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Although the basic idea of benefit segmentation lies in using causal, as opposed to descriptive, factors as segmentation criteria, most of the empirical studies do not differentiate between product attributes and the benefit sought by consumers. The objectives of this article are to clarify the distinction between attributes and benefits sought, and to apply a modified laddering technique, based on means‐end theory to use the elicited benefits to form benefit segments. A comparison with attribute‐based segments demonstrates that means‐end chains provide a powerful tool for “true” benefit segmentation.

This study aimed to examine the impact of servant leadership on employees' perception of organizational reputation by investigating the sequential mediating effects of employee psychological empowerment and employee thriving at work.

A quantitative online survey with 357 employees from Chile was conducted in this study.

Findings of this study showed that servant leadership both directly and indirectly relates to perceived organizational reputation. Employees perceiving servant leadership behaviors from the employees' supervisors report higher levels of psychological empowerment and, in turn, feel a greater sense of vitality and learning at work that eventually leads to higher ratings of perceived organizational reputation.

This study's novelty lies in extending the internal drivers of organizational reputation by adding behavioral and psychological factors rarely explored in past research.

Many manufacturing firms entrust partners to provide services on their behalf. However, it is not clear whether and when firms can capture the potential value advantages of outsourcing business services. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of different types of business service outsourcing on firm value.

The paper uses event study methodology to estimate the impact of business service outsourcing announcements on abnormal returns of publicly traded manufacturing companies in Europe.

External service outsourcing that directly affects the company’s customers leads to more favorable outcomes than internal service outsourcing. This effect is contingent on the strategic outsourcing intention, the service’s reliance on technology, and the choice of the outsourcing partner.

Findings show that firm value depends critically on the service value it delivers to customers. Future research could explore further contingency variables, and investigate the role of service outsourcing networks and relationships.

The insights of this study help managers to decide why, how, and to whom they should outsource their business services, as well as how to justify their outsourcing decisions, and how to communicate them toward the financial markets.

This research sheds light on the value implications of outsourcing decisions. Two types of business service outsourcing are distinguished, namely, internal and external. Furthermore, the study enhances our understanding of a contingency perspective on service outsourcing decisions.

Reflecting on recent empirical developments as well as insights from regulatory state theory, the paper considers directions in which the regulatory state could develop in the post-COVID-19 era.

This is a de-contextualised analysis of regulatory developments drawing on the prior regulatory state literature and literature on post-crisis responses. Taking into account recent empirical developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the paper sets out, in a comparative context, scenarios for the future development of the regulatory state.

Predicting the direction in which the regulatory state will develop is challenging, particularly at this early stage. Yet, we provide a conceptual framework for thinking about possible futures of the regulatory state and how domestic and international factors might mediate these futures.

The paper provides a structured approach to the analysis of the regulatory state bringing together insights from the literature on the regulatory state, public management reform, and global regulatory shifts.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to identify, evaluate and structure the research that focusses on omni-channel retailing from the perspective of logistics and supply chain management; and to reveal the intellectual foundation of omni-channel retailing research.

The paper applies a multi-method approach by conducting a content-analysis-based literature review of 70 academic papers. Based on the reference lists of these papers, the authors performed a citation and co-citation analysis based on the 34 most frequently cited papers. This analysis included multidimensional scaling, a cluster analysis and factor analysis.

The study reveals the limited consideration of logistics and supply chain management literature in the foundation of the omni-channel retailing research. Further, the authors see a dominance of empirical research as compared to conceptual and analytical research. Overall, there is a focus on the Western retail context in this research field. The intellectual foundation is embedded in the marketing discipline and can be characterised as lacking a robust theoretical foundation.

The contribution of this research is identifying, evaluating and structuring the literature of omni-channel research and providing an overview of the state of the art of this research area considering its interdisciplinary nature. This paper thus supports researchers looking to holistically comprehend, prioritise and use the underpinning literature central to the phenomena of omni-channel retailing. For practitioners and academics alike, the findings can trigger and support future research and an evolving understanding of omni-channel retailing.

