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Article
Publication date: 30 May 2020

Hong T.M. Bui, Gordon Liu, Wai Wai Ko and Amy Curtis

Drawing on the social exchange perspective, the authors explore the roles of satisfaction over material rewards, perceived organizational politics and career ambition in the…

1016

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the social exchange perspective, the authors explore the roles of satisfaction over material rewards, perceived organizational politics and career ambition in the relationship between harmonious workplace climate and employee altruistic behavior in the context of British public sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employed SPSS software to estimate ordinary least squares models to test their hypotheses by analyzing data from 161 supervisor–employee dyads from a UK local government.

Findings

Satisfaction over material rewards mediates the relationship between harmonious workplace climate and employee altruistic behavior. Both perceived organizational politics and career ambition moderate the mediated effect of harmonious workplace climate on employee altruistic behavior via satisfaction over material rewards.

Originality/value

This study advances the social exchange theory by showing that the norm of reciprocity (e.g. harmonious workplace climate in this study) may not be the only key driver of exchange for altruistic behavior among public sector workers. Still, it can be mediated by satisfaction with pay and promotion opportunities and may be conditional upon individuals' career ambition or their perceptions of organizational politics.

Article
Publication date: 21 June 2022

Gordon Liu, Weixi Liu and Wai Wai Ko

The authors examine the influence of planning and execution capability (PEC) and operational improvement capability (OIC) on small-and-medium-sized firms’ (SMEs) attainment of…

Abstract

Purpose

The authors examine the influence of planning and execution capability (PEC) and operational improvement capability (OIC) on small-and-medium-sized firms’ (SMEs) attainment of different innovation outcomes under the conditions of exports and formal business networks, based on the capability-based perspective and organisational learning literature.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyse time-series data about UK SMEs, extracted from the 2015 and 2016 UK Longitudinal Small Business Surveys (LSBS).

Findings

The authors failed to find any direct effects of PEC and OIC on product innovation outcomes. However, the authors discovered that OIC supports the generation of process innovation outputs more strongly than PEC. Additionally, exports and formal business networks provide SMEs with different learning opportunities. The authors find limited support that exports amplify the beneficial effect of PEC on product innovation outcomes more than formal business networks. On the other hand, formal business networks strengthen the effect of PEC on process innovation outcomes more than exports. As a result, exports reduce the beneficial effect of OIC on product innovation outcomes more than formal business networks. However, formal business networks weaken the beneficial effect of OIC more than exports.

Originality/value

The authors distinguish between two types of organisational capabilities – PEC and OIC – and examine their impact on SMEs in achieving innovation outcomes. The authors also identify SMEs’ involvement in exports and formal business networks as the important boundary conditions for such effects. xD; xA; xD; xA;

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 42 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 January 2022

Gordon Liu, Lukman Aroean and Wai Wai Ko

Supplier flexibility reflects a supplier's operations-related decisions in responsively providing the necessary inputs to the focal firm. Drawing on resource-dependency theory and…

Abstract

Purpose

Supplier flexibility reflects a supplier's operations-related decisions in responsively providing the necessary inputs to the focal firm. Drawing on resource-dependency theory and transaction cost economics, this study develops a conceptual framework to explain the differential effects of a focal firm's power over supplier flexibility in the context of the hub-and-spoke supply chain (SC). This study also considers the goals shared between the focal firm and its suppliers as an important contingency factor within the framework.

Design/methodology/approach

This study tests the proposed conceptual framework using dyadic survey data from a hub-and-spoke SC consisting of a large construction contractor and its 100 suppliers in Indonesia.

Findings

The findings show that coercive power has an inverted U-shaped effect on supplier flexibility, while legal-legitimate power has a U-shaped effect. Furthermore, shared goals positively moderate the U-shaped effect between legal-legitimate power and supplier flexibility.

Originality/value

This study differentiates between the impacts of coercive power and legal-legitimate power on supplier flexibility in the hub-and-spoke SC. It also demonstrates that shared goals play a moderating role in affecting the impacts of legal-legitimate power on supplier flexibility. These findings also have important implications with regard to integrating resource-dependency theory and transaction cost economics to explain these associations.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 42 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 September 2019

Gordon Liu, Lukman Aroean and Wai Wai Ko

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of supply chain (SC) justice practices in shared value-supplier delivery performance relationship and the contingent role…

1097

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of supply chain (SC) justice practices in shared value-supplier delivery performance relationship and the contingent role of trust in SC ecosystem operation.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collect and analyze dyadic survey data from a marina resort SC ecosystem in Indonesia.

