Social Sciences doi: 10.3390/socsci15040263

Authors: Joonpyo Lee Jaemyung Park

This study examines how Vietnam regulates overseas study and how this regulatory structure shapes international student mobility to South Korea. Through a qualitative analysis of key legal and policy instruments, especially Decree No. 86/2021/ND-CP, it finds that Vietnam governs overseas study through a centralized legal-administrative system that structures eligibility, student management, intermediary oversight, and return obligations. It also finds that important implementation gaps persist, particularly in relation to private intermediaries, monitoring capacity, and the gap between formal regulation and students’ actual mobility trajectories. These findings suggest that receiving countries such as South Korea should pay closer attention to the pre-departure institutional conditions that influence student mobility before arrival. The study contributes by providing a legally grounded account of how sending-state regulation operates in the Vietnamese case and why pre-departure institutional conditions matter for receiving-country contexts such as South Korea.

Social Sciences doi: 10.3390/socsci15040262

Authors: Elvi Chang Komalsingh Rambaree Päivi Turunen Stefan Sjöberg

This study examines how local social policies addressing young people’s well-being and working-life capacities within the framework of sustainable development are understood, and how they might be further developed in a Swedish municipal context. The study draws on three qualitative datasets: professionals from municipal social services, representatives of municipal units and civil society organisations, and young people aged 15–19. Data were analysed using abductive thematic analysis informed by Doyal and Gough’s theory of Human Need and Helne and Hirvilammi’s Having–Doing–Loving–Being model of relational well-being. Findings indicate that professional participants recognise links between social, economic, and ecological dimensions of sustainability, yet practice is largely oriented towards individual and social concerns, with limited engagement with the natural environment. Youth participants indicated detachment from both nature and societal processes, framed responsibility as habitual, and exhibited intergenerational detachment alongside temporal and geographical distance from sustainability issues. The findings also indicate siloed municipal sustainability policies. The study concludes that current policies may insufficiently integrate the ecological and relational dimensions of human needs and that there is a need to develop ecosocial policies and practices that promote more sustainable well-being and working-life capacities, especially for young people.

This Note examines the benefits of AI in the national security sector, the legal risks posed by unrestricted AI use that necessitate increased governance, and the current regulations in place for oversight. Additionally, it evaluates President Biden's National Security Memorandum on Artificial Intelligence, the first of its kind; critiques the Memorandum's shortcomings; and offers recommendations for improving the AI governance scheme to capitalize fully on AI's benefits while also protecting civil liberties. Finally, this Note addresses President Trump's actions to disassemble AI governance measures and walk back President Biden's first steps.

In March 2025, President Trump removed two FTC Commissioners without satisfying the statutory standard of inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. The dismissed Commissioners sued, and the District Court for the District of Columbia granted summary judgment in their favor, holding that Humphrey's Executor remains binding. The D.C. Circuit denied the Government's emergency stay, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.

The Supreme Court should uphold the FTC's for-cause removal protections. Under a functionalist reading consistent with Morrison v. Olson and Wiener v. United States, the FTC's structure does not meaningfully impede presidential supervision—the President already exercises substantial influence through appointment, designation of the Chair, and coordination with the Department of Justice. Overruling Humphrey's Executor would unsettle ninety years of administrative law and override the sustained political consensus underlying the modern independent agency.

Based on cross-sectional data from the 2021 National Youth Policy Institute survey (N = 1088), this study explored the role of family, gender factors, and online anonymity in digital sexual violence (DSV) among Korean adolescents indexed by victimization and perpetration of DSV. Results indicated that female adolescents reported significantly better perceived parenting qualities and lower levels of gender stereotypes and DSV perpetration than did male adolescents. Adolescents using anonymous accounts reported higher rates of both victimization and perpetration of DSV. Furthermore, positive parenting qualities and frequent family meal times were negatively associated with DSV experiences, while stronger gender stereotypes were associated with increased DSV victimization and perpetration. These findings highlight the complex interplay between family and gender factors and online anonymity in shaping adolescents' experiences with DSV. This research emphasizes the need for targeted interventions that consider gender and family factors and online anonymity in tackling DSV among adolescents.

