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Article
Publication date: 8 January 2024

Mariel Alem Fonseca, Naoum Tsolakis and Pichawadee Kittipanya-Ngam

Amidst compounding crises and increasing global population’s nutritional needs, food supply chains are called to address the “diet–environment–health” trilemma in a sustainable…

Abstract

Purpose

Amidst compounding crises and increasing global population’s nutritional needs, food supply chains are called to address the “diet–environment–health” trilemma in a sustainable and resilient manner. However, food system stakeholders are reluctant to act upon established protein sources such as meat to avoid potential public and industry-driven repercussions. To this effect, this study aims to understand the meat supply chain (SC) through systems thinking and propose innovative interventions to break this “cycle of inertia”.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the meat supply network system. Data was gathered through a critical literature synthesis, domain-expert interviews and a focus group engagement to understand the system’s underlying structure and inspire innovative interventions for sustainability.

Findings

The analysis revealed that six main sub-systems dictate the “cycle of inertia” in the meat food SC system, namely: (i) cultural, (ii) social, (iii) institutional, (iv) economic, (v) value chain and (vi) environmental. The Internet of Things and innovative strategies help promote sustainability and resilience across all the sub-systems.

Research limitations/implications

The study findings demystify the structure of the meat food SC system and unveil the root causes of the “cycle of inertia” to suggest pertinent, innovative intervention strategies.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the SC management field by capitalising on interdisciplinary scientific evidence to address a food system challenge with significant socioeconomic and environmental implications.

Details

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-8546

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 January 2024

Niloofar Solhjoo, Maja Krtalić and Anne Goulding

While exploring the information experience within multispecies families, the subjective nature of humans and non-human entities, living beings and non-living objects becomes…

Abstract

Purpose

While exploring the information experience within multispecies families, the subjective nature of humans and non-human entities, living beings and non-living objects becomes evident. This paper aims to reveal the underlying significance of information within socio-physical living environments shared among humans, cats and dogs as companions.

Design/methodology/approach

Gaining inspiration from the information experience approach and posthumanism, this is a phenomenological paper. Empirical material related to lived experiences of participating families were gathered through multispecies ethnography methods, followed by phenomenological reflections. The paper has been written based on excerpt-commentary-units and the inclusion of videos and images as an approach to convey the richness of the lived experiences and multiple perspectives.

Findings

Findings are organised into three main sections, each capturing lived experiences of information and its utilization from various frames. The paper shows how living beings, both human and animal, use their physical, sensual and moving bodies to acquire and convey information to and from each other. Moving beyond the living beings, the study discusses how non-living objects in the physical environment of a multispecies family also shape information. Material objects, spatial locations and even plants became sources of information for the family members. Lastly, the paper delves into the social environment of the family, where all members, human and animal, are actively shaped by information within their social interactions and companionship.

Originality/value

Considering information distributed across species and material objects in a shared, more-than-human environment, the article suggests implications for an information experience approach. It emphasizes how information shapes the in-between humans, animals and their environment, highlighting their reliance on each other for understanding and living a good shared life. There is a need for future research to explore the information experience within the internal subjective minds of members of multispecies families, bridging the gap in the understanding of these external information and their internal information processes.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 April 2024

Peter Ackers

This paper presents an historical reconstruction of the radicalisation of Alan Fox, the industrial sociologist and a detailed analysis of his early historical and sociological…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper presents an historical reconstruction of the radicalisation of Alan Fox, the industrial sociologist and a detailed analysis of his early historical and sociological writing in the classical pluralist phase.

Design/methodology/approach

An intellectual history, including detailed discussion of key Fox texts, supported by interviews with Fox and other Biographical sources.

Findings

Fox’s radicalisation was incomplete, as he carried over from his industrial relations (IR) pluralist mentors, Allan Flanders and Hugh Clegg, a suspicion of political Marxism, a sense of historical contingency and an awareness of the fragmented nature of industrial conflict.

Originality/value

Recent academic attention has centred on Fox’s later radical pluralism with its “structural” approach to the employment relationship. This paper revisits his early, neglected classical pluralist writing. It also illuminates his transition from institutional IR to a broader sociology of work, influenced by AH Halsey, John Goldthorpe and others and the complex nature of his radicalisation.

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 April 2024

Julie Napoli and Robyn Ouschan

This study aims to examine how veganism is “seen” by young adult non-vegan consumers and how prevailing attitudes reinforce or challenge stigmas around veganism.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine how veganism is “seen” by young adult non-vegan consumers and how prevailing attitudes reinforce or challenge stigmas around veganism.

Design/methodology/approach

Photovoice methodology was used to explore young non-vegan consumers’ attitudes and beliefs towards veganism. Data was collected from students studying advertising at a major university in Australia, who produced images and narratives reflective of their own attitudes towards veganism. Polytextual thematic analysis of the resulting visual data was then undertaken to reveal the dominant themes underpinning participants’ attitudes. Participant narratives were then reviewed to confirm whether the ascribed meaning aligned with participants’ intended meaning.

