Sustainable Economic Growth

Evaluating youth engagement in social entrepreneurship

Image courtesy of Techstars Sustainability Startup Weekend and Silicon Coast

Why is it that some people attain milestones despite adversity, yet others’ progress stalls when adversity arises?

The process of creating a new social enterprise, like other ventures, is a dynamic process fraught with repeated cycles of progress and setbacks. Starting any new business is an emotional rollercoaster - founders exert considerable effort with the outcomes being uncertain and having limited information to make decisions. Previous research focused on emotions, such as passion and grit when founders develop their ventures, or looked at grief after business failure. Limited research looks at the interdependent relationship between motivation and emotion. Emotions founders experience when creating a new venture influence their social enterprise’s development and outcomes. For example, when getting negative feedback, some founders might give up, while others look to what they can do to respond and make changes. Also, founders learn how to work as a team under uncertain, pressurised conditions, which can be stressful and is often a reason why new ventures fail. The YES social entrepreneurship project develops a deeper appreciation of the emotions experienced during the new venture creation process, by taking part in the 2022 Sustainability Startup Weekend and interviewing other participants. In the project we analysed how action, emotions, and learning influence founding teams to progress and reach their milestones and why some teams achieved better outcomes than others. Our youth research team members brought valuable perspectives to the project and found their interviewing and analytical research skills were enhanced through the project - and they had fun!

Evaluating news coverage of regional media

A functioning and sustainable community relies on a healthy news ecosystem to support information needs. Many have raised concerns that the collapse of local journalism, with the decline and disappearance of traditional news outlets, leaves unfilled gaps, where communities’ critical information needs are not met. This study aimed to examine the impact of news coverage as a result of the loss of legacy media institutions. The project took a case study approach to provide a rich examination of news coverage and the provision of critical information in the Sunshine Coast and Gympie regions. Results show a variety of different approaches to covering local news, including substantial variations in topics being reported (for example, crime, court, local government, and community events). These findings have implications for audiences and their news literacy, as well as their ability to access news and other information considered relevant in regional areas.

Investigating authors’ knowledge of marketing

Novels are not just cultural artefacts; they are also an economically significant industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Australians read regularly and list reading as a favourite pastime, however, this means that authors face intense competition to draw attention to their work, attract readers and ensure financial sustainability. Cultivating attention is especially important if authors are self-published, however, the consideration and planning that authors give toward marketing during the development, writing and publishing of their novels is a research gap and has not been explored. We are conducting interviews with Australian authors to understand their marketing knowledge and skills and address this gap. These interviews will be transcribed and analysed with the results having the potential to inform industry policies and educational resources. Given the importance of digital marketing, our Youth researcher Amy Curran provides important insights and experiences because she has worked as a freelance digital marketer. She is using these insights to undertake and assist with the analysis of the interviews, the production of a report for industry and scholarly articles. 

Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash

Youth, tourism and the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics

Studies that explore the youth voice in the planning and execution of a sustainable Olympic and Paralympic Games are rare. Inclusion of youth ideas, perceptions and engagement is critical for achieving equity and diverse inclusion pre-during and post-Olympic/Paralympic Games. For example, Volunteering Queensland (2021) state that volunteerism has a significant role in hosting the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games in areas such as spectator services, competition operation and media operation, service at competition venues, Athletes’ Village and other business, community, and Games-related facilities. Taking a youth engaging youth approach has offered a unique and invaluable opportunity for youth to voice their ideas and perceptions, innovative approaches, motivations, perceived expectations, preferences (e.g., roles) for engagement in the 2032 Games by asking: What are the perceived barriers and opportunities for increasing youth engagement in the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the planning, execution, and legacy development stages?

Photo by Gigin Krishnan on Unsplash

Regional reputation and economic development, what matters for youth?

Economic development remains a critical concern for local governments globally. While there is much effort in understanding what stakeholder groups such as industry, government and universities believe will benefit a region, one stakeholder group regularly neglected in such policy development is the youth (18-25 years old). Therefore, the aim of this project was to better understand importance of specific aspects of regional reputation that will lead to sustainable economic development, as understood by the 18-25 year old age group. In doing this we relied upon feedback and insight from a team of 3 students who helped write the survey, reviewed the results, and prepared the final report.