bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Voluntary helpful organizational behavior
Authors: P. Bandura Randall , Johnson Richard , R. Lyons Paul
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of the paper is to examine employee-helpful behavior that is voluntary and given freely without anticipation of reward or recognition. The authors have labeled this voluntary behavior in all its forms as v-hob, or voluntary helpful organizational behavior. They seek to define and explain the behavior and attempt to discern measures that will help to discover individual’s predispositions to offer v-hob.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors examine current theory/constructs and offer a detailed empirical study in identifying measures that may provide some means for assessing employee predisposition toward helpful, voluntary behavior on the job. The format of the work is reflective of a typical research study with hypotheses.

Findings

– The authors learned that, within limits, it is possible and practical to identify direct measures to discover one’s predisposition toward v-hob. They also have identified regression equations that use several variables to help predict one’s predispositions toward this valued behavior.

Practical implications

– This study brings to the manager and/or human resource (HR) practitioner the substance of contextual performance, that is, behavior that goes beyond task performance in the support of individual and organizational goal attainment. This research demonstrates several means by which trainers, managers and HR professionals may assess an employee’s or a recruit’s predisposition to offer voluntary, helpful behavior.

Originality/value

– This research, unlike most of the empirical, academic research in the domain of contextual performance, speaks directly to practitioners. The authors' definitions, explanations and study clearly demonstrate the practical features of contextual performance.
Firm characteristics and balanced scorecard usage in Singaporean manufacturing firms
Authors: Liu Ling , Ratnatunga Janek , J. Yao Lee
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– This study aims to examine the effects of balanced scorecard (BSC) usage on performances in the context of four contingent variables in Singaporean manufacturing firms. The results show that firms are more likely to adopt BSC if they are large in size, have products at an early product lifecycle (PLC) stage, operate in highly uncertain environments or adopt differentiation strategies. However, the adoption of BSC improves performance only in firms that are large or have products at an early PLC stage. The results suggest that contingent factors in which a firm operates can exert significant effects on the results of adopting BSC.

Design/methodology/approach

– Survey data are collected, then the authors check data correlations, principle components analysis, run regression analysis and ANOVA.

Findings

– BSC use is positively and significantly correlated with PLC stage, external environment and performance. Size and strategy are positively correlated with BSC usage, but are not statistically significant. Higher BSC use is found in large firms with products at an early PLC stage or operating in a highly uncertain environment. Companies with a cost leadership strategy are significantly associated with BSC use.

Research limitations/implications

– This study has small sample size and uses survey research method. The measurements to capture all aspects of BSC usage are non-exhausting. Future research can use different methodologies, such as field studies, case studies and lab experiments, to examine other industries than manufacturing.

Practical implications

– The authors results show the positive association between BSC use and certain firm characteristics. Firms with those characteristics should get insights about the benefit of using BSC and extract the maximum benefit from their investment on the BSC use and those firms which don’t have BSC in implication may think of implementing the BSC use.

Social implications

– Firms’ contingent factors affect the value of adopting BSC. With the authors research result, firms will be aware of how to extract the most value out of BSC and improve the social wealth of the manufacturing industries.

Originality/value

– The authors paper is the first paper to use survey method to examine the association between BSC and firms’ contingent factors in the Singaporean manufacturing firms setting.
Insights into physician scheduling: a case study of public hospital departments in Sweden
Authors: António Ferreira Rodrigues Nogueira dos Santos Marco , Kurt Olof Eriksson Henrik
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to describe current physician scheduling and concomitant opportunities for improvement in public hospital departments in Sweden.

Design/methodology/approach

– A total of 13 departments spread geographically across Sweden covering seven different specialties participated in the study. Data were collected through interviews with individuals involved in creating physician schedules. All departments investigated provided copies of the documents necessary for physician scheduling.

Findings

– Physician scheduling required the temporal coordination of patients, physicians, non-physician staff, rooms and equipment. A six-step process for creating physician schedules could be distinguished: capacity and demand overview, demand goal and schedule setting, vacation and leave requests, schedule creation, schedule revision, and schedule execution. Several opportunities for improvement could be outlined; e.g. overreliance on memory, lacking coordination of resources, and redundant data entering.

