Search results

The climate crisis presents a global threat. Research shows the necessity of joint communication efforts across different arenas—media, politics, business, academia and protest—to address this threat. However, communication about social change in response to the climate crisis comes with challenges. These challenges manifest, among others, in public accusations of inconsistency in terms of hypocrisy and incapability against self-declared change agents in different arenas. This increasingly turns public climate communication into a “blame game”.

Strategic communication scholarship has started to engage in this debate, thereby acknowledging climate communication as an arena-spanning, necessarily contested issue. Still, a systematic overview of specific inconsistency accusations in different public arenas is lacking. This conceptual article provides an overview based on a macro-focused public arena approach and decoupling scholarship.

Drawing on a systematic literature review of climate-related strategic communication scholarship and key debates from climate communication research in neighboring domains, the authors develop a framework mapping how inconsistency accusations of hypocrisy and incapacity, that is, policy–practice and means–ends decoupling, manifest in different climate communication arenas.

This framework creates awareness for the shared challenge of decoupling accusations across different climate communication arenas, underscoring the necessity of an arena-spanning strategic communication agenda. This agenda requires a communicative shift from downplaying to embracing decoupling accusations, from mutual blaming to approval of accountable ways of working through accusations and from confrontation to cooperation of agents across arenas.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how successful lean six sigma (LSS) manifests in the Australasian (Australian and New Zealand) context relative to the context in the USA in terms of LSS project definition, structure and practices.

In-depth investigation through case studies – 12 Australian/New Zealand cases and 4 US cases – on the implementation mechanisms of successful LSS initiatives.

A significant difference was found between Australasian and US definitions of an LSS project. However, firms in both regions followed similar project selection, initiating and execution practices. LSS reporting structures were found to be well-established in US organizations, but none of the Australasian organizations were found to be equipped with such a structure, although the effectiveness of LSS implementation success remained unaffected.

Sufficient uniformity of LSS was found across two regions implying its usefulness/generalizability, but the findings are based only on 12 cases.

The paper provides the groundwork to develop a unique LSS model for Australasian organizations to improve processes in an effective and efficient manner.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between consumers’ emotions towards emerging e-banking technology, perceived risk and subsequent intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology.

An online questionnaire was used to collect data, which were analysed in a quantitative study. The final sample of 224 educated young consumers, familiar with emerging e-banking technology, allowed testing of the research hypotheses by applying confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM).

The empirical results indicate that deterrence emotions and hedonic motivation are associated with consumers’ perceived risk and, subsequently, their intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology. Additionally, analysing the moderating role of hedonic motivation in the association between consumers’ deterrence emotions towards emerging e-banking technology and their perceived risk highlights the significant association of deterrence emotions with perceived risk, regardless of the presence of hedonic motivation.

This study demonstrates the association between consumers’ emotions, perceived risk and subsequent intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology whilst underscoring the importance of distinguishing between different types of emotions and their corresponding appraisals.

This study aims to address the critical need for innovative financing solutions in the global housing sector, focusing specifically on Malaysia’s distinct housing finance system encompassing both conventional and Islamic loans. The primary objective is to develop a transformative housing finance model that addresses affordability challenges and reshapes the Malaysian housing landscape.

The study presents an alternate housing finance model for Malaysia, integrating lower monthly payments and reduced household debt. Key variables include house price appreciation rates, interest rates, initial guarantee fees and loan-to-value ratios. Inspired by the Help to Buy (HTB) scheme, the model aligns with proven global initiatives for enhanced affordability, balancing payment amounts, loan interest rates and acceptable price thresholds.

The study’s findings promise to address affordability disparities and reshape Malaysia’s housing finance landscape. The emphasis is on introducing a structured repayment plan that offers a sustainable path to homeownership, particularly for low-income families. Incorporating the future value adaptation concept, inspired by reverse mortgages and Islamic finance, enhances adaptability, ensuring long-term sustainability despite economic shifts.

The proposed model promotes widespread access to homeownership, offering practical solutions for policymakers to improve affordability, prompting adaptable risk management strategies for financial institutions and empowering potential homebuyers with increased flexibility.

The study introduces a transformative housing finance model for Malaysia, merging elements from reverse mortgages, Islamic finance and the HTB scheme, offering potential applicability to similar systems globally.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic content review and bibliometric analysis of the current research trends, core concepts and knowledge mapping on the topic Islamic Banking and Finance (IBF) during Covid-19. Apart from highlighting the contributions of prolific authors, prominent institutions and countries, a comprehensive review of a significant number of documents using co-citation and co-word analysis is carried out for the science mapping.

A data set of 125 papers was collected published in Scopus database during the period December, 2019 and January 5th, 2023. Yearly publications, most-cited papers and authors, active sources, affiliations and countries are highlighted with descriptive analysis. Knowledge structure of the topic was mapped with investigating the social, intellectual and conceptual structures of IBF research. Content analysis is carried out to uncover the underlying research clusters that shape the scientific knowledge structure of studies.

A diverse group of authors and institutions contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the topic. IBF is adopting new paradigms and frameworks to integrate FinTech, crowd funding and Islamic social finance to provide sustainable solutions in both crisis and normal periods. The research on IBF is classified in to three themes: “financial markets in Covid-19,” “modeling risk and market regimes” and “FinTech and Islamic social finance.”

This study collects data only from Scopus database. Future studies must include research articles from other databases such as, Web of Sciences.

This study highlights research gaps in the existing literature and provides directions for future research.

The main research questions critically examine online videos that draw attention to a local community of musical practice, noticing how these can potentially be included within the tourism promotion strategies. This paper develops a case study of four videos realised by the Louth County Board of the organisation Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ) in Co. Louth, Ireland, as a part of the FleadhFest 2021 initiative. It highlights the role that virtual spaces have in enhancing a sense of belonging to a music/festival community as well as the possibility that visual and audio supports have in promoting and celebrating a destination and its cultural features.

