Search results

This paper aims to examine the role of volitive desire in self-control toward temptations. It extends prior research on the role of prudence in temptation resistance by empirically demonstrating that prudence bolsters self-control toward food temptations by lowering volitive desire motivation toward temptation enactment.

This study consists of a 2 (food type: temptation vs goal-congruent) × 2 (prudence level: low vs high) between-subjects quasi-experimental design. Hypothesis tests were conducted by using analysis of covariance and ordinary least squares regression-based moderated mediation analysis.

The results show that high-prudence participants experienced lower volitive desire toward eating the temptation food option than low-prudence participants. Consequently, high- (vs low-) prudence participants reported significantly weaker eating intentions toward the temptation food option. Moreover, volitive desire significantly mediated the effect of prudence level on intentions to eat the temptation food option.

The study contains methodological limitations. First, the study operationalizes volitive desire as “non-appetitive, instrumental reasons for eating or not eating the food,” yet in some contexts volitive desire can include appetitive reasons. Second, the procedure consisted of presenting participants with only a goal-consistent or temptation food option, rather than with both, which is more realistic. The study also focuses on a single goal context, healthy eating, to the exclusion of other contexts associated with consumer self-control. Additionally, the appetitive and volitive desire self-report measure method produced flawed ratings, requiring us to use the open-ended responses as this study’s dependent variable. Finally, this study does not directly test the extent of prudence-driven deliberation about temptation enactment consequences.

Social marketing campaigns can encourage low prudence consumers to strengthen this behavioral trait by performing beneficial, slightly to moderately challenging utilitarian tasks (e.g. making one’s bed each morning, flossing one’s teeth every evening, etc.) that involve exercising self-control on a regular basis. Social marketing ads can also appeal to the consequence-vigilance of high prudence consumers by increasing the salience of consequences of self-control failures in behaviors related to social issues such as pollution, drinking and driving, smoking and recreational drug use. An additional implication is that marketers of health goal-related products and services could segment the market based on trait prudence and target high-prudence consumers with ads that increase the salience of consequences associated with not using the company’s health product or service or the consequences of using the competition’s products or services.

Consumers can improve their well-being by exercising self-control consistently in low to moderately challenging tasks, which boosts their prudence. High-prudence consumers can intentionally focus on volitive motives when faced with temptations to ensure effective self-control.

This research examines the role of volitive desire as the process by which trait prudence affects intentions toward temptation options, which extends prior research on the role of prudence in self-control for temptations (Puri, 1996). This framework builds on the philosophy of action perspective on desire and shows that trait prudence can predict temptation enactment intentions through the mediating role of volitive desire. Thus, the findings illuminate the motivational mechanism by which prudence bolsters self-control in the face of temptation: volitive desire.

The research aims to evaluate whether this educational approach is being implemented in a Portuguese public university and looking for explicit references to education for sustainable development (ESD) in the online descriptions of course units (CU).

The research design adopted for this qualitative research follows the principles of a case study with exploratory, multiple and collective features.

It was possible to find direct matches with key ESD expressions in fifteen of CU. In addition, nine CU were identified in the second stage of analysis of the teacher training master programmes.

One of the limitations of this study which the authors identified, and which was responsible for considerably reducing the probability of finding matches, was that only results in which the key expressions appeared in the description of the CU in exactly the same form as in the research instrument were recorded.

The need for an educational programme for teachers to be developed and implemented in the near future.

A training workshop will be proposed with the main aim of supporting teaching staff in making the necessary shift in their pedagogical practices to include a ESD orientation in their CU.

The instrument eveloped that appears in Appendix - Analysis Tool with key ESD expressions.

This study sought to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how managers' coaching skills can affect individual performance through the mediating role of affective commitment.

The sample included 198 employees from diverse organizations. Based on an online survey, respondents assessed their managers' coaching skills and reported their own individual performance and affective commitment to their organization.

The findings show that managers' coaching skills have a positive impact on individual performance and affective commitment, with the latter mediating the relationship between the first two variables.

Additional studies with larger samples are needed to understand more fully not only the impact of managers' coaching skills on individual performance but also other psychosocial variables affecting that relationship.

Organizations can increase employees' affective commitment and individual performance by encouraging managers to integrate more coaching skills into their leadership styles.

This study is the first to integrate managers' coaching skills, affective commitment and individual performance into a single research model, thereby extending previous research on this topic.

This paper proposes a method for managing client requirements with the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM). The development of healthcare projects demands a large amount of requirements information, in order to deal with a diversity of clients and frequents changes in healthcare services. The proposed method supports healthcare design by adopting a process-based approach for client requirements management, with the aim of improving value generation.

Design Science Research was the methodological approach adopted in this investigation. The main outcome of this study emerged from an empirical study carried out in a healthcare project in Brazil.

The proposed method involves three stages: (1) capturing and processing requirements; (2) product and requirements modelling, which involves the connection between requirements and the BIM 3-D model and (3) supporting design solution refinement, through the communication of requirements and the assessment of design in relation to updated client requirements information.

This study explores client requirements management from a process perspective, proposing activities and their interdependences and possible sources of data, including healthcare services information. The main theoretical contributions are related to the understanding of the nature and complexity of the information involved in client requirements management, and how this can be modelled.

