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1 – 10 of 77Michelle M.E. Van Pinxteren, Mark Pluymaekers and Jos G.A.M. Lemmink
Conversational agents (chatbots, avatars and robots) are increasingly substituting human employees in service encounters. Their presence offers many potential benefits, but…
Abstract
Purpose
Conversational agents (chatbots, avatars and robots) are increasingly substituting human employees in service encounters. Their presence offers many potential benefits, but customers are reluctant to engage with them. A possible explanation is that conversational agents do not make optimal use of communicative behaviors that enhance relational outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to identify which human-like communicative behaviors used by conversational agents have positive effects on relational outcomes and which additional behaviors could be investigated in future research.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a systematic review of 61 articles that investigated the effects of communicative behaviors used by conversational agents on relational outcomes. A taxonomy is created of all behaviors investigated in these studies, and a research agenda is constructed on the basis of an analysis of their effects and a comparison with the literature on human-to-human service encounters.
Findings
The communicative behaviors can be classified along two dimensions: modality (verbal, nonverbal, appearance) and footing (similarity, responsiveness). Regarding the research agenda, it is noteworthy that some categories of behaviors show mixed results and some behaviors that are effective in human-to-human interactions have not yet been investigated in conversational agents.
Practical implications
By identifying potentially effective communicative behaviors in conversational agents, this study assists managers in optimizing encounters between conversational agents and customers.
Originality/value
This is the first study that develops a taxonomy of communicative behaviors in conversational agents and uses it to identify avenues for future research.
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Jennifer (Min Ing) Loh, Simon Lloyd D. Restubog and Cindy Gallois
The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of culture in the relationship between boundary permeability and cooperation and work group identification. In…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of culture in the relationship between boundary permeability and cooperation and work group identification. In addition, the levels of boundary permeability of Australians and Singaporeans are compared.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey questionnaires were administered to 134 employees (87 Singaporeans and 47 Australians) working in multinational corporations in both Australia and Singapore. Hierarchical moderated regression was used to test whether culture moderated the relationship between boundary permeability and cooperation and workgroup identification.
Findings
Results indicated that workplace boundary permeability was marginally and positively related to cooperation but not to workgroup identification. Further analysis revealed that culture moderated the relationships between workplace boundary permeability and cooperation and workgroup identification. Specifically, a stronger positive relationship was found between boundary permeability and these outcomes for Singaporeans as opposed to Australians.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations include the relatively small sample size of both cultural groups; the behavioral measure used to assess cooperation; and the self‐reported nature of the data.
Practical implications
The findings of this study have important practical implications for managers working in multinational corporations who seek to promote cooperation and workgroup identification among culturally diverse employees.
Originality/value
Guided by social identity and cross‐cultural theories, this study highlights the role of culture in predicting the attitudinal consequences of boundary permeability.
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Gerrit van Dalfsen, Jo Van Hoecke, Hans Westerbeek and Veerle De Bosscher
The purpose of this paper is to investigate coaches' views on developing leadership and shared leadership capacity in particular in competitive youth football.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate coaches' views on developing leadership and shared leadership capacity in particular in competitive youth football.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative examination focusses on the leadership philosophy of ten male coaches at the sub-elite competitive level in youth football in The Netherlands and applies the theory of shared leadership to examine coaches' views on developing leadership capacity.
Findings
Only few coaches have a clear philosophy on the development of leadership in general and/or shared leadership in particular. Most coaches do not have a distinct view on how to involve players in the team processes. Shared leadership development in youth teams occurs occasionally but can be implemented more intentionally.
Research limitations/implications
Although this study lacks generalizability, coaches' views are required in understanding how shared leadership is to be developed in youth sport.
Practical implications
For implementing shared leadership in football purposefully, a clear view on the development of youth is required, whereas coaches need to be taught, how to involve the individual players in team processes such as decision-making. In addition, leadership development in sport may have the potential of transfer of skills to other domains.
Social implications
Learning shared leadership at a young age by athletes can have a positive influence on relationships in teams on micro-level and might have an impact on meso-level within a football club because of its social constructionist approach.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to apply shared leadership at the micro-level of competitive youth football making use of football coaches' view.
