Leading by example: A three-wave sequential mixed method food safety study

(Best Paper Award/ 253 submissions) According to the most recent government data, approximately 61% of foodborne illness outbreaks were attributed to lack of personal hygiene and improper food handling by employees in the foodservice industry. Foodservice employees fail to adhere to safe food preparation practices, may directly introduce pathogens that can cause illness and death. Few qualitative studies have examined the barriers of effective managerial practices that influence employee’s food safety behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to explore employees’ perspectives about managerial practices that influence their food safety behaviors

Predicting and explaining behavioral intention and hand sanitizer use among US Army soldiers

Citation: Naiqing Lin, Kevin R. Roberts, (2017) Predicting and explaining behavioral intention and hand sanitizer use among US Army soldiers, In American Journal of Infection Control, 45(4),396-400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2016.11.008.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, simple hand washing is one of the most effective methods to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.1,2,3 The literature shows a strong and consistent association between personal hand hygiene and reduced gastrointestinal disease, respiratory illness, and absenteeism in the work force.1,4,5 Hands are the primary mode of transmission for many infectious diseases, particularly among military personnel.6 Hand hygiene is a proven measure of controlling infection in military settings

Predicting and explaining behavioral intention and hand sanitizer use among U.S. Army soldiers

Master of ScienceHospitality Management and DieteticsKevin R. RobertsMany pathogenic microorganisms are spread by contaminated hands and may lead to foodborne illness. The use of hand sanitizers can significantly reduce bacterial contamination and is an efficient and inexpensive method to prevent infections and sickness. Previous researchers have found that the routine use of hand sanitizers allowed the U.S. Army to significantly reduce illness. However, few studies have been conducted within a U.S. Army dining facility, which is considered to be one of the primary sources of foodborne illness within the U.S. Army. Therefore, using the Theory of Planned Behavior, the purpose of this study was to identify the behavioral intention, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceptions of control of using hand sanitizer among military personnel. The study targeted soldiers using a written survey during their lunch hour on the U.S. Army base at Fort Riley, KS. A total of 201 surveys were collected. All data were screened and entered into IBM SPSS for analysis. Results indicated that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control explained 64% of the variance in behavioral intention. Attitude and subjective norms were found to be significant predictors of behavioral intention, with attitude being the strongest predictor. In general, behavioral beliefs were positive among soldiers. Related to normative beliefs, soldiers did perceive negative social pressure from other soldiers not to use hand sanitizers. Analysis of control beliefs found soldiers perceived hand sanitizers were readily available, but disliked their smell and feel after application. Food production managers and Army commanders can use these results to implement hand sanitation behavioral interventions within military dining environments. Practical implications will likely translate to reduced healthcare costs, decreased absenteeism rates, and improved mission readiness. Some of the limitations include commonly perceived social psychology bias. Further, clustered samples were collected within one military installation in a relatively short amount of time

Are employees with higher organization-based self-esteem less likely to quit? A moderated mediation model

Citation: Lin, N., Jang, J., & Roberts, K. R. (2018). Are employees with higher organization-based self-esteem less likely to quit? A moderated mediation model. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 73, 116–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.01.021This study focuses on striving for achievement as an important antecedent forming Organization-Based Self-Esteem (OBSE) and the relationship between achievement striving and turnover intention in the hospitality industry. More specifically, employees with higher achievement striving traits show a stronger negative correlation between OBSE and turnover intention, through organizational commitment. An online survey was distributed to restaurant employees; 160 valid responses were analyzed. An analytic framework based on confirmatory factor analysis and logic regression was used to examine the hypotheses. The results show that organizational commitment fully mediated the relationship between OBSE and turnover intention, and higher levels of individual achievement striving significantly modified the conditional indirect relationship. The results showed that the mediation model and achievement striving strength accounted for 15.7% of the variance in turnover intention at the 50?th, 75?th, and 90?th level and was most effective for low OBSE employees. Theoretical implications and future research are included

Explaining unobserved heterogeneity of food safety behavioral intention: a sequential mixed method approach

