The Importance of Monitoring the Work-Life Quality during the COVID-19 Restrictions for Sustainable Management in Nursing

The aim of this study was to investigate the work-life quality and related workplace factors of nursing employees working in hospitals during the COVID-19 restrictions. Employees in nursing carry out nursing care at various levels of healthcare. Work-life quality refers to an individual's feelings concerning work and outcomes and depends on different working characteristics and conditions. Quantitative research based on a cross-sectional study was used. This cross-sectional study included 486 employees in nursing from four Slovenian acute care hospitals. The results showed that most employees in nursing assessed the work-life quality on a moderate level: 76% were satisfied with their work, and 89% assessed their well-being at the workplace as positive. Considering the leaders' support, the number of patients, adequate information, teamwork, working position, use of days off, and equipment for safe work, we can explain the 53.5% of the total variability of work-life quality. We also found that work-life quality had an essential effect on well-being at the workplace (β = 0.330, p < 0.001) and work satisfaction (β = 0.490, p < 0.001) of employees in nursing. Work-life quality refers to an employees' feelings about their workplace, and its monitoring is important for higher employees' well-being and health. For management and policymakers in nursing, it is important to design strategies to ensure an adequate number of competent employees and establish a supportive leadership system. Work-life quality is an important factor in the recruitment and retention of the nursing workforce. Flexible working conditions and policy changes can improve work-life quality and balance. Nursing management must understand the influencing factors of work-life quality to improve nursing employee retention strategies.

Implications of COVID-19 policies on the sustainable corporate practices of European firms

Purpose: This study aims to analyze how mixes of COVID-19 policy responses are shaping the context in which companies will compete in the following years, defining how the crisis might impact firms' ability to keep their commitments to sustainable practices. Design/methodology/approach: European country-performance data for the years 2019 and 2020 were grouped into indicators of macro sustainability, then cross-analyzed against the policies adopted during the period (also grouped based on their impacts on sustainability pillars), using correlations, factor analysis and clustering. Findings: The influence of traditional sustainability determinants was reframed according to the novel context shaped by the policy responses to the pandemic crisis. The social and digitalization aspects gained the most relevance and appeared interconnected, with digitalization of employment attaining overall more traction. Moreover, changes in the leadership within sustainability domains were observed for each identified country-cluster, due to newly implemented emergency policies. In fact, environmental innovation, digitalization and social support policies appeared to be the main variables to be impacted by the intensity of the policy efforts. Practical implications: Businesses monitoring the developments of sustainability policies closely, will observe novel trends in technological applications. Social implications: Policymakers and researchers may gauge the efficacy of policies against the COVID-19 crisis in the domain of sustainable development and resilience. Originality/value: This paper provides a cross-analysis of quantitative macroeconomic and quantified policy responses to the 2020 pandemic crisis, linking each indicator to the pillars of sustainability that were relevant for companies between the crucial pandemic outbreak years 2019 and 2020. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Corporate Social Responsibility: A Business Strategy That Promotes Energy Environmental Transition and Combats Volatility in the Post-Pandemic World

Corporate social responsibility can assist in reducing the noise caused by pricing volatility and a lack of energy-efficient business solutions. The study's objective is twofold: (i) to investigate the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in reducing volatility through the contribution of energy-efficient strategies;(ii) to identify research trends in the field that may indicate future research directions for the development of more dynamic strategies that will help in mitigating the impact of pricing volatility. A five-step bibliometric analysis was applied to address the research question. The findings were visualized by using bibliometric tools such as R Studio, Biblioshiny, and VOSViewer. Chinese academics have been revealed as pioneers in integrating CSR into corporate strategies to reduce volatility and support energy-efficient investments. Moreover, results indicate that financial institutions must embrace a new business model based on both CSR and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) principles. Since very little is known about the interaction structure between CSR and ESG in the mitigation of price volatility, the purpose of this article is to bridge that knowledge gap. The pioneering character of this research—the construction of a business model based on the principles of CSR and ESG—contributes significantly to both the field's knowledge and the practice of corporate sustainability management.

