Search results
1 – 10 of over 11000There is a global convergence on issues pertaining to sustainability, such as water sharing, energy security and waste management. Symbiosis focus the need to secure an enduring…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a global convergence on issues pertaining to sustainability, such as water sharing, energy security and waste management. Symbiosis focus the need to secure an enduring relationship satisfying the quality of life need for novelty aspirations of the customers and stakeholders. This is addressed as sustainable differentiation. This study aims: to understand the need to develop the symbiosis of sustainable development and sustainable differentiation, to analyze the research framework of sustainability symbiosis though the underlying attributes of: need to develop, need to innovate and need to differentiate.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design conceptualizes sustainable development as a process or evolution where firms may be symbiotically configured on the attributes of sustainability, development and differentiation. The logit analysis methodology addresses competitiveness coupled with environmentally benign technology to sustain the customers' preference for products and services that satisfy their quality of life needs. The approach is to estimate the symbiotic index of a local, regional or globally scalable habitat. The competitiveness coupled with environmentally benign technology can be sustained when the customers' preference for products and services satisfies their quality of life needs.
Findings
The output indicates the significance (0.037 at 95 percent confidence level) of the constant term representing “quality of life need for novelty†justifying symbiotic linkage of sustainability, development and differentiation. There is goodness of fit (α 0.5617, Wald statistic 0.093) to establish the significance of the three variables of GDP (representing intensity of eco-efficient technology), population (standing for intensity of competitiveness) and sustaining empathy (in response to climate change). Their statistical significance indicates the propensity to differentiation given sustainable development would substantively improve the overall construct.
Research limitations/implications
There is need for further research with primary data. The assumption that sustainable differentiation may become an indicator variable that may assume binary form needs thorough justification. The key implication is that differentiation creates grassroots distinctiveness to development that transforms sustainability into opportunity. This cost to benefit gap is bridged through the symbiotic chain of sustainability, development and differentiation.
Originality/value
This sustainable differentiation metric harnesses a dormant, yet fundamental key to the success of sustainable development, the emotive linkage. This explanatory variable adds robustness to sustainable development models by way of etching a long-term memory trace for the sustainability practices of the organization as well as innovation efforts to differentiate long term providing an essence of competitiveness.
Details
Keywords
Xuan Van Tran and Arch G. Woodside
People have unconscious motives which affects their decision-making and associated behavior. The paper describes a study using thematic apperception test (TAT) to measure how…
Abstract
People have unconscious motives which affects their decision-making and associated behavior. The paper describes a study using thematic apperception test (TAT) to measure how unconscious motives influence travelers' interpretations and preferences toward alternative tours and hotels. Using the TAT, the present study explores the relationships between three unconscious needs: (1) achievement, (2) affiliation, and (3) power and preferences for four package tours (adventure, culture, business, and escape tours) and for seven hotel identities (quality, familiarity, location, price, friendliness, food and beverage, and cleanliness and aesthetics). The present study conducts canonical correlation analyses to examine the relationships between unconscious needs and preferences for package tours and hotel identities using data from 467 university students. The study scores 2,438 stories according to the TAT manual to identify unconscious needs. The findings indicate that (1) people with a high need for affiliation prefer an experience based on cultural values and hotels that are conveniently located, (2) individuals with a high need for power indicate a preference for high prices and good value for their money, and (3) people with a high need for achievement prefer a travel experience with adventure as a motivation. The study findings are consistent with previous research of McClelland (1990), Wilson (2002), and Woodside et al. (2008) in exploring impacts of the unconscious levels of human need.
Paula Rodrigues, Ana Brochado, Ana Sousa, Ana Pinto Borges and Isabel Barbosa
This study aims, first, to understand consumers’ perception of chefs as human brands (i.e. study one). Second, tests were run to assess the validity of a new conceptual model of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims, first, to understand consumers’ perception of chefs as human brands (i.e. study one). Second, tests were run to assess the validity of a new conceptual model of the relationships between the factors of chef image, luxury restaurant image, both images’ congruity and consumers’ hedonic and novelty experiences and happiness and well-being (i.e. study two).
Design/methodology/approach
The first qualitative study involved using Leximancer software to analyse the data drawn from 43 interviews with luxury restaurant clients. In the second quantitative study, 993 valid survey questionnaires were collected, and the proposed model was tested using structural equation modelling.
