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Background A growing number of complex public health interventions combine mass media with community-based “change agents” and/or mobilisation efforts acting at multiple levels. While impact evaluations are important, there is a paucity of research into the more nuanced roles intervention and social network factors may play in achieving intervention outcomes, making it difficult to understand how different aspects of the intervention worked (or did not). This study applied aspects of diffusion of innovations theory to explore how SASA!, a community mobilisation approach for preventing HIV and violence against women, diffused within intervention communities and the factors that influenced the uptake of new ideas and behaviours around intimate partner relationships and violence. Methods This paper is based on a qualitative study of couples living in SASA communities and secondary analysis of endline quantitative data collected as part of a cluster randomised control trial designed to evaluate the impact of the SASA! intervention. The primary trial was conducted in eight communities in Kampala, Uganda between 2007 and 2012. The secondary analysis of follow up survey data used multivariate logistic regression to examine associations between intervention exposure and interpersonal communication, and relationship change ( n  = 928). The qualitative study used in-depth interviews ( n  = 20) and framework analysis methods to explore the intervention attributes that facilitated engagement with the intervention and uptake of new ideas and behaviours in intimate relationships. Results We found communication materials and mid media channels generated awareness and knowledge, while the concurrent influence from interpersonal communication with community-based change agents and social network members more frequently facilitated changes in behaviour. The results indicate combining community mobilisation components, programme content that reflects peoples’ lives and direct support through local change agents can facilitate diffusion and powerful collective change processes in communities. Conclusions This study makes clear the value of applying diffusion of innovations theory to illuminate how complex public health intervention evaluations effect change. It also contributes to our knowledge of partner violence prevention in a low-income, urban East African context. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov # NCT00790959 . Registered 13th November 2008.

In the last years, scholars and practitioners have carried out a reflection about the social, economic, and political role of social economy organizations in advancing sustainability transformations. Social economy organizations need a cultural journey of self-perception and awareness raising regarding their identity as change agents for sustainability to become even more a vehicle for social transformation. In other words, sustainability competences, mobilized by social economy organizations, need to be made explicit, strengthened and brought to the awareness of the organizations, through lifelong learning. In response to this problem, the paper discusses, through an ethnographic study, the case of Proforma, a social enterprise in the Mugello Area (Tuscany, Italy). The practices, values, the mindset and associated competences that characterize the enterprise’s work in promoting sustainability initiatives, locally, are outlined. Tensions between embodying sustainability values and performing sustainability initiatives are highlighted.   Capacity building per la sostenibilità nelle organizzazioni dell’economia sociale. Negli ultimi anni è stata portata avanti una ri-lettura del ruolo sociale, economico e politico rappresentato dalle organizzazioni dell’economia sociale in quanto attori costruttivi di una società sostenibile. Le organizzazioni dell’economia sociale hanno bisogno di un percorso culturale di auto-percezione e presa di consapevolezza della propria identità come agente di cambiamento per la sostenibilità e veicolo di trasformazione sociale. In altre parole, le competenze in materia di sostenibilità, agite dall’Economia Sociale, hanno bisogno di essere esplicitate, rafforzate e portate a consapevolezza delle organizzazioni, attraverso adeguate azioni di formazione continua. In risposta a questo problema, il presente articolo discute, attraverso uno studio etnografico, il caso di Proforma, un’impresa sociale del Mugello, delineando le pratiche, ma anche i valori, la mentalità e le associate competenze che caratterizzano il lavoro dell’impresa nel sostenere iniziative di sostenibilità a livello locale. La sfida di incarnare valori di sostenibilità e agire per la sostenibilità è evidenziata.

