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1 – 10 of over 72000The advent of technology has propelled audit firms to incorporate AI-based audit services, bringing the relationship between audit clients and firms into sharper focus…
Abstract
Purpose
The advent of technology has propelled audit firms to incorporate AI-based audit services, bringing the relationship between audit clients and firms into sharper focus. Nonetheless, the understanding of how AI-based audit services affect this relationship remains sparse. This study strives to probe how an audit client's satisfaction with AI-based audit services influences their trust in audit firms. Identifying the variables affecting this trust, the research aspires to gain a deeper comprehension of the implications of AI-based audit services on the auditor-client relationship, ultimately aiming to boost client satisfaction and cultivate trust.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework has been devised, grounded in the client-company relationship model, to delineate the relationship between perceived quality, perceived value, attitude and satisfaction with AI-based audit services and their subsequent impact on trust in audit firms. The research entailed an empirical investigation employing Facebook ads, gathering 288 valid responses for evaluation. The structural equation method, utilized in conjunction with SPSS and Amos statistical applications, verified the reliability and overarching structure of the scales employed to measure these elements. A hybrid multi-analytical technique of structural equation modeling and artificial neural networks (SEM-ANN) was deployed to empirically validate the collated data.
Findings
The research unveiled a significant and positive relationship between perceived value and client satisfaction, trust and attitude towards AI-based audit services, along with the link between perceived quality and client satisfaction. The findings suggest that a favorable attitude and perceived quality of AI-based audit services could enhance satisfaction, subsequently augmenting perceived value and client trust. By focusing on the delivery of superior-quality services that fulfill clients' value expectations, firms may amplify client satisfaction and trust.
Research limitations/implications
Further inquiries are required to appraise the influence of advanced technology adoption within audit firms on client trust-building mechanisms. Moreover, an understanding of why the impact of perceived quality on perceived value proves ineffectual in the context of audit client trust-building warrants further exploration. In interpreting the findings of this study, one should consider the inherent limitations of the empirical analysis, inclusive of the utilization of Facebook ads as a data-gathering tool.
Practical implications
The research yielded insightful theoretical and practical implications that can bolster audit clients' trust in audit firms amid technological advancements within the audit landscape. The results imply that audit firms should contemplate implementing trust-building mechanisms by creating value and influencing clients' stance towards AI-based audit services to establish trust, particularly when vying with competing firms. As technological evolutions impinge on trustworthiness, audit firms must prioritize clients' perceived value and satisfaction.
Originality/value
To the researcher's best knowledge, no previous study has scrutinized the impact of satisfaction with AI-based audit services on cultivating audit client trust in audit firms, in contrast to past research that has focused on the auditors' trust in the audit client. To bridge these gaps, this study employs a comprehensive and integrative theoretical model.
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Sadegh Aliakbarlou, Suzanne Wilkinson and Seosamh Benedict Costello
The purpose of this paper is to focus on exploring the construction client values and qualities reported by scholars over the last 20 years, along with clarifying commonalities…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on exploring the construction client values and qualities reported by scholars over the last 20 years, along with clarifying commonalities and differences between “value” and “quality” in terms of definitions and their constituent attributes in the context of construction.
Design/methodology/approach
An in-depth, systematic literature review was used to develop a basis for identifying client values and qualities. During the research process, citation analysis has been applied to understand these attributes in the literature.
Findings
While the findings may appear to align with the value theory concept of a strong interrelationship between quality and value, the authors argue that there is an intermingling of various subjective and objective preferences within construction scholarship, rather than a broad-brush adherence to the value theory and other related theories.
Research limitations/implications
A qualitative research approach of inductive analysis was conducted using the semantics of terms and codes. Although reliability checks have been conducted, the generalisability of the study findings is subject to natural methodological limitations.
Practical implications
This study provides initial guidance on what contractors need to consider while providing services, and leads contractors to give their clients the best possible experience during a relationship. It proposes a shift in the way construction clients assess their contractors, to improve how services are delivered.
Originality/value
Enhancing client value is not straightforward, hence strong emphasis has been placed on understanding client values in this study, which contributes to the construction literature by facilitating further research leading to stronger construct definitions and theory-building efforts.
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Sadegh Aliakbarlou, Suzanne Wilkinson and Seosamh B. Costello
The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of what clients value from contractors’ services. Understanding client values and the way by which clients perceive value…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of what clients value from contractors’ services. Understanding client values and the way by which clients perceive value will contribute to client-perceived value within contracting services.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review was conducted to understand how clients perceive value in the construction industry. In addition, conducting expert interviews and document analysis helped in achieving the research purpose.
Findings
The findings show that values associated with time, cost and quality can be considered as important client values, while they are not exclusive values for assessing contractor service anymore. Construction clients are concerned about health and safety, low rate of environmental impact, guarantees, creativity, technology transfer, value for money, reliability and tangibles of their contractors’ services. In addition, they value their contractors’ behaviour, attitude and professionalism.
