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1 – 10 of 22Discussions on tourism development address the urgent need to reduce the negative impacts of tourism on tourist destinations. Despite decades of trying to find potential ways to…
Abstract
Purpose
Discussions on tourism development address the urgent need to reduce the negative impacts of tourism on tourist destinations. Despite decades of trying to find potential ways to foster sustainability, however, current tourism development is still mainly driven by political interests and growth agendas. In spite of concepts intending to improve sustainable tourism development, negative dynamics, such as over-tourism and the exploitation of nature and local communities, dominate the current reality of tourism. This article focuses on the concept of degrowth as a potential solution for rethinking tourism policy and practices to ensure greater sustainability. Its aim is to explore the gap between these policies and the academic theories on instigating sustainable change, and the actual reality of the tourism industry, which is primarily driven by economic motivations such as growth.
Design/methodology/approach
To explore this dichotomy, this paper investigates the values of tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs. Small businesses are the most dominant group in the industry in terms of numbers. I contend that researching their viewpoint on current developmental trends could lead to valuable insights into how to tackle this gap between theory and reality. This paper also explores how the degrowth paradigm may promote sustainability in tourism, as well as the potential role that tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs could play in this development. The discussion is illustrated by a case study based on interviews with tourism entrepreneurs in Iceland.
Findings
The findings indicate that various tourism stakeholders have different approaches to growth, with many tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs tending to embrace degrowth practices by acting according to their value base, albeit sometimes unconsciously. This focus on aspects other than growth could potentially encourage tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs to contribute to sustainable development.
Research limitations/implications
The examples discussed in this paper are locally limited and cannot be generalized due to the small size of the interviewed sample group. The scalability of individual entrepreneurs’ impact is limited due to their small size.
Practical implications
The actions and values applied by these tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs demonstrate how degrowth can be manifest on a small scale: growth is only embraced up to a certain limit, so it oes not exceed social and environmental capacities; from that point on, community well-being plays the key role. This study demonstrates the untapped knowledge tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs could provide to rethinking the tourism industry.
Social implications
This study demonstrates the importance of shedding more light on ethical issues and values beyond growth in both academic and political discussions. Addressing tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs as smaller-scale actors of tourism degrowth could be a meaningful starting point for holistically rethinking tourism and give them a voice.
Originality/value
This research emphasizes untapped knowledge by acknowledging entrepreneurs and their potential for rethinking tourism development, concluding with recommendations for practice and policy.
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Henrik Gislason, Jørgen Hvid, Steffen Gøth, Per Rønne-Nielsen and Christian Hallum
An increasing number of Danish municipalities wish to minimize tax avoidance due to profit shifting in their public procurement. To facilitate this effort, this study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
An increasing number of Danish municipalities wish to minimize tax avoidance due to profit shifting in their public procurement. To facilitate this effort, this study aims to develop a firm-level indicator to assess the potential risk of profit shifting (PS-risk) from Danish subsidiaries of multinational corporations to subsidiaries in low-tax jurisdictions.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing from previous research, PS-risk is assumed to depend on the maximum difference in the effective corporate tax rate between the Danish subsidiary and other subsidiaries under the global ultimate owner, in conjunction with the tax regulations relevant to profit shifting. The top 400 contractors in Danish municipalities from 2017 to 2019 are identified and their relative PS-risk is estimated by combining information about corporate ownership structure with country-specific information on corporate tax rates, tax regulations and profit shifting from three independent data sets.
Findings
The PS-risk estimates are highly significantly positively correlated across the data sets and show that 17%–23% of the total procurement sum of the Danish municipalities has been spent on contracts with corporations having a medium to high PS-risk. On average, PS-risk is highest for large non-Scandinavian multinational contractors in sectors such as construction, health and information processing.
Social implications
Danish public procurers may use the indicator to screen potential suppliers and, if procurement regulations permit, to ensure high-PS-risk bidders document their tax practices.
Originality/value
The PS-risk indicator is novel, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the analysis provides the first estimate of PS-risk in Danish public procurement.
