Pitching, Entrepreneurial Culture: An Organizational Ethnography of Curricular and Co-curricular Social Entrepreneurship Pitch Competitions

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Description
In this study, I explore a 20-plus-year process of how one research-intensive university in the United States integrated entrepreneurship into a university-wide initiative to develop an entrepreneurial culture. This research study focuses on the process of how entrepreneurial culture was…

In this study, I explore a 20-plus-year process of how one research-intensive university in the United States integrated entrepreneurship into a university-wide initiative to develop an entrepreneurial culture. This research study focuses on the process of how entrepreneurial culture was developed through the implementation of three social entrepreneurship pitch competitions. I designed and implemented this study using organizational and critical ethnography methodologies. Organizational ethnography is a qualitative research approach that immerses the researcher in the natural context of an organization to understand its social dynamics, cultural practices, and lived experiences. Critical ethnography is an interpretive research methodology that aims to uncover power dynamics, social inequalities, and injustices within organizations by examining the underlying structures that shape individuals' experiences and interactions. I used qualitative research methods to understand the everyday work and activity that shaped the experience of entrepreneurial culture through textual document analysis, observations, and interviews with students, faculty, and staff. My work was guided by the following research question: How do faculty, staff, administration, and students create entrepreneurial culture through the production of social entrepreneurship education at a research-intensive university? Through this analysis, I discuss how pitch competitions serve as a prominent ritual and routine of entrepreneurship education at Startup U, in most cases fostering existing entrepreneurial self-efficacy. However, a disconnect exists between faculty intentions for developing an entrepreneurial mindset and the organizational structures supporting student learning, with pitch competitions outside the classroom often emphasizing high-tech, high-growth ventures, potentially excluding ideas developed from Startup U's broad operating definition of entrepreneurship. These findings highlight the influence of philanthropic giving on student opportunities within the university's entrepreneurship ecosystem and how 'training unicorns' limits the potential of engaging students in a university-wide initiative. I conclude this study with theoretical and practical implications. The theoretical implications section advocates for a deeper exploration of entrepreneurial mindsets beyond traditional business contexts, urging scholars to focus on exploring community development versus community growth. The practical implications section proposes the use of critical reflection to bridge entrepreneurial knowledge and skills with an entrepreneurial mindset.
Date Created
2024
Agent

Navigating Campus Climate and Dating Among LGBTQ Students at ASU

Description
As attitudes toward LGBTQ people become more positive, queer students may experience more friendly campus environments. That being said, institutional hindrances may still mark their college experiences, with students’ majors being one area where they might find less acceptance. Additionally,…

As attitudes toward LGBTQ people become more positive, queer students may experience more friendly campus environments. That being said, institutional hindrances may still mark their college experiences, with students’ majors being one area where they might find less acceptance. Additionally, college dating scenes revolve around cisheterosexual hookups and dates, where cisheteronormativity dictates dating scripts and rituals. Queer students do not always adhere to such norms as closely, and thus may find themselves having different dating experiences than their peers. This research uses eight in-depth interviews to expose some queer experiences had by students at Arizona State University. Students find the campus climate to be relatively queer-friendly although they echo issues found with majors, more specifically some STEM majors. Additionally, students engage in the hookup and dating scenes to a variety of degrees with varying intentions. They encounter troubles with gender roles as well as their own and others’ identities. Within a predominately cisheterosexual university, some women are wary of other women who might be experimenting or are not fully comfortable with their queer identity. It is suggested that ASU work to foster stronger queer support and spaces that can better empower queer students and further affirm their identities.
Date Created
2023-12
Agent

Movers and Shakers: Social Movement Learning and the North Hollywood Stripper Strike

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Description
Throughout history, social movements have been a key tool for socio-political transformation. One way that they achieve this is through their ability to educate significant numbers of people in short periods of time. The study of “social movement learning” helps…

Throughout history, social movements have been a key tool for socio-political transformation. One way that they achieve this is through their ability to educate significant numbers of people in short periods of time. The study of “social movement learning” helps to explain how and why the exchange of knowledge powers social movements. This research seeks to understand how sex workers engage in social movement learning in the pursuit of labor rights, using a descriptive case study of the North Hollywood Stripper Strike (March 18, 2022-2023). Drawing on interviews with local organizers, this thesis analyzes the Stripper Strike’s union campaign through the lens of knowledge exchange. The resulting seven-part model of social movement learning expands Hall’s (2009) model to include 1) formal learning, 2) nonformal direct learning, 3) nonformal direct education, 4) nonformal indirect learning, 5) nonformal indirect education, 6) informal learning, and 7) informal education as relevant typologies. By creating an amended social movement learning model, this research seeks to facilitate social movement-driven socio-political transformation, specifically within the sex worker’s rights and labor movements.
Date Created
2023
Agent

A Content Analysis of News Media Representation of Transgender Athletes in Arizona: Exploring the Framing of Anti-Trans Sports Bills

