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21 – 30 of 42Nicholas Adesina Ojo-Awo, Hafeez Idowu Agbabiaka and Abiola O. Ilesanmi
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the physico-chemical properties of the groundwater surrounding the Solous (solid waste dumpsite) at Isheri, Lagos, Nigeria.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the physico-chemical properties of the groundwater surrounding the Solous (solid waste dumpsite) at Isheri, Lagos, Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 40 groundwater samples were collected from ten pre-determined sampling stations. Three sample stations were established before the dumpsite; three sample stations were located in the vicinity of the dumpsite in the direction of the leachate plume, while the remaining four sample stations were situated further away and acted as a control. Sampling was carried out four times during the study period (twice each in the rainy and dry seasons). The parameters measured in situ were air and water temperatures (using mercury-in-glass bulb thermometer) and pH (using pH meter). Calcium and magnesium contents were measured using the Ca-Mg indicator; sodium content was measured using the flame emission spectrophotometry and phosphate was measured using the flame photometry. The selected heavy metals (copper, iron, lead, cadmium, zinc and manganese) were measured by using the atomic absorption spectrometer. The oxygen parameters, such as dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand and organic matter, were determined titrimetrically. The data obtained were subjected to descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Findings
The results showed that many parameters had higher values in the dry season than in the rainy season. Temperature (27.75±0.95°C), alkalinity (211.37±82.78 mg/LCaCO3), phosphate (0.30±0.07 mg/L) and sulfate (2.78±0.35 mg/L), sodium ion (41.95±18.86 mg/L), dissolved oxygen (2.98±0.57 mg/L) and COD (33.54±4.50 mg/L) had higher mean values in the dry season than in the rainy season. On the other hand, the mean values of electrical conductivity (1,224.85±370.63), nitrate (0.01±0.003 mg/L), chloride (98.76±21.58 mg/L), calcium ion (5.38±0.68 mg/L), magnesium ion (3.05±0.05 mg/L), BOD (22.37±2.20 mg/L) and pH (6.31±0.18) were higher in the rainy season than in the dry season. The heavy metals (iron 1.10±0.05 mg/L, lead 0.12±0.07 mg/L, manganese 0.01±0.004 mg/L, copper 0.15±0.003 mg/L, zinc 0.07±0.004 mg/L and cadmium 0.02±0.02 mg/L) were fairly uniform all year round. There was also a marked decline in the values as one moved away from the dumpsite.
Practical implications
The implication of the findings is that human health is remarkably dependent upon safe and clean drinking water. Preserving the water resources and hindering them from pollution is preferred to the treatment of polluted water and rendering it suitable for consumption. The high electrical conductivity values obtained in the groundwater samples near the dumpsites are an indication of the effect of leachate on the groundwater quality. The high concentrations of dissolved solids in the groundwater may decrease the palatability and may cause gastro-intestinal irritation in humans, and laxative effect particularly on transits.
Originality/value
The pollutants from the various waste components disposed at the dumpsite percolate into the ground to pollute the groundwater. The groundwater is transported in the line of flow away from the vicinity of the dumpsite to pollute the groundwater in the area. The extent of contamination level of groundwater quality due to leachate percolation depends upon a number of factors like chemical composition of leachate, rainfall, depth and distance of the well from the dumpsite. Groundwater samples of different depths and distances from dumpsites were analyzed in the present study to understand the level of a combination.
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During multitasking, humans handle multiple tasks through task switching or engage in multitasking information behaviors. For example, a user switches between seeking new kitchen…
Abstract
Purpose
During multitasking, humans handle multiple tasks through task switching or engage in multitasking information behaviors. For example, a user switches between seeking new kitchen information and medical information. Recent studies provide insights these complex multitasking human information behaviors (HIB). However, limited studies have examined the interplay between information and non‐information tasks.
Design/methodology/approach
The goal of the paper was to examine the interplay of information and non‐information task behaviors.
