Tobias Stern

Consumer acceptance of wood-based food additives.

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate consumer attitudes to, and acceptance of, affective communication in the context of pre‐knowledge regarding wood‐based food additives.Design/methodology/approach – A survey of 263 Austrian consumers was carried out to investigate pre‐knowledge, attitude and attitude change as a result of affective communication about wood‐based food additives.Findings – About 14 per cent of the sample had pre‐knowledge concerning wood‐based food additives. In general the attitudes towards wood‐based additives were significantly better than those towards food additives in general. The results indicate a connection between pre‐knowledge and attitude. Respondents who had knowledge about wood‐based food additives evaluated them better, especially in contrast to those who had wrong ideas about them. Furthermore, it proved possible to improve the evaluations of those respondents who did not know about wood‐based additives by providing basic information.Practical implications – T...

A holistic assessment of greenhouse gas dynamics from forests to the effects of wood products use in Austria

ABSTRACT Anthropogenic GHG emissions add a fast reinforcing feedback cycle to global carbon dynamics which continues to influence GHG concentrations in the Earths atmosphere. When looking at forest carbon cycles there is potential in utilizing another feedback cycle, namely the carbon cycle involving harvested wood products. To assess the potential of the mitigation options arising from these carbon flows, the forest-based sector in Austria was modelled to assess causal links, dependencies and dynamics involved in GHG-relevant processes. Carbon dynamics were investigated in forests and forest soil carbon, the forest product chain and life-cycle analyses for substitution of conventional products with wood products in a cascade of different modelling approaches and paradigms, and the results synthesized. It was found that material use of products from domestic timber sources has the highest climate change mitigation efficiency when originating from sustainably managed forests regarding biomass stocks. The emissions saved through building up a carbon stock from harvested wood products and through emissions substitution can be as high as ∼20 years of total annual Austrian emissions in 90 years. Additional conservation measures while sustaining sawnwood production and the related GHG benefits at a high level had the highest contribution to an overall carbon sink.

Identifying innovation barriers using a Delphi method approach: the case of technical lignin in the wood-based panel industry

Abstract About 50 million tons of lignin are produced annually in the pulping industry worldwide. A traditional example for lignin research is its use as a resin additive in wood based panels. The aim of this study was to find out why technical lignin has not so far succeeded in substituting for phenolic resins in the wood based panel industry. Interviews were carried out using a multistage expert interview approach adapted from Delphi methods. After the principal factors were identified and verified, quantitative data were taken for the valuation. Technical product properties received the highest ratings by the consulted experts, followed by security of supply, price difference and productivity, which received almost the same overall ratings. Interestingly, researchers rated security of supply much lower than the industry representatives. Depending on fulfilment of criteria identified, the experts expected that between 10 and 30% of phenolic resin can be potentially substituted within the next 10 years.

A Delphi Approach to Understanding Varying Expert Viewpoints in Sustainability Communication: The Case of Water Footprints of Bio-Based Fiber Resources

Summary In recent years, the concepts of accounting for water use and assessing its impact, also known as the water footprint (WF), have evolved. The cultivation of wood and cotton are two important bio-based fiber resources that can use, consume, and pollute huge amounts of water. The purpose of this study is to identify the methodological options on an inventory level asociated with a WF assessment for bio-based fiber resources. Using a three-step Argument Delphi approach with international experts, important, but controversial, aspects of water footprinting are elaborated. During the different rounds of the Delphi procedure, the interlacement of the crucial topics became apparent, including the net green water or the total volume of green water, trade-offs between water use and land-use impacts, allocation of the green WF on ecosystem services, and nomination of a reference situation (e.g., potential natural vegetation). Further, this study evaluates whether the experts allowed generalizations about these methodological options. Finally, the agreement of experts on some generalized statements showed that such statements can be used legitimately as long as knowledge of the inventory methods and knowledge of production characteristics are carefully combined.

Communicating Forest Sector Sustainability: Results from Four European Countries

Abstract Communication is an important tool in maintaining legitimacy and acceptability of forest sector operations and activities, and expectations by the general public on the forest sector conduct in Europe are in general very high. Despite this, there is scarce research in cross-national contexts on how forest sector sustainability is communicated to the general public and what development areas can be identified in terms of communication content. This study applies a qualitative content analysis in four forestry-rich European countries (Austria, Finland, Germany, and Slovenia). The state of online communication of 61 companies and 19 industry associations was qualitatively analyzed in 2014 with a focus on eight core sustainability topics of interest that were identified via an international forest sector stakeholder feedback process. Our results show some great similarities, but also some interesting differences in terms of communication frequency and weight of hot topics across countries. The most f...

Cascading Utilization of Wood: a Matter of Circular Economy?

