Search results

This paper aims to focus on the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in preparation for and management of human and/or nature induced disasters.

Drawing from the phenomenal growth of ICTs, initiatives aimed at disaster management, stakeholder theory, prior research and the successful development and implementation of 9-1-1 (emergency telephone service of the USA), this paper explores ICTs in the context of human and/or nature induced disasters.

This paper discusses a new ICT for mitigating disaster management, scans, using stakeholder theory, relevant initiatives and prior research to identify the stakeholders relevant for successful preparation for and management of disasters, and draws from the 9-1-1 example to discuss how ICTs can be successfully developed and adopted.

There are opportunities for researchers to develop ICTs that can make countries, developing and developed, more efficient and effective in their preparation for and management of nature and human induced disasters. In addition, researchers can investigate the role of stakeholders in facilitating the adoption of new ICTs developed for disaster management. Researchers could also help public policy in designing the most efficient and effective programs for the adoption of new ICTs.

As an example of new ICTs that can potentially mitigate the effect of disasters, this paper discusses the E711 text-message mobile phone service (named “I am OK”) and provides a description of how this protocol operates and can be implemented. There are tremendous opportunities to develop new ICTs in the context of disaster management.

This paper argues that ICTs such as E711 can have a major impact on all countries in general and poor and developing nations in particular. Specifically, in the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) markets, developing ICTs for BOP market in the context of managing human and nature induced disasters and ensuring the diffusion of such ICT innovations is both critical and challenging.

This paper discusses the role and importance of ICTs in disaster management, identifies relevant stakeholders, discusses how ICTs can be diffused and implemented and calls on and hopes to provide an impetus to research on ICTs that can aid in the preparation for and the management of disasters.

The purpose of this paper is to support effective business services provision along the life cycle of complex service-enhanced products, such as the case of solar power plants, and to explore collaborative approaches for multi-stakeholder business services.

Design and implementation of adequate collaboration strategies and cloud-based support mechanisms to facilitate creation and management of collaborative networks in this sector. For this purpose, a conceptual framework, a cloud-based platform and a set of collaboration support tools are proposed. Validation is based on a pilot implementation and interactions with a large group of end users.

Validation results confirmed the suitability of the collaborative networks approach in this sector, which often involves multiple small and medium size enterprises.

The interplay between long-term strategic networks and goal-oriented collaborative networks and their interaction with the various phases of the product-services life cycle correspond to a novel approach in this sector, traditionally focused on a sub-contracting model. This opens new opportunities for enhancing the value of complex products through collaborative value-added services. Of particular relevance is also the adoption of collaborative approaches for service co-creation.

Although prior studies have identified several technologies related to Industry 4.0 and their individual potential, it is still unclear how these technologies could be integrated to achieve better results. Based on this, we propose several collaborative networks combining technologies associated with Industry 4.0.

A literature review was performed using a research model to support the evaluation and identification of key and collaborative technologies related to Industry 4.0. We examined these technologies using hierarchical cluster analysis and principal components analysis, based on their characteristics.

The study identified big data, cloud computing, the internet of Things and cyber-physical systems as key technologies for Industry 4.0, and a further eight collaborative technologies that are strongly related to industrial performance. We found five collaborative networks with distinct goals in the context of Industry 4.0: (1) smart manufacturing; (2) technological platforms; (3) market reactiveness; (4) smart products and (5) flexibility.

The findings allowed us to create five pathways for future work on Industry 4.0 technologies via collaborative networks. In practice, this will help managers to improve their focus on priorities regarding the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies.

This study provides insights into how to establish links between technologies through collaborative networks for certain purposes. In addition, we propose five future directions for these collaborative networks that require further investigation by researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and examine a theoretical framework that evaluates the effects of banking consumers’ justice perception on their post-complaint mindsets. It also aims to help business strategists to customize service failure management activities to achieve a competitive advantage.

To examine the proposed framework using partial least square structural equation modeling, the authors collected data through a survey. The authors also evaluated the proposed framework through multi-group analysis and importance-performance map analysis (IPMA).

Results show that recovery disconfirmation mediates the relationship between banking consumers’ perception of justice and recovery satisfaction. Moreover, after a service failure, brand equity and loyalty mediate the relationship between recovery satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth behavior. IPMA analysis at the construct level shows that fostering the perception of recovery satisfaction is crucial for creating a positive post-failure impression in the mind of the banking consumer.

For banking practitioners, the findings of this research provide a strategic blueprint for managing service failure by developing relationships with consumers, thus creating an opportunity to gain competitive advantage.

Anchored in the theoretical framework of justice theory (Adams, 1963), expectation disconfirmation theory (Oliver, 1977) and social exchange theory (Kelley and Thibaut, 1978), the research adds to the literature by providing a critical evaluation of how to influence banking consumers’ post-complaint behavior from a more systematic perspective.

