Search Results (54)

As Chinese firms play pivotal roles in global supply chains, multinational corporations face increasing pressure to ensure ESG accountability across their sourcing networks. Current ESG rating systems lack transparency in incorporating China’s unique industrial, economic, and cultural factors, creating reliability concerns for stakeholders managing supply chain sustainability risks. This study develops an explainable artificial intelligence framework using SHAP and permutation feature importance (PFI) methods to predict the ESG performance of Chinese firms. We analyze comprehensive ESG data of 1608 Chinese listed companies over 13 years (2009–2021), integrating financial and non-financial determinants traditionally examined in isolation. Empirical findings demonstrate that random forest algorithms significantly outperform multivariate linear regression in capturing nonlinear ESG relationships. Key non-financial determinants include patent portfolios, CSR training initiatives, pollutant emissions, and charitable donations, while financial factors such as current assets and gearing ratios prove influential. Sectoral analysis reveals that manufacturing firms are evaluated through pollutant emissions and technical capabilities, whereas non-manufacturing firms are assessed on business taxes and intangible assets. These insights provide essential tools for multinational corporations to anticipate supply chain sustainability conditions. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the fashion, textile, and clothing industries by enabling automated assessment of garment quality, condition, and recyclability, addressing key challenges in sustainability. This systematic review explores the applications of AI in evaluating clothing quality and condition within the framework of a circular economy, with a focus on supporting second-hand clothing resale, charitable donations by NGOs, and sustainable recycling practices. A total of 135 research resources were identified through searching academic databases including Google Scholar, Springer, ScienceDirect, IEEE, Taylor and Francis, and Sage journals. These publications were subsequently refined down to 49 based on selected inclusion criteria. The selection of these sources from diverse databases was undertaken to mitigate any potential bias in the selection process. By analyzing the effectiveness and challenges of related peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, and technical reports, this study highlights state-of-the-art methodologies such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), hybrid models, and other machine vision systems. A critical aspect of this review is the examination and analysis of datasets used for model development, categorized and detailed in a comprehensive table to guide future research. Whilst the findings emphasize the potential of AI to enhance quality assurance in second-hand clothing markets, streamline textile sorting for donations and recycling, and reduce waste in the fashion industry, they also highlight gaps in the available datasets, often due to limited size and scope. The types of textiles captured were most commonly swatches of fabric, with 20 studies examining these, whereas whole garments were less frequently studied, with only 7 instances. This review concludes with insights into future research directions and the promising use of AI within fashion and textiles to facilitate a transition to a circular economy. This project was supported through RMIT University’s School of Fashion and Textiles internal seed funding (2024). Full article

Background: Food insecurity is a major global problem, with over 2.8 billion people reported as unable to afford a healthy diet in 2022. While charitable food assistance programs (CFAPs) play an important role in improving food access, ensuring the quality and safety of donated foods is crucial for safeguarding needy communities from food-related illnesses. This study evaluated the safety and quality of food donations at a food bank warehouse in the eThekwini District using a novel methodology. Methods: In March 2024, a five-day audit was conducted at a food bank warehouse in the eThekwini District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A mobile device was utilized to document comprehensive information on all incoming deliveries, including the type of food, product details (such as brand, name, and variety), donor information, weight, and date markings. The audit assessed 1037 items, totaling 64,818 kg of donated food, against established food safety standards. Each item was visually inspected upon arrival and classified as ‘unsuitable’, ‘potentially unsafe’, or ‘unsafe’ for human consumption. Results: Out of the 64,818 kg of donated food, 95.5% (61,886 kg) was deemed satisfactory. However, 4.5% of the total, which amounts to 2932 kg, was categorized as either unsafe (355 kg), potentially unsafe (1182 kg), or unsuitable (1395 kg) for consumption. Retail supermarkets donated the largest weight of food, and also of the food classified as unsafe or unsuitable. Conclusions: The study highlights an urgent need for improved quality control and safety measures in food donations to CFAPs. Stricter handling and inspection guidelines are essential to ensure the quality of charitable food, reduce health risks, and build public trust in donation programs. Full article

