The Role of a Toolkit in Mobilising Women in Local and Regional Development

This paper introduces UK readers to the EuroFEM Toolkit which has been developed with European Union (EU) funding. The Toolkit is a collection of methods and stories taken from women's projects in European member states and is aimed at supporting, encouraging and facilitating women's involvement in every sector of local and regional development. The context for the development of the Toolkit is set within the debate about gender mainstreaming and what this means for local and regional development.     

Forecasting performance

It is widely accepted that accuracy represents the appropriate criterion for evaluation of forecast performance. Christine Martin, Lecturer in Operations Management, and Stephen Witt, Lecturer in Econometrics, at the Management Centre, University of Bradford, UK, present the results of a questionnaire survey of tourism practitioners and academics which support this view.     

The perceived benefits of agritourism: The provider’s perspective

This study examines the perceived benefits of agritourism by examining the importance of this activity in accomplishing 16 goals of farmers receiving visitors for recreation on their farms. This study also examines several farm household and business attributes associated with the accomplishment of four goal dimensions driving agritourism development. Data were derived from a survey conducted among 164 agritourism farms in Missouri. Results showed that agritourism mostly serves to capture new farm customers, educate the public about agriculture and enhance the quality of life for the farm family, which represents both, economic and non-economic benefits. Organized by goal dimensions, findings showed that agritourism is perceived as most important for market related goals, suggesting that the economic role of agritourism should not only be measured in terms of increased profits but also as a marketing tool. Four significant regression models showed that several farm business and household attributes are associated to the perceived agritourism benefits within four goal dimensions, suggesting opportunities for tailored promotional messages and policy considerations for the entrepreneurial development of agritourism.     

A Falling of the Veils: Turning Points and Momentous Turning Points in Leadership and the Creation of CSR

Contemporary organizations often reciprocate to society for using resources and for affecting stakeholders by engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR). It has been shown that CSR has a positive impact on employee attitudes. However, not all employees may react equally strongly to CSR practices. Based on socio-emotional selectivity theory (Carstensen in Science 312:1913–1915, 2006), we contend that the effect of CSR on employee satisfaction will be more pronounced for older than for younger employees, because CSR practices address those emotional needs and goals that are prioritized when people’s future time perspective decreases. In one multi-source field study (N = 143) and one experimental study (N = 500), we demonstrate that CSR indeed has a stronger positive effect on employee satisfaction for older relative to younger employees. Accordingly, engaging in CSR can be an attractive tool for organizations that aim to keep their aging workforce satisfied with their job.