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Hospitality ManagementKevin R. RobertsIn 2015, 902 foodborne illness outbreaks were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resulting in 15,202 illnesses, 950 hospitalizations, and 15 deaths. Previous literature from both survey and observational studies have reported low conformity with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Code guidelines. To effectively reduce foodborne illnesses, foodservice managers and food handlers must perform proper food safety behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to identify and explain the unobserved cognitive processes within food safety behavioral intention. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was utilized. First, a systematic review and meta-analyses of the existing literature were conducted to quantify statistical power better and summarize the effect sizes with conflicting studies. Then, an in-depth qualitative study was conducted to help explain the statistical results. Using existing observed cognitive variables grounded by the Theory of Planned Behavior, the key idea is that the qualitative inquiry was built on the quantitative results. Thus, the syntheses of both studies help explained the unobserved heterogeneity information. Study 1 included a total of 1,550 studies for screening with 46 records meeting the inclusion criteria for analyses. The overall random effect size (r) was 0.282 (p < 0.001) providing collective evidence that the TPB constructs predict food safety behavioral intention. Subjective norms were noted as the most influencial variable to food safety behavioral intention. Studies with employee motivational constructs tend to show the most positive effect on food safety intention relationships. However, the Theory of Planned Behavior model only explained a combined 22% of total true effect variance. Thus, a considerable amount of the variance (78%) within food safety behavioral intention is still unexplained. Study 2 used an online questionnaire to measure individual-level norms. Open-ended questions (14) helped create qualitative narrative texts for analyses and establishing a demographic profile of the participants. A total of 104 responses from foodservice and restaurant employees were documented for coding. Most participants were female, with a mean age of 36 with an average of about 11 years of foodservice industry experiences. The results indicated that employees are usually not influenced of other managers or coworker’s approval or disapproval of their behavior. Rather, their behavior is guided by an innate motivation for moral consideration and ethical reasoning. The data further indicated that participants experience injunctive (subjective) norms, but more from a retrospective formation, rather than a forward-looking expectance regarding food safety practices. Intrinsic motivation should be an important antecedent to form normative beliefs of food safety-related behaviors. The findings of the study results challenge the previous understanding of path directions regarding normative pressure. Limitations and future studies related to maximize food safety behavioral intentions were discussed

Food Traceability in School Foodservice Operations: Benefits and Challenges

Purpose/Objectives: This study explored food traceability systems in school foodservice in the United States and the potential benefits and challenges to their implementation. Methods: An online questionnaire was developed and used to collect data. A mixed-mode approach was followed to recruit the participants. A convenience sample of 500 school nutrition professionals from Qualtrics panel was targeted for data collection with the goal of having responses from 300 participants. Due to low response rate from the initial panel, the contact information of a second convenience sample of 200 child nutrition professionals with no geographic representation was obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics database. The individuals were invited to participate by email with a link to the questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive statistics were computed to screen and summarize the data. Factor analysis was performed to categorize and identify potential benefits of, and challenges to implementing food traceability systems in school foodservice. Results: A total of 427 respondents accessed the questionnaire. Only 124 completed questionnaires were retained for a response rate of 24.8%. The findings showed that traceability systems in the investigated districts involve either paper-based or manually entered data systems. The top identified benefits of implementing food traceability systems were supporting food safety, preventing bioterrorism, and cost reduction. Among the top reported challenges to implementing food traceability systems were the unexpected substitution of food by vendors and high cost of implementing advanced traceability systems

The major causes and risk factors of total and cause-specific mortality during 5.4-year follow-up: the Shanghai Changfeng Study

To investigate the major causes and predictive factors of death in a middle-aged and elderly Chinese population. A total of 6591 residents aged ≥ 45 years from Shanghai Changfeng community were followed up for an average of 5.4 years. The causes of death were coded according to the 10th Revision of International Classification of Diseases. The mortality rate was calculated by person-years of follow up and age-standardized according to the 2010 Chinese census data. Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards model was performed to investigate the predictors of all-cause and cause-specific mortality. During the total follow-up of 35,739 person-years, 370 deaths were documented (157 from malignant neoplasms, 70 from heart diseases, 68 from cerebrovascular diseases, 75 from other causes). The age-standardized all-cause mortality rate was 798.2 per 100,000 person-years (927.9 among men and 716.7 among women). Results from multivariable analyses showed that aging, diabetes, and osteoporosis at baseline were independent predictors of all-cause mortality, with hazard ratios (HR) of 1.11 (95% CI 1.10–1.13), 1.91 (1.51–2.42), and 1.71 (1.24–2.35), respectively. The population attributable risk percent of diabetes and osteoporosis was 19.7% and 11.7%, respectively. Cigarette smoking was associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality in men (HR and 95%CI 1.44, 1.01–2.06). In women, diabetes and osteoporosis were related to a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality (3.27, 1.82–5.88 and 1.89, 1.04–3.46, respectively). While in men, osteoporosis was related to a higher risk of malignant neoplasms mortality (2.39, 1.07–5.33). Malignant neoplasms, heart diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases are the leading causes of death. Aging, smoking, underweight, diabetes, and osteoporosis are independent predictors of premature death among middle-aged and elderly Chinese community population. Moreover, there may have been some differences in the causes and predictors of premature death between men and women

Leading By Example: A Three-Wave Sequential Mixed Method Food Safety Study Item

Foodservice employees that fail to adhere to food safety practices may directly introduce pathogens that can cause illness and death. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore managerial practices that influence employee’s food safety behaviors, using a two-phase sequential mixed-method approach. A total of 642 foodservice employees currently working in the United States participated in a survey about food safety knowledge and food safety behavioral intentions. Among these, 263 were invited to answer a set of open-ended qualitative questions, 36 participants responded to the questions, and two participants were selected for in-depth interviews. The majority of the employees are optimistic about their daily food safety practices. However, cross-analyses noted that the majority of employees failed the quiz regarding basic food safety knowledge. Further analyses documented that time-constraint and lack of managerial role modeling in daily food safety practices can post a considerable threat to maintaining food safety behaviors