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1 – 9 of 9Bernadette Ekua Bedua Afful, Michael Addaney, David Anaafo, Jonas Ayaribilla Akudugu, Felix Kwaku Borkor, Elvis Oppong Yeboah and Joshua Sampana
Poor municipal solid waste management is a major characteristic of urban development in Africa. In Ghana, local governments are mandated to ensure the collection, treatment and…
Abstract
Purpose
Poor municipal solid waste management is a major characteristic of urban development in Africa. In Ghana, local governments are mandated to ensure the collection, treatment and disposal of solid waste. However, this has been a herculean task for local governments in Ghana, owing to inadequate resources and weak technical capacities. This has prompted calls for, and actual involvement of the private sector through public-private partnerships (PPPs) in municipal solid waste management, particularly in the urban areas. This study aims to assess the roles, effectiveness and challenges of PPPs in urban waste management in the Sunyani municipality of Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a case study design, the study used a qualitative research approach to provide in-depth insights into PPPs in municipal solid waste management in the Sunyani municipality of Ghana. Therefore, key informant interviews and two focus group discussions were conducted.
Findings
The study revealed that some policies and actions of the local government (Assembly) do not positively facilitate the effective functioning of PPPs in municipal solid waste management. There is also lack of effective stakeholder consultation, collaboration and grassroot inclusion in the PPPs which affect the effective management of the increasing volumes of solid waste being generated within the municipality.
Practical implications
To achieve the objectives of the PPP arrangements, local authorities should initiate steps to effectively coordinate all the involved private companies. There must also be ways of involving the beneficiaries in the design and implementation of PPPs on waste management to allow for effective grassroots and participatory monitoring and evaluation.
Originality/value
The uniqueness of the case study being a mid-sized and secondary city in a developing country enhances the value of the findings and the application of recommendations in cities with similar characteristics and initiatives in improving PPPs in municipal waste management.
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David Micallef, Lukas Parker, Linda Brennan, Bruno Schivinski and Michaela Jackson
This paper aims to understand the opportunities and challenges to engage emerging adult gamers (aged 18–25) in adopting healthier diet behaviours through online games and related…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand the opportunities and challenges to engage emerging adult gamers (aged 18–25) in adopting healthier diet behaviours through online games and related platforms such as esports and streaming. The study uses a socio-ecological approach to understand influences and suggests approaches to changing behaviours.
Design/methodology/approach
Purposive and convenience sampling were used to identify (n = 13) online gaming industry professionals and emerging adult (EA) gamers for interview. Qualitative thematic analysis of data using NVivo was undertaken.
Findings
Bi-directional influences were found that are potentially impacting EA diet behaviours. Food industry advertising and sponsorships were identified as dominant influences within the behavioural ecology, using microcelebrities and esports events to target EAs. The study identifies a need for social marketers to engage EA gamers in healthful behaviours through interventions across various levels of the behavioural ecology, including those upstream with industry and potential government regulation, to promote better health and balance food marketing. It also identifies future research avenues for engaging gamers in good health.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the impact of the gaming behavioural ecology on EA diet behaviour. It identifies new channels that social marketers can use to engage EAs, who are difficult to reach through more traditional marketing channels.
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Eric Weisz, David M. Herold, Nadine Kathrin Ostern, Ryan Payne and Sebastian Kummer
Managers and scholars alike claim that artificial intelligence (AI) represents a tool to enhance supply chain collaborations; however, existing research is limited in providing…
Abstract
Purpose
Managers and scholars alike claim that artificial intelligence (AI) represents a tool to enhance supply chain collaborations; however, existing research is limited in providing frameworks that categorise to what extent companies can apply AI capabilities and support existing collaborations. In response, this paper clarifies the various implications of AI applications on supply chain collaborations, focusing on the core elements of information sharing and trust. A five-stage AI collaboration framework for supply chains is presented, supporting managers to classify the supply chain collaboration stage in a company’s AI journey.
Design/methodology/approach
Using existing literature on AI technology and collaboration and its effects of information sharing and trust, we present two frameworks to clarify (a) the interrelationships between information sharing, trust and AI capabilities and (b) develop a model illustrating five AI application stages how AI can be used for supply chain collaborations.
