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Assessment of trust level based on 3d models of social relationships factors in public institutions
Abstract
Trust is a key attribute of social cohesion that is a major phenomenon in social relationships. This research aims to trust levels in social relationships and understand how social relationships affect trust levels. This research uses the theory of social relationships as an understanding of the level of trust in modern organizations, the theory of trust based on three dimensions namely trust in information, motives, and competence. Statistical descriptive qualitative research method is used as an approach supported by Delphi analysis, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), and TOPSIS (Technique for Others Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution). In identifying factors in the social relationship between policy and community, nine social relationship factors were obtained, including Communication (A1); Trust (A2); Cultural (A3); Procedural Justice (A4); Problem-Solving (A5); Transparency (A6); Engagement (A7); Collaboration (A8); Empowerment (A9). On the one hand, in the context of relative importance, the weight value at the criteria level is trust in Information (C1) (19.8%); Trust in Motives (C2) (31.2%); Trust in Competence (C3) (49%). Based on the results of the 3D trust level-based mapping analysis on social relationships, of the nine alternatives there are no factors with complete level (level 5) and Ignorance (Level 1). Overall, there are two alternative social relationship factors with high trust level (level 4), namely Trust (A2) and Collaboration (A8). These findings suggest that social relationship factors, such as trust (A2) and Collaboration (A8), play an important role in increasing the trust value of institutions related to trust from the community.
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Self-regulated learning is recognized as a core competence for academic success and lifelong formation. The social context in which self-regulated learning develops and takes place is attracting growing interest. Using cross-sectional data from secondary education students (n = 561), we aimed to formulate explanatory arguments regarding the effect of social support on metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive and cognitive learning strategies, and academic achievement, considering the potential mediating role of goal orientation self-management. Structural Equation Modelling yielded a conceptually consistent and statistically satisfactory empirical model, explaining a moderate-high percentage of
the variance in self-regulated learning and academic achievement. The results showed that perceived support from teachers and family positively predicted metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive and cognitive learning strategies, and mastery self-talk and negatively predicted work-avoidance self-talk. Moreover, mastery self-talk and work-avoidance self-talk directly and indirectly (through metacognitive knowledge) predicted academic achievement. Perceived social support is proposed as a marker of vulnerability/protection and as a
resource for facing challenges in the academic context.
Child vulnerability has been a very serious problem in Africa, including Ethiopia, despite rich stock of social capital resources and efforts from child-affiliated institutions to handle the problem. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the role of social capital variables and institutional support on vulnerable children’s emotional and behavioral adjustment (E/BA) in Ethiopia. A correlational research design was employed to investigate the relationships among variables. A total of 250 vulnerable children were randomly selected and filled adapted scales/questionnaires of the study. Independent t-test, correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression were utilized to analyze the collected data through SPSS version 20. The findings show that social capital variables and institutional support have significant negative association with vulnerable children’s E/BA. All the variables jointly explained 31.7% of the variances of E/BA, where institutional support and peer social capital were significant unique contributors. These results suggest that children with high perceived social capital resources and institutional support reported lower emotional and behavioral problems, which led to better adjustment. Finally, children’s demographic variables have insignificant correlation and predictive roles on vulnerable children’s E/BA. Social capital variables and institutional support show significant negative association with, and predict a significant proportion of emotional and behavioral adjustment problems of vulnerable children. The result suggests that any child protection practices for vulnerable children need to consider these social capital resources and strengthen them through appropriate interventions in order to improve the wellbeing of such children and ensure the sustainability of their care.
Purpose
To illuminate the meaning of social relationships and health concerns as experienced by adolescents and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
A longitudinal qualitative study was conducted. Data reported from 172 adolescents and young people aged 12–24 years in five countries; Chile, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States collected from May 2020 to June 2021 were analysed via thematic analysis.
Results
Adolescents and young peoples’ experiences of social relationships and health concerns were described in seven themes: Family proximity, conflicts and frustration; difficulties and challenges related to limited living space; peer relations and maintaining friendship in times of social distancing; the importance of school as a place for interaction; vulnerability, emotional distress and uncertainty about the future; health concerns and sense of caring for others; and worries and concerns related to financial hardship. These reports show that the changes to everyday life that were introduced by public responses to the pandemic generated feelings of loneliness, vulnerability, and emotional distress, as well as increased sense of togetherness with family.
Conclusions
The everyday lives of adolescents and young people were restricted and affected more by the consequences of the pandemic than by the COVID-19 virus. These experiences had various impacts on well-being and mental health, where some individuals felt more exposed and vulnerable to emotional distress and loneliness than others. Family and peer relationships could be protective and support a sense of togetherness and belonging. Hence, social relationships are important to provide emotional support. Support for adolescents and young people should be tailored accordingly around social and emotional concerns, to encourage health and well-being.
Health is a fundamental human right, yet healthcare facilities are not distributed equitably across all communities. This study aims to investigate the distribution of healthcare facilities in Nassau County, New York, and examine whether the distribution is equitable across different social vulnerability levels. An optimized hotspot analysis was conducted on a dataset of 1695 healthcare facilities-dental, dialysis, ophthalmic, and urgent care-in Nassau County, and social vulnerability was measured using the FPIS codes. The study found that healthcare facilities were disproportionately distributed in the county, with a higher concentration in areas of low social vulnerability compared to areas of high social vulnerability. The majority of healthcare facilities were found to be clustered in two ZIP codes-11020 and 11030-that rank among the top ten wealthiest in the county. The results of this study suggest that socially vulnerable residents in Nassau County are at a disadvantage when it comes to attaining equitable access to healthcare facilities. The distribution pattern highlights the need for interventions to improve access to care for marginalized communities and to address the underlying determinants of healthcare facility segregation in the county.
The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified several psychosocial risks and problem behaviors among vulnerable individuals. Given that gambling has high addictive potential, it is important to consider the underlying mechanisms of problem gambling. This study examined psychosocial factors associated with pandemic-time problem gambling.
Cross-sectional data were gathered via an online survey of 18–75-year-old Finnish, Swedish, and British respondents (n = 2,022) who reported having gambled at least occasionally during the pandemic. Measures included problem gambling, loneliness, COVID-19 worry, social support, and psychological resilience. Control variables included gender, age, and education. Structural equation modeling was used as an analytical technique.
