• Energy Research

The objective of this empirical study is to determine: (a) the underlying variables of the travel motivations related to a coastal city; and (b) the motivational dimensions that predict return, recommendation, and saying positive things about a coastal city as loyalty variables. This project utilized an in situ investigation carried out in Lima, a coastal city located on the Pacific Ocean near Peru with important natural and cultural attractions. The researchers used 381 questionnaires that were analyzed through factor analysis, in addition to the stepwise multiple regression method. Reesults identified six underlying variables or motivational factors: “culture and nature”, “authentic coastal experience”, “novelty and social interaction”, “learning”, “sun and beach”, and “nightlife”. Regarding loyalty, the “novelty and social interaction” dimension is the most important predictor of return and the “authentic coastal experience” dimension is the most important predictor of recommending and saying positive things about a coastal city. To motivate a return, events could be created on the beach to motivate novelty, as well as increase recommendations and the amount of positive things said about the destination; educational and sports activities and workshops could also be created with the community and the coastal environment. Results can be used by firms for preparing information for new customers in order to increase trip intention and improve guides for destination marketing organizations (DMOs).

Successful project management depends on ensuring the project’s objectives. Within these objectives, technical success is associated with achieving the expectations of the project baseline. The baseline of the project is made up of the definition of the scope (WBS), time (schedule) and costs (S curve) of the project. Directly, the project is expected to be technically successful if it manages to deliver its full scope on schedule and without associated cost overruns. Baseline performance management is how project managers track and control the progress of deliverables, timelines and associated costs. In a traditional approach, for waterfall-type projects that use the critical path paradigm, the baseline performance management tool par excellence is earned value management (EVM). Earned value management, in practice, works well when project costs are monitored and controlled; however, applying this approach to measure the status of the schedule presents serious inconsistencies. Over the last several decades, different variations of the original earned value have been developed to overcome some of these inconsistencies when used to measure project schedule status. Within these variations, we have the critical path earned value; the work in progress earned value; the critical path earned value and the work in progress; the earned schedule; and the critical path earned schedule. Each of these proposals tries to address some weakness of the original earned value management applied to time monitoring and control, for example, considering critical tasks as a focus on monitoring the progress of the schedule, solving the problem of task recognition late finishers, reporting schedule variances in time units and measuring adherence to the project’s schedule (P factor). Due to the exposed situation, it is necessary to determine which alternative of the versions of the original earned value is the most appropriate for the management of the project schedule, considering that there are several evaluation criteria that must be considered. In the present research, a systematic review and comparison of EVM and its variations for measuring project baseline schedule performance are performed to determine the most suitable methods for monitoring and controlling the project baseline schedule. For this purpose, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used, and five comparison criteria are considered: schedule variation focused on critical tasks, recognition and measurement of the delay of tasks that finish late, schedule variation in time units, measurement of schedule adherence (P factor) and software support and development. The result of the AHP performed for comparing the methods shows that the best method for monitoring and controlling the project baseline schedule is the critical path earned schedule because it behaves adequately in comparison with the other methods for the evaluated comparison categories.

Corporations need to understand the factors that influence purchase intention. The current study aimed to understand sustainable clothing patterns in Ecuador. A total of 343 Ecuadorian consumers completed an online survey; the results were analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). As the outcome, attitude was predicted by perceived environmental knowledge (PEK) and environmental concern (EC). PEK and EC are positively correlated to attitudes towards purchasing sustainable clothing. Additionally, attitude mediated the relationship between these two variables and purchase intention. As measured by PEK, attitude is the most critical factor in determining purchase intention, based on importance performance map analysis (IPMA). The research findings may support firms’ marketing and selling strategies to demonstrate that their brands are environmentally green and generate greater consumer interest in current and future customers. The novelty of these findings is supported by the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique results.

The aim of this study was to provide additional data on mortality from COVID-19 with particular attention to the factors associated with the positivity of patients admitted to the Lambayeque Hospital in Peru. A retrospective cohort analysis was carried out to determine the clinical-epidemiological factors associated with positivity for SARS-CoV-2 in patients treated at the Lambayeque Regional Hospital during the health emergency period in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was observed that, as the demographic age group increased, the percentage of seropositivity increased, with 66.8% of elderly adults testing positive, compared to 37.4% of children (p < 0.001). More seropositive men than women were evident (61.1% vs. 54.1%; p < 0.001). The most frequent symptom of patients with suspected COVID-19 was cough (65.0%). However, the symptoms with the greatest frequency of seropositive patients were ageusia (78.6%) and fever (77.6%); cough was one of the symptoms with the lowest (63.9%) (p-value < 0.001). The comorbidities with the most seropositive patients were obesity (80.7%) and diabetes mellitus (73.6%) (p-value < 0.001), different from the top comorbidity of heart disease (12.7%) in suspected COVID-19 patients. In terms of disease signs, abnormal findings on MRI (98.11%) and dyspnea (28.7%) were the most common in suspected COVID-19 patients, similar to those in seropositive patients, which were dyspnea (81.4%) and abnormal tomography findings (75.3%) (p-value < 0.001).

This study aimed to determine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumer satisfaction and loyalty in the Peruvian private banking sector. A total of 390 bank consumers fulfilled an online survey. It evaluated the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR), customer satisfaction (CS), and customer trust (CT) on customer loyalty. The results suggest that CSR and customer satisfaction, through customer trust, have a positive effect on customer loyalty. The model explained 63.6% of customer loyalty. Outcomes of the bootstrapping test showed that the path coefficients were significant. The research findings may help bank managers to understand customers’ satisfaction and trust, which can create a preference and loyalty for their firms. The study’s novelty is based on the use of the partial least square structural equation modeling technique (PLS-SEM) to evaluate CSR in the financial sector in Peru.

This research assesses the influence of education development support, conceptual development support, and country support through entrepreneurial self-efficacy over green entrepreneurial intentions. A total of 532 business students in Ecuador participated in an online survey. Eight questions were focused on demographic information, and twenty-seven questions evaluated the green entrepreneurship intentions of students. An SEM-PLS technical analysis was used. The results showed that educational support for developing entrepreneurship (0.296), conceptual support for developing entrepreneurship (0.123), and country support for entrepreneurship (0.188) had a positive influence on entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and that entrepreneurial self-efficacy had a positive influence (0.855) on gren entrepreneurial intentions. The model explained 73.1% of the green entrepreneurial intentions. Outcomes of the bootstrapping test were used to evaluate if the path coefficients are significant. This study showed the impacts of education development support, conceptual development support, and country support on the entrepreneur’s ability to carry out green entrepreneurship were positive. This information can help universities develop strategic plans to achieve ecological ventures and ensure students have the necessary skills to do so on campus. The research findings also may be helpful for the governments in establishing new norms to promote entrepreneurship. The novelty is based on using the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique.