Social Impact Analysis Research Articles

In the Struggle: Scholars and the Fight Against Industrial Agribusiness in California

In the Struggle: Scholars and the Fight Against Industrial Agribusiness in California

Social life cycle assessment of the nanoscale zero-valent iron synthesis process for application in contaminated site remediation.

Nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) is the main nanomaterial used in environmental remediation processes. However, as with any remediation technique, the production and the use of nanomaterials can also cause environmental, economic, and social impacts. Thus, the present study investigated the social life cycle analysis (S-LCA) of nZVI production methods applied in environmental remediation. Three production methods of nZVI were selected for analysis: milling, reduction with sodium borohydride, and reduction with hydrogen gas. The social life cycle analysis was developed based on the ISO 14040 standard steps. Limits of the S-LCA system involve the stages of raw material extraction and manufacturing when not considering the use of nZVI postproduction. The analysis of social impact was conducted considering the involved stakeholders, through the application and improvement of an existing methodology and through the following procedures: characterization of social indicators according to a normalized scale, identification of the normalization factor for the indicators, employment of a social questionnaire, calculation of the total points in each impact subcategory (midpoint), calculation of the total points in the impact categories (endpoint), and calculation of the Social Index. The three production methods of nZVI result in significantly equal Social Indices. All methods were classified as socially sustainable according to the implemented methodology. The sensitivity analysis demonstrates the results dependent with the geographic location of the inventory data, while changes in the weighting can affect the Social Index results. Overall, this study significantly contributed to the state-of-the-art application of S-LCA in studies using nanomaterials; however, several limitations were also observed, and thus, steps for future development were suggested to future researches. In addition, this study improved the S-LCA methodology which can be used to assess the social impact of any product.

Social Impact Analysis of Products under a Holistic Approach: A Case Study in the Meat Product Supply Chain

Social impact assessment of products can be approached through different methodologies that need to be adapted to the particularities and features of the studied subject. Thus, the Social Life Cycle Assessment methodology can be used to assess different innovative practices of product manufacturing, under a circular economy approach, by identifying potential positive as well as negative impacts along products’ life cycle. This paper presents the results of the Social Life Cycle Impact Assessment of a reference product from the Spanish meat industry using existing and new innovative methods of social impact analysis. Worker discrimination, health and safety for workers, consumers and local community were identified as the social aspects with relevant significance into the business or for the influence on customer’s perception of the products studied. Therefore, results can represent a reference scenario for the future assessment of innovative solutions in the Spanish meet sector. Despite the scarce use of Social Life Cycle Impact Assessment, this case study is a good example of how this innovative kind of assessment can be helpful for companies to identify their weak and strong social performance areas and design strategies to improve in Social Responsibility Management.

Social Distrust Impact Analysis: Political Overview Competition Law

The purpose of this research is to reveal the contents of civil law regarding business competition and social lessons from the prohibition of unfair business competition (monopoly and other fraud) contained in Indonesian government policies. The research method used is qualitative content analysis with a normative juridical approach using the keyword 'Policy related to business competition.' The results of this study indicate two findings. First, Law No. 5/1999 concerning the Prohibition of Monopolistic Practices and Unfair Business Competition is an implementation of the politics of business competition law in Indonesia. In principle, the politics of business competition law in Indonesia depends on the political will of the House of Representatives (DPR) as the legislative body together with the Government as the executive in making laws. Because Law Number 5 of 1999 concerning the Prohibition of Monopolistic Practices and Unfair Business Competition is not yet effective enough in creating fair business competition in Indonesia because, in substance, the Law still contains weaknesses in several articles that make the performance of the Business Competition Supervisory. The commission is not maximal. Second, government policies contained in the Civil Code, KUHP, Law no. 5 of 1984 concerning Provisions for Main Industries, Law no. 8/1995 concerning Capital Market, Law no. 9 of 1995 concerning Small Businesses, and Law No. 36 of Telecommunications provide important lessons regarding the prohibition of monopolies and fraudulent practices that can hinder the economy and equitable social welfare. The expected implication is that social learning from government policies in the field of law regarding deregulation, investment, and other policies aimed at supporting business competition can promote sustainable development, particularly in industry, small businesses, capital markets, and telecommunications.

