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Article
Publication date: 12 March 2024

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

 

  1. Textual warnings do not seem to discourage high-fat product consumption.

  2. A pictorial warning represents the fat content of an equivalent product.

  3. Pictorial warnings decrease the intention to purchase a high-fat product.

  4. 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.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 September 2023

Amee Kim and Poh Yen Ng

This paper explores how gender-related issues are communicated in Korean family-run conglomerates (chaebols) and the roles of women within these businesses. It also addresses to…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper explores how gender-related issues are communicated in Korean family-run conglomerates (chaebols) and the roles of women within these businesses. It also addresses to what extent the communication of chaebols about female employment and career development reflects the perception of gender representation in these organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

By paying attention to gendered discourse in Korean chaebols, this paper examines what is said and written about gender issues in glottographic statements (texts) and non-glottographic statements (charts and other visuals) of annual reports (ARs) published by five chaebols since 2010. The paper uses a Foucauldian framework to develop the archive of statements made within these ARs.

Findings

Although there is an increase in female-employee ratios, ARs show that number of women at the board or senior management level continue to be small. ARs tend to provide numbers related to female employment and retention in their non-glottographic statements, yet these numbers occasionally differ from and frequently are not explained by glottographic statements. The strategies used by chaebols to improve career prospects for their female staff are only vaguely described and rarely evaluated.

Originality/value

This paper looks beyond the existing discourse analysis on “talk and text” by also investigating claims made through graphic and linear/pictorial elements and their interplay with text. This approach opens new understandings of how gendered discourses are constructed and how they (unintentionally) fail to resolve issues and perceptions related to female employment and career development in Korea.

Details

International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 15 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-6266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 July 2023

Xiaochen Liu, Yukuan Xu, Qiang Ye and Yu Jin

Fierce competition in the crowdfunding market has resulted in high failure rates. Owing to their dedication and efforts, many founders have relaunched failed campaigns as a…

Abstract

Purpose

Fierce competition in the crowdfunding market has resulted in high failure rates. Owing to their dedication and efforts, many founders have relaunched failed campaigns as a second attempt. Despite the need for a better understanding, the success of campaign relaunches has not been well-researched. To fill this research gap, this study first theorizes how founders’ learning may enhance their competencies and influence investors’ attribution of entrepreneurial failure. The study then empirically documents the extent and conditions under which such learning efforts impact campaign relaunch performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This study examines 5,798 Kickstarter-relaunched campaigns. The founders’ learning efforts are empirically captured by key changes in campaign design that deviate from past business practices. Word movers’ distances and perceptual hashing algorithms (pHash) are used separately to measure differences in campaign textual descriptions and pictorial designs.

Findings

Differences in textual descriptions and pictorial designs during campaign failure–relaunch are positively associated with campaign relaunch success. The impacts are further amplified when the previous failures are more severe.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first to examine the success of a campaign relaunch after an initial failure. This study contributes to a better understanding of founders’ learning in crowdfunding contexts and provides insights into the strategies founders can adopt to reap performance benefits.

Details

Internet Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 September 2023

Jill Frances Atkins, Federica Doni, Karen McBride and Christopher Napier

This paper seeks to broaden the agenda for environmental and ecological accounting research across several dimensions, extending the form of accounting in this field by…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to broaden the agenda for environmental and ecological accounting research across several dimensions, extending the form of accounting in this field by encouraging research into its historical roots and developing a definition of accounting that can address the severe environmental and ecological challenges of the 21st century.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors explored environmental and ecological accounts from the dawn of human consciousness across a wide variety of media and in a broad range of forms. This theoretical approach reacts to the cold capitalist commodification of nature inherent in much environmental accounting practice, which documents, values and records usage of natural capital with little attempt to address depletion and loss.

Findings

By analysing the earliest ecological and environmental “accounts” recorded by humans at the dawn of human consciousness, and considering a wide array of subsequent accounts, the authors demonstrate that rather than being a secondary, relatively recent development emerging from financial accounting and reporting, environmental and ecological accounting predated financial accounting by tens of thousands of years. This research also provides a wealth of perspectives on diversity, not only in forms of account but also in the diversity of accountants, as well as the broadness of the stakeholders to whom and to which the accounts are rendered.

Research limitations/implications

The paper can be placed at the intersection of accounting history, the alternative, interdisciplinary and critical accounts literature, and environmental and ecological accounting research.

Practical implications

Practically, the authors can draw ideas and inspiration from the historical forms and content of ecological and environmental account that can inform new forms of and approaches to accounting.

Social implications

There are social implications including the diversity of accounts and accountants derived from studying historical ecological and environmental accounts from the dawn of human consciousness especially in the broadening out of the authors' understanding of the origins and cultural roots of accounting.