Broad-spectrum cephalosporin resistance is rapidly increasing in Escherichia coli, representing a food safety problem. The purpose of this paper is to characterize eight extended-spectrum-ß-lactamase (ESBL) and acquired AmpC ß-lactamase-producing E. coli isolates and virotypes associated, obtained from chicken and pork food samples in Puebla, Mexico.

Samples (36 from chicken and 10 from pork) were cultured on Levine agar plates supplemented with cefotaxime (2 mg/L) for isolation of cefotaxime-resistant (CTXR) E. coli. CTXR-E. coli isolates were detected in 33 of 46 samples (72 percent), and one isolate/sample was characterized (28 from chicken and 5 from pork), for ESBL production, phylogenetic group, sequence typing, resistance and virulence genes by PCR and sequencing.

Results showed 16 ESBL-E. coli (35 percent) (12/16 belonging to phylogroup B1) and 8 CMY-2-E. coli (17 percent). ESBL detected were as follows (number of isolates): CTX-M-2 (8); CTX-M-1 (2); CTX-M-15 (1); SHV-2a (4) and TEM-52c (1). In total, 20 different sequence types (STs) were identified among the ESBL- or CMY-2-producing E. coli strains, which included four new ones. The CTX-M-15 β-lactamase was detected in one E. coli ST617-ST10 Cplx-B1 strain that also carried ibeA gene. One CMY-2-positive strain of lineage ST224-B2 was detected and it carried the qnrA1 gene.

In this study, a ST131-based virotyping scheme for strains from food of animal origin was established since this kind of strains constitutes an important vehicle of virulent ESBL- and CMY-2-producing E. coli isolates, which could be transmitted to humans by direct contact or through the food chain.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for planning and controlling the design process in companies that design, manufacture and assemble prefabricated engineer-to-order (ETO) building systems. This model was devised as an adaptation of the Last Planner® System for ETO multiple-project environments.

Design science research, also known as prescriptive research, was the methodological approach adopted in this research. An empirical study was carried out at the design department of a leading steel fabricator from Brazil, in which the proposed model was implemented in six different design teams.

The main benefits of the proposed model were shielding design work from variability, encouraging collaborative planning, creating opportunities for learning, increasing process transparency, and flexibility according to project status. Two main factors affected the effectiveness of the implementation process commitment and leadership of design managers, and training on design management and project planning and control core concepts and practices.

Some limitations were identified in the implementation process: similarly to some previous studies (Ballard, 2002; Codinhoto and Formoso, 2005), the success of constraint analysis was still limited; some of the metrics produced (e.g. ABI, causes of planning failures) have not been fully used for process improvement; and systematic feedback about project status was not properly implemented and tested.

The main contributions of this study in relation to traditional design planning and control practices are related to the use of two levels of look-ahead planning, the introduction of a decoupling point between conceptual and detail design, the proposition of new metrics for the Last Planner® System, and understanding the potential role of visual management to support planning and control.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss a production planning and control model known as the Lean construction management (LCM) model, which applies a number of visual tools in a systematic way to the planning and control process. The application of the visual tools in this way facilitates the flow of information, thus improving transparency between the interfaces of planning, execution and control.

Design Science research is adopted for this investigation, which analyses the original development of the model and reports on its testing and refinement over different types of projects. The research is divided into three parts, each part focussing on a different stage of development and construction project type.

The main findings are related to the benefits of visual management in the construction planning and control process, such as maintaining consistency between different planning levels, so that feasible execution plans are created; control becomes more focussed on prevention rather than correction, and creates opportunities for collaborative problem solving. Moreover, the physical display of the visual tools in a discrete planning area on-site encourages a regular exchange between participants on actual work progress as it unfolds, leading to more timely reaction to the problems at hand.

The problem of a lack of transparency in construction planning and control leads to communication issues on-site, poor process orientation and high levels of waste. LCM improves process transparency by making information related to system-wide processes more readily available to project participants. This enables them to foresee problems in a timely manner and to take necessary measures to resolve them or to adapt the process to current circumstances. The LCM model proposes a new way of applying visual tools and controls systematically to improve transparency in construction planning and control.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of school leaders to provide social justice in three contexts: Costa Rica, Mexico, and Spain.

A qualitative study was conducted under the interpretative tradition characterized by a search for an understanding of the social world from the point of view of a school director from each of the three countries. Interviews were conducted to determine their views on social justice, the actions they took, and the obstacles they confronted.

The directors conceived of education as a right and believed in equal educational opportunity, and fair distribution of resources. They used a variety of methods to promote social justice, increase social cohesion, and provide emotional education. Obstacles came from educational authorities who tried to control rather than support their efforts. They were committed to working in schools with marginalized populations, but their efforts had taken a toll on their personal and professional lives.

The research looked at just three principals whose experiences were unique to their context. However, the study has the advantage of looking at schools not typically included in educational research.

The work of these school directors underscores the need for preparation in skills, knowledge, and values to work for social justice.

The value of this research is to illuminate the narratives of school leaders. Working across borders can provide insights about the possibilities of change and strength to persevere.