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Warehouses are under pressure to operate as efficiently as possible. In pursuit of attaining high efficiency in the order picking process, the warehouse manager must take several planning decisions, typically supported by a central planning system. However, highly centralised work erodes the autonomy of warehouse workers, interfering with worker well-being and productivity. This study holistically explores the impact of a work system with more decision autonomy for order pickers.

We conduct a unique field experiment in a real-world warehouse and use a within-subjects design to compare two work systems, one with worker autonomy and one without. 18 permanent employees participate in our study, in which we measure both psychosocial and physical well-being as well as productivity. Post-experimental interviews are conducted to delve deeper into the observed effects.

Our study illustrates that involving order pickers in operational decisions can benefit their job satisfaction and motivation without compromising productivity. Although we fail to find significance at the conventional level (α = 0.05), we do find marginally significant effects of our treatment on physical well-being aspects. Furthermore, our intervention invoked a highly positive user experience.

We show that slightly loosening tight process control results in organisational and individual benefits without endangering smooth operational flows. The warehouse in this paper acknowledged this and decided to permanently work according to this philosophy.

This study is the first to holistically explore the effects of a participatory work setting in a real-world warehouse.

Metal laser-powder-bed-fusion using laser-beam parts are particularly susceptible to contamination due to particles attached to the surface. This may compromise so-called technical cleanliness (e.g. in NASA RPTSTD-8070, ASTM G93, ISO 14952 or ISO 16232), which is important for many 3D-printed components, such as implants or liquid rocket engines. The purpose of the presented comparative study is to show how cleanliness is improved by design and different surface treatment methods.

Convex and concave test parts were designed, built and surface-treated by combinations of media blasting, electroless nickel plating and electrochemical polishing. After cleaning and analysing the technical cleanliness according to ASTM and ISO standards, effects on particle contamination, appearance, mass and dimensional accuracy are presented.

Contamination reduction factors are introduced for different particle sizes and surface treatment methods. Surface treatments were more effective for concave design features, however, the initial and resulting absolute particle contamination was higher. Results further indicate that there are trade-offs between cleanliness and other objectives in design. Design guidelines are introduced to solve conflicts in design when requirements for cleanliness exist.

This paper recommends designing parts and corresponding process chains for manufacturing simultaneously. Incorporating post-processing characteristics into the design phase is both feasible and essential. In the experimental study, electroless nickel plating in combination with prior glass bead blasting resulted in the lowest total remaining particle contamination. This process applied for cleanliness is a novelty, as well as a comparison between the different surface treatment methods.

Despite the unparalleled importance of value within healthcare, value-based models remain underutilised in the procurement of medical devices. Research is needed to understand what factors incentivise standard, low-priced device purchasing as opposed to value-adding devices with potentially higher overall health outcomes. Framed in agency theory, we examine the conditions under which different actors involved in purchasing decisions select premium-priced, value-adding medical devices over low-priced, standard medical devices.

We conducted 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects scenario-based vignette experiments on three UK-based online samples of managers (n = 599), medical professionals (n = 279) and purchasing managers (n = 449) with subjects randomly assigned to three treatments: (1) cost-saving incentives, (2) risk-sharing contracts and (3) stronger (versus weaker) clinical evidence.

Our analysis demonstrates the harmful effects of intra-organisational cost-saving incentives on value-based purchasing (VBP) adoption; the positive impact of inter-organisational risk-sharing contracts, especially when medical professionals are involved in decision-making; and the challenge of leveraging clinical evidence to support value claims.

Our results demonstrate the need to align incentives in a context with multiple intra- and inter-organisational agency relationships at play, as well as the difficulty of reducing information asymmetry when information is not easily interpretable to all decision-makers. Overall, the intra-organisational agency factors strongly influenced the choices for the inter-organisational agency relationship.

We contribute to VBP in healthcare by examining the role of intra- and inter-organisational agency relationships and incentives concerning VBP (non-) adoption. We also examine how the impact of such mechanisms differs between medical and purchasing (management) professionals.

Female smallholder farmers in low-income countries face barriers to accessing capital and commodity markets. While agricultural cooperatives provide services that contribute to the income and productivity of small-scale producers, evidence of cooperatives' social and economic empowerment of female smallholders remains limited. We apply Sen's capability approach to female entrepreneurs' socioeconomic empowerment to examine whether women's participation in a coffee and microfinance cooperative from rural western Uganda benefits their social and economic position within their household. First, we study the relationship between women's cooperative participation and their household coffee sales and savings. Second, we investigate the link between women's cooperative participation and their intra-household decision-making and whether the inclusion of the husband in his wife's cooperative strengthens or lowers women's decision-making power.

We carry out a case study of a hybrid coffee and microfinance cooperative that promotes social innovation through the integration and empowerment of female smallholders in rural Uganda. Using a cross-sectional survey of 411 married female cooperative members from 26 randomly selected self-help groups of Bukonzo Joint Cooperative and 196 female non-members from the identical area, employing propensity score matching, this paper investigates the benefits of women's participation in a coffee and microfinance cooperative in the Rwenzori Mountains of western Uganda. We present and discuss the results of our case study within an extensive literature on the role of institutions in collective action for women's empowerment.

