Little is known about what the public thinks of tall wood buildings (TWBs), which are structures made primarily from wood that are at least five stories tall. Understanding end-user beliefs can help the industry address public preferences and concerns. An online panel of 502 residents in the Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, metropolitan areas showed that only 19 percent were familiar with TWBs. The largest percentages of respondents believed that, compared with concrete and steel buildings, TWBs are more aesthetically pleasing, create a positive living environment, and use materials that regrow. However, they also believed that TWBs have greater fire risk and need more maintenance. Sizable percentages of respondents said they did not know about various durability, performance, aesthetic, and environmental attributes of TWBs. There were few meaningful differences between respondents who reported being familiar and unfamiliar with TWBs, but those who were familiar evaluated TWBs slightly more positively.

Although there are continuous efforts aimed at increasing gender diversity, the forest sector is still largely perceived as a male dominated field, indicated by a persistent masculine image. As a result, women are still underrepresented. Utilizing interviews, we found that greater representation of women in the forest sector is considered as one of the best solutions to attract young women to the industry. However, it presents a ‘Catch-22’ in which the solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem. We propose to change the forest sector image by tackling gender issues such as sexual harassment, and by simultaneously focusing on the good features of the industry such as its important role in a sustainable future and solutions for the modern world. For example, the sector can show its role in mitigating climate change and in supporting a more sustainable future economy (e.g., bioeconomy and green jobs) and urban built environment. In addition, changing the forest sector image should be supported with better marketing and promotion in various platforms, both online and offline. The sector also needs to utilize social media to attract younger generations.

Increasing gender diversity is no longer just the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do. Although there is general literature about gender diversity and the perspectives of females in top management and leadership, there are, however, very few forest sector specific studies. This exploratory study utilizes interviews to better understand how female executives in North America and the Nordic countries of Finland and Sweden perceive the impact of the situation of gender diversity in the forest industry. Respondents also provide career advice for young females entering or considering entry into the industry. Female executives in both regions agree that although the forest sector is still seen as a male-oriented industry, there are signs of increasingly positive attitudes regarding industry and company culture towards the benefits of greater gender diversity; however, the described changes represent an evolution, not revolution. Interestingly, despite the status of Nordic countries as leaders in bridging the gender gap, respondents from this region believe that there is significant progress yet to be made in the forest industry, especially at the entry level. With respect to career development, North American respondents suggested that young females should consider sacrificing their social life and leisure time activities, whereas Nordic respondents instead emphasized personal supports or using exit strategy from an unsupportive company or boss.

Using bamboo particle board as a wall divider, a furniture component, or an automotive component with a sound absorber function may be a viable option for architects and engineers seeking to achieve desired acoustical qualities, including noise reduction. However, there is still a dearth of research on the effect of particle board finishing and coatings on acoustical sound absorption and noise reduction qualities. This study, therefore, aims to determine the surface characteristics and acoustical properties of bamboo particle board, coated with polyurethane (PU). The single-layer homogeneous particle boards were constructed using particles classified as fine and coarse with two different board densities, and coated with a high-quality PU lacquer. This study found that the coating treatment of 0.3 mm 0.6 mm succeeded to significantly decrease surface roughness, as well as thickness, swelling, and water absorption, with the thickness coating as a dominant factor compared with board density and board particle size. Adding a PU coating increases sound absorption performance at low frequencies, but significantly reduces acoustical properties at high frequencies. The increase of particle board density leads to the decrease in noise reduction coefficient capability. Results obtained from this study are useful to determine the optimal coating thickness in terms of evaluating acoustical panel products.

In addition to an outstanding commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDG) agenda to good governance (goal no. 16), there is an argument that the SDGs can only be achieved through good governance with strong political institutions and processes. In Indonesia, a new era in politics has been marked with the new leadership of Joko Widodo (the current Indonesian President) who has a vision to reform the Indonesian bureaucracy. One of the bureaucratic reform implementations is the merging of the Ministry of Forestry and the Ministry of Environment into the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoE). In this kind of organizational change, employees may have increased perceptions of organizational politics and feelings of uncertainty and anxiety. This effect is suspected to be exacerbated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article, therefore, aims to investigate the effects of organizational change in the public sector. Based on a survey of 112 state civil apparatuses in the forestry sector in Indonesia, we found that organizational change is positively related to employees’ perception of organizational politics. Nevertheless, our most intriguing finding is that the COVID pandemic situation has decreased employees’ perception of organizational politics. This is because political behaviors are difficult to perform in virtual working settings due to reduced face-to-face interaction and limited non-verbal cues.

Drawing from the negative impacts of the perception of organizational politics (POP) on the literature on organizational outcomes, the model proposed in this study examines a nonlinear relationship of POP on job satisfaction. In a similar way, ingratiation as a moderator variable is tested. Based on a survey of 240 state-owned enterprise employees in Indonesia, this study finds that POP exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship with job satisfaction. Low and high levels of POP have a negative impact on job satisfaction. Nevertheless, our most intriguing finding is that ingratiation behavior not only strengthens POP’s effects on job satisfaction, but can also alter the direction of the relationship in which its shape is represented by a U-shape. This shape indicates that the employees who engage in high levels of ingratiation as a coping mechanism and adaptive strategy tend to do so when they perceive high degrees of POP. These results are then discussed from a cross-cultural perspective as an attempt to explain the legitimacy of ingratiation in Indonesia.