This study aims to investigate the influence of social and spatial embeddedness on indigenous rural entrepreneurship in Amazon/Brazil. Rural entrepreneurship has increased in recent years. Some studies have focused on the relevance of spatial embeddedness in understanding this phenomenon, whereas others have highlighted the importance of social embeddedness. Although some scholars have associated both construct dimensions to understand rural entrepreneurship in developed economies, such an association remains scarce when considering both emerging and developing contexts.

The strategy was qualitative, using the integrated case study method. The case was the Paiter-Suruí indigenous tribe in the Amazon region, Brazil, recognized for the entrepreneurship of their community. Fourteen indigenous rural entrepreneurs participated in the study.

Field data show that entrepreneurs embed themselves in dense social networks that influence their decisions, including those involving the creation of enterprises. In addition, entrepreneurs are deeply embedded in rural territoriality (spatial), impacting how they create and seek to develop their own ventures.

The study of an empirical context that is still poorly explored has made two main contributions to the social and spatial embeddedness literature. First, evidence shows social influence on spatial embeddedness and vice versa, suggesting the need to integrate both perspectives. Second, this study contributes to the literature on rural entrepreneurship by shedding light on novel strategies for developing such enterprises. In addition, this study emphasizes the relevance of investigating the challenges that hinder rural entrepreneurial development in emerging and developing contexts.

Preferential treatment of selected customers is one of the strategies employed by companies seeking to implement relationship marketing. However, it remains unclear whether or not this policy negatively affects relationships with customers not receiving the above‐mentioned preferential treatment, as existing literature focuses, for the most part, on the beneficiaries. The purpose of this paper is to study whether or not the perception of lack of preferential treatment has a positive impact on dissatisfaction following a service failure, after accounting for the effects of attribution.

The sample used in this paper consists of 344 subjects who, over the last six months, have experienced service failures. The data are collected via personal interviews using a structured survey. Structural equation modelling is employed in order to test the relationship between lack of preferential treatment and dissatisfaction.

The results of this investigation indicate that lack of preferential treatment has an additional explanatory power with regard to customer dissatisfaction, after considering the effects of attributions, and that negative emotions have a mediation effect on the relationship between these cognitive antecedents and the aforementioned dissatisfaction.

This paper examines only one service context; as a consequence, caution is needed when generalizing the results.

Given the findings of this paper, managers are advised to consider the “merits” of preferential treatment to help strengthen customer relationships.

This paper provides an initial step towards understanding the impact of systematic and deliberate use of preferential treatment as a relationship marketing strategy from a non‐beneficiaries perspective.

This paper aims to determine whether intentionality attributions have an effect on the customer’s complaint and switching behavior after a service failure, after accounting for the effects of the traditional dimensions of attribution (stability and controllability), and to examine whether intentionality attributions give rise to humiliation and to what degree this negative emotion enables us to understand the customer’s complaint and switching behavior after a service failure.

A contribution of this investigation is that it studies real complaint and switching behaviors, as the few studies that focus on understanding customers’ complaint and defection behaviors mostly analyze customers’ intentions.

The results of the study indicate that intentionality attributions have an effect on the customer’s switching behavior after a service failure, in addition to the impact of the traditional dimensions of attribution. The findings also show that humiliation is the emotion that mediates the relationship between intentionality attributions and switching behavior, opposite to other emotions that may also be related to attributions. Finally, the results also support that the effect of attribution of intentionality on complaint behavior is indirect; it only exists because attribution of intentionality influences negative emotions like humiliation, which in turn influences complaint behavior.

To understand what makes customers complain after a service failure or switch service providers without giving them first the possibility of recovering the failure may help managers reduce the damage caused by the failure and increase the company’s profits.

This study will try to contribute to the service failure research by analyzing the role of two variables that have not been analyzed before in this context: intentionality attribution and humiliation.

This study examined the effectiveness of a 4.5-day service leadership program for students from Chinese universities using objective outcome evaluation. The participants were assessed before and after the program, with two post-test measurements (immediate assessment and assessment 12 days after the completion of class learning). At pretest and two posttest time points, the participants completed a questionnaire measuring positive youth development, service leadership qualities and beliefs, and life satisfaction. Results showed that students’ performance in both the immediate posttest and follow-up test was better than that in the pretest. Despite the limitations of the one-group pretest-posttest design, results suggest that the curricular-based service leadership program was effective to promote students’ positive youth development, service leadership qualities and beliefs, as well as life satisfaction, and the effectiveness maintained a short period after the class had ended. While the existing findings are promising, these findings should be replicated in the future.