed to disrupt the negative impacts and promote positive environmental impacts on our health. This policy brief explores how a BCI approach can improve outcomes by increasing understanding of behavioural and cultural determinants, and by creating more evidence-based and cost-effective policies and interventions to address environment and health challenges.

Beyond Mentalizing: Epistemic Trust and the Transmission of Culture.

We explore the interpersonal origins of human culture, arguing that culture emerges as a necessary consequence of our helplessness in infancy, which in turn requires a greater degree of collaboration and social organization than is necessary for other mammals. We propose a model of cultural transmission that depends on a dyadic interpersonal process whose vicissitudes can have a lifelong impact. We explore the role played by imagining subjectively experienced psychological states and processes in others, which we have defined as mentalizing, in the process of cultural transmission, and propose that mentalizing is key to the establishment of epistemic trust-that is to say, an experience of trust that enables the individual to absorb and use the knowledge they are being offered. We suggest that psychoanalysis can be viewed as a paradigmatic example of a process of transferring knowledge from one human being (the teacher, the caregiver, the analyst) to another (the learner, the young person, the patient) and argue that the mechanisms of psychic change in analysis cannot be fully understood without appreciating this aspect of the biological/evolutionary origins of our essential humanity. Finally, we discuss the clinical implications of the model we are proposing for the psychoanalytic process.

Enhancing health outcomes for Maori elders through an intergenerational cultural exchange and physical activity programme: a cross-sectional baseline study.

Background: The study offers baseline data for a strengths-based approach emphasizing intergenerational cultural knowledge exchange and physical activity developed through a partnership with kaumatua (Maori elders) and kaumatua service providers. The study aims to identify the baseline characteristics, along with correlates of five key outcomes. Methods: The study design is a cross-sectional survey. A total of 75 kaumatua from six providers completed two physical functioning tests and a survey that included dependent variables based in a holistic model of health: health-related quality of life (HRQOL), self-rated health, spirituality, life satisfaction, and loneliness. Results: The findings indicate that there was good reliability and moderate scores on most variables. Specific correlates included the following: (a) HRQOL: emotional support (ß = 0.31), and frequent interaction with a co-participant (ß = 0.25); (b) self-rated health: frequency of moderate exercise (ß = 0.32) and sense of purpose (ß = 0.27); (c) spirituality: sense of purpose (ß = 0.46), not needing additional help with daily tasks (ß = 0.28), and level of confidence with cultural practices (ß = 0.20); (d) life satisfaction: sense of purpose (ß = 0.57), frequency of interaction with a co-participant (ß = -0.30), emotional support (ß = 0.25), and quality of relationship with a co-participant (ß = 0.16); and (e) lower loneliness: emotional support (ß = 0.27), enjoyment interacting with a co-participant (ß = 0.25), sense of purpose (ß = 0.24), not needing additional help with daily tasks (ß = 0.28), and frequency of moderate exercise (ß = 0.18). Conclusion: This study provides the baseline scores and correlates of important social and health outcomes for the He Huarahi Tautoko (Avenue of Support) programme, a strengths-based approach for enhancing cultural connection and physical activity.

Arts and culture engagement for health: a Danish population-based study.

OBJECTIVES: Global health challenges are complex and new approaches are pivotal. Engagement in arts and cultural activities is commonplace across different cultures, and research shows associations with benefits for health and wellbeing. Using the arts for health promotion and prevention of illness has increased worldwide. STUDY DESIGN: A population-based study. METHODS: Data were obtained from the Danish Health and Wellbeing Survey in 2019. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to 14,000 randomly selected adults (aged ≥15 years). The questionnaire included items on self-rated health and frequency of participation in various cultural activities (concerts or musical events; participation in a choir, band, or orchestra; theatre show or other performing arts; cinema; art museum or exhibition; library). A cultural participation index was calculated based on the six questions on cultural activities. Logistic regression models were fitted to examine the associations between the index and good self-rated health, adjusting for relevant covariates. RESULTS: In total, 6629 individuals completed the questionnaire (47.4%). The most frequent activity, used at least once a month, was visiting a library. A strong association between the cultural participation index and self-reported health was observed. A one-point-higher index score was associated with a 10% higher likelihood of having good self-reported health (adjusted odds ratio: 1.10; 95% confidence interval: 1.08-1.12). CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the understanding that engagement in arts and cultural activities is beneficial for self-rated good health. Individuals with higher frequency of arts and culture engagement were more likely to report good health than those with lower engagement.

