scholarly journals The end of over-tourism? Opportunities in a post-Covid-19 world

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 1015-1023
Author(s):  
Edward Koh
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Regulatory Compliance ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Material Community ◽  
Crowd Control ◽  
Dense Crowds

Purpose This paper aims to examine the issues faced by cities known for their struggles with over-tourism, before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Opportunities to overcome over-tourism in a post-Covid-19 world are discussed. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a review of the fundamental issues of over-tourism before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings The pandemic has turned the state of tourism in many cities from “over-tourism” to “no tourism”, prompting massive state intervention from governments, regardless of their political ideology. The pandemic has also been more effective than top-down governmental orders and ground-up green initiatives to reduce pollution within a short span of time. Practical implications Many have been left behind by the competitive nature of globalisation, and the Covid-19 pandemic could present a case for governments to play a larger role in improving their citizens’ quality of live. These would include a fundamental shift in focus to jobs (instead of gross domestic products) by governments, increased investment in public works and environment-friendly infrastructure and expanding public regulatory and enforcement roles in areas such as crowd control and inspection of home rentals for regulatory compliance. Social implications When normalcy returns and tourists begin to flock to destinations and attractions, there should be a much higher awareness amongst both tourists and locals of the maintenance of personal hygiene and of the need for safe distancing while in dense crowds. A new social norm should emerge. Originality/value A heightened sense of material, community, emotional and health and safety well-beings of local residents would ease concerns and perceptions of over-tourism.

An industry perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Taylor ◽  
Jean Pierre Garat ◽  
Samer Simreen ◽  
Ghida Sarieddine
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Safety Culture ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Regulatory Compliance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Management Standards ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Food Safety Culture

Purpose – This paper aims to outline the food safety roles and responsibilities within the industry that play an important role in the success of government initiatives, demonstrated using a new model of Food Safety Culture Excellence. It is the sixth article in a Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes theme issue presenting a comprehensive government strategy for improving food safety management standards across the hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach – A case study is used to demonstrate the impact of auditing the 16 dimensions of Food Safety Culture Excellence in practice. The business selected was the first in Abu Dhabi to achieve regulatory compliance for HACCP-based food safety management, and the first to conduct a Food Safety Culture Excellence audit in the United Arab Emirates. Findings – This article demonstrates how the concept of food safety culture works in practice, using the Food Safety Culture Excellence Model with four categories and 16 dimensions. It demonstrates how the auditing of culture within a business can highlight strengths and weaknesses and facilitate continual improvement. Originality/value – The article represents the first published model of Food Safety Culture Excellence, an extensively researched and tested model developed by Taylor Shannon International Ltd. and launched in conjunction with Campden BRI in 2014. It also demonstrates the first audit of the model in practice.

The economic costs of protests and policy recommendations for preventing them: the case of Hong Kong

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anson Cheuk-Ho Au
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Institutional Policy ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
Business Decision ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Transformations

Purpose This paper aims to examine the economic costs of protests at micro-to-firm, market sector and aggregate levels. This paper then develops institutional policy recommendations for allaying these costs. Design/methodology/approach This paper conducts a case study of the anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong by examining news articles, online discussions and economic indices from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. This paper further develops policy insights from an analysis of the Hong Kong Basic Law (the city’s mini-constitution) and insights from economic research. Findings This paper discovers that the protests may have caused overall volatility in firms, market sectors and the overall economy, measured in production disruptions, revenue losses and declines in employment. Among Hong Kong’s four major industries, the most severely stunted market sectors were tourism and retail, as well as trading and logistics, whereas financial services and professional and producer services experienced mixed effects. This paper develops two institutional policy recommendations for government and corporate policymaking for reducing volatility and ultimately safeguarding economic growth: the separation of political ideology and economics; the systematic use of public opinion analytics to pre-test the reception of policies. Practical implications Corporate strategists and policymakers would benefit from and advance the economy by better insulating business decision-making from political biases and by investing in public opinion analytics. Originality/value Much of economic theory treats social transformations as externalities. This paper adopts a different approach by foregrounding the role that social transformations play in shaping the economy. To this end, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is among the first to examine the anti-extradition bill protests of Hong Kong, arguably the most significant and widespread protests in the city’s and the region’s history.

