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In 2002, Avaya realized the need to move to a global, rather than local, approach to providing its HR services. Here, Michael Donnelly explains how, in partnership with Convergys, it implemented a network of global shared service centres to cut costs, improve speed and accuracy, and turn previously unusable data into actionable business intelligence.

The purpose of this paper is to improve understanding of the work of management accountants in the context of a shared services centre.

A single case study method is used and data are collected via semi-structured interviews and internal documents. The empirical materials are analysed from the theoretical perspective of dirty work, incorporating aspects from practice theory.

Findings suggest that management accountants working in a shared services centre develop their occupational esteem by refocusing and reframing strategies. Through these strategies, management accountants can decrease the perceived “dirtiness” associated with their work.

The study sheds light on the under-researched topic of management accountants’ work within a shared services centre. Moreover, it offers the metaphor of liminal work to characterise how management accountants develop their occupational esteem in circumstances where gaining efficiency is the main objective.

Sponsorships targeting an internal audience, e.g. employees, are still under-researched. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how employees perceive and evaluate a sponsorship that is designed with the purpose of improving customer services and explore how the company may benefit from the sponsorship.

The study is anchored in critical realism and based on a single case study using multiple methods. The authors survey the impact of the sponsorship on employees’ (n=653) perceptions of their ability to communicate with customers, to perform their personal best, to engage in teamwork, as well as employee retention. The authors use individual and group interviews to qualify the analysis and the access to company data on customer satisfaction rates to provide an indication of the effect of the sponsorship.

Results indicate that close to half the employees respond that the campaign positively impacted their ability to communicate, improve personal performance and to engage in teamwork. The analysis also reveals that the commitment of the direct leader has an impact on employees’ interest and commitment to the campaign. Data on customer satisfaction show that reducing the number of dissatisfied customers and increasing the number of customers willing to recommend the company to others has been accomplished, thus indicating that the sponsorship has had a positive impact on company performance.

By combining sponsorship research with insights from the HRM literature, the study provides empirically based knowledge to the hitherto limited research on the internal audience of sponsorships. The study provides a plausible indication of a positive relation between a sponsorship design and company performance.

The purpose of this study is to explore the attitudes and beliefs of front‐line employees regarding how customer‐company interactions might be improved. Since front‐line employees are closely connected to customers, the resultant experiences and relationships with customers are highly dependent on their actions. However, little is written from the perspective of front‐line employees.

Using a qualitative approach and employing an adaptation of the grounded theory method, this study uses front‐line employee participants with data collection occurring over a six‐month period. A variety of data sources were used including open‐ended reciprocal interviews, member‐checking interviews, observation, and collection of participant and researcher artifacts.

Findings suggest that organizational changes initiated by management create strategically constructed silos that force implementation through people and systems to control and standardize the service interface and resultant customer experience(s). This reactive and inwardly focused construction of silos often serves company rather than customer needs and can result in deteriorating service levels based on the type of customer‐company interaction occurring.

Contrary to how most customer service processes are designed by management, not all customer‐company interactions are alike and vary both in regard to the degree of knowledge needed by front‐line employees to fully serve customers, and the routine or non‐routine nature of the interaction. A two‐by‐two matrix is presented to highlight the impacts of silos occurring for various interaction types.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of economic development on culture and the significance of cultural change on the evolution of offshoring of services and knowledge‐based activities.

The paper offers a conceptual model that links economic development, national cultural predispositions, and the future of offshoring service and knowledge functions. It builds on a range of academic literatures within these core areas to derive a set of propositions that offer insights into the manner in which the relative success and evolution of offshoring service and knowledge work would be impacted by a country's economic development posture and its cultural roots and value systems. The model presented here is also well complemented by examples from real offshoring projects to offer the reader a comprehensive picture of the central propositions put forth.

Several propositions, formulated at the multidisciplinary intersection of service operations management, strategy, and international studies, provide ample opportunities for further discipline‐specific and cross‐disciplinary examination of complex interactions of economic development, culture, and offshoring approaches.

This form of conceptual research provides the basis for more rigorous theory development and testing. The aim of the conceptual analysis was to begin linking nascent research in the area of service and knowledge offshoring to an area of research that examines the links between economic development and culture.

Global operations managers dealing with extended service value chains that include offshore service providers must not only focus on dealing with cultural differences but they must also identify requisite cultural attributes for evolving service center roles.

