bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Adoption of artificial intelligence in banking services: an empirical analysis
Authors: Rahman Mahfuzur , Ming Teoh Hui , Baigh Tarannum Azim , Sarker Moniruzzaman
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This study aims to understand the importance and challenges of adopting artificial intelligence (AI) in the banking industry in Malaysia and examine the factors that are important in investigating consumers' intention to adopt AI in banking services.

Design/methodology/approach

The qualitative research was carried out using in-depth interviews from officials in the baking industry to understand the importance and challenges of adopting AI in the banking industry. In the quantitative study, a total of 302 completed questionnaires were received from Malaysian banking customers. The data were analysed using the SmartPLS 3.0 software to identify the important predictors of their intention to adopt AI.

Findings

The qualitative results reveal that AI is an essential tool for fraud detection and risk prevention. The absence of regulatory requirements, data privacy and security, and lack of relevant skills and IT infrastructure are significant challenges of AI adoption. The quantitative results indicate that attitude towards AI, perceived usefulness, perceived risk, perceived trust, and subjective norms significantly influence intention to adopt AI in banking services while perceived ease of use and awareness do not. The results also show that attitude towards AI significantly mediates the relationship between perceived usefulness and intention to adopt AI in banking services.

Practical implications

Financial technology (FinTech) is regarded as a critical determinant of strategic planning in the banking industry. While AI provides various disruptive opportunities in the FinTech space in terms of data collection, analysis, safeguarding and streamlining processes, it also poses a sea of threats to incumbent banks. This study provides vital insights for the policymakers of the banking industry to address the challenges of adopting AI in banking. It also provides the important predictors of the bank customers' intention to adopt AI in banking services. Policymakers can devise their strategies to enhance AI adoption considering the facts.

Originality/value

This study is amongst the pioneer in exploring the importance and potential challenges in implementing AI technology in banking services and identifying the essential factors influencing the intention to adopt AI in Malaysia's banking services.
Robo-Advice (RA): implications for the sociology of the professions
Authors: Wexler Mark N. , Oberlander Judy
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This conceptual paper explores the implications for the sociology of the professions of robo-advice (RA) provided by robo-advisors (RAs) as an early example of successfully programmed algorithmic knowledge managed by artificial intelligence (AI).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examine the drivers of RAs, their success, characteristics, and establish RA as an early precursor of commercialized, programmed professional advice with implications for developments in the sociology of the professions.

Findings

Within the lens of the sociology of the professions, the success of RAs suggests that the diffusion of this innovation depends on three factors: the programmed flows of automated professional knowledge are minimally disruptive, they are less costly, and attract attention because of the “on-trend” nature of algorithmic authority guided by AI. The on-trend nature of algorithmic governance and its increasing public acceptance points toward an algorithmic paradox. The contradictions arise in the gap between RA marketed to the public and as a set of professional practices.

Practical implications

The incursion of RA-like disembodied advice into other professions is predicted given the emergence of tech-savvy clients, the tie between RA and updatable flows of big data, and an increasing shift to the “maker” or “do-it-yourself” movements.

Originality/value

Using the success of RAs in the financial industry, the authors predict that an AI-managed platform, despite the algorithmic paradox, is an avenue for growth with implications for researchers in the sociology of the professions.
A study of knowledge use effectiveness in IS department–A human agency perspective
Authors: Lin Tung-Ching , Chang Christina Ling-Hsing , Tseng Tsai-Ting
Published: December 2021

Purpose

Information technology changes rapidly, and the market trend flow changes even faster. The information systems (IS) department in a technological oriented environment has to ensure that the plans or solutions made by the IS department can align with organizational strategy to avoid resources waste, and adaptability is a crucial issue for an IS department too. This study believes that adaptability and alignment of the IS department are ambidexterity. The concept of knowledge use effectiveness (KUE), based on the human agency theory, proposed a research model mainly founded on intellectual capital, human agency theory, and contextual ambidexterity, and used intellectual capital (including human, structure and relational capital) as a framework to find the antecedents of knowledge usage.

Design/methodology/approach

This study conducts an empirical research method and collects 150 valid cases from the IS department employees in Taiwan.

Findings

The results of this study are: (1) KUE in an IS department significantly improves the ambidexterity; (2) intellectual capital has a positive influence on KUE; (3) despite human capital having no influence on iteration, iterational KUE has no influence on adaptability.

