bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Exploring the barriers that influence intention to donate and role of the charity shop within the multi-tier supply chain
Authors: Guo Hailan , Xu Xiaoling 
Published: April 2021

PurposeHumanitarian relief organisations such as charities count on donations to provide assistance to people in need when disasters occur. In the UK, about 11,200 charity shops collect second-hand goods from donors to raise funds for their parent charity to support target beneficiaries. As their numbers increase, charity shops are finding it difficult to secure good quality stock. Furthermore, they may need to plan ahead to secure sufficient stock when the economy experiences a downturn. This paper identifies the charity shop's role and its donation flow in the multi-tier supply chain and empirically assesses the barriers that influence intention to donate with a mixed-methods approach.Design/methodology/approachIn order to explore the charity shop's role within the multi-tier supply chain, this study begins with a literature review and then develops a conceptual model. In order to empirically evaluate the barriers that influence intention to donate, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 charity shop managers and collected 222 usable questionnaires from donors. The interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach was applied to examine the interrelationship among barriers and rank their priority.FindingsThis paper identifies ten significant barriers that influence intention to donate: lack of good quality items for donation; lack of information on how charity shops make use of donations; lack of familiarity with the donation process; lack of information of what items can be accepted by charity shops; lack of awareness of the impact that donations make; the difficulty of being available at the scheduled times for charity shops' free pick-up services; the difficulty of donating during shops' opening hours; the difficulty of finding parking to access charity shops; and living too far away from charity shops. In particular, the questionnaires' results indicate that lack of good quality items is the most significant barrier. This is also reflected in the ISM model, and thus needs more attention.Practical implicationsThe results are very useful for charity shops themselves to understand current barriers to securing good quality stock and to develop potential stock-securing interventions based on these barriers' priority.Originality/valueAlthough charity shops have been investigated by several researchers, their supply chain remains insufficiently explored. This paper fills this gap by identifying the charity shop's role and its donation flow in the supply chain and by empirically assessing the supply-side barriers with a mixed-methods approach.
The contribution of human capital to foreign direct investment inflows in developing countries
Authors: Abbas Ali , Moosa Imad , Ramiah Vikash 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThis paper is about the effect of human capital on foreign direct investment (FDI). The purpose of this paper is to find out if developing countries with high levels of human capital (educated people and well-trained labour force) are more successful in attracting FDI. The underlying hypothesis has been tested repeatedly without reaching a consensus view or providing an answer to the basic question. This is to be expected because FDI is determined by a large number of factors, making the results sensitive to the selected set of explanatory variables, which forms the basis of the Leamer (1983) critique of the use of multiple regression to derive inference. Furthermore, confirmation bias and publication bias entice researchers to be selective in choosing the set of results they report.Design/methodology/approachThe technique of extreme bounds analysis, as originally suggested by Leamer (1983) and modified by Sala-i-Martin (1997), is used to determine the importance of human capital for the ability of developing countries to attract FDI. The authors use a cross-sectional sample covering 103 developing and transition countries.FindingsThe results show no contradiction between firms seeking human capital and cheap labour. No matter what proxy is used to represent human capital, it turns out that the most important factor for attracting FDI is the variable “employee compensation”, which is the wage bill, implying that multinational firms look for cheap and also skilled labour in the host country.Originality/valueIn this paper, the authors follow the procedure prescribed by Leamer (1983), and modified by Sala-i-Martin (1997), using extreme bounds analysis to distinguish between robust and fragile determinants of FDI, with particular emphasis on human capital. Instead of deriving inference from one regression equation by determining the statistical significance of the coefficient on the variable of interest, the extreme bounds or the distribution of estimated coefficients are used to distinguish between robust and fragile variables. This means that emphasis is shifted from significance, as implied by a single regression equation, to robustness, which is based on a large number of equations. The authors conduct tests on three proxies for human capital to find out if they are robust determinants of FDI and also judge the degree of robustness relative to other determinants.
Technology renewal, user resistance, user adoption: status quo bias theory revisited
