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1 – 10 of over 99000Jonas Holmqvist, Duncan Guest and Christian Grönroos
The field of service research has devoted considerable attention to the customer’s role as value creator, but there is a lack of research on understanding customers’ psychological…
Abstract
Purpose
The field of service research has devoted considerable attention to the customer’s role as value creator, but there is a lack of research on understanding customers’ psychological processes in value creation. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of psychological distance in value-creation processes. Psychological distance is the customer’s perceived distance from service interactions in terms of spatial distance, temporal distance, social distance and hypothetical distance. Critically, psychological distance influences cognitive processes and can influence how customers think and feel about the service interaction. An appreciation of psychological distance within service contexts can help managers to tailor the interaction in order to facilitate value creation.
Design/methodology/approach
In this conceptual paper, the authors build on psychology research and service research to develop seven propositions that explore how psychological distance can operate within service interactions and how this might influence value creation.
Findings
The authors divide the propositions into three sections. The first concerns how perceived psychological distance from the service interaction can act as a barrier to entering a service interaction. In particular, the authors consider the influence of social distance and spatial distance within the context of service interactions. The second section examines how psychological distance to the expected point of service use can influence how customers construe the service and the value creation. The third aspect addresses customer-specific characteristics that can impact on value creation by influencing perceived psychological distance toward the service.
Research limitations/implications
Existing research suggests that customers ultimately decide if value is created in the interaction. This paper proposes that perceived psychological distance influences customers’ value creation by examining the service interaction from the customer perspective. The authors suggest that complex context-specific features of the service interaction can be understood by considering psychological distance from the service interaction and from the service itself and evaluating how this impacts on value-creation processes.
Practical implications
From a practical point of view, the paper helps managers to better understand how to manage the service interaction with customers by identifying psychological antecedents of customer value creation.
Originality/value
The paper introduces the notion of psychological distance into service research about value, proposing that the customer’s role in creating value in interactions with the service provider is influenced by the psychological distance to the interaction and to the service offered in this interaction.
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Various research studies in the past have found biological gender to be a differentiator for money attitudes. However, the beliefs and attitudes that people have towards money can…
Abstract
Purpose
Various research studies in the past have found biological gender to be a differentiator for money attitudes. However, the beliefs and attitudes that people have towards money can also be the result of the gender socialisation, which may have a greater impact on how one relates to money. Since, gender is an important aspect for understanding financial choices and decisions, it becomes pertinent to learn as to which aspect of gender, the biological or the psychological, impact the money attitudes and beliefs that a person holds. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This empirical work attempts to understand gender differences in money attitudes from the biological gender and psychological gender perspective. The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and Tang's money ethic scale (MES) were used for this study. The hypotheses raised were tested on a sample of 224 respondents from India.
Findings
The results suggested that money attitudes can be better understood when seen from the lens of psychological gender and not biological gender. Further, androgyny individuals were found to exhibit more balance in their money attitude dimensions than masculine or feminine individuals.
Originality/value
Belief and attitudes towards money would impact how contented people are with the compensation they receive, their financial planning choices and also their financial well-being. This insightful study adds to the scant literature that exists on understanding money attitudes from psychological gender perspective and would pave the way for more work in this area.
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Josephine Benson and Michael Brennan
The purpose of this paper is to explore keyworkers’ experience and perceptions working with people experiencing homelessness and the use of psychologically informed approaches in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore keyworkers’ experience and perceptions working with people experiencing homelessness and the use of psychologically informed approaches in an Irish context.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper a qualitative descriptive methodology was employed and face-to-face in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data collected were analysed using a thematic framework and transcribed by the researcher.
Findings
It was the view of the keyworkers psychological approaches allowed them greater understanding of psychological trauma and its effects promotes safe physical and emotional environments builds rapport between staff and clients and enables keyworkers to work more effectively with people with complex needs. There was also convincing evidence staff are quite receptive to training.
Originality/value
Given there is no research exploring the use of psychologically informed approaches in homelessness service settings, this study researched an area that has not yet been explored in Ireland. This qualitative descriptive research provides a platform from which further research can be conducted. It is hoped that highlighting the psychological issues of homeless people, the data obtained will help improve Irish homeless services, and the findings extracted beneficial in terms of future service developments, professional training and education.
