The vision of the EFTI’s Sustainable Business and Development Initiative is to be the leader in the field of sustainable business and development research and outreach in the southeastern region of the United State and a nationally and globally recognized leader in the field.
The EFTI’s Sustainable Business and Development Initiative is devoted to the implementation of innovative and sustainable business practices. Through excellent services and research efforts provided with the utmost integrity, the Initiative’s goal is to provide operational solutions, improve the quality of life, and develop sustainable business models and green development via interdisciplinary research, community collaboration, leadership, and education.
From the EFTI Director
Colleagues, friends, and partners of the EFTI’s Sustainable Business and Development Initiative, welcome aboard!
The EFTI’s Sustainable Business and Development is the place that partners with you to help turn your vision for your business into a reality in a way that benefits everyone, now and in the future.
Our focus is to develop innovative processes designed to support profitable, sustainable growth in business and development, from green product development to sustainable business models.
The EFTI’s Sustainable Business and Development engages in research and outreach projects with collaborative partners and communities around the globe to develop and promote products and services that emphasize sustainability.
We design and market processes for collecting data from residents/communities and non-residents/visitors, create multi-disciplinary teams and develop integrated systems that bridge the gaps among research institutes, communities, and stakeholders. We are building a sustainable community lab that will provide hands-on experiences and explore forecasts focused on innovative technologies, sustainable business practices, and sustainable development.
The EFTI’s Sustainable Business and Development Initiative is grateful for your support, and we look forward to working with you to help you achieve the strategic objectives of your business in a way that meets the needs of your customers, employees, stakeholders, and society as a whole.
Featured ACADEMIC Articles
Assessing Airbnb Logistics in Cities: Geographic Information System and Convenience Theory (Link)
Zhang+ , Z., and R.J.C. Chen*. (2019). Sustainability, 11(9) 2462-2473.
City managers and planners seek insights into Airbnb logistics in cities for the purposes of effective lodging management. This requires managers and planners to gain a holistic understanding of Airbnb geographic dynamics, which has drawn limited attention in the literature. To fill this gap, this paper explored Airbnb supply and logistics in three cities (New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago) through the lenses of geographic clustering and location convenience. We explored the spatial allocations of Airbnb supply in cities and investigated Airbnb’s influencing factors at the census tract level, utilizing spatial regression models. The results showed that (1) the spatial distribution of Airbnb supply in all three cities has a clear center-peripheral pattern, indicating that Airbnb allocations predominate in the central area of the city; (2) the number of housing units and points of interest (POI) have an influential impact on Airbnb supply for three cities; (3) the proportion of youth population and employment has a positive effect on Airbnb supply in NYC and Chicago, but not in LA, while the distance to the city center negatively affects Airbnb supply in LA and Chicago, but not in NYC; (4) the income has a mixed effect on Airbnb supply in three cities, while the proportion of African Americans and education level has only a positive effect on Airbnb supply in NYC; and (5) rent is not associated with Airbnb supply for all three cities, which indicates that the Airbnb explosion may not contribute to rent increases in cities.
Accommodation Experience in the Sharing Economy: A Comparative Study of Airbnb Online Reviews (Link)
Zhihua Zhang, & Rachel J. C. Fu (2020). Feature Papers in Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability
Current research investigating the accommodation experience in the sharing economy in China is limited, especially from a cross-cultural perspective. To fill this gap, this study examined the accommodation experience of Airbnb guests using text-mining techniques and compared the accommodation experience perception between two culturally different groups: domestic Chinese and foreign English-speaking Airbnb guests. The results showed that the two groups shared eight common dimensions, including “Convenience/Location”, “Amenities”, “Feel at home”, “Check-in/out”, “Experience”, “Availability/Transportation”, “Host”, and “Style/Decoration”. However, there are differences in the relative importance of each dimension of accommodation experience between the domestic and foreign Airbnb guests. For example, the foreign guests more often mentioned homeliness, location/convenience, and availability/transportation, while the domestic guests showed greater interest in check-in procedures and style/decoration. Additionally, the two groups have several unique dimensions. The dimensions unique to foreign guests are “Recommendation” and “Booking flexibility”, while the dimensions unique to domestic guests are “Revisit” and “Cleanliness”. This study provides both theoretical and practical implications for peer-to-peer accommodation hosts and platforms. For example, Airbnb hosts can improve the satisfaction of Airbnb guests by improving several common extracted topics (e.g., amenities quality and host response) and the fact that foreign guests care more about homeliness, while domestic guests pay more attention to the check-in process and house design and decoration.