The financial crisis has heightened awareness of ethical and legal issues in the business context. Corporate ethical behaviour is increasingly measured through sustainability ratings. Since 2012, in Italy, the introduction of a sustainability rating, namely the legality rating (LR), has served as an innovative ‘label’ for socially responsible companies from both legal and ethical standpoints. This study employs a unique dataset of 3905 private Italian firms and the Propensity Matching Score to investigate differences in debt costs and corporate financing between companies holding LR and those not. The findings confirm that LR positively influences debt cost and corporate financing by facilitating access to external financing and supporting the risk mitigation perspective. This analysis enriches the literature on the relationship between sustainability ratings and financial impacts by demonstrating the tangible benefits of LR. Regarding managerial implications, this study offers valuable insights into the advantages of a reward system that promotes ‘honest’ behaviour in corporate practices.

The European Union introduced the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) with the aim of aligning the “walk”—the implementation of substantive sustainability practices—and the “talk”—their representation in sustainability reporting. This study assesses whether expectations surrounding the CSRD's approval were associated with changes in the number of agrifood companies disclosing sustainability reports (SRs). Because increased institutional pressure does not necessarily coincide with higher reporting quality, and given that the CSRD introduces provisions on external assurance, we also examine the financial characteristics of firms that voluntarily obtained external assurance prior to the directive's full implementation. Focusing on the Italian agrifood industry—where the “walk”-“talk” gap is viewed as particularly salient due to greenhushing propensity and supply-chain fragmentation—we analyse a panel of 1235 firms from 2013 to 2021. The analysis reveals a statistically significant increase in SR publication in 2021 and indicates that obtaining external assurance is positively associated with revenue and negatively associated with leverage. These patterns point to an acceleration in sustainability disclosure and offer evidence relevant to managerial practice and policy design under the expected CSRD approval in 2021.

Although Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices are often linked to large corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly expected to embed ESG into their strategies. Yet many SMEs remain uncertain about whether ESG adoption delivers tangible performance benefits, and empirical evidence remains limited. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), institutional theory and legitimacy theory, this study examines how organisational resources and capabilities relate to ESG strategy and how ESG adoption is linked to firm performance through organisational resilience. Using a three-wave time-lagged design, data were collected from 119 Malaysian SMEs and analysed using partial least squares path modelling. Findings indicate that both resources and capabilities are positively associated with ESG strategy, with capabilities exhibiting the stronger relationship. ESG strategy is positively related to organisational resilience, which in turn is linked to higher firm performance. Moreover, regulatory pressure strengthens the relationship between capabilities and ESG strategy but not that of resources, suggesting that external coercive pressures are more salient when firms possess stronger internal capabilities. The study contributes by integrating RBV, institutional and legitimacy perspectives to explain the antecedents and outcomes of ESG strategy, while offering practical insights for SMEs and policymakers on capability development, resilience building and performance improvement aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

• Well-being and resilience guidelines have been developed to support all judges doing refugee and/or migration work with well-being and resilience, and to assist them to work in environments that promote and provide access to strategies and tools for their enhancement. The guidelines can be read with the explanatory note, relevant passages are cross-referenced below.
• The legal framework for refugee and migration determination often involves exposing judges to evidence of human rights abuses and serious harm. This includes consideration of sensitive and traumatic material, both of a personal nature and background material on countries of origin. In addition, the lawful determination of refugee and migration cases may expose judges to public criticism which in some cases amounts to vilification (Section 2).
• Studies of judges establish that many are affected by stress and/or other work-related mental health difficulties and do not consider judicial well-being receives sufficient attention. Refugee and migration judges may be at enhanced risk of symptoms of vicarious trauma, burnout, and moral injury (Section 3).
• Judicial leaders can promote judicial well-being and resilience by implementing initiatives and promoting participation in well-being programmes (subject to resourcing constraints), including through participation and role modelling. Their own well-being also requires consideration (Section 4).
• It is recommended that judicial leaders ensure that there is a workplace well-being and resilience plan in place for refugee and migration judges, that suits the circumstances and requirements of each jurisdiction (Section 5). The following suggested elements may be included in any well-being and resilience plan for refugee and migration judges:
  • the provision of psychological support such as supervision and counselling;
  • resilience and well-being training and education for judges;
  • the provision of a private intranet page for refugee and migration judges with access and links to well-being and resilience resources, advice and support;
  • peer support and mentoring programmes;
  • social activities in order to create supportive collegial environments;
  • measures to promote physical health;
  • a pastoral care protocol or procedure for responding to critical incidents;
  • measures to ensure the physical security and safety of judges;
  • clearly defined well-being leadership; and
  • working practices that take into account the particular challenges faced by refugee and migration judges.