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Lars-Olof Johansson, Isak Barbopoulos and Lars E. Olsson
This paper aims to examine how social and moral salience influences the activation/deactivation of consumer motives and how this in turn affects costly pro-environmental consumer…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how social and moral salience influences the activation/deactivation of consumer motives and how this in turn affects costly pro-environmental consumer behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
In two experiments involving real purchases, it was tested whether social salience (private vs public choice) and moral salience (recall of neutral vs immoral action) lead to the activation of normative motives, and/or the deactivation of economic motives, and whether this facilitated the purchase of a costlier green product.
Findings
Participants were motivated by both economic and normative motives, and they actively made trade-offs between these motives as the choice environment changed. Green consumption was positively influenced by social and moral salience but only when both salience conditions were present simultaneously. However, salience did not lead to the activation of normative motives, as was expected, but to a deactivation of the motive to save money. This may suggest that while the importance of norms was not altered by salience, the perceived value of the green option likely changed in such a way that participants became more inclined to choose the costlier green option.
Originality/value
The present research sheds light on how and why social and moral salience influences green consumption. It was demonstrated that social and moral salience influences the tendency to purchase costlier green products, however, only when both are combined. Also, the effects of social and moral salience may not rely on the activation of facilitating social and moral motives but rather on the deactivation of conflicting economic motives.
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Cindy Cheng, Timothy Bartram, Leila Karimi and Sandra Leggat
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of transformational leadership (TL) in developing social identity and its subsequent impact on team climate, intention to leave…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of transformational leadership (TL) in developing social identity and its subsequent impact on team climate, intention to leave, burnout and quality of patient care among nurses.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for this cross-sectional study were collected from a sample of 201 registered nurses in Australia through questionnaires. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Results illustrate that social identification appears to be the psychological mechanism through which TL impacts important employee outcomes, including perceived quality of patient care.
Practical implications
This study provides valuable insights into understanding the critical role of human resource management (HRM) practice and policy in healthcare environments. Findings from this study indicate that human resource managers can assist nurse unit managers to deliver their HRM roles effectively when adequate support and relevant HRM infrastructures are put in place.
Originality/value
This research considers the role of first-line nurse managers in healthcare organisations. It provides evidence-based knowledge about the type of leadership style required to achieve desirable employee outcomes and the essential HRM opportunities to facilitate this.
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Vaughan Reimers, Bryce Magnuson and Fred Chao
Academic research and consumer polls often report strong consumer support for environmentally responsible products (ERPs), and yet the proportion of sales they account for is…
Abstract
Purpose
Academic research and consumer polls often report strong consumer support for environmentally responsible products (ERPs), and yet the proportion of sales they account for is often comparatively small. The purpose of this paper is to address one of the purported reasons behind this “attitude-behaviour gap” by measuring the influence of six relatively untested factors on consumer attitudes towards environmentally responsible clothing (ERC).
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a consumer household sample. It also used a quantitative survey approach to collect its data and structural equation modelling to analyse it.
Findings
Of the six factors, four were found to have a significant influence on consumer attitudes: altruism, status enhancement, perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) and happiness.
Originality/value
Altruism, environmental concern, PCE and self-identity have consistently featured in other environmental contexts, but less so in the specific context of ERC. Happiness and status enhancement have yet to appear in any study relating to the purchase of ERPs.
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Thomas Chesney, Swee-Hoon Chuah, Robert Hoffmann, Wendy Hui and Jeremy Larner
The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of user personality and vlaues on the number of connections users make, the number of requests for connections that users give…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of user personality and vlaues on the number of connections users make, the number of requests for connections that users give out, and the number of connections invitations users receive.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a field study of 179 participants interacting in a novel virtual world. The world’s server logs are used to capture sociometrics about the users and their interaction.
Findings
Findings suggest that personality and values influence the number of friends users make and the number of friendship requests users give out, but not the number of friendship invitations users receive. Only one personality trait – conscientiousness – exhibits homophily.
Originality/value
Perosnality and social value orientation have rarely been studied together in information systems (IS) research, despite research showing the two have an impact on IS relevant constructs. The use of server logs for data capture is novel. Avatar friendship is an under-researched concept in IS.
