Prem Bhandari, Erinn Tucker-Oluwole, Lila Karki
et al.
This paper empirically investigates the influence of specific direct sales approaches in attracting visitors to an agritourism operation and its profitability using survey data from the U.S. This study further examines the mediating role of the number of visits to a farm in the relationships between specific direct sales approaches and profitability. Agritourism operations enhance economic viability and sustain the business by opening farms to visitors for education, recreation, entertainment, and direct sales of farm products and services. The goal is to invite visitors to a farm and enhance income. Previous studies in the U.S. show that on-farm direct sales, in general, show a positive association, whereas off-farm direct sales show a negative association with the profitability of agritourism operations, along with many other factors. Farmers consider U-pick, sales through a farm stand/store, and subscription farming or community-supported agriculture (CSA) (on-farm pick-up) as on-farm, and CSA (off-farm delivery) and selling at a farmers’ market as off-farm direct sales approaches. However, which specific approach attracts visitors to a farm and generates profitability is not known. Multivariate analysis using the recently collected data from a U.S. national survey of operators reveals that on-farm direct sales such as a U-pick and a farm stand/store attracted significantly more visits to an agritourism operation, which ultimately yielded higher profitability. In contrast, the selling of produce at farmers’ markets attracted significantly fewer visits to the farm and reportedly reduced profitability. These results are adjusted for other factors including various agritourism experiences offered to the visitors. Moreover, as theoretically expected, the number of visits mediated the effects of specific direct sales (particularly a U-pick and farm stand sales) on profitability. This evidence has implications for agritourism operators, policymakers, and extension educators engaged in starting, expanding, and promoting direct sales via agritourism operations for their economic viability and sustainability.
Guided by the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT), this study explores how a destination marketing organization (DMO) managed crisis communication during a prolonged low-responsibility crisis. It analyzes the production process of crisis communication, the crisis communication content shared on Facebook to protect the destination’s image during COVID-19, and evaluates which crisis response strategies led to higher audience engagement. This study used a single instrumental case study with an exploratory sequential approach. A semi-structured interview was conducted with Visit Portugal’s Communication and Digital Marketing Director. Then, Facebook content from Visit Portugal, posted between 1 January 2020 and 5 May 2023, was collected and analyzed. By analyzing the DMO’s crisis communication workflow, decision-making processes, and content shared on social media, it was found that secondary response strategies effectively safeguarded and improved the destination’s image, leading to higher audience engagement. This study provides DMOs with valuable insights into the development of effective crisis communication strategies when navigating low-responsibility crises.
Skills are one of the main themes in academic and labor environments. Nowadays, digital, green, and social and cultural skills are the key to achieving sustainable practices and sustainable development goals. Therefore, this study aims to characterize the current and future needs of digital, green, and social and cultural skills for the tourism and hospitality sectors. This was a quantitative study, with an online survey applied to students, teachers, and professionals. It was a convenience sample with 150 participants. Data were analyzed statistically with IBM SPSS version 28.0. Our results suggested that students, professionals, and trainers value digital, green, and social and cultural skills. With reference to digital skills, all participants considered themselves having an intermediate or advanced level of proficiency. All the participants considered themselves having an intermediate or advanced level of green skills. Regarding social and cultural skills, all the participants considered themselves having an advanced level of proficiency. Therefore, professionals reported higher levels of proficiency in all skills. In the same way, in the tourism sector, we observed higher proficiency levels of skills. To summarize, educational, sectorial, and entrepreneurial sectors recognize the relevance of digital, green, and social-cultural skills for the tourism and hospitality industry. With these skills, the sector will be more prepared to implement sustainability practices and achieve sustainability goals. Additionally, entrepreneurs should value these skills in professionals, and education institutions should integrate the development of these skills into their curricula.
Ariadna Nicole Tovar-Perpuli, Edgar Rojas-Rivas, Laura Eugenia Tovar-Bustamante
et al.
Natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, or tsunamis can significantly affect the image of tourist destinations and the intention to visit them. However, research on the effects of natural disasters and their impact in destinations in Mexico is an under-researched topic. Moreover, attitudes and behaviors of solidarity are important for recovery of destinations after natural disasters. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine how people’s perceived risk and solidarity attitudes affect the image and intention to visit destinations after natural disasters in the country. Through a structured questionnaire (n = 228), the risk perception, solidarity attitudes, destination image, and intention to visit were measured to assess interest in visiting the emblematic destination of Acapulco, Mexico, which was devastated by Hurricane Otis (category 5) in October 2023. The results show that risk perception does not affect destination image and solidarity attitudes, but it does affect the intention to visit the destination (β = −0.120). The main findings of this study establish the strong influence of solidarity attitudes on the image (β = 0.611) of the destination and the intention to visit (β = 0.581). The results state that destination image had a mediating effect (β = 0.240) on solidarity attitudes and intention to visit post-disaster destinations. Therefore, destination image has a fundamental effect on the formation of attitudes of solidarity for the recovery of destinations after a natural disaster. Solidarity attitudes are of great importance for the destination’s recovery after natural disasters. It is important to prioritize marketing campaigns that recognize these actions of solidarity, on the part of destination management organizations (DMOs) and local governments.
Incident management is a classical topic in cyber security. Recently, the European Union (EU) has started to consider also the relation between cyber security incidents and cyber security crises. These considerations and preparations, including those specified in the EU's new cyber security laws, constitute the paper's topic. According to an analysis of the laws and associated policy documents, (i) cyber security crises are equated in the EU to large-scale cyber security incidents that either exceed a handling capacity of a single member state or affect at least two member states. For this and other purposes, (ii) the new laws substantially increase mandatory reporting about cyber security incidents, including but not limited to the large-scale incidents. Despite the laws and new governance bodies established by them, however, (iii) the working of actual cyber security crisis management remains unclear particularly at the EU-level. With these policy research results, the paper advances the domain of cyber security incident management research by elaborating how European law perceives cyber security crises and their relation to cyber security incidents, paving the way for many relevant further research topics with practical relevance, whether theoretical, conceptual, or empirical.
This paper considers the optimal management structure about hiring a manager and providing the manager with a separate salary and bonus using a relational contract among an owner, a manager, and workers, assuming that the manager can observe individual worker performances while the owner can observe only overall team performance. I derive optimal contracts for the two cases in which the manage's salary and bonus are integrated into total team bonus or provided separately. I compare situations of having the manager distribute bonuses based on individual worker performance to the situation of equal bonus distribution based on overall team performance without a manager. Only a contract with a manager who receives a separate bonus is feasible for low discount factor. Making the manager to distribute the salary and bonus including himself is best with intermediate discount factor. Providing an equal bonus without a manager is optimal with high discount factor.
Cloud computing is continually evolving, enhancing hardware technologies, improving software and enhancing business processes. A payroll management system deployed on the Cloud harnesses on-demand of delivery of computational power and database storage using cloud computing technologies. This project aims to develop and deploy a cloud-based payroll management system. The objectives of this study are: to carry out a study on the existing cloud-based payroll management system, to design a payroll data model for calculating basic salary and enables retrieval of payroll history when needed from the database, to develop and deploy a payroll management system, on the Cloud that generates earning statements, filling the gap between security infrastructure and optimal system performance harnessing cloud computing technologies. The focus was on the design, implementation and deployment, using UML diagrams to illustrate the payroll application and Google App Engine for deployment. The system analysis in comparison of a conventional payroll system and the cloud-based system is endless in terms of speed, processing power, storage capacity, universalization and pricing. The cloud-based payroll has an infinite number of advantages; all conventional payroll system is rendered obsolete as it mends all the cons.
Employee performance management (PM) can benefit employees, organizations, and wider stakeholders, but it is often done poorly, and public administrations pose contextual constraints to doing it well. It has inherent tensions between the goal of accountability and development, is complex, and requires alignment across both a formal administrative level and an informal psychosocial level. In public administration, three contextual factors add complexity and difficulty—competing goals, red tape and public service motivation. This study examines how line managers—a neglected group in PM studies—“do” performance management in practice. Data were collected via interviews with public sector managers in the “new public management” influenced New Zealand public sector. Competing goals and red tape make PM difficult, offer little accountability, and inhibit employee development, which often must run parallel to formal practices. They also limit managerial skill development. Failings in one practice, such as setting employee goals, impact subsequent formal and informal practices. Public service motivation provides workarounds. To work well, modern performance management could be reconstrued less as a compliance activity and more as a psychosocial process reinforced by a formal, prescribed organization system. Practical insights into barriers and opportunities, to improve performance management, are identified.
