Assessing the social relevance of school transport in Flanders (Belgium)

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom van Lier ◽  
Astrid De Witte ◽  
Olivier Mairesse ◽  
Joachim Hollevoet ◽  
Dimokritos Kavadias ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Economic Evaluations ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Transport Organization ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Socially Relevant ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the social relevance of school transport in Flanders, Belgium, by using a social cost-benefit analysis (SCBA). Design/methodology/approach – The use of a SCBA already showed to be an appropriate tool for the appraisal of transport projects as it generates a large amount of information on the investment and its return for society. Findings – This paper clearly shows that organizing school transport is socially relevant, using a SCBA as a tool for evaluation. The analysis also provides insight in potential ways for improving school transport organization and financing and allows assessing whether further gains for society are possible. It reveals that the budget granted for the obligatory organization of school transport is not sufficient and that schools are generally forced to use part of their educational budget to be able to organize the (socially relevant) school transport. Practical implications – Findings from this study can assist schools and organizers of school transport in improving their organization. It demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of the investment. Originality/value – Not many socio-economic evaluations of school transport have been done in literature. This study supports the use of SCBA within this context, further developing its use to answer similar research questions.

The social valuation of income: a survey approach

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 808-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
David John Evans ◽  
Erhun Kula ◽  
Yoko Nagase
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Statistical Testing ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Valuation ◽  
Survey Approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate survey-based values of the elasticity of marginal social valuation of income, an important welfare parameter in cost-benefit analysis. Design/methodology/approach – A model relating equity welfare weights to income is developed, and iso-elasticity of marginal valuation of income is tested using survey data obtained from a sample of Turkish politicians who are instrumental in policy making. Findings – Based on the survey feedback, formal statistical testing indicates that Turkish politicians, regardless of party allegiance, reveal preferences consistent with an iso-elastic marginal social valuation of income. The estimated value of the elasticity measure is close to unity for each of the political parties. Originality/value – The originality of the paper is in terms of the survey method used to obtain from Turkish politicians estimates of the marginal social valuation of income. This welfare parameter is needed in the calculation of both social discount rates and welfare weights. The paper will be of interest to academics in the field of welfare economics as well as to practitioners involved in the appraisal of social projects and policies.

A reflection on survey research in hospitality

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 3412-3422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Dolnicar
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Survey Research ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Substantial Risk ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Survey research has developed to become the default empirical approach to answering research questions in the field of hospitality (and many other fields of research within the social sciences). This paper aims to reflect on the use of survey research in hospitality and offers recommendations for improvement. Design/methodology/approach First, known dangers to validity associated with survey research are discussed. Next, a sample of studies recently published in leading hospitality journals is assessed in view of these known dangers. Finally, recommendations are offered for editors, reviewers, readers and authors to mitigate the risk of drawing invalid conclusions based on survey research. Findings Survey research is very common in hospitality research and is used to investigate a wide range of research questions and constructs under study. The nature of constructs studied, the answer scales used and the nature of the samples point to a substantial risk to the validity of conclusions drawn. Practical implications A number of risk mitigation measures are proposed that can help authors minimise the risks to validity arising from known dangers associated with survey research. These same risk mitigation measures can be used by editors and reviewers in the assessment of manuscripts and by readers to evaluate the validity of conclusions drawn in already published work. Originality/value The value of this study lies in reflecting from a distance on how the survey research is conducted in the social sciences in general and in hospitality research in specific. The paper reveals that some routine approaches particularly prone to undermining the validity of conclusions may have been adopted and offers a few suggestions how this risk can be mitigated.

