Search results
1 – 10 of over 1000Naushaba Chowdhury, Pravin Kumar Balaraman, Jonathan Liu and Xin Guo
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influences of employee perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Readymade Garment Industry (RMG). The RMG industry in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influences of employee perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Readymade Garment Industry (RMG). The RMG industry in Bangladesh has faced constant criticism of their working practices, and following some fatal incidents, the industry was faced with external pressures of implementing CSR practices and policies. Manufacturers invested and initiated CSR in their business and marketing strategy to survive in the global competition. Employees are internal stakeholders that help to implement and disseminate strategies successfully; however, there is not enough knowledge in the area of employee perception of CSR.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is an exploratory study using the quantitative data collection method. In total, 128 responses have been collected from participants who are employees of garment factories in Bangladesh to understand their perception of CSR. Regression analysis has been conducted to ascertain the relationships between the factors that influence employee perception. Theories of stakeholder management, organizational citizenship behaviour, social exchange theory and employee engagement have been used to analyse the factors that influence employee perception.
Findings
The findings show that the factors that influence perception of CSR are not confined to the stakeholder’s initiatives but are significantly dependent on the employees’ direct involvement, engagement and personal values as a beneficiary and an executioner. In addition to the stakeholder’s initiatives that are a key deliverable to the marketing strategy, the employees are influenced by their personal beliefs and practices that can be associated with influences of religion, culture and the wider social landscape.
Research limitations/implications
The data is limited to a small number of factories located near the capital, Dhaka, this is a small sample compared to the 4,000 factories in Bangladesh. Further research can be conducted based on a larger data set, which could represent a wider range of employee perspectives from different factories relating to size, product category and geographical location. The study does not expand on the factors that influence employee perception specifically.
Practical implications
The findings of the study can help the employers understand that the organization’s priority and participation are not the only factors that influence the employee’s perceptions. The employees’ assessment of the stakeholder’s intentions of CSR, which are reflected in the organization’s priority, shapes employee perceptions that are influenced by their personal values and beliefs. The awareness of the factors that influence the employees will enable organizations to motivate them and deliver on expectations of the business partners.
Social implications
It is the practices aimed at the employees that enhance their engagement in CSR that enable them to reciprocate and influence their perception of the organization’s fair and genuine motives. The effectiveness of this aids the macro-marketing aspects of managing social concerns and the impact of businesses.
Originality/value
The data collected is primary data from employees of garment manufacturers. The hypothesized framework is developed by the authors, and the outcomes of the factors that influence the employee perception of CSR are escalated from the analysis conducted by the authors.
Details
Keywords
Abeer Hassan and Xin Guo
The purpose of this paper is to assess whether European companies issue standalone environmental reports in an attempt to gain and maintain legitimacy with relevant stakeholders…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess whether European companies issue standalone environmental reports in an attempt to gain and maintain legitimacy with relevant stakeholders. This is achieved by creating and empirically testing a model of the relationships between corporate reporting format, industry membership, environmental disclosure, and environmental performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are collected from 100 large European companies in carbon and non-carbon-intensive industries. Hypothesis testing is conducted via structure equation modeling.
Findings
Evidence exists that companies which disclose environmental information in standalone environmental reports tend to provide higher levels of environmental information than companies which combine financial and environmental disclosure in annual reports. The findings support greenwashing as a new perspective of legitimacy theory: companies in carbon-intensive industry use standalone environmental reports to pose as good corporate citizens even when they are not.
Research limitations/implications
The sample companies are large European companies and this could limit the generalizability of research findings. The authors call for longitudinal studies examining how the relationship between reporting format and environmental disclosure changes.
Practical implications
This paper suggests that reporting format be considered a proactive, strategic communication-driven activity rather than a decision that managers passively make in response to external scrutiny.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature by adding to the scarce evidence of the relationship between reporting format and environmental disclosure. Greenwashing as a new perspective of legitimacy theory is used to develop research hypotheses.
Details
Keywords
Kun-cheng Zhang, Xin-chang Guo, Shi-zheng Tian, Qi Cui, Mao-chong Shi and Pei-fang Guo
Many experts suggest that the human being explore marine resources and marine new energy sources to alleviate the shortage of land resources and the ecological degradation…
Abstract
Purpose
Many experts suggest that the human being explore marine resources and marine new energy sources to alleviate the shortage of land resources and the ecological degradation. However, island coastal zones are considered to be fragile ecosystems; their geographical location and natural characteristics, their biodiversity and associated ecosystems, and their exposure to diverse land and sea conditions all make them highly vulnerable to environmental changes and human activities. Therefore, it is necessary to achieve the goals of environmental protection and sustainable development on the basis of a comprehensive evaluation and understanding of islands.
