Kelly Boulton, Eric Pallant, Casey Bradshaw-Wilson, Beth Choate and Ian Carbone
Approximately 700 colleges and universities have committed to climate neutrality, which will require significant reductions in energy consumption. This paper aims to explore the…
Abstract
Purpose
Approximately 700 colleges and universities have committed to climate neutrality, which will require significant reductions in energy consumption. This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of an Annual Energy Challenge in curtailing electricity use by changing consumption behaviors at one liberal arts college.
Design/methodology/approach
From 2010 to 2014, Allegheny College (Meadville, PA, USA) ran four-week energy challenges. Electricity consumption was measured and compared to a baseline year of 2008. An alternate baseline, more granular data for 20 sub-metered buildings and historic utility bill consumption trends were further analyzed to identify any persisting change and understand the impact of behavior change separate from efficiency retrofits, changes in population and normal seasonal shifts.
Findings
Electricity consumption during the challenge period dropped an average of 9 per cent compared to the 2008 baseline and 6 per cent compared to the baseline of the 4 weeks preceding each challenge. Consumption trends changed in the years during challenge implementation compared to the years before engaging the campus community. All analyses reinforce that the challenge reduces electricity consumption. However, results must be analyzed in multiple ways to isolate for behavior change.
Practical implications
The analyses used to isolate energy challenge results due to behavior change are replicable at other institutions and would allow campuses to compare results and share proven strategies.
Originality/value
While many campuses organize energy challenges, few have published details about the results both during the challenge and continuing afterwards. Nor has a research explored the need to put results into contexts such as natural seasonal trends to isolate the impacts of behavior change.
Details
Keywords
This paper puts forth a conceptual framework of multiple and fluid national culture focused on the contemporary Brazilian context. Drawing from recent criticism on the excessive…
Abstract
This paper puts forth a conceptual framework of multiple and fluid national culture focused on the contemporary Brazilian context. Drawing from recent criticism on the excessive determinism and simplicity of typical cross‐cultural depictions, the study (1) analyzes Brazilian contemporary culture from a historical perspective; (2) summarizes prevailing Brazilian cultural depictions in the literature; (3) proposes a conceptual framework centered on the dynamics between cultural differentiation and homogeneity, putting forth predictions on the potential future shifts of the Brazilian cultural texture along these two extremes; and (4) makes the case for culture research focused further on the study and depiction of multiple national cultures, and on their fluidity over time, rather than on monolithic and stable national cultures.
Details
Keywords
Achilleas Boukis, Spiros Gounaris and Ian Lings
This study aims to explore how the adoption of internal market orientation (IMO) can enhance front-line employee brand enactment within an interpersonal service setting. Insights…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how the adoption of internal market orientation (IMO) can enhance front-line employee brand enactment within an interpersonal service setting. Insights from equity theory and the person – environment paradigm are drawn upon to develop a theoretical model describing the impact of IMO on employee – organization fit, employee – supervisor fit and employee – job fit and the consequences of IMO on employee brand knowledge and brand identification. Second, the role of various types of fit and brand knowledge/identification for front-line employee brand enactment is confirmed.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws from service employees in a high-contact customer setting.
Findings
Results uncover two mechanisms for successful internal branding: increasing employee fit with the service environment and enhancing employee brand knowledge.
Practical implications
The study contributes to practice in that the findings outline a realistic understanding of how managerial actions facilitate employees’ alignment with the firm’s brand promise within the realm of the broader organizational context in which service delivery takes place.
Originality/value
The present study contributes in the extant literature as it enables a more holistic view of the drivers of brand-congruent behaviors among front-line employees. Moreover, it has a significant contribution for future researchers as it lays the ground to further examine how employees’ perceptions of internal marketing strategies shape their fit levels with different aspects of their working environment which also affect the internal branding efforts of service organizations.