Strategy management analyses are created by business consultants with common analysis frameworks (i.e. comparative analyses) and associated diagrams. We show these can be largely constructed using LLMs, starting with the extraction of insights from data, organization of those insights according to a strategy management framework, and then depiction in the typical strategy management diagram for that framework (static textual visualizations). We discuss caveats and future directions to generalize for broader uses.
Traditional identity management systems, often centralized, face challenges around privacy, data security, and user control, leaving users vulnerable to data breaches and misuse. This paper explores the potential of using the Arweave network to develop an identity management solution. By harnessing Arweave's permanent storage, our solution offers the users a Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) framework, that uses Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs) to allow individuals and other entities to create, own, and manage their digital identities. Further, the solution integrates privacy-preserving technologies, including zero-knowledge proofs and the BBS(+) signature scheme, enabling selective disclosure. This approach ultimately enhances user privacy and supports compliance with European Union legislation and regulatory standards like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by design.
Objective: This study aims to identify the dynamic capabilities (DC) that have been owned by the company and find new measurements of DC instruments for financing companies. Dynamic capability is needed to react quickly to the dynamics of the industrial environment, survive in competition and be sustainable. Research Design & Methods: This study utilized a quantitative approach. The search for factor values of each DC was conducted through 32 questionnaire questions given to 55 branch business managers. KMO and Bartlett's test and rotated component matrix test were conducted to prove that the factors are interrelated, with the limitation of average value as the main factor determinant. Findings: Sustainability, innovation, and dynamic factors are important capabilities for multi-finance companies that need to be strengthened and developed. Implications & Recommendations: The concept of DC sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring is closely related to the capabilities of strategic human resource development (SHRD) which is the most important asset. In the future, research can be conducted again on how strong the relationship between SHRD dynamic capabilities and existing DC factors is in achieving company sustainability. Contribution & Value Added: Organizations can survive in fierce competition if they know their DC as their competitive advantage. However, not many companies know how to measure their DC against their dynamic industry, this study will provide examples of the instruments needed.
Modern agriculture faces grand challenges to meet increased demands for food, fuel, feed, and fiber with population growth under the constraints of climate change and dwindling natural resources. Data innovation is urgently required to secure and improve the productivity, sustainability, and resilience of our agroecosystems. As various sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) instrumentation become more available, affordable, reliable, and stable, it has become possible to conduct data collection, integration, and analysis at multiple temporal and spatial scales, in real-time, and with high resolutions. At the same time, the sheer amount of data poses a great challenge to data storage and analysis, and the \textit{de facto} data management and analysis practices adopted by scientists have become increasingly inefficient. Additionally, the data generated from different disciplines, such as genomics, phenomics, environment, agronomy, and socioeconomic, can be highly heterogeneous. That is, datasets across disciplines often do not share the same ontology, modality, or format. All of the above make it necessary to design a new data management infrastructure that implements the principles of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR). In this paper, we propose Agriculture Data Management and Analytics (ADMA), which satisfies the FAIR principles. Our new data management infrastructure is intelligent by supporting semantic data management across disciplines, interactive by providing various data management/analysis portals such as web GUI, command line, and API, scalable by utilizing the power of high-performance computing (HPC), extensible by allowing users to load their own data analysis tools, trackable by keeping track of different operations on each file, and open by using a rich set of mature open source technologies.
Šereš Laslo, Pavlićević Veselin, Petrović Goran
et al.
Owing to its high promises for improving learning support, teaching, and learning outcomes in higher education, learning analytics has captured much interest from both academics and practitioners over the last several years. Considering that it is rooted in several disciplines, researchers and practitioners have approached learning analytics from a range of perspectives. Although many studies concerning learning analytics have highlighted its great potential for improving learning practice, there is little evidence of successful transfer of the suggested potential into the practice of higher education happening. This clearly indicates a need for rethinking many aspects of learning analytics usage: first, the goals that can be achieved, but also the actions necessary to attain these goals. The aim of the descriptive research presented in this paper is to provide an updated and realistic view of the state of the art in learning analytics, its potential benefits, and tangible challenges that need to be overcome for a successful application of learning analytics as educational technology.
