Comparing convenience and probability sampling for urban ecology applications

Authentic Leadership Behaviors and Thriving at Work: Empirical Evidence From The Information Technology Industry in Australia

Authentic leaders display an exceptional level of integrity and honesty, a high level of awareness and responsibility as well as a commitment to achieving their goals; as a result, they develop more trusting relationships with their employees, which could be translated into many positive outcomes, such as enhancing the ability to thrive at work. The present study aims to determine the role of authentic leadership´s (AL's) four dimensions (self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) in fostering an environment that offers workers the opportunity to do well, including in terms of two related elements (vitality and learning). An online questionnaire was conducted to collect data from a sample of 402 participants from the information technology (IT) industry in Australia. The study used WarpPLS software to analyze the collected data by the structural equation model. According to the results, balanced processing of AL has a positive and significant effect on two aspects of thriving at work, namely vitality and learning, Moreover, the internalized moral perspective inherent in the aforementioned phenomenon affects learning. The current study is novel as it is among examples of pioneering research that employ the path model, and it uses multi-dimensional structures to examine authentic leadership and thriving at work in the workplace. The research also discusses theoretical contributions, managerial implications, and limitations along with future study directions.

Exploring the Spatial Pattern of Urban Forest Ecosystem Services based on i-Tree Eco and Spatial Interpolation: A Case Study of Kyoto City, Japan

Urban forest, as an essential urban green infrastructure, is critical in providing ecosystem services to cities. To enhance the mainstreaming of ecosystem services in urban planning, it is necessary to explore the spatial pattern of urban forest ecosystem services in cities. This study provides a workflow for urban forest planning based on field investigation, i-Tree Eco, and geostatistical interpolation. Firstly, trees across an array of land use types were investigated using a sampling method. Then i-Tree Eco was applied to quantify ecosystem services and ecosystem service value in each plot. Based on the ecosystem services estimates for plots, four interpolation methods were applied and compared by cross-validation. The Empirical Bayesian Kriging was determined as the best interpolation method with higher prediction accuracy. With the results of Empirical Bayesian Kriging, this study compared urban forest ecosystem services and ecosystem service value across land use types. The spatial correlations between ecosystem service value and four types of point of interest in urban places were explored using the bivariate Moran's I statistic and the bivariate local indicators of spatial association. Our results show that the residential area in the built-up area of Kyoto city had higher species richness, tree density, ecosystem services, and total ecosystem service value. Positive spatial correlations were found between ecosystem service value and the distribution of urban space types including the tourist attraction distribution, urban park distribution, and school distribution. This study provides a specific ecosystem service-oriented reference for urban forest planning based on land use and urban space types.

Exploring the vegetation of the coastal road in Puerto Cisnes, southern Chile: a vascular plant inventory

Background

In areas of low disturbance, such as the Aysén Region of Chile, the presence of roads can inadvertently facilitate the spread of invasive species. To address this issue, it is imperative to maintain up-to-date biological inventories, as they serve as a primary source of information for the conservation of species and ecosystems. However, the maintenance of systematic inventories of vascular plants in Chile is virtually non-existent, especially outside protected wilderness areas. The data we have come from an inventory of vascular plant species along a stretch of coastal road in Puerto Cisnes (Aysén Region), characterised by a cut slope in the rock. The site is located between mountain ranges, in a region known for its protected wilderness areas and low levels of anthropogenic alteration. The study adopted an observational sampling design, using the road as a transect. For each species identified, the growth substrate, habit and dispersal mode were recorded. A total of 70 species (36 herbs, 23 shrubs and 11 trees) belonging to 42 families were found. The most represented families were Hymenophyllaceae (nine species) and Myrtaceae (four species). We recorded nine introduced species belonging to seven botanical families (Cirsiumvulgare (Savi) Ten., Crocosmiacrocosmiiflora (Lemoine ex Burb. & Dean) N.E.Br., Cytisusscoparius (L.) Link, Digitalispurpurea L., Lotuspedunculatus Cav., Plantagolanceolata L., Polygonumcampanulatum Hook. f., Prunellavulgaris L., Rubusconstrictus Lefèvre & P.J.Müll). Of these nine species, seven are invasive, while the remaining two species have not been assessed for invasive potential (i.e. Crocosmiacrocosmiiflora and Polygonumcampanulatum). In particular, Crocosmiacrocosmiiflora and Rubusconstrictus are new regional records. The majority of species were found growing on the ground (44 species), while a significant proportion were found exclusively on rocky slopes (17 species). According to their seed dispersal mechanism, the most common syndromes were anemochory (32 species) and ornithochory (20 species). Other mechanisms such as mammalochory, ballochory or myrmecochory were less common (less than four species).

