The environmental value‐attitude‐system model: A framework to guide the understanding of environmentally‐conscious consumer behaviour

Business writers such as Charter in 1992 predict that addressing the environmental consciousness of consumers will be one of the most important issues industry will face in the 1990s, and was seen by Ottmann in 1992 as the marketing trend of the decade. In 1993 Coddington judged much of green consumer potential to be latent as the environmental concern expressed in surveys was not clearly visible in current consumer behaviour. How best to respond to this new challenge and exploit the potential market is still causing confusion amongst marketers. However, it is a practical business concern as consumers may become more explicit in their demand and use their purchase power as an economic vote to effect social and environmental change. It is argued that marketing conclusions can only be drawn from a thorough understanding of the phenomenon. In this paper, the value‐attitude‐system model of Vinson et al. in 1977 is applied and extended to provide an insight into the complex phenomena affecting environmentally‐conscious purchase behaviour by integrating the underlying influences from the individual belief system.     

Competing,collaborating or controlling? Comparing benchmarking in European local government

The way that local authorities in OECD countries compare and benchmark their performance varies widely. This paper explains some of the reasons behind the variations. The current local government benchmarking schemes in Europe— their governance, coverage and impact—largely depend on the institutional characteristics of the respective administrative and local government systems (in other words, the starting conditions). There are signs that, as a result of the fiscal crisis in Europe and need to cut public sector costs, many countries (but not England and Wales) are leaning towards compulsory large-scale benchmarking projects.     

The relationship between trainers’ media‐didactical competence and media‐didactical self‐efficacy,attitudes and use of digital media in training

The ongoing digitalization in the training sector produces new demands on the media‐didactical competence of trainers. We conducted an online survey of 279 trainers in Germany to investigate the relationships among media‐didactical competence, media‐didactical self‐efficacy, attitudes toward the use of digital media and the actual use of digital media in training. Furthermore, we compared trainers who attended a course on digital media with trainers who did not attend such a course. The analysis of the theoretically expected correlations between the variables resulted in not all hypotheses being accepted. The analysis of the group differences showed that the trainers who attended a course on digital media had higher media‐didactical competence and media‐didactical self‐efficacy scores and used digital media more often in training. There was no significant difference in negative attitudes. The implications for the promotion of the media‐didactical competence of trainers are discussed.     

The impact of integrated livestock disease management for food security in Togo

In sub-Saharan Africa, livestock is one of the key channels through which most households meet their food security needs. However, diseases such as the African Animal Trypanosomosis (AAT) constrain productivity. Using data from 445 randomly sampled small-scale cattle farmers, this paper investigates the role of integrated livestock disease control on household food security. Using a novel approach to link different food security measures to cattle productivity, the paper identifies the channels of impact at the household level. Methodologically, the paper estimated the propensity score matching algorithm to net out the effect of adoption. The results show that households who adopt RDU have record livestock productivity and higher consumption per capita expenditures. They tend to be more food secure, experience lower seasonal food supply fluctuations and experience a lower probability of falling below the food poverty line.     

Regulatory impact assessment: a survey of selected developing and emerging economies

This paper reports on a survey of regulatory impact assessment (RIA) in 16 developing and emerging economies. RIA was playing an increasing role in these countries: eight had introduced RIA in the past 10 years; one had recently redesigned its existing RIA system; another had a long-standing RIA system in place. However, RIA was at an early stage of development in the majority of cases and six countries did not practise RIA.     

Schlucken? Das geht nicht mehr!

Lebensbedrohliche Dysphagie - H?ufige Folge eines Schlaganfalls ist die Schluckst?rung. Sie führt nicht nur zu einer immensen psychischen Belastung für den Betroffenen, sondern kann in ihrer extremen Auswirkung lebensbedrohlich sein. Daher ist eine Dysphagie so rechtzeitig wie m?glich zu erkennen und zu behandeln.