Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health

Background: Every summer, young people flock to nightlife-focused holiday resorts around the world to find casual work. Despite being exposed to hedonistic environments, often for several months, little is known about their substance use, sexual activity and health service needs over this extended amount of time abroad. Methods: A short anonymous questionnaire examining alcohol and drug use, sexual behaviour and use of health services was administered to young British casual workers aged 16-35 in San Antonio, Ibiza (n = 171). Results: 97.7% of casual workers used alcohol in Ibiza, and the majority (85.3%) used drugs. Almost half (43.5%) of all participants used a drug in Ibiza that they had never used in the UK. Most casual workers arrived in Ibiza without a partner or spouse (86.5%). Of these, 86.9% had sex during their stay and 50.0% had unprotected sex; often while under the influence of alcohol. Only 14.3% of those having unprotected sex with a new partner sought a sexual health check-up in Ibiza, although 84.1% intended to do this on their return to the UK. Conclusion: Substance use and sexual risk taking is widespread among young British casual workers in Ibiza. Such international nightlife resorts represent key settings for substance-related health and social problems, and for the international spread of sexually transmitted infections. Addressing the health needs of casual workers and the environments that permit and promote their excessive behaviour requires collaboration between authorities in home and destination countries and the tourism industry.

This research paper investigates a way of evaluating an educational intervention, and compares the learning outcomes of a Computer Aided Learning (CAL) package with a conventional lecture. It has been suggested that uses of comparative studies in the evaluation of technology-based educational interventions are not productive, as there is a belief that the situation is too complex. However, this paper proposes that there is value in comparative studies by developing innovative, ethical ways which allow educators to gain greater insight into the students' perceptions of a teaching intervention, and its actual effect. It also attempts to test the hypothesis that the CAL package could replace the lecture without disadvantaging student learning. This study compares a CAL package with a lecture, both introducing the concept of Fast Fracture. It found a significant improvement in performance on a content-related quiz amongst the control and the experimental groups. It also found that the students significantly increased their confidence in being able to fulfil the objectives of the teaching session regardless of grouping. It was concluded that there was no evidence that replacing the lecture with a CAL package would disadvantage the students' learning.

Small business researchers have explored how entrepreneurs benefit from their existing networks and
social capital in venture creation, observing that better connections enhance the likelihood of the success
of new businesses. However, we know very little about how new-venture entrepreneurs overcome gaps
in their social capital and lack of access to networks. This research provides a case-study illustrating how
a rural funeral business developed a sustainable, profitable and scalable crematorium venture through its
owner's instrumental use of his existing social capital and the purposeful recruitment of new members
to fill gaps in expertise and resources. Combining these relationships, he created and managed a network
which added significant value to the process of enterprise creation. We explore how the business-owner
used this network and his own market knowledge to profitably exploit a perceived gap in the market
through the provision of a facility which a local authority had previously considered, and rejected, as
unsustainable because of insufficient population density in the region.
This case study of a funeral and crematorium business in a rural location builds on Bosworth's (2012)
model and argues that an additional category (Type E) is required to incorporate rural service industries.
An alternative semantic construct of social capital is presented, outlining the concept as a fluid and
dynamic, time-influenced phenomenon rather than a discrete, fixed network that occasionally creates
new links. The concepts of core and augmented social capital are presented. Core social capital describes
existing bonds between actors within a group, while the augmented social capital of inter-group bridging
creates a more expansive network.

Contact time is only part of a student's learning, especially in higher education, and teachers and lab classes are only two of the resources students draw upon. Despite this, there is a prevalence of studies which appear to be evaluating a piece of courseware in isolation. Learning gains from a CAL package are important, but since acquisition and retention of

Recently there has been a boom in interest in the social entrepreneur and social entrepreneurship and increasingly social entrepreneurs and the organisations in which they are involved are perceived to play a significant role in contemporary society. The perceptions of policymakers are that the role of this sector could be even greater, particularly in terms of delivery and reform and in providing local services in ‘hard to reach’ remote and rural areas. Is this, though, an over-ideological strategy? After all, at an operational level such areas face a range of significant challenges. Aiming to broaden understanding, this paper deals with the questions:  ‘what are the factors that influence how the social entrepreneur operates in a rural context?’ and ‘what are the difficulties faced by the rural social entrepreneur and can they be overcome to bring about change?’
It reports the findings from a study that considered the situations and perspectives of thirty respondents. This research not only demonstrates how social entrepreneurs have undertaken entrepreneurship, but also initiatives that have been successfully used to empower communities and bring about change.

Local participation in the provision of public services is increasingly encouraged in current UK public policy, representing potential for social innovation in service delivery. This paper describes the challenges and considers the role for social scientists in simultaneously supporting and researching social innovation. This paper critically reflects on the ways in which social research can impact on society, and how communities may collaboratively engage in action research. In so doing, it examines the process of involving older people in establishing organisations that provide innovative solutions to the challenges of delivering services in rural Scotland.

