Stakeholders, Green Manufacturing, and Practice Performance: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Fashion Businesses

This study explores the relationship among stakeholders, green manufacturing, and practice performance in the fashion business in China and focuses on assisting companies to enhance environmental awareness and green manufacturing practices. We collect research data by developing questionnaires for various Chinese enterprises. A five-point Likert scale is adopted to enable respondents to indicate the extent to which they agree with the items. Through tests and analyses, the questionnaire is validated as reliable, the structural equation model has a good fitting degree, and hypotheses are proved true. Specifically, corporate stakeholders have a significant positive impact on green manufacturing and practice performance, and green manufacturing has a significant positive impact on practice performance in the context of Chinese fashion businesses. Moreover, corporate stakeholders can have a positive impact on practice performance through green manufacturing. We also propose some policy implications, including implementing compulsive policies and regulations and encouraging and establishing preferential policies, such as tax concessions. Moreover, enterprises should actively strive to improve green manufacturing technology and management level to ensure the smooth implementation of green manufacturing practices. To retain sustained earnings and development, green manufacturing should be the bottom line of involved firms. We also emphasize that the importance of corporate stakeholders should be promoted in consideration of enterprises’ practice performance and future development

Drinking to ease the burden: a cross-sectional study on trauma, alcohol abuse and psychopathology in a post-conflict context

Ertl V, Saile R, Neuner F, Catani C. Drinking to ease the burden: a cross-sectional study on trauma, alcohol abuse and psychopathology in a post-conflict context. BMC Psychiatry. 2016;16(1): 202.Background It is likely that alcohol use and abuse increase during and after violent conflicts. The most prominent explanation of this phenomenon has been referred to as self-medication hypothesis. It predicts that psychotropic substances are consumed to deal with conflict-related psychic strains and trauma. In northern Uganda, a region that has been affected by a devastating civil war and is characterized by high levels of alcohol abuse we examined the associations between war-trauma, childhood maltreatment and problems related to alcohol use. Deducing from the self-medication hypothesis we assumed alcohol consumption moderates the relationship between trauma-exposure and psychopathology. Methods A cross-sectional epidemiological survey targeting war-affected families in post-conflict northern Uganda included data of male (n = 304) and female (n = 365) guardians. We used standardized questionnaires in an interview format to collect data on the guardians’ socio-demography, trauma-exposure, alcohol consumption and symptoms of alcohol abuse, PTSD and depression. Results Symptoms of current alcohol use disorders were present in 46 % of the male and 1 % of the female respondents. A multiple regression model revealed the unique contributions of emotional abuse in the families of origin and trauma experienced outside the family-context in the prediction of men’s alcohol-related symptoms. We found that alcohol consumption moderated the dose-effect relationship between trauma-exposure and symptoms of depression and PTSD. Significant interactions indicated that men who reported more alcohol-related problems experienced less increase in symptoms of PTSD and depression with increasing trauma-exposure. Conclusions The gradual attenuation of the dose-effect the more alcohol-related problems were reported is consistent with the self-medication hypothesis. Hence, the functionality of alcohol consumption has to be considered when designing and implementing addiction treatment in post-conflict contexts

Globally responsible leadership: When east meets west: an investigation of challenges and drivers of successful implementation of CSR in five companies

Using qualitative data collected from interviews and focus groups of senior leaders from five global companies operating in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa, this study makes two important contributions to the theory of globally responsible leadership. First, it depicts a framework of catalysts and drivers for sustainability for use by responsible leaders. Second, it develops a framework of globally responsible leadership that covers eight components of responsible leadership. These frameworks will benefit both scholars and practitioners in the fields of leadership and sustainability

Sustainability and consumer behaviour

Existing research suggests that sustainable strategies of many corporate organizations are internally focused and aim to boost companies’ brand images, improve their competitive positions and to increase wealth for their shareholders. Such sustainable initiatives lack a genuine commitment to long-term green production, ecological integrity, human welfare and green buying behaviour. Yet, not many consumers have developed the mindset to buy green products even when companies strive hard to preserve sustainable standards through externally-focused initiatives to promote fair trade, ecological protection and social justice. While consumers’ demand for products can be analyzed and predicted through economic models, their green consumption behaviour is not always predictable and goes far beyond simple rational analysis. Some consumers even take sustainability matters less seriously due to complex and sometimes divisive sustainability discussions by world leaders. Models to address these sustainability issues are also limited. This chapter, therefore, uses the lens of cohered emergent theory to propose a corporate sustainability model that can promote pro-environmental practices and inspire firms to involve consumers actively in their sustainable development activities. It encourages consumers to become green buyers who consume goods and service responsibly and motivate firms to develop marketing campaigns that are eco-friendly and ethically acceptable to changing consumer behaviour. The chapter also motivates policymakers to introduce policies that can actively bring the ideas of corporate managers, the consuming public, and other environmental-friendly stakeholders together to develop adaptive production and consumption programmes that can promote economic benefits, eco-friendly environments and social justice