Morteza Maleki Minbashrazgah, Fatemeh Maleki and Maedeh Torabi
Developing green consumption, organic and green meat and poultry consumption have been increased recently. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of food’s sensory…
Abstract
Purpose
Developing green consumption, organic and green meat and poultry consumption have been increased recently. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of food’s sensory characteristics (e.g. organic food beliefs) and non-food factors (e.g. price transparency) on consumers’ green purchase behavior. So, according to the moderating role of price transparency, affecting factors on green chicken purchase intention and behavior are examined.
Design/methodology/approach
Evaluating the model, the authors used measures from previous research. The authors distributed questionnaire in four chain stores in four different geographical regions in Tehran. The structural model and relations were examined by using Smart PLS 2.0 software to simultaneously estimate the measurement and structural models.
Findings
Structural equation analysis revealed that level of trust, consumer’s organic food beliefs and perceived environmental responsibility have positive impact on green purchase intention. Also price transparency moderator role confirmed that moderators can affect consumers’ actual behavior.
Research limitations/implications
As our sample was just from Tehran, the research results may lack generalizability to all people in Iran. Therefore, future researchers are encouraged to retest the proposed model in other cities and also in other countries with different level of economic development.
Practical implications
This paper includes suggestions for managers and producers to develop green food products consumption especially green chicken. Also it has implications for spreading out green consumption among people with high environmental involvement.
Originality/value
Despite conducted research, the moderating role of price transparency has been used only rarely to investigate consumers’ green purchase behavior.
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Ali Asghar Khaleghi, Saeedeh Jafarzadeh, Pooyan Afzali Harsini, Seyyed Hannan Kashfi, Fatemeh Mohammadkhah and Ali Khani Jeihooni
Aggressive behaviors are common among students. Given the importance of education in reducing aggressive behavior, this study aims to examine the influence of a theory of planned…
Abstract
Purpose
Aggressive behaviors are common among students. Given the importance of education in reducing aggressive behavior, this study aims to examine the influence of a theory of planned behavior (TPB)-based educational intervention on aggression-preventive behaviors in fifth-grade male students in Fasa city, Iran.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 120 male students were randomly picked from several public schools in Fasa city, Iran, between 2018 and 2019. Assessments were completed before and three months after the intervention. Intervention consisted of eight 55–60-min training sessions based on the TPB’s processes and constructs.
Findings
Prior to the educational intervention, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intention to stop aggressiveness or to engage in aggression-preventive activities. However, three months following the intervention, the experimental group demonstrated a considerable rise in the aforementioned constructs (p > 0.001 in all cases).
Originality/value
The study’s findings demonstrated the efficacy of a TPB-based educational intervention on constructs of the TPB theory. Results suggest application of a TPB-based educational intervention can have a pro-social impact on the attitudes and behavior of elementary age boys.
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Parisa Shojaei, Mohammad Reza Maleki and Rafat Bagherzadeh
Hospitals are all required to be prepared against crisis, while according to studies, most hospitals are not prepared enough to encounter disaster problems. Therefore, each…
Abstract
Purpose
Hospitals are all required to be prepared against crisis, while according to studies, most hospitals are not prepared enough to encounter disaster problems. Therefore, each hospital should have an established programme to face earthquake and other catastrophes. This paper aims to investigate this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This descriptive study was carried out in teaching hospitals of Iran University of Medical Sciences. Data collection was done using a checklist including general information, as well as information on demography, security, supplies and equipment, evacuation and communication. This procedure was done through observation and interview with hospital managers, etc. and the data were analyzed by SPSS software.
Findings
In the hospitals four dimensions of planning were studied and the following mean scores were obtained. On security, Hazrat Rasul hospital scored the highest (88.4) while Navab Safavi, Haftome Tir and Ali Asghar hospitals scored the lowest (51.4). On supplies and equipment, Navab Safavi and Haftome Tir hospitals obtained the highest score (66.6) and Hasheminejad, Shafa Yahyaeian, Firoozgar and Hazrat Rasul hospitals got the lowest score (60.0). On evacuation, Hazrat Rasul and Haftome Tir hospitals scored the highest and lowest respectively (64.2), (47.0). On communication, Hasheminejad hospital scored the highest (63.2) while Firoozgar hospital scored the lowest (36.6). In general from among ten hospitals under study the most and the least prepared hospitals were Hazrat Rasul and Navab Safavi respectively (65.65), (54.3).
Originality/value
The paper shows that most hospitals under study were not prepared enough against crisis and communication is found to be the weakest aspect although it is regarded as a basic principle in planning. Hazrat Rasul hospital was well prepared against crisis due to its disaster plan.