Loneliness was found to be associated with problem gambling. While COVID-19 worry was not directly associated with problem gambling, it predicted higher loneliness, which in turn was associated with problem gambling. Evidence was not found regarding the protective role of resilience or social support in problem gambling. However, social support was found to be associated with higher problem gambling severity. Male gender and younger age were associated with problem gambling.
The results bring insight into underlying vulnerabilities regarding problem gambling during the pandemic. More focus should be placed on the quality and sources of social support, as well as on how psychosocial risk and protective factors might work differently among different populations of gamblers.
Trust and distrust are considered as crucial elements in the management of hybrid interorganisational relationships with a view to helping to deal with their uncertainty and unpredictability. In this regard this paper seeks to conceptualize and clarify the interorganisational element of organizational trust and distrust and develop scales on which to measure it. The dimensions of the constructs have been tested on a sample of 400 respondents owners or top management on a representative sample by employment size. The research also attempts to identify the relationship between trust and distrust in inter-organisational relations. As a result of the research approach adopted, a one-dimensional scale for examining inter-organisational trust has been developed, as well as a two-dimensional scale for examining distrust in inter-organisational relations. The measurement scales developed and their validation conducted in this study represent a step forward towards the effective and reliable measurement of interorganisational trust and distrust. This is one of the few attempts at empirical verification of these constructs and the relationship between them, providing a comprehensive, operationally valid measure of interorganisational trust and distrust.
Emergency Life-Saving Drugs (ELSDs) are among the highest-priority healthcare necessities since they must be administered immediately to save patient lives and prevent complications in the most critical conditions. Due to this reason, it is vital to ensure a continuous and undisrupted supply chain (SC) network for ELSDs throughout the country. However, the SC network of ELSDs is very complex and unpredictable, requiring many stages and processes and involving many parties. The recent COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have increased these SC disruptions even to a greater extent. Due to the associated complexities and uncertainties, the efficient management of ELSDs SC is usually very challenging. Consequently, proper identification and evaluation of ELSDs SC disruption risks are crucial, of which few studies have concentrated yet, especially from an emerging economy perspective. This study aimed to identify and analyze the most impactful risk factors (RFs) that disrupt the ELSDs SC, particularly in a developing country context, to address this research gap. The study identified 14 key RFs to the ELSDs SC from relevant literature and expert feedback. Then, a combination of the Grey theory and the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method was utilized in this study to assess and prioritize the RFs and show the interrelationships among them. The findings suggested that financial and economic risk, non-availability of critical raw material, an influx of infectious disease, and sudden natural disasters pose the greatest threats to the ELSDs SC. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted afterward to evaluate the robustness of the proposed framework. This research is expected to aid the managers of ELSDs SC in maintaining a continuous and undisrupted availability of these essential medicines to save the lives of millions of patients under critical care.
Background
Deaths from diseases of the circulatory system and ischemic heart diseases are declining, but slowly in developing countries, emphasizing its probable relationship with determinants of social vulnerability.
Objectives
To analyze the temporal progression of mortality rates of diseases of the circulatory system and ischemic heart diseases from 1980 to 2019 and the association of the rates with the Municipal Human Development Index and Social Vulnerability Index in Brazil.
Methods
We estimated the crude and standardized mortality rates of diseases of the circulatory system and ischemic heart diseases and analyzed the relationship between the obtained data and the Municipal Human Development Index and Social Vulnerability Index. Data on deaths and population were obtained from the DATASUS. The Municipal Human Development Index and the Social Vulnerability Index of each federative unit were extracted from the websites Atlas Brazil and Atlas of Social Vulnerability, respectively.
Results
The age-standardized mortality rates of diseases of the circulatory system and ischemic heart diseases showed a downward trend nationwide, which was unequal across the federative units. There was an inversely proportional relationship between the standardized mortality rates of diseases of the circulatory system and ischemic heart diseases and the Municipal Human Development Index. The downward mortality trend was observed when the indices were greater than 0.70 and 0.75, respectively. The Social Vulnerability Index was directly proportional to the standardized mortality rates of diseases of the circulatory system and ischemic heart diseases. An upward mortality trend was observed with a Social Vulnerability Index greater than 0.35.
Conclusions
Social determinants represented by the Municipal Human Development Index and the Social Vulnerability Index were related to mortality from diseases of the circulatory system and ischemic heart diseases across the Brazilian federative units. The units with most development and least social inequalities had the lowest mortality from these causes. The most vulnerable die the most.
While there is substantial evidence of the effect of social protection on poverty and vulnerability, limited research has focused on societal outcomes. This paper serves as introduction to a special issue (SI) examining the relationship between social protection and social cohesion in low- and middle-income countries. Over the last years, social cohesion has emerged as a central goal of development policy. The introduction and the papers in the SI use a common definition of social cohesion as a multi-faceted phenomenon, comprising three attributes: cooperation, trust and inclusive identity. This introductory article provides a conceptual framework linking social protection to social cohesion, shows the current empirical evidence for the bi-directional linkages, and highlights how the papers in the SI contribute to filling existing research gaps. In addition to this introduction, the SI encompasses seven papers, covering different world regions and social protection schemes, and using different quantitative and qualitative methods.
Trust is essential for successful participatory policymaking in high-risk industries, such as nuclear energy and radioactive waste management. However, while efforts at building trust are omnipresent in policy practice, the downsides of excessive trust and the potential virtues of mistrust and distrust are poorly recognised by practitioners, and remain under-researched in social science scholarship. This special issue contributes to filling the research gap by presenting a unique collection of articles transnational, comparative and historical analysis of trust, mistrust, and distrust in empirical cases of past and present nuclear energy and radioactive waste management projects across Europe. This introduction presents a shared conceptual framework for the articles of the special issue, built on two distinctions: 1) the three key concepts of trust, mistrust, and distrust, and 2) the three dimensions – social, institutional, and ideological – that cut across those three key concepts. A number of tasks for future research are identified. These include more fine-grained and context-sensitive analysis that would help operationalise concepts such as prudent scepticism and mistrustful civic vigilance in real-world situations; better understanding of when constructive mistrust might turn into dysfunctional distrust; the dynamics of trust, mistrust, and distrust in non-democratic societies; and the interaction between interpersonal, institutional, and ideological dimensions of trust, mistrust, and distrust. Finally, more conceptual and empirical work is needed to integrate and operationalise the principle of mistrustful vigilance in existing social science research on techno-scientific promises and expectations, in an effort at developing new ‘regimes of promise’, better in tune with the current era of apocalyptic threats and ambiguous perceptions concerning the risks and blessings of techno-science.
