Motivation Environment Research Articles

Environmental strategy and its implementation: What’s in it for companies and does it pay off in a post-transition context?

The paper aims to contribute to the body of knowledge on environmental strategy, its motives and results in a post-transition context. A conceptual model is developed in which environmental motives are linked to a corporate environmental strategy, while a corporate environmental strategy is indirectly linked through functional implementation activities to company performance. The model is tested on a sample of 153 companies by using structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that top management commitment, regulatory forces and public concern positively affect the development of an environmental strategy, with top management commitment being the most important. As for the results of an environmental strategy, the study finds a direct positive effect of green manufacturing and a significant total indirect effect of corporate environmental strategy on company performance (significantly transmitted through green manufacturing).

Housewife Empowerment Training Skills through Processing Waste Products to be Economic Value

The purpose of this research is to improve the skills of housewives Sawangan, Depok, in the use of waste cloth into brooches, necklaces, earrings, towels, and other accessories through community empowerment. Empowerment is a community effort to increase the capacity to prepare themselves through the provision of knowledge and skills. Stages empowerment counseling begins with awareness of the importance of taking wastewater to protect the environment and entrepreneurship motivation, followed by waste processing training, mentoring makes products to become independent, as well as promotional strategies. Through counseling and training, is expected to explore the potential that there is in the group of mothers in the household, so that it can generate income to the household economy, either as principal or as an additional revenue, as well as a provision for opening an independent business in the creative industries. If it is implemented properly and sustained, will indirectly assist in economic growth in both the domestic and regional levels in the District Sawangan.

THE EFFECTS OF LEADERSHIP KNOWLEDGE, WORK ENVIRONMENT, WORK MOTIVATION ON THE PERFORMANCE OF PRINCIPALS OF PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS (SDN) IN ROKAN HILIR REGENCY OF RIAU PROVINCE

The purpose of this study was to study the effects of leadership knowledge, work environment, work motivation to the performance of principals of Public Elementary Schools in Rokan Hilir Regency of Riau Province. This research uses the quantitative approach with survey method with causal approach and path analysis technique. This study analyzes the influence of one variable on other variables. The variables studied consist of two kinds, namely exogenous variables and endogenous variables. Exogenous variables have an influence on endogenous variables. While endogenous variables can also affect other endogenous variables. The affordable population which is simultaneously the sampling frame is the entire principals who served in Public Elementary Schools at Rokan Hilir Regency as many as 265 schools. The results of this study indicate that: (1) There is a positive direct effect of leadership knowledge on performance, (2) There is a positive direct effect work environment on performance, (3) There is a positive direct effect of work motivation on performance, (4) There is a positive direct effect of leadership knowledge on work motivation, (5) There is a positive direct effect of work environment on work motivation. Thus, the improvement of teachers’ performance can be achieved well if there is a strong effect from the leadership knowledge, work environment, and work motivation that are well built.
 Keywords: leadership knowledge, work environment, work motivation, and performance

Individual choice or collective action? Exploring consumer motives for participating in alternative food networks

AbstractAlternative food networks (AFNs) are growing in number and relevance in Germany. Those networks include new models of production and distribution, such as food cooperatives (FoodCoops), self‐harvest gardens or community‐supported agriculture (CSA) schemes. AFNs, as an alternative to conventional food supply systems, are characterized by a close producer‐consumer interaction. They are typically located within urban or peri‐urban areas. The study aims to identify the rationale and motivation of urban residents in participating in AFNs and developing a consumer typology. We also assess whether AFNs potentially lead to collective action with societal impact. Therefore, we conducted a qualitative content analysis based on 18 interviews with members of existing AFN projects in three German metropolitan regions. Our results revealed that the willingness of urban consumers to participate in AFNs is driven by a broad range of motives. They include personal desire for high‐quality food (in terms of taste or freshness) and health reasons, but also political or environmental motives (opposition to conventional agriculture or short transport distances). Furthermore, consumers often want to support a certain farmer and his/her philosophy or they appreciate the community‐building aspect. Three different consumer types were derived from the motive combinations. Many consumers communicated a sense of belonging to a societal movement, however, our study revealed a lack of organization and collective action. Although AFNs can influence the consumption patterns of individuals, their potential to induce social change and to challenge traditional models of consumption in the near future does not appear to be high.

