Awareness as a catalyst for sustainable behaviors: A theoretical exploration of planned behavior and value-belief-norms in the circular economy.

This study explores the interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing sustainable behaviours within the Circular Economy (CE) through the lenses of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory. This objective was achieved by conducting a large scale survey in Brazil and using Composite-Based Structural Equation Modeling (cSEM) technique in conjunction with R software to analyze data and assess our research hypotheses. Our findings underscore the paramount importance of intrinsic factors-such as personal values, beliefs, and positive evaluations of sustainability outcomes-over external pressures like environmental laws and organizational policies in fostering sustainable actions. While increased awareness of the CE significantly enhances attitudes towards and the likelihood of engaging in sustainable behaviours, the study reveals that external pressures and perceived barriers, such as time, cost, and skill limitations, do not significantly deter those with a high level of awareness and positive sustainability evaluation from acting sustainably. Academically, the study enriches environmental psychology by extending TPB and VBN theories, advocating for a refinement of TPB to better account for contexts where personal values are stronger drivers than external pressures or immediate practical constraints.

Moderating effect of OHS actions based on WHO recommendations to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in multinational companies.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the moderating effect of Occupational Health and Safety actions based on the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations to mitigate the negative effect of COVID-19 on the operational, logistical, marketing (OLMP), and health and safety performance (OHSP) of workers in multinational industries. The development of surveys in companies was the method adopted, which had confirmatory evaluations through Structural Equations Modelling (SEM). As a result, it was confirmed that this is one of the few scientific studies that expectedly validates that the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted operational, logistical, market, and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) performance. This is also one of the few research projects to assess the moderating effect of OHS practices based on WHO to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. According to our findings, those practices were able to reduce by at least 50% the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on operational, logistical, and marketing performance. However, they minimize by only 1.8% the negative effects of health and safety performance for the worker, generating absenteeism increasingly due to physical and mental problems. This number could be higher if the social distance could be provided in public transportation and if employees were more aware of the risks of COVID-19 contamination during their social activities.

Performance evaluation of occupational health and safety in relation to the COVID-19 fighting practices established by WHO: Survey in multinational industries.

The coronavirus pandemic meant that companies had to adapt quickly to survive the challenging scenario and avoid losing market share or even going bankrupt. In this sense, employees dedicated to Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) activities within organizations played a key role in ensuring that the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) were properly implemented. Even so, no studies were identified in the literature that investigated how the practices to combat COVID-19 improved the performance related to employee safety and occupational health. This is what motivates the accomplishment of this work; evaluate how these practices improve safety and health-related performance. For this, a survey of multinational companies was carried out and, together with this research, a model for structural equations was developed. In the end, a correlation test was performed. The main results showed that practices to combat COVID-19, such as the provision of sanitizers, the adoption of social distance, the creation of new work shifts, and the disinfection of workplaces were related to improvements in safety and health performance through the implementation of a risk management and biological risk mitigation program. Meanwhile, the provision of emergency assistance has found stronger relationships with managerial and strategic actions.

Assessment of the environmental impact and economic benefits of the adoption of cleaner production in a Brazilian metal finishing industry.

The Metal Finishing Industry (MFI) use water and several chemicals in its production chain, which generatesboth liquid and solid hazardous waste. The present study evaluatesthe economic and environmental advantages of implementing cleaner production (CP) in a Brazilian MFI specialized in chrome and zinc. For the economic assessment, we adopted the measures of return on investment and internal rate of return. In order to measure the environmental impact, we used the Mass Intensity Factor. A case study methodology was adopted, with datacollectedthrough observation and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that the adoption of CPin this sector encourages the deployment of a Rising Cascades System in Counterflow (RCSC) to minimize water consumption through the reuse and segregation of hazardous solid waste (sludge). The sludge generated may be sold as a byproduct for the production of ceramics. We identifiedopportunities to reduce costs by minimizing waste, although this does require investment. However, the return on such investments mayenable the implementation of CP. The reduction in environmental impact on the ecosystem was significant, with large reductions in hazardous components contained in the sludge being dumped in the environment. The results may guide the development of public policies in Brazil, particularly in the adoption of CP in MFI to disseminate environmental education and increase governmental control.