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The choice of crops to produce at a location depends to a large degree on the climate. As the climate changes and food demand evolves, farmers may need to produce a different mix of crops. This study assesses how much cropland may be subject to such upheavals at the global scale, and then focuses on China as a case study to examine how spatial heterogeneity informs different contexts for adaptation within a country.

A global agricultural economic model is linked to a cropland allocation algorithm to generate maps of cropland distribution under historical and future conditions. The mix of crops at each location is examined to determine whether it is likely to experience a major shift.

Two-thirds of rainfed cropland and half of irrigated cropland are likely to experience substantial upheaval of some kind.

This analysis helps establish a global context for the local changes that producers might face under future climate and socioeconomic changes. The scale of the challenge means that the agricultural sector needs to prepare for these widespread and diverse upheavals.

Previous research on the use of behaviour modelling techniques for training in industry have shown it to be generally effective. Further, more specific work has suggested that effectiveness might be improved by the use of techniques (symbolic coding and rehearsal) designed to improve trainees’ retention processes. This study examined the use of symbolic coding (learning points) and rehearsal techniques in behaviour modelling training. The data were derived from a field experiment conducted in a UK financial services organisation. Although, as expected, the behaviour modelling approach did produce effective learning the results showed that, contrary to hypotheses, variations in symbolic coding (different learning points conditions) and rehearsal did not influence training outcomes.

This study aims to crystallize the research landscape of corporate social responsibility (CSR) authenticity by systematically analyzing CSR scholarships published in peer-reviewed journals from 2007 to 2021.

Quantitative content analysis was used to systematically analyze 52 peer-reviewed articles on CSR authenticity. In particular, this study coded the conceptualizations and operationalizations of CSR authenticity, research contexts, applied theoretical frameworks and constructs associated with authenticity in the CSR scholarships.

This study’s analysis revealed that CSR authenticity is a multifaceted and multidimensional concept researched in various contexts. Yet, it still lacks clear and consistent conceptualization and theorization. Methodologically, qualitative and quantitative methods have equally contributed to the investigation of CSR authenticity. However, scale development and validation still need to improve.

The sample of this research is limited by the searching method and language restriction. This research contributes to CSR scholarships by describing the growing landscape of CSR authenticity research, identifying key research gaps and offering suggestions for future research.

Practitioners can use the findings as references to develop more authentic CSR activities.

This study is an early attempt to examine the research on CSR authenticity, which has been inconclusive and disorganized, despite the rapid growth of publications in recent years.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the crisis information posted by publics on the social media platform Instagram about leading fast food companies as well as the responses by the companies and their general use of Instagram.

In two quantitative content analyses, 711 Instagram posts were identified in a two-week constructed time period that related to the ten largest fast food chains in the world.

It was found that negative content about these companies is posted by customers and employees alike and that the negative tonality primarily stems from issues with service and the work environment. The study also showed that the companies are just starting to discover Instagram and have very little engagement with users. None of the companies responded to the negative posts of customers and employees.

The analysis only evaluated posts with negative hashtags about ten fast food companies. Future research should expand the analysis to all posts about a certain sector as well as expand the scope of the research beyond the fast food sector.

The results of the study are a call-to-action for public relations professionals to engage with their publics on Instagram and actively use the app as a pre-crisis monitoring and crisis response tool in their social media plans.

Instagram is a fast-growing social media channel, yet research into this platform is lacking. The findings of this study should be a challenge to public relations practitioners to put Instagram next to Facebook and Twitter at the center of their social media strategy.

Public relations practitioners worldwide are attempting to enhance the overall organization–stakeholder relationships by applying strategic communication techniques and skills to corporate social responsibility (CSR) management and communications. In this light, drawing on the prosocial motivation literature, this paper aims to investigate consumers’ implicit and explicit motivations for prosocial behavior, and how these two motivations interact to affect consumers’ willingness to contribute to CSR activities. Second, through the lens of sensemaking theory, this study evaluates the influence of successful prosocial behavior engagement on consumers’ perceptions of both self and companies’ prosocial identities, CSR authenticity and company evaluations.

This study adopts a dictator game experiment with 2 × 2 factorial design to gauge consumers’ prosocial behavioral response toward companies’ CSR communication with implicit and explicit motivations and to examine its effect on company evaluation.

In all, the results of this study suggest that implicit motivation, i.e. self-affirmation intervention, in CSR communication will cause consumers to donate more money to CSR programs; whereas explicit motivation does not exert an effect on consumers’ prosocial behavior. In addition, such donation will trigger consumers’ prosocial sensemaking process and lead to strong identification with the company, positive attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the company.

This study aims to build a consumer- and social cause-oriented CSR communication model, which maximizes the impact of CSR investments on consumer relationship building, business bottom line and social causes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the veracity of the contingency model of ethical crisis communication by examining the factors of influence in a time of crisis including what constitutes ethics in a time of crisis; the role of public relations (PR) practitioners as the “moral conscience” of an organization and perceptions of the PR’ role within top management.

