bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Eyes on the frame
Authors: Kessler Sabrina Heike , Guenther Lars
Published: March 2017

Purpose

Using the internet parallel to or after television (TV) consumption changes the way people receive news. The way information is framed by the media has been found to influence the behavior of news recipients. The purpose of this paper is to hypothesize that the exposure to TV media frames would affect a lay audience’s online information-seeking behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

In an experiment combining eye tracking and content analysis, participants (n=72) were exposed to one of three TV clips with different media frames (based on a full-sample content analysis) that focused on Alzheimer’s disease. After exposure, participants informed themselves about the issue online. Eye tracking allows to investigate whether individuals mainly scan information, or whether they compute information on a higher level of attention (use more thorough deliberate comparison of information and really reading information).

Findings

Three different frames of online content were identified. Framing was found to influence the individual online searching and reading of information on a descriptive level (entering search words and viewing website content) to some degree, but not on a procedural level (such as selecting online search results).

Research limitations/implications

This study makes a significant contribution to the literature embedding an established theoretical process like framing effects into the internet literature. Regarding the broader theoretical context, this study shed some light on cross-media framing effects on online behavior. Applying the psychological perspective of framing theory to explain and predict online searching behavior is beneficial for specific types of online search behavior. Main limitations are the not representative student sample and the forced task that participants had to inform themselves about Alzheimer’s disease online.

Practical implications

The results have practical implications for the creation of TV-related websites. There can be a positive, profitable synergy of TV and online websites. The websites can complement the TV programs with the focus on information needs of the recipients depending on the TV activated audience frames. Therefore, media managers would do well to plan the contents of their websites as internet-based resources that meet the activated information needs.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to investigate the framing effects of TV on the online information searching behavior of individuals. A deeper understanding of how media frames, especially from TV, are affecting online information seeking will allow researchers to better explain and predict online user behavior and information needs. But still, more research is needed.
Real earnings management in public vs private firms in the GCC countries: a risk perspective
Authors: Al-Amri Khalid , Al Shidi Saif , Al Busaidi Munther , Akguc Serkan
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of real earnings management by private and public firms in a unique institutional setting, which is the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The paper also compares the level of real earnings management between public and private firms in the GCC area.

Design/methodology/approach

The GCC area is a unique setting to investigate the use of real earnings management because of the low enforcement of reporting standards and supervisory rules, lack of sophisticated financial analysis, specialized media tools and high concentration of capital ownership. The authors use different models of real earnings management proposed by Roychowdhury, 2006, cash flow management, productions cost management and discretionary expenses management to examine the use of real earnings management.

Findings

The paper documents evidence consistent with private and public firms using real earnings management to influence their earnings figures. The paper also shows that the level of real earnings management is higher for private firms compared to public firms when cash flow management and discretionary expenses management models are used. The production cost model results show evidence consistent with public firms only engaging in real earnings management through production cost reduction.

Research limitations/implications

The results of this study might not be applicable to other emerging markets.

Practical implications

The findings of this study should promote a general understanding of firms’ behavior in unique environment such as GCC countries. Regulators in the GCC region should be aware that real earnings management techniques have been used by firms and that extra caution is required when auditing or analyzing the financial information of private and public firms in the GCC market.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature in many aspects. First, it provides additional evidence on the use of earnings management in unique market contexts outside the USA and Europe. The GCC markets share many common characteristics that make them interesting settings to be investigated. Second, this paper adds more evidence on the use of earnings management between public and private firms. In this regard, the paper adds additional evidence in the discussions proposed by Ball and Shivakumar (2005) and Givoly et al. (2010) who use two competing perspectives to investigate earnings quality in public and private firms: the demand hypothesis and the opportunistic behavior hypothesis.
Achieving legitimacy through co-operative governance and social and environmental disclosure by credit unions in a developing country
Authors: Mathuva David M. , Mboya Josephat K. , McFie James B.
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to utilize legitimacy theory to test the association between the governance of credit unions and their social and environmental disclosure in a developing country, Kenya. A further examination of institutional pressures due to regulatory forces on the association between co-operative governance and credit union social and environmental disclosure (CSED) is performed.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a sample comprising of 1,272 credit union observations over the period 2008-2013, panel OLS regressions are performed to establish the association between co-operative governance and CSED. A comparison of the pre- and post-regulatory influences on co-operative governance and CSED is also performed.

