Asian Journal of Sociological Research

Strengthening Community Engagement in Mangrove Rehabilitation: Best Practice from IMPACT Program in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

2026-02-28T10:13:00+00:00

Aims: This study examines how progressive community engagement was implemented and how it contributed to observed rehabilitation outcomes.

Study Design: This research employed a qualitative case study design.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in nine coastal villages in Paser Regency, East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia, within the implementation period of the IMPACT mangrove rehabilitation program up to the end of 2025.

Novelty: This study addresses a gap in the literature concerning the operationalization of progressive community engagement frameworks in mangrove rehabilitation, particularly in translating participatory principles into structured implementation stages.

Methodology: The study employed a qualitative case study design based on longitudinal field observation (2023–2025), program documentation analysis, and stakeholder engagement processes.

Results: The results showed that the program successfully engaged nine village-based mangrove care groups. More than 191,000 mangrove seedlings were produced, and approximately 186,000 seedlings were planted, with a monitored survival rate exceeding 86% by the end of 2025, alongside strengthened community participation and institutional capacity. In addition, the progressive community engagement approach contributed to strengthened community ownership and institutional sustainability, which supported rehabilitation performance alongside ecological factors. The progressive engagement framework developed in this study may serve as a structured implementation model, consisting of three sequential stages—social investigation, social mapping, and common dream building—that can inform community-based ecological restoration policies in similar socio-ecological contexts.

Conclusion: This study concludes that a structured and collaborative community-based approach is a key factor in the success of coastal ecosystem rehabilitation. The findings provide important implications for the development of more inclusive, participatory, and sustainable natural resource management programs.

Mahua, Lac and Digital-market Change: An Exploratory Study of Adivasi Women’s Livelihoods, Economic Autonomy and Indigenous Knowledge in Rural Gumla, Jharkhand, India

2026-08-03T11:21:14+00:00

This study explores how Adivasi women engaged in mahua collection, lac-related work and forest-product retailing perceive recent changes in weekly-market activity, household economic agency and intergenerational knowledge transmission in rural Gumla, Jharkhand. A qualitative descriptive design was used. Between September and November 2025, semi-structured, open-ended field interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 42 women across eight weekly haats in seven administrative blocks. Field notes were analysed through conventional qualitative content analysis, and non-exclusive themes were counted according to whether each theme was present in a participant account. Thirty-four participants (81%) described declining sales or footfall, 29 (69%) reported obstacles to transferring forest-based knowledge, 27 (64%) perceived reduced influence over selected household resource-allocation decisions, and 14 (33%) expressed interest in digital opportunities while also identifying barriers involving devices, skills, connectivity or platform use. Some participants recalled favourable market-day gross receipts of approximately ₹800–₹1,200 during earlier trading seasons and recent low-demand days below ₹400; these retrospective estimates were not verified against transaction records and are not measures of average income change. Participants related livelihood pressure to several intersecting conditions, including changing consumer preferences, intermediary power, transport costs, seasonality and unequal access to digital tools. Among participants who discussed state transfers, these payments were valued as financial support, while earnings from self-managed forest trade were associated with additional meanings involving autonomy, livelihood identity and recognition. The findings are exploratory, non-causal and not representative of all Adivasi women in Gumla. They support locally evaluated pilot initiatives involving gender-sensitive digital training, collective marketing, improved logistics and hybrid haat–online models that protect the economic and socio-cultural functions of traditional markets.

Cookies Products in Ngargoyoso Tourism Village, Karanganyar

2026-08-11T13:02:57+00:00

Banana chip production in Ngargoyoso Tourism Village, Karanganyar, generates banana peel waste that has not been optimally utilised. This study aimed to develop cookies using banana peel flour as a partial substitute for wheat flour and to assess panellists' acceptance of the resulting products. The research used an experimental approach supported by documentation, interviews, a literature review, and questionnaire-based organoleptic evaluation. Banana peels were selected, washed, sun-dried for approximately three days, ground, and sieved into flour. Three cookie formulations were prepared by varying the proportions of wheat flour and banana peel flour. The formulations used the same quantities of butter, brown sugar, icing sugar, eggs, baking soda, baking powder, cashew, and chocolate chips, while the flour composition was adjusted across the recipes. Product assessment focused on sensory attributes, including taste, colour, texture, aroma, and appearance. Fifteen panellists, comprising trained, semi-trained, and untrained participants, evaluated the products. The results indicated that cookies containing banana peel flour were acceptable to the panellists. Product C received relatively favourable responses for colour, texture, taste, and appearance, although the manuscript reports no statistically significant differences among the tested formulations for several sensory attributes. The findings suggest that banana peel flour can be explored as an ingredient for cookie development and as a potential value-added product for local MSMEs in Ngargoyoso Tourism Village.

Employee Well-being as a Strategic Enabler of Organizational Sustainability: An Integrative Theoretical Framework

2026-02-28T06:57:57+00:00

Sustainability has become a multifaceted organizational paradigm which involves the economic performance, environmental responsibility and social equity. Although substantial research has explored both the environmental and financial concerns of sustainability, a relatively lower integrative focus has been placed on the issue of employee well-being in terms of sustainability. The paper provides a systematic review of theoretical and empirical research on the relationship between the organizational sustainability practices and the employee well-being and vice versa. Literature review systematic approach was chosen to conduct an analysis of peer-reviewed studies on management, organizational psychology, and sustainability domains conducted between 2000 and 2024. The review incorporates significant theoretical approaches, including the triple bottom line framework, the stakeholder theory, the social exchange theory, the Job Demands Resources (JD-R) model of sustainability, flexible work systems, and mental health programs to clarify how sustainability practices (sustainable human resource management, ethical leadership, ESG-based governance, flexible work system, and mental health programs) are associated with employee outcomes. The results suggest that the sustainability-related practices tend to positively impact job satisfaction, engagement, psychological safety, work-life integration, and organizational commitment provided they are applied sincerely and with the assistance of sufficient resources at work. The contribution of the study lies in the fact that employee well-being is introduced as a consequence and a strategic facilitator of organization sustainability, and an integrative model is suggested to undertake empirical testing in the future. It finds important gaps in research especially the necessity of longitudinal, cross-cultural, and multilevel research in emerging economies. In practice, the results imply that organizations that incorporate human sustainability into wider environmental and economic strategies are more likely to enjoy resilience, legitimacy as well as long-term competitive advantage in the fast-evolving socio-economic settings.