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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 25 January 2024

João M.M. Lopes, Sofia Gomes and Tiago Trancoso

Green consumption is fundamental to sustainable development, as it involves adopting practices and technologies that reduce the environmental impact of human activities. This…

Abstract

Purpose

Green consumption is fundamental to sustainable development, as it involves adopting practices and technologies that reduce the environmental impact of human activities. This study aims to analyze the influence of consumers’ green orientation on their environmental concerns and green purchase decisions. Furthermore, the study investigates the mediating role of consumers’ environmental concerns in the relationship between pro-sustainable orientation and green purchase decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a quantitative methodology, applying the partial least squares method to a sample of 927 Portuguese consumers of green products. The sample was collected through an online survey.

Findings

Perceived benefits and perceived quality of products play a positive and significant role in influencing green behavior, especially when consumers are endowed with greater environmental concerns. In addition, consumers’ awareness of the prices of green products and their expectations regarding the future benefits of sustainable consumption positively impact green consumption behavior, further intensifying their environmental concerns.

Practical implications

According to the present findings, companies should adopt a holistic and integrated approach to promote green consumption. This means creating premium eco-friendly products, communicating their benefits, addressing the cost factor, emphasizing the future impact of eco-friendly options and raising consumers’ environmental awareness.

Social implications

It is critical that environmental education is a priority in schools and that there are political incentives for green behaviors. In addition, media campaigns can be an important tool to raise awareness in society.

Originality/value

The results of this study provide important insights for companies on consumer engagement in the circular economy. Deepening knowledge of the antecedents of consumers’ environmental concerns contributes to a deeper understanding of green purchasing decision behavior, allowing companies to support new business strategies.

Details

Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8021

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 February 2024

Rafael Borim-de-Souza, Yasmin Shawani Fernandes, Pablo Henrique Paschoal Capucho, Bárbara Galleli and João Gabriel Dias dos Santos

This paper aims to analyze what Samarco and Brazilian magazines speak and say about Mariana’s environmental crime. Discover their doxa in this subject. Interpret the speakings…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze what Samarco and Brazilian magazines speak and say about Mariana’s environmental crime. Discover their doxa in this subject. Interpret the speakings, sayings and doxas through the theories of the treadmills of production, crime and law.

Design/methodology/approach

It is a qualitative and documental research and a narrative analysis. Regarding the documents: 45 were from public authorities, 14 from Samarco Mineração S.A. and 73 from Brazilian magazines. Theoretically, the authors resorted to Bourdieusian sociology (speaking, saying and doxa) and the treadmills of production, crime and law theories.

Findings

Samarco: speaking – mission statements; saying – detailed information and economic and financial concerns; doxa – assistance discourse. Brazilian magazines: speaking – external agents; saying – agreements; doxa – attribution, aggravations, historical facts, impacts and protests.

Research limitations/implications

The absence of discussions that addressed this fatality, with its respective consequences, from an agenda that exposed and denounced how it exacerbated race, class and gender inequalities.

Practical implications

Regarding Mariana’s environmental crime: Samarco Mineração S.A. speaks and says through the treadmill of production theory and supports its doxa through the treadmill of crime theory, and Brazilian magazines speak and say through the treadmill of law theory and support their doxa through the treadmill of crime theory.

Social implications

To provoke reflections on the relationship between the mining companies and the communities where they settle to develop their productive activities.

Originality/value

Concerning environmental crime in perspective, submit it to a theoretical interpretation based on sociological references, approach it in a debate linked to environmental criminology, and describe it through narratives exposed by the guilty company and by Brazilian magazines with high circulation.

Details

Safer Communities, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-8043

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 15 December 2022

Norberto Santos, Claudete Oliveira Moreira and Luís Silveira

Tourism in Coimbra today is influenced by the fact that the Univer(s)city was distinguished as a World Heritage Site in 2013. The number of visits has grown very significantly in…

Abstract

Purpose

Tourism in Coimbra today is influenced by the fact that the Univer(s)city was distinguished as a World Heritage Site in 2013. The number of visits has grown very significantly in recent years, but the diversification of the tourist offer is still weak and unable to take advantage of existing resources. This paper aims to present genealogy tourism as an alternative urban cultural tourism in Coimbra.

