bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Understanding acceptance of multisource feedback for management development
Authors: McCarthy Alma M. , Garavan Thomas N.
Published: September 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report a study investigating the predictors of acceptance of multisource feedback (MSF) by managers. Specifically, it investigates the extent to which locus of control, cynicism and perceptions of procedural justice predicted acceptance by feedback recipients.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitative data were analysed from 520 questionnaires completed by managers who participated in a multisource feedback programme as part of a leadership development process.

Findings

The study findings reveal that managers' perception of procedural justice was most significant in explaining variance in acceptance of MSF. Cynicism also explained significant variance in acceptance.

Practical implications

The findings highlight the importance of attending to procedural justice issues when implementing MSF. They also highlight the need to assess cynicism levels in the organisation.

Originality/value

The study combines variables not included in previous studies.
HRM and TQM: association with job involvement
Authors: Keng Boon Ooi , Arumugam Veeri , Samaun Safa Mohammad , Abu Bakar Nooh
Published: September 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of individual employees on the influence of eight elements of HRM/TQM (i.e. leadership, training and development, employee participation, reward and recognition, customer focus, empowerment, teamwork, and communication) on employees' job involvement in six major Malaysian semiconductor contract manufacturing organizations. Despite extensive research and voluminous literature on HRM/TQM, very little empirical research has examined this scope of investigative study. Therefore, the hypotheses are developed with the intention of examining this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Original researches using self‐completed questionnaires, distributed to employees within these organizations, are thoroughly reported. The study sample consisted of 377 employees, resulting in a response rate of 75.4 percent. A questionnaire developed by Kanungo was used for ascertaining the level of overall job involvement. Data were analyzed by employing correlation and multiple regression analysis.

Findings

The results of this study revealed that teamwork, empowerment, customer focus, reward and recognition and communication are positively associated with employees' job involvement. Where empowerment was found to be a dominant practice, strong associations with employees' job involvement existed. Originality/value – This study contributes in advancing the HRM/TQM research literature to a better understanding of the association between HRM/TQM and employees' job involvement within the context of the Malaysian semiconductor sector.
Sectoral collective agreements: remuneration straitjackets for German workplaces?
Authors: Allen Matthew M.C. , Tüselmann Heinz‐Josef , El‐Sa'id Hamed , Windrum Paul
Published: September 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to map some of the diversity in employee relations in Germany that is overlooked, first, within assessments of the German labour market that focus on the national level and second, within separate studies in this area that emphasize attempts by employers to circumvent important institutions.

Design/methodology/approach

The research adopts a quantitative approach to examine data for German manufacturing and service sectors on both the spread of industry‐wide collective agreements and the extent to which workers are paid wage rates that are higher than those set out in those agreements. It also assesses the prevalence of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes.

Findings

Industry‐wide collective agreements are not the burden that they are often portrayed. Actual wage rates and the prevalence of profit sharing and ESOSs make German workplaces more heterogeneous than critics and advocates of the German economic model posit.

Research limitations/implications

The data are limited to Germany; however, Germany occupies a prominent position, not just within much of the employment relations literature, but also in terms of economic output. The research is also limited by an inability to provide evidence on workplaces that undercut sectoral collective agreements and to disaggregate the data further by sector and firm size/location.

Originality/value

The paper provides a counterpoint to the portrayals of employee relations in Germany that often present a homogeneous picture of those relations. For the first time, data on the spread of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes in German workplaces at the sectoral level are provided.
Moving beyond Schein's typology: individual career anchors in the context of Nigeria
Authors: Ituma Afam , Simpson Ruth
Published: September 2007

Purpose

Drawing on institutional theory, this study sets out to explore the career anchors that exist among information technology (IT) workers in Nigeria and also to establish the strongest anchors in this context.

Design/methodology/approach

This research adopted a two‐pronged methodological approach, which involved the use of 30 semi‐structured interviews and a 336‐question survey.

Findings

Results suggest the continued significance of traditional orientations to careers in Nigeria as well as orientations associated with new career theory.

Research limitations/implications

The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the selected context of the research.

Practical implications

Human resources managers in Nigeria should be cautious of adopting career management models developed in the West. They should provide a reward system, which minimises financial uncertainty and risk.