Interventions that utilize the influence of peer change agents (PCAs) have been shown to be effective strategies for engaging key populations in HIV prevention. To date, little is known about the characteristics of PCAs associated with their effectiveness. Drawing on data from a peer leader PrEP intervention for young Black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) (N = 423), we evaluated the effects of experiential (i.e., living with HIV, PrEP awareness, PrEP use), psychographic (i.e., self-perceived leadership, innovativeness), and network (i.e., degree centrality, eigenvector centrality, and brokerage) characteristics on three effectiveness outcomes: (1) recruiting peers into the study; (2) completing “booster” sessions; and (3) linking peers to PrEP care. For each outcome, multivariable regressions were performed. On average, PCAs recruited 0.89 peers, completed 1.99 boosters, and had 1.33 network peers linked to PrEP care. Experiential factors: Prior PrEP awareness was positively associated with booster completion. Network factors: Being a network broker (i.e., connecting otherwise disconnected communities) was positively associated with peer recruitment but negatively associated with linking peers to PrEP, and degree centrality (i.e., the number of network connections someone has) and eigenvector centrality (i.e., being connected to well-connected network associates) were positively associated with linking peers to PrEP. Psychographic characteristics were not associated with any outcome. These findings can be used to inform PCA selection and to identify subpopulations who require additional support to excel as PCAs.

Government agencies, foundations, business and industry, and other important higher education stakeholders continue to invest in important and deep changes they think are necessary for the vitality and health of higher education particularly interdisciplinary teaching and research. But we know little about how transformational changes happen, particularly bottom up approaches required for altering the teaching/learning environment. This article reports on one of the few studies of transformational change describing case study research of 28 institutions attempting to fundamentally shift toward interdisciplinary work. The results identify the key role of sensemaking and sensegiving and build on earlier research showing how these processes change from mobilization to the implementation of change.

This paper contributes to the literature on non-monetary benefits of Vocational Education and Training (VET) by investigating its influence on a firm’s innovation process. While an increasing number of studies finds positive effects of VET on innovation in firms, the role that apprentices play in this mechanism has largely been unexplored. To analyze this role, we use the distinction between technological and organizational innovation, two complementary forms of innovation. When investigating the initiators of organizational innovation, to date, research has primarily focused on internal and external change agents at upper echelons. We conceptualize apprentices as hybrid (a combination of internal and external) change agents at lower echelons. We examine how apprentices in the Swiss VET system are key to integrating external knowledge (through school-based education) with internal knowledge (through on-the-job training) and moderating the influence of organizational innovation on technological innovation. Drawing on a sample of 1240 firms from a representative Swiss Innovation Survey, we show that apprentices leverage the positive association between innovations in a firm’s business processes and organization of work with incremental innovations. With the description of a new mechanism that shows the significant role of apprentices on firms’ technological innovation activities and evidence for supportive associations between key variables, we contribute to the understanding of the influence of VET on innovation in firms.

PurposeThe current case study investigated how intentional, systematic planning can help organizations harness the energy of these willing allies who may be motivated to support change. The focus of the study is the development of a peer-to-peer approach, involving “Equity Leaders (ELs),” that was part of a larger, multi-level organization change initiative that addressed personal, interpersonal and structural considerations at a mid-sized public university in northeastern USA.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used multiple methods to collect data for the current study, including observations and interviews. Over the course of four years, the authors attended more than 50 EL meetings. In these meetings, the authors took notes regarding ELs' discussions on workshop development and planning, debates on workshop substances and ELs' personal reflections on these workshops. Following the fourth year of the program, the first two authors invited all current ELs to participate in semi-structured, open-ended interviews about their experience.FindingsThe case study shows that through careful planning, peer change can play multiple roles in pushing organizational changes. By embracing their formal responsibilities and yielding their informal power, change agents are able to cause radiating impact across as organizations. Organizations can also capitalize on the fact that employees are more likely to be engaged in the change effort when it is promoted by peers. Finally, the support and resources from the organizational leaders is important because these inputs not only legitimize change agents' roles but they also signify the importance of the actions.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has limitations. First, the authors recognize that this was a qualitative study grounded in a single context. Although the study explored a novel context for understanding change agents—a deliberately planned initiative targeting social norms through addressing subtle biases like microaggressions—the authors recognize that additional examination would be necessary to understand how implementation may work in different contexts or organization types. Second, the authors also acknowledge that the authors’ positionality, as females studying a change initiative targeting gendered and intersectional microaggressions, may have shaped the role as researchers.Originality/valueThe findings underscore the notion that allies can serve as organized peer change agents to affect organizational culture. In alignment with the principles in the social ecological framework, the approach involved selecting change agents who are internal to the organization, have informal influence or power and can broaden the impact to other parts of the organization. Moreover, the results underscore the need for organizations to provide essential support and resources that can assist change agents to bridge organizational goals and individual actions.