New information

This study provides valuable data on the vascular flora of Puerto Cisnes, Chile, a modest human settlement in a minimally altered landscape. The region, dominated by native forests and a burgeoning salmon farming industry, has few inventories, so the database presented here adds significantly to local botanical knowledge. The main novelty of this research is that it is the first inventory carried out on a road in a slightly altered area surrounded by protected wilderness areas (such as Magdalena Island National Park and Queulat National Park). The study systematically categorises species according to substrate, habitat and dispersal mode, dimensions that are rarely combined in a single database.The inventory identifies 70 species (36 herbs, 23 shrubs and 11 trees) in 42 families. The most represented families were Hymenophyllaceae (with nine species) and Myrtaceae (with four species). Additionally, we recorded, two introduced species (Crocosmiacrocosmiiflora and Rubusconstrictus) at least 100 km south of their known distribution.

The predictors of mobile government services adoption through social media: A case of Chinese citizens

This research studied the factors accounting for Chinese citizens’ behavioral adoption of mobile government services via social media platforms. Social media innovations have empowered governments to better interact and stay in touch with citizens, and thus understanding citizens’ adoption of government services via social media will enable policymakers to leverage social media to better meet the service requirements of citizens. Drawing upon the Chinese mobile-government context, this research framework was made on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) while the analysis of data was completed with Smart PLS by the use of the SEM procedure. The analysis has surprisingly discovered that perceived usefulness (PU) does not predict the adoption of mobile government services through social media. However, perceived information quality was significant in determining both the PU and adoption behavior. It was also shown that factors such as perceived security, perceived mobility, trendiness, and interactivity were all significant determinants of both the perceived usefulness and adoption intention respectively. The research and managerial consequences of the study outcomes on m-government development and diffusion are thoroughly considered.

Understanding the determinants of ePharmacy services: the moderating effect of technology discomfort

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to understand the determinants affecting behavioral intention (BI) to use ePharmacy services. The moderating role of technology discomfort in the relationship between BI and the actual use of ePharmacies in the context of Bangladesh is also examined.

Design/methodology/approach

A descriptive, quantitative approach was used to consider the UTAUT-2 model. Using the convenience sampling method, 255 responses were collected. The data were analyzed using Smart-PLS 3.2 software to investigate the hypothesized relationships.

Findings

The findings reveal that website information, doctors’ services, performance expectancy, return policy, social influence, perceived reliability and facilitating conditions are significantly related to the BI to use ePharmacy services. Interestingly, the structural equation modeling results also confirmed that technology discomfort has no moderating effect on the relationship between BI and actual usage behavior.

Research limitations/implications

This research provides theoretical contribution by extending the practical knowledge focusing on the relationship of ePharmacy, BI and actual usage behavior by using UTAUT-2 model – a relevant and unexplored issue in the easting literature, offering several research opportunities as the future avenue.

Practical implications

The result highlights the economic and social relevance from the perspective of a developing country. As people are showing their intention toward ePharmacy, managers and decision-makers need to take strategic decision to overcome any difficulties. Policymakers need to improve their services for the expansion of ePharmacy through different development projects.

Originality/value

This study advances past studies on the use of ecommerce in the pharmaceutical industry and provides a general understanding of customers in developing countries.

Building a yardstick–a benchmark framework for assessing higher education management institutions

Purpose

Higher education management institutions play a vibrant role in imparting managerial skills to the students to face the corporate world. Performance evaluation of such institutions is mandate to ensure the outcome quality. To establish this, the present research explored the critical performance indicators of management institutions using the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach.

Design/methodology/approach

This research explored the critical performance indicators of public, private and standalone management institutions in India. Data were collected from the representative sample of all the stakeholders in those management institutions. A specific vision was created and a systematic procedure was employed to arrive at the objectives, measures and metrics of the scorecard specific to the vision. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to perform analysis on the collected data. For the objectives and measures that evolved from confirmatory factor analysis, metrics were formulated based on the expert opinion.