Research limitations/implications

– The paucity of previous studies on physician scheduling lends an exploratory character to this study and calls for a more thorough evaluation of the feasibility and effects of the approaches proposed. The study excluded the scheduling of non-physician staff.

Practical implications

– To improve physician scheduling and enable timeliness, three approaches are proposed: reinforcing centralisation, creating learning opportunities, and improving integration.

Originality/value

– This paper is among the few to investigate physician scheduling, which is essential for delivering high quality care, particularly concerning timeliness. Several opportunities for improvement identified in this study are not exclusive to physician scheduling but are pervasive in healthcare processes in general.
Health and social care workforce planning and development – an overview
Authors: Hurst Keith , Kelley Patterson Deirdre
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues relating to getting the right health and social care staff with the right skills in the right place at the right time and at the right price.

Design/methodology/approach

– Key points arising from several master-classes with health and social care managers, supported by a literature review, generated remarkable insights into health and social care workforce planning and development (WP&D).

Findings

– Flawed methods and overwhelming data are major barriers to health and social care WP&D. Inefficient and ineffective WP&D policy and practice, therefore, may lead to inappropriate care teams, which in turn lead to sub-optimal and costly health and social care. Increasing health and social care demand and service re-design, as the population grows and ages, and services move from hospital to community, means that workforce planners face several challenges. Issues that drive and restrain their health and social care WP&D efforts are lucid and compelling, which leave planners in no doubt what is expected if they are to succeed and health and social care is to develop. One main barrier they face is that although WP&D definitions and models in the literature are logical, clear and effective, they are imperfect, so planners do not always have comprehensive tools or data to help them determine the ideal workforce. They face other barriers. First, WP&D can be fragmented and uni-disciplinary when modern health and social care is integrating. Second, recruitment and retention problems can easily stymie planners’ best endeavours because the people that services need (i.e. staff with the right skills), even if they exist, are not evenly distributed throughout the country.

Practical implications

– This paper underlines triangulated workforce demand and supply methods (described in the paper), which help planners to equalise workloads among disparate groups and isolated practitioners – an important job satisfaction and staff retention issue. Regular and systematic workforce reviews help planners to justify their staffing establishments; it seems vital, therefore, that they have robust methods and supporting data at their fingertips.

Originality/value

– This paper stock-takes the latest health and social care workforce planning and development issues.
Implementation of patient-focused care: before-after effects
Authors: Wilde-Larsson Bodil , Inde Marianne , Carlson Annika , Nordström Gun , Larsson Gerry , Rystedt Ingrid
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an organizationally oriented, patient-focused care (PFC) model's effects on care quality and work climate.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study has a before-after (PFC implementation) design. The sample included 1,474 patients and 458 healthcare providers in six participating wards before and after PFC implementation, plus five additional randomly chosen wards, which only featured in the post-assessment.

Findings

– No pre-post differences were found regarding care perceptions or provider work climate evaluations. Statistically significant improvements were noted among provider care evaluations. Using aggregate-level ward data, multiple regression analyses showed that high adherence to PFC principles and a positive work climate contributed significantly to variance among care quality ratings.

Research limitations/implications

– Among healthcare providers, questions related to specific PFC aspects during evenings, nights and weekends had to be dropped owing to a low response rate.

Practical implications

– An important requirement for both practice and research is to tailor PFC to various health and social care contexts.

Originality/value

– The study is large-scale before-after PFC model review, where patient and provider data were collected using well-established measurements.
Out of sight, out of mind? Supplier spatial proximity in French public procurement
Authors: Mamavi Olivier , Nagati Haithem , T. Wehrle Frederick , Pache Gilles
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of spatial proximity on supplier selection in the French public sector. While French public procurement legislation forbids consideration of supplier location in the procurement process, public contractors may still rely on spatial proximity for complex transactions necessitating mutual adjustments with suppliers.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using French Official Journals (BOAMP), the authors compiled 565,557 transactions completed on three public procurement markets between 6,182 contractors and 26,570 suppliers, over a period of six years (between 2006 and 2011). The authors conducted a two-level hierarchical linear auto-regression analysis and a feature evaluation analysis for all transactions.