Design/methodology/approach

Methodology involved mapping the Jewish culture elements in the city of Coimbra, and a route was outlined and proposed.

Findings

Genealogy tourism resources are identified in the historic centre of the city. These alternative spaces need urban rehabilitation and (re)functionalisation, which allowed the authors to rethink tourism in Coimbra. They are the motivation to visit for all urban cultural tourists, especially Israelis/Jews, and provide contact with places where the experiences of ancestors combine with the history and memory of places, with recent discoveries and the elements of Jewish culture in the city.

Originality/value

It is concluded that the quantity, diversity, authenticity and singularity of the heritage resources that bear witness to the Jewish presence in Coimbra are sufficient assets to create a route, to enrich the tourist experience in the city and to include the destination in the Sephardic routes.

Details

International Journal of Tourism Cities, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-5607

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 January 2024

Caroline Cipolatto Ferrão, Jorge André Ribas Moraes, Leandro Pinto Fava, João Carlos Furtado, Enio Machado, Adriane Rodrigues and Miguel Afonso Sellitto

The purpose of this study is to formulate an algorithm designed to discern the optimal routes for efficient municipal solid waste (MSW) collection.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to formulate an algorithm designed to discern the optimal routes for efficient municipal solid waste (MSW) collection.

Design/methodology/approach

The research method is simulation. The proposed algorithm combines heuristics derived from the constructive genetic algorithm (CGA) and tabu search (TS). The algorithm is applied in a municipality located at Southern Brazil, with 40,000 inhabitants, circa.

Findings

The implementation achieved a remarkable 25.44% reduction in daily mileage of the vehicles, resulting in savings of 150.80 km/month and 1,809.60 km/year. Additionally, it reduced greenhouse gas emissions (including fossil CO2, CH4, N2O, total CO2e and biogenic CO2) by an average of 26.15%. Moreover, it saved 39 min of daily working time.

Research limitations/implications

Further research should thoroughly analyze the feasibility of decision-making regarding planning, scheduling and scaling municipal services using digital technology.

Practical implications

The municipality now has a tool to improve public management, mainly related with municipal solid waste. The municipality reduced the cost of public management of municipal solid waste, redirecting funds to other priorities, such as public health and education.

Originality/value

The study integrates MSW collection service with an online platform based on Google MapsTM. The advantages of employing geographical information systems are agility, low cost, adaptation to changes and accuracy.

Details

Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2024

Diana Oliveira, Helena Alvelos and Maria J. Rosa

Quality 4.0 is being presented as the new stage of quality development. However, its overlying concept and rationale are still hard to define. To better understand what different…

Abstract

Purpose

Quality 4.0 is being presented as the new stage of quality development. However, its overlying concept and rationale are still hard to define. To better understand what different authors and studies advocate being Quality 4.0, a systematic literature review was undertaken on the topic. This paper presents the results of such review, providing some avenues for further research on quality management.

Design/methodology/approach

The documents for the systematic literature review have been searched on the Scopus database, using the search equation: [TITLE-ABS-KEY (“Quality 4.0”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (Quality Management” AND (“Industry 4.0” OR “Fourth Industr*” OR i4.0))]. Documents were filtered by language and by type. Of the 367 documents identified, 146 were submitted to exploratory content analysis.

Findings

The analyzed documents essentially provide theoretical discussions on what Quality 4.0 is or should be. Five categories have emerged from the content analysis undertaken: Industry 4.0 and the Rise of a New Approach to Quality; Motivations, Readiness Factors and Barriers to a Quality 4.0 Approach; Digital Quality Management Systems; Combination of Quality Tools and Lean Methodologies and Quality 4.0 Professionals.

Research limitations/implications

It was hard to find studies reporting how quality is actually being managed in organizations that already operate in the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Answers could not be found to questions regarding actual practices, methodologies and tools being used in Quality 4.0 approaches. However, the research undertaken allowed to identify in the literature different ways of conceptualizing and analyzing Quality 4.0, opening up avenues for further research on quality management in the Industry 4.0 era.