In the context of armed conflicts, regions often face infrastructure destruction and economic difficulties. The development of tourism can be a key factor in recovery and economic growth. Geospatial platforms for interactive charitable tourism offer a promising solution for attracting tourists and stimulating the development of affected regions. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of geospatial platforms for interactive charitable tourism as a tool for attracting tourists and promoting the recovery and development of regions affected by armed conflicts. This study employed regression and correlation analysis methods. The analysis revealed significant positive correlations for all variables. The correlation coefficient for audience reach was 0.75, for the effectiveness of attracting donations—0.8, for the economic impact on the region—0.9, for user interaction with the platform—0.85, for platform sustainability—0.78, and for social impact—0.92. The t-statistic values exceeded the critical thresholds, and the p-values were below 0.05, confirming the statistical significance of the results. The coefficient of determination was 0.91, indicating a high explanatory power of the model. For the four obtained clusters, approaches to the development and use of geospatial platforms were justified. For regions of Cluster 1 with high audience reach (0.75) and moderate effectiveness of attracting donations (0.8), it is recommended to use technologies to improve connectivity and effectively promote their strengths. For regions of Cluster 2 with high sustainability and high tourism potential (high social impact = 0.92), it is necessary to include advanced geospatial solutions to increase visitor engagement and optimize recovery strategies, building on existing strengths to attract more tourists and stimulate sustainable development. For regions of Cluster 3, significant investments are required both in geospatial platforms and in tourism infrastructure to benefit from high tourism potential (economic impact on the region = 0.9). Strategic development and targeted marketing should be a priority to attract tourists and stimulate economic growth. Regions of Cluster 4 with low sustainability and tourism potential (low user interaction with the platform = 0.85 and platform sustainability = 0.78) require comprehensive support, as they are in a crisis situation. Full article

At present, China regards philanthropy as an important component of social security, social governance, and the third distribution of resources. Structural changes in government expenditure can drive the adjustment of social resources; therefore, it is fundamental to investigate the macroeconomic transmission effect of government expenditure on the development of the philanthropic sector in order to promote the sustainable development of philanthropy and ensure the fairness and justice of social distribution. The results of a regression analysis on provincial panel data from 2007 to 2020 indicated the following: (1) Government expenditure exhibits crowding-out effects on various dimensions of the philanthropic sector. (2) In terms of regional development disparities, government guidance shows crowding-out effects on the development of philanthropy in the eastern and central regions; meanwhile, it demonstrates complementary effects on the dimensions of charitable donations and the number of social organizations in the western region. (3) Furthermore, in terms of the regional distribution of social organizations by industry, government guidance in the eastern region exhibits crowding-out effects on the numbers of social organizations in the fields of science and technology, education, culture, health, and sports; meanwhile, in the western region, it shows complementary effects. Additionally, in the central region, it shows a complementary effect only in the cultural sector, with crowding-out effects in other industries. Therefore, greater flexibility should be granted to the philanthropic sector, in which the construction of hub-type philanthropic organizations and the creation of regional industry cooperation platforms promote the relatively balanced development of philanthropy. Full article

Wills within the legislative+ system for donation contracts are considered highly beneficial and have a great impact on both testators and legatees. They hold financial and value dimensions aimed at linking today’s generation with future generations, perpetuating humanitarian work, and extending it beyond death. Consequently, wills, along with other charitable resources such as endowments, constitute significant channels that can contribute to achieving sustainable development in societies. This study aims to illustrate the impact of the relationship between wills and sustainable development. It highlights the importance of wills for societal advancement, noting that they are no less important than endowment systems. This study concludes that the legislation of wills is among systems that encompass intergenerational ties; strengthen social cohesion; elevate societies by maintaining ties of kinship; improve the conditions of financially and socially disadvantaged people; provide education and healthcare for the underprivileged; and foster intergenerational bonds in the forms of compassion, empathy, and integration. Moreover, wills grant individuals participation in shaping a better future for forthcoming generations, in addition to alleviating the suffering caused by poverty and striving for self-sufficiency, social care, and education, thereby embodying the economic and social dimensions of sustainable development. Full article