Originality/value

This paper provides valuable insights on the career anchors of IT workers in a relatively neglected region in the literature. It also extends Schein's original career anchor theory.
The cost of granting executive stock options with strike prices adjusted by the cost of capital
Authors: Cheung Joe , Corrado Charles
Published: September 2007

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate the cost of granting executive stocks with strike prices adjusted by the cost of capital. Design/methodology/approach – In the paper a Monte Carlo simulation approach developed in Longstaff and Schwartz is used in conjunction with the subjective valuation model developed in Ingersoll to value these executive stock options that are subject to performance hurdles. Findings – The paper finds that standard European Black‐Scholes‐Merton option values overstate the true cost to the firm of granting these executive stock options. The option values also decrease with a higher dividend yield, a higher performance hurdle, a longer vesting period, and a shorter maturity. Research limitations/implications – While the study in the paper is limited to the valuation of executive options, the methodology can be used to study incentive effects of executive stock options that have a performance hurdle. Practical implications – The approach used in this paper to estimate the cost of granting executive stock options is a clear improvement over standard European option pricing approaches that often result in biased estimates. Originality/value – This paper presents a first attempt to integrate the Ingersoll utility‐theoretic model and the Longstaff and Schwartz least squares Monte Carlo algorithm to estimate the subjective value and the objective cost of executive stock options with a performance hurdle. This valuation approach will be useful in the study of other types of executive compensation.
Return‐based investment strategies in the New Zealand stock market: momentum wins
Authors: Gunasekarage Abeyratna , Wan Kot Hung
Published: September 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the profitability of return‐based investment strategies in the New Zealand stock market; 16 such strategies are examined for the period from January 1995 to December 2004.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper shows that, at the end of each month of the sample period, every security is ranked in ascending order using their past J‐month formation period cumulative return (J=3, 6, 9 and 12). Then these securities are allocated to three groups; group 1 represents the loser portfolio, while group 3 represents the winner portfolio. Finally, equally weighted average returns of winner and loser portfolios are calculated over the next K‐month holding period (K=3, 6, 9, and 12). The statistical significance of the returns earned from buying winners and shorting losers is tested in order to determine the profitability of proposed strategies.

Findings

The findings in this paper show that a strong momentum effect, rather than a reversal effect, is present in this market. For example, the strategy, which is based on a six‐month portfolio formation period and a six‐month holding period, generates a monthly return of 1.14 per cent. These strategies are most profitable when they are based on formation and holding periods of three‐to‐six months. Further analyses reveal that the profits generated by such investment strategies cannot be explained by either the small firm effect or the January effect.

Originality/value

The main implication of this paper shows that buying past winners and selling past losers is profitable in the short to medium run in New Zealand.
Time budget pressure, auditors' personality type, and the incidence of reduced audit quality practices
Authors: Gundry Leanne C. , Liyanarachchi Gregory A.
Published: September 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to extend the literature on reduced audit quality practices (RAQPs) by examining the relationship between time budget pressure, auditors' personality types, and the incidence of two RAQPs – premature sign‐off of an audit step (PSO) and accepting a weak client explanation (WCE).

Design/methodology/approach

The aim of this paper is to collect data. A research instrument was developed and administered to audit practitioners in New Zealand using postal and web link methods. The research instrument included several hypothetical audit scenarios and Blumenthal's Type A Self‐Rating Inventory Scale (TASRI).

Findings

The paper finds that a significant relationship is present between time budget pressure and PSO only. Significant relationships are also found among auditors' personality types and the incidence of the two RAQPs. These results suggest that the audit environment is complex and that time budget pressure is only one of several explanations for the incidence of RAQPs.

Research limitations/implications

The research instrument of this paper has not been used before in its entirety. This may raise issues of validity of the findings. Also, defining and measuring time budget pressure in terms of two categories (high/low) as opposed to a continuum may have implications on results reported in this study.

Originality/value

The paper provides results that show the importance of auditors' personality type in understanding more about the incidence of RAQPs.
The impact of audit firm industry differentiation on IPO underpricing
Authors: Wang Kun , Wilkins Michael S.
Published: September 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between auditor industry differentiation (specialization) and the underpricing of initial public offerings (IPOs). The intention is to determine whether IPO firms – particularly those in the small firm segment of the market where information asymmetry is likely to be greatest – can benefit from significantly better IPO pricing by engaging the services of differentiated auditors.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines a broad sample of initial public offerings made between 1991 and 2000. It also conducts univariate and multivariate tests to assess the relationship between IPO underpricing and auditor industry specialization.

