Search results
1 – 10 of 41Thomas Grigalunas, Simona Trandafrr, Meifeng Luo, James Opaluch and Suk-Jae Kwon
This paper analyzes two external costs often associated with port development, cost to fisheries from marine dredge disposal and damages from air pollution, using estimates of…
Abstract
This paper analyzes two external costs often associated with port development, cost to fisheries from marine dredge disposal and damages from air pollution, using estimates of development and operation for a proposed (but since cancelled) container port as a case study. For dredge disposal, a bio-economic model was used to assess short- and long-term and indirect (joodweb) damages to fisheries from marine disposal of clean sediments. In the case of air pollution, estimates of annual activity levels and emission coefficients are used to estimate incremental annual emissions of three key pollutants (NOx, HC and CO) for trucks, trains, yard vehicles, and vessels. These estimates allow for phasing in of strict new air pollution regulations. For both external costs, sensitivity analyses are used to reflect uncertainty. Estimates of shadow values in year 2002 dollars amount from $0.094 per cubic yard to $0.169 per cubic yard of clean dredged material for the selected disposal site and from $0.0584 per mile (jor current control standards) to $ 0. 0023 per mile (after phasing in of new regulations) for air pollution from heavy trucks.
Details
Keywords
Simona Cătălina Ştefan, Ion Popa, Ana Alexandra Olariu, Ştefan Cătălin Popa and Cătălina-Florentina Popa
The current study has a two-fold purpose. Firstly, it aims to analyze the extent to which knowledge management (KM) affects the performance of individuals (task and contextual) on…
Abstract
Purpose
The current study has a two-fold purpose. Firstly, it aims to analyze the extent to which knowledge management (KM) affects the performance of individuals (task and contextual) on the one hand and that of organizations (product or service, perceived and financial) on the other hand. Secondly, it proposes to investigate the mediating effect of motivation and innovation in the relationship between KM and individual and organizational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed in this study, with mediation analysis performed using advanced PLS-SEM techniques. A total of 1,284 respondents from organizations in both the public and private sectors were included in the sample.
Findings
The findings emphasize that KM has a more significant direct effect on individual performance compared to organizational performance. Concurrently, in terms of indirect influence, it is found that KM, through motivation and innovation, has a positive and significant effect on both individual and organizational performances, with a higher influence on the organizational one.
Originality/value
The originality of the work can be noted in designing two different structural models to represent the proposed relationships at the individual and organizational levels. These findings could provide organizational decision makers with empirical evidence, helping them (1) internalize the significance of the KM process in organizations as well as its subsequent effects on individual and organizational performance and (2) identify factors that mediate variable relationships.
Details
Keywords
Maria Andreea Tilibașa, Alina Nicoleta Boncilică, Ion Popa, Simona Cătălina Ștefan and Irina Tărăban
The study aims to analyze the different types of risks related to the use of technology and determine their positive or negative influence on teachers' motivation and behavioral…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to analyze the different types of risks related to the use of technology and determine their positive or negative influence on teachers' motivation and behavioral intention to use digital tools.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on survey data from 200 teachers in the Romanian preuniversity education system. The data analysis followed a four-step approach, using a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) model for hypothesized relationships among research concepts and a PLS prediction-oriented segmentation (POS) procedure.
Findings
This study showed that increased risk awareness influences both motivation and, consequently, the intention to adopt digital tools in the preuniversity education system.
Research limitations/implications
The scope of research remains constrained with regard to the examined population, considering the substantial number of teachers within the preuniversity education system. Another limit lies in the basic classification of identified risk types.
Practical implications
School managers should design a strategy to increase the level of motivation for integrating digital tools in the educational process.
Originality/value
Little scholarly attention has been devoted to investigating the risks associated with digitalization in the preuniversity education system. In addition, no prior research has been conducted to assess the influence of risk perception on people's motivation and intention to use digital tools in preuniversity education.
Details
Keywords
Antonia Patrizia Iannuzzi, Stefano Dell’Atti, Elisabetta D'Apolito and Simona Galletta
Based on the agency and resource dependence theories, this study aims to investigate whether nomination committee (NC) characteristics could serve as key attributes for reducing…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the agency and resource dependence theories, this study aims to investigate whether nomination committee (NC) characteristics could serve as key attributes for reducing environmental, social and governance (ESG) disputes and whether NC composition affects the appointment of ESG-friendly directors to the board.
