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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 8 February 2022

Veronique Y.F. Maas, Lyne M.G. Blanchette, Wencke van Amstel, Arie Franx, Marjolein Poels and Maria P.H. Koster

Exposure to unhealthy lifestyle behaviours before pregnancy affects the health of mothers and their (unborn) children. A social marketing strategy could empower prospective…

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Abstract

Purpose

Exposure to unhealthy lifestyle behaviours before pregnancy affects the health of mothers and their (unborn) children. A social marketing strategy could empower prospective parents to actively prepare for pregnancy through preconception care (PCC). This study aims to describe the development of a PCC social marketing strategy based on the eight-point benchmark criteria for effective social marketing and to clarify the concept of using social marketing for health promotion purposes.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive literature search was carried out regarding the needs of the target population and PCC behavioural goals, leading to the development of a bottom-up, ambassador-driven, communication concept.

Findings

In-depth insights of all benchmarks were analysed and incorporated during the development process of a new PCC social marketing strategy, with a special focus on the application of the “Health Belief Model” (Benchmark 3) and “the Four-P framework” (Benchmark 8). Evidence-based preconceptional health information is our product, for a low price as the information is freely attainable, promoting a message of overall womens health and online or through a consult with a health-care provider as the appropriate place. This formative research resulted in the development of the Woke Women® strategy, empowering women to actively prepare for pregnancy.

Originality/value

Developing a social marketing strategy to enhance actively preparing for pregnancy shows potential to encourage prospective parents to adopt healthier preconceptional lifestyle behaviours and can therefore improve the health of future generations.

Details

Journal of Social Marketing, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6763

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 December 2017

Ferry Koster and Maria Fleischmann

Previous research leads to contrasting hypotheses about the relationship between extra effort of employees and the level of job security. According to agency theory, job security…

Abstract

Purpose

Previous research leads to contrasting hypotheses about the relationship between extra effort of employees and the level of job security. According to agency theory, job security leads to lower levels of extra effort and social exchange theory argues that extra effort requires job security. The purpose of this paper is to formulate a set of hypotheses based on these theories. Besides considering them as mutually exclusive, they are integrated into a single theoretical framework that argues that both theories can apply, depending on the conditions and social context (in terms of the social security system).

Design/methodology/approach

Data from the International Social Survey Program (2005) including 22 countries from around the globe are analyzed using multilevel analysis.

Findings

The study provides evidence that social security moderates the relationship between job security and extra effort.

Originality/value

This study differs from previous research as it focuses on two sides of insecurity in the workplace and because it analyzes a large data set to include institutional factors.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 37 no. 13/14
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 November 2013

Maria Münderlein, Jan F. Ybema and Ferry Koster

This paper aims to provide an empirical test of theories proposed in the literature stating that turnover and retirement (two kinds of work withdrawal) involve different employee…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide an empirical test of theories proposed in the literature stating that turnover and retirement (two kinds of work withdrawal) involve different employee decisions. It also aims to provide a more general theoretical framework understanding turnover and retirement intentions integrating insights from different theories.

Design/methodology/approach

Research hypotheses are tested using the Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability and Motivation (STREAM). This dataset includes information from approximately 15,000 respondents in The Netherlands. Respondents between the age of 45 and 64 were the target group in order to model transitions in the labor market for older workers. This dataset provides a unique opportunity to test turnover and retirement intentions.

Findings

First, the results show that personal characteristics such as income, age or health, add more to the explanation of retirement intentions compared to turnover intentions and that work characteristics provide a better explanation of the turnover intention compared to retirement intention. Second, by focusing more closely on retirement intentions, the results show that organizational motivators can increase older workers' labor market participation.

Research limitations/implications

First, it is acknowledged that the study investigates intentions rather than actual behavior. Second, given that the data are cross sectional, we cannot make claims about causality. Finally, some of the measures can be improved in future studies.

Originality/value

This paper aims at integrating different perspectives on two kinds of work withdrawal (turnover and retirement) into one theoretical model.

Details

Career Development International, vol. 18 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1362-0436

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 22 April 2024

María Lourdes Arco-Castro, María Victoria López-Pérez, Ana Belén Alonso-Conde and Javier Rojo Suárez

This paper aims to identify the effect of environmental management systems (EMSs), commitment to stakeholders and gender diversity on corporate environmental performance (CEP) and…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to identify the effect of environmental management systems (EMSs), commitment to stakeholders and gender diversity on corporate environmental performance (CEP) and the extent to which an economic crisis moderates these relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

A regression analysis was conducted on a sample of 14,217 observations from 1,933 firms from 26 countries from 2002 to 2010. The estimator used is ordinary least squares with heteroscedastic panel-corrected standard errors (PCSEs), which allows us to obtain consistent results in the presence of heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation.