Research limitations/implications
The study has disseminated different client values, through classified outcomes, to make the knowledge area more available to construction service providers. This study’s findings helped in understanding client values and how clients perceive value from contractors’ services. With this information, contractors are able to provide better services to clients. Satisfactory delivery of the values identified in this study is believed to have the greatest impact on client-perceived value within contracting services. Developing a management strategy that recognises, prioritises and satisfactorily delivers these values is essential to ensure that highest level of client-perceived value is achieved.
Originality/value
The construction literature is focussed on traditional values related to time, cost and quality, while this study highlighted the role of values such as trust, commitment, communication and other non-result-ordinated values essential for achieving client satisfaction. This study’s findings proposed a new practical assessment concept to value construction contractor services.
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For many small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), quality systems, and ISO 9000 (BS EN, ISO 9000‐1, 1994) in particular, are a fact of life. Quality systems are seen as a…
Abstract
For many small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), quality systems, and ISO 9000 (BS EN, ISO 9000‐1, 1994) in particular, are a fact of life. Quality systems are seen as a necessary qualification for trading in certain markets. This can encourage businesses to think of quality only in terms of the cheapest way to obtain a certificate, thereby failing to appreciate the organisational benefits which could be obtained if more resources were applied to the development of effective quality systems. The use of quality consultants is widespread as a means of implementing ISO 9000. The selection and use of consultants can have a major influence on the commercial impact of quality systems developed through their work. Clients do not always appreciate differences between consultants, who all promise registration. As a consequence, a client often places its trust in the cheapest consultant, the first one to come along, or a friend. This paper, which is based on a survey of SMEs registered to ISO 9000, and will be presented at the Small Business and Enterprise Development Conference, 22nd and 23rd March, 1999, explores clients’ perceptions of value through the development of a model of client‐consultant relationships. It is argued that both clients and consultants need to have awareness of these perceptions at different project stages in order to realise the benefits of consultancy relationships. Clients’ perceptions of value are identified in both the experience of the consultancy relationships as well as the outputs. By viewing client‐consultant relationship development as a process, key activities within a project can be investigated, such as initial contracting and ultimate project outputs. The paper concludes that ISO 9000 can act as a bureaucratic constraint on improvement activities, but can also provide an opportunity to develop structures and processes that help to achieve improvements in a controlled manner. It is argued that the achievement of third‐party registration is largely irrelevant to the effectiveness of a quality system in bringing about improvements, although the prospect of registration is often a necessary driver towards instigating a system. It is shown that quality consultancy relationships are perceived by clients as having widely differing outcomes. These can be both favourable and unfavourable, whilst still meeting the objective of registration.
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Marjan Sarshar and Michael Pitt
The purpose of this paper is to explore how facilities management (FM) suppliers can add value to their clients. It investigates client perceptions as well as the supplier…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how facilities management (FM) suppliers can add value to their clients. It investigates client perceptions as well as the supplier perceptions, and searches for gaps between the two.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature search on client value sheds light onto key issues. The literature search is used to design semi‐structured interviews for four large clients' organisations and one major FM supplier, both at operational and strategic levels. A total of eight client managers and six supplier managers participated in 1.5 hours interviews.
Findings
There is a difference in perception between operational managers and senior managers, both at the clients' organisations and the FM supplier. There are areas which are more significant for clients than suppliers. These include the issues such as: trust and provision of timely management information and management reporting.
Research limitations/implications
As with any case study the sample size is limited. The clients' organisations were all trading organisations, and may not represent the views of the blue chip clients.
Practical implications
Suppliers need to spend more effort on creating loyalty in existing clients, rather than generating new clients. Suppliers need to focus on finding solutions for client's business problems, rather than merely delivering a contract. Client satisfaction and assessment tools need to take a 360 degree perspective, rather than the usual survey of end‐users, or facilities managers.
Originality/value
The paper provides a case study of how client value is dynamic and dependant upon the role of the client in their own organisation. There is no single concept of value for any client. The detailed findings highlight specific areas where there are gaps between suppliers' and clients' perceptions.
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The purpose of this paper is to increase the transparency of the value‐creation chain in the stock market. It aims to: conceptualize the value‐added through the relational…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to increase the transparency of the value‐creation chain in the stock market. It aims to: conceptualize the value‐added through the relational capital, inductively develop models on how values are created, and discuss the values created for the analyst firm, the clients and investors in the stock market in general.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a case study of sell‐side analysts at a big Swedish investment bank and their work with real life situations of changes in recommendations.
Findings
The findings of the case study indicate that analysts, through their relational capital, access competitive advantages needed for remaining on a highly competitive market. They get access to value‐added information and knowledge and also business for the firm. This helps them to fulfill the three roles played, i.e. as information intermediaries, knowledge builders and businessmen. However, the analysts' dependencies, due to their relational capital and the analysts' conflicting roles, result in ambiguous or even biased information. The values added to clients differ between prioritized clients who receive value‐added information through the relational capital with the analysts and non‐prioritized clients with limited, or no access, to the analysts' services.
Originality/value
Value created through relational capital within organizations has been intensively studied within the area of intellectual capital. However, the sell‐side analysts' value‐creation chain linked to their relational capital with company representatives and clients, considered in the present study, has been neglected.