Findings

– The paper finds significant variation between the transactions on different markets: a negative effect of spatial proximity on the number of contract notices in the public market and a positive effect of spatial proximity on the number of notices in the services and supplies markets. The difference lies in the levels of mutual adjustment required to optimally manage the relationship between public contractor and supplier.

Research limitations/implications

– The research is based on an econometric analysis conducted uniquely in the French context, which calls into question the external validity of the results obtained. The study also rests on segmentation into three aggregate markets, which might be considered too general.

Originality/value

– Rather than analyze public contractors’ perceptions of the importance of the criterion of spatial proximity, the paper examines 565,557 actual transactions. The results point to the emergence of a new type of relationship with certain suppliers, which should lead public contractors to integrate relationship management competencies, in addition to legal and economic competencies, in the organization of calls for tenders.
Administrative reforms and performance of local public policies
Authors: Santos Curto Helena , Dias Álvaro
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between administrative reform in Portugal and the impacts on the dependence of local governments in the face of budgetary resources of state and local municipal revenue collection, which is understood as a form, among others, participation civil society in local public policies.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study opts for an exploratory analysis using the grounded theory approach, including the use of data relating to local government structures and partnerships with the private sector, based on the main lines of the public administration reform. The data were supplemented by documentary analysis, including legislative documents and papers in specialized area of administrative decentralization and civil society participation in local public policies.

Findings

– The paper provides empirical insights about how the increased participation of civil society in local public policies is associated with less reliance on state budgets and a greater number of local managerial structures.

Research limitations/implications

– Due to the chosen research approach, the results cannot be generalized. A comparative study between several countries could bring several interesting insights.

Social implications

– The paper includes implications for economic and social development of new public policies in the context of administrative reforms.

Originality/value

– This paper makes several theoretical and empirical contributions on this research field specially about local public manager's decisions for financial resources transfers within the active policy of sustainable local development.
Cointegration-causality analysis between terrorism and key macroeconomic indicators
Authors: Ismail Aisha , Amjad Shehla
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is two folds: first, to analyze the long-run relationship between terrorism and key macroeconomic indicators (GDP growth, GDP per capita, inflation and unemployment) and second, to determine the direction of causality between these variables in Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

– The relationship between terrorism and various macroeconomic indicators is analyzed by applying Johansen cointegration analysis. Furthermore, the causality between terrorism and macroeconomic indicators is tested by applying Toda Yamamoto Granger causality test.

Findings

– The results show that there exists a long-run relationship between terrorism and key macroeconomic indicators. Furthermore, the results suggest that there exists a bi-directional causality between terrorism and inflation. The causality between GDP per capita, unemployment, GDP growth and terrorism is unidirectional.

Originality/value

– There is a lack of research work conducted to analyze the long-run relationship and direction of causation between terrorism and various macroeconomic indicators specifically for Pakistan. The current paper fills the gap in the literature by using sophisticated econometric techniques and recent data set to provide the evidence of the relationship between terrorism and various macroeconomic indicators.
The effects of information regarding sustainability issues and behavioral self-management instruction on college students’ energy conservation
Authors: Mosher Hilary R. , Desrochers Marcie
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness of sustainability information and strategies to change pro-environmental (pro-e) behavior with introductory environmental science laboratory students.

Design/methodology/approach

– A one-group pretest posttest study was used to evaluate a two-hour workshop in which 30 participants were instructed in sustainability education and behavior change strategies. Participants implemented self-management strategies and tracked their energy use every week for two weeks following the pro-e training.

Findings

– A significant difference between participants’ baseline and Week 2 energy use assessments was found. The results suggest that the pro-e training increased participants’ energy conservation behavior for their targeted device. Moreover, participants decreased their energy usage for other measured electronic devices, suggesting generalization of treatment effects.

Research limitations/implications

– A sizable savings in energy was realized across all participants and devices (approximately 300 hours). However, there was no control group in this one-group pretest posttest study and the effect of reactivity cannot be discounted.

Practical implications

– This research suggests that behavior change strategies may be effective at improving pro-e behaviors. The relative ease and low cost of delivering the instruction, and minimal effort on the part of the participant to make behavior changes, provides a solid foundation from which to disseminate sustainability education.