Originality/value

For academics, this study has developed KUE through a novel perspective and uses the concept of the human agency to articulate the characteristic of KUE, and thus has combined the intellectual capital, human agency and contextual ambidexterity into a research model. For managers, they should learn that KUE has a positive effect on the IS department ambidexterity, composed of alignment and adaptability. By knowing that, they can understand the concrete elaboration of KUE much better. Therefore, enhancing the process of knowledge usage can be a practical and useful way of improving an IS department performance.
The evolutionary and ecological perspectives on organizational form, strategy and performance: evidence from privatized firms in China
Authors: Han Xu
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This study aims to examine how evolutionary and ecological forces shape the market strategy and performance of firms after their organizational form was changed by exogenous shock.

Design/methodology/approach

Hypotheses are developed based on both evolutionary and ecological perspectives and tested using fixed effect logistics models and a sample of 3,110 firms that were privatized during 1998–2007.

Findings

I find that once the organizational form of firms is changed, the market strategy of organizations is shaped by the population density of their old and new organizational forms in their existing market. Moreover, such a market strategy enhances the survival chance of firms.

Originality/value

This study contributes to organizational evolution literature by unpacking the evolution process when exogeneous shock to organizational form takes place. It advances both evolutionary economics and organization ecology theory through integrating them to understand the evolution process of organizations. This study also contributes to the privatization literature through examining the ecological forces that shape the restructuring strategy of firms after privatization and the performance implications of such restructuring.
Value-added intellectual capital and financial performance: evidence from Mauritian companies
Authors: Bhattu-Babajee Reena , Seetanah Boopen
Published: December 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically assess the impact of value-added intellectual capital (VAIC) on the financial performance (FP) of companies in Mauritius.

Design/methodology/approach

The research uses a dynamic panel vector error correction model (PVECM) which simultaneously allows for endogeneity and causality issues among the variables used.

Findings

The results show that VAIC enhances corporate FP, with a reported lower effect in the short run as compared to the long run. Other important determinants of firm’s performance are asset turnover, capital turnover and firm’s size. Leverage, on the other hand, is observed to be performance reducing in nature. FP of the companies is also a significant determinant of VAIC, implying reverse causal effects exist between the two variables of interest, namely, VAIC and FP.

Research limitations/implications

The study can be enhanced by doing an industry-specific comparison of the impact of VAIC on FP for more insights.

Practical implications

It is recommended that managers pay more attention to the role of firms’ stock of tangible and intangible assets, as this has a positive impact on firms’ FP. Also, the results may help to increase awareness of the importance of effective intellectual capital (IC) management within an organization. More so, as demonstrated by Ståhleet al.(2011), VAIC indicates the efficiency of the company’s labor and capital investments within firms in Mauritius. This study may, therefore, enable Mauritian firms to measure their IC efficiency and develop policies to promote and improve upon their intellectual potential to enhance firm’s performance.

Originality/value

The main theoretical contribution of this paper relates to the assessment and conceptualization of the bi-directional relationship between VAIC and FP. It confirmed that there are self-reinforcing feedback effects between VAIC and FP. Methodologically speaking, this paper investigates the VAIC–FP nexus in a dynamic setting using a dynamic panel data framework, namely, a PVECM which also allows for additional insights into the short- and long-run effects.
Impact of financial development on bank profitability
Authors: Ozili Peterson K. , Ndah Honour
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This paper investigates the effect of financial development on bank profitability. The authors examine whether financial development is an important determinant of bank profitability.

Design/methodology/approach

The ordinary least square and the generalized method of moments regression methods were used to analyze the impact of financial development on the profitability of the Nigerian banking sector.

Findings

The authors find a significant negative relationship between the financial system deposits to GDP ratio and the non-interest income of Nigerian banks. This indicates that higher financial system deposits to GDP depresses the non-interest income of Nigerian banks. The result implies that the larger the size of the Nigerian financial system, the lower the profitability of banks in Nigeria. Also, the authors observe that bank concentration, nonperforming loans, cost efficiency and the level of inflation are significant determinants of the profitability of Nigerian banks.

Practical implications

It is recommended that regulators should establish market-enabling policies that encourage new banks to emerge in the banking industry. The entry of new banks can lead to increase in financial system deposits and credit supply for economic growth. Regulators also need to understand the role of Nigerian banks in promoting financial development and find ways to collaborate with banks towards financial sector development. Another implication of the findings for asset managers is that asset managers will need to take into account the prevailing level of financial development, particularly the size of the financial system, in their asset pricing and investment decisions. This will ensure that investors get value for their investments in Nigeria. The financial implication of the study is that the level of financial development in Nigeria can improve the finance-growth linkages in Nigeria through the efficient allocation of credit and capital to crucial sectors of the Nigerian economy to spur growth in those sectors.

