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The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory that is sufficiently adapted to sector competitiveness. The case of greenhouse vegetable production in The Netherlands and Switzerland is used to explain differences in sector competitiveness.

Interviews focusing on the fields of spatial planning, labor, energy supply, and market organization were carried out with stakeholders and producers in both countries and evaluated by Grounded Theory.

The work shows that the flexibility not only of producers, but also of the whole institutional framework in The Netherlands exceeds the flexibility on the Swiss side by far, which may be an important factor for explaining differences in competitiveness.

The result that it is a basic difference in flexibility and adaptability that determines sector competitiveness is valid for the vegetable sector. It should be examined whether similar patterns can be found in other sectors.

The competitiveness discussion is transferred to a new economic level, namely the economic sector. Likewise, new answers are found in looking for explanations for differences in competitiveness.

This paper seeks to address the impact of an organisational change initiative on organisational employees, with specific reference to a micro-merger which occurred in a public sector, higher education organisation in Ireland. The literature on change management is examined, with specific reference to the post-integration stage of a micro-merger. The paper then reports on a study that was undertaken in an Irish higher education institution and focuses on the impact of the micro-merger on employees. Specifically, the study seeks to address their perceptions and emotions relating to a heretofore under-researched area in the merger literature, namely the impact of a change of physical geographical location and the accompanying change of physical facilities on employee motivations and well-being.

The aim of the research was to examine the post-integration stage in a newly merged entity, in terms of the employees' perceptions regarding the impact of such organisational change on them, from a personal perspective. A phenomenological approach was adopted in this study. A total of 41 in-depth interviews were conducted with academic employees (i.e. lecturers) of an Irish higher education institution.

The participants had varying feelings and emotions, resulting from the practical and personal manifestations of the change wrought by the micro-merger. These emotions ranged from excitement to anxiety and apprehension. A major theme in the literature is that organisational change can be destabilising for all organisational members, resulting in uncertainty, fear, psychological stress, anxiety and insecurity. This was not the experience in this study. The merger certainly represented a significant change for the participants, but in contrast to the aforementioned stark view of mergers, the participants exhibited a more practical and pragmatic approach to this organisational change.

This exploration of the emotional impact of a merger on employees is noteworthy in the context of a major research gap in the literature concerning the “soft” or human resource issues arising from a merger. Specifically, the paper illustrates a heretofore under-researched aspect of the change management and post-merger literature, namely the substantial impact of a change in physical location and physical facilities on employees' motivations and sense of well-being.

Past conflict research and theory has provided insight into the types of conflict and styles of conflict resolution in organizations and groups. A second generation of conflict research is now needed that recognizes that the type of conflict present in a group relative to the other types present (proportional conflict composition) and the amount of conflict perceived relative to the amount perceived by other members (perceptual conflict composition) may be critical to group functioning. Therefore, we propose two types of conflict composition in teams and investigate the links between proportional and perceptual conflict composition conflict, and team effectiveness (i.e., individual and team performance, commitment, cohesiveness, and member satisfaction) in two organizational samples. We find group conflict compositions consisting of high levels of task‐related conflict compared to relationship and process conflict (proportional task conflict) are high performing, satisfied teams. In addition, when team members disagree about amounts of conflict present (high perceptual conflict), we find evidence of negative group outcomes. Implications for managers and group members are discussed.

Even though the progress in creating inclusive learning environments varies across different countries, the implementation of inclusive education systems can clearly be considered a European shared policy goal. However, there is still a lack of both a clear definition of inclusive education and indicators on the provision of necessary resources in order to implement a high-quality inclusive school system. In the presented study, we aimed to shed light on how teachers who work at different schools in Austria perceive the resources provided to them in order to realize high-quality inclusive education. Furthermore, the study searched for factors, which influence teachers' subjective perception of resources, like years of work experience or the number of students in a classroom. To assess teachers' perception of resources, a revised version of the Perception of Resources Questionnaire (PRQ) developed by Goldan and Schwab (2018) was used focussing on three dimensions: human resources, material resources and spatial resources. The results generally indicate that teachers feel ambivalent or have a somewhat positive perception of available resources. In line with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) principles of inclusive education ‘each according to his needs’, we argue that it is not possible to clarify what ‘adequate resources’ might be. The creation of an inclusive learning environment requires considerable effort, and the degree of pedagogical support should be decisive for the allocation of resources. This can only be evaluated if the main learning barriers for each student are identified.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship of inheritance tax behavior with normative value principles and factors found relevant for income tax compliance. Also, it examines the influence of affectedness and earmarking on inheritance tax compliance. Furthermore, it compares two countries similar in tax morale, tax culture as well as dominant normative value principles, Austria and Germany, of which one – Germany – levies inheritance taxes and the other – Austria – is debating its reintroduction.

