Search results
1 – 10 of 37Sara Osama Hassan Hosny and Gamal Sayed AbdelAziz
The current study aims to propose and empirically investigate a conceptual model of the most relevant antecedents and consequences of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR…
Abstract
Purpose
The current study aims to propose and empirically investigate a conceptual model of the most relevant antecedents and consequences of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) attribution, thus providing a practical and concise model as well as examining brand attachment as a mediator explaining the relationship between CSR attribution and its consequences.
Design/methodology/approach
A between-subjects experimental design was employed. The study included two experimental conditions; intrinsic and extrinsic CSR attribution and a control condition. An online self-administered survey was utilised for data collection. The sample was a convenience sample of 336 university students. Both one-way between-groups ANOVA and Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) were utilised for hypotheses testing.
Findings
The most significant antecedents of CSR attribution in order of importance are the firm's approach to CSR communication, past corporate social performance, CSR type and the firm's call for customers' participation in its CSR. CSR attribution exerted a significant direct positive impact on brand attachment and trust. Three significant indirect consequences of CSR attribution were PWOM intention, purchase intention and brand loyalty intention. Whereas trust played a significant mediating role between CSR attribution and its three indirect consequences, brand attachment exerted significant mediation only between CSR attribution and brand loyalty intention. Brand attachment might mediate the relationship between CSR attribution and purchase intention. However, brand attachment failed to play a mediating role between CSR attribution and PWOM intention.
Originality/value
Several studies marginally investigated CSR attribution. Despite the vital role of CSR attribution in how consumers receive firms' CSR engagement, the availability of CSR attribution-centric studies is limited. By introducing a model of the most relevant antecedents and consequences of CSR attribution, this study aids in understanding the psychological mechanism underlying consumers' CSR attribution and provides valuable implications.
Details
Keywords
Adetumilara Iyanuoluwa Adebo, Kehinde Aladelusi and Mustapha Mohammed
This study aims to examine the mediating role of social influence on the relationship between key predictors of E-pharmacy adoption among young consumers based on the unified…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the mediating role of social influence on the relationship between key predictors of E-pharmacy adoption among young consumers based on the unified theory of adoption and use of technology (UTAUT).
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a quantitative correlational research design. Based on cluster sampling, data was collected from 306 university students from three public universities in southwestern Nigeria. Data was analysed using partial least square structural equation modeling.
Findings
The primary determinant driving the adoption of e-pharmacy is performance expectancy. Social influence plays a partial mediating role in linking performance expectancy to e-pharmacy adoption. In contrast, it fully mediates the relationship between effort expectancy, facilitating conditions and the adoption of e-pharmacy services.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides theoretical clarity on recent issues within the UTAUT framework. Findings highlight the complexity of how social factors interact with individual beliefs and external conditions in determining technology acceptance.
Practical implications
Research includes information relevant to access the impact of e-pharmacy services on healthcare accessibility, affordability and quality in developing countries.
Originality/value
The findings extend the adoption of technology literature in healthcare and offer a new understanding of adoption dynamics. The results emphasize the importance of performance expectancy in driving e-pharmacy adoption, providing a clear direction for stakeholders to enhance service quality and user experience of e-pharmacy. Additionally, the mediating effect of social influence highlights the significance of peer recommendations, celebrity endorsements and social media campaigns in shaping consumer adoption of e-pharmacies among young people.
Details
Keywords
Piret Masso, Krista Jaakson and Kaire Põder
The study's objective is to estimate the association of specific perceived employer-provided benefits on employees' intention to leave in different age cohorts during coronavirus…
Abstract
Purpose
The study's objective is to estimate the association of specific perceived employer-provided benefits on employees' intention to leave in different age cohorts during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Informed by the psychological theories of ageing, the authors propose three age-cohort-specific hypotheses in three motivational domains: security and health benefits, flexible work arrangement and education-related benefits.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a large survey of employees in Estonia (n = 7,209) conducted in 2020 and test the association of specific benefits and their interactions with age on employees' intention to leave.
Findings
The results show that older cohorts are generally less prone to leave their jobs. Benefits that employers could use during the COVID-19 crisis generally had negative associations with the intention to leave, but age-specific differences were negligible; only the perceived provision of flexible work arrangements reduced the younger cohort's intention to leave relatively more.
Originality/value
This study is one of the few that allows us to make inferences regarding the benefits preferences amongst the working population during an unprecedented health crisis.