Findings

The study resulted in 16 objectives, 46 measures and 54 metrics encompassing all the four perspectives of BSC. This paper has contributed a concrete, concise, comprehensive and context specific framework.

Research limitations/implications

The nature of the BSC framework paves the way for continuous assessment and eventually helps the institutions to attain sustainable growth. This research contributes to the literature of balanced scorecard and also to the performance assessment of the management institutions.

Originality/value

BSC-based benchmarking is a unique contribution to the academia of management education to precisely measure the performance of institutions. The model comprehensively includes the indicators from all the perspectives of stakeholders in terms of objectives, measures and metrics, thus proposing a holistic assessment.

Location biases in ecological research on Australian terrestrial reptiles

Understanding geographical biases in ecological research is important for conservation, planning, prioritisation and management. However, conservation efforts may be limited by data availability and poor understanding of the nature of potential spatial bias. We conduct the first continent-wide analysis of spatial bias associated with Australian terrestrial reptile ecological research. To evaluate potential research deficiencies, we used Maxent modelling to predict the distributions of 646 reptile studies published from 1972 to 2017. Based on existing distributions of 1631 individual reptile study locations, reptile species richness, proximity to universities, human footprint and location of protected areas, we found the strongest predictor of reptile research locations was proximity to universities (40.8%). This was followed by species richness (22.9%) and human footprint (20.1%), while protected areas were the weakest predictor (16.2%). These results highlight that research effort is driven largely by accessibility and we consequently identify potential target areas for future research that can be optimised to ensure adequate representation of reptile communities.

An investigation into the erroneous access and egress behaviours of building users and their impact upon building performance

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the behaviour of building users and how this impacts upon building energy performance. Specifically, the work examines the behavioural traits of able-bodied users of a large higher education building who erroneously access and egress the building using doorways intended for disabled users.

Design/methodology/approach

An inductive methodological approach is adopted that uses grounded theory to devise new insights into building users’ access and egress habits. Structured interviews are conducted to collect primary data from 68 building users of a large educational building over a four-week period. Responses to questions posed provide the basis for a tabularisation of behavioural traits.

Findings

Reasons for able-bodied building users’ preferences to using disabled access are identified and discussed; these are thematically grouped under the headings of apathy, convenience, emergency, ergonomics, ignorance and phobia. Building upon these findings, the research then offers insights into the approaches that could be adopted to change the erroneous behaviours. These approaches include education of building users on the impact their behaviour has upon building performance and environmental pollution, more stringent regulation to penalise repeat offenders and changes to building entrance design using obtrusive (i.e. radio frequency identification tags) and unobstrusive control measures (i.e. a second entrance doorway or slower opening mechanism).

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to investigate the rationale for able-bodied building users erroneously using disabled persons’ access and egress doorways within a building, which as a consequence, inadvertently reduces the building’s environmental performance.

Estimation of Recycled Concrete Aggregate's Water Permeability Coefficient as Earth Construction Material with the Application of an Analytical Method

Creating models based on empirical data and their statistical measurements have been used for a long time in the economic sciences. Increasingly, these methods are used in the technical sciences, such as construction and geotechnical engineering. This allows for reducing the costs of geotechnical research at the design stage. This article presents the research carried out on Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA) material with is reclaimed crushed concrete rubble. Permeability tests were carried out using the constant head method. Tests were conducted on blends of RCA with the following particle size ranges: 0.02–16 mm, 0.05–16 mm, 0.1–16 mm, and 0.2–16 mm. The gradients used during the tests were between 0.2 to 0.83, which corresponds to gradients encountered in earth construction and are below the critical gradient. Directly from the tests, the flux velocity for the range of tested gradients were calculated based on filtered water volume measurements. The values of the permeability coefficient (k) were then recalculated. Finally, statistical methods were used to determine which physical parameters of the tested material affect the permeability coefficient. The physical parameters selected from the statistical analysis were used to create a model describing the phenomenon. The model can be used to determine the permeability coefficient for a mixed RCA material. The article ends with conclusions and proposals concerning the use of models and the limits of their applicability.