IN order to simulate flight and landing stresses on the ground, a measurable load with a given distribution must be transmitted to an aircraft structure by some mechanical means…
Abstract
IN order to simulate flight and landing stresses on the ground, a measurable load with a given distribution must be transmitted to an aircraft structure by some mechanical means. Some thirty years ago, when the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation was organized, this was commonly accomplished by piling sandbags on the structure or by clamping yokes over ribs and frames for loading. Another method, later used, involved the direct attachment of spokes and clips to the structure.
Lisa-Mari Coughlan and Melville Saayman
Tourism is a key source of income to South Africa. Food and beverages is a key part of tourism and the literature reveals that tourists spend up to a quarter of their budget on…
Abstract
Tourism is a key source of income to South Africa. Food and beverages is a key part of tourism and the literature reveals that tourists spend up to a quarter of their budget on cuisine. South Africa has, however, been rated as the least-prepared culinary travel destination and the travel destination with the greatest potential for growth. Therefore, a segmentation taxonomy based on culinary preferences of international tourists to South Africa is put forth which can be used to prepare South Africa as a culinary travel destination. The 627 international tourists surveyed were divided into five segments with the use of factor analyses, t-tests, Spearman rank correlations and analysis of variance. The segments were named conservationists, experience seekers, devotees, explorers and socialisers (CEDES taxonomy). Multiple results and implications are discussed in the paper.
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This pilot study is aimed to explore the potential problem of picky eating (PE) among university students majoring in food and nutrition as prospective nutrition professionals.
Abstract
Purpose
This pilot study is aimed to explore the potential problem of picky eating (PE) among university students majoring in food and nutrition as prospective nutrition professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
The current pilot study included a total of 87 South Korean students majoring in food and nutrition. The self-designed Food Bridge program was applied to identify the underlying causes of PE and examine the possibility of overcoming it. The program included planning and practicing stepwise exposures to target foods that were the subject of PE. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and distributive differences between the success and failure groups in the program were analyzed using a chi-squared test.
Findings
Vegetables were the most commonly disliked foods (74.7%). About 46% of all students mentioned negative experiences as a reason for food dislikes. Almost half (45%) of these negative experiences were due to external coercion: forced eating (30.0%) and vomiting after forced eating (15.0%). About 66% of the students achieved relatively positive results in overcoming PE. The proportion of failures tended to be higher when the reasons for food dislike included negative experiences.
Originality/value
As the current study implied, students majoring in food and nutrition can be subject to PE. Despite study limitations, this study is meaningful in that it raises concerns over the potential problem of PE and its treatment among prospective nutrition professionals. This study is also expected to serve as a basis for further research on adult PE.
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Vaseem Akram, Pradipta Kumar Sahoo and Badri Narayan Rath
This paper investigates the per-capita output club convergence in case of 120 countries for the period 1995–2015. Further, we disaggregate per-capita output into three broad…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the per-capita output club convergence in case of 120 countries for the period 1995–2015. Further, we disaggregate per-capita output into three broad sectors such as agriculture, industry, and service and investigate the convergence hypothesis.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper tests this hypothesis using the Phillips and Sul panel club convergence technique.
Findings
Our findings are as follows: (1) our results indicate the evidence of output divergence for the full sample; (2) when countries are divided into different clubs, the results exhibit the sign of per capita output club convergence both for aggregate and three major sectors. Further, this study confirms that industry's per capita output is the main driver for aggregate per-capita output club convergence in case of club 1. For club 2, agriculture's per capita output is a primary source for aggregate per capita output club convergence. Likewise, in the case of clubs 3 and 4, we find the service sector's per capita output is the main component for aggregate per-capita output club convergence; (3) both the service and industry sectors are major drivers for aggregate per-capita output club convergence.
Practical implications
This study suggests to the policymaker that sector-specific policies need to be adopted to boost the per-capita output growth by improving the performance of each of the sectors across the countries.
Originality/value
Notwithstanding, there are many studies that examine the output convergence using a notion of beta and sigma convergence, but studies regarding per capita output club convergence both at the aggregate and sectoral level are scanty.
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The purpose of this study is to analyze the mediating effect of human capital in foreign direct investment (FDI) and growth nexus and establish the threshold of human capital in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze the mediating effect of human capital in foreign direct investment (FDI) and growth nexus and establish the threshold of human capital in 28 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries over the period 1999–2017.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a secondary source of data obtained from the World Development Indicator and used the system generalized method of moments and dynamic panel threshold regression (TR) to analyze the data.
Findings
This study found that FDI and human capital have no significant impact on the economic growth in SSA. However, when the interactive term of FDI and human capital was introduced in the model, the economic growth effect of FDI became positive and significant, while the coefficient of the interactive term is negative and significant. This presupposes that SSA does not have a sufficient high-quality workforce that can absorb and transform the spillover benefits of FDI into economic growth. As a result, this study applied the TR to determine the minimum level of human capital and established a threshold level at 63.91%.
Practical implications
It, therefore, becomes pertinent for policymakers in the SSA region to have a human capital policy to build up their absorptive capacities to fully take advantage of FDI.
Originality/value
The contribution of this study lies in establishing a threshold of human capital at 63.91% for countries in the SSA region.
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Yim King Penny Wan and Seongseop (Sam) Kim
This paper aims to investigate the perceptions by owners and staff working in causal full-service restaurants in Macao of their two major subcultures of customers: Hong Kong…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the perceptions by owners and staff working in causal full-service restaurants in Macao of their two major subcultures of customers: Hong Kong Chinese and Taiwan Chinese in terms of their dining behavior and preferences.
Design/methodology/approach
Face-to-face interviews with 36 service staff of casual dining restaurants in Macao were conducted through the purposive convenience sampling method. Thematic content analysis was conducted in the data analysis.
Findings
The results reveal that although the customers from the two Chinese subcultures have a similar appearance, use the same Chinese characters and share common cultural inheritances; their dining behavior and preferences are perceived as being different.
Practical implications
Practical implications are given on how to better design the products and services to meet each subgroup’s needs for enhancing customers’ experience and service quality in restaurant settings.
Originality/value
This study focuses on examining if there are any sub-cultural differences in food behaviors and preferences among Hong Kong and Taiwan visitors, who are the major tourist sources in the world market. It contributes to the scarce literature on intracultural dining variances of sub-groups within Chinese.
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Novica Supic, Kosta Josifidis and Sladjana Bodor
The aim of this paper is to shed more light on the foreign direct investment (FDI) - income inequality nexus in the post-communist EU countries. Special attention is paid to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to shed more light on the foreign direct investment (FDI) - income inequality nexus in the post-communist EU countries. Special attention is paid to the emergence of a new meritocratic elite related to foreign capital that tends to replace the old elite inherited from the transition period at the top end of the income distribution.
Design/methodology/approach
The macroeconomic model of the relationship between income inequality and FDI is estimated by using the generalized method of moments (GMM) technique. The sample includes 10 post-communist EU member states during the period 1993 to 2020.
Findings
The results suggest that the concentration of the highest level of human capital in foreign-owned enterprises, in the institutional environment under which foreign-owned enterprises are less numerous and pay a higher wage than domestic ones, contributes to the change of the effect of FDI and human capital on income distribution from an initial decrease to a later increase in income inequality.
Originality/value
This paper adds to the existing literature by exploring the distributive impacts of sectoral reallocation of FDI inflows from manufacturing to service sectors from the perspective of heterodox economics. It specifically examines how this shift has facilitated the emergence of a new meritocratic elite associated with foreign capital, which in turn diminishes the overall anti-inequality effect of FDI in the post-communist new EU countries.