Findings

The paper finds that IPOs audited by Big 6 firms experience significantly less underpricing than IPOs audited by non‐Big 6 firms, particularly among small clients. It also finds an additional (and significantly larger) reduction in underpricing when the client engages an auditor that has established itself as the clear leader in its industry.

Research limitations/implications

The results in this paper may not be generalizable to different countries. They do, however, appear to be robust in the USA throughout the ten‐year sample period.

Practical implications

The paper shows that it may not be feasible for all clients in the small‐firm segment of the market to engage specialist auditors. However, if they can, the results suggest that they could benefit from better IPO pricing.

Originality/value

The paper combines the auditor specialization literature with the IPO underpricing literature and also documents a significant economic benefit to smaller IPO firms.
Immigrants' relative earnings in Sweden – a quantile regression approach
Authors: Hammarstedt Mats , Shukur Ghazi
Published: September 2007

Purpose

There is now a large amount of literature on immigrants' relative earnings and immigrants' earnings assimilation in different countries. This paper aims to contribute to international research, since the paper investigates the earnings gap between different groups of immigrants and natives at different parts of the earnings distribution in Sweden.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantile regressions are estimated on a large dataset in order to study to what extent there are differences in the earnings gap between different groups of immigrants and natives at the top and the bottom of the earnings distribution in Sweden.

Findings

The study shows, that immigrants are doing relatively better at the top than at the bottom of the earnings distribution. This is the case for males as well as for females. Furthermore, the study also shows that in times of recession, the earnings gap between immigrants from European countries and natives remains stable, while the earnings gap between non‐European immigrants and natives at the bottom of the earnings distribution increases substantially.

Originality/value

This paper is useful to those wishing to examine the extent of differences in earnings between immigrants and natives and differences in earnings between different immigrant groups.
Perceived psychological contract fulfillment and job attitudes among repatriates
Authors: Steve Chi Shu‐Cheng , Chen Shu‐Chen
Published: September 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the relationships among repatriates' perceived psychological contract fulfillment, counterfactual thinking, and job attitudes.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper sampled 135 repatriates from 16 multinational companies (MNCs) in Taiwan through a survey questionnaire. The paper used hierarchical regression analyses to test its hypotheses.

Findings

The study results showed that repatriates' perceived fulfillment of their psychological contracts was negatively related to turnover intent and positively related to organizational commitment, after controlling for the variables of change assessments. The study also finds a positive relationship between upward counterfactual thinking and turnover intent and between downward counterfactual thinking and organizational commitment. Moreover, repatriates' perceived fulfillment of their psychological contracts was found to be related to upward counterfactual thinking but not downward counterfactual thinking.

Practical implications

A subjective perception of psychological contract fulfillment is a more important predictor of job attitudes than actual changes in position, pay, and skill improvement. Therefore, it is important for MNCs to maintain open communications with their repatriates to ensure clear understanding of the agreement existing between employees and the organization.

Originality/value

In the international human resource literature, it is unclear whether the relationship between expatriates' (or repatriates') perceived fulfillment of their psychological contract with their job attitudes are simply due to their assessments of actual changes in pay, position, and skills. In the case of repatriation, the paper clarifies the phenomenon by distinguishing both repatriates' assessments of changes before and after expatriation and their perceived fulfillment of psychological contracts (and their counterfactual thinking).
Effort‐based career opportunities and working time
Authors: Bratti Massimiliano , Staffolani Stefano
Published: September 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the hypothesis of effort‐based career opportunities as a situation in which profit maximising firms create incentives for employees to work longer hours than the bargained ones, by making career prospects depend on working hours. The paper aims to test some implications of this hypothesis using UK data.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical analysis uses the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and panel data estimators to investigate the existence of a robust correlation between working hours and workers' expected probability of promotion in the current job.

Findings

The analysis shows the existence of a robust positive correlation between working time and workers' expected likelihood of promotion in the BHPS data even when controlling for several individual characteristics and for workers' unobserved heterogeneity.

Research limitations/implications

Although the paper uses panel data, the BHPS does not allow for the identification of the firms in which individuals work, and therefore to control for firm fixed effects. Employer‐employee datasets would have allowed a better assessment of the hypothesis.

