bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Why interest‐free banking and finance movement failed in Pakistan
Authors: Mansoor Khan Mohammad , Ishaq Bhatti M.
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The main objective of the paper is to understand the reasons why Islamic banking failed in Pakistan despite lots of efforts being made to implement in contrast to its success in other parts of the world.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a debatable conceptual approach. It provides a longitudinal view of the issue of replacing the interest‐based financial system in Pakistan with an interest‐free system by taking the religious, socio‐economic and political factors of the country.

Findings

The findings of the paper hold that piecemeal solutions to eliminate interest from the financial sector of Pakistan could never succeed. It concludes that all intellectual, practical, political, constitutional and legal efforts undertaken in Pakistan to enforce an interest‐free system were not meant in earnest and therefore they inflicted serious damage to the cause of Islam as well as Islamic banking. Interest is prohibited in Islam for its exploitative nature. In case of Pakistan, interest institution is not only deep‐rooted, but also strongly interlinked with other exploitative tools that are prevalent in the hands of some selected people to keep their control over political, economic and social spheres of Pakistan. There is an indispensable need to eradicate interest along with its allied forces from the polity of Pakistan. The practical success of interest‐free banking and finance movement in Pakistan could not be materialized unless the state and polity of Pakistan are not convinced seriously to discover the paradigm of their personal and state institutions based on Islamic guidance and principles.

Research limitations/implications

The contents of the paper woven around normative and social disciplines and therefore, it is not possible to devise any statistical model to empirically test the contribution of these socio‐economic factors in a failure of interest‐free banking and finance movement for future research and any identified limitations in the research process.

Originality/value

The paper provides a broarder perspective over the issue of eliminating interest from the national economy and financial sector of Pakistan. The paper figures out some serious political, social and micro and macro economic constraints that should be first sorted out to pave the way for any viable strategy to succeed in replacing the existing system with risk‐sharing and alternative interest‐free mechanisms. The findings of this paper may be useful for the policy makers, researchers, academicians, financial experts, Islamic Shariah scholars, bankers, regulators, Islamic financial institutions and those Muslim countries who wish to undertake a similar kind of experiment as was attempted in Pakistan. This paper may also help the Western economist to think and debate about an alternative interest‐free economic and financial system of Islam.
Examining career development programs for the sales force
Authors: Jackson Donald W. , Hollmann Thomas , Gallan Andrew S.
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to explore career development programs for the sales force including benefits, implementation and managerial implications.

Design/methodology/approach

Career development programs are viewed through a conceptual model consisting of assessment, direction and development.

Findings

This paper provides a comprehensive list of the benefits of a career development program for sales forces.

Practical implications

The conceptual model can serve as a checklist for sales managers to evaluate, add to or modify their programs. The conceptual model also provides a framework for tying together many disparate areas of career development that have been handled separately or ignored in the sales management literature.

Originality/value

This paper provides a comprehensive conceptual model of career development that has not been present in the sales management literature. This should be useful to sales managers in evaluating their own career development efforts. The framework should also be useful to sales management scholars who teach and do research in this area.
The three key linkages: improving the connections between marketing and sales
Authors: Oliva Ralph A.
Published: September 2006

Purpose

In reviewing a spectrum of practice across the 60 member firms of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, those exhibiting an effective and efficient connection between marketing and sales appear to have three “key linkages” in common: linkages in language, linkages in organization, and linkage in systems. This paper seeks to outline these linkages, and explore how they might be strengthened in business‐to‐business firms.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a viewpoint paper, developed by the executive director of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, after a full day‐and‐a‐half meeting of ISBM member firms discussing marketing and sales linkage, expanded with additional qualitative observations of marketing/sales linkage across a selection of the ISBM membership base of 60 firms.

Findings

The study finds that effectiveness of the linkage between marketing and sales requires strong communication. Often one sees marketing and sales professionals talking past one another – they are not aligned on the definition of key terms, concepts, the nature of their practice. Firms which pay attention to training and alignment on language achieve better results. Common definitions of key terms and attention to communications issues are key in developing a more effective linkage between marketing and sales. Organizational approaches which favor “mixing” marketing and sales, joint meetings and contact, joint sales calls, and a reduction of the boundaries between marketing and sales seem to produce more favorable results. Finally, firms that have thought through, mapped, and show artifacts of a “demand generation process” where the role of marketing and sales are clearly defined, and how one feeds the other is charted clearly, appear to get much better results.