Social impact analysis of cultural tourism in rural areas of Tlaxcala, Mexico

Alternative tourism, specifically cultural tourism, has gained worldwide importance. This is reflected in the growing number of people preferring this type of leisure activity. However, and even though archaeological and religious contexts represent hubs of attraction for pilgrims and tourists, their development seems to generate social issues. The objective of this research is to analyse the social impact of cultural tourism, from the perspective of tradesmen living in the rural municipality of Tlaxcala, Mexico. Information was collected by surveys. Sample size was calculated using the non-probabilistic method (snowball), and 54 tradesmen owning establishments near tourist attractions, were interviewed. Results evidenced that tradesmen do perceive social problems including traffic congestion, increasing living costs, pollution, street vendors, and augmented competition between businesses. However, they appreciate the benefits of providing tourists with low-cost catering services, considering tourism to be positive or very positive. The conclusion is that economic benefits outweigh the social impacts generated by tourism. Highlights: The influx of pilgrims and tourists is generating some social problems in the receiving rural spaces. Tourism service providers derive little benefit due to the low-cost services in accommodation and meal offer to tourists. Social problems are increasing (road traffic, higher cost of living, pollution, street vendors) and greater competition between businesses. Tourist activity is considered good or very good since it contributes to local development.

Social Impact Analysis of Various Road Capacity Expansion Options: A Case of Managed Highway Lanes

AbstractManaged lanes (MLs) offer public infrastructure owners a key policy lever for reducing the financial burden of road expansion while managing induced travel demand. ML’s impact varies depend...

Social Impact of Industrialization Policies on Fishing Communities in the Outer Islands: Case of Natuna, Indonesia

Natuna Island is one of the outer islands in Indonesia with under-development conditions due to its remote location. The government initiated to build fisheries industrialization and turning them into a growth center. So far, it is considered to only have affected their economic life. In fact, it also impacted the social life of their local community. However, differences in the characteristics of the people on small islands which are different from those on the main islands, may result in the destruction of endogenous social relations of the community by the industrialization process. This paper identifies the impact of exogenous development in the form of fisheries industrialization on the social life of the fisherman using the Social Impact Analysis (SIA) method. Sources of data were obtained from FGD with stakeholders, in-depth and semi-structured interviews, content analysis of related documents, as well as observations. From the study results, it is evident that there have been several negative impacts on fishing community due to fisheries industrialization. This impact results in the loss of social strength in the form of access to marine production bases. Local fishermen are driven out of their own sea areas, in the sense that their fishing grounds are used by other fishermen so that they have to change fishing locations. Second, there is no development of political power in the form of individual access to making decisions, voicing aspirations, and acting as a group because the established institution is only used as a formality to get assistance. Finally, fishermen's self-confidence has decreased because they continue to feel unsupported. The increasing number of new players in the sea area often adds to the fishermen's sense of inferiority. These changes seem to discourage the local community from supporting the implementation of the government development programs.

Bioeconomic Approach to Hazelnut Crop's Assessment.

The analysis regards the simulation of conversion of the durum wheat cultivation into hazelnut. This research is based on a case study in the province of Viterbo (Italy), where the durum wheat production and the hazelnuts represent the primary cultures adopted in this area. The purpose of this study is to analyse the number of people employed in the production of hazelnuts and durum wheat to understand if the intensification of hazelnut production has a positive impact on social sustainability and if the conversion process from durum wheat to hazelnuts is socially sustainable, in order to fill a gap in the existing literature. The social impact analysis shows that the hypothesis would be positive for the agricultural occupation of the Municipalities of the Province of Viterbo considered. The results showed as the conversion from the cultivation of durum wheat in hazelnut has brought to a considerable increase in agricultural occupation. Finally, I analysed the effects of the pandemic’s crisis on the COVID-19 virus in the choices related to the conversion between durum wheat and hazelnuts.