Findings

The findings, which are in support of both legitimacy and institutional theories, depict a positive and significant association between co-operative governance and CSED. The significance of the co-operative governance score improves from the pre-regulation period to the post-regulation period. Other significant variables influencing the volume of CSED by credit unions in Kenya include credit union size and financial performance as measured by the return on assets.

Research limitations/implications

The study examines CSED practices in a developing country and in organizations in a single sector. Further, CSED is measured using a self-constructed index with data being obtained from audited annual reports only.

Practical implications

The study highlights the need to develop CSED guidelines tailored for credit unions, and a focus on co-operative governance as a way of improving disclosure practices.

Originality/value

The study utilizes a sector-specific governance variable and a CSED index to examine the association between the two variables by credit unions in a developing country. The study also attempts to investigate the role of regulation on the association between co-operative governance and the volume of CSED.
Behavioral and lifestyle influences on reported calorie intake: a latent class model
Authors: Popovich Deidre
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the behavioral and lifestyle influences on reported calorie intake. Marketing segmentation techniques applied to self-reported food consumption can offer benefits to both health policy and marketing research.

Design/methodology/approach

The two-stage modeling process in this research determines important behavioral, lifestyle and sociodemographic influences on reported calorie intake. Significant predictors are then included in latent class models, which are used to derive and describe five consumer segments.

Findings

These segments differ with respect to their food-related activities, such as dieting, grocery shopping and preparing food at home. The segments also differ with respect to lifestyle characteristics, such as household size, employment status and income. Data obtained from a multi-period probability sample help generalize the results to the US population.

Originality/value

The models developed in this paper can inform health policymakers by explaining reported calorie intake patterns more thoroughly than demographics alone, aiding their ability to create more targeted interventions. This approach also allows food marketers to clarify consumer insights that can be used for targeting particular food shopper segments.
The impact of product assortment size and attribute quantity on information searches
Authors: Dörnyei Krisztina Rita , Krystallis Athanasios , Chrysochou Polymeros
Published: March 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the impact of assortment size and attribute quantity on the depth and content of consumer information searches.

Design/methodology/approach

For a computer-aided experiment using an information display board, participants (n = 393) were placed in a simulated shopping situation that involved choosing a product among three sets of frequently purchased, low-involvement, FMCG alternatives.

Findings

The findings show that when the assortment size increases, consumers acquire information from more products and cues but sacrifice product attributes. In particular, this sacrifice comes at the expense of secondary product attributes (e.g. nutrition information, country of origin), whereas primary product attributes (e.g. brand name, price) remain constant. Attribute quantity does not have a significant effect on information search.

Practical implications

Provided that several strategies rely on providing more information to consumers with the aim of making more deliberate and better choices, the findings suggest that they may have a limited effect in product categories in which the assortment size is wide. The authors discuss the implications for category management and public policy.

Originality/value

Information searches are measured by means of three different variables (searched cues, searched products and searched attributes), which enable a more complex exploration of the consumer information search process.
Leading school for learning: principal practices in Taiwan
Authors: Pan Hui-Ling Wendy , Nyeu Fong-Yee , Cheng Shu-Huei
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how principals in Taiwan lead student and teacher learning at a time of leadership and learning paradigm shifts and the imminent implementation of the curriculum guideline for 12-year basic education.

Design/methodology/approach

This study interviewed 32 elementary and junior high school principals purposively sampled based on reputation and recommendation from senior principals and government officials.

Findings

As a society which values credentialism, principals in Taiwan face challenges in executing the vision of educating student as a whole person. The authors discuss how principals are solidifying whole person education as the espoused value, how they are enforcing school-based curriculum and effective instruction, and encouraging teacher professional learning. Principals are sharing power by recruiting stakeholders’ participation in guiding school development and enacting distributed leadership, while also building relationship as social capital and soliciting support from the community to establish the conditions to improve teaching and learning.

Research limitations/implications

This paper highlights how principal practices are evolving in a time of changing conception of learning from academic achievement to multiple competencies and the shifting paradigm of power from participatory decision making to distributed leadership. This paper ends with a discussion on how leadership for learning (LfL) as a community engagement has emerged.

