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This chapter uses quarterly county-level data from 2006 to 2014 to examine the direction of causality in the relationship between per capita opioid prescription rates and employment-to-population ratios. We first estimate models of the effect of per capita opioid prescription rates on employment-to-population ratios, instrumenting opioid prescriptions for younger ages using opioid prescriptions to the elderly. We find that the estimated effect of opioids on employment-to-population ratios is positive but small for women, while there is no relationship for men. We then estimate models of the effect of employment-to-population ratios on opioid prescription rates using a shift-share instrument and find ambiguous results. Overall, our findings suggest that there is no simple causal relationship between economic conditions and the abuse of opioids. Therefore, while improving economic conditions in depressed areas is desirable for many reasons, it is unlikely on its own to curb the opioid epidemic.

This study aims to evaluate the factors influencing certain negative feelings, such as social isolation disorder and loneliness, on consumers’ intentions to travel for tourism.

This quantitative research used a survey questionnaire composed of eight interval evaluation questions and six demographic variables for the data collection. A total of 290 usable responses were gathered from social networks. The evaluation of the Measurement Model adjustment and the verification of the research hypothesis was done by a structural equations modeling.

The results reveal that social isolation is not a monolithic construction; instead of that, it is a construct formed by two interrelated factors, the social isolation itself, involving the individual and her/his personality, and the social integration, a factor of situational order, referring to the relations of the individual with his reference group. Factors are influenced by the ease/difficulty of the individual, in cultivating relationships with other people and significantly influence the intention to travel for tourism.

The study contributes to tourism management by breaking the phenomenon down into two dimensions and evaluating the impact of each of them on consumer attitudes, which should be very useful for the segmentation and positioning of tourism products.

Results support the evidence reported by Murphy, who found that people tend to want to make friends, but that this tendency did not appear to be evident about travel and supported Hawthorne’s findings, that the more socially isolated people are, the less they will want to interact with others, demonstrating that social isolation is indeed an inhibitor of social interaction.

Robotics and automation are successful in construction, health and safety, but costs and expertise hinder their use in developing nations. This study examined mobile apps as a more accessible and affordable alternative.

This descriptive study explored the use of mobile apps in construction, health and safety management. It used a literature review to identify their availability, accessibility, and capabilities. The study consisted of four five stages: searching for relevant apps, selecting them based on versatility, examining their specific functions, removing untested apps and discussing their functions based on empirical studies.

A comprehensive literature review identified 35 mobile apps that are relevant to health and safety management during construction. After rigorous analysis, eight apps were selected for further study based on their relevance, user friendliness and compliance with safety standards. These apps collectively serve 28 distinct functions, including first-aid training and administration, safety compliance and danger awareness, safety education and training, hazard detection and warnings.

This study suggests that mobile apps can provide a cost-effective and readily accessible alternative to robotics and automation in health and safety management in construction. Further research is needed to accurately assess the efficacy of these apps in real-world conditions.

This study explored the use of apps in health and safety management, highlighting their diverse capabilities and providing a framework for project managers, contractors and safety officers to select suitable apps.

This investigation is guided by the following research questions: employing Hart and Milstein’s (2003) Sustainable Value Framework as analytic tool, what is the extent of the integration of sustainability focused strategies by Asian-based companies in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives? How can the ethics of responsibility of Hans Jonas help rethink the current understanding and doing of CSR in Asia towards achieving a truly responsible and sustainable corporate identity?

This research uses Centering Resonance Analysis (CRA), which is a relatively sophisticated form of content analysis methodology suitable for studying formal written communication such as the published CSR reports. To accomplish the complex task of CRA, the Crawdad Text Analysis System 1.2 is used. The Crawdad Text Analysis Software is an analytical software package developed specifically to perform CRA.

Using the Hart and Milstein Sustainable Value Framework as a diagnostic tool, the empirical findings reveal that Asian-based companies’ CSR projects exhibit a very low degree of integration of sustainability strategies. This paper proposes a theoretical process model that explains the planned development of CSR initiatives – through a CSR tract elucidated as corporate sustainability and responsibility – a holistic management approach aimed at providing impetus for companies in Asia to pursue the goal of becoming responsible and sustainable companies. It reconciles the concepts of CSR and corporate sustainability using Hans Jonas’ ethics of responsibility as the philosophical footing.

The primary objective of this study, therefore, is to examine how companies located in Asia embrace sustainability in their CSR engagement. It stems back to the fundamental question, “How do companies in Asia manage their CSR” – i.e. as a strategic response to changing circumstances and new corporate challenges? This question drives this study’s search for empirically based conclusions on current CSR program thrusts and the advancement of sustainability strategies of firms operating in Asia.

Building upon the empirical results gained from the above objective is the equally important goal of the study to advance Hans Jonas’ ethics of responsibility as a basis for a blueprint to a revitalized view of CSR amongst Asian firms in their pursuit to become responsible and sustainable corporations. The integration of philosophical theory adds foundational depth to the study.

Building upon the empirical results gained from the above objective is the equally important goal of the study to advance Hans Jonas’ ethics of responsibility as a basis for a blueprint to a revitalized view of CSR among Asian firms in their pursuit to become responsible and sustainable corporations. The integration of philosophical theory adds foundational depth to the study.