Originality/value

Evidence dealing with how financial development affects the profitability of the banking sector in African countries is scarce in the literature, and is completely absent for Nigeria. This paper addresses this research gap.
A springboard for entrepreneurs? Gig and sharing economy and entrepreneurship in Russia
Authors: Bogatyreva Karina , Verkhovskaya Olga , Makarov Yuri
Published: December 2021

Purpose

The growing popularity of gig and sharing economy changes not only consumption models but also employment patterns. This study aims to analyze the potential entrepreneurial nature of gig and sharing economy initiatives. As such, the authors compare the entrepreneurial intentions of gig and sharing economy workers to the general population. Further, the authors consider commonalities and differences in terms of the driving forces of both intentions to start-up and participation in gig and sharing economy, treating them as connected phenomena. Finally, the authors look into gig and sharing economy experience as a direct antecedent to entrepreneurial intentions formation.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical settings for this study are derived from the sample of 1,257 individuals who participated in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey 2018 in Russia. Methodologically, the authors rely on analysis of variance-test and binary logistic regression analysis to test the study hypotheses.

Findings

The results indicate that entrepreneurial intentions of gig and sharing economy workers are significantly higher when compared to the general population. In terms of antecedents to gig and sharing economy participation and startup intentions, similar effects of age, entrepreneurial social capital, prior entrepreneurial exit and intrapreneurial experience were revealed, while perceived self-efficacy was associated only with engagement into digital platforms. Finally, gig and sharing economy experience showed significant and positive effect on entrepreneurial intentions formation.

Originality/value

This study represents a first substantive effort to systematize antecedents to gig and sharing economy participation through an entrepreneurship perspective. Beyond that, this research adds to the contextualization of entrepreneurship literature stream, further defining the mechanism of entrepreneurial intentions formation in empirical settings of an emerging market with a relatively low propensity of population to develop intentions to start-up.
Social entrepreneurship in Nigeria through drivers of religion and work-desire
Authors: van der Westhuizen Thea , Adelakun Yemisi
Published: December 2021

Purpose

Entrepreneurs engaging in social entrepreneurship are inspired by a need to make a difference in their local socio-economic circumstances. In developing countries and emerging economies, social entrepreneurs from deep rural areas are tapping into different types of ways to inspire themselves to sustain actions. Little research has been done to investigate the role religion plays as a source of inspiration to rural entrepreneurs in developing countries. Many scholars from economic sciences reject the probability of linking religion to social entrepreneurship. The purpose of this study is to investigate themes as inspired by religious paradigm aspects of desire, disenchantment, epiphany, bridging and enlightenment. A framework was created for social entrepreneurship development by using religious drivers as premise.

Design/methodology/approach

In a partially inductive, exploratory design, this study examined the objectives through a qualitative approach. ATLAS.ti, a qualitative data analysis programme, was used for thematic analysis.

Findings

The key finding was that in this specific rural demographic area, social entrepreneurs often express a common motivation as an aspiration to integrate their religious beliefs and work.

Originality/value

Investigating a specific demographic sample in a deep rural area in Nigeria provided valuable insights into the community’s way of living by incorporating aspects of religious drivers to develop social entrepreneurship. It was also valuable to discover that the sample views qualities such as hard work, independence and thrift as drivers to strengthen their religious belief and in return boost social entrepreneurship.
Encouraging consumer loyalty: the role of family business in hospitality
Authors: Veloso Cláudia Miranda , Magalhães Daniela , Sousa Bruno Barbosa , Walter Cicero Eduardo , Valeri Marco
Published: December 2021

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to understand the importance of consumer loyalty in the specific context of Hotel Family Business. This study proposes a conceptual model to examine how perceived service quality and corporate social responsibility (SCR) influence guest satisfaction and loyalty, and also how they relate to corporate image, perceived value and price.

Design/methodology/approach

Through the structural equation model (SEM), a research model was proposed to examine SQ and CSR affect satisfaction and loyalty to the Douro Family Hotel and also, how they interact with corporate image, perceived value and price. The main purpose is to analyse the drivers of guest loyalty and its importance for the development and sustainability of family hotels in Douro (Portugal).

Findings

The results of the study indicate that CSR and SQ perceived by the guest have a direct and positive effect on guest satisfaction and loyalty to Douro family hotels. These variables are also determinants of the perceived value, corporate image and price.