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Mousumi Saha and Saptarshi Ghosh
The extraction of relevant knowledge from data is called knowledge discovery (KD). The KD process requires a large amount of data and it must be reliable before mining. Complexity…
Abstract
Purpose
The extraction of relevant knowledge from data is called knowledge discovery (KD). The KD process requires a large amount of data and it must be reliable before mining. Complexity is not only in deriving knowledge from data but also in improving system performance with a psycho-cognitive approach. KD demands a high level of human cognition and mental activity to generate and retrieve knowledge. Therefore, this study aims to explain how psychological knowledge is involved in KD.
Design/methodology/approach
By understanding the cognitive processes that lead to knowledge production, KD can be improved through interventions that target psychological processes, such as attention, learning and memory. In addition, psycho-cognitive approaches can help us to better grasp the process of KD and the factors that influence its effectiveness. The study attempted to correlate interdependence by interpreting cognitive approaches to KD from a psychological perspective. The authors of this paper draw on both primary and secondary literary warrants to empirically prove psychological bending in KD.
Findings
Understanding the psychological aspects of data and KD can identify the development of tools, process and environments that support individual and teams in making sense of data and extracting valuable knowledge. The study also finds that interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together expertise in psychology, data science and domain specific knowledge fosters effective KD processes.
Originality/value
The KD system cannot function well and will not be able to achieve its full potential without psycho-cognitive foundation. It was found that KD in the KD system is influenced by human cognition. The authors made a contribution to KD by fusing psycho-cognitive approaches with data-driven technology and machine learning.
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Becoming a mother is a significant transition in adult development. For women who wanted to have children but found themselves unable to do so, life without the fulfilment of…
Abstract
Becoming a mother is a significant transition in adult development. For women who wanted to have children but found themselves unable to do so, life without the fulfilment of motherhood can affect meaning-making in everyday life. Although increasing numbers of studies concerning childlessness have been carried out, much of this research has tended to focus on infertility and issues around fertility treatments. Little is known, however, about the psychological impact childlessness can have on women in midlife and how they experience the absence of children. The aim of this chapter is to offer readers an overview of psychological understanding in current research trends by reviewing papers that focus on women in midlife who are involuntarily childless. Findings from the 40 most relevant papers will be discussed under one of four key features: (1) psychological distress: medical consequences of infertility, (2) childlessness: life-span perspectives, (3) involuntary childlessness: psychosocial perspectives and (4) coping: ways of building resilience. The findings point to the dominance of quantitative approaches in researching infertility, while confirming that little has been carried out that looks at lived experience of involuntary childlessness. I hope the findings shown here will point to the necessity of psychological research applying qualitative experiential approaches that can facilitate a deeper understanding of women facing this challenge.
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Mousumi Bose and Lei Ye
Extant consumer behavior research has alluded to consumer learning; however, little research exists regarding situated learning and its relation to coping with respect to…
Abstract
Purpose
Extant consumer behavior research has alluded to consumer learning; however, little research exists regarding situated learning and its relation to coping with respect to stressful consumption experiences. The purpose of this research is to study situated or in situ learning in two cultural contexts – that of the USA and China.
Design/methodology/approach
Online data were collected from non-students in both the USA and China, and structural equations modeling was used to analyze data.
Findings
Results demonstrated that situated learning helped cope better with stressful episodes for both cultures. Psychological closeness to the problem mediated the relationship between the antecedents and situated learning for US consumers more than for Chinese consumers.
Research limitations/implications
Since US consumers tend to be psychologically close to the stressor during the consumption process, firms should preemptively inform and educate them about potential stressors to help them learn and cope. However, as Chinese consumers tend not to be psychologically close to the problem, they need to be dealt differently.
Originality/value
This research provides a holistic view of situated learning and coping as a process involving consumers, firms and situations and examines their underlying factors in stressful consumption encounters. It establishes the mediating role of psychological closeness between antecedents and consumers’ situated learning and explores the differences of psychological closeness in two different cultures, that of the USA and China.
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Torbjörn Ljungkvist and Börje Boers
The purpose of this paper is to understand the change of the founder’s psychological ownership when s/he sells the business and its implications for the organization’s strategy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the change of the founder’s psychological ownership when s/he sells the business and its implications for the organization’s strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
The study contributes with a longitudinal study of psychological ownership, accounting for its development over time in a Swedish e-commerce company. By applying a case study methodology, conclusions are drawn from a vast amount of archival data and interviews. The empirical material covers the transition from a founder-run, family-owned to a first foreign-owned, and currently private-equity owned company.
