‘Nudging’ as an architect of more responsible consumer choice in food service provision: The role of restaurant menu design

The sector of food service provision generates substantial environmental and societal impacts. Environmental impacts are particularly pronounced in terms of carbon footprint build-up while societal impacts are reflected in often unhealthy food choice. These impacts should be minimised to facilitate progress of the sector towards sustainability. A significant share of the negative impacts from food service provision is attributed to irresponsible consumer choice which needs to be architected and made more society- and climate-benign. Customer ‘nudging’ is an effective tool of consumer choice architecture and yet little research has examined its application within the context of private food service provision. This study set to better understand the determinants of consumer choice when dining out and how consumer choice could be reinforced to make it more beneficial from the sustainability viewpoint. To this end, the study reported on the outcome of a consumer survey conducted among visitors to a UK casual dining restaurant where menu design was employed as a customer ‘nudging’ tool. The survey demonstrated that, next to price, food provenance and nutritional value determined consumer choice when dining out. This information should therefore be displayed on restaurant menus to enable educated, and more environment- and society-benign, food choice. While presenting the food carbon values on a menu was well perceived, some skepticism attached to their prospective use as a determinant of consumer choice was recorded. Recommendations were made on the design of the industry and policy-making interventions required to enhance the public appeal of this menu item

The effect of culture in forming e-loyalty intentions: A cross-cultural analysis between Argentina and Spain

In order to increase their markets, many companies are starting e-commerce internationalization processes that involve dealing with cultural differences among countries. Although most firms start internationalization strategies to similar countries, previous research has mainly focused on understanding expansion to countries with a great cultural distance. This study analyzes the relevance of culture in the formation of e-loyalty intentions in Argentina and Spain, two countries with slight cultural differences. Specifically, culture is proposed as a moderator of e-service quality and satisfaction effects on e-loyalty intentions. Results confirm that the influence of e-service quality on e-loyalty intentions is greater for Argentinian consumers (a little more individualistic, masculine, and less pragmatic culture compared to Spain). Besides, a greater influence of satisfaction on e-loyalty is found for Spanish consumers (a more pragmatic, collectivistic, and feminine culture compared to Argentina). The introduction of socio-demographic control variables, i.e. gender, age and education level, support the moderation effect of culture. According to these results, marketers should note that e-loyalty formation process differs across cultures, even between similar cultures. Further implications for international marketing strategies are widely discussed

Implications of Perceived Overqualification for Employee\u27s Close Social ties: The Moderating Role of External Organizational Prestige

In this study, we examine the relationship between perceived overqualification and life satisfaction of an employee\u27s close social ties, as mediated by employee\u27s perceived career performance and life satisfaction. Further, we propose that close social ties\u27 perceptions of organizational prestige moderates this mediating process. In a sample of 118 employees from a Greek organization in the gambling industry and their close social ties (i.e., spouses, romantic partners, parents, siblings, or close friends), we found that close social ties\u27 perceptions of organizational prestige moderated the relationships of perceived overqualification with both perceived career performance and employee life satisfaction in a way that these relationships were negative only when employees\u27 close social ties perceived that the organization where employees worked had lower (vs. higher) prestige. Further, results showed that the indirect relationship between perceived overqualification and close social ties\u27 life satisfaction via employee life satisfaction was negative only when prestige was lower, and nonsignificant when organizational prestige was higher. Implications for theory and practice are discussed

Do Euroregions Have a Future?

The main purpose of this paper is to make a substantial contribution to past, present and future debates about the “Europe of the Euroregions” by highlighting the challenges and difficulties involved in building mutual understanding across (national) borders. The idea of building mutual understanding that leads to reciprocal trust and consequently provides the very basis for strategy-making and policy delivery in a cross-border context is not a new one. Using the Austrian-Italian-Slovenian case, the paper demonstrates that some essential aspects are still not achieving the attention required when dealing with “multi-area Euroregions”. The added value of defining and analyzing the socially rooted and culturally embedded meaning of spatial planning as well as understanding the “region” phenomenon in different planning cultures and traditions and the translation of what this means in an EU sense is examined from this perspective. Building on the evidence drawn from the Austrian-Italian-Slovenian case, the paper explores a possible direction for building up effective long-lasting forms of cross-border cooperation throughout Europe through an innovative approach that is defined here as the Euroregional Planning Approach. In this context, it needs to be underlined that the Euroregional planning scale (Fabbro 2010) is not so much a reference to the formal concept of a Euroregion in the European Union but rather should be understood as a reference to the more complex planning practice that is required to realize stable forms of territorial cooperation between multi-area regions throughout Europe that are characterized by strong historical and cultural differences (Haselsberger 2010a). Therefore, this paper proposes two essential preconditions for and steps towards the successful overcoming of negative border effects and the subsequent establishment of “soft spaces” of interaction within the multi-area Euroregions of the 21st century. This perspective consists of two interrelated spatial thoughts:• The Euroregional Planning Avenue deals with the recognition and proper understanding of different planning cultures and traditions, which is considered an essential success criteria not only for the emergence, but also for the durability of multi-area Euroregions.• The Euroregional Political Avenue is grounded in the idea of establishing joint cooperation and governance platforms and equipping multi-area Euroregions with the institutional thickness required for strategy-making and policy delivery