Set Of Questions For Future Research Research Articles

The Costs of Polarizing a Pandemic: Antecedents, Consequences, and Lessons

Polarization has been rising in the United States of America for the past few decades and now poses a significant—and growing—public-health risk. One of the signature features of the American response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been the degree to which perceptions of risk and willingness to follow public-health recommendations have been politically polarized. Although COVID-19 has proven more lethal than any war or public-health crisis in American history, the deadly consequences of the pandemic were exacerbated by polarization. We review research detailing how every phase of the COVID-19 pandemic has been polarized, including judgments of risk, spatial distancing, mask wearing, and vaccination. We describe the role of political ideology, partisan identity, leadership, misinformation, and mass communication in this public-health crisis. We then assess the overall impact of polarization on infections, illness, and mortality during the pandemic; offer a psychological analysis of key policy questions; and identify a set of future research questions for scholars and policy experts. Our analysis suggests that the catastrophic death toll in the United States was largely preventable and due, in large part, to the polarization of the pandemic. Finally, we discuss implications for public policy to help avoid the same deadly mistakes in future public-health crises.

Managing Modern Muslim Travellers: Emerging Trends and Issues for Islamic Tourism Destinations

This research paper explores perspectives on the post-pandemic Islamic tourism market, policies, and challenges associated with sustainable growth. This paper also shares thoughts on emerging trends in the global Islamic tourism industry. The methodology used was descriptive qualitative research via in-depth interviews with twelve Muslim-friendly destination managers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, and Korea. The transcribed data were coded and then tabulated in cross-checked themes to confirm the reliability of the collected data. This study highlights two types of distinct Islamic markets whose needs and wants are unique from each other: the rigidly obedient Muslim and the modern, young, liberal Muslim. Next, this study highlights improper governance, inconsistency in Islamic tourism branding, and the lack of Muslim-based products and services as emerging issues within the modern Islamic tourism industry. This research also offers a set of future research questions on (i) the role of technology in forming the Muslim traveller experience; (ii) the importance of taking an innovative approach to form a memorable Muslim travel experience; and (iii) the dynamic nature of the modern Muslim traveller. This research paper offers fresh perspectives on understanding modern Muslim travellers which can inspire future research and advance theoretical and managerial practices among Muslim and non-Muslim tourism destinations.

The PSICHE framework for sustainable consumption and future research directions

PurposeConsidering the relevance of understanding what influences environmentally sustainable consumer choices, the present study aims to examine and synthesize the key determinants factors from literature and outline a new conceptual framework for explaining green purchasing behaviors (GPBs).Design/methodology/approachA bibliometric analysis was conducted on 161 articles extracted from Web of Science and Scopus databases, which were systematically evaluated and reviewed, and represent the current GPB knowledge base. Content analysis, science mapping and bibliometric analysis techniques were applied to uncover the major theories and constructs from the state-of-the-art.FindingsThe evolving debate between altruistic and self-interest consumer motivations reveals challenges for rational-based theories, as most empirical applications are not focused on buying behaviors, but instead either on pro-environmental (non-buying) activities or on buying intentions. From the subset of leading contributions and emerging topics, nine thematic clusters are unveiled in this investigation, which were combined to create the new PSICHE framework with the purpose of predicting GPB: (P)roduct-related factors, (S)ocial influences, (I)ndividual factors, (C)oncerns about the environment, (H)abits and (E)motions.Practical implicationsBy uncovering the multiple intervening factors in GPB decision processes, this study will assist practitioners and academics to move forward on how to foster more sustainable consumer behaviors.Originality/valueThe present study provides readers a summary of an unprecedentedly broad collection of papers, from which the key themes are categorized, the domain's intellectual structure is captured and an actionable framework for enhancing the understanding GPB is proposed. Four new thrust areas and a set of future research questions are included.

