Advances in Social Sciences and Management

The Global AI Divide: Infrastructure, Access and Policy Pathways for Democratising Artificial Intelligence

Rakesh Kumar — 2026-10-14

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more accessible via cloud platforms and generative AI tools. However, the skills needed to develop, manage, and regulate advanced AI are still concentrated in a few countries and major tech companies. This study introduces the emerging Global AI Divide, defined as a capability gap driven by unequal access to compute power, advanced semiconductors, data, capital, energy, models, and specialised human expertise. Through qualitative policy analysis and comparative case studies, it explores the technological, economic, and geopolitical challenges to meaningful AI participation. The research distinguishes between democratising AI creation and democratising AI use, emphasising that wider access to AI applications does not automatically mean true democratisation. It proposes a Six-Pillar Framework for AI Democratisation, covering compute, data, models, innovation, human capability, and governance. The study also points to an emerging policy paradox: expanding fair access to AI while ensuring that advanced frontier systems are developed within proper safety, accountability, and human oversight. Ultimately, it suggests that AI democratisation should be seen as enhancing society’s ability to access, adapt, develop, and govern AI responsibly, not just increasing its consumption.

Ac Rides the Horse; AI Remains the Cart: The Horse Before Every Cart - from Natural Directionality to Regenerative Human Learning

Colin Benjamin — 2026-10-19

This monograph reconstructs the entire horse-before-cart case around a four-part architecture: AAA, AC, DEI and AI. Humanity is not defined by a scalar quantity called "intelligence". It is expressed through AAA - the Act of Active Agency: the human capacity to originate purpose, attend, inquire, judge, choose, accept consequence and continue. AC is the Natural Learning rider: the active, situated learning process that steers movement. DEI is the horse of any cCC*: the living directional force that carries Curiosity through Chances and Choices into Changes. AI is the cart: a constructed extension that can carry, calculate, retrieve, simulate and accelerate, but does not thereby become the source of purpose. The earlier sequence can be read as a ladder: subatomic possibility → biological organisation → neural dynamics → Natural Human Learning → cultural-symbolic learning → AI → Artificial Agency. NEXT? converts that ladder into a regenerative system. A terminal ladder ends in a machine. A regenerative architecture returns consequences to living inquiry. The essential correction is therefore teleological rather than merely chronological. The important question is not "what comes last?" but "what consequences become the next conditions for inquiry, adaptation and choice?" The result is a direct critique of "Superinformation". If intelligence is treated as a defining human condition of active agency - analogous to being alive or pregnant rather than a single numerical horsepower - then "superinformation" risks becoming a category mistake. A cart can become faster, larger and more autonomous without becoming the horse, the rider, or the human being who decides where and why to travel.

From Personal Superinformation to Next?: Hyperpersonalisation as an Architecture of Human Agency, Choice, Consequence and Recursive Consciousing

Scott McLaughlin — 2026-10-19

On a Monday morning a chief executive unlocks her phone. Over the weekend the agent has read the emails, moved two meetings, drafted three replies, booked a flight and held one sensitive action for approval. Everything worked. Nothing failed. And somewhere in the smoothness of it, one thing went quiet: it is no longer easy to say which of those decisions she actually chose. That seamlessness is the landscape Meta's 2025-2026 personal-superintelligence programme now occupies - an agent that understands a person, remembers context, connects to services, plans, acts, requests permission and exposes an audit trail. These are substantial capabilities. What they leave structurally unsettled is the logically prior question: how a person's goals are formed, contested, revised, related to OTHER people, converted into choices, exposed to consequence, and recursively reconstructed after action. The Benjamin et al. research programme addresses that prior question, and its evidentiary spine precedes the present debate: strategic decision freedom and opportunity construction (Benjamin & Béchervaise, 2007); responsibility and socially sustainable enterprise (Béchervaise & Benjamin, 2013); relational meaning and POETRY/ARMS (Benjamin, Bitetto & Sharma, 2022); differentiated responses to emergent technologies (Benjamin & Bitetto, 2023); behavioural-economic differentiation using large population datasets (Benjamin, Bitetto & Bound, 2024); and the 2026 cCC*, AEIOUF and sixteen-state Architecture of Choice publications. The 2026 publications formalise consciousing as a recursive movement through chances, choices and maintained changes, reporting a bounded sixteen-position coordinate architecture using Roy Morgan Single Source data. The resulting argument is architectural and empirically testable: computational capacity becomes humanly consequential only when converted through situated inquiry, alternative construction, perspective differentiation, authorised choice, action, consequence and recursive return. That progression is AI→AC→AU→AR→IC. NEXT? is the generative hinge R16(g)→R1(g+1), where experienced consequence changes the question, criteria, relationship or identity that begins the next cycle. Hyperpersonalisation is therefore defined not as perfect prediction of a person, but as high-fidelity support for the person-in-relation to construct and reconstruct a Question-in-Context while retaining authorship of choice. The monograph converts that proposition into an R1-R16 operating protocol, an AEIOUF/SELF↔OTHER audit, a distinction between targeting and agency, and a falsifiable research agenda. Its conclusion: Meta's trajectory may become a powerful substrate for NEXT?, but computational power, persistent memory and autonomous execution are not substitutes for consciousing. The strategic opening is a human-AI relation that makes changing questions, alternatives, reasons, permissions, consequences and future commitments more visible, contestable and auditable.