Details
Keywords
Milos Bujisic, Yizhi “Ian” Li and Anil Bilgihan
This study investigates the dual roles of emotion and cognition in shaping customer experiences within the hospitality sector, examining their distinct impacts on the formation of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the dual roles of emotion and cognition in shaping customer experiences within the hospitality sector, examining their distinct impacts on the formation of customer loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing a sequential exploratory mixed-method design, this research integrates qualitative interviews with eighteen hospitality managers and a quantitative survey involving 595 customers to develop and validate a new instrument measuring affective and cognitive experiential states for general hospitality consumers.
Findings
The study's results reveal that emotional experiences strongly correlate with affective loyalty, while cognitive experiences significantly influence cognitive loyalty. The study contributes to the existing literature by introducing a robust instrument that effectively captures the experiential dimensions, offering insights into customer loyalty formation.
Research limitations/implications
The reliance on retrospective self-reporting in the quantitative phase may introduce recall bias, potentially limiting the precision of the findings. Future research should seek to mitigate this by employing real-time data capture methods.
Practical implications
The newly developed measurement tool presents a practical solution for industry professionals aiming to enhance customer experience management by focusing on both affective and cognitive aspects, thus facilitating targeted strategies to cultivate customer loyalty. The implications for service design suggest that both emotional and cognitive elements must be considered to optimize customer experiences and drive loyalty.
Originality/value
This work advances the theoretical understanding of customer experience by distinguishing between its affective and cognitive dimensions and their respective contributions to loyalty. It offers a validated empirical tool, setting a foundation for future investigations.
Details
Keywords
Narrative criminology has made stories respectable again, despite criminology's long-professed ties to a model of positive science. Given the field's continued scepticism about…
Abstract
Narrative criminology has made stories respectable again, despite criminology's long-professed ties to a model of positive science. Given the field's continued scepticism about the ‘truthfulness’ of stories, narrative scholars have grappled carefully with the place and utility of lies for understanding the social worlds and individual identities of crime-involved populations. In this chapter, we draw from a study of women's pathways to incarceration in Sri Lanka, analysing the case of one study participant who shared with us many ‘tall tales’ about their life. In comparing Daya's account with those of other participants, we explore the complex relations among ‘truth,’ ‘fiction’ and ‘lies,’ and their implications for narrative criminology. We offer specific cautions about the place of verisimilitude and plausibility in narrative criminologists' efforts to make sense of offender narratives.
Details
Keywords
This chapter draws on previous work calling for a narrative criminology sensitive to fictional stories about how we have instigated or sustained harmful action with respect to the…
Abstract
This chapter draws on previous work calling for a narrative criminology sensitive to fictional stories about how we have instigated or sustained harmful action with respect to the environment. It begins by offering some defining features of narrative criminology, before turning to two examples of narrative criminological work focused on environmental crime and/or harm. One analyzes a corporate (offender's) website; the other examines attorneys' stories of environmental wrongdoing. Together, they depict a cultural narrative in the US of the causes, consequences, punishments (or lack thereof) and corporate representations of environmental harm. Next, this chapter turns to a discussion of examples of depictions or representations of environmental harm and protection in the literature. Here, the focus is on fictional works that are explicitly environmental – where the subject, plot and message centre on one or more environmental issues, such as a particular harm, its cause or causes and possible responses thereto. Finally, this chapter considers ‘allegories of environmental harm,’ examining literature that is less overtly environmental. As an illustration, it suggests an interpretation of the American children's story, Muncus Agruncus: A Bad Little Mouse (Watson, 1976), as a cautionary tale of Western hubris in the face of environmental catastrophe – with the goal of demonstrating how green criminologists have attempted to identify environmental lessons and messages in works with ostensibly other or broader messages. Overall, the intent is to acknowledge both that cultural narratives (and our interpretation of them) change and to demonstrate (the importance of) human agency to transform those narratives (and our interpretation thereof).
