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1 – 10 of 32Kiyavash Irankhah, Soheil Asadimehr, Golnaz Ranjbar, Behzad Kiani and Seyyed Reza Sobhani
To effectively combat the increasing rates of obesity, it is crucial to explore how environmental factors like sidewalk access impact weight-related outcomes. This study aimed to…
Abstract
Purpose
To effectively combat the increasing rates of obesity, it is crucial to explore how environmental factors like sidewalk access impact weight-related outcomes. This study aimed to systematically examine the association between sidewalk accessibility and weight-related outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Databases were searched by keywords for relevant articles, which were published before March 3, 2024, to report the role of neighborhood sidewalk access on weight-related outcomes. The main findings of the selected articles were extracted from eligible studies by two independent reviewers.
Findings
A total of 20 out of 33 studies indicated a significant negative relationship between access to sidewalks and weight-related outcomes. Three studies demonstrated an indirect relationship between access to sidewalks and weight-related outcomes by greater access to physical environments. In addition, five studies reported no clear relationship, and three studies reported a significantly positive relationship between access to sidewalks and weight-related outcomes.
Practical implications
In general, people who live in urban areas with better sidewalk access benefit from better weight-related outcomes. Adults showed this correlation more prominently than adolescents and children. Therefore, sidewalks that have a positive effect on physical activity levels could be considered as a preventive measure against obesity.
Originality/value
One of the weight-related outcomes is obesity. Every community faces numerous challenges due to obesity, which adversely affects the quality of life and health. Environmental factors such as access to sidewalks could be associated with body weight due to lifestyle influences.
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Oghenere Gabriel Salubi and Ndakasharwa Muchaonyerwa
This study empirically analyse the lived and individual experiences of internet use time among postgraduate students in a period where the line between the virtual and real is…
Abstract
Purpose
This study empirically analyse the lived and individual experiences of internet use time among postgraduate students in a period where the line between the virtual and real is blurred. The infusion of the internet in higher education has not only facilitated the production of new knowledge but has also led to reports of internet addiction among many users during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns. This study aims to evaluate the level of internet addiction among postgraduate students and the supportive information services role that librarians could provide.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, 279 postgraduate students completed a quantitative survey targeted at all the postgraduate students at a university campus in South Africa. Data was collected using an adopted internet addiction test questionnaire. The data was descriptively and inferentially analysed.
Findings
As many as 61 (22.7%) are always online, with most of the respondents, 112 (41.6%) spend 10 h or more on the internet daily. Laptop computers at 44.7% emerged as the primary electronic device used by postgraduate students for accessing the internet, surpassing the prevalence of mobile phone usage. On internet addiction level, internet use time had a statistically significant relation with problematic internet use levels in respondents. These results suggest that the increased uncontrolled internet use could negatively interfere with productive academic work of postgraduate students. However, based on the inferential statistical results, it can be concluded that academic use of the internet does not contribute to increased levels of internet addiction. The study recommends that librarians should provide literacy education and resources on how to use the internet safely and responsibly, including tips on setting boundaries, managing time online and productively using online information resources.
Originality/value
The study assesses problematic internet use among postgraduate students and provides suggestions on supportive information services that librarians could provide in an era where many library information services provision and higher education are hinged on the internet.
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Luigi Piper, Lucrezia Maria de Cosmo, M. Irene Prete, Antonio Mileti and Gianluigi Guido
This paper delves into evaluating the effectiveness of warning messages as a deterrent against excessive fat consumption. It examines how consumers perceive the fat content of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper delves into evaluating the effectiveness of warning messages as a deterrent against excessive fat consumption. It examines how consumers perceive the fat content of food products when presented with two distinct label types: (1) a textual warning, providing succinct information about the fat content, and (2) a pictorial warning, offering a visual representation that immediately signifies the fat content.
Design/methodology/approach
Two quantitative studies were carried out. Study 1 employed a questionnaire to evaluate the efficacy of textual and pictorial warning messages on high- and low-fat food products. Similarly, Study 2 replicated this comparison while incorporating a neuromarketing instrument to gauge participants’ cerebral reactions.
Findings
Results indicate that pictorial warnings on high-fat foods significantly deter consumers’ purchasing intentions. Notably, these pictorial warnings stimulate the left prefrontal area of the cerebral cortex, inducing negative emotions in consumers and driving them away from high-fat food items.
Originality/value
While the influence of images over text in shaping consumer decisions is well understood in marketing, this study accentuates the underlying mechanism of such an impact through the elicitation of negative emotions. By understanding this emotional pathway, the paper presents fresh academic and managerial perspectives, underscoring the potency of pictorial warnings in guiding consumers towards healthier food choices.