Authors: Shirish Anuragini , Batuekueno Leslie 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThe article provides a conceptual replication and enrichment of the status quo bias theory in the specific context of understanding IT department user resistance and user adoption. The findings can assist technology renewals and associated change management professionals to assess and plan the adoption and active usage of human resource systems.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used survey method to gather data. All items were based on prior literature. They administrated the survey to employees of GOODTECH (name changed), information systems (IS) department members, situated in France. They obtained 103 valid responses along with usage data from the system to run their path model, in order to validate the proposed research model.FindingsThe study offers an enriched user resistance model (URM) to understand why IT-savvy employees would resist or adopt new human resource tools. Apart from providing partial validity to status quo bias theory in the French context, the enriched model uses behavioral intention to use as an intermediate variable to explain the influence of two key constructs of the original theory: switching cost and switching benefits. This research provides a better explanatory power to understand the cause of user resistance and new IT use.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size used in the study can be considered as a limitation, although power analysis reveals that the results are significant and valid. The context of the study is also limited to one country and to a specific type of IS implementation scenario. Since the purpose of the paper was to offer contextual theory enhancement, the findings are valid for this purpose.Practical implicationsDigital project managers are offered a framework to increase technology adoption of new human resource tools and evaluate how to reduce user resistance at times of technology renewals. Self-efficacy for change and colleagues’ opinion can indirectly impact behavioral intention to use via switching cost and switching benefit perceptions and thus reducing resistance perceptions as well as increasing adoption of new IT tools in post-implementation phases.Originality/valueThe paper enriches the well-established user resistance theory in IS domain in a context of human resource post-implementation phase by studying IT-savvy end user's perceptions. The paper demonstrates the need to integrate user adoption and user resistance variables in one parsimonious framework and extends support to emerging research on dual focus perspective.
Organizational identification of knowledge workers in India: causes, consequences and the relevance of context
Authors: Mazumder Tanusree , Nanda Agarwal Madhushree , Sharma Tanuja 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThis research develops and tests a model for organizational identification (OID) in a sample of knowledge workers in India. It calls attention to the relational antecedents of OID that are often overlooked in existing literature. Strong theoretical arguments are also built for context-specific outcome behaviors such as intrinsic motivation (IM) and innovative work behavior (IWB) that are relevant to knowledge work.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 357 IT industry employees in India. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypotheses and the path model.FindingsStrong support was found for relational antecedents of OID and the outcome variable IWB. The findings indicated that OID impacts IWB through the mediating mechanism of IM. Overall, the model demonstrated strong predictive power.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that social and relational variables could be strong managerial levers to increase the feeling of belongingness experienced by knowledge workers in India. In turn, OID can impact IWB, which is a significant outcome for knowledge work.Originality/valueThe study finds strong support for hypothesized relationships that have been unexplored or underexplored in mainstream OID literature. Relational antecedents were found to be strong predictors of OID in this sample. Also, the relationship between OID and IWB, an outcome behavior that is specifically relevant to knowledge-driven businesses, has not been explored earlier.
Contractors' adaptation to environmentally sustainable construction: a micro-level implementation framework
Authors: Mensah Sarfo , Nani Gabriel , Ayarkwa Joshua 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThere is low adoption rate of existing environmentally sustainable construction frameworks. Contractors have dwindled capability to adapt to environmentally sustainable construction (ESC) towards achievement of SDGs. The aim of this paper is to develop a framework that leverages both theoretical and practical aspects of sustainable construction to enable contractors' adaptation to ESC at the micro level.Design/methodology/approachDue to the social constructivism orientation of the objectives of this research, abductive approach and qualitative research strategy were adopted. Data were obtained through interviews and validation focus group discussion. Content analysis and thematic template analyses techniques were employed to conduct qualitative data analyses.FindingsThere are peculiar ESC barriers that need to be overcome by contractors in the study area. Legislative and financing efforts of stakeholders are key contractors' ESC adaptation drivers. Contractors in less affluent societies, such as Ghana, require high resilience, dense and centralized social network structures and isomorphic and coercive drivers to be able to adapt to ESC.Research limitations/implicationsThe scope of this research is limited to the data gathered from large construction firms in Ghana, a developing country in the sub-Saharan region.Originality/valueThis is one of the first papers that provide guidelines on developing capability of contractors in a developing country to adapt to ESC. The paper addresses the challenge in the ecological modernization theory by adducing empirical evidence to prescribe guidelines on how contractors can increase rate of efficiency through collaborative strategies that engender ESC.
Multidimensional trophic niche revealed by complementary approaches: Gut content, digestive enzymes, fatty acids and stable isotopes in Collembola
Authors: Potapov Anton M. , Pollierer Melanie M. , Salmon Sandrine , Šustr Vladimír , Chen Ting‐Wen 
Published: April 2021

