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The objectives of this study were to compare the hygiene standards and food handling practices between sole-proprietor and the corporate-managed restaurants in Lebanon and to determine whether the variations between both groups are explained by and directly related to the type of management.

An in-depth observation assessment of food safety environment and practices was conducted on a convenient sample of 50 food businesses in Beirut, which are typical of foodservice outlets in Lebanon and in many countries of the Middle East. The observation assessment checklist comprised six constructs of 2–7 components for analysis. It covered all areas including documentation and record-keeping requirements, which are crucial parts of a food safety system.

There was a significant difference in the visual assessment score between sole-proprietor (77.9 ± 18.4) and corporate group (48.5 ± 12.8). Food handlers' behavior and hygiene standards were significantly associated with the type of management. However, there were still critical gaps in the food safety performance of the corporate group suggesting other underlying factors than the type of management.

Additional elements were drawn from this study for future food safety culture research. Understanding the food safety attitudes and perception of risks of the management representatives, leaders, or food business owners is vital to develop appropriate food safety interventions and foster a positive food safety culture in the foodservice industry.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study not only in Lebanon (or MENA) but also in other regions to measure the association of management type, that is, sole-proprietor management and corporate management, with the food hygiene standards and food safety practices in the foodservice establishments. This paper presents new findings that will be of value for researchers in food safety and will complement the existing literature on food safety culture in the foodservice industry.

This paper aims to examine how Spanish local councils respond to changes in their institutional context by implementing a sustainable practice: Local Agenda 21 (LA21).

This paper uses the institutional approach to explain the factors influencing the adoption of LA21. It develops a series of hypotheses about how specific institutional factors affect the town and city councils that have implemented an LA21, as well as the differences between local councils with high versus medium implementation levels.

The analysis reveals some institutional factors that explain the process of institutional change, the outcomes of LA21, and the differences between local councils.

Only one respondent from each local council completed the questionnaire. The authors tested for common method bias and did not find it to be present.

From a more practical point-of-view, the authors consider LA21 to be an effective instrument for improving both the sustainability of towns and the management of local councils.

The paper proposes institutional theory as a perspective that can explain change in organizations. The main value of the research lies in its identification of the factors affecting the process of change and the outcomes of implementing a sustainable practice like LA21.

Every community with the potential to organize a festival aims to actualize increased participation to transform the community image and socio-cultural cohesion. Hence, this study aims to investigate the motivational factors influencing festival participation of Eyo and Ojude Oba in southwestern Nigeria, using the push and pull and activity theories as theoretical footing.

Primary data was collected through questionnaire administration on members of the host communities. Geospatial data was collected on the number of buildings through high-resolution satellite imagery and maps sourced from the Cooperative Information Network (COPINE) of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA). Systematic sampling procedure was adopted to select 3% of the estimated 5231 and 4,934 buildings within the designated zones in Lagos Island and Ijebu Ode, respectively. In this case, 314 and 148 respondents were sampled in Lagos Island and Ijebu-Ode, respectively. Data collected were analyzed using mean index and factor analysis (principal component analysis).

This study revealed that the factors influencing participation of Eyo and Ojude Oba festivals comprise six and three factors, respectively, with varying contributions. Eyo festival explained 75.34% variance with varying factors extracted which are psychosocial (22.9%), proximity/mobility (9.93%), facility (13.41%), environmental/cultural (12.2%), demographic (10.65%) and health/safety factors (6.25%). While factors influencing Ojude-Oba festival comprises of sociocultural/psychological (35.44%), facilities/mobility (28.00%) and demographic factor (8.51%), thereby explaining 71.95% variation of factors influencing its participation. The study therefore, prove policy response in enhancing the destination receptors based on the influencing factors to promote positive words of mouth and encourage visitors’ intention to revisit.

This study focused on two distinguished festivals with internal homogenous and external heterogeneous features (Eyo and Ojude-Oba festivals). Ojude-Oba is an annual festival of class, whereas Eyo is non-annual traditional festival. Both festivals are mega, with similarities in the activities engaged in by the visitors and members of the communities, inform of colorful display of costumes, dances, chanting of songs and group parades among other activities.