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One of the crucial elements of addressing global climate challenges through urban tourism is the continuing existence of urban forests. The reasoning is that the ecological attraction of urban forests can impact visitors’ intention to conduct pro-environmental behavior, including low-carbon actions. Thus, more visitors to urban forests will positively affect enhancing the quality of the urban environment. However, the extent to which ecological attraction can influence pro-environmental behavior warrants further investigation due to the complexity of psychosocial factors that impact behavioral intention. The main objective of this research is to examine the effects of the ecological attractiveness of urban forests on the pro-environmental behavior of visitors by exploring motivation, ecological experience, perceived value and knowledge as mediators. Moreover, whether the nature of the urban forest and facilities attract visitors simultaneously is also studied.

Data were collected from 615 respondents who visited three urban forests in Bandung, the second-most populous city in Indonesia, by five-point Likert questionnaires. As an analytical tool, SEM PLS was applied to establish the effect of the ecological performance of the urban forest on the increase in environmentally conscious behavior among urban forest visitors.

The findings demonstrate that the attractiveness of an urban forest affects the growth of environmentally responsible behaviors. Nonetheless, the attractiveness of urban forests is dictated more by their infrastructure than their ecological function. On the contrary, the visitors’ knowledge level can improve their motivation, environmental experience and perceived environmental value. These findings show the significance of developing educational programs with an emphasis on the experience of the visitors so that their ecological performance can contribute to improved low-carbon behavior. In conclusion, this work contributes to the management of sustainable urban tourism.

This work also has some limitations. First, the medium R-square on intention behavior to low-carbon action suggests investigating other influential factors to produce a more robust conscious behavior. Mkono and Hughes (2020) mention that many complex factors that cause positive intention do not necessarily lead to environmental action. Thus, many psychosocial variables need to be explored in different models. Second, the convenient sampling used here does not represent the whole population, making generalization difficult. Thus, further work needs to apply more rigorous sampling techniques to validate the findings. Further investigations may also need to be conducted in other urban forests in another Asian country with a similar and different social context for benchmarking, as this study found that the type of attractive urban forest design is a more dense forest, which differs from other studies based in Europe. Exploring more influencing behavioral factors of pro-environmental action in the model is also suggested. Thus, we could contribute more to support recreational activities in urban forests.

As an implication for planning an urban forest to increase its recreational function, the authors illustrate the importance of producing educational programs. Although the improved knowledge of visitors has been shown to strengthen their commitment to perform pro-environmental actions, the mediating role of motivation, experience and perceived value reveals that some activities are required to achieve visitor motivation to actual behavior. Consequently, designing an urban forest requires not only the enhancement of eco-attractions and artificial elements for the convenience of visitors but also the development of an environmental education program that can improve visitors’ environmental experience and perception of ecological value. The designed educational program may use an experiential education approach incorporating objective knowledge of Earth’s current state. The urban forest education program must encourage visitors’ connection and participation with nature. Moreover, knowledge and information about Earth’s environmental quality can increase visitors’ perceived value, ensuring that their activities in the urban forest contribute to improved health, environmental quality and social environment. Thus, with well-managed and provided education, they are encouraged to adopt low-carbon action because it complements their contribution to a better quality environment.

The theoretical contribution of this research is generated through the role of urban forest attractiveness in the intention to conduct low-carbon action, which influences solutions to existing urban environmental problems. This work exhibits that both ecological attractiveness and attractiveness of artificial elements in urban forests can attract visitors and subsequently boost their outdoor recreation motivation, ecological experience and perceived value and then turn them to boost their intention to conduct low-carbon action. The physical characteristics of a site are behavioral stimuli that can increase a person’s motivation, experience and perception of the value of the environment, thereby increasing their intention to engage in low-carbon actions. This environment behavioral construction is fundamental in understanding that urban forests offer ecological benefits and influence the social quality of urban communities. Nevertheless, without visitor activity, urban forests are merely physical entities that become increasingly demanding to maintain. Due to this, an urban forest that is socially active and has an influence on promoting environmentally conscious behavior is needed, and its presence is becoming ever more crucial. This work shows the significance of integrating psychosocial approaches into managing tourism in urban forests.

This paper aims to analyse the changes in the extent of the green space in the city of Srinagar, a unique urban Himalayan destination, and examine whether the difference in the green space has a significant effect on the destination business performance measured in terms of loss of ecological attractiveness.

This study was carried out in two phases in the study area. In phase I, the changes in the extent of the green space area were analysed using Landsat TM and Sentinel Images for classification. The study has used the period from 2001 to 2018 to understand changes in the green space. The Post-Classification Comparison technique was used to investigate the variation in the green space zones in the city of Srinagar. In phase II, the paper evaluated the impact of change in the green space on the destination business performance. The data was collected from the tour operation companies through a questionnaire survey, and the impact path was examined using structural equation modelling.