Practical implications

With the shifting of the concept and paradigm of learning, principals in a high power distance society like Taiwan are now facing opportunities as well as challenges to lead teachers to engaging students in inquiry and collaboration.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the indigenous practices of principal LfL in a high-performing East Asian education system in a time of changing notions of learning and leadership.
Income-expenditure elasticities of less-healthy consumption goods
Authors: Hoffer Adam , Gvillo Rejeana , Shughart William , Thomas Michael
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify how consumption of 12 goods – alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, items sold at vending machines, purchases of food away from home, cookies, cakes, chips, candy, donuts, bacon, and carbonated soft drinks – varies across the income distribution by calculating their income-expenditure elasticites.

Design/methodology/approach

Data on 22,681 households from 2009-2012 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey were used. The data were analyzed using ordinary least squares regressions and Cragg’s double hurdle model which integrates a binary model to determine the decision to consume and a truncated normal model to estimate the effects for conditional (y>0) consumption.

Findings

Income had the greatest effect on expenditures for alcohol (0.314), food away from home (0.295), and fast food (0.284). A one percentage-point increase in income (approximately $428 at the mean) translated into a 0.314 percentage-point increase in spending on alcoholic beverages (approximately $1 annually at the mean). Income had the smallest influence on tobacco expenditures (0.007) and donut expenditures (−0.009).

Research limitations/implications

Percentage of a household’s discretionary budget spent on the studied goods falls substantially as income gets larger. Policies targeting the consumption of such goods will disproportionately impact lower income households.

Originality/value

This is the first manuscript to calculate income-expenditure elasticities for the goods studied. The results allow for a direct analysis of targeted consumption policy on household budgets across the income distribution.
Spillovers from public entrepreneurship: a case study
Authors: Fuller Caleb , DelliSanti Dylan
Published: March 2017

Purpose

Existing scholarship indicates that more research is needed to explore beneficial spillovers from public entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap in that literature by examining a case of public entrepreneurship by a corporation. While political engagement by private firms frequently reduces to rent-seeking, this paper explores an instance in which public entrepreneurship by a private firm lead to beneficial spillovers – specifically, positive externalities resulting from the engagement of Cummins Engine Company with city government in Columbus, Indiana. In the case study, these spillovers consist of improved infrastructure, altered norms, and the reintroduction of economic calculation.

Design/methodology/approach

This case study uses publications in popular outlets, newspapers, and historical documents to understand the relationship between Cummins Engine Company and its local government.

Findings

Contrary to the presumption that public engagement by private firms necessarily reduces to rent-seeking, the activities of the Cummins Engine Company lead to beneficial public spillovers by way of improved infrastructure and norms, as well as by restoring a degree of economic calculation to the production of public buildings in Columbus, Indiana.

Originality/value

The authors illustrate the precise mechanisms that generate the potential spillovers from public entrepreneurship that Kleinet al.(2010) explore theoretically.
Failure is an option: the entrepreneurial governance framework
Authors: Carroll John J.
Published: March 2017

Purpose

It has been more than 20 years since the “Reinventing Government” movement swept through the American public sector. Over time, the tenets of public entrepreneurship and new public management have diverged due to liability and risk aversion. One of the core elements of entrepreneurship is risk taking, and with it the likelihood of failure. The purpose of this paper is to reconcile these issues under a simple framework of “entrepreneurial governance” that works across the elements of knowledge, innovation, opportunity, and implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

This is primarily a set of problems (liability, risk aversion, critiques) that negatively impacts the application of public entrepreneurship. To build a framework, the author made a substantive review of the literature to “get back to basics” and clarify the problems, as well as draw fundamental concepts about entrepreneurship.

Findings

The framework was developed by applying the more current notion of “governance” with the basic elements of entrepreneurship, acknowledging that in implementation we have to account for the critiques by reinforcing responsible risk reduction and ethical decision making.

Research limitations/implications

The intent was to create a framework based on fundamental aspects of entrepreneurship. The limitations/implications are that additional research will have to develop more concrete testing methods and then test the framework.

Practical implications

The intent here was to create a “practitioner friendly” prescriptive framework that could be almost immediately applied.

Social implications

A culture shift away from risk aversion (and corrupt practices) has to allow risk taking and with it responsible risk reduction (and failure or success).

Originality/value

The reliance on existing literature reduces some of the originality, except to re-conceptualize public entrepreneurship in a way that accounts for its shortcomings. The value in shifting culture and responsibly reducing risk is difficult to estimate.
The entrepreneurial rent: the value of and compensation for entrepreneurship
Authors: Henrekson Magnus , Stenkula Mikael
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show that entrepreneurship can be fruitfully analyzed by positing that entrepreneurs are searching for rates of return exceeding the risk-adjusted market rate of return, i.e., they try to create or discover economic rents.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual paper trying to bridge the gap between neoclassical economics and the entrepreneurship field by seeing entrepreneurship as the search for and creation of (entrepreneurial) rents.

Findings

In the short to medium term the search for and creation of entrepreneurial rents give rise to supernormal profits if successful. In the longer term these rents are dissipated and accrue to society at large as cheaper and better products. Entrepreneurial rents are crucial for bringing about the innovation and continuous structural change required to generate economic growth.

Practical implications

The search for entrepreneurial rents is crucial for economic development. Without the possibility to earn entrepreneurial rents, no entrepreneur would be willing to exercise entrepreneurship and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities. Successful entrepreneurship attracts imitating firms that push back profits to normal levels and the benefits of the innovation will be diffused to consumers.

Social implications

Understanding the role of entrepreneurship and its compensation is crucial for analyses of potential policy measures. High ex post compensation for successful entrepreneurship cannot be taxed harshly without affecting entrepreneurs’ willingness to supply effort.

Originality/value

The entrepreneurial function and its compensation are often neglected in neoclassical economics. This is a major shortcoming, as the presence of and search for entrepreneurial rents are necessary for bringing about the innovation and structural change that result in economic growth.
Building the African economy
Authors: Adenle Ademola A.
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the President Obama Youth African Leadership Initiative (YALI) program with evidence from experts and other relevant stakeholders. This study examines YALI program with a focus on entrepreneurship and public management.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative semi-structured interviews used in this study explore the understanding and diverse views of various stakeholder experts on training of young leaders in entrepreneurship and public management in Africa regarding the YALI program.

Findings

The study provides insight into the importance of the YALI program, but questions whether it can make a positive impact and be effectively implemented in Africa. The findings suggest that there is lack of clarity in the objectives of the program, particularly with regards to the role of the key stakeholders including academics, government institutions, policymakers and the private sector. The results underscore the need for sound and clear-cut government policies toward entrepreneurship development that will foster a better relationship between the African governments and the United States Agency for International Development program.

Research limitations/implications

The study focused on academic experts and a number of policymakers and may not have been representative of all stakeholders.

Originality/value

The study specifically emphasizes policies that target entrepreneurship training and education for women and youth, using a participatory approach and multi-stakeholder partnership to promote innovative entrepreneurship and social development in the continent.
Factors influencing academic performance in quantitative courses among undergraduate business students of a public higher education institution
Authors: Yousef Darwish Abdulrahamn
Published: March 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the impacts of teaching style, English language and communication and assessment methods on the academic performance of undergraduate business students in introductory quantitative courses such as Statistics for Business 1 and 2, Quantitative Methods for Business, Operations and Production Management and Operations Research in a non-Western setting.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected from 750 undergraduate business students in third- and fourth-year classes at the UAE University (UAEU). Descriptive statistics were used to gain some insights into the demographic and educational characteristics of respondents and their opinions regarding the importance of the three factors of concern to their understanding of quantitative courses material, along with multiple regression analysis that was used to test the hypotheses of the study.

Findings

The results of the present study indicate the importance of the teaching style in terms of the way the lecturer speaks and the pace of presenting the material, in addition to the structure of the lecture in understanding quantitative course material. Additionally, availability and contents of the material on the course website play an important role in helping undergraduate business students understand the subjects of quantitative courses. The study revealed that the UAEU undergraduate business students are, to some extent, uncomfortable in reading printed textbooks and writing reports on quantitative topics in English. The results of multiple regression analysis revealed that both teaching style and English language and communication have a great influence on the academic performance of UAEU undergraduate business students.

