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1 – 10 of over 9000This study aims to explain the effects of different types of innovations on organizational performance in terms of firms’ external effectiveness and internal efficiency. The study…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explain the effects of different types of innovations on organizational performance in terms of firms’ external effectiveness and internal efficiency. The study examines the interrelationship of technical and nontechnical innovations in complex services and the mediating effect of customer participation on the relationship between innovation type and organizational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on a neo-Schumpeterian model for innovation to examine the complex service setting of healthcare provision. Data from Statistics Sweden, containing 38 hospitals and 242 primary care units in Sweden, provided the study's results.
Findings
The findings show the importance of combining different types of innovations in complex services, demonstrating a mediating effect of nontechnical innovation on both the relationship between technical innovations and external effectiveness and internal efficiency. Moreover, the results show that customer participation has a positive mediating effect for technical innovation and nontechnical innovation on external effectiveness. However, there is no such significant effect on internal efficiency.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are based on self-assessment data, which has inherent limitations. The innovation data used were cross-sectional, which may lack reliability (although self-assessed data counter this risk to some extent).
Practical implications
Managers should pursue both technical and nontechnical innovations for gains in external effectiveness and internal efficiency. However, complex services call for technical innovations to be accompanied by nontechnical innovations to support positive effects. The results cause a dilemma for managing customer participation in complex services. As the results show customer participation resulting in external effectiveness, they also fail to establish an effect on internal efficiency.
Originality/value
The primary contribution is to add to the knowledge of different types of innovation in complex services by demonstrating their interdependent effects on both external effectiveness and internal efficiency. Furthermore, the study tests and advances the mediating effect of customer participation in complex services on organizational performance.
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Kay Naumann, Jana Bowden and Mark Gabbott
The purpose of this study is to operationalise and measure the effects of negative customer engagement (CE) in conjunction with positive CE. Both valences are explored through…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to operationalise and measure the effects of negative customer engagement (CE) in conjunction with positive CE. Both valences are explored through affective, cognitive and behaviour dimensions, and, in relation to the antecedent of involvement and outcome of word-of-mouth (WOM). It also explores the moderating influence of service context by examining engagement within a social service versus a social networking site (SNS). Engagement with the dual focal objects of a service brand and a service community are also examined.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modelling is used to analyse 625 survey responses.
Findings
Involvement is a strong driver of positive CE, and positive CE has a strong effect on WOM. These findings are consistent across the “brand” and “community” object, suggesting positive CE is mutually reinforced by different objects in a relationship. Positive CE is also found to operate consistently across the service types. Involvement is a moderately negative driver of negative CE, and negative CE is a positive driver of WOM. These relationships operate differently across the objects and service types. Involvement has a stronger inverse effect on negative CE for the social service, diverging from assumptions that negative CE is reflective of highly involved customers. Interestingly, negative CE has a stronger effect on WOM in the social service, highlighting the active and vocal nature of customers within this service context.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to quantitatively measure positive and negative valences of engagement concurrently, and examine the moderating effect of dual objects across contrasting service types.
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Isabel Sánchez García and Rafael Curras-Perez
The purpose of this paper is to study the drivers of service provider switching intention other than satisfaction and, additionally, analyse the moderating role of the type of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the drivers of service provider switching intention other than satisfaction and, additionally, analyse the moderating role of the type of service (utilitarian vs hedonic). Specifically, the authors study the effects of alternative attractiveness, post-purchase regret, anticipated regret and past switching behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
A representative survey with 800 consumers of mobile phone services (utilitarian) and holiday destinations (hedonic) was carried out.