Research limitations/implications

The sample is restricted and obtained by the convenience technique, but with sufficient size for the application of the structural equations model. However, the results obtained cannot be generalised to all hotels or contexts, as they only reflect information on family hotels in the Douro.

Practical implications

Family businesses are a substantial share of the European economy, from the industrial sector to the services industry, including also hospitality. In Portugal, family businesses likewise play a key role, both in terms of wealth creation and job creation.

Originality/value

These findings provide knowledge to family hotels on how they should implement a CSR policy that promotes service quality, corporate image and guest satisfaction, and therefore their loyalty and the competitiveness of the family hotel business.
COVID-19: prevalence of job-demands, stress, work–life difficulties and work–life balance among international business travelers
Authors: Kumpikaite-Valiuniene Vilmante , Pinto Luisa Helena , Gurbanov Tahir
Published: December 2021

Purpose

International business travelers (IBTs) face daily challenges pertaining to the frequency and duration of travel. Following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the study aims to draw upon the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and the literature on work–life balance (WLB) to examine how this crisis have disrupted IBTs routines and the implications for their WLB.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected in April 2020 with an online survey answered by 141 IBTs from different locations. The first set of analyses examined the perceived change in job-demands (i.e. business travel and workload) including stress and work–life difficulties following the outbreak of COVID-19. The second set of analyses tested the hypotheses that the perceived change in workload and stress predict IBTs' work–life difficulties, which, in turn, affect their WLB.

Findings

The results show that the decline in job-demands (i.e. business travel and workload) after the outbreak of COVID-19 was not enough to reduce IBTs' stress and ameliorate their work–life difficulties and WLB. Only respondents who experienced a decrease in workload, including less relational difficulties, reported a superior WLB.

Originality/value

The study widens the scope and relevance of global mobility studies in crisis settings by timely reporting the changes in job-demands, stress and work–life difficulties among IBTs following the outbreak of COVID-19. Additionally, the research extends the use of the JD-R model in the international context by advancing our knowledge of the interplay between contextual demands and job-demands in affecting IBTs' stress, work–life difficulties and WLB.
Teachers as change agents: social justice theory to practice
Authors: Gunn AnnMarie Alberton , Bennett Susan V.
Published: December 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate how participation in a multicultural literature course impacted K-12th classroom teachers’ social justice pedagogy and classroom practices one to three years after completion of the course.

Design/methodology/approach

This study investigated the effectiveness on teacher practices of a graduate literacy course, which was redesigned within a framework of social justice pedagogy by focusing on critical analysis of texts, teacher inquiry and a literacy civic engagement project. The authors interviewed 20 teachers one to three years after they enrolled in this multicultural children and young adults’ literature course. The authors also explored their classrooms and kept a researcher’s reflective journal.

Findings

The authors describe how participants implemented social justice pedagogy and strategies with their K-12th grade students.

Originality/value

While many studies look at how teacher education programs integrate social justice education into their programs, few researchers follow their students into the K-12 classrooms to investigate if teachers are connecting higher education course work and theory into practice.
Understanding social justice commitment and pedagogical advantage of teachers with a migrant background in Switzerland: a qualitative study
Authors: Radhouane Myriam , Akkari Abdeljalil , Guardia Macchiavello Consuelo
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This study aims to understand the social justice commitment and the pedagogical advantage of teachers with a migrant background in Switzerland. Through semi-directive interviews with four of them, the research team analyses how these teachers use their background as a resource in their teaching practices. Linking their personal life experiences related to migration and schooling and their professional identity, results show that their history influences their teaching practices but moreover their commitment to social justice within school.

Design/methodology/approach

For this study, the authors conducted four semi-directive interviews with teachers with a migrant background. The research team transcribed all the interviews and analyzed them through Nvivo software. The analytical process followed the logic of content analysis as developed by Miles and Huberman (2003). The research team used several layers of categories and codes to produce a deeper understanding of the data. On this basis, the authors refined their categories and codes and created research memoranda including all the information to establish the profile of each teacher interviewed.

Findings

This study’s data showed that “teachers with a migrant background” is a broad category of individuals, all entering the teaching profession with their own life experiences, their own relation to diversity and their own personal background. It also showed that teachers with a migrant background seem committed to social justice in different ways. This relates to Mantel’s study (2021) that established three types of teachers with a migrant background. All of them developing a different pattern of commitment to social justice.

