IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v10y2021i3p284-d514608.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluations of the Roles of Organizational Support, Organizational Norms and Organizational Learning for Adopting Environmentally Friendly Technologies: A Case of Kiwifruit Farmers’ Cooperatives of Meixian, China

Author

Listed:
  • Hongyu Wang

    (College of Economics & Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shanxi, China
    The Sixth Industry Research Institute, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shanxi, China
    These authors contributed equally to work.)

  • Apurbo Sarkar

    (College of Economics & Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shanxi, China
    These authors contributed equally to work.)

  • Lu Qian

    (College of Economics & Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shanxi, China)

Abstract

Environmentally friendly technologies have long been recognized as a widespread phenomenon working within the functions and performance of farms. Farmer’s cooperative organization might profoundly foster the environmentally friendly technologies (EFT) and availing competitive advantage to the farmer. Illustrated by the natural-resource-based view of the farm (NRBV), this study examined the influence of organizational support, organizational norms, and organizational learning on adopting EFT and proposed a model quantifying the impacts of these approaches towards availing competitive capabilities (i.e., cost, quality, flexibility, and delivery). The framework is empirically endorsed by employing the partial least squares approach to structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with the help of a household survey from a spectrum of 292 farmers of 38 kiwifruit cooperatives of Meixian County, China, from August to September 2020. The findings demonstrate that organizational support, organizational norms, and organizational learning positively influence EFT. Moreover, the study found EFT positively impacts product cost, product quality, product delivery, and production flexibility. Interestingly, the relationship between the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies and the competitive capabilities of kiwifruit farmers of Meixian is positively significant. The study proposes several policy recommendations emphasizing the role of organizations in the form of farmer’s cooperatives in boosting farmers to engage in proenvironmental behavior and, therefore, shifting the trends of future research directions on the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongyu Wang & Apurbo Sarkar & Lu Qian, 2021. "Evaluations of the Roles of Organizational Support, Organizational Norms and Organizational Learning for Adopting Environmentally Friendly Technologies: A Case of Kiwifruit Farmers’ Cooperatives of Me," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-23, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:3:p:284-:d:514608
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/3/284/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/3/284/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David R. Lee, 2005. "Agricultural Sustainability and Technology Adoption: Issues and Policies for Developing Countries," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(5), pages 1325-1334.
    2. Michael J. Barone & Thomas E. DeCarlo, 2003. "Emerging Forms of Competitive Advantage: Implications for Agricultural Producers," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 03-mrp5, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    3. Maria Fay Rola‐Rubzen & Thelma Paris & Jacob Hawkins & Bibek Sapkota, 2020. "Improving Gender Participation in Agricultural Technology Adoption in Asia: From Rhetoric to Practical Action," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(1), pages 113-125, March.
    4. Mirela Ionela Aceleanu, 2016. "Sustainability and Competitiveness of Romanian Farms through Organic Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-19, March.
    5. Jiménez-Jiménez, Daniel & Sanz-Valle, Raquel, 2011. "Innovation, organizational learning, and performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 408-417, April.
    6. Anne M. Cafer & J. Sanford Rikoon, 2018. "Adoption of new technologies by smallholder farmers: the contributions of extension, research institutes, cooperatives, and access to cash for improving tef production in Ethiopia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(3), pages 685-699, September.
    7. Pierre Courtois & Julie Subervie, 2015. "Farmer Bargaining Power and Market Information Services," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(3), pages 953-977.
    8. Denis Requier-Desjardins & FranÇOis Boucher & Claire Cerdan, 2003. "Globalization, competitive advantages and the evolution of production systems: rural food processing and localized agri-food systems in Latin-American countries," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 49-67, January.
    9. Nuray Cakirli Akyüz & Ludwig Theuvsen, 2020. "The Impact of Behavioral Drivers on Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices: The Case of Organic Farming in Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-20, August.
    10. Ortmann, Gerald F., 2005. "Promoting the competitiveness of South African agriculture in a dynamic economic and political environment," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 44(3), pages 1-35, September.
