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1 – 10 of over 3000Abdulhameed Baqi, Marwan Abdeldayem and Saeed Aldulaimi
The purpose of this study is to explore the role of direct public engagement in shaping the sustainability image of nuclear energy in the UAE and the Arabian Gulf region. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the role of direct public engagement in shaping the sustainability image of nuclear energy in the UAE and the Arabian Gulf region. The study aims to measure the conflicting viewpoints of stakeholders, particularly the local community, regarding nuclear energy's dependability, cost-effectiveness, safety and environmental friendliness. The study also seeks to assess the effectiveness of direct stakeholder engagement strategies in enhancing public confidence in nuclear energy as a safe and sustainable source of electricity.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a quantitative-methods research design and used a sample of 318 participants. The SPSS AMOS application was used to conduct a structural equation model analysis. The purpose of this analysis is to examine the relationships among variables that constitute the key constructs of the study. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the reliability of the testing approach. Various fit indices and measurements, such as chi-square ratio, degrees of freedom, GFI, CFI and RMSEA, were used to evaluate the adequacy of the model.
Findings
The study finds that the construct “Direct Stakeholder Engagement (DSE)” has a positive effect on the dependent variables “Trust in Nuclear Sustainability (TNS)” and “Perception of Nuclear Energy as Safe (PNE)” with a probability value of (0.003, p < 0.05). Therefore, the hypothesis of the study is deemed acceptable. Hence, it can be concluded that each of the foregoing variables (DSE1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) and (TNS1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) with (PNE1, 2 and 3) have been observed and analysed in this study, and based on this analysis, it is plausible that the public's trust in nuclear sustainability and their acceptance of nuclear energy as a safe source of their nation's electricity can be positively affected by direct stakeholder engagement.
Practical implications
The study's findings have implications for policymakers and managers of nuclear power plants in the UAE and the Arabian Gulf region. The study provides insights into effective stakeholder engagement strategies that can enhance public participation and confidence in nuclear energy. The study's recommendations highlight the importance of incorporating public opinion in policymaking and management practices to address conflicting viewpoints and enhance public trust in nuclear sustainability. The study's findings also contribute to the ongoing discourse on nuclear sustainability and provide insights into the role of direct public engagement in shaping public perception of nuclear energy.
Originality/value
This study's originality lies in its focus on the UAE and the Arabian Gulf region, where nuclear energy is a critical source of electricity. The study contributes to the limited research on stakeholder engagement and public perception of nuclear energy in the region. The study's novel framework of stakeholder engagement, tailored to cultural dimensions, provides insights into effective engagement strategies that can enhance public participation and confidence in nuclear energy. The study's quantitative-methods research design also provides a comprehensive understanding of the conflicting viewpoints of stakeholders, enhancing the understanding of the role of direct public engagement in shaping public perception of nuclear energy.
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Mark Edward Tuah, Peter Aning Tedong and Melasutra Md Dali
This study investigated the role of community infrastructure planning in Sarawak, Malaysia, by concentrating on the obstacles that hinder effective governance of community…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated the role of community infrastructure planning in Sarawak, Malaysia, by concentrating on the obstacles that hinder effective governance of community infrastructure planning.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative approach via case study design was adopted in this study. The Song District, located in the State of Sarawak, Malaysia, was selected as the case study area. Semi-structured interview sessions were conducted with 21 respondents who belonged to the government agencies involved in rural community infrastructure planning and village community representatives to capture their views on community infrastructure development planning in the selected district. The gathered responses were analysed thematically and the outcomes are discussed.
Findings
The findings revealed that although the development of community infrastructure in Song District has progressed and has exerted transformative impacts on rural livelihood, several challenges were identified in the delivery of community infrastructure. The four main themes of challenges that emerged from the data were location factors, financial resources, cooperation and collaboration of stakeholders, as well as community involvement. The outcomes disclosed that, in terms of governance, the institutional roles of the community, stakeholders and government agencies must be integrated throughout the rural community infrastructure planning process to resolve the emerging challenges effectively so that the demands of the rural community are met meritoriously.