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There is much evidence showing that client valuation in the service industry has come to be seen also as a central steering element and success factor in private banking. But…
Abstract
There is much evidence showing that client valuation in the service industry has come to be seen also as a central steering element and success factor in private banking. But until now, there was no specific client value model for the private banking industry developed. Thereby the value of a private client for the bank (from the provider's perspective) can be made up of different components/factors: monetary and non‐monetary, quantitative and qualitative. However, with a view to value‐based management, the calculation of client margin contributions and the lifetime value of a client relationship must be supplemented by key figures representing the qualitative client value drivers. The author addressed the task of developing a specific client value model for private banking based on existing models and findings from general research and practice at the world's largest private bank in Switzerland. In contrast to previous analyses, this study not only surveyed management staff, but also those who are directly responsible for shaping client relationships in their daily work, i.e. the client advisors. The survey sought to identify the criteria that make clients valuable for the private banking industry and also to what extent these criteria were actually implemented by client advisors in the valuation of their clients.
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Sadegh Aliakbarlou, Suzanne Wilkinson, Seosamh B. Costello and Hyounseung Jang
The purpose of this paper is to explore and prioritize the key client values within contracting services for reconstructing the built environment in post-disaster situations.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore and prioritize the key client values within contracting services for reconstructing the built environment in post-disaster situations.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review, semi-structured interviews and questionnaire survey were included in this study. A comparative analysis was used to obtain different perspectives between public and private sectors.
Findings
A total of 39 client values were identified in this study. Clients for disaster reconstruction services put more emphasis on values such as timeliness, availability of resources, competency, building a trust-based relationship, financial stability, and communication techniques than contract price. Public and private clients have a different perspective regarding the importance of the identified values, while these are not statistically significant for the most important values.
Research limitations/implications
The construction literature is focussed on business-as-usual rather than post-disaster reconstruction. To ensure that reconstruction programmes after a disaster are successfully implemented, it is necessary to identify and prioritize the client values within contracting services. Focussing the attention of the service providers on these values is believed to have the greatest impact on the programmes’ success.
Practical implications
Understanding the client values identified by this study can aid contractors to better prepare for reconstruction programmes and provide improved services to clients.
Originality/value
A number of important client values within contracting services that appear to have a bearing on the success of disaster reconstruction programmes were identified in this study.
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Elizabeth Levin, Paramaporn Thaichon and Thu Nguyen Quach
– The study aims to consider the overall impact of the service encounters and projects undertaken on the long-term relationship between the agency and its clients.
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to consider the overall impact of the service encounters and projects undertaken on the long-term relationship between the agency and its clients.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a parallel mixed-method design incorporating quantitative and qualitative elements in the client–advertising agency context. Data obtain via an online survey in Study 1 were analysed using structural equation modelling and bias-corrected bootstrapping technique. Study 2 featured 15 in-depth interviews with marketing managers and project leaders.
Findings
The findings revealed that advertising agencies deliver value and create trust through creativity aspects as well as project management processes. In addition, both perceived value and trust have crucial roles in fostering client–agency relationships and the continuance of business relationships. Value has a stronger direct effect on loyalty when compared with trust, confirmed by the results of Study 2. Several respondents pointed out the influence of client characteristics on both evaluation of creativity as well as loyalty.
Practical implications
The results highlight the importance of project management and planning which should be seen as an investment by both parties. Moreover, agencies need to involve clients in the creative process and focus on marketing themselves and the value they add to enhance client loyalty.
Originality/value
This study was the first to develop a model for the drivers of loyalty, drawing from literature in three key areas: service quality, relationship marketing and project management. An additional contribution of the study stems from the incorporation of an integrated parallel mixed-methods approach.
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Maja Arslanagic-Kalajdzic and Vesna Zabkar
Corporate communication practices are becoming ever more important for business service clients, as they signal quality and hence are related to client-perceived value. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporate communication practices are becoming ever more important for business service clients, as they signal quality and hence are related to client-perceived value. The purpose of this paper is to examine the interplay between corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate reputation and client-perceived value, and to assess the moderating role of strategic orientation in business service relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual framework based on the corporate communication framework, signaling theory and relationship marketing theory has been tested on a survey sample of 228 client firms, using covariance-based SEM and additional procedures for assessment of mediation and moderated mediation.
Findings
This paper reveals that communication practices concerning CSR positively and significantly influence client-perceived value. The authors show that reputation fully mediates the effect of CSR on client-perceived value. Finally, the effect of CSR on value is stronger if the client firm has a short-term strategic orientation, while long-term strategic orientation boosts the effect of corporate reputation on customer-perceived value.
Research limitations/implications
Further research on the topic may involve developing links between other elements of the corporate communication framework and client-perceived value.
Originality/value
The originality of the paper lies in better understanding the effects of CSR and corporate reputation on client-perceived value. The authors provide empirical evidence of the mediating role of reputation between the CSR (seen as “actions”) and client-perceived value.
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