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1 – 10 of 11Low-carbon agricultural technology (LAT) extension is a key strategy for the agricultural sector to address climate change. Social capital, which consists of social networks…
Abstract
Purpose
Low-carbon agricultural technology (LAT) extension is a key strategy for the agricultural sector to address climate change. Social capital, which consists of social networks, trust and norms, can play an active LAT extension role. This paper aims to analyze the mechanism of the role of social capital in the process of LAT extension.
Design/methodology/approach
Questionnaire data from six counties in Jiangsu, China, were used to measure social capital and analyze its effect on LAT extension using logistic regression. Data from 27 interviews were used to analyze the LAT extension experiences and problems.
Findings
LAT is mainly deployed by the government to farmers and distributed among them. In this process, the village officials who form parts of the government’s composition and the villagers play a dual role that facilitates a close link between them and the farmers and ensures LAT integration. However, social norms did not play a significant role in the process.
Practical implications
Farmers’ acceptance of LAT is based solely on the trade-off between local networks’ benefits and trust in local villagers and village officials. LAT-related laws and technical measures, thus are essential to strengthen LAT practices’ authority and incorporate LAT-based agricultural production as the norm of production behavior.
Originality/value
This paper provides an insight into the process and essence of farmers’ acceptance of LAT, which provides theoretical lessons for the LAT extension in China and indeed other developing countries.
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Yuen Sze Michelle Tan, Joshua Johnstone Amiel and Kwesi Yaro
The purpose of this paper is to describe two cycles of learning study (LS) involving eight elementary teachers in British Columbia, Canada. The study explored the teachers’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe two cycles of learning study (LS) involving eight elementary teachers in British Columbia, Canada. The study explored the teachers’ experiences of learning to plan and teach lessons as informed by recent brain research.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study was constructed using data sources including teacher semi-structured interviews (pre-study, post-study and delayed post-study), classroom materials (including student assignments), LS training materials, fieldnotes and recordings of meetings and research lessons; sources were triangulated. Thematic analysis was applied. Contemporary neuroscience perspectives framed the LS discourse and analysis.
Findings
The teachers developed theoretical coherence and could better articulate reasons for their pedagogy. They developed understandings of the cognitive architecture underlying functions like learning and memory, allowing them to identify pedagogical actions that are consistent with human biology and understand why these actions are effective in promoting learning.
Practical implications
LS is shown to be an effective professional development (PD) model where theoretical knowledge, like neuroscience, could be employed and tested in classroom settings to provide depth to support teachers’ praxis. This teaching–research nexus supports exploration of fruitful connections between theoretical knowledge and education to advance the science of learning and the science of instruction.
Originality/value
Findings demonstrated how LS could be employed with alternative theoretical perspectives to promote teacher PD, thus extending beyond the dominant use of variation theory. Also, illustrated is the potential use of LS to bridge the knowledge gap between neuroscience and education.
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Issah Justice Musah-Surugu, Albert Ahenkan, Justice Nyigmah Bawole and Samuel Antwi Darkwah
The much-trumpeted Green Climate Fund and several other official financial mechanisms for financing adaptation to climate change under the UN Framework Convention on Climate…
Abstract
Purpose
The much-trumpeted Green Climate Fund and several other official financial mechanisms for financing adaptation to climate change under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change have fallen short in meeting adaptation needs. Many poorer people are still grappling with the scourge of climate change impacts. Consequently, there has been a dominant research focus on climate change financing emanating from official development assistance (ODA), Adaptation Fund, public expenditure and private sector support. However, there has been little attempt to examine how migrants’ remittances can close adaptation financing gaps at the local level, ostensibly creating a large research gap. This paper aims to argue that migrants’ remittances provide a unique complementary opportunity for financing adaptation and have a wider impact on those who are extremely vulnerable to climate change.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is aligned to the qualitative research approach. Both secondary and primary data acquired through interviews and focus group discussions were used for the study. Multiple sampling methods were also used to select the respondents.
Findings
The findings show that remittances are used to finance both incremental costs of households’ infrastructure and consumption needs, as well as additional investment needs to be occasioned by ongoing or expected changes in climate.
Originality/value
In the wake of dwindling government/public revenue, ODA and poor commitment of Annex II countries to fulfil their financial obligations, the study makes the following recommendations: First, the financial infrastructure underpinning money transfers in both sending and recipient countries should be improved to make transfers attractive. Second, significant steps should be taken to reduce the fees on remittance services, especially for the small transfers typically made by poor migrants. Finally, adequate climatic information should be made available to local people to ensure that remittances are applied to the right adaptation option to avoid maladaptation.
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Mumuni Yahaya, Caleb Mensah, Michael Addaney, Peter Damoah-Afari and Naomi Kumi
This study aims to analyze the perceptions of smallholder farmers on climate change and events and further explores climate change adaptation strategies and associated challenges…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the perceptions of smallholder farmers on climate change and events and further explores climate change adaptation strategies and associated challenges. The findings provide useful information for enhancing the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to adjust to climate-related hazards and improve their resilience and disaster preparedness in northern Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a multistage sampling procedure and sample size of 150 farmers, the Binary Probit Model (BPM), to identify and examine the determinants of climate change adaptation strategies adopted by smallholder farmers. Also, the constraints of adaptation were analyzed using Kendall’s coefficient of concordance.
Findings
The results from the BPM and statistics of Kendall’s coefficient revealed that the farm risk level, ability to adapt, farmer’s income, age, farming experience, climate change awareness and extension visits were factors that significantly influenced the adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers (in order of importance). The majority (60%) of the farmers ranked farm risk level as the major constraint to adopting climate change strategies.
