Showing papers in "International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development in 2014"

Consumer Attitudes toward Online Shopping: An Exploratory Study from Jordan

Abstract: In the era of the diffusion of e-Commerce and its services offered to the consumers over the Internet, the Internet is commonly used by both consumers and businesses to buy and sell their goods and services worldwide. This study focuses on the factors influencing customers’ decisions and attitudes toward adopting online shopping in Jordan. The study found that online shopping in Jordan is still not very common, due to challenges and barriers that affect the diffusion of online shopping: delivery barriers, such as the lack of prepared transportation and mapping infrastructure, lack of reliable delivery system for delivering bought goods to the customers caused by the lack of postcode system and lack of knowledge and awareness about the benefits of e-Commerce among retailers and consumers. A structured questionnaire was distributed among 50 participants (university students, employees/professionals, etc.) and then the collected data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Version 18.02. The results show that attitudes toward online shopping and intention to shop online were affected by lack of human resources, such as low level of experience in using the Internet and shopping websites for shopping, lack of developed IT infrastructure, trust in e-Retailers and online payment and delivery service concerns. However, Jordanian consumers are willing to adopt and recommend online shopping for others as an alternative way for shopping.

Investigating the Measurement of Consumer Ecological Behaviour, Environmental Knowledge, Healthy Food, and Healthy Way of Life

Abstract: The objective of this research is to investigate the measurement of consumer ecological behaviour, environmental knowledge, healthy food, and healthy way of life that is derived from the literature and survey. Correlations between environmental knowledge, healthy food, and healthy way of life with consumer ecological behaviour are also investigated. Statistical techniques were used to analyse the data using descriptive and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with the computer programme Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. The latter was performed using principal component analysis and varimax rotation with the objective to test the underlying factor structure of the data. Next, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was executed via structural equation modeling (SEM) technique using analysis of moment structures (AMOS) computer programme version 21 in order to confirm the measurement model. CFA results show that the correlations between environmental knowledge, healthy way of life, and healthy food with consumer ecological behaviour were significant and supported, respectively. This study contributes to the extant literature on consumer ecological behaviour by developing a robust measure. Results offer a clearer perspective for companies to identify consumer ecological behaviour for better market segmentation, targeting and positioning of green products that are not harmful to the environment and could promote demands. The research implications are further explicated and the directions for future research are also elucidated.

Sustainability and Entrepreneurship: Fostering Indigenous Entrepreneurship in the Brazilian Amazon Region

Abstract: This article elaborates on the diverse entrepreneurial activities of indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon region. This article argues that further sustainability of the Brazilian Amazonian region is intrinsically linked to the entrepreneurial activities by indigenous communities in the Amazon region. Amazonian indigenous communities are under increasing economic and social pressure. Fostering sustainable indigenous entrepreneurship in these disadvantaged indigenous communities has the potential to improve indigenous communities, economic and social welfare, preserve their culture, customs, and traditional knowledge, in addition to the rebuilding of these communities. Thus, engagement of indigenous communities in sustainable activities further protects the local natural capital. The article also proposes the creation of a center for indigenous entrepreneurship in the Amazon region aiming at supporting and fostering indigenous entrepreneurship.

The Diabetes, Depression, and Alcohol Triad: Potential Impact on Community Development

Abstract: Type 2 diabetes, depression and alcohol abuse exist in many populations as co-morbidities. These conditions contribute to worsened health status and lost productivity. Such diseases also contribute to high medical expenses and other societal costs. Diabetes, depression and alcohol abuse are individually associated with compromised financial status. Treating these combined conditions as a syndrome rather than as isolated disease states may result in improved quality of care, better health outcomes, and reduced costs to society. A conceptual model that could be used to address this triad is the Social Ecological Model in which intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional and community factors as well as public policy are considered for their impact on outcomes. The triad of diabetes, depression and alcohol abuse may have common etiological factors such as social isolation and poverty, and such a holistic approach to the common determinants underlying all three conditions holds out the most hope to reduce both the prevalence of this unique disease triad and the associated costs to society.

Public Spending Efficiency: The Missing Factor through Financial Crisis

Abstract: Public expenditure is efficient if its planning and policy objectives are achieved and inefficient if they are not. Efficiency is measured by an index of observed and desired performance and involves a comparison of actual performance with optimal performance located on the relevant frontier. Research is concerned with the identification of various ways that might depart from efficiency, the specification of an appropriate method of measuring inefficiency, and an exploration of the implications of each type of inefficiency, comprising a) academic interest, b) managerial decision making, and c) public policy relevance. This paper attempts to focus on defining efficient public expenditure performance, investigating the attainment of efficiency, and examining efficiency in public expenditure as a way to recover from the current financial crisis.

