I. Lombillo, L. Villegas and J. Elices
The analysis of ancient buildings presents professionals with important challenges, so it is necessary to have a rational methodology of analysis of these constructions. From the…
Abstract
Purpose
The analysis of ancient buildings presents professionals with important challenges, so it is necessary to have a rational methodology of analysis of these constructions. From the point of view of the technology of structures it is imperative to know the mechanical characteristics of the structural elements involved, as well as the existing stress levels. Currently the tendency is to obtain such knowledge in a non‐destructive way, producing minimal damage. The purpose of this paper is to provide a vision of some of the minor‐destructive techniques (MDT) applied to the diagnosis of historical rubble stone masonry structures.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper focuses attention on the employment of techniques based on mechanical stress aspects: flat jack, hole‐drilling and dilatometer, conducted on rubble stone masonry structures. Several computational models were made of parts of the building. These models were used to obtain experimental data (modulus of elasticity and Poisson's ratio). The accuracy of the models was contrasted through the comparison with compression stress levels obtained experimentally.
Findings
The paper provides a brief description of these MDT, and exposes the flat jack tests results obtained on several historical masonry walls in the Major Seminary of Comillas (Spain): Compression stress levels, modulus of elasticity and Poisson's ratio of several masonries of this building.
Practical implications
These techniques improve the computational models of constructions, because they can obtain a better knowledge of their mechanical properties, from experimental ways, and the calibration of models through experimental data.
Originality/value
This paper describes one of the first applications of these techniques in Spain.
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Jennifer L. Lemanski and Jorge Villegas
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of personal relevance, source credibility and advertising appeal type on the emotional and cognitive processing of a direct to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of personal relevance, source credibility and advertising appeal type on the emotional and cognitive processing of a direct to consumer pharmaceutical ad for a meningitis vaccine.
Design/methodology/approach
A 2 × 2 experiment was used, and path analysis was undertaken to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Resultant models indicated that unvaccinated (more at risk) and vaccinated (less at risk) participants are persuaded through different pathways. More specifically, vaccinated participants rely more on message credibility than creative strategy to form their cognitive evaluation of the message, whereas non-vaccinated subjects’ cognitive evaluations of the message depend on creative strategy (advertising appeal type) more than message credibility. Differences between individuals who were certain of the vaccine status and those who were not certain of their vaccine status were also apparent. Implications and areas for future research are also presented.
Practical implications
When using direct to consumer pharmaceutical ad for a vaccine, advertisers should take into account the perceived risk level of and relevance to audience members.
Originality/value
Personal relevance and risk are issues which impact the effectiveness of different types of advertising appeals, but less prior research has focused on this aspect of the target audience for direct to pharmaceutical vaccine advertisements.
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Milgen Sánchez-Villegas, Lizeth Reyes-Ruiz, Laura K. Taylor, Natalia Andrea Pérez-Ruíz and Farid Alejandro Carmona-Alvarado
Colombia presents with one of the largest armed conflicts in the world. Children exposed directly or indirectly to armed conflicts live the emotional footprints left by war. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Colombia presents with one of the largest armed conflicts in the world. Children exposed directly or indirectly to armed conflicts live the emotional footprints left by war. This paper aims to identify mental health problems among children survivors of Colombia’s armed conflict and associated factors.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study with (n = 80) children aged 7 to 11 years (M = 9.8 years; SD = 1.4) was conducted using the Child Behavior Checklist, Family APGAR and MOS social support survey adaptation to children. Linear regression analyses were also performed with emotional and behavioral problems as the outcomes and related factors as the predictors.
Findings
Clinical levels of emotional and behavioral problems were found in 56.3% of children. Internalizing problems (63.7%) were more common than externalizing problems (51.2%). Older children had greater emotional problems at the trend level, and those with higher functioning families had lower emotional problems. Children with higher perceived social support had lower behavior problems at the trend level.
Research limitations/implications
This study includes a sample facing multiple risks and uses a holistic approach to consider family and social resources that may support children who are survivors of the armed conflict in Colombia. These results provide a foundation for future promotion and prevention programs related to children’s mental health problems to support peacebuilding within the framework of the Colombian post-conflict process.
Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to collect empirical data on the mental health of children survivors of Colombia’s armed conflict focused in the Atlantic Department.
