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1 – 10 of 23Rashed Al Karim, Sakia Kawser, Md Karim Rabiul, Tabassum Chowdhury and Fathima Nabeelah Yoonoos Murtaza
This study aims to assess the effects of green supply chain management (GSCM) strategies on health-care organizations’ environmental performance (EP). It also assesses that green…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the effects of green supply chain management (GSCM) strategies on health-care organizations’ environmental performance (EP). It also assesses that green innovation (GI), including green technology innovation (GTI) and green management innovation (GMI), plays mediating roles in the connection between GSCM and EP.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 375 health-care sector employees in the Chattogram division of Bangladesh provided opinions in the questionnaire survey. PLS-SEM was used to verify the data’s validity and reliability and assess the hypotheses.
Findings
The findings reveal that GSCM practices significantly positively impact GI and EP. Moreover, GTI and GMI mediate the relationship between GSCM and EP in Bangladesh’s health-care sector.
Practical implications
The current findings could promote environmental sustainability in Bangladesh’s health-care industry by fostering environmental collaboration.
Originality/value
The detection of the mediation effect of GTI and GMI on GSCM and EP is a unique contribution of this study that enriches the present GSCM and GI literature, particularly in the Bangladeshi health-care sector.
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Hasina Tabassum Chowdhury, Shuva Ghosh, Shaim Mahamud, Fazlul Hasan Siddiqui and Sabah Binte Noor
The earth is facing challenges to work for the survival of human life during domino effect disasters. The emergency resource storage locations should be selected considering the…
Abstract
Purpose
The earth is facing challenges to work for the survival of human life during domino effect disasters. The emergency resource storage locations should be selected considering the probability of domino effect disasters. The first purpose of this study is to select the storage locations where domino effect probability is less. And second, facility development cost and transportation costs and costs for unutilized capacity have been optimized.
Design/methodology/approach
The work is a multiobjective optimization problem and solved with weighted sum approach. At first, the probabilities of domino effect due to natural disasters are calculated based on the earthquake zones. Then with that result along with other necessary data, the location to set up storage facilities and the quantities of resources that need to be transported has been determined.
Findings
The work targeted a country, Bangladesh for example. The authors have noticed that Bangladesh is currently storing relief items at warehouse which is under the domino effect prone region. The authors are proposing to avoid this location and identified the optimized cost for setting up the facilities. In this work, the authors pointed out which location has high probability of domino effect and after avoiding this location whether cost can be optimized, and the result demonstrated that this decision can be economical.
Originality/value
Disaster response authorities should try to take necessary proactive steps during cascading disasters. The novelty of this work is determining the locations to select storage facilities if the authors consider the probability of the domino effect. Then a facility location optimization model has been developed to minimize the costs. This paper can support policymakers to assess the strategies for selecting the location of emergency resource facilities.
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Nazreen Tabassum Chowdhury, Nurul Shahnaz Mahdzan and Mahfuzur Rahman
This study aims to explore the underlying issues of behavioural biases in relation to stock market participation and the challenges of individual investors in Bangladesh. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the underlying issues of behavioural biases in relation to stock market participation and the challenges of individual investors in Bangladesh. The study identifies behavioural biases affecting individuals’ stock market participation, their circumvention strategies and the importance of financial knowledge in encouraging the participation of individuals in the stock market.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were used in this study to gather information from industry researchers, individual investors, brokers and institutional advisors. Twenty-two experts were contacted, and 13 agreed to participate in the interviews. The study then uses the thematic analysis method to report its findings.
Findings
This research shows that investors’ behavioural biases (such as loss aversion, herding, trust, gambler’s fallacy and risk tolerance) are among Bangladesh’s primary drivers of stock market participation. Circumvention strategies (such as poor corporate governance and agency costs) also play a part in individuals’ participation. These influences are in addition to the obvious factors of investment risks, poor infrastructure, poor regulation enforcement and the need for more sufficient investment products.
Research limitations/implications
This study conducted 13 interviews with expert subjects, which is a small sample size. However, the findings achieved saturation and cannot be ignored. Future research should use quantitative or experimental methods with a large sample size to validate the current findings.
Originality/value
This study is pioneering in the Bangladesh stock market, exploring the behavioural biases of investors’ participation in the market. This paper provides valuable insights into investor participation by discovering the underlying behavioural biases that have been continually ignored; these insights may also be relevant in frontier markets in Asian countries.
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Nurul Shahnaz Mahdzan, Mohamad Fazli Sabri, Abdul Rahim Husniyah, Amirah Shazana Magli and Nazreen Tabassum Chowdhury
The first objective of this study is to analyze whether financial behavior (FB), financial stress (FS), financial literacy (FINLIT) and the locus of control (LOC) influence…
Abstract
Purpose
The first objective of this study is to analyze whether financial behavior (FB), financial stress (FS), financial literacy (FINLIT) and the locus of control (LOC) influence subjective financial well-being (SFWB) among low-income households in Malaysia. The second objective is to investigate whether the use of digital financial services (DFS) moderates the influence of FB and FS, on SFWB.
