Countries have taken different measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. However, it is unclear how such measures affect the daily lives of people in different cultural contexts. Using a qualitative research method and the framework of gender roles, this study analyzes the potential effects of the Turkish government’s policies to fight the COVID-19 pandemic on married men and women in Turkey. The respondents answered the open-ended questions developed by the researchers on the Google platform. 20 men (aged 27-54) and 20 women (aged 22-55) participated in the study. The respondents’ experiences were grouped into three themes: gender-related problems; adaptation and new habits/hobbies; and balancing between positive and negative effects. While men stressed the economic effects, women focused on social relations or deeper values of life. The findings were discussed within the framework of Gender Schema Theory and Social Role Theory.

There is an agreement among scholars that we need to prepare students to be ready-for-life, as well as the agreement that the future might be characterized by, broadly defined, diversity. Although the benefits of diversity are numerous and praised, there is also an understanding that diversity on its own does not necessarily mean that these benefits will be realized. Working (and living) in a culturally diverse environment poses a challenge and requires skills and mindset to overcome obstacles and reap the benefits. It is no surprise that the global contemporary business world induces discussion on globally competent employees. But employees of tomorrow are today’s students, and therefore, to prepare them for culturally diverse workspaces, the question of intercultural competence and its development during studies becomes relevant. Future employees are to work with a diverse group of stakeholders outside the organization (customers, clients, intermediaries, partners) and to work in a diverse team of colleagues inside their organizations. The internationalization of HEI created an environment that offers opportunities to engage in cross-cultural contacts and advance cross-cultural competence. 

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate about advancing and measuring intercultural competence by presenting findings from a pilot study. We conducted 45 interviews on internationalization and diversity in a HEI from the multistakeholder perspective (management, teachers, staff, students) across four schools belonging to a university in southern Sweden. Parallelly, we assessed the intercultural competence of different student groups using Ang’s Cultural Intelligence Scale collecting 177 responses in the process. We will present our experience from the project, initial findings and share a suggestion for a practice that can serve as an alternative to measuring intercultural competence.

In Sweden, the local schoolboard has the ultimate responsibility for school quality and student knowledge development, and is held responsible if the expected outcomes are not met. Assisting the board is the superintendent who is the Chief Executive Officer. The aim of the study is to investigate the board’s relation to and expectations of the superintendent, and this article is a result of a national investigation in which all schoolboard chairs were surveyed. Two main questions were addressed: 1) what expectations does the local schoolboard have of the superintendent, both in general and in relation to student achievements and 2) which tasks are the superintendents expected to prioritise in carrying out their work? Data have been collected through a web-based survey using both structured and open-ended questions. The results show that the schoolboards’ strongest expectations placed on superintendents are to execute the leadership mission followed by managing the organisation within allocated budget frames. Responsibilities for academic outcomes have a lower ranking. Superintendents have many opportunities to influence the schoolboards’ decisions and thereby affect which goals they should prioritise in the local school organisation. The superintendent is an invisible ruler who in the chain of governance occupies the best position to influence both the schoolboard’s acting policy and the schools’ acting practice. By being aware of the existing asymmetric distribution of power, the schoolboard has the opportunity to exercise control over its official whose legal responsibility is to assist its members in their decision makings.

Thousands of refugees have immigrated to Turkey because of the current Civil War in neighboring Syria. This is causing tensions between refugees and locals. These increasingly negative attitudes towards the incoming victims of conflict are of particular interest. The present study, therefore, aimed at determining the premises of the emergence of such negative attitudes. The research sample consisted of university students who all studied at various faculties at Cumhuriyet University in the Turkish province of Sivas. Data were collected by the Attitude Scale Towards Refugees, the Patriotism Attitude Scale, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and the Cirhinlioğlu Religiosity Scale. Data were analyzed by Independent Sample t-tests as well as using Stepwise Regression Analyses. Results showed that the feeling of empathy correlated negatively with negative attitudes towards refugees, while blind patriotism, religiosity, and having nationalist/conservative orientations, correlated positively. Men were found to be more negative than women. The feeling of empathy was the most prominent factor in predicting the nature of attitudes towards refugees. Religious doctrine and distancing oneself from conservative and patriotic perspectives appeared to be effective in potentially preventing the development of negative attitudes. In conclusion, research results are discussed in the light of relevant literature.

