Intensification of cocoa agroforestry systems as a REDD+ strategy in Cameroon: hurdles,motivations, and challenges

Tree planting and the use of inputs within cocoa agroforestry systems are key intensification pathways for enhancing the contribution of these systems to REDD+. However, scholarship on the hurdles, motivations, and challenges pertaining to intensification of these systems remains surprisingly scanty. A questionnaire addressing these knowledge gaps was administered to 461 cocoa farmers randomly selected from 10 communities in the South Region of Cameroon. The lack of technical support was identified as one of the main obstacles to tree planting and the use of inputs. The least motivating factor behind tree planting and the use of inputs was inadequate technical assistance. Limited access to credit facilities was observed as of the most important challenges to tree planting and the use of inputs. Addressing the various hurdles and challenges and promoting the least motivation factor through proper incentive mechanisms could advance REDD+ since intensification pathways within these systems increase agricultural productivity thereby enabling farmers to stay on the same land. This results in less forest being cleared and allows for the recovery of forests degaraded for the creation of these systems. In closing, we proffer incentive mechansims for promoting intensification pathways within these cocoa agroforestry systems.     

A study of the motivations for the environmental transformation of companies

This paper studies the relationship between the environmental motivations or beliefs prevailing in a company and the kind of environmental transformation the company is undertaking. In this sense, we distinguish four types of motivations: ethical, productive, commercial, and relational; and three areas where environmental transformation is typically conducted: the management system, the operations system, and the commercial system. The links between all these elements are analysed over a sample of 186 manufacturing companies from three industrial sectors. The results reveal that each environmental transformation responds to the presence or the predominance of certain motivations or environmental beliefs within the company.     

Naked and dirty: rethinking (not) attending festivals

This article draws together critical tourism studies and events tourism literature offering insights into the diverse motivations for, and barriers to, attending the predominantly lesbian and separatist feminist festival, Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. Augmenting the literature on lesbian tourism, the article deploys a conceptualisation of festivals, such as gay pride, that seeks to contest dominant codes and norms as parties with politics. Using the data gathered from 222 qualitative questions, 10 interviews and 1 focus group, it explores the intertwining of music, feminist politics and temporality in understanding womyn's motivations in attending a separatist festival. Distinctively, it demonstrates how barriers to, and motivations for, attending festivals can be paradoxically mutually formative. In this way, it becomes possible both to question tick-box motivational frameworks and to explore festival times and spaces as (re)making tourist encounters. Thus, the article opens up considerations and theorisations of festival attendee' motivations looking to the complexities of experiences, motivations and time–space interactions.     

Factors influencing motivations and expectations of field trip attendance

This paper examines students’ motivations for participating in field trips and analyses students’ expectations in an attempt to identify the influence of three variables: age, level of education, and previous work experience. Results demonstrate that students’ reasons for participation are diverse, and while the results are specific for the case analysed, they support prior research, suggesting that students develop very positive attitudes and perceptions towards field trips.     

中、澳两国乡村旅游经营者多维目标定量比较研究

乡村旅游集中了许多社会问题,乡村旅游经营者追求目标多维性是表现之一。采用开办起始、正式经营和家庭相关三组变量,构建乡村旅游经营者多维目标体系。通过一手和二手数据,对中国、澳大利亚两国乡村旅游经营者进行了定量比较研究,结果表明,不同的社会制度、文化背景、经济水准导致中、澳两国乡村旅游经营者多维目标的差异性。了解不同国家乡村旅游经营者的目标和动机异同,有利于认识各国乡村旅游发展方式的差异性,促进乡村旅游的健康发展。     

Market Response and Firms＇ Operating Performance Surrounding Actual Share Repurchases： Evidence from Hong Kong

Share repurchases have become a popular payout method to distribute cash flows to shareholders not only in the U.S. but also other countries. This study examines the firms＇ share price and operating performance surrounding actual share repurchases and the motivations behind share repurchases in the Hong Kong stock market. The empirical results show that, on average, firms engage in share repurchases when their stocks are under-valued andrepurchases are followed by abnormal positive returns. Among repurchases, the stock price performance varies across firms＇ size and market-to-book ratios. The market responds most favorably to repurchases that are made by small and ＂value＂ firms. This suggests that smaller firms are usually less analyzed and more likely to be undervalued; hence, the market reacts more favorably when they repurchase.     