Design/methodology/approach
Motivated by the literature on transformative service research (TRS), this study examines how the use of DFS impact SFWB among low-income households in Malaysia. Low-income households are chosen as they are more likely to be financially excluded and lack financial knowledge and skills. Using an interviewer-administered survey, trained enumerators collected data from 1,948 low-income households in Malaysia, selected using a two-stage sampling based on the National Household Sampling Frame obtained from the Department of Statistics Malaysia.
Findings
Results reveal that SFWB is positively influenced by FB and the LOC, and is negatively impacted by FS and FINLIT. The evidence shows that the use of DFS counterintuitively weakened the strength of the relationship between FB and SFWB, but effectively reduced the adverse effect of FS on SFWB.
Practical implications
To reverse the signs of relationship, financial services marketers need to identify the specific types of DFS that low-income households use in order to provide targeted marketing efforts and financial education to promote the use of DFS on a more holistic basis to increase financial well-being.
Originality/value
The findings of this study add to the body of knowledge deliberating on the opposing effects of technology on consumers' welfare and well-being. This study focuses on the lower-income stratum of Malaysian households as this group of the population is more likely to be financially excluded and have deficiencies in financial knowledge and skills. Findings of this study show that DFS use can actually diminish the positive impact of FB on SFWB while reducing the adverse effect of FS on SFWB.
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Blessing Makwambeni, Trust Matsilele and John G Bulani
The appropriation of artificial intelligence (AI) into everyday workplace practices is becoming pervasive. Some of the industries that have seen the improved appropriation of AI…
Abstract
The appropriation of artificial intelligence (AI) into everyday workplace practices is becoming pervasive. Some of the industries that have seen the improved appropriation of AI include the automotive industry, food chains and other retail businesses. The media industry in developed countries has also been appropriating AI into newsrooms ecologies. This development has left news media workers, especially in developing countries, questioning the viability of their jobs in the foreseeable future as machines take over and disrupt newsmaking and production processes. The unknowns that come with AI adoption have been met with both utopian and dystopian views in African newsrooms, especially in countries that understand less on how to deploy AI affordances. Premised on the technology acceptance model and the concept of technological appropriation and a qualitative methodology that used structured interviews with community media journalists from the Western Cape province of South Africa, this chapter examined journalists' perceptions of AI deployment in the community media space. The findings of the study show that community media journalists hold both utopian and dystopian views on the utility of AI in the community media space. While most journalists perceive AI as enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of the newsmaking process, there is a significant number of journalists who perceive AI as inimical to the legitimacy and credibility of the profession. Furthermore, AI is also seen as a threat to jobs within the journalism profession. These findings resonate with previous studies that have shown that journalists are divided on the perceived utility of AI in newsrooms.
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Women’s participation in the formal labour force has increased over the past three decades and continues to do so in Bangladesh. This paper aims to look at trends in that…
Abstract
Purpose
Women’s participation in the formal labour force has increased over the past three decades and continues to do so in Bangladesh. This paper aims to look at trends in that phenomenon and how it has been influenced by privatization in the economy and the social transitions that have occurred during this process.
Design/methodology/approach
The findings are based on a survey of women in large formal sector organizations in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The study focuses on the adjustment of women in various ranks to work in different organizations – public, non-profits, and private – and makes comparisons among these workplaces. Seven individuals were interviewed and filled out questionnaires on work–life balance and job satisfaction.
Findings
Results show that although private organizations pay better, non-governmental institutions evoke a greater sense of employee commitment to organizational mission and public organizations provide women with a greater perception that their work is valued and respected. It is found that stated and implemented policies with respect to family-friendly work environments are variable.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size has some limitations that were addressed through interviews.
Practical implications
Each type of organization has its own set of advantages and setbacks with respect to work-life balance and job satisfaction, pointing to the need for concerted policies that could encourage women to choose and remain in their professions.
Originality/value
Work–life balance is a new concept in developing countries. As they go through the second phase of demographic transition, this is a key factor in stabilizing population growth. A comparison of the three types of organizations as workplaces for women has not been done. The phenomenon is not unique to Bangladesh and has lessons for many developing countries.
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Iqbal Hossain Moral, Md. Mizanur Rahman, Md. Shahinur Rahman, Md. Solaiman Chowdhury and Md. Saidur Rahaman
The bread and butter of marginal communities primarily rely on their artisanal work, to which the communities’ women have notable contributions despite facing numerous challenges…
Abstract
Purpose
The bread and butter of marginal communities primarily rely on their artisanal work, to which the communities’ women have notable contributions despite facing numerous challenges. This study aims to unveil the challenges along with latent opportunities of different marginal women entrepreneurs in the rural areas of Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used narrative inquiry to explore the real-life business phenomena of 15 marginal women entrepreneurs with more than 5 years of business experience living in 4 districts of Bangladesh. This approach was used to document participants’ responses through the storytelling of their daily business experiences.