Social implications
An effective and efficient community infrastructure planning approach ascertains that the community infrastructure development gaps in rural areas are bridged and brings fruition to the rural communities for their livelihood transformation.
Originality/value
This paper delineates a view on the governance aspect of community infrastructure planning in Sarawak, Malaysia, that is largely untapped. The study outcomes may facilitate practitioners and academics to move forward and recommend improvements in the approach to rural community infrastructure planning.
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Justice Williams, Frank Fugar, Emmanuel Adinyira and Kofi Agyekum
Effective safety communication facilitates the sharing of relevant knowledge that helps to improve safety behaviours, such as superior hazard identification and compliance. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Effective safety communication facilitates the sharing of relevant knowledge that helps to improve safety behaviours, such as superior hazard identification and compliance. This study aims to explore channels by which construction companies can effectively communicate health and safety (H&S) among communities of their operations.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a quantitative research approach, this study addressed the knowledge gap through a cross-sectional survey of 250 contractors (comprising 155 building and 95 road contractors) involved in various projects in the Ghanaian construction industry. These contractors were selected by using a stratified simple random sampling technique. Data obtained from the survey was analysed through descriptive (i.e. frequencies, mean and standard deviation) and inferential (i.e. exploratory factor analysis) statistical analyses.
Findings
The findings from the mean scores revealed that all the 12 communication channels identified in the literature, confirmed through piloting and examined by the respondents, were important channels through which construction companies can effectively communicate H&S amongst communities of their operations. The exploratory factor analysis revealed a clustering of the 12 channels of communication into 5 components: “safety demonstration in the community”; “social media”; “mass media”; “community engagement”; and “opinion leaders”.
Research limitations/implications
This study offers construction project managers the means of managing one of the major stakeholders of a construction project (the community). It provides an actionable opportunity that can be leveraged strategically to integrate community members into projects to promote synergy and local content inclusion while gaining a peaceful atmosphere to achieve their project goals.
Practical implications
Practically, this study provides construction project managers with a means of managing one of the major stakeholders of a construction project (the community) and also demonstrates the integration of community members into projects to promote synergy and local content inclusion. This would give construction organisations a peaceful atmosphere to accomplish their project objectives.
Social implications
The social implication of this study is that the study offers society a means of creating safer Ghanaian communities by offering them the knowledge of identifying hazards and avoiding risky behaviours, creating a good safety atmosphere in these communities.
Originality/value
This study presents construction organisations with a unique opportunity to transfer and share novel external knowledge within a different social system (the community). It contributes to the state-of-the-art knowledge in H&S communication by providing channels through which H&S can be communicated in a developing country such as Ghana.
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Alya Ateeq Alremeithi, Zainab Riaz and Mehmood Khan
This paper aims to investigate recycling behavior (RB) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to identify factors in the lack of citizen participation in recycling and to form…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate recycling behavior (RB) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to identify factors in the lack of citizen participation in recycling and to form strategies to raise awareness of and encourage positive recycling practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on stakeholder theory, a panel of 15 experts and 15 families was interviewed to develop a model of seven constructs and their 29 indicators. Based on the responses generated, a questionnaire was developed and tested. The survey was distributed to 106 waste management professionals. Their responses regarding the influence of regulatory promotion tactics, awareness raising, situational facilitators, motivators and synergistic habits on citizens' RB were analyzed using the structural equation modeling technique.
Findings
Several factors govern the citizens' behavior regarding recycling municipal solid waste in the UAE. The most significant governing determinants of RB observed were laws and regulations, willingness to sort and recycle and benefits of recycling. Seven constructs and their 29 indicators were studied, and the findings indicated that strategies such as creating awareness, introducing operative waste control facilities and implementing fines and regulations could improve RB in the UAE. The structural model showcased a relationship between the primary constructs and RB; hence, these constructs can directly affect waste management.
Originality/value
To support these findings, validation of the results from other countries and contrasting employees' RB is needed. The present study draws empirical insights into RB from a stakeholder perspective, which could be compared to RB across other cultures and countries.