Findings

The results show that EMSs and stakeholder engagement are mechanisms that drive CEP but lose their effectiveness in times of crisis. However, the presence of women on boards has a positive effect on CEP that is not affected by an economic crisis.

Research limitations/implications

The study has some limitations that could be addressed in the future. We present board gender diversity as a governance mechanism because its role is strongly related to non-financial performance. Future studies could focus on other corporate governance mechanisms, such as the presence of institutional or long-term investors. In addition, other mechanisms could be found that can counteract poor environmental performance in times of crisis. Finally, it might be useful to contrast these results with the crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Practical implications

The results obtained have important practical implications at the corporate and institutional levels. At the corporate level, they highlight, as essential contributions, that environmental management systems and stakeholder orientation are not effective in times of economic crisis, except for with the presence of women on the board.

Social implications

Following the crisis, the European Commission has promoted gender diversity on boards as a mechanism to improve the governance of entities – improving, among other aspects, sustainability. In this sense, another one of the practical implications of the study is support for the policies that the European Union has implemented over the last two decades.

Originality/value

The paper analyses how a crisis affects the moral and cultural institutional mechanisms that promote CEP. Gender diversity on the board of directors not only promotes environmental performance but also appears to be a governance mechanism that ensures this performance in times of crisis when the other mechanisms lose their effectiveness. The study proposes specific policies that help maintain environmental performance in an economic crisis.

Details

Baltic Journal of Management, vol. 19 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5265

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 July 2014

Lars Engwall, Enno Aljets, Tina Hedmo and Raphaël Ramuz

Computer corpus linguistics (CCL) is a scientific innovation that has facilitated the creation and analysis of large corpora in a systematic way by means of computer technology…

Abstract

Computer corpus linguistics (CCL) is a scientific innovation that has facilitated the creation and analysis of large corpora in a systematic way by means of computer technology since the 1950s. This article provides an account of the CCL pioneers in general but particularly of those in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. It is found that Germany and Sweden, due to more advantageous financing and weaker communities of generativists, had a faster adoption of CCL than the other two countries. A particular late adopter among the four was Switzerland, which did not take up CCL until foreign professors had been recruited.

Details

Organizational Transformation and Scientific Change: The Impact of Institutional Restructuring on Universities and Intellectual Innovation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-684-2

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 November 2019

Raquel Guiné, Ana Cristina Ferrão, Manuela Ferreira, Paula Correia, Ana Paula Cardoso, João Duarte, Ivana Rumbak, Abdel-Moneim Shehata, Elena Vittadini and Maria Papageorgiou

This study to investigate several issues related to food choice and consumption patterns in different countries, including health-related factors; economic and availability…

Abstract

Purpose

This study to investigate several issues related to food choice and consumption patterns in different countries, including health-related factors; economic and availability aspects; emotional determinants; social, cultural and religious influences; marketing and advertising campaigns; and finally environmental concerns.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study was based on a questionnaire that was exclusively prepared for the project, and which was applied to collect data in different countries, in particular Croatia, Egypt, Italy, Greece and Portugal, which are typically associated with the Mediterranean diet (MD).

Findings

The results obtained allowed, in general, to conclude that in all five countries the motivations related to health as well as environment and politics were the more relevant to determine people’s eating habits (scores varying from 0.3 to 0.7). Women were more influenced by eating motivations than men, and people with moderate exercise were more susceptible to health and environmental motivations and less to emotional, social or marketing motivations (p < 0.001 in all cases). It was also observed that people who adopted a special diet were more prone to eating motivations and that the emotional motivations were more pronounced in people with eating disorders (p < 0.001). Finally, people without chronic diseases or allergies were even more influenced by health motivations than those who actually suffered from these health problems (p < 0.001 in both cases).

Originality/value

This work is important because of the multinational coverage, thus allowing to evaluate the most relevant factors that influenced the food choices of the populations around the Mediterranean Sea, sharing the common link to the MD. The study allowed concluding that, in general, the food choices were primarily determined by health factors and also by concerns related to the environment and sustainability as well as by political influences.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science , vol. 49 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 May 2021

Saymon Ricardo de Oliveira Sousa, Cristiane Melchior, Wesley Vieira Da Silva, Roselaine Ruviaro Zanini, Zhaohui Su and Claudimar Pereira da Veiga

This study aims to (1) investigate the association between companies' investment in occupational safety and their financial performance and (2) discuss the importance of…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to (1) investigate the association between companies' investment in occupational safety and their financial performance and (2) discuss the importance of occupational safety to overall performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Occupational safety is often considered to be a practice that can yield suboptimal return on investment. However, it is not known whether this belief is substantiated by evidence. A mapping review of the eligible research literature (N = 36) regarding firms' investment in occupational safety and their financial performance, published between 1945 and2018, was carried out in the Web of Science database.

