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Book part
Publication date: 19 April 2023

Samantha Metselaar, Laura den Dulk and Brenda Vermeeren

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the relevance of the intersections between work and personal life. Measures introduced to slow the spread of COVID-19 have included an…

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the relevance of the intersections between work and personal life. Measures introduced to slow the spread of COVID-19 have included an increase of working from home and the temporary closure of schools and child-care facilities, leading to a lighter workload for some and a heavier workload for others. These consequences are likely to affect employees’ work–life balance (WLB), although the impact may differ across groups of employees depending on the nature of their work, family and personal demands and resources. This mixed-method study examined how Dutch government employees perceive their WLB during the pandemic and how differences in what employees are experiencing can be explained. In May/June 2020, an online survey (N = 827) and an interview study (N = 17) were conducted at a government organization whose employees were obliged to work from home partly or exclusively. Results indicate that demands changed when working entirely from home and resources became more important to maintain WLB satisfaction. Being able to manage boundaries across life domains and find a new routine also appeared to be crucial for WLB satisfaction.

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Flexible Work and the Family
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-592-7

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Article
Publication date: 26 October 2023

Carlos Bauer, John M. Galvan, Tyler Hancock, Gary K. Hunter, Christopher A. Nelson, Jen Riley and Emily C. Tanner

Sales organizations embrace technological innovation. However, salespeople’s willingness to use new technology influences a firm’s return on investment, representing a significant…

Abstract

Purpose

Sales organizations embrace technological innovation. However, salespeople’s willingness to use new technology influences a firm’s return on investment, representing a significant concern for the organization. These concerns highlight tensions regarding the tradeoffs associated with technology implementations. The purpose of this study is to offer insights that help reduce the complexities of sales technology (ST) by exploring the changing dynamics of contemporary business relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper synthesizes the ST literature using the service ecosystem perspective to propose the sales techno-ecosystem (STE) framework, providing new insights into organizational decision-making related to the ongoing digital transformation of sales tasks.

Findings

This synthesis of the ST literature with the service ecosystem seeks to clarify the impact of technology within the evolving nature of buyer–seller relationships by providing four unique perspectives.

Research limitations/implications

Perspective 1 reviews the sales-service ecosystem framework and develops the theoretical underpinnings and relevant terminologies. Perspective 2 summarizes critical aspects of the ST literature and provides foundations for future research in the STE. Perspective 3 offers a more granular view, explicating roles and contexts prevalent in buyer–seller–technology interactions. Perspective 4 provides a set of tenets and advances research questions related to each tenet.

Practical implications

The culmination of these four perspectives is the introduction of five key tenants designed to help guide strategy and research.

Originality/value

The paper advances Hartmann et al. (2018) service ecosystem paradigm by explicating critical aspects of its ST domain to generate insights for theory and practice.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 58 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

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Content available
Book part
Publication date: 23 August 2023

Julian Molina

Abstract

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The First British Crime Survey
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-275-4

Book part
Publication date: 19 April 2023

Liisa Mäkelä, Samu Kemppinen, Heini Pensar and Hilpi Kangas

This study investigates work and non-work antecedents for the work–life balance (WLB) development of remote employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Longitudinal data (N = 1,146…

Abstract

This study investigates work and non-work antecedents for the work–life balance (WLB) development of remote employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Longitudinal data (N = 1,146, T1; N = 737, T2) was collected in May–June 2020 and December 2020 in one multinational company (MNC) in Finland. In data analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM) with a cross-lagged panel model was utilized. The results revealed that during the pandemic, WLB slightly decreased. The quantitative job demands increased and predicted a decreased WLB at T2. Job autonomy decreased but did not have an effect on WLB development or buffer the negative effect of quantitative job demands on WLB. Time saved from commuting was positively related to WLB development, but the number of children living at home and the age of the youngest child had no statistically significant link to WLB development over time (similar finding for men and women). Although care responsibilities from the gender perspective is not the focus of our study, the additional analysis show that WLB at T1 was more challenging for women the more children they had, or the younger the youngest child was. For men, children did not make a difference for their WLB at T1. This finding indicates that WLB has been more challenging for mothers compared to fathers already when our first data had been collected, and the continuance of the pandemic did not change the situation in any direction. This research contributes to the knowledge about work and non-work related demands and resources as antecedents for WLB development during the pandemic. As a practical implication during the pandemic, the authors suggest that employers should follow development for employees’ WLB as a measure of well-being in remote work. In addition, the workload of remote employees should be followed, and time saved from commuting should be preserved as employees’ non-work time and protected from work-related tasks.