Open innovation scorecard: a managerial tool

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1216-1244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilia Lamberti ◽  
Francesca Michelino ◽  
Antonello Cammarano ◽  
Mauro Caputo
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Open Innovation ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Content Type ◽  
A Value ◽  
Market Opportunities ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to devise a scorecard providing a suite of indicators that give innovation managers a value-oriented, fast but holistic view of open innovation (OI) adoption in their organisations. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical framework is built after a thorough review of OI literature. The managerial tool is developed from the theoretical framework, constructing indicators that can be easily generated by processing data within information systems of companies. Findings The scorecard provides a multi-dimensional conceptualisation of OI adoption in organisations, investigating environment, collaboration and importing/exporting mechanisms. Six indicators are defined: innovation funds, OI employees, collaboration costs, collaboration revenues, importing costs and exporting revenues. Research limitations/implications The devised tool enables the assessment of openness through objective and available data, systematically updated within the information systems of companies and, hence, easily exploitable by innovation managers. In order to meet such conditions, several aspects emerged from the literature review, although relevant, were left out. Practical implications Three dashboards can be derived by exploiting the information available in the scorecard. With the use of such tools innovation managers can both assess the open behaviours of their companies – identifying the trajectories to follow in order to improve performance – and benchmark different OI practices either inside or outside the organisation. Originality/value The scorecard allows innovation managers both to carry out a cost-benefit analysis, evaluating if their organisations are effectively and efficiently generating outputs from OI with the committed resources, and to identify a virtuous circle between the company’s commitment and reputation, joint development, and innovation market opportunities.

The cross-shopping behaviour: patterns of store format mobility in the apparel sector

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice Luceri ◽  
Sabrina Latusi
Keyword(s):  
Customer Loyalty ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Telephone Surveys ◽  
Shopping Behaviour ◽  
Retail Managers ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The study investigates the cross-format shopping behaviour in the apparel sector. The purpose of this paper is to relate the number of store formats patronized to a set of consumer characteristics under a unifying theoretical framework emphasising cost-benefit analysis. Design/methodology/approach – The research involved questionnaire telephone surveys from a sample of 1,722 apparel shoppers in a European region. Findings – Among shoppers’ socio-demographic characteristics, age, gender, employment status and citizenship were found to have an impact on multi-store format patronage patterns for apparel purchases. Moreover, the store format preference and the sale proneness proved to be additional determinants of cross-format mobility. Practical implications – The findings provide retail managers with valuable insights for effective marketing strategies aimed to exploit customer loyalty potential. Originality/value – Despite consumers’ regular use of various alternative store formats for apparel purchases, literature on the determinants of cross-format mobility is scarce. Addressing the inter-type cross-shopping behaviour of consumers from a cost-benefit viewpoint, this study makes a new contribution in the area of customer loyalty and the complementarity and substitutability of store formats.

Cultural heritage in sustainable development

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-46
Author(s):  
Michel Soto Chalhoub
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Market Price ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Real Estate Market ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Preservation of historic structures meets ecological criteria of sustainable development. In Mount Lebanon, the traditional house is a cultural asset built of native stone one-meter thick double-wythe walls. Today, lack of public policies is causing those environmental assets to approach extinction. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach The methodology uses multivariate regression on 128 data points. A mathematical model is developed and empirically tested on public attitudes toward restoration. Independent variables represent the need for protectionist policies, X1; contribution of restoration to environmental sustainability, X2; contribution to culture, X3; and financial benefits, X4. Findings It is found that stone houses transfer heat significantly slower than modern construction. There is a statistically significant and positive correlation with X1, X2, and X3, but negative with X4, most likely due to favoring return on investment of multistory buildings over the attractiveness of stone houses. Research limitations/implications As future research implications, the undergirding of urban planning policies need to be revisited. Current policies neither protect heritage, nor offer legal means to restore heritage houses. Practical implications Practical implications include revisions to building laws in Mount Lebanon, as they marginalize old stone structures. Environmental valuation techniques, use value and existence value, are recommended. Social implications Social awareness needs to be built about valuation techniques to account for complex assets that cannot be approximated through short-term real estate market price. Social rather than financial cost-benefit analysis must be performed to quantify environmental assets. Originality/value This research illustrates a pilot restoration project with critical issues faced by heritage stone houses. These assets are underrepresented in building laws which warrants social and environmental activism.