Findings

The results suggest the differential moderating effects of two types of perceived SC justice – perceived procedural justice and perceived interactional justice – on the relationship between shared value and supplier delivery performance. More specifically, we find that perceived procedural justice strengthens the shared value-supplier delivery performance relationship, but that perceived interactional justice weakens such a relationship. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate a positive three-way interaction effect between shared value, perceived SC justice and trust on supplier delivery performance.

Originality/value

The study is the first to introduce the role of SC justice practices in SC ecosystem operation. The authors examine how shared value interacts with perceived SC justice and trust in order to determine supplier delivery performance.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 39 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 November 2024

Gordon Liu, Yue Meng-Lewis, Weiyue Wang and Yupei Zhao

The rapid growth of professional esports has highlighted the lack of a universally recognised governing body to standardise operations and competition rules. This absence presents…

Abstract

Purpose

The rapid growth of professional esports has highlighted the lack of a universally recognised governing body to standardise operations and competition rules. This absence presents many challenges. A key concern is the well-being of professional esports players (e-pro-players), who often suffer from exhaustion. This study aims to examine the factors contributing to exhaustion among e-pro-players.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the conservation of resources theory, we developed a framework to explain the factors leading to e-pro-players’ exhaustion and the conditions under which it occurs. We tested this framework with 126 responses in a dyadic survey from e-pro-players and their coaches in China. Additionally, we gathered qualitative insights from 50 interviews with esports stakeholders to provide more context for our quantitative findings.

Findings

Our study found that e-pro-players’ intrinsic motivation to engage in training reduces their exhaustion, while their struggle to cope with uncertainty in esports environments (intolerance of uncertainty) increases it. The effect of intrinsic motivation is weaker for those who believe their talent for playing esports is fixed (entity belief) but stronger for those with high relational identification with their coaches. Additionally, the link between uncertainty intolerance and exhaustion is stronger in players with strong entity beliefs.

Originality/value

Our study sheds light on the factors contributing to e-pro-players’ exhaustion within the partially regulated professional esports environment, a phenomenon that significantly influences their overall well-being. Through the identification and examination of these factors and the conditions under which they affect exhaustion, we deepen the understanding of the drivers of exhaustion for e-pro-players who operate in an industry lacking standardised regulations.

Details

Internet Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 September 2016

Hong T.M. Bui, Gordon Liu and Sarah Footner

Based on regulatory focus theory and social exchange theory, the purpose of this paper is to explain how care service workers’ job attitudes, such as job satisfaction…

5438

Abstract

Purpose

Based on regulatory focus theory and social exchange theory, the purpose of this paper is to explain how care service workers’ job attitudes, such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment and perceived organizational support, help form their promotion-focus or prevention-focus perceptions of firms’ HR practices.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey study of 709 residential care service workers was used to test the developed framework with structure equation modeling analysis.

Findings

The empirical results show that the adoption of HR practices in the British care service sector can simultaneously enhance workers’ job motivation and help to correct their work-life imbalance, which have different effects on workers’ job attitudes.

Research limitations/implications

Perceptions of HR practices can create both promotion- and prevention-focussed perceptions from the workers’ perspective. The mixed perceptions about HR practices trigger both perceptions of job motivation and perceptions of work-life imbalance that can then lead to different outcomes with regard to job attitudes.

Practical implications

This study helps practitioners apply HR practices suitably, to certain types of employees in order to drive positive, rather than negative impacts. It is important for managers in the care service industry to take into account the conditions that determine the impacts of HR practices on workers’ job attitudes when deciding to adopt HR practices.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the management literature by providing empirical evidence of the critical role played by job motivation and work-life imbalance in the perceptions of HR practices and job attitudes link.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 37 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 September 2019

Gordon Liu, Meng-Shan Sharon Wu, Wai Wai Ko, Cheng-Hao Steve Chen and Yantai Chen

Cause-related marketing (CRM) focuses on the use of marketing tools to publicize a firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Drawing on legitimacy theory, the…

1659

Abstract

Purpose

Cause-related marketing (CRM) focuses on the use of marketing tools to publicize a firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Drawing on legitimacy theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of CRM-led CSR in international business-to-business (B2B) markets. In particular, the authors examine the relationship between supplier CRM-led philanthropic CSR reputation and foreign customer business engagement in an international B2B setting. The authors also test how the foreign customer’s host-country sustainable development level moderates this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collect and analyze dyadic data from multiple sources including: dyadic data from a supplier and its 90 foreign customers; the supplier’s internal company records; and publically available data.

Findings

The authors find that supplier CRM-led philanthropic CSR reputation positively affects foreign customer business engagement. Furthermore, the authors find that this positive relationship is stronger when host-country environments are characterized by achieving higher level of environmental well-being development. In contrast, this positive relationship is weaker when the foreign customer host-country environment is characterized by achieving higher level of economic well-being development.

