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In manual order picking systems, temporary workers are often employed to handle demand peaks. While this increases flexibility, it may hamper productivity, as they are usually unfamiliar with the processes and may have little experience. It is important for managers to understand how quickly inexperienced workers arrive at full productivity and which factors support workers in improving their productivity. This paper aims to investigate how learning improves the performance of order pickers, and how their regulatory focus (RF) and monetary incentives, as management actions, influence learning.

Data was collected in two case studies in controlled field-lab experiments and statistically analysed. This allowed evaluating the validity of hypotheses through an ANOVA, the calculation of correlation coefficients and the application of regression models.

A monetary incentive based on total order picking time and pick errors has a positive influence on order picking time, but not on pick quality. The incentive influences initial productivity, but not the learning rate. A dominant promotion-oriented RF increases the effect of the incentive on initial productivity, but it does not impact worker learning.

This study contributes to behavioral and human-focused order picking management and supports managers in setting up work plans and developing incentive systems for learning and productivity enhancement, considering worker RF.

This work is among the few to empirically investigate the effect of monetary incentives on learning in interaction with RF. It is the first study to investigate these concepts in an order picking scenario.

Ensuring high on-shelf availability at low inventory costs remains an important challenge in retailing. Inaccurate inventory records, i.e. discrepancies between the stock records displayed in the inventory system and the stock quantity actually found in the retail store, have been identified as one of the most important drivers of retail stockouts in the past. The purpose of this work is to investigate the causes of positive inventory discrepancies in retailing, i.e. where there is more inventory on-hand than identified by the inventory system.

Based on input from retailers, the authors develop a simulation model of a retail store that considers various error-prone processes and study in a full factorial test design how the different operational errors may drive inventory discrepancies, paying special attention to the sources of positive inventory record inaccuracies.

This makes it possible to gain insights into the process parameters retailers need to adjust to avoid inventory records becoming inaccurate. In addition, the authors analyze how positive inventory discrepancies relate to stockouts to further our understanding of the role so-called phantom products may play in a retailing context.

While negative inventory discrepancies (where the stock that is available in the store is less than what the system displays) and their sources (theft, shrinkage, etc.) have been discussed quite frequently in the literature, the causes of positive inventory discrepancies (where the available inventory exceeds the system inventory) have received much less attention.

Order picking is one of the most costly logistics processes in warehouses. As a result, the optimization of order picking processes has received an increased attention in recent years. One potential source for improving order picking is the reduction of picker blocking. The purpose of this paper is to investigate picker blocking under different storage assignment and order picker-route combinations and evaluate its effects on the performance of manual order picking processes.

This study develops an agent-based simulation model (ABS) for order picking in a rectangular warehouse. By employing an ABS, we are able to study the behaviour of individual order pickers and their interactions with the environment.

The simulation model determines shortest mean throughput times when the same routing policy is assigned to all order pickers. In addition, it evaluates the efficiency of alternative routing policies–storage assignment combinations.

The paper implies that ABS is well-suited for further investigations in the field of picker blocking, for example, with respect to the individual behaviour of agents.

Based on the results of this paper, warehouse managers can choose an appropriate routing policy that best matches their storage assignment policy and the number of order pickers employed.

This paper is the first to comprehensively study the effects of different combinations of order picker routing and storage assignment policies on the occurrence of picker blocking.

The purpose of this paper is to study the prevalence of human learning in the order picking process in an experimental study. Further, it aims to compare alternative learning curves from the literature and to assess which learning curves are most suitable to describe learning in order picking.

An experimental study was conducted at a manufacturer of household products. Empirical data was collected in the order picking process, and six learning curves were fitted to the data in a regression analysis.

It is shown that learning occurs in order picking, and that the learning curves of Wright, De Jong and Dar‐El et al. and the three‐parameter hyperbolic model are suitable to approximate the learning effect. The Stanford B model and the time constant model led to unrealistic results.

The results imply that human learning should be considered in planning the order picking process, for example in designing the layout of the warehouse or in setting up work schedules.

The paper is the first to study learning effects in order picking systems, and one of the few papers that use empirical data from an industrial application to study learning effects.

This paper aimed to test a proposed framework highlighting strategic green marketing initiatives and how they drive new technology implementation towards green corporate performance, underpinned by institutional isomorphism.

The study used a quantitative method and convenience sampling approach in gathering data using adapted questionnaires to solicit first-hand information from 225 employees of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism and hospitality sector underpinned by the theory of institutional isomorphism.