Findings
Satisfaction is not a significant antecedent of switching intention in the hedonic service and its effect is marginal in the utilitarian service. In the utilitarian service, the main predictor of switching intention is post-purchase regret, whereas in the hedonic service, the main determinants of switching intention are past switching behaviour and anticipated regret.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this study is the analysis of the determinants of provider switching behaviour that may explain abandonment by satisfied customers, to see if their influence is greater or smaller than that of satisfaction itself, which has been the most analysed variable. Furthermore, there are expected to be differences between utilitarian and hedonic services, an aspect which is also studied in this work.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of Indonesia’s public service innovation drawn from the top 99 nominees of the national competition for public…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of Indonesia’s public service innovation drawn from the top 99 nominees of the national competition for public service innovation from 2014 to 2016.
Design/methodology/approach
To answer the research question, this study applied archival research as a research strategy. A documentation method was conducted to collect the data. Using content analysis aided by NVivo 11 this study analyzes the following themes: implementing agencies, innovation types, innovation goals, innovation outcomes, policy sector in which innovation implemented and geographical perspective.
Findings
The public service innovation in Indonesia from 2014 to 2016 were dominated by local government and process innovation in which designates to the amalgamation of technological and administrative dimensions of innovation. The most occurrence outcomes were aimed to tackling societal problems in the health and education sector. Whilst in the geographical perspective, big portion of innovation were taking place in Java Island.
Research limitations/implications
The result of this study is mainly based on secondary data drawing from public service innovation competition held by the Indonesian Ministry of Administrative Reform. Consequently, the result is limited to provide a mapping feature and trends of innovation. Future research may use more extensive samples (not only sourced from the nominees but also all submitted initiatives) to obtain more representation of public service innovation in Indonesia.
Practical implications
Given the fact that lack of collaboration between public and private actors, the government needs to consider on designing strategies and policy direction to foster collaboration in public service innovation.
Originality/value
This research offers a comprehensive analysis on Indonesian public service innovation. Methodologically, the research introduces archival research as one of the alternative research strategies on public sector innovation scholarships.
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Binyue Kang, Qiuyu Shao, Hengkang Xu, Fengyan Jiang, Xiaoting Wei and Xinqing Shao
Grassland in Qinghai as the main type of ecosystem in this region is located in arid and semi-arid areas. The ecosystem is fragile and sensitive to climate change. Grassland…
Abstract
Purpose
Grassland in Qinghai as the main type of ecosystem in this region is located in arid and semi-arid areas. The ecosystem is fragile and sensitive to climate change. Grassland ecosystem not only provides essential ecological and life functions for human society but also plays a vital role in mitigating and adapting to climate change. The empirical literature on grassland ecosystem services value (ESV) does not consider the impact of climate change and regional economic development level factors, which prevents policymakers from making appropriate decisions. This paper aims to analyze the influencing factors of grassland ESV assessment, and, based on the meta-prediction model, account the grassland ESV in Qinghai province.
Design/methodology/approach
To understand the value of grassland ecosystem services in China under climate change, this paper used 61 research literature on the evaluation of grassland ESV in China, including a total of 564 value observations to establish a value transfer database. Based on the meta-analysis method, this study has constructed a value transfer model, to evaluate the grassland ESV in Qinghai province, and an interpretation model, which can analyze if the independent variables affect the grassland ESV significantly.
Findings
The study finds that the evaluation methods, types of ecosystem service functions, climate change and grassland types can affect the grassland ESV significantly. Based on the meta-regression prediction model to evaluate the grassland ESV in Qinghai is US$1,542.67/ha/year. It indicates several targeted approaches to increase the grassland ESV, and climate change also has a specific impact on the value of grassland ecosystem services.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides a scientific basis for grassland management related to the development of grasslands and ecological compensation, as well as promote the sustainable development of grassland ecosystems.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the field of grassland ESV assessment in at least three aspects; first, it innovatively introduces the meta-analysis to carry out an integrated analysis of previous research results; second, it includes a broader set of influence variables in the analysis, including meteorological and economic factors; and third, it establishes a methodological basis for the field of grassland ESV accounting.