Originality/value

This study aimed at understanding teachers with a migrant background’s social justice commitment and pedagogical advantage in Switzerland (Canton of Geneva). If this field has been developed in North America, it is not well studied in Switzerland. Yet, the number of teachers with a migrant background is important in some part of the country and might be increasing in the next years. Exploring their potential is therefore a matter of representation and legitimation.
I'm afraid to travel! Investigating the effect of perceived health risk on Malaysian travellers' post-pandemic perception and future travel intention
Authors: Hanafiah Mohd Hafiz , Md Zain Nur Adilah , Azinuddin Muaz , Mior Shariffuddin Nur Shahirah
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This study investigates the effect of COVID-19 pandemic perceived health risk on traveller's post-pandemic perception and future travel intention. The study aims to provide insight into the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and its potential influence on tourist behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

Two hundred and forty-four responses were gathered quantitatively through an online survey. The research hypotheses were analysed using the partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

This study found that COVID-19 affects tourists' travel behaviour. Key findings found that perceived health risk discourages travel attitudes and eventually lessens their future travel intentions. Results also suggest future strategies/directions for restarting the tourism industry.

Practical implications

The study outcome assists tourism stakeholders in understanding the changes in tourist behaviour amid the heightened perceived health risk of COVID-19. Tourism policymakers and industry players should consider exploring how to mitigate similar health crises in the future.

Originality/value

By extending the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study establishes a theoretical framework in exploring the interrelationships between perceived risk, post-pandemic perception and future travel intention. This study sets a significant research agenda for future tourism research in understanding the mechanism behind health risk perceptions and tourist behaviour.
Benefits of workplace spirituality on real estate agents’ work outcomes: the mediating role of person-job fit
Authors: Pattanawit Peetikarn , Charoensukmongkol Peerayuth
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This study aims to apply the person-environment fit theory to examine the effect of workplace spirituality on real estate agents’ person-job (P-J) fit. Moreover, P-J was proposed as a mediator to explain the effect of workplace spirituality on customer-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (CO-OCB) and job performance that real estate agents demonstrate.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 398 agents was obtained from 60 brokerage firms in Bangkok, Thailand. The data were collected through an online questionnaire survey. Data analysis was performed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Findings

The analysis supported the positive association between workplace spirituality and P-J fit. In addition, the mediating effect analysis showed that P-J fit mediated the association between workplace spirituality and CO-OCB in part, but mediated the association between workplace spirituality and job performance fully.

Originality/value

The findings overall clarify the theoretical mechanism by which workplace spirituality motivates real estate agents to demonstrate positive work behavior and enhanced performance.
Effect of fermented cassava tuber on the gene expression of PI3K/Akt signaling and AMPK pathway in STZ-NA-induced diabetic rats
Authors: Kusuma Rio Jati , Puspaningtyas Desty Ervira , Sari Puspita Mardika
Published: December 2021

Purpose

The downstream insulin signaling, such as phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) pathway, is an important step for skeletal glucose disposal through the translocation of glucose transporter (GLUT)-4. In addition, the master of energy regulator adenosine monophosphate-activated kinase (AMPK) is also involved in GLUT-4 translocation, independent from the PI3K/Akt pathway. Fermented cassava tuber or gatot is a traditional food from Indonesia with antihyperglycemic properties. However, the molecular mechanism leading to this effect is unclear. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate whether the antidiabetic activity of gatot is through PI3K/Akt dependent or AMPK pathway.

Design/methodology/approach

Diabetes mellitus was induced in 20 male Wistar rats by intraperitoneal injection of 65 mg/kg body weight streptozotocin and 230 mg/kg body weight nicotinamide. Diabetic rats were randomly allocated into four groups; negative control, positive control (metformin 100 mg/kg body weight), fermented cassava diet replacing 50% of carbohydrate (FC-50) and 100% of carbohydrate (FC-100) in the diet. Serum glucose, insulin and lipid profile were analyzed before and after four weeks of intervention. Genes expression of PI3K subunit alpha, PI3K subunit beta, PI3K regulatory subunit, Akt and AMPK were analyzed using real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). GLUT-4 protein expression was performed using immunohistochemistry.

Findings

There is a significant difference (p = 0.000) in serum glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol between groups. Skeletal AMPK gene expression was higher and significantly different between FC-100 (p = 0.006) and healthy control groups. No significant difference was observed in the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression of the PI3K/Akt pathway among groups. GLUT-4 expression was highly expressed in a positive control group followed by FC-100.