Design/methodology/approach
Due to the importance of island groups, this paper conducts evaluation studies on them. Using the Delphi, AHP and TOPSIS methods, this study evaluated quantitatively the comprehensive development level and comprehensive development potential of island groups in terms of resources, natural environment, economy and society. Innovatively using them as two subsystems, the present study combined the coupling coordination model and the obstacle factor calculation method.
Findings
The prospective index of comprehensive development was applied to the Changdao Island Group in Yantai, Shandong Province as an example, and the final evaluation revealed that the comprehensive development prospect of this island group had an upward trend from 2010 to 2017. Future efforts should be made to improve its economic and social conditions and economic development status, apart from promoting its comprehensive development by improving human resources management, increasing the GDP growth rate, and improving fresh water and electricity supply.
Originality/value
This study takes the integrated development level of the island and the integrated development potential of the island as two subsystems, and the innovative application of the coupling coordination degree model is used to calculate the integrated development index of the island to understand the development status of the island area. On the basis of this model, the obstacle factor identification method is designed to identify the main obstacle factors, and on the basis of evaluation and identification, specific measures to ensure the sustainable development of the island area are effectively proposed.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to systematically visualize the structure and trends from 2005 to 2021, which will help scholars gain a deeper appreciation for existing studies and grasp future…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to systematically visualize the structure and trends from 2005 to 2021, which will help scholars gain a deeper appreciation for existing studies and grasp future research possibilities and directions.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is bibliometric, using VOSviewer and CiteSpace to analyze 765 journal articles and reviews from the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases over the past 16Â years.
Findings
There is considerable interest in urban tourism destination image (U-TDI), partly because of the role of image in promoting the economic development of urban tourism and the associated benefits to stakeholders. Most research output concerns China, the USA, Spain and the United Kingdom (UK); research in the USA context has had a particularly wide range of influence. Highly cited journals play a crucial role, while subject structure, key articles and high-frequency keywords indicate popular topics, sub-themes and development trends. Drawing on these findings, the authors identify four topics that deserve further study.
Originality/value
This systematic review will enhance understanding of U-TDI research and inform future research directions as well as highlighting the need to explore destination image in greater depth, it guides policymakers in the tourism industry seeking to develop city image.
Details
Keywords
Xin Guo, Jiesong Tu, Zhibin Fan, Baoshuai Du, Hongfei Shang, Jiangfeng An and Dan Jia
Corrosion thinning reduces the effective cross-sectional areas of steel structures and degrades their mechanical properties. This study aims to investigate the relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
Corrosion thinning reduces the effective cross-sectional areas of steel structures and degrades their mechanical properties. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the corrosion thinning of carbon steel for transmission towers and the degradation of its mechanical properties.
Design/methodology/approach
A macroscopic finite element model of a transmission tower was established and then combined with the corrosion thinning and mechanical properties of Q355 steel in different test periods measured in neutral salt spray, SO2 atmosphere and wet heat environments to conduct a finite element simulation of a transmission tower with different corrosion thinning of Q355 steel.
Findings
When the residual thickness of the tower leg angle was reduced to 4.03 mm, the maximum stress solved in the simulation exceeded the yield strength, with the tower already at risk of collapse owing to corrosion failure under extreme conditions of basic wind speed.
Originality/value
This study innovatively utilises transmission tower finite element models and experimental data from mechanical degradation experiments to quantify the relationship between corrosion thinning and the mechanical properties of Q355 steel, ensuring the effective assessment of the mechanical properties of corroded transmission towers.
Details
Keywords
Alan Cheung, Xin Guo, Xiaorui Wang and Zhuang Miao
The purpose of this paper is to examine the key factors affecting Mainland Chinese students pursuing a Master of Education degree in Hong Kong on their study abroad decision and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the key factors affecting Mainland Chinese students pursuing a Master of Education degree in Hong Kong on their study abroad decision and return intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study employed a mixed-methods approach to investigate factors that affect Mainland Chinese students pursuing MEd degrees in Hong Kong. Participants were first invited to fill out a questionnaire. After collecting and analyzing the survey data, in-depth interviews with a selected group of students were carried out by the research team to obtain useful qualitative data to triangulate the survey findings. A purposeful and convenience sampling method, carried out through the personal network of the research team, was used to recruit MEd Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong to participate in the current study.