Research limitations/implications

A better understanding – and further research – of the dimensionality of the connection between marketing and sales, how marketing/sales linkages work, antecedents and consequences of strong linkages, and other approaches which produce better results are clearly indicated.

Practical implications

The “Three Linkages” approach points to practical and actionable approaches for managers in strengthening the effectiveness of their marketing and sales teams, such as: train the teams together to create agreement and clearer understanding of language; map the demand generation process and work as a team to understand, streamline, and strengthen it better ; pay careful attention to “handoffs”; and avoid siloed structures where marketing and sales only interact occasionally: implement joint selling calls, and organization structures which foster connection.

Originality/value

Although much discussion goes on with regard to marketing and sales effectiveness, the three dimensionalities of language, organization, and process surfaces as an approach to better understanding how the marketing and sales teams may be better aligned to produce stronger business results.
The effectiveness of environmental claims for services advertising
Authors: Chan Ricky Y.K. , Leung T.K.P. , Wong Y.H.
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore how different types of environmental claims may affect the communication effectiveness of environmental advertising. Two two moderating variables include the perceived eco‐friendly image of the originating country and consumer involvement.

Design/methodology/approach

The examination involves the analysis of the responses of 1,200 subjects in Shanghai, China, to mock advertisements containing environmental claims using a 2 x 3 factorial design.

Findings

Environmental claims enhance the communication effectiveness of advertisements for both high‐ and low‐involvement services. For high‐involvement services, substantive environmental claims generate more favorable attitudinal responses than do associative environmental claims.

Research limitations/implications

This research focused on a single Chinese city and on two service categories with contrasting degrees of involvement. While such a confinement can enhance the internal validity of the findings, their external validity has yet to be established.

Practical implications

These findings suggest that marketers should adopt a situational perspective by taking into account environmental claim type, country disposition, the degree of environmental consciousness of their target consumers, and service type when designing their environmental advertising campaigns.

Originality/value

Although a number of previous studies have focused on the application of environmental claims to advertise products, similar investigation into how these claims may help advertise services is virtually non‐existent. In this respect, the present study can be viewed as the first empirical work devoted to closing this research gap.
What factors influence customer‐oriented prosocial behavior of customer‐contact employees?
Authors: Lee Yong‐Ki , Nam Jung‐Heon , Park Dae‐Hwan , Ah Lee Kyung
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyze the structural relationship between empowerment, service training, service reward, job attitudes such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and customer‐oriented prosocial behavior of employees.

Design/methodology/approach

The research question is examined using a sample of Korean hotel employees. Structural equation analysis is used to test various research hypotheses and examine the extent to which job satisfaction and organizational commitment mediate the effect of empowerment, service training, and service reward on customer‐oriented prosocial behavior.

Findings

First, the greater the job satisfaction, the greater is the role‐prescribed customer service of employees. Second, the greater the job satisfaction, the greater is the organizational commitment. Third, empowerment has a significant effect on organizational commitment and extra‐role customer service. Fourth, service training has a significant effect on job satisfaction, but it has a negatively direct effect on organizational commitment. Fifth, service reward has a significant influence on job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Practical implications

Based on these empirical findings, employee management should be shifted from a transactional to a relationship‐building orientation – the former being short‐term goal‐oriented and the latter long‐term. Additionally, service organizations should evaluate employee lifetime value (ELV) as well as customer lifetime value (CLV).

Research limitations/implications

There is a need to extend the results to a diverse range of service industries.

Originality/value

This research explains that empowerment, service training, and service reward contribute to the evaluation of organizational commitment through the medium of job satisfaction.
Exploring the role of culture in trust development with service providers
Authors: Suh Jaebeom , Janda Swinder , Seo Sunhee
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore how customers from different cultures develop trust with service providers to uncover underlying dimensions of trust development for customers from different cultures.