Description

With a record-breaking number of anti-trans laws being proposed and passed in the several years, it is important to understand how news media are framing them. This study is a content analysis of news media representations of transgender people in…

With a record-breaking number of anti-trans laws being proposed and passed in the several years, it is important to understand how news media are framing them. This study is a content analysis of news media representations of transgender people in sports in Arizona, with a focus on understanding how the news articles are constructed and what claims are being made within them. The purpose of this research is to investigate how the news media reflects and shapes the emerging debate about transgender inclusion in sports. The study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative content analysis of news articles from major newspapers in Arizona. The results indicate that the majority of news articles were positive or neutral in nature regarding transgender inclusion in sports when reporting on the introduction of anti-trans bills in Arizona. This suggests that the media is not agreeing with the anti-trans legislation. The analysis also reveals the lack of transgender voices included in news articles related to anti-trans sports bans. This research highlights the need for responsible and accurate reporting in the media, particularly in shaping public opinion about policies related to transgender individuals in sports. It also emphasizes the importance of creating inclusive and supportive environments for transgender youth in sports.

Date Created
2023-05
Agent

Perspectives of Current and Past Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sexual Purity, Gender Roles, and Sexual Abuse

Description

Religion has a powerful influence on adherents' behaviors and beliefs. Harmful teachings about gender roles, sexual purity, and a lack of education surrounding sexual abuse have been shown to negatively impact members’ understandings of these topics. This study looks into…

Religion has a powerful influence on adherents' behaviors and beliefs. Harmful teachings about gender roles, sexual purity, and a lack of education surrounding sexual abuse have been shown to negatively impact members’ understandings of these topics. This study looks into these relationships in further detail by surveying adults who are either active and ex-members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about their recollections of religious principles they learned in their Young Men’s/Women’s classes, their behaviors as youth (ages 12-18), and their current beliefs. Findings indicate that teachings and cultural expectations in regard to gender roles exist in The Church, and many female members disagree with and refuse to comply with them. Purity culture impacted participants in differing ways, including their continued belief in sexual purity before marriage but their disapproval of shaming sexually experienced members. Findings indicate that The Church does not educate members on sexual abuse and consent, but participants still indicated knowledge of these topics. Implications include continued study into these topics to better understand conflicting responses and complicated relationships between members’ beliefs and Church teachings, and changes in Church doctrine to better support members and victims of abuse.

Date Created
2023-05
Agent

Being "WhAsian" in the Grand Canyon State: Racial Identity Formation and Societal Belonging and Agency as Experienced by Young Bi-Racial Asian/white Americans in Arizona

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Description
ABSTRACT This study focused on the experiences of biracial Asian/white young people in Arizona – specifically, their racial identity; the formation of that identity over time; their sense of belonging in their state and nation; their views on…

ABSTRACT This study focused on the experiences of biracial Asian/white young people in Arizona – specifically, their racial identity; the formation of that identity over time; their sense of belonging in their state and nation; their views on the common societal conceptions of what it means to be an American; and their own conceptions of Americanism. Prior research indicates that racial identity formation for biracial people is usually a process over time as they work through prevalent racism, mono-racism, and mono-centricity. Anti-Asian sentiment and legislation, miscegenation laws, and rules of hypodescent (one-drop rules) also have deep historical roots in the U.S. This history has left a wake in which all Americans still live and operate today. However, there is also literature that suggests that current society may be headed in new directions. Multiracial people have been the fastest growing demographic in the last two Census polls, and research suggests (and my study corroborates) that the biracial experience often comes with not only challenges but also myriad benefits, to both self and others. My research is qualitative in nature, and each of the eleven respondents in the study participated in a first interview, a second interview (two weeks later) and a focus group. Abductive coding of the resulting transcripts was around five main themes and twenty sub-themes. The findings both reflected some of this nation’s fraught history (reflected in “American = White” and “Whiteness as Default” subthemes) and provided a hope for the future (especially in the subthemes of “Protean as Strength,” “Dual Perspective,” “Dual Empathy,” and “Self as Quintessential American”). My conclusions indicate that as multiracial people become increasingly common in the U.S. population (as is predicted on a grand scale) and given some of their strengths and unique perspectives on race, their very existence might aid in eradicating racism in society as a whole. Multiracial people may indeed be the quintessential Americans of the future and that may bode well for race relations more generally.
Date Created
2022
Agent

Delivering Precarity: Food Delivery Gig Workers, the Façade of Flexibility, and the Future of Work

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Description
This thesis argues that food delivery gig workers are the canaries in the coalmine for understanding the future of work and point to the proliferation of a more exploitative capitalist system. While exploitation in the workplace is not new, the…