AI → AC → AU → AR → IC "Superinformation" Vs Transduction: Why Accumulated Computational Capacity is not the Same as Transformed Understanding, Enacted Resilience, or Integrated Consciousing

Noah Say — 2026-10-19

This monograph analyses "Superintelligence" and transduction through the developmental path AI → AC → AU → AR → IC. It restores the Benjamin et al. evidentiary spine as the primary conceptual and empirical lineage: strategic focus and agency; Socialwork, relational meaning and the limits of flat explanation; mind-making and behavioural economics; the 2026 cCC*, AEIOUF and sixteen-state Architecture of Choice; and the later EID/SCALESCOPE living-systems extension. The central argument is that increasing computational capability is not, by itself, equivalent to increasing Integrated Consciousing. A system may accumulate extraordinary model capacity, retrieval reach, multimodal representation, planning competence and agentic tool-use while remaining conceptually upstream of the SELF ↔ OTHER, AEIOUF, consequence-sensitive and recursively developmental work assigned here to IC. The capacitor-transformer metaphor is replaced by a more discriminating five-stage functional analysis. AI behaves capacitor-like insofar as trained models accumulate and release patterned computational capability. AC couples that capacity to inquiry and extends the human or organisational field of cognition. AU transforms information into alternative constructions and relational meaning. AR transduces a selected construction into action, consequence and feedback. IC integrates these differences recursively so that the consequence changes the organiser that will meet the next encounter. In the cCC* lineage, this is not a terminal supermind but a regenerative path: R16(g) → NEXT? → R1(g + 1). Quantum computing is positioned separately. Quantum computers manipulate quantum states through gates, entanglement and interference; quantum transduction, in its technical physics sense, converts quantum information between physical carriers or frequencies. These technologies may enlarge the computational and interconnection substrate on which future AI operates, but they do not thereby instantiate meaning, agency, SELF/OTHER relation, values, choice, or consciousing. The monograph concludes with testable propositions for distinguishing capacity, augmentation, transformation, enactment and recursive integration in practice.

The Strengths and Weaknesses of Ten Global LLM and AI Knowledge Systems: A Comparative Monograph Through the Lens of cCC* and Natural Human Learning

Noah Say — 2026-10-19

Large language models have developed from fluent next-token generators into integrated systems capable of reasoning, coding, multimodal interpretation, retrieval, tool use and increasingly persistent agentic action. This monograph reviews ten influential global systems: OpenAI GPT-5-class ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, xAI Grok, DeepSeek, Moonshot Kimi, Alibaba Qwen, Mistral, Perplexity and Obsidian. They are not all equivalent objects. GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, Kimi, Qwen and Mistral are model families; Perplexity is primarily a retrieval-and-research architecture that orchestrates models and sources; Obsidian is a human-owned knowledge environment in which language models may be embedded. The review therefore avoids a misleading single benchmark league table and instead compares eight dimensions: reasoning, factual reliability, coding and agency, multimodality, context and retrieval, openness and deployment, governance and safety, and support for durable human meaning-making. Published system cards and developer documentation show large gains in benchmark performance and reductions in factual error, but none establishes that probabilistic model competence is equivalent to human understanding, selfhood or conscious learning. The strongest common limitation is not simply hallucination. It is the absence of an explicit, inspectable architecture for the transition from observation to question, from question to perspective, from perspective to interpretation, from interpretation to choice, and from choice to reconstructed meaning. This is where cCC* is positioned as a research proposition rather than as another foundation model: Curiosity → Chances → Choices → Changes, interpreted through AEIOUF perspectives, SELF ↔ OTHER distinction, P M ΘΦ guardrails, and the recursive NEWCON → INCON → RECON → NEXT? cycle. The monograph concludes that current systems are increasingly powerful at producing and acting upon representations, while Natural Learning asks a different question: how does an embodied human observer construct, contest, share and recursively reconstruct meaning?