Dilemma between health and environmental motives when purchasing animal food products: sociodemographic and nutritional characteristics of consumers

BackgroundDietary guidelines in France give quantitative recommendations for intake of meat, fish and dairy products whereas consumers are increasingly concerned by the environmental impacts associated with the production of these foods. This potentially leads to consumer dilemmas when purchasing food products. The present study aimed at investigating the sociodemographic profiles of individuals reporting health and environmental dilemmas when purchasing meat, fish and dairy products, and comparing diet quality of individuals with and without dilemma.MethodsA total of 22,936 adult participants in the NutriNet-Santé cohort were included in this cross-sectional analysis. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing motives when purchasing meat, fish and dairy products, including health and environmental determinants. Environmental vs. health dilemmas were assessed using implicit and explicit methods. Sociodemographic data as well as dietary intake using repeated 24 h–records were collected. The association between sociodemographic characteristics and presence of dilemma was assessed using logistic regression models and between dilemma and intake of these products, adherence to food group guidelines, or overall dietary quality, using covariance analysis.ResultsAmong participants, 13% were torn between buying meat for health reasons and to avoid buying it for environmental reasons, 12% in the case of fish and 5% in the case of dairy products. Older participants, women and low income individuals were more likely to report dilemmas. Participants reporting dilemmas for meat and dairy products consumed less of these foods (P < 0.05 and P < 0.0001, respectively) and had a better dietary quality overall (both P < 0.0001). In addition, participants with meat dilemma showed a better adherence to meat/fish/eggs guidelines (P < 0.001).ConclusionsIndividuals reporting dilemmas concerning animal products had specific sociodemographic characteristics and showed higher diet quality overall compared with those having no dilemma. Our data suggest that having environmental concerns is not contradictory with adherence to nutritional guidelines.

Green Tax Incentives and Other Demand Factors Motivating Green Commercial Property Investment

In this study, we seek to identify and model the motivating factors that influence developers' and investors' decisions to invest in green commercial properties using structural equation modeling methods. Specifically, we model the effects of green building skills and green tax incentives on demand factors influencing green commercial property investment. The study is based on a survey of 350 real estate developers in Malaysia. The results show that monetary green tax incentives and green skills have significant casual effects on demand. Among these, personal and altruistic environmental motivations, corporate conscience responsibility motivations, and economic and financial motivations are significant. Green tax incentives, however, are found to have the most significant effect on green commercial property demand and investment.

Various Determinant Factors of Production Technology Adoption in Creative Souvenir Micro Enterprise

&lt;p&gt;This study aims to examine the existence of several factors that determine the power of the adoption of production technology on micro souvenirs creative enterprise. The location of the research was determined purposely in Purbalingga Wetan Subdistrict, Purbalingga District, Central Java Province, Indonesia. Research respondents numbered 28 people. The results showed that the various determinants of the adoption of production technology have economic, social and environmental motives. The power of influence of each factor is also distinct. The adoption of different craftsmen resulted in the quality of souvenir products from coconut waste being unequal. Some have a motif design according to market trend. Product price level is feasible. However, some products are only produced semi-finished. The price of this product is relatively lower. The economic feasibility of craftsmen is closely related to the rate of adoption of production technology. There are small number (&amp;lt;25 percent) of craftsmen use mechanical technology. The rest is still aided on the traditional manual techniques in processing waste coconut into souvenirs or creative handicraft.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;

Residential load management in an energy hub with heat pump water heater

Today, as a consequence of the growing installation of efficient technologies, such as combined heat and power (CHP) as a co-generation, the integration of electricity through grid supply, Photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage systems as an integrated network is attracting a lot of attention in smart grid applications. To model the interaction among electricity and natural gas, the energy hub framework is adopted to determine a modelling procedure for such multi-carrier energy systems. This paper presents a residential energy hub model for a smart home as a modified framework of conventional energy hubs in a smart grid with consideration of heat pump water heater, coordination of sources and carbon emissions. Therefore, this study is twofold; the first part optimizes the operation of the combined CHP, Photovoltaic and storage system under dynamic pricing. Since residential load management plays a key role in realizing household demand response programs in a smart grid, performing optimal load management in the proposed residential energy hub model is also studied in this paper. To achieve this, the optimization problem is extended by considering modelling of a heat pump water heater. It is also found out that CO2 signal could give customers an environmental motivation to shift or reduce loads during peak hours, as it would enable co-optimization of electricity consumption costs and carbon emissions reductions.

