Previous studies have found that CEOs manage their firms through traditional methods such as leadership and management practices. In this study, we investigate how the parasocial relationship (PSR) between middle-level managers and CEOs affects the organizational trust and the organizational identification (OI) of middle managers. We find that the PSR between middle managers and CEOs has a positive effect on the OI of middle managers, which is mediated by the organizational trust of middle managers. Purpose: Middle managers and CEOs are the key components of a firm and are crucial to firm strategies and control systems. Middle managers play a vital role in information transmission like in the organizational hierarchy while CEOs influence low-level employees through middle managers. In this study, we investigate how the PSR between middle managers and CEOs affects organizational trust and OI. Design/Methodology: In this study, the data concerning OI, integrity perception, and organizational trust are derived from a survey conducted by the internal control research group of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). The research group began the survey on September 5, 2014, for the firms listed in the A-share market, accounting firms with securities and future practice qualifications, and institutional investors through the accounting department of the CSRC, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and the Asset Management Association of China. The research group members surveyed 2,536 A-share firms listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange. As of October 31, 2014, 2,154 sets of questionnaires with a total of 12,551 questionnaires were received, with a response rate of 84.95%. The financial and accounting data are from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research (CSMAR) database. Findings: We find that the PSR between middle managers and CEOs has a positive effect on the OI of middle managers, which is mediated by the organizational trust of middle managers. This study extends the application of the parasocial interaction (PSI) theory, organizational trust theory, and social identity theory in listed firms. Practical Implication: There are practical implications for internal relationship management, corporate governance, and performance management. CEOs should value the influence of organizational trust and improve his/her own social and work abilities on middle-level managers as the organizational trust of middle-level managers has a significant positive impact on their sense of responsibility, ethical behavior, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and performance. CEOs should adopt various methods to influence different managers because organizational trust mediates the relationship between the PSR and OI. Originality/Value: Our study is one of the first attempts to apply the PSI theory to the corporate world. Given the dynamics of present-day markets and changing stakeholder demands, there is little insight into how this relationship affects organizational health and functioning. Much less what a PSR between CEO and middle management looks like in practice. Our study attempts to fill the gap by investigating how CEOs might come to affect middle managers through their practices and behaviors.

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The Power of Unrequited Love: The Parasocial Relationship, Trust, and Organizational Identification Between Middle-Level Managers and CEOs

Providing access to relevant, accurate, and timely health information is critically important for promoting public health in local, national, and global contexts, especially when confronting challenging health issues, such as a global pandemic. 

Addressing challenges to effectively disseminate relevant health information

Abstract One of the common undesirable outcomes of pregnancy is perinatal loss. Healthcare systems strive to reduce the incidence of perinatal loss but typically little attention is on the experiences of bereaved mothers following perinatal loss, particularly in low and middle-income countries where such deaths are common. This research explored the lived experiences of mothers with perinatal loss in the Kumasi metropolis, Ghana. A qualitative design was used to explore the experiences of nine (9) bereaved mothers from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital’s postnatal ward and the Mother and Baby Unit. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured interview guide, audio-recorded, and thematically analyzed. One major finding was that mothers restricted mourning their dead babies based on fear of recurrent perinatal loss and traditional beliefs on delayed return to fertility. Mothers blamed healthcare providers for their loss due to their concerns about care received. Gaps in communication flow from healthcare professionals to bereaved mothers were commonly identified as mothers struggled to make meaning of their loss and coped with cultural restrictions and beliefs. Healthcare professionals must explore mothers’ concerns and “gut-feelings,” and pay attention to their communication needs following perinatal loss.

“The Health Caregivers Did Not Care about Me after the Loss”: Maternal Experiences of Perinatal Loss in the Kumasi Metropolitan Area, Ghana

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic shed light on stark racial and ethnic inequities in access to care and accurate health information in the U.S. When COVID-19 vaccines became available, communities of color faced multiple barriers that contributed to low vaccine rates. To address this gap, the Equity-First Vaccination Initiative supported community organizations in five demonstration cities to plan and implement hyper-local strategies to increase COVID-19 vaccine access and uptake among communities of color.Purpose: To draw learnings from the experiences of the participating organizations, we applied a framework that integrated implementation science and health equity principles.Design and sample: In this commentary, we describe how we used this framework to guide qualitative interviews with community organizations, focusing on insights across five implementation elements (reach, design, implementation, adaptation, implementation outcomes).Conclusions: Learnings from this evaluation may help guide future implementation of similarly complex initiatives involving multiple organizations and sites to advance health equity during a public health crisis.