Originality/value

The paper provides a theoretical explanation for the empirically observed positive association between working time and expected promotion probability and, unlike previous papers that used pooled OLS estimates, it exploits the panel structure of BHPS data to control for individual unobserved heterogeneity.
Influence of job demands, job control and social support on information systems professionals' psychological well‐being
Authors: Love Peter E.D. , Irani Zahir , Standing Craig , Themistocleous Marinos
Published: September 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to test the predictive capabilities of the job strain model (JSM) on information systems (IS) professionals.

Design/methodology/approach

The JSM is tested by investigating whether perceived work demands, job control and social support can predict IS employee's psychological well‐being in terms of worker health and job satisfaction. A questionnaire survey, which contained valid and reliable scales for the aforementioned constructs, was completed by 89 respondents.

Findings

The results indicate that the JSM can be used to significantly predict employee's psychological well‐being in terms of worker health and job satisfaction among the IS professionals sampled in the UK. Contrary to previous research, however, non‐work related support was found to be more significant than work support in alleviating psychological strain.

Research limitations/implications

The findings presented are not generalisable to the wider population of IS professionals in the UK due the small sample size. Thus, research involving additional samples is needed to ensure the appropriate generalisation of the results.While there have been limited studies that have examined occupational stress among IS professionals, it is anticipated that further studies that are conducted using the JSM will be able to determine the boundaries of generalisability.

Originality/value

The model was found to significantly predict employee's psychological well‐being in terms of worker health and job satisfaction among the IS professionals sampled in the UK. For the specific sample, the JSM captured the key characteristics that contributed to the job strain that they experienced. With the exception of non‐work related social support, the results support previous studies that examined the predictive capacity of the JSM.
Coaching with emotion in organisations: investigation of personal theories
Authors: Bachkirova Tatiana , Cox Elaine
Published: September 2007

Purpose

The aim of this study is to investigate personal theories of emotion that coaches have and how these theories are translated into strategies of working with clients' emotions.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach to the study is phenomenological. A questionnaire method based on specifically designed stem sentences was used in order to engender spontaneous responses from the 39 participants. Analysis of data was conducted through coordinated interpretation of categories and themes by the three different researchers.

Findings

Three differing standpoints in relation to both the role of emotion in the coaching process and the role of the coach in relation to a client's emotions were identified and the correspondence between them was established. Potential explanations for the discovered inconsistencies in personal theories and strategies of dealing with emotion are suggested with implications for organisational coaches.

Research limitations/implications

Personal history and the dynamics of individual development were difficult to capture at this stage using only one method of data collection. The following stage of study will involve in‐depth interviewing of a number of international coaches.

Practical implications

The results of the study need to be considered by those providing training to organisational coaches. The spectrum of possible positions presented in relation to emotion in coaching may help coaches identify their personal stance and examine their strategies of dealing with emotion.

Originality/value

An original tool was developed that contributes to a qualitative analysis of coaches' personal experiences of dealing with emotion. The study sheds light from the first person perspective on the complex issue of working with emotion in organisations. It offers important clarifications of the current context of this issue thus contributing to the advancement of conventional discourse and research on working with emotions in organisations.
Is personality associated with perceptions of LMX? An empirical study
Authors: Bernerth Jeremy B. , Armenakis Achilles A. , Feild Hubert S. , Giles William F. , Jack Walker H.
Published: September 2007

Purpose

The paper seeks to investigate whether or not leader‐member exchange (LMX) is influenced by the personality of subordinates and/or supervisors.

Design/methodology/approach

Previous literature from the general leadership, personality, and LMX domains was used as a theoretical background for proposing certain types of relationships between the personality traits that make up the Big Five and employees’ perceptions of LMX. Personality data were collected from 195 matched pairs of employees and supervisors. LMX data were collected from 195 employees. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships.

Findings

Employees' conscientiousness, extroversion, openness, and neuroticism were found to impact perceptions of LMX. Likewise, supervisors' conscientiousness and agreeableness also impacted employees' perceptions of LMX.

Research limitations/implications

The present study included two potential research limitations. First, personality was measured using the short‐version of the NEO‐FFI; thus, we were unable to run analysis at the facet level. Second, although we did have two sources of data (i.e. the supervisor and subordinate), there is a possibility that common method variance may have influenced some of the hypothesized relationships.

