Search results

The purpose of this study is to analyse the mediating effect of friends and family as sources of perceived social support in the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms.

Survey data sample consisted of 733 university students from January to May 2023. Participants completed the UCLA loneliness scales, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MPSS) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The SPSS programme with PROCESS macro (Model 6) was used to test the hypothesis regarding the mediation effect.

The bootstrap analysis found that friends as a source of social support mediated the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms. Similarly, loneliness had a significant indirect effect on depressive symptoms through the mediation of family as a source of social support. Moreover, it was found that the relationships of friends and family as sources of social support mediated the association of the aforementioned variables.

This research advances our understanding of social support sources from friends and family amongst university students whilst providing suggestions for interventions tackling loneliness and depressive symptoms in a university setting.

This study aims to validate the Bolton Forgiveness Scale (BFS) created by Amanze and Carson (2019) for the Indian population.

The data for the validation of the BFS was collected (Total N = 813) in two phases (Phase-I, N1 = 613 and Phase-II, N2 = 200) through online surveys. SPSS 26 and AMOS were used to establish the psychometric properties of the scale through internal consistency and confirmatory factor analysis.

The results indicated the validation of the BFS in the Indian context, with a high internal consistency (a = 0.847). Confirmatory factor analysis validated the factor structure and items, along with face validity.

This study offers comprehensive suggestions on the approaches to forgiveness, addresses biases, advocates for qualitative exploration and emphasizes rigour for the future research on forgiveness.

The present study validates the BFS for future use for the Indian population. The authors offer comprehensive suggestions on the approaches to forgiveness, address biases, advocate for qualitative exploration and emphasize rigour for future research on forgiveness.

Climate change, a complex global issue, has prompted a wide range of actors – from nations to tiny communities – to seek solutions to mitigate its consequences. The growing emphasis on collaborative governance has resulted in substantial research on the topic. This paper aims to address the existing research void by using a bibliometric approach to investigate the evolution of studies on collaborative governance in the context of climate change.

This study conducted a bibliometric mapping of research on collaborative governance on climate change issues from the first study presented in 2007 to the research conducted in 2023, using 222 articles derived from the Scopus database and Web of Science. Steps for comprehensive bibliometric literature mapping via the VOSviewer software.

The study includes a complete overview of significant themes, including the most cited research, contributions from authors, countries, and institutions, as well as network analysis including co-citation, bibliographic coupling, and co-occurrence. Notably, the study looks at which countries have made the most substantial contributions, with the United States dominating with 40 studies over the last decade. The analysis reveals that collaborative governance in climate change, emphasizing its importance as a tool for governments and communities to mitigate climate risks. This is consistent with research emphasizing the need for coordination across multiple players to accomplish effective climate adaptation. The paper focuses on nine diverse research clusters, including community engagement, urban governance, disaster response and economic implications.

This study is restricted to bibliometric analysis, which is conducted using sources from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Future research is required to investigate the use of additional databases that offer a wider range of sources. In the interim, this investigation provides an overview of the concept of Collaborative Governance, which has the potential to serve as a strategy for the adaptation and resilience to climate change in global regions, cities and urban areas.

This study conducts a rigorous bibliometric review that improves our theoretical knowledge and practical use of collaborative governance in addressing climate change. It reveals innovative trends, research gaps and important recommendations for future studies, strengthening the strategic approach to collaborative climate action.

Obesity imposes myriad negative consequences upon society, the economy and personal well-being. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of using political correctness (PC) in social marketing messages to persuade consumers to change their unhealthy behavior. It also explores various underlying mechanisms that drive this effect. Specifically, this research studies that messaging approach – politically correct vs politically incorrect and gain vs loss message framing – generates higher consumer intentions to change their behavior.

Four experiments were conducted with nationally representative samples to examine the effect of PC and gain vs loss message framing on consumers’ behavior changing intentions.

Politically correct prosocial marketing messages displayed higher persuasiveness than politically incorrect messages. Each relationship was mediated by the perceived manipulative capacity of the message and consumers’ attitudes toward the message. Message framing performed as a boundary condition for these effects.

This paper sought to contribute to the literature that investigates the effectiveness of social marketing efforts. Three specific contributions related to the effects of message frames on politically correct and incorrect social marketing messages were developed.