Lessons From an Implementation Evaluation of a Real-World Multi-City Initiative to Address COVID-19 Vaccination Inequities

In this paper, we discuss how online AI stimulates epistemic ignorance. Early visions of online information search and retrieval processes proposed a utopian and empowering space for individuals. Today’s crisis paradoxically presents us with an unprecedented accumulation of new information and access to it, yet also the colonisation of this knowledge by those who seek to erode critical thought. By ‘epistemic ignorance’, we mean the condition which is systematically created by the patterns of mis- and disinformation that prevent knowledge seekers from gaining verified knowledge. We argue not only has the ‘knower’ or knowledge seeker become the ‘known’ (sometimes without knowing it), their ability ‘to know’ is also intentionally manipulated by dark patterns. Moreover, their ‘known’ status allows for their subtle indoctrination, and erosion of criticality. This makes the crisis an educational one. To illustrate, we consider epistemic mechanisms on Facebook pertaining to the early stage of the Covid-19 pandemic. We contend these ‘dark AI patterns’ intentionally aim for systemic indoctrination, and affective indoctrination, by engaging in the construction of epistemic ignorance. Our focus is on the political agenda; which is common in the wider discussion of indoctrination in education. Many educational philosophers have taken a critical interest in the power of education to indoctrinate. The formal educational space is an effective vehicle to do so – and now the informal education we receive through social media is as well. Through algorithms, we are taught to think a certain way.  This new crisis has not yet been considered an educational one, while in every moment, the coercive powers of online AI drive audiences towards greater uncritical acceptance of knowledge and information. Perhaps we can reverse the educational oppression with the introduction of ‘light patterns’.

Dark Patterns and Epistemic Ignorance: an Educational Crisis

Abstract Despite impressive strides toward proper health education about the pandemic, in resource‐limited contexts, health information dissemination occurs within a structural context that restricts the enactment of agency and further marginalizes the most vulnerable. Through observations of and reflections about Ghana's work in health communication about the COVID‐19 pandemic, this essay examines the key processes and outcomes of COVID‐19 information dissemination in Ghana, highlighting the structural factors that contribute to health inequities during the pandemic. We argue that although Ghana has been commended continentally and globally for the country's efforts in containing the virus and vaccinating its populace, there is evidence of health information access disparities across the country, especially in rural communities. In doing so, we increase knowledge about health information needs and gaps, and conclude by making recommendations for public health practitioners in Ghana and similar contexts.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/wmh3.522

Communication in context: How culture, structure, and agency shape health and risk communication about COVID‐19 in Ghana

The one-year U.S. Equity-First Vaccination Initiative (EVI), launched in April 2021, aimed to reduce racial inequities in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination across five demonstration cities (Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, Newark, and Oakland) and over the longer term strengthen the United States' public health system to achieve more-equitable outcomes. This initiative comprised nearly 100 community-based organizations (CBOs), who led hyper-local work to increase vaccination access and confidence in communities of individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. In this study, the second of two on the initiative, the authors examine the results of the EVI. They look at the initiative's activities, effects, and challenges, and provide recommendations for how to support and sustain this hyper-local community-led approach and strengthen the public health system in the United States.

The U.S. Equity-First Vaccination Initiative: Impacts and Lessons Learned.

This study tests the relationship between viewing political TV shows with female lead characters and political engagement. It argues that parasocial processes provide the necessary link and gender ...

Linking Political TV Shows with Female Lead Characters to Political Engagement: The Roles of Parasocial Processes and Gender Identity

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https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/EF34430F82E46AC68B86F7E624A3F702/S2059866123005782a.pdf/div-class-title-feasibility-and-anticipated-acceptability-of-community-health-worker-facilitated-hpv-self-sampling-for-cervical-cancer-screening-around-lake-county-indiana-div.pdf

Feasibility and Anticipated Acceptability of Community Health Worker-facilitated HPV Self-sampling for Cervical Cancer Screening around Lake County, Indiana

Given COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on populations that identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in the United States, researchers and advocates have recommended that health systems and institutions deepen their engagement with community-based organizations (CBOs) with longstanding relationships with these communities. However, even as CBOs leverage their earned trust to promote COVID-19 vaccination, health systems and institutions must also address underlying causes of health inequities more broadly. In this commentary, we discuss key lessons learned about trust from our participation in the U.S. Equity-First Vaccination Initiative, an effort funded by The Rockefeller Foundation to promote COVID-19 vaccination equity. The first lesson is that trust cannot be “surged” to meet the needs of the moment until it is no longer deemed important; rather, it must predate and outlast the crisis. Second, to generate long-term change, health systems cannot simply rely on CBOs to bridge the trust gap; instead, they must directly address the root causes of this gap among BIPOC populations.

Tiwaladeoluwa Adekunle

Papers

Communication in context: How culture, structure, and agency shape health and risk communication about COVID‐19 in Ghana

The U.S. Equity-First Vaccination Initiative: Impacts and Lessons Learned.

Linking Political TV Shows with Female Lead Characters to Political Engagement: The Roles of Parasocial Processes and Gender Identity

Feasibility and Anticipated Acceptability of Community Health Worker-facilitated HPV Self-sampling for Cervical Cancer Screening around Lake County, Indiana

Continuity of Trust: Health Systems’ Role in Advancing Health Equity Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic