Search results

The purpose of this paper is to assess, clarify and consolidate the terminology around the co-creation of services, establish its forms and identify its outcomes, to resolve the conceptual pluralism in service co-creation literature.

A focused literature review screened the articles published in five major service research journals to determine relevant contributions on the concept of co-creation of services. Then, a thematic analysis identifies the forms, themes and outcomes of co-creating services in the set of 80 qualifying articles.

The study reduces conceptual pluralism by establishing different forms of co-creating services and developing an explicit definition of co-creation in services. The authors develop an integrative framework that recognizes involvement, engagement and participation as prerequisites for co-creation. Relating to the different phases of the service process, the specific co-creation forms of co-ideation, co-valuation, co-design, co-testing and co-launching are classified as regenerative co-creation, while the specific co-creation forms of co-production and co-consumption are recognized as operative co-creation. Both beneficial and counterproductive outcomes of co-creation are identified and arranged into a typology.

The integrative framework illustrates that service providers and customers are involved, engaged and participate in co-creating services, which manifests in specific forms of co-creation; they attain beneficial and counterproductive outcomes (personal, social, hedonic, cognitive, economic and pragmatic); and are influenced by a contextual multi-actor network.

Co-creation in services is actionable; the typology of outcomes suggests service managers ways to motivate customers and employees to participate in co-creating services.

This paper defines and establishes the conceptual forms of co-creating services and the identified outcomes, and develops an integrative framework of co-creation in services.

The service marketing literature has traditionally argued that the marketing practices of service firms that operate in diverse cultures should also differ. This paper aims to investigate this argument by examining the marketing practices of service firms in two highly diverse countries “Canada and Qatar” in the context of a contemporary conceptual framework.

Survey data were collected in both countries using a self-administered questionnaire that was used in previous contemporary marketing practice (CMP) studies. The data analysis was conducted in two stages. First, descriptive statistics were used to determine cross-national differences in the intensity of use of various CMP activities in Qatar compared to Canada. Second, cross-national differences in various combinations of marketing practices were identified using a cluster analysis.

The results indicate that service firms in both countries have more similarities than differences and that the overall patterns of marketing practices are similar. In addition, the firms’ marketing practices reflect aspects of all four marketing approaches rather than just one.

The study was conducted in only two countries, thus generalisability of its findings and conclusions may not be possible.

The results of this study can help marketers to better understand the changing marketing environment and identify new marketing solutions when operating in different environments.

This study enhances the literature on service marketing and expands the application of the CMP framework to a new context that has not been addressed in previous studies.

The use of modern technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, commonly known as “Industry 4.0” (I4.0), is believed to have considerable potential for product customisation. In this context, this paper aims to explore whether or not using these technologies impacts customer participation (CP) in a firm's new product development (NPD) process.

To empirically test the proposed relationships, the authors collected the North Italian manufacturing firms' data and applied regression analysis.

Empirical results indicate that, on the one hand, the technologies have their specific and individual impacts, and on the other hand, the firms which use more I4.0 technologies allow more customer participation in their product design and production process. This positive impact is more robust in product design than in the production process.

Managers aiming to benefit from CP should broaden the scope of adopting I4.0 technologies and consider different roles concerning the design and production phases of the new product development process. Recognising the importance and allowing CP in NPD will enable firms to meet the customised demands.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, the proposed relationships of this study have been extensively debated theoretically in the I4.0 context but never empirically tested before. It is one of the few studies which discusses the strategic adoption and the combined use of I4.0 technologies to create more opportunities for product customisation.

The negative cultural bias vis-à-vis international business and cross-cultural management has been duly acknowledged, necessitating recommendations towards investigating its positive effects. Methodologically, quantitative research clearly predominates, and there have been calls for alternative approaches. Thus, this conceptual paper addresses the research gap (methodological and thematic) by investigating if multicultural teams can be an essential part of the global workforce and whether positive effects exist regarding dynamic capabilities, learning and knowledge transfer.

The underlying ethnographic research design enabled exploring within the embedded single case study from an emic perspective, including qualitative observation and semi-structured expert interviews, and provided detailed insights into the company’s multicultural work environment.

The results reveal that applying a qualitative design allowed the needed exploration and show that multicultural, geographically dispersed teams are positively experienced and considered necessary in today’s globalised world. They are likely to increase in the future. Moreover, dynamic capabilities (multicultural competencies) are indispensable for multicultural teamwork. Regarding learning opportunities, different viewpoints for discussion and the ability to reflect on these offer valuable insights. In line with theory, multiculturality is considered a “two-edged sword”, providing simultaneous benefits and challenges. Contrary to the theory, even highly important information transfers can occur virtually, although occasional physical contact is essential for trust building.

The multinational family business offers a unique example of a positive relationship between multiculturalism and organisational excellence and demonstrates how the application of a qualitative methodology can support theory building by delivering a revised model of dynamic capabilities in multicultural environments with geographical dispersion.

The purpose of this study is to introduce a matching function approach to analyze matching in financial reporting.

The matching function is first analyzed analytically. It is specified as a multiplicative Cobb-Douglas-type function of three categories of expenses (labor expense, material expense and depreciation). The specified matching function is solved by the generalized reduced gradient method (GRG) for 10-year time series from 8,226 Finnish firms. The coefficient of determination of the logarithmic model (CODL) is compared with the linear revenue-expense correlation coefficient (REC) that is generally used in previous studies.

Empirical evidence showed that REC is outperformed by CODL. CODL was found independent of or weakly negatively dependent on the matching elasticity of labor expense, positively dependent on the material expense elasticity and negatively dependent on depreciation elasticity. Therefore, the differences in matching accuracy between industries emphasizing different expense categories are significant.

The matching function is a general approach to assess the matching accuracy but it is in this study specified multiplicatively for three categories of expenses. Moreover, only one algorithm is tested in the empirical estimation of the function. The analysis is concentrated on ten-year time-series of a limited sample of Finnish firms.

The matching function approach provides a large set of important information for considering the matching process in practice. It can prove a useful method also to accounting standard-setters and other specialists such as managers, consultants and auditors.

This study is the first study to apply the new matching function approach.

This study aims to explain the effects of different types of innovations on organizational performance in terms of firms’ external effectiveness and internal efficiency. The study examines the interrelationship of technical and nontechnical innovations in complex services and the mediating effect of customer participation on the relationship between innovation type and organizational performance.

The study draws on a neo-Schumpeterian model for innovation to examine the complex service setting of healthcare provision. Data from Statistics Sweden, containing 38 hospitals and 242 primary care units in Sweden, provided the study's results.

The findings show the importance of combining different types of innovations in complex services, demonstrating a mediating effect of nontechnical innovation on both the relationship between technical innovations and external effectiveness and internal efficiency. Moreover, the results show that customer participation has a positive mediating effect for technical innovation and nontechnical innovation on external effectiveness. However, there is no such significant effect on internal efficiency.

The findings are based on self-assessment data, which has inherent limitations. The innovation data used were cross-sectional, which may lack reliability (although self-assessed data counter this risk to some extent).

Managers should pursue both technical and nontechnical innovations for gains in external effectiveness and internal efficiency. However, complex services call for technical innovations to be accompanied by nontechnical innovations to support positive effects. The results cause a dilemma for managing customer participation in complex services. As the results show customer participation resulting in external effectiveness, they also fail to establish an effect on internal efficiency.

The primary contribution is to add to the knowledge of different types of innovation in complex services by demonstrating their interdependent effects on both external effectiveness and internal efficiency. Furthermore, the study tests and advances the mediating effect of customer participation in complex services on organizational performance.

Building on the institutional theory perspective on corporate governance change and based on interviews with investor relations (IR) managers in large Japanese companies, this study aims to examine Japanese IR managers’ perceptions of the influence of foreign shareholders on Japan’s corporate governance reform and stakeholder-based system. The paper examines tensions, conflicts and collaborations among different stakeholders involved in corporate governance changes in Japan, especially in the areas of firm ownership, employment relations and boards of directors. The paper explains why convergence does not happen in some large Japanese companies by investigating Japanese managers’ responses to and perceptions of foreign shareholders in multiple corporate contexts.

The author conducted in-depth interviews with ten IR managers at large, listed Japanese companies in Kyoto and Tokyo and two managers at foreign investment banks in Tokyo, between 2018 and 2021.

This paper explores five themes that emerged from my interviews: Chief executive officers’ (CEOs’) mixed perceptions of foreign investors, the effectiveness of CEO compensation and outside directors, managers’ reluctance to accept stock price-driven business strategies, foreign investors’ engagement vs investments in index funds and gender patterns, including the effectiveness of token female outside directors. The Japanese companies the author looked at incorporated foreign shareholders as consultants and adopted a few major shareholder-based customs, such as CEOs communicating with investors, having outside directors, increasing CEO compensation and slimming down unprofitable parts of the business via restructuring and downsizing. Simultaneously, they resisted a few major shareholder-based practices. Foreign shareholders’ pressure revealed tensions and contradictions between the Japanese stakeholder system and shareholder primacy-based customs.

This paper is one of the few qualitative studies that explores Japanese IR managers’ responses to and perceptions of foreign shareholders in corporate governance reform, with a particular focus on ownership, employment relations and board members. This paper provides examples of tension, conflict and cooperation between Japanese managers and foreign investors, as seen through the eyes of Japanese IR managers. Examining changes in Japan’s stakeholder-based system of corporate governance reform enables us to better understand the processes by which, with vigorous pressure from government and foreign shareholders, a non-western country like Japan may adopt shareholder-based customs and how such a change may also lead to institutional changes.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the literature related to accounting and auditing services quality.

The authors performed a systematic literature review that considered 22 papers on the topic. The authors also applied a bibliometric analysis in order to identify the main characteristics of these studies to discuss and provide research opportunities in this field.

The bibliometric results indicate that most papers were published in services and marketing journals. The accounting service quality theme has been rarely researched in accounting field. In addition, based on our review, it was possible to identify that most papers use quantitative methods, such as surveys. The papers' conclusions diverge from each other, demonstrating a still fragmented literature.

Taken together, the paper shows how accounting services quality is relevant and emerging topic that demands future research about accounting professionals' skills, their activities and how their customers perceive quality in an environment of constant change.

The analyses indicate that there are six broad areas for future research on this topic: successes and failures of accounting services providers; the role of “client centricity”; digital accounting services; services quality and accounting education; services quality when considering different types of accounting and auditing services and development of a measurement scale and a theoretical model for accounting services quality. This paper contributes for the ongoing debate about how competition, technology and innovation are changing the landscape for accounting and auditing services providers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected how consumers make payment choices. This study aims to develop a comprehensive model explaining customers’ continuance usage of mobile payment during the COVID-19 pandemic by investigating both the pull (positive) factors of mobile payment and the push (negative) factors of cash payment.

A survey was conducted on 508 mobile payment users. A quota sampling method was applied to collect the data. Then, the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. This study employed SPSS and LISREL software.

This study reveals that four antecedent factors: favorable attitude toward mobile payment, social influence, facilitating conditions and unfavorable attitude toward cash payment, positively affect the continuance intention to use mobile payment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The finding also corroborates the effect of continuance intention on the actual use of mobile payment.

This research provides valuable insights for formulating business strategies. The results indicate that mobile payment providers should not only consider the positive aspects of mobile payments but also the negative aspects of cash payment when encouraging the continuance usage of mobile payments to customers.

This study is among the first to empirically test the effect of unfavorable attitudes toward cash payment on the continuing use of mobile payment. Specifically, the research extends the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology by adding the push–pull-mooring model to enhance the explanatory power.

