Search results
1 – 10 of 72Didier Marquis, Felipe Reinoso Carvalho and Gaëlle Pantin-Sohier
Aversion linked to disgust and neophobia is the primary reason for human reluctance towards edible insects as a sustainable food source. Stimulating positive emotions may overcome…
Abstract
Purpose
Aversion linked to disgust and neophobia is the primary reason for human reluctance towards edible insects as a sustainable food source. Stimulating positive emotions may overcome these mental barriers. Cute visuals and claims on product packaging can trigger positive affective responses in consumers whilst modulating taste expectations. This study investigated how these elements influence emotions, perceptions and attitudes towards insect-based foods.
Design/methodology/approach
An online cross-cultural study involving French (n = 747) and Colombian (n = 695) consumers was conducted using two insect-based products: chips (hedonic) and bread (functional). Ten visual packaging variations were created per product, emphasising palatability, sustainability, nutrition and popularity (plus a control: no claim) affixed to the image of a cute anthropomorphic cricket or its silhouette. Visual appreciation and associations were assessed along with the participants' degree of food variety seeking, familiarity with entomophagy and openness to consuming edible insects.
Findings
Differences were reported in emotions, perceptions and attitudes based on the combination of packaging elements, product type and consumer segments. The findings suggest that food marketers should use cute insect depictions linked to palatability-focussed claims to alleviate young French adults' reluctance towards insect-based foods (IFs). Colombians responded better to pro-social claims and neutrally to cuteness.
Practical implications
The results should be valuable to stakeholders seeking to enhance food marketing strategies related to IFs amongst target consumer segments.
Originality/value
This study is the first to assess how baby schema cuteness induces emotional changes towards IFs and how it affects perceptions and attitudes amongst distinct populations and age segments.
Details
Keywords
Gomaa Abdel-Maksoud, Hanaa Nasr, Sayed Hussein Samaha and Mahmoud Saad ELdeen Kassem
This study aims to evaluate the state of preservation of one of the most famous manuscripts dated back to the 15th century using some analytical techniques to identify the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the state of preservation of one of the most famous manuscripts dated back to the 15th century using some analytical techniques to identify the manuscript components, explain its deterioration mechanisms and produce some solutions for conservation processes in future studies.
Design/methodology/approach
The analytical techniques used were visual assessment, digital microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) with EDX, pH measurement, attenuated total reflection – Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR/FTIR) and cellulose crystallinity.
Findings
Stains, missed parts and scratching were the most common aspects of deterioration. Some insects were observed by digital microscope. The SEM showed that linen fibers and goat skin were used to manufacture paper sheets and leather binding. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis proved that niobium and tantalum were added during the manufacture of paper sheets. Carbon black ink was the main writing material. The other pigments used were cinnabar in red ink, gold color from brass and blue color from lapis lazuli. FTIR analysis proved that some chemical changes were noticed. Low crystallinity of the historical paper was obtained. There was a reduction in the pH value of the historical bookbinding.
Originality/value
The importance of the analytical techniques used to detect the main components, forms and mechanism of deterioration of the studied manuscript. The elements of niobium and tantalum were added to paper sheets, which protected them from deterioration. The insects such as house flies and Sitophilus granarius were found in the manuscripts.
Details
Keywords
Miller Williams Appau, Elvis Attakora-Amaniampong and Iruka Chijindu Anugwo
Providing student housing designed to support students living with a disability is a global challenge. This study assesses buildings' physical health condition systems and drivers…
Abstract
Purpose
Providing student housing designed to support students living with a disability is a global challenge. This study assesses buildings' physical health condition systems and drivers of physical health condition effects on students living with disability (SWD) in purpose-built university housing in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used quantitative design and methods based on the theory of supportive design premises. Using the partial least square structural equation model, a survey of 301 students living with a physical disability, mild visual disability and mild hearing disability was collected in 225 student housings.
Findings
The study found that insect control and cleaning services are a priority in off-campus building design and management and directly positively affected the sense of control and physical health of SWD. The nature of lightning systems, noise and thermal comfort directly negatively affected SWD disability learning and discomfort.
Practical implications
Reviewing and enforcing student housing design drawings at the preliminary development stage by university management is critical. More broadly, physical health systems that control cleaning, noise and thermal comfort are essential for SWD health in student housing.
Originality/value
Studies on all-inclusive building designs have consistently focused on lecture theaters and libraries with limited attention on the physical health condition systems in student housing that support the quality healthcare of university campuses. Research on physical health condition systems in student housing is significant for all-inclusiveness and student housing management.