Resilience is the concept that emphasizes change and adaptation and focuses on the capacity to absorb shocks and still maintain function. How can an Indigenous community assess the resilience of the tribe when it is affected by an array of obstacles? What are the assessment factors of resilience? This study consolidated relevant literature on resilience through in-depth interviews and the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) to identify the resilience indicators for Indigenous community development. It eventually identified 5 domains, 26 types, and 45 evaluation indicators. The final indicators are divided into five domains: economic, social, cultural, environmental, and policy. The social resilience indicators: “the ability to overcome obstacles”, “the ability to accept stimuli”, and “the degree of connection between tribal and external resources” were not mentioned in the past studies of resilience. For the first time, the following cultural resilience indicator was also included: “maintain the traditional ancestral teachings and respect for ancestral norms”. Finally, this study suggests that follow-up research may extend these resilience indicators and apply them to other Indigenous tribes. These 26 types of assessment will also be the factors that must be considered in the process of adaptation and reconstruction when the community is faced with emergencies or catastrophes.
The relationship between corporate social responsibility and vulnerability to stock market crashes and how this relationship is moderated by the norm of corporate governance was empirically explored in this research article. This study used a panel data analysis using a group of 58 companies selected during the years 2009-2018 from operating in various industries hawking their stock on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to investigate this interaction effect. To quantify the company's share price probability of a crash, an inverse restrictive skewness (NCSKEW) of returns and bottom-to-up variance (DUVOL) spread has been used as a proxy. The results of this research suggest that the risk of a share price slump is adversely and significantly linked to CSR. Consistency structures of governance mechanisms (size of the board, percentage of autonomous directors on board, concentration of ownership, percentage of executive directors onboard) have a substantial moderating impact on the risk of a fall of the share price.
Innovations acceptance is attracting increasing attention. Researchers are particularly interested in factors that affect the adoption of IS and IT innovations. However, despite numerous advantages of e-payment usage such as convenience, speed, efficiency and reduced cost, the economic ecosystem is skeptical to embrace e-payment systems (Adeyelure, Pretorius & Kalema, 2014). This research develops extended TAM model by integrating the three dimensions of trust (integrity, benevolence a0nd competence) and two key constructs from technology acceptance models (perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of e-payment) to explain online consumers’ intentions to engage in the business relationship with e-payment. Through this framework, researchers can have a more accurate explanation of the consumer behavior and intention to accept new technology. This framework will be used to examine consumer’s behavioral intention to accept e-payment by researchers.
This study explores how much the Vietnamese public trust their government during the COVID-19 pandemic and how public trust in government translates into support and compliance with government’s policy and regulation. The findings of the study show that there is a significant positive correlation between accessible, trustworthy communication and public trust in government. The findings also demonstrate a significantly moderate positive correlation between public trust in government and policy compliance. The more the public trust the government, the more likely they comply with government’s policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Having sensitive, contingent, and supportive social relationships has been linked to more positive outcomes after experiences of early childhood adversity. Traditionally, social relationships are construed as moderators that buffer children from the effects of exposure to adverse events. However, recent data support an alternative view: that supportive social relationships influence children’s later outcomes by shaping their perceptions of safety and stress, regardless of the particular events to which children are exposed. This perspective has implications for understanding vulnerability and resilience in children.
Adolescence is a crucial time period with especial vulnerability for development of mental health problems. Growing interest is focusing on the determinants of positive mental health in order to find the key concepts that could be influenced in the promotion of mental well-being of adolescents. In this study we aim to explore the relations between self-esteem, character strengths and experience of social inclusion as determinants of adolescents’ positive mental health controlled for selected sociodemographic background factors. The study population (n = 195) consisted of comprehensive school students who filled in an electronic questionnaire of adolescent’s mental well-being in Fall 2019. The questionnaire included measures of Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS), VIA Youth-measure 96, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Experience of Social Inclusion Scale. The methods included group comparisons and General Linear Model computed by SPSS 24.0. The strongest association was found between positive mental health and self-esteem (β = 0.789, p < 0.001), followed by character strengths of hope and kindness and experience of social inclusion. Interestingly, family’s socioeconomic factors did not associate significantly with positive mental health in the final statistical model. In terms of our results, it seems that self-esteem, character strengths and experience of social inclusion might have stronger association with adolescents’ mental well-being than family’s socioeconomic determinants. Therefore, it should be discussed whether psychological determinants overcome the individual effect of poor socioeconomic status as factors that influence positive mental health. Further studies are needed to establish these results more firmly.
To expand evidence for the nature and related mechanisms underlying loneliness measured by Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA-S), several hypotheses were developed and tested to map the nomological network of loneliness. Tests included examining the structure of the multidimensional experiences of loneliness, concurrent and prospective relations between loneliness, sociodemographic variables, worry, rumination, metacognition, symptoms of anxiety and depression. This study also sought to determine how resilience is involved in the protection against loneliness and depressive symptoms. Four hundred and eighty-two students with a mean age of 25.84 years (SD = 5.74) participated (N = 482; 59% females). Structural and temporal stability analyses supported the multidimensional experiences of loneliness, including family, romantic and social loneliness. Psychological network analysis identified especially strong connections (i.e., edges) between indicators belonging to loneliness in family and social relationships. At the general level, older participants and those who were single reported more loneliness. Loneliness was concurrently and prospectively associated with worry, rumination and metacognitions and predicted vulnerabilities in levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. At follow-up, the effect of loneliness on depressive symptoms was lower when scoring high on resilience. Interventions for loneliness may address improving family relationships and metacognitive processes underlying loneliness, which may in turn improve mental health. Interpersonal and intrapersonal protective factors involved in resilience may compensate for deficits in social relationships thereby buffering negative effects of loneliness on common mental health problems.
Vulnerability is a defining and fundamental but under-researched, quality of many family firms. We define family vulnerability (FV) as the degree to which family owners and executives realistically perceive that they and their firms are susceptible to material and socio-emotional losses from their ventures. Building on social exchange theory, we offer a model that specifies conditions by which FV allows family firm owner-managers to establish
mutually beneficial and enduring relationships with prospective resource providers. These relationships improve strategic options for such parties who gain support when they most need it and are more committed and loyal to those who provide it, thereby engendering goodwill and social capital.
