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Article
Publication date: 3 October 2019

Jodie Conduit, Ingo Oswald Karpen and Kieran D. Tierney

The ability to attract and retain volunteers is crucial for not-for-profit organizations, and consequently, the need to understand and manage volunteers’ engagement is paramount…

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Abstract

Purpose

The ability to attract and retain volunteers is crucial for not-for-profit organizations, and consequently, the need to understand and manage volunteers’ engagement is paramount. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of five volunteer engagement dimensions (cognitive, affective, behavioral, social and spiritual engagement) on perceived value-in-context, and its subsequent role for volunteer retention. Thus, providing for the first time an understanding of how unique types of value are determined through different facets of volunteer engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

To establish the nature and consequences of volunteer engagement, the authors collaborated with an Australian not-for-profit service organization. Using a survey method, the authors studied the organization’s volunteer workforce resulting in 464 usable responses. To capture volunteers’ degree of spiritual engagement, this paper introduces a rigorously developed unidimensional measure.

Findings

The results demonstrate the importance of the five engagement dimensions on volunteers’ perceived value-in-context, while highlighting significant effect differences including some counterintuitive consequences. The authors also establish the role of spiritual engagement and demonstrate the impact of value-in-context for volunteer retention.

Originality/value

This research explores the volunteer engagement-retention chain, by empirically studying the role of value-in-context. The authors provide first evidence for the relationship between volunteer engagement and value-in-context, examining the independent yet relative effects of various facets of volunteer engagement. In doing so, the authors offer new insight into the dimensionality of the volunteer engagement construct, broadening its conceptualization to include spiritual engagement as a core constituent. The authors further demonstrate the impact of value-in-context on volunteer retention, helping organizations to better make sense of meaningful volunteer experiences with long-lasting impacts and mutual benefits.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. 29 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 November 2016

Kieran D. Tierney, Ingo O. Karpen and Kate Westberg

The purpose of this paper is to consolidate and advance the understanding of brand meaning and the evolving process by which it is determined by introducing and explicating the…

2324

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consolidate and advance the understanding of brand meaning and the evolving process by which it is determined by introducing and explicating the concept of brand meaning cocreation (BMCC).

Design/methodology/approach

In-depth review and integration of literature from branding, cocreation, service systems, and practice theory. To support deep theorizing, the authors also examine the role of institutional logics in the BMCC process in framing interactions and brand meaning outcomes.

Findings

Prior research is limited in that it neither maps the process of cocreation within which meanings emerge nor provides theoretical conceptualizations of brand meaning or the process of BMCC. While the literature acknowledges that brand meaning is influenced by multiple interactions, their nature and how they contribute to BMCC have been overlooked.

Research limitations/implications

This paper reveals a significant gap in knowledge of how brand meaning is cocreated, despite the essential role of brand meaning for firm success and increasing academic interest in the notion of cocreation. Ultimately, this paper builds a conceptual foundation for empirical research in this regard.

Originality/value

This paper proposes that brand meaning is cocreated through the interconnection of different social and service systems, across system levels, time, and geographic space. Marketing theory is advanced by outlining a set of research propositions pertaining to the BMCC process. The authors consider how discrete actor-based brand meanings contribute to an overall brand gestalt and how such a gestalt potentially evolves along a continuum. Additionally, the authors provide a managerially and theoretically relevant research agenda to guide much needed empirical research into BMCC.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. 26 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 October 2020

Andrei Bonamigo, Brenda Dettmann, Camila Guimarães Frech and Steffan Macali Werner

The purpose of this study is to recognize the facilitators and inhibitors of value co-creation in the industrial service environment.

1050

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to recognize the facilitators and inhibitors of value co-creation in the industrial service environment.

Design/methodology/approach

First, a systematic literature review (SLR) based on the systematic search flow (SSF) method was conducted, using six databases. Then, the content analysis proposed by Bardin (2011) was used to analyze the selected papers from SLR.

Findings

The authors identified a total of 11 facilitators and four inhibitors of value co-creation in industrial services. The findings show that concerning facilitators, the involvement of actors and synergy among participants reported a higher presence. As for the inhibitors, incompatibility among actors and actors' inexperience in the context of value co-creation were the ones that registered the most frequency.

Research limitations/implications

Even though the SLR covered a large proportion of the studies available, this research may not have enabled a complete coverage of all existing peer-reviewed papers in the field of value co-creation in industrial services.