A Return to Natural Human Learning in the Age of AI: Active Agency, Applied Curiosity and a Human-Governed Architecture for Augmented Understanding

Robert Palmer — 2026-10-19

Artificial intelligence is frequently described as if increasing computational capability were equivalent to increasing intelligence. This article rejects that scalar assumption and repositions artificial systems within a broader account of Natural Human Learning. It synthesises the 2026 Benjamin et al. work on cCC*, agency, bounded choice, Socialwork*, AEIOUF and consciousing; the Benjamin-McLaughlin account of Applied Curiosity and Augmented Understanding; the Benjamin-Palmer development of W-ALL as an externalised, revisable learning field; and the Natural Learning triptych's account of embodied, pre-verbal and AI-age learning. The synthesis is named LUMO: a human-governed learning environment in which machine generation enlarges the field of chances without displacing human authorship of choices, changes, responsibility or meaning. The paper advances four connected claims. First, learning begins before artificial representation - and before language: natural processes, embodiment, neural dynamics, encounter and difference provide the "horse" before the computational "cart". Second, uniquely human active agency (AAA) is categorical rather than scalar: capability may increase, but agency is not made "super" by more computation. Third, cCC* (Curiosity → Chances → Choices → Changes) is operationalised through the sequential AEIOUF process, A → E → I → O → U → F, with Conative Situational Integration (CSI) maintaining continuity across transitions. Fourth, LUMO should be coupled to protected canonical infrastructure: LUMO supports porous exploration; LIMO, with PROTON guardrails, protects provenance, permissions, canonical state and authorised change. R1-R16 and the 96-facet R × AEIOUF address space provide a selective-context routing layer, while CQI and CGI distinguish inquiry from generative construction. In the age of AI, the binding criterion becomes the preservation of the learner's CAN before externally supplied COULD. The resulting architecture reframes AI as a contingent support to human Natural Learning rather than its model, endpoint or successor. Sixteen research propositions are specified for empirical evaluation.

From Choice to Consequence: Active Resilience as the Value-Adding Extension of the Next? Path and Pattern of Personal and Business Innovation Practice

