Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal

A Re-examination of ‘A Predatory West, Africa’s Postcolonial States, International Trade Relations and Underdevelopment in Africa:’ Reechoing Centre-Periphery Issues

Peter Sakwe Masumbe — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

This article reexamines the international trade relations and division of labour, (in primary and secondary goods), between core Western capitalist and African peripheral capitalist states; incarnated by David Ricardo’s politico-economic Comparative Advantage Theory; arguing that, these relations are skewed against Africans, given Africans’ despondent peripheral capitalist positioning. Herein, the West dictates cheap trade mechanisms upon Africa’s primary goods. Later, the West exorbitantly sell secondary goods, produced from Africans’ primary goods. In this process, the West gets richer, while Africans get impoverished. Whereas, in international relations, states being the key actors, fashion societal development or underdevelopment in societies. Nonetheless, the prevailing centre-periphery relations, shape African states’ debilities, even with decades of self-rules. Today, like yesterday, African states exhibit traumatising underdevelopment, incarnated by unappealing political, social, economic infrastructures, which exacerbate citizens’ governance apathy; while enhancing unimaginable wretchedness in insecurity, hunger, poverty, diseases, conflicts and fragmentation of nationalities. Using the historical research methodology, Prebisch’s (1949) Dependency Theory and Wallenstein’s (1970) Modern World Systems, I dismiss Ricardo’s comparative advantage thesis, because, it is an imperial construct in centre-periphery relations for fragilising and annihilating Africans’ economies. Conclusively, I advocate for Africans’ unwavering reawakening and disciplined nationalism against this despondent peripheral capitalism, because, it perpetuates Africans’ underdevelopment.

The Transformational Leadership Design of Vice-Chancellors/Rectors and Human Resource Management in Public and Private Higher Institutions of Learning in Southeast Nigeria

Chukwudi Ikenna Christopher Dimokpala — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

The research focuses on the transformational leadership design of Vice-Chancellors/Rectors and Human Resource Management. It aims to investigate how this design has been utilized in private and public higher learning institutions in Southeastern Nigeria. Four research questions and a null hypothesis guided the study. Thus, the four questions concern the leadership design adopted by Vice-Chancellors/Rectors in human resource management, specifically in staff development, motivation, and discipline. Furthermore, a review of the literature on leadership, transformational leadership design, and human resource management was conducted. This is followed by a theoretical framework, which includes the theory of human relations, emphasizing that individuals are more motivated to participate actively in achieving organizational goals when treated as human beings. Herzberg’s theory of motivation identified two key factors: hygiene factors, which include salary and working conditions, and motivator factors, which encompass opportunities for development, responsibilities, and appreciation. For him, these two factors must coexist for a good result. Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory states that the individual's basic physiological needs are at the pyramid's base. When these needs are fulfilled, people move on to their safety needs, social well-being, self-esteem, and, finally, their need for self-actualization. Finally, the contingency theory of leadership maintains that there is no one best way to organize. An organization's structure is influenced by the environment in which it operates. The design utilized for the research is descriptive. Vice-Chancellors/Rectors and Educators in both private and public Higher Institutions of Learning in South-East Nigeria comprised the total population of the study. The sample for the research consisted of 34 Vice-Chancellors/Rectors and 21,575 Educators from 34 higher institutions of Learning in 72 local government areas across five states in South-East Nigeria. The questionnaire consists of 53 items, titled "Transformational Leadership Design of Vice-Chancellors/Rectors and Human Resource Management.” The mean and standard deviation were employed to answer the research questions, whereas four hypotheses were tested using the chi-square test at a 0.05 (5%) significance level.

The Geocentric Cosmic Determination of Human Fingers and Toes and Socially Related Considerations

Jef Struyf — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Numerical, proportional and structural accordances are determined between the classical geocentric cosmos, and the human fingers and toes. The three central fingers and toes accord to the twelve zodiacal constellations. The four “thumb-pinky” finger pairs and corresponding toe pairs accord to the four geocentric opposite planet pairs: Earth-Sun, Moon-Saturn, Mercury-Jupiter and Venus-Mars. Capita selecta of the actual social situation are analyzed. They concern: The gap between science and morality destroys nature, school education in question, support for a more creationistic approach, Ardakani’s analysis of western society and, is covid a result of a decline in the immune system?

Role Conflict and the Academic Department Chair

Thomas A. DeVaney, Margaret B Westmoreland — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

The academic department head or department chair in a university serves an important and complex role as an academic leader and middle manager. This study examined the role of the academic department head at one public university in the southeastern United States using a framework based on location, behavior, and expectations associated with the position. An electronic survey that included closed and open-ended items and assessed sender conflict, inter-role conflict, intra-role conflict, and workload was sent to 27 current and recent department heads. Results are based on 22 department heads who completed the electronic survey. The results indicated that department heads experienced sender conflict, inter-role conflict, and intra-role conflict. Additionally, they reported that the workload associated with the department head role was more than other academic positions that they held. Recommendations based on the results include the use of a support system to address issues such as work-life balance and mental health as well as policy revisions that create a more accurate alignment of assigned workload allocation (e.g., administration, teaching, and research and service) to actual allocation.