The arguable claims of levels of trust in politics and business situations motivated this study, which investigates the degree of trust within micro, small, and medium categories of Hungarian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies. Different sizes of companies have varying interactions between internal members and their business partners. This study concentrated on exploring Hungarian ICT companies due to their significant role in supporting Industry 4.0. The study population are active Hungarian ICT companies. This research implemented random cluster selection related to the location of ICT firms. It exploited 100 samples, including micro, small, and medium-sized companies, and implemented discriminant analysis to examine the description and hypotheses. First, this study found that the level of trust in institutions within micro, small, and medium-sized companies varies significantly. The level of trust in institutions proliferates within corporations due to the capability of the formal institution to provide fair public services. This research additionally underlined that the performance of the Hungarian government would improve trust amongst the companies. Second, this study concluded that the level of interpersonal trust within three categories of companies was similar. A high level of interpersonal trust would expand internal engagement among the members of companies. Finally, the level of trust in business partners varied significantly within the distinct sizes of Hungarian ICT companies. A high level of trust in corporate associates improves business collaboration, reduces uncertainty, and supports long-term business connections. Levels of institutional trust and inter-organizational trust differed amongst different categories of companies. However, the level of interpersonal trust remained similar within companies of the various sizes.
Previous strategy management studies have devoted scant attention to the role of trust in the strategic management process (SMP). The purpose of this study is to investigate trust in the management of a grocery trade business. Prior literature was reviewed to deepen the current understanding of trust in the SMP, and then explored through a case study on a Finnish grocery retail company, Kesko Ltd. The study was conducted by employing a qualitative research methodology and is based on an interview with the president of Kesko, who is intensively involved in the SMP. This study stresses the consideration of trust development in strategy work. The findings indicate that trust considerations in the strategic choices of the top management team can provide efficiency, innovation, and engagement in strategy implementation.
Research Questions
In this article, we ask how trust develops during three phases of the strategy process: strategy formulation, strategic choices, and strategy implementation.
Links to Theory
Our analysis of trust development focuses on the five most operationalized dimensions of trust: (a) ability and competence, (b) benevolence, (c) integrity, (d) affective-based trust, and (e) cognitive-based trust (McEvily & Tortoriello, 2011). Strategic management is separated into three interlinked phases: strategic formulation, strategic choice making, and strategy implementation (Johnson et al., 2008).
Phenomenon Studied
The case focuses on trust development in the strategy management process.
Case Context
The context of the case is a participatory strategic management process in a large Finnish grocery retail chain in a highly competitive and concentrated market. The role of trust development was studied in the case company between the K-retailers, who are independent entrepreneurs, and Kesko management staff and actors responsible for management and constant development of the business model.
Findings
This study shows how trust emerged as a result of participatory practices and dialogue between actors from different levels of organization in the strategy formulation phase. Increased understanding and contribution to strategy empowered top management to make new and brave strategic choices. This study illustrates how consistency between the strategic choices and actions for implementation enhanced trust among the organizational actors, who felt a sense of enhanced engagement in the implementation of the new strategy in their everyday work.
Discussions
This study highlights the role of trust in strategy formulation, strategic choices, and strategy implementation. It contributes to the understanding of trust in the SMP, which has not been widely researched in previous literature. Based on our results, we suggest that trust between parties is earned and evolves at each of the three stages of the SMP.
Previous research has shown that public trust is vital for promoting policy compliance, particularly in times of crisis. However, the literature supporting this notion remains scarce, especially in countries which have successfully contained a pandemic despite showing a generally low level of public trust in the government. To address this topic, we conducted a cross-sectional study between February and March of 2020 to examine the relationship between public trust and the compliance of the general public in adopting personal protective measures introduced during the early phase of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Thailand. We report our result from a hierarchical regression. We find a positive and significant relationship between public trust in the government and the likelihood of respondents adopting these precautions, more importantly, this relationship was fully mediated by the professional trust as the effect of public trust in the government on policy compliance was reduced by 0.118, namely from (β = 0.133, p < 0.001) to (β = 0.015, p > 0.05). Married respondents residing in the capital city, with a higher degree of worry were also more likely to comply with these safety measures. In conclusion, the finding sheds light on the dynamic relationship between public trust and policy compliance and offers some implications in times of a global health crisis.
Before implementing an Urban Freight Transport (UFT) solution, certainty is required about the effectiveness of the considered alternatives. Selecting an effective solution necessitates the engagement of all stakeholders involved in the management of the UFT system. The aim of the study is the formulation of a common assessment platform for facilitating the selection of the most appropriate UFT solution, taking into account the solutions’ effectiveness and the stakeholder perceptions and consensus. Solution maturity, social acceptance, and user uptake, which are considered as the main drivers of stakeholders’ engagement, are evaluated based on a real time Delphi survey, in parallel with solutions’ sustainability dimensions (economy and energy, environment, society, transport, and mobility). The Delphi method emerges as a suitable tool in this direction as stakeholders’ subjective judgments, and not analytical techniques, are required. The platform is demonstrated through the assessment of ten UFT solutions by 184 stakeholders (public authorities, supply chain operators, and other interested groups) who reside in cities across the world. The results of the demonstration showed that Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) for freight monitoring and electric vehicles are the highest rated solutions, while drone deliveries are the lowest, reaching respectively the highest and lowest consensus levels.
Social vulnerability and social capital have been shown to influence how severely communities are impacted by natural hazards and how quickly they recover. Indices exist to quantify these factors using publicly available data; however, more empirical research is needed to validate these indices and support their use in pre-disaster planning and decision making. Using data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and data gathered through imagery analysis in Google Earth, this study evaluates the effectiveness of two indices of social vulnerability and social capital to predict housing impacts and rates of recovery in Florida and Puerto Rico following Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. We found the social vulnerability index to be statistically significant in explaining the variation of housing impacts in both case studies, with varying results for the sub-indices of social vulnerability. Results for the social capital index were mixed between the case studies, and we found no statistically significant relationship between any of the indices and rates of housing recovery. Our results show that indices such as these can be useful, with an awareness of limitations, for researchers and emergency practitioners, and additional empirical analysis is needed to more fully support their efficacy for resilience assessment.
Objective: We investigated the level of psychological problems, perceived risk, safety behaviors, and the potential roles of demographic variables, public trust, media, and prior anxiety to illness during the COVID-19pandemic among Iranians.
Method : In this cross sectional study, using a convenient and snowball sampling method, we distributed an online questionnaire to participants and collected data on their demographic variables, mental health status, the consumption of and level of trust to various media, the level of public trust, and perceived risk and safety behaviors regards COVID-19. Our final sample consisted of 1881 Iranian residents. We used descriptive analysis, bivariate correlation, univariable and multivariable linear regression analysis, and univariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis for data analysis.