Originality/value

– This paper describes a preliminary evaluation of a behavior change approach to teach students about how to change their pro-e behaviors. Limited prior research has examined self-management to alter pro-e behavior.
The choice of the necessary: class, tastes and lifestyles
Authors: Deeming Christopher
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– Our attitudes, values and tastes are shaped by our position in social space. At least, that was the argument Pierre Bourdieu set out in his seminal work,La Distinction. The purpose of this paper is to consider Bourdieu's theory of cultural reproduction and his argument that working-class families exhibit cultural attitudes and tastes for social necessity.

Design/methodology/approach

– Attitudinal data relating to social necessity are taken from a national social survey of the British population. The results provide a rich source of data for exploring classed attitudes towards necessity in contemporary Britain.

Findings

– Bourdieu's original claims for working-class “choice of the necessary” and working-class “taste for necessity” are based on his observations grounded in social survey evidence drawn from 1960s French society. Analysis of contemporary British social survey and attitudinal data also reveals sharp contours and differences in attitudes and tastes according to class fractions. These are evident in classed tastes and preferences for food, clothes, the home and social life.

Social implications

– Within the Bourdieusian theoretical framework, we understand that the tastes of necessity are preferences that arise as adaptations to deprivation of necessary goods and services.La Distinctionand Bourdieu's approach to unmasking inequalities and structures in social space continue to be relevant in contemporary Britain. More generally, study findings add to the growing evidence that casts some doubt on current arguments concerning “individualisation”, claiming that social class has ceased to be significant in modern societies.

Originality/value

– This paper sheds fresh light on the empirical validity and continuing theoretical relevance of Bourdieu's work examining the role of social necessity in shaping working-class culture. Bourdieu argues that the real principle of our preferences is taste and for working-class families, this is a virtue made of necessity.
Valuing green building certificates as real options
Authors: Vimpari Jussi , Junnila Seppo
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is first to evaluate whether real options analysis (ROA) is suitable for valuing green building certificates, and second to calculate the real option value of a green certificate in a typical office building setting. Green buildings are demonstrated as one of the most profitable climate mitigation actions. However, no consensus exists among industry professionals about how green buildings and specifically green building certificates should be valued.

Design/methodology/approach

– The research design of the study involves a theoretical part and an empirical part. In the theoretical part, option characteristics of green building certificates are identified and a contemporary real option valuation method is proposed for application. In the empirical part, the application is demonstrated in an embedded multiple case study design. Two different building cases (with and without green certificate) with eight independent cash flow valuations by eight industry professionals are used as data set for eight valuation case studies and analyses. Additionally, cross-case analysis is executed for strengthening the analysis.

Findings

– The paper finds that green certificates have several characteristics similar to real options and supports the idea of using ROA in valuing a green certificate. The paper also explains how option pricing theory and discounted cash flow (DCF) method deal with uncertainty and what shortcomings of DCF could be overcome by ROA. The results show that a mean real option value of 985,000 (or 8.8 per cent premium to the mean property value) was found for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum certificate in the Finnish property market. The main finding of the paper suggests that the contemporary real option valuation methods are appropriate to assess the monetary value and the uncertainty of a green building certificate.

Originality/value

– This is the first study to argue that option-pricing theory can be used for valuing green building certificates. The identification of the option characteristics of green building certificates and demonstration of the ROA in an empirical case makes questions whether the current mainstream investment analysis approaches are the most suitable methods for valuing green building certificates.
Implementation of the START:AV in a secure adolescent service
Authors: A. Sher Marilyn , Gralton E.
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to establish gaps in training, involve staff in the implementation process by incorporating their views on what is helpful and what can be improved, as well as provide information that might be helpful to other sites who are considering implementing the START:AV.

Design/methodology/approach

– The current study is the first to examine a START:AV implementation and survey a multi-disciplinary team on their views about implementation in a medium secure service for adolescents in the UK. The survey was adapted from the one used by Collins et al. (2008). Once surveys were received the qualitative information was collated to explore themes, and frequency analysis was undertaken on the quantitative information.