Tourists’ willingness to accept/pay increased entry fees for park improvement projects (Link)
Thapa, B., & Parent, G. (2018). Current Issues in Tourism.
Based on contingent valuation methods, this study examined visitors’ level of willingness to accept as well as pay an increase in the daily entry fee to be used for proposed improvements at Kafue National Park in Zambia. Data collection was conducted via visitor intercepts at international airports, recreation sites, and accommodations.
Influence of environmental knowledge on affect, nature affiliation, and pro-environmental behaviors among tourists (Link)
Kim, M., Kim, J., & Thapa, B. (2018). Sustainability, 10, 3390
Jeju Island is a popular destination in South Korea that is dependent on nature-based tourism. The annual increase in the influx of visitors has created major environmental impacts due to overuse and commercial expansion. With projected growth in arrivals and the development of tourism infrastructure, the island will experience perpetual challenges for sustainable management of natural resources. However, the role of visitors will be central via a commitment to practice pro-environmental behaviors to protect the island from further degradation. This study was grounded in the cognition-affection-attitude-behavior model to examine the predictive validity of tourists’ environmental knowledge, environmental affect, and nature affiliation on pro-environmental behavior.
Access for all? Beach access and equity in the Detroit Metropolitan Area (Link)
Jinwon Kim & Sarah Nicholls (2018) Access for all? Beach access and equity in the Detroit metropolitan area, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 61:7, 1137-1161
Beaches are a unique type of recreation setting, offering a variety of water- and land-based opportunities that can meet residents’ diverse and complex recreation needs. Providing and improving equitable access to recreation amenities such as beaches have been recognized as essential responsibilities of public leisure agencies. This study assessed the degree of equity inherent in the distribution of public beaches in the Detroit metropolitan area; to account for spatial effects, phenomena rarely considered in prior equity analyses, geographically weighted regression was employed. Considerable local variations in the relationships between level of access to public beaches and population density, proportion of elderly population and educational attainment were identified. Such findings can help parks and recreation agencies better understand local patterns of equity, an important first step in facilitating the formulation of more efficient and effective planning and policy approaches.
Wetland loss impact on long term flood risks in a closed watershed (Link)
Gulbin, S., Kirilenko, A., Kharel, G., & Zhang, X. (2019). Environmental Science & Policy, 94, 112-122.
Flood control is one of the most important ecosystem services provided by wetlands. Large-scale loss of wetlands, combined with more intensive precipitation under changing climate, increases flood risks, to which closed watersheds are particularly susceptible. In the Devils Lake (North Dakota, USA) watershed, a prolonged wet condition since early 1990s has caused a nearly 10 m rise in water level, resulting in over $1 billion losses. While studies have shown the changing climate is the major driver of this flooding, it is still unclear how much contribution could be due to the historical conversion of wetlands in the upper basin. We developed a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model for the Devils Lake watershed and simulated various scenarios representing present and possible past and future wetland area. We estimated the changes in flood risks under the historical and CMIP-5 future climates with these wetland scenarios. We found that while currently wetland restoration does not significantly change flood risks, under the modified climate it presents a good complementary measure reducing the negative impacts of current flood management strategies.
Community reactions to tourism development: How does governmental fairness work? (Link)
Kim, M., Thapa, B., & Kim, J. (2018). Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 61(9), 1511-1534
Based on the elements of social exchange and organizational justice theories, a conceptual model and associated hypotheses were formulated to examine the relationship among community residents and their perceptions of governmental fairness (i.e., distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational dimensions), social capital (i.e., cognitive and structural dimensions), and support for government and environmental development. Data were collected from 496 residents in four Korean cities: Busan, Gyeongju, Pohang, and Ulsan. Empirical testing resulted in support for multiple hypotheses. More specifically, cognitive social capital was significantly influenced by distributive, interpersonal, and informational fairness. Structural social capital was significantly affected by distributive and informational fairness. Subsequently, two dimensions of social capital positively influenced two types of support. Overall, the results suggest that the interplay of governmental fairness and social capital is important in influencing residents’ support for government and environmental development.
