Charity Misconduct on Public Health Issues Impairs Willingness to Offer Help

Charity organizations positively impact our societies but charity misconduct impairs people’s willingness to contribute to charity and functional health systems on public health issues. This study investigates the impact of charity misconduct on people’s willingness to offer help on public health issues and possible ways of reducing the negative impact brought by charity misconduct news through four studies (Ntotal = 1269). Results showed that charity misconduct on public health issues significantly reduced individuals’ willingness to offer help via both the charity involved with the misconduct and any charity they prefer (Study 1 and 2). Furthermore, news on charity misconduct reduced people’s general willingness to help in contexts that did not involve charity (Study 3). Finally, presenting charity nonmisconduct news after charity misconduct news increases individuals’ willingness to offer help via the nonmisconduct charity (Study 4), suggesting a potential way to nudge people to provide help in the fight against the negative impact brought by charity misconduct news. The findings show the backfire of reporting charity misconduct news and have important implications for potential ways to facilitate people to offer help.

Community Perception of the Value of the Ecosystems of the Bons Sinais Estuary, Mozambique, Southern Africa

Understanding the community’s perceptions of, and beliefs about, the value of ecosystems and natural resources is important for designing effective environmental education and awareness campaigns and for the adoption of sustainable natural resources management. The present paper examines the perceptions of the natural resource users in the Bons Sinais Estuary and gauges their willingness to contribute to mangrove ecosystem restoration and management. 169 natural resource users, including fishermen, farmers, and forest produce users, from five villages along the Estuary (Marrubune, Gazelas, Icidua, Chuabo Dembe and Inhangome), were interviewed. The interviewees assigned high value to the estuary as a source of fish, as agricultural land and as productive forest. They considered the estuary important for provision of clean water and air and for its potential for tourism development. There were strong similarities, across the region, with regard to the value of the estuary ecosystem (0.6 Keywords: Ecosystem services, natural resource management, livelihood activities, mangrove restoration, co-management.

The value of agrobiodiversity: an analysis of consumers preference for tomatoes

The valorization of plant genetic resources and their direct use in local markets can make a significant contribution to the preservation of agrobiodiversity, while also contributing to the sustainability of rural communities. Indeed, plant genetic resources are a precious source of genes, and they represent an important crop heritage for the quality and sensory characteristics that are required by both farmers and consumers. However, an efficient strategy of agrobiodiversity conservation is strictly connected to product marketability and to consumer preferences. In the present study, choice experiments that involved 920 consumers were carried out to determine their willingness to pay for ancient local tomato varieties (landraces) rather than commercial varieties based on their preferences, and to determine how much they valued these products. The results obtained indicate that consumers are willing to pay premium prices for ancient local tomato varieties (an additional €0.90 kg−1), thus demonstrating their increasing attention to sustainable food and the willingness to contribute to agrobiodiversity conservation and enhancement. These results provide the basis for planning strategies and programs to support the cultivation of these landraces and the development of regional and national markets to acknowledge their characteristics, which will considerably increase the effectiveness and efficiency of conservation strategies.

Willingness to Contribute to Bio-Larviciding in the Fight against Malaria: A Contingent Valuation Study among Rice Farmers in Rwanda

There is broad consensus that successful and sustained larval source management (LSM) interventions, including bio-larviciding campaigns, require embeddedness in local community institutions. Ideally, these community structures should also be capable of mobilizing local resources to (co-)finance interventions. To date, farmer cooperatives, especially cooperatives of rice growers whose economic activity facilitates mosquito breeding, have remained under the radar in designing community-based bio-larviciding campaigns. This study explores the potential of rice farmer cooperatives in Bugesera district, Rwanda, to take up the aforementioned roles. To this purpose, we surveyed 320 randomly selected rice farmers who belonged to one of four rice cooperatives in the area and elicited their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for application of Bti, a popular bio-larvicide, in their rice paddies. Results from a (non-incentivized) bidding game procedure, which tested two alternative contribution schemes showed that financial contributions would be significantly different from zero and sufficient to carry a co-financing share of 15–25 per cent. A strong heterogeneity in mean WTP is revealed across cooperatives, in addition to variation among individual farmers, which needs to be anticipated when engaging farmer cooperatives in LSM.