Details
Keywords
Lei Xu, K. Praveen Parboteeah and Hanqing Fang
The authors enrich and extend the existing institutional anomie theory (IAT) in the hope of sharpening the understanding of the joint effects of selected cultural values and…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors enrich and extend the existing institutional anomie theory (IAT) in the hope of sharpening the understanding of the joint effects of selected cultural values and social institutional changes on women's pre-entrant entrepreneurial attempts. The authors theorize that women are culturally discouraged to pursue pre-entrant entrepreneurial attempts or wealth accumulation in a specific culture. This discouragement creates an anomic strain that motivates women to deviate from cultural prescriptions by engaging in pre-entrant entrepreneurial attempts at a faster speed. Building on this premise, the authors hypothesize that changes in social institutions facilitate the means of achievement for women due to the potential opportunities inherent in such institutional changes.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a randomly selected sample of 1,431 registered active individual users with a minimum of 10,000 followers on a leading entertainment live-streaming platform in the People's Republic of China, the authors examined a unique mix of cultural and institutional changes and their effects on the speed of women's engagement in live-streaming platform activity.
Findings
The authors find support for the impact of the interaction between changes in social institution conditions and cultural values. Unexpectedly, the authors also find a negative impact of cultural values on women's speed of engaging in pre-entrant entrepreneurial attempts.
Originality/value
The authors add institutional change to the IAT framework and provide a novel account for the variation in the pre-entrant entrepreneurial attempts by women on the platform.
Details
Keywords
Over a decade since the Special Criminal Court (SCC) was established in Cameroon, hundreds of individuals have been indicted, tried and convicted. Sentences have been imposed…
Abstract
Purpose
Over a decade since the Special Criminal Court (SCC) was established in Cameroon, hundreds of individuals have been indicted, tried and convicted. Sentences have been imposed, most of which include a term of imprisonment (principal punishment/penalty) and confiscation as accessory penalty or punishment. Research focus has not been directed at the sentences which, as argued in this paper, are inconsistent, incommensurate with the amounts of money stolen and a significant departure from the Penal Code. This paper aims to explore the aspect of sentencing by the SCC.
Design/methodology/approach
To identify, highlight and discuss the issue of sentencing, the paper looks at a blend of primary and secondary materials: primary materials here include but not limited to the judgements of the SCC and other courts in Cameroon and the Penal Code. Secondary materials shall include the works of scholars in the fields of criminal law, criminal justice and penal reform.
Findings
A few findings were made: first, the judges are inconsistent in the manner in which they determine the appropriate sentence. Second, in making that determination, the judges would have been oblivious to the prescripts in the Penal Code, which provides the term of imprisonment, and in the event of a mitigating circumstance, the prescribed minimum to be applied. Yet, the default imposition of an aggravating circumstance (being a civil servant) was not explored by the SCC. Finally, whether the sentences imposed are commensurate with the amounts of monies stolen.
Research limitations/implications
This research unravels key insights into the functioning of the SCC. It advances the knowledge thereon and adds to the literature on corruption in Cameroon.
Practical implications
The prosecution and judges at the SCC should deepen their knowledge of Cameroonian criminal law, especially on the nature of liberty given to judges to determine within the prescribed range of the sentence to be imposed but also consider the existence of an aggravating factor – civil servant. They must also consider whether the sentences imposed befit the crime for which they are convicted.
Originality/value
The paper is an original contribution with new insights on the manner in which sentencing should be approached by the SCC.
Details
Keywords
Daniel Nordholm and Carl-Henrik Adolfsson
Using a large-scale school improvement program in Sweden as a case, this article aims to explore the state governance of a large-scale school improvement program in Sweden and how…
Abstract
Purpose
Using a large-scale school improvement program in Sweden as a case, this article aims to explore the state governance of a large-scale school improvement program in Sweden and how officials at the state agency level made sense of the reform ideas and operationalized them in policy actions.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were integrated from Swedish Government Official Reports and formal directives from the Ministry of Education. Officials of the Swedish National Agency for Education (SNAE) were also interviewed. Data were analyzed to identify how regulatory rules, professional norms and cultural–cognitive beliefs shaped SNAE's design of the program.
Findings
The article shows how different types of governance (i.e. regulatory rules, professional norms and cultural–cognitive beliefs) set the direction for managing large-scale school improvement. In particular, in the studied case, the lack of clear regulatory directives enabled sensemaking processes clearly influenced by normative ideas and cultural–cognitive beliefs.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are mostly presented from the perspective of managers, so further study is required to attain a broader understanding of the state agency level's role and function.
Practical implications
By illustrating the strengths of understanding various dimensions of educational governance, the findings are highly relevant to both policymakers and educational managers at different levels of school systems.
Originality/value
The article offers a valuable perspective on large-scale school improvement and educational governance by focusing on a level that has hitherto received little attention.
Details
Keywords
Mat Jones, Amy Beardmore, Michele Biddle, Andy Gibson, Sanda Umar Ismail, Stuart McClean and Jo White
Background: Evidence from a range of major public health incidents shows that neighbour-based action can have a critical role in emergency response, assistance and recovery…
Abstract
Background: Evidence from a range of major public health incidents shows that neighbour-based action can have a critical role in emergency response, assistance and recovery. However, there is little research to date on neighbour-based action during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. This article reports on a survey of people engaged in supporting their neighbours in weeks three and four of the UK COVID-19 lockdown.