Originality/value

This paper offers a broad look at how quality management is changing in response to the affirmation of the Industry 4.0 paradigm.

Details

The TQM Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2731

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 March 2024

João Eduardo Sampaio Brasil, Fabio Antonio Sartori Piran, Daniel Pacheco Lacerda, Maria Isabel Wolf Morandi, Debora Oliveira da Silva and Miguel Afonso Sellitto

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of a Brazilian steelmaking company’s reheating process of the hot rolling mill.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of a Brazilian steelmaking company’s reheating process of the hot rolling mill.

Design/methodology/approach

The research method is a quantitative modeling. The main research techniques are data envelopment analysis, TOBIT regression and simulation supported by artificial neural networks. The model’s input and output variables consist of the average billet weight, number of billets processed in a batch, gas consumption, thermal efficiency, backlog and production yield within a specific period. The analysis spans 20 months.

Findings

The key findings include an average current efficiency of 81%, identification of influential variables (average billet weight, billet count and gas consumption) and simulated analysis. Among the simulated scenarios, the most promising achieved an average efficiency of 95% through increased equipment availability and billet size.

Practical implications

Additional favorable simulated scenarios entail the utilization of higher pre-reheating temperatures for cold billets, representing a large amount of savings in gas consumption and a reduction in CO2 emissions.

Originality/value

This study’s primary innovation lies in providing steelmaking practitioners with a systematic approach to evaluating and enhancing the efficiency of reheating processes.

Details

Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 March 2024

Zeyu Xing, Tachia Chin, Jing Huang, Mirko Perano and Valerio Temperini

The ongoing paradigm shift in the energy sector holds paramount implications for the realization of the sustainable development goals, encompassing critical domains such as…

Abstract

Purpose

The ongoing paradigm shift in the energy sector holds paramount implications for the realization of the sustainable development goals, encompassing critical domains such as resource optimization, environmental stewardship and workforce opportunities. Concurrently, this transformative trajectory within the power sector possesses a dual-edged nature; it may ameliorate certain challenges while accentuating others. In light of the burgeoning research stream on open innovation, this study aims to examine the intricate dynamics of knowledge-based industry-university-research networking, with an overarching objective to elucidate and calibrate the equilibrium of ambidextrous innovation within power systems.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors scrutinize the role of different innovation organizations in three innovation models: ambidextrous, exploitative and exploratory, and use a multiobjective decision analysis method-entropy weight TOPSIS. The research was conducted within the sphere of the power industry, and the authors mined data from the widely used PatSnap database.

Findings

Results show that the breadth of knowledge search and the strength of an organization’s direct relationships are crucial for ambidextrous innovation, with research institutions having the highest impact. In contrast, for exploitative innovation, depth of knowledge search, the number of R&D patents and the number of innovative products are paramount, with universities playing the most significant role. For exploratory innovation, the depth of knowledge search and the quality of two-mode network relations are vital, with research institutions yielding the best effect. Regional analysis reveals Beijing as the primary hub for ambidextrous and exploratory innovation organizations, while Jiangsu leads for exploitative innovation.

Practical implications

The study offers valuable implications to cope with the dynamic state of ambidextrous innovation performance of the entire power system. In light of the findings, the dynamic state of ambidextrous innovation performance within the power system can be adeptly managed. By emphasizing a balance between exploratory and exploitative strategies, stakeholders are better positioned to respond to evolving challenges and opportunities. Thus, the study offers pivotal guidance to ensure sustained adaptability and growth in the power sector’s innovation landscape.

Originality/value

The primary originality is to extend and refine the theoretical understanding of ambidextrous innovation within power systems. By integrating several theoretical frameworks, including social network theory, knowledge-based theory and resource-based theory, the authors enrich the theoretical landscape of power system ambidextrous innovation. Also, this inclusive examination of two-mode network structures, including the interplay between knowledge and cooperation networks, unveils the intricate interdependencies between these networks and the ambidextrous innovation of power systems. This approach significantly widens the theoretical parameters of innovation network research.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

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