Emma Zijlstra, Mariët Hagedoorn, Stefan C.M. Lechner, Cees P. van der Schans and Mark P. Mobach
As hospitals are now being designed with an increasing number of single rooms or cubicles, the individual preference of patients with respect to social contact is of great…
Abstract
Purpose
As hospitals are now being designed with an increasing number of single rooms or cubicles, the individual preference of patients with respect to social contact is of great interest. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the experience of patients in an outpatient infusion center.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 29 semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed and analyzed by using direct content analysis.
Findings
Findings showed that patients perceived a lack of acoustic privacy and therefore tried to emotionally isolate themselves or withheld information from staff. In addition, patients complained about the sounds of infusion pumps, but they were neutral about the interior features. Patients who preferred non-talking desired enclosed private rooms and perceived negative distraction because of spatial crowding. In contrast, patients who preferred talking, or had no preference, desired shared rooms and perceived positive distraction because of spatial crowding.
Research limitations/implications
In conclusion, results showed a relation between physical aspects (i.e. physical enclosure) and the social environment.
Practical implications
The findings allow facility managers to better understand the patients’ experiences in an outpatient infusion facility and to make better-informed decisions. Patients with different preferences desired different physical aspects. Therefore, nursing staff of outpatient infusion centers should assess the preferences of patients. Moreover, architects should integrate different types of treatment places (i.e. enclosed private rooms and shared rooms) in new outpatient infusion centers to fulfill different preferences and patients should have the opportunity to discuss issues in private with nursing staff.
Originality/value
This study emphasizes the importance of a mix of treatment rooms, while new hospital designs mainly include single rooms or cubicles.
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Henk W. Brink, Stefan C.M. Lechner, Marcel G.L.C. Loomans, Mark P. Mobach and Helianthe S.M. Kort
This study aims to qualitatively examine the relationship between the indoor environmental quality (IEQ), lecturers’ and students’ perceived internal responses and academic…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to qualitatively examine the relationship between the indoor environmental quality (IEQ), lecturers’ and students’ perceived internal responses and academic performance.
Design/methodology/approach
To capture user experiences with the IEQ in classrooms, semi-structured interviews with 11 lecturers and three focus group discussions with 24 students were conducted, transcribed, coded and analyzed using direct content analysis.
Findings
The findings show that lecturers and students experience poor thermal, lighting, acoustic and indoor air quality (IAQ) conditions that may influence their ability to teach and learn. Maintaining acceptable thermal and IAQ conditions was difficult for lecturers, as opening windows or doors caused noise disturbances. In uncomfortable conditions, lecturers may decide to give a break earlier or shorten a lecture. When students experienced discomfort, it may affect their ability to concentrate, their emotional status and their quality of learning.
Research limitations/implications
The findings originate from a relatively small sample, which might have limited the number and variety of identified associations between environment and users.
Practical implications
Maintaining acceptable air and thermal conditions will mitigate the need to open windows and doors. Keeping doors and windows closed will prevent noise disturbances and related distractions. This will support the quality of learning in classrooms. This study reveals the end users’ perspectives and preferences, which can inspire designers of new school buildings in higher education.
Originality/value
This study emphasizes the importance of creating and maintaining optimal IEQ conditions to support the quality of teaching and learning. These conditions are particularly relevant when classroom occupancy rates are high or outdoor conditions are unfavourable.
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This chapter reviews the existing empirical evidence on how social insurance affects health. Social insurance encompasses programs primarily designed to insure against health…
Abstract
This chapter reviews the existing empirical evidence on how social insurance affects health. Social insurance encompasses programs primarily designed to insure against health risks, such as health insurance, sick leave insurance, accident insurance, long-term care insurance, and disability insurance as well as other programs, such as unemployment insurance, pension insurance, and country-specific social insurance programs. These insurance systems exist in almost all developed countries around the world. This chapter discusses the state-of-the art evidence on each of these social insurance systems, briefly reviews the empirical methods for identifying causal effects, and examines possible limitations to these methods. The findings reveal robust and rich evidence on first-stage behavioral responses (“moral hazard”) to changes in insurance coverage. Surprisingly, evidence on how changes in coverage impact beneficiaries’ health is scant and inconclusive. This lack of identified causal health effects is directly related to limitations on how human health is typically measured, limitations on the empirical approaches, and a paucity of administrative panel data spanning long-time horizons. Future research must be conducted to fill these gaps. Of particular importance is evidence on how these social insurance systems interact and affect human health over the life cycle.
