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The hotel industry is one of the sectors that is heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Compensating for this lost revenue requires understanding which aspects of guests' priorities have changed, including their feelings about sustainable practices. Drawing from an online survey with 250 adults who were at least 18 years of age, described themselves as familiar with sustainable practices, and stated they had stayed in a hotel both before and during the pandemic, this study finds that the pandemic had a significant impact on their attitudes towards sustainable practices. Although they believe that hotels' adopted protocols are adequate to protect them from COVID-19, they do not intend to adopt sustainable practices in the pandemic era.
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The concept and practicalities of sustainable business development attract increasing interest of general public, companies, legislators, activists, academics and many others. Our understanding of what constitutes sustainability is evolving, especially nowadays when the pandemic and digitalization caused major shifts globally. In such conditions, it is no wonder that managers and business owners may face difficulties in implementation and evaluation of sustainable practices. Therefore, The objective: of the paper is to examine theoretical foundations of the concept of business sustainability and propose an up-to-date model for its appraisal. The paper is divided into two primary parts in addition to introduction and conclusion. The first part is dedicated to the examination of the terms 'stability' and 'sustainability' universally and in business environment. The second part includes description of our suggested evaluation model of economic, social and environmental sustainability perspectives using relevant indicators. Methods/Analysis: the research includes review of academic literature and empirical research on the topic of business sustainability and analytical consolidation of existing approaches to its appraisal. Findings: theoretical contribution to perception and development of the conditions of business stability and sustainability, and evaluation model including specific indicators across the three primary sustainability directions. Application/Improvements: the research is useful to general public, but is of special interest to business leaders interested in implementation of sustainable practices.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition to remote and hybrid teaching and learning, highlighting the importance of digital maturity among university staff and students. Digital maturity includes technological proficiency and skills necessary to navigate and use digital tools for personal learning and development, as well as responsible and ethical use of technology, digital citizenship, and critical thinking. Developing digital maturity among students is critical to promoting sustainable practices and success in a digitally connected world. This article examines the impact of students' digital maturity on online learning engagement and explores the relationship between digital maturity, acceptance of universities' digital transformation, online education satisfaction, student engagement, and sustainable behavior. The study randomly selected 358 students from three Polish universities who completed an online survey (CAWI). The results indicate that digital competences positively affect the students' acceptance of the digital transformation of the university. Personal innovation and motivation for formal digital learning also influence acceptance. Accepting the digital transformation has a positive impact on online learning satisfaction. Engagement in online learning has minimal impact on informal digital learning. The positive moderating effects of commitment to sustainable development on satisfaction and commitment to distance learning and informal digital learning were insignificant. The study suggests that universities need to promote digital maturity among all stakeholders, and students need to improve their digital competences to take full advantage of the educational offer of universities.
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PurposeThis study aims to advance current knowledge on resilient and sustainable short food supply chains, by identifying sustainability practices and resilience capabilities and how these interact.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical data were collected from three cases via 16 semi-structured interviews. This methodological choice answers a call to develop more case studies to better understand perspectives on sustainable and resilient supply chains. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis.FindingsSustainability practices may positively enhance the resilience of short food supply chains, and vice versa. Specifically, social sustainability practices are perceived as enablers of resilience capabilities, and production practices can have a positive or negative impact on resilience capabilities.Originality/valueThis research addresses an important gap in the current short food supply chains literature, by looking at sustainability and resilience in an integrated way for the first time. The proposed working hypotheses and conceptual framework illustrate the complex relationship between social, economic and environmental sustainability and five resilience capabilities within short food supply chains.
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Our paper discusses how sustainable education has evolved at higher education institutions (HEIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic by embracing digitalization and novel technologies. In addition, it describes the innovative methods for integrating technology into professional education during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluate the global practices and fundamental changes in the sphere of higher education, particularly regarding sustainable education and digitalization. The paper aims at describing the challenges faced by higher education institutions in adopting sustainable education and digitalization, as well as the opportunities for growth and innovation that have arisen due to the pandemic. Our methods include the empirical model, which assesses the acceptance and usage of novel digital technologies for promoting sustainable education by university professors and academic researchers in four major Russian cities (Moscow, Krasnodar, Kazan, and Saint Petersburg) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the model reveal the significance of implementing sustainability in the classroom, which could bring positive outcomes to both students and teachers. Our study provides a valuable resource for educators seeking techniques, models, and practical advice to overcome the obstacles of teaching in a digitally connected learning environment in Russia and beyond. Specifically, we propose that the primary focus of digitalizing professional education should be on teachers and instructors who are enthusiastic about leveraging technology for learning and who are familiar with novel digital technologies. It appears that digital technologies are capable of transforming teaching practices for sustainable education and economic development.
