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This paper aims to consider the potential implications of the layering of regulation in relation to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) at the borders between the nations of the UK.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to consider the potential implications of the layering of regulation in relation to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) at the borders between the nations of the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a qualitative research method grounded in particular in legal geography to examine the existing approaches to regulating hydraulic fracturing and identify the places and their features that are constructed as a result of their intersection at the borders of the nations comprising the UK.
Findings
The current regulatory framework concerning hydraulic fracturing risks restricts the places in which the practice can occur in such a manner as to potentially cause greater environmental harm should the process be used. The regulations governing the process are not aligned in relation to the surface and subsurface aspects of the process to enable their management, once operational, as a singularly constructed place of extraction. Strong regulation at the surface can have the effect of influencing placement of the site only in relation to the place at which the resource sought reaches the surface, whilst having little to no impact on the environmental harms, which will result at the subsurface or relative to other potential surface site positions, and potentially even increasing them.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is limited by uncertainty as to the future use of hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and gas within the UK. The issues raised within it would also be applicable to other extractive industries where a surface site might be placed within a radius of the subsurface point of extraction, rather than having to be located at a fixed point relative to that in the subsurface. This paper therefore raises concerns that might be explored more generally in relation to the regulation of the place of resource extraction, particularly at legal borders between jurisdictions, and the impact of regulation, which does not account for the misalignment of regulation of spaces above and below the surface that form a single place at which extraction occurs.
Social implications
This paper considers the potential impacts of misaligned positions held by nations in the UK in relation to environmentally harmful practices undertaken by extractive industries, which are highlighted by an analysis of the extant regulatory framework for hydraulic fracturing.
Originality/value
Whilst the potential for cross internal border extraction of gas within the UK via hydraulic fracturing and the regulatory consequences of this has been highlighted in academic literature, this paper examines the implications of regulation for the least environmentally harmful placement of the process.
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Kota Suzuki, Yuhei Oi, Shota Mitsuhashi, Shogo Hirata and Takaaki Goto
This study aims to examine the relationship between teacher ideals and attitudes toward peers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among teacher college students, and the effect of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between teacher ideals and attitudes toward peers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among teacher college students, and the effect of knowledge of ASD identification on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a quantitative approach and included 341 teacher college students. A vignette was used to assess social and professional attitudes toward peers with ASD. The participants were divided into identification and nonidentification groups based on how accurately they identified the peer depicted in the vignette as having ASD. A teacher ideals questionnaire consisting of two subscales indicating different ideal teachers − a dedicated/engaging teacher (e.g. a teacher who can work with enthusiasm) and a skillful teacher (e.g. a teacher who is knowledgeable) − was developed and administered to evaluate the participants’ teacher ideals and self-perceptions of a teacher.
Findings
In the nonidentification group, ideals of a skillful teacher were significantly correlated with social attitudes toward peers with ASD. The identification group exhibited no significant correlations between ideals and social attitudes. Furthermore, the self-perceptions of being a dedicated/engaging teacher was significantly correlated with professional attitudes toward peers with ASD in the identification group.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the relationship between teacher ideals and attitudes toward peers with ASD. Teacher ideals were related to negative social attitudes toward peers with ASD. While knowledge of ASD identification weakens this relationship, it may drive the relationship between self-perceptions of a teacher and professional attitudes toward peers with ASD. Therefore, ASD education is important for reducing the stigma toward ASD in teacher education.
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Joon Hye Han, Anthony Grimes and Gary Davies
The main purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature concerned with improving the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) advertising by considering…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature concerned with improving the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) advertising by considering how such ads are pre-tested.
Design/methodology/approach
Two similar video ads were produced: one using an informative appeal and the other using an emotional appeal. The latter appeal is more widely used by practitioners. Each ad was designed to promote the CSR credentials of the same (fictitious) company. A web-based experiment (n = 244) was used to test both using two types of measure: first attitude towards the company (such as its image) and second the feelings evoked by the ad.
Findings
As predicted from theory, the ads promoted similar evaluations of the company but the evaluations measured by evoked feelings differed significantly. The information-based ad evoked more positive emotions, less negative emotions and more positive attitudes toward the ad. If the ads had been pretested using only measures of evoked feelings, the more emotive treatment would have been rejected.
Practical implications
The study shows why CSR ads should be pretested and why such tests should include multiple measures. It also illustrates how informative CSR video ads can be better received but how both informative and emotional appeals can be used when communicating a company's CSR.
Originality/value
There is little research relevant to the pretesting of ads designed to communicate a company's CSR. Signaling theory can help explain why comparable (CSR) video ads can be evaluated as similar in their effect on company related evaluations.
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How can large international financial firms go green in authentic ways? What enhances ‘Net Zero action’? Changes in global banks, fund managers, and insurance firms are at the…
Abstract
How can large international financial firms go green in authentic ways? What enhances ‘Net Zero action’? Changes in global banks, fund managers, and insurance firms are at the heart of green finance. External change pressures – combined with problematic firm predispositions – exacerbate barriers to change and promote scepticism about authentic Net Zero change. Field research reveals main elements, connections, and interactions of this question by considering financial firms as complex socio-technical systems (Mitleton-Kelly, 2003). An interdisciplinary/holistic narrative approach (De Bakker et al., 2019) is adopted to design a conceptual framework that can support a green ‘behavioural theory of the financial firm’ (green BTFF). The BTFF presents an international version (Peng, 2001) of the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm (Barney, 1991; Hart, 1995; Teece et al., 1997).