Alyson Michelle Wavish — 2026-10-19

The research previously conducted by Benjamin and McLaughlin (2026) defined applied curiosity as the governing architecture for the transition from artificial intelligence (AI) to augmented understanding (AU), and presented cCC* (Curiosity opening Chances, discriminating Choices, authorising Changes) as its compact engine. That account stopped at authorisation. It did not address what happens when an authorised Change is enacted, meets resistance, produces an unintended consequence, or is overtaken by a shifting environment. Once change is enacted, subsequent Curiosity is enabled and thus the mechanism becomes recursive. This article develops active resilience (AR) as an extension of that research, serving as the architecture that governs that remainder and connecting Artificial Intelligence (AI), Applied Curiosity (AC), Augmented Understanding (AU) and Active Resilience (AR) into the sequence AI -> AC -> AU -> AR -> NEXT?: not the capacity to return to a prior state, but the capacity to enact a provisional best fit choice, detect its consequences, and use the resulting difference to reconstruct the next state. AR is defined against four guardrails: BBBB (the Belonging, Becoming, Bridging and Building movements applied at the point of action as a viability guardrail over bodily, behavioural, relational and environmental boundaries), FFFF (Form, Function, Frame and Future: whether an action responds to the form and function of the situation rather than merely to the frame placed over it, and what futures it opens or forecloses), the P-M-Theta-Phi test (practicable, methodically warranted, theoretically coherent, value explicit), and a feedback discipline that returns consequence to renewed curiosity rather than reinforcing the original construction. The framework is grounded in established literatures, including Holling's distinction between engineering and ecological resilience and his four-phase adaptive cycle of growth, conservation, release and reorganisation. Holling's work is particularly relevant to AR because it challenges the assumption that resilience is achieved by holding a system in a linear, stable state; attempts to suppress variability and maintain tight control can instead reduce adaptive capacity, accumulate fragility and increase the probability of eventual system disruption. AR also draws on Argyris and Schon's account of single-loop and double-loop organisational learning, Weick's concept of enactment, and von Bertalanffy's general systems account of equifinality. Within this literature, cCC* is positioned as an operational synthesis: a repeatable mechanism for translating these principles into the ongoing processes of inquiry, discrimination, action and adaptation. It extends the R1-R16 transitional register introduced previously, reading it this time as an architecture of choice under AEIOUF (Agency, Environment, Identity, Options, Understanding, Futures). A conceptual method for AR enactment and sixteen accompanying research propositions are offered for organisational strategy, stakeholder engagement, public narrative and reflective governance. The central claim is that an AU relationship is not complete at the moment a decision is authorised. It is complete only when the organisation or person can act on that decision, absorb what the action reveals, and remain capable of choosing again. MORE, in this account, is not a state reached once but a capacity kept renewable.

Inclusive Leadership and Knowledge Sharing in Vietnamese SMEs: The Mediating Role of Organizational Trust and Moderating Role of Organizational Culture

Lê Nhật Linh — 2026-10-12

In today's knowledge-based economy, effective knowledge sharing among employees has become essential for organizational success, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets. However, understanding how leadership styles facilitate knowledge sharing remains limited, especially in the Vietnamese context where hierarchical management practices and collectivist cultural values shape workplace dynamics. This study develops and empirically tests a moderated mediation model examining how inclusive leadership influences knowledge sharing behaviors in Vietnamese SMEs, drawing upon social exchange theory and psychological safety theory as complementary theoretical foundations. Specifically, we propose that organizational trust serves as the key psychological mechanism transmitting the effects of inclusive leadership to two distinct dimensions of knowledge sharing—knowledge collecting (acquiring knowledge from others) and knowledge donating (sharing one's own knowledge with others)—while organizational culture acts as a critical boundary condition moderating these relationships. Using structural equation modeling with bootstrapping techniques on survey data collected from 432 employees across 100 SMEs in Hanoi, Vietnam, our findings reveal that inclusive leadership strongly enhances organizational trust (β = 0.67, p < 0.001). Organizational trust partially mediates the relationships between inclusive leadership and both knowledge sharing dimensions, with a notably stronger indirect effect on knowledge donating (indirect β = 0.35) compared to knowledge collecting (indirect β = 0.32), reflecting the higher perceived risks associated with knowledge donation behaviors. Furthermore, organizational culture significantly moderates these pathways (interaction β = 0.19–0.24), indicating that supportive cultural contexts amplify the effectiveness of inclusive leadership in fostering knowledge exchange. Theoretically, this research extends social exchange theory by empirically identifying trust as the primary psychological mechanism through which inclusive leadership operates, enriches psychological safety theory by clarifying organizational culture as a salient boundary condition, and advances knowledge management literature by providing a nuanced, context-sensitive framework specifically tailored for emerging economies. Practically, these findings offer actionable insights for SME leaders and policymakers seeking to leverage inclusive leadership practices and cultivate supportive organizational cultures to unlock knowledge potential amidst digital transformation and global competition.