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During the COVID-19 phase, e-commerce companies have risen rapidly, and customer demand increased suddenly. Brick-and-mortar ways of shopping have entirely shut down for approximately 4 months, and the whole country is dependent on online marketing platforms. There is a sudden rise in packaging because customers are more centric on online marketing;due to this, there is a massive increase in plastic consumption. This research paper aims to conduct a quantitative analysis of Indian consumer and industry experts regarding packaging products of e-commerce companies and then develop a framework for e-commerce companies regarding green sustainable practices. 145 responses were collected from Indian consumers, and 35 responses were taken from industry experts. This paper aims to visualize Indian customers' thinking regarding plastic bag packaging that they received from the e-commerce platforms and provide some valuable suggestions to the e-commerce companies. After analyzing the customer responses, a strategic framework is designed for green sustainable practices and validated by industry experts through a survey. After validating this framework, a robust framework is finally designed, which can be implemented in e-commerce companies for improved sustainability in their supply chain network. © 2023
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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.
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Businesses are becoming more conscious of operational risk management practices due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some firms practice risk management without fully comprehending how it might help them and their needs. As a result, companies that practice risk management without realizing it are being controlled by the discipline itself. The goal of this study is to look into the epistemic process of risk management practice in the workplace. This phenomenological study interviewed 39 risk management officers, executives, and employees. Data are thematically analyzed. This study discovered five epistemic processes of risk mapping using Foucault's governmentality paradigm. This phenomenological study, interestingly, revealed the black box of risk management practices, as well as the behavior of risk management officers, executives, and risk owners who preferred to monitor the compliance aspects of risk management practices rather than comprehend the capabilities of risk management that could be used within their strategic planning process. Unaware of this black box, organizational actors were blanketed by the organization's culture of fear, which created the impression that the authority was always watching every word said and every action taken. Practically, this study contributes an improved understanding of the real function of risk management that helps them justify the practice and reduce unnecessary fear. The paper concludes with limitations and research recommendations.
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Purpose>Many studies have developed the corporate sustainability topic. The United Nations has implemented the 2030 Agenda and has brought "quality education” and "industry, innovation, and infrastructure” as two of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The educational processes in higher education can be focused on adding brand value and social value, and they can be promoting the social inclusion. In this sense, the purpose of this study is to answer some questions related to the corporate sustainability practices under the 2030 Agenda lenses in the Latin American higher educational scenario. After the literature review analysis, a conceptual framework was developed.Design/methodology/approach>This exploratory research study proposes an educational conceptual framework, improving the corporate sustainability under the 2030 Agenda lenses. A literature review was developed, involving the seven variables: "Latin America,” "higher education,” corporate social responsibility,” "personal social responsibility,” "corporate sustainability,” "governance” and "sustainability.” A matrix was developed with 25 variable combinations, connecting the seven variables. Three questions have been proposed and answered: "How much research has been developed in the Latin American higher education?” "How can the corporate social sustainability be applied in higher education?” and "Which perspectives can be considered?”Findings>The results of the literature review are presented through the number of papers found with the analysis of the year of publication and the conceptual background. A total of 524 papers were found. Of these studies, 49 addressed the Latin American panorama, 33 had a general approach and 16 promoted interactions between Latin American and European countries, as well as between regions and continents. Six topics emerged from the literature analysis: digital inclusion, internationalization, innovation, research, servitization and social inclusion. These topics are connected in the "discussion” section, and the educational conceptual framework shows the corporative perspectives on sustainability in higher education.Originality/value>This research study presents "A conceptual framework for the corporate sustainability higher education in Latin America” and it brings some discussion topics: digital inclusion, internationalization, innovation, research, servitization and social inclusion. These topics were identified through the literature analysis, and they were applied in the conceptual framework to improve the quality of education. The implications of this study are connected with the conceptual framework to promote the discussion topics. The implications involved the public and private governance spheres, third sector, as well as the professors, students and other stakeholders of higher educational institutions. These implications can represent an agent of positive change in the Latin American scenario.
