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Recently, there has been a shift toward the embodied energy assessment of buildings. However, the impact of material service life on the life-cycle embodied energy has received little attention. We aimed to address this knowledge gap, particularly in the context of the UAE and investigated the embodied energy associated with the use of concrete and other materials commonly used in residential buildings in the hot desert climate of the UAE.

Using input–output based hybrid analysis, we quantified the life-cycle embodied energy of a villa in the UAE with over 50 years of building life using the average, minimum, and maximum material service life values. Mathematical calculations were performed using MS Excel, and a detailed bill of quantities with >170 building materials and components of the villa were used for investigation.

For the base case, the initial embodied energy was 57% (7390.5 GJ), whereas the recurrent embodied energy was 43% (5,690 GJ) of the life-cycle embodied energy based on average material service life values. The proportion of the recurrent embodied energy with minimum material service life values was increased to 68% of the life-cycle embodied energy, while it dropped to 15% with maximum material service life values.

The findings provide new data to guide building construction in the UAE and show that recurrent embodied energy contributes significantly to life-cycle energy demand. Further, the study of material service life variations provides deeper insights into future building material specifications and management considerations for building maintenance.

This study aims to examine to what extent the relationships between hospital workers’ perceptions of lean leadership behaviour, their engagement and the hospital unit’s perceived performance are mediated by job demands.

The data (n = 1,624) come from a lean implementation study in a Dutch hospital and are analysed using structural equation modelling in Mplus (v8.4).

The results confirm that lean leadership behaviour is related to employee engagement and hospital unit performance as perceived by employees, and these relationships are partially mediated through job demands. More specifically, the authors found that the type of job demand explains the direction of mediation effects. On the one hand, so-called challenging demands positively mediate the relationships between lean leadership behaviour and its outcomes. Conversely, hindering demands negatively mediates the relationship between lean leadership behaviour and perceived unit performance.

The authors recommend hospital organisations and human resources managers start by helping hospital leaders understand the underlying mechanisms that explain the effects of leadership on employees’ perceptions and, second, support their frontline leaders by providing training, coaching and feedback on how to influence job demands in a way that creates an optimal work environment for hospital employees.

The authors contribute to the literature by building upon insights from the job demands-resources model to explain the effects of lean leadership behaviour and by investigating the relevance of lean leadership in a hospital context, given the phenomenon’s strong roots in manufacturing.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) own and control technological resources and capabilities that make them critical actors in accelerating the transition toward net zero. Even beyond the energy sector, stakeholders are putting increasing pressure on MNEs to reduce the carbon intensity of their operations, that is, to improve their carbon performance. While there is unambiguous evidence that national climate policy is a critical catalyst for long-term carbon performance improvements, there is limited research on how MNEs’ carbon strategies react to climate policies. This chapter reviews the concepts, drivers, and strategies connected to carbon performance in the broader sustainability and management literature to clarify potential complementarities to international business (IB). The authors then highlight how MNEs will face increasing institutional complexity along two dimensions: (1) the structural diversity of institutional environments and (2) institutional dynamism, primarily reflected by public policy. The proposed conceptual framework maps these two dimensions to national and subnational levels, and the authors present two data sources that allow the quantitative analysis of country differences in the diversity and dynamism of national climate policy. The authors conclude that there are ample opportunities for IB researchers to explore MNEs’ strategic reactions to climate policy and to inform policymakers about the consequences of national climate policy in the global economy.

In a recent report the author wrote about a service user, the author was challenged by the service user’s advocate in respect of the author’s use of the term “sexual fetish”. The author was informed of the advocate’s fears in respect of people involved in the service user’s future care and support needs feeling uncomfortable and possibly stigmatising someone having a sexual fetish. Consequently, the author was asked to change their wording from “sexual fetish” to “sensory need”. The purpose of this study/paper aims to highlight best practice regarding the most appropriate wording for individuals with sexual fetishes.

A review of the available evidence was ascertained.

A review of British Psychological Society guidelines and recent research highlights that what were once called “perversions” must be destigmatised, which will not be achieved if people continue to sweep the term fetish under the metaphorical carpet.

It is the author’s sincere hope that use of the term “sexual fetish” embraces and normalises people’s sexual fetish and results in heightened awareness and de-stigmatisation of what is essentially a reference to an element of the wonderful and pleasurable world of sexual behaviour.

Managers of public organizations in liberalized sectors face the dual imperative of retaining skilled employees who might be poached by commercial competitors and improving service performance levels without a free hand to invest resources. While employee work engagement (EWE) has been previously suggested as a solution to such management challenges, limitations in its ability to retain employees have been identified. We therefore examine how a social identity crafting (SIC) approach to public leadership that confers a sense of group identity among team members can enhance and extend beyond EWE in addressing this dual imperative.

We report findings from a survey of employees (n = 199) at “ATCO,” a state-owned national airline that is facing challenges from commercial rivals within a new, competitive environment.

We confirm previously identified limitations of EWE and, further, demonstrate that a social identity approach to leadership offers a promising avenue for public managers, not only by enhancing employee engagement but, more importantly, by enhancing retention and service performance.

We contribute to studies of leadership, particularly for managers operating in the public sector and resource-constrained environments, demonstrating how SIC, which does not require costly investment to attain, can deliver improved service performance and reduced employee turnover intention, operating beyond EWE, which reaches a plateau in respect of the latter.

The involvement of clients in service encounters and service development has become a central principle for contemporary health and social care organizations. However, in day-to-day work settings, the shift toward client involvement is still in progress. We examined how health and social care professionals, together with clients and managers, co-develop their conceptions of client involvement and search for practical ways in which to implement these in organizational service processes.

The empirical case of this study was a developmental intervention, the client involvement workshop, conducted in a Finnish municipal social and welfare center. The cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) framework was used to analyze the development of client involvement ideas and the modes of interaction during the intervention.

Analysis of the collective discussion revealed that the conceptions of client involvement developed through two interconnected object-orientations: Enabling client involvement in service encounters and promoting client involvement in the service system. The predominant mode of interaction in the collective discussion was that of “coordination.” The clients' perspective and contributions were central aspects in the turning points from coordination to cooperation; professionals crossed organizational boundaries, and together with clients, constructed a new client involvement-based object. This suggests that client participation plays an important role in the development of services.

The CHAT-based examination of the modes of interaction clarifies the potential of co-developing client-involvement-based services and highlights the importance of clients' participation in co-development.