Circular Economy (CE) principles are relatively unexplored, especially in emerging economies. None of the studies so far have also explored operational behavioural factors and CE practices in the ...context of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). To address this gap, the present study explores operational behavioural factors that contribute to the adoption of CE practices in SMEs of emerging economies for the sustainable development of their societies. The study was conducted in three different phases. This involved an extensive literature review, a brainstorming session with experts, an empirical investigation based on 162 responses from SMEs, the development of a factors structure model employing Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and building a Network Relationship Map (NRM). The study contributes to the theory of planned and operational behaviour by considering the influence of personal determinants in assessing the adoption of CE among SMEs to examine the behavioural factors that influence CE adoption in these organisations.
Meat consumption is declining in developed countries but increasing in emerging countries. This study, for the first time, compares the socio-behavioural factors influencing individuals' meat ...consumption level and meat reduction intention between Vietnam, an emerging economy and Switzerland, a developed country. Online consumer surveys were conducted in late 2022, yielding 552 usable replies from Switzerland and 592 from Vietnam for this study. Drawing upon an extended Protection Motivation Theory and using structural equation modelling, we found similarities as well as differences in the determinants of meat consumption behaviour. Perceived health risks of meat overconsumption, self-efficacy of meat reduction, attitude toward ethical and environmental issues, and pressure from family members' reluctance to change diet drove the intention to reduce meat in both countries. Meat attachment emerges as the most important determinant of meat consumption level in not only Switzerland but also Vietnam and thus presents the largest barrier to meat reduction. The association between response cost of eating less meat and intention to reduce meat was negative in Switzerland but positive in Vietnam. Self-efficacy of meat consumption reduction influenced meat consumption level solely in Switzerland. Ethical and environmental attitudes significantly facilitated meat reduction intention of Swiss respondents only, reflecting cultural differences. Policy implications were discussed.
3 Meaningful collaboration among heterogeneous stakeholders is essential for achieving sustainability in agri-food supply chains. A substantial amount of research has been focused on examining ...factors that are critical in shaping characteristics and effectiveness of collaboration in sustainable supply chains from various perspectives. The divergence of such studies and their findings, however, has led to a great proliferation of collaboration behavioural factors proposed. As much as contributing to understanding, different terms and definitions of similar concepts or nature introduced in the literature often also add too much confusion of agri-food supply chain stakeholders in interpreting, evaluating and improving collaboration behaviour. So far, there is lack of a structured analysis on commonalities among those behavioural factors to cluster or consolidate for enhanced clarity and efficiency in assessing and managing collaboration performance toward sustainable agri-food supply chains. Aimed to address such a limitation, this paper applies a systematic review to investigate the landscape of extant literature via the lenses of Resource Dependency Theory and Content Analysis. As a result, 10 key behavioural factors to enable an effective collaboration system for sustainable agri-food supply chain management are identified, which are Joint Efforts, Sharing Activities, Collaboration Value, Adaptation, Trust, Commitment, Power, Continuous Improvement, Coordination and Stability. The findings from this study can be used as a guideline for future research in agri-food supply chain collaboration and help to model and measure collaboration performance more effectively and efficiently.
•Collaboration behaviours is considered as the fundamental aspects to bridging the interaction among stakeholders.•A systematic review explores the potential collaboration behaviours for sustainable agri-food supply chain.•Results support the collaboration activities and research in sustainable agri-food supply chain.
Approximately 17% of the European workforce is engaged in shift work. How the experience of shift work impacts on the dietary and lifestyle practices of workers is unclear.
Overall, 15 focus groups ...were conducted by two researchers, with 109 participants. The initial focus group was carried out with both researchers present, to ensure consistency in facilitation. Both researchers thematically analysed all data collected.
Shift work was described as affecting many areas of workers' lives. Three overarching themes were identified: (i) impact on eating behaviour; (ii) impact on other lifestyle behaviours including physical activity, sleep, alcohol consumption, smoking; and (iii) impact on psychosocial health and wellbeing. There appeared to be overlap between the effect of shift work and the effect of individual internal factors in influencing workers' decision-making with regard to lifestyle practices.
Shift work affects many areas of workers' lives, negatively impacting on eating and lifestyle behaviours and psychosocial health. This study augments the current literature as it highlights the role internal motivation plays in workers' lifestyle choices. The research should help inform the development of public health strategies to minimize the impact of shift work, such as specialist behavioural change interventions specific to this group.
Over the last century, global stock markets have crashed multiple times, leading to bankruptcy and unemployment and making individuals highly cautious about investing. Hence, individual investors in ...developing markets are highly prone to behavioural biases in their investment decisions, which influence their investment experience. The objective of this study is to examine the relationships between behavioural factors and investment experience, as well as the moderating effect of financial knowledge on individual investors in Bangladesh. Data was analysed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results revealed that behavioural factors such as anchoring, gambler’s fallacy, social interaction, and locus of control significantly influenced individual investors’ investment experiences. Moreover, financial knowledge had a moderating effect on these relationships. The study has important implications for investors, as it highlights the potential pitfalls of behavioural factors and the importance of financial knowledge in investors’ investment experience. The study’s findings imply that the government should develop new market opportunities through innovative products and take the necessary steps to incorporate regulations that will offer investors a better market experience.
Abstract
Background
The alcohol industry uses responsible drinking messaging as a central element of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. It has been argued that such messaging is ...vague, and potentially part of broader CSR activities to protect industry interests at the expense of public health. This study aimed to identify how industry defines responsible drinking, and in what contexts it is used.