Design/methodology/approach
This study focuses on a sample of 30 global systemically important banks from 2015 to 2021. The authors estimate panel data models with fixed effects, clustering heteroskedastic standard errors at the bank level to account for the serial correlation of the dependent variables for each bank.
Findings
Banks’ exposure to ESG controversies can be reduced when NC members have specific skills, in particular when at least one member of this committee also belongs to the sustainability committee and is a foreign director. Moreover, banks’ ESG disputes decrease when the NC members are younger, while the share of independent NC members has a negative impact. Finally, a positive influence of NC composition and its members’ features as well as the appointment of ESG-friendly directors on the board is found.
Originality/value
The findings are particularly useful during periods such as the current one, when there is growing attention to both banks’ corporate governance, the subcommittees’ role and functioning and social and environmental issues. This study shows that the NC is important in reducing the likelihood of banks incurring ESG disputes and in appointing more ESG-friendly directors. NC effective functioning and its members’ qualities serve as a key attribute for fulfilling objective assessment and improving board effectiveness.
Details
Keywords
Grazia Dicuonzo, Francesca Donofrio, Simona Ranaldo and Vittorio Dell'Atti
This paper aims to investigate if and to what extent environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices are influenced by innovation, measured by investment in research and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate if and to what extent environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices are influenced by innovation, measured by investment in research and development (R&D) and the number of patents developed by companies.
Design/methodology/approach
To test this hypothesis, the authors estimated a regression model for the panel data considering a time horizon of eight years. The analysis was conducted on a sample of listed firms operating in the industrial sector in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the USA.
Findings
The empirical analysis shows that there is a positive and significant relationship between ESG practices and innovation. Companies investing more in R&D and patents have better ESG performance.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature by improving the understanding of the importance of innovation in improving ESG practices for firms in the industrial sector. Furthermore, it provides empirical evidence of the ability of innovation to be a valuable tool for sustainable industry development through R&D investment and patent development.
Details
Keywords
Simona Ibba, Filippo Eros Pani, John Gregory Stockton, Giulio Barabino, Michele Marchesi and Danilo Tigano
One of the main tasks of a researcher is to properly communicate the results he obtained. The choice of the journal in which to publish the work is therefore very important…
Abstract
Purpose
One of the main tasks of a researcher is to properly communicate the results he obtained. The choice of the journal in which to publish the work is therefore very important. However, not all journals have suitable characteristics for a correct dissemination of scientific knowledge. Some publishers turn out to be unreliable and, against a payment, they publish whatever researchers propose. The authors call “predatory journals” these untrustworthy journals. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the incidence of predatory journals in computer science literature and present a tool that was developed for this purpose.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors focused their attention on editors, universities and publishers that are involved in this kind of publishing process. The starting point of their research is the list of scholarly open-access publishers and open-access stand-alone journals created by Jeffrey Beall. Specifically, they analysed the presence of predatory journals in the search results obtained from Google Scholar in the engineering and computer science fields. They also studied the change over time of such incidence in the articles published between 2011 and 2015.
Findings
The analysis shows that the phenomenon of predatory journals somehow decreased in 2015, probably due to a greater awareness of the risks related to the reputation of the authors.
Originality/value
We focused on computer science field, using a specific sample of queries. We developed a software to automatically make queries to the search engine, and to detect predatory journals, using Beall’s list.
Details
Keywords
Diego Campagnolo, Catherine Laffineur, Simona Leonelli, Aloña Martiarena, Matthias A. Tietz and Maria Wishart
Against the theoretical backdrop of the embeddedness and the resilience literatures, this paper investigates if and how SMEs' planning for adversity affects firms' performance.
Abstract
Purpose
Against the theoretical backdrop of the embeddedness and the resilience literatures, this paper investigates if and how SMEs' planning for adversity affects firms' performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper develops hypotheses that investigate the link between the risk management of immigrant-led and native-led SMEs and their performance and draw on novel data from a survey on 900 immigrant- and 2,416 native-led SMEs in 5 European cities to test them.
Findings
Immigrant-led SMEs are less likely to implement an adversity plan, especially when they are in an enclave sector. However, adversity planning is important to enhance the growth of immigrant-led businesses, even outside a crisis period, and it reduces the performance gap vis-à-vis native-led businesses. Inversely, the positive association between adversity planning and growth in the sample of native entrepreneurs is mainly driven by entrepreneurs who have experienced a severe crisis in the past.