Reaching the limits of co-creation in citizen science — exemplified by the linguistic citizen humanities project ‘On everyone’s mind and lips — German in Austria’

Co-creation aims at integrating citizens in the entire research process. The citizen linguistics project German in Austria tests this approach in the humanities based on the assumption that language is ubiquitous. The project combines different forms of public participation, including a co-created format, where citizens can raise (and answer) research questions about the German language in Austria and a linguistic treasure hunt, where citizens collect and analyze data on linguistic landscapes. However, co-creation was hard to implement. Despite a high number of participants, their willingness to contribute to more than one research step was low.

Examining stakeholder’s contribution and developing a framework for food banking implementation in Ghana

Purpose This paper aims to ascertain stakeholder’s willingness to contribute towards food banking implementation and further develops a framework for implementing food banks in developing country, Ghana. Design/methodology/approach Structured questionnaire was used to obtain response from 385 respondents using multistage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics was used to determine frameworks for food banking, whereas Heckman two-stage regression was used to analyse factors influencing stakeholder’s willingness to contribute towards food banking. Findings The results revealed that respondents preferred food banking with pantry, which is similar to the American model. Respondents were willing to contribute a minimum of (GH₵1–200, US$ ¢ 0.17-34.12) cedis and a maximum of GH₵ (400–600, US$ 68.23-102.35) monthly towards food bank implementation. Age, marital status and household head had a negative influence on stakeholders’ willingness to contribute towards food banking implementation, whereas income level and food bank awareness influenced willingness to contribute towards food bank implementation positively. Practical implications The study gives insight on stakeholder’s willingness to contribute towards food banking via cash or kind and further develops a framework for implementing food banking in Ghana. Social implications This study provides empirical contributions and vital information about stakeholders preferred food banking models and framework for implementing food banking, which Government can use as a social intervention policy to help vulnerable Ghanaians. In addition, findings from the study can enlighten and guide non-governmental organizations, individual philanthropists and other corporate bodies who want to contribute to food security, food poverty, hunger alleviation and development through food banking implementation. Originality/value In a developing country such as Ghana where there remains a paucity of food banking research, this study adds to existing literature by providing vital information of stakeholders preferred food banking models and frameworks for implementing food banking.

By the Crowd and for the Crowd: Perceived Utility and Willingness to Contribute to Trustworthiness Indicators on Social Media

This study explores how people perceive the potential utility of trustworthiness indicators and how willing they are to consider contributing to them as a way to combat the problem of misinformation and disinformation on social media. Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from the survey (N=376) indicates that a majority of respondents believe trustworthiness indicators would be valuable as they can reduce uncertainty and provide guidance on how to interact with content. However, perceptions of how and when these indicators can provide value vary widely in detail. A majority of respondents are also willing to contribute to trustworthiness indicators on social media to some extent due to their sense of duty and personal expertise in information verification practices but are very wary of the effort or burden it would place on them. Respondents who did not want to use or contribute to trustworthiness indicators attributed it to their lack of faith in the concept of trustworthiness indicators stemming from perceived inherent and unsurmountable biases on social media. Together our findings highlight the complexity of designing, structuring and presenting trustworthiness indicators keeping in mind the diverse set of user attitudes and perceptions.

Female entrepreneurs in a time of crisis: evidence from Ireland

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the impact that a crisis such as that created by COVID-19 has on entrepreneurs. The authors focus on female entrepreneurs and their ability and propensity to continue their entrepreneurial journey. Design/methodology/approach For each respondent (n = 113), data was collected using an online survey. The survey was distributed in April 2020 during a nationwide lockdown and again in September 2020 as the economy reopened. In completing the survey, respondents were asked a series of multiple-choice questions and a series of open-ended questions. Findings The authors present data characterizing the female entrepreneurs, their experience during a time of crisis and the enablers and disablers to the continuation of their entrepreneurial journey. The key findings that emerge from this study include the resilience of the female entrepreneurs, their willingness to contribute to community-based organizations during a crisis and their desire to seek and receive support from their peers. Originality/value The findings from this study provide novel insights with regard to the resources and strategies used by female entrepreneurs during a time of crisis. The data was collected during two periods of great uncertainty for the entrepreneurs and at times when their availability was extremely limited.