Bruce Greig, Peter Nuthall and Kevin Old
The purpose of this paper is to investigate a farm manager’s personal characteristics (personality, age, education, objectives, experience, etc.) as drivers of debt payback…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate a farm manager’s personal characteristics (personality, age, education, objectives, experience, etc.) as drivers of debt payback success and rates. Traditionally bankers have used historic business statistics, and equity levels, to assess loans and credit worthiness. It is hypothesised that a managers’ personal characteristics are likely to be a better predictor of future debt payback performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The literature was searched to isolate the managers’ personal variables likely to determine debt payback. The information led to defining a quantitative model based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) which was hypothesised as determining payback rates where a choice was available. A postal random stratified survey of NZ owner operator farm managers provided the data to test the model and define its parameters using regressions, structural equation modelling and statistical comparisons.
Findings
The modelling results make it clear a manager’s personal characteristics are highly correlated with debt payback and, logically, are very likely to be the drivers. Four random effects equations and a comparison of high- and low-debt payback managers led to this conclusion.
Practical implications
Bankers should use the managers’ personal characteristics, as defined in the regressions, alongside traditional measures when assessing farm business loan requests. This approach is opposite to the traditional methods using mainly historic data.
Originality/value
The use of the TPB in assessing debt payback is a new and novel approach showing how enduring personal characteristics can be used in assessing proposals, and particularly, entrepreneurs’ adventurist investments in situations where historic data are not available.
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Keywords
Alexandra Panagiotis Pliakoura, Grigorios N. Beligiannis, Fotios Chatzitheodoridis and Achilleas Kontogeorgos
The purpose of this paper is to explain the impact of locus of control (LOC) and motivations on entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) among agri-entrepreneurs in the region of Western…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain the impact of locus of control (LOC) and motivations on entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) among agri-entrepreneurs in the region of Western Greece.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted in 2019 in the Western Greece region. Primary data were collected through a survey. A researcher-administered questionnaire was the data collection instrument while the individual farmer was the unit of analysis. Many data analysis methods were applied: a validity and reliability test, exploratory factor analysis, regression analysis, Kruskal–Wallis test and correlations.
Findings
The results show that the proposed model explains almost 33% of the variance for the EI. Internal LOC and pull motivations have a positive relationship with the intention of entrepreneurship. EI in the agricultural sector is more dependent on LOC, motivations, age and level of education than gender and type of holding.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study provide several theoretical and practical contributions, which can be useful for other researchers.
Originality/value
This research study adds to the existing literature of the EI by using a different type of sample compared to previous contributions. Mostly EI studies used student sample to measure intentions. The present study extends the antecedents of intention by using a sample of existing agri-entrepreneurs. Farmers are one of the best potential segments, and as a result, this research will help predicting how the intention process of existing entrepreneurs works, especially in the primary sector.
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Paul R. Carlile, Steven H. Davidson, Kenneth W. Freeman, Howard Thomas and N. Venkatraman
Fumes, grit, dust, dirt—all have long been recognized as occupational hazards, their seriousness depending on their nature and how they assail the human body, by ingestion…
Abstract
Fumes, grit, dust, dirt—all have long been recognized as occupational hazards, their seriousness depending on their nature and how they assail the human body, by ingestion, absorption, inhalation, the last being considered the most likely to cause permanent damage. It would not be an exaggeration to state that National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) provisions, now contained in the Social Security Act, 1975, with all the regulations made to implement the law, had their birth in compensating victims of lung disease from inhalation of dust. Over the years, the range of recognized dust disease, prescribed under regulations, has grown, but there are other recognized risks to human life and health from dusts of various kinds, produced not from the manufacturing, mining and quarrying, &c. industries; but from a number of areas where it can contaminate and constitute a hazard to vulnerable products and persons. An early intervention by legislation concerned exposed foods, e.g. uncovered meat on open shop fronts, to dust and in narrow streets, mud splashed from road surfaces. The composition of dust varies with its sources—external, atmospheric, seasonal or interior sources, uses and occupations, comings and goings, and in particular, the standards of cleaning and, where necessary, precautions to prevent dust accumulation. One area for long under constant scrutiny and a subject of considerable research is the interior of hospital wards, treatment rooms and operating theatres.