Findings

– The staff survey on the implementation of the START:AV highlighted a number of strengths and challenges. There was significant support for the START:AV in relation to it being a dynamic assessment to measure change, that focuses equally on strengths and vulnerabilities, making the process individualised. Users of the START:AV reported that the process of rating the START:AV as a team improved communication, teamwork, generated discussion and improved the detailed understanding of the patient being rated. Staff felt it was generally straightforward to use in terms of strengths and vulnerability ratings, but some difficulties emerged regarding making finer distinctions in ratings as well as completing risk formulations, highlighting further training needs. There was also some confusion about differentiating between certain strengths and vulnerabilities, leading to “double ratings”. Other difficulties highlighted centred on time and increasing workload.

Research limitations/implications

– The main limitation of the study relates to the low response rate to the survey (31 per cent).

Practical implications

– Recommendations for implementation and evaluation of new risk assessment procedures are made.

Originality/value

– The current study is the first to examine a START:AV implementation and survey a multi-disciplinary team on their views about implementation in a medium secure service for adolescents in the UK.
Economic freedom and bank efficiency: does ownership and origins matter?
Authors: Sufian Fadzlan , Shah Habibullah Muzafar
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The paper aims to explore the impact of economic freedom on the efficiency of the Malaysian banking sector.

Design/methodology/approach

– The analysis is confined into two stages. In the first stage, the bias-corrected data envelopment analysis method is used to compute the efficiency of individual banks. Then bootstrap regressions are used to examine the impact of economic freedom on bank efficiency, while controlling for the potential impacts of contextual variables.

Findings

– It was found that greater freedom to start new businesses tend to impede the efficiency of banks operating in the Malaysian banking sector. The results indicate that restrictions on the activities of which banks could undertake exert negative impact on their efficiency levels. The empirical findings seem to support for official regulation and supervision of banks by setting the limits on activities which banks could undertake. In addition evidence supporting for government interventions in the foreign exchange and money markets was found.

Originality/value

– The purpose of the present paper is to extend the earlier works on the performance of the banking sector in a developing economy and establish empirical evidence on the impact of economic freedom. Although empirical evidence which examines the performance of banking sectors is abundant in the literature, to the best of our knowledge, virtually nothing has been published to address the impact of economic freedom.
The Investment Dealers Association of Canada’s enforcement record
Authors: Lokanan Mark
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to analyze the aggravating and mitigating factors considered by the Investment Dealer Association (IDA)’s (Now IIROC) hearing panels when determining penalties.

Design/methodology/approach

– To conduct this research, Quicklaw’s database Securities Regulation Tribunal Decisions were searched for all decisions made by the IDA between January of 2003 and June of 2008. This paper analyzes the 238 cases that were found.

Findings

– The findings revealed that the IDA’s hearing panels were more likely to identify mitigating rather than aggravating factors when considering the appropriate penalties to be imposed on registrants. Perhaps this was because the hearing panels were more preoccupied with identifying mitigating factors that would, in turn, lead to less severe penalties for their members. The aggravating factors identified and considered were fewer in number than the aggravating factors identified but not considered by the hearing panels when imposing penalties.

Research limitations/implications

– IIROC needs to take stock of this study and encourage hearing panels to seriously take into consideration the factors listed in their sanction guidelines and apply them methodologically to each case.

Originality/value

– Despite the widespread use of self-regulatory organization (SROs) to regulate various occupations, SROs remain an understudied institution. This is the first study of its kind that looks at the aggravating and mitigating factors used by an SRO’s hearing panel in administrative hearings.
Money laundering consequences
Authors: Michelle Gallant M.
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to take an overarching analytical perspective on four decades of money laundering regulation.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study extracts the principal impacts of anti-money laundering (AML) regulation through a distillation of money laundering research.

Findings

– The most significant impacts of money laundering regulation are some recovery of tainted wealth, modest increases in the visibility of global financial transactions, disruption of tax haven jurisdictions and some distortions to international law.

Research limitations/implications

– This study offers a glimpse of the wider impacts of money laundering underscoring the need for empirical work.

