Xiao Meng, Xiaohui Wang and Xinyan Zhao
The persistence and virality of conspiracy theories online have raised significant concerns. This study revisits Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory to examine the spread of…
Abstract
Purpose
The persistence and virality of conspiracy theories online have raised significant concerns. This study revisits Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory to examine the spread of conspiracy theories on social media, specifically focusing on how factors influencing their diffusion evolve over time.
Design/methodology/approach
The study analyzes over 1.18 million COVID-19-related tweets using a combination of natural language processing, social network analysis and machine learning techniques. It explores the dynamic roles of novelty, content negativity, influencers, echo chamber members and social bots in the diffusion of conspiracy theories.
Findings
The results indicate that novelty, influencers, echo chamber members and social bots are positively associated with the spread of conspiracy theories. The initial dissemination of conspiracy theories is primarily driven by content novelty and influencer involvement. Over time, the perpetuation of these theories becomes increasingly influenced by content negativity and the involvement of echo chamber members and social bots. Social bots serve as important connectors within echo chambers and their removal significantly reduces network cohesion.
Practical implications
The findings provide practical guidance for social media platforms and policymakers in monitoring diffusion patterns and applying targeted interventions.
Originality/value
This study introduces a time-sensitive approach to understanding the spread of conspiracy theories on social media. By identifying the key drivers at different stages of the diffusion process, this study offers valuable insights for developing effective strategies to counteract the proliferation of conspiracy theories at various points in their lifecycle.
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Xing (Stella) Liu, Lisa C. Wan and Anna S. Mattila
This study aims to explore how the extensive implementation of virtual influencers (VIs) in the hospitality and tourism industry shapes tourists’ trust perceptions. Specifically…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how the extensive implementation of virtual influencers (VIs) in the hospitality and tourism industry shapes tourists’ trust perceptions. Specifically, it compares the differences between human influencers (HIs) and VIs based on mind perception theory and outlines the strategies for hospitality and tourism marketers to efficiently adopt influencers to enhance customers’ trust in diversified consumption contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
Three experiments were conducted with online panels (n = 799). Study 1 outlines the anticipated focal effect and the mediating role of perceived experience. Study 2 replicates the effect and investigates its downstream consequences. Study 3 examines the moderating effect of product type.
Findings
The results reveal that customers are more likely to distrust VIs than their human counterparts because the former is thought to possess a lower degree of perceived experience. This effect is more prominent in the endorsement of experiential (versus functional) products and services.
Originality/value
This research advances the understanding of how tourists perceive HIs andVIs differently in social media endorsement, enriching the growing literature on VIs. Hospitality marketers can also gain insights into the advantages and limitations of VIs, providing valuable information to optimize their marketing effectiveness.
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Susan Durbin, Ana Lopes, Stella Warren and Judith Milne
The alta mentoring platform, launched within the aviation and aerospace industry in 2019, is the outcome of a joint knowledge exchange project between academics and industry. It…
Abstract
The alta mentoring platform, launched within the aviation and aerospace industry in 2019, is the outcome of a joint knowledge exchange project between academics and industry. It was designed and launched to meet the mentoring needs of women in this male dominated industry, who otherwise had no, or very little, mentoring support. The aim of alta was to create an on-line mentoring platform that was based upon the mentoring support that women identified as being important and that would address their under-representation and the lack of support for career progression. The chapter draws upon a body of literature focussing upon mentoring, specifically its meanings (see Dashper, 2018), benefits (see Phillips et al., 2016) and barriers (see Eby et al., 2010); as well as gender specific mentoring (see Johns & McNamara, 2014). The authors adopt a feminist relational mentoring framework (Ragins, 2016), that views mentoring as a two-way process where mentors and mentees learn from each other. The project was under-pinned by six months of research across the industry (a survey, interviews and focus groups with professional women and employers) to ascertain the need for the mentoring platform. This chapter is based upon four focus groups held with women across the industry, in both technical and middle/senior managerial roles, to ascertain their experiences of mentoring and their perceived and experienced benefits and barriers to mentoring. The focus groups were also utilised to find out specifically what women wanted from the alta mentoring platform and their views on its women-only focus.
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Stella Zou, Phil Bremer and Miranda Mirosa
This was an explorative study, the purpose of which was to understand how Chinese flexitarians were motivated to reduce their animal-based food consumption and specifically to…
Abstract
Purpose
This was an explorative study, the purpose of which was to understand how Chinese flexitarians were motivated to reduce their animal-based food consumption and specifically to explore why and what was behind these changes. Further, this study provides insights into how a transition towards a more plant-based diet might occur.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted 30 in-depth online interviews with Chinese flexitarians from two major Chinese cities. Interview transcripts were analysed through the lens of the Food Choice Process Model.
Findings
Participants adopted flexitarian diets due to health (n = 22), sustainability (n = 5) or ethical (n = 3) concerns. Many participants stated that they still enjoyed animal-sourced foods, were uncomfortable talking about their dietary transition and needed more social support. Consequently, most participants were unlikely to progress to vegetarian or vegan diets. While there are some commonalities between these findings and the results of similar studies with Western consumers, the many culturally and context-specific results revealed herein make an important contribution to the sustainability literature.
Originality/value
This is the first study exploring Chinese consumers’ flexitarianism experiences. These findings can be used by the food industry and interested business actors to improve communication and promotional strategies that encourage consumers to make healthier and more sustainable food choices.
