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Prior literature has widely established that the design of storage locations impacts order picking task performance. The purpose of this study is to investigate the performance impact of unit loads, e.g. pallets or rolling cages, utilized by pickers to pack products after picking them from storage locations.

An empirical analysis of archival data on a manual order picking system for deep-freeze products was performed in cooperation with a German brick-and-mortar retailer. The dataset comprises N = 343,259 storage location visits from 17 order pickers. The analysis was also supported by the development and the results of a batch assignment model that takes unit load selection into account.

The analysis reveals that unit load selection affects order picking task performance. Standardized rolling cages can decrease processing time by up to 8.42% compared to standardized isolated rolling boxes used in cold retail supply chains. Potential cost savings originating from optimal batch assignment range from 1.03% to 39.29%, depending on batch characteristics.

This study contributes to the literature on factors impacting order picking task performance, considering the characteristics of unit loads where products are packed on after they have been picked from the storage locations. In addition, it provides potential task performance improvements in cold retail supply chains.

As artificial intelligence and machine learning become increasingly integrated into daily life, both individuals and institutions are growing dependent on these technologies. However, it's crucial to acknowledge that such advancements can introduce potential flaws or vulnerabilities. A case in point is the investigation conducted by the non-profit organization ProPublica into the COMPAS (Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions) risk assessment tool – a tool widely used by US courts to assess the likelihood of a defendant reoffending. To address the issue of underlying biases, including racial biases, which can lead to inaccurate predictions and significant social harm, we are delving into the current literature on algorithmic bias in decision systems. We are also exploring the evolving considerations of fairness and accountability in machine learning. Specifically, within the realm of predictive policing algorithms employed in the criminal justice system, our focus is on recent studies aimed at mitigating biases in algorithmic decision-making. This involves reassessing recidivism rates and implementing adversarial debiasing in conjunction with fairness metrics.

The literature on the vocabularies of motive and associated concepts of accounts, neutralizations, and aligning actions has been exceptionally productive in documenting how actors mitigate the threat of stigmatization in a variety of circumstances. This paper reviews this literature that has been published since the last major reviews of this literature. It identifies two recent developments in the study of vocabularies of motive: account giving in situations of cultural ambiguity and in times of conflict. Taken together, this work yields several insights into how actors use motives to advance their goals. Finally, the chapter argues that the insights from this burgeoning body of work should be applied to the study of the culture wars. Such scholarship would help to further establish the importance of interactionist thought by correcting some of the limitations in current approaches to the study of cultural conflict that provides reified and overdetermined explanations.

This paper focuses on managerial practices in the context of supply chain. It focuses on the innovation of monitoring and control practices and proposes a holistic approach to managing social sustainability in the supply chain, extending the point of view beyond the traditional boundaries of individual factories or their immediate suppliers.

The analysis is based on a systematic review of scientific literature on managerial practices in supply chains, with a specific focus on social sustainability. The primary goal is to identify essential measurement strategies and key indicator factors within this domain.

Our findings highlight that most of scientific literature focuses on qualitative approaches, though quantitative approaches are also used. Despite the extensive research, an under-investigated area is the use of hybrid models for measuring social sustainability in the supply chain.

This framework is designed to identify the main categories of measurement and relative indicators for assessing social sustainability in supply chains.

This research proposes an innovative and integrated framework, leveraging a hybrid approach that addresses the limitations observed in existing management practices. Additionally, it provides directions for future research.

Our study draws on gender role congruity theory to theorize and test an integrative conceptual model outlining how motives for entrepreneurial action explain the relationship between female entrepreneurship and innovation in nascent ventures.

To test our hypotheses, we employed structural equation modeling (SEM) in a sample of early-stage entrepreneurs (N = 533).

We found a positive relationship between nascent female entrepreneurs and innovation, and that this relationship is mediated by motives for recognition, respect, and autonomy.

By revealing a positive relationship between female entrepreneurship and innovation, our work provides a complementary perspective to the literature, which suggests that there are limits to innovation potential for female entrepreneurs. Further, we find that this relationship is explained by motives for recognition, respect, and autonomy, but not financial security. Finally, most empirical research focuses on the innovative outputs of established new ventures, while our work leverages a sample of early-stage entrepreneurs.

This study aimed to determine the factors affecting consumers’ perceptions and intention to purchase home meal kit services (HMK), a convenient home-cooked meal option, considering the moderating effects of monetary restriction, through the lens of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB).

