Graham Bullock, Christopher Johnson and Brian Southwell
The purpose of this paper is to examine different strategies for an increasing adoption of “environmentally friendly” products. Scholars have consistently shown that consumers…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine different strategies for an increasing adoption of “environmentally friendly” products. Scholars have consistently shown that consumers with strong biospheric and altruistic beliefs are more likely to purchase these products, while marketers are increasingly appealing to consumers’ self-interest in their efforts to sell their “green” products. This paper explores this divide and offers a potential explanation for it, using the concept of value activation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents results of two survey experiments that test this explanation in the context of organic food advertisements. In a simulated trip to a grocery store, participants were exposed to advertisements designed to activate the six different values in Schwartz’s framework. After viewing the advertisements, participants were asked to select among organic and non-organic options in six product categories – milk, bread, eggs, spinach, potatoes and chocolate.
Findings
The study’s results suggest that while advertisements designed to activate values may have limited effect on consumer intentions, those that relate to protecting the health of oneself and one’s family are most likely to increase organic purchases.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the first of its kind to explicitly test whether advertisements designed to activate a range of human values can increase consumers’ intention to engage in pro-environmental behaviors. The two studies reveal that value-based advertisements may have a stronger effect on the organic purchasing intentions of specific demographic groups (e.g. consumers who are aged under 40, lack a college degree and do not identify as liberal).
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Lloyd Waller, Stephen Christopher Johnson, Nicola Satchell, Damion Gordon, Gavin Leon Kirkpatrick Daley, Howard Reid, Kimberly Fender, Paula Llewellyn, Leah Smyle and Patrick Linton
This paper aims to investigate the potential challenges that governments in the Commonwealth Caribbean are likely to face combating crimes facilitated by the dark Web.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the potential challenges that governments in the Commonwealth Caribbean are likely to face combating crimes facilitated by the dark Web.
Design/methodology/approach
The “lived experience” methodology guided by a contextual systematic literature review was used to ground the investigation of the research phenomena in the researchers’ collective experiences working in, living in and engaging in research with governments in the Commonwealth Caribbean.
Findings
The two major findings emerging from the analysis are that jurisdictional and technical challenges are producing major hindrances to the creation of an efficient and authoritative legislative framework and the building of the capacity of governments in the Commonwealth Caribbean to confront the technicalities that affect systematic efforts to manage problems created by the dark Web.
Practical implications
The findings indicate the urgency that authorities in the Caribbean region must place on reevaluating their administrative, legislative and investment priorities to emphasize cyber-risk management strategies that will enable their seamless and wholesome integration into this digital world.
Originality/value
The research aids in developing and extending theory and praxis related to the problematization of the dark Web for governments by situating the experiences of Small Island Developing States into the ongoing discourse.
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Stephen W. Brown, Raymond P. Fisk and Mary Jo Bitner
Offers the personal interpretations of authors as participant‐observerstogether with a data‐based analysis of the evolution of the servicesmarketing literature. Bibliographic…
Abstract
Offers the personal interpretations of authors as participant‐observers together with a data‐based analysis of the evolution of the services marketing literature. Bibliographic analysis of more than 1,000 English language, general services marketing publications, spanning four decades, provides an additional resource. Using an evolutionary metaphor as the framework, traces the literature through three stages: Crawling Out (1953‐79): Scurrying About (1980‐85); and Walking Erect (1986‐present). Shows how the literature has evolved from the early services‐marketing‐is‐different debate to the maturation of specific topics (e.g. service quality, service encounters) and the legitimization of the services marketing literature by major journals. Presents a classification and summary of publications and authors. Closes with discussion and speculation on the future of the services marketing literature.
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Christine Jordan and Ozlem Bak
The growing scale and scope of the supply chain requires a greater understanding of the broader supply chain skills picture. This study aims to assess the supply chain skills…
Abstract
Purpose
The growing scale and scope of the supply chain requires a greater understanding of the broader supply chain skills picture. This study aims to assess the supply chain skills needs within the context of a UK-based higher education institution involving graduates, academics and employers to appreciate the graduate skills demands of modern supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed methods study entailing in-depth interviews with academics followed by a questionnaire distributed to graduates and employers has been designed and utilised.
Findings
The findings indicate that the changing supply chain scope encourages the requisition and development of different supply chain skills with varied levels of emphases in relation to 25 skills identified in the literature. Key graduate skills needs are highlighted, including time management, collaborative learning, teamwork and problem solving, with the addition of two supply chain skill areas, namely specialist training and the understanding and application of regulations. The findings of the current study present a limited emphasis on information technology (IT) skills, despite the significant IT advancements and changes in supply chains.
Research limitations/implications
The study has been carried out in a UK university delivering undergraduate supply chain management courses. It would be beneficial to test whether the findings are exemplary across other supply chain courses and to investigate the integration of these skills within the supply chain syllabus and how employers, graduates and academic parties could actively engage in developing the agenda for future supply chain skills needs.