The study shows that green communication and green strategy alignment have significant predictive effects on new technology implementation. Cultural isomorphism significantly moderated the effects of implementing new technology (i.e. green communication and strategy alignment). In addition, “new technology implementation had a significant predictive effect on green corporate performance”. Meanwhile, the moderation effect of “green creative behaviour on the new technology-green corporate performance dyad was positive but insignificant.”

The study’s novel framework confirms how green communication strategy and green strategy alignment complement cultural isomorphism to explain the impact of new technology implementation on green corporate performance, underpinned by institutional isomorphism.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

An identification card facilitates access to municipal services for migrants with precarious status (MPS) in Montreal. The purpose of this study was to explore from MPS’ perspective the utility of the identity (ID) card and its influence on social inclusion for MPS.

A sequential explanatory mixed methods design was used. First, a descriptive phone survey was administered (n = 119). Associations between ID card use and levels of social inclusion were assessed using ordinal logistic regression. Second, semi-structured interviews (n = 12) were done with purposely selected participants. Results were mixed using a statistics-by-theme approach.

Results showed that ID card users compared to nonusers reported higher levels of participation in society and more control/independence in daily life. No statistical associations were found between card use and sense of belonging nor sense of safety. Interviews highlighted that the ID card enabled participation in socio-recreational activities and perceived empowerment. A heightened sense of belonging was also found. Interview participants expressed fear of police despite owning the ID card.

Overall, although the municipal ID card promoted social inclusion for MPS, there is a need to render the ID card official to fully achieve this goal. Findings can inform the creation of public policies that foster inclusion and health of MPS in cities around the world.

Evaluation from MPS’ perspectives of the first ID card program of its kind in Canada.

Recent decades have shown a great increase in online and blended learning and teaching practices in higher education. The purpose of this book chapter is to explore and assess the existing literature on best practices in online and hybrid teaching and learning in the field of health education/promotion. Additionally, emerging practices Post-COVID-19 related to online and hybrid teaching as applicable to the field of health education/promotion were also explored.

In order to collect the materials for the study, a Boolean search of CINAHL, MEDLINE, and ERIC, Education Research Complete databases was carried out using the terms and headings such as “online teaching,” “hybrid teaching,” “health education,” “health promotion,” and “public health” for the time period 2010–2020. The criteria for inclusion of the studies were: (1) publication in English language, (2) full-text peer-reviewed publications between 2010 and 2020, and (3) location of studies anywhere in the world Exclusion criteria were publications in languages other than English and studies published prior to 2010. Using the key terms “online teaching” and “public health” yielded 10 results and “online teaching” and “health education” yielded 19 results. This review highlighted the scant published literature (as gauged by studies published in the last decade) on efficacy and application of online and hybrid teaching and learning in the field of health education/promotion.

We encourage health education professionals to conduct experimental and quasi-experimental studies for assessing efficacy of online and hybrid teaching and learning particularly using evidence-based frameworks such as Quality Matters (QM) or Online Learning Consortium (OLC) quality scorecard as mentioned earlier.

This article examines the multiple ways in which Hannah Arendt’s thought arose historically and in international context, but also how we might think about history and theory in new ways with Arendt. It is commonplace to situate Arendt’s political and historical thought as a response to totalitarianism. However, far less attention has been paid to the significance of other specifically and irreducibly international experiences and events. Virtually, all of her singular contributions to political and international thought were influenced by her lived experiences of, and historical reflections on, statelessness and exile, imperialism, transnational totalitarianism, world wars, the nuclear revolution, the founding of Israel, war crimes trials, and the war in Vietnam. Yet, we currently lack a comprehensive reconstruction of the extent to which Arendt’s thought was shaped by the fact of political multiplicity, that there are not one but many polities existing on earth and inhabiting the world. This neglect is surprising in light of the significant “international turn” in the history of thought and intellectual history, the growing interest in Arendt’s thought within international theory and, above all, Arendt’s own unwavering commitment to plurality not simply as a characteristic of individuals but as an essential and intrinsically valuable effect of distinct territorial entities. The article examines the historical and international context of Arendt’s historical method, including her critique of process- and development-oriented histories that remain current in different social science fields, setting out and evaluating her alternative approach to historical writing.

The following annotated bibliography of materials on orienting users to the library and on instructing them in the use of reference and other resources covers publications from 1980. Several items from 1979 were included because information about them had not been available in time for the 1980 listing. Some entries were not annotated because the compiler was unable to secure a copy of the item.