Results: The mental health problems have increased in comparison to past national survey; 24.1% vs 10.39% for depression, 37.93% vs 16.7% for social dysfunction, and 41.33% vs 29.5% for anxiety, and 31.12% vs 29.08% for somatization. We also found high percent of acute stress 52.71% (95% CI: 50.45-54.96). Being female, married, and having a higher educational level increased the odds of safety behaviors. Public trust and national media can regulate the negative effect of the pandemic, while increasing perceived risk and appropriate safety behaviors can decrease psychological problems and disorders. However, social media increases perceived risk, safety behaviors, and psychological problems, especially severe acute stress.
Conclusion: We are in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and its negative effects will increase. Many people have lost their relatives, their jobs, their social contacts, and are faced with a surge of negative news. Authorities should consider these critical issues and adopt appropriate communicative and supportive approaches to prevent their negative effects at both individual and societal levels.
In this paper, we investigate the effects of stakeholder protection and public trust on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of listed enterprises on the Chinese Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Board. We find that the degree of stakeholder protection has a significantly positive impact on SME CSR activities. The public trust is not associated with SME CSR disclosure significantly; it has a significantly negative impact on the SME implementation levels of CSR activities. Furthermore, the moderating effect of public trust on the relationship between the degree of stakeholder protection and SME CSR activities is not supported by our empirical study.
To inculpate government has become a recent trend worldwide due to eroding degree of confidence in representatives and public sector institutions. This study inquires which factors constitute trust and engenders distrust to the government, implies the polity and its governing institutions. To conduct the study content analysis method has been implied where a bunch of secondary sources of literature are reviewed thoroughly. To refine the concept of trust, distrust, trust formulation process between actors, attributes of trustee and trustor etc. pertinent trust literatures were reviewed. The study findings depict that socio demographic variables, belongingness to social networks, fair and competitive election, presence of democratic governance, politicization-free watchdog institutions, effective economic & social policy, e-governance initiatives as well as decentralization of services help to build trust among citizens. Furthermore, keen approach to participate in decision making and interactive communication between government employees and citizens also generate trust in government. In turn, poor economic performance of a regime, subversive corruption, bureaucratic stoicism in increasing social needs, breach of checks and balances in government's organs, low social trust among citizens, inefficient delivery of services cause distrust to the capacity of the government. Although a certain level of distrust is healthy for control and vigilance, a total decadent of trust in the functioning of government is a
Theorists have long assumed that people's self-esteem and social relationships influence each other. However, the empirical evidence has been inconsistent, creating substantial uncertainty about whether relationships are in fact an influential factor in self-esteem development and vice versa. This meta-analysis synthesizes the available longitudinal data on the prospective effect of social relationships on self-esteem (48 samples including 46,231 participants) and the prospective effect of self-esteem on social relationships (35 samples including 21,995 participants). All effects controlled for prior levels of the outcomes. Results showed that relationships and self-esteem reciprocally predict each other over time with similar effect sizes (β = .08 in both directions). Moderator analyses suggested that the effects held across sample characteristics such as mean age, gender, ethnicity, and time lag between assessments, except for the self-esteem effect on relationships, which was moderated by type of relationship partner (stronger for general relationships than for specific partners) and relationship reporter (stronger for self-reported than for informant-reported relationship characteristics). The findings support assumptions of classic and contemporary theories on the influence of social relationships on self-esteem and on the consequences of self-esteem for the relationship domain. In sum, the findings suggest that the link between people's social relationships and their level of self-esteem is truly reciprocal in all developmental stages across the life span, reflecting a positive feedback loop between the constructs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Personal variables are often assumed to affect trust. In Indonesia, there are three personal variables that affect trust: benevolence, competence, and integrity. This study aims to examine the influence of these three variables on friendship relationships. The respondents of this study consists of 220 students of Universitas Gadjah Mada (44.1% male and 55.9% female). Data were collected using the Trust Scale (α = .74), the Benevolence Scale (α = .85), the Competence Scale (α = .80), and the Integrity Scale (α = .78). Regression analysis revealed that competence has no significant influence towards trust, and the role of benevolence is greater than integrity. Based on these findings we constructed regression models with benevolence as the main variable and integrity as an additional variable. As a single factor, the contribution of benevolence is 21.4%. The addition of integrity in the regression model finds that the contribution of both variables together is 29.2%.
Numerous overlapping and inconsistent views of academicians and practitioners on construct of employee engagement have led to the development of various measurement instruments that differ in terms of the variables. The article attempts to develop an assessment instrument and to assess content validity of the proposed variables/dimensions. The construct is generated through grounded theory method, conducting structured interviews of human resource heads (15 best firms). The assessment of content validity is done through six domain experts. Content validity index, Kappa statistic, and content validity ratio (Lawshe test) were implemented for content validity. Three dimensions (alignment, affective, and action-oriented) having 10 items each were identified. The item content validity index (I-CVI) ranged from 0.66 to 1 and scale content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) ranged from 0.848 to 0.932. The instrument is assessed with high content validity. It bridges the research gap of incongruity among academic and industry. The next step of research will involve testing of this instrument for psychometric properties and testing its comprehensiveness for respondents.
The choice of a suitable collaborative robot (cobot) for a real-time industrial process is one of the obstacles to effective robot implementation in terms of energy and cost. The cobot selection process for an application have become more complex due to increasing sophisticated features and capabilities in cobots offered by the manufacturers. The paper presents a hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) technique based on Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) approaches for selecting cobots for fuel filter assembly operation. The product design methodology, manufacturing method, and associated cost are directly influencing the decision on cobot selection. The most appropriate robot to accomplish the desired task at the lowest possible cost and capability can be selected by AHP with prospective criterion weight for subsequent processing. The TOPSIS approach orders alternatives based on the prominence of criteria. A diesel fuel filter assembly process case was considered for validating the proposed technique of cobot selection process. An expert knowledge base was generated for 12 advocated cobots and the best cobot was selected using the proposed hybrid MCDM technique.
The perception of universities as trustworthy institutions has been challenged by heightened public distrust in science and public institutions. In this context, understanding trust relationships between higher education institutions and society could provide vital intelligence to safeguard and grow the increasingly disrupted higher education sector. The article presents a systematic review of empirical studies that focus on trust in higher education institutions. It aims to map research trends and empirical gaps to provide insights into the state of research in this area. The review found that most research has examined trust within the university context, with significantly less attention on trust between the universities and the broader societies they serve. Within the latter, trust relationships with business and industry domains have received greater empirical attention than those with community and government. These findings have implications for purposeful and meaningful trust-based capacity and capability building at individual and institutional levels.