By integrating perspectives from service operations management, strategy, and international studies, the paper provides new perspectives on offshoring of service and knowledge operations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of perceived external prestige on organizational identification in the context of a Greek public organization and to address the moderating role of gender in the relationship between perceived external prestige and organizational identification.

Data were obtained from a sample of 159 employees working in Citizens Service Centers. Analysis was conducted using moderated hierarchical regression analysis.

Perceived external prestige is positively related with organizational identification (β=0.33, p<0.001). The influence of the interaction of perceived external prestige and gender on organizational identification is also supported (β=−0.29, p<0.05). In particular, the effect of perceived external prestige on organizational identification was stronger for men.

There is limited inference to other private and public organizations because data are based on one public organization. The cross‐sectional analysis of the data cannot directly assess causality.

This is the first study to examine the moderating role of gender in the relationship between perceived external prestige and organizational identification.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of perceived external prestige (PEP) on organizational identification in the context of a Greek public organization and to address the moderating role of gender in the relationship between PEP and organizational identification.

Data were obtained from a sample of 159 employees working in Citizens Service Centers. Analysis was conducted using moderated hierarchical regression analysis.

PEP is positively related with organizational identification (β=0.33, p<0.001). The influence of the interaction of PEP and gender on organizational identification is also supported (β=−0.29 p<0.05). In particular, the effect of PEP on organizational identification was stronger for men.

Limited inference to other private and public organizations because data are based on one public organization. The cross‐sectional analysis of the data cannot directly assess causality.

This is the first study to examine the moderating role of gender in the relationship between PEP and organizational identification.

The purpose of this paper is to advance the knowledge base by testing the hypothesis that job satisfaction mediates the relationship between perceived organizational culture and intentions to turnover, and that employee characteristics moderate this relationship.

Data were drawn from a cross-sectional online survey of employees at one Area Command of The Salvation Army in the USA (N=250, 66.8 percent female, 26.4 percent African American). The study implemented two different techniques to incorporate methodological triangulation to test the mediation model: a three-step regression analysis and a bootstrapping technique in which direct and indirect effects are tested at once. Also, a conditional process analysis was used to test the moderated mediation model.

Results supported the hypothesized mediation relationship and showed that lower mean organizational culture scores were significantly associated with lower job satisfaction, and thus, higher intentions to turnover. Additionally, office location moderated the indirect effect of organizational culture on intentions to turnover through job satisfaction.

Findings highlight the variability in how organizational culture affects employees across the work environment. Interventions, which are subtly tuned to the variation in workplaces, may be the most effective at building strong and positive organizational cultures.

The current study extends prior empirical work by testing the hypothesis that employee characteristics moderate the mediating effect of organizational culture and job satisfaction on intentions to turnover. Results showed that work location moderated the relationship between organizational culture and job satisfaction; organizational culture had a stronger effect on job satisfaction among employees working at the administrative office compared to those in community-based centers. Findings underscore the need for leadership to create a strong culture that permeates all work sectors in order for it to be effective.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of service authenticity, customer participation (CP) and customer-perceived service climate on customers' service evaluation within the context of smartphone repair services in South Korea. A conceptual model, including customer-perceived service climate, service authenticity, CP, service value and service satisfaction, was proposed and tested.

The authors test the research model using a structural equation modeling approach (Amos) based on a mobile survey of 430 South Korean consumers. The authors design the research based on causal relationships and collect the data using the convenience sampling method.

The authors found that the independent variables (customer-perceived service climate, service authenticity and CP) have a positive effect on service value as well as service satisfaction. Further, service value has a mediating effect on the relationships between the independent variables and service satisfaction.

This is the first study to examine the effects of smartphone repair service on customers' evaluation. As the number of smartphone users increases, the results obtained from this study will provide important managerial implications for service managers.

In 1999, Hewlett‐Packard Company (HP) began the reinvention of the entire company to provide an infrastructure which would respond to the demands of an ever‐changing industry. This paper presents an indepth case study of the successful partnership between HP’s US Field Sales Office Facility Maintenance support team and Trammell Crow Corporate Services. The initial goal was to achieve a more efficient method of managing facility operations and maintenance. HP created the programme focus, touch points, processes and strategies. What happened was a complete reinvention of the methods that HP uses to accomplish facility support. While traditional maintenance models will always have their place in industry, this case study provides evidence that there are incredible benefits available for those industries that have the courage to change in radical ways.