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Loneliness is known to adversely impact employee health, performance and affective commitment. This study involves a quantitative cross-sectional analysis of online survey data reported by adults employed in the United States (n = 5,927) to explore how loneliness and other related factors may influence avoidable absenteeism and turnover intention.

Worker loneliness was assessed using the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3). Composite variables were constructed as proxy measures of worker job and personal resources. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine independent variable effects on dependent outcomes of (a) work days missed in the last month due to stress (stress-related absenteeism) and (b) likelihood to quit within the next year (turnover intention).

The job resources of social companionship, work-life balance and satisfaction with communication had significant negative relationships to loneliness in the SEM, as did the personal resources of resilience and less perceived alienation. Results further show lonely workers have significantly greater stress-related absenteeism (p = 0.000) and higher turnover intention ratings (p = 0.000) compared to workers who are not lonely. Respondent demographics (age, race and gender) and other occupational characteristics also produced significant outcomes.

Study findings underscore the importance of proactively addressing loneliness among workers and facilitating job and personal resource development as an employee engagement and retention strategy.

Loneliness substantially contributes to worker job withdrawal and has negative implications for organizational effectiveness and costs.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically identify key factors of UK food supply chains (SCs) that significantly contribute to CO₂ emissions (CO2e) taking into account the life cycle assessment (LCA). The UK food supply chain includes imports from other countries.

This research develops a conceptual framework from extant literature. Secondary data obtained from ONS and FAOSTAT covering from 1990 to 2014 are analysed using Multilinear Regression (MLR) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) to identify the factors relating to CO₂ emissions significance, and the efficient contributions that are being made to their reduction in the UK food supply chains.

The study results suggest that Transportation and Sales/Distribution are the two key factors of CO₂ emissions in UK food supply chains. This is confirmed by two multivariate methods, MLR and SFA. MLR results show that transportation increases UK CO₂ emissions by 10 tonnes of CO₂ emissions from one tonne of fruits and vegetables imports from overseas to the UK Sales and Distribution reduces the UK CO₂ emissions by 1.3 tonnes of CO₂ emissions due to improved, technological operation activities in the UK. In addition, the SFA results confirm that the key factors are sufficient to predict an increase or decrease in CO₂ emissions in the UK food supply chains.

This study has focused on the LCA of the UK food supply chain from limited data. Future studies should consider Sustainability Impact Assessment of the UK food supply chain, identifying the social, economic, regulatory and environmental impacts of the food supply chain using a re-defined LCA (all-inclusive assessment) tool.

This research suggests that food supply chain professionals should improve efficiency, e.g. the use of solar energy and biogas, and also integrate low-carbon policies and practices in food supply chain operations. Furthermore, governments should encourage policies such as mobility management programmes, urban redevelopment and privatisation to enhance better transportation systems and infrastructure to continuously reduce CO₂e from the food trade.

Although logistics play a major role in CO₂ emissions, all logistics CO₂ emissions for other countries are not included in the ONS data. This research reveals some important insights into the UK food supply chains. Logistics and other food supply chain processes of importing countries significantly contribute to CO₂ emissions which are yet to be considered in the UK food SCs.

Studies on developed economies showed that imposing taxes on animal-based foods could effectively reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (AGHGEs), while this taxation may not be appropriate in developing countries due to the complex nutritional status across income classes. Hence, this study aims to explore optimal tax rate levels considering both emission reduction and nutrient intake, and examine the heterogenous effects of taxation across various income classes in urban and rural China.

The authors estimated the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System model to calculate the price elasticities for eight food groups, and performed three simulations to explore the relative optimal tax regions via the relationships between effective animal protein intake loss and AGHGE reduction by taxes.

The results showed that the optimal tax rate bands can be found, depending on the reference levels of animal protein intake. Designing taxes on beef, mutton and pork could be a preliminary option for reducing AGHGEs in China, but subsidy policy should be designed for low-income populations at the same time. Generally, urban residents have more potential to reduce AGHGEs than rural residents, and higher income classes reduce more AGHGEs than lower income classes.

This study fills the gap in the literature by developing the methods to design taxes on animal-based foods from the perspectives of both nutrient intake and emission reduction. This methodology can also be applied to analyze food taxes and GHGE issues in other developing countries.

to evaluate the experiences of knowledge workers who work in shared workspaces and those who moved from single-cell offices to shared workspaces.

Knowledge workers were surveyed before and after 34% moved from single-cell offices to shared workspaces. The authors exploit this panel design in the analysis.