Originality/value

This study concludes with a new definition of accounting, fit for purpose in the 21st century, that integrates ecological, environmental concerns and is emancipatory, aiming to restore nature, revive biodiversity, conserve species and enhance ecosystems.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 36 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 December 2023

Karen McBride, Jill Frances Atkins and Barry Colin Atkins

This paper explores the way in which industrial pollution has been expressed in the narrative accounts of nature, landscape and industry by William Gilpin in his 18th-century…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper explores the way in which industrial pollution has been expressed in the narrative accounts of nature, landscape and industry by William Gilpin in his 18th-century picturesque travel writings. A positive description of pollution is generally outdated and unacceptable in the current society. The authors contrast his “picturesque” view with the contemporary perception of industrial pollution, reflect on these early accounts of industrial impacts as representing the roots of impression management and use the analysis to inform current accounting.

Design/methodology/approach

The research uses an interpretive content analysis of the text to draw out themes and features of impression management. Goffman's impression management is the theoretical lens through which Gilpin's travel accounts are interpreted, considering this microhistory through a thematic research approach. The picturesque accounts are explored with reference to the context of impression management.

Findings

Gilpin's travel writings and the “Picturesque” aesthetic movement, it appears, constructed a social reality around negative industrial externalities such as air pollution and indeed around humans' impact on nature, through a lens which described pollution as adding aesthetically to the natural landscape. The lens through which the picturesque tourist viewed and expressed negative externalities involved quite literally the tourists' tricks of the trade, Claude glass, called also Gray's glass, a tinted lens to frame the view.

Originality/value

The paper adds to the wealth of literature in accounting and business pertaining to the ways in which companies socially construct reality through their accounts and links closely to the impression management literature in accounting. There is also a body of literature relating to the use of images and photographs in published corporate reports, which again is linked to impression management as well as to a growing literature exploring the potential for the aesthetic influence in accounting and corporate communication. Further, this paper contributes to the growing body of research into the historical roots of environmental reporting.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 February 2024

Mohit Datt, Ajay Gupta, Sushendra Kumar Misra and Mahesh Gupta

Theory of Constraints (TOC), though a well-established process improvement methodology in manufacturing, is still a novel philosophy for healthcare and an exhaustive review of…

Abstract

Purpose

Theory of Constraints (TOC), though a well-established process improvement methodology in manufacturing, is still a novel philosophy for healthcare and an exhaustive review of literature is needed to summarize the key findings of various researchers. Such a review can provide a direction to the researchers and academicians interested in exploring the application of TOC in the healthcare sector. This paper aims to review the existing literature of TOC tools and techniques applied to the healthcare environment, and to investigate motivating factors, benefits and key gaps for identifying directions for future research in the domain of healthcare.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, different electronic repositories were searched using multiple keywords. The current study identified 36 articles published between January 1999 to mid-2021 to conceptualize and summarize the research questions used in the study. Descriptive analysis along with pictorial representations have been used for better visualization of work.

Findings

This paper presents a thorough literature review of TOC in healthcare and identifies the evolution, current trends, tools used, nature of services chosen for application and research gaps and recommends future direction for research. A variety of motivating factors and benefits of TOC in healthcare are identified. Another key finding of this study is that almost all implementations listed in literature reported positive outcomes and substantial improvements in the performance of the healthcare unit chosen for study.

Practical implications

This paper provides valuable insight to researchers, practitioners and policymakers on the potential of TOC to improve quality of services, flow of patients, revenues, process efficiency and cost reduction in different health care settings. A number of findings and suggestions compiled in the paper from literature study can be used for diagnosing, learning and making substantial changes in healthcare. The methodologies used by different researchers were analysed and combined to propose a generic step by step procedure to apply TOC. This methodology will guide the practising managers about the appropriate tools of TOC for their specific need.

Social implications

Good health is always the first desire of all men and women around the globe. The global aim of healthcare is to quickly cure more patients and ensure healthier population both today and in future. This article will work as a foundation for future applications of TOC in healthcare and guide upcoming applications in the booming healthcare sector. The paper will help the healthcare managers in serving a greater number of patients with limited available resources.

Originality/value

This paper provides original collaborative work compiled by the authors. Since no comprehensive systematic review of TOC in healthcare has been reported earlier, this study would be a valuable asset for researchers in this field. A model has been presented that links various benefits with one another and clarifies the need to focus on process improvement which naturally results in these benefits. Similarly, a model has been presented to guide the users in implementation of TOC in healthcare.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 September 2023

Lichen Yu and Christian Huber

This paper aims to review the literature on the use of the notion of performativity and its related concepts in accounting research. The literature uses the term performativity in…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to review the literature on the use of the notion of performativity and its related concepts in accounting research. The literature uses the term performativity in almost diametrically different ways, yet most papers assume that the meaning of the term is self-evident. We build on recent reviews of the notion of performativity and explicate the implicit tensions in the accounting literature, discovering a need to clarify how the accounting literature has explored the processes – how accounting becomes performative – and effects – what is performed – of accounting performativity. The paper develops suggestions for future theoretical and empirical research.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have searched in six leading accounting journals (Accounting, Organizations and Society, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Management Accounting Research, Critical Perspectives on Accounting and Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management) for the terms “performativity” and/or “performative” and/or “performable”. This yielded 289 results from which we distilled a core sample of 92 papers which substantially draw on the concept and explicate their use of the term.

