Sebastian Berger, Fabian Christandl, Christina Schmidt and Christian Baertsch
Entomophagy (i.e. human insect consumption) is seen as one promising route to substantially reduce food-related carbon footprints as insects can be produced at a fraction of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Entomophagy (i.e. human insect consumption) is seen as one promising route to substantially reduce food-related carbon footprints as insects can be produced at a fraction of the carbon emitted by traditional Western meat production (e.g. beef, pork, poultry). In this light, the purpose of this paper is to address how prices may affect preferences for insects as food.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on consumer research on “positive” functions of prices (e.g. the widely held belief that price and quality are positively correlated), the authors present two behavioural experiments that manipulated price cues to estimate the effect on expectations, eating behaviour and willingness-to-pay as central preference indicators.
Findings
Consistent with the predictions, high prices as initial anchors positively affect food preferences. Furthermore, they incur a positive spill-over effect to subsequent consumption of insects that are unprocessed (i.e. truffles in which mealworms are visible in their entity) and for which no price information is available. Additionally, the authors show that the positive effects of high prices on preferences are muted if prices are artificially lowered (e.g. by means of government subsidies, Experiment 2).
Practical implications
Taken together, the authors show that preferences for novel foods such as insects can be promoted by systematically taking into account behavioural economic theories. This suggests that behavioural theory can be used to reap environmental benefits of entomophagy.
Originality/value
This research links behavioural economics with the actual consumption of insects and therefore complements survey research on behavioural intentions.
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Arnaud Bertsch, Paul Bernhard, Christian Vogt and Philippe Renaud
The commercialization of new products integrating many functions in a small volume requires more and more often the rapid prototyping of small high‐resolution objects, having…
Abstract
The commercialization of new products integrating many functions in a small volume requires more and more often the rapid prototyping of small high‐resolution objects, having intricate details, small openings and smooth surfaces. To give an answer to this demand, the stereolithography process has started to evolve towards a better resolution: the “small spot” stereolithography technology allows to reach a sufficient resolution for the manufacturing of a large range of small and precise prototype parts. Microstereolithography, a technique with resolution about an order of magnitude better than conventional stereolithography, is studied by different academic research groups. The integral microstereolithography machine developed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne is described in this paper, and potential applications are presented. The resolutions of conventional, small spot and microstereolithography technologies are compared and the potential of the microstereolithography technique is shown for the manufacturing of small and complex objects.
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Romie Frederick Littrell and Andy Bertsch
This paper aims to present a meta‐analysis of available statistical data and literature for gender‐related practices concerning women in business and education across countries…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a meta‐analysis of available statistical data and literature for gender‐related practices concerning women in business and education across countries, comparing the patriarchal belt and South Asian countries in the belt to the rest of the world. The purpose of the project is to investigate the progress of enhancement of opportunities for women to engage in non‐agricultural work in the belt, and, as women’s participation in tertiary education is touted as an impetus in enhancing women’s opportunities, investigate its effect.
Design/methodology/approach
The existence of a belt of countries from North Africa through Bangladesh and rural China is well known, with societies demonstrating a consistent pattern of restriction and suppression of women. No development of theory treating the patriarchal belt as a whole has been published. The authors earmark this as a future endeavour. They employ ten years of statistical summaries of percent of women in the non‐agricultural labour force and ratios of women to men in tertiary education provided by the United Nations in support of the UN Millennium Development Goals to compare changes in these activities in countries in the patriarchal belt, South Asia, and the rest of the world. The method is to carry out statistical comparisons of trends derived from annual averages for the two measures.
Findings
The literature review indicates that for millennia in the patriarchal belt societal practices have institutionalised women’s lack of access to participation in the labour market and generally from participating in much of public life. The analyses indicate that participation in non‐agricultural employment has decreased over the past decade in the belt compared to the rest of the world. Opportunities for women to participate in tertiary education have on average been increasing during this period for most countries of the world including those in the patriarchal belt. However, this circumstance has not led to increased participation in the non‐agricultural work force.
Practical implications
The practical implications seen are that the UN Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG) are important to improving the lot of individuals, some goals that purport to lead to improvements in human and gender rights in regions such as the patriarchal belt may have no real effect, and other, more useful goals need to be investigated. Economically, the exclusion of women from voluntary productive labour as detrimental to the development of a nation is seen.
Social implications
In the patriarchal belt societal practices institutionalise negative discrimination concerning women, often codified in laws that prohibit women from participating in much of public life or fully competing in the labour market. The evaluation of these conditions using European and North American standards proposes that these women are abused and denied their rights. Nonetheless, initiatives such as agreements on the UNMDG appear to have no effect, and other solutions need to be pursued.
Originality/value
The originality and value of this paper is that it investigates the complete set of patriarchal belt countries, across countries that include both Muslim and Hindu majorities. It concludes that while religions tenets are employed to justify patriarchal practices, long‐standing tribal practices appear to be far more influential.