A two (affected vs nonaffected) by two (Austria vs Germany) by two (inheritance tax vs stock profit tax) by three (no earmarking vs social justice earmarking vs equality of opportunity earmarking) experimental online questionnaire was conducted with 296 Austrians and 230 Germans.

Normative value principles and other socio-psychological variables play an important role concerning inheritance tax behavior. Affectedness does not influence inheritance tax compliance. Earmarking inheritance tax to projects corresponding to these value principles increases inheritance tax compliance in the Austrian sample and could represent a measure to increase inheritance tax compliance in countries implementing inheritance tax or increasing inheritance tax.

This study draws a comprehensive picture of the socio-psychological variables relevant to inheritance tax behavior and tests the effect of earmarking as a policy measure to increase inheritance tax compliance.

Search engines exist to help sort through all the information available on the Internet, but have thus fair failed to shoulder any responsibility for the content which appears on the pages they present in their indexes. Search engines lack any transparency to clarify how results were found, and how they are connected to the search terms. Thus, problems arise in connection with the protection of minors – namely, that minors have access, intentional or unwitting, to content which may be harmful to them. The findings of this study point to the need for a better framework for the protection of children. This framework should include codes of conduct for search engines, more accurate labeling of Web site data, and the outlawing of search engine manipulation. This study is intended as a first step in making the public aware of the problem of protecting children on the Internet.

Customer's experiential value is influenced by external as well as internal factors. This study was an effort to explore the impacts of two relevant internal factors (lifestyle and involvement) and one important external factor (atmospherics) on experiential value. Further, it investigates the influence of experiential value on two pertinent outcomes (customer satisfaction and positive word of mouth).

A survey-based questionnaire was used to collect the data (n = 354) from fashion retail shoppers in NCR region in India and was analysed using structural equation modelling.

The results revealed that positive influence of atmospherics, involvement and lifestyle on experiential value dimensions. Subsequently, the study showed experiential value influences customer satisfaction, which further leads to positive word of mouth.

The study was carried out in fashion retail stores in National Capital Region in India. Therefore, further investigation is required for generalising the results. Theoretical and managerial contributions of the study are further discussed in the paper.

Arguably, this paper is an initial attempt to explore the antecedents and consequences of experiential value in the context of fashion retailing.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors affecting consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for organics.

A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data at five retail stores in metropolitan Bangkok. Exploratory factor analysis and the double-bound contingent valuation method were used for analysis.

Results indicate WTP premiums of 88, 51 and 51 per cent for kale, jasmine rice and pork, respectively. Analysis indicates that respondents are willing to pay a premium if they have already purchased organic products, have good health, strong ethical and environmental concerns, think that organic products provide greater quality and health benefits, and reside in the city. Respondents with children, however, are less likely to pay a premium for organic products. Analysis also indicates that the price premium hinders purchase.

Efforts should be made by policymakers, together with marketers and producers, to lower the price of organic products to attract more consumers.

To enlarge the organic market, one must understand consumers’ preferences for organic products and the premium they will pay for them. This is not well-researched. Though several studies have investigated consumers’ behaviour towards environmentally friendly products in Thailand, there is little research on WTP. This lack is a major impediment to the growth of organic consumption and the development of organic product markets.

The impact of frontline robots (FLRs) on customer orientation perceptions remains unclear. This is remarkable because customers may associate FLRs with standardization and cost-cutting, such that they may not fit firms that aim to be customer oriented.

In four experiments, data are collected from customers interacting with frontline employees (FLEs) and FLRs in different settings.

FLEs are perceived as more customer-oriented than FLRs due to higher competence and warmth evaluations. A relational interaction style attenuates the difference in perceived competence between FLRs and FLEs. These agents are also perceived as more similar in competence and warmth when FLRs participate in the customer journey's information and negotiation stages. Switching from FLE to FLR in the journey harms FLR evaluations.

The authors recommend firms to place FLRs only in the negotiation stage or in both the information and negotiation stages of the customer journey. Still then customers should not transition from employees to robots (vice versa does no harm). Firms should ensure that FLRs utilize a relational style when interacting with customers for optimal effects.

The authors bridge the FLR and sales/marketing literature by drawing on social cognition theory. The authors also identify the product categories for which customers are willing to negotiate with an FLR. Broadly speaking, this study’s findings underline that customers perceive robots as having agency (i.e. the mental capacity for acting with intentionality) and, just as humans, can be customer-oriented.