Revista de Administração da UFSM

It’s possible to measure racism! Analysis of measures and scales of the racism construct

Karina Francine Marcelino, Mário César Barreto Moraes — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0300

Purpose: This research aims to analyze the construction and validation of measures and scales of the racism construct through a systematic literature review. The purpose is to examine how these instruments are built based on statistical recommendations for scale development.
Methodology: A systematic literature review followed well-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were collected from databases available on the Portal de Periódicos Capes, covering a period up to December 2023 (with no start date limitation). After removing duplicate articles and applying the defined filters, six studies were selected for the analysis of scale construction.
Findings: Three specific scales were identified to measure and evaluate the racism construct: the Modern Racism Scale, the Symbolic Racism Scale, and the Ethno-Racial Attitudes Scale. Although there is a predominance of studies on the Modern Racism Scale, other instruments were excluded from the analysis corpus due to non-compliance with inclusion criteria, especially related to article availability.
Originality: Among the 82 analyzed articles, those focused on measures and scales of the racism construct do not provide an analysis of the development of these instruments. This study brings to light an analysis of the construction and validation of these measures and scales.

ESG integration strategy with a multivariate normal distribution

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0300

Purpose: The paper aims to present a new framework for ESG integration strategies in portfolio optimization problems. The optimization in the new structure focuses on the portfolio level, and the procedure is not focused on utility functions or on preliminary weights applied to the asset level. It applies the resampling technique, and all the portfolios are optimal portfolios in the mean-variance space. It uses a filtering process where only optimal portfolios with lower ESG risks are considered. Therefore, this technique works only with optimized portfolios, avoids concentration bias, and considers estimation errors in the expected returns and in the covariance matrix.
Design/methodology/approach: The sample mean returns and covariance matrices generated by a multivariate normal distribution are applied in mean-variance optimization to generate several portfolios in the efficient frontiers. An ESG filtering process is used to select portfolios with lower ESG risks from a sample of 42 companies listed on the Brazilian stock exchange with returns from the period of 2018/01/01 to 2024/04/22.
Findings: Integration strategy costs may be lower than the best-in-class strategy costs and may be similar to the costs of a negative screening strategy.
Social implications: The paper presents a framework that considers social, environmental, and governance factors in the portfolio optimization process.
Originality: The main contribution of this paper is to present a new framework that combines resampling of returns’ mean and covariance based on a multivariate normal distribution with an ESG portfolio filtering process.

Sustainable behavior in nature tourism travel: the influence of local infrastructure

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0300

Purpose: To analyze the influence of local tourism infrastructure on sustainable behavior.
Methodology: A survey was conducted with 209 tourists visiting five cities located in the northeast region of Brazil, encompassing different types of nature tourism such as climbing mountains, taking sunbath, and going to the beach. Through Exploratory Factor Analysis, the collected data were analyzed to reduce the number of variables and group them into factors. Subsequently, a multiple linear regression analysis was performed to assess the influence of constructs related to local infrastructure on sustainable behavior in nature tourism travel.
Findings: The results indicate that the sociocultural and ecological dimensions of local infrastructure positively influence the behavior of tourists on nature trips, while public policies’ dimension was not appropriately captured in the study.
Practical implications: The research findings can be useful for public managers to improve tourism infrastructure more effectively, induce tourists towards sustainable behavior, and thus achieve sustainable tourism.
Originality/value: The study expanded the understanding of sustainable behavior in travel by revealing the dimensions of local infrastructure that positively influence it. It also highlighted the importance of educational actions that promote a local culture of sustainability.

Food safety, consumption behavior, and personal values: an integrative review

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0300

Purpose: To map in international literature how personal values have been addressed in the context of consumer behavior in relation to food safety.
Design/methodology/approach: An integrative review was employed as the research method using the Web of Science and Scopus scientific databases. Nineteen empirical articles were selected and classified into five analysis categories: i) cultural context; ii) risk perception and willingness to pay; iii) sustainable consumption; iv) animal welfare; and v) differences among sociodemographic profiles.
Findings: The studies focus on identifying personal values that influence attitudes and behaviors related to food safety in food consumption. They seek to understand how these values, reflected in consumer concerns about food safety, affect the categorization of foods as healthy/safe.
Practical implications: The understanding of the factors that interfere with consumer relationships is crucial in the context of food safety, as it allows for the enhancement of communication strategies and policies targeted toward the consuming public.
Originality/value: This study provides an integrative framework based on the analyzed literature and suggests future research perspectives to advance knowledge on the subject.