Findings

Participant images were reflective of first, how they saw their world and their place within it, which showed the interplay and interconnectedness between humans, animals and nature, and second, how they saw vegans within this world, with both positive and negative attitudes expressed. Interestingly, vegans were simultaneously admired and condemned. By situating these attitudes along a spectrum of moral evaluation, bounded by stigmatisation and moral legitimacy, participants saw vegans as being either Radicals, Pretenders, Virtuous or Pragmatists. For veganism to become more widely accepted by non-vegans, there is an important role to be played by each vegan type.

Originality/value

This study offers a more nuanced understanding of how and why dissociative groups, such as vegans, become stigmatised, which has implications for messaging and marketing practices around veganism and associated products/services. Future research could use a similar methodology to understand why other minority groups in society are stereotyped and stigmatised, which has broader social implications.

Details

Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-2752

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2024

Hannelore Ottilie Van den Abeele

This paper argues that Bruno Latour’s work on translation provides an alternative to dominant anthropocentric, individualistic and managerial approaches in career studies by…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper argues that Bruno Latour’s work on translation provides an alternative to dominant anthropocentric, individualistic and managerial approaches in career studies by considering careers as precarious effects of networks instead of the implicit assumption of individual strategic career actors in extant career research paradigms.

Design/methodology/approach

The article first compares the three main current approaches to studying careers – structural functionalist, interpretivist and critical – illustrated by three exemplary empirical studies. Subsequently, three concepts from the sociology of translation that are relevant for the study of careers are introduced: career making as translating interests, careers as effects of networks and career action as dislocated and overtaken. Taken together, these three concepts allow us to conceive of careers as practices performed by human and nonhuman actors. Finally, an example from an ethnographic case study in the field of contemporary art illustrates how a Latourian approach can be used.

Findings

Latour’s work on translation provides conceptual and methodological tools to investigate career processes and practices in an era of unpredictability.

Originality/value

The paper introduces Bruno Latour’s work on translation to the study of careers.

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5648

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 November 2023

Victor Marchezini

The question of “why we are in disaster studies” can be essential to reflect on discourses and practices – as students, researchers and professors – in constituting an oppressive…

Abstract

Purpose

The question of “why we are in disaster studies” can be essential to reflect on discourses and practices – as students, researchers and professors – in constituting an oppressive disaster science and finding ways to liberate from it.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on autobiographical research and institutional ethnography to observe and analyze the discourses and practices about career trajectories as students, researchers and professors in disaster studies.

Findings

The paper provides some categories, concepts, theoretical approaches and lived experiences helpful for discussing ways of liberating disaster studies, such as public sociology of disaster.

Originality/value

Few papers have focused on professional trajectories in disaster studies, bringing insights from public sociology and questioning oppressive disaster science.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 June 2023

Adam Lovasz

Drawing on the work of Niklas Luhmann, the paper argues that technology can be viewed as a self-referential system which is autonomous from both human beings and other function…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the work of Niklas Luhmann, the paper argues that technology can be viewed as a self-referential system which is autonomous from both human beings and other function systems of society. The paper aims to develop a philosophy of technology from the work of Niklas Luhmann. To achieve this aim, it draws upon the systems-theory work of Jacques Ellul, a philosopher of technology who focuses on the autonomous potential of technological evolution.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on the work of Niklas Luhmann and Jacques Ellul to explore the theme of autonomous technology and what this means for our thinking about technological issues in the twenty-first century. Insights from these two thinkers and researchers working in the Luhmannian sociological tradition are applied to remote work.

Findings

The sociological approach of Luhmann, coupled with Ellul's insights into the autonomous nature of technology, can help us develop a systems theory of technology which takes seriously its irreducibility to human functions.

Research limitations/implications

The paper contributes to the growing sociological literature that thematizes the Luhmannian approach to technology, helping us better understand this phenomenon and think in new ways about what technological autonomy means.

Originality/value

The paper brings together the work of Luhmann, Ellul and contemporary researchers to advance a new understanding of technology and technological communication.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 March 2024

Stephen Schweinsberg and David A. Fennell

The purpose of this paper is to chart the history of tourism academia and offer observations as to its future development in the 21st century.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to chart the history of tourism academia and offer observations as to its future development in the 21st century.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a limited review of the literature and the personal reflections of the authors as its main approaches.

Findings

In reviewing the multi-generational history of tourism academia, it became apparent that whilst we have become a more scientifically rigorous community of scholars, a challenge for the academy going forward will be how best to cultivate a spirit of understanding among different parts of the academy when presented with viewpoints that do not appear to coalesce with one’s understanding of “truth”.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to scholarly debates over the history and future of tourism academia by challenging the academy to reflect critically on its increasing diversity and how to incorporate diverse viewpoints into the tourism knowledge canon.