A global perspective on the marketing mix across time and space

The marketing mix (MM) is an integral part of a firm’s marketing strategy sitting at the nexus between a company and the marketplace. As such, it evolves together with the marketplace and its stakeholders. Over the past decade, three fundamental global drivers have emerged—advancements in technology, socioeconomic and geopolitical shifts, and environmental changes—that have caused major ongoing and intensifying evolutions in the marketplace, its stakeholders, and, in turn, the MM. We describe the resulting evolutions in the MM along four central questions: who is involved in the MM, what constitutes the MM, how is it implemented, and where is it deployed. We identify a blurring of roles and responsibilities relating to the MM (who), an extension and integration of the MM instruments (what), an increase in customization and fragmentation of its actions (how), and a growing recognition of emerging-market idiosyncrasies (where). Taking a look into the future, we observe that along each of the four dimensions, the MM has arrived at a crossroad, with opposing scenarios for its future: (i) more inter-firm collaboration versus marketing-mix protectionism, (ii) added complexity versus increased simplicity, (iii) further automation versus an increased recognition of the human touch, and (iv) local adaptation versus global uniformity in the marketing mix. Applying a contingency approach, we derive relevant moderators for these forthcoming evolutions and provide an extensive set of future research questions.

From third-person to first-person cartographies with immersive virtual environments

Abstract. Recent cognitive research indicates that immersive virtual reality (VR) systems can increase the impact of visualization products through the formation of spatial presence, defined as a sense of “being there” in a virtual place. These findings make VR a highly interesting tool for cartography, but challenge the subject’s self-conception in different regards. The present article aims at highlighting the fundamental characteristics of geovisualization with immersive environments. We will approach the challenge of 1:1 representation with a typology borrowed from video game theory, where players can experience games from a first-person or third-person perspective. These two categories provide a useful framework to describe the basic difference between non-/low- and high-immersive geovisualization. In order to project the first- vs. third-person metaphor from a gaming to a cartographic mapping context, we will try to semiotically express the general process of map use in form of a triadic sequence, where the representation mediates between users and geospatial phenomena. Compared with common cartographic products, this mediation process is fundamentally different in VR systems, as immersive applications merge map user and map space. A set of future research questions and further considerations on first-person cartography will close the text. These considerations on first- vs. third-person visualization shall facilitate a conceptually better integration of IVE into current cartographic theory and practice.

What Are the Land Delivery and Land Holding Mechanisms for African Informal Light Manufacturing Clusters?

This paper theorizes that the impacts of land delivery and land holding mechanisms on the evolution and performance of informal light manufacturing clusters have been underexamined and need renewed evaluation for their impact on cluster performance and evolution of agglomeration effects. It examines 25 cases of African informal production clusters; 19 from existing studies, six previously unpublished to develop eight land delivery mechanism types and eight ways informal clusters hold urban land. The purpose is to provide a nuanced understanding of the mechanisms of land access for informal clusters so that future scholarship can investigate the impact of these mechanisms on informal production cluster evolution. The paper concludes with a resulting set of future research questions and implications for methods.

Current perceptions on the problem of modern slavery in business

AbstractAustralia is one of the latest countries to consider introduction of a Modern Slavery Act. An Inquiry by the Parliament of Australia has received nearly 200 submissions from a range of interested stakeholders. This paper classifies and then synthesizes the perceptions of these groups on the role of Australian business in addressing modern slavery issues raised by the Inquiry. Modern slavery in Australian business is seen to be a small tip of a large iceberg hidden in global supply chains. Although the vast majority support introduction of an Act in Australia issues arising include an ongoing lack of transparency for consumers, the relative powerlessness of domestic unions to engage, tensions between national and international standard setting for reporting, and how to engage all businesses not just multinational companies. A set of future research questions arising are developed in the hope of stimulating reduction in the insidious practices of modern slavery.