Research limitations/implications

This paper did not characterize the bioactive component that is responsible for increasing mRNA expression of AMPK. This paper also did not analyze the phosphorylation of PI3K/Akt and AMPK that are important in activating the protein.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that showed the antidiabetic activity of traditional fermented food is through AMPK-dependent activity.
Exploring the police use of force continuum with a partial proportional odds model
Authors: Kim Dae-Young , Phillips Scott W. , Bishopp Stephen A.
Published: December 2021

Purpose

The present study examines a range of police force on the continuum (firearms, TASER/chemical spray and physical force) to see whether they are associated with individual (subject and officer), situational and/or neighborhood factors.

Design/methodology/approach

A partial proportional odds model is used to analyze police use of force data from 2003 to 2016 in Dallas. Independent variables are allowed for varying effects across the different cumulative dichotomizations of the dependent variable (firearms vs TASER/chemical spray and physical force and firearms and TASER/chemical spray vs physical force).

Findings

Most officer demographic and situational factors are consistently significant across the cumulative dichotomizations of police force. In addition, suspect race/ethnicity (Hispanic) and violent crime rates play significant roles when officers make decisions to use firearms, as opposed to TASER/chemical spray and physical force. Overall, situational variables (subject gun possession and contact types) play greater roles than other variables in affecting police use of force.

Originality/value

Despite the large body of police use of force research, little to no research has used the partial proportional odds model to examine the ordinal nature of police force from physical to intermediate to deadly force. The current findings can provide important implications for policy and research.
Illustrating scholar–practitioner collaboration for data-driven decision-making in the optimization of logistics facility location and implications for increasing the adoption of AR and VR practices
Authors: Rohani Vala Ali , Peerally Jahan Ara , Moghavvemi Sedigheh , Guerreiro Flavio , Pinho Tiago
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This study illustrates the experience of scholar–practitioner collaboration for data-driven decision-making through the problematic of optimizing facility locations and minimizing logistics costs for La Palette Rouge (LPR) of Portugal.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a mixed mixed-method approach involving (1) a quantitative exploratory analysis of big data, which applied analytics and mathematical modeling to optimize LPR's logistics network, and (2) an illustrative case of scholar–practitioner collaboration for data-driven decision-making.

Findings

The quantitative analysis compared more than 20 million possible configurations and proposed the optimal logistics structures. The proposed optimization model minimizes the logistics costs by 22%. Another optimal configuration revealed that LPR can minimize logistics costs by 12% through closing one of its facilities. The illustrative description demonstrates that well-established resource-rich multinational enterprises do not necessarily have the in-house capabilities and competencies to handle and analyze big data.

Practical implications

The mathematical modeling for optimizing logistics networks demonstrates that outcomes are readily actionable for practitioners and can be extended to other country and industry contexts with logistics operations. The case illustrates that synergistic relationships can be created, and the opportunities exist between scholars and practitioners in the field of Logistics 4.0 and that scientific researcher is necessary for solving problems and issues that arise in practice while advancing knowledge.

Originality/value

The study illustrates that several Logistics 4.0 challenges highlighted in the literature can be collectively addressed through scholar–practitioner collaborations. The authors discuss the implications of such collaborations for adopting virtual and augmented reality (AR) technologies and to develop the capabilities for maximizing their benefits in mature low-medium technology industries, such as the food logistics industry.
The ecology of sustainable tourism
Authors: Tarlow Peter
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This paper questions the present state of the world's tourism industry and advocates the need for an approach where quality assumes greater importance than quantity.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper provides an analysis of the tourism industry's recent evolution while trying to identify reasons for its decline which amongst others, include security issues and economic crisis.

Findings

In developing a sustainable tourism industry especially in these economically challenging times, we must learn to appreciate what is precious in our own lives and in our respective communities. This in turn will help us maintain and further explore the uniqueness of our tourist destinations. The greatest threat to leisure and tourism (and to a lesser extent to business travel) is the fact that travel has lost a good deal of its romance and enchantment due to a global approach to its development. In the rush for efficiency and quantitative analysis the travel and tourism industry may have forgotten that each traveller has unique expectations.

Originality/value

Sustainable tourism is not only about how a tourist location adapts but also about what a city or destination accomplishes when re-discovering its inner essence and then promoting it.
Restart tourism | build the future
Authors: Marques Rita
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This viewpoint aims to explore the question: How can we restart and monitor the path towards the tourism of the future?