This multidisciplinary study seeks to contribute to CSR literature in two ways. First, it highlights the significance of the need for empirical descriptions of firm-level CSR structures and practices that may give a more thorough account of the overall quality of business involvement of Asian-based firms on sustainability issues. Second, this investigation underscores the need for conceptual robustness to guide CSR initiatives undertaken by firms within a sustainability paradigm. A grounded theoretical model is henceforth presented in this paper to enrich the discussion on the strategic management of ecological responsibility through a holistic approach to CSR.

This paper aims to propose a framework model of belief consistency on the confirmatory bias theory, trying to explore the interactions between cues of credence-label structure and different controversial types of health foods, as well as the intermediary mechanism of belief consistency.

This paper presents a conceptual framework of belief consistency based on confirmation bias theory. The interactions between cues of credence-label structure and different controversial types of health foods, as well as the intermediary mechanism of belief consistency.

Consumers’ willingness to purchase varies under interactions between cues of credence-label structure (product-level and ingredient-level credence-label cues) and different controversial types of health foods (noncontroversial health foods and controversial health foods). In the consumption context of noncontroversial health foods, the presence of product-level credence-label cues causes confirmation bias, greater perception of health belief consistency and higher willingness to purchase healthy foods. In the consumption context of controversial health foods, the presence of ingredient-level credence-label cues results in the prevention of confirmation bias, lower perception of unhealthy belief consistency and higher willingness to purchase health foods.

This paper offers a significant tool for researchers to enrich relevant theories in the field of the conceptual framework of cues of credence-label structure. It also discusses practical implications for enterprise marketing and for the health and welfare of consumers.

Logistical facility location decisions can make a crucial difference in the success or failure of a company. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have recently become a very popular decision support system to help deal with facility location problems. However, until recently, GIS methodologies have not been fully embraced as a way to deal with new facility location problems in business logistics. This research makes a framework for categorizing empirical facility location problems based on the intensity of the involvement of GIS methodologies in decision making. This framework was built by analyzing facility location models and GIS methodologies. The research results revealed the depth of the embracement of GIS methodologies in logistics for determining new facility location decisions. In the new facility location decisions, spatial data inputs are almost always coupled with the visualization of the problems and solutions. However, the usage of GIS capability solely (i.e. suitability analysis) for problem solving has not been embraced at the same level. In most cases, the suitability analysis is used together with special optimization models for choosing among the multiple alternatives.

Previous literature has reported inconsistent findings regarding the impact of uncertainty avoidance (UA) on intercultural experiences. This includes positive, negative and insignificant associations between UA on the one hand and cosmopolitanism or comfort with intercultural service encounters (ICSE) on the other hand. The purpose of this paper is to participate in addressing these contradictions. More specifically, this study examines how UA affects expatriate cosmopolitanism as well as approach of service environments patronized by local customers by introducing two moderators: national identification and perceived discrimination.

The authors propose a conceptual model based on the results of a literature review. The authors test it with survey data collected from Indian expatriates (n=341) living in Qatar, using structural equation modeling.

The results corroborate the moderating role of national identification. Under low identification, expatriate consumers engage in a prospective form of uncertainty management, leading them to adopt a more cosmopolitan stance. Under high identification, their uncertainty plays an inhibitory role, reducing their cosmopolitanism and negatively affecting their approach of service places patronized by local consumers. Perceived discrimination did not moderate the impact of UA as expected on either cosmopolitanism or approach.

This paper extends the prior research on UA by testing how two moderators could activate either a prospective or an inhibitory form of uncertainty. It also contributes to research on ICSE, by focusing on customer-to-customer interactions in a multicultural marketplace.

The field of service research has devoted considerable attention to the customer’s role as value creator, but there is a lack of research on understanding customers’ psychological processes in value creation. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of psychological distance in value-creation processes. Psychological distance is the customer’s perceived distance from service interactions in terms of spatial distance, temporal distance, social distance and hypothetical distance. Critically, psychological distance influences cognitive processes and can influence how customers think and feel about the service interaction. An appreciation of psychological distance within service contexts can help managers to tailor the interaction in order to facilitate value creation.

In this conceptual paper, the authors build on psychology research and service research to develop seven propositions that explore how psychological distance can operate within service interactions and how this might influence value creation.

The authors divide the propositions into three sections. The first concerns how perceived psychological distance from the service interaction can act as a barrier to entering a service interaction. In particular, the authors consider the influence of social distance and spatial distance within the context of service interactions. The second section examines how psychological distance to the expected point of service use can influence how customers construe the service and the value creation. The third aspect addresses customer-specific characteristics that can impact on value creation by influencing perceived psychological distance toward the service.

Existing research suggests that customers ultimately decide if value is created in the interaction. This paper proposes that perceived psychological distance influences customers’ value creation by examining the service interaction from the customer perspective. The authors suggest that complex context-specific features of the service interaction can be understood by considering psychological distance from the service interaction and from the service itself and evaluating how this impacts on value-creation processes.

From a practical point of view, the paper helps managers to better understand how to manage the service interaction with customers by identifying psychological antecedents of customer value creation.

The paper introduces the notion of psychological distance into service research about value, proposing that the customer’s role in creating value in interactions with the service provider is influenced by the psychological distance to the interaction and to the service offered in this interaction.