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1 – 10 of 132Helena D. Cooper-Thomas, Jessica Xu and Alan M. Saks
The purpose of this paper is to apply and test a theory specifying which resources are most important for employee engagement. Specifically, this paper draws on resource theory to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to apply and test a theory specifying which resources are most important for employee engagement. Specifically, this paper draws on resource theory to outline six resources (love, status, services, information, goods, money) provided by the organization that employees will exchange for engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper’s main focus is theoretical, outlining how resource theory provides a more nuanced classification and understanding of the workplace antecedents of engagement. Specifically, engagement is proposed to represent love as a resource, since engagement represents the whole-hearted investment of oneself. Thus, employees will exchange engagement for employer resources that similarly denote individual warmth and caring. The resource classification is assessed using engagement data from IBM NZ (n=13,929).
Findings
The theoretical analysis identifies eight workplace resources, five of which are proposed to be exchanged for engagement: mission, vision and values; opportunities for development; supportive leadership; job resources; and teamwork. Subsequent empirical analysis of IBM NZ data identified three similar constructs, with two being stronger predictors of employee engagement: learning and development; and vision and purpose. This provides some initial support for the application of resource theory to engagement.
Practical implications
Resource theory enables the identification of specific resources that will more strongly facilitate engagement: those which demonstrate warmth and caring for the employee.
Originality/value
Resource theory adds specificity in identifying which workplace resources will be exchanged for engagement, and therefore extends existing models of engagement, and is valuable for future employee engagement research and practice.
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Jessica Xu and Helena Cooper Thomas
Organizations aspire to have engaged employees, and spend considerable resources to measure and improve employee engagement. Theoretically, leadership is a key antecedent of…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations aspire to have engaged employees, and spend considerable resources to measure and improve employee engagement. Theoretically, leadership is a key antecedent of engagement, yet there is no research directly linking leader behaviors and follower engagement. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the evidence for such a link.
Design/methodology/approach
Research was conducted with a large New Zealand insurance organization, using data from direct reports. A pilot study was first conducted (n=236), in which the JRA 360‐degree feedback instrument was factor analyzed. Subsequently, a linkage analysis (n=178) was conducted to establish the relationship of the resultant leadership factors with JRA's employee engagement measure.
Findings
Three factors emerged from the JRA 360: supports team, performs effectively, and displays integrity. Correlation and regression results showed that supports team was the strongest predictor of engagement; semi‐partial correlations showed that the three leadership factors overlapped in their relationships with engagement, with supports team predicting most unique variance.
Research limitations/ implications
Additional research is needed to assess the generalizability of the findings, and to establish causality.
Practical implications
The results demonstrate that there are multiple ways in which leadership behaviors are associated with employee engagement. The primacy of supports team suggests that leader behaviors in this domain should be a priority. Although our design does not establish causality, we suggest that leaders should capitalize on their strengths to improve engagement among their followers.
Originality/value
The design of this study is superior to previous research, in particular using a clear measure of employee engagement. The results suggest that team‐oriented behaviors are the most important for leaders in achieving high employee engagement. Importantly, the results also indicate that other leadership behaviors – relating to effective performance and displaying integrity – may also facilitate employee engagement.
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Nancy Ursel, Xiaohua Lin and Jessica Li
Chinese companies have recently started listing ADRs in North American stock exchanges and thus offered an alternative venue for Western investors whose access to the Chinese…
Abstract
Chinese companies have recently started listing ADRs in North American stock exchanges and thus offered an alternative venue for Western investors whose access to the Chinese market has largely been limited to the illiquid B shares. Are ADRs a good substitute for investing in Chinese B Shares? We examine characteristics of return distributions for indices of Chinese shares and an index of Chinese ADRs. We also compare efficient frontiers for portfolios including Chinese shares and Chinese ADRs and compute possible portfolio allocations. We find that investing in Chinese ADRs does not provide a risk/return tradeoff similar to direct investment in Chinese stock exchanges.
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Jessica Vredenburg, Sommer Kapitan and Sharon Jang
This paper aims to formally conceptualize service mega-disruptions as any far-reaching and unforeseen general environmental stressor or threat that impacts a service…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to formally conceptualize service mega-disruptions as any far-reaching and unforeseen general environmental stressor or threat that impacts a service organization’s ability to provide a desired level of service. The authors differentiate sudden large-scale general environmental threats from traditional service failures in scope and scale of impact via number of customers and sectors affected and duration and speed of the disruption.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws from service recovery theory to build a conceptual model of service mega-disruptions. The resulting conceptual model maps service failure recovery strategies against a service mega-disruption recovery approach to examine consumer response to changes in service value. This work further articulates additional research needs including conceptualization, measurement and methods as traditional drivers of service recovery and the value of the service experience change in response to service mega-disruptions.