Quantitative and qualitative insights into consumers’ sustainable purchasing behaviour: a segmentation approach based on motives and heuristic cues

ABSTRACTThe present study draws on the concepts of motives and heuristics to thoroughly understand consumers’ sustainable consumption behaviour in the context of personal care products. The mixed-methods approach combines real purchasing data with in-depth qualitative data to generate insights with a high external validity. In the first section of the study, quantitative analysis is applied to actual purchasing behaviour (n = 10,772,477) to identify market trends. Three main groupings, along with specific heuristic cues, are established. In the second step, a qualitative study (n = 21) provides deeper insights into consumers’ motives and decision-making processes. By synthesising the quantitative and qualitative research findings, a segmentation approach is developed. Relevant motives and values, and corresponding specific heuristic cues are identified for each consumer segment. Analysis suggests that consumers are motivated by self-interest and environmental motives, and that they use simple heuristic cues to make quick and satisfying purchasing decisions. Both retailers and manufacturers can leverage these insights to seize the opportunities of the developing market for sustainable personal care products.

Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi minat berwirausaha pada mahasiswa fakultas ekonomi universitas tarumanagara

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a minimum of one variable influence of family environment, campus environment, personality, and entrepreneurship motivation towards entrepreneurship interest students of the Faculty of Economics, University Tarumanagara. This research was conducted using judgmental sampling method. Researchers distributed questionnaires to 310 respondents. From the research we concluded that the variables that most influence the interest in entrepreneurship students of the Faculty of Economics, University Taruamanagara is entrepreneurship motivation. The influence of the variable in sequence is personality, family environment and the campus environment. The results also showed that all variables have a positive and significant impact on the interest in entrepreneurship students of the Faculty of Economics, University Tarumanagara.

Practicing energy prosumption: Using unsolicited online data to reveal the everyday realities of solar thermal panels in the United Kingdom

International targets for emissions reduction are encouraging increasingly more households to become energy producers. We present analysis of Mumsnet, a UK online discussion forum (19 million visits/month), to explore unsolicited accounts of these energy prosumers to understand their motivation and experience of installing and living with one type of microgeneration technology: solar thermal panels for hot water. In so doing, we challenge research and policy approaches that assume financial and environmental motivations as dominant in householder uptake of microgeneration technology. We draw attention to the wider reality within which energy prosumption practices are performed, how they coincide with other home improvements, and how they relate to expectations about modern lifestyles. To conclude, we discuss the implications of this for policy.

Groundwater Citizenship and Water Supply Awareness: Investigating Water‐Related Infrastructure and Well Ownership

AbstractDue to increased demands for irrigation water, the availability of groundwater has been a growing problem in Kansas, where the future of the High Plains aquifer is in jeopardy. This article investigates the environmental stewardship of Kansas well owners, a key social group whose protection of water supplies is pivotal to prolonging groundwater formations. My guiding research question is: Does owning a well lead to a distinct form of citizenship? To answer this, I constructed one of the only data sets of well owners used in sociology by surveying 864 well owners and non–well owners throughout Kansas. My findings reveal that well owners are more aware of the state's water supplies than the general population, they express environmental motivations to conserve water, they deliberately conserve water more often than non–well owners, and well ownership is significantly correlated with highly ranking water security as a challenge facing Kansas. Furthermore, a majority of well owners check their well depth and test for water contamination, routines that connect them to their water supply. This suggests that well owners exhibit “groundwater citizenship” and can be conceptualized as aquifer stewards.

Exploring the motivation-behavior gap in urban residents’ green travel behavior: A theoretical and empirical study

The inconsistency between motivation and environmental behavior has been a critical issue troubling many researchers. From the two-dimensional perspectives of motivation and behavior, this study proposes a theoretical model with three colors (four types) of travel behavior: green, red, forced grey, and susceptible grey travel behavior. Based on 1244 questionnaires, the multinomial logistic regression was used to evaluate the effects of different types of travel behaviors in terms of motivations, government measures, and demographic characteristics. The results indicate that the green environmental motivation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for ensuring stable green travel behavior. These motives of economics, convenience, and comfort would adjust, disturb, or even change residents’ travel behaviors, resulting in the motivation-behavior gap. The theoretical model is reasonable and effective for distinguishing urban residents’ multiple motivations and explaining the motivation-behavior gap. In addition, the effects of gender, age, income, vehicle ownership, travel distance, and government measures show significant differences among different types of travel behavior. This study provides some countermeasure proposals targeted to specific colors of travel behavior to modify the motivation-behavior gap and to encourage urban residents to travel in a green way.