Top secret from the bottom up

PurposeThe emerging area of message classification is one of growing relevance to a wide range of organizational communicators as a variety of non-state organizations and their members increasingly use and misuse various terms to restrict their communication. This includes formal classifications for data security, financial/knowledge management, human resources, and other functions as well as those used informally by organizational members. Especially in a data-rich environment where our word-processing programs, e-mail tools, and other technologies afford us opportunities to engage in classification, a wide range of people at all organizational levels may serve as custodians of their own data and thus have the ability (as well as perhaps the need) to classify messages in various ways. The purpose of this paper is to describe key classification terms ranging from those found in government (e.g. top secret, confidential) to those in the private sector (e.g. business use only, trademarked) to an even wider set of terms used informally by organizational members (e.g. personal, preliminary). The growing use of message classifications will likely create various challenges and opportunities for organizations, their members, and the broader public/society. A set of future research questions is offered for corporate communication researchers and practitioners, who are well positioned to examine this emerging phenomenon.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws on existing literature related to the growing use of message classifications to offer a list of classification terms and an agenda for future research.FindingsThis work describes key classification terms ranging from those found in government (e.g. top secret, confidential) to those in the private sector (e.g. business use only, trademarked) to an even wider set of terms used informally by organizational members (e.g. personal, preliminary). This expanded notion of classification will likely create various challenges and opportunities for organizations, their members, and the broader public/society.Originality/valueThe emerging area of message classification is one of growing relevance to a wide range of organizational communicators as a variety of non-state organizations and their members increasingly use and misuse various terms to restrict their communication. A set of future research questions is offered for corporate communication researchers and practitioners, who are well positioned to examine this emerging phenomenon.

User and Firm Generated Content on Online Social Media

Social media communication content has gained a lot of interest in e-commerce literature. The present research note explores the scope of social media communication content across content source and levels of analysis. Based on a comprehensive review of 36 empirical papers spanning a decade (2004-2016), the research in social media content source is divided as user generated and firm generated. The levels of analysis are divided into three groups: users and society, platforms and intermediaries and firms and industries. Subsequently, a grid with six cells is created that has the content source (user/firm) on one axis and level of analysis on the other. The findings reveal communication content across users and society to be the most researched area, whereas, platforms and intermediaries being the least researched. Further, a set of future research questions are proposed for content in social media across various levels of analysis.

The Theory of Value-Based Payment Incentives and Their Application to Health Care.

ObjectivesTo present the implications of agency theory in microeconomics, augmented by behavioral economics, for different methods of value‐based payment in health care; and to derive a set of future research questions and policy recommendations based on that conceptual analysis.Data SourcesOriginal literature of agency theory, and secondarily behavioral economics, combined with applied research and empirical evidence on the application of those principles to value‐based payment.Study DesignConceptual analysis and targeted review of theoretical research and empirical literature relevant to value‐based payment in health care.Principal FindingsAgency theory and secondarily behavioral economics have powerful implications for design of value‐based payment in health care. To achieve improved value—better patient experience, clinical quality, health outcomes, and lower costs of care—high‐powered incentives should directly target improved care processes, enhanced patient experience, and create achievable benchmarks for improved outcomes. Differing forms of value‐based payment (e.g., shared savings and risk, reference pricing, capitation, and bundled payment), coupled with adjunct incentives for quality and efficiency, can be tailored to different market conditions and organizational settings.ConclusionsPayment contracts that are “incentive compatible”—which directly encourage better care and reduced cost, mitigate gaming, and selectively induce clinically efficient providers to participate—will focus differentially on evidence‐based care processes, will right‐size and structure incentives to avoid crowd‐out of providers’ intrinsic motivation, and will align patient incentives with value. Future research should address the details of putting these and related principles into practice; further, by deploying these insights in payment design, policy makers will improve health care value for patients and purchasers.

Toward Synthesizing Our Knowledge of Morphology: Using Ontologies and Machine Reasoning to Extract Presence/Absence Evolutionary Phenotypes across Studies.

