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1 – 10 of 11Wei-Ming Ou, Chia-Mei Shih and Chin-Yuan Chen
This study aims to investigate the influence of ethical sales behaviour on relationship quality and its consequences in the context of telemarketing to identify the complex nature…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the influence of ethical sales behaviour on relationship quality and its consequences in the context of telemarketing to identify the complex nature of relationship marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey with 312 qualified observations from financial institutions’ customers in Taiwan was conducted. A structural equation modelling approach was used.
Findings
Ethical sales behaviour components, that is, avoiding overharvest, security, honesty, privacy and non-harassment, have significant effects on relationship quality. Satisfactory relationship quality has positive effects on relationship commitment and customer loyalty.
Originality/value
This paper identifies ethical sales behaviour components, namely, avoiding overharvest, security, honesty, privacy and non-harassment, in the context of telemarketing and proposes that ethical sales behaviour is an important factor of maintaining high level of relationship quality.
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Wei-Ming Ou, Chia-Mei Shih and Chin-Yuan Chen
This paper aims to examine the causal influences on the construct, relationship commitment. A better understanding of relationship marketing is an underpinning goal of this study…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the causal influences on the construct, relationship commitment. A better understanding of relationship marketing is an underpinning goal of this study.
Design/methodology/approach
Chunghwa Telecom is a Taiwan-based telecommunications firm that enjoys Taiwan’s largest domestic market share of asymmetric digital subscriber line market. Data from Chunghwa Telecom’s subscribers were obtained, and 265 qualified observations were collected. A structural equation modeling approach was used.
Findings
Relationship commitment is understood as dependent on positive affective commitment and involuntary continuance commitment. Positive affective commitment, namely, voluntary continuance commitment, enhances customer loyalty. On the contrary, involuntary continuance commitment has negative impacts on customer loyalty. It is discovered that relationship quality, corporate reputation and switching costs have significant effects on relationship commitment. Satisfactory relationship commitment has positive effects on loyalty.
Originality/value
Effects of voluntary continuance commitment and involuntary continuance commitment on customer loyalty are not in the same direction. When customers feel trapped in a relationship due to involuntary continuance commitment, they respond to the feeling by provision of negative word-of-mouth.
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Wei‐Ming Ou, Chia‐Mei Shih, Chin‐Yuan Chen and Kuo‐Chang Wang
The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of customer loyalty programs on relationship quality, relationship commitment, and loyalty.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of customer loyalty programs on relationship quality, relationship commitment, and loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey with 480 qualified observations from department store customers in Taiwan was conducted. A structural equation modeling approach was used.
Findings
Customer loyalty programs have a partially supported positive impact on relationship quality; service quality has a positive impact on relationship quality; customers with a positive relationship quality impact their relationship commitment; the higher the relationship commitment, the higher the loyalty; and a customer loyalty program partially supports a positive impact on loyalty.
Originality/value
The paper shows that customer loyalty programs have positive influences on loyalty. However, short‐term customer loyalty programs, namely, Minimum Purchase Gift Cards, displayed no significant influence on loyalty. The incentive of short‐term customer loyalty programs is not sufficient for loyalty.
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Shu-Hao Chang and Chin-Yuan Fan
Innovation plays a pivotal role in a national economy and in the research and development of science and technology. Because the elements, capability and development direction of…
Abstract
Purpose
Innovation plays a pivotal role in a national economy and in the research and development of science and technology. Because the elements, capability and development direction of innovation in various countries are dissimilar, national innovative capacity also varies by country. However, previous studies have predominantly measured national innovative capacity through empirical studies by using a single index of innovation output, ignoring that the forms of innovation are heterogeneous across countries and failing to examine the influence exerted by various innovation models on economic development. Thus, the purpose of this study is to fill this gap by using scientific driving force and technological driving force to present the influence of national innovative capacities on economic development.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used regression models to test the influence of different national innovative capacities (i.e. scientific and technological driving forces) on economic development and stability.