Design/methodology/approach

This study utilizes semi‐structured phenomenological depth interviews to explore the role of culture in the development of trust with service providers.

Findings

Customers' direct service experiences in their native culture and in the culture where they reside (in this study the USA), as well as recommendations from others appear to be the major determinants of trust. Furthermore, a customer's trust in a recommender seems to transfer over to a service provider.

Research limitations/implications

Because all informants were from one foreign culture (Korean), the findings related to primarily this group. Further generalization of these findings should only be made after studies conducted with informants from other foreign cultures.

Practical implications

Service organizations need to offer their employees training that emphasizes strategies oriented toward building and maintaining trust with customers from different cultural backgrounds in order to better read customers from different cultural backgrounds and to effectively react to their complaints.

Originality/value

The most unique part of trust development for Koreans who have lived in the USA would be the transference process. They seem to trust service providers or service organizations based on the recommendations related to specific service categories. Once trust is established in recommenders, it seems to naturally result in a transference process (e.g. trust transference from service provider to service organization).
Perceptions of incompatibility in customer‐to‐customer interactions: examining individual level differences
Authors: Raajpoot Nusser A. , Sharma Arun
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents of customers' reactions to incompatibility and to develop operational guidelines for managers.

Design/methodology/approach

Using fractional factorial design six individual level factors are manipulated using video‐based scenarios.

Findings

The research finds that mood, expectations, and perceived control over outcome are the three most important factors influencing perception of incompatibility. Value system, control over process, and involvement effect perceived incompatibility to a lesser extent.

Research limitations/implications

The model tested cannot be considered as complete. Some of the factors that may have an impact on incompatibility such as educational level of respondent and cost of the service were not included in the experiment because of the increasing response burden on the respondents.

Practical implications

For services managers, results highlight the importance of perceived control and prior expectation of incompatibility in managing incompatibility. Co‐creation of service, development of realistic advertising messages, and mood manipulation whenever possible, have been indicated as possible solutions. For academics, this research provides greater insights into the relative importance of individual level antecedents of customer incompatibility. Results also show that mood has both direct and indirect (via interactions with perception of control and involvement) effects on creation of incompatibility perceptions.

Originality/value

Results are of value to both service managers and academics. This paper extends research in the area of customer‐to‐customer interactions by empirically examining non‐demographic individual level factors that impact the perception of incompatibility (negative interpersonal encounters among customers).
Relationship development in a multinational utilities network
Authors: Tyler Katherine , Stanley Edmund , Brady Amanda
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to research the development of services business relationships between a global telecommunications provider (the supplier) and the divisions of a multinational utilities company (the buyer), which was undergoing a de‐merger into strategic business units.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is a case study, supported by grounded theory.

Findings

The paper finds that the supplier used strategic relationship management, relationship specific investment and adaptation, and service quality, proved during exploratory exchanges, to establish its credibility with divisions of the buyer's network. Purchases were based on four criteria: cost, quality, relationship management and technological capability. Each division of the utility company (the buyers) tested the relationship and service quality credentials of the service provider. The buyers confirmed information from the network on the aptitude and commitment of the suppliers to its clients. Long‐term contracts followed.

Research limitations/implications

Research in other service sectors would be useful. Comparative case studies would be of value to provide influencing successful relationship development.

Practical implications

The practical implications of the paper are: the long‐term strategic relationship vision; total customer focus; relationship development efforts must be responsive to potential customer needs, purchase strategies and time scales, willingness to assume risk; the demand to establish relationship and service credibility prior to extensive exchange requires relationship specific investments by the supplier; and empowering relationship management staff.

Originality/value

There are few studies of relationship development in multinational services businesses in networks, and this research helps to fill this gap.
Relationship marketing: the influence of consumer involvement on perceived service benefits
Authors: Kinard Brian R. , Capella Michael L.
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to empirically examine the influence of consumer involvement on perceived relational benefits across service types.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on Bowen's service typology, responses from patrons of fast‐food restaurants and hairdressers/stylists were used to assess the influence of consumer involvement on relationship marketing, specifically perceived service benefits and response behaviors.