Re-thinking the Paradox in Policy Implementation: Does Implementation Analysis Perspective Have Anything to Offer?

In theory, implementation analysis is claimed to offer not just evaluation techniques for assessing public programme performances but also guidance for successful attainment of policy objectives. Yet, in discussions about why implementation efforts do not yield desired outcomes, implementation analysis is skated over as if it has nothing to offer. This paper gleans literature from disparate sources to distil insights that implementation analysis perspective has to share on this phenomenon. Through this endeavour, the key ingredients in implementation analysis proposition are identified and explained to help unravel this paradox in policy implementation. The implementation analysis perspective contends that the paradox in policy implementation occurs because implementation as a multi-dimensional concept is underestimated, misunderstood and misapplied by implementers. As such, they are not able to implement and manage educational policy initiatives successfully. Against this backdrop, the paper argues that implementation analysis could, if its potential is realized, take policy analysis further than evaluation research or social impact analysis. Owing essentially to the inter-linkages that implementation analysis draws between the various ingredients making-up the complete implementation proposition, the paper concludes that implementation should not be viewed merely as the second stage of putting policy into practice but integral to processes of policy-making.

Rice Farming in Central Java, Indonesia—Adoption of Sustainable Farming Practices, Impacts and Implications

Farmer adoption of sustainable rice farming technologies and practices is critical for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Often adoption is investigated in isolation focusing on factors influencing farmer decision making and overlooking the effects of technology adoption on farmers’ livelihoods and perceptions of change. Therefore, the present study investigated technology adoption and its effects on farmers with a special focus on additional revenue allocation and perception of social, economic and environmental change. Using a digital survey platform, 153 farmers (21.6% female) were interviewed in three sub-districts of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. On average, farmers adopted two technologies or practices, adopted high-yielding rice varieties, and increased their revenue from US$105 to US$122 per hectare per season. Barriers to adoption included time constraints, unsuitability for field conditions and incompatibility with cropping systems. Farmers invested the extra income in farming business and improved diets. Furthermore, farmers perceived changes in social and human capital and also poverty reduction due to technology adoption. This study highlights the importance of including an analysis of social impact in agricultural research.

Socio-technical multi-criteria evaluation of long-term spent nuclear fuel management strategies: A framework and method.

In the absence of a federal geologic repository or consolidated, interim storage in the United States, commercial spent fuel will remain stranded at some 75 sites across the country. Currently, these include 18 "orphaned sites" where spent fuel has been left at decommissioned reactor sites. In this context, local communities living close to decommissioned nuclear power plants are increasingly concerned about this legacy of nuclear power production and are seeking alternative strategies to move the spent fuel away from those sites. In this paper, we present a framework and method for the socio-technical multi-criteria evaluation (STMCE) of spent fuel management strategies. The STMCE approach consists of (i) a multi-criteria evaluation that provides an ordinal ranking of alternatives based on a list of criterion measurements; and (ii) a social impact analysis that provides an outranking of options based on the assessment of their impact on concerned social actors. STMCE can handle quantitative, qualitative or both types of information. It can also integrate stochastic uncertainty on criteria measurements and fuzzy uncertainty on assessments of social impacts. We conducted an application of the STMCE method using data from the decommissioned San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California. This example intends to facilitate the preparation of stakeholder engagement activities on spent fuel management using the STMCE approach. The STMCE method provides an effective way to compare spent fuel management strategies and support the search for compromise solutions. We conclude by discussing the potential impact that such an approach could have on the management of commercial spent fuel in the United States.