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In this section of Resonance, we invite readers to pose questions likely to be raised in a classroom situation. We may suggest strategies for dealing with them, or invite responses, or both. "Classroom " is equally a forum for raising broader issues and sharing personal experiences and viewpoints on matters related to teaching and learning science.Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, we have planned a strategy for our institution which aims towards reuse and reduce principles of Green Chemistry. Organic preparations in the undergraduate curriculum can be utilized for other sister laboratory experiments such as recrystallization, determination of physical constants (m.pt) and detection of extra elements, detection of functional group and in qualitative analysis. The product of preparation can also be subjected to a second synthesis. This approach will reduce the amount of chemicals needed for carrying out experiments other than organic preparations. This paper illustrates a few organic preparations which can be reused for other companion laboratory exercises. This approach may set a model towards sustainability for other undergraduate laboratories.
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Purpose>This study aims to examine the role of eco-label hotel engagement as a pathway to sustainable practices via scouting entrepreneurial resilience and orientation at highly ranked hotels in Oman. The authors developed and tested a novel model built on resilience theory, the theory of entrepreneurial orientation and the theory of reasoned action (TRA).Design/methodology/approach>Data from 167 human resources directors, hotel managers and other employees were analyzed by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).Findings>Results indicate a strong positive relationship between entrepreneurial resilience and entrepreneurial orientation. Entrepreneurial orientation significantly increased all eco-label strategies, but not all strategies enhanced sustainable tourism practices. High adoption of sustainability practices depended on core strategies related to awareness, benefits, reputation and necessity, but the cost was also an issue. Managers adopted sustainability practices if they were not perceived as costly, or when perceived as costly if they believed they would help them reduce operating costs.Practical implications>Policymakers should assist hotel managers when the sector is hit by political events, natural disasters or health crises such as the current pandemic can bounce back and develop their resilience. Likewise, training and workshops can be organized to improve managers' entrepreneurial mindset, which was found to be a precursor to favorable attitudes toward sustainability.Originality/value>This study tests a novel model built on three theories: resilience theory, the theory of entrepreneurial orientation and the TRA by using PLS-SEM and fsQCA.
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The Covid-19 pandemic, global trends, and technological advancements lead to the perception that digitalization is about the most sustainable means of growing Africa’s agribusiness and food supply chains. Many global agribusinesses have successfully integrated digital technologies to enhance operational efficiencies and business relations with their upstream and downstream actors. However, evidence is scant on the uptake of digital technologies among small and medium agribusiness firms in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Against this backdrop, this review paper identifies research gaps regarding the adoption and implication of digitalization in building sustainable food systems for African economies. Our preliminary finds show some sustainable practices in the SSA food supply chains by adopting specific technologies related to production, grain storage, food waste management, and warehouse management but very low adoption of food processing technologies and digital marketing platforms. Most importantly, the application of the Internet of Things, Big data, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and/or Business Analytics is very rare. Most of the digitalization process tends to be mobile-based. © 2022, International Journal on Food System Dynamics. All Rights Reserved.
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Upstream selected clinical sites for recruitment based on patient volume, current state of contraceptive care, regional variation, patient demographics, and health center buy-in to implement Upstream's program with fidelity. Programming content for both teams included the following: 1. educating and coaching clinicians and support staff on how to provide patient-centered contraceptive counseling that is free of bias or coercion;2. providing technical assistance to stock the full range of contraceptive methods;3. supporting billing and coding to optimize reimbursement ofcontraceptive services and methods;4. revising or creating department or agency policies to enable highquality, sustainable practice change related to contraceptive care;5. incorporating a pregnancy intention screening or contraceptive needs assessment question, contraceptive counseling, and documentation of contraceptive method use into clinical workflows, often including the hospital's or agency's electronic health record (EHR) system;6. establishing strategies to ensure that a patient can receive their desired contraceptive method on the same day as their visit, including long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods;and 7. enhancing emergency contraception services. The additional programming areas and technical assistance of the Upstream intervention with partner health practices included: (1) training all agency staff on current best practices and clinical knowledge of high-quality contraceptive care;(2) coordinating clinician precepting for LARC placement and removal;(3) where necessary, providing funding to stock the full range of contraceptive methods;and (4) providing patient education materials for use during clinical visits. EVALUATION STRATEGIES AND EARLY FINDINGS At the outset of the Massachusetts initiative, both teams and representatives from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Massachusetts' Medicaid program worked collaboratively to design an evaluation plan for the fiveyear project.