Research limitations/implications

The paper has a number of limitations. For instance, the sample was taken only from students in a single university. Moreover, this study focuses on the business students and in turn, it excludes students of other colleges. On the other hand, it has a number of implications for administrators, instructors and researchers. Administrators should pay special attention when setting admission standards. Instructors teaching quantitative courses should prepare well-structured lectures and deliver them at a reasonable pace to allow students the time to understand them. They should also pay attention to the way they speak. For researchers, this study will indicate the need for further research to confirm or refute the results of the present study.

Originality/value

The present study is the first attempt to investigate the impacts of the three factors of concern on the academic performance of undergraduate business students in introductory quantitative courses in a public university setting in the UAE context.
Using decision analysis to explore cable television delivery
Authors: Willoughby Keith , Zappe Christopher
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the efficacy of decision analysis in determining the most efficient strategy for installing cable television in the residence halls of Bucknell University.

Design/methodology/approach

The decision analysis model compared five distinct approaches for achieving and maintaining a successful delivery of cable television service to students enrolled in this private, residential institution. For each alternative, the model incorporated installation costs, likelihood of installation failure, installation failure costs, likelihood of obsolescence and obsolescence-related costs. In addition to considering the trade-offs between cost, timing and riskiness of the various alternatives, a thorough set of sensitivity analyses was performed to gain insight into the parameters that most strongly influence this decision-making process.

Findings

The quantitative model advocated the adoption of the university’s data network as the mode for cable delivery. Sensitivity analysis further supported this notion.

Practical implications

The analysis of this problem incorporated the knowledge and judgments of senior administrators and staff members, thus demonstrating the critical contributions offered by subject-matter experts in advising, informing and launching successful decision analysis projects. Incorporating stakeholder viewpoints enhances model understanding and, eventually, model implementation. Decision analysis represents a powerful approach in communicating uncertainties and advising on the benefits of particular alternatives.

Originality/value

To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this paper represents an initial attempt to investigate cable delivery options within a decision analysis framework.
It’s like being in a little psychological pressure cooker sometimes! A qualitative study of stress and coping in pre-qualification clinical psychology
Authors: Galvin John , Smith Andrew Paul
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the stressors involved in pre-qualification clinical psychology as reported by a sample of the UK trainee clinical psychologists. The main coping strategies reported by the trainees are also explored.

Design/methodology/approach

One-to-one interviews were conducted with 15 trainee clinical psychologists using qualitative research methods. Themes were established using the main principles of thematic analysis.

Findings

Three themes were identified that described the pressures involved in applying to the course, the support networks available to trainees, and the commonalities in their personal history, experiences and self-reported personality characteristics.

Originality/value

It is important to investigate the sources of stress and coping strategies in trainees to help them cope more effectively. The findings of the study are discussed within the context of clinical psychology training.
Managers’ perceptions of mental illness in Barbadian workplaces: an exploratory study
Authors: Devonish Dwayne
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of private and public sector managers in Barbados regarding the concepts of mental health and illness at work. It also explored their interactions and experiences with persons with mental illness at work and various forms of support and resources needed to improve the overall management of these persons within the organisational setting.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study used an exploratory research design based on two focus groups of private and public sector managers.

Findings

The findings revealed that both private and public sector managers understood the distinction between the concepts of mental health and mental illness. However, managers believed that high levels of stigma and discrimination exist in both private and public sector workplaces due to a lack of understanding of mental illness, cultural norms, and socialisation in Barbados regarding mental illness and negative stereotypes. However, workplace education and promotion, associated workplace policies, and employee assistance programmes (EAPs) were identified as key strategies for effectively addressing issues of mental health stigma and the management of persons with mental illness at work.

Research limitations/implications

Due to the qualitative approach used and small sample selected based on non-probability sampling, generalising the findings to larger populations is heavily cautioned.

Practical implications

Organisations in both private and public sectors should emphasise workplace mental health interventions such as mental health education and awareness, the development and implementation of supportive and flexible policies, and EAPs. These strategies are likely to help destigmatisation efforts and enhance managers’ understanding of mental health and the management of persons with mental illness.