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Gareth Anderson and Mehdi Raissi
Productivity growth in Italy has been persistently anemic and lagged that of the euro area over the period 1999–2015, while the indebtedness of its corporate sector increased…
Abstract
Productivity growth in Italy has been persistently anemic and lagged that of the euro area over the period 1999–2015, while the indebtedness of its corporate sector increased. Using the ORBIS firm-level database, this chapter studies the long-term impact of persistent corporate-debt accumulation on the productivity growth of Italian firms, and investigates whether total factor productivity (TFP) growth varies with the level of corporate indebtedness. The authors employ a novel estimation technique proposed by Chudik, Mohaddes, Pesaran, & Raissi (2017) to account for dynamics, bi-directional feedback effects, cross-firm heterogeneity, and cross-sectional dependence arising from unobserved common factors (e.g., oil price shocks, labor and product market frictions, and the stance of the global financial cycle). Filtering out the effects of unobserved common factors and controlling for firm-specific characteristics, the authors find significant negative effects of persistent corporate-debt build-up on firms’ TFP growth on average, and weak evidence of a threshold level of corporate debt, beyond which productivity growth drops off significantly. The results have strong policy implications, for example the design of the tax system should discourage persistent corporate-debt accumulation, and effective and timely frameworks to reduce corporate-debt overhangs are essential.
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Carlos Dávila Ladrón de Guevara, Araceli Almaraz Alvarado and Mario Cerutti
Taking as reference a sample of around a hundred biographical materials on entrepreneurs in Mexico and Colombia, the purpose of this chapter is dual. Both to show the relevance…
Abstract
Taking as reference a sample of around a hundred biographical materials on entrepreneurs in Mexico and Colombia, the purpose of this chapter is dual. Both to show the relevance and varied modalities that the biographical approach has enjoyed in business history research since the 1990s, and to display the intrinsic potential this modality of scholarship entails for entrepreneurship endeavors. In particular, it discusses the prospects to incorporate this body of empirical works into the large Latin American audience attending undergraduate, graduate and executive education programs in business, economic history and related fields. The chapter is organized into three sections. The first two are devoted to illustrate relevant patterns in the entrepreneurial trajectory of individuals and entrepreneurial families studied in each of the two countries under consideration. The last section identifies some conceptual issues that may impact current debates on Latin American business development as exemplified in recent business and economic history journal venues and scholarly conferences.
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Leslier M. Valenzuela-Fernández, Francisco-Javier Arroyo-Cañada and Francisco Javier Villegas Pinuer
Salesperson’s actions are critical in helping the firm develop customer value orientation and long-term relationship with profitable customers to achieve sustainable sales growth…
Abstract
Purpose
Salesperson’s actions are critical in helping the firm develop customer value orientation and long-term relationship with profitable customers to achieve sustainable sales growth and profitability over time. The purpose of this paper is to examine the salespeople and service executives’ perceptions about the relevance of some human resource management variables and employees’ attitudes as key factors to develop a company’s customer value orientation. The authors tested whether the perceptions of role ambiguity, incentives policy and provided training (PT) had an impact on job involvement (JI), job satisfaction (JS), and consequently, on customer value orientation.
Design/methodology/approach
Research design was nested with data from 327 executives from medium and upper positions in Chilean companies.
Findings
The results show that while the perception of role ambiguity had an indirect negative impact on customer value orientation through JI, perception of PT level had a direct impact over and above the other variables.
Research limitations/implications
JS and JI are attitudinal variables, which companies try to encourage in their employees through different human resources, practices. Incentives and training are ways to develop favorable employees’ attitudes and improve their customer value orientation. With the research, companies could invest their resources in better and more effective practices to generate favorable attitudes toward customer value orientation.
Originality/value
Through structural equation modeling, the model shows the relevance in the perception of sales executives about the relationship of employees’ JI and customer value orientation. This commands to open the view of the customer value orientation management to include other attitudinal variables as JI.
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This study aims to analyse the inequalities in access to teleworking in Spain. More specifically, the study examines what factors determine remote working in a pre-pandemic period…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse the inequalities in access to teleworking in Spain. More specifically, the study examines what factors determine remote working in a pre-pandemic period and during the state of alarm (March 2020). Moreover, the study examines whether telecommuting is related to the likelihood of suffering emotional disorders during lockdowns.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodological approach followed to analyse access to teleworking mainly consists of the estimation of ordered response models. Two datasets are used: the first is the Survey on Equipment and Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Households, conducted by the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) in the pre-pandemic period (2018). The second is the Social Survey 2020. Habits and Living Conditions of the Andalusian Population during the State of Alarm, conducted by the Institute of Statistics and Cartography of Andalusia (IECA) once the state of alarm was declared in Spain.