Results reveal that the green space in the city of Srinagar has decreased over the past 18 years, and the decreasing green space has a significant effect on the destination business performance.

Identifying the impact of decreasing green space on the destination business performance of the study area under investigation is essential for tourism development both in terms of new product development and resource preservation. Developing a measurement scale showing the impact of decreasing green space on destination business performance could offer destination managers a means of identifying the essence of the green space in the destination regions. These findings add to the growing literature on the attributes of tourism destinations, providing scholars with new insights into the role of green space in destination performance. The current study offers evidence of the impact of decreasing green space on the destination's performance. This provides a new perspective for future studies on visitor satisfaction as a potential mediator of the relationship between reducing greenspace and destination business performance. The main limitation of this study is that the researchers have only analysed the impact of decreasing green space on the destination business performance in terms of its ecological competitiveness. Other destinations business performance verticals, such as hotels, restaurants and grocery stores were not considered by this study and can be taken up for future investigation.

This study provides empirical insights that can have significant implications for researchers, policymakers, destination management organizations, academia and practitioners and further enrich the existing literature by establishing an empirical argument in the context of urban destinations positioned with a fragile Himalayan ecosystem.

This study aims to assist the urban administrators in improving the green space ecosystem in the region, which can help attain the sustainability of the city environment and assist in economic regeneration in urban settings.

Purpose – To provide strategic management scholars, particularly graduate students and new faculty members, a novel approach, the lens model, to investigate emerging economies phenomena.

Design/methodology/approach – Based on a review of the strategic management literature and a search of the strategy databases and journals, I propose the lens model approach and discuss its origins, development, and designs since its introduction. It has been used extensively in such fields as cognitive psychology, social psychology, medicine, agriculture, human resources management, and organizational behavior. Besides the wide application, it has relevance for strategic management research.

Findings – An illustrative study and a summary of the approach from a previous study in one prominent journal are also provided as guides. I conclude by providing recommendations on what to consider in using the approach for the study of emerging economies.

Research limitations/implications – In addition to the strengths of the approach, its weaknesses are also discussed. Suggestions on maximizing the potential of the approach are also discussed.

Practical implications – The approach is an invaluable source particularly for graduate students of strategy who often are unfamiliar with microlevel approaches. They can use it to supplement approaches for strategic management.

Originality/value – To my knowledge, this chapter is the first to discuss the lens model approach in the strategic management literature. In that regard, it fills a gap in the research methodology literature. It can therefore help graduate students improve their careers.

This paper interrogates the impact of spatial transformations on urban life. It explores the level of individual and group satisfaction and sense of well-being within the urban public realm; this is undertaken by reporting on the outcomes of an assessment study of three key public open spaces in Belgrade, developed from a quality of urban life (QoUL) perspective.

A systematic multilevel assessment method is utilised, with the aim of determining the material and immaterial elements that can contribute to an individual's sense of comfort within a public space. The study places emphasis on the functional, social and perceptual attributes as they relate to the physical characteristics of three assessed spaces.

The assessment study resulted in a systematic overview of the different attributes of the three assessed spaces. With various performance levels within each set of attributes, the study identifies key challenges and problems that could lead towards determining possible opportunities for future local urban interventions and developmental actions.

With the shifts in policies and the associated governance process that redefined the outlook of previously enforced development and urban growth in the last two decades, the capital of Serbia, Belgrade, has undergone significant spatial changes. This has resulted in a certain level of fragmentation in the urban fabric, leading to a number of challenges concerning public health, well-being, safety, accessibility, comfort and urban mobility, to name a few, that need to be better addressed and understood within the local context.

The assessment of the Real Estate (RE) prices depends on multiple factors that traditional evaluation methods often struggle to fully understand. Housing prices, in particular, are the foundations for a better knowledge of the Built Environment and its characteristics. Recently, Machine Learning (ML) techniques, which are a subset of Artificial Intelligence, are gaining momentum in solving complex, non-linear problems like house price forecasting. Hence, this study deployed three popular ML techniques to predict dwelling prices in two cities in Italy.

An extensive dataset about house prices is collected through API protocol in two cities in North Italy, namely Brescia and Varese. This data is used to train and test three most popular ML models, i.e. ElasticNet, XGBoost and Artificial Neural Network, in order to predict house prices with six different features.

The models' performance was evaluated using the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) score. The results showed that the artificial neural network performed better than the others in predicting house prices, with a MAE 5% lower than the second-best model (which was the XGBoost).

All the models had an accuracy drop in forecasting the most expensive cases, probably due to a lack of data.