目的

本文的目的是绘制旅游学术的历史, 并对其在21世纪的未来发展提出看法。

设计/方法论/方法

本文采用有限的文献综述和作者的个人反思作为主要方法。

调查结果

在回顾旅游学术界的代际更替历史时, 很明显, 虽然我们已经成为一个科学严谨的学者群体, 旅游学界未来面临的挑战将是, 当学术界不同群体提出的观点似乎与人们对“真理”的理解不一致时, 如何更好的培养大家的理解精神。

原创/价值

本文通过挑战学术界批判性地反思其增长, 为学术界关于旅游学术的历史和未来的辩论做出了贡献。

Objetivo

El objetivo de este trabajo es trazar la historia de la academia del turismo y ofrecer observaciones sobre su futuro desarrollo en el siglo XXI.

Diseño/metodología/enfoque

Este artículo se basa en una revisión limitada de la literatura y en las reflexiones personales de los autores a sus principales enfoques.

Resultados

A lo largo de la revisión de la historia multigeneracional de la academia del turismo, se pone de manifiesto que, si bien nos hemos convertido en una comunidad de estudiosos más rigurosa desde el punto de vista científico, uno de los retos para el mundo académico en el futuro será cómo cultivar mejor un espíritu de entendimiento entre las distintas partes del mundo académico cuando se presenten puntos de vista que no parezcan coincidir con la propia concepción de la “verdad”.

Originalidad

Este artículo contribuye a los debates académicos sobre la historia y el futuro de la academia en turismo, al desafiar a la academia a reflexionar críticamente sobre su creciente diversidad y sobre cómo incorporar diversos puntos de vista al canon del conocimiento turístico.

Article
Publication date: 2 January 2024

Benedicto Acosta

The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the suitability of moral and ordre public clauses, and to advance the view that ethical reflection within patent systems is valuable.

Abstract

Purpose

The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the suitability of moral and ordre public clauses, and to advance the view that ethical reflection within patent systems is valuable.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper that draws upon the present situation in Europe to illuminate a discussion of the different views about the morality patents, with particular emphasis on criticism of authors who have espoused a narrow interpretation of moral clauses, such as that adopted by the European Patent Office.

Findings

This research found that the claim that patent systems are not appropriate places in which to evaluate moral matters and, therefore, they cannot inform us about morality is false. This is because inventors do not need to wait for authorizing legislation prior to making use of their technology. Hence, moral implications can be evaluated.

Research limitations/implications

These ideas also lead to important theoretical consequences, especially regarding the debate on value-laden science and technology. However, further efforts are needed to address other patent regimes, such as the non-European.

Practical implications

It is shown how the bioethicist community can be incorporated into patent offices. The responsibilities of examiners and businesses in the process are also discussed.

Originality/value

There have been a limited number of studies that examine the value of ethical considerations within the patent system. This paper provides a thought-provoking discussion of moral clauses in Europe. The author also suggests new ways of incorporating ethical scrutiny into patent systems.

Details

International Journal of Ethics and Systems, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9369

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 March 2024

Bin Liang, David Moltow and Stephanie Richey

The aim of this article is two-fold. First, it offers a unique account of San Min, the prototype of the current Chinese educational principle proposed by Yan Fu (1854–1921) that…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this article is two-fold. First, it offers a unique account of San Min, the prototype of the current Chinese educational principle proposed by Yan Fu (1854–1921) that aimed at improving people’s physical, intellectual and moral capacities. This system of educational thinking has received only marginal attention in Anglophone research literature. Second, given the influence of Yan Fu’s interpretation and promulgation of Herbert Spencer’s educational philosophy during that period, it investigates the extent to which San Min is derived from Spencer’s educational thought (the “Spencerian Triad”). This article focusses on how Yan Fu adapted the ideas of San Min from Spencer’s account.

Design/methodology/approach

This article considers Yan Fu’s principle of San Min in relation to Spencer’s educational triad through a close reading and comparison of key primary texts (including Yan Fu’s original writing). It explores the similarities and differences between each account of education’s goals and its proposed means of attainment.

Findings

Yan Fu’s principle of San Min is shown to have been adapted from the Spencerian Triad. However, using the theory of Social Organism, Yan Fu re-interpreted Spencer’s individual liberty as liberty for the nation. While Spencer’s goal was to empower individuals, Yan Fu aimed to serve collective independence, wealth and power.

Originality/value

This article addresses oversights concerning San Min’s Western origins in the Spencerian Triad and its influence on Chinese education under Yan Fu’s sway. It is significant because San Min is still at the core of the current Chinese educational policy.

Details

History of Education Review, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0819-8691

Keywords

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