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Rana Muhammad Umar and Salman Saleem
Employees' emotional competence (EEC) is gaining increasing attention in service failure and recovery research. This study investigates the mediating role of consumer forgiveness…
Abstract
Purpose
Employees' emotional competence (EEC) is gaining increasing attention in service failure and recovery research. This study investigates the mediating role of consumer forgiveness between perceived EEC and recovery satisfaction among casual dining consumers. Additionally, this study examines the effect of perceived EEC on recovery satisfaction across process failure vs outcome failure.
Design/methodology/approach
A critical incident technique (CIT) in conjunction with a self-administered online survey was carried out. Using the snowball sampling technique, a total of 204 useable responses were collected. To test the hypotheses, this study used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
The study finds that perceived EEC influences service recovery satisfaction. Additionally, the study identifies the mediating role of consumer forgiveness in the relationship between perceived EEC and recovery satisfaction. Multi-group moderation analysis shows that the relationship between perceived EEC and recovery satisfaction is weaker in process failures as compared to outcome failures.
Practical implications
Based on obtained results, this study recommends that after service failure consumer forgiveness and subsequent recovery satisfaction can be obtained with perceived EEC. To do so, managers need to incorporate emotional competence while recruiting and training the employees. Moreover, managers need to train employees on failure types and respective recovery strategies. Lastly, the study suggests that in emerging markets managers should pay greater emphasis on process failure, because such failure decreases customer satisfaction greatly than outcome failure.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the impact of perceived EEC on consumer forgiveness which subsequently determines the recovery satisfaction in the emerging markets. It extends the application of the emotional contagion and affect infusion theories by exposing the effect of perceived EEC on recovery satisfaction through consumer forgiveness. In addition, the study provides insights that the influence of perceived ECC on recovery satisfaction significantly varies across service failure types.
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Robbert-Jan van der Burg, Kees Ahaus, Hans Wortmann and George B. Huitema
Technological developments and new customer expectations of immediacy have driven businesses to adopt on-demand service models. The purpose of this paper is to study the…
Abstract
Purpose
Technological developments and new customer expectations of immediacy have driven businesses to adopt on-demand service models. The purpose of this paper is to study the characteristics of a range of on-demand services in order to better understand the meaning of “on-demand” and its implications for service management. This enables the on-demand service logic to be applied to other service contexts, where it may add value for customers.
Design/methodology/approach
The study starts with a focused literature review and continues with a multiple case study methodology, as the on-demand service concept is in the early stages of theory development. Seven cases were studied, based on a maximum variation sampling strategy.
Findings
The results show that on-demand services are characterized by three interrelated characteristics: being highly available, responsive and scalable. Analysis further reveals that on-demand services display differences within the conceptual boundaries of these characteristics, i.e. they vary in terms of their availability, responsiveness and scalability.
Originality/value
Drawing on these findings, the study contributes to the service literature by being the first to specifically conceptualize and define the on-demand services concept and reveal three key characteristics that clarify the distinctive nature of this service type. Accordingly, on-demand services are clearly differentiated from other services. Additionally, the paper discusses the variety within on-demand services and develops an on-demand service continuum that gives detailed insights into the conceptual variations within such services.
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Congjing Ran, Kai Song and Le Yang
There is no proposed solution to address the unresolved issues of constructing the Chinese university intellectual property information service system (IPISS) to promote the whole…
Abstract
Purpose
There is no proposed solution to address the unresolved issues of constructing the Chinese university intellectual property information service system (IPISS) to promote the whole process service efficiency of IP creation, utilization, protection and management. The purpose of this paper is to propose a complete system, including theoretical framework and system development which addresses the existing difficulties to IP create, protect and transfer for researchers in universities. The paper shares the practice of utilizing the system developed by Wuhan University IP research team known as Wuhan University Intellectual Property Information Service System (WHU-IPISS).
