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Article
Publication date: 19 June 2007

Siet Sijtsema, Anita Linnemann, Gé Backus, Wim Jongen, Ton van Gaasbeek and Hans Dagevos

This paper seeks to explore the design, organisation and application of group discussions in which projective techniques (expressive and associative) are used to unravel health

1039

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to explore the design, organisation and application of group discussions in which projective techniques (expressive and associative) are used to unravel health perception of consumers in cognitive and affective terms.

Design/methodology/approach

A trained moderator led four group discussions in which 24 Dutch women, divided into two groups of six women aged between 50 and 65, and two groups of women with young children (0‐7 years old) participated. By means of expressive and associative techniques participants discuss health and food based on non‐verbal expressions, namely, drawings and abstract paintings made by themselves. The participants selected and discussed relevant terms related to food and health based on their interpretations and associations of images.

Findings

Participants related healthy to feeling free and happy (affective) and implied a balance between being active and passive. “Health” and “food” are associated with terms of nature (e.g. season, water and sun), specific products (vegetables and fruits), ingredients (vitamins, fibres, minerals) and no additives (cognitive).

Originality/value

The expressive and associative group discussions proved to be a promising, fascinating and participant‐friendly approach to gain an insight into the affective and the cognitive aspects that consumers relate to health‐promoting product characteristics.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 109 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2023

Gabriella Arcese, Grazia Chiara Elmo, Fabio Fortuna, Maria Giovina Pasca and Mario Risso

The study investigates how consumers' food purchasing habits changed during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy. The research aims to understand if traditional aspects, health

Abstract

Purpose

The study investigates how consumers' food purchasing habits changed during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy. The research aims to understand if traditional aspects, health consciousness and environmental concerns have influenced and changed the purchases of food products post-pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors developed a theoretical model to understand whether health consciousness, traditional aspects and environmental concerns affect consumers' purchasing intention. The study collects secondary data to analyse state of the art and investigate consumer behaviour in the agri-food system after the pandemic. Thereafter, a survey was conducted via a convenience random sampling procedure. The data (n = 622) were analysed using the formulated research framework and tested through the structural equation modelling procedure.

Findings

The findings reveal that health consciousness and traditional aspects (culinary traditions, ingredients usage from one's territory of origin, products' origin attention) are among the main reasons for purchasing agri-food goods after the pandemic. Instead, environmental concerns negatively affect consumers' purchase intentions.

Originality/value

The study identifies which aspects influenced consumers' purchasing intentions after the Covid-19 pandemic. It also provides insights for food companies and policymakers on the factors to be improved to optimize the agri-food sector following a sustainable perspective and in order to develop effective business strategies.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 126 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 March 2009

Siet Sijtsema, Gé Backus, Anita Linnemann and Wim Jongen

The aim of this paper is to link the denotation of healthy and health‐related consumer terms of traditional Dutch meal components to characteristics, ingredients and affective…

1860

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to link the denotation of healthy and health‐related consumer terms of traditional Dutch meal components to characteristics, ingredients and affective aspects of food products.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 344 respondents completed a questionnaire with propositions about product perception and health opinions. Distinct meal components of a traditional Dutch meal were chosen to make the research results applicable in product development.

Findings

A total of four clusters of consumers emerged: with an unconventional definition of health; with no interest in health; feeling healthy; and having health problems, with sample percentages of 21, 10, 50 and 18, respectively.

Originality/value

The study provides insight in the transformation (selection and formulation) of consumers' terminology related to health into attributes, ingredients and affective aspects of products for groups of consumers with a different definition of health.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 111 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 23 February 2021

Pia Skott

The aim of this paper is to identify the role of the principal in establishing a whole school approach for health and wellbeing. Two questions are asked: (1) What do successful…

2537

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to identify the role of the principal in establishing a whole school approach for health and wellbeing. Two questions are asked: (1) What do successful Swedish principals do when they take on a whole school approach? (2) How do these results relate to previous research on successful school leadership?

Design/methodology/approach

This paper focuses on the complexity of organisational processes and considers the role of successful leadership in managing a whole school approach to health promotion. It presents findings from two different but interlinked projects, and draws on document studies and interviews with principals, student health team members and teachers in Sweden.

Findings

This paper argues that successful school leaders are crucial in establishing a whole school approach, because of the work they do to synchronise the health-promoting activities in schools. The study identifies four aspects of coordination that need to be enacted simultaneously when leading health-promoting processes. The fifth aspect identified is that a whole school approach is not limited to the school, but the whole local school context, i.e. a synchronisation between different system levels.

Originality/value

Although limited in scale, this paper reports key findings that could have practical implications for school leaders. The study suggests that successful school leadership research needs to use a health-promoting lens in order to make leadership practices health-promoting practices. It also proposes extended comparative research from different fields and contexts.

Details

Health Education, vol. 122 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 November 2016

Angélica Espinoza-Ortega, Carlos Galdino Martínez-García, Humberto Thomé-Ortiz and Ivonne Vizcarra-Bordi

The purpose of this paper is to identify segments of Mexican consumers with regard to their motives for food choices.