The reality of larger and larger molecular databases and the need to integrate data scalably have presented a major challenge for the use of phenotypic data. Morphology is currently primarily described in discrete publications, entrenched in noncomputer readable text, and requires enormous investments of time and resources to integrate across large numbers of taxa and studies. Here we present a new methodology, using ontology-based reasoning systems working with the Phenoscape Knowledgebase (KB; kb.phenoscape.org), to automatically integrate large amounts of evolutionary character state descriptions into a synthetic character matrix of neomorphic (presence/absence) data. Using the KB, which includes more than 55 studies of sarcopterygian taxa, we generated a synthetic supermatrix of 639 variable characters scored for 1051 taxa, resulting in over 145,000 populated cells. Of these characters, over 76% were made variable through the addition of inferred presence/absence states derived by machine reasoning over the formal semantics of the source ontologies. Inferred data reduced the missing data in the variable character-subset from 98.5% to 78.2%. Machine reasoning also enables the isolation of conflicts in the data, that is, cells where both presence and absence are indicated; reports regarding conflicting data provenance can be generated automatically. Further, reasoning enables quantification and new visualizations of the data, here for example, allowing identification of character space that has been undersampled across the fin-to-limb transition. The approach and methods demonstrated here to compute synthetic presence/absence supermatrices are applicable to any taxonomic and phenotypic slice across the tree of life, providing the data are semantically annotated. Because such data can also be linked to model organism genetics through computational scoring of phenotypic similarity, they open a rich set of future research questions into phenotype-to-genome relationships.

The Influences of User Experience, Aesthetics and Psychology in the Design Process of 3D Avatars (Theoretical model)

This paper introduces a theoretical model that combines three theoretical factors which – it is argued - significantly contribute to the operation of designing 3D avatars. These factors are aesthetics, user-experience and psychology. The aim of the report is to put forward new ideas on what informs the design operation of 3D avatars. An additional reason for the creation of this theoretical model is to simplify the procedure of 3D avatars design, while at the same time comprehending the influence of aesthetics, user-experience and psychology. The paper provides an overview of existing research on aesthetics, user experience and psychology and how these can inform 3D avatars design procedure. As with all theoretical models, this one too needs further testing; a set of future research questions are posed.

Climate Clubs: Can Small Groups of Countries make a Big Difference in Addressing Climate Change?

Clubs, defined as smaller groups of countries that take action outside of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), have been suggested in the literature as a way forward for climate action. Some have suggested them as a replacement of the UNFCCC. This article, by contrast, explores how clubs could assist in catalyzing greater ambition, defined as emissions reduction targets in line with climate science, which would eventually be captured in the UNFCCC. An analysis of the existing climate club landscape shows that clubs currently promote dialogue and/or implementation of specific activities. While these clubs make important contributions, their mandate and configuration are not focused on significantly increasing ambition. Current clubs enable incremental, rather than transformational change. An analysis of selected proposals for new kinds of climate clubs shows that, as a common element, they call for further incentives for action to underpin greater ambition. The article further analyzes a set of incentives, predominantly economic, for ‘transformational clubs’, related to trade, investment, labour mobility or access to finance, and identifies a set of future research questions.

Business and Peace: Sketching the Terrain

Our goals in this article are to summarize the existing literature on the role business can play in creating sustainable peace and to discuss important avenues for extending this research. As part of our discussion, we review the ethical arguments and related research made to date, including the rationale and motivation for businesses to engage in conflict resolution and peace building, and discuss how scholars are extending research in this area. We also focus on specific ways companies can actively engage in conflict reduction including promoting economic devel- opment, the rule of law, and principles of external valuation, contributing to a sense of community, and engaging in track-two diplomacy and conflict sensitive practices. We conclude by developing a set of future research questions and considerations.

Spotlight on Affect: Affect and Affective Forecasting in Impulse Control

The authors propose an alternative conceptualization to the Strack, Werth, and Deutsch (2006) model. This alternative conceptualization considers how the forecasting of emotional outcomes linked to controlling or failing to control impulses affects self‐regulatory behavior. A set of future research questions is identified based on this conceptualization. The proposed model differs from that of Strack et al. (2006) by its focus on (a) affect, (b) impulse control (versus buying), and (c) deliberative processing linked to impulse control (or lack thereof).