A.G. PAPAGIANNAKIS, T.D. TSIBOUKIS and E.E. KRIEZIS
The dyadic Green's function for a horizontally stratified dielectric medium is computed. The general electric field integral equation describing the scattering from an arbitrary…
Abstract
The dyadic Green's function for a horizontally stratified dielectric medium is computed. The general electric field integral equation describing the scattering from an arbitrary dielectric scatterer embedded in one of the layers is formulated using the dyadic Green's function of the respective layer. For the numerical solution of the equation the method of moments is used. Numerical results are given for the case of a cylinder buried in the middle of a five‐layer space for various cases of plane wave excitation.
Abdulalem Mohammed, Abdullah Kaid Al-Swidi, Mohammed A. Al-Hakimi and Alberto Ferraris
This study explores the intricate relationships between greenwashing (GW), negative word-of-mouth (NWoM) and brand avoidance (BA), emphasizing the pivotal roles of green perceived…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the intricate relationships between greenwashing (GW), negative word-of-mouth (NWoM) and brand avoidance (BA), emphasizing the pivotal roles of green perceived risk (GPR) and green trust (GT). By analyzing these dynamics, the study sheds light on the effect of GW on consumer reactions and behaviors toward brands engaging in green marketing practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study used a survey dataset of 512 customers in Saudi Arabia and applied partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to assess the paths within the proposed model.
Findings
The findings of this study indicate that consumers’ perceptions of GW can harm brands. Specifically, GW positively influences BA through both GPR and GT. Moreover, GW directly affects NWoM and indirectly via GPR.
Practical implications
The study provides actionable insights for practitioners, emphasizing the importance of avoiding deceptive green marketing (i.e. GW) to build consumer trust and reduce negative behaviors like BA and NWoM. By adopting transparent practices and leveraging third-party environmental certifications, brands can enhance credibility, mitigate risks and maintain customer loyalty in sustainability-focused markets.
Originality/value
Drawing on signaling theory and expectancy violation theory, this study builds a new framework to highlight the harmful effects of GW on brands. By integrating these theories, the framework effectively explains how GW can trigger extreme responses such as NWoM and BA, thereby contributing to research that has previously overlooked the connections between these factors.
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Shikuan Zhao, Ahmed Imran Hunjra, David Roubaud and Fuxian Zhu
In the context of macroeconomic fluctuations and uncertainty in policy changes, it is essential to understand how companies adapt their environmental strategies and marketing…
Abstract
Purpose
In the context of macroeconomic fluctuations and uncertainty in policy changes, it is essential to understand how companies adapt their environmental strategies and marketing tactics to ensure survival and growth. This study, therefore, examines the impact of perceived economic policy uncertainty on corporate greenwashing.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on panel data from listed companies on the Chinese A-share market between 2013 and 2022, this paper employs a high-dimensional fixed effects model to explore the impact of perceived economic policy uncertainty (PEPU) on corporate greenwashing behavior.
Findings
The results show that higher PEPU increases greenwashing, with agency costs and investor sentiment mediating the relationship. Corporate credit availability and managerial short-sightedness positively moderate this effect. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that non-state-owned enterprises in central and western regions, particularly those with weak environmental regulation and high pollution, are most impacted by PEPU.
Practical implications
This paper provides practical guidance for how to avoid the phenomenon of green reshuffle in economic and environmental policies and encourages enterprises to take more real and effective environmental protection measures.
Originality/value
These findings highlight the importance of considering corporate responses to policy uncertainty when formulating economic and environmental policies. They provide valuable insights for emerging economies in fostering genuine corporate environmental behavior and promoting sustainable development.
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C.S. Antonopoulos, Em.E. Kriezis and E.E. Kriezis
The path integral analysis has been used to examine the propagation of a Gaussian beam in two cases. First in free space and second in a space with a non‐penetrable obstacle…
Abstract
The path integral analysis has been used to examine the propagation of a Gaussian beam in two cases. First in free space and second in a space with a non‐penetrable obstacle, placed parallel to the direction of propagation. Full analytical equations have been given in both cases and results have been taken in the same spatial coordinates in order to facilitate comparisons. No numerical instabilities have been observed and the method seems to be quite tractable and easily extended in spaces with more that one obstacle.
