Towards a Holistic Approach of the Attitude Behaviour Gap in Ethical Consumer Behaviours: Empirical Evidence from Spain

This paper explores alternative understandings of the attitude behavior gap, a well documented phenomenon, both in ethical consumer behavior and social research in general. A multi-method, qualitative approach is adopted, aiming at greater internal validity of data. The findings broaden current knowledge on the attitude behavior gap, showing how ethically minded consumers rationalize their inconsistent behavior. The last section of the paper integrates existing knowledge on the attitude behavior gap with the empirical findings of the present study into a conceptual model. Relevant implications for marketers are also discussed.     

A double-edged sword: the impact of institutions and political relations on the international market expansion of Chinese state-owned enterprises

This study examines the interaction of three factors, the involvement of the home country government, of host country institutions and of bilateral political relations, as they affect the post-entry market expansion of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in emerging, developing and developed countries. This study employs the case study method. The findings show that home country government involvement can either support or constrain SOEs’ subsequent market expansion. In emerging and developing countries, underdeveloped institutions create difficulties which can deter the market expansion of Chinese SOEs. In developed host countries, the challenges associated with unfamiliar institutions can be overcome through experiential learning. The political relations between the host country and China may influence the impact of institutions in the host country on the market expansion of Chinese SOEs.     

CO2 Emissions and Financial Performance of Socially Responsible Firms: An Empirical Survey

A firm's financial performance is closely related to its environmental behavior. This result is valid especially in the case of socially responsible firms. In the present study a data econometric analysis is conducted based on a GARCH model for socially responsible and conventional firms. According to our findings, the performance of socially responsible firms is negatively related to an increase of global CO₂ emissions. The firms' costs for implementing environmental policies and the investors' attitude towards the aforementioned firms may account for our results. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Sustainable lifestyles in an urban context: towards a holistic understanding of ethical consumer behaviours. Empirical evidence from Catalonia,Spain

Ethical consumer behaviour has been gaining increasing attention in recent times. Nevertheless, most empirical research tends to focus on specific expressions of ethical consumer behaviour such as fair trade shopping and disregard other ethical projects that a consumer might be involved in. The main implication of this is a lack of a holistic understanding of ethical consumer lifestyles. This work adopts a qualitative approach, which, together with a combination of research techniques, makes it possible to observe the ethical consumer experience as a whole. The findings suggest that a wide diversity of behavioural strategies can fit under the same ethical lifestyles. Furthermore, an answer is provided for the ongoing debate as to whether ethical consumerism should be considered a means for change in the guise of political pressure or it should be seen as immoral.     

The pattern and predictors of intentionally inflicted injuries on Greek adults; data from an Emergency Injury Surveillance System (EDISS)

Background Intentional injuries due to violence are both a social and a public health problem in most societies. This study assesses the patterns and some of the sociodemographic determinants of violence-related injuries among Greek adults. Methods Data recorded by the Emergency Department Injury Surveillance System (EDISS) during the two-year period 1996-1997 were used. This database relies on all age injury data collected in the emergency departments of three sentinel hospitals, covering both urban and rural population areas. Results Among 52026 recorded injuries, 1322 (3%) were violence related, excluding self-inflicted injuries, while the majority of injuries (28269) were attributed to home and leisure accidents. Weapons of any type were used only in 5% of violence-related injuries. In comparison to home and leisure injuries, the intentionally inflicted injuries occurred more frequently among men, among those 25-54 years old, and were particularly common among migrants and during late night and early morning hours. Violence-related injuries frequently occur in pubs, restaurants, cafeterias and other places of entertainment. However, 52% of violence-related injuries among women occurred at home. Intentional injuries were generally more severe than unintentional ones. Conclusions We conclude that violence is not a negligible public health problem in the Greek population, but is considerably less serious than in most other developed countries. In particular, firearms-related injuries represent a very small fraction of the generally low incidence of violence-related injuries in this Mediterranean country.     

The professional development of European accounting academics: A proposed theoretical framework for future research

Over the last decade there has been a growing interest in the professional development of accounting academics and the effectiveness of their teaching. There is recognition that this development impacts on the primary roles of accounting educators: teaching, research and administration. This paper examines the career stories of accounting educators from different European countries. The aim is to develop a theoretical framework to provide new insights into the process of professional development. The comparative analysis of these career experiences led to the development of a proposed conceptual framework for gaining an understanding of the professional development of accounting educators. Drawing on these findings, the paper proposes that an awareness of the key-factors and the process of professional development of accounting educators may provide a new way of understanding the complex relationships among identities, system of beliefs, and behaviours related to teaching, research and administration.     

Socio-Technical Scenarios as a Tool to Improve Farm Advisory Services

This article examines the use of the socio-technical scenarios (STSc) method to explore the future needs of farmers in the adoption of more sustainable farming practices. It also examines the changes needed for advisory services to meet those identified needs. It presents the results from four STSc workshops organised as part of the H2020 AgriLink project. Workshop participants (farmers, advisors, policymakers, researchers), jointly explored future changes towards more sustainable agricultural systems paying special attention to the role of advisory services in these transitions. Despite the diversity of national contexts, common results emerged concerning both the shortcomings of the current advisory systems and directions for improvement. Participants agreed that advising on single aspects would not achieve the required systemic changes; these would require more integrated advisory systems at different levels (improved cooperation and knowledge flow), supported by more consistent policies. We indeed identified discrepancies between policy expectations and the broader innovation context. Policies should facilitate the role of advisors in supporting farmers to adopt sustainable innovations, but more often they also create barriers for such innovations. Participants’ concrete recommendations for more farmer-centered advisory services illustrate the usefulness of the STSc to explore potential solutions to key problems in contemporary farm advisory systems.     

What Can We Learn from Droppers and Non-adopters About the Role of Advice in Agricultural Innovation?

In this article we assess the diversity of sources of advice identified by 678 adopters, 295 non-adopters and 107 droppers (or dis-adopters, who have ceased or reduced the use) of agricultural innovations across 13 European countries. For most innovations, the volume and composition of advisory supports (e.g. public advisory services, farm business organisations, NGOs, research and development sector, other farmers), at the whole farm level were similar between adopters, non-adopters and droppers. However, there were significant differences in relation to specific innovations. Farmers adopting digital technologies, soil-improving cropping systems, and common management of natural resources identified more diverse sources when assessing innovations, suggesting that more diverse advisory support supported successful implementation. For new on-farm activities, non-adopters had more varied sources of advice than adopters. This demonstrates that non-adoption can be a well-informed decision. Droppers typically identified fewer sources of advice on an innovation than adopters, particularly in the later stages of the innovation process, suggesting that lack of advice impeded successful implementation. The findings suggest that public funding for advisory services could usefully target emergent gaps: to support the provision of up-to-date advice on topics to farmers who have difficulty accessing advice, and to prevent unnecessary dropping by supporting the implementation of innovations.     

The disabling effects of enabling social policies on organisations’ human capital development practices for women

Paid parental leave and externally provided childcare are social policies designed to enhance parents' labour force participation. These policies influence not only men's and women's decisions regarding their labour market activity but also organisational decision makers' (ODMs) expectations about their employees' availability to work and thus, their willingness to invest in their employees' human capital. Using a sample of over 13,000 individuals from 19 countries, we investigate the interaction between gender and social policies on human capital development practices. In line with statistical discrimination theory, which suggests that ODMs hold different expectations about female and male productivity, we find that paid parental leave and externally provided childcare are negatively associated with the provision of human capital development for women but not for men.