Practical implications

Results indicate there may be a dispositional basis to perceptions of LMX. Thus, the relationship between LMX and outcome variables (i.e. performance, turnover, satisfaction, etc.) may be only part of the story. Practitioners that want to maximize the relationship between employees and their supervisors would be well served to actively consider personality issues. In particular, some employees and some supervisors appear to be more willing to engage in exchanges than others.

Originality/value

As far as we know, this is the first study to investigate the influence of personality from two sources (i.e. the supervisor and subordinate) on LMX. It moves beyond the traditional study of demographic similarity.
Developing organizational practices of ecological sustainability
Authors: Fenwick Tara
Published: September 2007

Purpose

This article aims to discuss issues and strategies of developing practices of ecological sustainability in organizations. Three questions guide the discussion: how are practices of social responsibility and ecological sustainability developed and maintained in organizations? What learning in particular is involved in developing practices of ecological sustainability in organizations? How might this learning be fostered by organizational leaders?

Design/methodology/approach

The article draws from literatures in ecology, ecological learning and corporate social responsibility to describe the nature of ecological sustainability, intents and approaches of organizations developing it, and their challenges. Case examples drawn from studies of small business are examined to explore successful strategies of developing practices of ecological sustainability. These examples are analysed from a learning perspective.

Findings

Challenges that hinder adoption of ecological sustainability practice include low stakeholder understanding and support, low management focus and strategy, and insufficient cost‐benefit analysis. Organizations confronted these challenges by emphasizing education and enabling conditions that fostered learning in everyday action (decentralization, diversity, connections, shared focus, constraints, and feedback).

Research limitations/implications

The discussion shifts the emphasis from corporate social responsibility (CSR) – which has become a broad, contested area of multiple meanings – to ecological sustainability, and shifts the focus from measurement and reporting (prominent in CSR literature) to learning.

Practical implications

Strategies are suggested for organizational leaders to enable conditions for learning that support practices of ecological sustainability.

Originality/value

With the learning perspective, and particularly with the focus on ecological learning models based in complexity science, the article demonstrates a unique link between learning approaches and practices of ecological sustainability.
Capturing leadership tacit knowledge in conversations with leaders
Authors: Janson Annick , McQueen Robert J.
Published: September 2007

Purpose

The paper seeks to capture leadership tacit knowledge mechanisms built throughout leaders' careers. Learning to be a leader involves developing the tacit knowledge to give confidence in one's decisions. Most of the knowledge required cannot be acquired from explicit documents – rather, it is built through action, experience and reflection. This research focuses on leadership in the innovation context where learning potentially occurs through a variety of knowledge building processes.

Design/methodology/approach

Narratives from 31 leaders who have achieved success in innovation leadership were collected piloting a tacit knowledge articulation methodology. From the narratives, a model is proposed which is embedded in the leadership career pathways of these innovation leaders.

Findings

The findings suggest that leadership tacit knowledge mechanisms evolve with organisations' life cycle. A bi‐focal (developmental and “locus of knowledge“ factors) model was assembled to explain how successful leadership involves balancing “locus of learning” from internal and external sources and facilitating mind‐shifts (e.g. collaboration and communication paradigms underlying relationship and networking processes).

Research limitations/implications

The study sample size was relatively small – further replications with a larger number of subjects and in different contexts are planned or under way.

Practical implications

This research has implications relevant to both leaders interested in bringing their organizations to their next developmental level and to practitioners because leverage points are identified at which interventions designed to share the lessons learned from successful leaders will be most effective.

Originality/value

Tacit leadership knowledge is not easily transferred into explicit “how‐to” instructions for consumption by a prospective innovation leader, yet it is a major source of competitive advantage. It is more appropriate to view innovation leadership development as a tacit knowledge building process in individuals and groups, rather than a knowledge transfer from knowledgeable leaders to wannabe leaders. A developmental model is proposed that integrates the changes occurring in learning patterns while firms expand their loci of knowledge.
The building blocks of leader development
Authors: Popper Micha , Mayseless Ofra
Published: September 2007

Purpose

The paper aims to present a conceptual model that delineates the psychological substructures (“building blocks”) and their impact on the major learning processes required for leader development.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on theories in developmental psychology, it is argued that certain variables formed in early childhood are “building blocks” for leader development in later phases of the individual's life. The influence of these variables on leader development is discussed.

Findings

The building blocks – self‐confidence, pro‐social orientation, proactive optimistic orientation, openness, along with high motivation to lead – are precursors for (socialized) leader development. Their significance and how they affect two major learning processes of leaders – experiential learning and vicarious learning – are discussed.