The analysis involves a netnographic examination of these videos (Janta, 2017), informed by the concept of “tourist gaze” (Urry, 1990; 2002) and influenced by film-induced tourism studies (Beeton, 2005).

Results show how festival and event organisers responded to COVID-19 social restrictions by creating a virtual space for celebrating music heritage and local musicscape, placing an emphasis on local musical scene.

The research aims to inform future developments in how the organisation operates within and engages with virtual space, its members and a wider audience.

This is the first study to consider the virtual activities of CCÉ from an ethnomusicological as well as tourism, perspective.

In fire resistance tests (FRTs) of building materials, a crucial criterion to pass the test procedure is to avoid the leakage of the hot flue gases caused by gaps and cracks occurring due to the thermal exposure. The present study's aim is to calculate the deformation of a steel door, which is embedded within a wall made of bricks, and qualitatively determine the flue gas leakage.

A computational fluid dynamics/finite element method (CFD/FEM) coupling was introduced representing an intermediate approach between a one-way and a full two-way coupling methodology, leading to a simplified two-way coupling (STWC). In contrast to a full two way-coupling, the heat transfer through the steel door was simulated based on a one-way approach. Subsequently, the predicted temperatures at the door from the one-way simulation were used in the following CFD/FEM simulation, where the fluid flow inside and outside the furnace as well as the deformation of the door were calculated simultaneously.

The simulation showed large gaps and flue gas leakage above the door lock and at the upper edge of the door, which was in close accordance to the experiment. Furthermore, it was found that STWC predicted similar deformations compared to the one-way coupling.

Since two-way coupling approaches for fluid/structure interaction in fire research are computationally demanding, the number of studies is low. Only a few are dealing with the flue gas exit from rooms due to destruction of solid components. Thus, the present study is the first two-way approach dealing with flue gas leakage due to gap formation.

Although situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) is centered on rationality and cognitive information processing, it ignores that people are also driven by irrationality and non-cognitive information processing. The purpose of this study aims to fill this gap by examining how gender stereotypes, based on perceived spokesperson sex influence the public’s perceptions of crisis response messages.

A 2 (industry type: automotive vs daycare industry) × 2 (spokesperson’s sex: male vs female) × 2 (crisis response appeal: rational vs emotional) between-subject online experiment was conducted to examine the effect of gender stereotype in crisis communication.

Results showed that either matching spokesperson sex with sex differed industry or matching sex differed industry with appropriate crisis response appeal can generate a more positive evaluation of the spokesperson and the organization. The results also revealed under which circumstances, the attractiveness of different sex of the spokesperson can either promote or mitigate people’s perceptions of the organization. Furthermore, when people are aware of a spokesperson’s sex, in a female-associated industry, a mismatching effect of a positive violation of a male-related stereotype overrides a matching effect of a female-related stereotype in crisis communication.

This study is among the first to identify how the gender of a spokesperson and industry type affect publics’ crisis response.

Physical activity (PA) has been widely studied for its individual and societal benefits, but research on how organisations can effectively promote workplace physical activity (WPA) programmes is lacking. This article aims to examine the organisational-level benefits and value drivers of corporate PA programmes whilst also exploring the factors that motivate employees to participate in these programmes.

The authors used the self-determination theory (SDT) and the Hungarian Sport Motivation Scale (H-SMS) – which was modified and validated from the original English SMS scale, which is one of the six most highly cited motivation questionnaires in sports – to assess employees' motivation towards sports. In conjunction, in-depth interviews with company representatives were conducted to create a mind map outlining the impacts and advantages of WPA programmes. The study involved interviews with 13 managers in Hungary and a survey completed by 728 employees.

The findings of the authors' study indicate that WPA programmes had positive effects on employee engagement, turnover reduction and absenteeism. However, the authors' results also revealed that employee motivation to participate in these programmes was primarily driven by external factors, such as identified and introjected regulators, indicating a low level of intrinsic motivation for sports in the workplace. It is important to classify employees based on their motivation and behaviour to design and promote effective PA programmes in the workplace and to increase participation rates.

The authors' findings indicate the importance of aligning WPA programme promotion with employee motivation. This can encourage organisations to initiate their programmes, address participation challenges and strive for higher engagement rates. Further research on employee motivation can support the development of more effective communication strategies for companies in this context.

In this viewpoint article, the authors recognize the increased focus in health systems on co-design for innovation and change. This article explores the role of leaders and mangers in developing and enhancing a culture of trust in their organizations to enable co-design, with the potential to drive innovation and change in healthcare.

Using social science analyses, the authors argue that current co-design literature has limited focus on interactions between senior leaders and managers, and healthcare staff and service users in supporting co-designed innovation and change. The authors draw on social and health science studies of trust to highlight how the value-based co-design process needs to be supported and enhanced. We outline what co-design innovation and change involve in a health system, conceptualize trust and reflect on its importance within the health system, and finally note the role of senior leaders and managers in supporting trust and responsiveness for co-designed innovation and change.

Healthcare needs leaders and managers to embrace co-design that drives innovation now and in the future through people – leading to better healthcare for society at large. As authors we argue that it is now the time to shift our focus on the role of senior managers and leaders to embed co-design into health and social care structures, through creating and nurturing a culture of trust.

Building public trust in the health system and interpersonal trust within the health system is an ongoing process that relies upon personal behavior of managers and senior leaders, organizational practices within the system, as well as political processes that underpin these practices. By implementing managerial, leadership and individual practices on all levels, senior managers and leaders provide a mechanism to increase both trust and responsiveness for co-design that supports innovation and change in the health system.