The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for people with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD) is increasing; however, it is currently hard to assess its quality as there are issues regarding the lack of consensus on how to design these technologies. Here, using a Delphi method, we built a trans-ICTs inventory named the Design ICT Inventory (DICTI) to guide and gauge design in the 4 main ICTs dedicated to people with NDD (serious game/App, robotics, video modeling, augmentative and alternative communication). After two rounds with feedback from 12 experts, we obtained consensus and agreement for each of the 13 items of the inventory: customization; feedback; rewards; contextualized learning; enhance motivation; manage difficulty; increasing accessibility; clarity of instruction and content; attention capacity; clear goals; minimalistic graphics and audio; human interaction; and trustworthy. The DICTI provides an easy tool to use in order to assess the design of ICTs. Future research is needed to ensure the inter-reliability of the inventory and its relevance in assessing ICT.
Purpose
Consumers increasingly rely on organisations for online services and data storage while these same institutions seek to digitise the information assets they hold to create economic value. Cybersecurity failures arising from malicious or accidental actions can lead to significant reputational and financial loss which organisations must guard against. Despite having some critical weaknesses, qualitative cybersecurity risk analysis is widely used in developing cybersecurity plans. This research explores these weaknesses, considers how quantitative methods might address the constraints and seeks the insights and recommendations of leading cybersecurity practitioners on the use of qualitative and quantitative cyber risk assessment methods.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based upon a literature review and thematic analysis of in-depth qualitative interviews with 16 senior cybersecurity practitioners representing financial services and advisory companies from across the world.
Findings
While most organisations continue to rely on qualitative methods for cybersecurity risk assessment, some are also actively using quantitative approaches to enhance their cybersecurity planning efforts. The primary recommendation of this paper is that organisations should adopt both a qualitative and quantitative cyber risk assessment approach.
Originality/value
This work provides the first insight into how senior practitioners are using and combining qualitative and quantitative cybersecurity risk assessment, and highlights the need for in-depth comparisons of these two different approaches.
This article explains different dimensions of trust relevant to trust in government and, therefore, suggests a brief model for practical application. The study pursues content analysis method for theoretical treatment of knowledge produced from studying secondary sources of literature. Imitating the context, the concept of trust is clarified first, and then dimensions of trust are arranged under two broad heads: institutional trust and social trust. And then follow the analyses and the subdivisions thoroughly. A compendious model is suggested with possible solutions for public trust in government. Explanations claim that aggregation of institutional trust, that is, political, administrative and social trust, might build an array of trustworthy governance, though adequate pertinent literature are not easily available. This paper recommends that trust in government model may be tested for further empirical study.
Suppliers play an important role in achieving an organization's sustainability goals. By engaging sustainable suppliers, an organization gets clean and green materials to ensure that their end-products are environmentally friendly. Sustainable supplier selection is a challenging task as it involves a complex decision making process involving different objectives and organization priorities. We propose a combined AHP-TOPSIS multiple criteria decision-making approach to solve this problem considering the uncertainty involved and to evaluate the quantitative and qualitative data. In this research, ethics is taken as the fourth dimension of sustainability along with Triple Bottom Line, considering that ethics plays a crucial role in purchasing activity and supplier selection. These four dimensions for sustainable supplier selection criteria have been divided into 16 sub-criteria to evaluate the suppliers. The model is demonstrated by its application to select a sustainable supplier in a real world electronics case company. The results indicate that economic factors still dominate during sustainable supplier selection. In selecting a sustainable supplier, it is found that prominence is given to human rights, safety systems and occupational health, pollution control and resource reduction and consumption, code of conduct, and transparency in suppliers' business and accounting criteria, which covers the other dimensions of sustainability. The application of the proposed model demonstrates the evaluation of tangible and intangible sustainability criteria in selecting a supplier. The result provides a ranking for the suppliers by showing their distances from the positive ideal solution of a sustainable supplier.
Purpose:
To develop an automated image recognition software for the objective quantification of choroidal vascularity index (CVI) and choroidal thickness (CT) at different choroidal locations on images obtained from enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT), and to validate its reliability and investigate the difference and correlation between measurements made by manual and software.
Methods:
A total of 390 EDI-OCT scans, captured from 130 eligible emmetropic or myopic subjects, were categorized into four grades in terms of their accessibility to identify the choroidal-scleral interface (CSI) and were further assessed for CT and CVI at five locations (subfoveal, nasal, temporal, superior and inferior) by the newly developed Choroidal Vascularity Index Software (CVIS) and three ophthalmologists. Choroidal parameters acquired from CVIS were evaluated for its reliability and correlation with ocular factors, in comparison to manual measurements. Distribution of difference and correlation coefficient between CVIS and manual measurements were also analysed.
Results:
Choroidal Vascularity Index Software (CVIS) demonstrated excellent intra-session reliability for CT (ICC: 0.992) and CVI (ICC: 0.978) measurements, compared to the relatively lower intra- and inter-observer reliability of manual measurements. Choroidal Vascularity Index Software (CVIS) and manual assessments had the highest correlation at nasal choroid (CT: r = 0.829, p < 0.001; CVI: r = 0.665, p < 0.001). Choroidal parameters identified with CVIS showed stronger correlations with axial length than manual measurements.
Conclusion:
This automated software, CVIS, exhibited excellent reliability compared to manual measurements, which are subject to image quality and clinical experience. With its validated clinical relevance, CVIS holds promise to serve as a flexible and robust tool in future vitreoretinal and chorioretinal studies.
The threat of terror in Southeast Asia has been currently divided into three generations of terror: Al-Qaeda terror network, ISIS terror network and IS terror network.This study aims at providing a risk analysis on the development of the Islamic State network in Southeast Asia. This study employed Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach, TOPSIS. The AHP method is used to give weight to risk identification criteria. The TOPSIS method is used to provide the value analysis of threats, vulnerability, and impact in order to determine the threat-based risk level assessment, vulnerability, and the impact of the TOPSIS calculation results. The risk analysis of the development of Islamic State in Southeast Asia resulted three countries were categorized in the category of Low: Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Indonesia has the value of risk factor of 0.170; Malaysia has the value of risk factor of 0.088 and Thailand has the value of risk factor of 0.176. On the other hand, the Philippines has the value of risk factor of 0.351 in the category of Guarded. © 2020, International Forum of Management Scholars. All rights reserved.