Originality/value

The article presents a conceptualization that is research oriented and can be tested empirically. Most of the concepts discussed have valid and reliable measures that can be used in future research. The directions discussed also have practical implications, particularly with regard to methodical selection and development of leaders – issues that are of special concern to large organizations.
How alternative marketing strategies impact the performance of Spanish museums
Authors: Camarero Izquierdo Carmen , José Garrido Samaniego María
Published: September 2007

Purpose

The current work seeks to analyze the different effects of three alternative strategic marketing orientations – market orientation, sales orientation, and product orientation – on non‐profit organizations' effectiveness, specifically their economic and social effectiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to test the hypotheses proposed, an empirical analysis of 182 Spanish museums was conducted.

Findings

The study reveals that social effectiveness relates highly to product and customer orientation, whereas economic effectiveness mainly depends on sales orientation and inter‐functional coordination.

Practical implications

The results suggest that applying a marketing orientation centered on the product and knowing the visitor is critical for successfully fulfilling the objectives of conservation and diffusion of culture. Moreover, the organization needs to focus on sales, on the internal customer, and on the coordination between the managing institutions, to be able to achieve satisfactory economic results.

Originality/value

This work makes an empirical contribution to the analysis of market orientation on cultural organizations. Although previous research has underlined the relevance of a market orientation for museums and cultural organizations, few empirical analyses have been developed until now.
The “real‐world” challenges of managers: implications for management education
Authors: Brotheridge Céleste M. , Long Stephen
Published: September 2007

Purpose

This study aims to examine the day‐to‐day problems that managers face in trying to be effective and the resources and solutions that they access as a means of dealing with these challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

This research summarizes the results of 185 interviews with managers employed at a broad range of levels and employers.

Findings

The managers were concerned with managing employee conflict, addressing employee performance and attitude issues, and finding employees who do not present these problems. Helpful advice came from the people around them rather than from print sources. The managers were unlikely to view consultants as sources of help.

Research limitations/implications

In identifying relevant teaching from a managerial perspective, this study suggests that curriculum designers pay more attention to teamwork and generic skill sets. Future research should examine the implications of pedagogical approaches on the practice of management, employ a random sample of a larger group of managers in order to cross‐validate this study's results, and, given that there may be a disparity between managers' perceptions and practice, a follow‐up study is needed that examines day‐to‐day managerial practice.

Practical implications

This study proposes that management researchers and teachers may need to do a “Mintzbergian turn” and examine how much time they spend directly addressing the issues that are important to managers on a day‐to‐day basis. This study suggests that management educators may need to move beyond presenting managerial issues as a series of “topics” to be recalled by students at a later date. Rather, there is a need to consider what issues real managers grapple with and how they go about doing so.

Originality/value

This study's open‐ended research approach permitted the examination of what was most important to managers from their perspective.
Exploring potential factors leading to effective training
Authors: Chen Ching‐Yaw , Sok Phyra , Sok Keomony
Published: September 2007

Purpose

A previous study found that the quality of education in Cambodia is poor compared to other developing countries. However, the working performance of commercial banks in Cambodia is high. It was speculated that effective training was the main factor underlying this contradiction. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is to explore the elements of training conducted by commercial banks in Cambodia and to examine their relationship with training effectiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

The research focuses on six factors: training needs assessment; training program; flexibility of training; self‐efficacy; social support; and transfer of knowledge. The data came in the form of questionnaires and desk research. A descriptive analytical approach is then used to describe these six factors.

Findings

The banking industry in Cambodia offers very effective training to its employees. It is also worth noting that more than 80 percent of employees are satisfied with the training, despite few attempts on the part of management to elicit opinions from employees on what training methods should be employed.

Research limitations/implications

As research studies involving Cambodia are relatively rare, it was difficult for to gather primary data. Because of this limitation and the purpose of this study, descriptive data interpretation was employed.

Practical implications

Even though training can make up for poor education, it is only a short‐term solution. In the long term, education needs to be enhanced to increase working performance.