Originality/value

The authors examine that impacts of CRM-led CSR in international B2B markets and differentiate the contingent roles of foreign customer host-country sustainable development in moderating such impacts.

Details

International Marketing Review, vol. 37 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-1335

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 April 2022

Gordon Liu, Morteza Abolhasani and Haiming Hang

Drawing on information processing theory, this paper aims to study how consumers’ liking of background music in advertising affects their purchase intention and explore the roles…

1364

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on information processing theory, this paper aims to study how consumers’ liking of background music in advertising affects their purchase intention and explore the roles of positive brand attitudes, music mode and music tempo within such a relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

We created several radio advertisements that promote two fictitious products: an electric car (EcoCar) and a reusable coffee mug (EcoMug). We study the role of music in these advertisements and examine how it affects purchase intention across multiple experiments.

Findings

We confirm the prediction that positive brand attitudes mediate the relationship between music liking and purchase intention. We also show that music moderates such an indirect relationship because major mode music strengthens the effect of positive brand attitudes on purchase intention. Additionally, we find that major mode music with a fast tempo can further strengthen the effect of positive brand attitudes on purchase intention. As a result, the indirect effect of music liking upon purchase intention via positive brand attitudes will be moderated jointly by the music mode and the music tempo.

Originality/value

Limited scholarship explores how the subjective characteristics of music affect consumer buying behaviour in conjunction with the objective characteristics of music. The current research addresses this gap by investigating how music liking (a subjective characteristic of music) and music mode and tempo (objective characteristics of music) affect consumer buying behaviour.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 56 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2018

Wai Wai Joyce Ko, Gordon Liu, Isaac K. Ngugi and Chris Chapleo

This paper aims to examine the effect of external supply chain (SC) flexibility on the product innovation performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the…

1411

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the effect of external supply chain (SC) flexibility on the product innovation performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the contingent role of informal control mechanisms in moderating such an effect.

Design/methodology/approach

This study conducts a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 236 UK-based SME manufacturers.

Findings

Inbound supplier flexibility (ISF) has a stronger positive effect on SMEs’ product innovation performance than outbound logistics flexibility (OLF), and that the strength and direction of both effects depend on informal control mechanisms. Lead supplier influence negatively moderates the relationship between ISF and product innovation performance but positively moderates the relationship between OLF and product innovation performance. Normative integration positively moderates the relationship between ISF and product innovation performance.

Research limitations/implications

This study enriches SC flexibility studies by focusing on understanding the differential effects of ISF and OLF on product innovation performance, as well as the role that contingency factors play in these relationships in the SME context.

Practical implications

To promote product innovation performance, SME managers should focus on building good relationships with their suppliers rather than their logistics service providers. SME managers should be particularly aware of the different types of informal control mechanisms that govern their SC relationships and adjust their managerial approaches accordingly.

Originality/value

This study distinguishes between ISF and OLF and examines their impacts on SMEs’ product innovation performance. This study investigates the differential effects of lead supplier influence and normative integration on the relationship between external SC flexibility and SMEs’ product innovation performance.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 52 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 July 2020

Wai Wai (Joyce) Ko, Cheng-Hao Steve Chen, Gordon Liu, Bang Nguyen and Sachiko Takeda

This study connects the theoretical concepts of strategic orientation and information technology (IT)-based product innovation strategy to suggest that several key factors can…

Abstract

Purpose

This study connects the theoretical concepts of strategic orientation and information technology (IT)-based product innovation strategy to suggest that several key factors can help small firms to develop IT-based product innovation strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

With data from 245 useable questionnaires (response rate 25.18%) from UK-based small firms in the high-tech industry, the research model was tested and validated.

Findings

Findings show that information technology support for core competencies mediates the relationship between strategic orientation and IT-enabled product innovation (ITEPI). Specifically, by distinguishing the different types of strategic orientation and information technology support for core competencies, the study finds that IT support for market access competency (ITMA) mediates the market orientation–ITEPI relationship, while IT support for functionality-related competency (ITFR) mediates the technology orientation–ITEPI relationship. Academic implications arising from the findings are discussed and managerial propositions provided.

Originality/value

This study offers a fresh theoretical angle from which to understand the factors that contribute to ITEPI. More specifically, we argue that strategic orientation reflects managers' focus to pursue certain activities, and that ITEPI serves as organizational activity. Further, this study also extends relevant research in the field of strategy, IT and innovation. It provides a more nuanced picture of how strategic orientation affects ITEPI.

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