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This chapter extends Henri Lefebvre's writings on rhythm to explore how time, space, power and difference articulate themselves in the uneven social relations of intercultural…
Abstract
This chapter extends Henri Lefebvre's writings on rhythm to explore how time, space, power and difference articulate themselves in the uneven social relations of intercultural space. Taking Lefebvre's ‘Seen From the Window’ chapter as a theme, I propose a variation of rhythmanalysis which interrogates the politics of copresence at a dance party in Munich, Germany. Plug in Beats is a participatory party – songs are selected by the crowd through a karaoke-like process. The monthly event was initiated in 2015 when a refugee camp was installed near an arts and cultural center. The party creates a space for dialogue between new migrants and established locals occupying a wide range of social positions. I look at the implications of rhythm for studying intercultural dance through a rhythmanalysis of one party in June 2018. The methodological approach is framed around the embodied multisensory participant observation advocated by Lefebvre; however, the analysis draws on additional ethnographic data from interviews, audio recordings, Shazam (a song identification app) and video footage. I propose a relational rhythmanalysis which engages the historical and geographic power dynamics at work in music, dancing and in the party space. Such an approach, I argue, reveals how participants negotiate and sometimes reconfigure social relations of difference through rhythm itself. While there are limits to the questions that rhythmanalysis allows the researcher to ask and answer, it is a valuable means to engage how power and difference work – and might be more equitably reworked – in migrant-receiving and otherwise heterogeneous spaces.
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This study aims to grounded in the dynamic capability theory and focuses on the dynamic exchange capability framework, encompassing networkbuilding capability and resource…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to grounded in the dynamic capability theory and focuses on the dynamic exchange capability framework, encompassing networkbuilding capability and resource integration capability, to explore the relationship between coopetition and resilience, with ecosystem digitalization serving as the boundary condition.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a survey study among 382 B2B startups with second-hand data from the city level.
Findings
Startups engaged in coopetition activities can build resilience through the mediating effects of network-building capability and resource integration capability. In addition, ecosystem digitalization positively moderates these relationships.
Practical implications
This study advocates for entrepreneurs to leverage coopetition to enhance resilience by activating network-building capability and resource integration capability and to apply ecosystem digitalization throughout this transformation process.
Originality/value
Many studies have discussed how to strengthen the resilience of startups, but the role of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in constructing resilience has received little attention. This study contributes to the understanding of the causal relationship between entrepreneurial ecosystem and entrepreneurship, promotes the development of the dynamic exchange capability framework, and sheds light on the flow of resources across borders within ecosystems.
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José Arias-Pérez, Carlos Alberto Frantz dos Santos, Juan Velez-Ocampo and Aurora Carneiro Zen
The objective of this article is to analyze the mediating role of innovation capability—both radical and incremental—between technological turbulence and digital innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this article is to analyze the mediating role of innovation capability—both radical and incremental—between technological turbulence and digital innovation ecosystem performance, considering the impact of cross-organizational knowledge sabotage. Despite the enthusiasm surrounding digitization, the high failure rate (80%) of digital transformation projects has received limited attention. This alarming statistic indicates a potential rise in opportunistic behaviors within organizations. We hypothesize that employees seeking to reduce the risk of being displaced by digital technologies, may not only hide knowledge, as previously observed, but also engage in knowledge sabotage by disseminating inaccurate information during the co-creation of digital innovations within the digital innovation ecosystem.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed structural equation modeling to examine moderated mediation using survey data collected from 148 firms, mainly from sectors of high to medium levels of digital intensity.