AbstractTrophic niche differentiation may explain coexistence and shape functional roles of species. In complex natural food webs, however, trophic niche parameters depicted by single and isolated methods may simplify the multidimensional nature of consumer trophic niches, which includes feeding processes such as food choice, ingestion, digestion, assimilation and retention.Here we explore the correlation and complementarity of trophic niche parameters tackled by four complementary methodological approaches, that is, visual gut content, digestive enzyme, fatty acid and stable isotope analyses—each assessing one or few feeding processes, and demonstrate the power of method combination.Focusing on soil ecosystems, where many omnivore species with cryptic feeding habits coexist, we chose Collembola as an example. We compiled 15 key trophic niche parameters for 125 species from 40 studies. We assessed correlations among trophic niche parameters and described variation of these parameters in different Collembola species, families and across life‐forms, which represent microhabitat specialisation.Correlation between trophic niche parameters was weak in 45 out of 64 pairwise comparisons, pointing at complementarity of the four methods. Jointly, the results indicated that fungal‐ and plant‐feeding Collembola assimilate storage, rather than structural polysaccharides, and suggested bacterial feeding as a potential alternative feeding strategy. Gut content and fatty acid analyses suggested alignment between ingestion and assimilation/retention processes in fungal‐ and plant‐feeding Collembola. From the 15 trophic niche parameters, six were related to Collembola family identity, suggesting that not all trophic niche dimensions are phylogenetically structured. Only three parameters were related to the life‐forms, suggesting that species use various feeding strategies when living in the same microenvironments.Consumers can meet their nutritional needs by varying their food choices, ingestion and digestion strategies, with the connection among different feeding processes being dependent on the consumed resource and consumer adaptations. Multiple methods reveal different dimensions, together drawing a comprehensive picture of the trophic niche. Future studies applying the multidimensional trophic niche approach will allow us to trace trophic complexity and reveal niche partitioning of omnivorous species and their functional roles, especially in cryptic environments such as soils, caves, deep ocean or benthic ecosystems.
Herbivory of a biocontrol agent on a native plant causes an indirect trait‐mediated non‐target effect on a native insect
Authors: He Minyan , Zhang Jialiang , Siemann Evan , Yi Jiahui , Qin Wenchao , Sun Xiao , Ding Jianqing , Huang Wei 
Published: April 2021

Abstract

Identifying food web linkages between biocontrol agents of invasive plants and native species is crucial for predicting indirect non‐target effects. Biocontrol insects can integrate into food webs within recipient habitats and influence native insects through apparent competition (altering shared natural enemies) or density‐mediated exploitation competition (changing density of native plants). However, whether and how trait‐mediated exploitation competition (modifying native plant chemicals and volatiles profiles) can produce indirect non‐target effects remains largely overlooked, despite plant phenotypic responses to insect herbivory being common and widely documented.

The flea beetle Agasicles hygrophila was introduced into China for management of alligator weed Alternanthera philoxeroides, but it also attacks the native congener sessile joyweed Alternanthera sessilis, which may cause indirect non‐target effects on the native tortoise beetle Cassida piperata that also feeds on sessile joyweed. Here, we examined the relationships among abundances of the flea beetle and tortoise beetle, and coverage of sessile joyweed in the field. Then, we investigated the impact of flea beetle herbivory on tortoise beetle development and oviposition, as well as on sessile joyweed primary metabolites and leaf volatiles.

Tortoise beetle abundance was not related to sessile joyweed coverage, but they were less abundant on plants with more flea beetles in the field survey, and produced fewer offspring on plants with more prior flea beetle damage in the field cage experiment. Tortoise beetle development was inhibited by prior flea beetle herbivory in bioassays in enemy‐free conditions and they preferred to oviposit on sessile joyweed that had experienced little or no flea beetle damage. Flea beetle herbivory decreased sessile joyweed foliar glucose and protein, and substantially changed its leaf volatile blend.