Hidden Curriculum of the American Officer Corps: The Impact of Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) on Urban University Student Leadership Development and Career Readiness Through the Lens of Social Capital and Social Cognitive Theories

Mark A. Douglass — 2026-10-09

Colleges and universities are accountable not only for the knowledge they transmit but for the networks their students carry into the labor market. Previous research has established that structured, network-rich programs move persistence and completion outcomes, most for the first-generation and underrepresented students institutions serve worst (Crisp & Cruz, 2009; Komives et al., 2005). Institutions measure or deliberately build the relational infrastructure through which opportunity travels. This qualitative study examined how former Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) cadets who commissioned from urban universities and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) described the program’s influence on leadership development and career readiness, using Social Capital Theory (SCT) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCogT) as the study framework. The study was designed to explore how a structured military training environment fosters leadership competencies, professional identity formation, and career preparedness by analyzing data from semi-structured interviews. The study sampled fifteen participants, all Black or African American commissioned officers whose service spans four decades. The data collected during the interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis of participant responses. The major themes that emerged from the findings for ROTC’s impact on leadership development and career readiness were Leadership Through Structured Responsibility, Communication as a Core Leadership Competency, Confidence and Influence Under Pressure, Feedback Loops and Reflective Growth, and Professionalism and Discipline as Enduring Attributes. The social capital themes were Mentorship as a Readiness Accelerator, Shared Identity and Belonging, Networks as Opportunity Structures, Cohort-Based Learning Communities, and Uneven Access to Social Capital. The social cognitive themes were Self-Efficacy Development, Observational Learning, Leader Identity Internalization, Self-Regulation and Continuous Improvement, and Patience and Delegation Development. The major findings also indicated that ROTC functions as a social capital engine whose benefits were powerful but unequally distributed.

Gender Disparities in Online Postgraduate Education: Graduate Perceptions of Quality and Career Impact

Danisa Salinas — 2026-10-09

This study examined perceived quality of massive online postgraduate programs and their impact on employment outcomes from a gender perspective. A descriptive-exploratory quantitative study was conducted with 815 graduates (2020–2025) from the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences at a private Latin American university. Participants completed a 19-item Likert-scale questionnaire assessing seven quality dimensions: planning, evaluation, learning resources, student support, faculty performance, technological platform, and graduate employment outcomes. Overall, graduates reported high satisfaction with program quality (α = .93); however, significant gender disparities emerged. Women reported lower technical support satisfaction (84.2% vs. 89.7% for men) and lower employment outcomes (68.9% employed in related fields vs. 77.5% for men; 65.5% perceiving improved opportunities vs. 75.6% for men). Findings underscore persistent structural inequities affecting women's return to work, including time constraints and digital inequality. Institutional policies promoting inclusive practices, equity-focused technologies, and longitudinal graduate tracking are recommended to ensure educational justice and gender-sensitive employability.

Reimagining the Spirituality of the Ministerial Priesthood

Okechukwu Cajetan Ani — 2026-10-09

Spirituality of the ministerial priesthood is intertwined with the ministry and apostolate of the ministerial priest in the Church. And a ministerial priest is a presbyter (ἐπισκοποι – presbyteroi), who must understand that he is an elder and overseer entrusted with pastoral leadership, service in the Church and spiritual welfare of the flock. However, the spirituality of the ministerial priesthood which guides the priest in discharging these services to the members of the Church, is at a low ebb. Therefore, this paper argues that every ministerial priest needs to recover this spirituality if he must be a true “witness to the sufferings of Christ [and] tend the flock of God entrusted into [his] care not by constraint but willingly, as God would have it, not for shameful profit, but eagerly… not lording it over them, but be exemplary to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:1-4). Since he shares in the ministry of Christ, he must take Christ as his model in pastoral leadership, care, service and spiritual welfare in the Church. Thus, every ministerial priest must develop and internalize this spirituality as it empowers him to lead and offer the flock, the spiritual and pastoral care devoid of any desire for financial reward and worldly superior status. The paper concludes that there is need to revive the spirituality of the ministerial priesthood for effective ministry in the Church.

Contribution of Stakeholders to the Construction of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Forest Industry Sector in the Congo Basin: An Experience Rooted in the Cameroonian Context

Isaac Bernard Ndoumbe Berock — 2026-10-14

This experimental study aims to deepen current knowledge on the contribution of stakeholders in building corporate social responsibility, particularly in the forest industry sector in the Congo Basin. To our knowledge, no study has yet done so, at least empirically in our context. We conceptualize the process of stakeholder contribution in the construction of corporate social responsibility from a multiple case study, in this case three logging companies in Cameroon, the first of which obtained a forest certification label, the second is in the process of obtaining the same label and the third which is hostile to any labeling process. From the analysis of the studied cases follow the managerial recommendations of the research that are discussed, the limitations noted and the future directions of the research are suggested.