Highlights
Textual warnings do not seem to discourage high-fat product consumption.
A pictorial warning represents the fat content of an equivalent product.
Pictorial warnings decrease the intention to purchase a high-fat product.
Pictorial warnings determine an increase in negative emotions.
Textual warnings do not seem to discourage high-fat product consumption.
A pictorial warning represents the fat content of an equivalent product.
Pictorial warnings decrease the intention to purchase a high-fat product.
Pictorial warnings determine an increase in negative emotions.
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Hasliza Hassan, Ser Chee Lim and Muhammad Sabbir Rahman
Cultivating customer loyalty is extremely crucial for fast-food players to remain competitive in the industry. This research is discovering the path to cultivate customer loyalty…
Abstract
Purpose
Cultivating customer loyalty is extremely crucial for fast-food players to remain competitive in the industry. This research is discovering the path to cultivate customer loyalty through experience that is built based on auditory, gustatory, haptic, olfactory and visual cues.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative research has been conducted by distributing survey questionnaires to customers at selected fast-food restaurants in urban areas. The collected data has been analyzed by descriptive and structural equation modeling analysis.
Findings
The customers' loyalty to fast food can be cultivated through gustatory, haptic and olfactory cues. However, auditory and visual are not functioning as marketing cues to cultivate customer loyalty.
Practical implications
The fast-food players may emphasize gustatory, haptic and olfactory marketing cues to cultivate customer loyalty. These cues can be shared through experience.
Originality/value
This study has discovered the potential ways to cultivate customer loyalty in dining at fast-food restaurants within the Malaysian market.
Traditional sports have seen declining participation at many levels, with football being no different. This is occurring at a time when emergent technologies present new…
Abstract
Purpose
Traditional sports have seen declining participation at many levels, with football being no different. This is occurring at a time when emergent technologies present new challenges, particularly to the crucial yet ignored cohort of millennials. Without meeting the needs of millennials, football cannot be successful in the future. This research seeks to understand how millennial football fandom (sport, not team) in Australia impacts football participation, whilst empirically examining the impact of football video games (FVGs).
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data are collected from online groups, forums and social media pages of Australian football (soccer) fans. Quantitative analysis of millennial fandom and its influence on football participation (for the first time demarcated into play and engagement) is undertaken, including the moderating influence of time spent playing FVGs, amidst covariate influences of age and number of children.
Findings
Results highlight the multi-dimensionality of millennial football fandom in Australia, reveal the typical hours spent playing football across a range of participation types (including play and engagement), support fan involvement’s influence on engagement with football, establish that a desire to interact with other football fans manifests in playing more football, specify how playing FVGs moderates these relationships, supports the covariate influences of age and evidences that playing FVGs does not hamper football play.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine millennial fans of football (the sport, not tied to a club) and the influence of fandom on football participation. By separating football participation into two forms, play and engagement, we highlight discrete influences, whilst evaluating for the first time the moderating influence of the time millennials spend playing FVGs. For sport managers and administrators, these are important findings to facilitate better segmentation, recruitment, retention and participation, each with broader societal health benefits. This is undertaken in Australia where football is not a dominant code, relegating fandom to a niche, thus revealing important findings for sports and business management.
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Ulla-Maija Sutinen, Roosa Luukkonen and Elina Närvänen
This study aims to examine adolescents’ social media environment connected to unhealthy food marketing. As social media have become a ubiquitous part of young people’s everyday…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine adolescents’ social media environment connected to unhealthy food marketing. As social media have become a ubiquitous part of young people’s everyday lives, marketers have also shifted their focus to these channels. Literature on this phenomenon is still scarce and often takes a quite narrow view of the role of marketing in social media. Furthermore, the experiences of the adolescents are seldom considered.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sociocultural approach and netnographic methodology, this study presents findings from a research project conducted in Finland. The data consist of both social media material and focus group interviews with adolescents.
Findings
The findings elaborate on unhealthy food marketing to adolescents in social media from two perspectives: sociocultural representations of unhealthy foods in social media marketing and social media influencers connecting with adolescents.
Originality/value
The study broadens and deepens the current understanding of unhealthy food marketing to adolescents taking place in social media. The study introduces a novel perspective to the topic by looking at it as a sociocultural phenomenon.
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İrem Nur Akdeniz, Hasan Kaan Kavsara, Pınar Usta and Irem Kaya Cebioglu
Paramedics are responsible for managing emergencies, caring for patients and performing life-saving procedures under heavy workloads, which can have a significant negative effect…
Abstract
Purpose
Paramedics are responsible for managing emergencies, caring for patients and performing life-saving procedures under heavy workloads, which can have a significant negative effect on their emotional eating and food addiction (FA) behaviors. Thus, this cross-sectional study aims to shed light on the relationship between emotional eating tendencies and FA in paramedics by considering their food preferences, sex, and body mass index (BMI) factors.