Study on the Global Sustainability of the Korean Construction Industry Based on the GRI Standards.

This study began with the increasing importance of ESG through sustainable management evaluation across all industries, predicting market demand through the ESG management paradigm and financial environment changes in the global industry, and establishing international strategies for the construction industry. Compared to other industries, the construction industry is in the early stages of ESG formation, and it is unclear how to expand its base by establishing evaluation system standards such as innovation of individual services, interaction of social capital, and definition of stakeholders. Currently, some large construction companies in the construction industry are publishing sustainability management reports at the group level, but given the recently strengthened global sustainability of ESG by GRI Standards, efficient analysis of global construction markets and strategic orders are needed. Therefore, this study focuses on assessing the sustainability strategies and directions of the construction industry from an ESG perspective. To this end, sustainability issues and insights, as well as global issues in Korea and the worldwide construction sector, were analyzed. The analysis showed that global construction companies were highly interested in business management approaches, such as safety and health, as critical issues regarding the construction industry's sustainability strategy. In contrast, South Korean construction companies prioritize business values such as value creation, fair trade, and win-win. Both global and South Korean construction companies have been working on greenhouse gas reduction and energy sustainability. Regarding other issues, cultivating construction specialists, enhancing the job training system, and limiting serious accidents and safety mishaps were all significant from a social standpoint among South Korean construction companies. Conversely, global construction companies appeared to focus on issues related to ethical and environmental management from an organizational standpoint.

Comparison of Water Accountability of Nonfinancial Companies

The purpose of this article is to examine water accountability in the Pre- and Post-COVID-19 periods and its relationship to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of nonfinancial companies in Indonesia. This study uses an exploratory approach and Global Report Initiative (GRI) Standards as a disclosure checklist with content analysis method. The sample used focuses on the nonfinancial sector listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) with 1,144 units of analysis consisting of 306 sustainability reports for the period 2017 to 2021 and 838 company annual reports from 2019 to 2021. According to the results of the analysis, the disclosure of Indonesia's GRI Standard 303 and 306 indicators is still deficient. These results also indicate that companies in the nonfinancial sector have not fully supported the SDGs, especially those related to SDG 6, which is associated with clean water and proper sanitation. Findings from this analysis can be used by the government to make and stipulate regulations related to water and waste as well as explain to companies more specifically as to what action must be taken with regard to waste and water management that are firmly in line with GRI indicators in order to assist companies promote sustainable water management practices that align with the SDGs. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic situation has also indirectly forced companies to play a bigger role in increasing their contribution to society with respect to the environment, especially to water as it is an important resource for the common good.

Marked rebound of agricultural fire emissions in Asia after the outbreak of COVID-19

East and South Asia are major hotspots of crop straw burning worldwide, with profound impacts on air quality and climate change. The Northeast China Plain (NECP) and Punjab, India, are two of the most fertile areas for crop production, which have large-scale agricultural fires during post-harvest seasons. Leveraging established fire-emission databases and satellite-retrieved agricultural fire spots, we show that, while the years 2018 and 2019 recorded low agricultural fire emissions in both the NECP and Punjab, probably due to the implementation of crop straw sustainable management, fire emissions markedly rebounded in 2020, reaching about 190% and 150% of 2019 levels, respectively. The COVID-19 lockdown measures somewhat disrupted eco-friendly crop straw management through restrictions on labor and transportation availability, such that farmers may have had to burn off crop wastes to clear up the land. We further demonstrate that the increased fire emissions in the NECP resulted in serious particulate matter pollution during the fire season in spring 2020, as opposed to considerable decreases in particles from fossil fuel emissions caused by the COVID-19 lockdown. This study suggests the unintended impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the agricultural sector and human health.