How Culture Impacts Health: The Hispanic Narrative.

The Hispanic population is the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the United States, and is disproportionately impacted by health problems, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and unintentional injuries. Factors contributing to these disparities include cultural practices, lack of access to health care, language barriers, and a lack of cultural competence by health-care providers. Family, religion, and gender roles play an essential part in the cultural heritage of Hispanic people, which heavily impacts health outcomes in this population. Nurses must be knowledgeable about the impact of culture on health to dismantle racial/ethnic health disparities and deliver equitable and high-quality care to individuals, families, and communities. This narrative aims to introduce some fundamental cultural factors and beliefs in the Hispanic culture that impact health. It also seeks to provide insights into culturally sensitive practices, to promote quality nursing care and address health disparities within this population.

Valuing indigenous quality of life: A review of preference-based quality of life instruments and elicitation techniques with global older indigenous populations.

Indigenous perspectives of quality of life (QoL) are different to that of non-Indigenous populations. Determining how to identify and value what is important to QoL for people from diverse cultural backgrounds is crucial for assessing effective outcomes for quality assessment and health economic evaluation to guide evidence-based decision making. This is particularly important for older Indigenous people who have complex care and support needs within health and aged-care systems. This scoping review aims to assess the existing literature in this field by firstly identifying preference based instruments that have been applied with older Indigenous peoples and secondly, exploring the extent to which existing preference based instruments applied with older Indigenous peoples encompass older Indigenous peoples QoL perspectives in their design and application. The inclusion criteria for the review were studies using preference based QoL instruments with an Indigenous population where the cohort was aged 50 years or over. This resulted in the critical analysis of 12 studies. The review identified that preference based QoL instruments have rarely been applied to date with older Indigenous populations with most instruments found to be designed for non-Indigenous adults. Typically, instruments have not incorporated Indigenous worldviews of QoL into either the content of the descriptive system or the elicitation techniques and corresponding value sets generated. To encapsulate Indigenous cultural perspectives accurately in economic evaluation, further research is required as to how QoL domains in preference based instruments for Indigenous peoples can be reflective of Indigenous perspectives. It is imperative that the QoL preferences of older Indigenous peoples are adequately captured within preference based QoL instruments applied with this population.

The Choctaw Nation's Growing Hope Program.

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma's Historic Preservation Department (HPD) and the Center for Indigenous Health Equity (CIIHE) are partnering to implement and evaluate food sovereignty interventions to better understand the potential impact of such programs on individual and community health. The HPD's Growing Hope Program is a food sovereignty initiative that aims to restore traditional Choctaw gardens, which were once a physical, social, and cultural center of Choctaw life. The program combines heirloom seeds and the stories of their origins, gardening education and technical assistance, cooking classes, and a Choctaw youth internship program to support intergenerational knowledge and the restoration of culture and food security. Since its inception the program has provided Choctaw families with ancestral Choctaw cultivar seeds and provided the technical assistance to support the growing of sustainable, healthy, traditional Choctaw foods.

Supporting Traditional Foodways Knowledge and Practices in Alaska Native Communities: The Elders Mentoring Elders Camp.

