Search results
1 – 10 of over 1000Chunyi Xian, Hessam Vali, Ruwen Tian, Jingjun David Xu and Mehmet Bayram Yildirim
The authors investigate the varying impact of three categories of conflicting consumer reviews (i.e. conflicting opinions on attributes of a product item, conflicting ratings of…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors investigate the varying impact of three categories of conflicting consumer reviews (i.e. conflicting opinions on attributes of a product item, conflicting ratings of an item and the intensity of conflicting reviews of an item) on the potential customers' perceived informativeness, which is expected to affect the perceived correct purchase.
Design/methodology/approach
To test their proposed hypotheses, the authors conducted an experiment using a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design for each conflict type comprising two levels (low vs high).
Findings
The results of this study found that conflicting opinions on product attributes can enhance potential customers' perceptions of informativeness and subsequent correct purchase decisions while conflicting ratings and the intensity of conflicting reviews can diminish potential customers' perceptions of informativeness. In addition, conflicting ratings negatively moderate the effect of conflicting attributes on perceived informativeness such that the positive effect of conflicting attributes on perceived informativeness will be less prominent when conflicting ratings are present (vs absent).
Originality/value
While potential customers are browsing product descriptions, reviews and comments from other purchasers are also playing a role in influencing a potential customer's purchase decision. However, given the different experiences and temperaments of individuals, the subjective remarks and ratings of individuals are sometimes inconsistent or even conflicting, which can lead to confusion among potential customers. The authors categorize the positive or negative effects of the three conflicting reviews based on the two dimensions of ease of capture and product diagnosticity. The findings can help platforms optimize the display of product reviews to help potential customers make more accurate purchase decisions.
Details
Keywords
Tiina Henttu-Aho, Janne T. Järvinen and Erkki M. Lassila
This paper empirically demonstrates the major organizational events of a rolling forecasting process and the roles of controllers therein. In particular, this study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper empirically demonstrates the major organizational events of a rolling forecasting process and the roles of controllers therein. In particular, this study aims to investigate how the understanding of a “realistic forecast” is translated and questioned by various mediators in the rolling forecasting process and how it affects the quality of planning as the ultimate accuracy of forecasts is seen as important.
Design/methodology/approach
This study follows an actor-network theory (ANT) approach and maps the key points of translation in the rolling forecasting process by inspecting the roles of mediators. This qualitative case study is based on interviews with controllers and managers involved in the forecasting process in a single manufacturing company.
Findings
The paper identified two episodes of translation in the forecasting process, in which the forecast partially stabilized to create room for managerial discussion and debate. The abilities of controllers to infiltrate various functional groups and calculative practices appeared to be one way to control the accuracy of forecasting, although this was built on a façade of neutrality.
Originality/value
Prior literature identifies the aims of interactive planning processes as being to improve the quality of planning. The authors apply ANT to better understand the nature of mediators in constructing an entity called a “realistic rolling forecast”.
Details
Keywords
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the success of activity-based costing (ABC) implementation by confirmatory factor analysis of ISO 9000 certified companies in Thailand.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the success of activity-based costing (ABC) implementation by confirmatory factor analysis of ISO 9000 certified companies in Thailand.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from key participants, accountant managers in ISO 9000 certified companies.
Findings
The study confirmed the six constructs for the sample of 102 key participants. The results indicated that ABC implementation success in the context of ISO 9000 certified companies in Thailand consists of upper-management support, ABC system training, non-accounting ownership, links to quality initiative, adequate resources, and links to performance evaluation.
Originality/value
The findings have significant implications for ISO 9000 certified companies which intend to adopt or implement ABC. Past findings on ABC implementation success have a small-sample size so they are of limited usefulness. This research has a larger sample size and more carefully chosen participants and so the generalizations are more acceptable.
Details
Keywords
Paulo Duarte, Susana C. Silva, Marcelo Augusto Linardi and Beatriz Novais
Self-service check-out technologies (SSTs) are becoming a trend across different retail settings, allowing companies to gain efficiency and reduce costs. Nevertheless, the success…
Abstract
Purpose
Self-service check-out technologies (SSTs) are becoming a trend across different retail settings, allowing companies to gain efficiency and reduce costs. Nevertheless, the success of SSTs implementation is still subject to challenges and uncertainties. This study aims to provide insights for theory and managers on the necessary conditions for the successful implementation of retail SSTs.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on an online survey, data from 251 participants were collected to understand the factors predicting SSTs adoption and realise what conditions are mandatory for the adoption. partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and necessary condition analysis (NCA) were used to analyse the data.