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The maritime industry is the transport mode that contributes most to air pollution. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) identified the reduction of air pollution by…
Abstract
Purpose
The maritime industry is the transport mode that contributes most to air pollution. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) identified the reduction of air pollution by ships as a crucial issue. Since 1 January 2020, ships have had to adopt strategies and new technologies to eliminate air pollution. However, ship compliance with nitrate oxide (NOx) emission restrictions is more challenging. This paper aims to identify shipowners' challenges in investing in new technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper applied a hybrid methodology combining a survey, a balanced scorecard and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) to identify and evaluate constraints and weights in investment decision-making for NOx technologies. A survey was carried out to validate constraints.
Findings
A survey was carried out, representing 5.1% of Greek-owned ships by deadweight capacity. The findings provide a weighted list of seven crucial technical and economic constraints faced by ship operators. The constraints vary from ship retrofit expenditure to crew training and waste management. Additionally, NOx emission technologies were compared. It was found that liquefied natural gas is the preferred investment option for the survey participants compared with selective catalytic reduction, exhaust gas recirculation and batteries.
Originality/value
Several studies have dealt with the individual technical feasibility of NOx reduction technologies. However, apart from technical feasibility for a shipowner, the selection of a NOx technology has several managerial and safety risks. Therefore, the originality of this paper is to reveal those constraints that have a higher weight on shipowners. With this cost-benefit approach, investment challenges for ship operators are revealed. Policymakers can benefit from the results of the employed methodology.
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María Lourdes Arco-Castro, María Victoria López-Pérez, Ana Belén Alonso-Conde and Javier Rojo Suárez
This paper aims to identify the effect of environmental management systems (EMSs), commitment to stakeholders and gender diversity on corporate environmental performance (CEP) and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the effect of environmental management systems (EMSs), commitment to stakeholders and gender diversity on corporate environmental performance (CEP) and the extent to which an economic crisis moderates these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
A regression analysis was conducted on a sample of 14,217 observations from 1,933 firms from 26 countries from 2002 to 2010. The estimator used is ordinary least squares with heteroscedastic panel-corrected standard errors (PCSEs), which allows us to obtain consistent results in the presence of heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation.
Findings
The results show that EMSs and stakeholder engagement are mechanisms that drive CEP but lose their effectiveness in times of crisis. However, the presence of women on boards has a positive effect on CEP that is not affected by an economic crisis.
Research limitations/implications
The study has some limitations that could be addressed in the future. We present board gender diversity as a governance mechanism because its role is strongly related to non-financial performance. Future studies could focus on other corporate governance mechanisms, such as the presence of institutional or long-term investors. In addition, other mechanisms could be found that can counteract poor environmental performance in times of crisis. Finally, it might be useful to contrast these results with the crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Practical implications
The results obtained have important practical implications at the corporate and institutional levels. At the corporate level, they highlight, as essential contributions, that environmental management systems and stakeholder orientation are not effective in times of economic crisis, except for with the presence of women on the board.
Social implications
Following the crisis, the European Commission has promoted gender diversity on boards as a mechanism to improve the governance of entities – improving, among other aspects, sustainability. In this sense, another one of the practical implications of the study is support for the policies that the European Union has implemented over the last two decades.
Originality/value
The paper analyses how a crisis affects the moral and cultural institutional mechanisms that promote CEP. Gender diversity on the board of directors not only promotes environmental performance but also appears to be a governance mechanism that ensures this performance in times of crisis when the other mechanisms lose their effectiveness. The study proposes specific policies that help maintain environmental performance in an economic crisis.
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Marc Schober and Manfred Kasper
This paper aims to show that simple geometry‐based hp‐algorithms using an explicit a posteriori error estimator are efficient in wave propagation computation of complex structures…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to show that simple geometry‐based hp‐algorithms using an explicit a posteriori error estimator are efficient in wave propagation computation of complex structures containing geometric singularities.