Social Sciences doi: 10.3390/socsci15040261

Authors: Ashley J. Blount Abby L. Bjornsen Kayla J. Hundt Kara M. Schneider

Elite and high-performance sport is frequently framed as an individual or coach–athlete endeavor, obscuring the broader family systems that sustain athletic careers. Recent scholarship has begun to document the central role of wives and partners within athletic family systems, highlighting the extensive emotional, domestic, logistical, and identity-related labor they perform to support athletic participation and success. Despite its centrality, this labor remains largely invisible within sport science research, organizational policy, and athlete support structures. Drawing on feminist theories of care and family system theory, this narrative review synthesizes interdisciplinary literature examining the unpaid and unrecognized labor of women partners, also commonly referred to as the wives and girlfriends (WAGs), across athletic career stages. Implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed.

Social Sciences doi: 10.3390/socsci15040260

Authors: Jan Breckenridge Georgia Lyons Mailin Suchting

Domestic and family violence (DFV) is a key driver of women’s homelessness and financial insecurity. In Australia, Safe at Home (SAH) programs have emerged as an innovative, wrap-around service response that increases victim-survivors’ safety by implementing a range of strategies and tools that enables them to remain in their home or a home of their choice. SAH responses represent one strategy that effectively prevents homelessness and mitigates the financial, social, and emotional disruption associated with housing relocation after leaving a violent and abusive relationship. This paper examines the implementation of SAH responses in Australia through a critical synthesis of national policy documents and published literature. The paper outlines the four nationally endorsed pillars of SAH (maximising safety, integrated responses, homelessness prevention, and economic security) and examines how these pillars shape service design and outcomes. Evidence from evaluations and outcome studies indicate that SAH can enhance women’s sense of safety, support housing stability, and reduce the financial burden of leaving a violent partner. Access and effectiveness vary depending on the design of the response and location. Challenges include limited affordable housing supply, inconsistent perpetrator accountability, and structural barriers to long-term economic security. Sustained investment in SAH programs, robust data collection mechanisms, and stronger integration of housing and economic supports are ultimately needed to ensure SAH can fulfil its potential as a core component of Australia’s DFV service system.

Laws doi: 10.3390/laws15020033

Authors: Jennifer Morgan

This paper analyses the existing international refugee framework in light of the emergence of alternative so-called ‘safe and legal routes’ devised by the UK government—in particular, the bespoke Ukraine visa schemes—and considers the practical implementation of a Safe Passage Visa programme in the UK. It will consider how safe routes may benefit at-risk people when provided alongside the protection afforded under the Refugee Convention. It will also evaluate the persistent failure of UK government policy that focuses on deterrent-only aims but has been unsuccessful in reducing irregular journeys to the UK. The paper will then explore the case for a ‘Safe Passage Visa’, focusing on the practical challenge of implementation and the potential impact of its development on the workings of the asylum system in the UK, including the potential reduction in irregular entry and other benefits. The paper argues that there is an imperative need to take action to safeguard and protect human lives in transit whilst asserting that this must be conducted in a way that complements and enhances the principles enshrined in the Refugee Convention.

This study investigates how municipal legislators frame climate mitigation and how these framings shift responsibility, narrow the perceived scope of municipal authority, and reduce the urgency or feasibility of local action. We analyzed 31 interviews with city councilors serving on Permanent Environmental Committees across municipalities in the Piracicaba, Capivari, and Jundiaí River Basins, one of Brazil's most industrialized and urbanized regions. The study makes two contributions. First, it extends the climate delay literature by showing how mitigation-relevant framings are articulated within local legislative arenas. We identify eight non-mutually exclusive discursive strategies with delay potential: invoking natural variability to dilute anthropogenic causation; questioning scientific consensus; fatalistic framings; emphasizing the socioeconomic downsides of mitigation; construing the municipality as a marginal emitter; individualizing responsibility; redirecting agency to executive branches and higher levels of government; and prioritizing non-transformative technological or market-centered responses. These strategies are often hybridized within single accounts, producing narratives that appear pragmatic and reasonable while lowering expectations for legislative engagement and stabilizing discursive boundaries around what counts as legitimate municipal mitigation. Second, it shows how environmental discursive traditions and the systematic analysis of discursive dimensions strengthen the critical analysis of delay discourses. The findings also point to practical interventions in local climate governance, including capacity-building efforts and the co-production of reflexive tools that can help expose and challenge discursive logics that displace responsibility and restrict policy by repertoires.

