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The purpose of this paper is to explain the use of online communities for information seeking in the financial products purchasing process and identify relevant usage antecedents.

A theoretical framework is proposed based on the three dimensions community, environment and user characteristics. Subsequently, a representative survey among German consumers is described, illustrating the value of the framework.

The study validates the framework to analyze online community usage and identifies financial knowledge and employment status as main drivers of financial community usage among user characteristic.

The present study was carried out in only one country, but provides a starting point for more international research.

The results identify community users as an interesting clientele, which should be considered in financial services providers' online strategy development, especially by encouraging word‐of‐mouth communication. Usage drivers should be considered in web site development to prevent churn. Providers of communities should be concerned about system usability, but also especially take measures to boost the social aspects of community experience.

The study is the first to explain online community usage in the economically highly relevant pre‐purchase stage for financial services.

This article aims to explain the adoption of self‐service technology with pro‐active sales applications (automated teller machines or kiosk systems) in brick‐and‐mortar outlets with special respect to personality traits, relationship characteristics and previous online banking usage.

A theoretical framework is proposed, extending well proven technology adoption models by moderating effects from personality traits and customer relationship characteristics. An empirical study using survey and customer account data from customers of a European retail bank assesses the usage antecedents, separately for adopters of online‐banking and non‐adopters.

The study validates the framework and identifies relevant moderating effects.

The study was carried out solely in one country, but provides a starting point for more international research.

The results call for a clear decision in the multi‐channel strategy about which customer segment should be targeted, as previous online‐banking adopters show different adoption behavior. The development and the communication of self‐service technology (SST) should reflect the strong drivers of adoption and, e.g. use a socio‐technical approach. Customer personality traits require increased attention, should be systematically recorded and may support individualized promotional campaigns for SST.

The article is the first to explain the adoption of in‐branch self‐service applications for sales purposes and integrate the moderating effects of personality and relationship.

Interpersonal and informal ties and networks, known as wasta in the Arab Middle East region, remain a major force in Middle Eastern societies, determining most economic, social and political outcomes. Yet the literature on informal ties and networks is largely characterized by a lack of contributions from the Arab world, despite the adverse effect that lack of understanding of the wasta phenomenon is having on the effectiveness of expatriate managers and subsequently on business performance. This chapter therefore aims to shed light on the meaning, characteristics, structure, and role of wasta in establishing and maintaining successful business relationships. It ends with recommendations for foreign investors and international managers who wish to establish and maintain successful business relationships in the Middle East on how to capitalize on interpersonal networks within this process.

Informal networking is generally regarded as an important activity that is available to every manager, which usually results in positive outcomes. However, differences in networking behavior have been less frequently discussed and compared in a global context. We argue that different ideals of informal networking can result in situations where international managers can hardly foresee the potential consequences of their networking behavior, especially when local ideals of networking are not taken into account. Differences in networking behavior caused by differences in underlying values, norms, and ideals can lead to ethical dilemmas. At this junction, we point out the integral role favors and favor exchange play in global networking and suggest a competency framework that is helpful for international managers to navigate informal networking abroad and identify potential ethical dilemmas before they take effect.

Recent legislation in Europe and North America encourages women’s participation in corporate boards based on the belief that gender-diversified boards contribute positively to firm performance and increased competitiveness. Contrary to the West, the women’s participation rate in business has been traditionally high in China. The purpose of this paper is to find out whether gender-diverse corporate boards of Chinese automotive firms perform better financially than gender-homogeneous boards.

By drawing on data from the Chinese Government and Bloomberg, the authors compare and analyze the differences in financial performance (return on equity, asset growth, sales growth) and risk behavior (debt risk, R&D expenditure) of Chinese automotive firms with and without women on their corporate board.

There is significant evidence that firms with women on the board perform better across all three categories, with the exception of return on equity, for which they found no significant differences among the analyzed firms.

While women’s participation in corporate boards in China is low, the results of this study suggest to policy makers and firms alike to implement measures that support gender-diversified boards in order to take advantage of their potential to increase corporate performance.

So far, the performance of corporate boards of countries with a traditionally high share of female participation in the workforce has rarely been analyzed. Research focusing on the Chinese automotive industry is new and underrepresented, although China is the largest automotive market worldwide and a key industry of the domestic economy. This investigation contributes to the literature stream on board diversity in as well as to industry-related studies. With the example of the Chinese automotive industry, it provides empirical evidence of better performance of firms with gender-diversified boards within the categories tested.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze recent findings in the research on bankers' lending decision making, to merge relevant findings in psychology and economics and create a comprehensive review of the literature.

The authors used a systematic article search for empirical studies when conducting the research.

The findings are analyzed on the basis of human decision‐making research. The results of the review are three conclusions about loan officers' decision making: their dependency on bank characteristics, their decision‐making biases, and their deliberate and intuitive reasoning approaches.

The paper's findings are important, both as a summary of the literature on lending decision making and also as a foundation for future research.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

High-growth firms have recently received considerable attention in the firm growth literature. These firms might have grown despite the existence of growth barriers, and evidence also suggests that, having already grown exponentially, they may not be in the best position to grow further. Policies targeting high-growth firms may therefore be misdirected. We argue that entrepreneurship researchers should concentrate more on firms that are not hiring, despite having high profits. We call these firms “sleeping gazelles,” and demonstrate that they represented almost 10% of all limited liability firms in Sweden from 1997 to 2010. Nearly half of these firms continued to earn high or moderate profits in subsequent three-year periods, while still displaying no growth. Regression analyses indicate that these firms were significantly smaller, older, more likely to be active in industries with high profit uncertainty, and more likely to be located in less densely populated municipalities than were corresponding growing firms.

It has been discovered that some results published in studies may not be correct because different researchers using the same dataset and analytical methods were unable to create the same results. This dilemma is called the reproducibility crisis. Currently, there has not been a comprehensive examination of the possible existence of this crisis in the field of autism spectrum research. This chapter does not answer the question, ‘Is there a reproducibility crisis occurring in the field of autism spectrum research?’ Rather, it contains an outline of this crisis, explains some of the most influential factors that have contributed to its development and how scholars who study the autism spectrum can change their research practices so that this crisis does not develop.

The original contribution that this chapter makes to autism spectrum research is to explain how some solutions to the reproducibility crisis can be implemented into the field of autism spectrum research.

Health service quality is an important determinant for health service satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate requirements of e‐health services and to develop a measurement model to analyze the construct of “perceived e‐health service quality.”

The paper adapts the C‐OAR‐SE procedure for scale development by Rossiter. The focal aspect is the “physician‐patient relationship” which forms the core dyad in the healthcare service provision. Several in‐depth interviews were conducted in Switzerland; first with six patients (as raters), followed by two experts of the healthcare system (as judges). Based on the results and an extensive literature research, the classification of object and attributes is developed for this model.

The construct e‐health service quality can be described as an abstract formative object and is operationalized with 13 items: accessibility, competence, information, usability/user friendliness, security, system integration, trust, individualization, empathy, ethical conduct, degree of performance, reliability, and ability to respond.

Limitations include the number of interviews with patients and experts as well as critical issues associated with C‐OAR‐SE. More empirical research is needed to confirm the quality indicators of e‐health services.

Health care providers can utilize the results for the evaluation of their service quality. Practitioners can use the hierarchical structure to measure service quality at different levels. The model provides a diagnostic tool to identify poor and/or excellent performance with regard to the e‐service delivery.

The paper contributes to knowledge with regard to the measurement of e‐health quality and improves the understanding of how customers evaluate the quality of e‐health services.