Ian Laird, Kirsten Olsen, Leigh‐Ann Harris, Stephen Legg and Melissa J. Perry
The aim of this paper is to present the literature which identifies the characteristics of small enterprises and outlines the opportunities to utilise them in working with small…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to present the literature which identifies the characteristics of small enterprises and outlines the opportunities to utilise them in working with small businesses to prevent and reduce exposures to hazardous substances.
Design/methodology/approach
A search of a variety of data sources, including Medline, PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, was conducted which combined the keyword search terms “small business”, “small enterprise”, “management”, “health and safety management”, “hazardous substances”, “hazardous chemicals”, “management of hazardous substances”. High quality studies were selected and combined with studies known to the authors.
Findings
A strong body of evidence exists which shows that the management of OSH in small enterprises has been extensively reviewed and the most recurring theme is the identification of problems and challenges. A growing body of literature also confirms that models for chemical risk management and social responsibility issues can play a key role in managing hazardous chemical exposures in small enterprises. Furthermore, studies have shown that there are certain characteristics of small business that potentially provide positive opportunities for the implementation of preventive interventions.
Originality/value
The paper identifies these characteristics and features and suggests these can be effectively utilised in the design and development of interventions to prevent and reduce exposures to hazardous substances in small enterprises. Few interventions, however, have been developed utilising these positive characteristics.
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Leigh‐Ann Harris, Kirsten Bendix Olsen and Robyn Jane Walker
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the development of a health and safety (HS) representative role typology that demonstrates how representatives enact their roles and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the development of a health and safety (HS) representative role typology that demonstrates how representatives enact their roles and improve occupational health and safety (OHS) under New Zealand law. It aims to consider the factors that influence the roles that HS representatives’ assume.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative, cross‐perceptual study centres on the role enactments of eight HS representatives at two metal manufacturers. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with HS representatives, managers, workers, senior managers, OHS managers and a union convenor. “Types” were differentiated by the HS representatives’ purpose, activities and OHS impacts.
Findings
In total, four HS representative role “types” were identified: administrators, workshop inspectors, problem solvers and craft experts. Administrators implemented and operated OHS management systems and improved OHS management. Workshop inspectors undertook compliance and monitoring roles and improved workers’ attitudes towards OHS. Problem solvers found solutions to control hazards and improved production from an OHS perspective. Craft experts applied technical knowledge to influence strategic OHS decisions. Role enactment appeared to be influenced by representatives’ expert power, job roles and the organisational role definition. Representatives operating under both managerial and worker defined HS representative systems, increased worker “voice” by providing an avenue to redress OHS concerns.
Practical implications
Implications arise for OHS policy, HS representative training courses and organisational/managerial support.
Originality/value
The paper presents a HS representative role typology distinctively based on cross‐perceptual data that also provides a more holistic perspective of the HS representative role by considering representatives’ purpose, role enactment and OHS impact.
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Kjell Toften and Kirsten Rustad
To explore the perceived attributes of export information quality provided by export assistance sources, in order to provide some guidelines for how these information suppliers…
Abstract
Purpose
To explore the perceived attributes of export information quality provided by export assistance sources, in order to provide some guidelines for how these information suppliers can improve the quality of their offered information.
Design/methodology/approach
Twelve in‐depth personal interviews of export managers were used as the data collection method. The setting selected for this research is the Norwegian seafood industry, which mainly consists of a number of small and medium‐sized firms with a strong export dependency, and thus well positioned to address export‐specific issues.
Findings
Four service aspects are important: reliability (delivery within agreed deadline), responsiveness (rapid feedback and good communication flow), assurance (credibility and honesty) and empathy (able and willing to serve individual needs). Six aspects related to outcome are important: form and comparability (concrete, specific, precise, comparable and up‐to‐date), infrastructure (distribution, logistics and storage), general marketing (economics, trends and culture), specific marketing (detailed information regarding, e.g. price fluctuations, consumer preferences, distributor assessments, credit valuation), production/supply (volumes, quotas and availability) and regulatory framework (customs, market access and regulations).
Research limitations/implications
These findings are not fit for generalizing purposes and future research could test these results in a quantitative study. Further, the effect of other variables such as firm size and export experience could be examined and linked with different dimensions of export market information use.
Practical implications
Suggestions for providers of export information on how to improve the process of supplying information to exporters and the type of information needed by exporters and how exporters can influence this process and results are provided.