The accessibility and easiness of the proposed model will allow future users to predict house prices with different datasets. Alternatively, further research may implement a different model using neural networks, knowing that they work better for this kind of task.

To date, this is the first comparison of the three most popular ML models that are usually employed when predicting house prices.

The Cyclic Innovation Model is applied to a new process for the production of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals using a combination of ionic liquids and supercritical carbon dioxide. This multi-value innovation combines economic growth with environmental concerns and social value. The most important obstacles in the implementation of this new technology are the successful life cycle management of current production plants, the linearity of current innovation thinking, and a perceived high risk of adoption.

The mall industry in Latin America has grown rapidly in the past decade, offering diverse proposals oriented to improving the attractiveness of this commerce format; along this line, despite the fact that several studies have analyzed variables from an ecological perspective based on the relationship of the physical space with the consumers (from a marketing context), there is shortage in research regarding alternative attractiveness factors inspired by nature, although its connection with people’s behavior has been confirmed. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to answer the following question: Is the perception of environments with natural resources displayed in malls an alternative attractiveness factor for visitors? Thus, does it benefit its own competitive management against other attractiveness variables that focus on offering variety, accessibility, physical design and entertainment?

The quantitative method is an exploratory factor analysis that is followed by a confirmatory analysis and resulting in a measurement model based on 470 effective questionnaires. The exploratory and confirmatory nature focused on multidimensional verification of the measurement model (including the validation of the eco-natural environment) justified this choice in consistence with prior research that has used goodness of fit criteria.

The paper not only suggests the existence of a perception factor in the eco-natural environment, but it also determines its comparative importance over other traditional attractiveness factors reported in scientific literature. Particularly because commercial attractiveness is a consequence of how marketing variables are managed by malls and of how consumers respond to said variables, benefiting the visit’s experience.

The paper contributes to malls’ competitive management by suggesting and proving the importance of the eco-natural environment as a commercial attractiveness factor; thus, the results encourage this format’s developers to take into account new ways of persuasion considering its progressive and competitive rise in the past years in Latin America.

There is shortage of research on alternative attractiveness factors for malls; therefore, contrasting the eco-natural environment in a measurement model of commercial attractiveness allows contributing strategic information to the industry, which in turn constitutes an innovative resource to lure and motivate visitors. On the other hand, the paper contributes the state of knowledge of environmental variables over consumers’ assessments.

La industria de los centros comerciales en américa latina ha crecido rápidamente en la última década caracterizándose por diversas propuestas orientadas a mejorar la capacidad de atracción de estos formatos de comercio; en esta línea, a pesar de que existen varios estudios que han analizado dichas variables desde una perspectiva ecológica basada en la relación del ambiente físico con los consumidores en el contexto de marketing, existe una escases de investigación sobre factores alternativos de atracción inspirados en la naturaleza pese a su ya comprobada relación sobre el comportamiento de las personas. Por tanto, este documento tiene como objetivo responder a la siguiente pregunta: ¿La percepción de ambientes con recursos naturales dispuestos en centros comerciales son un factor alternativo de atracción para visitantes? y, por tanto, puede favorecer su propia gestión competitiva frente a otras variables de atracción centradas en la variedad de la oferta, la accesibilidad, el diseño físico y el entretenimiento.

El método cuantitativo corresponde a un análisis factorial exploratorio seguido por un análisis confirmatorio obteniendo un modelo de medida a partir de 470 cuestionarios efectivos. La naturaleza exploratoria y confirmatoria centrada en comprobación multidimensional del modelo de medida (incluyendo la validación del ambiente eco-natural) justificó esta elección en coherencia a investigaciones antecedentes que han utilizado criterios de bondad del ajuste.

La investigación no solamente sugiere la existencia del factor de percepción del ambiente eco-natural, sino que también permite determinar su importancia comparativa sobre otros factores tradicionales de atracción reportados por la literatura científica. Particularmente debido a que la atracción comercial es una consecuencia de cómo gestionan las variables de mercadeo los centros comerciales y de cómo responden los consumidores a dichas variables favoreciendo su experiencia de visita.

La investigación contribuye a la gestión competitiva de los centros comerciales al sugerir y demostrar la importancia del ambiente eco-natural como factor de atracción comercial, ante lo cual, los resultados alientan a desarrolladores de estos formatos a considerar nuevas formas de persuasión teniendo en cuenta su aumento progresivo y competitivo en los últimos años en américa latina.

Existe escases de investigaciones sobre nuevos factores alternativos de atracción para centros comerciales, en esta línea, contrastar el ambiente eco-natural en un modelo de medida de atracción comercial, permite aportar información estratégica a la industria constituyéndose un recurso innovador para conquistar e incentivar a visitantes. Por otra parte, la investigación logra aportar al estado de conocimiento de las variables ambientales sobre las evaluaciones del consumidor.

