The study of urban resilience (UR) in the context of sustainable development (SD) is a relatively new chapter, so we give it our full attention in this article. We seek to link UR and SD by ...understanding the complexity of current anthropogenic hazards—more precisely, global consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine. In our study, we go a step further and create a hypothetical model based on hazards that links the key factors of UR and SD. We set the following two objectives: whether and how research incorporates newly perceived conceptual hazards (pandemic, war) and whether all groups of factors are explored equally and simultaneously. As these two hazards have only recently emerged and research on the subject is still well underway, we have opted for a systematic review method. We focused on articles from 2019 to 2022. The study showed that newly perceived conceptual tensions (pandemic, war) related to UR and SD have not been adequately explored. The study confirmed the lack of existing research in the broader context of understanding resilience of the built environment, and thus the lack of studies that provide a foundation and perspective for SD of the built environment. Therefore, we believe that further research should specifically focus on the plurality of approaches to understand the complex interactions, their impacts, and feedbacks in the context of multidimensional urbanization to understand UR as a perspective for SD.
A sense of community plays an important role in promoting sustainable behaviors and values. Therefore, when measuring sense of community, it is important to ensure that such measurement instruments ...have excellent psychometric properties. In this study, we start from the model that sense of community is related to a person’s perception of his or her relationship with a community, particularly in terms of need fulfillment, sense of connectedness and emotional connection, and perceived impact on the community. The Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS) is an 8-item self-report scale designed specifically for the assessment of individuals’ relation with their neighborhood. The aim of this study was to investigate the factor structure and reliability of a new Slovenian version. A sample of 502 adults from Slovenia completed the scale. The data did not support the original hierarchical four-factor model. On the other hand, a one-factor model with autoregressive effects on the unique factors fitted well. The reliability of the sum score was excellent, while only two out of the four subscales had acceptable reliability. The results support the use of the Slovenian version of the BSCS as a unidimensional scale and allow the use of this measure in research on sense of community and possibly as a rigorous measure in further studies of sustainable development in different cultures.
Purpose
There is a lack of theoretical and empirical studies regarding concepts of social sustainability based on social infrastructure. The idea of understanding this paper is that quality social ...infrastructure leads to the general quality of people’s life in the built environment and that is rounded up to social sustainability. This paper aims to integrate these concepts into the network, hereinafter referred to as a social sustainability model.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology used in this paper is desk research. The authors follow methodological steps in the building of conceptual network: setting up a research problem; choice of databases; reviewing the literature and categorizing the selected data; identifying and default conceptual definition; integrating the concepts; synthesis and making it all make sense; and assembly and validating the concept. Through that, a large volume of bibliographic materials was scanned, and a limited number of documents have been reviewed and critiqued. The documents have been selected from varied disciplines, including social infrastructure, quality of life, social sustainability, urban sociology, housing policy as among the articles.
Findings
The result is the model which represents the links between social infrastructure (utility equipment, public infrastructure, vital objects and fundamentals) and further between factors inside quality of life structure (users, quality of life, reflections). The result is the model which representing the links between social infrastructure (utility equipment, public infrastructure, vital objects and fundamentals) and further between factors inside well-being structure (users, quality of life, reflections).
Research limitations/implications
There is a potential risk of errors arising from the use of assumptions, limited desk reviews and data from secondary resources.
Originality/value
The authors portray the development of social sustainability model. Within this model, the authors can critically observe all levels within the existing built environment: user responses to the built environment, their satisfaction, social inclusion, health, etc. Within this model, they can observe the links between existing research, their frequency, capture, direction and not least to determine which areas have not been explored and where the lacks of research are. The conclusion outlines the framework and its main concepts of social sustainability based on social infrastructure and well-being, including their theoretical premises and components.
Unlike environmental sustainability, social sustainability in the workplace is a relatively new concept that is still searching for its own definition and explanation. Therefore, in this paper, we ...systematically reviewed and critically evaluated recent research on this topic. In doing so, we identified important constructs that help us better define and understand the phenomenon of social sustainability in the workplace. We focused on articles from 2016 to 2022 with content related to three Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely health and wellbeing (SDG-3), gender equality (SDG-5), and decent work (SDG-8). Given the harrowing events of the past 2 years, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the global impact of the war in Ukraine, we also wanted to learn whether other categories, such as security (SDG-11) and peace (SDG-16), are embedded in the concept of social sustainability at work. The articles we studied were found through EBSCOhost, specifically in the Academic Search Complete, Business Source Premier, APA PsycInfo, SocINDEX with Full Text, and GreenFILE databases. We selected 67 articles and organized them according to the four levels of research and practice in work and organizational psychology. In reviewing the literature, we identified several constructs that can be classified at four levels of interest in work and organizational psychology. At the level focused on the job/work, we identified two main topics: (i) sustainable job/work characteristics and (ii) sustainable job (re)design. At the people-focused level, we identified the following topics: (i) pro-sustainable self-system, (ii) pro-sustainable job attitudes and motivation, (iii) sustainability work environment perceptions and other mediating mechanisms, and (iv) sustainable job behavior. The organization-focused level includes (i) organizations as human systems and (ii) pro-sustainable organizational policies and practices. The last (society-focused) level is defined by two main topics: (i) understanding society as a human system and (ii) pro-social mechanisms. In the discussion, we categorized specific constructs identified within the described focus levels into the theoretical model describing the psychological concept of social sustainability in the workplace from the perspective of sustainable goals.