Findings
The most significant finding indicates that cross-organizational knowledge sabotage considerably reduces the only mediating effect, namely that of incremental innovation capability.
Originality/value
Our study presents a novel perspective by investigating the phenomenon of cross-organizational knowledge sabotage. Unlike prior research, which primarily identified the existence of knowledge hiding, our findings suggest that employees are not only willing to withhold information but also to disseminate inaccurate information to external partners. Consequently, our research extends the boundaries of the existing knowledge field by demonstrating that cross-organizational knowledge sabotage has repercussions that extend beyond intra-organizational impacts, as previously recognized. It also adversely affects the outcomes of collaborative work within the digital innovation ecosystem.
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Michaela Maria Schaffhauser-Linzatti and Stefan F. Ossmann
Higher education institutions are regarded as forerunners and pioneers of sustainability. However, it is to question whether they actually fulfill their role model function. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Higher education institutions are regarded as forerunners and pioneers of sustainability. However, it is to question whether they actually fulfill their role model function. This paper aims to reveal whether selected universities in Australia and Austria meet the reporting expectations about their activities on sustainability in very heterogeneous environments.
Design/methodology/approach
Annual reports of selected universities in Australia and Austria are screened by the qualitative text analysis suggested by Mayring to identify their information policy on sustainability. Following the standard definitions, sustainability comprises economic, environmental and social aspects as main categories, which are supplemented further by specifically adapted eight subcategories.
Findings
The results reveal that the universities concentrate on economic information, preferably on accounting, whereas social aspects are of second importance. Environmental activities that essentially shape the image of sustainability for the majority of the stakeholders are mostly unattended.
Research limitations/implications
For further research, the authors suggest analyzing the reports of additional countries to get a bigger picture on the role of sustainability information in university reporting. Possible limitations are because of language use and time requirements, as each report must be encoded manually.
Practical implications
The results reveal the gaps that standard setters should fill by enforcing sustainability content in universities’ reports.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to analyze the annual reports of international universities in respect to sustainability. Hereby, we further fill a gap by applying a qualitative text analysis on the basis of individually derived categories to reveal the sustainability aspects more precisely.
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Sabeen Hussain Bhatti, Farida Saleem, Ramsha Zakariya and Amna Ahmad
Every year a huge amount of food is wasted from food production till its consumption. The activity of food wastage has become a daily routine practice and a huge portion of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Every year a huge amount of food is wasted from food production till its consumption. The activity of food wastage has become a daily routine practice and a huge portion of this loss is contributed by the consumers all around the world. With a total estimated population of 207.7m, 64 percent of the population of Pakistan is below the age of 30. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that affect young consumer’s food waste behavior in a developing country context.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected in the month of Ramadan and Eid primarily by means of a web-based questionnaire. A two-step approach of structural equation modeling was used as a data analysis technique.
Findings
The findings of this research confirm the hypothesis that environmental concern and time pressure influence the attitude toward food waste reduction. The results further reveal that although attitude and injunctive norms lead toward higher intentions to reduce food waste, moral norms and perceived behavioral control do not significantly impact this intent.
Practical implications
This study contributes toward understanding the behavior of consumers in order to ensure the provision and execution of food waste prevention campaigns. This study has implications for policy makers and decision makers, and other stakeholders responsible for food waste reduction and environmental protection. Besides, social campaigns can be developed based on the results of this study, so as to improve the habits related to food wastage in consumers. Finally, the findings are beneficial to academics and scholars that are presently working on factors related to consumer behavior toward food waste.
Originality/value
Food waste behavior in young consumers from developing countries in general and from Pakistan in particular has not been analyzed before. The present study aims at analyzing some of the important predecessors of food waste behavior and thus it significantly adds to the existing body of knowledge of consumer behavior toward food waste.