On the Social Costs of Bankruptcy: Can the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005 be an Effective Policy?

Abstract: The goal of BAPCPA is to shift bankruptcy filers from Chapter 7 to Chapter 13. The basis for this goal is the assumption that Chapter 7 filers repay much less of their debt than do Chapter 13 filers. Therefore, shifting debtors from Chapter 7 to Chapter 13 will increase debt repayment and lessen the amount of bankruptcy costs shifted to society as a whole. In order for this reasoning to be valid, it is necessary to substantiate the claim that Chapter 13 actually leads to substantial debt repayment. This paper examines the validity of this assumption using a random sample of filers from the Eastern Washington U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Court District in 2003 and 2005. The authors find that filers do, indeed, repay a substantial portion of their debts. This suggests that Chapter 13 is effective in generating debt repayment. However, Chapter 13 repayments also create major administrative costs, and frequently provide little benefit to general unsecured creditors. Moreover, the effectiveness of Chapter 13 bankruptcies is substantially reduced (by nearly a 2.5 to 1 ratio) if debtors do not successfully complete the repayment plans. As such, BAPCPA appears to miss an opportunity to further reduce the social costs of bankruptcy.

Interpreting the Local Development through the History of the Place: The Example of Nigrita (Visaltia, Greece)

Abstract: The city of Nigrita is located in Visaltia, the valley of the Strymon, in Eastern Macedonia wich in the past was an active shareholder of Greek history. The text tries to explain the current situation through the time. The approach involves both the city of Nigrita -and Visaltia- the region in which it grows, from the time of first appearance until today. The town appears for the first time in the 15th century and quickly evolves into village and then in a strong town. In an area with a significant presence in Classical and Byzantine periods, the city meets the conditions to be established. The determining factor for its establishment is the change of traffic policy during the Ottomanic occupation, which choose the mountain shortcuts instead of the Roman style traffic through lowland axes. Developed ex nihilo, at the area of this node in the old Roman road system, the city of Nigrita serves one of the main intersections in the valley of Serres to Thessaloniki. Since then, the growth of the city is continuous until two decisive events in the early 20th century. The first one, concerns the change in traffic policy of New Greek State, which sets new routes that bypass the city. The second fact is linked with the transformation of Nigrita's geographical situation, decisively altered by the draining of lake Kerkinida, making the city part of a mandatory central corridor in a typical city in an open plain. Since then, the city has a very slow and declining growth, because of certain particularities and also the general situation of the Greek periphery. The text seeks to understand and interpret the present city, through data in-city and regional scale, attempting to study-specified cross sections in the historical geography of the place.

Public libraries and the right to the [smart] city

Abstract: The future of public libraries has been threatened by funding cuts and new digital technologies which have led many people to question their traditional role and purpose. However, freedom of information, ready access to knowledge and information literacy in all its digital and analog guises are more important than ever. Thus, public libraries remain significant spaces and places where people can socially interact and learn. In many countries public libraries are reinventing themselves and part of this process has been the redesign of library services and the design and construction of new library building and facilities that articulate the values, purpose and role of what has been termed 'the next library'. Following discussion of new library developments in London, Birmingham and Worcester in the UK, Aarhus in Denmark and Helsinki in Finland, the article concludes that public libraries are now both social and media spaces as well as being important physical places that can help city dwellers decide what type of urban world they want to see.

Business Firms' Responses to the Crises of 2009

Abstract: In 2009 firms faced both economic uncertainty and influenza outbreaks. Both crises posed large costs for firms; however, the manner in which they were perceived by management to affect the organization potentially differed. Using generalized maximum entropy (GME) the authors analyzed a business outlook survey of Seattle, Washington area businesses. Overall, firms were more proactive in responding to the economic crisis than to the influenza pandemic, even though the potential costs associated with both were quite large. Among the authors' conclusions is that business managers responded to the economic crisis more because it was more familiar and something over which they thought they had more control.

