Developing a sustainability ethic in leaders

The triple bottom line of fiscal, social, and environmental success considerably alters how organizations (and stakeholders) measure sustainable success. More important, however, is the conceptual shift required to understand and successfully lead organizations within this increasingly accepted paradigm. This article uses a mixed‐methods approach to explore the conceptual development of a sustainability ethic in aspiring leaders. More specifically, the authors report research examining the curriculum and pedagogy of a leadership education effort, in this case a college‐level course, aimed at effecting change in both individual aspiring leaders and their immediate community. The article describes the philosophical and research base for the curriculum and specific activities with their pedagogical approach. Results show evidence of increased awareness, importance, and commitment to sustainability as well as changes in how students conceptualize sustainability leadership. Findings offer insights for further developing leadership education for sustainability.     

Determinants of how individuals choose,eat and waste: Providing common ground to enhance sustainable food consumption out‐of‐home

The transformation of food consumption in wealthy economies is regarded as an essential measure to reach global sustainability goals. However, existing policies and research activities to change food consumption in the increasingly relevant out‐of‐home sector relate to a wide set of options on how to influence behaviours and may be criticized to lack a general focus. Against this background, our study provides a structured review of the existing research body on the determinants of individuals’ food choices and food consumption out‐of‐home. It structures the various research approaches and findings for 110 selected papers according to a general ecological framework where personal, social and environmental determinants for food behaviours are considered. By providing a collective overview and linking results for different behavioural aspects and settings, this study supports a more general understanding of consumer food behaviour in out‐of‐home settings. Consequently, it also provides a means to identify research gaps and to suggest relevant aspects for future research to draw from the combination of findings and to enhance sustainability in food consumption.     

Comparing three ways to update Choquet beliefs

We analyze three rules for updating neo-additive capacities. Only for Generalized Bayesian Updating is relative optimism the same for both updated and unconditional capacities. For updates of the other two, either the updated capacity is fully optimistic or fully pessimistic.     

A Critical Review of Centrality Measures in Social Networks

Social networks are currently gaining increasing impact in the light of the ongoing growth of web-based services like facebook.com. One major challenge for the economically successful implementation of selected management activities such as viral marketing is the identification of key persons with an outstanding structural position within the network. For this purpose, social network analysis provides a lot of measures for quantifying a member’s interconnectedness within social networks. In this context, our paper shows the state of the art with regard to centrality measures for social networks. Due to strongly differing results with respect to the quality of different centrality measures, this paper also aims at illustrating the tremendous importance of a reflected utilization of existing centrality measures. For this purpose, the paper analyzes five centrality measures commonly discussed in literature on the basis of three simple requirements for the behavior of centrality measures.     

Design and analysis of delivery ‘pipelines’ in truckload trucking

This paper examines a new dispatching alternative for the truckload trucking industry involving the use of delivery ‘pipelines’ with dense flow volumes. Drivers and loads are partitioned into two sets; those that utilize pipelines via a series of ‘dray’ moves and line-hauls, and the remaining set of random over-the-road (OTR) drivers that are dispatched by traditional methods. Alternative methods are presented to determine where delivery pipelines should be located and how they should be operated. The effects of the pipelines on the remaining OTR fleet are also examined. Results indicate that the new dispatching alternative is feasible.     

Exploring Relationships Between Recreation Specialization,Restorative Environments and Mountain Hikers’ Flow Experience

This study explored the relationships between the perception of restorative natural environments, specialization in mountain hiking and flow experience. On-site interviews were conducted at mountain huts in the Salzkammergut, Austria, in 2009. The analysis of 369 hikers suggests that a relationship exists among recreation specialization, the perception of restorative environments and flow. With increasing specialization, people are more likely to experience flow. The restorative quality dimensions of “being away,” “fascination” and “compatibility” with the mountainous landscape were positive predictors of flow experience.     

Rushing to Overpay: Modeling and Measuring the REIT Premium

We explore the questions of why Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) pay more for real estate than non-REIT buyers and by how much. First, we develop a search model where REITs optimally pay more for property because (1) they are willing, due to cost of capital advantages and, (2) they are occasionally rushed, due to external regulatory time constraints and internal incentives to deploy capital quickly. Second, using commercial real estate transactions, we find that the extant hedonic pricing models contain an unobserved explanatory variables bias leading to inflated estimates of the REIT premium. Third, using a repeat-sales methodology that controls for unobserved property characteristics, we derive more plausible estimates of the REIT premium. Consistent with our model, we also find the REIT-buyer premium depends on the size of the REIT advantage, the rush to deploy, and the relative presence of REITs in the market.     

Introducing a Learning Portfolio in an Undergraduate Financial Accounting Course

This paper evaluates changes made to the internal assessment component of a third year financial accounting course at a university in New Zealand. A learning portfolio was designed to supplement existing coursework. The aim was to engender in students a deep rather than a surface approach to learning. As a record of the students' learning, the learning portfolio was an attempt to produce an innovative development in the assessment of what was a traditionally taught financial accounting course. Within their learning portfolios, students were required to complete a number of tasks, each aimed at improving critical thinking skills and creativity. Students were also required to maintain a personal or reflective section aimed at personalising and deepening the quality of their learning.