Findings

By dispelling myths regarding return on investment associated with occupational safety, the findings of this study underscore financial gains firms can obtain by promoting occupational safety measures in their organizations.

Originality/value

These issues are important because they can help policymakers understand the pressures companies face in terms of occupational safety and financial performance sustainability.

Details

International Journal of Workplace Health Management, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8351

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1900

There are very few individuals who have studied the question of weights and measures who do not most strongly favour the decimal system. The disadvantages of the weights and…

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Abstract

There are very few individuals who have studied the question of weights and measures who do not most strongly favour the decimal system. The disadvantages of the weights and measures at present in use in the United Kingdom are indeed manifold. At the very commencement of life the schoolboy is expected to commit to memory the conglomerate mass of facts and figures which he usually refers to as “Tables,” and in this way the greater part of twelve months is absorbed. And when he has so learned them, what is the result? Immediately he leaves school he forgets the whole of them, unless he happens to enter a business‐house in which some of them are still in use; and it ought to be plain that the case would be very different were all our weights and measures divided or multiplied decimally. Instead of wasting twelve months, the pupil would almost be taught to understand the decimal system in two or three lessons, and so simple is the explanation that he would never be likely to forget it. There is perhaps no more interesting, ingenious and useful example of the decimal system than that in use in France. There the standard of length is the metre, the standard of capacity the cubic decimetre or the litre, while one cubic centimetre of distilled water weighs exactly one gramme, the standard of weight. Thus the measures of length, capacity and weight are most closely and usefully related. In the present English system there is absolutely no relationship between these weights and measures. Frequently a weight or measure bearing the same name has a different value for different bodies. Take, for instance, the stone; for dead meat its value is 8 pounds, for live meat 14 pounds; and other instances will occur to anyone who happens to remember his “Tables.” How much simpler for the business man to reckon in multiples of ten for everything than in the present confusing jumble. Mental arithmetic in matters of buying and selling would become much easier, undoubtedly more accurate, and the possibility of petty fraud be far more remote, because even the most dense could rapidly calculate by using the decimal system.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 2 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 13 March 2017

Maria Pires, Joaquim Pratas, Jorge Liz and Pedro Amorim

The design of retail backroom storage areas has great impact on in-store operations, customer service level and on store life-cycle costs. Moreover, backroom storage in modern…

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Abstract

Purpose

The design of retail backroom storage areas has great impact on in-store operations, customer service level and on store life-cycle costs. Moreover, backroom storage in modern retail grocery stores is critical to several functions, such as acting as a buffer against strong demand lifts yielded by an ever-increasing promotional activity, stocking seasonal peak demand and accommodating e-commerce activities. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to design retail backroom storage area. Furthermore, the authors aim to draw attention to the lack of literature on this topic, while clarifying the relationship between this promising research stream and the considerable body of research regarding the design and operations of conventional warehouses, as well as retail in-store operations.

Design/methodology/approach

The key literature on backrooms, grocery retail, in-store operations, warehouse design and operations was reviewed. This allowed an understanding of the gap in the literature regarding the design of backrooms. Moreover, a case study methodological approach was conducted in a Portuguese retailer to extend the literature review.

Findings

Despite having functions similar to conventional warehouses, backroom storage facilities have particularities that deserve a distinct analysis. Thus, the authors stress these differences and demonstrate how they influence the development of a novel backroom design framework.

Originality/value

This paper fills a gap by proposing a framework to design backroom areas. Furthermore, this research may help practitioners to better design backroom areas, since this process currently lacks a formal and standardized procedure.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 45 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1900

The latest information from the magazine chemist is extremely valuable. He has dealt with milk‐adulteration and how it is done. His advice, if followed, might, however, speedily…

Abstract

The latest information from the magazine chemist is extremely valuable. He has dealt with milk‐adulteration and how it is done. His advice, if followed, might, however, speedily bring the manipulating dealer before a magistrate, since the learned writer's recipe is to take a milk having a specific gravity of 1030, and skim it until the gravity is raised to 1036; then add 20 per cent. of water, so that the gravity may be reduced to 1030, and the thing is done. The advice to serve as “fresh from the cow,” preferably in a well‐battered milk‐measure, might perhaps have been added to this analytical gem.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 2 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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