Practical implications

This study assists managers in enhancing the performance of the value co-creation process. This is because, by knowing both the facilitators and inhibitors, managers can have an improved understanding of this process, thereby pondering these elements on the elaboration of their strategies and decision-making.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first attempts to recognize both the facilitators and inhibitors of value co-creation in industrial services.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. 30 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 June 2020

Carlos A. Diaz Ruiz, Jonathan J. Baker, Katy Mason and Kieran Tierney

This paper aims to investigate two seminal market-scanning frameworks – the five-forces analysis and PESTEL environmental scanning tool – to assess their readiness for…

6001

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate two seminal market-scanning frameworks – the five-forces analysis and PESTEL environmental scanning tool – to assess their readiness for anticipating market-shaping acts.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on the market-shaping literature that conceptualizes markets as complex adaptive systems, this conceptual paper interrogates the underlying assumptions and “blind spots” in two seminal market-scanning frameworks. The paper showcases three illustrative vignettes in which non-industry actors catalyzed market change in ways that these market-scanning frameworks would not be able to anticipate.

Findings

Marketing strategists can be “blindsided” as seminal market-scanning frameworks have either too narrow an interpretation of market change or are too broad to anticipate specific types of market-shaping acts. The assumptions about markets that underpin these market-scanning frameworks contribute to incumbents being slow to realize market-shaping acts are taking place.

Research limitations/implications

The authors extend market-scanning to include a type of managerial myopia that fails to register the socially embedded, systemic nature of complex contemporary markets. Furthermore, the paper provides an “actors-agendas-outcomes” scanning framework that offers awareness of market-shaping acts.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to consider market-scanning frameworks from a market-shaping perspective.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 35 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 January 2019

Kieran Mervyn, Nii Amoo and Rebecca Malby

Public sectors have responded to grand societal challenges by establishing collaboratives – new inter-organizational partnerships to secure better quality health services. In the…

1151

Abstract

Purpose

Public sectors have responded to grand societal challenges by establishing collaboratives – new inter-organizational partnerships to secure better quality health services. In the UK, a proliferation of collaboration-based healthcare networks exists that could help to enhance the value of investments in quality improvement programs. The nature and organizational form of such improvements is still a subject of debate within the public-sector literature. Place-based collaboration has been proposed as a possible solution. In response, the purpose of this study is to present the results and findings of a place-based collaborative network, highlighting challenges and insights.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a social constructionist epistemological approach, using a qualitative methodology. A single case study was used and data collected in three different stages over a two-year period.

Findings

The study finds that leadership, data-enabled learning through system-wide training and development, and the provision of an enabling environment that is facilitated by an academic partner, can go a long way in the managing of healthcare networks for improving quality.

Research limitations/implications

Regardless of the tensions and challenges with place-based networks, they could still be a solution in maximizing the public value required by government investments in the healthcare sector, as they offer a more innovative structure that can help to address complex issues beyond the remit of hierarchical structures. This study is limited by the use of a single case study.

Practical implications

Across countries health systems are moving away from markets to collaborative models for healthcare delivery and from individual services to population-based approaches. This study provides insights to inform leaders of collaborative health models in the design and delivery of these new collaborations.

Social implications

As demand rises (as a result of increasing complexity and demographics) in the western world, health systems are seeking to redefine the boundaries between health service provision and community self-reliance and resilience. This study provides insights into the new partnership between health institutions and communities, providing opportunities for more social- and solidarity-based healthcare models which place patients and the public at the heart of change.

Originality/value

The city place-based network is the first of such organizational form in healthcare collaboration in the UK.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 September 2011

Clair Doloriert and Kieran Whitworth

This study aims to explore knowledge management (KM) practice in the “back office” of two English football clubs.

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore knowledge management (KM) practice in the “back office” of two English football clubs.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes the form of a comparative case study of two medium‐sized businesses using multi‐method data including unstructured interviews, structured questionnaires and document analysis. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and basic descriptive statistics.

Findings

A review of the theoretical contexts highlights key challenges for the industry including the pressure of high wage salaries on the business model, minimising organizational memory loss given the high turnover of football managers, and the development of relationship marketing given the emergence of a variety of fans with different levels of loyalty. The empirical inquiry reveals evidence of KM in both football clubs although this is mostly informal, ad hoc and implicit. One club adopts a personalisation and the other a codification KM strategy. For both clubs, the football success takes precedence over business success. Emergent findings show that there is scope to improve explicit and formal knowledge management strategies within both football clubs, and that the “back office” could benefit from innovative and efficient ways of working given the pressures it faces.

Research limitations/implications

This is a qualitative case study that aims to explore and describe KM within the two clubs. Because of this results are not generalisable to the industry as a whole; however findings are insightful and can inform further substantive research.

Originality/value

Given the current issues that challenge football clubs, KM can offer a new lens from which to begin to address old problems and can inform and enrich existing organizational strategy in real and practical ways. This study contributes valuable insight as an exploratory study within a little researched context.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 18 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

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