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Flexible Work and the Family
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-592-7

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 18 January 2024

Michael Jenkins

Abstract

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Toxic Humans
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-977-2

Article
Publication date: 18 April 2023

Steven Alexander Melnyk, William J. Ritchie, Eric Stark and Angela Heavey

Dominant quality standards are present in all industries. Implicit in their use is the assumption that once adopted, there is little or no reason to replace them. However, there…

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Abstract

Purpose

Dominant quality standards are present in all industries. Implicit in their use is the assumption that once adopted, there is little or no reason to replace them. However, there is evidence that, under certain circumstances, such standards do get replaced. The reasons for this action are not well-understood, either as they pertain to the displacement decision or to the selection and adoption of the alternative standard. The purpose of this study is to identify and explore these two issues (displacement and replacement) by drawing on data from the American healthcare system. This study is viewed through the theoretical lens of legitimacy theory. In addition, the process is viewed from a temporal perspective. The resulting findings are used to better understand how this displacement process takes place and to identify directions for interesting and meaningful future research.

Design/methodology/approach

This is an explanatory study that draws on data gathered from quality managers in 89 hospitals that had adopted a new healthcare quality standard (of these, some fifty percent had displaced the dominant quality standard – the Joint Commission – with a different standard – DNV Healthcare.

Findings

The combined literature review and case study data provide insights into the displacement process. This is a process that evolves over time. Initially, the process is driven by the need to meet customer demands. However, over time, as the organizations try to integrate the guidelines contained within the standards into the organization, gaps in the quality standard emerge. It is these gaps that motivate the need to displace standards. The legitimacy perspective is highly effective at explaining this displacement process. In addition, the study uncovers some critical issues, namely the important role played by the individual auditors in the certification process and the importance of fit between the standard and the context in which it is deployed.

Research limitations/implications

The data for the propositions in this case study were derived from interviews and survey data from 89 healthcare organizations. It would be interesting to examine similar relationships with other quality standards and industries.

Practical implications

Our findings provide new insights related to motivations to decouple from a dominant quality standard. Results provide a cautionary tale for standards that hold a dominant market share such that perceived legitimacy of such standards is not as stable as originally thought.

Originality/value

This study illuminates the fragile nature of the stability of dominant standards and emphasizes the linkages between legitimacy concerns and divestiture of such standards.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 43 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 8 April 2024

Amaresh Panda and Sanjay Mohapatra

Abstract

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The Online Healthcare Community
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83549-141-6

Article
Publication date: 11 August 2023

Yen Nie Yong

Commodity histories generally posit colonies’ roles as mere producers but have overlooked their roles in shaping global consumption. This study aims to investigate how Malayan tin…

Abstract

Purpose

Commodity histories generally posit colonies’ roles as mere producers but have overlooked their roles in shaping global consumption. This study aims to investigate how Malayan tin producers and British colonial institutions used public relations and advertising strategies as entrepreneurial tools to fend off competition from substitutes amid global economic and geopolitical transitions during the height of the Cold War crisis and post-war boom in the 1950s and 1960s.

Design/methodology/approach

This study draws on archival research of newspaper reports written in Singapore, the USA and Britain from the inter-war years until the 1960s. It also consults advertisements placed by the Malayan Tin Bureau on Time and Scientific American, data and views on tin scarcity by US congressional reports and commodity trends data published by the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of the Interior.

