Maria Odette Lobato-Calleros, Karla Fabila, Pamela Shaw and Brian Roberts
The purpose of this paper is to design and test a user satisfaction model to evaluate the contribution of biodiesel production and consumption to the sustainability of a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to design and test a user satisfaction model to evaluate the contribution of biodiesel production and consumption to the sustainability of a semi-urban community in the Cowichan Valley in British Columbia Canada. This case study is part of a larger research study whose purpose is to create a model for an index of sustainable community production and consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical approach selected was the national indices of consumer satisfaction models. The methodology was qualitative and quantitative, in-depth interviews were used to learn the opinion of active and non-active consumers of biodiesel. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed with specialized software for qualitative studies. A structural equation model, whose innovation is the inclusion of the sustainability variables, was designed and analyzed with statistical technique partial least squares.
Findings
The designed model and methodology were useful to identify the principal cause variables of consumer satisfaction of biodiesel in two types of users: active users and non-active users. The determination coefficient R2 of the latent variables satisfaction and loyalty for the prediction of biodiesel active users model is 0.82 and 0.72, respectively, while the result for the non-active users model is 0.90 for satisfaction and 0.73 for loyalty. Sustainable consumption at community level is statistically significant as a direct cause of the variable sustainability of the community for both models, and in turn the sustainability of the community variable has a significant impact on loyalty for the active users model.
Originality/value
This case study is part of a larger research study whose purpose is to create a model for an index of sustainable community production and consumption which will be measured longitudinally to detect changes in the sustainable consumption of the community members.
Details
Keywords
By broadening the definition of information literacy to include classroom activities, the Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRLs) Information Literacy Competency…
Abstract
By broadening the definition of information literacy to include classroom activities, the Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRLs) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education challenge academic librarians to reach beyond the library to teach critical thinking. This article explains how the American Social History Project’s New Media Classroom initiative fosters active utilization of primary sources on the Web. After placing NMC’s inquiry activities within educational, school librarian, and academic librarian debates, their use within women’s studies classes at Salem State College is demonstrated. It is argued that such activities help academic librarians to achieve parity with discipline faculty members by encouraging librarians to become integrally involved in classroom activities.
Details
Keywords
This article develops an alternative theoretical approach to the Supreme Court’s controversial electoral redistricting decisions in Shaw v. Reno (1993) and its progeny. Instead of…
Abstract
This article develops an alternative theoretical approach to the Supreme Court’s controversial electoral redistricting decisions in Shaw v. Reno (1993) and its progeny. Instead of relying on the traditional equal protection interpretation, this paper argues that controversies over electoral redistricting are at base disputes among competing visions of democracy. In the Court’s recent redistricting cases, the majority and the dissent adopted fundamentally different visions of democracy – Individualist Democracy and Democracy as Power. In addition to elaborating these rival understandings of democracy, this article develops the concept of Symbolic Democracy to explain a central paradox in the Court majority’s decision: its simultaneous denial and recognition of the relevance of racial groups in representation.
Katherine E. McLeod, Kelsey Timler, Mo Korchinski, Pamela Young, Tammy Milkovich, Cheri McBride, Glenn Young, William Wardell, Lara-Lisa Condello, Jane A. Buxton, Patricia A. Janssen and Ruth Elwood Martin
Currently, people leaving prisons face concurrent risks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the overdose public health emergency. The closure or reduction of community services people…
Abstract
Purpose
Currently, people leaving prisons face concurrent risks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the overdose public health emergency. The closure or reduction of community services people rely on after release such as treatment centres and shelters has exacerbated the risks of poor health outcomes and harms. This paper aims to learn from peer health mentors (PHM) about changes to their work during overlapping health emergencies, as well as barriers and opportunities to support people leaving prison in this context.
Design/methodology/approach
The Unlocking the Gates (UTG) Peer Health Mentoring Program supports people leaving prison in British Columbia during the first three days after release. The authors conducted two focus groups with PHM over video conference in May 2020. Focus groups were recorded and transcribed, and themes were iteratively developed using narrative thematic analysis.
Findings
The findings highlighted the importance of peer health mentorship for people leaving prisons. PHM discussed increased opportunities for collaboration, ways the pandemic has changed how they are able to provide support, and how PHM are able to remain responsive and flexible to meet client needs. Additionally, PHM illuminated ways that COVID-19 has exacerbated existing barriers and identified specific actions needed to support client health, including increased housing and recovery beds, and tools for social and emotional well-being.
Originality/value
This study contributes to our understanding of peer health mentorship during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of mentors. PHM expertise can support release planning, improved health and well-being of people leaving prison and facilitate policy-supported pandemic responses.