1007

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify segments of Mexican consumers with regard to their motives for food choices.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire based on the Food Choice Questionnaire was applied to 1,202 consumers. A factor analysis and a cluster analysis were performed on the data.

Findings

Ten factors were identified: care for weight and health, social sensitivity, practicality, economic aspects, non-industrialized, hedonism, traditionality A, familiarity, traditionality B, and no added sugar. Resulting clusters were named as: traditional, healthy, conscious, and careless. Statistically significant differences (p<0.05) were found due to gender, age, marital status, and educational level, but not for body mass index. There are signs of different consumers, but it seems that Mexican consumers in general express low sensitivity to issues of health and nutrition, even more so towards animal welfare and products that are friendly to the environment.

Research limitations/implications

The large diversity of motivations and behaviours in food consumption in Mexico are not all addressed in this study. However, this work opens a new area of research in Mexico so that in the near future studies on the diversity of Mexican consumers are undertaken, looking at the transformation of their food preferences.

Practical implications

In Europe, governments have addressed the new forms of consumption taking advantage of opportunities that benefit local producers, through the generation of added value as “Protected Designations of Origin (DOP)”, geographical indications, collective brands, ecological produce, local products of the land, among others. These proposals are promoted as a path to follow in Latin America, assuming that Latin American consumers have the same characteristics or interests as in those developed countries. But, not knowing consumers motives of preference represents a problem in the processes of valorization of food products.

Social implications

Economic development, demographic, and sociocultural changes in Latin America have promoted phenomena both in the polarization of livelihoods in their societies as well as changes of lifestyles in different social strata. Therefore, studies are needed on the effect of these changes not only in food consumption, but also on the symbolic elements when consumers choose their food.

Originality/value

In Mexico, the study of food consumption has followed diverse approaches, as a matter of policy, from an economic perspective, from anthropology, particularly focussed on indigenous cultures, from the nutrition and health field or emphasizing economic aspects. As in other developing countries, those works do not address the role of the consumer and their motivations, so that research that studies their motives in the choice of foods is needed.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 118 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 July 2018

Vasiliki Maria Panatsa and Georgios Malandrakis

This study aims to detect preschool and primary school student–teachers’ (STs) views about the social pillar of urban sustainability and particularly about the importance they…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to detect preschool and primary school student–teachers’ (STs) views about the social pillar of urban sustainability and particularly about the importance they attach to various social aspects of urban sustainability, and the perceived effectiveness of education in influencing these aspects.

Design/methodology/approach

A custom-designed questionnaire comprising eight literature-based social aspects of urban sustainability was developed and administered to 207 STs during the spring semester of 2015-2016, in the school of education, of a university located in northern Greece.

Findings

The highest levels of importance were attached to the aspect of “Health”, whereas aspects related to “Policy and Governance” were considered as the least important of all social aspects of urban sustainability. The aspect considered most easily influenced through education was that of “Human Relations”, in contrast to the aspect of “Housing” in which education was considered as the least effective. Also, STs considered every aspect of social urban sustainability to be more important than able to be influenced by education, revealing that they are somewhat sceptical of the effectiveness of education in this field.

Research limitations/implications

The participation of only student-teachers and the use of quantitative research tools are among the main limitation of the study. Future research should include teachers, both in-service and pre-service, from various disciplines and educational levels, and should employ a combination of quantitative with qualitative methods of analysis.

Practical implications

Insight into STs’ views can serve as a useful guidance for teacher education programs, providing information about necessary actions that have to be taken for the improvement of both pre- and in-service teacher educations.

Originality/value

There is a great lack of research around pre- and in-service teachers’ views about the importance of sustainability and the role of education in influencing it. Existing research is further scarcer when it comes to the investigation of the social pillar of urban sustainability, as literature usually focuses either on the environmental pillar of sustainability or on the concept of sustainable development in general.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 19 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2020

Melina Forooraghi, Elke Miedema, Nina Ryd and Holger Wallbaum

This paper aims to explore the literature on office design approaches (ODAs) in relation to employee health. The overall goal is to facilitate the practical use and theoretical…

1122

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the literature on office design approaches (ODAs) in relation to employee health. The overall goal is to facilitate the practical use and theoretical development of design approaches to healthy offices.

Design/methodology/approach

A scoping review of 7,432 papers collected from 4 electronic databases and 5 scientific journals resulted in the selection of 18 papers for content analysis.

Findings

Various ODAs relating to building design features and health were identified. The findings highlight challenges for this emergent field, including a paucity of literature on ODAs, a lack of definitions of health and healthy offices, ambiguous design strategies and a lack of a holistic ODA.

Originality/value

ODAs are potentially valuable resources but an under-considered topic for healthy office development. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first scoping review to map and compare different design approaches in the context of office design and its main contribution is in encouraging researchers and practitioners to bring a salutogenic and holistic perspective to their design approaches.