Does One Good Turn Deserve Another? Evidence of Domain-Specific Licensing in Energy Behavior

In this article we investigate licensing behavior across and within sustainability domains. In a survey study based on a random sample of residents of the state of Maine, USA ( N = 668), we find that an individual’s choice in a future policy scenario was significantly impacted by recalling his/her own previous sustainable behavior. We find evidence of domain-specific licensing in the energy realm, where individuals who participated in past sustainable energy behaviors are less likely to support a proposed public policy investment in energy efficiency/renewable energy. We employ a novel environmental motivation scale and determine that licensing impacts are mediated by an individual’s internal environmental motivation. Our results suggest that care must be taken in how we encourage sustainable behavior, without triggering licensing.

Environmental motivations behind individuals’ energy efficiency investments and daily energy-saving behaviour: evidence from Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium

The impact of environmental motivations on the individual’s decisions regarding investments in energy efficiency and the adoption of energy-saving habits are analysed on the basis of a representative online survey carried out in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Various energy efficiency investments and daily energy-saving activities are considered. Accounting for endogeneity in the basic estimation model, in particular regarding energy conservation activities, the subject’s experience with extreme weather events are used as an instrument for environmental motivations. This study provides empirical evidence that individual energy efficiency investments are generally driven by environmental motivations. Additionally, for the Dutch and the German sub-samples environmental motivations positively affect daily energy-saving activities. The findings suggest that policy programmes aimed at raising environmental awareness and forming pro-environmental motivations can lead to an increase in energy efficiency investments and daily energy-saving activities.

Evaluating opinions, behaviours and motivations of the users of a MSW separate collection centre in the town of Baronissi, Southern Italy

This paper presents the results of a survey regarding customer satisfaction as well as other aspects relating to the frequency and motivations of citizens going to a separate collection centre (SCC) for recyclables in a Southern Italian town. The study was carried out in 2015 to verify whether there were significant changes in the behaviours and opinions of the SCC’s users, who had been interviewed in 2013, in the light of the change of the local administration. The majority of the respondents (60.4%) coupled going to the SCC with other tasks, with 58.6% of them going to a supermarket. Therefore, future SCCs should localized near shopping centres (it would be preferable to have small and numerous SCCs). Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests showed how SCC’s users of the town under study behaved as a community. The percentage of respondents that declared to ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with the idea that only putrescibles and residue could be collected at their home, with all the other materials being collected at the SCC, increased from 56.6%, in 2013, up to 59.0%, in 2015. The percentage of respondents that declared going to the SCC due to environmental motivations was unanimous. Moreover, the saving of money for the community became the second preferred option, with a significant improvement (from 65.6%, in 2013, up to 93.2%, in 2015). Therefore, the community’s interests over the individual’s were privileged. The SCC’s users confirmed their attention to environmental issues even though the local administration changed. It is probable that this could be the result of maintaining high standard of service as well as a good job in terms of communication, continuous involvment of citizens and the adoption of good environmental practices.

An Associational Research on Turkish Children's Environmentally Responsible Behaviors, Nature Relatedness, and Motive Concerns

Science education has changed in recent decades with respect to key issues faced in this century. These issues such as renewable energy, waste management, air quality and biodiversity require dealing with transition towards a sustainable future. Thus, to contribute to the reconceptualization of science education in a developing country, the present study aimed to assess (1) Turkish middle school students' environmentally responsible behaviors, nature relatedness, and motive concerns and (2) the power of environmental motive concerns and nature relatedness in predicting the related behaviors. Measuring tools covering the Nature Relatedness Scale, the Environmental Motive Concerns, and Children's Responsible Environmental Behavior Scale were administered to middle school students in the northern part of Turkey. The results indicated that these students reflected an external nature-related worldview. Regarding their behaviors, it was revealed that the students frequently engaged in some actions linked to physical and economic contribution to the environmental quality. However, they did not demonstrate any actions on political commitment although they were very concerned about the environmental issues. Examining the predictors of their responsible environmental behaviors, a linear combination of these attributes significantly contributed to explaining such behaviors. This study provided practical tips for science and sustainability educators in that children could be provided with some opportunities to get in touch with nature and appreciate value of being in nature.