Economic, social and environmental impact analysis of an indigenously developed energy optimization system for German office and residential building types

Abstract This work addresses the economic, social and environmental analysis of an indigenously developed building energy optimization system for residential and office buildings in Germany. The developed system consists of 14 different wireless network embedded sensors, wireless communication protocol, multi-dimensional data warehouse, graphical user interfaces and energy optimization software with artificial intelligence-backed control algorithms. The R&D activity is accomplished in the ‘Intelligent Building Energy Management System’ research project, which is funded by the State of Lower Saxony—Germany in the frame of Innovation Support Program between the years 2014 and 2018. The system is tested in two appropriately selected test buildings in Germany. It has been recorded that the system provides energy efficiency levels between 29.34% and 38.18% under different seasonal and occupancy conditions in office and residential building types. The analysis is accomplished within the framework of four main indicators. These are economic indicators including calculations of lifetime cost and payback rate methods, resource use indicators including the calculation of reduced energy use as a result of the energy efficiency provided by the system, social indicator including additional expendable income calculations and environmental indicators including calculations depicting the benefits of reducing harmful emissions. Analysis results illustrate that building energy optimization systems provide a cost-effective method for promoting energy efficiency goals. Results of the indicators prove monetary benefits for the building occupants in terms of resource use, return on investment and social impact, as well as quantifiable benefits for easing the harmful effects of climate change phenomenon.

Capturing the Impact of Public Narrative: Methodological Challenges Encountered and Opportunities Opened

Public narrative is a leadership practice of translating values into action. It links the three elements of self, us, and now: why I am called, why we are called, and why we are called to act now. Taught and learned for more than 15 years now through various learning environments (in-person or online courses, in-person or online workshops, etc.), the Narratives4Change research project (H2020, Nr. 841355) aimed at studying how public narrative is being used by individuals as a leadership practice within different domains of practice and across diverse cultural and geographical contexts, as well as what are the impacts achieved. An endeavor never carried before, capturing evidence of impact of public narrative going beyond the usage and transference posed several methodological challenges. To overcome them, we engaged in an on-going process of dialogue with researchers experienced in social impact analysis, and practitioners and leaders well experienced in using public narrative. Drawing on the work done in the framework of the Narratives4Change project, this article explains its methodological design, presenting and discussing two of the strategies adopted to capture the impact dimension, and how they were implemented. On the one hand, the communicative orientation of the mixed-methods research design of the project allowed researchers to empirically grasp the manifold agentic orientations that can be triggered by public narrative. On the other hand, how the Social Impact Open Repository criteria for social impact analysis was incorporated at the time of exploring and deepening into the social reality that was being observed sets us off on an “impact-oriented analytical mindset” that facilitated identifying evidence of impacts. Specific examples of how each of these strategies played out during the methodological design and implementation of the research are discussed, drawing lessons that can also inform the design of future research projects.

Benefits realisation management: social impact analysis

Benefits realisation management: social impact analysis

Voices from the last mile: The place of emotions in the social impact analysis of access to communication

While cellular technology has become ubiquitous and effective in bridging the digital divide, billions of households around the world remain unconnected and unserved. Increasing income and effective participation in governance are the gold standard in establishing the positive social impact of innovations that seek to provide access to communication in last mile areas, which are usually geographically isolated rural villages. Results from the social impact analysis of the Village Base Station Project (VBTS), using culturally-sensitive oral history, reveal that end-users use emotional terms, such as ginhawa and perhuwisyo in assessing how access to cellular networks affected their everyday life and social relationships. This article contributes to the scholarly discussions on the social impact of cellular technology by understanding end-users’ emotional responses as indicators of social impact. We argue that a more human-centered framework for social impact assessment requires a careful consideration of emotional evaluative statements from silenced communities, or of voices from the last mile.

Cloud Computing in Supply Chain Management and Economic, Environmental and Social Impact Analysis

Information and communication technology (ICT) has gained influence in supply chain management (SCM) in recent years. Supply chain management acts on operational processes, divergent and consolidated information flows and interaction processes with a variety of business partners. Considering all the well-known problems of these central information systems, the question arises whether cloud-based information systems are a better alternative to establish technological support for supply chain management and whether the effects from an economic, social and economic point of view. and environmental results have a positive impact. The aim of this research is to provide a better understanding of the overlap of supply chain management and cloud technology from an economic, environmental and social perspective.