Originality/value

This study provided a rich and in-depth understanding of mental health and illness from the perspective of private and public sector managers in a small developing country in the Caribbean. The Caribbean region possesses a dearth of empirical research concerning issues of mental health and illness at work.
Virtual brand community engagement practices: a refined typology and model
Authors: Hollebeek Linda D. , Juric Biljana , Tang Wenyan
Published: March 2017

Purpose

Despite Schauet al.’s (2009) pioneering research addressing consumers’ community engagement practices, scholarly understanding of the nature and dynamics characterizing consumers’ engagement practices in virtual (online) brand communities, and their inter-relationships, is limited to date. Building on these authors’ study, this paper aims to develop a refined typology and process model of virtual brand community engagement practices (VBCEPs).

Design/methodology/approach

Using the netnographic methodology, the authors analyze 20 luxury handbag community members’ entries posted on the brand’s particular section of The Purse Forum.

Findings

The authors develop an eight-component VBCEP typology that refines Schauet al.’s (2009) four-component model of brand community engagement practices. The model comprises “greeting”, “regulating”, “assisting”, “celebrating”, “appreciating”, “empathizing”, “mingling” and “ranking”. These practices contribute to and maintain the community’s vision and identity, and strengthen shared community consciousness.

Research limitations/implications

A key limitation of this research lies in its findings being generated from a single, luxury virtual brand community. Future research may thus wish to validate the VBCEP typology and model across different contexts.

Practical implications

The authors provide strategic managerial recommendations designed to leverage virtual brand community performance, which center predominantly on the social (altruistic) and achievement-based VBCEP sub-processes.

Originality/value

The eight-component VBCEP typology refines Schauet al.’s four-component model of brand community engagement practices with particular applicability to virtual brand communities.
Relationship marketing readiness: theoretical background and measurement directions
Authors: Grönroos Christian
Published: March 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to develop the foundation of a model for assessing relationship marketing readiness (RMR) and provide directions for such an assessment.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the promise theory and service logic, the importance of the customer–firm touchpoints and interactions to relationship marketing as an equivalent to the product variable in a conventional marketing approach is discussed. Then, a relationship marketing model and an RMR assessment model are developed.

Findings

The paper suggests an RMR assessment model based on two variables, namely, whether management’s focus is on the customers’ or the firm’s resources and processes and whether it is on the customers’ or the firm’s definition of quality. An indicative list of measurement factors is proposed.

Originality/value

The paper emphasizes the need to broaden the scope of marketing and offers a novel measurement approach, which both in theory and practice helps the development of relationship marketing understanding.
Service with a conscience: moral dilemmas in customer service roles
Authors: Yagil Dana , Shultz Tamar
Published: March 2017

Purpose

Service employees are frequently exposed to moral dilemmas as a result of their boundary role, attending to the interests of both the organization and customers. The purpose of this paper is to explore organizational and personal values that generate moral dilemmas in the service context, as well as emotions related to employees’ moral decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the critical incidents technique, data were collected from service providers about moral dilemmas in the workplace. The data were analyzed independently by each author, with an agreement rate of 84-88 percent.

Findings

The results show that service employees confront dilemmas as a result of conflicts between the following organizational and personal values: standardization vs personalization; profit vs integrity; and emotional display rules vs dignity. Moral decision making involves emotions generated by customer distress, negative emotions toward customers, and emotions of guilt, shame, or fear.

Originality/value

Little research has studied moral conflicts in service encounters from employees’ perspective. Using a qualitative approach, this study explores the role of personal values and moral emotions in such processes.
Exploring the determinants of and predicting the helpfulness of online user reviews using decision trees
Authors: Lee Sangjae , Choeh Joon Yeon
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to suggest important determinants for helpfulness from the reviews’ product data, review characteristics, and textual characteristics, and identify the more crucial factors among these determinants by using statistical methods. Furthermore, this study intends to propose a classification-based review recommender using a decision tree (CRDT) that uses a decision tree to identify and recommend reviews that have a high level of helpfulness.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used publicly available data from Amazon.com to construct measures of determinants and helpfulness. To examine this, the authors collected data about economic transactions on Amazon.com and analyzed the associated review system. The final sample included 10,000 reviews composed of 4,799 helpful and 5,201 not helpful reviews.