Methods
This was a qualitative documentary analysis of publicly available documents and web pages, including company web pages, press releases, reports and blogs from a representative selection of alcohol producers, and industry social aspect/public relations organizations; these were compared to health NGOs and Public Health England. All materials were coded iteratively using NVivo, and results were analysed using the hermeneutic approach.
Results
The term ‘responsible drinking’ was used almost exclusively by industry or industry-funded organizations. ‘Responsible drinking’ was not clearly defined with relation to any particular level of alcohol consumption, and government alcohol guidelines were rarely referenced.
Conclusions
Responsible drinking is a strategically ambiguous, industry-affiliated term that allows for multiple interpretations. Industry sources rarely reference government drinking guidelines in the context of responsible drinking, stressing individual responsibility and risk management. Public health practitioners should be aware of these distinctions, and use clear language regarding lower risk drinking.
A transition towards a circular food system whereby the agricultural food chain changes from a linear production chain to a more circular system with minimal unnecessary losses could be the answer to ...a range of global challenges, such as climate change, diminished water quality and biodiversity, and food insecurity. This paper focuses on behavioural factors and external conditions that influence the decisions of Dutch farmers in the transition towards circular agriculture (CA). This study consists of a literature review, 13 semi-structured, qualitative, in-depth interviews with farmers who contributed to CA and a survey of 429 farmers representing a range of farm types and sectors. Structural Equation Modelling showed that attitude and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are significant predictors of the intention to take measures that contribute to CA, behavioural beliefs, perceived risk and uncertainty, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are all significant predictors of attitude; and intention, perceived behavioural control and subjective knowledge are significant predictors of the relative number of farmers that contribute to CA. Univariate analyses showed that farmers who took more measures that contribute to CA were motivated more by social and environmental values, while farmers who took fewer measures that contribute to CA were motivated more by economic values. In the in-depth interviews, knowledge, resistance from the environment and unsuitable legislation were the barriers mentioned most often. These insights may prove helpful for policymakers and other advisors who influence farmers’ decision making regarding CA. Some examples of what these insights can be used for include: persuasive communication aimed at influencing motivations, beliefs and attitudes; framing directed towards motivating pro-environmental and social values to increase intrinsic motivation; economic incentives to increase extrinsic motivation; providing information for decreasing farmers’ perception of risk and uncertainty, provided that how information is offered is adapted to individual situations. Social pressure may not be helpful in this stage of the transition as there is still a lot of resistance to CA among farmers following a linear approach.
•Behavioural and external factors influence farmers’ choices regarding circular agriculture.•Farmers engaged in circular initiatives are motivated more by social and environmental values.•Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are important in circular agriculture.•Tailor-made legislation is needed to enable the transition to circular agriculture.•Farmers engaged in circular initiatives sometimes face negative social pressure.
The building sector is responsible for more than one-third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Netherlands has set an ambitious target to reduce GHG emissions by 95% by 2050 compared to the ...1990 baseline. Several factors, such as low retrofitting rates, lead to uncertainties in achieving these targets. In the residential sector, the energy retrofit rate of the owner-occupied homes is low. Homeowners encounter different types of barriers when deciding to make energy retrofits. The purpose of this study is to explore the policy implications of the main identified influencing factors and consequently the potential mismatch between current policy and the homeowners’ actual needs. We used semi-structured interviews and focus group meetings with experts from the largest cities in the Netherlands as the data collection methods. We identified the discrepancy between current policy and the actual needs of homeowners as follows: (a) less attention to the right message and the right messenger: policymakers cannot motivate the households using the word sustainability. Policymakers can convince homeowners to make energy retrofits through the improvement in quality of life, the expected cost savings, and the integration of energy retrofits into the maintenance of the home (message effect). Moreover, the trustworthiness and familiarity of the energy ambassador with the households are the main characteristics of these ambassadors (messenger effect). (b) the lack of integrated financial, informational and technical support: the main identified transaction cost barriers (non-monetary costs) are difficulties to inspire homeowners to carry out energy retrofits, lack of knowledge on how to start the energy retrofits, many steps in carrying out energy retrofits of old houses. More importantly, there is a lack of an active and accessible party in the market to reduce the financial, technical and informational barriers.
Understanding the behavioural factors that influence farmers' intentions to participate in agri-environmental schemes is crucial for delivering sustainability in agricultural landscapes. Drawing on a ...qualitative synthesis approach, we seek to understand the underlying motivations behind farmers' decisions to engage with individual as well as collective agri-environmental schemes. We systematically map qualitative evidence on behavioural factors in farmers' decision-making using an expanded Theory of Planned Behaviour framework, incorporating trust and legitimacy elements. Our analysis highlights the role of farmer attitudes in individual schemes. Subjective norms influenced by the farming community, and trust in policy-making processes, were crucial factors determining participation in collective schemes. Normative legitimacy, contract complexity and inflexibility, as well as financial and non-financial outcome beliefs, were key barriers to participation in both types of schemes. Based on our findings, we recommend prioritizing interventions that foster institutional and relational trust. Low levels of trust are linked to barriers caused by subjective norms in both collective and individual schemes. Creating opportunities for social interactions and learning can be essential to foster social capital and trust. Policy development should acknowledge the potential relevance of the broader community context in shaping farmer's attitudes, and particularly its relevance in overcoming barriers linked to cognitive legitimacy, to improve both individual and collective participation in agri-environmental schemes.
•Farmers' identity and legitimacy attitudes pose important barriers for AES.•Low trust in policy-making process obstructs farmers' participation.•Influence of farming community, social norms vital for collective schemes.•Effective AES policy requires understanding of factors shaping farmer behaviour.
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