Does it matter whether charitable organizations address potential donors with an informal or formal second-person pronoun in their appeal to donate money? This study shows that it does indeed make a difference. Using an informal pronoun of address can have a positive effect on intentions to donate money. An online experiment (n = 220) found that a charitable appeal to potential donors was more effective when an informal rather than a formal second-person pronoun was used in Dutch, particularly for altruistic people. We discuss the potential explanations of this effect, concentrating on the association between the informal pronoun of address and perceived closeness, and the generic versus deictic reference of informal pronouns of address in Dutch. Full article

Blockchain technology contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Education for sustainable development (ESD) is UNESCO’s education sector response to the urgent and dramatic challenges the planet faces. The traditional way of donating money to charitable causes, such as education, has been through centralized methods and organizations that lack transparency, and donors often do not have a clear understanding of how their contributions are being utilized. Blockchain technology, particularly, platforms like Ethereum and Polygon, has the potential to address the issues associated with traditional donation systems. This paper proposes a decentralized web3 application that utilizes blockchain technology to enhance transparency and efficiency in educational donations in the context of sustainable development. The platform leverages decentralized protocols and smart contracts to ensure secure and transparent transactions, enabling donors to track the utilization of their contributions and ensuring their funds reach their intended beneficiaries. This paper discusses the design and implementation of the platform, highlighting its features and potential for transforming the landscape of charitable donations. This software application can be used in education, and a demo plus some scenarios/work cases are presented/analyzed. The main results and contributions open other future research directions for not only authors. Full article

Research has shown that songs with prosocial lyrics can enhance individual prosociality. Building on the general learning model (GLM), this study demonstrated, through real-world charitable organizations, how songs with prosocial lyrics influence helping behavior that uses time as a currency. In Study 1, participants were randomly assigned to conditions of prosocial songs, prosocial lyrics, or neutral songs, and they were instructed to complete an online charity task. The results indicated that compared to the neutral songs, participants listening to prosocial songs and lyrics spent more time donating rice to the United Nations World Food Programme. This effect was replicated in Study 2, employing different media exposure from Study 1 (i.e., listening to background music). Furthermore, investigations into the underlying mechanisms revealed that this effect was mediated by interpersonal empathy. In summary, current findings suggest that songs with prosocial lyrics increase interpersonal empathy, subsequently influencing people’s online charitable donation behaviors in daily life. Full article

Given the serious humanitarian crises encountered by the modern world, it is more crucial than ever to build a society based on solidarity, compassion, empathy, and a sense of teamwork and cooperation. This research provides insight into how the factors of personality traits, altruistic behaviors, and humanitarian actions can positively influence citizens’ behavioral intentions, allowing for a deeper understanding of the motives behind charitable giving. To this end, a study was conducted with 332 Greek respondents, which used a special purpose questionnaire, including the HEXACO-24 questions and 13 additional questions, that addressed attitude towards advertisement, charitable giving, as well as the behavioral intention to donate. The findings add to current research by underlining the relevance of individuals’ altruistic character, since our analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between charitable giving and behavioral intention to donate. All HEXACO personality traits, excluding emotionality, demonstrated a statistically significant positive relationship with the attitude towards advertising, while none of the personality traits exhibited a statistically significant positive relationship with the concept of charitable giving, which calls for further investigation. Our findings also revealed that attitude towards an advertisement had no drastic effect on charitable giving and behavioral intention. Full article