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Ralph Bathurst and Anne Messervy
Bill Clinton is exemplary of a new conception of leadership appropriate for the 21st century. In spite of his sexual proclivities (for which he received harsh criticism and…
Abstract
Bill Clinton is exemplary of a new conception of leadership appropriate for the 21st century. In spite of his sexual proclivities (for which he received harsh criticism and impeachment proceedings) Clinton’s physicality signals an end of a Gnostic view of leadership that separates the knowing head from the rest of the body. We propose that 20th century manifestations of leadership are no longer appropriate for this age, and we illustrate this idea with the ‘reality’ television series Undercover Boss. Further, by exploring artist Peter Robinson’s installation The End of the Twentieth Century we claim that Clinton’s call for inclusivity, a ‘both–and’ approach that characterizes his late- and post-Presidential rhetoric, opens possibilities for alternative constructs that place the body at the heart of leadership. Our exploration of Clinton’s physicality is through his speech to the APEC business leaders in 1999, his commentary on the movie documentary The Hunting of the President and his speech to the 2004 Democratic National Convention. In each of these he reaches out to his audiences through physical and verbal gestures. He pleads for tolerance and understanding so that people may find commonalities among their flaws and differences. Through enacting the physical ‘doing’ of leadership in these instances, Bill Clinton offers an exemplar of re-locating leadership within its physical context.
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Jan Wilkes, Yves‐Christian Hagedorn, Wilhelm Meiners and Konrad Wissenbach
The purpose this paper is to develop an additive manufacturing (AM) technique for high‐strength oxide ceramics. The process development aims at directly manufacturing fully dense…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose this paper is to develop an additive manufacturing (AM) technique for high‐strength oxide ceramics. The process development aims at directly manufacturing fully dense ceramic freeform‐components with good mechanical properties.
Design/methodology/approach
The selective laser melting of the ceramic materials zirconia and alumina has been investigated experimentally. The approach followed up is to completely melt ZrO2/Al2O3 powder mixtures by a focused laser beam. In order to reduce thermally induced stresses, the ceramic is preheated to a temperature of at least 1,600°C during the build up process.
Findings
It is possible to manufacture ceramic objects with almost 100 percent density, without any sintering processes or any post‐processing. Crack‐free specimens have been manufactured that have a flexural strength of more than 500 MPa. Manufactured objects have a fine‐grained two‐phase microstructure consisting of tetragonal zirconia and alpha‐alumina.
Research limitations/implications
Future research may focus on improving the surface quality of manufactured components, solving issues related to the cold powder deposition on the preheated ceramic, further increasing the mechanical strength and transferring the technology from laboratory scale to industrial application.
Practical implications
Potential applications of this technique include manufacturing individual all‐ceramic dental restorations, ceramic prototypes and complex‐shaped ceramic components that cannot be made by any other manufacturing technique.
Originality/value
This new manufacturing technique based on melting and solidification of high‐performance ceramic material has some significant advantages compared to laser sintering techniques or other manufacturing techniques relying on solid‐state sintering processes.
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Jawad Syed and Edwina Pio
The purpose of this paper is to offer an editorial introduction to the special issue on “Gender and diversity in organizations in South Asia”.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer an editorial introduction to the special issue on “Gender and diversity in organizations in South Asia”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the state of extant research on equality, diversity and inclusion in South Asia. It also offers an overview of the papers included in the special issue and the unique contributions they make to this field of knowledge.
Findings
Findings vary for each paper; however, overall, the special issue brings to the fore theoretical ideas, alternative organizing and organisations and challenges involved in diversity management in South Asia.
Research limitations/implications
The papers offer fresh insights in theorizing and managing diversity and equality which depart from the dominant Anglo‐centric theorizations in this field.
Practical implications
Educators, policy makers and managers in organisations may take into account various findings and recommendations offered in the papers leading to greater awareness of the challenges and opportunities to formulate context‐sensitive policies and practices of diversity in South Asia.
Originality/value
Barring a few exceptions, the topic of gender and diversity management in South Asia, as for example the centrality of national culture and values, remains generally ignored in work and organization studies. Papers that are published appear in a wide variety of journals rarely achieving a critical mass. The current (special) issue of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion addresses these gaps and seeks to strengthen understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion pertaining to the region classified as South Asia.
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The lives of gifted young adolescents are often subject to adult‐generated and expert narratives that can impact a developing sense of self. However, opportunities for gifted…
Abstract
The lives of gifted young adolescents are often subject to adult‐generated and expert narratives that can impact a developing sense of self. However, opportunities for gifted young adolescents to represent themselves as informants can emerge through digital forms of qualitative research. This paper reports on the value of digital writing of journal entries, delivered by email to a researcher over several months, as an alternative to face‐to‐face interviews. Journaling methods combined with techniques of ‘listening for voices’ can support young adolescents in generating their own multi‐vocal narratives of self. This method capturing self‐narratives in email form has the potential to produce rich understandings of individual young adolescents’ self‐constructions.