Our findings provide new empirical evidence on female smallholders' participation in mixed cooperatives. Our results indicate that women's participation in microfinance-producer cooperatives appears to be a conditional blessing: even though membership is linked to increased women's intra-household decision-making and raised household savings and income from coffee sales, a wife with a husband in the same cooperative self-help group is associated with diminished women's household decision-making power.

The focus of this study is on female coffee smallholders in an agricultural cooperative in rural western Uganda. In particular, we focus on a case study of one major coffee cooperative. Our cross-sectional survey does not allow us to infer causal interpretations. Also, the survey does not include variables that allow us to measure other dimensions of women's empowerment beyond decision-making over household expenditures and women's financial performance related to savings and income from coffee cultivation.

Our empirical results indicate that female smallholders' cooperative membership is associated with higher incomes and coffee sales. However, husband co-participation in their wives' cooperative group diminishes wives' decision-making, which suggests that including husbands and other family members in the same cooperative group may not be perceived as an attractive route to empowerment for female smallholders. For these reasons, an intervention that encourages the cooperation of both spouses and that is sensitive to context-specific gender inequalities, may be more successful at stimulating social change toward household gender equality than interventions that focus on women's autonomous spheres only.

While the literature thus far has focused on microfinance's potential for women's empowerment, evidence on agricultural cooperatives' affecting women's social and economic position is limited. First, our findings provide novel empirical evidence on the empowering effects of women's participation in a self-help group-based coffee cooperative in rural Uganda. Second, our data allows us to explore the role of husbands' participation in their wives' cooperative and SGH. We embed our hypotheses and empirical results in a rich discussion of female entrepreneurship, microfinance and cooperative literature.

The SARS-Cov2 pandemic has generated considerable debate about the role of vaccines in the fight against epidemics and the sensitivity and acceptability of new vaccines in emergency situations. The aim of this paper is to examine the nature of the relationship between remittances as an additional source of income and the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine and to provide an overview of the determinants of acceptance or hesitancy of the COVID-19 vaccine. It uses logistic regression and propensity score matching to study the relationship between remittances and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Using data from the Arab Barometer survey (2021–2022) for 10 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, the results indicate that the number of people vaccinated among remittance recipients is higher than among those who do not receive remittances. The impact of international migration on vaccine acceptance in countries of origin can be seen in the transfer of norms and beliefs from host countries.

The paper uses logistic regression and propensity score matching to study the relationship between remittances and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. using data from the Arab Barometer survey (2021–2022) for 10 MENA countries.

The results indicate that the number of people vaccinated among remittance recipients is higher than among those who do not receive remittances. The impact of international migration on vaccine acceptance in countries of origin can be seen in the transfer of norms and beliefs from host countries.

Other variables possibly linked to vaccine acceptance can be incorporated into the study.

In countries of origin, international migration should be taken into account in health policies. The convergence of health standards between developed and developing countries can also be achieved through international migration.

The link between migration, through remittances as a proxy for norm transfers, and health, particularly vaccine acceptance in a period of health crisis, has never been addressed in the literature.

We examine how superstition shapes corporate tax avoidance and do so by taking a risk perspective and focusing on the zodiac-year belief prevalent in China.

We adopt a difference-in-differences research design to compare the degree of corporate tax avoidance in the CEOs’ zodiac year with that in the adjacent years. We do propensity-score matching to form a sample of Chinese listed firms for the regression analysis.

We find causal evidence that firms exhibit a greater magnitude of tax avoidance in the CEOs’ zodiac years, a result attributable to relatively weak tax enforcement in the Chinese context. We also find that the zodiac-year effect on corporate tax avoidance is more pronounced for firms with tight financial constraints, firms with high business risk, firms headquartered in regions with a high degree of superstition and non-state-owned firms.

This study is the first to show that superstition is a determinant factor of tax avoidance and contributes to the tax literature by shedding light on the behavioral risk factors that shape corporate tax avoidance. We take the perspective of CEOs’ risk appetite to analyze how tax avoidance is influenced by the CEOs’ trade-off between the costs and benefits of avoiding taxes. Our results suggest that, when CEOs are more risk-averse, they attach more importance to financial risk than the risk of reputational losses and litigation associated with corporate tax avoidance. The findings imply that tax avoidance can be curbed by increasing (or decreasing) the tax (financial) risk confronting the CEOs.

This paper aims to evaluate the impact of the “Postliteracy” program on the qualification of beneficiaries for socioeconomic integration. This qualification is achieved first through the consolidation of the achievements of individuals freed from illiteracy, and then through their support in creating income-generating activities by providing them with technical, economic, legal and institutional knowledge to ensure their conscious and responsible participation in local and regional development efforts.