Synthesis. Our results show that the flea beetle has major indirect non‐target effects on the tortoise beetle through trait‐mediated exploitation competition, rather than apparent competition or density‐mediated exploitation competition. Our results demonstrate a new example for indirect non‐target effects of biocontrol agents. Furthermore, our results indicate that minor brief negative impacts of biocontrol agents on non‐target plants might propagate to higher trophic levels and such negative impacts can strengthen with increasing intensity of the direct non‐target effect.
Ecosystem engineering structures facilitate ecological resilience: A coral reef model
Authors: Cheung Pak‐Yin , Nozawa Yoko , Miki Takeshi 
Published: April 2021

AbstractEcosystem engineers are organisms that affect ecosystem state by modifying the physical habitats in which biological interactions occur. Such engineering effect depends on both the engineers for environmental transformation and the persistency of engineered structures, but the distinction has rarely been considered. Here, we examined their relative effect on ecosystem in terms of ecological resilience. We used a mathematical model of a coral reef that incorporates reciprocal facilitation between corals and herbivores. Coral skeletons create physical habitats and promote habitat complexity, allowing more herbivore grazing on macroalgae, which opens further space for coral colonization. By quantifying resilience in form of its basin of attraction, we found that resilience declined much rapidly with the loss of habitat complexity (engineered structures) than from the loss of either corals (engineers) or herbivores, under the substantial pressures of fishing and eutrophication. This model outcome is in accordance with observed empirical patterns. It arises due to two characteristics of habitat complexity: slow temporal changes and habitat provisioning. Habitat complexity can persist even when corals are lost, facilitating the recovery of herbivores and, in turn, of corals. Our model suggests that, as the persistency of engineered structures increases, their influence on ecosystem dynamics increases and becomes independent from that of ecosystem engineer. Identifying such a distinction and its context are vital to preserving ecosystem resilience and to better avoid catastrophic shifts.
Uterine Transplantation
Authors: Jones BP , Saso S , Yazbek J , Thum M‐Y , Quiroga I , Ghaem‐Maghami S , Smith JR ,   the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Published: April 2021

Plain language summaryA uterine transplant, or womb transplant, provides a potential treatment for women who cannot become pregnant or carry a pregnancy because they do not have a womb, or have a womb that is unable to maintain a pregnancy. This is estimated to affect one in 500 women. Options for those who wish to start a family include adoption and surrogacy, but these are associated with legal, cultural, ethical and religious implications that may not be appropriate for some women and their families. A womb transplant is undertaken when the woman is ready to start a family, and is removed following the completion of their family.Womb transplants have been performed all over the world, with more than 70 procedures carried out so far. At least 23 babies have been born as a result, demonstrating that womb transplants can work. While the procedure offers a different option to adoption and surrogacy, it is associated with significant risks, including multiple major surgeries and the need to take medications that help to dampen the immune system to prevent rejection of the womb. To date there has been a 30% risk of a transplant being unsuccessful.Although the number of transplants to date is still relatively small, the number being performed globally is growing, providing an opportunity to learn from the experience gained so far. This paper looks at the issues that have been encountered, which may arise at each step of the process, and proposes a framework for the future. However, long term follow‐up of cases will be essential to draw reliable conclusions about any overall benefits of this procedure.
Informal Learning and WTO Renewal: Using Thematic Sessions to Create More Opportunities for Dialogue
Authors: Wolfe Robert 
Published: April 2021

Abstract‘Thematic sessions’ bring dynamism to WTO by allowing committees to consider what works well under an agreement, including sharing experiences with implementation, what is not working, and what is next on the agenda. Thematic sessions are a broad class of meetings that are sponsored by or associated with a WTO body in some way, but that are not part of its formal meetings. The WTO held over 100 such sessions in the three years from 2017 to 2019. We found variation in how meetings are organized, which is related to the type of session, and we found variation in how themes are chosen, participation (who speaks), the degree of transparency, and funding. Comprehensive improvement is needed: some committees never hold thematic sessions, participation by capital‐based officials from developing countries is uneven, and too few sessions have a forward‐looking agenda. Enhanced use of thematic sessions can contribute to strengthening the pipeline between Geneva and capitals, and to better understanding in Geneva of what is happening on the ground.
Plurilateral Cooperation as an Alternative to Trade Agreements: Innovating One Domain at a Time
Authors: Hoekman Bernard , Sabel Charles 
Published: April 2021

AbstractAt the end of 2017 different groups of WTO members decided to launch talks on four subjects, setting aside the WTO consensus working practice. This paper argues that these ‘joint statement initiatives’ (JSIs) should seek to establish open plurilateral agreements (OPAs) even in instances where the outcome can be incorporated into existing schedules of commitments of participating WTO members. Designing agreements as OPAs provides an institutional framework for collaboration among the responsible national authorities, transparency, mutual review and learning, as well as alternatives to default WTO dispute settlement procedures which may not be appropriate for supporting cooperation on the matters addressed by the JSIs. In parallel, WTO members should establish enforceable multilateral principles to ensure OPAs are compatible with an open global trade regime.