Details
Keywords
Tyler R. Morgan, Colin B. Gabler and Pamela S. Manhart
This paper lays the groundwork for future research in supply chain transparency in two ways. First, the authors delineate the construct and explore how it is shifting the business…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper lays the groundwork for future research in supply chain transparency in two ways. First, the authors delineate the construct and explore how it is shifting the business landscape. Second, the authors connect nine theories to the construct to guide future scholars in this growing research area.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors explore the practical implications for the future of supply chain transparency research through the application of nine theories: stakeholder theory; the technology acceptance model; transaction cost theory; commodity theory; competing values theory; ambidexterity; the natural-resource-based view of the firm; actor-network theory and neo-institutional theory. The authors also consider the blending of theories to provide further insights into the ways firms engage in supply chain transparency.
Findings
This analysis relates theories from several disciplines (i.e. marketing, supply chain management, economics, information systems and organizational behavior) to add theoretical insights to the concept of supply chain transparency, with suggestions for using these theories in conjunction to address complex emerging issues. The authors offer guidance and direction for cross-disciplinary research to help supply chain and logistics influence other fields.
Originality/value
Supply chain transparency is a boundary-spanning phenomenon swiftly proliferating multiple aspects of business. This research applies nine theoretical perspectives to guide future researchers and lays the foundation for managers looking to adopt transparency into their supply chains.
Details
Keywords
Stefan Timmermans and Pamela J. Prickett
We examine what makes urban ethnography unique as a sociological subfield and how to convey this method to aspiring urban ethnographers. As a qualitative research approach…
Abstract
We examine what makes urban ethnography unique as a sociological subfield and how to convey this method to aspiring urban ethnographers. As a qualitative research approach, methodological sensibilities about observing, sampling, and data analysis cross boundaries and transcend the urban setting. We suggest a short observational exercise of checking out in a grocery store to stimulate the ethnographic imagination. Next, we turn to three ways to cultivate an ethnographic eye toward the urban: walking the city, paying attention to interactions and institutions, and examining communities and networks. We end with an appeal to engaging with a community of inquiry.
Details
Keywords
In recent years, the number of journals focusing on a single literary figure has increased substantially. No longer are only a few select authors the sole focus of a journal or…
Abstract
In recent years, the number of journals focusing on a single literary figure has increased substantially. No longer are only a few select authors the sole focus of a journal or newsletter. With the proliferation of single‐author periodicals, implications for their use in locating literary criticism increases the importance of identifying such publications and recommending them to users. The importance of the effective use of journals devoted to a single author is highlighted by the fact that many such titles are not indexed in MLA International Bibliography, long deemed the most complete of the traditional sources for locating literary criticism. Perhaps the greatest strength of the relatively recent American Humanities Index lies is its coverage of single‐author titles. Humanities Index and Abstracts for English Studies also provide access to such journals. Arts and Humanities Citation Index does include a number of the titles too, but it is relatively difficult to use because of its subject approach.
Since the disintegration of Cold War international systemic bipolarity in 1989, the international community has witnessed the entrance of at least 30 new states, proclaiming their…
Abstract
Since the disintegration of Cold War international systemic bipolarity in 1989, the international community has witnessed the entrance of at least 30 new states, proclaiming their formal sovereignty by obtaining membership in the United Nations. As with the previous wave of UN membership enlargement following decolonization three decades earlier, this most recent burst of accessions reflected inter alia the power of nationalism to change the domestic and international political status quo. In some cases, horrendous violence at times approaching genocidal levels has accompanied these changes. Of ten boundaries among these new states remain under intense dispute. This persistence and intensification of movements for national self‐determination require that the prerequisites for a successful international strategy for peacefully regulating this type of change include accommodation of sovereign self‐determination for “aspiring” nations.
Details
Keywords
This research studied the integration of Ontario midwives into the hospital system, through analysis of 15 semi-structured interviews with midwives throughout the Canadian…
Abstract
This research studied the integration of Ontario midwives into the hospital system, through analysis of 15 semi-structured interviews with midwives throughout the Canadian province. In 1994, following activism from parents and families who wanted “alternative” choices for childbearing, Ontario became the first Canadian province to legislate and publicly fund midwives. This followed nearly a century in which midwifery had all but disappeared in Canada, in part due to deliberate campaigns to discredit woman-centered health care and knowledge. The findings from this research were considered through the lens of Foucault’s concept of power/knowledge, to identify the ways in which medicalized norms have been privileged in Ontario birth care, and to demonstrate how pregnant people1 and midwives have struggled against the power/knowledge of hospital environments. This research looked at the ways that midwifery, as a social movement born of feminist and countercultural activism, offers possibilities for resisting disciplinary power. Midwives in Ontario offer an alternative to medicalized childbirth which recognizes that a birth caregiver’s role is not only the physical care of parents and babies, but guidance for families during a liminal experience – the birth of a new child, which changes a family permanently and profoundly.