Originality/value
This paper identifies attributes of export information quality as perceived by exporters and thus enables subsequent information quality measurements and information quality improvements.
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Kirsten Ellison, Emily Truman and Charlene Elliott
Despite the pervasiveness of teen-targeted food advertising on social media, little is known about the persuasive elements (or power) found within those ads. This research study…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the pervasiveness of teen-targeted food advertising on social media, little is known about the persuasive elements (or power) found within those ads. This research study aims to engage with the concept of “visual style” to explore the range of visual techniques used in Instagram food marketing to teenagers.
Design/methodology/approach
A participatory study was conducted with 57 teenagers, who used a specially designed mobile app to capture images of the teen-targeted food marketing they encountered for seven days. A visual thematic analysis was used to assess and classify the advertisements that participants captured from Instagram and specifically tagged with “visual style”.
Findings
A total of 142 food advertisements from Instagram were tagged with visual style, and classified into five main styles: Bold Focus, Bespoke, Absurd, Everyday and Sensory.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to an improved understanding about how the visual is used as a marketing technique to capture teenagers’ attention, contributing to the persuasive power of marketing messages.
Originality/value
Food marketing is a significant part of the young consumer’s marketplace, and this study provides new insight into the sophisticated nature of such marketing – revealing the visual styles used to capture the attention of its brand-aware audience.
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Tomás F. Espino-Rodríguez and Manuel Rodríguez-Díaz
Outsourcing is an important phenomenon in hotel sector. It is changing from a tactical to a strategic perspective, with greater scope and relevance to the creation of competitive…
Abstract
Outsourcing is an important phenomenon in hotel sector. It is changing from a tactical to a strategic perspective, with greater scope and relevance to the creation of competitive advantages. The opening up of hotels to outsourcing and strategic alliances improves individual competitiveness, but also has strong repercussions on destinations, especially those in a stage of maturity and requiring new approaches to improve competitiveness. This change in interorganizational relationships to a strategic perspective requires new theoretical and practical frameworks to make it easier for hotels to outsource their operations with greater potential for competitive advantage. This work proposes the types of relationship and degree of process integration required for relational capabilities to be achieved in the hotel sector when operations are outsourced. Finally, a series of conclusions are presented.
Pia Vedel Ankersen, Rikke Grynderup Steffensen, Emely Ek Blæhr and Kirsten Beedholm
Life expectancy is 15–20 years shorter for individuals with than for people without mental illness. Assuming that undiagnosed and undertreated somatic conditions are significant…
Abstract
Purpose
Life expectancy is 15–20 years shorter for individuals with than for people without mental illness. Assuming that undiagnosed and undertreated somatic conditions are significant causes, the Central Denmark Region set out to implement joint psychiatric and somatic emergency departments (EDs) to support integrated psychiatric/somatic care as an effort to prolong the lifetime of individuals with mental illness. Through the lens of Normalization Process Theory, the authors examine healthcare frontline staff’s perceptions of and work with the implementation of integrated psychiatric/somatic care in the first joint-specialty ED in Denmark.
Design/methodology/approach
A single-case mixed-methods study using Normalization Process Theory (NPT) as an analytic framework to evaluate implementation of psychiatric/somatic integrated care (IC) in a joint-specialty emergency department. Data were generated from observations, qualitative interviews and questionnaires distributed to the frontline staff.
Findings
Implementation was characterized by a diffuse normalization leading to an adaption of the IC in a fuzzy alignment with existing practice. Especially, confusion among the staff regarding how somatic examination in the ED would ensure prolonged lifetime for people with mental illness was a barrier to sense-making and development of coherence among the staff. The staff questioned the accuracy of IC in the ED even though they recognized the need for better somatic care for individuals with mental illness.
Practical implications
This study highlights that a focus on outcomes (prolonging lifetime for people with mental illness and reducing stigmatization) can be counterproductive. Replacing the outcome focus with an output focus, in terms of how to develop and implement psychiatric/somatic IC with the patient perspective at the center, would probably be more productive.
Originality/value
In 2020, the Danish Health Authorities published new whole-system recommendations for emergency medicine (EM) highlighting the need for intensifying integrated intra and interorganizational care including psychiatric/somatic IC (ref). Even though this study is not conclusive, it points to subjects that can help to identify resources needed to implement psychiatric/somatic IC and to pitfalls. The authors argue that the outcome focus, prolonging the lifetime for individuals with mental illness by identifying somatic illness, was counterproductive. In accordance with the recommendations of contemporary implementation studies, the authors recommend a shift in focus from outcome to output focus; how to develop and implement psychiatric/somatic IC.