La pandemia de COVID-19 ha afectado significativamente a la forma en que los consumidores toman sus decisiones de pago. Este estudio pretende desarrollar un modelo completo que explique el uso continuado del pago por móvil por parte de los clientes durante la pandemia COVID-19, investigando tanto los factores de atracción (positivos) del pago por móvil como los factores de empuje (negativos) del pago en efectivo.

Se realizó una encuesta a 508 usuarios de pago por móvil. Se aplicó un método de muestreo por cuotas para recoger los datos. A continuación, los datos se analizaron mediante un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales. En este estudio se empleó el software SPSS y LISREL.

El estudio revela que cuatro factores antecedentes: la actitud favorable hacia el pago por móvil, la influencia social, las condiciones facilitadoras y la actitud desfavorable hacia el pago en efectivo; afectan positivamente a la intención de permanencia en el uso del pago por móvil durante la pandemia COVID-19. El hallazgo también corrobora el efecto de la intención de permanencia en el uso real del pago por móvil.

Esta investigación aporta valiosas ideas para la formulación de estrategias comerciales. Los resultados indican que los proveedores de pagos por móvil no sólo deben tener en cuenta los aspectos positivos de los pagos por móvil, sino también los aspectos negativos del pago en efectivo a la hora de fomentar el uso continuado de los pagos por móvil entre los clientes.

Este estudio es uno de los primeros en comprobar empíricamente el efecto de las actitudes desfavorables hacia el pago en efectivo en el uso continuado del pago por móvil. En concreto, la investigación amplía la teoría unificada de la aceptación y el uso de la tecnología (UTAUT) añadiendo el modelo push-pull-mooring (PPM) para mejorar el poder explicativo.

COVID-19疫情对消费者的支付方式产生了重大影响。本研究旨在通过研究移动支付的拉动（积极）因素和现金支付的推动（消极）因素, 建立一个综合模型来解释客户在COVID-19疫情期间持续使用移动支付的情况。

本研究采用配额抽样方法, 对508位移动支付用户进行了调查。然后通过SPSS和LISREL软件, 运用结构方程模型对数据进行了分析。

研究结果揭示了四个前因因素对COVID-19疫情期间持续使用移动支付的意愿有积极影响, 这四个因素分别是：对移动支付的有利态度、社会影响、便利条件和对现金支付的不利态度; 这一发现也证实了持续使用意愿对移动支付实际使用的影响。

这项研究为制定商业战略提供了宝贵的见解。结果表明, 移动支付供应商在鼓励客户持续使用移动支付时, 不仅要考虑移动支付的积极方面, 还要考虑现金支付的消极方面。

本研究首次通过实证检验了消费者对现金支付的不利态度对移动支付持续使用的影响。具体而言, 本研究通过加入推拉式模型（PPM）扩展了技术接受和使用的统一理论（UTAUT）, 从而增强了该理论的解释力。

Building upon the insights of the resource-based view and internationalization theories, the purpose of this paper is to examine the role networks play in SMEs' readiness for internationalization. By investigating three different types of knowledge sharing, namely economic-setting, market-specific and customer-specific, the study analyzes their effect on SMEs' readiness for internationalization.

The four research hypotheses derived by from the analysis of the literature have been investigated by applying the multiple regression technique. By means of an online survey, 300 valid questionnaires were collected and information from a sample of Italian SMEs belonging to 11 agro-food consortia have been analyzed.

The results suggest that SMEs' readiness for internationalization could be supported by sharing customer-specific, market-specific and economic-setting knowledge with other firms operating within the same agro-food consortium. Additionally, data analysis highlights a negative relation between the risk perception in the process and readiness for internationalization, suggesting the importance of knowledge sharing in reducing the criticality issues of being a newcomer entering international markets.

From a theoretical perspective, this study aims to fill the gap in knowledge management and international relationship marketing literature. Since proposes a combination of different kinds of knowledge that contribute to reducing the criticalities SMEs must face by identifying useful information to be conveyed within the network. From a managerial perspective, the study provides useful insights for the agro-food sector, highlighting how experiential and network knowledge constitutes a pre-condition for managing internationalization complexity and discovering opportunities on foreign markets.