Using a gendered crisis approach, this study investigates the impact of sanctions on Iranian women's nascent entrepreneurial behaviours. Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's individual-level data and sanctions intensity data on 10,781 individuals, aged 18-65 from 2008 to 2018, the findings indicate that sanctions lower the perceived opportunities to start a business for women more so than for men. Although sanctions did not influence perceived start-up skills, suggesting resilience among women amid the challenges, sanctions did reduce the fear of failure for women more so than for men. Policymakers, both in the Collective West and in Iran, can use these insights to develop gender-inclusive measures and support women's entrepreneurship in sanction-affected contexts.

The article examines the ongoing paradigm shift on enhancing diversity climates in Swedish human services organizations. Traditional social policy arrangements based on a monocultural style of service provision has been challenged by the growing need for cultural competence and ethnic sensitivity. A study of cultural competence enhancement finds the recruitment of ethnic social workers to be the most efficient strategy for making social services more culturally sensitive. At both the operational and the managerial level, ethnic staff contribute to regular training and the updating of staff cultural competences, as well as to the strategic diversity plans of entire organizations.

This article examines the economic consequences of migration for the Swedish welfare system. The question of whether the high costs of receiving refugees undermine the sustainability of the universal welfare state has received considerable attention in the political debate. While most studies focus on the fiscal burden of refugee reception and the short-term impacts of migration on welfare arrangements, this article advocates a comprehensive, long-term assessment of the effects of migration flows on public finances. Starting from the priorities of the architects of the welfare system, who designed and expanded social policy, indicators are derived to assess strategic goals and considerations. Reproduction of the workforce by managing its age profile, increasing employment levels and the employability of the surplus workforce, and creating conditions that increase long-term growth in the economy are considered crucial for the sustainability of the system. From a purely utilitarian perspective, migration is considered beneficial to the economy, provided that migrants gain quick entry to, and a high employment rate in, the labour market.

Public procurement is increasingly being recognized as a tool to promote corporate social responsibility and a vehicle to help governments achieve their social development goals. Due to their power to intervene and their reliance on tax money, public sector organizations are focused on expanding the inclusion of social responsibility in their public procurement strategies. At the EU level, there is a strong focus on providing new opportunities for public authorities to promote socially responsible public procurement. Utilizing translation theory and following the travel of ideas framework in a Scandinavian institutionalism approach, this study maps the adoption, development, and implementation of social responsibility in public procurement through the five stages of materialization, categorization, transportation, institutionalization, and re-travel. Qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with public procurement authorities from municipalities, regional councils, and governmental organizations in Sweden. The findings show that the travel of social responsibility policies in public procurement follows a new Scandinavian institutionalism approach that has brought policy makers freedom in prioritizing social issues but leaves them confused about what to prioritize.

Furthermore, while the results show a positive relationship in organizations between their size, measured as full-time procurement employees, and their maturity level in terms of social responsibility, this maturity level is not associated with their procurement spending. The study findings have important implications for research on socially responsible public procurement. Additionally, the data collected from public organizations suggest several ways that policy makers can include, promote, and institutionalize social responsibility in their procurement strategies to reduce disparity and improve social welfare.

This article assesses the impact of welfare state systems on the performance of economies in creating the appropriate conditions for innovation and increased competitiveness. Since the 1970s, welfare systems have been regarded as disruptive influences on economic growth. This situation was exacerbated by the intensification of globalization and the emergence of new economies, which led to the need for initiatives to promote innovation and competitiveness, not least in the EU with so many different types of welfare state. To investigate the impact of welfare state systems on innovation performance and competitiveness, we used the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), which is based on a variety of indicators, as well as various essential indicators proposed by EU2020 innovation, such as the number of patents and the level of education and employment. The results obtained from the performance of five welfare state clusters of European countries have shown that the most comprehensive welfare states, primarily those in the Nordic countries, have been the most successful in achieving innovation goals and have long been ranked as innovation leaders in Europe. Moreover, public resource allocation for innovation leads to a more comprehensive agenda, including employment promotion, gender equality goals, and sustainability concerns. Welfare costs seem not to reduce competitiveness. And it is competitiveness itself that encourages the development of advanced social security systems.