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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 9 July 2024

Christian Grönroos

This paper aims to develop an alternative perspective on marketing informed by service scholarship to resolve marketing’s challenges as a discipline and practice.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to develop an alternative perspective on marketing informed by service scholarship to resolve marketing’s challenges as a discipline and practice.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is conceptual and builds on the ongoing debate regarding marketing’s challenges and on service research to develop a new alternative marketing perspective and model, which could contribute to reforming marketing.

Findings

An analysis of the current understanding of marketing showed that the discipline’s myopic focus on activities, which disregards what marketing is as a phenomenon, is the primary reason for the prevailing problems and failure to reform marketing. Based on research into service logic (SL), the paper demonstrates that a higher level view of service can be characterized as the provision of help to the users of goods and services to ensure that these goods and services deliver meaningful assistance in their lives and work. This suggests that the ultimate objective for marketing is to make firms meaningful to the users of their goods and services.

Research limitations/implications

To the best of the author’s knowledge, since this paper is the first to conceptually develop a perspective on marketing and a corresponding model informed by service scholarship, more conceptual and empirical research is necessary. Developing the new meaningfulness-based perspective and model for marketing brings a new approach to the process of resolving marketing’s current troubled situation.

Practical implications

The meaningfulness approach to marketing enables customer-centered marketing strategies to be implemented. Such strategies include both demand-stimulating and demand-satisfying programs.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to examine marketing’s troubled situation from a service research and SL perspective.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 38 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 27 July 2023

Harshal Pandurang Gund and Jay Daniel

The purpose of this study is to systematically review available state-of-the-art literature on comparative studies on Quick Commerce (Q-commerce) and E-commerce and their…

3109

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to systematically review available state-of-the-art literature on comparative studies on Quick Commerce (Q-commerce) and E-commerce and their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Design/methodology/approach

The literature survey methodology is based on the funneling approach of Kitchenham (2004), where results are obtained according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. The literature review methodology used for this study covers the period from 2016 to 2022. The areas considered for the survey are operations, logistics and supply chain network design for the distribution of goods in e-business. After deciding on the criteria, a total of 140 articles were extracted from 9 journal articles that study e-commerce and environmental emissions.

Findings

The result of this study reveals that GHG emissions from both modes of shopping depend on various parameters such as speed of delivery, last-mile depot locations, logistics and vehicle efficiency, customers’ order patterns and average basket size. Furthermore, the findings also highlight the difference between Q-commerce and E-commerce supply chain networks.

Research limitations/implications

This study only accounts for GHG emissions from logistics activities, but there are other sources of GHG emissions in the overall supply chain that are not taken into consideration. Supply chain/business analysts in Q-commerce companies might refer the findings from this study to measure GHG emissions from their operations.

Originality/value

This is the first study in the Q-commerce field that uses a structured approach to find relevant literature from the years 2016 to 2022 and focuses on GHG emission measurement.

Details

International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2690-6090

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 25 June 2024

Jasmin Mahadevan

This paper shows the benefits of multi-sited ethnography for global migration studies in management, in particular when cosmopolitan self-initiated expatriates meet a local…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper shows the benefits of multi-sited ethnography for global migration studies in management, in particular when cosmopolitan self-initiated expatriates meet a local setting.

Design/methodology/approach

The author conducted a multi-sited ethnography to trace how a local East German research organization’s well-intended approach to integration becomes condescending.

Findings

Highly skilled non-Western migrant employees who represent English-language cosmopolitanism are framed as negatively “foreign” by corporate discourses and practices. This phenomenon can only be understood if one follows the interconnections of language power, White subalternity and compressed modernity and if one considers the immediate surroundings, the historical context of East German identity and wider migration frames in Germany.

Research limitations/implications

Multi-sited ethnography, if power-sensitive and historically-aware, is suitable for understanding the multi-level phenomenon of global migration and identifying limiting framing-effects on management and organizations. Researcher standpoint is both its strength and its limitation.

Practical implications

Managers and companies can “imagine otherwise” and move beyond the unquestioned dominant frames limiting their problem analyses and, consequently, their strategies and actions.

Social implications

Managers and companies are enabled to move beyond individual- and corporate-level approaches to managing migration at work and can thus take up full social responsibility in the sense of good corporate citizenship on a global level. Global mobility researchers can work towards an inclusive migration theory.

Originality/value

Multi-sited ethnography, in particular, one that is power-sensitive and historically aware, is an approach not yet applied to migration in the context of management and organization. By means of an example, this paper illustrates the value of this approach and enables researchers to understand its main principles. Compressed modernity and White subalternity are introduced as novel concepts structuring migration, and language power emerges as relevant far beyond the scope of the multinational corporation.