The approach of this chapter is aimed at closing knowledge gaps and realign values in financial markets and society. By raising awareness about organised hypocrisy and facades (Brunsson, 1993; Cho et al., 2015; Schoeneborn et al., 2020) in financial firms the chapter aims at overcoming the gap between ‘talking’ and ‘walking’ in the financial sector. The chapter defines testable firm-level hypotheses for ‘Green Finance’ (Poterba, 2021) as well as – by implication – tests for ‘greenwashing’.
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Catherine Sandoval and Patrick Lanthier
This chapter analyzes the link between the digital divide, infrastructure regulation, and disaster planning and relief through a case study of the flood in San Jose, California…
Abstract
This chapter analyzes the link between the digital divide, infrastructure regulation, and disaster planning and relief through a case study of the flood in San Jose, California triggered by the Anderson dam’s overtopping in February 2017 and an examination of communication failures during the 2018 wildfire in Paradise, California. This chapter theorizes that regulatory decisions construct social and disaster vulnerability. Rooted in the Whole Community approach to disaster planning and relief espoused by the United Nations and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, this chapter calls for leadership to end the digital divide. It highlights the imperative of understanding community information needs and argues for linking strategies to close the digital divide with infrastructure and emergency planning. As the Internet’s integration into society increases, the digital divide diminishes access to societal resources including disaster aid, and exacerbates wildfire, flood, pandemic, and other risks. To mitigate climate change, climate-induced disaster, protect access to social services and the economy, and safeguard democracy, it argues for digital inclusion strategies as a centerpiece of community-centered infrastructure regulation and disaster relief.
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Visalakshy Sasikala, Venkataraman Sankaranarayanan, Deepak Dhayanithy and Geetha Mohan
This paper aims to critically examine how dual-listed multinational enterprises (MNEs) that are embedded across multiple national contexts interact with other actors to shape the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to critically examine how dual-listed multinational enterprises (MNEs) that are embedded across multiple national contexts interact with other actors to shape the diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) narrative, outcomes and the associated dynamics of social change in the mining industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use data from the publicly available sustainability reports of two global mining conglomerates with dual-listing structure, Rio Tinto and Anglo American, alongside prevalent DEI regulations in the UK, Australia and South Africa to understand how DEI discourse and practice and the corresponding role of key actors have evolved since 2015. The authors combine a case study approach with topic modelling and qualitative content analysis to critically analyse the linkage between actors’ stated posture and actions in their DEI field and their impact upon various exchange relationships within the mining industry exchange field over the period 2015–2021.
Findings
The analysis revealed three broad phases of evolution in the DEI involvement of the MNEs emphasizing on diversity, equality and inclusion, respectively. Both firms progressed at a different pace across the three phases highlighting the need for a systemic perspective when addressing DEI concerns.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the earliest to adopt an issue and exchange field perspective towards examining the complexity of DEI. Taking a critical performative stance, the authors argue that for improving convergence between MNEs’ DEI rhetoric and reality and to advance DEI in new ways organizations and policymakers must devise structural interventions in the DEI field that substantively impact MNEs’ industry exchange field relationships.
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Adam Clifford, Mariam Omokanye and Deval Bagalkote
This paper aims to provide a commentary response to “Stakeholder experiences of deprescribing psychotropic medicines for challenging behaviour in people with intellectual…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a commentary response to “Stakeholder experiences of deprescribing psychotropic medicines for challenging behaviour in people with intellectual disabilities”.
Design/methodology/approach
The commentary provides some evidence-based perspectives on the risks and challenges of psychiatric drug-withdrawal, emphasising the importance of the patient experience in deprescribing decisions. It also makes the case for clinical clarity and carer-engagement in optimising deprescribing outcomes for individuals. Some clinical reflections are provided.
Findings
Whilst efforts to reduce the overmedication of people with learning disabilities are welcomed, there is lacking evidence around this population’s experience of adverse effects from psychiatric deprescribing decisions, including differentiating between withdrawal and relapse effects. Clinical clarity and carer engagement are key to safe and effective prescribing, although in reality, this can be challenging.
Originality/value
This paper will be of value to all professionals with a role in the effective deprescribing of psychiatric medications with and/or for people with intellectual disability. It provides perspectives on aspects of stakeholder experience that warrant further consideration and research.
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The paper reports the findings of a research project exploring the information experiences of bonsai growers in Australia as an example of a serious leisure pursuit.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper reports the findings of a research project exploring the information experiences of bonsai growers in Australia as an example of a serious leisure pursuit.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used phenomenology as a qualitative approach in an interpretive paradigm. The data collection technique was a semi-structured interview with open-ended questions, and 23 volunteers were recruited via a maximum variation sampling strategy. The study employed the Serious Leisure Perspective and Information Experience as its theoretical frameworks.
Findings
Bonsai growers rely on three primary sources of information: publications, people, and plants. They use formal and informal publications across various media. They interact with fellow bonsai growers to share experiences and seek advice. The shape and conditions of bonsai trees are sources of embedded information that help them to make informed decisions in their practice. They have a culture of information sharing on many grounds, such as local clubs, online forums, and workshops. Their embodied information manifests in their sophisticated skills of shaping bonsai trees to express the aesthetic principles of this ancient art.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are contextual and cannot be generalised. A generalisation of the result needs to be tested in a broader population.
Social implications
Engaging in the bonsai hobby often fosters a sense of community among bonsai enthusiasts. Understanding these social connections can contribute to the development of supportive networks and enhance belongingness.
Originality/value
The study contributes to understanding the information experiences in serious leisure. It offers new evidence-based insights that can inform the design of information systems and services tailored to the needs of leisure pursuers.
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