Contribution of cost-benefit analysis to optimization of eco-design plants

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 334-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Mellal ◽  
Mébarek Djebabra
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Environmental Constraints ◽  
Industrial System ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Industrial Systems ◽  
Functional Behavior ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – This study aims to interest the eco-design of the systems. This interest is justified by the need to reducing the environmental impacts in phase of the design plant. Design/methodology/approach – It consists of a proposal for a combined methodology of the industrial systems eco-design. This methodology is based on the simultaneous use of a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) method and dependability tools. Findings – In the developed approach, we use the dependability tools for modeling of the functional behavior of the industrial systems and the CBA method for optimization of the industrial system constraints which are in fact environmental constraints. Practical implications – Methodology suggested constitutes an invaluable help to ensure a better integration of the environment in production. Originality/value – Methodology suggested is tallied by the CBA method, which makes it possible to manage the conflict relation between production and environmental protection.

scholarly journals A Comparison of Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Practice: Divergent Policy Practices in Sweden

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikael Svensson ◽  
Lars Hultkrantz
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Economic Evaluations ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Public Funds ◽  
The Public ◽  
Effectiveness Analysis ◽  
The Social

This paper compares the implementation of the two economic evaluation methods Cost-Effectiveness/Utility (CEA/CUA) and Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) as tools for allocation of national public funds in the health and transport sector in Sweden, respectively. We compare the recommended values for important economic parameters such as the social discount rate, the marginal cost of public funds, and the explicit and implicit valuation of health, and document a number of substantial and unexplained differences in implementation. Such differences are problematic considering that the increasing use of economic evaluations to guide policy decisions also has implied an overlap of application areas. We conclude with a discussion on the need of a harmonized procedure for economic evaluations in the public sector in order to reduce the risk of inefficient allocations purely due to different applications of the methods. Published: Online February 2017. In print December 2017.

“Please tidy up before leaving”: nudging Airbnb guests toward altruistic behavior

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 524-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Ranson ◽  
Daniel Guttentag
Keyword(s):  
Social Presence ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Altruistic Behavior ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Relationship Model ◽  
Social Market ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This study aimed to investigate whether increasing the social presence within an Airbnb lodging environment could nudge guests toward altruistic cleaning behaviors. Design/methodology/approach The study was based around a theoretical framework combining the social-market versus money-market relationship model, nudge theory and social presence theory. A series of three field experiments were conducted, in which social presence was manipulated to test its impact on guest cleaning behaviors prior to departure. Findings The experimental results confirmed the underlying hypothesis that an Airbnb listing’s enhanced social presence can subtly induce guests to help clean their rental units prior to departure. Originality/value This study is the first to examine behavioral nudging in an Airbnb context. It is also one of the first field experiments involving Airbnb. The study findings offer clear theoretical and practical implications.

scholarly journals The social marketing theory-based (SMT) approach for designing interventions

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamini Manikam ◽  
Rebekah Russell-Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Social Marketing ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Marketing Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Step Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Marketing Intervention ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Social Marketing Theory

Purpose – Despite the importance of theory as a driving framework, many social marketers either fail to explicitly use theory as the basis of designing social marketing interventions or default to familiar theories which may not accurately reflect the nature of the behavioural issue. The purpose of this paper is therefore to propose and demonstrate the social marketing theory (SMT)-based approach for designing social marketing interventions, campaigns or tools. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper proposes a four-step process and illustrates this process by applying the SMT-based approach to the digital component of a social marketing intervention for preventing domestic violence. Findings – For effective social marketing interventions, the underpinning theory must reflect consumer insights and key behavioural drivers and be used explicitly in the design process. Practical implications – Social marketing practitioners do not always understand how to use theory in the design of interventions, campaigns or tools, and scholars do not always understand how to translate theories into practice. This paper outlines a process and illustrates how theory can be selected and applied. Originality/value – This paper proposes a process for theory selection and use in a social marketing context.

Security and the social mind: attachment and therapeutic communities

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwen Adshead
Keyword(s):  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Mind ◽  
Basic Features ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Attachment Process

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the basic features of attachment theory, and explore how they relate to the development of the “social mind” and the work of therapeutic communities (TC). Design/methodology/approach – The author describes the essentials of attachment theory in humans; and the development of both secure and insecure states of mind. The author will set out how insecure attachment systems are associated with deficits in mentalising processes which are fundamental to the activity of the social mind. Findings – The author suggests how attachment to a TC can promote mentalising processes. The author draws on the work of other speakers in the conclusions about how to “grow” secure minds and societies. Research limitations/implications – This paper is a brief over view only and does not address attachment process to TC in any depth. Practical implications – Attachment theory could help both service users and therapists who work in TCs understand some of the difficulties people have in engaging at the start. Attachment theory also gives a guide to what a “good enough” experience in a TC might look like. Originality/value – There is little existing discussion of the application of attachment theory to TCs.

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