Pathways of Technological Change: An Epidemiological Approach to Structural Unemployment in the U.S. Service Sector

Abstract: While technological change benefits the U.S. service sector and the economy as a whole, the creation, design and production of innovations may favor highly-skilled over less-skilled workers. If skill-biased technical change creates more job vacancies for skilled, relative to less-skilled workers, less-skilled workers are at greater risk of becoming structurally unemployed. An epidemiological model is developed that describes the pathways to, and prevention of, structural unemployment (SU) of less-skilled workers. Less-skilled workers must protect themselves from being “infected” by the diffusion of skill-biased technical change in the service sector. They must choose to become “vaccinated” with “injections” of human capital to reduce the probability of contracting the “disease” of (SU) and to avoid permanently working in de-skilled jobs. By making lessskilled workers more productive, one can simultaneously improve the distribution of education and training, health and income inequality while providing the government more tax revenue.

Some Things Are Just Made to Be Littered

Abstract: Previous research has identified a number of situational factors that can contribute to littering in various settings. One key factor that has been largely overlooked is the products that people litter. A descriptive survey of roadside litter was conducted with the goals of identifying the most-littered products and their industry sources. A sample of litter was collected from roads in rural, suburban, and urban areas in Pennsylvania. Of 2,611 littered objects, most (84.6%) litter was waste from one-use smoking, beverage, food, and packaging products. The findings support the view that some products are differentially associated with littering behavior and are thus highly “litterable,†leading to recommendations for reducing litter by targeting those products for change.

Prospect and Potential of Green Jobs towards Green Economy in Bangladesh: A Situation Analysis and Way Forward

Abstract: The prospects and potential of green jobs in Bangladesh are huge. There are many potential sectors such as renewable energy, buildings and construction, transportation, basic industries, agriculture, and forestry, etc., are the priority areas for the future green job market. In 2009, numbers of approximate green jobs were 748,701 while it increased in 2010 which was about 811,268. It is true the green jobs sector is growing in Bangladesh, but there are also challenges that need to be overcome to accelerate growth. This paper tried to investigate the outlook and potential of green jobs in Bangladesh as well as also make recommendation some ideologies, basic principles as well as reform of policy mechanism to promote and develop of green jobs in Bangladesh.

Narrative of the Pier

Abstract: “Locating ourselves in the center of en masse urbanization…†Matnog, Sorsogon, Philippines, primarily a coastal area is not exempted from this socio-cultural shift And in these changes, people, specifically that of the eight Girls, ages 14 to 18 years old living in the periphery of the coast, begin to question this condition of urbanization that has only created varied and severe strands of poverty in their area “I look at their photographs and listen to their narrative†Using Alice McIntyre's photovoice, the Girls took photographs of spaces that represent the concepts of poverty and development I let them speak of these spaces and they begin to talk about “development†and “poverty,†focusing on the existence of the Pier, the Coast and that of their lives “Spatiality of the Pier†Taking the postmodern lens, guided by Edward Soja's notions on spatiality is an attempt to view the unfolding of tensions emanating from urban spaces and their representations The Pier and that of other spaces become the discursive arena that conjugate non-recognition of positions and conditions between the concepts of “poverty†and “development†With the Pier as the most imposing space emerges ambiguity and blurry vision affect how the Girls perceive, conceive and live in and along these spaces Development as assumed to be an existing and workable paradigm through urbanization promise alteration of their condition does not exist for them What happens is that “poverty†becomes the constant wherein time and space are in crisis; and, the spatiality of the Girls becomes fragmented and pulverized “IT†: For urbanization as a development agenda does not fulfill its promise to the Girls of Matnog, Sorsogon and to us This knowledge as conceptualized for them place them in a position and state where they no longer recognize what development is In this discourse, development, urbanization and spaces that represent them all becomes (in)visible that have become (un)recognizable and (un)familiar for the Girls and for us This (non)recognition place all these concepts and spaces as an IT

The Demographic Footprint of Economic Development: The Case of Two Cycladian Islands

Abstract: This paper examines the dynamic relationship between economic development and the demographics of population for a group of islands in the middle of the Aegean Sea, namely the Cyclades, in the period 1860-2011. This period covers the greatest part of demographic transition, which for the Cyclades started in the mid-nineteenth century. In every stage of the transition, the changes in mortality and fertility levels tended to destabilise the relationship between population and the limited resources of the islands. Migration is the key factor in understanding the demographic regime of these islands. Either negative or positive (emigration or immigration), population mobility has always been and still is the element that regulates natural increase and determines the real increase of the population. Whenever rates of natural increase were too high, emigration acted as a counterbalancing factor by taking population away from the islands, while when rates of natural increase reached very low levels from the 1970s onwards due to low fertility, immigration came as a substitute. Two of the Cyclades islands, namely Paros and Naxos, are used as cases studies for a closer focus on these islands during the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century and especially in the period 1951-2011.