Findings

The authors find that the accounting literature has paid almost equal attention to the conforming and amplifying effects of performativity but has mostly explored how conditions of performativity are built. Less attention has been paid to how accounting generates multiple worlds and how differences in these worlds are coordinated by accounting. Building institutions and searching for accounting incompleteness have been developed as the two main processes where accounting is made performative.

Research limitations/implications

The paper develops avenues for future research, highlighting the potential for a deeper understanding of how the notion of performativity can be used. We do not advocate homogenizing the literature, instead exploring its fruitful tensions to discover a renewed interest in how accounting is constitutive of existing and/or new worlds. We illustrate this potential by reflecting on the debates about accounting incompleteness and the boundaries of accounting. The authors also suggest the potentials for concepts of performativity in studying emerging phenomena such as big data and sustainability and revisiting the ethics of using accounting as a social and organizational practice.

Originality/value

The literature review explicates differences in the use of the term performativity, which usually remain implicit in the literature. The study develops a framework that attends to both the processes – problematizing the conditions for performativity or not – and effects – conforming and amplifying – of performativity accounting studies have drawn upon, which clarifies how the accounting literature has mobilized the notion of performativity and the contributions the accounting literature has added. Further, the authors extend Vosselman’s (2022) review both in scope and nuance.

Details

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, vol. 20 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1176-6093

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 August 2023

Jiyea Park

This study draws on the author's experiences building rapport through online chat for data collection for the author's doctoral dissertation. The author contacted ten Korean women…

Abstract

Purpose

This study draws on the author's experiences building rapport through online chat for data collection for the author's doctoral dissertation. The author contacted ten Korean women via online chat to recruit and faced the most challenging situation; building rapport. As the Millennial generation is known as being tech-savvy or digital natives, the author actively used emoticons (pictorial representations of facial expressions using characters) with potential interviewees and completed ten interviews. Therefore, this paper offers a new qualitative interviewing method in feminist research.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper briefly reviews the works of literature on interviewing women on sensitive topics and building rapport before the interview. Then, the author introduced using emoticons to create rapport during the data collection process and how a non-traditional approach positively impacts the interviewer and interviewee before, during and even after the interview.

Findings

Women participants' responses and behaviors differed after building a rapport through an online chat. They were willing to share their personal stories and memories with the interviewer even though the interviewer did not ask.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides a stepping stone for developing an account of the new qualitative methodological approach, specifically feminist qualitative research.

Originality/value

Few studies have described how qualitative researchers create a rapport in virtual space, specifically using emoticons. Also, this study suggests a new methodological approach since nonverbal communication in online chat is inevitable when interviewing people in qualitative research.

Details

Qualitative Research Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1443-9883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 July 2022

Nick Sciulli and Desi Adhariani

The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) has promulgated the production of integrated reports to enhance transparency and encourage improved stakeholder…

1150

Abstract

Purpose

The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) has promulgated the production of integrated reports to enhance transparency and encourage improved stakeholder relationships. The purpose of this study/paper is to explore how managers prioritize the needs of stakeholders and to what extent integrated reporting is associated with those stakeholder relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a case study/interpretative approach to compare the underlying motivation for the preparation of an integrated report across three case study sites from three different industry groups. Face-to-face and telephone semi-structured interviews, email correspondence and a review of the integrated reports form the basis for the data collection and analysis.

Findings

The case studies investigated for this project provide evidence that integrated reporting did motivate further stakeholder engagement to increase the organizations’ legitimacy and transparency. Overall, the authors found that the three case study organizations used the production of an integrated report to cement their place as a “leader” in their respective industry group. Moreover, managers regarded the current statutory accounts as inadequate in communicating and engaging with a broad range of stakeholders. There were elements of enhancing, defending and repairing legitimacy and managers tended to equate legitimacy with transparency.

Research limitations/implications

Three case study sites were selected on the basis of producing exemplary integrated reports, and senior executives provided their views on stakeholder engagement. For the scope of this study, the stakeholders themselves were not involved in this investigation which can be viewed as a limitation.

Practical implications

The international IIRC Framework is built upon the notion that stakeholders are integral to assisting the organization in creating value. The outcomes of this investigation suggest that for preparers, the incumbent organization is reliant on the leadership of senior managers (inclusive of the chief executive officer) and directors to actually instigate the process. In Australia and New Zealand, given that integrated reporting is not mandatory, regulators have no influence over the scope, content and veracity of integrated reports. It seems likely that further stakeholder engagement will become intrinsic to the business model of organizations as a means to quell any notion that it is engaging in greenwashing.

Originality/value

The value of this paper is to contrast how three quite distinct organizations are using their integrated reports to communicate their approach to stakeholder engagement. Stakeholder salience dimensions are used to explore the importance attributed by senior managers.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

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