Interdisciplinarity-Based Sustainability Framework for Management Education

Business education faces shortcomings that can be mitigated through the broad perspective of interdisciplinarity, fulfilling a call for a greater orientation toward Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Despite the relevance and urgency, current frameworks cannot embed context-related problems into their design, increasing the detachment of wicked problems and management education, and falling short of the goal-oriented prerogative. Interdisciplinarity is up to this task as an educational attitude and behaviour rather than a toolkit of cross-disciplinary classification. This paper aims to propose a framework for interdisciplinarity-based sustainability management for business education. We established the framework via a literature review analysis, and then we validated it through discussions with specialists from the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UN-PRME) to introduce a model with 49 evidence-driven, interdisciplinarity practices. We grouped results in three main dimensions of analysis connecting the 16 categories. We gave special attention to spaces of discomfort that ought to be fostered in business schools under a critical thinking perspective and the student’s role in the relevance of sustainability education. The work harbours practical implications for developing better practices for management education by blending an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability in the management education literature.

The Strategies of Sustainable Watershed Management at Bedog Sub-Watershed, Special Region of Yogyakarta

A watershed plays significant roles for maintaining the balance of ecosystem, particularly on the fluvial landform dynamics. Bedog Sub-Watershed as a part of Progo Watershed flows across 11 sub-districts from Sleman and Bantul Regency. This sub-watershed indicates rural-urban characteristics and multi-aspects problems, such as the loss of croplands, a massive land-use changes into built-up area, and the decrease of environmental carrying capacity. On the purposes of preventing the negative aftermaths, this research aimed to create the strategies of sustainable environmental management in case of Bedog Sub-Watershed. This research used secondary data from regional planning products, PODES data, and the relevant literature. Primary data was acquired from in-depth interview with BPDASHL Serayu-Opak-Progo and agricultural-related government agency to gain governmental perspective of watershed management. This research used qualitative descriptive technique to analyse the result of interview. Livelihood assets were calculated by scoring index. The SWOT and DPSIR analysis were conducted to create the relevant strategies implying physical, social-economy, and regional development perspectives in the post-COVID-19 pandemic. The strengthening of government’s institutional aspects was the key to the management followed by necessary comprehensive study in Bedog Sub-Watershed management.

Participatory Approach to Wetland Governance: The Case of The Memorandum of Understanding of the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park

Wetlands are defined as dynamic ecosystems that combine the characteristics of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and are important from ecological as well as social and economic perspectives. In response to the intense degradation and alteration of wetlands, communities have developed various management strategies. One of the ways to achieve more effective participatory wetland management is to introduce the concept of a Wetland Contract, a voluntary agreement that ensures sustainable management and development of wetlands. This study on the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park in Slovenia follows the methodology of the preparation (legal framework, scientific description and stakeholder analysis) and implementation (organization of Territorial Labs, scenario planning and development) stages of the Wetland Contract concept. Of approximately 200 potential stakeholders, 34 participated in the Territorial Labs, and 16 stakeholders signed the less binding type of Wetland Contract, called the Memorandum of Understanding. The Memorandum of Understanding and its implementation process, which included systematic cross-sectoral participation, successfully overcame conflicts between stakeholders with different interests. The methodology used has shown great potential for further applications in wetlands of common interest.

Making Hospitals Sustainable: Towards Greener, Fairer and More Prosperous Services

The growing demand for hospital services and the pressure to incorporate sustainable strategies into hospital management have led hospitals to rethink their business model and seek new ways to manage their operations. Corporate sustainability is an important way to make hospitals more sustainable and competitive. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework that contains the drivers for the management of sustainability in hospitals (SH), developed through the content analysis method. As a result, this study proposes five drivers: toward the circular economy;making sustainable buildings;adopting knowledge management and organizational culture;employing management systems, tools, and methods;and applying technological innovations. This framework contributes in a managerial way to helping managers of hospitals in managing sustainability;making their businesses fairer, greener, and more prosperous;and fulfilling their commitments to the well-being of their employees and society, providing a basis for moving toward the premises of the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda. This study also scientifically contributes to the academic maturation of the topic by systematizing elements and adding insights to the state of the art on SH. It is recommended that future studies add new elements to the drivers or even propose new drivers for the continuous scientific advancement of this topic.