The strategies presented in this paper benefit firms wishing to create a more prosocial approach to their business. A firm can present a prosocial message to their target market in a frame focusing on what will be gained instead of lost. Likewise, firms should welcome this type of messaging that embraces politically correct terminology instead of shying away from it.

This paper generates actionable insights for marketers and policymakers regarding how best to communicate with targeted segments about culturally- and personally sensitive topics related to obesity and weight loss. This paper also contributes to the literature that explores the effectiveness of social marketing initiatives. The findings suggest policymakers and social marketers should be cautious and, regardless of today’s sociopolitical environment, avoid falling into the temptation of developing politically incorrect and loss-framed messages.

This paper aims to build upon the accountability pyramid model by presenting two studies that examine the dimensionality of individual accountability among Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) gig workers.

For the first study, aimed at investigating the dimensionality of individual accountability of gig workers, the authors collected data from MTurkers by administering two surveys in the English and Mandarin Chinese languages with 185 respondents. The authors implemented principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to analyse the data. For the second study, aimed at establishing validation of the dimensionality found in the first study, the authors collected data from an additional 148 respondents.

The results indicated that the intensity and salience dimensions merged into one factor that the authors labelled Accountability Significance, while the process and outcome dimensions merged into one factor labelled Accountability Focus. Additionally, the authors found that individual accountability is a second-order construct encompassing Accountability Significance and Accountability Focus as first-order factors. The authors validated the findings in the second study.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first quantitative study investigating the individual accountability of gig workers. The validation of individual accountability in MTurkers offers valuable insights into MTurkers’s Hybrid Accountability Focus and Accountability Significance.

This paper aims to examine the image realism effect, studying how changing the front-of-package visual affects the acceptance of an insect-based food by consumers. By comparing reactions to realistic and less realistic images of an insect as an ingredient, this research investigated how visual imagery can affect consumers’ responses, reducing perceived disgust or increasing expected taste.

Three experiments studied the impact of realistic (photo) versus less realistic (drawing) images for two types of insects (mealworm, cricket) on consumers’ psychological distance from the image, perceived disgust, expected taste, willingness to eat, purchase intention and food choice.

Study 1 demonstrates that using a less realistic insect image reduces perceived disgust, with psychological distance from this image and perceived disgust mediating realism effect on willingness to eat. Study 2 shows that a less realistic insect image, perceived as more remote, improves expected taste and willingness to eat. Study 3 confirms the results by measuring behavior: consumers were more likely to choose the product with the less realistic image.

The research focused on one kind of product and two ways of depicting this product, limiting the generalizability of the findings for other visual representations and product categories.

The findings suggest how brand managers can use the image realism effect on the packaging of novel, sustainable products to influence consumers, reducing their disgust and increasing their expected taste.

This research breaks new ground by explaining how visual cues on packaging affect the acceptance of insect-eating, drawing on construal level theory.

The purpose of this study is examined whether coproduction appears spontaneously in the literature on public sector innovation and governance, the citizens’ role in coproduction and the implication of citizens’ participation in the governance of innovation networks.

The review complied with preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) protocol. The search was performed in the Ebsco, Scopus and WOS databases. The authors analyzed 47 papers published from 2017 to 2022. Thematic and content analysis were adopted, supported by MAXQDA.

The papers recognize the importance of the citizens in public innovation. However, only 20% discuss coproduction, evidencing the predominance of governance concepts related to interorganizational collaborations – but not necessarily to citizen engagement. The authors also verified the existence of polysemy regarding the concept of governance associated with public innovation, predominating the term “collaborative governance.”

The small emphasis on “co-production” may result from the search strategy, which deliberately did not include it as a descriptor, considering the research purpose. One can consider this choice a limitation.

Considering collaborative governance as a governing arrangement where public agencies directly engage nonstate stakeholders in a collective decision-making process that is formal, consensus-oriented and deliberative (Ansell and Gash, 2007), the forum where the citizen is supposed to be engaged should be initiated by public agencies or institutions and formally organized, as suggested by Österberg and Qvist (2020) and Campomori and Casula (2022). These notions can be useful for public managers concerning their role and how the forums structure should be to promote collaboration and the presence of innovation assets needed to make the process fruitful (Crosby et al., 2017).