Design/methodology/approach
First, the IPISS of 23 universities in China was investigated on the internet. Aiming at the deficiencies of the system, such as single service type, lack of patent display window, low management efficiency. This paper constructs the theoretical framework, proposes the IP ecological chain model, divides it into four sub-chains and carries on the functional design. Further, under the theoretical framework, the IPISS was developed, including the resource supply management system, user demand matching system, resource assessment system and expert support system. Finally, the system was applied to Wuhan University to provide IP services in the whole process for university researchers.
Findings
WHU-IPISS realizes the functions of IP resource supply, demand matching, value evaluation and expert support. It solves the IP needs of university researchers and provides a guarantee for their technology research, patent portfolio, patent transfer and patent rights protection. It also improves the efficiency of IP service and can construct the IP ecosphere in universities.
Originality/value
The WHU-IPISS solution resolves issues of “How to develop the university IP whole process service model, fulfilling the IP service needs for universities' researchers”. The software will be released as open-source for other universities' use. The publishing model is also useful for those universities that intend to implement the IPISS.
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Stanley Frederick W.T. Lim and Jagjit Singh Srai
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interplay between configuration dimensions (network structure, network flow, relationship governance, and service architecture) of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interplay between configuration dimensions (network structure, network flow, relationship governance, and service architecture) of last-mile supply networks (LMSN) and the underlying mechanisms influencing omnichannel performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on mixed-method design incorporating a multiple embedded case study, mapping, survey, and archival records, this research involved undertaking in-depth within- and cross-case analyses to examine seven LMSNs, employing a configuration approach.
Findings
The existing literature in the operations management (OM) field was shown to provide limited understanding of LMSNs within the emerging omnichannel context. Case results suggest that particular configurations have intrinsic capabilities, and that these directly influence omnichannel performance. The study further proposes a taxonomy of LMSNs comprising six forms, with two hybrids, supporting the notion of equifinality in configuration theory. Propositions are developed to further explore interdependencies between configurational attributes, refining the relationship between LMSN types, and factors influencing omnichannel performance.
Practical implications
The findings provide retailers with a set of design parameters for the (re)configuration of LMSNs and facilitate performance evaluation using the concept of fit between configurational attributes. The developed model sheds light on the consequential effects when certain configurational attributes are altered, preempting managerial attention. Given the global trend in urbanization, improved LMSN performance would have positive societal impacts in terms of service and resource efficiency.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies in the OM field to critically analyze LMSNs and their behaviors in omnichannel retailing. Additionally, the paper offers several important avenues for future research.
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Sarah Amsl, Iain Watson, Christoph Teller and Steve Wood
Inaccurate product information on retail websites lead to dissatisfied customers and profit losses. Yet, the effects of product information failures (PIFs) remain under-explored…
Abstract
Purpose
Inaccurate product information on retail websites lead to dissatisfied customers and profit losses. Yet, the effects of product information failures (PIFs) remain under-explored, with the mobile commerce channel commonly overlooked. This paper aims (1) to investigate the negative effects of PIFs on shoppers' attitudes and behaviours in a mobile context. The authors further (2) evaluate the impacts of the cause and duration of a PIF, changes of expectations towards the retailer after a PIF occurred and how previous mobile shopping experience in general decreases the effects of PIFs.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a scenario-based experiment with a one-factorial between-subjects design. The six most common PIFs of an international leading online fashion retailer are operationalized and tested against a control group. The final sample consists out of 758 mobile shoppers from the UK.
Findings
The results demonstrate that the perceived severity of PIFs based on showing customers incorrect information is higher when key information is lacking. Further, when the cause of a PIF is attributed to the retailer, it results in higher recovery expectations towards them. The results also reveal that respondents who have shopped mobile before perceive PIFs as less severe than inexperienced ones.
Originality/value
This research expands the online service failure literature by examining PIFs and its effects in the specific context of mobile commerce. The authors also provide recommendations for a better management of PIFs like the incorporation of PIFs information into reporting packs.
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