Findings
This paper explores and speculates on a new direction in HIB research. The nature of HIB as a multitasking activity including the interplay of information and non‐information behavior tasks, and the relation between multitasking information behavior to cognitive style and individual differences, is discussed. A model of multitasking between information and non‐information behavior tasks is proposed.
Practical implications/limitations
Multitasking information behavior models should include the interplay of information and non‐information tasks, and individual differences and cognitive styles.
Originality/value
The paper is the first information science theoretical examination of the interplay between information and non‐information tasks.
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Manish Gupta and Anitha Acharya
With increased globalization, Indian universities are struggling to attract and retain talented academics and are exploring the ways to enhance their service performance and brand…
Abstract
Purpose
With increased globalization, Indian universities are struggling to attract and retain talented academics and are exploring the ways to enhance their service performance and brand image (BI). However, there is a paucity of studies that view universities through the corporate lens. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of innovativeness in the relationships of creativity, risk taking (RT), and performance in service delivery (PSD). Another objective is to find out how this nexus affects universities’ BI.
Design/methodology/approach
Responses were collected from 280 academics working for different Indian universities. Structural analysis was performed to examine the relationships under investigation.
Findings
The results indicate that innovativeness fully mediates the positive RT – PSD relationship and that PSD positively influences BI.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study mainly augment the theory of BI by empirically linking BI and its antecedents in the context of Indian universities.
Practical implications
For enhancing a university’s BI, management is encouraged to promote RT work culture along with innovative and creative teaching methods.
Originality/value
This study is one of the few studies in India that see academia through the corporate lens. Also, it provides evidence for the importance innovativeness in enhancing BI of a university.
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It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields…
Abstract
It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.
Julia Marbach, Cristiana Lages, Daniel Nunan and Yuksel Ekinci
Despite growing recognition of the importance of consumer engagement with new technologies, a gap remains in terms of understanding the antecedents, consequences and moderators of…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite growing recognition of the importance of consumer engagement with new technologies, a gap remains in terms of understanding the antecedents, consequences and moderators of online consumer engagement (OCE). This paper aims to address this gap by exploring the relationship between personality traits, OCE, perceived value and the moderating role of personal values.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical framework anchored in the extant OCE literature is tested through a study of 559 users of two distinct firm-hosted online brand communities (FHOBCs).
Findings
Findings suggest that three personality traits – extraversion, openness to experiences and altruism – are positively correlated with OCE. OCE is related to two types of perceived value, namely, social value and aesthetic value. The personal values of conservation and self-enhancement moderate the relationships between the three identified personality traits and OCE.
Research limitations/implications
Future research into OCE should consider the application of this study’s conceptual framework across different cultures to account for the fast-changing nature of online communities.
Practical implications
Understanding how personality traits drive OCE and what value consumers receive from engagement in online communities can help managers to better segment and evaluate consumers. Engagement and levels of activity within these online communities can be improved accordingly.
Originality/value
This study’s contribution to the OCE literature is threefold. First, the study provides new insights regarding personality traits as antecedents of consumer engagement with FHOBCs. Second, the study reveals the first insights into the role of personal values in the relationship between personality traits and OCE. Specifically, conservation and self-enhancement emerged as moderators of the relationship between three personality traits (extraversion, openness to experiences, altruism) and OCE. Third, the study yields support for perceived value types (social value and aesthetic value) that emerge as consequences of consumer engagement in FHOBCs.
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ONE of the most significant institutions of our day is the Central Library for Students. This truism—which we have frequently stressed—was emphasised by the Report of the Library…
Abstract
ONE of the most significant institutions of our day is the Central Library for Students. This truism—which we have frequently stressed—was emphasised by the Report of the Library which was presented at the Annual Meeting held at University College, London, on May 16th. The number of books issued, which was 52,711, does not seem large in comparison with the figures that an average‐sized municipal or county library can present; but the difference lies in the purposefulness which those figures represent. Nearly every book here recorded was one required for special work; few, if any, were for idle reading or for the occupation of undirected leisure. We note with pleasure that the outlier libraries lent 1,606 books out of 1,814 for which call was made. It seems a fair proportion. We were not clear if the balance unsupplied by them was supplied from the funds of the Central Library itself. We appreciate these outlier libraries, who are able to be such owing to grants from the Carnegie Trust, but we look more earnestly to a greater growth of the voluntary co‐operation which has found its adherents in the public libraries. There are now seven urban and two county libraries who place their stocks at the disposal of the Central Library for Students. Why not all of them? As we have said on an earlier occasion, if all adhered, the demands on any one would be small and the advantages without limit.