Mohammadali Baradaran Ghahfarokhi, Ali Mohaghar and Fatemeh Saghafi
Higher education and universities have faced unprecedented and ubiquitous changes. The University of Tehran or “UT,” as the leading university in Iran, is not immune to these…
Abstract
Purpose
Higher education and universities have faced unprecedented and ubiquitous changes. The University of Tehran or “UT,” as the leading university in Iran, is not immune to these changes. The purposes of this study is to investigate the current situation and future of the UT and gain insights and possible responses to changes that suit its strengths and potential to progress in an increasingly competitive, complex environment with uncertainties. It identifies deep fundamental underpinnings of the issue and highlights them for policymakers to formulate strategies and future vision of the UT.
Design/methodology/approach
Causal layered analysis (CLA) was applied as a framework and the data collected from different sources such as literature reviews, content analysis of rules, regulations and master plans of the university and coded interviews of four different groups of university stakeholders were analyzed. The current system of UT, as well as hidden beliefs, that maintains traditional perceptions about university was mapped. Next, by applying a new recursive process and reverse CLA order, new CLA layers extracted through an expert panel, the layers of CLA based on new metaphors to envision future of UT were backcasted.
Findings
The results from CLA layers including litany, system, worldview and metaphor about the current statue of UT show disinterest and inertia against changes, conservative, behind the times and traditional perceptions, and indicate that the UT system is mismatched to the needs of society and stakeholders in the future. The authors articulated alternative perspectives deconstructed from other worldviews so there are new narratives that reframe the issues at hand. The results show that to survive in this fast-paced revolution and competition in higher education, UT should develop scenarios and formulate new strategies.
Research limitations/implications
The authors had limited access to a wide range of stakeholders. As the UT is a very big university with so many faculties and departments, to access a pool of experts and top policymakers who were so busy and did not have time to interview inside and outside of university was very hard for the research team. The authors also had limitation to access the internal enactments and decisions of the trustee board of the UT and the financial balance sheets of the university.
Originality/value
In this paper, by mixing different methods of futures studies, the authors have shown how to move forward while understanding the perspectives of stakeholders about the future of UT by a new recursive process and reverse CLA order. A supplementary phase was added to improve CLA and to validate the method and results, which were ignored in previous studies.
Leila Vali, Fatemeh Ataollahi, Mohammadreza Amiresmaili, Nouzar Nakhaee and Maryam Okhovati
One of the priorities of the health system is community health promotion. In this regards, proper development of programs and plans is needed to create a responsive system which…
Abstract
Purpose
One of the priorities of the health system is community health promotion. In this regards, proper development of programs and plans is needed to create a responsive system which leads to health promotion. The aim of this study was to identify the requirements for developing non-communicable disease (NCDs) programs based on CIPP (context, input, process and product) model.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a qualitative study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 40 experienced informants in the field of NCDs. The interviewees were selected bases on pre-determined criteria which then were completed by snowball sampling. Analysis was carried out using a content analysis approach that led to identifying program development requirements in four dimensions of context, input, process and product.
Findings
Twenty-nine requirements of developing program were categorized in four domains of context, input, process and product. These requirements comprised of pilot studies, the existence of appropriate needs assessment, evidence-based programs, promoting organizational culture, adequacy of resources, identification of stakeholders and comprehensive cooperation and existence of an appropriate evaluation system.
Research limitations/implications
Since this study was performed through a qualitative method, it is possible, some prerequisites of program development may not be encountered. But the extreme effort has been made to perceive diversity and different aspects.
Originality/value
The first study was in the field of appropriate requirements for program development in the context of a centralized health system in a developing country.
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Fatemeh Narenji Thani, Ebrahim Mazari, Somaye Asadi and Maryam Mashayekhikhi
Considering innovation and its improvement as an essential strategy to enable organizations to continue their lives in the new competitive environment leads to a focus on…
Abstract
Purpose
Considering innovation and its improvement as an essential strategy to enable organizations to continue their lives in the new competitive environment leads to a focus on employees' self-development as a factor that affects human resource agility (HRA) and the tendency toward organizational innovation. Consequently, the purpose of the study was to explain the impact of self-development on the tendency toward organizational innovation with the role of the mediator, HRA in higher education institutions as one of the most important and vital organizations in any society.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was an applicable one with the quantitative approach using the descriptive–correlative method. The population consisted of 477 nonacademic employees of Kharazmi University among whom 214 ones were selected as the sample group, using a simple random sampling technique. Data were collected through the self-development, HRA and the tendency toward organizational innovation questionnaires and then analyzed using the structural equation modeling approach.
Findings
The study findings revealed a positive impact of self-development on the HRA (γ = 0/79) and HRA on the tendency toward organizational innovation (β = 0/6). Also, self-development with mediating HRA impacts the tendency toward organizational innovation (β = 0/58). Finally, self-development had no direct impact on the tendency toward organizational innovation.