The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct the development of industrial relations (IR) in Germany since the end of the Second World War and discusses the current challenges posed by economic globalisation und European integration.

Combining a political economy, identifying Germany as a coordinated market economy (social market economy), and actor-centred historical institutionalism approach, outlining the formation and strategies of the main social actors within a particular institutional setting, the paper draws on the broad range of research on IR in Germany and its theoretical debates, including own research in the field.

The legacy of the key institutional settings in the post-war era – primarily the social market economy, co-determination at supervisory boards, works councils and sector-based non-ideological unions with their analogously organised employer counterparts, as well as the dual system of interest representation – has shaped the German IR and still underlie the bargaining processes and joint learning processes although trade unions and employers’ associations have been weakened because of loss of membership. In consequence the coverage scope of collective agreements is now somewhat reduced. Despite being declared dead many times, the “German model” of a “conflictual partnership” of capital and labour has survived many turbulent changes affecting it to the core.

The paper presents an original, theoretical informed reconstruction of the German IR and allows an understanding of the current institutional changes and challenges in the light of historical legacies. Additionally the theoretical debates on path dependence and learning processes of collectivities are enriched through its application to the German case.

This paper aims to inform the promotion of sustainable modes of transport. For this purpose, it deploys a means-ends framework as a type of second-order cybernetics and uses it to explore cognitive transport mode choice structures.

The empirical study relies on a purposive sample and a qualitative research methodology known as laddering. It is aimed at the identification and comparative analysis of the cognitive means-ends structures of transport users.

The results reveal more positive and complex associations for the car than for public transport. Two main positive means-ends structures are identified for public transport, one related with the relaxation and the other with doing useful things while travelling. Dominant positive structures for the car are related with self-confidence, satisfaction and personal freedom. Negative means-ends structures in addition reveal important justifications and rationalizations for car use.

Based on the identified distinct means-ends elements and structures, this study holds important implications for developing a communications strategy and policy interventions seeking to promote public transport.

Means-ends theory is proposed as an integrative cybernetic framework for the study of stakeholders’ (customers’) mental models. The empirical study is the first to concurrently and comparatively examine positive and negative means-ends chains for the car and for the public transport modes.

Non-verbal communication (NVC) remains largely understudied despite its importance in today's fast-paced and cross-cultural management and research landscape. This article is significant because it reveals valuable insights into NVC, which represents 65–93% (Mehrabian, 1981) of communication and has the potential to considerably increase management effectiveness and efficiency by providing leaders and researchers with the knowledge they need to understand and handle diversity with competence.

This article draws on social identity theory (SIT) (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) and rapport management theory (RMT) (Brown and Levinson, 1987) to analyse illustrative interview extracts of co-occurring verbal and NVC from an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study focussed on understanding how London-based Romanian migrant entrepreneurs experience acculturation.

Romanian migrant entrepreneurs use a variety of verbal and non-verbal communication approaches in their acculturation narratives, providing depth and occasionally shifting meaning. These tactics include repeating verbal discourse with non-verbal clues, replacing verbal communication with non-verbal gestures, complementing verbal communication and juxtaposing non-verbal cues with verbal descriptions.

This study makes a valuable contribution to the fields of qualitative organisational management and entrepreneurial studies by addressing the lack of methodological tools available for analysing non-verbal language in interpretative research. This study presents a systematic technique for assessing non-verbal language symbols that has been developed through face-to-face interviews. The article utilises the first-hand interview experience of a Romanian co-researcher to demonstrate the significance of NVC in the transmission of meaning and the formation of identities amongst Romanian migrant entrepreneurs. These findings contribute to a better understanding of organisational management and research practices, particularly about this understudied entrepreneurial minority of Romanian businesses in London, by helping researchers and managers better grasp the cultural and contextual meanings communicated non-verbally. The article holds significance in the context of cross-cultural and organisational management practices.