Shared offices were rated as providing more distraction, less privacy and worsened indoor environment quality (IEQ) (p < 0.05). Perceptions of collaboration and networking also declined in shared workspaces. Distraction and a lack of privacy were negatively associated with self-reported productivity (p < 0.10). Neither IEQ nor collaboration nor networking was significantly associated with productivity. The perceptions of those who moved to shared workspaces and those who had worked in shared workspaces all along were statistically indistinguishable.

The quasi-experimental control provides evidence that it is the office type, not the experience of moving, that accounts for the evaluative changes. There are limitations inherent in using a self-rating performance measure.

Organisations should be aware that the positive outcomes ascribed to shared spaces may not be apparent and that demands may outweigh benefits.

Knowledge workers are particularly impacted by distraction and interruptions to concentrated work. The quasi-experimental design controlled for the Hawthorne effect, demonstrating that it is the office type, not the move, that accounts for differences in perceptions.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the environmental performance of intensive farming and estimate agrochemical waste in physical and monetary terms. The intensive farming provides adverse impacts including health and environmental quality associated with the use of agrochemicals.

This study uses a theory of environmental efficiency that measures how efficient the farm uses agrochemical inputs. The efficiency was estimated using a set of farm-level data of intensive farming that use agrochemicals. Data were compiled from a survey of randomly selected 240 farmers who operated intensive farming in three regions of Java in 2014.

The results show that the performance of intensive farming was low. This condition caused agrochemical waste leading to the externality. Taking the external costs into account resulted in the improvement in efficiency of agrochemicals. The actual level of agrochemicals was about a hundred times higher than the most efficient level.

This study is beyond the exogenous external costs. There is a need for a further comprehensive study to include more exogenous external costs associated with agrochemicals to have the potential value of such costs and the most socially efficient use of agrochemicals. The long-term effects of external cost to the environment and socio-economic livelihood of the farmers and other communities are considerable. Advocating for alternatives to decrease the use of detrimental agro-inputs, in the long run, will provide sound quality of the environment. Socially, both producers and consumers get the environmental and health benefits.

To reduce the agrochemical waste that caused environmental problems, a policy should be formulated to make farming more efficient, particularly for agrochemical use. It can be done by introducing agronomic technologies and enhancing farmers’ knowledge on environmentally friendly agriculture.

Environmental efficiency is able to estimate the quantity of agrochemical waste. The waste is a kind of non-point source pollution whose source and quantity are very difficult to identify and measure. As there are many definitions and measurement of environmental performance, this concept of environmental efficiency can be one of the alternatives.

This study employs the Social Identity Theory to examine the differential effects of personal and social dimensions of fear of missing out (FOMO) on sustainable food consumption (SFC) practices.

An online survey-based empirical study was conducted with 395 respondents. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling and Hayes process Macro in SPSS.

SFC was found to be positively influenced by personal FOMO. Contrary to expectations, social FOMO had a negative correlation with SFC. Social influence and social identity were shown to be positively correlated, whilst the social influence-SFC relationship was favourable. This approach was aided by social identity.

The study supports personal FOMO as an SFC-influencing factor. It evaluates the differential effects of FOMO’s personal and social dimensions on SFC. It also demonstrates that social FOMO negatively affects SFC, contrary to expectations.

The study advises sustainable food firms to reduce personal FOMO via advertising and messaging.

This research is amongst the first to segregate the differential effects of social and personal FOMO regarding SFC behaviour. Research has examined FOMO as a higher-order construct involving social and personal aspects. Second, FOMO is often associated with negative behaviours including social media addiction and substance abuse. This FOMO-related research analyses a desired behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the implications of and assess the economic and sustainable impact of environmentally friendly technological packages introduced into agribusiness players in the centre of chilli-producing regions of Indonesia.

This study used a theory of optimisation in production as a fundamental analysis. Producers are assumed to maximise profit by allocating rational amounts of inputs as the components of technological packages. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used. The rate of technology adoption was evaluated, and agribusiness performance was measured using an economic advantage and technical efficiency. Data were compiled using group discussions and individual surveys.

The packages of technologies improved economic and sustainability performance of agribusiness resulting from efficient use of agrochemicals and water resource, and increase the production. Socio-economic and technical factors influenced performance farmers, as agribusiness players responded positively towards the ecological technology packages.

The sustainability of agribusiness was indicated by the reduction in agrochemical use and by the efficient use of water irrigation. There are other measures of sustainability, which are beyond this study. Additional studies are expected to fill the gap.

Considerable potential exists for broad adoption of these technological packages in Indonesia if they are disseminated effectively and in a close partnership with local extension agencies, farmers’ organisations, local non-governmental organisations and private sectors.

This study provides a realistic representation of a current condition because this is an empirical study conducted at the grass-root level. Sustainability of agribusiness practices was achieved with ecological technological packages.