Personal values and impulse buying: The mediating role of hedonic shopping motivations

This research is the first to examine how personal values (resultant conservation and resultant self-enhancement) relate to impulse buying, and how hedonic shopping motivations mediate this relationship. We draw on information from a preliminary sample of 510 Portuguese respondents and a MTURK sample of 249 Americans, and use structural equations modeling to test the research model. The results from both samples denote some consistency, showing that both resultant self-enhancement and resultant conservation are indirectly related to impulse buying, highlighting a mediating role for hedonic shopping motivations.     

Reducing waste management challenges: Empirical assessment of waste sorting intention among corporate employees in Ghana

Waste sorting is seen as an effective and efficient step in annihilating the challenges of solid waste generation, promoting a circular economy, public health, and environmental sustainability. For total public acceptance and participation, it is crucial to understand what motivates and compels consumers to separate waste. Consequently, this study investigates corporate employees’ intention to sort waste in Ghana. The study augmented the theory of reasoned action with convenience, environmental consciousness, hedonic motivations, and awareness of benefits. 401 valid survey responses were statistically assessed using structural equation modeling. Results showed that the conceptual framework accounted for 65.4% of the variance. Attitude, subjective norm, environmental consciousness, awareness of benefits, convenience, and hedonic motivations were positive and significant toward waste sorting intention. Awareness of benefits influenced attitude but not convenience. Also, subjective norms positively and significantly influenced environmental consciousness and hedonic motivation. An ANOVA analysis confirmed the effect of gender, age and education on the inclination to sort waste. Hospitality and Educational sector employees had a higher inclination and intention to sort waste. The study advances literature and understanding on waste sorting among corporate employees and suggests practical solutions for ensuring total embrace and participation in sorting waste.     

Travel motivations of Japanese senior travellers to Thailand

This study applies the conceptual framework of push and pull motivations to investigate travel motivations of Japanese senior travellers to Thailand. Using factor analysis, three push and four pull factor dimensions are identified. The three push factors are labelled ‘novelty and knowledge‐seeking’, ‘rest and relaxation’ and ‘ego‐enhancement’, while the four pull factors are ‘cultural and historical attractions’, ‘travel arrangements and facilities’, ‘shopping and leisure activities’ and ‘safety and cleanliness’. Among them, ‘novelty and knowledge‐seeking’ and ‘cultural and historical attractions’ are regarded as the most important push and pull factors respectively. The results of multiple regression analysis indicate that psychological well‐being (i.e. positive affect) and education are the two factors influencing travel motivations of Japanese senior travellers to Thailand. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An extension of the benefit segmentation base for the consumption of organic foods: A time perspective

Abstract

Benefit segmentation is a long-standing marketing approach that emphasises the ‘what’ and ‘how’ dimensions of consumer benefits; that is, what benefits consumers perceive in product/service consumption, and how such benefits are perceived. This research proposes a fresh time-based approach to benefit segmentation – namely, focusing on the ‘when’ element or when in time benefits take effect. Drawing upon a survey of UK consumers, it explains and discusses consumption motivations through examining antecedents of temporally dominated benefits in application to organic food. Specifically, the study investigates why some consumers predominantly seek present-based benefits vis-à-vis future-based benefits or vice versa in organic food purchase and consumption behaviour. Using correlation and regression analyses, the research findings establish significant associations of level of involvement, prior knowledge level, and product usage level, and some association of time orientation with the temporally emphasised consumption benefits consumers ultimately pursue. Overall, the research highlights the added contribution of a time perspective in a benefit segmentation approach which can assist marketers in understanding better and communicating more effectively with consumers through drawing up consumer profiles based on when in time their dominantly pursued benefit for an offering is perceived to take effect.