Trust and distrust can play an important role in a healthy supply chain collaborative relationship, and both carry potential shortcomings. Little attention has been paid to understanding and explaining the development process of trust and distrust in supply chain collaborations, especially in an international context. Using the Transaction Cost Economics theory, this study begins by discussing expressions of trust and distrust within the context of a supply chain collaboration dyad. Then, we explore how trust and distrust interact at a network level. Using a novel, longitudinal, multi-case-study approach, this paper provides new empirical evidence of the complementary roles of trust and distrust in supply chain collaboration, exploring how these concepts work together across different stages of the relationship and in different contexts. This study distinguishes between 'competence trust' and 'integrity trust' concerning collaboration contracts which typically create distrust. Finally, this paper offers unique insights into the influence of culture on the interpretation and performance of trust and distrust in international supply chain collaboration, grounded in the context of the Chinese automotive industry.
Highlights: • We challenge the idea that trust and distrust substitute for each other as ends of a continuum. • We provide a more nuanced platform on which to deploy a TCE-trust lens to understand productive and unproductive supply chain collaboration. • We provide insights into more nuanced forms of trust predicting the conditions under which supply chain collaborations develop healthy versus unhealthy levels of trust, and the forms of that trust. • We offer unique insights into the influence of culture on the interpretation and performance of trust and distrust in international SCC. 2 • We present longitudinal, multi-case data of international supply chain collaboration in the Chinese automotive industry.
The broad isolation, separation and loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic raises risks for couples’ relationship quality and stability. Guided by the vulnerability-stress-adaptation (VSA) model, we suggest that how pandemic-related loss, isolation, and separation impacts couples’ relationships will vary depending on the amount and severity of pandemic-related stress, together with enduring personal vulnerabilities (e.g., attachment insecurity), both of which can disrupt adaptive dyadic responses to these challenges. A review of emerging research examining relationship functioning prior to and during the initial stages of the pandemic offers support for this framework. We draw upon additional research to suggest pathways for mitigating relationship disruptions and promoting resilience.
A global decline in public trust has created a strong need for governments worldwide to engage citizens in order to enhance policy legitimacy and ensure effective post-Fukushima energy transitions. Deliberative policy-making – an advanced form of participatory policy-making that emphasises dialogue and debate – is widely regarded as an intervention that can enhance trust and subsequently legitimacy of energy transitions policies. However, the potential and limits of deliberative policy-making remain the subject of debate. This paper contributes to this debate by exploring deliberative policy-making from a trust perspective. We develop a trust-based systems framework of deliberative policy-making in the energy transitions context to understand, examine, and conceptualise the quality of such policy-making processes. Our framework is tested and applied to a case study of a national deliberative poll (DP) on energy held in Japan in 2012. This study draws on qualitative and quantitative data derived from the DP, in particular from a two-day deliberative forum involving 285 citizens. The findings indicate that the existence of a trust gap may jeopardise the quality of deliberative processes where citizen participation is considered as an input and enhanced policy legitimacy as an output of a policy-making system. We also show that the trust gap is a complicated concept consisting of three dimensions (trust in information, motives, and competence) and three types of directional dynamics (vertical, horizontal, and temporal). Our study identifies the context of public distrust as well as the broader political environment as two critical contextual conditions that may inhibit the closure of the trust gap. Our study contains rich insights on deliberative policy-making in the energy context, arguing that it carries no guarantee of enhanced policy legitimacy. Policy-makers in the energy transitions field need to focus attention on creating the conditions to build public trust in order to enhance policy legitimacy and thus realise the potential benefits of deliberative practices of policy-making.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to recognize critical barriers for Lean manufacturing practices implementation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) focusing in the context of a developing economy. The advancement of SMEs is of utmost important for a surge in exports while competing with other countries and these barriers have to be given due importance as they play a major role in stalling the overall development of SMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
In this present investigation, 26 barriers to Lean implementation in SMEs have been identified after an extensive study of the literature available on the subject. After that, the influential barriers were investigated through the Analytical hierarchy process-Technique of order preference by similarity to ideal solution (AHP-TOPSIS) method using priority weightage given to them by different experts in their industries. The ranking given to the barriers is based on the AHP-TOPSIS method and has been validated by the sensitivity analysis.
Findings
The investigation reveals that for the successful implementation of Lean manufacturing practices, the will of the management, individual will power and contribution of the people matter a lot apart from other barriers such as flexibility, expertise of the people, resources and resistance offered by the people to new programs. The solutions for overcoming these barriers are also provided in this study and a model has been suggested for the same.
Research limitations/implications
This work was devoted to the evaluation of obstacles in the introduction of Lean practices and prioritizing them. But it was limited to the medium- and small-scale organizations located in Northern India. Further studies can expand the scope to the large-scale units in the field. Moreover, the scope of this study was confined to the manufacturing sector. Future studies can extend it to the non-manufacturing environments such as the service sector, health care, etc. This investigation was based on the judgments of industry experts and academicians. Another approach such as Viekriterijumsko kompromisno rangiranje can be used for future investigations.
Originality/value
This study is significant when keeping in mind the contribution of SMEs to a country’s economy, especially in the Indian context.
Purpose
Artificial intelligence (AI) fosters economic growth and opens up new directions for innovation. However, the diffusion of AI proceeds very slowly and falls behind, especially in comparison to other technologies. An important path leading to better adoption rates identified is trust-building. Particular requirements for trust and their relevance for AI adoption are currently insufficiently addressed.
Design/methodology/approach
To close this gap, the authors follow a qualitative approach, drawing on the extended valence framework by assessing semi-structured interviews with experts from various companies.
Findings
The authors contribute to research by finding several subcategories for the three main trust dimensions ability, integrity and benevolence, thereby revealing fundamental differences for building trust in AI compared to more traditional technologies. In particular, the authors find access to knowledge, transparency, explainability, certification, as well as self-imposed standards and guidelines to be important factors that increase overall trust in AI.
Originality/value
The results show how the valence framework needs to be elaborated to become applicable to the AI context and provide further structural orientation to better understand AI adoption intentions. This may help decision-makers to identify further requirements or strategies to increase overall trust in their AI products, creating competitive and operational advantage.