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Cristina Chinea Montesdeoca, Ernesto Suárez, Bernardo Hernández and Gladys Rolo-González
The paper aims to determine whether people with different eating patterns, specifically meat-free diets, engage in other types of eco-friendly behaviours and whether the meanings…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to determine whether people with different eating patterns, specifically meat-free diets, engage in other types of eco-friendly behaviours and whether the meanings attributed to food allow for a better understanding of this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected between 2019 and 2020, on the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Different instruments were used: The meaning of food in life questionnaire (MFLQ; Arbit et al., 2017); the dietarian identity questionnaire (DIQ; Rosenfeld and Burrow, 2018) and the frugal behaviour scale (Muiños et al., 2015) and two items were used to identify the frequency with which participants purchased ecological or second-hand products. The final sample consisted of 202 participants who ate a vegan, vegetarian or omnivorous diet. Spearman's Correlations were performed and the Kruskal–Wallis statistical test was used.
Findings
People with a vegan or vegetarian diet purchased ecological (p ≤ 0.001) and second-hand products (p = 0.006) more frequently compared to omnivores. Furthermore, the meanings attributed to food, specifically the moral, sacred and health meanings, were related to differences in eating patterns (p ≤ 0.001), while also being related to some eco-friendly purchase and consumption behaviours. Lastly, frugal behaviour was only found to be related to the health factor of meaning in food (rs = 0.27).
Research limitations/implications
The measurement used to evaluate the purchase of ecological and second-hand products is very simple/the role of the meaning of food in guiding more eco-friendly behaviours and promoting less ecologically impactful eating patterns.
Originality/value
The study provides valuable information on how vegan, vegetarian and omnivorous diets relate to eco-friendly behaviours.
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Elegant multi-market models and intricate discounting methods are difficult, at times impossible to utilize in the real world because the necessary data just are not available…
Abstract
Elegant multi-market models and intricate discounting methods are difficult, at times impossible to utilize in the real world because the necessary data just are not available. While there is no perfect substitute for adequate data, there are good ones that are capable of improving policy decisions. This paper describes one such substitute by way of an example: the designation of critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act for West Coast salmon and steelhead. The example shows how a cost-effectiveness approach can mitigate (to some extent) the effects of poor data on the monetary benefits of regulatory actions.
Man Mohan Siddh, Gunjan Soni, Rakesh Jain and Milind Kumar Sharma
The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of perishable food supply chain quality (PFSCQ) and to suggest a structural model that counts the influence of PFSCQ practices…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of perishable food supply chain quality (PFSCQ) and to suggest a structural model that counts the influence of PFSCQ practices on organizational sustainable performance.
Design/methodology/approach
On the basis of comprehensive literature review, PFSCQ highly significant practices were examined and designated. These practices were classified into four dimensions: upstream quality (supplier quality), downstream quality (customer focus), internal quality (process and logistics quality) and support practices (top management leadership and commitment to quality, quality of human resource, quality of information and supply chain integration). The measurement instrument of organizational sustainable performance was also build on, containing three aspects: economic, environmental and social performance.
Findings
An inventive conceptual model that specifies a comprehensive image cover up core dimensions of PFSCQ and various aspects of organizational sustainable performance was suggested. This conceptual model can be used as “a directive” for theory developing and measurement instrument development of PFSCQ practices and organizational sustainable performance. More prominently, on the road to achieving additional insight, an extensive structural model that makes out direct and indirect relationships between PFSCQ practices and organizational sustainable performance was also developed. Practitioners can apply this model as “a path plan” for implementing PFSCQ practices to improve organizational sustainable performance.
Originality/value
The integration of quality and supply chain even now remains inadequate in the literature. Consequently, it is required to have a more focused approach in assessing quality issues inside the upstream, internal and downstream of the supply chain. This study concentrates on the practices which make better quality aspects of the supply chain, known as PFSCQ practices. Suggested research models in this paper contribute to conceptual frameworks for theory building in PFSCQ and sustainable organizational performance. It is also expected that this research can suggest a useful direction for determining and implementing PFSCQ practices as well as make possible further studies in this arena.