Despite the collaborative nature of public innovation, the need for adequate governance characteristics, and the importance of citizens in the innovative process, most studies generically address collaborative relationships, focusing on interorganizational collaboration, with little focus on specific actors such as citizens in the governance of public innovation. Thus, it is assumed that the literature that discusses public innovation and governance includes the discussion of coproduction. The originality and contribution of this study is to verify this assumption.

This study aims to investigate the efficacy of the supply network approach in bolstering supply chain resilience amidst escalating global uncertainty. With enterprises worldwide facing increasing threats that disrupt supply chains, this research explores how firms enhance supply network resilience during crises.

Using a multi-case study design, this research thoroughly examines interactions within firms’ supply networks to uncover new insights on supply network approach and how firms enhance supply network resilience against global uncertainty. The selection of cases was methodologically aligned to represent diverse industries and geographical locations to ensure a comprehensive analysis.

This study’s findings reveal how firms develop supply network resilience during global crises. The supply network perspective provides a deeper understanding of how firms manage supply chain interactions, interdependencies and strategic positions to survive and thrive during crises. The conceptual framework developed here provides insights that can foster improved coordination and facilitate effective temporary organising. The framework highlights the need for firms to proactively seize opportunities and mitigate risks within their global supply chains during crises to boost overall resilience.

Offering novel insights into the domain of supply chain networks, this study underscores novel perspectives of the supply network approach when firms develop supply chain resilience during global crises. Highlighting the adaptive responses of firms that integrate these approaches enriches the understanding of strategic manoeuvres firms can use to navigate global uncertainty and secure supply chain continuity.

This study quantitatively investigates the impacts of digital and learning orientations on supply chain resilience (SCR) and firm performance (FP), aiming to fill the gaps in understanding their specific impacts in the context of Industry 4.0 developments and supply chain disruptions.

This study utilized survey techniques and structural equation modelling (SEM) to gather and analyse data through a questionnaire based on a seven-point Likert scale. Hypotheses were formulated based on an extensive literature review and tested using Amos software.

The study confirms SCR’s significant impact on FP, aligning with existing research on resilience’s role in organizational competitiveness. This study uncovers the nuanced impacts of digital and learning orientations on SCR and FP. Internal digital orientation (DOI) positively impacts SCR, while external digital orientation (DOE) does not. Specific dimensions of learning orientation – shared vision (LOS), open-mindedness (LOO) and intraorganizational knowledge sharing (LOI) – enhance SCR, while commitment to learning (LOC) does not. SCR mediates the relationship between DOI and FP but not between DOE and FP.

This research focuses on digital and learning orientations, recommending that future studies investigate other strategic orientations and examine the specific contributions of various digital technologies to SCR across diverse contexts.

The empirical findings emphasize the significance of developing internal digital capabilities and specific learning orientations to enhance SCR and FP, aligning these initiatives with resilience strategies.

This study advances knowledge by distinguishing the impacts of internal and external digital orientations and specific learning dimensions on SCR and FP, offering nuanced insights and empirical validation.

This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework that jointly considers Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors and organisational resilience (OR) components to ameliorate organisations' understanding of sustainability’s overall requirements and related decision-making processes.

This paper combines ESG and OR through a 3x3 conceptual matrix, where ESG factors are listed along the vertical axis and OR components along the horizontal axis. This results in nine quadrants, which have been read according to two arrangements: (1) static, looking at the specific characteristics of each single quadrant, and (2) dynamic, investigating the relationships between the different quadrants according to the system theory (ST) lens.

The integration between ESG and OR results in nine organisational typologies, each characterised by a specific focus: (1) green visioning, (2) eco ethos, (3) climate guard, (4) inclusive strategy, (5) empathy ethos, (6) community shield, (7) ethical blueprint, (8) integrity ethos and (9) compliance guard. These typologies and related focuses determine the different strategic options of organisations, the decision-making emphasis concerning ESG factors and OR components and the organisation’s behaviour concerning its internal and external environment. According to ST, the nine typologies interact with each other, emphasising the existence of interconnectedness, interdependence and cascading effects between ESG and OR.

The paper represents a unique attempt to interrelate ESG factors and OR components according to a ST lens, emphasising the dynamic nature of their interactions and organisations’ need for continuous adaptation and learning to make decisions that create sustainable long-term value.