    11. Zhang, Shemei & Sun, Zhanli & Ma, Wanglin & Valentinov, Vladislav, 2020. "The effect of cooperative membership on agricultural technology adoption in Sichuan, China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    12. Fischer, Elisabeth & Qaim, Matin, 2012. "Linking Smallholders to Markets: Determinants and Impacts of Farmer Collective Action in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1255-1268.
    13. Paul Shrivastava, 1995. "Environmental technologies and competitive advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(S1), pages 183-200.
    14. Bernard, Tanguy & Spielman, David J., 2009. "Reaching the rural poor through rural producer organizations? A study of agricultural marketing cooperatives in Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 60-69, February.
    15. Alon Tal, 2018. "Making Conventional Agriculture Environmentally Friendly: Moving beyond the Glorification of Organic Agriculture and the Demonization of Conventional Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    16. Ellen Verhofstadt & Miet Maertens, 2014. "Smallholder cooperatives and agricultural performance in Rwanda: do organizational differences matter?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(S1), pages 39-52, November.
    17. Saule Burkitbayeva & Emma Janssen & Jo Swinnen, 2019. "Technology Adoption and Value Chains in Developing Countries: Panel Evidence from Dairy in Punjab," Working Papers of LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance 634342, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance.
    18. Albaek, Svend & Schultz, Christian, 1998. "On the relative advantage of cooperatives," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 397-401, June.
    19. Nikolaos E. Petridis & Georgios Digkas & Leonidas Anastasakis, 2020. "Factors affecting innovation and imitation of ICT in the agrifood sector," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 294(1), pages 501-514, November.
    20. Salim Al Idrus & Ansari Saleh Ahmar & Abdussakir, 2018. "Contribution of Organizational Learning and Market Orientation on Business Unit Performance Mediated by Job Satisfaction at Dairy Cattle Milk Cooperatives in East Java, Indonesia," Journal of Reviews on Global Economics, Lifescience Global, vol. 7, pages 207-216.
    21. Handschuch, Christina & Wollni, Meike & Villalobos, Pablo, 2013. "Adoption of food safety and quality standards among Chilean raspberry producers – Do smallholders benefit?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 64-73.
    22. Michael J. Barone & Thomas E. DeCarlo, 2003. "Emerging Forms of Competitive Advantage: Implications for Agricultural Producers," Midwest Agribusiness Trade Research and Information Center (MATRIC) Publications (archive only) 03-mrp5, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    23. Vartan Kesiz Abnousi & Konstantinos Karantemiris & Andreas G. Doulis, 2020. "Agricultural Cooperatives and Acceptance of Technological Innovation," Cooperative Management, in: Evangelia Krassadaki & George Baourakis & Constantin Zopounidis & Nikolaos Matsatsinis (ed.), Operational Research in Agriculture and Tourism, pages 1-25, Springer.
    24. Gong, Tianchen (Charles) & Battese, George E. & Villano, Renato A., 2019. "Family farms plus cooperatives in China: Technical efficiency in crop production," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-1.
    25. Giacomo Zanello & Chittur S. Srinivasan & Bhavani Shankar, 2014. "Transaction Costs, Information Technologies, and the Choice of Marketplace among Farmers in Northern Ghana," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(9), pages 1226-1239, September.
    26. Anita Wreford & Ada Ignaciuk & Guillaume Gruère, 2017. "Overcoming barriers to the adoption of climate-friendly practices in agriculture," OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers 101, OECD Publishing.
    27. Yigezu, Yigezu Atnafe & Mugera, Amin & El-Shater, Tamer & Aw-Hassan, Aden & Piggin, Colin & Haddad, Atef & Khalil, Yaseen & Loss, Stephen, 2018. "Enhancing adoption of agricultural technologies requiring high initial investment among smallholders," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 199-206.
    28. Lynne, Gary D. & Franklin Casey, C. & Hodges, Alan & Rahmani, Mohammed, 1995. "Conservation technology adoption decisions and the theory of planned behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 581-598, December.
    29. Peter Helmberger & Sidney Hoos, 1962. "Cooperative Enterprise and Organization Theory," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 44(2), pages 275-290.
    30. Marco Migliorelli & Philippe Dessertine, 2017. "Time for new financing instruments? A market-oriented framework to finance environmentally friendly practices in EU agriculture," Post-Print halshs-02103991, HAL.
    31. Wanglin Ma & Awudu Abdulai, 2018. "IPM adoption, cooperative membership and farm economic performance," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(2), pages 218-236, September.
    32. Doss, Cheryl R., 2001. "Designing Agricultural Technology for African Women Farmers: Lessons from 25 Years of Experience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(12), pages 2075-2092, December.