This study reports on a large-scale survey on primary school teachers’ perceptions of being change agents and the extent to which these perceptions are related to personality and contextual factors. A principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis revealed nine characteristics of teachers as change agents. Personality and contextual factors are related to teachers’ perceptions of being a change agent. Four teacher profiles were distinguished according to the varying degrees of teachers’ perceptions of themselves as change agents. This study adds to the further understanding of teachers as change agents, their characteristics and how these characteristics are related to personality and contextual factors.

BackgroundEfforts to achieve improved student outcomes in STEM are critically reliant on the success of reform efforts associated with teaching and learning. Reform efforts include the transformation of course-based practices, community values, and the institutional policies and structures associated with teaching and learning in higher education. Enacting change is a complex process that can be guided by change theories that describe how and why a desired change takes place. We analyzed the utility of a theory-based change model applied in a higher education setting. Our results provide guidance for change efforts at other institutions.ResultsUse of the CACAO model to guide the transformation of STEM instruction at a large public university resulted in changes to faculty teaching practices and department culture consistent with the vision defined for the project. Such changes varied across STEM departments in accordance with the emergent nature of project activities at the department level. Our application of the CACAO model demonstrates the importance of (1) creating a vision statement (statement of desired change or end-state); (2) attending to different levels of the organization (e.g., individuals, departments, and colleges); (3) working with change agents who are situated to be effective at different organizational levels; and (4) employing strategies to meet the needs and interests of faculty at different stages of adoption with respect to the desired change.ConclusionOur work, which demonstrates the utility of the CACAO model for change and captures its key elements in a matrix, provides a potential foundation for others considering how to frame and study change efforts. It reinforces the value of using change theories to inform change efforts and creates a structure that others can build on and modify, either by applying our CACAO matrix in their own setting or by using the matrix to identify elements that connect to other change theories. We contribute to the growing body of literature which seeks to understand how change theories can be useful and generalizable beyond a single project.

Scholars warn that affective polarization undermines democratic norms and accountability. They speculate that if citizens were less affectively polarized, they would be less likely to endorse norm violations, overlook copartisan politicians’ shortcomings, oppose compromise, adopt their party’s views, or misperceive economic conditions. We advance reasons to doubt that affective polarization influences political choices. We support this argument with five experiments that manipulate citizens’ affective polarization with multiple approaches. We then trace the downstream consequences of manipulating citizens’ affective polarization, such as their reactions to information about their actual representatives in Congress. In our experiments (total N = 12,341), we “rewind” the equivalent of three decades of change in affective polarization but find no evidence that these changes influence many political outcomes, only general questions about interpersonal attitudes. Our results suggest caution when assuming that reducing affective polarization would meaningfully bolster democratic norms or accountability.

Sports journalists can act as agents of change in society since they have a unique and powerful platform to influence public opinion, raise awareness, advocate for various issues through their reporting and commentary, and overall promote positive change in society. This is perhaps more obvious when looking at recent research from the Nordic countries. However, are sports journalists able to be, and do they even wish to be, agents of change in countries such as Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Germany, and Israel? Based on academic writing and interviews with media and sports scholars, this article examines the academic discourse that tries to assess to what extent sports journalism may be professionalized in a select number of countries in the European Union and the Middle East. Respondents were asked to speak about how they, as academics, perceived the extent to which sports journalists in each country have substantial autonomy from the economic and political systems and to what extent they are agents of change in their country.