Anwar Sadat Shimul and Ian Phau
This paper aims to examine the impact of brand self-congruence on brand advocacy. In addition, the roles of brand love and attachment are examined through a serial mediation model.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the impact of brand self-congruence on brand advocacy. In addition, the roles of brand love and attachment are examined through a serial mediation model.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 324 valid and useable responses collected from an Australian consumer panel were analysed through IBM SPSS. Underpinned by social identity theory and self-expansion theory, a set of hypotheses was examined in a research model.
Findings
The findings show that consumers' brand self-congruence positively impacts brand love, attachment and advocacy intention. Moreover, brand attachment and love mediate the relationship between brand self-congruence and advocacy.
Practical implications
The findings of this research suggest that brand managers should cultivate emotions to build a strong consumer–brand relationship.
Originality/value
This research advances the current understanding of brand advocacy literature concerning brand self-congruence, love and attachment. The findings suggest that consumers' brand self-congruence, combined with brand love and attachment, will generate greater advocacy.
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The purpose of this paper is to advocate for a clearer and less fragmentary use of qualitative research in the increasingly interdisciplinary research setting of information…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to advocate for a clearer and less fragmentary use of qualitative research in the increasingly interdisciplinary research setting of information science.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper performs a textual analysis of more than 500 peer‐reviewed articles to assess information science's involvement with qualitative research. The paper undertakes historical criticism to trace qualitative research in the reviews of information science for the last three decades.
Findings
Authors are unclear and lax in their uses of basic research terms. Authors do not account for qualitative research's characteristics, methods, and contributions to information science's bodies of knowledge. Only 4.3 percent of published articles mention their contributions to information science's literature whereas 5.6 percent mention qualitative method(s) in their abstracts. Publications do not show (intra‐)collaboration between areas of information science. Information science's contributions to the theoretical discussions of the wider scientific community are lacking.
Originality/value
The paper discusses afresh information science's qualitative research. The paper suggests a tighter and long‐term investment of information science in qualitative research and the formation of the information science's own theorists and theory‐illumined practitioners. The paper puts forth some practical recommendations.
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Jorge Nascimento and Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro
This study aims to offer the intellectual structure and dynamics of the sustainability branding field, involving the identification of influential authors and journals, current…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to offer the intellectual structure and dynamics of the sustainability branding field, involving the identification of influential authors and journals, current and emerging themes, theories, methods, contexts and future research directions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study conducted a bibliometric approach of 1,509 articles retrieved from Scopus to analyze the evolution of the knowledge of sustainability branding and suggest future research. The analysis used various methods such as performance analysis, keyword analysis, cluster analysis and bibliographic coupling.
Findings
The topics of corporate image, philanthropy and stakeholder pressures were core in the foundation phase. Then rose the topics of sustainable development goals and global supply chains. Green marketing and the new paradigms of circularity, ethical consumerism and hyperconnected societies emerged more recently. Six thematic clusters represent the field’s knowledge structure: (1) corporate branding and reputation, (2) sustainable business development, (3) sustainable branding and ethical consumption, (4) corporate social responsibility, (5) brand equity and green marketing and (6) sustainability branding in hospitality and tourism.
Practical implications
This paper provides readers with an overview of sustainability branding core themes, key contributions and challenges, which can be used as a toolkit for brand management studies and practice.
Originality/value
The study’s uniqueness lies in bibliometric analysis (combined with network analysis and science mapping techniques) of the sustainability branding field from the identification and evolution of the thematic clusters to propose future research directions.
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