Findings

The study selected more crucial determinants from a comprehensive group of product, reviewer, and textual characteristics through using a t-test and logistics regression. The five important variables found to be significant in both t-test and logistic regression analysis were the total number of reviews for the product, the reviewer’s history macro, the reviewer’s rank, the disclosure of the reviewer’s name, and the length of the review in words. The decision tree method produced decision rules for determining helpfulness from the value of the product data, review characteristics, and textual characteristics. The prediction accuracy of CRDT was better than that of the k-nearest neighbor (kNN) method and linear multivariate discriminant analysis in terms of prediction error. CRDT can suggest better determinants that have a greater effect on the degree of helpfulness.

Practical implications

The important factors suggested as affecting review helpfulness should be considered in the design of websites, as online retail sites with more helpful reviews can provide a greater potential value to customers. The results of the study suggest managers and marketers better understand customers’ review and increase the value to customers by proving enhanced diagnosticity to consumers.

Originality/value

This study is different from previous studies in that it investigated the holistic aspect of determinants, that is, product, review, and textual characteristics for classifying helpful reviews, and selected more crucial determinants from a comprehensive group of product, reviewer, and textual characteristics by using a t-test and logistics regression. This study utilized a decision tree, which has rarely been used in predicting review helpfulness, to provide rules for identifying helpful online reviews.
Differences between inter- and intra-group dynamics in knowledge transfer processes
Authors: Nakauchi Motohiro , Washburn Mark , Klein Kenji
Published: March 2017

Purpose

Knowledge transfer (KT) processes are important for building and sustaining competitive advantages and dynamic capabilities. Prior research often treats KT processes as a firm-level capability, assuming knowledge flows uniformly within a firm. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether such a view is too simplistic because it ignores potential differences between inter-group and intra-group KT processes within a firm.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors surveyed 137 software development professionals in a large Japanese electronics firm regarding co-workers who acted as critical sources of useful knowledge and the factors that affected KT within and across internal organizational boundaries. Using regression analysis, the authors test the extent to which factors such as the characteristics of the knowledge, the characteristics of the tie, and the characteristics of the network differentially affect KT within internal organizational boundaries vs across them.

Findings

The authors find that factors such as the accessibility of the knowledge source, network density, and collective teaching all help in transferring knowledge, while knowledge tacitness inhibit such transfers, but that the effect of these properties varies significantly depending on whether KT occurs across group boundaries.

Originality/value

Existing research on KT within firms tends to treat all such transfers as uniform, with little difference between the dynamics of within-group transfer and between-group transfer. This study establishes key differences in KT between and within organizational groups, demonstrating that managers need to consider internal boundaries when deploying tools and strategies for facilitating knowledge flows.
The impact of qualities of social network service on the continuance usage intention
Authors: Lee Sangjae , Kim Byung Gon
Published: March 2017

Purpose

Although there are a number of studies on the factors affecting the continuance usage intention for social network services (SNS), the studies on the integrated model encompassing SNS qualities (information, system, and service quality, and hedonic value, which are gratifications for SNS usage), flow, relationship quality (which are trust and satisfaction), and continuance intention are almost non-existent. Based on Bagozzi’s self-regulation framework, the IS success model, uses and gratification theory, and flow theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the qualities and hedonic value of SNS, which have an influence on flow experience and relationship quality which are posited to affect the continuance usage intention.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used an e-mail survey method to collect 460 questionnaires for the final sample. The sample of the study includes college students or job workers who have experience in using SNS. Various user categories in terms of gender, school degree, occupation, usage years, and daily time of usage were included.

Findings

The study results show that system, service quality, and hedonic value have an impact on flow experience, information and service quality, and hedonic value influence the relationship quality of SNS. The flow experience and relationship quality while using SNS affect the continuance usage intention of SNS. This results show that the consideration of various SNS qualities, hedonic value, flow experience, and relationship quality is necessary to actively explore the factors for continuance usage intention for SNS.

Practical implications

IS managers trying to understand reuse intent can use surveys on information, system, and service quality, and hedonic value. Practitioners should constantly incorporate and develop various activities or useful applications to allow people to reach out to each other, to reinforce users’ attention, interaction, and increase social connections, trust, satisfaction, and further intensify users’ intention to use, increasing SNS value. The findings explain a mechanism through which SNS users’ continuance intention is built. Understanding this mechanism provides valuable information for practitioners to understand the qualities driving SNS users’ intention to revisit SNS.