Details

Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-8799

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 13 June 2023

Eugenia Rosca and Kelsey M. Taylor

This paper examines how different configurations of societal impact are pursued by purpose-driven organizations (PDOs) and how these configurations align with the application of…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines how different configurations of societal impact are pursued by purpose-driven organizations (PDOs) and how these configurations align with the application of varying supply chain design (SCD) practices.

Design/methodology/approach

This multi-method study uses quantitative data from 1588 B Corps and qualitative data from 316 B Corps to examine how PDOs align SCD with the pursuit of diverse types of societal impact. The authors first conduct a cluster analysis to group organizations based on the impact they create. Second, qualitative content analysis connects impact with enabling SCD elements.

Findings

The analysis of the five identified clusters provides detailed empirical insights on influencers, design decisions and building blocks adopted by PDOs to drive a range of societal impacts. Specifically, the nature of the impact pursued affects (1) whether a PDO will be more influenced by a need in the political environment or an opportunity in the industry environment, (2) the relative importance of the design of social flows versus material flows and (3) the need to develop new relational resources with beneficiaries versus leveraging existing capabilities to manage inter-firm processes.

Originality/value

This study responds to calls to disaggregate different dimensions of societal impact and examines the relationship between SCD and a breadth of sustainability impacts for different stakeholders. In doing so, the authors identify four SCD pathways organizations can follow to achieve specific societal impacts. This study is also the first to employ a supply chain perspective in the study of certified B Corps.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 44 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 6 August 2024

Ghada Nabil Goher

This research examines how responsible deployment of ChatGPT in the UAE’s government sector, guided by New Public Management principles, can enhance customer journeys by…

Abstract

Purpose

This research examines how responsible deployment of ChatGPT in the UAE’s government sector, guided by New Public Management principles, can enhance customer journeys by integrating services across government bodies. Through semi-structured interviews with UAE government officers, the study investigates this approach’s benefits, challenges, and applications for achieving efficient and integrated public service delivery.

Design/methodology/approach

This research adopts a qualitative approach, purposive sampling strategy, and semi-structured interviews to explore the subjective viewpoints of 20 high-level UAE government authorities. The thematic analysis uncovers ChatGPT’s benefits, challenges, and applications, aligning with New Public Management principles.

Findings

Thematic analysis reveals four themes: Benefits and Applications of ChatGPT, Challenges, Strategies to Overcome Challenges, and Steps for Customer Journey Enhancement through ChatGPT.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis is based on participant responses provided during the interviews, which may be subject to biases or incomplete information. Secondly, the study focuses solely on the provided applications and participant responses, limiting the generalizability of the conclusions to other contexts.

Practical implications

The implementation of ChatGPT in the government sector has practical implications for transforming its operations and enhancing communication, efficiency, decision-making, and service offerings: citizen engagement, streamlined processes, and informed governance.

Originality/value

This study uniquely examines ChatGPT’s role in government, offering insights into communication, efficiency, decision-making, and service offerings. Identifying hurdles enriches understanding of ChatGPT’s practical integration in government.

Details

Digital Transformation and Society, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2755-0761

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 8 January 2024

Rafael Barreiros Porto, Gordon Robert Foxall, Ricardo Limongi and Débora Luiza Barbosa

Consumer perception of corporate brand equity has primarily focused on product brand dimensions, neglecting considerations at the firm analysis level. Assessing corporate brands…

Abstract

Purpose

Consumer perception of corporate brand equity has primarily focused on product brand dimensions, neglecting considerations at the firm analysis level. Assessing corporate brands requires different criteria relevant to the competitiveness of companies, such as their prominence, management and meeting society’s demands. In this sense, this study aims to develop and validate a scale of corporate brand equity founded on consumer perceptions, transcending industry boundaries and comparing its relationship with companies' market share.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used an integrative approach to clarify the construct’s domain, building on previous measures. They took several steps to select appropriate items, refine the measure, validate it through reliability tests and convergent and discriminant analyses, test the validity of the second-order formative structure of corporate brand equity and assess associations between first-order factors, the second-order factor and market share.

Findings

The model identifies three first-order dimensions of corporate brands (presence, outstanding management and responsible) that shape the second-order factor (corporate brand equity). They are directly related, but not proportionally, to market share, contributing to the general and joint assessment of the company’s competitive performance considering the consumer.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to develop a comprehensive measurement model of corporate brand equity that considers the firm level of analysis, combines metrics from previous research on corporate brand evaluation criteria and includes consumer perceptions of the company’s competitiveness, unifying branding theory with the theory of the marketing firm.

Details

Journal of Modelling in Management, vol. 19 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5664

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 February 2024

Vladislav Valentinov and Constantine Iliopoulos

Transaction cost economics sees a broad spectrum of governance structures spanned by two types of economic adaptation: autonomous and cooperative. Stakeholder theorists have drawn…

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Abstract

Purpose

Transaction cost economics sees a broad spectrum of governance structures spanned by two types of economic adaptation: autonomous and cooperative. Stakeholder theorists have drawn much inspiration from transaction cost economics but have not paid explicit attention to the centrality of the idea of adaptation in this literature. This study aims to address this gap.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors develop a novel conceptual framework applying the distinction between the two types of economic adaptation to stakeholder theory.

