Zhijun Yan, Roberta Bernardi, Nina Huang and Younghoon Chang
Philip Fei Wu and Roberta Bernardi
The purpose of this study is to investigate how community attachment to an OHC reduces the OHC users' emotional distress and therefore improves their emotional well-being.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate how community attachment to an OHC reduces the OHC users' emotional distress and therefore improves their emotional well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey study was conducted in one of the largest online health communities (OHC) for people with diabetes.
Findings
OHC participants are likely to experience reduced emotional distress when they have developed an attachment to the community. This attachment is, in turn, positively associated with the normative expectations of reciprocity and the affective feeling of gratitude. However, some commonly used behavioral measures of community participation, such as visit frequency and membership tenure, have little to do with either community attachment or reduced emotional distress.
Research limitations/implications
The research highlights the pivotal role of community attachment in appraising the much-debated benefits of OHCs. However, the cross-sectional survey study has its limitations in terms of establishing causality.
Practical implications
OHC managers need to look beyond some of the commonly used metrics, such as monthly visits and number of new postings, and focus on fostering a sense of attachment among existing users in order to fulfill the OHC's potential of emotional support. Our study implies that design features facilitating reciprocation and gratitude expression among users can lead to a strong emotional bond.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies on the antecedents of community attachment and the relationship between community attachment and emotional distress in the context of OHC.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between consumer movements and sustainability certification bodies in the development of food-related consumer…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between consumer movements and sustainability certification bodies in the development of food-related consumer campaigns.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a longitudinal approach to the study of an empirical case, the Fairtrade Towns (FTT) movement in the UK. It combines netnographic analysis on the FTT’s online forum with interviews with members of the community and of the certification body coordinating the movement.
Findings
The author conceptualises Sustainably Certified Consumer Communities (SCCC) as a distinct sub-group of consumer movements whose identity coalesces around a sustainable certification and that mobilises supporters with the purpose of promoting social change through the marketplace. The longitudinal approach allows the identification of definitional elements, main practices and unresolved tensions of this concept.
Originality/value
Research addressing the social movement dimension of contemporary food-related sustainability certification is limited. The present study advances consumer research through the conceptualisation of SCCC and contributes to a new understanding of the political roles that market-oriented certification bodies can play in consumer activism. From a managerial perspective, it provides valuable insights into practitioners interested in fostering community engagement.
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Maria Giovina Pasca, Maria Francesca Renzi, Laura Di Pietro and Roberta Guglielmetti Mugion
The present study aims to synthesize and conceptualize, through a systematic literature review (SLR), the current state of gamification knowledge in the tourism and hospitality…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study aims to synthesize and conceptualize, through a systematic literature review (SLR), the current state of gamification knowledge in the tourism and hospitality (T&H) sector, providing a roadmap for future research recommendations for service research and practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a systematic literature review and adopts a systematic quantitative approach to summarize existing evidence on gamification usage in the T&H sector, focusing on relevant service literature on gamification. The authors analyze 36 papers published between 2011 and 2019.
Findings
The authors synthesize existing knowledge into five themes describing gamification's role in T&H (Edutainment, Sustainable behavior, Engagement factors, Service provider-generated content and User-generated reviews). Then, a cross-analysis of the five themes reveals the pivotal elements (affordances, behavioral and psychological outcomes, and benefits) generated by gamification mechanics in T&H, simultaneously highlighting potential implications and relevant insights for service literature. The review identifies critical issues affecting gamification research and provides a future research agenda, considering opportunities for T&H and service research.
Originality/value
The study provides the first SLR investigating gamification in T&H. The findings present potential implications and relevant insights for T&H contributing to the construction of a more holistic understanding of gamification adoption in service research.
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Le Yun, Jingyuan Wan, Ge Wang, Ju Bai and Bing Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the demographic characteristics of top management teams (TMTs) (i.e. age, gender, administrative level, senior…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the demographic characteristics of top management teams (TMTs) (i.e. age, gender, administrative level, senior management experience and educational background) and megaproject performance, with respect to schedule, cost, quality, safety and technological innovation. The results shed new light on the effectiveness of different types of TMT.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper collected secondary and objective data from 208 TMT members in 42 megaprojects and employed hierarchical regression analysis to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
The findings revealed that age has a significant influence on schedule performance; gender has a significant influence on safety performance; senior management experience has a significant influence on cost performance; and educational background has a significant influence on both schedule and technological innovation performance. However, this study did not find evidence of a significant relationship between the administrative level and megaproject performance.
Research limitations/implications
This paper mainly focused on China’s megaprojects, most of which are globally influential (e.g. Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge and Shanghai Expo), however this sampling approach still limits the generalizability of research findings to other contexts.
Originality/value
The results of this paper contribute to a better understanding of how management team capabilities translate into better project achievements. This paper also provides implications on the criteria for selecting top megaproject managers to optimize the composition of the TMT and realize better performance.
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Francesco Paolone, Alberto Sardi, Enrico Sorano and Alberto Ferraris
Organisations rarely adopted integrated processes for developing sustainability reports, although the literature and the business context recommend them for efficient reporting to…
Abstract
Purpose
Organisations rarely adopted integrated processes for developing sustainability reports, although the literature and the business context recommend them for efficient reporting to describe the economic, environmental and/or social impacts of organisational activities. Based on system dynamics, this paper aims to propose an integrated process for producing sustainability reports.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted action research involving a multi-utility enterprise. This company offers a wide range of public services covering integrated water utilities, environmental hygiene service, transport and mobility and cemeterial management.
Findings
The main steps of a process for defining and representing integrated sustainability reports are described, giving a concrete practical example of how the procedure can be applied to a multi-utility company.
Originality/value
System dynamics used as the major contributor to developing integrated sustainability reports also takes into account the nonlinear behaviour of complex systems. Results and implications are assessed from an integrated thinking and reporting perspective.