Findings
Theoretically, it extends understandings of psychological ownership and its strategic implications by including former legal owners; that is, how psychological ownership changes after legal ownership ceases. Thereby, it develops the individual dimension (founder and former owner) of psychological ownership as well as its collective dimension (employees toward founder). The paper contributes to the psychological ownership founder and exit-literatures by highlighting continuity after the formal sale of legal ownership and its consequences for the organization.
Practical implications
It finds that new legal owners can use this heritage to signal continuity and launch strategic changes by transforming it into artifacts.
Originality/value
This study extends the understanding of development of psychological ownership of founders from foundation to exit and its consequences for the organization’s strategy. This extension sheds new light on founders as artifacts of organizations and thereby their role for the organizational heritage.
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Amitabh Bhattcharjee, Shreyashi Chakraborty and Varun Elembilassery
Enforced work-from-home (EWFH) was the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be implemented by many organizations owing to its long-term financial benefits. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Enforced work-from-home (EWFH) was the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be implemented by many organizations owing to its long-term financial benefits. This study aims to understand the consequences of EWFH on the three psychological conditions of employee engagement: psychological safety, psychological availability and psychological meaningfulness.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 employees from different Indian companies. Thematic analysis was adopted to understand the consequences of EWFH on employee psychological safety, availability and meaningfulness.
Findings
The findings demonstrated that psychological meaningfulness, availability and safety were adversely impacted owing to limited choice and autonomy in EWFH.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the literature by examining the concept of EWFH in relation to psychological conditions, which is novel and relevant. Also, the job demands and resources framework and the COR theory are used together to explain the findings, which strengthens the concept of EWFH.
Practical implications
Organizations should consider various aspects of EWFH and make decisions to improve employees’ engagement at work.
Originality/value
This study focuses on an unexplored area and facilitates a better understanding of the concept of EWFH and its impact on employees’ psychological conditions. This study is valuable for both management professionals and organizations considering the continuation of EWFH after the pandemic. It also offers new avenues for future research.
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Thomas Andersson, Nomie Eriksson and Tomas Müllern
The purpose of the article is to analyze how physicians and nurses, as the two major health care professions, experience psychological empowerment for managerial work.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the article is to analyze how physicians and nurses, as the two major health care professions, experience psychological empowerment for managerial work.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was designed as a qualitative interview study at four primary care centers (PCCs) in Sweden. In total, 47 interviews were conducted, mainly with physicians and nurses. The first inductive analysis led us to the concept of psychological empowerment, which was used in the next deductive step of the analysis.
Findings
The study showed that both professions experienced self-determination for managerial work, but that nurses were more dependent on structural empowerment. Nurses experienced that they had competence for managerial work, whereas physicians were more ignorant of such competence. Nurses used managerial work to create impact on the conditions for their clinical work, whereas physicians experienced impact independently. Both nurses and physicians experienced managerial work as meaningful, but less meaningful than nurses and physicians' clinical work.
Practical implications
For an effective health care system, structural changes in terms of positions, roles, and responsibilities can be an important route for especially nurses' psychological empowerment.
Originality/value
The qualitative method provided a complementary understanding of psychological empowerment on how psychological empowerment interacted with other factors. One such aspect was nurses' higher dependence on structural empowerment, but the most important aspect was that both physicians and nurses experienced that managerial work was less meaningful than clinical work. This implies that psychological empowerment for managerial work may only make a difference if psychological empowerment does not compete with physicians' and nurses' clinical work.
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Despite extensive research into psychologically‐based issues in the workplace, in practice there remain a confusion and lack of knowledge about psychology and psychological issues…
Abstract
Despite extensive research into psychologically‐based issues in the workplace, in practice there remain a confusion and lack of knowledge about psychology and psychological issues in manager/organisation development. This article explores areas in which psychological processes affect the day‐to‐day lives of people in organisations, such as the use of psychological knowledge to understand and deal with people issues in the workplace, manager development as psychological development, creating a psychologically healthy work environment, and finally, exploration of a psychological process that is associated with personal/professional change and development. It is proposed that the psychodynamic process of mirroring as an essential component in children’s personality development remains essential in the maintenance and development of an adult’s identity. While this process occurs naturally, it can be acknowledged and used by organisations in a conscious way to provide developmental experiences and opportunities for their employees.
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