Findings

The authors argue that the idea of cooperative adaptation is particularly useful for describing the firm’s collaboration with primary stakeholders in the joint value creation process. In contrast, autonomous adaptation is more relevant for firms interacting with secondary stakeholders who are not directly engaged in joint value creation and may not have formal contractual relationships with the firm. Accordingly, cooperative adaptation can be seen as vital for resolving team production problems affecting joint value creation, whereas autonomous adaptation addresses how the firm maintains legitimacy within the larger stakeholder environment.

Originality/value

Similar to its significance for transaction cost economics, the distinction between the two types of adaptation equips stakeholder theory with a new systematic understanding of a potentially broad spectrum of firm–stakeholder collaboration forms.

Details

Society and Business Review, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5680

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 17 September 2024

Mornay Roberts-Lombard and Daniël Johannes Petzer

The purpose of this study is to investigate possible drivers of loyalty amongst Islamic banking customers in Gauteng, South Africa. We ponder the relationships of service fairness…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate possible drivers of loyalty amongst Islamic banking customers in Gauteng, South Africa. We ponder the relationships of service fairness (a secondorder reflective construct) with perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were obtained from Islamic banking customers in South Africa using interview-administered questionnaires. A total of 350 responses were perceived as being suitable for data analysis. The measurement and structural models were measured through structural equation modelling.

Findings

Service fairness and perceived value were found to be important drivers of loyalty within this context.

Research limitations/implications

This study demonstrates that service fairness and perceived value are precursors to the future loyalty intentions of Islamic banking customers. As such, they should be nurtured as key elements of the relationship building process.

Practical implications

The study guides South African Islamic banks and South African banks with Islamic windows to better understand how service fairness (interactional, procedural and distributive) fosters satisfaction, perceived value and loyalty (attitudinal and behavioural).

Originality/value

Enhancing comprehension of the relationship between service fairness and customer loyalty, with satisfaction and perceived value playing intermediary roles, represents an unexplored avenue in academic research within the context of Islamic banking in an emerging African market.

Details

Journal of Islamic Marketing, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-0833

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 29 May 2024

Mojca Indihar Štemberger, Vesna Bosilj Vuksic, Frank Morelli and Jurij Jaklič

Although improving customer experience (CX) has always been one of the top priorities of business process management (BPM), the evidence on the actual contribution made by…

Abstract

Purpose

Although improving customer experience (CX) has always been one of the top priorities of business process management (BPM), the evidence on the actual contribution made by traditional BPM to improving CX and customer experience management (CXM) is mixed. Recently, new and enhanced capability areas have been added to the traditional BPM frameworks, yet it is unclear which of them contribute to CXM. Moreover, it is not known which of them are necessary and which are sufficient conditions. The aim of this research is to shed light on the research gap concerning which BPM capabilities, especially new and enhanced ones, are relevant to CXM.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitative data from 268 medium and large companies in 3 EU countries were analysed using hierarchical linear regression analysis and necessary condition analysis.

Findings

The results show that traditional BPM capabilities are a necessary condition for CXM, but with minor significance. Most highly significant necessary conditions and also most highly or medium significant sufficient conditions belong to the People or Culture area. Agile Process Improvement is the only new or enhanced BPM capability area in the Methods/IT area that is a necessary and also a sufficient condition for CXM maturity. Advanced Process Digitalisation was identified as neither a significant necessary nor a sufficient condition for CXM.

Originality/value

This research contributes to better understanding of the role played by BPM for CXM, where previous research provides mixed results.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 13 August 2024

Chaymae Abbana Bennani and Abderrahman Hassi

The current study investigated the effect of internal marketing practices, specifically the training and rewards system, on job satisfaction, affective commitment and employee…

Abstract

Purpose

The current study investigated the effect of internal marketing practices, specifically the training and rewards system, on job satisfaction, affective commitment and employee turnover intention.

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modeling analysis was conducted on a sample of 288 responses from employees working in different organizations and diverse industries in Morocco.

Findings

The findings revealed that internal marketing positively affected employee job satisfaction and affective commitment and negatively affected employee turnover intention.

Practical implications

The current investigation extends our understanding of the effects of internal marketing practices, especially training and rewards, on an emerging country context and contributes to the organizational behavior and management field. The results may be of interest to organizations and managers who should consider the importance of internal marketing in enhancing job satisfaction, affective commitment and decreasing employee turnover intention.

Originality/value

The current study is the first of its kind to investigate the impact of internal marketing practices on job satisfaction, affective commitment and employee turnover intention in Morocco.

Details

Rajagiri Management Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0972-9968

Keywords

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