Originality/value

This research provides a good framework for commercial banks in other developing countries to compare. A cross‐cultural study is also proposed for future research.
A study of managerial derailment characteristics and personality preferences
Authors: Gentry William A. , Mondore Scott P. , Cox Brennan D.
Published: September 2007

Purpose

This research has the purpose of examining whether personality preferences and type from the Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) are related to managerial derailment.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is within the context of field research, using 6,124 managers undergoing leadership development processes. Survey methodology was used to assess a manager's self‐ratings of MBTI type and preference, and observer ratings (peer, boss, direct report) of managerial derailment characteristics.

Findings

Different MBTI preferences of managers are likely to display derailment characteristics as judged by observer perspectives. In an exploratory manner, the MBTI preferences and types are also examined in accordance with different managerial derailment clusters.

Research limitations/implications

The MBTI's conceptual foundation and psychometrics may be viewed as a limitation, and other personality theories like “The Big Five” could be used. Limitations of the study also include the fact that managers going through a leadership development process may be different to managers in general, and derailment characteristics do not necessarily mean actual managerial derailment.

Practical implications

Regardless of MBTI type or preference, managers can decrease their chances of managerial derailment through examining job fit, increasing self‐awareness, and through other mechanisms mentioned in the paper.

Originality/value

This study is unique, since MBTI preferences and types could signal whether managers display derailment characteristics to their co‐workers. Additionally, this paper gives insight into how managers can prevent derailment, regardless of their MBTI type and preference, thereby having special value for managers and those who study managerial development.
Problem‐based learning: a viable approach in leadership development?
Authors: Yeo Roland K.
Published: September 2007

Purpose

The aim of the paper is to investigate problem‐based learning (PBL) as a viable approach in leadership development. It identifies several key factors, strategies and possible outcomes associated with this new approach to training.

Design/methodology/approach

Reflective inquiry through storytelling was employed as a research tool to gather rich qualitative data from two PBL trainers and 18 senior management personnel in a Singapore engineering firm. In‐depth interviewing was conducted four months after a structured three‐day leadership training using PBL.

Findings

Through a content analysis, three important factors have been identified as contributing to the meaningfulness of leaders' learning process: problem definition; open communication; and utilization of resources. Also, appropriate handholding is required to facilitate participants' deeper understanding of PBL even after the training session.

Research limitations/implications

The study has led to new theoretical perspectives of cognitive and behavioral learning. For instance, PBL has increased participants' capacity and propensity to learn through the interplay of adaptive and generative learning. Further, the dynamics of learning hinge on the notion of single‐ and double‐loop learning where acting (investigation), thinking (reflection) and learning (knowledge sharing) intersect.

Practical implications

A matrix eliciting a guided approach to PBL in leadership development is presented to make explicit the subtle complexity of the learning process. Through both a structured training to an unstructured operational phase, PBL has led leaders to the discovery of new roles, attitudes and knowledge required to meet current changing times.

Originality/value

PBL is traditionally an educational tool, but its wider application manifested in leadership training offers an original perspective in human resource development. Of value is the attempt to quantity qualitative data, yielding considerable clarity in the way complex information is managed.
A framework for management control research
Authors: Kanthi Herath Siriyama
Published: September 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework that can be used in studying the changing nature of management control in organizations. It is based on four components of the management control system, namely: organizational structure and strategy; corporate culture; management information systems; and core control package.

Design/methodology/approach

A range of published works is reviewed to explore the nature of management control.

Findings

The conceptual framework developed in the paper can be used in studying the changing nature of management control in organizations.

Research limitations/implications

This is not an empirical investigation of management control.

Originality/value

The framework presented in this article is useful to both practitioners and researchers of management control.
“i‐Branding”: developing the internet as a branding tool
Authors: Simmons Geoffrey J.
Published: September 2007

Purpose

To derive an applicable conceptual framework of branding via the internet form; to show how that framework can, by organising and integrating current knowledge, assist marketing planners in the development of successful internet‐based branding strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual framework presented here derives from a thorough analytical and critical review of the literature on branding in the conventional and virtual marketing environments.

Findings

There are three key themes in the mainstream branding literature, supplemented in the proposed framework by a fourth research stream self‐evidently relevant to internet‐based branding. It is clear that the resulting four main elements of the framework are strongly interrelated in the practice of brand management in the online environment.

Practical implications

The “Four Pillars of i‐Branding” should be of intellectual interest and practical value to marketing planners and those advising them, providing a more systematic approach to the understanding and application of branding, online.