Under the traditional research framework of corporate social responsibility and tax avoidance, there is no agreement on whether charitable donations constitutes an altruistic behavior or a management tool. Using a sample of Chinese firms, this paper examines the relationship between corporate charitable donations, earnings performance and tax avoidance. The evidence shows that there is a significant negative relationship between corporate charitable donations and tax avoidance. Furthermore, we found that the negative relationship between charitable donations and tax avoidance only exists in enterprises with a good earnings performance, while it is positively correlated with tax avoidance in enterprises with a poor earnings performance. This shows that earnings performance can affect the motivation for corporate charitable donations, as the charitable donations of enterprises with a good performance are mainly an altruistic behavior, while the charitable donations of enterprises with a poor performance are more of a management tool. This conclusion not only enriches and expands the research framework of corporate social responsibility and tax avoidance but also helps to clarify the disputes in the existing literature. Full article

Music festivals (in the UK) have the potential to enhance the quality of life of attendees and participants, and therefore it might be argued they should be accessible to all. However, the barriers to participation that some may face when seeking to access and engage with festival experiences can often be attributed to the issue of marginalisation due to poverty. Utilising the three discourses of social inclusion put forward by Levitas as a framework, the study explores what UK music festival organisations are doing and could do to make their events more accessible to people living in poverty. Through an analysis of a series of festival websites and semi-structured interviews with festival organisers, some of the financial considerations that can influence participation and act as a barrier to making festivals an inclusive aspect of our cultural life were identified, and solutions were explored. The paper found that despite the social benefits of attending, those living in poverty have become an increasingly marginalised group of festival goers as a result of the disproportional rise in costs associated with attendance, which often goes beyond only the ticket price to include hidden extras. Whilst several festivals undertake outreach work and donate to charitable organisations, only a handful have specific initiatives that improve access for those living in poverty beyond spreading out the price of the ticket via instalments and volunteering opportunities. Findings suggest whilst many music festivals are starting to recognise the importance of the issue, few have specific initiatives but are willing to consider what they can do moving forward. Full article

Studies of the relationship between individuals’ sense of power and donation intention have inconsistent findings. Classifying donor intention into two types, this study explored the mechanism through which a sense of power affects donation intention. Using a three-wave time-lagged survey of 1200 people, this study found that situational prevention focus mediates the positive effect of a sense of power on avoidance-based donation intention, and situational promotion focus mediates the positive effect of a sense of power on improvement-based donation intention. Furthermore, a strong perceived ethical climate strengthens the effects of a sense of power. These findings have practical implications for increasing charitable giving and improving the development of charitable programs. Full article

A help-seeking message is composed of abundant types of content; therefore, it is unsuitable for analysis by the traditional methods that assume that variables are independent of one another. To address this problem, we introduced qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to explore the synergistic effects of help-seeking message content on online charitable behavior. Crisp-set QCA and fuzzy-set QCA were both used to analyze qualitative and quantitative data from 40 Waterdrop projects. To analyze the qualitative data, three members of our research team intensively and separately read a large number of help-seeking messages, analyzed and summarized the main content referring to previous studies on charitable donation, extracted rational appeals, positive emotions, negative emotions, moral appeals, and the economic condition as condition variables, and finally determined the coding rules collaboratively. The necessity analysis results show that moral appeals and rational appeals are necessary conditions for online charitable behavior. The sufficiency analysis results show that there are three configurations impacting online charitable behavior. This study can help inspire future studies shifting from a traditional perspective to a configuration perspective and help seekers obtain more charitable donations. Full article

This study examines the relationship between the cultural consumption pattern and an individual’s subjective well-being. We divide the consumption pattern of cultural activities by frequency, diversity, and inclusion and estimate the monetary value of the participation in culture and arts activities through the marginal rate of substitution. To reduce omitted variable bias, various factors are controlled for, such as basic demographics and satisfaction with personal relationship, class awareness, subjective income level, charitable donations and voluntary activities. The results show that the consumption of cultural activities can improve the individual’s subjective well-being, thus suggesting the use of cultural vouchers. Specifically, we find that the coefficients on frequency are positive and statistically significant, indicating that the cultural activities in Korea have a positive relationship with an individuals’ subjective well-being. Our research provides insight to the government organizations involved in the promotion of leisure policies. Full article