Consumer Behavior in Online-to-Offline (O2O) Commerce: A Thematic Review

Online-to-offline (O2O) commerce is a popular business model which links offline business activities with online channels. Consumer behavior in O2O commerce is more complex than in other traditional business models as both online and offline channels are involved. Despite the growing number of publications focused on this issue, no review paper has discussed the current research trends and factors influencing consumer behavior in O2O commerce. Therefore, this review aimed to synthesize literature on O2O commerce from 2015 to April 2022, focusing on consumer behavior. A set of inclusion and exclusion criteria was developed for searching and screening articles from two dominant databases (i.e., WOS and Scopus), and 53 eligible articles were included in this review. A thematic review approach using ATLAS.ti 9 software was conducted. Quantitative results presented the research trends of O2O commerce. Qualitative analyses generated eight main clusters of factors which influence consumers’ O2O behavior: (1) service and product quality, (2) technical and utilitarian factors, (3) emotional and hedonic factors, (4) trust and risk, (5) price and cost (6), social factors, (7) online content, and (8) habit. This paper also highlighted promising future research directions. The findings are expected to benefit the sustainable management and the future research of O2O commerce.

Review of Management Comprehensiveness on Occupational Health and Safety for PPP Transportation Projects

Sustainability of large transport infrastructure projects is directly linked with the working conditions and procedures in construction and maintenance. Furthermore, safety is one of the most crucial performance indicators for transport infrastructure operators, dealing with management priorities, policies and measures closely related to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). This issue is extremely important especially for public private partnerships (PPP), extensively adopted in transport sector in many regions, where detailed contacts and OHS provisions should be considered. By a systemic analysis, this research identifies the key management factors influence safety performance in the PPP/concession projects and the management comprehensives over those factors. The survey analysis framework for the evaluation of OHS management performance for large transport operators are breakdown, promoting the structure and the expected outcomes toward sustainable management of transport infrastructure. The application is the Greek motorways concessions projects that implemented in the last decade. The research outputs provide key messages to planners, managers, decision makers, and stakeholders over large transport infrastructure sustainable development, promoting OHS performance aspects should be taken into consideration in operation management contacts and highlighting the link between OHS, level of safety, and sustainability. The case study structure and outputs are valuable for comparisons with similar cases, provide the framework for using in other places and/or cases and stimulate the interest for further research.

Sustainable Development Goal Disclosures within Australian Superannuation Funds: An Exploratory Study

The financial reporting landscape is continuing to expand with both regulated and voluntary disclosures making their way into various reporting frameworks. This increased attention to disclosures is being pursued by professional bodies, governments, companies and other organisations given the changing demands by stakeholders for sustainability disclosures. The Australian superannuation industry is a compulsory system developed to ensure a comfortable retirement income for members. It is now a trillion-dollar business and therefore, has significant influence on the investment decisions that it makes on behalf of its members. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) are increasingly being used as a signal to the market that an organisation is meeting the demands of stakeholders. The objective of this study is exploratory in nature, investigating the types of SDG disclosures made by the largest superannuation funds in Australia. Data was collected through a content analysis of the annual and/or supplementary reports produced by Australian superannuation funds. The findings suggest that Australian superannuation funds currently disclose a minimal level information in accordance with the SDGs in different reporting formats and the SDGs tends to prevail where superannuation managers believe they can have the most impact. Our results have implications for SDG reporting, policy and management practice. Future research that helps explain how managers choose which SDGs to report would be a useful contribution in the context of superannuation.

