Lunch bag seminar - Sustainability research at LUBS

Join Dr Jyoti Mishra and Dr Constantinos Hadjichristidis and find out about their research around Sustainable Development Goals

Register Here

Many colleagues in the Business School are passionate about what research can contribute to greening the economy, stop climate change and help implementing the sustainability developmental goals in economy and society. With this lunch bag series, we want to give you an insight into colleagues’ research and use the opportunity to have some social time while working from home. Please spend your lunch time with us, bring your tea and sandwich and engage with colleagues about environmental challenges and business. Find out more about Green Research at Leeds University Business School.

Abstract

Aligning Humanitarian Operations with Sustainable Development Goals: A Practical Approach towards “Leaving no one Behind”

Due to the exponential rise in disasters in the recent years, there is a need to investigate how we can address operational issues in a humanitarian context. However, research in the humanitarian operations (HOs) is still in its infancy. Likewise, there is limited research on how HOs could align with and address Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - the development framework by the United Nations. We aim to fill these gaps by undertaking a case study of HOs in the context of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, drawing on interviews with managers from local and international non-government organisations. We focus on the organisational activities, coordination and on the role of information communication technology (ICT). Based on our findings we propose a framework that aligns HOs with the SDGs and positions ICT as playing a greater role in this alliance. The model shows how ICT could be an enabler to strengthen SDG 16 and SDG 17, which would also contribute to several other SDGs. The paper also suggests practical implications which could help contribute to the holistic alignment of SDGs in HOs management.

Using a Foreign Language Helps Attenuate Barriers to Sustainable Consumption

The 12th Sustainable Development Goal issued by the United Nations Development Programme is “Sustainable production and consumption.” The adoption of certain innovative products, such as recycled wastewater, artificial meat and insect-based food, could bring us closer towards achieving this goal. However, these sustainable products typically elicit disgust, which acts as a barrier to their consumption. In a series of four experiments, I will demonstrate that describing aversive sustainable products in a foreign language attenuates the disgust these products normally trigger, and thus heightens their intended as well as actual consumption. Experiment 1-3 demonstrate that foreign language use increases people’s stated intention to consume artificial meat, recycled water, and insect-based food. Experiment 3 examines insect-based foods and shows that foreign language use increases intended consumption by attenuating the disgust such foods elicit when described in the native language. Finally, Experiment 4 examines recycled water and shows that – under certain conditions – foreign language use can increase its actual consumption. The proposed foreign language intervention is actionable because most people live in multilingual societies where foreign-language use is commonplace. This work was done in collaboration with Dr. Janet Geipel (University of Chicago) and Dr. Anne-Kathrin Klesse (Rotterdam School of Management).

Speaker Information

Dr Jyoti Mishra is an Associate Professor of Information Management. Jyoti Mishra joined Leeds University Business School in 2019. Prior to that, she worked at Bradford University between 2014-2019 where she held the role of Director of Work Placement and Internships. In the past, Jyoti was involved in the EU FP7 funded projects ImREAL and ACROPOLIS as a Research Fellow. Jyoti is a World Social Science Fellow in Disaster Risk Reduction since 2011. She is an Associate Editor for the European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS) and acts as a peer reviewer for many leading international journals.

Dr Constantinos Hadjichristidis graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a BA in Psychology in 1996, and received his PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Durham University (UK) in 2000. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics and Management at the University of Trento (Italy) and a member of the Centre of Decision Research at Leeds University Business School (UK). Constantinos is interested in the interplay of cognitive and affective processes on judgment and decision making. His recent work focuses on the effects of language, aging, and categorization on judgments and choices.