Findings
According to the NCA analysis results, 12 latent variables were relevant for predicting SSTs adoption, but only seven were necessary conditions for user adoption.
Originality/value
The complementarity of perspectives for understanding the adoption of SSTs based on the two data analysis techniques provides novel insights into theory and support for retailers' decision-making on self-service technologies (STTs) implementation.
Details
Keywords
Mobile location-based service (m-LBS) seems like a new class of personalized service due to location positioning technologies. This work aims to investigate consumer readiness…
Abstract
Purpose
Mobile location-based service (m-LBS) seems like a new class of personalized service due to location positioning technologies. This work aims to investigate consumer readiness (RED) toward m-LBS based on integrating pull effect- and push effect-related factors into the technology acceptance model (TAM).
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey collected data from 423 participants, and the research framework was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
The results divulge that consumer RED is determined by TAM antecedents, including usefulness (USE) and ease of use (EOU). EOU motivates USE in m-LBS. Regarding pull effect-related factors, absorptive capacity (ABC) is the strongest positive factor influencing consumer RED to use m-LBS, followed by technology willingness (TWI) and innovativeness (INN). Moreover, INN, trust (TRU) and perceived risk (RIS) significantly influence USE and EOU.
Originality/value
This work endeavors to explicate customer RED toward m-LBS by incorporating some meaningful pull effect-related dimensions (i.e. ABC, TWI and INN) and pushing effect-related dimensions (i.e. RIS) into crucial antecedents rooted in TAM. Thus, the findings assist practitioners in developing marketing strategies by boosting pull effects and controlling push effects on customer engagement in m-LBS.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to offer a response to expressions in the literature concerning the limitations of critical reflection, using Rancière’s exposition of the role of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer a response to expressions in the literature concerning the limitations of critical reflection, using Rancière’s exposition of the role of values and reasonableness to examine how forms of negotiated work-based learning can support learners’ pathways to impact in their organisation. The implications for work applied management in terms of enabling these employees to make an impact are considered.
Design/methodology/approach
Vignettes illuminate and articulate Rancière’s (1991, 2010) ideas, the vignettes constructed through events experienced and narrated, perhaps imagined, tutorial conversations, assignments and work practices. Such construction of “multiple layers of fiction and narrative imaginings” draws on Sparkes (2007, p. 522). They consider individuals’ negotiation of working practices using ideas developed during their studies, and personal and professional development prompted by unexpected insights into their capabilities, interests, and possible roles.
Findings
Negotiated work-based learning appears to offer the individual opportunity to take responsibility for action in his/her learning and in his/her workplace, but effect depends on several factors, and can be perceived in different ways. Students’ encounter with autonomy in their studies resonates with Rancière’s belief in equality. In the workplace (becoming “citizens” alongside “reasonable” individuals) their agency might, at best, lead to “reasonable moments”, as they encounter both negative and positive challenges of work applied management.
Practical implications
Successful utilisation of agency in learning prompts expectations of responsibility and equality in the workplace. Such equality can lead to diverse, unpredicted insights and consequent opportunities for changes in practice.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to utilise Ranciére’s ideas to offer a critical consideration of both learning provision and workplace practice. Consideration of his profound stance on individuals’ freedom and agency provides rich (but challenging) prompts for analysis of one’s own practice, and the potential for impact when the manager is “ignorant”.
Details
Keywords
Alexander Styhre and Sara Brorström
Drawing on the literature on professional ignorance, here defined in affirmative terms as the capacity to act regardless of the incompleteness of available information in…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the literature on professional ignorance, here defined in affirmative terms as the capacity to act regardless of the incompleteness of available information in organizations and professional communities, the article reports empirical material from an urban development project wherein policy makers' instructions are vague and, in certain domains, inconsistent with market conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
Urban development projects regularly include uncertainty and risk taking, and policy makers' stated objectives regarding project goals may be incomplete or merely signal a political ambition. In such situations, first-line project participants need to make decisions as if uncertainties regarding policy objectives are manageable and preferably minimal. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the proposition that professional ignorance is a key mechanism in incomplete or imperfect governance systems.
Findings
Project participants actively questioned policy but acted on the instructions just the same, which is indicative of how professional ignorance is supportive of governance system that relies on first-line market actors and agencies to implement also incomplete or vaguely stated policy objectives. Incomplete policies derive from challenges in political deliberation and bargaining processes, uncertainty regarding the future and shifting preferences among policy makers and constituencies more widely. In practice, incomplete policies regularly include issues for first-level actors (e.g. on the urban development project level) to handle and to reconcile in their day-to-day work.