A Simple Model of Financial Epidemiology

Abstract: Declining economic conditions over the past several years have identified a disturbing trend; more and more households in the US are being pushed to the brink of financial insolvency. Current legal and market protections (including, but not limited to the use of collateral and mortgage insurance, consumer credit counseling and bankruptcy protection) provide relief after financial distress occurs, but do nothing to prevent the likelihood of distress. Recent research argues that the use of preventive measures are superior to ex post measures, but can only be implemented with the help of predictive models to identify at risk households. This paper uses tools drawn from evolutionary game theory, economics and public health to create a simple model of “financial epidemiology†, which illustrates the role that social dynamics play in shaping household financial decisions. The model facilitates the prediction of financial insolvency by constructing phase diagrams which illustrate “tipping points†beyond which households move down an inexorable path towards insolvency.

Learning CSR for sustainable corporate advantage

Abstract: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a strategic and operational reality of the business and academic world. Not that the principles of CSR are always respected or that its practice is consistently applied. Bearing in mind the multi-faceted nature of both CSR and the corporate environment, as well as the paradox of what is taught in Higher Education and what is practised within its own walls, this paper provides a learning cyclical pathway to sustainable CSR implementation and progress review. As well as highlighting the role that Higher Education has to play, the paper emphasises that in order to embed CSR within the corporate environment, questions need to be raised concerning on-going CSR improvement in order to both protect and engage a wide range of stakeholders towards sustainable corporate advantage.

Pesticide use in Indian Cardamom Hills: factors, patterns and intensity

Abstract: Surveys and analyses among cardamom and tea planters were carried out in and around cardamom hill reserves during 2009-2012 to quantify the annual pesticide consumption of cardamom and tea. The survey revealed that cardamom had consumed 26.59 kg a.i ha-1 in comparison with tea (8.70kg a.i ha-1). Pesticide intensity of cardamom (0.0322 kg kg-1) was higher than tea (0.0046 kg kg-1). Risk weighed active ingredients values were 3.326 and 0.029 kg ha-1 for cardamom and tea respectively. The pesticide use intensity in major cardamom growing areas of the CHR has experienced significant increase from 2002 and 2003. It was 7.10 kg a.i ha-1 in the year 2002 and decreased slightly to 5.42 kg a.i ha-1 for the year 2003. The number of pesticide sprays has been increased during the last two years (2011-2012). Pesticide residues in soils of all three cardamom growing hot spots were high. Hospital data of these cardamom hot spot regions showed higher levels of pesticide poisonings particularly for organophosphorous compounds. Therefore, the analysis and results reported here on pesticide consumption by cardamom and tea must be taken seriously to safeguard the degraded rainforest cardamom agroforestry system.

Does the Minimum Wage Make Young Adult Labor More Attractive to Firms?: A Panel Data Analysis That Controls for Spatial Heterogeneity

Abstract: Adverse effects of minimum wage policy on labor markets materialize only if the new rate is binding. Annual data from the Current Population Survey indicate that the minimum wage is effectively non-binding for young adults (19-29) who have at least one year of college and are not enrolled in school. Hence, a minimum wage hike would have no effect on young adult workers… or does it? The authors investigate this using dynamic panel data that accounts for spatial heterogeneity, which must be controlled for because minimum wage coefficients are biased otherwise (Allegretto, Dube, and Reich 2011). The authors find that accounting for spatial heterogeneity and the inertia that is present in labor market variables affects the results dramatically. Average unemployment in adjacent states has a large net positive cumulative impact on young adult male employment but a large negative cumulative effect on young adult female employment. Though both cohorts are sensitive to market wages and weekly earnings, males are more geographically mobile while female employment is negatively linked to having children, poverty, welfare participation, and urbanity but positively associated with welfare reform. While the minimum wage was insignificant in the young adult male employment model, its anticipatory effect is associated with higher young adult female employment. This is perhaps due to firms substituting teen (16-18) labor with young adult females who possess longer employment tenure, slightly better job skills, and greater personal responsibility.

