Vincenzo Alfano, Lorenzo Cicatiello, Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta and Mauro Pinto
This paper contributes to the existing literature on the gender gap in academic career advancement by focusing on the very early stage of the academic career, i.e. the transition…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper contributes to the existing literature on the gender gap in academic career advancement by focusing on the very early stage of the academic career, i.e. the transition from Ph.D. completion to a tenured position.
Design/methodology/approach
Using Italian individual-level data, our econometric analyses estimate the likelihood of holding a tenured position conditional on a set of individual-level covariates.
Findings
Our findings support the idea that women have a lower probability of obtaining a tenured position. Results hold even when research productivity and experience are controlled for.
Originality/value
Our conclusions suggest that there is a significant gender gap in progression through an academic career.
Details
Keywords
Elina De Simone, Mariangela Bonasia, Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta and Lorenzo Cicatiello
Making citizens able to monitor and evaluate public spending activities is a fundamental issue in public financial management literature. The purpose of this paper is to analyze…
Abstract
Purpose
Making citizens able to monitor and evaluate public spending activities is a fundamental issue in public financial management literature. The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether fiscal transparency, measured by the Open Budget Index, has an effect on public spending performance, measured by the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report data.
Design/methodology/approach
Research methods rely on random-effects panel regression models on a country-level panel data set of 82 world countries observed in the 2008–2015 time interval.
Findings
Results show that the potential positive effects of fiscal transparency are mediated by the level of democracy of the country. In detail, in democratic countries, a higher degree of disclosure of fiscal information is correlated with a higher efficiency of government spending while, in non-democratic countries, fiscal transparency does not seem to provide any effect.
Social implications
The results suggest that fiscal transparency can be a powerful device where politicians can be held accountable for their actions, while it could fail to provide positive results where a strong and effective vertical accountability is missing.
Originality/value
The novelty of the paper is twofold. First, it provides new additional evidence about the positive effect that fiscal transparency has on public spending efficiency by advancing previous research on this topic (Porumbescu, 2017; Montes et al., 2019). Second, the paper investigates conceptually and empirically how the positive effect on public spending efficiency determined by fiscal transparency depends on the degree of democracy present in the institutional environment in which fiscal information disclosure is implemented.
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Vera Amicarelli and Christian Bux
Given the importance of food waste in the economic, social, health and environmental dimensions, the purpose of this work is to detect, through a systematic and configurative…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the importance of food waste in the economic, social, health and environmental dimensions, the purpose of this work is to detect, through a systematic and configurative literature review on food-waste-measurement methodologies, the global approaches, characteristics, limitations, opportunities and results applied within the literature. The analysis of these papers provides useful information about how far we are from international action plans and, therefore, how we need to direct programs and policies to measure and reduce food waste and ensure food security and food safety.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have conducted a systematic, configurative literature review on food waste measurement methodologies applied only within empirical studies published in academic peer-reviewed scientific journals. Based on the Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 of May 3, 2019 (OJEU, 2019) regarding common methodologies and minimum quality requirements for the homogeneous assessment of food waste quantities and composition, the authors investigated the issue on Web of Science Core Collection (WoS) from June 2000 to June 2020. The authors researched keywords within article titles, abstracts and author keywords by utilizing 34 different research strings.
Findings
The proposed review particularly refers to following topics: measurement methodologies applied according to the Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597; editorial placement and publication timeline; geographical area; food supply-chain stage and publication journals; and the main features, limitations, opportunities and results for each measurement methodology as presented by authors. Among the first 48,000 results, only 58 academic articles are perfectly in line with the aim of the review, highlighting the lack of standardized methodologies, the limits of those proposed and the deficiency of comparable results to achieve sustainable international goals.
Originality/value
The proposed review is one of the few concerning food waste measurement methodologies. Food waste measurement is essential to rebalance the actual inadequate food system and to switch it toward a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly one, thereby (1) managing the human nutrition system paradox of hungry, undernourished and over-weight people; (2) reducing food insecurity; (3) ensuring each living being's access to healthy, nutritious and sustainable food; and (4) reducing environmental impacts (neutral or positive impact) and the loss of biodiversity and mitigating climate change.
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Veljko Marinković and Jovana Lazarević
The COVID-19 virus pandemic has strongly influenced consumer behaviour worldwide. This paper aims to investigate how risk perceptions and precautions related to COVID-19 virus…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 virus pandemic has strongly influenced consumer behaviour worldwide. This paper aims to investigate how risk perceptions and precautions related to COVID-19 virus influence consumer eating habits and consequently, behaviour during shopping for food. Also, research tends to identify changes in consumer eating habits resulting from the current pandemic situation.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 237 consumers from Serbia were online surveyed during November 2020. Starting from the methodology of the SOR model (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974), the questionnaire consists of seven-point Likert scale statements that measure risk perceptions and precautions as stimulus (S), eating habits as an organism (O) and food choice, precautions during shopping for food and food purchasing patterns as a response (S).
Findings
Research results confirm the difference in consumers' eating habits during and before a pandemic. Also, results indicate that perceived risk and precautions related to the COVID-19 virus have a statistically significant influence on consumers' eating habits which have changed during a pandemic, finally resulting in significant effects on consumers' food shopping behaviour.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitations of this study are observing only a few aspects related to COVID-19 virus pandemic and consumer food shopping behaviour, as well as measuring precautions, perceived risk and food shopping behaviour at one point in time besides the fact that pandemic situation constantly changes.
Originality/value
The study indicates that food manufacturers should pay attention to the consumers' eating habits and food shopping behaviour changes under the circumstances of COVID-19 virus pandemic. Identified changes can be used as opportunities to gain a competitive advantage on the market.