Findings

Results indicate that highly involved consumers perceive greater relational benefits when engaged in a high contact, customized service (i.e. hairdressers/stylists) versus a more standardized, moderate contact service (i.e. fast‐food restaurant).

Research limitations/implications

Care should be taken when generalizing these findings to other service settings as this study only addressed two service types. Thus, an opportunity for future research could add moderate contact, non‐personalized services to determine if there are significant differences between the three service categories. Additionally, this study was based in the USA, thus cultural differences may influence perceived benefits of service firms selected.

Practical implications

The results of this study suggest that a service firm providing a more standardized service offering is better served by hiring and training competent and trustworthy employees than by adopting relational benefit programs. On the other hand, high contact customized service providers are encouraged to engage in relationship activities with highly involved consumers, specifically those related to confidence benefits.

Originality/value

This study confirms the recommendation that relationship marketing may be inappropriate for all service firms. More importantly, the level of consumer involvement with the service has a significant moderating effect on perceived relational benefits.
The impact of brand trust and satisfaction on retailer repurchase intentions
Authors: Zboja James J. , Voorhees Clay M.
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate spill‐over effects from customer perceptions of trust in and satisfaction with a brand to customer evaluations of a retailer and, ultimately, repurchase intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual model is developed and tested using structural equation modeling. Specifically, recent procedures for assessing direct and mediated effects are adoped.

Findings

The findings demonstrate that customer trust in and satisfaction with a retailer mediate the effects of brand trust and satisfaction on customer repurchase intentions.

Research limitations/implications

This research provides a preliminary examination of the relationship between brands, retailers, and consumers. The results suggest that halo effects exist between customer perceptions of brands and retailers. Future research could attempt to discern how this transference from brand to retailer occurs and replicate these findings in other industries or product types.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that managers must realize that perceptions of brands are transferred to the retailers that carry these products. However, in order for customers to return, a retailer must satisfy them and earn their trust, since the effects of brands are indirect.

Originality/value

This paper extends findings of transference in retail service settings by demonstrating that customer evaluations of brands can spill over and influence customer perceptions of a retailer.
Service personalization and loyalty
Authors: Ball Dwayne , Coelho Pedro S. , Vilares Manuel J.
Published: September 2006

Purpose

To investigate the effect of service personalization on loyalty, and to measure some of the psychological dynamics of the process.

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modeling.

Findings

It is shown that the effect of service personalization on loyalty exists, but that the effect is not all direct. Personalization works through improving service satisfaction and trust. Personalization and improved communication act together in such a way that they account for the variance in loyalty that would be otherwise explained by corporate image.

Research limitations/implications

Data, though comprising a very large probability sample, are from one economic sector in one European country.

Practical implications

Service personalization is a powerful way to retain customers in its own right. In addition, the other results show that personalized service can partially replace the effects of communication and corporate image on loyalty. This argues that personalized service can be a powerful addition to mass communications.

Originality/value

Growing conventional wisdom in marketing argues that customer loyalty is responsible for large fractions of the profits of many service businesses. Constructs such as satisfaction, trust, customer collaboration, customer interaction, firm image, personalization, learning relationships, and so forth, have all been proposed as intermediate objectives, or as tools to build loyalty. Yet, to date, only some of these constructs have been measured and shown to be related to loyalty. This paper fills a portion of the empirical gap by showing that service personalization, indeed, affects loyalty, above and beyond the other explanatory variables.
How do corporate reputation and customer satisfaction impact customer defection? A study of private energy customers in Germany
Authors: Walsh Gianfranco , Dinnie Keith , Wiedmann Klaus‐Peter
Published: September 2006

Purpose

To analyze whether perceived corporate reputation and customer satisfaction are directly associated with customer intention.

Design/methodology/approach

Using structural equation modeling, the study is based on the responses to a written questionnaire of 462 customers of a large German utility.

Findings

A non‐significant and weak relationship was found between corporate reputation and switching intention. The postulated impact of customer satisfaction on customer switching intention was confirmed. Corporate reputation and customer satisfaction were found to be strongly correlated.

Research limitations/implications

The sample includes only one company's customers, so the findings may not be generalized to other industries. Future research in other service industries is called for.