    33. Abebaw, Degnet & Haile, Mekbib G., 2013. "The impact of cooperatives on agricultural technology adoption: Empirical evidence from Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 82-91.
    34. Constantine ILIOPOULOS, 2013. "Public Policy Support For Agricultural Cooperatives: An Organizational Economics Approach," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(3), pages 241-252, September.
    35. Carmen Guzmán & Francisco J. Santos & María de la O. Barroso, 0. "Analysing the links between cooperative principles, entrepreneurial orientation and performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-15.
    36. Bingen, Jim & Serrano, Alex & Howard, Julie, 2003. "Linking farmers to markets: different approaches to human capital development," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 405-419, August.
    37. Shi Zheng & Zhigang Wang & Cheryl Joy Wachenheim, 2018. "Technology adoption among farmers in Jilin Province, China," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(1), pages 206-216, August.
    38. Asfaw, Solomon & Shiferaw, Bekele & Simtowe, Franklin & Lipper, Leslie, 2012. "Impact of modern agricultural technologies on smallholder welfare: Evidence from Tanzania and Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 283-295.
    39. May, Daniel & Arancibia, Sara & Behrendt, Karl & Adams, John, 2019. "Preventing young farmers from leaving the farm: Investigating the effectiveness of the young farmer payment using a behavioural approach," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 317-327.
    40. Elaine M. Liu, 2013. "Time to Change What to Sow: Risk Preferences and Technology Adoption Decisions of Cotton Farmers in China," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(4), pages 1386-1403, October.
    41. Salim Al Idrus & Ansari Saleh Ahmar & Abdussakir, 2018. "The effect of organizational learning on market orientation moderated by job satisfaction," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1475048-147, January.
    42. Janssen, Emma & Swinnen, Johan, 2019. "Technology adoption and value chains in developing countries: Evidence from dairy in India," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 327-336.
    43. Ortmann, Gerald F. & King, Robert P., 2007. "Agricultural Cooperatives I: History, Theory and Problems," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 46(1), pages 1-29, March.
    44. Frambach, Ruud T. & Schillewaert, Niels, 2002. "Organizational innovation adoption: a multi-level framework of determinants and opportunities for future research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 163-176, February.
    45. Holger Seebens & Johannes Sauer, 2007. "Bargaining power and efficiency-rural households in Ethiopia," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(7), pages 895-918.
    46. Hellin, Jon & Lundy, Mark & Meijer, Madelon, 2009. "Farmer organization, collective action and market access in Meso-America," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 16-22, February.
    47. Streukens, Sandra & Leroi-Werelds, Sara, 2016. "Bootstrapping and PLS-SEM: A step-by-step guide to get more out of your bootstrap results," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 618-632.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zahoor Ahmad Shah & Mushtaq Ahmad Dar & Eajaz Ahmad Dar & Chukwujekwu A. Obianefo & Arif Hussain Bhat & Mohammed Tauseef Ali & Mohamed El-Sharnouby & Mustafa Shukry & Hosny Kesba & Samy Sayed, 2022. "Sustainable Fruit Growing: An Analysis of Differences in Apple Productivity in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-24, November.
    2. Chaozhu Li & Xiaoliang Li & Wei Jia, 2022. "Non-Farm Employment Experience, Risk Preferences, and Low-Carbon Agricultural Technology Adoption: Evidence from 1843 Grain Farmers in 14 Provinces in China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Zhang, Daojun & Yang, Wanjing & Kang, Dingrong & Zhang, Han, 2023. "Spatial-temporal characteristics and policy implication for non-grain production of cultivated land in Guanzhong Region," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    4. Angeliki Kavga & Vasileios Thomopoulos & Pantelis Barouchas & Nikolaos Stefanakis & Aglaia Liopa-Tsakalidi, 2021. "Research on Innovative Training on Smart Greenhouse Technologies for Economic and Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-22, September.
    5. Hongyu Wang & Xiaolei Wang & Apurbo Sarkar & Fuhong Zhang, 2021. "How Capital Endowment and Ecological Cognition Affect Environment-Friendly Technology Adoption: A Case of Apple Farmers of Shandong Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-16, July.
    6. Chen, Zhe & Sarkar, Apurbo & Rahman, Airin & Li, Xiaojing & Xia, Xianli, 2022. "Exploring the drivers of green agricultural development (GAD) in China: A spatial association network structure approaches," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    7. Kaiwen Su & Jie Ren & Chuyun Cui & Yilei Hou & Yali Wen, 2022. "Do Value Orientations and Beliefs Play a Positive Role in Shaping Personal Norms for Urban Green Space Conservation?," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-15, February.
    8. Hongyu Wang & Xiaolei Wang & Apurbo Sarkar & Lu Qian, 2021. "Evaluating the Impacts of Smallholder Farmer’s Participation in Modern Agricultural Value Chain Tactics for Facilitating Poverty Alleviation—A Case Study of Kiwifruit Industry in Shaanxi, China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, May.