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Maria Colurcio, Patricia Wolf, Pierre‐Yves Kocher and Tiziana Russo Spena
In innovation networks, SMEs' capability to innovate is both enhanced and restricted by more powerful or better positioned partners. The purpose of this article is to ask how…
Abstract
Purpose
In innovation networks, SMEs' capability to innovate is both enhanced and restricted by more powerful or better positioned partners. The purpose of this article is to ask how managers of processing SME suppliers in Italian and Swiss food innovation networks experience their relationships with innovation network partners and how they configure modes of interaction with them.
Design/methodology/approach
A series of problem centered interviews with managers of six Swiss and five Italian food sector SMEs was conducted.
Findings
Findings describe how SME managers in the two regions perceive the nature of interaction as well as benefits and disadvantages resulting from asymmetric relationships within networked innovation process. Differences in the perception frame and their impact on behavior in innovation networks are analyzed.
Research limitations/implications
The data are only valid for the food sector in the two regional markets. Furthermore, this paper only displays the perspective of managers of first and second processing food SME suppliers. Additional data should be gathered on the perspective of other network partners as well as on real‐time communication between them.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that active cooperation with especially customers in innovation networks supports innovation opportunities of processing food SME suppliers.
Originality/value
Scholars so far have comprehensively deduced potential advantages and problems resulting from asymmetries in power and positioning of partners for knowledge sharing in innovation networks but have not yet investigated its specifics. Particularly, empirical work on the perspective of managers from processing SME suppliers on innovation related cooperation with their partners in the value chain on networked innovation is yet almost scant.
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The overall objective of this study is to test the consumer's perception towards their behavior of choosing a restaurant when demographic characteristics such as age, gender…
Abstract
Purpose
The overall objective of this study is to test the consumer's perception towards their behavior of choosing a restaurant when demographic characteristics such as age, gender, income play a mediating role. This study also seeks to highlight some propositions to guide future empirical research.
Design/methodology/approach
The survey instrument was administered on 350 consumers from Dhaka city in Bangladesh. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to extract and test the key influential attributes on the basis of data of total samples respectively. Structural equation modeling was also used to define the structure of influencing attributes and to measure the degree of impact for each attribute of the consumer's behavior in selecting a restaurant.
Findings
The results show that there is a strong relationship between consumer perception and behavior in selecting a restaurant when age, gender and income play a mediating role. In addition it is also found that consumers' age differences have the highest influence on their behavior of choosing a restaurant.
Research limitations/implications
This research used a convenience sampling procedure, which is the main limitation. Future research could use a stratified random sampling procedure with more samples. On the other hand the EFA is difficult to generalize to a larger audience. There was a lack of experimental control for the questionnaire investigation, so the quality of questionnaire cannot be ensured.
Practical implications
Restaurant operators who are trying to understand their consumers must measure not only their perception, but also their age, gender, and income because those variables also play a substantial role in predicting consumer behavior as well.
Originality/value
Until the present paper, the majority of research into restaurant customers has utilized demographic characteristics (age, gender and income) has been scarce. Moreover, this is a relatively new issue that remains largely undiscovered by researchers from an underdeveloped country's perspective.
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Given that the increased marketing of genetically modified (GM) food products and the attitudes of the public have a strong impact on the progress of this emerging gene…
Abstract
Purpose
Given that the increased marketing of genetically modified (GM) food products and the attitudes of the public have a strong impact on the progress of this emerging gene technology, this study aims to shed light on the antecedents relating to the extent of both the adoption and the purchase intention of GM foods.
Design/methodology/approach
This work is done from an integrated research framework based on the Attitude Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by using structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis.
Findings
The results support the use of the construct “attitude toward GM foods” as a bridge to connect the Attitude Model and the Behavioral Intention Model so as to establish an integrated research framework and to shed light on how consumers form their attitudes and make purchase intentions toward GM foods.
Practical implications
GM food marketers should make special efforts to convince the public that this new emerging technology as applied to food production will provide more benefits than ever before, with the consequence that consumers will hold a more positive attitude toward GM foods that leads to their purchase intentions.
Originality/value
This study pioneers in building an integrated research framework to understand how consumers form their attitudes and make purchase intentions toward GM foods.