Practical implications

The threat of customer defection in deregulated markets requires power supply companies to examine the marketing instruments and measures required to inhibit customer willingness to switch power suppliers. This study demonstrates the need to focus on monitoring and increasing customer satisfaction.

Originality/value

The importance of reputation and satisfaction will ultimately be assessed on the basis of their customer‐related consequences and their economic relevance to companies. The construct of corporate reputation has attracted significant attention among marketing scholars, although almost no work can be found that focuses on the most important stakeholder group, namely customers. This paper addresses this research gap. The identification of context‐specific reputation and satisfaction effects on customer defection offers both practical implications for marketers and contributes to the theoretical knowledge base of an increasingly important domain in services marketing.
The real cost of ILS ownership
Authors: Fischer Ruth , Lugg Rick
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to bring awareness to all factors that impact on the cost of an integrated library system (ILS).

Design/methodology/approach

Using a total cost of ownership approach, a bigger view of all the factors impacting on cost is explored.

Findings

The paper finds that many libraries focus entirely on direct costs when selecting a new ILS, rather than factoring in staff time and other long‐term costs that will be associated with choosing a system.

Originality/value

When the direct and indirect costs are considered, systems that have higher initial costs may be cheaper to own through their entire lifespan than other, seemingly cheaper, products.
Where there's a will, there's a way: fundraising for the academic library
Authors: Huang Samuel T.
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The key to a successful library development and fundraising program is a synergistic relationship between development professionals and librarians. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper focuses on the partnership in achieving the library mission and its fundraising goals.

Findings

The study finds that raising funds for any academic library requires commitment and leadership of the library dean and the development officer. With library faculty and staff members' input, the library development team must work together in writing a compelling case statement that has high dramatic and emotional impact on the mission of the library and the institution.

Originality/value

The paper identifies three key elements that library faculty and staff can provide to support any successful library development program.
University and course choice
Authors: Maringe Felix
Published: September 2006

Purpose

Higher education environments have become increasingly competitive and institutions have to compete for students in the recruitment markets. With the introduction of student fees, it is hypothesised that potential applicants to HE will increasingly become consumerist. The research upon which this paper was based was aimed at finding out the factors students consider important in their decision making related to choice of university and courses of study.

Design/methodology/approach

Five sixth form schools and colleges in the Southampton University Partnership Scheme participated in the study. Three hundred and eighty seven students (186 male and 201 female) voluntarily participated. The study involved a survey questionnaire based on a 10 point Likert scale and included 35 university choice factors which students were to rank accordingly. It also included 10 items similarly ranked to identify factors influencing university subject or course choice. Simple descriptive statistics were used to identify the factors students consider most important in their choice and decision making.

Findings

Two key signals have been identified. First is that, students seem to be adopting a consumerist approach to their HE decision making. The importance attached to labour market motives in terms of employment and career prospects significantly outweigh those related to pursuing HE on the basis of subject interest and a love for the subject. Second is that as a result of this, students consider programme and price related issues as more important than other elements of universities marketing mix.

Research limitations/implications

There are no claims for generalisability of findings from this research on account of the small sample of participants and the use of convenience sampling employed in the study. However, the findings generally support what is already known about factors influencing university choice and go beyond to show signals of change within the undergraduate recruitment market.

Practical implications

The findings have implications for university positioning in a diversifying recruitment market, and for a reconsideration of marketing and recruitment strategy at institutional levels.

Originality/value

The paper identifies signals of a changing undergraduate recruitment market and notes the implication this has on recruitment and marketing activities for institutions intending to position or reposition themselves in the highly competitive markets.
University evaluation‐selection: a Turkish case
Authors: Telli Yamamoto Gonca
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the university selection criteria of students for better university management with the use of marketing tools.

Design/methodology/approach

This study consists of a survey on students attending a foundation university in Turkey. The questionnaire method has been chosen in order to determine the important criteria having an impact on the student views towards university selection. The students had been admitted to a foundation university in the 2005‐2006 period when within the same universities various departments were included in the study.

Findings

The results indicate student evaluation and selection criteria in this period of time.