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To elucidate the factors influencing suboptimal food (SF) purchase intention among Taiwanese consumers, this study extended the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model by…
Abstract
Purpose
To elucidate the factors influencing suboptimal food (SF) purchase intention among Taiwanese consumers, this study extended the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model by incorporating driving factors that encourage purchasing of SFs, that is, incorporating food waste awareness and personal norms. The inhibiting moderator of health consciousness and facilitating moderator of price consciousness were also considered.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 305 online questionnaire responses were analysed. Moderated regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses proposed in this study.
Findings
Consumer attitudes toward purchasing SFs and perceived behavioural control as well as their food waste awareness and personal norms are determinants of their SF purchase intention. Health consciousness inhibits SF purchase intention, and price consciousness promotes SF purchase intention. In addition, the moderating effect of health consciousness reverses the positive relationship between personal norms and SF purchase intention, turning the relationship negative. However, the moderating effect of price consciousness strengthens the positive relationship between personal norms and SF purchase intention.
Originality/value
In addition to extending the TPB model, this study considered the main effects and moderating effects of health consciousness and price consciousness on consumers’ intention to purchase SF. The research findings contribute to the understanding of the relevant factors that influence Taiwanese consumers’ SF purchase intention. The study also outlines the implications of its findings in terms of encouraging consumers to purchase SFs to reduce food waste.
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Stefan Sonke Speckesser, Francisco Jose Gonzalez Carreras and Laura Kirchner Sala
The purpose of this paper is to provide quantitative estimates on the impact of active labour market policy (ALMP) on youth unemployment in Europe based on a macroeconomic panel…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide quantitative estimates on the impact of active labour market policy (ALMP) on youth unemployment in Europe based on a macroeconomic panel data set of youth unemployment, ALMP and education policy variables and further country-specific characteristics on labour market institutions and the broader demographic and macroeconomic environment for all EU-Member States.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors follow the design of an aggregate impact analysis, which aims to explain the impact of policy on macroeconomic variables like youth employment and unemployment (see Bellmann and Jackman, 1996). This follows the assumption that programmes, which are effective in terms of improving individual employment opportunities, are going to make a difference on the equilibrium of youth unemployment.
Findings
The findings show that both wage subsidies and job creation are reducing aggregate youth unemployment, which is in contrast to some of the surveys of microeconomic studies indicating that job creation schemes are not effective. This finding points towards the importance to assist young people making valuable work experience, which is a benefit from job creation, even if this experience is made outside regular employment and/or the commercial sector.
Research limitations/implications
In terms of the variables to model public policy intervention in the youth labour market, only few indicators exist, which are consistently available for all EU-Member States, despite much more interest and research aiming to provide an exhaustive picture of the youth labour market in Europe. The only consistently available measures are spending on ALMP as a percentage of gross domestic product (in the different programmes) and participation stocks and entries by type of intervention.
Practical implications
The different effects found for the 15–19 year olds, who seem to benefit from wage subsidies, compared to the effect of job creations benefitting the 20–24 year olds, might relate to the different barriers for both groups to find employment. Job creation programmes seem to offer this group an alternative mechanism to gain valuable work experience outside the commercial sector, which could help form a narrative of positive labour market experience. In this way, job creation should be looked more positively at when further developing ALMP provision, especially for young people relatively more distant to engagement in regular employment.
Social implications
Improving the situation of many millions of young Europeans failing to find gainful employment, and more generally suffering from deprivation and social exclusion, has been identified as a clear priority for policy both at the national level of EU-Member States and for EU-wide initiatives. With this study, the authors attempt to contribute to the debate about the effectiveness of policies which combat youth unemployment by estimating the quantitative relationship of ALMP and other institutional features and youth unemployment.
Originality/value
To research the relationship between youth unemployment and ALMP, the authors created a macroeconomic database with repeated observations for all EU-Member States for a time series (1998–2012). The authors include variables on country demographics and the state of the economy as well as variables describing the labour market regimes from Eurostat, i.e. the flexibility of the labour market (part-time work and fixed-term employment as a percentage of total employment) and the wage setting system (level and coordination of bargaining and government intervention in wage bargaining).