Cultural Policy, Administration, and Info-Communication Landscape: The Cultural Management Model, Info-Communication Cultural Management (ICCM)

Abstract: In the recent economic crisis, some of the most important and widely debated issues in the areas of digitalization of cultural policy and cultural management are the protection of cultural diversity, cultural rights, cultural freedom, cultural capital, and cultural goods (products and services). A new digital revolution is coming, this time not only in cultural management of cultural goods but also in the administration systems of cultural organizations and institutions. New technologies exert strong pressure on traditional cultural organizations and institutions to digitalize their cultural management and administration structures. This article examines and analyses cultural management, administration, new technologies, and info-communication globalization. In addition, it examines cultural heritage as a very important issue of cultural diversity in the info-communication landscape. It explores digitalisation of cultural management and administration structures and proposes a new dynamic cultural management model, the Info-Communication Cultural Management (ICCM).

What's Right? Development and Access to Capital for Indigenous Peoples

Abstract: This article explores the role of the private sector and financial services companies in respecting, protecting and particularly advancing the human rights of Indigenous peoples. Using the results from a participatory research based project with an Indigenous group in Canada, it makes the argument that firms in the financial sector have an obligation to respect and advance the rights of Indigenous peoples.

These clothes don't fit!: identity, hybridity and education in the city

Abstract: This paper argues the need for a transformational revaluing of the rights to the city through an unmaking of social fabric, since upcycling reframes existing power relations based on ownership of land and people and excludes the rights of children and the earth. It highlights the need for environmental education. Indicating that transition requires a paradigm shift, it employs a fractured, feminist bricolage. Operating from within a Western academic perspective it concludes that the work of remaking the city on the basis of social justice is a shifting process of encountering self and others in our own and other worlds.

Greening the Mediapolis with Media Literacy

Abstract: In media education there is a deficit in awareness about the connection between media and living systems. Though issues like economics, body image, sexism, racism and gender stereotyping remain significant concerns for media educators and scholars alike, historically the environment has been a peripheral theme in communications studies and associated disciplines. So while new gadgets and software platforms are touted as necessary aspects of cultural citizenship in media literacy discourses, this view of education, empowerment and participation is usually thought of in limited, anthropocentric ways that exclude living systems and sustainability as integral aspects of communication technologies. This essay proposes that media education should enable us to closely analyze the institutions, technological forms, cultural practices and worldview that are shaped by media technology, including how they impact ecological sustainability.

Regional Development Strategy in Insular Space: The Recent Experience of Greece

Abstract: The formulation of a specific regional development strategy for insular areas has attracted strong interest in recent years. Despite efforts so far, no specific strategy for the development of insular space exists. This is the focus point of the present paper, which is based on a survey of policy measures for the Greek insular regions, covering the framework of regional and territorial planning since 2000. The paper tries to search for a particular insular development strategy, with the definition of the sector-based and territorial priorities, the formulation of strategic objectives, and the setting of guidelines for interventions.

Land Allotment Patterns and Urban Features in Post-Second World War Athens: Existing Situation and Betterment Scenarios

Abstract: The paper deals with the formation of the urban space, analyzing the land ownership patterns in relation first to the socio-economic conditions of the owners, second to the applied building regulations, third to the urban features and the road network, and fourth to the housing conditions.A complex co-relation of the above parameters is the outcome of this research work, which illuminates the real conditions created by the specific post-Second World War conditions in the basin of Athens. For the support of this research, special measurements have been undertaken concerning the geometric characteristics of the urban space in a suitable number of sample areas in the above basin, comprising planned areas, as well unplanned squatter areas. This kind of approach aims toward the formation of realistic scenarios in analogous cases, according to the theory of incremental planning suggested by Charles E. Lindblom.

Innovation Diffusion: An Epidemiological Perspective

Abstract: The phenomenon of diffusion has been extensively studied from different disciplines in the natural and social sciences and has been used in the study of innovation dynamics. Diffusion plays also a central role to the study of disease-spread within a population, being an essential element of epidemiological research. In case of disease-diffusion, the contagious agents spread among susceptible individuals, thus rendering them infected. Those individuals can in turn communicate the disease to other susceptible community members and start an epidemic. These characteristics of disease-spread have been successfully studied by epidemiological theoretical tools. Patent citations, traditionally used as indicators for R&D output, signal the acquisition of knowledge and, in that sense, facilitate diffusion of innovation. In this paper the authors argue that patent citations could be seen as contagious agents and the diffusion of innovation could be studied with tools from the field of epidemiology. In this direction authors draw a theoretical framework for future original research.