The transmission of generational knowledge in Alaska Native communities has been disrupted by colonization and led to declining health among Alaska Natives, as evidenced by the loss of knowledge regarding traditional foods and foodways and increasing rates of cardiometabolic disorders impacting Alaska Natives. Elders play a central role in passing down this generational knowledge, but emerging Elders may have difficulty in stepping into their roles as Elders due to the rapid social and cultural changes impacting their communities. The Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) and the Denakkanaaga Elders Program are partnering with the Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity to uplift and support traditional food knowledge and practices to promote health in Alaska Native communities. Guided by a decolonizing and Indigenizing framework, researchers at CANHR are working with Athabascan Elders in the Interior of Alaska to strengthen and protect the intergenerational transmission of cultural knowledge and practices for emerging Elders. This community-academic partnership will implement and evaluate an Elders Mentoring Elders Camp to focus on repairing and nurturing relationships through the practice and preservation of cultural knowledge and practices, including traditional foodways. This initiative contributes to the intergenerational transmission of knowledge, which is necessary to keep culture alive and thriving.

Growing Kalo (Taro) in the Continental United States.

As an increasing number of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults move to the continental United States, the development and implementation of resources that promote access to cultural foods and support food sovereignty on the continent is crucial to perpetuate cultural practice and connection to the 'aina (land that feeds). Kalo (taro) is an important cultural food central to Native Hawaiian identity. Native Hawaiians connect their genealogy as far back to the cultivation of kalo and the creation of kalo itself. In this practice note, we describe the creation of a mala kalo (cultivated field for taro) in Oregon by the Ka'aha Lahui O 'Olekona Hawaiian Civic Club. An ongoing project over the past 3 years, the creation of a mala kalo exceeded expectations. Not only did the mala allow the cultivation of kalo outside of Hawaii, the mala became a place for the community to unite toward common goals of connecting with the land, promoting mental health, and creating a sense of place in their diaspora. This project indicates that not only is the creation of mala kalo in Oregon feasible, it may also be an important opportunity for the growing number of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders adults living on the continent to improve health outcomes through connections with cultural foods and practices.

Culture, religion and gender: considerations in facing migration related health inequalities in Italy.

BACKGROUND: The presence in Italy of a significant foreign population (5-6 million including both formally residents and not officially registered ones) introduces significant transformations in the Italian demography with important challenges on ensuring fundamental rights including work, education and above all, health. Access to healthcare. Issues common to the entire migrant population concern the difficulty of accessing the health system of the host country due to the lack of knowledge of its rules and its functioning, the linguistic and cultural barriers and the distrust towards a system that is not recognized as his own, as well as the difficulties and misunderstandings encountered in the relationship with health professionals. Religion, culture and gender may even increase these difficulties. Conlusion and future perspective. Culture and religion should be taken into account when designing and implementing healthcare services and healthcare workers need to be trained in acknowledging these challenges. The National Health Service should become more sensitive to the increasing cultural and religious pluralism of patients starting with investing more in the training of health professionals.

Views about perceived training needs of health care professionals in relation to socially assistive robots: an international online survey.

BACKGROUND: As Artificial Intelligence and social robots are increasingly used in health and social care, it is imperative to explore the training needs of the workforce, factoring in their cultural background. OBJECTIVES: Explore views on perceived training needs among professionals around the world and how these related to country cultures. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, descriptive, mixed-methods international online survey. METHODS: Descriptive statistical analysis explored the ranking across countries and relationships with three Hofstede cultural dimensions. Thematic analysis was conducted on the open-ended text responses. RESULTS: A sample of N = 1284 participants from eighteen countries. Knowing the capabilities of the robots was ranked as the top training need across all participating countries and this was also reflected in the thematic analysis. Participants' culture, expressed through three Hofstede's dimensions, revealed statistically significant ranking differences. CONCLUSIONS: Future research should further explore other factors such as the level of digital maturity of the workplace. IMPACT STATEMENT: Training needs of health and social care staff to use robotics are fast growing and preparation should factor in patient safety and be based on the principles of person- and culture-centred care.