Findings
The findings of this paper indicate that vulnerable living conditions, social negligence, availability of substitutes, frequent sickness, increasing price of raw materials, lack of entrepreneurial skills and lack of managerial skills are the major challenges of marginal women entrepreneurs. In contrast, minimum capital requirement, home-based business, traditional profession, retaining cultural heritage and lack of accountability are the main opportunities that motivate marginal women to continue their entrepreneurial activities.
Research limitations/implications
The insight of this research can promote and sustain marginal women entrepreneurship and aid researchers, policymakers and businesses in improving the various entrepreneurial aspects of informal community entrepreneurs in developing countries. However, the study was limited to five marginal community entrepreneurs (Rishi, Kumor, Jele, Cobbler and Kamar) in Bangladesh. Therefore, conducting future research encompassing all marginalized communities is recommended, and empirical studies on this domain are highly encouraged.
Social implications
The insight of this research can promote and sustain marginal women entrepreneurship and aid researchers, policymakers and businesses in improving the various entrepreneurial aspects of informal community entrepreneurs in developing countries.
Originality/value
In the authors’ knowledge, this is unique research on marginal women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.
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Notwithstanding been a significant stakeholder in the sustainable and responsible tourism (RT) development and management process, worldwide very few studies exclusively…
Abstract
Purpose
Notwithstanding been a significant stakeholder in the sustainable and responsible tourism (RT) development and management process, worldwide very few studies exclusively investigated tourists’ attitudes towards them. Moreover, studies are especially missing for developing and least developed countries where domestic tourism market is more significant than international market. Besides, in Bangladesh, there is no study as yet which aimed to identify domestic tourists’ attitudes towards responsible tourism management (RTM) and to its triple bottom line (TBL) components. So, the purpose of this paper is to fill these gaps, contributing thus to the existing RTM literature.
Design/methodology/approach
After conducting extensive literature review, this study followed both the exploratory (in-depth interview) and single cross-sectional descriptive (survey) research designs. Further, this study used descriptive statistics (frequency distribution analysis) and multivariate dependence data analysis technique (multiple regression analysis) to analyse the data collected from the 385 sample respondents through systematic random sampling.
Findings
Based on the findings, the present study argues, Bangladeshi tourists have positive attitudes towards each of the TBL components and to RTM, however, there is scope for further improvement. This study also suggests that there is a close link between tourists’ attitudes and their socio-demographic characteristics.
Originality/value
With the support and reference to this study, destination management organisations can work on each of the TBL components to enhance Bangladeshi tourists’ positive attitudes towards RT practices at Cox’s Bazar (CB). Moreover, this study on CB, Bangladesh also contributes to the RTM literature and minimises the known literature gap for developing countries.
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Edwina Pio, Rob Kilpatrick and Mark Le Fevre
The purpose of this paper is to illuminate enablers, barriers and vignettes of South Asian women leaders and possible paths to increase the influence and leadership of women in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illuminate enablers, barriers and vignettes of South Asian women leaders and possible paths to increase the influence and leadership of women in South Asia.
Design/methodology/approach
Navratna, the nine precious gems of ancient Indian literature are used to frame reflections on South Asian women leaders, and the Global Gender Gap Report of 2015 is used to give context to five barriers and five enablers to women’s leadership in the region. Illustrative vignettes of South Asian women in leadership roles are presented. These vignettes have been selected based on a case study approach of South Asian women leaders.
Findings
Five enablers that may help empower women towards greater leadership and influence are proposed: involving men in what should change, greater economic participation by women, supportive family, country- and context-specific leadership training, and finally grassroots advocacy, mentoring and role models.
Originality/value
The paper shines new light on women leaders whose sparking excellence in their specific field illuminate paths for others to follow and thus contributes to promoting research on multifaceted women leaders in South-Asia.
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Mimma Tabassum, Md Iftakhar Parvej, Firoz Ahmed, Farzana Zafreen and Samina Sultana
COVID-19 pandemic has caused serious threat to peoples’ physical and mental health because of its high death toll all over the world within a very short period. As a result…
Abstract
Purpose
COVID-19 pandemic has caused serious threat to peoples’ physical and mental health because of its high death toll all over the world within a very short period. As a result, people may be psychologically stressed, which can affect their quality of life. The main purpose of this study is to quantify the level of stress among the adults (age 18 and above) including all gender, religions and races of Bangladesh during this devastating pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
This online survey-based study collected demographic data and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) to determine stress levels over past one month. The total numbers of respondents are 1,148 from May 29, 2020 to June 12, 2020; using the PSS to assess stress levels and to identify the potential variables having association with level of psychological stress, multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed.
Findings
A scary proportion (81%) of respondents suffered from substantial amount psychological stress during this COVID-19 pandemic. It is an undeniable signal for us that, every 4 out of 5 respondents in our study is suffering from different level of psychological stress during this time. Comparing the level of stress, this study finds that elderly (60 and above), women, front-line workers (doctor and other health-care professionals) and second-line workers (public service holders, police and defense and banks or financial institutes) have high psychological stress compared to the other respondents.
Originality/value
This study will help policymakers to provide relevant mental health intervention strategies to cope with this challenge efficiently.
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