Originality/value

– The originality lies in linking developments in discrete fields to money laundering regulation.
Turning customer satisfaction measurements into action
Authors: Lervik Olsen Line , Witell Lars , Gustafsson Anders
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on customer orientation by developing and empirically testing a model that attempts to explain the elements that constitute customer orientation and that, in turn, influence customer satisfaction. In particular, this study focuses on how service firms design, collect, analyse and use customer-satisfaction data to improve service performance. This study has the following three research objectives: to understand the process and, as a consequence, the phases of customer orientation; to investigate the relationships between the different phases of customer orientation and customer satisfaction; and to examine activities in the different phases of customer orientation that result in higher customer satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study, combining quantitative and qualitative research, is based on a cross-sectional survey of 320 service firms and a multiple case study of 20 organisational units at a large service firm in the European telecom industry.

Findings

– The results show that customer orientation consists of a process that includes three phases: strategy, measurement and analysis and implementation. Contrary to previous research, implementation has the strongest influence on customer satisfaction. In turn, customer satisfaction influences financial results. In-depth interviews with managers provided insights into the specific activities that are key for turning customer-satisfaction measurements into action.

Originality/value

– This research contributes to the literature on customer orientation by developing and empirically testing a model that attempts to explain what constitutes customer orientation and, in turn, influences customer satisfaction and financial results. Given the large amount of research on customer satisfaction, studies on how service firms collect and use customer-satisfaction data in practice are scarce.
Mirror, mirror on the wall – how customers perceive their contribution to service provision
Authors: Fliess Sabine , Dyck Stefan , Schmelter Mailin
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate customer perceptions of their own contribution to service provision, in order to enhance our understanding of customer contribution and its dimensions.

Design/methodology/approach

– In total, 27 in-depth interviews were conducted across nine service contexts. Qualitative data were then analyzed to identify the various dimensions of customer contribution.

Findings

– First, the study contributes to the understanding of customer contribution in identifying physical, mental, and emotional dimensions. The physical and mental dimensions of customer contribution are represented by activities, while emotions comprise mood and emotional states. Second, relationships among the three dimensions were identified; in particular, physical and mental activities were found to influence customer emotions. Third, the findings reveal that customer understanding of their own contribution to service provision encompass the co-creative sphere of customer and provider, and extends to the customer-sphere before the service encounter.

Research limitations/implications

– The qualitative study is limited in terms of generalizability, since the 27 interview cases were based on nine interviews each covering three service settings. Further research is needed to investigate how the dimensions of customer contribution are linked to different outcomes (e.g. service value, satisfaction, loyalty), thus providing a quantitative validation of our findings.

Practical implications

– Understanding the customer contribution to service provision is pivotal for service design. Service managers need to reflect on how the different dimensions of contribution manifest in their existing or potential service offering, since physical and mental customer activities shape their emotions, which in turn impact on the service experience and value.

Originality/value

– Little in-depth research has been conducted on the nature and dimensionality of customer contributions to service provision, particularly with regard to perceptions of their own contribution. Most previous empirical research on customer contribution is limited to a specific context and concerned with customer behaviors. Hence, this qualitative study examines customer contribution across different service context, focussing on customer perceptions in terms of physical, mental, and emotional contributions to service provision.
Spin-off performance in the start-up phase – a conceptual framework
Authors: Furlan Andrea , Grandinetti Roberto
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– Literature on spin-offs still lacks a thorough understanding of the forces governing spin-off performance. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by taking a network perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper combines the literature on spin-offs with the network approach to new ventures to proposing a model showing how networking in the pre-entry phases affects a spin-off's survival and early growth.

Findings

– The intensity and variety of interactions between the future entrepreneur (FE) and other individual actors has a positive impact on spin-off performance in both the incubation and the emergence phases. The degree of overlap between the network of the incubation phase and the network of the emergence phase also reinforces the effects of the intensity and variety of these interactions on performance during the emergence phase. Finally, entrepreneurial innovativeness is an antecedent of spin-off performance in that it requires different degrees of overlap between the network of the incubation phase and the network of the emergence phase.

Research limitations/implications

– Being a conceptual paper, the study needs the support of empirical research. For example, samples of spin-offs achieving a high and low performance could be compared in relation to their FE's networking activity.