Design/methodology/approach

This paper identifies the progress made at scientific, institutional, political and technological levels, and how it is possible to foresee that we will enter in a new era of tourism indicators.

Findings

A significant body of literature clearly demonstrates that tourism cannot be viewed simply from an economic point of view as it has a great influence on sociocultural and environmental dimensions. The impact of tourism and how to ensure its long-term success has been invoked for the last few decades, leading to the direct consideration of sustainability indicators in a wide array of scientific publications. However, despite significant advances, the lack of funding, lack of support or interest from the political community, bureaucracies or lack of methodological guidance and of technical skills along the entire value chain pose clear challenges to the development and adoption of wide data systems to support sustainable tourism policies.

Originality/value

The paper sheds light on the Portuguese position regarding the recovery of the tourism sector in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also highlights the commitment to knowledge and monitoring of sustainability in tourism, articulated at international level, and how this is essential in order to make progress and to overcome the challenges facing the sector. At the same time, it demonstrates how fundamental it is to identify solutions to boost the potential of tourism as an economic, social, environmental and cultural phenomenon.
Including residents in the rebranding of tourist destinations to achieve sustainable development goals
Authors: Bowen John , Sotomayor Sandra
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to indicate the importance of including residents in the rebranding of a destination.

Design/methodology/approach

This article is based on a literature review.

Findings

The World Tourism Organization recently adapted the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to show their relevance to tourism. The quality of life of the residents was a common theme of these goals. Through a review of literature, the paper identified the negative and positive effects of tourism on the residents' quality of life. This was done to show how destination management organizations (DMOs) could design and manage their tourism activities to avoid the negative effects on residents and maximize the positive benefits.

Originality/value

As tourist destinations strive to meet sustainability goals, we argue that many will have to be rebranded. The paper shows how through the rebranding process the destination can create brand identity elements that communicate as well as guide their sustainability efforts. Also, just as corporations need to include and have employees that believe and support the company's brand identity elements, DMOs must include residents in the branding process and gain their support of the destination's brand identity elements. As practical implications for DMOs, the paper shows the importance of developing tourism policies that will enhance the life of residents, demonstrating how this can be accomplished through a rebranding process. As research implications, there is a call for researchers to measure the results of destination's rebranding efforts including the satisfaction of residents as a construct. To accomplish this there is also a need to develop a reliable and valid scale of resident satisfaction with tourism polices.
Comparison of filter life span and solute removal during continuous renal replacement therapy: convection versus diffusion ‐ A randomized controlled trial
Authors: Xu Qiancheng , Jiang Bo , Li Juan , Lu Weihua , Li Jianguo
Published: December 2021

Introduction

This study aimed to investigate whether continuous veno‐venous hemodiafiltration (CVVHDF) has a different filter life span and molecular solutes clearance when compared to continuous veno‐venous hemofiltration (CVVH).

Methods

Sixty patients were enrolled in this study and randomly assigned to the CVVHDF (n = 30) or CVVH (n = 30) groups. Demographics, laboratory tests, urea, creatinine, IL‐6, β2‐microglobulin, and myoglobulin clearance were recorded.

Results

Patients in the CVVH group had a shorter median time of filter life span compared with those in the CVVHDF group (20 vs. 37.5 h, p = 0.002). Urea and creatinine clearance were not significantly different between groups over time (p > 0.05). IL‐6, β2‐microglobulin, and myoglobulin clearance were higher in the CVVH group. The transmembrane pressure (TMP) was significantly higher in the CVVH group.

Conclusion

The use of CVVHDF may lead to a longer filter life span and lower clearance of medium and large molecules without affecting the small molecular solute clearance.

Trial registration

Chinese Clinical Trial Register (ChiCTR), ChiCTR2000029873. Registered 16 February 2020, http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=49528
Left sleeve pneumonectomy via uniportal video‐assisted thoracoscopic approach
Authors: Cai Jianqiao , Song Nan , Jiang Lei
Published: December 2021

