Search results

Service providers on highly competitive online outsourcing platforms employ various signals to entice buyers to make online purchases. One such signal—the solution exemplars—attracts attention through depictions of exemplary prior work completed by the service providers. Unfortunately, it is not known the extent to which solution exemplar characteristics affect sales performance nor is it clear how such signals perform in the presence of complementary signals such as service provider expertise. This paper explores these issues.

Extending signaling theory, the authors develop a model to explore the effects of solution exemplar characteristics (i.e. exemplar quantity, exemplar diversity and exemplar popularity) on sales performance under the moderating impact of service provider expertise. The authors test the model using proprietary data from ZBJ.com, a leading online outsourcing platform in China.

Exemplar quantity and exemplar popularity positively affect sales performance; exemplar diversity has no significant impact on sales performance and service provider expertise positively moderates the relationships between exemplar quantity, exemplar popularity and sales performance.

This work makes several significant contributions. First, the authors enrich the research on signals in online outsourcing by exploring the impact of solution exemplar characteristics on sales performance. Second, the authors analyze three solution exemplar characteristics: exemplar quantity, exemplar diversity and exemplar popularity. Third, this work shows that service provider expertise moderates the relationship between solution exemplar characteristics and sales performance. Important practical implications for both online outsourcing platforms and service providers are discussed.

Although Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is the most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted infection in the USA, much controversy exists with respect to HPV vaccination, especially among parents of adolescents. Previous research has shown that exemplars in the media influence public opinion estimates about controversial social issues. However, little is known about the underlying psychological processes of how exemplars influence public opinion formation. The purpose of this paper is to systematically explore such psychological processes based on the projection theory. To this end, the important yet controversial public health issue, the mandatory HPV vaccination, was chosen.

A two-factor (exemplar vs proportion), between-subject experiment was conducted using online newspaper articles as main stimuli. A total of 138 participants completed the study. The analytical framework comprised the Sobel test with the Bootstrap method and a series of Ordinary Least Square hierarchical regression analyses.

The higher the proportion of exemplars against the HPV vaccination in a news article was, the greater the number of individuals who became opposed to it was. And the high personal opposition translated into negative public opinion change estimation.

The findings indicate that news exemplars may influence individuals’ personal opinion formation, and, in turn, contribute to their estimations of future public opinion climate, as suggested by the projection theory. Theoretical, methodological and practical implications for journalists, health educators and policy makers are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how brand origin (BO) cues affect the consumer’s association of a new brand with BO learning and the subsequent effects on brand image (BO semiotics). An integrative theoretical framework is proposed that includes both processes.

The proposed model is based on analogical learning theory and triadic semiotic theory.

Two types of BO knowledge form BO meanings in consumer minds: country-related categories and exemplar brands, which have a classification and/or inferential role. The brand cues (indexes or icons) used by consumers to identify BO generate one or the other type of BO knowledge. Indexes trigger the classification function of country-related categories while icons trigger the inferential role of country-related categories and exemplar brands. BO knowledge informs the meaning transfer when consumers interpret the meaning of a new brand, leading to either a transfer of relations or a transfer of attributes to the new brand.

Marketers should monitor BO exemplar brands that consumers use as meaning sources and carefully select the signs used in their communications to evoke BO.

The proposed framework contrasts with dominant categorisation perspectives, re-establishing the dual role of categories and emphasising the relevance of brand cues in BO identification and BO exemplar brands in the BO meaning transfer process. A meaning-centred perspective is adopted to integrate BO identification and the related transfer mechanisms.

Leaders model behaviors they want followers to emulate, and they use various technologies to enhance their message, but which tools are most effective? Using two studies, this paper sets out to compare the effectiveness of newer and older computer technologies used by leaders for describing and demonstrating desired behaviors.

The first study, an interdisciplinary experimental design, involved 110 students across two college campuses and data were analyzed using a 2 (modeling and no modeling)×2 (older and newer technology) between‐subjects ANOVA. The second study further explored modeling with both technologies on one campus, and data were analyzed with independent samples t‐tests.

Newer technology was more effective than older technology in increasing desired behaviors but only when coupled with modeling of those behaviors by the leader. However, after the novelty of the new technology had worn off, no significant difference in production of desired behaviors was observed.

Justifying the expense of purchasing new technology to replace functional older equipment is an important consideration for businesses and universities. Organizational leaders need factual, unbiased data to guide their decisions about allocating limited financial resources.

The studies were designed to provide decision‐makers with some much‐needed empirical data.

The purpose of this paper is to review the epistemology of benchmarking and identify methodological elements of a theory of benchmarking.

A thematic approach is applied to origins, primal and functional definitions of benchmarking.

Benchmarking remains theoretically underdetermined, with publications focusing on pragmatism and praxis rather than epistemology. Analysis of the literature leads to a new definition of benchmarking focusing around the teleological processes that lead to state‐transformation of organizations.

A theoretical foundation for benchmarking should be consistent with current organizational paradigms. Going forward the paper aims to develop a theory of benchmarking based on illustrative model derived from the thematic review.

The paper initiates the development of a more rigorous theoretical base for future benchmarking practice, which will strengthen organizations' business cases for undertaking such processes.