Design/methodology/approach
The questionnaire consisted of Yale Food Addiction Scale and Emotional Eating Questionnaire (EEQ), as well as sex, age, weight, height and number of snacks and main meals collected face-to-face from the 196 paramedics.
Findings
The FA prevalence was 14.9%, and more than half of the paramedics were emotional eaters. The total score of the EEQ was significantly higher in the FA diagnosed group than in the group FA not diagnosed (p < 0.001). The food preferences of the paramedics were found to differ significantly depending on whether they were diagnosed with FA or emotional eating. Being a food addict or emotional eater significantly increases the odds of consuming chocolate-wafer, pie-cake, chips, pastries, pasta and fries (p < 0.05), and participants with FA diagnosis and emotional eaters were more likely to prefer these foods than those with nondiagnosis and nonemotional eaters (p < 0.05).
Originality/value
Findings highlighted the connection between FA and the emotional eating behavior of paramedics, indicating that they attempt to compensate for their emotional ups and downs through eating. The job-related stress and emotional eating behaviors of paramedics may increase their BMI and susceptibility to FA.
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Mohammad Moradiani, Ariyo Movahedi and Abolghassem Djazayery
This study aims to assess the association of Healthy Eating Index (HEI) with levels of fasting blood sugar (FBS) and lipid profile in normoglycemic and elevated FBS patients.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the association of Healthy Eating Index (HEI) with levels of fasting blood sugar (FBS) and lipid profile in normoglycemic and elevated FBS patients.
Design/methodology/approach
This case-control study was conducted on 144 participants, namely, 72 normoglycemic subjects (FBS < 100 mg/dl) and 72 high-glycemic patients (FBS ≥ 100 mg/dl) aged 20–60 years of age, who were selected from the nutrition and diet clinics in Tehran city. The dietary intake was collected by using a validated food frequency questionnaire to determine the HEI score.
Findings
The mean±SD age and body mass index of participants were 47.1 ± 12.7 years and 29.6 ± 6.0 kg/m2, respectively. The median (interquartile range) of HEI scores in the normoglycemic group and the high-glycemia group were 19.34 (15.24–24.31) and 16.53 (13.35–24.07), respectively. In the overall population, the findings of the multi-variable linear regression model indicated a positive association between the HEI score and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) (ß = 0.34; 95%CI: 0.05–0.64, P = 0.01). However, there is no significant association between HEI and HDL-C in normoglycemic (ß = 0.19; 95%CI: −0.31, 0.69, P = 0.45) and hyperglycemic subjects (ß = 0.28; 95%CI: −0.10–0.66, P = 0.15). Furthermore, the association of HEI with levels of FBS, triglycerides (TGs) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) was not significant in any of the analyzed groups, including the total population, normoglycemic individuals and hyperglycemic subjects.
Originality/value
This study was the first study to assess the role of HEI and its components with levels of FBS and lipid profile in normoglycemic and hyperglycemic individuals in Iran. The findings suggested that higher adherence to HEI may be associated with an increase in the HDL-C level. However, HEI could not predict FBS, TGs and LDL-C levels in the adult population.
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Given the rapid increase in energy consumption in the residential sector in Jordan recently, the question of how to promote energy-saving behavior in Jordanian households is an…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the rapid increase in energy consumption in the residential sector in Jordan recently, the question of how to promote energy-saving behavior in Jordanian households is an emerging topic that is receiving increasing attention from scholars and academics. Generally, there is an unresolved paradox in the literature concerning electricity-saving behaviors. On one hand, numerous studies highlight energy-saving behaviors. On the other hand, recent research indicates the presence of significant untapped potential in electricity-saving behaviors. Therefore, it is useful to revisit the construct of these behaviors qualitatively to expand understanding. The study aimed to provide a better understanding of electricity energy-saving behaviors in terms of its motivations, barriers and support mechanisms from household heads' or household members' perspectives
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative study in a sample of households in north Jordan was conducted in the Irbid province using grounded theory methodology. The analysis of qualitative data involved coding, followed by the integration of codes into more comprehensive categories and themes and interpreting the findings.
Findings
The results identify the motivations for households to save energy, the main barriers to indulging in electricity energy-saving behaviors, and the main support mechanisms and perceived support of electricity energy-saving behaviors
Practical implications
The findings bear significant implications for targeted interventions in the study area, improving motivations and addressing local barriers and can inform future policy issues by tailoring initiatives to the specific context.
Originality/value
This study is distinguished by being the first study that specializes in electricity energy-saving behavior of households in Jordan, using new methodology and techniques (qualitative survey).
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