Research limitations/implications
Taking the circumstances of doing this research into consideration, if there were the opportunity to do the research on the staffs of more than one university simultaneously and categorize the university staff into executives, managers and experts, more favorable results could be achieved. Also, considering group and organizational factors with the attention to the self-development approach and its factors would provide more awareness-training information on the higher education system in Iran. For future researches, both the individual and group factors are suggested to be surveyed and compared, to assess the weight and impact of these factors all together and to provide an adequate clarification of the role of the group and the organization. Finally, in future studies, it is also recommended that a qualitative approach be used to reach deeper clarifications on the aspects of these variables in the context of higher education.
Practical implications
These findings have major practical implications concerning the higher educational settings. The findings of this study must give significant and practical insights for policymakers of universities and other higher education stakeholders, as well as recommendations to the academic community for further research in this area. First, they should recognize that nonacademic staff members are professional employees who contribute to improving organizational innovation. Higher education must focus on designing and implementing successful mechanisms and a well-planned self-development program that can help and promote the self-development approach among all staff. If the above-mentioned programs are designed based on the employees' needs analysis, they will get trained in a way to enhance mental and behavioral flexibility. The programs with such an approach can result in the proactive, adaptive, resilient behavior and agility of HR.
Originality/value
The model for this study has integrated and prioritized the key innovation drivers that would help universities design, adopt and implement policies and practices that facilitate and encourage improvements and adaptation to a fast-paced environment. Furthermore, the convincing reason for the significance of the current research is that although several types of research have been carried out on each of these three variables in different contexts separately, very few studies, like this, have directly examined the correlation between these three variables among the non-academic staff in higher education institutes. So, given the importance of the issue and rare availability of evidence in this regard, the authors were intrigued to discover whether the self-development through the mediation of HRA could reinforce and strengthen the tendency toward organizational innovation and whether HRA could be an appropriate mediator of the relationship between self-development and the tendency toward organizational innovation among the nonacademic staff of Kharazmi University as one of the most prestigious and celebrated universities in Iran.
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Amir Yaqoubi, Fatemeh Sabouhi, Ali Bozorgi-Amiri and Mohsen Sadegh Amalnick
A growing body of evidence points to the influence of location and allocation decisions on the structure of healthcare networks. The authors introduced a three-level hierarchical…
Abstract
Purpose
A growing body of evidence points to the influence of location and allocation decisions on the structure of healthcare networks. The authors introduced a three-level hierarchical facility location model to minimize travel time in the healthcare system under uncertainty.
Design/methodology/approach
Most healthcare networks are hierarchical and, as a result, the linkage between their levels makes it difficult to specify the location of the facilities. In this article, the authors present a hybrid approach according to data envelopment analysis and robust programming to design a healthcare network. In the first phase, the efficiency of each potential location is calculated based on the non-radial range-adjusted measure considering desirable and undesirable outputs based on a number of criteria such as the target area's population, proximity to earthquake faults, quality of urban life, urban decrepitude, etc. The locations deemed suitable are then used as candidate locations in the mathematical model. In the second phase, based on the proposed robust optimization model, called light robustness, the location and allocation decisions are adopted.
Findings
The developed model is evaluated using an actual-world case study in District 1 of Tehran, Iran and relevant results and different sensitivity analyses were presented as well. When the percentage of referral parameters changes, the value of the robust model's objective function increases.
Originality/value
The contributions of this article are listed as follows: Considering desirable and undesirable criteria to selecting candidate locations, providing a robust programming model for building a service network and applying the developed model to an actual-world case study.
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Akram Khayatzadeh‐Mahani, Mahmood Nekoei‐Moghadam, Atefeh Esfandiari, Fatemeh Ramezani and Sahar Parva
The purpose of this paper is to explore how the clinical governance policy and its main component, patient satisfaction, turned into practice and what they look like on the ground…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how the clinical governance policy and its main component, patient satisfaction, turned into practice and what they look like on the ground in the centralised health system of Iran.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research stance was adopted incorporating three main sources of information: face to face in‐depth interviews and focus groups conducted with hospital senior managers at the teaching hospitals in Kerman city, Iran, as well as documentary analysis of key policy texts. Nine hospital senior managers were purposefully selected for face‐to‐face interviews as well as a purposeful sample of 15 hospital senior managers for focus groups.
Findings
The documentary analysis revealed how clinical policy has been put into practice. The interview and focus group data analysis also disclosed four key themes with respect to how policy implementers in the Iranian centralised health system perceive nationally developed policies towards clinical governance and patient satisfaction. These include: a paper exercise; opaque, ambiguous policies; unstable policies; and separation of policy making from policy implementation.
Originality/value
The study revealed a perceived mismatch between the official proposals for clinical governance and their application in practice. The findings of this research lend support to the idea that there should be no separation between policy making process and its implementation; they are inseparable and should be treated in parallel, rather than in sequence. The study further suggests more accountability of the state towards its policies and public alike as a better governance of the health system. State‐level sustainability followed by allocating proper resources to implementation fields and empowering policy implementers coupled with good systems of performance control are the keys to keep patient focus a top priority.