Originality/value
On basis of an empirical study of a major urban development project, the study contributes to a growing literature that recognizes the value of professional ignorance in governance systems and in project management practice. The study invites further scholarly research that takes an affirmative of professional ignorance but without overlooking its risks and potential malfunctions.
Details
Keywords
Micheal James Mustafa, Claudia Vinsent and Siti Khadijah Zainal Badri
This study aims to explore the associations between emotional intelligence (EI), organizational justice (OJ) perceptions and work outcomes. The study proposes a model where EI is…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the associations between emotional intelligence (EI), organizational justice (OJ) perceptions and work outcomes. The study proposes a model where EI is linked to job satisfaction and turnover intentions through the three dimensions of organizational justice.
Design/methodology/approach
In all, 556 employees in the Malaysian service sector were used as samples for this study. Analysis was performed using SPSS and AMOS structural equation modelling (SEM) path analysis to test the study’s hypotheses.
Findings
Results indicate that EI had a significant direct effect on all organizational justice sub-dimensions (distributive, procedural and interactional justice) as well as on job satisfaction and turnover intentions. However, only distributive justice was found to partially mediate the relationship between EI, job satisfaction and turnover intentions.
Originality/value
This study provides further insights into the mechanisms through which trait EI impacts service sector employee workplace attitudes. It also investigates the role of trait EI in deciphering why employees may differ in their OJ perceptions and deepens understanding of the discrete roles that organizational justice sub-dimensions perform.
Details
Keywords
Emma Harriet Wood and Maarit Kinnunen
To explore the value in reminiscing about past festivals as a potential way of improving wellbeing in socially isolated times.
Abstract
Purpose
To explore the value in reminiscing about past festivals as a potential way of improving wellbeing in socially isolated times.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses previous research on reminiscence, nostalgia and wellbeing to underpin the analysis of self-recorded memory narratives. These were gathered from 13 pairs of festivalgoers during Covid-19 restrictions and included gathering their individual memories and their reminiscences together. The participant pairs were a mix of friends, family and couples who had visited festivals in the UK, Finland and Denmark.
Findings
Four key areas that emerged through the analysis were the emotions of nostalgia and anticipation, and the processes of reliving emotions and bonding through memories.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies could take a longitudinal approach to see how memory sharing evolves and the impact of this on wellbeing. The authors also recommend undertaking similar studies in other cultural settings.
Practical implications
This study findings have implications for both post-festival marketing and for the further development of reminiscence therapy interventions.
Originality/value
The method provides a window into memory sharing that has been little used in previous studies. The narratives confirm the value in sharing memories and the positive impact this has on wellbeing. They also illustrate that this happens through positive forms of nostalgia that centre on gratitude and lead to hope and optimism. Anticipation, not emphasised in other studies, was also found to be important in wellbeing and was triggered through looking back at happier times.
Details
Keywords
Maria Angela Butturi, Francesco Lolli and Rita Gamberini
This study presents the development of a supply chain (SC) observatory, which is a benchmarking solution to support companies within the same industry in understanding their…
Abstract
Purpose
This study presents the development of a supply chain (SC) observatory, which is a benchmarking solution to support companies within the same industry in understanding their positioning in terms of SC performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study is used to demonstrate the set-up of the observatory. Twelve experts on automatic equipment for the wrapping and packaging industry were asked to select a set of performance criteria taken from the literature and evaluate their importance for the chosen industry using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques. To handle the high number of criteria without requiring a high amount of time-consuming effort from decision-makers (DMs), five subjective, parsimonious methods for criteria weighting are applied and compared.
Findings
A benchmarking methodology is presented and discussed, aimed at DMs in the considered industry. Ten companies were ranked with regard to SC performance. The ranking solution of the companies was on average robust since the general structure of the ranking was very similar for all five weighting methodologies, though simplified-analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was the method with the greatest ability to discriminate between the criteria of importance and was considered faster to carry out and more quickly understood by the decision-makers.
Originality/value
Developing an SC observatory usually requires managing a large number of alternatives and criteria. The developed methodology uses parsimonious weighting methods, providing DMs with an easy-to-use and time-saving tool. A future research step will be to complete the methodology by defining the minimum variation required for one or more criteria to reach a specific position in the ranking through the implementation of a post-fact analysis.
Details