Purpose
In comparison with the relations between the human and natural environments that have been the central focus of environmental psychology for many years, the interactions between the ...psychological processes underlying human behaviour and the built environment have only recently regained the interest of researchers. In this paper, the author first discusses the reasons for the slower development of human – built environment relations. Afterwards, the author systematically examines the impact that the research of environmental stress, namely, poor housing and poor neighbourhood quality, had on the contemporary understanding of human – built environment relations.
Design/methodology/approach
The author focuses on social, biophilic and evidence-based design. The author proposes deeper psychological engagement in correlation with human behaviour, psychological well-being and society. The author highlights the inclusion of psychologists in interdisciplinary research teams addressing the development of sustainable solutions to the issues of residential environments.
Findings
It has been shown that substandard house quality, high noise, lack of natural light in houses, poorer physical quality of urban neighbourhoods, living in a low-income neighbourhood, etc. are linked to elevated physiological and psychological stress. Despite this evidence, there is still a gap between building designers and building users in modern industrialised societies, which could deepen tenants’ dissatisfaction due to specific behavioural needs and consequently lower their psychological well-being and health risk behaviour.
Research limitations/implications
These are potential risks of error arising from the use of assumptions, limited samples size and data from the secondary resources.
Originality/value
The major contributions of this paper are as follows. If the environment is understood as a dynamic, constantly changing and complex system of a wide range of players, the author can discern in this environment a dynamic that is otherwise characteristic of emotional dynamics. Expressed participants’ high satisfaction with residential status does not necessarily generate high expectations regarding real estate factors.
The primary aim of our study was to examine the role of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs in predicting outcomes that could potentially worsen the course of the pandemic: preventive behavior, vaccination ...intentions and willingness to share COVID-19 related opinions. Structural equation modeling was performed on a Slovenian sample (N = 490). Analysis showed that COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs predicted all three health-related outcomes when sociodemographic variables were controlled for. Further, a perceived coronavirus threat was identified as an important mediating factor between conspiracy beliefs, preventive behavior and vaccination intentions. Conspiracy beliefs were also positively associated with age, female gender, religiosity, and share of COVID-19 information from social media, while they were negatively associated with level of education. The results suggest that COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs may be an important barrier to achieving pandemic management goals and highlight some risk factors for their occurrence.
The article focuses on the question how maintenance costs impact the potential resettlement of elderly people into suitable accommodation units. In Slovenia, more than 80 percent of households own ...their own homes, and among these more than 60 percent of owners are over 65 years of age. The main instrument used to measure their opinions was a questionnaire which 471 participants over 65 years of age were asked to complete. The main conclusion is that despite high maintenance costs, Slovenian participants would not sell their property under any circumstances, not even in return for a better-quality living environment. Their attachment to the environment in which they live is extremely high. They prefer to solve problems related to maintaining rather than moving to a more suitable home or environment. We explain this to be due to their strong social affiliation to the micro-environment, strong intergenerational attachment, and the reluctance of Slovenians to migrate.
This article explores the psychological characteristics of potential real estate buyers connected with their decision to buy. Through a review of research, it reveals that most studies of ...psychological factors in the decision to buy real estate have a partial and dispersed orientation, and examine individual factors independently. It appears that the research area is lacking clearly defined models of psychological factors in the decision to buy real estate that would integrally and relationally explain the role of psychological characteristics of real estate buyers and their expectations in relation to a decision to buy. The article identifies two sets of psychological factors, motivational and emotional, determines their interaction with potential buyers' expectations when deciding to purchase real estate and offers starting points for forming a model.
The article addresses the question, which personality dimensions mostly contribute to the positive human functioning, especially to wellbeing and prosocial values. As we predicted, the three ...dimensions from the Big Five factors are mostly opposed to the negative personality characteristics known as Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy), namely emotional stability (low neuroticism), agreeableness and conscientiousness. The results demonstrated negative relationship between these personality dimensions (labeled Bright Triad) and Dark Triad. Both Dark and Bright Triad dimensions are substantially loaded with one single bipolar latent dimension, the Dark versus Bright Personality. The results also confirmed the substantial connections of the Bright Triad dimensions to the wellbeing and the values. The Bright Triad dimensions are positively associated with general life satisfaction and traditional, social, cognitive and democratic values and tend to be negatively associated with status or power values. On the other side, Dark Triad dimensions are positively related to the status values and tend to be negatively related to the prosocial values.
Personality; Positive psychology; Dark triad; Emotional stability; Agreeableness; Conscientiousness; Values; Wellbeing.
This study addresses a certain research issue: how do the Big Five personality traits of managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) impact the business performance of companies? A ...representative random sample of managers of SMEs in Slovenia was used for data collection through survey research. Hypotheses and the model were tested using structural equation modeling. A valuable contribution is made in the form of a new model of Big Five personality induced SME growth, profitability and new value creation. Openness of managers can be predictive of growth and new value creation of their companies, with the new value creation impact especially expressed in female-managed companies. Conscientiousness may not be crucial for performance, except for new value creation in females where this relationship can be negative. Extraversion can predict the growth and profitability. Agreeableness can have negative effects on all performance elements. Neuroticism can be predictive of growth and profitability. Practitioners must be aware of the importance of managers’ Big Five personality traits for SME performance. Where possible, managers may like to develop their levels of openness, extraversion, non-agreeableness and neuroticism.
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