Findings
The findings provided compelling evidence that Hong Kong was an attractive study destination to this particular group of MEd Chinese students. The findings also indicated that academic factors were more important than social, cultural and economic factors when it came to choosing their study destination. In contrast to previous studies, participants expressed a much stronger desire to return home upon graduation. The three most influential predictors of their decision to return were the lack of a Hong Kong teaching certificate (r=+0.36), the opportunity to contribute to their hometown (r=+0.31) and the inclination to be closer to family and friends (r=+0.20).
Originality/value
While a number of studies have been carried out to study why Mainland Chinese students chose Hong Kong as their study destination to pursue their teacher training degree, none of these studies focused exclusively on fee-paying MEd Chinese students. Hong Kong is facing keen competition from both traditional host countries and emerging host countries to recruit students from Mainland China. It is therefore crucial to understand the needs of these Mainland Chinese students in a competitive, globalized, tertiary education market, as the satisfaction of students, in the form of positive discussion among alumni, promotes a university’s reputation and sustains its advantage in attracting students.
Details
Keywords
Kuncheng Zhang, Shi-Zheng Tian, Benshuo Yang, Xin-Chang Guo and Yi-Fang Zhang
The island areas, in particular, are characterized by a more fragile ecological carrying capacity and higher value of resources and environment, which requires us to take Xi…
Abstract
Purpose
The island areas, in particular, are characterized by a more fragile ecological carrying capacity and higher value of resources and environment, which requires us to take Xi Jinping's green ecological development view as the theoretical basis and adhere to the high-quality development path of gradual development and ecological environment priority. Taking Shengsi and Daishan counties as examples, on the basis of their high-quality development evaluation and identification of the main influencing factors, this study explores the specific path of Xi Jinping's ecological development view in the high-quality development of typical island counties in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper applies the interpretative structural model to construct an evaluation index system for the high-quality development of the island. In determining the factor weights of the index layer, the AHP hierarchical analysis method was combined with the Delphi method to increase the objectivity of the assignment process as much as possible. This study used the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution to calculate island high quality development index. To measure the main obstacle factors, the index factor contribution rate, the index factor deviation, and the index factor obstacle degree were applied in this research.
Findings
As China intensifies its maritime strategy, the sustainability of coastal and island regions is critical, particularly given their fragile ecosystems and high resource value. Our study reveals a declining trend in the high-quality development index for Shengsi, peaking at 0.4262 in 2010 and dropping to 0.3261 in 2012. To reverse this, it's essential to align with President Xi Jinping's green ecological development framework and commit to a high-quality development pathway.
Originality/value
The connotation and extension of Xi Jinping's view of ecological development should be continuously studied in depth and enriched, with green development as the core idea to guide the correct direction of the high-quality development of the island. In this paper, it is suggested that researchers are supposed to focus on these problems, such as the changes of sea water quality, the reduction of urban greening, the continuous negative growth of population in island areas, the decline of forestry added value and air quality protection, so as to ensure the sustainable high-quality development of example islands.
Details
Keywords
Xin Li, Jiming Guo and Lv Zhou
Global positioning system (GPS) kinematic positioning suffers from performance degradation in constrained environments such as urban canyons, which then restricts the application…
Abstract
Purpose
Global positioning system (GPS) kinematic positioning suffers from performance degradation in constrained environments such as urban canyons, which then restricts the application of high-precision vehicle positioning and navigation within the city. In December 2012, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) regional service was announced, and the combined BDS/GPS kinematic positioning has been enabled in the Asia-Pacific area. Previous studies have mainly focused on the performance evaluations of combined BDS/GPS static positioning. Not much work has been performed for kinematic vehicle positioning under constrained observation conditions. This study aims to analyze the performance of BDS/GPS kinematic vehicle positioning in various conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, three vehicle experiments under three observation conditions, an open suburban area, a less dense non-central urban area and a dense central urban area, are investigated using both the code-based differential global navigation satellite system (DGNSS) and phase-based real-time kinematic (RTK) modes. The comparison between combined BDS/GPS and GPS-only vehicle positioning solutions is conducted in terms of positioning availability and positioning precision.
Findings
Numerical results show that the combined BDS/GPS system significantly outperforms the GPS-only system under poor observation conditions, whereas the improvement was less significant under good observation conditions.
Originality/value
Thus, this paper studies the performance of combined BDS/GPS kinematic relative positioning under various observation conditions.
Details