Production management. Operations management, Personnel management. Employment management
Dasy Muleya, Hlanganipai Ngirande, Sharon R. Terera
Orientation: Employees with affective commitment are significant assets to their organisations because they remain loyal even when faced with attractive external opportunities. Therefore, there is a need to understand how different organisational factors enhance the affective commitment of employees.
Research purpose: The study aimed to investigate the impact of training and career development opportunities on affective commitment amongst employees at a selected higher education institution.
Motivation of the study: Literature on the influence of training and career development opportunities on affective commitment is still limited in South Africa’s higher education sector, yet the sector requires a committed and highly skilled workforce.
Research approach/design and method: Using a cross-sectional survey design, a quantitative approach was used to collect data from 274 employees at a selected South African higher education institution using a stratified sampling method. Item analysis, Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analyses were performed in analysing the data using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27 software.
Main findings: Significant positive correlations were found between training, career development opportunities, and affective commitment. However, the availability of career development opportunities was the most significant predictor of affective commitment.
Practical/managerial implications: Higher learning institutions are encouraged to invest in various types of training for their employees. However, more funding should be directed to career development opportunities, as these influence affective commitment.
Contribution/value-add: The CFA carried out in this study validates the use of the training, career development opportunities, and affective commitment scales in a South African setting.
The purpose of this study was to find out the effect of financial rewards, promotions, and job satisfaction on employee performance mediated by employee loyalty, where an empirical study was conducted on employees of PT XXX. In this research, hypothesis testing is used and this type of research is included in quantitative research. Primary data in this study were obtained by distributing questionnaires as many as 224 valid questionnaires given to respondents who were employees of PT XXX. Sampling with proportional stratified random sampling technique. Data analysis was processed using Structural Equation Model (SEM) with Smart PLS software version 3.2. The results were found if financial rewards have a positive and significant effect on employee performance, promotion has a positive and significant effect on employee performance, and job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on employee performance. Then financial rewards have a positive and significant effect on employee loyalty, but promotion does not have a positive and significant effect on employee loyalty, and job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on employee loyalty. Then employee loyalty has a positive and significant effect on employee performance, financial rewards have a positive and significant impact on employee performance mediated by employee loyalty. However, job promotion does not have a positive and significant effect on employee performance mediated by employee loyalty, and job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on employee performance mediated by employee loyalty. The limitation in this study lies in the use of samples, which were only obtained from one private hospital in North Jakarta. Therefore, the results in this study cannot be generalized to all hospitals, because of the different characteristics between hospitals.
Novel data sensing and AI technologies are finding practical use in the analysis of crisis resilience, revealing the need to consider how responsible artificial intelligence (AI) practices can mitigate harmful outcomes and protect vulnerable populations. In this paper, we present a responsible AI roadmap that is embedded in the Crisis Information Management Circle. This roadmap includes six propositions to highlight and address important challenges and considerations specifically related to responsible AI for crisis resilience management. We cover a wide spectrum of interwoven challenges and considerations pertaining to the responsible collection, analysis, sharing, and use of information such as equity, fairness, biases, explainability and transparency, accountability, privacy and security, inter-organizational coordination, and public engagement. Through examining issues around AI systems for crisis resilience management, we dissect the inherent complexities of information management and decision-making in crises and highlight the urgency of responsible AI research and practice. The ideas laid out in this paper are the first attempt in establishing a roadmap for researchers, practitioners, developers, emergency managers, humanitarian organizations, and public officials to address important considerations for responsible AI pertaining to crisis resilience management.
Management of solitons in media with competing quadratic and cubic nonlinearities is investigated. Two schemes, using rapid modulations of a mismatch parameter, and of the Kerr nonlinearity parameter are studied. For both cases, the averaged in time wave equations are derived. In the case of mismatch management, the region of the parameters where stabilization is possible is found. In the case of Kerr nonlinearity management, it is shown that the effective $χ^{(2)}$ nonlinearity depends on the intensity imbalance between fundamental (FH) and second (SH) harmonics. Predictions obtained from the averaged equations are confirmed by numerical simulations of the full PDE's.