This cross-sectional study used an online, self-administered survey to collect data from 374 US adults. Results were tested for variable associations via multiple linear regression and moderation analyses.

HMK adoption intention was positively associated with attitude and subjective norms but negatively associated with perceived behavioural control. Consumers’ HMK attitude demonstrated a significant positive relationship with food safety concerns and perceived time constraints. Income and financial constraints were significant moderators of the associations between TPB determinants and HMK intention. The findings emphasised the possibility of using HMK as a foodservice option for time-challenged consumers with food safety concerns.

This study addressed the limited research on HMK, a competitive meal option that foodservice businesses could implement to boost revenue. The study establishes the contribution in understanding the motivators and barriers that potentially affect consumers’ HMK behaviour through the lens of TPB. The results expand the scope of the TPB application in food-related research, providing a deeper understanding of antecedents and other factors on consumers’ HMK behavioural attitudes. Understanding this information will enable practitioners to develop strategies that meet consumers’ concerns when embracing this service to promote HMK.

Given that this book places the interconnectedness of international sustainable development and education particularly in times of crises at the centre of attention, it is impossible to disregard the nuanced nature of this crisis context. Based on a review of relevant literature, this chapter focuses on the following four main areas. First, it analyses the complex nature of the definition of the crisis, as multiple attempts to understand the phenomenon of crises and their various classifications have been consensual in recognising that crises are multidimensional and interrelated, that they are integral to the process of change and that they present a range of interconnected factors that distort the normal operation of people, organisations, their relationships, resources, etc. Second, this chapter explains the phenomenon of glocalisation in relation to crises to further detail how intertwined different crises are. When applied to the analysis of crises, the phenomenon of glocalisation is paramount in understanding how locally born crises can trigger globally reaching effects and vice versa. Third, this chapter discusses the impact of crises on international sustainable development. Finally, it is proposed in this chapter that education should be viewed as an important tool in tackling crises and, thus, easing the progress towards sustainable development internationally. This chapter provides important contextualisation regarding the evolving multidimensional and intertwined crises against the background of which the discussion in this book embarks on in its subsequent parts.

In response, this study developed a mathematical and computational method, through spatial configurations with justified plan graph (JPG), drawn from Space Syntax to extract essential information of the spatial topology of 13 valuable traditional courtyard houses located in Toon historical city of Iran.

Historical vernacular housing has always been designed to incorporate and reflect the local lifestyle and cultural conditions. “Courtyard” is a fundamental part of traditional Iranian houses. This traditional building type includes a walled boundary and a complex of open, semi-enclosed and enclosed spaces. This study investigates the traditional houses in Toon historical town. Toon is one of the ancient towns in southeast Iran, including old courtyard houses in its heritage context. The spatial influence of the courtyard contributes to the formation of this famous architectural type.

The results show the remarkable impact of this space on dominating the plan of traditional Toon houses configuration compared to other spaces in all cases. Furthermore, spatial accessibility has changed over time, and the Safavid period had a higher level of integration and lower level of accessibility (mean i = 7.03) rather than the Qajar period (mean i = 6.34); also, privacy has decreased progressively.

The knowledge of characteristics of this historical architecture needs to be gathered for the preservation and conservation of the built heritage. Hence, the principle behind traditional Iranian courtyards was investigated to recognize the difference between the spatial influence of the courtyard and other spaces and the changes in the courtyard over time.

Drawing on signaling and social identity theories, the main objective of this paper is to suggest and validate a research framework to investigate the association of corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions with organizational attractiveness by uncovering the underlying mechanism of organizational trust.

By conducting regression analysis, the study hypotheses were tested with the data collected from a snowball convenient sample of 318 potential job seekers.

The study results revealed that prospective applicants' perceptions about a company's CSR undertakings are significantly associated with their trust in and attraction to the company. Noticeably, organizational trust partially mediated the direct relationship between CSR perceptions and organizational attractiveness.

Based on the study results, some specific theoretical advancements and helpful insights have been highlighted for human resources (HR) practitioners in today's competing organizations. The paper ends by outlining key research drawbacks and directions for possible work in the future.

Despite the plausible underlying role of organizational trust in the link between CSR and organizational attraction, empirical studies of this theoretical phenomenon are still lacking in the context of pre-hire recruitment literature. This may be the first study that identifies organizational trust as a salient psychological factor through which job seekers' CSR perceptions become more instrumental in influencing their attraction to a firm.