Ambiente ecológico, Ambiente de naturaleza, Factores de atracción,Centros comerciales

Trabajo de investigación

O setor de shopping centers na América Latina cresceu rapidamente na última década, oferecendo diversas propostas orientadas para melhorar a atratividade deste formato de comércio; Nessa linha, apesar de vários estudos terem analisado variáveis de uma perspectiva ecológica a partir da relação do espaço físico com os consumidores (de um contexto de marketing), há escassez de pesquisas sobre fatores de atração alternativos inspirados na natureza, embora a conexão com o comportamento das pessoas foi confirmada. Portanto, o objetivo deste documento é responder a seguinte pergunta: A percepção de ambientes com recursos naturais apresenta nos shoppings um fator de atratividade alternativo para os visitantes? Assim, beneficia a sua própria gestão competitiva contra outras variáveis de atratividade que se concentram em oferecer variedade, acessibilidade, design físico e entretenimento?

O método quantitativo é uma análise fatorial exploratória que é seguida por uma análise confirmatória e resulta em um modelo de mensuração baseado em 470 questionários efetivos. A natureza exploratória e confirmatória focada na verificação multidimensional do modelo de mensuração (incluindo a validação do ambiente eco-natural) justificou essa escolha em consistência com pesquisas anteriores que utilizaram critérios de qualidade de ajuste.

A pesquisa não apenas sugere a existência de um fator de percepção no ambiente eco-natural, mas também determina sua importância comparativa em relação a outros fatores de atratividade tradicionais relatados na literatura científica. Particularmente porque a atratividade comercial é uma consequência de como as variáveis de marketing são gerenciadas pelos shoppings e de como os consumidores respondem a essas variáveis, beneficiando a experiência da visita.

A pesquisa contribui para a gestão competitiva dos shoppings ao sugerir e comprovar a importância do ambiente ecologicamente natural como fator de atratividade comercial, assim, os resultados incentivam os desenvolvedores deste formato a levar em conta novas formas de persuasão, considerando sua progressividade e competitividade em aumento nos últimos anos na América Latina.

Há escassez de pesquisas sobre fatores de atratividade alternativos para shoppings, portanto, contrastando o ambiente eco-natural em um modelo de mensuração de atratividade comercial permite contribuir com informações estratégicas para a indústria, que por sua vez constitui um recurso inovador para atrair e motivar visitantes. Por outro lado, a pesquisa contribui para o estado do conhecimento das variáveis ambientais sobre as avaliações dos consumidores.

Ambiente ecológico, Ambiente de natureza, Fatores de atracção, Shopping

Artigo de pesquisa

Over the past three decades ecological economics has emerged as a coherent transdisciplinary approach to environmental problem solving. However, its evolution has been quite dissimilar in different parts of the world. In the US and UK, ecological economics evolved as a critique of and alternative to a comparatively strict application of economic theory to environmental decision making. In particular, the narrow application of benefit–cost analysis often reduced environmental decisions to one metric within a single value system (the market economy). The attractiveness of these traditional economic approaches to environmental policy has always been their “one size fits all” approach. No matter what the problem faced, the same methods were applied with a primary goal of cost effectiveness. But it has become increasingly clear that the ease of application of a strict economic approach is outweighed by its failure to capture the social and environmental contexts and realities of specific environmental problems. In contrast, ecological economics has been more problem-oriented, incorporating multiple stakeholder and disciplinary perspectives in specific contexts to shape the methods that define policy choices. Furthermore, ecological economic approaches involve multiple metrics, multiple points of view, and evolutionary and flexible policy recommendations.

Although the role of green recruitment and selection (GRS) has been widely recognised as an important dimension of green human resource management, no study has ever mapped the terrain of GRS and reviewed the literature. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap while exploring the following questions: How do organisations select candidates in line with their pro-environmental stance? What impact do a company’s corporate environmental sustainability (CES) practices have on attracting pro-environmental job seekers?

This paper provides a systematic review of 22 peer-reviewed articles published during the period 2008–2017. The articles were included in the review if they addressed at least one of the two research questions.

Some companies choose to apply green criteria when selecting candidates while others do not. In any case, communicating a company’s environmental values and orientation is worth practicing during GRS. Previous studies have identified four mediators (anticipated pride, perceived value fit, expectation of favourable treatment, perceived organisational green reputation/prestige) that intervene between signals of a company’s CES and a job seeker’s perceptions of organisational attractiveness. However, the strength of this effect is influenced by five moderators (pro-environmental attitude, socio-environmental consciousness, desire to have a significant impact through one’s work, environmental-related standard registration, job seeker’s expertise).

This paper provides the first systematic review of GRS and thus paves the way for future research.