Originality/value

– The paper creates a bridge between the inherited knowledge approach to spin-offs and the network approach to new ventures to provide a framework for explaining spin-off performance.
Do management control systems in SMEs reflect CEO demographics?
Authors: Reheul Anne-Mie , Jorissen Ann
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– Drawing on upper echelons theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether CEOs place their distinctive marks on the design of planning, control and evaluation systems (i.e. management control systems (MCS)) in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors use survey data from 189 Belgian SMEs and perform regression analyses to investigate the relation between the CEO demographics tenure, education and experience and various aspects of MCS design, controlling for the classical contingent variables.

Findings

– CEO tenure and education are related to evaluation system design, but there is no link between CEO demographics and planning and control system design. The lack of managerial discretion concerning planning and control systems could be explained by their more external and observable character, giving rise to pressures to comply with institutional norms (“good practices”). The presence of discretion concerning the design of evaluation systems could be due to their internal character.

Practical implications

– Since evaluation systems are an important determinant of work-related attitudes and can lead to dysfunctional behavior, it is important for company owners and board members to consider the demographics of present or new CEOs, and to understand the associated inclinations reflected in evaluation systems.

Originality/value

– The authors apply a more comprehensive approach than (the few) existing SME studies by relating a larger number of CEO demographics to a more comprehensive set of MCS elements, controlling for a larger group of contingent variables. Moreover, the authors fill gaps in the upper echelons and MCS literature.
Service development in small companies: a communication and learning process
Authors: Gottfridsson Patrik
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of how individually designed services are actually developed in small companies.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study focuses on a small number of enterprises over a relatively long period. The study has been using a qualitative method based on repeated interviews.

Findings

– The findings in this study show that there is no such thing as formal and/or structured development processes within the companies that were studied. The development process is more focused on how to, in an informal way, get hold of knowledge and other resources that are needed in order to create the new service. The development process can therefore be described as an intellectual and interactive process that involves cooperation within and between a changing set of actors and intervening parties, who all strive to create the knowledge that is needed in order to form new service offerings.

Originality/value

– The main contribution of this study is to bring new perspectives into the service development area, and thereby highlight other aspects that the traditional service development literature has been focusing on, i.e. intra-organisation service development.
Impediments on the way to entrepreneurship. Some new evidence from the EU's post-socialist world
Authors: K. Batsakis Georgios
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to shed light on traditionally important determinants (demographics, peoples’ perceptions, and environmental characteristics) of entrepreneurial engagement in the post-socialist region of the European Union (EU).

Design/methodology/approach

– A rich data set obtained from the Flash Eurobarometer Survey on Entrepreneurship 2007 is used, while a binomial probit regression model is employed.

Findings

– Gender, mother's occupation, unemployment, and economic growth are reported as significant determinants of entrepreneurship. The econometric results also suggest that lack of financial resources, individual's risk aversion, a large number of start-up procedures, and increased tax rates are all positively, rather than negatively related to entrepreneurial engagement.

Research limitations/implications

– It is suggested that the recent structural changes that have occurred in the examined region, as well as the transition process under which the examined countries operate have influenced the attitude of individuals towards entrepreneurial engagement.

Originality/value

– The study provides useful information in relation to the attitude of a post-socialist society towards structural issues which have possibly impeded its engagement to entrepreneurship. Both the geographic area (post-socialist European countries) and the time the data were collected (i.e. three years after the examined countries’ accession to the EU) can be perceived as factors of great interest for both policy makers and entrepreneurs.
Which criteria matter most in the evaluation of venture capital investments?
Authors: Carlos Nunes José , Gomes Santana Félix Elisabete , Pacheco Pires Cesaltina
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify the importance assigned to the various criteria used by the Portuguese venture capitalists (VCs) to evaluate and select early stage venture capital (VC) projects.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data were collected through a questionnaire answered by 20 Portuguese VCs. The authors use descriptive statistics techniques and non-parametric tests to identify the most valued criteria and test differences in the importance assigned to the criteria of several types of VCs and investments.

Findings

– The study reveals that personality and experience of the entrepreneur and of the management team are the most valued groups of criteria. VCs with a majority of private share capital value more the personality of the entrepreneur and management team than the companies with a majority of public share capital. Additionally, the VCs that did not yet internationalize consider the personality of the entrepreneur and management team and the financial aspects, to be more important than the VCs that have already expanded abroad.