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Due to the advances in digital technology, the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concept has been transformed into the digital environmental, social, and corporate governance (DESG) model, which can be realized as a potentially vital strategic movement for sustainable business practices in the contemporary digital era. Nevertheless, there is a lack of empirical research evidence on how firms’ DESG practices impact customers’ attitudes and brand equity. The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate the effect of DESG initiatives on customers’ attitudes (CA) and brand equity (BE), and (2) to explore how those impacts vary based on the diversity of socio-economic attributes. An online survey was conducted, and the data were analyzed by a structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Based on 212 samples of Thai citizens’ experiences with firms’ DESG initiatives, the results revealed that DESG has a significant positive direct effect on CA. The mediation analysis revealed that CA fully mediated the relationship between DESG and BE. The results of a second-order confirmatory factor analysis of the DESG construct found that the digital social dimension (b = 0.775) played the strongest role in explaining DESG, followed by the digital environmental (b = 0.768) and digital governance (b = 0.718) dimensions. The moderation analysis found that the impact of DESG on CA was stronger for younger groups than older populations. Additionally, the group with a higher formal education level seemed to exhibit higher levels of CA than those with a lower level. Our study is one of a few endeavors to clarify the effects of DESG from the customer’s side, and suggests several implications and recommendations.
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Sustainable building practices are a response to environmental issues. Businesses and industries are assessing how their activities affect the environment. The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries have significant impacts on the environment and economy, while the industry is considered one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and has, therefore, been highlighted by researchers as a key area of intervention with a great potential to reduce environmental impacts. This paper critically reviews and evaluates the current state of sustainable building certification systems with the purpose of having a good understanding of the status quo and possibilities for future directions in Saudi Arabia. It reviews the academic literature on Saudi Arabia’s green/sustainable building codes, standards, certification systems, methods and tools. It starts by addressing sustainability in the broadest sense. Then, it investigates sustainability strategies and evaluates the building certification systems in Saudi Arabia, followed by an introduction to the new practice of sustainable healthcare building assessment. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and building information modelling (BIM) techniques have also been investigated. The paper introduces the updated Saudi Building Code (SBC) with further evaluation of the Saudi Green Building Code (SBC 1001-CR). Finally, the paper clearly highlights the key role of sustainable building practices and the need to develop a certification system that considers the new trends and the local context.
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Entrepreneurship ecosystems are dynamic local, social, institutional, and cultural processes and actors that encourage and enhance the formation and growth of new businesses. Thus, this study aims to analyze the importance of sustainable urban development in creating favorable urban conditions in the formation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Therefore, a qualitative and exploratory study was carried out, operationalized through a case study. The case of the city of Florianópolis (Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil) was studied in depth;it was intentionally selected considering that it has stood out in terms of investments in innovation, technology, and sustainability, in addition to being a reference for quality of life and for its innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. It was possible to know the characteristics of the municipality and the main management practices for sustainable urban development developed in Florianópolis. Above all, among the main findings of this study, from the point of view of urban management, we found that the characteristics present in Florianópolis, as a sustainable city, can benefit the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. In this way, by investing in management practices for sustainable urban development, the municipality promotes business growth, new technologies, and entrepreneurship, making the territory more attractive to new investments and talent retention. It was possible to find evidence of urban conditions resulting from these practices capable of favoring the creation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, among which, the following stand out: (1) social integration and articulation between the actors;(2) high quality of life;(3) capital with the highest human development index in the country;(4) a high rate of green areas;(5) enabling legislation for investments;(6) a city where companies open faster in Brazil and 100% digitally. Among this study’s limitations, the complexity of the analyzed phenomenon and amplitude of the context stand out. In addition, the case study method does not allow for a generalization of the results, as they are related to the case of Florianópolis. Despite this, the research presents a large amount of evidence confirming the theoretical assumption of the study, which is: Sustainable urban development creates favorable conditions for the promotion of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the city of Florianópolis.