Details
Keywords
In this critical decade and century of climate chaos, ecocide and interconnected crises, a public policy approach is needed based on the primacy of compassionate action and…
Abstract
In this critical decade and century of climate chaos, ecocide and interconnected crises, a public policy approach is needed based on the primacy of compassionate action and ecological regeneration. Ecological regeneration focuses on the health of the Earth's planetary systems of water, soil, air, minerals, microbes, plants, insects and animals. Compassionate action is concerned with relieving the suffering and enhancing the happiness of the entire human population, present and future. An integral process is needed that brings these two priority concerns into the creation of new individual mindsets and behaviours and collective cultures and policies. The innovative leadership methods needed to realize these changes include mindfulness taught by Thich Nhat Hanh, group facilitation as formulated by the Institute of Cultural Affairs in its Technology of Participation (ToP), social artistry as developed by Jean Houston and four-quadrant thinking, planning and acting as expounded by Ken Wilber in his Integral Quadrants.
In this chapter, we will first identify some of the dimensions of humanity's systemic suffering. Next, we will review how the principles and practices of engaged Buddhism and compassionate action might help relieve that suffering. Then, we will explore some of the visions, obstacles, strategies and actions of compassionate policies that can help relieve systemic suffering.
Details
Keywords
Witchcraft in Honduras is an unprotected marginalized woman’s efforts to gain social, economic, and political power through an informal economy by utilizing the cultural belief in…
Abstract
Witchcraft in Honduras is an unprotected marginalized woman’s efforts to gain social, economic, and political power through an informal economy by utilizing the cultural belief in the witches’ supernatural power. The Honduran post-colonial Latin American culture allows for a persistent informal economy, in part, based on the commoditization of witchcraft and exorcism. The case study provides a specific example through ethnographic interviews of this under-researched informal economy driven by fear and economic desperation. Further research and analysis of these poorly understood and rarely recorded modern phenomena and the associated informal economy is needed.
Details
Keywords
How rural libraries influence their communities’ development is shown in a number of studies, and many of those rural libraries have focused on their roles in increasing the…
Abstract
How rural libraries influence their communities’ development is shown in a number of studies, and many of those rural libraries have focused on their roles in increasing the accessibility of technology for their local community. However, few focused on how rural libraries are immersed in their surrounding natural environment to empower the community members’ learning about and with nature. Also, there have been rare examples of rural libraries that support not only their local community but also another country’s sustainable development. The Baramsup Picturebook Library, located in a rural area in South Korea, is an exemplary case because it has provided a large range of programming and services for diverse groups of people (i.e., from children to older adults) from diverse levels of communities – from the local communities around the library to the global communities of a developing country, Laos. Through qualitative content analysis of an interview with the library’s director as well as their official blog and articles and reports from magazines, this chapter presents a case study of this library. The library’s services and programs are demonstrated under three themes: (1) rural, local communities: cultivating the book culture; (2) local and regional communities: empowering children’s ecological sensitivity; (3) with global communities: building school libraries for children in Laos. This case study of the Baramsup Picturebook Library provides conceptual and practical insights into how rural and small libraries initiate changes in people and communities, thereby impacting sustainable social changes in larger communities.
Details
Keywords
Yuan Li and Jacqueline Eastman
Cute products have found market success. The literature has identified various factors of cuteness, but the effect of size is under-addressed. This study aims to investigate…
Abstract
Purpose
Cute products have found market success. The literature has identified various factors of cuteness, but the effect of size is under-addressed. This study aims to investigate whether and how size perception influences consumers’ cuteness perception.
Design/methodology/approach
In three experiments, size was manipulated in terms of visual cue, product description and product name to determine its impact on cuteness perception.
Findings
The results of the three experiments demonstrate that a size cue of smallness can heighten consumers’ perception of product cuteness. The first two studies provided converging evidence for the main hypothesis that smaller objects are evaluated as cuter. Study 3 not only replicated the findings of the first two studies but also revealed that vulnerability acts as the underlying process for the smallness-cuteness relationship. Study 3 also showed that the purchase likelihood for an extended product warranty is higher in the small condition compared to the control condition.
Research limitations/implications
While the findings were robust across product types and size manipulations, possible boundary conditions related to product types or individual characteristics were not tested.
Practical implications
The findings suggest how brand managers can use size perceptions to influence consumers’ perceptions of the cuteness of their products and brands.
Originality/value
The findings inform brand managers about the nuances of size cues that may affect how customers perceive their products and identify a more generally applicable cuteness factor that may have downstream implications for marketing practitioners.
Details