Findings
This work proposes a research agenda to investigate whether service mega-disruptions can bypass the need for service recovery due to a consumer self-moderating process. As past research shows, the less control a service provider has over a failure, the more customers attribute fault to the situation and transfer blame away from an organization. This paper suggests that this self-moderating process disrupts the need for service providers to court forgiveness for a failure with perceptions of similarity and controllability providing an alternate pathway to customer forgiveness. Similarly, it is suggested that service mega-disruptions play a role in transforming service ecosystems into tighter, more contractual systems with less agency for service providers and poorer ability to adjust to market conditions. The duration and longevity of effects on service providers’ control, agency and ability to adjust following a service mega-disruption must be researched further.
Originality/value
This paper builds theory to develop a conceptual model of service mega-disruptions and their role in customer engagement and reshaping the service ecosystem. This paper culminates in the proposition of a research agenda that aims to build research capacity among services marketing scholars as service providers’ coordination and market conditions are challenged by service mega-disruptions.
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Melissa Clark and Jessica L. Doll
Renewable energy sources and smart devices are options for those wishing to lessen their reliance on fossil fuels. Smart devices in the home also allow energy providers to…
Abstract
Purpose
Renewable energy sources and smart devices are options for those wishing to lessen their reliance on fossil fuels. Smart devices in the home also allow energy providers to remotely control energy use (RCEU). However, little is understood about consumer’s perceptions of RCEU programs. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), it is proposed that environmental attitudes, environmental self-identity, green history, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control will predict differences in both purchase intentions and RCEU.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from 692 participants was collected via an online survey of energy consumers. The relationship between study variables was examined using regression analyses.
Findings
The results indicate that environmental attitude, environmental identity, green history and perceived behavioral control are positively related to both purchase intentions and RCEU. The results could have important implications for energy providers, practitioners, energy consumers and citizens interested in environmental issues.
Originality/value
As energy providers consider ways to better manage consumer energy use, RCEU has been used more frequently. However, understanding customer perceptions of RCEU is not well-established in the green energy literature. This paper contributes a first step towards the understanding of RCEU perceptions.
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Brook E. Sawyer, Patricia H. Manz, Kristin A. Martin, Thomas C. Hammond and Scott Garrigan
A pressing educational concern is how to provide effective education for the growing population of dual language learners (DLL) in early childhood settings. Given the robust…
Abstract
A pressing educational concern is how to provide effective education for the growing population of dual language learners (DLL) in early childhood settings. Given the robust findings that family involvement promotes children’s academic success as well as recognition of parents’ “funds of knowledge,” one pathway to provide a culturally and linguistically responsive classroom environment for DLLs is to form collaborative relationships between parents and teachers of DLLs. The purpose of this chapter is to describe Project TAPP (Teachers and Parents as Partners), a community of practice (CoP) composed of parents and teachers of preschool dual language learners. The chapter describes the framework of Project TAPP, findings related to participation, and lessons learned.
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Fang Meng and Yingjiao Xu
This research attempts to expand the understanding of the nature of tourist shopping behavior. More specifically, this study aims to explore the influences of the components of…
Abstract
Purpose
This research attempts to expand the understanding of the nature of tourist shopping behavior. More specifically, this study aims to explore the influences of the components of planned behavior, impulsive behavior, and experiential consumption on tourists' intentions to shop/purchase in the tourism context.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual study reviews and investigates the major current research in the areas of planned behavior, impulse purchase, experiential consumption, as well as tourism shopping behavior/experience. By reviewing and assessing important relevant concepts, this study proposes a conceptual framework of tourist shopping behavior.
Findings
Based on the extensive review and discussion of the related literature, this study proposes that tourist shopping intention and actual purchase behavior are influenced by various indicators, including planned behavior, impulsive behavior, and experiential consumption factors. In other words, tourist shopping behavior is a mixture of planned, impulsive, and experiential consumption behavior.
Originality/value
The study of tourism shopping is still limited and in an exploratory stage. The resulting theoretical framework of this study is an inclusive overarching structure systematically explaining the nature of tourist shopping behavior from the perspectives of planned behavior, impulsive buying, and experiential consumption. This study is expected to provide better information and understanding of the factors influencing tourist shopping behavior, which, in turn, will lead to improved planning, marketing and management of sales, expenditures and opportunities in the tourism and retail industries.