Design/methodology/approach
Four different hp‐algorithms are compared with common h‐ and p‐adaptation in electrostatic and time‐harmonic problems regarding efficiency in number of degrees of freedom and runtime. An explicit a posteriori error estimator in energy norm is used for adaptive algorithms.
Findings
Residual‐based error estimation is sufficient to control the adaptation process. A geometry‐based hp‐algorithm produces the smallest number of degrees of freedom and results in shortest runtime. Predicted error algorithms may choose inappropriate kind of refinement method depending on p‐enrichment threshold value. Achieving exponential error convergence is sensitive to the element‐wise decision on h‐refinement or p‐enrichment.
Research limitations/implications
Initial mesh size must be sufficiently small to confine influence of phase lag error.
Practical implications
Information on implementation of hp‐algorithm and use of explicit error estimator in electromagnetic wave propagation is provided.
Originality/value
The paper is a resource for developing efficient finite element software for high‐frequency electromagnetic field computation providing guaranteed error bound.
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Kwadwo Asante, Petr Novak and Michael Adu Kwarteng
Environmental sustainability orientation has emerged to drive firms into eco-friendly production. Yet, the consequence of this new strategic thinking on firms’ green innovations…
Abstract
Environmental sustainability orientation has emerged to drive firms into eco-friendly production. Yet, the consequence of this new strategic thinking on firms’ green innovations, especially small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), remains unresolved. Recognizing that the connection between environmental sustainability orientation and green innovation may not always be direct, the study theorizes that dynamic capability and entrepreneurial orientation may form part of the boundary conditions that strengthen its effect on small enterprises’ green innovation. The study adjoins the dynamic capability theory with the entrepreneurial orientation theory to test this relationship among small businesses within a developing economy. Results from the partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) suggest that environmental sustainability orientation will result in green innovation when the SME’s dynamic capability can develop a creative reconfiguration of knowledge and new distinctive resources to support this new strategic direction. Similarly, findings from the study suggest that environmental sustainability orientation will translate into better green innovation outcomes when the SME entrepreneurial orientation has a solid attraction to protect the ecosystem and does not perceive green innovation as a risky enterprise.
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On 24 January 2020, France informed WHO of three cases of novel coronavirus, all of whom had travelled from Wuhan, China. These three cases were the first confirmed cases in…
Abstract
On 24 January 2020, France informed WHO of three cases of novel coronavirus, all of whom had travelled from Wuhan, China. These three cases were the first confirmed cases in Europe. By 13 March 2020, Europe had become the epicentre of the pandemic with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from the People’s Republic of China. Many European countries like Italy, France and Germany took drastic actions and subsequently announced a lockdown, while other countries like the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden were much more hesitant to introduce such far-reaching safety measures. This chapter provides a literature overview of how the variation in such measures in Europe has ultimately resulted in changes in daily activities and travel behaviour during the pandemic. It focusses on five main themes: (i) reduction in mobility and activities, (ii) spatial-temporal adjustments in out-of-home activities in which people still participated, (iii) modal adjustments especially among people who used to travel by public transport before the pandemic, (iv) new out-of-home activities including new outdoor activities and (v) digital adaptations as several out-of-home activities were replaced by digital activities, with special attention to the experience of teleworking.
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Péter Horváth, Sebastian Berlin and Judith M. Pütter
To integrate environmental management systems into daily operations, the environmental aspects of management control systems (MCS) are enhanced. Although different approaches and…
Abstract
Purpose
To integrate environmental management systems into daily operations, the environmental aspects of management control systems (MCS) are enhanced. Although different approaches and concepts for Environmental Management Control Systems (EMCS) have been developed, two main problems appear: First, insights into how to implement EMCS are rare. Second, concepts are constructed mainly for large companies rather than for SMEs.
Methodology/approach
To close these research gaps, an implementation framework for SMEs is developed based on Epstein’s corporate sustainability framework. By using an action-oriented research approach, the implementation framework is analysed and tested on three Logistics Service Providers (LSPs).
Findings
The framework worked well with two of the firms analysed and failed with the third firm. The case study results enable a first evaluation of the implementation requirements that are essential for implementing EMCS in SMEs.