This thesis argues that food delivery gig workers are the canaries in the coalmine for understanding the future of work and point to the proliferation of a more exploitative capitalist system. While exploitation in the workplace is not new, the way in which choice, freedom, and autonomy are used to repackage old forms of exploitation through digital platforms indicates a new iteration. This thesis draws on extant literature in order to analyze twelve in-depth interviews with gig workers working for food delivery platforms, as well as online forums dedicated to food delivery workers. The study finds that food delivery gig workers perceive this new labor system as advantageous in terms of flexibility, autonomy, and finances. Although this new job niche mitigates precarity for some individuals, the food delivery corporations constrain the very control that gig workers value and ultimately exacerbate worker precarity. Gig work is both an economic relief and exploitative, flexible, and unreliable, and emancipative and restrictive. Food delivery gig workers’ experiences highlight tensions for those who want both autonomy and control, alongside better working conditions and protections. Despite some workers being aware of their exploitation, conditions outside of the gig sector in the traditional economy are increasingly unable to meet their needs, so they are willing to accept and even defend a job that actively undermines their stability. Food delivery gig workers help to reveal the contradictions within the current labor market and point to opportunities for changing it.
Date Created
2021
Agent

Changing Levels of Empathy: The Impact of Social Work Education

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Description
The development of online program options in higher education has prompted the discussion of how well the modality fits the nature of social work education and the Council on Social Work Accreditation (CSWE) educational standards. To examine the relationship between…

The development of online program options in higher education has prompted the discussion of how well the modality fits the nature of social work education and the Council on Social Work Accreditation (CSWE) educational standards. To examine the relationship between online education and social work education, this research study focused on empathy. Conceptualized as the ability to share and understand the feelings of others, empathy is at the core of social work education and practice. The primary purpose of this research study was to examine whether the cultivation of interpersonal empathy and social empathy changes by in-person and online education. An ongoing debate centers on the effectiveness of online instructional delivery in the virtual environment, as compared to in-person instruction in a physical classroom. Therefore, it is valuable to examine if the level of empathy scores for students changes from the beginning to the end of a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree program at Arizona State University, according to the mode of instruction, online versus in-person. Among the sample of 185 participants in the pre-test survey and 86 participants in the post-test survey, empathy levels were examined by time (pre-test to post-test) and by mode of instructional delivery (online versus in-person). To better understand the constructs and the relationship among the variables, critical theory was applied. In addition, the pedagogical theories of andragogy, transformative learning, and the Community of Inquiry model were informative. Findings revealed that the empathy survey instrument had high reliability, the levels of empathy increased for MSW students over time, and students’ empathy levels did not differ by in-person versus online modes of instruction, with the exception of the social empathy component of contextual understanding. The study findings have implications for social work education and future research. These implications highlight the need to explore how to best cultivate empathy in social work education, while continuing to examine the association of the mode of delivery with educational outcomes important to the profession of social work.
Date Created
2021
Agent

Gender and Heritage in Iranian Jewish Communities: Through the Lens of Three Generations of Iranian Women

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Description

Through three generations of Iranian Jewish women's; my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, this qualitative study aims to shine a light on the complexities of their identities. This is done through a re-telling of their histories and an analysis of their…

Through three generations of Iranian Jewish women's; my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, this qualitative study aims to shine a light on the complexities of their identities. This is done through a re-telling of their histories and an analysis of their views regarding gender, juxtaposed against the sociocultural and political shifts taking place in Iran. Through interviewing the women in my family, I was able to offer them a voice and highlight the importance regarding their harrowing life stories that had been previously overlooked by the world. There will be a purposeful intertwining of their individual stories with those in a larger context of Iranian Jewish history, and the history of Iranian Jewish women. By the end of this thesis, I hope the reader will have a more in-depth understanding of Iranian Jewish women and their relationship to their gender and sexual identities. More generally, I hope that the intriguing and unprecedented intertwining of Iran with Judaism and the unstable historical nature of this association are more widely known and identified.

Date Created
2021-12
Agent

MEN’S PERSPECTIVES ON MASCULINITY

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Description
Western culture in the United States socializes men into traditional (hegemonic, toxic) masculinity (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005). Traditional masculinity remains largely unquestioned as “it’s just the way things are” (Best, 2001; Howes, 2017), unchallenged (Beauvoir, 1953; Migliaccio, 2009), and unreplaced.…

Western culture in the United States socializes men into traditional (hegemonic, toxic) masculinity (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005). Traditional masculinity remains largely unquestioned as “it’s just the way things are” (Best, 2001; Howes, 2017), unchallenged (Beauvoir, 1953; Migliaccio, 2009), and unreplaced. I conceptualize a novel solution to replace traditional masculinity by promoting visionary masculinity within visionary spaces. I then analyze two spaces by which men are attempting to question and replace traditional masculinity against my two concepts (visionary masculinity and visionary spaces). Lastly, I discuss how traditional masculinity impacts both male offenders and male victims of Domestic Violence.
Date Created
2020-05
Agent
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