Towards an Integrated Model of Price Justice in the Microfinance Sector in Bukavu, DR Congo

Jonathan Chubaka Mushagalusa — 2026-10-14

This study develops and tests an integrated model of price justice in the microfinance sector in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, by examining its relationships with customer satisfaction, trust, and intentions to leave. The analysis draws on quantitative survey data collected from 324 clients of six microfinance institutions. Price justice is operationalised as a multidimensional construct comprising relative price, price honesty, price reliability, price satisfaction, price moderation, and price confidence. Data were analysed using analysis of variance, tests of mean differences, reliability analysis, and structural equation modelling. The structural model shows an acceptable fit and supports four of the six proposed hypotheses. Perceived price justice has significant positive effects on both customer trust and satisfaction, while satisfaction and trust each have significant negative effects on intentions to leave. By contrast, the direct relationship between price justice and intentions to leave, as well as the relationship between satisfaction and trust, is not statistically supported. These findings establish price justice as a strategic mechanism through which microfinance institutions can strengthen customer confidence and satisfaction and indirectly reduce customer defection. The study therefore highlights the importance of transparent, honest, reliable, and moderate pricing practices for restoring client confidence and sustaining relationships in a microfinance sector affected by institutional instability and increasing competition.

An Essay on Voting Rights in the United States: Continuing the History of Discrimination Against Minority Voters or the Subject of Permissible Partisan Gerrymandering?

Richard J. Hunter — 2026-10-02

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) transformed American democracy by giving the federal government practical tools to combat racial discrimination in voting, most notably through Section 5 preclearance and Section 2 litigation. This article examines whether the United States Supreme Court has so limited those tools that the Act no longer fulfills its historic purpose. It situates the VRA within the history of Black disenfranchisement and the events surrounding Selma’s Bloody Sunday, then analyzes the Court’s modern voting-rights jurisprudence. Shelby County v. Holder disabled the Section 5 preclearance regime by invalidating its coverage formula; Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee narrowed the availability of Section 2 vote-denial claims; and subsequent redistricting decisions have intensified the tension between remedies for racial vote dilution and constitutional limits on race-conscious districting. Although the VRA remains in force, and Congress retains authority to enact a contemporary coverage formula, the Court’s decisions have shifted enforcement from proactive federal review to slower, more costly, and less certain postelection litigation. The article concludes that the VRA has not been erased, but its capacity to prevent and remedy racial discrimination in voting has been significantly weakened.

Beyond Spectatorship: A Macro–Meso–Micro Framework for Understanding Social Well-being through Rugby Spectatorship

Koh Sasaki — 2026-09-21

Sport spectatorship is increasingly recognized as a vital contributor to individual well-being and community development. However, the mechanisms through which sport experiences generate broader social well-being remain insufficiently understood, particularly when quantitative and qualitative perspectives are examined in isolation. The present study aimed to evaluate the multidimensional social value of rugby spectatorship by proposing an integrated macro–meso–micro analytical framework. Questionnaire data obtained from 14,851 Japanese rugby spectators were analyzed. Five psychosocial factors—Stress Relief, Work Efficiency, Social Bond, Physical Health, and Corporate Favorability—were specified as predictor variables, with Social Well-being as the primary outcome. At the macro level, correspondence analysis evaluated age-related variations in psychosocial values. At the meso level, a multilayer perceptron neural network (R² = 0.71) combined with explainable artificial intelligence (XAI)—including Random Forest Feature Importance, SHAP, and Standardized Partial Regression Coefficients—quantified predictor contributions. At the micro level, 12,238 open-ended responses regarding spectators' happiest moments were analyzed using morphological analysis and a Jaccard index-based co-occurrence network. The XAI results revealed that Corporate Favorability (41.7%) and Physical Health (22.0%) were the strongest predictors of Social Well-being, followed by Work Efficiency (13.3%), Stress Relief (13.0%), and Social Bond (10.1%). Correspondence analysis demonstrated distinct generational priorities: younger spectators prioritized relational and emotional outcomes (Social Bond, Stress Relief), whereas older spectators favored functional health and daily performance outcomes (Physical Health, Work Efficiency). Text mining further illustrates that spectator happiness stems from interconnected themes of match performance, social connection, and rugby-specific cultural values (e.g., "No Side" spirit, mutual respect). By integrating macro, meso, and micro perspectives, this study extends sport consumer behavior theories beyond individual consumption toward societal outcomes, providing empirical support for sport management, sponsorship evaluation, and Social Return on Investment (SROI) applications.