Social Sciences doi: 10.3390/socsci15040259

Authors: William Jankowiak

This paper examines the cross-cultural prevalence of the femme fatale (dangerous woman) motif using folkloric materials, ethnographic accounts, and consultations with ethnographers across 84 societies. Narratives were coded for depictions in which male protagonists suffer harm following involvement with an unfamiliar but physically attractive woman. Results show that 94% of sampled societies contain recognizable femme fatale imagery. When male motivation could be inferred, narratives overwhelmingly emphasized expectations of emotional attachment or long-term partnership rather than short-term sexual encounters. This pattern challenges interpretations that frame male involvement primarily in terms of sexual gratification or predatory intent. Instead, the findings suggest that femme fatale narratives function as culturally mediated responses to recurrent mating dilemmas rooted in asymmetric emotional investment. More broadly, the study demonstrates how universal predispositions toward attraction and attachment are symbolically elaborated within culturally specific moral frameworks.

Social Sciences doi: 10.3390/socsci15040258

Authors: Ursula Trummer Paul Bukuluki Girum Hailu Maheteme Ronald Kalyango Michela Martini Davide T. Mosca Hadijah Mwenyango Sonja Novak-Zezula

Building the capacity of health and social care professionals in health and migration is essential for the East and Horn of Africa region, which, according to UNHCR, hosted 23.6 million forcibly displaced people who have fled conflicts and climate change-related floods and droughts by the end of 2024. There is a high demand to build a critical mass of expertise and experts on health and migration that can engage in policy, programme and practice development. To contribute to the building of a community of experts, an online course on health and migration was developed and five courses were implemented from 2021 to 2024 with the participation of international experts in migration and health, universities and international institutions (WHO; UNAIDS, IGAD), in collaboration with the UN International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Makerere University, Uganda, and the Center for Health and Migration Vienna, Austria (CHM), and with funding from the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior. The courses lasted nine weeks each, offering two three-hour sessions per week, and were complimented by discussion forums and webinars on topics of special interest, e.g., climate change. Participants were working in policy development, programme coordination, research, and service delivery in health and social care in communities affected by migration, cross-border settings, refugee and IDP settlements in the East and Horn of Africa geographic region. The importance of the course for capacity building in the respective countries as well as for personal development is underlined by continuous high numbers of applications from highly qualified people and highly positive evaluations from participants, and the demonstrated impact on the practice of service provision for refugees and IDPs. Future considerations should concentrate on developing sustainable frameworks for courses, including intergovernmental collaboration and community development.

Social Sciences doi: 10.3390/socsci15040257

Authors: Braveheart Gillani Meagan Ray Novak Terrique Morris David Crampton

Oilfield worksites and the communities shaped by them are increasingly recognized as gendered spaces in which rotational labor, contractor hierarchies, and production imperatives can reshape norms of accountability and consent. This scoping review synthesizes conceptualizations of oilfield masculinities in scholarship on oil and gas extraction and examines their links to gendered harm, moral strain, and institutional accountability. Following PRISMA-ScR guidance, multidisciplinary databases were searched for English-language publications (2000–March 2024); eighteen sources met the inclusion criteria. A supplementary media scan (2000–2025) was conducted to contextualize cultural narratives surrounding oilfield labor. The synthesis identifies recurring themes, including frontier and breadwinner masculinities, emerging safety-oriented masculinities, gendered workplace exclusion, and the relational impacts of rotational absence and reintegration. Across studies, harms are most consistently described as patterned outcomes of work organization and fragmented governance rather than isolated incidents. Media representations frequently amplify heroism and endurance while minimizing institutional responsibility.

Social Sciences doi: 10.3390/socsci15040255

Authors: Justina Mandravickaitė Tomas Krilavičius

In this study, we examined how disinformation and trustworthy news differ in their narrative construction across nine theoretically motivated dimensions. We address the following research question: how do disinformation and trustworthy news differ in narrative organisation and epistemic grounding? We analysed 610 English-language news articles (308 pro-Kremlin disinformation and 302 trustworthy articles) covering selected international events from 2015 to 2023, using data derived from the EUvsDisinfo dataset. Narrative elements were extracted using a hybrid pipeline combining large language models and knowledge graphs, resulting in article-level representations for comparative analysis. Ordinal scores (1–5) were assigned for emotional intensity, cultural complexity, conspiracist structure, source diversity, crisis intensity, evidence support, media control, solutions orientation and memory work. Non-parametric comparisons showed significant differences in eight of these nine dimensions. Disinformation articles revealed stronger conspiracist structuring and greater meta-media hostility, as well as significantly lower source diversity, evidence support, cultural complexity and weaker memory work. Emotional intensity did not differ reliably across disinformation and trustworthy news. A simple additive NarrativeRisk score, which we designed as a transparent and interpretable summary measure, showed between-group differences in both parametric and non-parametric tests. As a univariate discrimination indicator, NarrativeRisk achieved ROC AUC ≈ 0.84. Cluster analysis identified three recurrent narrative profiles, including one dominated by disinformation, one by trustworthy news and one mixed profile. These findings indicate that disinformation is distinguished not only by factual unreliability but also by different patterns in narrative organisation.