Originality/value

The literature of “i‐Branding” is at present at a formative stage, with limited integration among its themes. The framework described here provides the basis for the rational formulation and implementation of branding strategies, applying internet‐based tools to the tasks of marketing communication and customer relationship‐building in particular.
An application of the ECSI model as a predictor of satisfaction and loyalty for backpacker hostels
Authors: Chitty Bill , Ward Steven , Chua Christina
Published: September 2007

Purpose

To determine which factors account for customer satisfaction with a service and their loyalty to a given service provider, in the particular, context of “backpacking” in Australia, a significant element of the country's hospitality and tourism economy.

Design/methodology/approach

A series of hypotheses was developed from the services marketing literature and built into a 52 item questionnaire administered to 281 backpackers staying at the three youth hostels in Australia, who thus responded whilst actually experiencing the service encounter rather than in recalling it later. The European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) was used to measure the strength and direction of the determinants of customer satisfaction, and the impact that the antecedents of satisfaction had on loyalty to the generic provider.

Findings

The results of confirmatory factor analysis of the questionnaire responses suggest that brand image is a predictor of satisfaction with a hostel, while perceived value indicates a degree of loyalty towards the “brand”.

Research limitations/implications

The ECSI model's generic measuring criteria limit its generalisability. Further, research could usefully investigate other variables applicable to both hostels and conventional hotels to be included in a measurement model of satisfaction and loyalty for the whole hospitality industry.

Practical implications

Backpacker hostels are an example of experienced‐based service encounters with few clear comparative advantages. The marketing of the generic brand must therefore foster a brand image congruent with the experience actually delivered and the potential customers' expectations of it, thereby reducing decision risk.

Originality/value

The unusual context and particular methodology cast fresh light on an important challenge for marketing planners in the service industries.
Mediating effects of relationship quality on customer relationships: an empirical study in Hong Kong
Authors: Wong Y.H. , Hung Humphry , Chow Wing‐ki
Published: September 2007

Purpose

To build and test a model of customer relationships, with particular reference to the financial services sector, relating the perceived quality of the relationship to one antecedent and two long term consequences.

Design/methodology/approach

Data collected by street interviews with 207 consumers of financial services in Hong Kong were analysed by the research tool for this study is a questionnaire‐based survey on the quality of financial services in Hong Kong. Customers were interviewed on the streets in the major commercial districts in Hong Kong and a total of 207 completed questionnaires were collected and subjected to factor analysis. The model was tested for goodness of fit and construct reliability.

Findings

The findings confirm that there are significant relationships among relationship quality, information sharing, the expectation of continuing interaction and customers' willingness to recommend their service provider to others.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should apply the model proposed in this study and the findings to other service sectors and other geographic locations, in order to enhance its generalizability.

Practical implications

The study provides strong evidence that financial service providers need to cultivate good‐quality relationships with customers, especially through regular and open information sharing, in order to maintain them in the long‐term.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this study is to demonstrate that relationship quality is a significant mediating variable between the antecedents and consequences of customer relationships. The expectation of a continuing relationship is also found to be strongly related to customers' willingness to recommend “their” service providers to others.
Influences on supplier repurchase selection of UK importers
Authors: Gill Donna , Ramaseshan B. (Ram)
Published: September 2007

Purpose

To investigate the influence of supplier‐performance criteria on importers' decisions to repurchase from the same source, in the context of wine‐importing.

Design/methodology/approach

Selection criteria were derived from the literature and preliminary discussion with importers. Hypotheses were formulated, linking criteria and performance attributes to post‐purchase re‐buying intentions. Data were collected by self‐completion questionnaire from 152 UK‐based wine importers, and analysed by multiple regression.

Findings

Supplier performance with respect to relationship commitment, payment facilities and product quality has a positive impact on repurchase intentions; the influence of price and brand recognition was found to be insignificant.

Research limitations/implications

The study was limited geographically and by questioning only importers. Future study should investigate relevant behaviour across a wider spread of countries, business types, decision parameters and external variables, and collect data from exporters as well as importers.

Practical implications

It is concluded that suppliers should focus strategy on all the decision‐criteria investigated in the study, rather than on the narrow base typically found in practice. Exporters should nurture strong relationships with importers, emphasise consistent product quality, and offer flexible payment arrangements. Branding is a route forward, and price will be an issue in the highly competitive UK market.

Originality/value

This is the first study to empirically test the effect of suppliers‐performance criteria on importers' repurchase intentions.