Details
Keywords
Pour une métaphysique de l'art culinaire En septembre 1986, à Montreux, l'AIEST a consacré les travaux de son congrès au tourisme vu sous l'angle de l'alimentation et de la…
Abstract
Pour une métaphysique de l'art culinaire En septembre 1986, à Montreux, l'AIEST a consacré les travaux de son congrès au tourisme vu sous l'angle de l'alimentation et de la restauration. Cette recherche n'était pas vaine. Manger en voyage est aussi important que le confort du transport ou que les commodités de la chambre. Jusqu'à présent, l'art culinaire était perçu plutt comme anecdotique et pittoresque. Y consacrer une réflexion scientifique paraissait inutile ou mme une provocation sur le plan moral. Ne côtoyait‐on pas ici les plate‐bandes glissantes du péché de gourmandise, voir de la goinfrerie?
The following is an annotated list of materials that discuss the ways in which librarians can provide library users with orientation to facilities and services, and instruct them…
Abstract
The following is an annotated list of materials that discuss the ways in which librarians can provide library users with orientation to facilities and services, and instruct them in library information and computer skills. This is RSR's 11th annual review of this literature, and covers publications from 1984. A few items from 1983 have been included because of their significance, and because they were not available for review last year. Several items were not annotated because the compiler was unable to secure them.
The extant literature on experience marketing takes a narrow functional approach engaging with issues like defining an experience brand and recommending strategies for creating a…
Abstract
Purpose
The extant literature on experience marketing takes a narrow functional approach engaging with issues like defining an experience brand and recommending strategies for creating a unique customer experience. The purpose of this research is to focus on the cross‐level interdependencies in the organization and examine interrelatedness between business strategy and experience marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the extant literature on business strategy and experience marketing and investigating an in‐depth case study on experience marketing this article arrives at strategic principles of experience marketing. It uses an in depth analysis of a case study of an experience hotel brand covering multiple facets of its business strategy in all its complexities. Data were collected from six sources of evidence: documents, archival records, interviews, direct observation, participant‐observation and physical artifacts. A total of 17 interviews lasting from one to several hours each were conducted with senior management. Analysis of the benchmark case was combined with extensive review of literature on business strategy to draw strategic principles of experience marketing which are amenable to further evaluation for enhanced generalizability.
Findings
The six dimensions of business strategy: customer orientation, unique company capabilities, barriers to imitation, internal marketing, employee empowerment, and visionary leadership were found to be interrelated with experience marketing. This article also brings focus on research on cross‐level dependencies by outlining a detailed agenda for future research and operationalizing the constructs.
Originality/value
The linking of experience marketing with business strategy is a novel perspective as the extant literature deals with the subject only in the context of the functional area of marketing.
Details
Keywords
Paige Robillard, Fatih Sekercioglu, Sara Edge and Ian Young
Urban community gardens (UCGs) are important sources of community, food and greenspaces in urban environments. Though UCGs in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) of Ontario, Canada…
Abstract
Purpose
Urban community gardens (UCGs) are important sources of community, food and greenspaces in urban environments. Though UCGs in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) of Ontario, Canada, were considered essential during the COVID-19 lockdowns and therefore open to gardeners, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security and UCG use among garden members and managers is not fully understood.
Design/methodology/approach
This was an exploratory qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven managers and eight members of nine gardens in the GTA. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Findings
The results suggest that UCGs helped participants be resilient to COVID-19 pandemic-related stressors through the provision of cultural ecosystem services. Therefore, this study supports the current literature that UCGs can help foster resilience during crises. While participants in this study did not end up being food insecure, participants did express concern about community food security.
Practical implications
Results contribute to the current body of literature, and can be used to further update and develop UCG policies, as well as help develop UCG infrastructure and management strategies for future crises.
Originality/value
The impacts of the pandemic on Canadian UCGs are not well understood. This research paper investigated the impact of the pandemic on UCG use and food security, as well as the link between UCG use and increased resilience to COVID-19-related stressors.