Construction Management Supported by BIM and a Business Intelligence Tool

The construction sector generates large amounts of heterogeneous and dynamic data characterized by their fragmentation throughout the life cycle of a project. Immediate and accurate access to that data is fundamental to the management, decision-making and analysis by construction owners, supervisors, managers, and technicians involved in the different phases of the project life cycle. However, since construction project data are diverse, dispersed, uncorrelated, and difficult to visualize, a reliable basis for decision-making can rarely be established by the management team. Aiming to bridge this gap, a methodology for data management during building construction by means of Data with BIM and Business Intelligence (BI) analysis tools was developed in this study. This methodology works by extracting data from 3D parametric model and integrating it with a BI tool, through which data are visualized and interrelated with the same database, the BIM model. To demonstrate the applicability of the methodology, a study case was carried out. It was shown that this methodology provides a collaborative platform for accurate data analysis to the construction management and supervision teams, allowing project stakeholders to access and update data in real-time, in permanent linkage with the BIM model. Additionally, improving the reliability of the decision-making process and ensuring project deliverability, the developed methodology contributes to a more sustainable management process by decreasing errors and resource consumption, including energy. Therefore, the main goal of this study is to present a methodology for data analysis with BIM models integrated with BI for sustainable construction management.

Managing Labor Sustainability in Digitalized Supply Chains: A Systematic Literature Review

With increasing concerns of labor issue risks within supply chains, both academia and practitioners are paying increasingly great attention to how to design and implement effective management approaches to enhance labor sustainability in supply chains. Furthermore, digitalization facilitates and brings both opportunities and challenges to this area. Using the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), we conducted a systematic literature review based on 50 selected papers from the Web of Science database. Starting from the supply chain level, this study identifies digital technology (DT)-enabled labor sustainability management practices, barriers to the adoption of DT in labor management practices, and the performance outcomes of such practices. In addition, we put forward solutions to eliminate those identified barriers to facilitate DT adoption in firms’ labor sustainability management. Last, future directions and research opportunities for both supply chain management and labor sustainability are summarized.

Spatio-Temporal Patterns of the Land Carrying Capacity of Tibet Based on Grain Demand and Calorie Requirement

Tibet constitutes a major part of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) and is a typical ethnic minority (e.g., Tibetan) and ecologically fragile area in the world. Land resources are one of the most important foundations of food production, and Tibet’s increasingly multi-type food demands are putting new pressure on land resources. However, there is still debate on how many people can be supported with the food production in Tibet. Investigating the land carrying capacity (LCC) in Tibet is very important for maintaining food security and formulating sustainable land management and utilization. Based on an analysis of the unique characteristics of the local farming, pastoral production, and dietary consumption, the spatio-temporal patterns of theLCC in Tibet in 2000–2019 were quantitatively assessed against the grain demands and calorie requirements at three different standards of living (i.e., basic prosperity, comprehensive moderate prosperity, and affluence). The dietary consumption was characterized by the high consumption of grains and meat products, and the low consumption of fruits and vegetables. The LCC in Tibet has continued to increase. The LCC in approximately 60% of the counties increased, with the high-LCC counties concentrated mainly in the Yarlung Zangbo River—Nyangqu River—Lhasa River area, and municipal districts and pastoral counties generally experiencing a low LCC. The load on land resources (LoL) in Tibet exhibited the characteristic of overall balance with local overloads and increasing tensions. More than 50% of the counties experienced population overload, mainly in municipal districts and pastoral counties. Food surplus was mainly found in farming counties, while the food production in pastoral counties was generally unable to meet the calorie demand. Considering the important role of land use in maintaining regional food security and ecological security, the conversion of grassland to cultivated land, the occupation of cultivated land, and the phenomenon of cultivated land was used to non grain should be avoided. Trans-regional transport of food should be strengthened to meet the calorie needs in population overload areas in the future. Our study provides a perspective for evaluating the pressure of land resources. The result can provide a reference for realizing the balance of grain and calorie supply–demand and lay a foundation for formulating sustainable land use policies in the QPT.

