International Journal of Social Sciences and Management

232-239

Authors: Suppamas Rattanapipat, Suwit Chanpetch

This study mirrors the increasing importance of network management and also looks at about the devolution of elderly services or social services in general. This survey research was to develop a structural equation model of network management in elderly services. The sample consisted of 556 elderly service providers in Southern part of Thailand. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Findings show the structural equation model had a good fit with the empirical data (χ2 = 767.53, df = 279, RMSEA=0.064, CFI=0.98, SRMR=0.058). The model confirms that 6 factors: trust, mutuality, governance, administration, autonomy and, antecedents possessed effects on network performance. Trust had the highest positive direct effects on network performance, followed by mutuality, governance, and administration respectively, autonomy had negative direct effects and, antecedents only had indirect effect. Therefore, when governments have to work together with partners in elderly services, the problems become more complex so administrators should be concern about these constructs to provide service provisions so that a functional capacity can be maintained for elderly well-being.

248-266

Authors: Seare Hadush Desta, Shaik Yousuf Basha

Health Extension Workers are the health service providers to the community in delivering integrated preventive, promotive and basic curative health services. Hitherto no studies have been carried out in Lim ‘at T’abya health post focusing on the role of health extension workers. Thus the researcher has randomly selected 263 participants in order to achieve the intended objectives of the study. The researcher used both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The result of the study identified the major Health Extension Program services which are delivered by Health Extension Workers in the health post to seek malaria treatment, child immunization and Antenatal Care followed by Postnatal Care, family planning, referral for delivery, diarrhea treatment and health education. The challenges of Health Extension Workers hindering their performance for the unsuccessful health service provision identified as strong societal cultural beliefs, remoteness, poor relation with supervisors, communication system and road construction, low remuneration, lack of refresher courses and improper attention by Qebelle administrators to health agendas. Attitude of community towards Health Extension Workers communication skill, quality of service provision and social behaviors is over all positive but the following up of referred patients and the skill to diagnosing community health problems that Health Extension Workers need to work sensitively which are answered negatively by the respondents. To increase community’s health post utilization, health posts should be equipped with minimum essential medical equipment with particular focus on malaria treatments, family planning, deliver, treatment of common illnesses and immunization services in the study area.

275-283

Authors: Dinesh Raj Pant, Opas Piansoongnern

The debate in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in achieving Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA) was ongoing from the beginning of the twenty first century. The role of stakeholders and CSR in achieving sustainable business has increased in recent years. The purpose of this qualitative study was to achieve deeper understanding about the CSR initiative that may contribute to achieve SCA for the company. A single case study with three unit of analysis was used to achieve a deeper understanding on how CSR in planned, aligned and implemented in the noodle companies in Nepal and how those initiative may contribute to the company in the form of SCA and to community in the form of societal development. The stakeholder theory was used as theoretical framework with semi structured interview as data collection method. For the data collection purpose, two groups of stakeholders were interviewed. The first group was internal stakeholders including managerial level employees and second group consisted of external stakeholders including suppliers, customers, local community members and environmental activist. The findings of the study clearly indicated that, the strategic approach to CSR contributes to company in the form of SCA and helps in fulfilling the expectations of the local communities. The findings indicated that, stakeholder management is a key tool in today’s business environment and strategic CSR initiatives contributes in sustainable business and mutual cooperation between company and stakeholders.