A State-Level Socioeconomic Data Collection of the United States for COVID-19 Research

The outbreak of COVID-19 from late 2019 not only threatens the health and lives of humankind but impacts public policies, economic activities, and human behavior patterns significantly. To understand the impact and better prepare for future outbreaks, socioeconomic factors play significant roles in (1) determinant analysis with health care, environmental exposure and health behavior; (2) human mobility analyses driven by policies; (3) economic pressure and recovery analyses for decision making; and (4) short to long term social impact analysis for equity, justice and diversity. To support these analyses for rapid impact responses, state level socioeconomic factors for the United States of America (USA) are collected and integrated into topic-based indicators, including (1) the daily quantitative policy stringency index; (2) dynamic economic indices with multiple time frequency of GDP, international trade, personal income, employment, the housing market, and others; (3) the socioeconomic determinant baseline of the demographic, housing financial situation and medical resources. This paper introduces the measurements and metadata of relevant socioeconomic data collection, along with the sharing platform, data warehouse framework and quality control strategies. Different from existing COVID-19 related data products, this collection recognized the geospatial and dynamic factor as essential dimensions of epidemiologic research and scaled down the spatial resolution of socioeconomic data collection from country level to state level of the USA with a standard data format and high quality.

Social impact assessment of photovoltaic poverty alleviation program in China

Abstract Boosted by impressive technological innovation and cost reductions, renewable energy in a growing number of countries is now primarily considered for its social and economic benefits. Among the renewable energy promotion actions at the global level, photovoltaic poverty alleviation (PVPA) program in China is very unique since the targeted users are villagers in poverty regions. Under this condition, it would be quite necessary to understand how are the PVPA program carrying out. In this study, three poverty villages are selected in the northwestern part of China to conduct the social impact analysis. An evaluation system including four categories and thirteen indicators was established. Site investigation and questionnaire interview was carried out to collect required information. Our findings reveal that the poor families in the three counties can increase their income by around 3000 RMB per year with the implementation of PVPA program. The final social impact indicator of Yanchi County, Dingbian County and Guazhou County are 2.61, 2.09 and 2.15 respectively. Villagers’ living standards in the three counties are prominently improved because of the solar power supply. The factors that hinder the development of PVPA projects are the lack of investment funds, poor quality of solar panels, low public awareness, high abandon rate of photovoltaic, etc. Recommendations for improving the sustainable development of PVPA program based on the findings are also proposed.

Analysis of Social and Environmental Impact of Earth-Rock Dam Breaks Based on a Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method

A large proportion of the dams in China are earth-rock dams. Regarding the well-studied loss of life and economic consequences due to dam breaks, this paper introduces the causes and modes of earth-rock dam breaks and the corresponding dam-break losses in terms of the social and environmental aspects. This study formulates the evaluation index system and criteria of earth-rock dam breaks’ impact on society and the environment based on a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. The results show that the evaluation grade of the social and environmental impact of the dam break of the Liujiatai Reservoir was “serious”. Therefore, similar dams in China should take corresponding measures in advance to reduce the social and environmental impact of earth-rock dam breaks.

Development of Ex-Ante Analysis Method on Socio-Economic Impact of Infrastructure Project

The increasing need for infrastructure development in order to encourage economic growth and improve people’s lives requires proper planning so that the expected benefits can be achieved. PT PII is expected to play an important role in improving the quality of infrastructure projects, not only in the form of providing guarantees but also through improving the quality of project preparation, transactions and implementation, in accordance with best practices that benefit all stakeholders. This paper aims to present the results of research into the development of an economic and social impact analysis model of PPP and Non-PPP infrastructure projects using quantitative and qualitative approach. The study examines 3 PPP projects that have specific service characteristics, namely: air transportation, public street lighting, and special economic zones. The economic impact analysis model used in the analysis uses the impact measurement attributes according to the characteristics of the infrastructure services. Social impact measurement uses an index developed to determine the response of the community to PPP infrastructure project plans. The results of the study indicate that the development of the Komodo Airport and the Mandalika Special Economic Zone are expected to have a positive impact on regional development, especially in tourism activities, while the public street lighting projects have an impact on improving traffic safety and environmental comfort in the city.