Prequalification of suppliers in the Construction Supply Chain is considered a crucial step to assure to their ability to deliver socially sustainable projects. This research identifies the most important social sustainability prequalification criteria for supplier selection in Construction Supply Chain. Additionally, a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) model based on social indicators of sustainability is proposed in this research. Structured interviews were organized with experienced practitioners to define the relative importance weights of criteria that have collected in the first phase using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). As such, the AHP is applied to develop mathematical determination to achieve the weights of social indicators. Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is used to evaluate the different suppliers in the construction supply chain against 17 identified attributes. Ultimately, the closeness coefficients of the suppliers are estimated in order to identify social performance. The research aims at proposing a computational model of MCDM in order to introduce it to the construction organizations to utilize in the supplier prequalification process. A computational model is developed and a case study is worked out to illustrate the proposed methodology in supplier selection to ensure sustainable construction projects. Afterwards, the model is validated and a sensitivity analysis is conducted to analyze the impact of changing the weights of the considered attributes in the model outputs.
Purpose
There are indications that trust is essential in innovation ecosystems relations. However, studies have not yet focused on deeply exploring such connection. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the influence of trust among actors in the context of innovation ecosystems.
Design/methodology/approach
This study developed a conceptual framework and a set of propositions. We raised a discussion based on the intertwining of three widely known dimensions of trust (ability, benevolence and integrity) and four dimensions of innovation ecosystems (network collaboration, interdependency, value co-creation and innovation objectives).
Findings
This paper suggests that trust contributes to the development of innovation ecosystems’ dimensions. In addition, it sheds light on the need to consider all three dimensions of trust together and simultaneously, because, by itself, none of them is sufficient to build trust in innovation ecosystems. Also, we argue that the different connections between the dimensions of trust and those of innovation ecosystems lead to the development of such ecosystems.
Originality/value
Through the approach of an underexplored area of research, this paper contributes to a broad understanding of the role of trust in innovation ecosystems toward the pursuit of creating innovation. It also proposes a novelty to the field, by suggesting four dimensions of innovation ecosystems to help managers analyze ecosystems through a more practical perspective.
In the "We the Media" era, the rules for forming social users' following relationships are complex. Links generated between two social user nodes are influenced by not only the structural information of their social network nodes but also the users’ occupational environments, interests in opinions, topics, social psychology, etc. In the existing studies of link prediction in complex networks, predicting the possibility of link generation between two nodes that have not yet generated edges in a complex network is calculated mainly from the known network nodes and structural information. Such studies, in which the main predictors are the structural similarities among social nodes or user location nodes, cannot fully explore and utilize the social network node users’ public opinion characteristics. To quantitatively identify the influence of different dimensions of public opinion factors on predicting links between social user nodes, we present a study on the prediction of social network links in "We the Media" networks. Starting with the characteristics of the elements found in public opinions on “We the Media” networks, in which public opinions are multidimensional and multilayered and possess multiple attributes, we built a multidimensional network model oriented towards the topology of public opinions on “We the Media” networks. Combined with an analysis of the driving factors in the formation of user-node relationships in social networks, we designed a prediction algorithm that works on multidimensional network links. Furthermore, we conducted an empirical analysis of social relationship prediction, whose effectiveness has also been compared with baseline methods such as the Common-Neighbourhood-Driven model, the Jaccard index, and the SimRank method. We chose the area under the curve (AUC) as the indicator of link prediction and evaluation using “We the Media” public opinion data from Weibo.com. The research findings of this paper can be summarized as follows: (1) The effectiveness of the multidimensional network link prediction algorithm is significantly higher than those of the baseline methods. (2) The prediction algorithm presented in this paper works on multidimensional network links and can evaluate the effects of different dimensions of public opinion factors on the prediction of user-node links in social networks. (3) The element of occupational environment improves the accuracy much more than the element of user interest in opinions and topics when predicting user-nodes’ links, while the element of social psychology reduces the accuracy.
The literature on influencer marketing has identified opinion leadership of influencers and parasocial relationship with influencers as two focal constructs affecting followers' purchase intention; yet they are only studied in isolation. This research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the effects of the two key constructs by combining and comparing them in a model with the moderators of post characteristics, namely post type and correspondent inference. Empirical results from 409 online followers of two Instagram accounts confirm the complementary effects of opinion leadership and parasocial relationship in influencer marketing and reveal the more prominent role of parasocial relationship over opinion leadership in affecting followers’ purchase intention. These effects are moderated by post characteristics. Storytelling posts intensify both effects. Correspondent inference enhances the effect of parasocial relationship, but not that of opinion leadership. These findings point to the importance of the social aspect of influencer marketing and inform the influencer marketing research and practice on “who says what” for improving communication effectiveness.
This article discusses the relevance of citizen, business, and public sector trust in risk management regarding socio-environmental conflicts over renewable energies in Chile. The study was qualitative, on a simple case of embedded design, and analysed employing a content analysis, two wind projects (Renaico and La Cabaña) and two small-scale hydroelectric plants (Picoiquén River and Los Aromos) in the Region of La Araucanía, Chile. The results show the importance of trust in risk management due to socio-environmental conflicts, revealing the affective/subjective dimension through variables such as the Sense of Justice, Integrity, Transparency, Benevolence, Honesty, and Commitment with the interests of others, and variables such as Efficiency, Competence, and Consistency of Behaviour in its technical dimension.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are under pressure to adopt sustainable practices in their business due to increasing environmental challenges. This study aims to identify and prioritize the solutions to overcome the barriers in the implementation of ecodesign practices in SMEs. This study helps the companies to develop and implement the strategies on priority using higher ranked solutions. In this study, a framework is proposed that is based on fuzzy analytical hierarchy process and fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution to rank the solutions that overcome the barriers in ecodesign implementation in SMEs. The proposed framework is illustrated by conducting a case study of an Indian ring and piston manufacturing company. This framework provides an effective support in the decision-making of the company for producing eco-friendly products through the implementation of ecodesign practices. Results of this study emphasize that training of designers to use different ecodesign tools is an essential practice for SMEs.
Solar energy is considered as the most used resources of non-conventional energy compared to Wind and Tidal energy. A photovoltaic (PV) system is used to generate solar energy by photovoltaics. The solar panel is one of the vital parts of a photovoltaic system and there has been a lot of research works reported with the objective of reducing its material costs with better energy efficiency. In order to select the best solar panel, it is necessary to make a balance between tangible and intangible criteria that conflict with each other. The various problems of solar panel selection and the existing methods to solve the problems have been studied elaborated in this research work. The findings of this review paper will help the stakeholders and decision makers in sorting out some of the uncertainties in the selection of Solar panel.