Methods: Members of area-based and community of interest COVID-19 support groups in the Bristol conurbation were invited to complete an online survey. Of 1,255 people who clicked on the survey link, 862 responded; of these, 539 responses were eligible for analysis.
Results: Respondents reported providing a wide range of support that went beyond health information, food and medical prescription assistance, to include raising morale through humour, creativity and acts of kindness and solidarity. A substantial proportion felt that they had become more involved in neighbourhood life following the lockdown and had an interest in becoming more involved in future. Neighbour support spanned all adult age groups, including older people categorised as being at-risk to the virus. With respect to most measures, there were no differences in the characteristics of support between respondents in areas of higher and lower deprivation. However, respondents from more deprived areas were more likely to state that they were involved in supporting certain vulnerable groups.
Conclusions: As with previous research on major social upheavals, our findings suggest that responses to the viral pandemic and associated social restrictions may increase existing social and health inequalities, and further research should explore this issue in more depth.
Details
Keywords
Rania Ahmed Aly El Garem, Amira Fouad and Hassan Mohamed
This paper explores the effect of perceived service quality, trust, perceived value and perceived cost on patient satisfaction and loyalty as well as exploring the moderating…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the effect of perceived service quality, trust, perceived value and perceived cost on patient satisfaction and loyalty as well as exploring the moderating role of the sociodemographic factors.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were gathered from 462 patients via a structured questionnaire, while structural equation modeling was utilized for the analysis.
Findings
Results indicated that trust, perceived value and patient satisfaction have important roles in shaping the patient loyalty, while patient satisfaction was found to fully mediate the patient’s perceived service quality. Loyalty relationship was also found to partially mediate the trust–loyalty relationship. Nonetheless, the patient’s satisfaction–loyalty relationship was found to be only moderated by the age factor.
Practical implications
Implications are provided to the Egyptian private hospitals in order for them to formulate improvement plans as well as set higher standards of conduct.
Originality/value
This original research is the first one, up to the researcher knowledge, that explores the drivers of patient satisfaction in the private hospitals in Egypt.
Details
Keywords
Nicola Cobelli and Silvia Blasi
This paper explores the Adoption of Technological Innovation (ATI) in the healthcare industry. It investigates how the literature has evolved, and what are the emerging innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the Adoption of Technological Innovation (ATI) in the healthcare industry. It investigates how the literature has evolved, and what are the emerging innovation dimensions in the healthcare industry adoption studies.
Design/methodology/approach
We followed a mixed-method approach combining bibliometric methods and topic modeling, with 57 papers being deeply analyzed.
Findings
Our results identify three latent topics. The first one is related to the digitalization in healthcare with a specific focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. The second one groups up the word combinations dealing with the research models and their constructs. The third one refers to the healthcare systems/professionals and their resistance to ATI.
Research limitations/implications
The study’s sample selection focused on scientific journals included in the Academic Journal Guide and in the FT Research Rank. However, the paper identifies trends that offer managerial insights for stakeholders in the healthcare industry.
Practical implications
ATI has the potential to revolutionize the health service delivery system and to decentralize services traditionally provided in hospitals or medical centers. All this would contribute to a reduction in waiting lists and the provision of proximity services.
Originality/value
The originality of the paper lies in the combination of two methods: bibliometric analysis and topic modeling. This approach allowed us to understand the ATI evolutions in the healthcare industry.
Details
Keywords
Cannabis as a recreational drug is prohibited in Nigeria. Consequently, the open use of cannabis attracts both formal and informal sanctions. As such, there is much stigma on…
Abstract
Purpose
Cannabis as a recreational drug is prohibited in Nigeria. Consequently, the open use of cannabis attracts both formal and informal sanctions. As such, there is much stigma on users' faces across social spaces. This has led to innovations in drug use. Recently, non-medical use of tramadol has been rising across each of the gender categories. This study aims to understand (1) tramadol use prompts, (2) the sudden surge in gendered recreational use of tramadol and (3) the gendered challenges of recreational tramadol use among Nigerian university students.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected between December 2021 and October 2022. The researcher conducted 20 semi-structured interviews, with participants chosen purposefully from acquaintances and others selected through chain referral. The selection criteria included knowledge of a particular tramadol tablet and willingness to participate. This study got ethical approval from the Anambra State Ministry of Health (Ref: MH/AWK/M/321/354) and oral consent was obtained before the interviews. The participants were assured of confidentiality. The interviews were conducted in English (the formal Nigerian language) and lasted between 30 and 65 min. The data collected were transcribed and coded manually, and themes generated.
Findings
Findings suggest that peer pressures accounted for entry-level drug use. However, cannabis-related stigma is attributed to the surge in tramadol use across gender categories. Furthermore, academic pressure and sexuality are major reasons for tramadol use. The challenges associated with tramadol use include headaches and addiction.
Originality/value
This study, to the best of the author’s knowledge, presents alternative data on the surge in tramadol use among Nigerian university students.
Details