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Richard Robertson, Athanasios Petsakos, Chun Song, Nicola Cenacchi and Elisabetta Gotor
The choice of crops to produce at a location depends to a large degree on the climate. As the climate changes and food demand evolves, farmers may need to produce a different mix…
Abstract
Purpose
The choice of crops to produce at a location depends to a large degree on the climate. As the climate changes and food demand evolves, farmers may need to produce a different mix of crops. This study assesses how much cropland may be subject to such upheavals at the global scale, and then focuses on China as a case study to examine how spatial heterogeneity informs different contexts for adaptation within a country.
Design/methodology/approach
A global agricultural economic model is linked to a cropland allocation algorithm to generate maps of cropland distribution under historical and future conditions. The mix of crops at each location is examined to determine whether it is likely to experience a major shift.
Findings
Two-thirds of rainfed cropland and half of irrigated cropland are likely to experience substantial upheaval of some kind.
Originality/value
This analysis helps establish a global context for the local changes that producers might face under future climate and socioeconomic changes. The scale of the challenge means that the agricultural sector needs to prepare for these widespread and diverse upheavals.
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Abdelhamid Ads, Santosh Murlidhar Pingale and Deepak Khare
This study’s fundamental objective is to assess climate change impact on reference evapotranspiration (ETo) patterns in Egypt under the latest shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs…
Abstract
Purpose
This study’s fundamental objective is to assess climate change impact on reference evapotranspiration (ETo) patterns in Egypt under the latest shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) of climate change scenarios. Additionally, the study considered the change in the future solar radiation and actual vapor pressure and predicted them from historical data, as these factors significantly impact changes in the ETo.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilizes data from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) models to analyze reference ETo. Six models are used, and an ArcGIS tool is created to calculate the monthly average ETo for historical and future periods. The tool considers changes in actual vapor pressure and solar radiation, which are the primary factors influencing ETo.
Findings
The research reveals that monthly reference ETo in Egypt follows a distinct pattern, with the highest values concentrated in the southern region during summer and the lowest values in the northern part during winter. This disparity is primarily driven by mean air temperature, which is significantly higher in the southern areas. Looking ahead to the near future (2020–2040), the data shows that Aswan, in the south, continues to have the highest annual ETo, while Kafr ash Shaykh, in the north, maintains the lowest. This pattern remains consistent in the subsequent period (2040–2060). Additionally, the study identifies variations in ETo , with the most significant variability occurring in Shamal Sina under the SSP585 scenario and the least variability in Aswan under the SSP370 scenario for the 2020–2040 time frame.
Originality/value
This study’s originality lies in its focused analysis of climate change effects on ETo, incorporating crucial factors like actual vapor pressure and solar radiation. Its significance becomes evident as it projects ETo patterns into the near and distant future, providing indispensable insights for long-term planning and tailored adaptation strategies. As a result, this research serves as a valuable resource for policymakers and researchers in need of in-depth, region-specific climate change impact assessments.
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Michael Dunn, Isabel Munoz, Clea O’Neil and Steve Sawyer
In this chapter, we theorize about online freelancers’ approaches to work flexibility. Drawing from an ongoing digital ethnography of US-based online freelancers pursuing work on…
Abstract
In this chapter, we theorize about online freelancers’ approaches to work flexibility. Drawing from an ongoing digital ethnography of US-based online freelancers pursuing work on digital platforms, our data question the common conceptualizations around the flexibility of online freelancing. We posit that the flexibility of where to work, not when to work, is the most important attribute of their work arrangement. Our data show (1) the online freelancers in our study prefer the stability and sustainability of full-time work over freelancing when both are offered as remote options; (2) full-time remote employment increases these workers’ freelancing control / flexibility; (3) these workers keep freelance work options open even as they transition to more permanent full-time work arrangements. We discuss how these findings relate to workplace culture shifts and what this means for contemporary working arrangements. Our insights contribute to the discourses on knowledge-based gig work and for what it means to study individuals online.