Management and Mapping Ecosystem Services in a Privately Owned Natura 2000 Site: An Insight into the Stellantis–La Mandria Site (Italy)

The Natura 2000 network is an ecological network covering the whole territory of the European Union to ensure the long-term maintenance of threatened or rare natural habitats and species of flora and fauna, including in metropolitan and rural areas. Some of the Natura 2000 sites have been subject to changes in ownership that have led to a fragmentation of the territory. Private entities may own areas within a Natura 2000 site and must ensure sustainable management of their property, especially from an ecological point of view. The case study is the Stellantis–La Mandria site, a private area owned by Stellantis, within the Natura 2000 site “ZSC IT1110079 La Mandria”, near Turin. The research proposes a participatory methodology, mainly addressed in this first phase to experts and professionals and aimed at the valorisation and management of private Natura 2000 sites previously considered as industrial sites, to allow a careful fruition and safeguarding of the natural heritage. The aim of the research is to provide a methodological approach and the first qualitative results useful to providing the owners with an indication for a more targeted management of the site;mapping the areas that provide ecosystem services (ES, especially cultural ones);mapping the areas that could be subject to future fruition;collaborating with the managing body to collect useful data for the future drafting of a new area plan. Two main research activities were carried out, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis concerning the management and possible future fruition of the site and a participatory mapping of ES. It should be emphasised that the research allowed the first results to be obtained, which, on the one hand, make it possible to validate the methodology used to achieve the objectives and, on the other hand, the results will have to be implemented over time by involving numerous stakeholders among those who can access the private area. The results of the research highlight opportunities and threats with regard to the conservation of ecological–environmental characteristics and future fruition of the site. The participatory mapping identifies areas with different ecological value and, therefore, different management needs and identifies areas that could be used differently for future fruition. Overall, the results aim to meet some of the European Commission’s wishes regarding Natura 2000 sites, with particular reference to the involvement of different stakeholders and experts for the conservation of biodiversity and the integration of ecological and social aspects into the management and fruition plans.

Exploring Supply Chain Collaboration for Green Innovations: Evidence from the High-Tech Industry in Poland

The purpose of this article is to investigate whether the wide scope of supply chain collaboration including both customers and suppliers (Upstream–downstream External Collaboration) determines the greening of innovation more significantly than the scope limited only to suppliers (Upstream External Collaboration) or customers (Downstream External Collaboration). This goal was achieved as part of extensive research on the impact of relational capital on the innovativeness of high-tech companies in Poland. The results of the research were analysed using fuzzy conversion scales and descriptive statistics based on triangular fuzzy numbers. The application of the achievements of the fuzzy sets theory made it possible to test the hypotheses presented in the article with the use of fuzzy analysis of variance (fuzzy ANOVA). The findings confirm that the subjective scope of collaboration in the supply chain is important for greening innovation. Companies that cooperate with both suppliers and customers (Upstream–downstream External Collaboration) declared a greater tendency to green their innovations than those that cooperate with only one group of partners. The research findings contribute to the literature on the role of collaboration in the ecological responsibility and environmental performance of supply chain partners. The conclusions may have practical implications for the design and implementation of strategies in sustainable supply chain management. The study provides important lessons for SC managers facing the challenge of sustainable management during and after the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Private Sector as a Partner for SDG 6-Related Issues in Megacities: Opportunities and Challenges in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This article reviews recent studies that address water sustainable management opportunities and challenges in megacities around the world, with an emphasis on the case of Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region, one of the two megacities in Brazil. With reference to recent debates on water, megacities, and the climate crisis, as well as UN Water and Global Report Initiative documents, we focused on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation for All. The new Brazilian sanitation legal framework regulates public–private partnerships. In this context, the manuscript discusses the main question concerning water, sanitation, and hygiene that arises in the Brazilian case study: is universality possible in profit-oriented models? Through the current technical and academic literature consulted, the paper compares initiatives involving multiple stakeholder governance models that depend on private resources to implement universal access to drinking water, sanitation, and water-related extreme event controls, pointing out alternatives that can help to achieve the targets of SDG. Validation by key informants supports the synthesis of the reviewed documents, and the findings illustrate that concerted public efforts together with market mechanisms can help to overcome challenges and surpass the profit-oriented logics of private companies to achieve access to healthy and safe water, adequate sanitation, and improved hygiene, especially for vulnerable populations. This finding has transferability to other megacities in emerging countries that are facing public–private partnership debates on the provision of clean water and sanitation for all.