Practical implications

This paper examines the criteria that affects the selection of students and, in detail the students' point of view towards the university evaluation and selection in Turkey. This will help the university manager's decision making on the marketing tools they use.

Originality/value

Selecting a university is a long‐term commitment and a very important decision for the high school students and/or graduates. Academic, social, physical factors and facilities are some important criteria for university selection. This study concerns the importance of these criteria in detail.
Diffusing values or adjusting practices? A review of research on French public utilities
Authors: Jeannot Gilles
Published: September 2006

Purpose

This article reviews a set of studies depicting how public officials (agents) in French public utilities have reacted, in practical terms, to customer‐focused reforms.

Design/methodology/approach

The article is based on data drawn from labour studies commissioned by French public utilities to evaluate the effects of reforms. Qualitative research using direct observation or semi‐structured interviews testing the assumption that the reallocusof change in behaviour, values and identity stem from changes in work practices not principles.

Findings

There is evidence of a progressive diffusion of new public management values but this varies between different groups and their changes in behaviour are triggered more by the adjustment of workers' practices to new management rules and technical innovations than the imposition of new principles or cultural values. The responses of agents are also often inconsistent. This suggests that the generalised findings of research based on surveys and questionnaires may not capture the reality of change, which is more complex, varied, inconsistent and contingent.

Originality/value

It offers a challenging critique of the use of surveys and top down approaches in the study of the impact of new public management on public officials and suggests a bottom up approach throws more light on how and why changes in behaviour, values and identity occur.
Transforming public services – transforming the public servant?
Authors: Berg Anne Marie
Published: September 2006

Purpose

To investigate the interdependence between organizational forms and the identities of managers and front line personnel in government services.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual paper based upon and adding to theories and typologies developed by Douglas and Considine and Lewis. It also uses an empirical study of three Norwegian public services to support the hypothesis that distinct professional groups respond differently to new public management (NPM) reforms.

Findings

The transformation of government services towards market based and private sector management models is challenging traditional cultures and identities of service providers. In general there is opposition to the reforms because of their effect on the ability of professionals to do a good job. Professional groups are responding in different ways to new management systems and organisational forms and new identities are emerging. There is evidence that a hybrid form of bureaucracy is emerging which combines some virtues of the traditional procedural bureaucracy with flexibility, user focus, participation and professional pride.

Research limitations/implications

The data used in the paper was not originally collected to test models or theories. Further research, therefore, is necessary to specifically explore the link between professional and individual identities and organisational and management forms.

Originality/value

It contributes to the growing literature on the impact of NPM on professional civil servants' identity and their response to the changing cultures of the organisations in which they work.
Online reporting: accounting in cybersociety
Authors: Gallhofer Sonja , Haslam Jim
Published: September 2006

Purpose

This essay sets out to introduce the special issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The essay introduces the focus of the special issue, the manifestation of the phenomenon of online reporting and the issues it engenders in relation to accounting, and briefly reviews the contribution of the articles in the issue.

Findings

Finds that the papers in this special issue extend the understanding of the interface between online reporting and accounting.

Originality/value

The essay locates the contributions of the issue within a problematic, whereby online reporting is understood critically, interpretively and contextually in terms of its actualities and potentialities.
The use of collaboration in personal outcomes
Authors: Callaghan Leonard
Published: September 2006

Purpose

As part of its restructuring and commitment to collaboration and advances in healthcare, the author's organisation has recently adopted personal outcomes to ensure that services are aligned to meet patient needs more effectively. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate this advancement in healthcare in the light of recent research findings, changing policies and the author's own understanding.

Design/methdodology/approach

The paper introduces the concept of collaboration as a means of achieving personal outcomes. In addition, the paper puts forward suggestions as to how the nurse can foster interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary teamwork, utilising the core concepts of the advanced nurse practitioner, namely transformational leadership, in support of this.

Findings

While success stories of personal outcomes abound much of it anecdotal based. Therefore, the need to initiate research in this area is of paramount importance as the latter would be helpful in examining meaningful quality outcomes. Reform in structure, finance and policy will also be necessary, as these are vital ingredients to the success of personal outcomes. Despite the overlapping conflict of Irish government policy, the extra finance announced in the 2005 Budget can only serve to assist organisations in achieving accreditation through initiatives like personal outcomes. Central to the success of personal outcomes, is to engage in collaborative practice by way of fostering interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary team working.