Findings
Using the data of 60 countries, this study determined that both scientific and technological driving forces influenced economic development; specifically, scientific driving force affected economic development through technological driving force. Moreover, both research paper quality and patent quality positively influenced economic stability, but patent quality was the mediator.
Originality/value
This study examined scientific output from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives to determine their influence on economic growth and particularly on economic stability, which lacks dedicated studies. This study strives to bridge this gap in the literature by asserting, from the concept of economic resilience, that high-quality science and technology can strengthen the stability of a country’s economy.
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Chin-Yuan Lai and Yung-Chin Yen
This paper aims to illustrate how mobile devices could be applied to substantiate cognitive apprenticeship model to optimize nursing students’ learning experiences in clinical…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to illustrate how mobile devices could be applied to substantiate cognitive apprenticeship model to optimize nursing students’ learning experiences in clinical settings.
Design/methodology/approach
Eight female students from a nursing college in Taiwan were recruited in this study. They enrolled in a three-week nursing clinical practicum session in the area of psychiatric nursing.
Findings
Analysis of interview data from students and instructor showed that use of the mobile technology could promote the effectiveness of cognitive apprenticeship model, especially for processes of reflection, coaching, scaffolding and articulation.
Originality/value
The present study intended to bridge the gap between mobile technologies and cognitive apprenticeship. This study explores students’ experiences and expectations of using mobile technology in clinical nursing courses and clarifies how the cognitive apprenticeship model fits students’ experiences during using mobile technology in the clinical nursing course.
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Shuo-Fang Liu, Yuan-Chin Hsu and Hung-Cheng Tsai
Belief in Mazu has a crucial cultural status in Taiwan and the coastal area of Fujian, China. The design and manufacture of apparel and accessories to be placed on statues of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Belief in Mazu has a crucial cultural status in Taiwan and the coastal area of Fujian, China. The design and manufacture of apparel and accessories to be placed on statues of the deity are also considered a sacred and critical part of the religion’s cultural and artistic inheritance. The crown hat of Mazu is one of the most essential elements of the deity’s apparel. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This study explored the styles of Mazu crown hats using Kansei engineering (KE). People generally use adjectives words to provide aesthetic evaluations. Fuzzy theory is suitable for processing linguistic problems that include vagueness, thereby providing a reasonable method of quantifying such aesthetic evaluations. Therefore, this study first established a fuzzy positioning model (FPM) of word evaluations for analysis. Factor analysis was used to obtain representative image adjectives that represented Mazu’s image. Fuzzy analysis methods were then employed to rank the various image adjectives through evaluation words and to determine the differences between adjectives. Finally, on the basis of image analysis results and expert suggestions, the crown hat was redesigned and its suitability verified.
Findings
Four results were obtained. First, four image adjectives appropriate for representing Mazu’s image were identified, of which “noble and kind” is the most suitable. Second, fuzzy analysis was found to successfully rank style images. Third, the crown hat style and design characteristics suitable for Mazu were acquired. Fourth, the verification demonstrated that the redesign effectively enhanced the perceived image of the crown hat design.
Originality/value
This study employed KE to improve the design of a Mazu crown hat. The proposed FPM can aid the development of cultural and creative design.
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Hung-Cheng Tsai and Yuan-Chin Hsu
It is desirable that shape appeal in craft design takes people's cultural and emotional influencers into consideration. Five Royal Lords worship, prevalent in the southwest…
Abstract
Purpose
It is desirable that shape appeal in craft design takes people's cultural and emotional influencers into consideration. Five Royal Lords worship, prevalent in the southwest coastal part of Taiwan and a source of religious and spiritual support to the local residents, offers such a shape appeal. This study takes the design of Taiwan's cultural handicrafts as the main point of discussion and uses Kansei engineering with semantic technique to promote the linkage between shape and the mental image of the Five Royal Lords' headwear. There are only two types of traditional headwear for the Five Royal Lords: the Imperial Crown and Lord Crown, despite the different personal characteristics of the five deities. This study aims to design a crown for each that matches their individuality.