The economic importance of the private sector, such as its contribution to GDP or employment creation, is well recognised in research and policy. More recently, positive social and environmental contributions of businesses have been explored and there is a growing body of evidence recognising the potential role of private sector enterprises in contributing to enhanced community resilience. However, the extent to which business owners and their businesses are resilient themselves is not well investigated. In the context of globalization and rapid change, businesses are exposed to external shocks and economic social and environmental changes. Private sector enterprises, which are so important in the overall community development, are therefore forced to adapt to the changing dynamics of their soundings.
Based on an exploratory study of businesses in South Australia, which aimed to enhance our understanding of the role of private sector enterprises in local development, this paper explores how business owners cope with a changing business environment. We question therefore what are the features of resilient businesses? Through in–depth face–to–face interviews with rural business owners, we identify approaches of selected entrepreneurs that enabled them to adapt to changes creating resilient businesses. Findings of this paper present implications for practitioners, researchers and policymakers.

This paper examines the concept of the community social enterprise (CSE) as a response to both an ageing population and pressures on public sector budgets within the United Kingdom (UK). CSE is conceptualised as social entrepreneurship within a particular locality that involves ‘local’ citizens in the development and maintenance of a socially entrepreneurial solution to unmet social need within their community. The paper draws on existing literature and
theory, as well as evidence from the O4O (Older People for Older People) project to discuss whether such organisations can be used to deliver health services to older people, particularly within rural areas. The O4O project tested
the feasibility of developing CSE for older people’s service provision. As part of the project, a theoretical model of value creation for CSE service provision was developed. This paper presents the model as well as its use within our attempts to understand the impact of CSE provision of older people’s services on public sector service costs. The paper concludes that more robust mechanisms for the collection of data on CSE service provision and associated cost savings to the public sector are needed.

Recent legislative and other policy-related developments seek to enhance local agenda-setting through empowered communities. However, community development is separated from community empowerment, thus implicitly supporting a more uncritical perspective of empowerment processes. In this article we: (i) focus on communities who do not engage; (ii) identify in-community sub-groups and differences as the norm rather than exception; (iii) recognise the backwards and forwards motion of community development processes; (iv) identify the fluidity of in-community interests and powers; and (v) recognise differences between individual and community-level aspirations. We use evidence from a development project which targets communities that do not engage. Based on interviews with the project manager, project officer, and 155 community members, we conclude that: demoting capacity-building betrays an intrinsic and naïve belief in self-fulfilling processes of community empowerment, rather than acknowledgement of complexities; there is a need, therefore, to remain sceptical in order that analyses are sensitive to complexities of empowerment.

Background/Introduction Recent public policies increasingly emphasise the role of communities in service co-production. Collaboration between the state and the public is frequently associated with social enterprise activities. However, the assumption that social enterprises can be successfully built and developed in remote and rural areas might be faulty. Current policy does not recognise contextual factors relating to rural social enterprise development. Aim(s)/Objective(s) The aim of this paper is to verify whether social enterprise can contribute to creating sustainable rural communities by considering promoters and barriers to rural social enterprise development. Methods The paper draws on a qualitative study in the Highlands of Scotland and the analytical framework of structuration theory (Giddens, 1984). Results/Findings This paper questions the role of social enterprise in crating sustainable rural communities; it presents promoters and barriers to rural social enterprise development. Using the lens of structuration theory the study indicates the importance of structural forces in the emergence and development of rural social enterprise. Discussion The study presents implications for policymakers, practitioners and researchers. The paper recognises that although rural communities do not control all the conditions that affect them, they have the ability to adapt to some of the structural features. This means that in spite of adversities associated with living and running a business in remote and rural areas (i.e. social and economic challenges), rural communities might benefit from rural social enterprise through practising (what we call) ‘adaptive capacity’. Conclusion The paper contributes to the knowledge of rural social enterprise by presenting what affects its growth. It also introduces ‘adaptive structuration’ showing that there is no primacy of the structure over agency, and vice-versa. Finally, the paper summarises that social enterprise can contribute to building sustainable rural communities and suggests that to make it happen, contextual factors enabling and restraining social enterprise development need to be taken under consideration.

There is increasing interest in the social entrepreneur and the process of social entrepreneurship. This has led to criticisms of fuzziness surrounding these concepts. This paper explores the concept of the social entrepreneur, considering whether social entrepreneurs can really be termed “entrepreneurs” or if they are something else - individuals motivated by meeting social objectives to achieve social change. Drawing on structuration theory, we place the agent (a social entrepreneur) in the structure (a social system/the context), arguing that they are engaged in a process of co-constructing the current momentum in social entrepreneurship development.

In the UK, like other countries, current social policy exhibits a push towards using social enterprises to provide a range of services. Characteristics of rural locations might present a suitable nurturing ground for social enterprise, however, the nature of rurality also raises concerns. This paper considers promoters/barriers to growth of social enterprise for rural service provision. Using a qualitative approach this paper draws on data from interviews with stakeholders in the Scottish Highlands to assess the likely success of rural social enterprise.  Findings indicate that there are specific promoters/barriers to the success of social enterprise in the Scottish Highlands.