The Hospital Library as Clinical Infrastructure

Eleni Semertzidou — 2026-09-21

Hospital libraries have evolved beyond their traditional role as repositories of books and journals to become an integral component of the clinical, educational, and research infrastructure of modern healthcare institutions. This article examines the hospital library as a dynamic knowledge service that connects scientific evidence with clinical decision-making, professional education, research support, and patient information. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of the health sciences librarian in identifying, evaluating, organising, and delivering reliable evidence at the point of need. The article discusses the contribution of clinical librarianship to evidence-based practice, information literacy, patient and caregiver health literacy, digital transformation, and the responsible use of artificial intelligence. It also considers the organisational and economic value of library services and proposes six pillars for an effective modern hospital library: qualified professional staffing, integration into clinical and administrative teams, seamless digital access, continuing education, services for patients and caregivers, and systematic evaluation based on clinical and organisational indicators. The hospital library is ultimately presented not as a passive repository of information, but as an active knowledge infrastructure that helps transform reliable scientific information into informed decisions and better healthcare.

From Republic to Emirate: The Transfer, Absorption, and Displacement of Social Capital in Post-2021 Afghanistan

Shaul M. Gabbay — 2026-09-23

The Taliban's return to power in August 2021 is often narrated as a sharp institutional rupture: one government collapsed and another replaced it within days. Yet beneath the level of formal government, Afghanistan's social capital, meaning the networks, norms, and trust relations that allow collective action and administrative functioning, did not vanish, and it did not transfer wholesale either. This paper develops a framework for analyzing how social capital accumulated under the Republic (2001–2021), and in some cases under earlier regimes stretching back to the monarchy, has been selectively inherited, co-opted, reconfigured, or destroyed by the Taliban's Islamic Emirate. Using Putnam's and Bourdieu's distinctions between bonding, bridging, and linking capital, and drawing on current governance, media-freedom, and gender-equality data, the paper argues that Taliban consolidation rested on a differentiated strategy: absorbing sub-national bureaucratic and revenue-generating capacity where it lacked substitutes, tolerating and rapidly expanding religious and madrassa networks that predated the Republic, and dismantling the urban, cross-ethnic, and internationally linked civil society and women's networks that most threatened its authority. Quantitative indicators presented here, spanning state revenue collection, media-sector contraction, ethnic composition of the leadership, and gender-parity measures, substantiate this differentiated pattern with figures rather than impression alone.

Assessing the Impact of Generative AI on Labour Market Across Europe: An ANP Approach

Ana-Alessia Andrei — 2026-09-21

This paper studies how Generative AI affects labour markets in ten EU countries within the regulatory framework of the EU AI Act. Using the Analytic Network Process (ANP), it compares countries based on factors related to AI exposure, workforce skills, technological adoption, innovation, and labour-market resilience. The results show significant differences between European countries, as each labour market responds differently to changes in the factors considered. Overall, the study shows that the same AI regulation can have different effects across Member States because their labour markets have different levels of preparedness and resilience. Therefore, the EU AI Act should be supported by more targeted policies adapted to the specific needs and vulnerabilities of each country.

The Empathetic Leader: Exploring the Role of Emotional Awareness and Perspective-Taking in Effective Leadership

Mercy Asaa Asiedu — 2026-09-10

Empathy is increasingly recognized as an important capability for effective leadership, yet its underlying processes remain conceptually fragmented. This conceptual paper examines how emotional awareness and perspective-taking jointly shape empathetic leadership and contribute to leadership effectiveness. Drawing on a structured integrative review and conceptual synthesis of leadership, organizational behavior, and workplace empathy literature, the paper identifies emotional awareness and perspective-taking as distinct but complementary capabilities. Emotional awareness enables leaders to recognize employees’ emotional states, while perspective-taking helps leaders interpret those experiences from the employee’s viewpoint. The synthesis further indicates that empathetic leadership can strengthen trust, respect, psychological safety, and the quality of leader-employee relationships. However, empathy does not automatically improve leadership outcomes and must be accompanied by context-sensitive managerial judgement. Based on these insights, the paper proposes a conceptual framework linking emotional awareness and perspective-taking to empathetic leadership, leader-employee relationship quality, and leadership effectiveness. Four propositions are developed to guide future empirical research. The paper contributes to leadership literature by conceptualizing empathy as a dynamic relational process rather than a single leader trait and offers practical implications for leadership development, training, and organizational practice.