Originality/value

– It provides evidence on the VCs behavior in a small VC market. Since most of the existing literature on this area refer to large VC markets, the present study is important to investigate whether the conclusions reached by the previous studies can be extended to a small VC market. Also, this study is a contribution to the literature on the internationalization of VCs and it is the first study that explores the impact of the VCs being internationalized on the value given to the various selection criteria of early stage VC projects.
The CURE scale: a multidimensional measure of service recovery strategy
Authors: Mostafa Rania , R. Lages Cristiana , Sääksjärvi Maria
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to address the gaps in service recovery strategy assessment. An effective service recovery strategy that prevents customer defection after a service failure is a powerful managerial instrument. The literature to date does not present a comprehensive assessment of service recovery strategy. It also lacks a clear picture of the service recovery actions at managers’ disposal in case of failure and the effectiveness of individual strategies on customer outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

– Based on service recovery theory, this paper proposes a formative index of service recovery strategy and empirically validates this measure using partial least-squares path modelling with survey data from 437 complainants in the telecommunications industry in Egypt.

Findings

– The CURE scale (CUstomer REcovery scale) presents evidence of reliability as well as convergent, discriminant and nomological validity. Findings also reveal that problem-solving, speed of response, effort, facilitation and apology are the actions that have an impact on the customer’s satisfaction with service recovery.

Practical implications

– This new formative index is of potential value in investigating links between strategy and customer evaluations of service by helping managers identify which actions contribute most to changes in the overall service recovery strategy as well as satisfaction with service recovery. Ultimately, the CURE scale facilitates the long-term planning of effective complaint management.

Originality/value

– This is the first study in the service marketing literature to propose a comprehensive assessment of service recovery strategy and clearly identify the service recovery actions that contribute most to changes in the overall service recovery strategy.
The effects of relationship bonds on emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions in frontline employees
Authors: Shih-Tse Wang Edward
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to extend the relationship marketing concept to examine which relationship bonds (social, structural and financial bonds) have different effects on employee affective (want to stay), normative (ought to stay) and continuance commitment (have to stay). Preventing emotional exhaustion in frontline employees and helping them stay on the job is an important topic for emotional labor research. The research also investigates which types of commitment influence emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions significantly.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data were collected through a self-reported questionnaire administered to 401 restaurant service industry frontline workers.

Findings

– The findings support the hypothesis that whereas social and financial bonds influence affective commitment, structural and financial bonds influence continuance commitment. Furthermore, affective commitment is a crucial factor for preventing emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions, whereas continuance commitment positively affects emotional exhaustion.

Originality/value

– This research offers academic and managerial insights into the various types of relationship bonds and controls these bonds for facilitating employee organizational commitment, which consequently affects emotional exhaustion and turnover intention.
Service characteristics’ impact on key service quality relationships: a meta-analysis
Authors: G. Black Hulda , Y. Childers Carla , H. Vincent Leslie
Published: August 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive examination of the nuances of service quality (SQ) relationships using meta-analytic techniques.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data set comprises 108 empirical studies with 222 independent samples. The authors use a multivariate generalized least squares approach to examining the impact of key moderators on SQ relationships.

Findings

– This research confirms previously established relationships between SQ and its correlates and contributes to the understanding of the dynamics of those relationships by providing empirical evidence that SQ is context-dependent. This research shows that a service’s level of inseparability, customization, standardization and technical complexity impacts key SQ relationships.

Research limitations/implications

– This research finds that SQ is context-dependent. The antecedents examined were more significant for transactional exchanges, while the consequences of SQ were stronger for relational exchanges. Future research should explore this difference and investigate other correlates that could impact transactional versus relational exchanges. The present research is limited in that it could only examine correlates of SQ that have been frequently studied in the literature.

Practical implications

– This research helps managers understand how the characteristics of their organizations impact the role SQ has on key outcomes. Firms desiring to maximize the impact of SQ must first consider the characteristics of their organizations to understand what combination of attributes is most beneficial. For example, this research found that SQ is a significant driver of financial performance when the service is customized, high-tech or relational. Managers in these types of organizations can impact their bottom line by focusing on perceived SQ.

Originality/value

– This meta-analysis is the first to include both the antecedents and outcomes of SQ. The current research offers a comprehensive examination of various service characteristics and their impact on SQ relationships.