Psychological safety climate and workplace bullying in Vietnam’s public sector

The bureaucratic and impersonal nature of public management can fertilize workplace bullying and risks for psychological health and safety. Psychological safety climate (PSC) is an important indicator to reduce psychological hazards. Yet, there have been few studies conducted to examine the existence of PSC in the public sector in non-Western economies. This study examined the implementation of PSC and its effects on 274 employees from six branches of a Vietnamese public sector organization. The results suggest that senior management in organizations should consider positive work conditions and an effective system of policies, procedures, and practices for the prevention of psychosocial hazards.     

Overlapping Generations and Environmental Policy： An Introduction

A small but growing body of literature uses overlapping generations （OLG） models to study environmental policy for long-lived problems such as climate change. An OLG model, unlike the infinitely lived representative agent model, dis- tinguishes between impatience with respect to one＇s own future utility, and attitudes toward successors＇ utility. I discuss the problem of time inconsistency, the role of Markov perfection, and show that a class of OLG models can be studied using me- thods developed to analyze models of non-constant discounting. An example illu- strates the techniques and determines the conditions under which, in equilibrium, there is under-investment or over-investment in natural capital.     

Container drayage problem with flexible orders and its near real-time solution strategies

This article studies a container drayage problem with flexible orders defined by using requiring and releasing attributes as a unified formulation of various order types. A determined-activities-on-vertex (DAOV) graph introduces a temporary vertex set to formulate different truck statuses. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model based on the DAOV graph. Four strategies including a window partition based (WPB) strategy are presented and evaluated extensively to solve the problem. Results indicate that the WPB method could solve the problem effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, this method is robust considering the operating time biases compared to other algorithms.     

经济增长与不平等对我国农村脱贫时间的影响

选择FGT贫困指数和脱贫时间指数，利用世界银行公布的我国农村贫困线和收入分配分组数据。对比分析了1981年-2005年以来的农村贫困变化趋势。研究发现，农村贫困状况虽然总体上呈缓解趋势，但在脱贫时间指数的构成中，由于不平等所延长的脱贫时间，无论从绝对量还是相对量上都明显提高，这说明收入分配的恶化已经成为反贫困的严重障碍，这种变化趋势值得高度关注。     

Dually sustainable urban mobility option: Shared-taxi operations with electric vehicles

Electric vehicles (EVs) are energy efficient and often presented as a zero-emission transport mode to achieve long-term decarbonization visions in the transport sector. The implementation of a sustainable transportation environment through EV utilization, however, requires the addressing of certain cost and environmental concerns such as limited driving range and battery-charging issues before its full potential can be realized. Nevertheless, a specific type of use of EVs, namely in taxi services, may elicit positive public opinion, as it promises a commitment toward sustainability in urban life. In light of this, this study proposes an integrated approach that combines EV operation with a conceptual design for shared-ride taxi services. As some productivity loss may be naturally expected due to the time spent in charging, it is important to look at whether such performance loss from the passenger and system standpoints can be offset with ingenuity in operational design. In this study, an EV taxi charge-replenishing scheme that can be coupled with a real-time taxi-dispatch algorithm is designed. The proposed EV charging schemes for taxi services are studied via simulations and the effects of the limited driving range and battery-charging details are examined from a system performance viewpoint. The simulation study also reveals illustrative results on the impact of the EV taxi fleet's operation on the charging system. Next, a real-time shared-taxi operation scheme that allows ride sharing with other passengers is proposed to maximize the operational efficiency. The simulation results suggest that the shared-taxi concept can be a viable option to improve on the limitations caused by EV operation. In addition, the importance of projected charging demands and queue delays at different charging locations are also addressed. Some limitations and a future research agenda are also discussed.     

Personal service companies and the public sector

Off-payroll workers in the UK, including personal service companies (PSCs), engaged by the public sector have been giving ‘assurance’ of their tax position to departments in the sector since 2012. Departments must be satisfied with the assurance. For PSCs this requires awareness of complex tax legislation (IR35), which is aimed at preventing tax avoidance. Costs may be incurred in attaining the necessary knowledge. This may bring into question costs incurred in protecting tax revenue. No similar obligation exists in the private sector.     

Do religion and spirituality matter for hotel workers’ well-being and guests’ happiness? An update of the Attraction-Selection-Attrition theory

Drawing on the Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) theory (Schneider et al., 1995), this paper examines how adhering to religious regulations and offering spiritual facilities may affect hotel workers’ psychological well-being and guests’ happiness. Using a mixed method approach, we collected data through two studies on religious practices and spiritual facilities at 5-star hotels in Jordan. In the first stage, interviews were conducted with 18 senior managers at hotels in the Dead Sea area (study 1). In the second stage, data were collected from Muslim guests who visited and stayed at a 5-star hotel in Jordan (study 2) and the hypotheses were tested with partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 3.3.3. Our results indicate that spiritual facilities at hotels enhance workers’ well-being and guests’ happiness while not adhering to religious regulations adversely affects workers’ well-being and guests’ happiness. The paper offers a contextual and novel framework to understand the linkages between religion/spirituality and psychology at hotels in a diverse cultural context in the Middle East. The empirical studies highlight the contextual relevance and extension of Schneider’s (1995) ASA theory by incorporating religiosity/spiritualty and well-being of hotel employees in a Middle Eastern context.     

Operating efficiency in Chinese universities: An extended two-stage network DEA approach

The result shows that it accepts the null hypothesis. Namely, there is no significant difference in the operating efficiency of universities in different regions. That is to say, although the efficiency of the central and western universities is slightly better than that of the eastern universities in terms of the average efficiency, there is no significant efficiency difference among the eastern, central, and western regions statistically. Therefore, it shows a balanced development trend for the efficiency of universities in different regions.     

The relevance of commuting zones for regional spending efficiency

We use data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficiency scores to show that clustering municipalities into encompassing regional clusters improves spending efficiency of single stand-alone municipalities. We propose a new geographic aggregation based on municipalities-to-municipalities commuting flows, defined using hierarchical cluster analysis. Our example for Portugal shows that from an output-oriented perspective between 83% and 98% of municipalities would increase their efficiency scores, while from an input-oriented perspective between 86% and 98% of municipalities would also be better off in terms of efficiency. Then using a linear regression model, we find that population increases positively affects the efficient scores (via scale economies). Also, increases in the share of high-educated and poorer residents leads to higher efficiency scores.     

Perceived hygiene attributes in the hotel industry: customer retention amid the COVID-19 crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a crisis in the hotel industry worldwide, but few studies have suggested methods to retain customers. This study proposes hygiene management as a means to minimize the indirect damage from COVID-19 to the hotel industry. It identifies perceived hygiene attributes and explores their influence on hotel image, word of mouth, and revisit intentions. This study identifies and validates three types of perceived hygiene attributes through qualitative and quantitative methods. It uses structural equation modeling to validate hypotheses and concludes that there are significant relationships of influence between the proposed variables. This study provides important and meaningful insights into hotel image and customer behavior through perceived hygiene attributes.