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This systematic literature review presents the state of the field of fashion and crisis communication. The quantitative coding offers insight into dominant and emergent themes in…
Abstract
Purpose
This systematic literature review presents the state of the field of fashion and crisis communication. The quantitative coding offers insight into dominant and emergent themes in one of the most crisis-prone industries. This review also offers a framework for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a systematic literature review approach. 205 academic articles were gathered in total using the search term “fashion industry crisis”. Subsequently, they were quantitatively coded using the Diers-Lawson (2016) Crisis Communication Code Book.
Findings
Findings show an increase in the fashion industry crisis with clear emergent themes such as sustainability, emphasising the truly global and multidisciplinary nature of the industry. Findings also reveal a genuine lack of theoretical grounding, with over 80% of the articles coded using no crisis communication theory. The findings also suggest value co-creation ought to be a priority for this agenda moving forward, as it overlaps with emerging themes and is a practical tool and concept to support crisis prevention and management through an extension of the Stakeholder Relationship Model (SRM) Model.
Research limitations/implications
As a largely under-researched area in crisis communication, the findings present a new opportunity to explore fashion within its context and contribute. At this point, the research field is lacking, and there is room for theory testing and hypothesis building. The findings and themes from the research present a development of the original SRM model, SRM Val-Co.
Practical implications
As well as research implications, the proposed framework provides practical solutions for the future of the fashion industry.
Originality/value
As a largely under-researched area in crisis communication, the findings demonstrate a new opportunity to explore fashion within its context and contribute because there is a dearth of research and a lack of theoretical development. Therefore, the proposed framework provides practical solutions for the fashion industry’s future. The findings and themes from the research present a development of the original SRM model, SRM Val-Co.
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Antigoni Papadimitriou and Sarah Maria Schiffecker
This study aimed to find possible answers to whether U.S. universities are merely looking good or doing good regarding their third mission using elements of the triple bottom line…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to find possible answers to whether U.S. universities are merely looking good or doing good regarding their third mission using elements of the triple bottom line (people, planet, prosperity) and the 2030 Agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative exploratory empirical study based on an in-depth analysis of publicly available documents (i.e. mission statements and strategic planning) and information from the Impact Rankings 2020 edition (webpages). The study uses a multilevel analysis to capture the parameters “looking good” and “doing good.” The sample consists of 15 U.S. universities.
Findings
The findings demonstrate that universities are looking good in terms of their effort to support their third mission. Data show that all universities covered themes related to people and prosperity in their mission statements and strategic planning. However, when the authors dived into the managerial metrics, KPIs, benchmarks and other evidence to characterize them as doing good, the authors encountered some challenges in identifying evidence. The data suggest that universities most likely participated in the Impact Ranking act as “cherry pickers” and might participate in unproblematic goals for their organization.
Originality/value
The 3Ps and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals used in this study to examine the university public mission never used in other studies. The goal in this study was not to evaluate those universities in terms of looking good and doing good but rather to contribute to the gap in the literature and provide suggestions to university C-suite.
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Eugenia Rosca and Kelsey M. Taylor
This paper examines how different configurations of societal impact are pursued by purpose-driven organizations (PDOs) and how these configurations align with the application of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines how different configurations of societal impact are pursued by purpose-driven organizations (PDOs) and how these configurations align with the application of varying supply chain design (SCD) practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This multi-method study uses quantitative data from 1588 B Corps and qualitative data from 316 B Corps to examine how PDOs align SCD with the pursuit of diverse types of societal impact. The authors first conduct a cluster analysis to group organizations based on the impact they create. Second, qualitative content analysis connects impact with enabling SCD elements.
Findings
The analysis of the five identified clusters provides detailed empirical insights on influencers, design decisions and building blocks adopted by PDOs to drive a range of societal impacts. Specifically, the nature of the impact pursued affects (1) whether a PDO will be more influenced by a need in the political environment or an opportunity in the industry environment, (2) the relative importance of the design of social flows versus material flows and (3) the need to develop new relational resources with beneficiaries versus leveraging existing capabilities to manage inter-firm processes.