Findings
We identify various levels of interdependency between trust and AI capabilities and subsequently divide AI collaboration into five stages, namely complementary AI applications, augmentative AI applications, collaborative AI applications, autonomous AI applications and AI applications replacing existing systems.
Originality/value
Similar to the five stages of autonomous driving, the categorisation of AI collaboration along the supply chain into five consecutive stages provides insight into collaborations practices and represents a practical management tool to better understand the utilisation of AI capabilities in a supply chain environment.
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This study investigates the role of personality disorders in the context of counterproductive knowledge behavior.
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the role of personality disorders in the context of counterproductive knowledge behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through a survey administered to 120 full-time employees recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Personality disorders were measured by means of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-IV.
Findings
Personality disorders play an important role in the context of counterproductive knowledge behavior: employees suffering from various personality disorders are likely to hide knowledge from their fellow coworkers and engage in knowledge sabotage. Of particular importance are dependent, narcissistic and sadistic personality disorders as well as schizophrenic and delusional severe clinical syndromes. There is a need for a paradigm shift in terms of how the research community should portray those who engage in counterproductive knowledge behavior, reconsidering the underlying assumption that all of them act deliberately, consciously and rationally. Unexpectedly, most personality disorders do not facilitate knowledge hoarding.
Practical implications
Organizations should provide insurance coverage for the treatment of personality disorders, assist those seeking treatment, inform employees about the existence of personality disorders in the workplace and their impact on interemployee relationships, facilitate a stress-free work environment, remove social stigma that may be associated with personality disorders and, as a last resort, reassign workers suffering from extreme forms of personality disorders to tasks that require less interemployee interaction (instead of terminating them).
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work represents one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the notion of personality disorders in the context of knowledge management.
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Jitpisut Bubphapant and Amélia Brandão
Given the importance of the growing segmentation of ageing consumers and their increasing interaction with the Internet, digital marketing scholars are becoming more interested in…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the importance of the growing segmentation of ageing consumers and their increasing interaction with the Internet, digital marketing scholars are becoming more interested in this market. Prior research needs to pay more attention to this market in many contexts of digital marketing. This study aims to provide insights into ageing consumers’ content usage, content typology choices, and online brand advocacy (OBA).
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were applied, and 16 consumers from Southern Europe aged 55+ were included. The interviews were transcribed and examined following the principles of content analysis.
Findings
According to the research, older consumers display their usage and concerns regarding online content. They have different decision-making processes depending on whether they are purchasing products or services. Likewise, their choices of content typology vary based on the utilitarian or hedonic product category.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by providing insights into this growing segmentation and proposing an OBA framework for older consumers related to content marketing. Finally, the study suggests that older consumers are passive online and active offline brand advocates.
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School exclusion in England is highly gendered, racialised and classed. For instance, boys are three times more likely than girls to be excluded from school and certain groups…
Abstract
School exclusion in England is highly gendered, racialised and classed. For instance, boys are three times more likely than girls to be excluded from school and certain groups, including Black Caribbean boys are subject to disproportionate levels of exclusion. Against this backdrop, I explore the context and consequences of exclusion from English mainstream schooling for young masculinities. The arguments presented also have broader international significance due to a global tendency towards punitive measures in schooling. Through bringing masculinities scholarship into conversation with childhood studies, this chapter aims to present a nuanced theorisation of young masculinities which foregrounds lived experience and is located within the interdisciplinary field of childhood studies. It examines ways in which exclusion and schooling in alternative settings, such as a Pupil Referral school, can shape the identities of boys and their subjectivities. The empirical data demonstrate that excluded boys face severe constraints arising from ways in which they are positioned. Drawing on original qualitative data, it is argued that boys who are categorised in this way demonstrate highly agentic ways of ‘doing boy’. This chapter is underpinned by two questions, firstly, how can we theorise boyhood and school exclusion in ways that recognise excluded boys as agentic and constrained subjects? Secondly, what possibilities for change might our theorisation reveal? This chapter concludes by arguing for intersectional masculinities and strengthened theorisation of childhood studies which explicitly recognises lived experience. Through this discussion, I seek to illuminate the emotional costs of school exclusion and insights into ways to achieve change.