This study examines gender differences in compliant/anonymous prosocial behaviors and perceived autonomy support. The mediation effects of needs satisfaction on relationships between perceived autonomy support and prosocial behaviors in Turkish culture are also tested. A total of 420 freshmen, sophomore, and junior students (210 female, 202 male) from various departments at a small state university in Turkey participated in the study. They were first, third and fourth year students and the mean age was 21.87 (SD = 1.71; range = 19–31). Parental Autonomy Support Scale (Soenens et al. Developmental Psychology, 43, 633–646, 2007), the Learning Climate Questionnaire (Williams and Deci Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 767-779 1996), the Basic Needs Satisfaction in General Scale (Deci and Ryan Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227-268 2000; Gagné 2003), and the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (Carlo and Randall Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 31, 31-44 2002) were used to collect data. With respect to gender differences, a One-Way ANOVA analysis showed that women scored higher than men regarding compliant and anonymous prosocial behaviors. Additionally, mediation analyses revealed that women perceived that they were the recipient of more autonomy support from their university teachers than men. No significant difference was found in respect to the provision of autonomous support from parents, nor with respect to basic needs satisfaction. The analysis of mediation effects of needs satisfaction showed that relationships between compliant and anonymous prosocial behaviors and perceived autonomy support from parents and teachers were mediated by basic needs satisfaction. These results were discussed in the framework of Self Determination Theory.

Bakgrund

I det post-industriella samhället integrerar människor med digitala enheter i vardagen, vilket innebär att saker vi redan gör kan göras på helt nya sätt och framför allt att helt nya saker är möjliga att göra (Statens Offentliga Utredningar [SOU], 2016). Det kan göra våra liv bättre, men också göra dem värre. Trots att smarttelefonen som ett viktigt digitalt verktyg spelar en viktig roll i folks liv, visade tidigare studier att smarttelefonberoende kan leda till en minskning av produktiviteten på grund av att spendera tid på smarttelefonen under arbetet (Duke & Montag, 2017). Mer positiva effekter av digitaliseringen är möjligheten till sociala interaktioner (Hülür & Macdonald, 2020), att hämta kunskap som behövs i det dagliga beslutsfattandet (Mick & Fournier,1998), digitaliseringen har även förändrat arbetsmiljön genom att det möjliggör hemarbete (Okkonen, Vuori och Palvalin, 2019, February).

Syfte

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka attityder till digitaliseringen och hur den påverkar människors liv i termer av att lärande, social interaktion och arbetsmiljön.

Metod

En pilotstudie med kvalitativ forskningsmetod där nio undersökningsdeltagare intervjuades, varav fem var kvinnor (M=32 år) och fyra var män (M=38 år) ingick i studien. Alla deltagarna hade gymnasieutbildning och arbetslivserfarenhet varierade mellan 3 och 30 år. Samtliga deltagare ägde smarttelefoner eller datorer. Två undersökningsdeltagare ägde surfplattor och en deltagare hade också smart TV. Alla undersökningsdeltagare rekryterades med hjälp av bekvämlighets urval. Intervjuguide var semistrukturerad som bestod av fyra övergripande teman (Tema 1. Attityder gentemot digitala enheter, Tema 2. Digitala enheters påverkan på lärandet, Tema 3. Digitala enheters påverkan på sociala interaktioner, Tema 4. Digitala enheters påverkan på arbetsmiljön). 

Resultat

Undersökningens resultat visar att undersökningsdeltagarna har igenomsnitt 4-5 timmar skärmtid. Skärmtiden kan delas upp i underhållning och arbete och just denna mix gör det svårt att lägga ifrån sig tekniken och att den är integrerad i vardagen på alla sätt.

Deltagarna rapporterade att ett surfbeteende kan skapa ineffektivitet i ens liv, men även oro över att strålning från enheterna kan vara farlig. Mer positiva saker var att man har all information tillgänglig på enkelt sätt och dessa enheter gör livet roligare och mer intressant. Deltagarna lyfter också upp tillgängligheten och möjligheterna som tekniken erbjuder, den är lika effektiv att underhålla som att använda för att kommunicera med sina vänner och kollegor.

Det finns stora möjligheter att lära sig via digitala enheter, tidigare handlade om att googla medan idag kan man titta på filmer och klipp på saker man vill lära sig. Det är lättare att lära sig självt med digitala enheterna. En annan effekt av digitaliseringen är att det är lättare att underhålla sina relationer och skapa nya kontaktar. Nackdelarna är att det lätt att det blir missförstånd när man kommunicerar via digitala enheter.