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Xiang Li, Ming Yang, Hongguang Ma and Kaitao (Stella) Yu
Travel time at inter-stops is a set of important parameters in bus timetabling, which is usually assumed to be normal (log-normal) random variable in literature. With the…
Abstract
Purpose
Travel time at inter-stops is a set of important parameters in bus timetabling, which is usually assumed to be normal (log-normal) random variable in literature. With the development of digital technology and big data analytics ability in the bus industry, practitioners prefer to generate deterministic travel time based on the on-board GPS data under maximum probability rule and mean value rule, which simplifies the optimization procedure, but performs poorly in the timetabling practice due to the loss of uncertain nature on travel time. The purpose of this study is to propose a GPS-data-driven bus timetabling approach with consideration of the spatial-temporal characteristic of travel time.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors illustrate that the real-life on-board GPS data does not support the hypothesis of normal (log-normal) distribution on travel time at inter-stops, thereby formulating the travel time as a scenario-based spatial-temporal matrix, where K-means clustering approach is utilized to identify the scenarios of spatial-temporal travel time from daily observation data. A scenario-based robust timetabling model is finally proposed to maximize the expected profit of the bus carrier. The authors introduce a set of binary variables to transform the robust model into an integer linear programming model, and speed up the solving process by solution space compression, such that the optimal timetable can be well solved by CPLEX.
Findings
Case studies based on the Beijing bus line 628 are given to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed methodology. The results illustrate that: (1) the scenario-based robust model could increase the expected profits by 15.8% compared with the maximum probability model; (2) the scenario-based robust model could increase the expected profit by 30.74% compared with the mean value model; (3) the solution space compression approach could effectively shorten the computing time by 97%.
Originality/value
This study proposes a scenario-based robust bus timetabling approach driven by GPS data, which significantly improves the practicality and optimality of timetable, and proves the importance of big data analytics in improving public transport operations management.
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Emilio Greco, Elvira Anna Graziano, Gian Paolo Stella, Marco Mastrodascio and Fabrizio Cedrone
Employees in the private, public, and third sectors have experienced an increase in stress over the years. Amongst the sectors, people working in hospitals and other healthcare…
Abstract
Purpose
Employees in the private, public, and third sectors have experienced an increase in stress over the years. Amongst the sectors, people working in hospitals and other healthcare facilities were put under severe stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, the World Health Organisation has clearly stated that defending people's mental health at this particular time of restless pandemic growth is an absolute necessity. The purpose of this article is to assess the perceived work-related stress (WRS) of healthcare workers (HCWs) as a result of the spread of COVID-19, as well as how a leadership role can help to reduce WRS.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a multiple case study approach applied to two Italian health-care facilities, the questionnaire results were subjected to a regression analysis.
Findings
The results show an association in HCWs between the perception of supportive leadership and the perception of negative psychosocial risks whose exposure can lead to manifestation of WRS during COVID-19 pandemic.
Originality/value
The study addresses the role that the perception of supportive leadership can play in reducing exposure to occupational psychosocial risks in a sample of healthcare professionals.
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Kamran Mahroof, Amizan Omar, Emilia Vann Yaroson, Samaila Ado Tenebe, Nripendra P. Rana, Uthayasankar Sivarajah and Vishanth Weerakkody
The purpose of this study is to evaluate food supply chain stakeholders’ intention to use Industry 5.0 (I5.0) drones for cleaner production in food supply chains.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate food supply chain stakeholders’ intention to use Industry 5.0 (I5.0) drones for cleaner production in food supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a quantitative research design and collected data using an online survey administered to a sample of 264 food supply chain stakeholders in Nigeria. The partial least square structural equation model was conducted to assess the research’s hypothesised relationships.
Findings
The authors provide empirical evidence to support the contributions of I5.0 drones for cleaner production. The findings showed that food supply chain stakeholders are more concerned with the use of I5.0 drones in specific operations, such as reducing plant diseases, which invariably enhances cleaner production. However, there is less inclination to drone adoption if the aim was pollution reduction, predicting seasonal output and addressing workers’ health and safety challenges. The findings outline the need for awareness to promote the use of drones for addressing workers’ hazard challenges and knowledge transfer on the potentials of I5.0 in emerging economies.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to address I5.0 drones’ adoption using a sustainability model. The authors contribute to existing literature by extending the sustainability model to identify the contributions of drone use in promoting cleaner production through addressing specific system operations. This study addresses the gap by augmenting a sustainability model, suggesting that technology adoption for sustainability is motivated by curbing challenges categorised as drivers and mediators.
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Muhammad Sualeh Khattak, Qiang Wu, Maqsood Ahmad and Rizwan Ullah
Grounded in upper echelon (UE) theory, this study aims to examine the role of managerial competencies (business experience, financial literacy and digital literacy) in sustainable…
Abstract
Purpose
Grounded in upper echelon (UE) theory, this study aims to examine the role of managerial competencies (business experience, financial literacy and digital literacy) in sustainable development strategy, with resource management as a mediator.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical data collection is conducted through a survey completed by 297 top management teams of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in Pakistan. Structural equation modelling in Smart PLS is used to substantiate the hypotheses.
Findings
The findings reveal that financially and digitally literate managers significantly contribute to the sustainable development strategies of SMEs. However, experienced managers do not focus significantly on sustainable development strategies. Resource management partially mediates the nexus between financial literacy and sustainable development strategy, as well as between digital literacy and sustainable development strategy. In contrast, resource management does not mediate the nexus between business experience and sustainable development strategy.
Research limitations/implications
This study recommends that SMEs should prioritize managers with digital and financial literacy over those with experience. SMEs led by a management team with digital and financial literacy are more effective in resource management for sustainable development practices, whereas experienced managers may not significantly prioritize managing resources for sustainability.
Originality/value
While research based on the UE theory significantly contributes to the body of knowledge on sustainable development, the role of managerial competencies, particularly business experience, financial literacy and digital literacy, in sustainable development strategy via resource management is neglected. This research fills this gap in the context of UE theory and thereby enriches the literature.