Research limitations/implications

Further study of the impact on patient outcomes of collaboration is warranted.

Originality/value

The paper examines organisational, professional and interpersonal challenges.
Measuring quality in services for children with an intellectual disability
Authors: Koornneef Erik
Published: September 2006

Purpose

To evaluate the application of one particular quality measurement tool, the SERVQUAL instrument, as a potential mechanism to measure quality in services for children with disabilities

Design/methodology/approach

Staff and family of children with an intellectual disability in two organisations providing specialist therapy and day completed an adapted SERVQUAL questionnaire. A total of 81 SERVQUAL questionnaires were distributed and 59 questionnaires were returned (response rate of 73 per cent).

Findings

The SERVQUAL instrument can be considered as a useful diagnostic tool to identify particular strengths and areas for improvement in services for people with disabilities as the instrument lends itself for the monitoring of the effectiveness of quality improvement initiatives over time. The findings also showed relatively high customer expectations and the organisations involved in this research are currently not meeting all of these high expectations as significant quality gaps were found in the areas of reliability and responsiveness.

Research limitations/implications

The sample size was relatively small and the measurement of quality using the SERVQUAL instrument remains a challenge, due to the conceptual and empirical difficulties.

Practical implications

The SERVQUAL instrument is probably most be attractive to service managers and funding organisations because of its ability to identify gaps in the quality of the service.

Originality/value

The tool had been used to measure quality in services for people with disabilities and the research has shown that this tool might be an important additional quality measurement tool for services.
Carving out time and space in the managerial university
Authors: Anderson Gina
Published: September 2006

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the ways in which recent “managerial” changes in Australian universities affect academics' experiences of their working lives; and the significance of time and space in academics' resistance to managerialism.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on interviews with 27 academics from eight Australian universities, in which they explored their experiences of managerialism. The analysis reported here focuses on academics' experiences of time and space in the managerial university. A Foucauldian approach to power and resistance underpins the overall research approach employed in this study.

Findings

The paper finds that academics in this study argued that managerial practices in their universities imposed significant time‐burdens in already full workloads. However, many of them also employed time and space – often in highly creative way – in resisting these same practices. Much of this resistance involves academics “fiddling” time and space from themselves in order to fulfil their obligations as teachers and research. Such resistance has implications for further academic demoralisation and burnout.

Originality/value

While other studies have acknowledged academics' opposition to managerialism in their universities, this study focus specifically on the ways in which this opposition is enacted in resistance.
Relationships of TQM practices and employees' propensity to remain: an empirical case study
Authors: Boon Ooi Keng , Veeri Arumugam , Kim Yin Loke , Subathra Vellapan Lorraine
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The main purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and employees' propensity to remain within a large Malaysian semiconductor packaging organization. Despite extensive research on TQM practices, none examines this scope of investigative study. Therefore, the proposed model was developed with the intention of examining this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Original research using self‐completed questionnaires, distributed to all staff within this organization is thoroughly reported. The study sample consisted of 230 employees, resulting in a response rate of 76.6 percent. A questionnaire developed by Udo, Guimaraes and Igbaria was adapted for ascertaining the level of employees' propensity to remain. Data were analyzed by employing correlation and simple linear regression analysis.

Findings

The results revealed that customer focus, organizational trust, organizational communication, employee involvement and empowerment are positively associated with employees' propensity to remain. It is also found that where organizational trust was perceived as a dominant TQM practice; improvements in employees' propensity to remain levels were significant. Further, the result of the simple linear regression analysis supports the proposed model based on the empirically validated soft TQM instruments, which are reliable and valid.

Originality/value

The study contributes in advancing the TQM literature to a better understanding of the influence of TQM on the propensity to remain among employees within a major semiconductor sector.
Managing cost of quality: insight into industry practice
Authors: Schiffauerova Andrea , Thomson Vince
Published: September 2006

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to present results of the study of the quality costing practices at four large successful multinational companies.