    9. Xiuling Ding & Qian Lu & Lipeng Li & Apurbo Sarkar & Hua Li, 2022. "Evaluating the Impact of Institutional Performance and Government Trust on Farmers’ Subjective Well-Being: A Case of Urban–Rural Welfare Gap Perception and Family Economic Status in Shaanxi, Sichuan a," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-20, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ahmet Candemir & Sabine Duvaleix & Laure Latruffe, 2021. "Agricultural Cooperatives And Farm Sustainability – A Literature Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1118-1144, September.
    2. Kifle T. Sebhatu & Fatemeh Taheri & Tekeste Berhanu & Miet Maertens & Steven Van Passel & Marijke D'Haese, 2021. "Beyond focus: Exploring variability of service provision of agricultural cooperatives," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(2), pages 207-231, June.
    3. Margitta Minah, 2022. "What is the influence of government programs on farmer organizations and their impacts? Evidence from Zambia," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(1), pages 29-53, March.
    4. Huma Neupane & Krishna P. Paudel & Mandeep Adhikari & Qinying He, 2022. "Impact of cooperative membership on production efficiency of smallholder goat farmers in Nepal," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(2), pages 337-356, June.
    5. Blekking, Jordan & Gatti, Nicolas & Waldman, Kurt & Evans, Tom & Baylis, Kathy, 2021. "The benefits and limitations of agricultural input cooperatives in Zambia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    6. Bagchi, Niladri Sekhar & Mishra, Pulak & Behera, Bhagirath, 2021. "Value chain development for linking land-constrained farmers to markets: Experience from two selected villages of West Bengal, India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    7. Yuanyuan Peng & H. Holly Wang & Yueshu Zhou, 2022. "Can cooperatives help commercial farms to access credit in China? Evidence from Jiangsu Province," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 70(4), pages 325-349, December.
    8. Aniseh S. Bro & Daniel C. Clay & David L. Ortega & Maria C. Lopez, 2019. "Determinants of adoption of sustainable production practices among smallholder coffee producers in Nicaragua," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 895-915, April.
    9. Ma, Wanglin & Abdulai, Awudu, 2016. "Does cooperative membership improve household welfare? Evidence from apple farmers in China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 94-102.
    10. Wanglin Ma & Awudu Abdulai, 2017. "The economic impacts of agricultural cooperatives on smallholder farmers in rural China," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(4), pages 537-551, September.
    11. Fang Wu & Xibao Guo & Xia Guo, 2023. "Cooperative membership and new technology adoption of family farms: Evidence from China," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 719-739, September.
    12. Jan Falkowski & Pavel Ciaian, 2016. "Factors Supporting the Development of Producer Organizations and their Impacts in the Light of Ongoing Changes in Food Supply Chains: A Literature Review," JRC Research Reports JRC101617, Joint Research Centre.
    13. Jos BIJMAN & Markus HANISCH, 2020. "Understanding the heterogeneity among agricultural cooperatives," CIRIEC Working Papers 2013, CIRIEC - Université de Liège.
    14. Mojo, Dagne & Fischer, Christian & Degefa, Terefe, 2015. "Who benefits from collective action? Determinants and economic impacts of coffee farmer cooperatives in Ethiopia," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211889, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Musa Hasen Ahmed & Hiwot Mekonnen Mesfin, 2017. "The impact of agricultural cooperatives membership on the wellbeing of smallholder farmers: empirical evidence from eastern Ethiopia," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-20, December.
    16. Agbo, Maxime & Rousselière, Damien & Salanié, Julien, 2015. "Agricultural marketing cooperatives with direct selling: A cooperative–non-cooperative game," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 56-71.
    17. Raju Ghimire & Wen-Chi Huang, 2015. "Household wealth and adoption of improved maize varieties in Nepal: a double-hurdle approach," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 7(6), pages 1321-1335, December.
    18. Maxime Agbo & Damien Rousselière & Julien Salanié, 2013. "A Theory of Agricultural Marketing Cooperatives with Direct selling," Working Papers halshs-00906894, HAL.
    19. repec:hal:journl:halshs-01098762 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Manda, Julius & Khonje, Makaiko G. & Alene, Arega D. & Tufa, Adane H & Abdoulaye, Tahirou & Mutenje, Munyaradzi & Setimela, Peter & Manyong, Victor, 2020. "Does cooperative membership increase and accelerate agricultural technology adoption? Empirical evidence from Zambia," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    21. Wachira Petcho & Sylvia Szabo & Kyoko Kusakabe & Vimolwan Yukongdi, 2019. "Farmers’ Perception and Drivers of Membership in Rice Production Community Enterprises: Evidence from the Central Region, Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:3:p:284-:d:514608. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.