Factors affecting the delivery of optimum health and safety on construction projects during the covid-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benviolent Chigara ◽  
Tirivavi Moyo
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Related Risk ◽  
Monitoring And Enforcement

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of construction professionals relative to factors that affect the delivery of optimum health and safety (H&S) on construction projects during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a quantitative design which entailed the distribution of a web-based questionnaire among construction professionals, namely, architects, construction/project managers, engineers, H&S managers and quantity surveyors working for contractors and construction consultants in Zimbabwe. The data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Factor analysis was used to reveal interrelated significant sets of factors affecting the delivery of optimum H&S. Findings Factor analysis revealed nine components/factors: change and innovation-related, monitoring and enforcement-related, production-related, access to information and health service-related, on-site facilities and welfare-related, risk assessment and mitigation-related, job security and funding-related, cost-related and COVID-19 risk perception-related factors as the significant factors affecting the delivery of optimum H&S during the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe. Research limitations/implications The results highlighted the need for social dialogue among construction stakeholders to support initiatives that will enhance the delivery of H&S on construction projects. Construction stakeholders may find the results useful in highlighting the areas that need improvement to protect workers’ H&S during the pandemic. However, the small sample limits the generalisability of the results to construction sectors in other regions. Originality/value The study investigated factors affecting the delivery of optimum H&S during the COVID-19 to inform interventions to enhance H&S.

Canada protests over Indian Residential Schools expand

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Indigenous Population ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Government Services ◽  
Indian Residential Schools

Significance The discovery of the bodies of hundreds of children at Canada’s former Indian Residential Schools has unleashed a wave of anger and mourning across Canada’s growing Indigenous population. More discoveries are expected, posing challenges for the country’s economic and social fabric. Impacts Public works projects may slow amid intensified disputes between the Canadian state and Indigenous peoples over lands and resources. There will be more pressure to share wealth from economic activity that directly affects Indigenous communities. Indigenous communities are likely to benefit from greater control over the design and delivery of government services. Cultural and academic institutions will increasingly prioritise and amplify Indigenous voices and perspectives. Canada’s reputation as an advocate for human rights will be affected by its handling of the residential schools issue.

Battling COVID-19 with human resource management bundling

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arosha S. Adikaram ◽  
N.P.G.S.I. Naotunna ◽  
H.P.R. Priyankara
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Human Resource Management ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Employee Motivation ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hrm Practices

PurposeThis paper aims to present an empirically driven crisis management framework of complementary human resource management (HRM) bundles that can be utilized in simultaneously managing the health crisis, financial crisis and disruptions to business operations through lockdown and other government restrictions propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe framework is developed employing qualitative methodology, drawing from the successful HRM practices adopted by 26 Sri Lankan companies in battling the many crises of COVID-19 and using the soft HRM approach as the theoretical basis.FindingsThe findings report a framework that consists of three key HRM bundles (health and safety bundle, cost-saving bundle and employee motivation and engagement bundle) entailing an array of inter-related, internally consistent, complementary and mutually reinforcing HRM practices and HRM activities. These HRM bundles and the HRM practices as well as the HRM activities therein, indicate how a softer approach to managing employees can be used during a crisis.Practical implicationsThe framework will inform the HRPs of the HRM bundles, HRM practices and HRM activities that can be used to manage the multiple crises created by COVID-19 and other similar pandemics.Originality/valueThe study contributes to and expands the knowledge of HRM in crisis management generally and HRM in a global pandemic more specifically.