In-depth interviews were conducted among ten senior PR managers with crisis communication experience in North America.

This research identifies and investigates six ethical variables – the nature of the crisis, the role of top management, the activism of stakeholders, government regulation/intervention, the diversity of cultures and the exposure to external business environments – and their potential influences on an organization’s communication practices.

The qualitative approach does not produce generalizable results. In addition, the authors could have interviewed more people, although the authors have reached information saturation in analyzing the interview data based on the ten interviews conducted.

Insights from this exploratory study contribute to answering the “how” questions with empirical data that enhance the clarity on the roadmap of ethical factors in crisis communication practice.

Unlike other conceptual work that explores moral philosophies in ethics, this study aims to offer a practical approach – rather than a philosophical argument and persuasion – that is rooted in the practitioner’s world.

Audit support staff comprise a new profession in the National Health Service. They have a key role in enhancing the work of audit groups in both primary and secondary care. However, arrangements for their formal training have not yet been established. This study describes how a training needs analysis was undertaken with audit support staff in one health region in England and reports the construction and evaluation of the first course designed explicitly for this group of staff. Well trained audit support staff have an important role in making clinical audit effective. Training should be based on information about their training needs, and opportunities should be provided for their continued professional development.

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of the physical environment in patient satisfaction ratings as communicated in narratives on the social media platform such as Facebook.

Publicly available Facebook reviews (n = 4,502) of a reputable healthcare system in the USA were analyzed. A thematic analysis was conducted to explore architectural elements of the physical environment that play a role in patient satisfaction.

Facebook reviews were examined for the presence of design-related factors within the physical environment. Of the 627 posts (14 per cent) with relevant content, 56 involved factors related to the physical environment. The factors include: location, parking, cleanliness, privacy, waiting rooms, music and temperature. The results showed that environmental and design-related factors are part of patient satisfaction in hospitals.

Not all Facebook reviews contain narrative information. Nevertheless, the impact of the built environment can manifest in online reviews of healthcare systems. Future patient satisfaction research should examine variables related to the built environment on social media ratings.

Social media feedback about the physical environment can help in understanding factors influencing patient satisfaction, which can have an implication for architectural design.

The patient satisfaction is related to the physical environment of healthcare facilities. Some social media narratives reflect it and can be used to improve patient satisfaction.

Although some studies examine social media narratives on patient satisfaction, fewer studies examine these narratives in relation to the built environment. Created by a team of interdisciplinary researchers, this study provides a novel approach to examine social media ratings.

This paper aims to examine what type of messaging on Twitter is most effective for helping move social marketing beyond focusing on personal changes to find out what messages help turn members of the public into vocal advocates for these organizations’ social changes. Social marketing scholarship has regularly focused on how organizations can effectively influence changes in awareness and behaviors among their targeted audience. Communication scholarship, however, has repeatedly shown that the most influential form of persuasion happens interpersonally. As such, it is imperative that organizations learn how to engage audiences and facilitate the discussion about organizational messages between individuals. Social media provide platforms for such conversations, as organizational messaging can be shared and discussed by individuals with others in their networks.

Through a content analysis of 3,415 Twitter updates from 50 nonprofit organizations, this study identifies specific types of messages that are more likely to get stakeholders retweeting, archiving and discussing the organizations’ messaging through regression analysis.

Messages focusing on calls-to-action and community building generated the most retweets and Twitter conversation; however, they were also the least used strategies by nonprofit organizations.

Research has regularly examined the types of messages sent out by nonprofit organizations on Twitter, but they have not tested those messages against measures of engagement. This study pushes the understanding of social media communication to the next level by analyzing those message categories against metrics provided by Twitter for each tweet in the sample.

The purpose of this study is to examine the biophysical and socioeconomic impacts of climate change on maize production and food security in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) using adapted improved maize varieties and well-calibrated and validated bioeconomic models.

Using the past climate (1950-2000) as a baseline, the study estimated the biophysical impacts of climate change in 2050 (2040-2069) and 2080 (2070-2099) under the A1B emission scenario and three nitrogen levels, and the socioeconomic impacts in 2050.

Climate change will affect maize yields across SSA in 2050 and 2080, and the extent of the impact at a given period will vary considerably between input levels, regions and maize mega environments (MMEs). Greater relative yield reductions may occur under medium and high-input intensification than under low intensification, in Western and Southern Africa than in Eastern and Central Africa and in lowland and dry mid-altitude than in highland and wet mid-altitude MMEs. Climate change may worsen food insecurity in SSA in 2050 through its negative impact on maize consumption and reduction in daily calorie intake. However, international trade has the potential to offset some of the negative impacts.

The study calibrated and applied bioeconomic models to estimate the biophysical and socioeconomic impact of climate change on maize production at fine resolution. The results could be used as a baseline to evaluate measures that will be applied to adapt maize to the future climate in SSA.