Design/methodology/approach
In the first stage of the research process, the Kawakita Jiro method was used to arrive at appropriate descriptions representative of the deities' individuality. Fuzzy set theory was then applied to convert the relationship between the representative descriptions and headwear shape features into a quantitative one, after which the headwear could be redesigned and validated.
Findings
The study results show that: (1) analysis of the relationship between shape features and representative deity descriptions offered guidance to the redesign. (2) A method combining fuzzy theory and description terms could generate quantitative data that helped to provide design suggestions and result validation, supporting both scientific rationality and designers' sensibility. (3) The validation revealed that the redesigned headwear was better than the original headwear.
Originality/value
The study successfully established a design and development process featuring collaboration by folklore experts, designers, craftspeople and worshippers, and helping to promote new cultural product development. The success of the research process can serve as a reference to the development of other different products with shape features.
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Shu-Hao Chang, Hsin-Yuan Chang and Chin-Yuan Fan
In the current knowledge-based economy era, national innovation ability is crucial. Abundant information can be obtained through patent analysis, and such information can help in…
Abstract
Purpose
In the current knowledge-based economy era, national innovation ability is crucial. Abundant information can be obtained through patent analysis, and such information can help in the formulation of policies and the making of R&D decisions; numerous researchers thus continue to make patent analyses. The quality of patents possessed by a country indicates the level of innovation and technology in the country, and this study aims to assess the quality of patents possessed by various countries.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors determined patent quality in various countries from the perspective of the reflective measurement model and used a novel method to construct a structural model of patent quality.
Findings
This study discovered that patent family, number of claims, number of international patent classifications, forward citations, nonpatent references and maintenance time are the structural factors that affect patent quality. Forward citations and the number of claims are particularly highly explained by patent quality, which is a latent construct.
Originality/value
The results of this study provide valuable information to the government and help in the assessment of patent quality in various countries. In addition, the assessment model proposed in this study can be used in the investigation of patent quality in academic research and can predict patent quality, which will be of interest to the government and industry.
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Zhe Wang, Xisheng Li, Xiaojuan Zhang, Yanru Bai and Chengcai Zheng
How to model blind image deblurring that arises when a camera undergoes ego-motion while observing a static and close scene. In particular, this paper aims to detail how the…
Abstract
Purpose
How to model blind image deblurring that arises when a camera undergoes ego-motion while observing a static and close scene. In particular, this paper aims to detail how the blurry image can be restored under a sequence of the linear model of the point spread function (PSF) that are derived from the 6-degree of freedom (DOF) camera’s accurate path during the long exposure time.
Design/methodology/approach
There are two existing techniques, namely, an estimation of the PSF and a blind image deconvolution. Based on online and short-period inertial measurement unit (IMU) self-calibration, this motion path has discretized a sequence of the uniform speed of 3-DOF rectilinear motion, which unites with a 3-DOF rotational motion to form a discrete 6-DOF camera’s path. These PSFs are evaluated through the discrete path, then combine with a blurry image to restoration through deconvolution.
Findings
This paper describes to build a hardware attachment, which is composed of a consumer camera, an inexpensive IMU and a 3-DOF motion mechanism to the best of the knowledge, together with experimental results demonstrating its overall effectiveness.
Originality/value
First, the paper proposes that a high-precision 6-DOF motion platform periodically adjusts the speed of a three-axis rotational motion and a three-axis rectilinear motion in a short time to compensate the bias of the gyroscope and the accelerometer. Second, this paper establishes a model of 6-DOF motion and emphasizes on rotational motion, translational motion and scene depth motion. Third, this paper addresses a novel model of the discrete path that the motion during long exposure time is discretized at a uniform speed, then to estimate a sequence of PSFs.
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