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Morné Owen, Stephen V. Flowerday and Karl van der Schyff
Researchers looking for ways to change the insecure behaviour that results in phishing have considered multiple possible reasons for such behaviour. Therefore, the purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Researchers looking for ways to change the insecure behaviour that results in phishing have considered multiple possible reasons for such behaviour. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to understand the role of optimism bias (OB – defined as a cognitive bias), which characterises overly optimistic or unrealistic individuals, to ensure secure behaviour. Research that focused on issues such as personality traits, trust, attitude and Security, Education, Training and Awareness (SETA) was considered.
Design/methodology/approach
This study built on a recontextualized version of the theory of planned behaviour to evaluate the influence that optimism bias has on phishing susceptibility. To model the data, an analysis was performed on 226 survey responses from a South African financial services organisation using partial least squares (PLS) path modelling.
Findings
This study found that overly optimistic employees were inclined to behave insecurely, while factors such as attitude and trust significantly influenced the intention to behave securely.
Practical implications
Our contribution to practice seeks to enhance the effectiveness of SETA by identifying and addressing the optimism bias weakness to deliver a more successful training outcome.
Originality/value
Our study enriches the Information Systems literature by evaluating the effect of a cognitive bias on phishing susceptibility and offers a contextual explanation of the resultant behaviour.
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Sangita Choudhary, Tapan Kumar Panda and Abhishek Behl
Amid increasing frequency of disaster across the globe, humanitarian supply chain (HSC) has gained significant attention in recent times. This work aims to contribute towards…
Abstract
Purpose
Amid increasing frequency of disaster across the globe, humanitarian supply chain (HSC) has gained significant attention in recent times. This work aims to contribute towards improving the decision-making capabilities of relief organisations by offering more comprehensive understanding of the critical success factors (CSFs) concerning HSC. Hence, the current work attempts to classify CSFs as cause-and-effect factors and explore their relative importance in the stated significance.
Design/methodology/approach
Current work takes an explorative and deductive approach. It uses literature and experts' input to identify the CSFs for HSC and to develop a structural model for assessing these factors. Intuitionistic fuzzy DEMATEL (IF-D) is employed for modelling and analysing the cause-effect linkages among the CSFs. IF-D method is chosen as it is robust to vagueness of data and small samples.
Findings
The findings indicate that “motivated and committed employees” is the most influencing causal factor followed by “IT infrastructure”, and among effect factors, “physical network” carries the most significance followed by “anticipation capabilities.”
Practical implications
Relief organisations and stakeholders at various levels may put more emphasis on cause group factors with more influence on most critical effect factors to build more efficient and effective HSC to execute more impactful relief programs.
Originality/value
Current work explores the cause–effect relationships among the CSFs concerning HSC by implementing IF-D, which can be considered as the original contribution.
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M. Muzamil Naqshbandi, Thuraya Farhana Said and Adilah Hisa
This paper aims to synthesize and critically explore the available knowledge about the linkages between compulsory citizenship behavior, knowledge hiding and employee innovative…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to synthesize and critically explore the available knowledge about the linkages between compulsory citizenship behavior, knowledge hiding and employee innovative performance through a systematic literature review. It proposes a conceptual framework, highlighting the core relationships between these constructs.
Design/methodology/approach
Using two databases (Dimensions and Scopus), the authors critically examine 93 peer-reviewed publications from 2006 to 2023 to identify the arguments supporting the associations between the studied constructs.
Findings
Through an integrative conceptual model, this study provides insights into the devastating impact of compulsory citizenship behavior on employee innovation performance, further suggesting how knowledge hiding may play a mediating role.
Research limitations/implications
The study's main limitation lies in its conceptual nature. Future research should empirically validate the model to gain richer perspectives into the linkages.
Originality/value
The existing body of literature lacks a comprehensive understanding of the nexus between compulsory citizenship behavior, knowledge hiding and employee innovative performance. This study is a pioneer since it explores the emerging concepts of compulsory citizenship behavior and knowledge hiding and accentuates their presence in the context of innovative performance at the individual level through coercive persuasion theory and cognitive dissonance theory.
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