Findings

This paper demonstrates how the value of tin is recreated by manipulating its symbolic meanings and embedding them within the national and political contexts of the targeted consumer markets. This creative resistance against tin substitution was enacted through a transnational collaboration among colonial institutions, entrepreneurs in colonies and marketing strategists across geographies and territories.

Research implications

This paper provokes further reflections on the importance of socially constructed meanings in shaping the market value of a product and the understanding of embedded political value systems in marketing generic commodities. Future research may adopt this perspective to reassess the framing of meanings of commodities in the contemporary setting, especially against rising concerns on the sustainability of mining natural resources, including minerals.

Originality

This study integrates the perspectives of Malayan tin producers in reframing the meaning of a commodity and so, widens the scope of historical analyses of commodities beyond the industrialized global North. It reassesses how a commodity’s marketing value evolves and interacts with colonial politics. It also highlights the collaborative nature of colonial governments and local producers in developing new uses and representations of a generic commodity to create new markets for its consumption.

Details

Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-750X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 February 2022

Shivangi Verma and Naval Garg

The proliferation of information technology (IT) and IT-enabled devices has brought various challenges for modern organizations. These challenges are aggravated by the fact that…

Abstract

Purpose

The proliferation of information technology (IT) and IT-enabled devices has brought various challenges for modern organizations. These challenges are aggravated by the fact that the employees of different generations have a varying degree of expertise and ethical orientation regarding technology. This study has two primary objectives to have an in-depth understanding of technology-related ethical behavior of a diverse workforce. First, it aims to develop a valid and reliable scale to measure technology-oriented ethical behavior. Second, it investigates variations in technology-oriented ethical behavior among Generation X (pre-millennial), Generation Y (millennial) and Generation Z (post-millennial) using the scale.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is conducted in two steps. The first step, a techno-ethical scale, is developed with the help of the six steps of scale development proposed by Churchill (1979). These steps include exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability analysis (composite reliability) and validity analysis (convergent and divergent validity). In the second step, intergenerational variation in different factors of technology-oriented ethical behavior among generation X, Y and Z employees is explored with the help of ANOVA and mean plots.

Findings

The study suggests a four-dimensional techno-ethical scale comprising fourteen statements. These four dimensions of the scale are the invasion of the right of privacy, defamation, self-enrichment and loafing during office hours. The scale is reported to have adequate reliability and validity estimates. Results also recommend statistically significant variations in all four dimensions of technology-oriented ethical behavior among pre-millennial, millennial and post-millennial. Also, except for self-enrichment, the mean values progressively increase from pre-millennial to post-millennial. Even for self-enrichment, the mean value is highest for post-millennial.

Originality/value

This study is one of the pioneer studies that explore ethical orientation towards technology usage of three generations of employees.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 52 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 March 2024

Sining Kong, Michelle Marie Maresh-Fuehrer and Shane Gleason

Although situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) is centered on rationality and cognitive information processing, it ignores that people are also driven by irrationality…

Abstract

Purpose

Although situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) is centered on rationality and cognitive information processing, it ignores that people are also driven by irrationality and non-cognitive information processing. The purpose of this study aims to fill this gap by examining how gender stereotypes, based on perceived spokesperson sex influence the public’s perceptions of crisis response messages.

Design/methodology/approach

A 2 (industry type: automotive vs daycare industry) × 2 (spokesperson’s sex: male vs female) × 2 (crisis response appeal: rational vs emotional) between-subject online experiment was conducted to examine the effect of gender stereotype in crisis communication.

Findings

Results showed that either matching spokesperson sex with sex differed industry or matching sex differed industry with appropriate crisis response appeal can generate a more positive evaluation of the spokesperson and the organization. The results also revealed under which circumstances, the attractiveness of different sex of the spokesperson can either promote or mitigate people’s perceptions of the organization. Furthermore, when people are aware of a spokesperson’s sex, in a female-associated industry, a mismatching effect of a positive violation of a male-related stereotype overrides a matching effect of a female-related stereotype in crisis communication.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to identify how the gender of a spokesperson and industry type affect publics’ crisis response.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

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1 – 10 of 57