Child-First Theory: Exposing Equity Fraud at Yale Law School

Bishnu Pathak — 2026-09-23

The Child-First Theory (CFT) is a novel normative and interdisciplinary framework that positions children and newborns as the primary benchmark for rights, righteousness, political lawfulness, governance, and public policy, regardless of circumstances. Developed within the Fair Start Movement (FSM), the theory critiques elite jurisprudence, exemplified by Yale Law School (YLS), for potentially reproducing inequity through rhetorical commitments to fairness while insufficiently addressing structural inequalities and upstream determinants of justness. Thus, the conflict between FSM and YLS reflects divergent conceptions of justice, equity, and legitimacy: FSM emphasizes birth equity, child-centered rights, ecological sustainability, and upstream structural transformation, whereas YLS prioritizes constitutional rights, adult autonomy, legal precedent, procedural safeguards, and incremental reform. The CFT reconceptualizes political legitimacy as contingent upon measurable empowerment from birth rather than procedural steadiness alone, while integrating ecosocial sustainability and intergenerational responsibility. Employing a qualitative comparative methodology, this study examines documented exchanges between FSM and YLS since 2021 through an integrated analytical framework drawing on conflict, Grundnorm, equitywashing, disenfranchisement, baseline, Ponzi scheme, impact-fraud, and conflict-transformation theories. Drawing additionally on the philosophical contributions of Philip Pettit and Sarah Conly, it argues for institutional reforms centered on parental preparedness, social responsibility, and ecological stewardship. Ultimately, the theory proposes an upstream, peaceful conflict transformation model that integrates indirect-direct mediation, informal-formal dialogue, institutional accountability, and structural reform to address the root causes of inequity.

From Athletics Scandals to Student Relationships: The Roles of Response Credibility and University Reputation

Geumchan Hwang — 2026-09-10

This study examines how college students evaluate university responses to college athletics scandals by integrating Situational Crisis Communication Theory and relationship management theory. Using survey data collected from 491 U.S. college students and structural equation modeling, the study investigates the relationships among scandal perception, perceived credibility of a university’s scandal response, university reputation, and relational satisfaction. The findings indicate that students’ perceptions of athletics scandals positively influence the perceived credibility of the university’s response. In turn, response credibility significantly enhances university reputation, which subsequently strengthens students’ relational satisfaction. The results highlight the critical role of credible crisis communication in protecting institutional reputation and fostering positive stakeholder relationships during athletics-related crises. By extending crisis communication research to the higher education athletics context, this study offers both theoretical contributions and practical implications for university administrators seeking to develop effective communication strategies during organizational crises.

Maritime Terrorism in the Indian Ocean Region: Evolving Threats, Emerging Technologies, and Strategic Responses

Md. Ataus Samad Raju — 2026-09-08

Over the past two decades and more, maritime terrorism in the Indian Ocean Region has evolved from relatively limited ac-tivities such as hijackings and coastal damage into a more complex and technologically sophisticated threat that increasingly endangers global sea lines of communication and maritime trade. Today, terrorist groups exploit advanced navigation sys-tems, cyber tools, unmanned platforms, and transnational criminal networks, often operating through unprotected choke-points and fragile coastal governance structures, while also associating with piracy and organized crime. Although numerous regional and international responses, including naval collaboration, maritime domain awareness initiatives, and coun-ter-terrorism frameworks, have been implemented, they remain fragmented and largely reactive, limiting their effectiveness against an adaptive threat environment. The study therefore emphasizes the need for an all-inclusive and forward-looking maritime security strategy grounded in multilateral cooperation, legal harmonization, technological unification, capacity development, and socio-economic growth of coastal communities to ensure long-term stability in the Indian Ocean maritime domain.