Details

Journal of Corporate Real Estate , vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-001X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 May 2013

Sugumar Mariappanadar

The purpose of this paper is to propose a costs framework for harm of human resource management (HRM) practices to develop the cost measures for the psychological, social and…

1267

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a costs framework for harm of human resource management (HRM) practices to develop the cost measures for the psychological, social and work‐related health aspects of harm of HRM practices on stakeholders (employees, their family and communities) so as to understand the implications of harm on the stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

Initially, the cost components of health care are used to theoretically develop a costs framework for harm of HRM practices to measure cost for each of the psychological and the social aspects of harm of HRM practices. Subsequently, employee relative deprivation, spill over and crossover effects of work on family are the theories used to develop the cost measure for the psychological and the social harm of HRM practices. Finally, the direct costs associated with the psychological and the social harm of HRM practices on stakeholders are valuated using published research.

Findings

The proposed costs framework of harm of HRM practices is a useful theoretical framework to identify, measure and valuate the cost of psychological and social harm of HRM practices on the stakeholders.

Practical implications

The costs component framework of harm of HRM practices can facilitate the capture of the associated costs of the harm of HRM practices so as to understand organisations' ethics of care for stakeholders.

Originality/value

The theoretical costs framework for harm of HRM practices provides a new technique to measure the cost of psychological and social harm of certain HRM practices imposed on the stakeholders so as to minimise the harm in the future.

Details

Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-4323

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 January 2009

Loreta Gustainienė and Auksė Endriulaitienė

The aim of this study is to examine gender and age correlates of job satisfaction and to test the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective mental and physical health

2851

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to examine gender and age correlates of job satisfaction and to test the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective mental and physical health in a sample of sales managers.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey of 200 employees holding the managers' positions (105 men and 95 women) in sales' organizations across the biggest Lithuania's cities were conducted. Job satisfaction was assessed by 20‐item Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire developed by Weiss, Davis, England and Lofquist in 1967. Subjective health was assessed by questions measuring subjective physical health, and the 12‐item General Health Questionnaire developed by Goldberg (1970). Correlation analysis was used to test the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective health.

Findings

The study results demonstrate that men sales managers, as compared to women, had higher scores on overall extrinsic job satisfaction. Younger men managers were less satisfied with their job in general and social service and achievement in particular (intrinsic satisfaction). Sales managers with higher education (n=139) were more satisfied with responsibility (3.64±0.75 vs 3.25±0.80, respectively) and creativity (3.76±0.87 vs 3.43±0.95, respectively) levels in organization, as compared to managers having other than higher education (n=61). No distinct gender‐related differences were seen regarding managers' subjective health. Our research supports general findings in literature, relating lower job satisfaction scores with worse health. Worse subjective mental health was related to dissatisfaction with independence, variety, social status, ability utilization, and working conditions. Worse subjective mental health among women managers was related to dissatisfaction with independence, activity, variety, social status, moral values, and compensation, and satisfaction with authority level. Women sales managers, unlike men managers, with better subjective physical health were more satisfied with variety, moral values, social service, and responsibility.

Research limitations/implications

Nonprobability sampling does not allow larger generalizations. Small sample size restricted the analysis of the constructs more deeply. Groups, used for data analysis, were not adjusted by age, education, work experience, etc. Methods used in the study are still under adaptation. Reporting bias because of social desirability effects was not studied in this research as well.

Practical implications

Job satisfaction plays an important role in peoples' lives and is an important research topic of human resource management having both theoretical and practical implications. Understanding the impact of job facets upon satisfaction with work can initiate positive changes in organizations, which could improve working conditions of employees, resulting in lower turnover, absenteeism, and higher organizational commitment – healthy workers in a healthy organization.

Originality/value

The research contributes to job satisfaction literature by providing empirical findings regarding the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective health.

Details

Baltic Journal of Management, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5265

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 February 2024

Júlia Barros dos Santos, Paulo Marcelo Macedo Nascimento and Josiane Palma Lima

Identifying factors that impact workers’ health and performance is extremely important for companies and, in particular, for companies in the construction sector. Despite the…

Abstract

Purpose

Identifying factors that impact workers’ health and performance is extremely important for companies and, in particular, for companies in the construction sector. Despite the evidence, knowledge about the relationship between commuting, health and worker performance is still limited. More specifically on the relationship with work engagement, studies focus on work-related aspects, neglecting individual and behavioral factors. This study aims to verify the relationship between the commuting patterns of workers, their health and their work engagement in a civil construction company located in São José dos Campos, Brazil.

Design/methodology/approach

A structured questionnaire was applied to 43 civil construction workers. The participants’ physical and mental health was evaluated using the 12-item short-form health survey. Employees’ work engagement was assessed through the UWES-17 scale. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the relationship between physical and mental health, engagement and commuting to work.

Findings

The result corroborated the literature showing that the use of active transport positively influenced the mental health of construction workers and negatively affected those who use individual motorized transport. People working from home had the lowest values for total engagement, vigor and dedication.

Originality/value

This study provides evidence and a prior understanding of this relationship, serving as a basis for decision-making processes in the area of transport that contribute to the health and better functioning of companies in the construction sector. This work also contributes to the state of the art on the relationship between commuting, health and worker engagement.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology , vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 110000