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Felix Septianto, Kaushalya Nallaperuma, Argho Bandyopadhyay and Rebecca Dolan
Drawing upon the evolutionary psychology perspective, the current research aims to investigate the conditions under which power (high vs low) and emotion (pride vs gratitude) can…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing upon the evolutionary psychology perspective, the current research aims to investigate the conditions under which power (high vs low) and emotion (pride vs gratitude) can influence consumers to purchase products for others via two fundamental motives (the signaling and affiliative motives).
Design/methodology/approach
Three experiments are conducted. Study 1 demonstrates that consumers with high (low) power are more likely to choose a wine promoted with pride (gratitude) appeals. Study 2 shows that consumers in the high- (low-) power condition report a higher willingness to pay for a wine promoted with pride (gratitude) appeals. Study 3 replicates the findings of Study 2 using a different product advertisement (chocolate bars).
Findings
This study provides concrete empirical evidence that powerful consumers experiencing pride will engage in gift giving because of an increased signaling motive. In contrast, powerless consumers experiencing gratitude will engage in gift giving because of an increased affiliative motive.
Research limitations/implications
This study explores the context of gift giving using wine and chocolate bars as the products. It would thus be of interest to examine and extend the effects in motivating other prosocial behaviors such as donating and volunteering.
Practical implications
The findings suggest how different states of power can be temporarily and purposively triggered and matched with the desired emotional appeals within adverting messages to increase persuasion.
Originality/value
This study illustrates a novel mechanism for gift giving from the evolutionary psychology perspective by showing that gift giving can be motivated by two distinct pathways – affiliative and signaling motives. Further, it tests how the interactive effects of power (high vs low) and emotion (pride vs gratitude) can activate such motives.
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Dimitrios Karolidis and Fotis Vouzas
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of work group diversity dynamics as a novel approach for studying diverse work groups. The authors profile the dynamic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of work group diversity dynamics as a novel approach for studying diverse work groups. The authors profile the dynamic processes within diverse work-groups and provide an overview of main objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on years of accumulated diversity research to cast a temporal and dynamic lens on the processes taking place within diverse work groups. After outlining the state of the art in work group diversity research, the definition, overall framework and profile of work group diversity dynamics is offered.
Findings
The paper argues that by adopting a temporal and dynamic perspective for studying diverse work groups, one can shift focus from the traditional perspective of “what is diversity” to “what happens within diverse work groups”. The paper disentangles the activities taking place within diverse work groups, defines the actual team processes and finally highlights how these processes might be affected by time and dynamism.
Originality/value
After almost 30 years of diversity research the mechanisms and processes through which diversity is translated into individual and organizational outcomes are not yet sufficiently understood and studied. This paper highlights a temporal and dynamic perspective for studying work group diversity, a view that is yet uncharted in diversity literature.
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Xuanhui Zhang, Si Chen, Yuxiang Chris Zhao, Shijie Song and Qinghua Zhu
The purpose of this paper is to explore how social value orientation and domain knowledge affect cooperation levels and transcription quality in crowdsourced manuscript…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how social value orientation and domain knowledge affect cooperation levels and transcription quality in crowdsourced manuscript transcription, and contribute to the recruitment of participants in such projects in practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a quasi-experiment using Transcribe-Sheng, which is a well-known crowdsourced manuscript transcription project in China, to investigate the influences of social value orientation and domain knowledge. The experiment lasted one month and involved 60 participants. ANOVA was used to test the research hypotheses. Moreover, inverviews and thematic analyses were conducted to analyze the qualitative data in order to provide additional insights.
Findings
The analysis confirmed that in crowdsourced manuscript transcription, social value orientation has a significant effect on participants’ cooperation level and transcription quality; domain knowledge has a significant effect on participants’ transcription quality, but not on their cooperation level. The results also reveal the interactive effect of social value orientation and domain knowledge on cooperation levels and quality of transcription. The analysis of the qualitative data illustrated the influences of social value orientation and domain knowledge on crowdsourced manuscript transcription in detail.
Originality/value
Researchers have paid little attention to the impacts of the psychological and cognitive factors on crowdsourced manuscript transcription. This study investigated the effect of social value orientation and the combined effect of social value orientation and domain knowledge in this context. The findings shed light on crowdsourcing transcription initiatives in the cultural heritage domain and can be used to facilitate participant selection in such projects.
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