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Thomas Berker, Hanne Henriksen, Thomas Edward Sutcliffe and Ruth Woods
This study aims to convey lessons learned from two sustainability initiatives at Norway’s largest university. This contributes to knowledge-based discussions of how future…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to convey lessons learned from two sustainability initiatives at Norway’s largest university. This contributes to knowledge-based discussions of how future, sustainable higher education institutions (HEIs) infrastructures should be envisioned and planned if the fundamental uncertainty of the future development of learning, researching and teaching is acknowledged.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was submitted on 24 January 2023 and revised on 14 September 2023. HEIs, particularly when they are engaged in research activities, have a considerable environmental footprint. At the same time, HEIs are the main producers and disseminators of knowledge about environmental challenges and their employees have a high awareness of the urgent need to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss. In this study, the gap between knowledge and environmental performance is addressed as a question of infrastructural change, which is explored in two case studies.
Findings
The first case study presents limitations of ambitious, top-down sustainability planning for HEI infrastructures: support from employees and political support are central for this strategy to succeed, but both could not be secured in the case presented leading to an abandonment of all sustainability ambitions. The second case study exposes important limitations of a circular approach: regulatory and legal barriers were found against a rapid and radical circular transformation, but also more fundamental factors such as the rationality of an institutional response to uncertainty by rapid cycles of discarding the old and investing in new equipment and facilities.
Research limitations/implications
Being based on qualitative methods, the case studies do not claim representativity for HEIs worldwide or even in Norway. Many of the factors described are contingent on their specific context. The goal, instead, is to contribute to learning by presenting an in-depth and context-sensitive report on obstacles encountered in two major sustainability initiatives.
Originality/value
Research reporting on sustainability initiatives too often focuses descriptively on the plans or reports the successes while downplaying problems and failures. This study deviates from this widespread practice by analysing reasons for failure informed by a theoretical frame (infrastructural change). Moreover, the juxtaposition of two cases within the same context shows the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to infrastructural change particularly clearly.
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Kabiru Oyetunde, Rea Prouska and Aidan McKearney
This paper examines the circumstantial state of mediated work to develop a conceptual framework exemplifying the determinants of voice of workers in triangular employment…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the circumstantial state of mediated work to develop a conceptual framework exemplifying the determinants of voice of workers in triangular employment relationships. These workers are in work context involving two or more firms – agency/platform and clients/client firms.
Design/methodology/approach
Paralleling employee voice research in the triangular employment relationship context, the authors theorised the influencing forces at four levels to propose 12 distinct antecedents of triangular workers' voice. External level (2) – legal employer ambiguity and legal regulation and protection; employment context level (3) – availability and presence, assignment duration and autonomy; firm level (3) – institutional complexity, cost and control and governance structure conflicts; individual level (4) – perceived relative equity, voice skill, self-identity and transition opportunity.
Findings
The triangular workers' voice determinants framework provides a comprehensive outlook on how the external, employment context, firm and individual forces influence voice of workers in triangular employment relationships.
Research limitations/implications
Emanating from the framework are propositions that can be empirically tested for validation. Hence, as with conceptual papers, this paper is limited by non-empirical testing.
Practical implications
Managers of workers in these employment relationships should be cognizant of the different levels of forces that can influence their voice.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the employee voice literature by presenting a four-level framework that demonstrate a holistic view of how triangular workers' voice is influenced.
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Kaitano Simwaka, Donald Flywell Malanga and George T. Chipeta
This study aims to investigate records management practices in Malawian private universities with a focus on University of Livingstonia.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate records management practices in Malawian private universities with a focus on University of Livingstonia.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used embedded case study design using a mixed methods approach. A survey questionnaire, semi-structured interview guide and a document review were used to collect data from University of Livingstonia staff.
Findings
The study found that University of Livingstonia created records such as minutes, grades, mails, theses, policy documents and reports. Some of the challenges related to records management at the institution were uncoordinated records management practices due to, among others, lack of records management policy, retention and disposal schedules among others. It further reported a number of factors frustrating the success of records management practices at UNILIA such as lack of management support, poor funding and lack of information communication technology infrastructure. Nevertheless, the study acknowledged the role of records management at University of Livingstonia.
Originality/value
Previous studies on records management in Malawi focused on public sector. However, this is a novel study undertaken in the private higher education. Therefore, it forms a basis for conceptualising records management phenomena in the private higher education in Malawi.
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