Scientific approach using AHP to prioritize low volume rural roads for pavement maintenance

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhilesh Nautiyal ◽  
Sunil Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Road Transportation ◽  
Rural Roads ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pavement Maintenance ◽  
Low Volume ◽  
The Government

PurposeA large number of roads have been constructed in the rural areas of India to connect habitations with the nearest major roads. With time, the pavements of these roads have deteriorated and they need some kind of maintenance, although they all do not need maintenance at the same time, as they have all not deteriorated to the same level. Hence, they have to be prioritized for maintenance.Design/methodology/approachIn order to present a scientific methodology for prioritizing pavement maintenance, the factors affecting prioritization and the relative importance of each were identified through an expert survey. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to scientifically establish weight (importance) of each factor based on its relative importance over other factors. The proposed methodology was validated through a case study of 203 low volume rural roads in the state of Himachal Pradesh in India. Ranking of these roads in order of their priority for maintenance was presented as the final result.FindingsThe results show that pavement distresses, traffic volume, type of connectivity and the socioeconomic facilities located along a road are the four major factors to be considered in determining the priority of a road for maintenance.Research limitations/implicationsThe methodology provides a comprehensive, scientific and socially responsible pavement maintenance prioritization method which will automatically select roads for maintenance without any bias.Practical implicationsTimely maintenance of roads will also save budgetary expenditure of restoration/reconstruction, leading to enhancement of road service life. The government will not only save money but also provide timely benefit to the needy population.Social implicationsRoad transportation is the primary mode of inland transportation in rural areas. Timely maintenance of the pavements will be of great help to the socioeconomic development of rural areas.Originality/valueThe proposed methodology lays special emphasis on rural roads which are small in length, but large in number. Instead of random, a scientific method for selection of roads for maintenance will be of great help to the public works department for better management of rural road network.

Adaptive clothing features to support daily exercising needs of muscular dystrophy victimized women in Sri Lanka

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niromi Seram ◽  
Rivini Mataraarachchi ◽  
Thanuri Jayaneththi
Keyword(s):  
Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Daily Exercise ◽  
Custom Made

Purpose Exercising is a key approach adopted by muscular dystrophy patients to halt the weakening of muscles as it can eventually lead to serious immobility issues. Though it is essential to exercise on a daily basis for healthy living, there is no mention of any research effort in the current literature regarding the development of an apparel product for these mobility-affected patients that might assist them both in meeting their exercising needs and providing them some comfort in their daily living. Thus, this paper aims to focus on identifying the specific needs of muscular dystrophy victims and proposing special adaptive clothing solutions to support their daily exercise and mobility needs. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the objectives of this study, attention was focused on the muscular dystrophy afflicted women in Sri Lanka. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the female victims of muscular dystrophy and their lifestyles were observed carefully; additional data were gathered by holding semi-structured interviews with their physiotherapists. Further, interviews were conducted with both garment technologists and fabric technologists too. Data gathered through these methods were analyzed qualitatively using the principles of thematic analysis and then aggregate conclusions were drawn. Findings It was observed that the patients were engaged in special activities such as exercising three times a day besides following their normal day-to-day activities to maintain and develop muscle strength. It soon became evident that these women found it difficult to perform their daily exercise routines with their regular clothing and were looking for custom made clothing they could wear all day long in comfort and avoid the problems that arose while exercising. The study specifies the requirements that must be met to satisfy both generic and specific needs. Considering all these aspects some adaptive clothing solutions were proposed to support daily exercising activity with respect to comfort, convenience, health and safety, as well as socio-cultural and psychological needs. Originality/value The area of fusing generic and specific features to support the daily exercising needs of muscular dystrophy victims is an untouched field of experimentation and being a need of the disabled, the present study marks a milestone on the way to a novel area of apparel design, besides exploring a new field of research.