Practical implications
This research paper highlights the gaps in supply chain skills, which inevitably puts considerable pressure on operatives and managers whose responsibility it is to ensure compliance with regulations and professional bodies.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the supply chain skills discussion and reports subject relevant challenges for supply chain educators by engaging three key stakeholders – graduate employers, graduates and academics. The findings have generated additional supply chain skills to the academic literature, in addition to providing an understanding of the weighting of skills in terms of their importance and application to industry needs.
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J. Christopher Hughen and Scott Beyer
In the increasingly globalized economy, foreign exchange fluctuations have multiple, conflicting effects on domestic stock prices. The purpose of this paper is to examine return…
Abstract
Purpose
In the increasingly globalized economy, foreign exchange fluctuations have multiple, conflicting effects on domestic stock prices. The purpose of this paper is to examine return data to determine the relation between the dollar’s value and stock prices as it relates to monetary policy.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examine US stock returns over a 40-year period, which is classified according to monetary policy and dollar trend. To better understand the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations, the authors estimate a model of stock returns using the three Fama-French factors and a momentum factor. Then the authors explore the underlying economic fundamentals that drive the sharp difference in annual returns between periods when the dollar is in an uptrend trend with loose monetary policy and periods when the dollar is in a downtrend with tight monetary policy.
Findings
Over the last 40 years, US stock returns were 2.5 times higher when the dollar was trending up vs down. The factor model of returns shows that equity returns are positively associated with periods when the dollar appreciated. Returns were particularly high when the dollar was in an uptrend during accommodative monetary policy. During these periods, stocks in the consumer goods and services industries provided relatively high returns. This occurred with strong economic growth due to consumer spending. Stocks exhibited the lowest returns when the dollar was depreciating and the Federal Reserve was tightening.
Originality/value
The key contribution of the research is that currency trends should be analyzed in the light of monetary policy. During periods of accommodative monetary policy and dollar appreciation, the US stock market provided average returns of 18.7 percent compared to −3.29 percent during a period of restrictive monetary policy and dollar depreciation. This result is driven by stronger economic growth, which is composed of consumer spending that more than offsets the dollar’s impact on net exports.
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Abstract
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Christopher Scanlon and John Adlam
This paper aims to offer a critical analysis of the potentially traumatising nature of working with (dis)stressed and traumatised people with complex needs who are homeless. It…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to offer a critical analysis of the potentially traumatising nature of working with (dis)stressed and traumatised people with complex needs who are homeless. It also seeks to provide a commentary on the contribution of Psychologically Informed Services: A Good Practice Guide in addressing the impact of these difficult dynamics upon workers, teams and organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is an invited piece and is based on the specialist experience and viewpoint of the authors working as psychotherapists with a background in therapeutic community work and of their experience of reflective practice and team development consultancy with teams working in homelessness services.
Findings
With increasing demand and more restricted funding for homelessness resettlement services, the authors raise issues in the complex interaction of institutional and social and interpersonal dilemmas for staff “stuck in the middle” between the (dis)stressing nature of clients' “unhoused” minds and the (dis)stressed response of the systems of care. A group‐analytic, systems psychodynamics approach is used to shed light upon the risks to workers when services do not make time to reflect upon these (dis)stressing and potentially traumatising dynamics. They also point towards some of the personal and professional characteristics required in consulting to staff teams and agencies working with such complex dynamics.
Originality/value
The new operational guidance is welcomed, however, the authors suggest that the successful implementation of Psychologically Informed Environments (PIEs) is reliant on the capacity of any given organisation to build effective cultures and structures to support the development of reflective practice and team development.
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The author explains how the story of China geo-political vision has recently taken a new turn under the leadership of Xi Jinping, and signals a major shift towards a more…
Abstract
Purpose
The author explains how the story of China geo-political vision has recently taken a new turn under the leadership of Xi Jinping, and signals a major shift towards a more expansive and outward-looking economic policy.
Design/methodology/approach
Understanding more fully what is happening in the latest phase of China’s modern resurgence is a strategic imperative for both public policy analysts and corporate leaders with global interests and ambitions.
Findings
China is now convinced that extending its ‘infrastructure and connectivity” focus outwards in this way will help ‘to dismantle investment barriers, create new trade routes, improve international logistics and deepen financial integration.’
Practical implications
Beijing is ‘adamant’ that it should not be called a ‘plan’ or a ‘strategy’ lest it ‘be interpreted as ruse to build a vast economic empire.’
Originality/value
China's BRI extends beyond ports, railways and highways to other major types of infrastructure including oil and gas pipelines, electricity power plants and telecommunications networks. So the invitation to be part of BRI presents ‘a vast economic carrot,’ and the prospect of becoming major hubs on emerging new pan-regional trade routes is enormously attractive to many of China’s underdeveloped neighbors. 10;
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Christopher K. Johnson and Hoseong Kim
The impacts of median income and other variables on the Sen index of poverty in the United States are investigated using panel data with fixed time period and cross sectional…
Abstract
The impacts of median income and other variables on the Sen index of poverty in the United States are investigated using panel data with fixed time period and cross sectional effects. Estimates for the Sen index and its decomposed components – the headcount ratio, poverty gap ratio, and Gini coefficient among the poor reveal that median income among state/regions and across time systematically influences the Sen index and each of its components. However, the results reveal that labor market and demographic control variables have quite different effects on the distinct components of the Sen index.