Setting the Stage for Teacher Engagement in a Professional Learning Community

Mandee Carmical, Louis S Nadelson — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Using a phenomenological methodology, we investigated how teachers’ professional needs, practices, and motivations align with the goals of a professional learning community designed to enhance teacher efficacy, promote reflective practice, and foster collaboration. We gathered data using semi-structured interviews. The teaching experience of our eight participating secondary teachers ranged from the first year to thirty-nine years in service. The teachers were in the beginning stage of a long-term grant-supported professional learning community initiative. We found a diversity of perspectives and practices ranging from traditional approaches to evolving perceptions of the teacher’s role in supporting learning. Our results also suggest that the brief engagement in the professional learning community initiative influenced the teachers' perceptions of teaching and learning. However, we were unable to find evidence of the teachers embracing educational innovations that led to transformations in their perceptions and practices. We conclude our report with a discussion of the findings, implications for the results, and recommendations for future research.

The Effects of Attribute Non-Attendance on Willingness to Pay Estimates in Choice Experiments: Evidence from Visitors Preferences for Tourism Facilities Attributes in Kenyir Lake, Malaysia

Wan Norhidayah W Mohamad, Yuanyuan Lee, Senquan Kong — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

An extensive literature of Choice Experiments (CE) has recognized that it is usual, especially where there are many attributes, for a person to ignore one or more attributes in the alternatives presented on the CE choice cards for many reasons. Yet, there is evidence that persons who declared they have neglected or ignored certain attributes might actually have given them lesser or lower importance. Stemming from this evidence and given the significant implication of not accounting for attribute non-attendance (ANA) in welfare estimates, we apply a supplement question in ANA to investigate how respondents pay attention to the attributes. Different techniques for modelling ANA in a case study investigating preferences of the visitors for the tourist facilities attributes in Malaysia are then compared. A conditional logit (CL) models analysis reveals different willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates after accounting for ANA, suggesting the importance of considering ANA in the analysis and considering the appropriate method to deal with it. The results also reveal that different categories of visitors influenced the exclusion of a specific attribute. This information provides hints to the policy maker in understanding potentially conflicting preferences between different types of visitors which is useful for the sustainability of the tourism sector in the future.

Using Cultural Framing Exemplars from the Social Sciences to Inform Teaching about Change Agent Leadership in University-Based School Administrator Preparation Programs

Joseph G. Claudet — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Education professors tasked with preparing aspiring K-12 administrative and instructional leaders enrolled in university-based graduate education programs to be able to effectively navigate the myriad difficulties associated with leading successful turnaround school improvement in K-12 school districts is a daunting pedagogical design challenge. Professors and instructors working in these kinds of university-based educational leadership programs can significantly expand and enhance their instructional toolkits by tapping into the power of employing cultural framing exemplars as a means to help teach aspiring administrative leaders about processes and practices of effective change agent leadership in K-12 schools and school district organizations. This article first describes the use of cultural framing exemplars as a creative instructional tool in graduate teaching. The article then profiles three Cultural Framing Exemplars selected from the social sciences and discusses key cultural attributes of these cultures that can be gleaned from an examination of each culture’s community-based organizational practices and cultural traditions. Finally, the article includes a detailed discussion highlighting the practical applicability of key change agent leadership insights and strategies derived from the three Social Science Cultural Framing Exemplars for informing the teaching and practice of change agent leadership in K-12 school organizations within the areas of: 1) distributive leadership capacity–building; 2) utilizing multileveled analyses of students’ learning performance data to inform instructional improvement; 3) involving teaching personnel directly in day-to-day school leadership decision making and in creatively designing their own professional/staff development; and 4) revitalizing and expanding instructional program offerings to enhance student learning success.

Exploring Patterns and Predictors of Internet Usage Among Undergraduate Medical Students in the UAE: A Mixed-Methods Study

Bhavana Nair, Anita Dani, Maha Ali Alqutami AlSuwaidi — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Increased digital access has transformed medical education, offering unparalleled access to information and connectivity, raising concerns about unregulated internet use. This study explores how undergraduate medical students used the internet during the pandemic. Conducted at the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) using a mixed-methods design, the research combined a survey of students across all years (quantitative phase) with semi-structured interviews (qualitative phase). The quantitative phase utilized a structured survey comprising two sections: the first captured personal demographic data, while the second assessed the frequency of internet use and levels of dependency. The qualitative phase used semi-structured interviews to deepen understanding of usage contexts and coping strategies. Preliminary results indicate that while academic use dominates, leisure and social connectivity are significant drivers of daily internet engagement. Factors like self-regulation, intrinsic motivation, and intentional boundaries predicted healthier internet usage patterns. Findings inform culturally relevant tools and strategies to support balanced digital habits in medical education. This study offers insights into the developmental context of medical students’ digital behavior and lays the groundwork for designing targeted interventions and culturally attuned assessment tools. Promoting responsible internet use is essential for academic success and well-being in the digitally saturated landscape of modern medical education.

Zero Tolerance Policies in Education: Is it Time to Reconsider?

Chris Sclafani — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Every school year, there is bound to be some sort of behavioral management challenge for school administrations across the United States. Some schools are standing by a policy of zero tolerance for the commission of certain acts. This is problematic for children because it stresses punishment over corrective measures, and it contributes to a culture of fear within the school community in its entirety. The time has come for school leadership to review and potentially revoke these harsh zero tolerance policies that have been shown to have very little overall positive impact upon the students or those serving them.