Design/methodology/approach

The method of benchmarking was used for the purpose of this study. Company representatives, who were invited for a benchmarking session, described the quality management programs running at their companies. Direct observation and archival records data collection were also used to extract more precise information for the following analysis and discussion.

Findings

The findings of the study show that all four companies use systematic quality initiatives; however, a formal cost of quality (CoQ) methodology was only employed at one of them. This is in agreement with the literature findings arguing that a CoQ approach is not utilized in most quality management programs.

Originality/value

This paper discusses and compares the quality programs of four companies and explains the benefits of the eventual adoption of a CoQ approach in each case. The analysis provides a new insight into company practice, useful both for academic research and industry.
Motivational factors of gender, income and age on selecting a bottle of wine
Authors: Barber Nelson , Almanza Barbara A. , Donovan Janis R.
Published: September 2006

Purpose

To explore the attributes of wine packaging that are enticing to consumers and the influence of age, gender and income on the wine‐buying decision.

Design/methodology/approach

To evaluate how wine packaging interplays with age, gender and income to influence consumers’ decision to purchase. A self‐administered questionnaire with closed‐ended and five‐point Likert‐type scale questions was conducted in the State of Connecticut at two retail shops and five wineries. The questionnaire was pilot‐tested at a local retail wine store in Connecticut to ensure reliability and clarity of the questions.

Findings

Results showed that label design and bottle closures were important to respondents and that self‐confidence was a significant factor for age and gender, with females and respondents between 31 and 40 years of age more concerned about making a wine‐buying decision.

Research limitations/implications

The selection of the state of Connecticut and the testing sites may not represent the general US wine consumer, and therefore results may not be generalizable. Future research projects could include: comparing label configurations and bottle‐packaging choices with the situational use and sensory testing of wines to determine if the novice consumer can evaluate a wine characteristic such as “peachy” or “floral” as described on wine labels.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils an identified need by offering practical advice to wine producers on the necessity to understand what packaging characteristics or cues are important to consumers and to focus their marketing efforts towards simple wine packaging and label designs.
Internal relationships
Authors: Herington Carmel , Johnson Lester W. , Scott Don
Published: September 2006

Purpose

Practitioners argue that the way they treat their employees has an impact on firm success. However, they frequently do not equate this with relationship building. On the other hand, the academic relationship marketing literature does highlight internal relationships as having an important impact on external customer relationships. However, this relationship suffers from a lack of academic empirical evidence. Neither seems to recognize the knowledge of the other leading to incongruence between marketing theory and practice. The purpose of this paper is to bring the two literature streams together demonstrating that the practitioners are talking about, and practising, relationship marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

Exploration and comparison of the academic and practitioner literature bases to elaborate on the value of relationship building within organizations.

Findings

Competitive advantage can be attained through development of a relationship‐building culture which includes building relationships inside the organization as well as customer relationships. In fact, successful customer relationships rely on successful internal relationships.

Research implications/implications

A broad research agenda is outlined for understanding the nature of internal relationships and their impact on a firm's success.

Practical implications

Organizational success can be gained through building strong internal relationships and the development of a relationship‐building organizational culture.

Originality/value

Links practitioner cases and reflections to the concept of relationship marketing, demonstrating further how relationship marketing activities provide a competitive advantage.
Outsourcing, information leakage and the risk of losing technology‐based competencies
Authors: Hoecht A. , Trott P.
Published: September 2006

Purpose

To draw attention to a particular outsourcing risk that has not yet been adequately addressed in the literature, namely information leakage arising from acts of accidental disclosure or even purposeful betrayal by consultants that work for several client firms at the same time.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of the literature.

Findings

It illustrates how specialist IT service providers are playing pivotal roles in determining the extent to which unique firm specific skills and core competencies are being transferred to the wider industry context (via leakage) and becoming standard practices. It is shown that consultants face a dilemma as they are expected to spread cutting edge level expertise to their respective client firms, yet at the same time honour confidentiality commitments.

Research limitations/implications

Conceptual rather than empirical.

Practical implications

A management tool is developed for managers to aid decision making.

Originality/value

A critique of the outsourcing literature and a warning to managers to be aware of the risk of information leakage.