Recasts much of the extant literature in beginning to focus on the fundamentals of benchmarking.

To elaborate a theory for modeling concepts that incorporates how a context influences the typicality of a single exemplar and the applicability of a single property of a concept. To investigate the structure of the sets of contexts and properties.

The effect of context on the typicality of an exemplar and the applicability of a property is accounted for by introducing the notion of “state of a concept”, and making use of the state‐context‐property formalism (SCOP), a generalization of the quantum formalism, whose basic notions are states, contexts and properties.

The paper proves that the set of context and the set of properties of a concept is a complete orthocomplemented lattice, i.e. a set with a partial order relation, such that for each subset there exists a greatest lower bound and a least upper bound, and such that for each element there exists an orthocomplement. This structure describes the “and”, “or”, and “not”, respectively for contexts and properties. It shows that the context lattice as well as the property lattice are non‐classical, i.e. quantum‐like, lattices.

Although the effect of context on concepts is widely acknowledged, formal mathematical structures of theories that incorporate this effect have not been successful. The study of this formal structure is a preparation for the elaboration of a theory of concepts that allows the description of the combination of concepts.

Presents findings from a study which explored the views of school staff and pupils concerning the concept of school staff as health exemplars, one of the original WHO criteria for the Health Promoting School model. Six single sex focus groups were conducted with secondary school pupils and eight one‐to‐one interviews with teaching and non‐teaching staff. The data suggest that there is little support from staff or pupils for the view that staff should act as health exemplars. Pupils felt that even if staff were to practise healthy behaviours this would not encourage pupils to adopt the health behaviour in question, and indeed that staff were a group from whom they wished to differ. Pupils did however think that staff actions should be consistent with their words, that staff should not openly display negative health behaviour, and that staff should not engage in negative health behaviours that directly affected pupils, such as smoking near them. Both staff and pupils thought that staff could legitimately give health advice. Although not much concerned about staff behaviour in relation to physical health, pupils and staff felt strongly that staff should model good interpersonal behaviours, such as respect, calmness and rapport.

The purpose of this paper is to present a four component model of ethical behavior (PRIMES) that integrates literature in moral psychology, computing ethics, and virtue ethics as informed by research on moral exemplars in computing. This is part 1 of a two‐part contribution.

This psychologically based and philosophically informed model argues that moral action is: grounded in relatively stable PeRsonality characteristics (PR); guided by integration of morality into the self‐system; shaped by the context of the surrounding moral ecology; and facilitated by morally relevant skills and knowledge (S).

The model seeks to explain the daily successful (and unsuccessful) performance of moral action by computing professionals and to provide groundwork for a pedagogy that emphasizes ethically effective performance.

The model has significant implications for how ethical action might be taught to computer professionals and other design professionals. It also makes recommendations about what is needed to measure to construct a complete picture of sustained ethical action in a profession.

Most accepted models of ethical behavior are unidimensional, emphasizing either principled reasoning or a simplistic model of integrity/character. This model brings together a variety of disparate literatures in the light of its emphasis on sustained moral action in the profession. It thereby provides researchers and educators with a picture of what is needed to construct a complete understanding of moral action in the profession.

Although it is well established in the academic literature that entrepreneurs share common traits, there has been limited research dedicated to evaluating psychographic profiles of the self-employed. Using the Nominal Group Technique, the authors gleaned insight from a panel of experts in an effort to segment the self-employed based on personality traits and the benefits they receive from an entrepreneurial career. The findings show that self-employed individuals can be classified into four distinct segments: Exemplars, Generals, Moms and Dads, and Altruists. Each group derives different benefits from self-employment. Understanding these benefits can greatly assist entrepreneurship educators and marketers of small business oriented products and services.

The objectives of this paper are, first to identify, from the literature, the key themes in the management of strategic relationships, second to apply those themes to understand how exemplary organisations establish and develop strategic relationships and third to determine the role of operations managers in this process.

This empirically based research comprised four phases; interviews with managers to identify exemplars, interviews with managers from 27 organisations, data analysis and testing of the findings.

From a theoretical point of view, a revised definition of strategic relationships has been proposed. Many previously disparate elements of relationships have been brought together into seven dimensions of strategic relationships. The scope and nature of exemplary relationships have been captured within each of these dimensions identifying 24 elements, and suggested the key roles for operations managers in establishing and developing their strategic business relationships.

This research has responded to the call to help operations managers understand the skill sets required to help them establish and develop strategic business relationships. It has contributed to the growing literature on business relationships and also provided practical guidance for operations managers. The research has a number of inherent weaknesses including the interpretative nature of the analysis and that the interviews were only carried out with one party to the exemplary relationships. The focus of the research was limited to exemplary strategic relationships and the study was conducted in one sector, though a range of types of organisations were involved.

From a practitioner perspective, the outputs from the research have been summarised into a number of guidelines which flesh out the role for operations managers looking to identify, establish, evaluate or strengthen their role in establishing and developing strategic business relationships.

The paper provides an original and detailed perspective into the nature of strategic business relationships, irrespective of their position in the supply chain, and identifies how such relationships can be established and developed.