Exploring the Role of Perceived Contextual and Environmental Motivators in Venture Creation: Survey in South Asian Context

This paper aims to identify the main difference on the major construct of the survey used to analyse the effect of contextual and environmental motivators and barriers on entrepreneurial intentions of universities graduates in Pakistan. The main objective was to observe the response of the survey respondents on the major construct of study. The results indicates that university graduates ranked high the importance of attitude towards entrepreneurship and perceived behaviour control in the process of venture creation. In addition, Perceived entrepreneurial motivators and barriers are also considered to be important in while staring some one’s own business.

Development of Organic Farming in Europe at the Crossroads: Looking for the Way Forward through System Archetypes Lenses

Over the last several decades, policymakers and stakeholders in the European Union (EU) have put considerable effort into increasing the adoption of organic farming, with the overall objective of its sustainable development. However, the growth of the organic sector has come with many challenges that jeopardize its sustainability. The question then is how to move organic farming in Europe forward and at the same time capitalize on its potential contribution to sustainability? Organic farming in the EU is a highly complex and dynamic food system and as such this question cannot be answered in isolation using a one-dimensional mind-set and tools of the past. In this paper, we use three system archetypes—Limits to Growth, Shifting the Burden and Eroding Goals—to sharpen our ability: (1) to analyze and anticipate difficulties in the development of organic farming in the EU under the current policy measures; and (2) to find effective ways to address these difficulties. A system archetype consists of a generic system structure that leads to unintended behavior over time and effective strategies for changing the structure into one that generates desirable behavior. The analysis reveals that in order to move forward, policymakers and stakeholders should reemphasize fundamental solutions rather than quick fixes that often generate unintended consequences. Specifically, Limits to Growth shows us that the leverage for moving organic farming out of the niche does not necessarily lie in increasing subsidies that push engines of growth, but rather in anticipating and managing its limits arising from, for instance, market dynamics or intrinsic environmental motivation. In turn, Shifting the Burden brings to attention how easily and unnoticeably the EU’s organic farming system can become dependent on third countries thereby undermining its own sustainability. Finally, Eroding Goals highlights that is it important to continuously improve regulatory standards based on an external frame of reference, as otherwise organic farming in the EU will continue on its trajectory towards conventionalization.

Determinants of work performance of seafarers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on the aims of discovering the problems existing in the seafarer recruitment management system and of finding out an efficiency recruitment system for shipping companies to retain skillful seafarers continue serving in their companies. Design/methodology/approach This study interviewed with the senior managers of shipping companies to clarify the seafarers’ problems they have encountered and conducted questionnaire survey to collect the seafarers’ perceptions for further analysis. Exploratory factor analysis and multi-regression analysis were applied for the data analysis. Findings There were four primary dimensions relating to seafarers’ management, namely, work attitude, loyalty, payment and welfare and opportunity. The results revealed that dimensions of payment and welfare and opportunity were significantly positive effect on seafarers’ loyalty; only the dimension of payment and welfare was found to significantly effect on the work attitude. However, these four dimensions were all found a positive effect on the work performance as well. Research limitations/implications The results of cross-section research cannot fit all economic fluctuation conditions. Practical implications The ship owners and the operators should consider both the environmental motivation and the hygiene factor to establish a proper seafarers’ recruitment management system to retain seafarers and lead to better performance of the seafarers. The study findings also suggest the shipping company should pay attention to hire local seafarers, i.e. seafarers from the place where the company is based, as those local seafarers might have more work commitment than seafarers from other countries. Originality/value The findings of the study show that welfare and opportunity is the most important factor on loyalty, while it also exerts significant effect on work attitude and work performance. The results suggest that the motivation and performance are not merely dependent upon environmental needs (payment). The findings provide evidences of the importance of non-monetary remuneration within the seafarers’ recruitment management system.