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Xiaoxiao Fu, Juhee Kang, Jeeyeon Jeannie Hahm and Jessica Wiitala
This paper aims to propose and test a conceptual model of theme park experiences by investigating the relationships among brand experience, self-congruity, flow and brand-related…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose and test a conceptual model of theme park experiences by investigating the relationships among brand experience, self-congruity, flow and brand-related outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from guests who had visited a theme park in the past 12 months. Confirmatory factor analysis, consisting of second-order factor analysis and structural equation modeling with the incorporation of alternative model testing, was employed.
Findings
The findings revealed that theme park customers’ internalization of brand experience influenced their attitudinal and behavioral tendency with regard to the brand through self-congruity and flow.
Practical implications
This study provides strategies for theme park designers and marketers under pressure to create a desired experiential setting that motivates visitors to engage in activities through various brand stimuli. Well-designed theme parks can create an optimal state of focus and attention, immersing visitors to the extent that they lose their sense of time and place, affecting their attitude and behavior toward the theme park brand.
Originality/value
Theme parks provide a highly experiential, immersive and personally relevant experience with brand elements. Very few studies have attempted to investigate the consequences of theme park experience from the theoretical perspective of customers’ connection with the brand. This study proposed and validated a conceptual model to capture how theme park experience influenced visitors’ commitment to and active engagement with theme park brands through the mechanisms of self-congruity and flow.
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Jessica Charlesworth, Barbara Mullan and David Preece
Foodborne illness remains high globally, with the majority of cases occurring in the domestic environment. Research in the safe food-handling domain is limited by the absence of…
Abstract
Purpose
Foodborne illness remains high globally, with the majority of cases occurring in the domestic environment. Research in the safe food-handling domain is limited by the absence of an up-to-date and suitable measure of safe food-handling knowledge for use among consumers, with previous measures limited by questionnaire design features that increase participant burden and burnout and a lack of alignment with current safe food-handling guidelines. The purpose of this study is to develop a safe food-handling knowledge measure to capture a comprehensive understanding of consumers’ safe food-handling knowledge while minimising participant burden and burnout.
Design/methodology/approach
Items were developed and evaluated prior to administering them to participants. Data was collected among 277 participants who completed the measure online.
Findings
Results indicated that the measure had good acceptability among participants in the sample (mean = 5.44, SD = 0.77, range = 2.42–7) and that the measure had acceptable reliability (Cronbach’s α = 0.60), item discrimination and item difficulty. These findings suggest that the safe food-handling knowledge measure would be suitable for use in future studies examining consumer safe food-handling.
Originality/value
This study provides an updated, acceptable and suitable safe food-handling knowledge measure for use among consumers to better understand consumers’ understanding of safe food-handling practices. Use of this measure in future research can improve the measurement of consumer safe food-handling knowledge to allow for better tailoring of future interventions and health campaigns for safe food-handling among consumers.
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Renata de Oliveira Mota, Adauto Bueno, Jéssica dos Santos Leite Gonella, Gilberto Miller Devós Ganga, Moacir Godinho Filho and Hengky Latan
This paper aims to evaluate the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on startups performance and the moderating effects played by several resilience-related startup characteristics…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on startups performance and the moderating effects played by several resilience-related startup characteristics during times of crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this, 94 Brazil-based startups were surveyed, and multivariate data techniques (PLS-SEM) were applied.
Findings
The results show that despite the startups performance having been affected by the pandemic crisis, the response measures, when influenced by the resilience characteristics of these companies, moderated this effect. Furthermore, our findings suggest the future challenges to be faced by these organisations in the post-pandemic period.
Research limitations/implications
Proposing a framework, our survey research contributes to the dynamic capabilities theory by showing that startups resilience is linked to the micro-foundations of sensing (e.g. innovation systems, resilience culture, pivoting practices, innovativeness products), seizing (e.g. leadership/focused skills, people development and selection, agility, clear vision of business process) and reconfiguring capabilities.
Practical implications
Not only for theory, but this paper also contributes insights and guidelines for business practice in the face of challenges arising from times of crisis. By demonstrating the positive effect of early response measures based on resilience, our findings provide genuine managerial input that can help managers, funders and decision-makers in these companies operations against turbulent crises early on, thereby supporting the traction phase and sustaining their performance.
Originality/value
Previous research has examined the effects of the COVID-19 crisis in several sectors and perspectives. However, this study is the first to empirically test and clarify how the resilience and singularities of these new business models based on innovation could react to the changes caused by the pandemic.
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