Originality/value
The findings of this study enhance understanding on access to relevant and timely climate change adaptation information such as an early warning to farmers during the start of the farming/rainy season to support their adaptive responses to climate change.
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Executive coaching is an emerging field with broad demand and subsequent growth in service providers. The International Coach Federation (ICF) reports a membership of over 5500…
Abstract
Executive coaching is an emerging field with broad demand and subsequent growth in service providers. The International Coach Federation (ICF) reports a membership of over 5500 coaches, and there is likely a large but indeterminate number of practicing coaches that do not belong to that organization. Enterprises around the globe are utilizing the services of these executive coaches. The topic is receiving increasing coverage in a number of professional, technical, and popular periodicals and numerous books on the topic. Unfortunately, there is little agreement on what executive coaching is or who is qualified to provide it. Consequently, the skills and qualifications of self-proclaimed coaches remain indeterminate. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of these issues. We suggest an operational definition of coaching, including its goals and objectives, and identify suggested competencies and qualifications. We conclude with implications for Leadership Educators.
The purpose of this present paper is twofold: (1) to study the role of gender in food preferences and (2) to study the change in food choice due to climate change in Chandigarh…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this present paper is twofold: (1) to study the role of gender in food preferences and (2) to study the change in food choice due to climate change in Chandigarh, India. Thus, the hypothesis developed are that (1) there is a significant effect of environmental change on the dietary habits of the women and (2) gender norms are significant in the selection of foods in Chandigarh.
Design/methodology/approach
The literature review was done with the help of NVivo 11, and for quantitative data analysis, SPSS version 22 is used.
Findings
The study concluded that societal gender norms were not significant for women in the choice of food. Also, climate change and women are an essential factor in food preferences at the household level.
Originality/value
While framing the adaptation policy and programs at the institutional level, the cultural and traditional knowledge gets little attention. Hence, the present paper will contribute in the policy-making from a gender perspective.
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People who experience mental illness often demonstrate limited help-seeking behaviours. There is evidence to suggest that media content can influence negative attitudes towards…
Abstract
Purpose
People who experience mental illness often demonstrate limited help-seeking behaviours. There is evidence to suggest that media content can influence negative attitudes towards mental illness; less is known about how media impacts help-seeking behaviours. The purpose of this study is to identify if media plays a role in people’s decisions to seek help for their mental health.
Design/methodology/approach
The databases Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, MEDLINE, APA PsycArticles, APA PsycInfo, Social Sciences Full Text [H.W. Wilson] and Soc Index were systemically searched for papers in the English language that investigated the link between media and help-seeking for mental illness.
Findings
Sixteen studies met eligibility criteria. There was some evidence to suggest that various forms of media – including video and online resources – can positively influence help-seeking for mental health. Print media had some limited effect on help-seeking behaviours but was weaker in comparison to other forms of media. There was no evidence to suggest that media discourages people from seeking help.
Originality/value
This review identified that, given the heterogeneity of the included papers, and the limited evidence available, there is a need for more focused research to determine how media impacts mental health-related help-seeking behaviours.
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Kristina Heinonen and Gustav Medberg
Understanding customers is critical for service researchers and practitioners. Today, customers are increasingly active online, and valuable information about their opinions…
Abstract
Purpose
Understanding customers is critical for service researchers and practitioners. Today, customers are increasingly active online, and valuable information about their opinions, experiences and behaviors can be retrieved from a variety of online platforms. Online customer information creates new opportunities to design personalized and high-quality service. This paper aims to review how netnography as a method can help service researchers and practitioners to better use such data.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review and analysis were conducted on 321 netnography studies published in marketing journals between 1997 and 2017.
Findings
The systematic review reveals that netnography has been applied in a variety of ways across different marketing fields and topics. Based on the analysis of existing netnography literature, empirical, theoretical and methodological recommendations for future netnographic service research are presented.
Research limitations/implications
This paper shows how netnography can offer service researchers unprecedented opportunities to access naturalistic online data about customers and, hence, why it is an important method for future service research.
Practical implications
Netnographic research can help service firms with, for example, service innovation, advertising and environmental scanning. This paper provides guidelines for service managers who want to use netnography as a market research tool.
Originality/value
Netnography has seen limited use in service research despite many promising applications in this field. This paper is the first to encourage and support service researchers in their use of the method and aims to stimulate interesting future netnographic service research.
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Sara Catalán, Eva Martínez and Elaine Wallace
Based on flow theory, the purpose of this paper is to explain why the use of mobile advergames can enhance players’ brand perceptions and purchase intentions, as well as the…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on flow theory, the purpose of this paper is to explain why the use of mobile advergames can enhance players’ brand perceptions and purchase intentions, as well as the factors that affect players’ flow experience.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from 212 participants who played a mobile advergame was analysed. Structural equation modelling with PLS was used to test the research model.
Findings
The results reveal that challenge, interactivity, focused attention and telepresence significantly influence the flow experience while playing mobile advergames. Results also show that the greater the flow, the more positive the attitude towards the featured brand and the greater the purchase intention.
Practical implications
The findings of this study are important for advertising practitioners and advergames developers as understanding the key game features that promote flow is crucial to designing engaging mobile advergames that persuade players most.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it provides new insights into the effectiveness of mobile advergames, which is an under-researched area. Second, it offers a conceptual framework based on flow theory for understanding why the use of mobile advergames can enhance players’ brand perceptions and purchase intentions.
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