Originality/value
This study responds to calls to disaggregate different dimensions of societal impact and examines the relationship between SCD and a breadth of sustainability impacts for different stakeholders. In doing so, the authors identify four SCD pathways organizations can follow to achieve specific societal impacts. This study is also the first to employ a supply chain perspective in the study of certified B Corps.
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Benjamin Boahene Akomah and Prasanna Venkatesan Ramani
This paper aims to identify the unidimensionality and reliability of 84 factors that influence the performance of construction projects and develop a confirmatory factor analysis…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the unidimensionality and reliability of 84 factors that influence the performance of construction projects and develop a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a deductive research approach and started by identifying the positive factors that influence construction project performance. This was followed by the modification of the identified factors. After that, a questionnaire was developed out of the factors for data collection. Exploratory factor analysis was used to establish the factor structure of the positive factors, and this was verified using CFA afterwards. A model fit analysis was performed to determine the goodness of fit of the hypothesised model, followed by the development of the confirmatory model.
Findings
The study demonstrated substantial correlation in the data, sufficient unidimensionality and internal reliability. In addition, the estimated fit indices suggested that the postulated model adequately described the sample data.
Practical implications
The paper revealed that performance can be enhanced if stakeholders identify and leverage the positive factors influencing performance. The paper suggests that project stakeholders, particularly government, project owners, consultants and construction firms, can improve project performance by critically examining economic and financial systems (EFS), regulation and policy-making systems (RPS), effective management practices (EMP) and project implementation strategies (PIS).
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper to the present literature is identifying the positive factors and developing the confirmatory factor model. The model comprised 42 positive variables under four indicators: EMP, RPS, PIS and EFS.
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Analyses of cultural landscapes need to combine natural and social-cultural components to promote discussions on landscape planning and heritage management. This qualitative…
Abstract
Purpose
Analyses of cultural landscapes need to combine natural and social-cultural components to promote discussions on landscape planning and heritage management. This qualitative research explores the integrated case study of ten municipalities in the “Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato”, Italy, a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape. The research aims to raise awareness of its aesthetic-perceptive features, the importance of effective identification of visual impacts and to promote mitigation strategies/actions for updating the current Management Plan.
Design/methodology/approach
Two rounds of interviews and focus groups with mayors were performed in 2015 and 2020 to identify trends and drivers of change affecting the territories. Potential mitigation strategies and actions were voted on and selected in response to five critical themes that emerged from the survey, mainly related to real estate and its supplies.
Findings
The results suggest tools and policies in the fields of landscape architecture and landscape design that could benefit planning and management at different levels. They support the design of sustainable scenarios, improving mayors' understanding of the significance of cultural landscapes and promoting them as heritage managers. Furthermore, they intend to preserve the authenticity of the landscape by supporting its attributes for long-term conservation.
Originality/value
The research makes an original contribution on the visual implications of anthropogenic landscape transformations in ten municipalities constituting this serial property, six years after its UNESCO nomination (2014).
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School-university partnerships (SUPs) probe a range of P12 challenges and interests, with teacher residencies being chief among them. Because historically black colleges and…
Abstract
Purpose
School-university partnerships (SUPs) probe a range of P12 challenges and interests, with teacher residencies being chief among them. Because historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have impressive track records (Hill-Jackson, 2017) and knowhow (Marchitello & Trinidad, 2019; Petchauer & Mawhinney, 2017) in preparing teacher candidates to work effectively in diverse schools, this paper seeks deeper understandings of the types of SUPs for teacher residency collaborations employed by traditional versus HBCU programs.
Design/methodology/approach
This article draws upon the self-study as a methodology to review a SUP for a teacher residency at an HBCU in the southwestern United States to illustrate an equity-centric model.
Findings
Leveraging an equity and third space perspective, three separate approaches to the SUPs are unpacked to establish the outline for this proposal: ceremonial, conventional and communal teacher residency approaches.
Originality/value
A novel typology of three distinct approaches to SUPs for teacher residencies is outlined to establish the extent to which equity is foregrounded among teacher residencies.
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