Originality/value
This paper empirically uses planning for adversity as an anticipation stage of organizational resilience and tests it in the context of immigrant and native-led SMEs. Results support the theoretical reasoning that regularly scanning for threats and seeking information beyond the local community equips immigrant-led SMEs with a broader structural network which translates into new organizational capabilities. Furthermore, results contribute to the process-based view of resilience demonstrating that regularly planning for adversity builds a firm's resilience potential, though the effect is contingent on the nationality of the leaders.
Details
Keywords
Simona Lorena Comi, Mara Grasseni and Federica Origo
The purpose of this paper is to use the two-way fixed effect (TWFE) methodology to estimate the impact of the reform, exploiting its staggered implementation across regions. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use the two-way fixed effect (TWFE) methodology to estimate the impact of the reform, exploiting its staggered implementation across regions. The analysis is restricted to graduates from the short vocational track before and after the reform.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper studies the impact on the length of school-to-work transition of a reform that extended from two to three years the short vocational track in Italy in the early 2000s.
Findings
The study finds that the reform had a positive impact and reduced school-to-work transition by around five months (a 24% reduction). Moreover, the new short vocational track proved to be extremely effective for migrants and females, whose school-to-work transition was reduced by 1.4 years and 0.9 years, respectively. In implementing the new short vocational track, some regions adopted a quasi-market organization in which private training institutions competed with public schools. This model proved to be more effective in shortening school-to-work transitions, in particular for migrants.
Originality/value
This study makes an important contribution to the literature on the labor-market effect of vocational education by showing that lengthening the short vocational track, and changing the overall content of curricula, can speed up school-to-work transition.
Details
Keywords
Elena Cavagnaro, Simona Staffieri and Albert Postma
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the tourism experience of millennials by connecting their value orientations to the meaning that they give to travel. In doing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the tourism experience of millennials by connecting their value orientations to the meaning that they give to travel. In doing so, it also aims at discovering profiles of young tourists that can be targeted both now and in the future by tourism organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey based on validated scales reached 423 Dutch millennials. An integrated multidimensional research strategy has been applied where models that reduce the gathered data to fewer components (principal component analyses) were followed by a cluster analysis.
Findings
Ten value orientations (Schwartz, 1994) and four travel meanings have been identified. By combining these ten value orientations and four meanings, nine clusters have been identified representing groups of millennial tourists with different needs. For example, while two clusters fit into the popular description of young travellers seeking only unpretentious enjoyment, millennials represented in two other clusters are strongly motivated by self-transcending values, distance themselves from the travel meaning escapism and relaxation and will therefore not positively respond to a merely hedonic travel offer.
Research limitations/implications
Replication of this research is recommended in other national contexts, possibly using a longitudinal approach.
Practical implications
The nine clusters should be approached with a dedicated travel offer. In particular, at least two clusters of millennials may be successfully approached with a sustainable tourism offer.
Originality/value
The combination of value orientations and travel meanings portrays a detailed and realistic picture of the tourism experience looked for by millennials.
Details
Keywords
Federica Morandi, Simona Leonelli and Fausto Di Vincenzo
Self-efficacy, or a person’s belief in his/her ability to perform specific tasks, has been correlated with workplace performance and role adjustments. Despite its relevance, and…
Abstract
Purpose
Self-efficacy, or a person’s belief in his/her ability to perform specific tasks, has been correlated with workplace performance and role adjustments. Despite its relevance, and numerous studies of it in the management literature, evidence regarding its function in professionals employed in hybrid roles, such as doctor-managers, is lacking. The aim of this study was to fill this gap by exploring the mediating effect of physicians’ managerial attitude on the relationship between their self-efficacy and workplace performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Primary and secondary data from 126 doctor-managers were obtained from the Italian National Health Service. A structural equation modeling approach was used for analysis.
Findings
This study’s results provide for the first time empirical evidence about a surprisingly little-analyzed topic: how physicians’ managerial attitude mediates the relationship between their self-efficacy and workplace performance. The study offers important evidence both for scholars and organizations.
Practical implications
This study’s results provide valuable input for the human resources management of hybrid roles in professional-based organizations, suggesting a systematic provision of feedback about doctor-managers’ performance, the adoption of a competence approach for their recruitment, and a new design of doctor-managers’ career paths.
Originality/value
The authors provide new evidence about the importance of managerial traits for accountable healthcare organizations, documenting that behavioral traits of physicians enrolled into managerial roles matter for healthcare organizations success.
Details