To evaluate the impact of the “Postliteracy” program, this paper uses quasi-experimental methods with a control group (participants of the “Literacy” program 2020 / 2021) and a treatment group (participants of the “Postliteracy” program 2021 / 2022). Skill acquisition is measured through pretest and posttest evaluations using a questionnaire aligned with the National Agency for the Fight Against Illiteracy (ANLCA)-adopted curriculum. The survey occurred at the beginning and at the end of the program, providing sufficient time for skill development. The questionnaire includes three sections covering socioprofessional characteristics, technical and economic domains and legal and institutional aspects. These sections contribute to a score reflecting the acquired skills for successful socioeconomic integration.

The results of the study demonstrate that the “Postliteracy” program has a positive impact on the acquisition of competences necessary for improved socioeconomic integration of the beneficiaries. The various matching techniques reveal a score difference ranging from 12 to 14 points in favor of program participants compared to those who did not participate. The Difference-in-Differences method confirms the positive and significant impact of the program.

The findings highlight the importance of the “Postliteracy” program in national literacy policy, underlining the need to further strengthen its presence within the programs deployed by ANLCA, notably by increasing the number of beneficiaries targeted by this program. To achieve this, it would be advisable to increase the funds allocated to it within ANLCA's budget.

The originality of this work is a unique research of the case of Morocco based on a microeconometric study for which the authors evaluate the impact of adult education by applying impact evaluation methods in the field of adult literacy.

This study aims to evaluate the delivery of a virtual community-based mental health and substance use program for Filipino drug users during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It used a randomized control longitudinal design with data collected prior to the program and every two months for 10 months. The programs focused on building recovery skills, life skills and family modules. Program length ranged from a brief intervention of three sessions to 24 sessions depending on whether clients were low risk, moderate risk or those arrested for drug use.

Results revealed significant improvements in recovery skills of participants in the treatment group compared to those in the control group. Mental health illness symptoms decreased for both control and treatment groups; however, no differences were found in recovery capital and cravings.

The lack of significant changes in certain variables, such as recovery capital, requires more data to understand the barriers to enable greater recovery. The study was limited to virtual delivery of rehabilitation services conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future studies may wish to compare modalities of online and onsite delivery to enable a comparison of effectiveness.

Results suggest the feasibility of virtual delivery of mental health and substance use treatment implemented by trained paraprofessionals. However, it also highlights the necessity to build the capacity of service providers and address connectivity challenges.

Stigma and discrimination prevent people who use drugs from seeking treatment. Virtual delivery of mental health and substance use treatment can provide a platform where people can seek help while maintaining some privacy.

The study provides evidence from under-represented populations – persons who use drugs in the Philippines.

Prior research has extensively examined how bringing technology from work into the non-work life domain creates conflict, yet the reverse pathway has rarely been studied. The purpose of this study is to bridge this gap and examine how the non-work use of smartphones in the workplace affects work–life conflict.

Drawing from three literature streams: technostress, work–life conflict and role boundary theory, the authors theorise on how limiting employees' ability to integrate the personal life domain into work, by means of technology use policy, contributes to stress and work–life conflict. To test this model, the authors employ a natural experiment in a company that changed its policy from fully restricting to open smartphone access for non-work purposes in the workplace. The insights gained from the experiment were explored further through qualitative interviews.

Work–life conflict declines when a ban on using smartphones for non-work purposes in the workplace is revoked. This study's results show that the relationship between smartphone use in the workplace and work–life conflict is mediated by sensed stress. Additionally, a post-hoc analysis reveals that work performance was unchanged when the smartphone ban was revoked.

First, this study advances the authors' understanding of how smartphone use policies in the workplace spill over to affect non-work life. Second, this work contributes to the technostress literature by revealing how, in specific situations, engagement with ICT can reduce distress and strain.

This study investigates the effect of education on crop insurance knowledge within the context of noncompliance experiences. In addition, the study delves into the role of government endorsement in education, which is instructive for the implementation of future insurance promotions.

The study designs a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in Jiangsu Province, China. A total of 518 sample farmers were randomly assigned to two experiments: The Education Experiment and the government’s Endorsement Experiment, respectively. After conducting a set of rigorous exogeneity tests, econometric analysis was conducted using baseline survey data and post experiment data.

Our results revealed that insurance education served as an effective tool in improving farmers’ insurance knowledge, especially their understanding of insurance mechanisms. However, this effect can be mitigated by the noncompliant insurance experience of farmers. Moreover, government-endorsed education proved to be more efficient in improving farmers’ insurance knowledge, thus highlighting the significance of building trust between insureds and insurers.

This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that using a simple education tool, such as, brochures, can effectively improve farmers insurance knowledge. In addition, insurance mechanisms are now more urgently in need of universalization than policy information. Furthermore, by conducting the RCT, this study obtains unbiased causal inference on the effect of education on insurance knowledge and underscores the role of government endorsement in this process. In addition, the study illustrates the tradeoff between insurers’ efforts in enhancing education and regulating noncompliant insurance misconducts, which compromises education efforts. Overall, this study provides insights into the marketing strategies of insurers and government propaganda aimed at stimulating farmers’ incentives to purchase insurance.