Social Sciences doi: 10.3390/socsci15040256

Authors: Narcis Eduard Mitu George Teodor Mitu Mihaela Zglavoci

The European Union (EU) relies heavily on voluntary tax compliance, yet evidence on how tax literacy (TL) and tax education (TE) relate to tax morale (TM) and voluntary tax compliance or compliance intentions (VTC) remains fragmented across partly disconnected strands of the literature. This systematic review examined EU-relevant evidence on the stakeholder contexts in which TL/TE are discussed in relation to TM and VTC, with particular attention to schools, communities, and public institutions. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020, searches in Scopus and Web of Science (2000–2025) applied two complementary query streams focused on TL/TE and TM/VTC-related mechanisms. The searches identified 1327 records; after deduplication and screening, 402 studies were included. Based on structured coding of titles, abstracts, and author keywords, the review maps patterns of emphasis and framing rather than causal effects. Public-institutional and education-related contexts were the most frequently signposted stakeholder environments, while digital and outreach-oriented delivery cues were more visible than classroom-based cues. Trust and fairness/justice dominated the explanatory vocabulary. Overall, the review supports an ecosystem-oriented interpretation of stakeholder coordination in EU tax literacy research.

Societies doi: 10.3390/soc16040129

Authors: Gabriela Arcos-Cuaspud Andrea Basantes-Andrade Sonia Casillas-Martín Marcos Cabezas-Gonzáles

This study examines the effects of a three-month pedagogical intervention that integrated artificial intelligence (AI), social media, and web-based tools to strengthen digital literacy, creativity, and cultural participation among secondary education students in Ecuador. The intervention was theoretically grounded in perspectives of inclusive digital education and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), emphasizing participation, accessibility, and collaborative knowledge construction. The intervention involved 61 students supported by 31 university facilitators and was developed under a mixed-methods action research design with a pre–post (quasi-experimental) approach. Pre- and post-test surveys were administered to assess changes in digital competencies and creativity, while semi-structured interviews explored students’ perceptions of creative expression and their engagement with the cultural and technological ecosystem. Quantitative results showed statistically significant improvements in digital literacy and creativity (p < 0.001), while qualitative findings evidenced increased student empowerment, critical awareness of algorithms, and active cultural participation. The integration of AI and social media promoted an inclusive, student-centered learning environment that enhanced autonomy, reflective thinking, and media engagement. These results suggest that hybrid and culturally contextualized AI-mediated interventions may foster 21st-century competencies, strengthen digital equity, and promote creative agency in educational contexts of the Global South, particularly within emerging digital learning environments in Ecuador.

Pretrial risk assessment tools are used in jurisdictions across the country to assess the likelihood of “pretrial failure,” the event where defendants either fail to appear (FTA) for court or reoffend. Judicial officers, in turn, use these assessments to determine whether to release or detain defendants during trial. While algorithmic risk assessment tools were designed to predict pretrial failure with greater accuracy relative to judges, there is still concern that both risk assessment recommendations and pretrial decisions are biased against minority groups. We use the Virginia Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument (VPRAI) as a case study to investigate the accuracy and fairness of risk assessment algorithms and judicial decisions. In this paper, we develop methods to investigate the association between risk factors and pretrial failure, while simultaneously estimating misclassification rates of pretrial risk assessments and of judicial decisions as a function of defendant race. This approach adds to a growing literature that makes use of outcome misclassification methods to answer questions about fairness in pretrial decision-making. We give a detailed simulation study for our proposed methodology and apply these methods to data from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. We estimate that the VPRAI algorithm has near-perfect specificity, but its sensitivity differs by defendant race. Judicial decisions also display evidence of bias; we estimate wrongful detention rates of 39.7% and 51.4% among white and Black defendants, respectively.