Findings
The results reveal that consumers perceive chefs as human brands and the associated narratives include both performance- and popularity-based characteristics. The findings support the conclusion that individuals give great importance to chefs’ image and the congruence between chefs and their restaurant’s image. In addition, luxury restaurant image only affects novelty experiences, and both hedonic and novelty experiences have a positive effect on customers’ happiness and well-being.
Research limitations/implications
This research focused on Portuguese luxury restaurants. The consumers’ happiness and well-being needs to be replaced by other outcomes to confirm if the model produces consistent results.
Practical implications
The results should help luxury restaurant managers understand more fully which pull factors are valued by their clients and which aspects contribute the most to their pleasure and welfare.
Originality/value
This study adds to the extant literature by exploring consumers’ perceptions of chefs as human brands and the role these chefs’ image play in customers’ luxury restaurant experiences and perceived happiness and well-being.
Details
Keywords
Irina Farquhar and Alan Sorkin
This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative…
Abstract
This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative information technology open architecture design and integrating Radio Frequency Identification Device data technologies and real-time optimization and control mechanisms as the critical technology components of the solution. The innovative information technology, which pursues the focused logistics, will be deployed in 36 months at the estimated cost of $568 million in constant dollars. We estimate that the Systems, Applications, Products (SAP)-based enterprise integration solution that the Army currently pursues will cost another $1.5 billion through the year 2014; however, it is unlikely to deliver the intended technical capabilities.
Matthew S. Bothner, Frédéric Godart, Noah Askin and Wonjae Lee
Status constitutes a core research concept across the social sciences. However, its definition is still contested, and questions persist about its consequences. We begin with a…
Abstract
Status constitutes a core research concept across the social sciences. However, its definition is still contested, and questions persist about its consequences. We begin with a flexible, provisional definition: status is a relational asset possessed by social actors insofar as they are highly regarded by highly regarded others. Using this definition as a backdrop, we develop a fourfold typology based on how status is used as an asset and from where it is derived. The typology allows us to explore the implications of considering status as either a quality signal or a good and of viewing status-conferring ties as either deference-based or dominance-based. We then consider the implications of our framework for the generation of novelty. Although status has been connected to many social and economic outcomes, because of competing predictions in the literature – the generation of novelty has been linked to all regions of the status distribution – we sketch intuitions for future research on the status–novelty linkage. We also work toward greater conceptual clarity by comparing and contrasting status with selected related concepts: quality, reputation, and legitimacy. We conclude with considerations for future research, including cautionary remarks regarding network-analytic measurement in light of the definition we propose.
Details
Keywords
Pawan Budhwar, Andy Crane, Annette Davies, Rick Delbridge, Tim Edwards, Mahmoud Ezzamel, Lloyd Harris, Emmanuel Ogbonna and Robyn Thomas
Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce  
Abstract
Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.
Details
Keywords
Abderrahim Benlahcene, Amrita Kaur and Rosna Awang-Hashim
The purpose of this paper is to examine the associations between students' basic psychological needs satisfaction, including novelty satisfaction, and the four aspects of student…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the associations between students' basic psychological needs satisfaction, including novelty satisfaction, and the four aspects of student engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a total sample of 743 undergraduate students from three public universities in northern Malaysia. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data.
Findings
Competence and relatedness were positively related to the four aspects of student engagement, while autonomy satisfaction was found to relate to agentic engagement. Novelty satisfaction, on the other hand, is related positively with behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement.
Research limitations/implications
The results provide a new understanding on the importance of novelty satisfaction alongside existing needs in self-determination theory (SDT) in enhancing student engagement.
Practical implications
Educators are encouraged to develop strategies to provide novelty support and facilitate students' basic needs satisfaction in order to establish a motivational learning environment that vitalises students' engagement.
Originality/value
This study breaks new ground by testing the unique relationships of novelty satisfaction along with the psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, with the four aspects of student engagement in higher education.
Details
Keywords
The essential investments in new product development (NPD) made by industrial companies entail effective management of NPD activities. In this context, performance measurement is…
Abstract
The essential investments in new product development (NPD) made by industrial companies entail effective management of NPD activities. In this context, performance measurement is one of the means that can be employed in the pursuit of effectiveness.