Tourists' support for conservation messages and sustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences

A common justification for developing wildlife tourism attractions is that they help to secure long-term conservation of wildlife and wildlife habitats. Managers and guides often highlight their role in protecting wildlife and its habitat, yet little is known about the interests, needs and preferences of the tourists who participate in such activities – how aware are they of conservation issues; how concerned are they about the environmental impacts their visit may cause; do they expect and accept the conservation messages they receive? This research explores the perceptions, preferences and conservation awareness of tourists visiting the Mon Repos Conservation Park in Queensland, Australia. Comparison data from four other sites are also presented in order to provide a wider context for interpreting the data. The findings suggest that wildlife tourism management practices that enlist tourists as conservation partners, communicate the reasons behind any constraints imposed, and present a consistent message regarding interactions with wildlife, are likely to be most successful in meeting the needs of both tourists and wildlife.     

The weighted cross-shareholding complex network: a copula approach to concentration and control in financial markets

Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination - In this work, we focus on the cross-shareholding structure in financial markets. Specifically, we build ad hoc indices of concentration and...     

Rhetorical History as Institutional Work

Rhetorical history has emerged as a useful theoretical construct that bridges the long recognized gap between historical and organizational scholarship. Despite its growing popularity, the precise nature of rhetorical history as a construct, its scope conditions, and its utility in resolving critical issues in historical organizational analysis remains unclear. This paper addresses these issues. We define rhetorical history and contextualize the construct by elaborating its relationship to associated concepts like collective memory, rhetoric, and narrative. We ground the construct by reviewing literature that has applied rhetorical history in both theory and empirical research. Our inductive review identifies four recurring themes in which rhetorical history is used to construct perceptions of; (a) continuity and discontinuity, (b) similarity and difference, (c) winners and losers, and (d) morality and immorality. We conclude with a discussion of how rhetorical history is an essential mechanism of institutional work.     

Stop tank abuse

Large volumes of fluids are processed or stored in tanks of all shapes and sizes and occupy a major portion of the landscape within our chemical plants and refineries. These tanks serve the industry very well but occasionally they suffer from improper design or abusive conditions and failures occur.     

Dark personality in dark times: How Dark Triad personality interacts with injustice and politics to influence detachment and discretionary behaviours

Using two-wave time-lagged multi-source data in two studies, we examine how Dark Triad personality (DTP) interacts with contextual variables to influence psychological detachment and discretionary behaviours. In Study 1 (N = 288), we examine the combined effects of DTP and perceived injustice on psychological detachment and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs). In Study 2 (N = 461), we examine the combined effects of DTP and perceived organizational politics (POP) on counterproductive work behaviours (CWB) and psychological detachment. We found that Dark Triad personality was positively related to psychological detachment and CWBs and negatively related to OCBs. The effects of the DTP on psychological detachment, OCBs, and CWBs were stronger when perceived injustice and POP was high.     

What is the future of water quality trading?

A comprehensive review of experiences with water quality trading (WQT) programs worldwide is presented, spanning altogether more than 4 decades. A new WQT database is built, extracting data and information from existing review papers, complemented with gray and published literature about individual trading programs. Key aspects that affect trading volumes and program continuation are identified and categorized. No single success or fail factor emerges from this review, typically a mix of factors play a role. There is potential for WQT to evolve further and serve as a cost-effective pollution control instrument, but this requires nudging political will to regulate nonpoint source.     

Managing the retail operations in the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Morocco

Novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and resulting lockdowns have contributed to major retail operational disturbances around the globe, forcing retail organizations to manage their operations effectively. The impact can be measured as a black swan event (BSE). Therefore, to understand its impact on retail operations and enhance operational performance, the study attempts to evaluate retail operations and develop a decision-making model for disruptive events in Morocco. The study develops a three-phase evaluation approach. The approach involves fuzzy logic (to measure the current performance of retail operations), graph theory (to develop an exit strategy for retail operations based on different scenarios), and ANN and random forest-based prediction model with K-cross validation (to predict customer retention for retail operations). This methodology is preferred to develop a unique decision-making model for BSE. From the analysis, the current retail performance index has been computed as “Average” level and the graph-theoretic approach highlighted the critical attributes of retail operations. Further, the study identified triggering attributes for customer retention using machine learning-based prediction models (MLBPM) and develops a contactless payment system for customers' safety and hygiene. The framework can be used on a periodic basis to help retail managers to improve their operational performance level for disruptive events.