Findings
The results obtained indicate that ICT training is a key element in helping to explain the likelihood of working from home. However, some groups of workers might experience difficulties in their transition to teleworking. This could increase labour market segmentation and hinder the transition to the knowledge economy. Moreover, the findings detect that employees working both on the company premises and from home are more likely to suffer emotional disorders.
Originality/value
The paper sheds new empirical evidence on teleworking in Spain and Andalusia, including some novel methodological aspects to estimate the regressors’ effects on the probability of working from home.
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Nuria Reguera-Alvarado and Francisco Bravo-Urquiza
The main objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of multiple directorships, as a critical component of board social capital, on CSR reporting. This study also explores…
Abstract
Purpose
The main objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of multiple directorships, as a critical component of board social capital, on CSR reporting. This study also explores the moderating effect of certain board attributes on multiple directorships.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors’ sample is composed of Spanish listed firms in the Madrid Stock Exchange for the period 2011–2017. A dynamic panel data model based on the Generalized Method of Moments (GMMs) is employed.
Findings
Relying on a resource dependence view, the authors’ results highlight an ambiguously positive association between multiple directorships and the level of CSR reporting. In particular, this relationship is positively moderated by both board size and gender diversity.
Research limitations/implications
These findings contribute to academic debates concerning the value of board members intellectual capital. In particular, the authors emphasize the importance of board social capital, as well as the need to consider the context in which directors make decisions.
Practical implications
This evidence may prove helpful to firms when configuring the board of directors, and for regulators and professionals when refining their legislations and recommendations.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that empirically analyzes the impact of an important element of board social capital, such as multiple directorships, on CSR reporting, which has become crucial in financial markets.
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The aviation industry plays a vital role in supporting tourism and international businesses by providing the fastest transportation network in the world and also boosting economic…
Abstract
The aviation industry plays a vital role in supporting tourism and international businesses by providing the fastest transportation network in the world and also boosting economic growth and creating employment. However, it harms the environment, mainly through air pollution due to aircraft engines emitting heat and gases that contribute to global warming, acid rain, smog, and ozone depletion. Air travel has increased considerably over the years, and therefore aircraft emissions have contributed to the build-up of greenhouse gases (GHG), with the resultant changes in weather patterns leading to global warming and environmental deterioration. Although aviation contributes to economic and environmental development, it is a double-edged sword because it is thought to be the most challenging industry for formulating sustainable policies, based on the direct conflict between environmental impacts and economic development. This chapter explores different types of problems associated with the negative impacts of aviation carbon emissions and the carbon footprint of tourism. The chapter will also reflect on policy, regulations, and governance approaches currently in place to combat these negative impacts as well as challenges involved in policy interventions.
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Conor L. Scott and Melinda M. Mangin
In recent decades, school discipline has become increasingly characterized by zero-tolerance policies that mandate predetermined punitive consequences for specific offenses…
Abstract
In recent decades, school discipline has become increasingly characterized by zero-tolerance policies that mandate predetermined punitive consequences for specific offenses. Zero-tolerance policies have not been shown to improve student behavioral outcomes or school climate. Further, these disciplinary policies are applied unevenly across schools and student populations. Despite the well-documented research base that demonstrates that these practices are ineffective, they remain commonplace in K-12 school across the United States. Transformative and culturally responsive educational leadership requires school leaders to examine the historical, societal, and institutional factors that contribute to the racial-discipline gap within their particular schools. This process requires committing to leading for racial justice, self-reflexive practice, and having the courage to boldly name and dismantle practices that do not create equitable outcomes for students on the margins. Drawing on tenets of Critical Race Theory and Culturally Responsive School Leadership to situate the history and proliferation of harmful disciplinary practices, this chapter discusses how critically reflexive school leaders can mobilize restorative practices to dismantle the systems, structures, and practices that reproduce inequities in schools. The chapter provides aspiring and practicing school leaders with the knowledge needed to reform existing school discipline policies and implement practices that support racial justice.