Originality/value

This study sheds light on the existing literature on website usage that focuses on the design qualities as this paper has combined website quality perspective, i.e., information, system, and service quality, and hedonic value, and the flow and relationship perspective to investigate how these constructs would affect users’ intention to continuously use SNS. On the basis of four theories, Bagozzi’s self-regulation framework, IS success model, users and gratification theory, and flow theory, this study extended the previous studies on SNS by adding information, system, and service quality, hedonic value, flow and relationship quality as second-order constructs affecting continuance intention.
Service implementation in manufacturing firms
Authors: Zhao Yapu , Zhang Wenhong , Liu Depeng , Bao Fenghua , Tian Longwei
Published: March 2017

Purpose

Given the importance of frontline employees in implementing the service strategy, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether service-orientated human resource management (SHRM) practices are important organizational antecedents to help manufacturing firms gain the benefit of the service strategy. Furthermore, the paper also explores whether SHRM practices promote manufacturing firms’ performance through demand-side search.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs survey methodology to examine a research model that explores whether and how SHRM practices influence manufacturing firms’ performance through demand-side search. Data from 151 high-tech manufacturing firms in a science park of China are analyzed to test the research model.

Findings

This study finds that SHRM practices can enhance manufacturing firms’ performance, and demand-side search plays a mediating role in this relationship.

Research limitations/implications

Depending on a single science park in China to provide cross-sectional subjective data for the core variables and the choice of firms limits the capacity to generalize the findings.

Practical implications

These findings suggest that during transition to service business model, manufacturing firms should design supported organizational systems, especially SHRM practices, and commit to demand-side search as an efficient means to gain the benefit of the service strategy.

Originality/value

The study highlights the crucial role of SHRM practices in the implementation of the service strategy, as well as the mediating role of demand-side search. These results provide some new insights to explain the inconsistent findings in the servitization literature.
Answer selection and expert finding in community question answering services
Authors: Wang Hei-Chia , Yang Che-Tsung , Yen Yi-Hao
Published: March 2017

Purpose

Community question answering (CQA) websites provide an open and free way to share knowledge about general topics on the internet. However, inquirers may not obtain useful answers and those who are qualified to provide answers may also miss opportunities to share their expertise without any notice. To address this problem, the purpose of this paper is to provide the means for inquirers to access archived answers and to identify effective subject matter experts for target questions.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents a question answering promoter, called QAP, for the CQA services. The proposed QAP facilitates the use of filtered archived answers regarded as explicit knowledge and recommended experts regarded as sources of implicit knowledge for the given target questions.

Findings

The experimental results indicate that QAP can leverage knowledge sharing by refining archived answers upon creditability and distributing raised questions to qualified potential experts.

Research limitations/implications

This proposed method is designed for the traditional Chinese corpus.

Originality/value

This paper proposed an integrated framework of answer selection and expert finding uses the bottom-up multipath evaluation algorithm, an underlying voting model, the agglomerative hierarchical clustering technique and feature approaches of answer trustworthiness measuring, identification of satisfied learners and credibility of repliers. The experiments using the corpus crawled from Yahoo! Knowledge Plus under designed scenarios are conducted and results are shown in fine details.
Unicorn data scientist: the rarest of breeds
Authors: Baškarada Saša , Koronios Andy
Published: March 2017

Purpose

Many organizations are seeking unicorn data scientists, that rarest of breeds that can do it all. They are said to be experts in many traditionally distinct disciplines, including mathematics, statistics, computer science, artificial intelligence, and more. The purpose of this paper is to describe authors’ pursuit of these elusive mythical creatures.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with managers/directors from nine Australian state and federal government agencies with relatively mature data science functions.

Findings

Although the authors failed to find evidence of unicorn data scientists, they are pleased to report on six key roles that are considered to be required for an effective data science team. Primary and secondary skills for each of the roles are identified and the resulting framework is then used to illustratively evaluate three data science Master-level degrees offered by Australian universities.

Research limitations/implications

Given that the findings presented in this paper have been based on a study with large government agencies with relatively mature data science functions, they may not be directly transferable to less mature, smaller, and less well-resourced agencies and firms.

Originality/value

The skills framework provides a theoretical contribution that may be applied in practice to evaluate and improve the composition of data science teams and related training programs.