Institutional Investor Activism and Employee Safety: The Role of Activist and Board Political Ideology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Shi ◽  
Chongwu Xia ◽  
Philipp Meyer-Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Shareholder Activism ◽  
Institutional Investor ◽  
Workplace Safety ◽  
Employee Health ◽  
The Political ◽  
Workplace Injury ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Investor Activism

Although prior research on shareholder activism has highlighted how such activism can economically benefit the shareholders of targeted firms, recent studies also suggest that shareholder activism can economically disadvantage nonshareholder stakeholders, notably employees. Our study extends this research by exploring whether shareholder activism by institutional investors (i.e., institutional investor activism) can adversely affect employee health and safety through increased workplace injury and illness. Furthermore, deviating from the assumption that financially motivated institutional investor activists are homogeneous in their goals and preferences, we investigate whether the influence of institutional investor activism on employee health and safety hinges on the political ideology of the shareholder activist and of the board of the targeted firm. Using establishment-level data, we find that institutional investor activism adversely influences workplace injury and illness at targeted firms and that this influence is stronger for nonliberal shareholder activists and for firms with a nonliberal board. Our study contributes to shareholder activism research by highlighting how the political ideology of shareholder activists and boards affects the impact of shareholder activism on stakeholders and how shareholder activism can adversely affect the health and safety of employees. Furthermore, our paper also contributes to research on workplace safety and the management of employee relations and human capital resources by highlighting the detrimental effect of a firm’s ownership by investor activists on its employees and how the board’s political ideology may enable a firm to reduce this risk.

scholarly journals Evaluating the individual- and country-level variations in tax morale

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 816-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin C. Williams ◽  
Besnik Krasniqi
Keyword(s):  
Tax Compliance ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Social Actor ◽  
Actor Model ◽  
Tax Morale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

Purpose Recently, a small but burgeoning literature has argued that tax non-compliance cannot be fully explained using the conventional rational economic actor approach which views non-compliance as occurring when the pay-off is greater than the expected cost of being caught and punished. Instead, a social actor approach has emerged which views tax non-compliance as higher when “tax morale”, defined as the intrinsic motivation to pay taxes, is low. To advance this social actor model, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the individual and national heterogeneity in tax morale, which is crucial if tax compliance is to be improved. Design/methodology/approach To do this, the authors report data from the 2010 Life in Transition Survey on tax morale in 35 Eurasian countries. Findings Logit econometric analysis reveals, on the one hand, that there is higher tax morale among middle-aged, married, homeowners with children, with a university degree and employed, and on the other hand, that there is higher tax morale in more developed countries with stronger legal systems and less corruption, and higher levels of state intervention in the form of both taxation and expenditure. Research limitations/implications Rather than continue with the rational actor approach, this paper reveals that how an emergent social actor approach can help to more fully explain tax non-compliance and results in a different policy approach focused upon changing country-level economic and social conditions associated with low tax morale and thus non-compliance. Practical implications These results display the specific populations with low tax morale which need targeting when seeking to tackle tax non-compliance. Originality/value This paper provides a new way of explaining and tackling tax non-compliance in Eurasian countries.

The influence of legal framework on the Hellenic sector of public works

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1196-1209
Author(s):  
Pavlos Metallinos
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
Annual Volume ◽  
Statistical Indicators ◽  
Total Circulation

Purpose This study aims to discover the motive for the time-to-time Hellenic collective capitalists’ intervention in the total circulation of capital of public works throughout the relative legislative framework. Thus the study attempts an original correlation of statistical indicators of Hellenic Statistical Authority with the legislative texts. Design/methodology/approach The Hellenic truth is that the branch of public works presents a peculiarity as far as the volume and quality of statistical facts and figures are concerned. To overcome this obstacle, this study analyzed the change of time series, relating the procedure of total circulation of contracting capital involved in public works with the content of the relative legislative rules which were applied during the period of 1958-2004 and their preambles. In this way, the annual volume of the constructional product in general is directly related with the particular characteristics that define the procedure of total circulation of the contracting capital in general. Findings The directly relation between the annual volume of the constructional Product in general and the particular characteristics that define the procedure of total circulation of the contracting capital in general, leads us to conclusions which, related with the policy and practices adopted by the collective capitalist, confirm or even set off eventual failures of respective conclusions drawn according to the prevailing concept. Originality/value By introducing the technique, the aim of this research work is achieved without reproducing the method of study and the conclusions of other researchers.

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