The findings of the Steering Group on Food Freshness in relation to the compulsory date marking of food contained in their Report, reviewed elsewhere in this issue, has brought…
Abstract
The findings of the Steering Group on Food Freshness in relation to the compulsory date marking of food contained in their Report, reviewed elsewhere in this issue, has brought within measurable distance the Regulations which were, in any case, promised for1975. The Group consider that the extension of voluntary open date marking systems will not be sufficiently rapid (or sufficiently comprehensive) to avoid the need or justify the delay in introducing legislation.
The work of Dr. Hassall on behalf of The Lancet, briefly summarised in a previous essay, received great publicity in the lay Press between 1852 and 1855. The Times and The…
Abstract
The work of Dr. Hassall on behalf of The Lancet, briefly summarised in a previous essay, received great publicity in the lay Press between 1852 and 1855. The Times and The Quarterly Review gave the subject special prominence. The last named journal, in a review of Dr. Hassall's book in 1855, said: “The precision with which he is enabled to state the result of his labours leaves no appeal… We have now shown enough to convince the public that the grossest fraud reigns throughout the British public commissariat. It remains to be seen whether the Government is able and willing to stay this gigantic evil and national dishonour.” In fact, in the same year, a House of Commons Committee sat to take evidence and reported to the effect that adulteration was widely prevalent, the public health endangered, fraud committed on the whole community, public morality tainted and the high commercial character of the country seriously lowered. Nevertheless, five years were allowed to lapse before the first adulteration Act reached the statute‐book in 1860. This was a weak and inefficient measure and was found to be useless. Very few prosecutions, if any, were instituted. Twelve years later, in 1872, an amending Act was passed. The High Court decided that this Act required sellers of food to know whether what they sold was pure or adulterated. Many traders were convicted, with the result that manufacturers and shopkeepers agitated and obtained the appointment of yet another Parliamentary Committee—on whose advice the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875, was passed. This Act, which had the exceptionally long life of more than fifty years, contained many protective provisions for dealers in food, which, although to some extent no more than fair, did operate in such a way as to limit severely the efforts of local authorities to protect the public. One of the recommendations made in The Lancet has never yet been adopted by Parliament in relation to the sale of adulterated food—namely, that the names and addresses of all vendors of samples found unsatisfactory should be systematically published. Another recommendation was not adopted until the first Labelling of Food Order was made seventy years later, in 1944, requiring the disclosure on many packed foods of their composition.
Riccardo Sartori, Giuseppe Tacconi and Beniamino Caputo
The aim of the research presented here was to detect, in line with the European Union’s “Education and Training 2020” work program, the training needs of teachers and trainers…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the research presented here was to detect, in line with the European Union’s “Education and Training 2020” work program, the training needs of teachers and trainers working in the vocational education and training (VET) system in the Italian Region of Veneto to design courses, experiences and other training programs tailored to meet the needs emerged.
Design/methodology/approach
Four focus groups were including VET teachers and trainers were created, two before the construction and two after the online administration of an ad hoc questionnaire asking teachers and trainers to rate 67 competencies (43 for teachers, 24 for trainers) on the two dimensions of self-assessment (explicitly defined as the current level of mastery) and importance (explicitly defined as the expected level of mastery). Eight hundred twelve teachers and 166 trainers filled in the questionnaire which also asked them to give suggestions about the courses, experiences and other training programs to be designed.
Findings
In questionnaires, teachers and trainers declare they are competent enough to do what they do (self-assessment always obtains higher ratings than importance, except in one competence for teachers), even if in focus groups they say they want to be trained. Accordingly, they express a clear preference for short or very short courses, tailored on their specific needs and for training experiences and programs which are alternative to classroom training.
Practical implications
The research is a preliminary action to a European Social Fund project named “Training for trainers”, whose main aim is to give birth to courses, experiences and other training programs, specifically dedicated to VET teachers and trainers, to allow them to develop or refresh the competencies they feel they need for work. Besides, it allowed testing of the benefit of using mixed methods for a competence-based analysis of needs.
Originality/value
Data will be used to design courses, experiences and other training programs that really meet the needs of VET teachers and trainers in Veneto to tackle those aspects they consider really important for work in a lifelong learning perspective.