Purpose of ReviewThe aim of this study was to analyze the differences and similarities between the concepts circular economy (CE) and cascading utilization (CU) and the interactions between these concepts. The method chosen for this study was a qualitative content analysis, which was conducted on academic CU publications that appeared between 1990 and 2016. To identify connections between CU and CE, the findings of this study are compared to the results of a recent review on CE.Recent FindingsFrom the perspective of the broader goals of CE and CU, both concepts promise to increase resource efficiency by supporting the multiple use of a resource. Research conducted on both concepts has included analyses of the environmental impacts of the CU or CE systems and descriptions of frameworks and tools used to develop cascade chains or measure the circularity of a given resource. Even though the concepts have many similarities, the research has mostly been conducted independently, and the number of connections between the two concepts is surprisingly low.SummaryIn general, the results of the analysis supported the hypothesis that CU and CE have many parallels and similarities. The CU concept addresses primarily resource management whereas CE provides a more holistic approach. Practically, the publications on CE include considerations of many kinds of resources, whereas publications on CU include a stronger focus on bio-based materials. Despite these differences, CU was shown to clearly fit into the CE concept in that it provides a specific focus on the utilization possibilities (e.g., reuse, recycling, and up-cycling) of a given resource. The term CU may be used whenever one or more of these measures are used.

Identifying sustainable forest management research narratives: a text mining approach

ABSTRACT Although it is obvious that research regarding Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) is context specific and developed over time, not many research papers yet intended to investigate these changes. As a matter of fact, the number of scientific publications addressing SFM is relatively high. Hence, such a wide field cannot be sufficiently covered by traditional literature review approaches. With this paper, we aim at identifying the most convergent narratives within the SFM-research landscape by applying a text mining methodology to recent scientific literature. By doing so, we generated results that indicate that there may have been three phases in the evolution of SFM-research: the early phase covers in particular issues regarding land use in tropical and developing countries. Furthermore, papers in this phase tend to focus on general concepts or policy issues. In contrast, the second phase is characterized by a larger share of publications in forestry focused journals. This process is seemingly connected with issues like forest management, certification, forest stand management and the development of sustainability indicators. A third phase can be observed by the relative downturn of publications in forest-focused journals between 2005 and 2010. A new focus in this period is climate change.

Two experts, three opinions: volatile organic compounds’ testing methods and regulative systems

As a result of the implementation of the CE-marking in the European Union, the testing method as defined in prEN 16516 is about to become the new volatile organic compounds (VOC) testing standard and replace a multitude of testing methods and regulative systems in Europe that assess the existence of VOC in building materials, including wood-based materials. The aim of this study is, first, to compile expert positions regarding testing methods and regulative systems for VOC in wood-based materials, and second, to examine the suitability of using an Argument-Delphi approach to point out consent or dissent regarding testing methods for VOC. A systematic content analysis of initial interviews with 13 experts produced 130 arguments which were subscribed to 13 categories, resulting in 6 potential positions of which 5 were actively taken by experts. While the second step was undertaken as a cross verification of the analysis, the experts were asked to choose a final position as a last step. It was observed that several experts changed their initial position to testing methods and regulative systems for VOC, but still without a consensus arising within the expert panel. Hence, the results of the study reveal that no verifiable consent exists within the group of experts—neither concerning testing methods, nor regulative systems. The Argument-Delphi approach applied constitutes a useful method in pointing out dissent between the experts towards a legal requirement like a European standard.

Forest Sector Sustainability Communication in Europe: a Systematic Literature Review on the Contents and Gaps

Purpose of ReviewStakeholder communication plays an important role in enhancing the societal sustainability and business acceptability of the forest sector. The purpose of this study is to present the current state of forest sector communication research with its stakeholders at different hierarchical levels of sustainability (i.e., societal, sectorial, corporate, and product sustainability) in Europe.Recent FindingsA systematic literature review was implemented to acquire information on the research outcomes related to sustainability communication between the forest sector and different stakeholders presented in international peer-reviewed journals between 2005 and 2015. The examined literature emphasizes the role of stakeholder communication for forest sector sustainability and acceptability, but no specific information seems to exist on how to communicate and build the forest sector image in the eyes of different stakeholders.SummaryThe gap in the research information indicates that there is a need for more theoretical and empirical work on communication and image-building processes by, e.g., recognizing the specific communication needs of different stakeholders via two-way and proactive information exchange. In the development process of forest sector communication and image building, more efforts on sending well-specified messages for well-targeted audiences should be made.

Technical Communication in Assembly Instructions: An Empirical Study to Bridge the Gap Between Theoretical Gender Differences and Their Practical Influence

Women decide on about 80% of the goods that their household buys. But marketers often sell products, especially technical ones, that are designed by men and therefore are oriented largely toward their needs. Consequently, assembly instructions for these products are also oriented toward men’s needs. To illustrate the impact of gender orientation in assembly instructions, this study investigates whether theoretical cognitive or psychological gender differences have a practical influence on the usability of assembly instructions. This study has direct implications for technical writers who strive for a more universal design for such instructions.