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In the middle of the expansion of the global environmental crisis, along with recent major challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic on public health and society, asking questions about the sustainability of the Colombian audio-visual sector is an unavoidable necessity. Here, it is vital to view sustainability protocols through a lens that combines environmental, social, cultural, and economic aspects as fundamental components in the development and consolidation of a sector that intends to be a reference point for the audio-visual production industry in Latin America. Promoting a sustainable future for film and TV cannot avoid the impacts resulting from overt prioritisation of economical concerns at the expense of labour rights, discrimination based on gender, environmental degradation, and cultural appropriation;a scenario that needs to be observed carefully in a country where the industry is in development and economic success is a priority. A set of individual and temporary sustainable initiatives will not change the course of the audio-visual production industry at a national scale. If no large-scale and long-term changes are adopted the current practices will increase CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, keep promoting exclusion, allow abuse against women and/or continue producing unviable content from the market viewpoint. The film industry cannot any longer consider an environmental discussion apart from social justice, cultural heritage protection or gender parity. Hence we will address these matters through a combined approach in this chapter. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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The atmosphere at the European fabric fairs for the spring/summer 2023 season was positive, reflecting the fact that the events were the first physical spring/summer fabric fairs to be staged since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020. However, sporadic surges in COVID-19 infection rates made it difficult for organisers, exhibitors and visitors to plan for the fairs and, as a result, some organisers faced calls to cancel their events. One such event was Munich Fabric Start, which was ultimately cancelled at short notice. The key topic at the fairs was that of environmental sustainability, as at previous editions of the fairs in recent seasons. The organisers of the fairs encouraged environmental sustainability by promoting exhibitors who were considered to employ environmentally sustainable practices and materials. In this way, the organisers were able to use their influence to encourage buyers to embrace environmental sustainability. In keeping with the topic of environmental sustainability, there was a strong focus at the fairs on biodegradable fabrics and recyclable fabrics. Indeed, many exhibitors and visitors acknowledged that the textile and apparel industry is facing mounting pressures to improve the recyclability of products in order to move towards a circular economy. These pressures are being exacerbated by the introduction of EU laws—including regulations relating to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which will come into force in the 27 EU member states from December 2024. In response to these pressures, some manufacturers turned to the development of advanced mono material fabrics in order to optimise the recyclability of their spring/summer collections. Others looked to cellulosic fibres following recent advancements in recycling technology. Such advancements allow cellulose to be recovered easily from cellulosic fibre textile waste for use in the manufacture of pulp for new fibres. In terms of colour, fabrics at the fairs were particularly restrained and mellow compared with previous seasons, and undyed fabrics in natural colour options were prominent—including shades of white and beige. Print and pattern designs were heavily influenced by 1970s subculture and psychedelic imagery, and their presence extended a trend which had been prevalent at the European fabric fairs for the autumn/winter 2022/23 season. Also, print and pattern designs heavily influenced by folklore, geometry and traditional African and aboriginal imagery were in evidence. © Textiles Intelligence Limited 2022.
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The COVID-19 pandemic led to an economic crisis and health emergency, threatening energy efficiency consumption, sustainable food diversity, and households’ nutrition security. The literature documented that environmental threats can divert attention from renewable energy and food security challenges that affect humans’ environmental behaviors. The COVID-19 crisis has consistently influenced environmental behaviors, as it primarily decreased income and disrupted food systems worldwide. This study investigated the COVID-19 consequences on household income, sustainable food diversity, sustainable energy consumption, and nutritional security challenges. The study used a self-structured online survey due to non-pharmaceutical restrictions and collected data from 728 households. The investigators applied t-test and logit regression to analyze the data for drawing results. Descriptive statistics show that COVID-19 has adversely affected the income of more than two-thirds (67%) of households. The pandemic has influenced households’ food consumption, energy, and dietary patterns to safeguard their income. The t-test analysis indicated that households’ food diversity and energy consumption significantly declined during the pandemic, and households consumed low-diversified food to meet their dietary needs more than twofold compared to pre-pandemic levels. The results showed that all nutrient consumption remained considerably lower in the COVID-19. Cereals are the primary source of daily dietary needs, accounting for over two-thirds of total energy and half of the nutrient consumption amid COVID-19. The share of vegetables and fruits in household energy consumption dropped by 40 and 30%. Results exhibited that increasing monthly income was inversely associated with worsening food diversity and intake with energy efficiency. Compared with farmers and salaried employment, wage earners were 0.15 and 0.28 times more likely to experience a decline in consuming food diversity. Medium and large households were 1.95 times and 2.64 times more likely than small, to experience decreased food diversity consumption. Launching a nutrition-sensitive program will help minimize the COVID-19 impacts on energy consumption, food diversity, and nutritional security for low-income individuals. This survey relied on the recall ability of the households for the consumed quantities of food commodities, which may lack accuracy. Longitudinal studies employing probability sampling with larger samples can verify this study’s insightful results. Copyright © 2022 Geng, Haq, Abbas, Ye, Shahbaz, Abbas and Cai.
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The hotel industry is one of the sectors that is heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Compensating for this lost revenue requires understanding which aspects of guests’ priorities have changed, including their feelings about sustainable practices. Drawing from an online survey with 250 adults who were at least 18 years of age, described themselves as familiar with sustainable practices, and stated they had stayed in a hotel both before and during the pandemic, this study finds that the pandemic had a significant impact on their attitudes towards sustainable practices. Although they believe that hotels’ adopted protocols are adequate to protect them from COVID-19, they do not intend to adopt sustainable practices in the pandemic era.