Left sleeve pneumonectomy is a rarer intervention compared with right sleeve pneumonectomy. It is a challenging surgical therapeutic strategy even when performed through open thoracotomy. Here, we report a case of uniportal video‐assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) left sleeve pneumonectomy in a patient with non‐small cell lung cancer. The tumor, located at the opening of left upper lobe bronchus, submucosally invaded the orifice of lower lobe extending upward to 4 to 5 cartilage rings of the left main bronchus and to the level of the carina. Left sleeve pneumonectomy and airway reconstruction was performed through video‐assisted thoracoscopic completely with an incision of 4 cm. The total operative time was 220 minutes and the estimated intraoperative blood loss was 300 mL. Chylothorax occurred after surgery, which was well handled, and no other severe complication was observed. Three months after the surgery, the follow‐up bronchoscopy revealed good healing of the anastomosis. No signal of tumor recurrence was observed by follow‐up examination 1 year after the surgery. To our knowledge, this is the first reported uniportal VATS left sleeve pneumonectomy in the world. It was indicated that uniportal VATS might be a feasible approach for left sleeve pneumonectomy, with less surgical trauma compared with other approaches.
When switching costs cause market power: Rubber processing in Indonesia
Authors: Kopp Thomas
Published: December 2021

Suppliers of agricultural output incur switching costs (SCs) when choosing new buyers, allowing buyers to exercise oligopsonistic market power, as SCs help buyers to mark down prices for incumbent suppliers. This article conceptualizes the idea of SCs and suggests an empirical strategy for quantifying them through an estimation of farm supply to specific buyers. The model incorporates price differences between buyers, revealing buyers' anticipations of suppliers' SCs. The approach is applied to the Indonesian rubber market, employing a data set of daily purchasing prices and less frequent quantities of individual sales instances. Results indicate that SCs exist and are at about 3% of the farm gate price, leading to substantial redistribution from suppliers to buyers of agricultural output.
Moving beyond mistrust: Centering institutional change by decentering the white analytical lens
Authors: Newman Alyssa M.
Published: December 2021

The topic of Black mistrust of medical institutions and health care has received a great deal of attention over the course of the Covid‐19 pandemic, especially with the arrival of vaccines and the emergence of a gap in vaccination rates by race. This article examines current discourses and debates over medical mistrust, and describes the limitations of the mistrust framework for identifying and addressing the institutional change necessary to remedy racial health inequities. As numerous observers have pointed out, the mistrust discourse largely places the burden of change on historically exploited and mistreated populations, rather than on the medical institutions that committed the violations and continue the mistreatment that are often identified as sources of mistrust. However, even the analytic shift to focus on the trustworthiness of institutions narrows the scope of the issue to the relationships of medical institutions to specific communities. While the mistrust literature has made important contributions to centering and valuing Black perspectives, this framework delimits the focus to Black perceptions and behaviors rather than on medical institutions and the health care system. Whereas the predominately white analytic lens of bioethics scholarship has centered Black populations by making them the subject of study, this article draws a distinction between simply analyzing, versus meaningfully centering and deriving an analysis from the perspective of marginalized populations within scholarship. This article suggests moving beyond the mistrust framework and the assumption of white normativity to conduct the type of institutional analysis necessary for addressing racial health inequities.
Empathy and structural injustice in the assessment of patient noncompliance
Authors: Wilson Yolonda
Published: December 2021

Empathy is generally considered important because it is linked to prosocial helping behaviors. To the extent that humans are thought to be social creatures, empathy is regarded as an important component of our general well‐being. Meanwhile, empathy skeptics argue that empathy is not as important as its proponents believe. While there is philosophical debate about the appropriate place for empathy in moral judgment, empathy is a taken‐for‐granted, good‐making feature of moral deliberation in healthcare. In this paper I offer an account of empathy and a critique of its moral significance before thinking specifically about the role that empathy plays in medicine. Finally, I offer a hypothetical case to show that in order to fully appreciate the skeptical position, empathy's role in health justice should be understood in the context of structural injustice. Although I ultimately defend the importance of empathy in healthcare environments, I show that any conception of empathy in healthcare should take seriously reasons for skepticism about empathy, notably its susceptibility to bias against disfavored groups.
“I can teach what’s in the book”: Understanding the why and how behind teachers’ implementation of a social‐emotional learning (SEL) focused curriculum in rural Malawi
Authors: Lee Jeongmin , Simmons Zuilkowski Stephanie
Published: December 2021

Contextualizing the role of teachers in social‐emotional learning (SEL) in Malawi, we examine how teachers’ comfort with, commitment to, and perceived school culture toward SEL relate to their actual teaching of it. Using surveys from 432 primary school teachers (20–60 years old), we found teacher comfort and supportive school culture were positively related to integration of SEL into classroom instruction, while commitment had no statistically significant relationship with implementation. We explore plausible explanations for these findings by interviewing 42 teachers. Together, our findings highlight the importance of teacher support systems and cultural compatibility of the curriculum for successful SEL implementation.