bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Patient satisfaction in Japan
Authors: Elleuch Amira
Published: October 2008

Purpose

To extend existing knowledge about health care quality and patient satisfaction by exploring Japanese context having a different health care system and a different culture from the USA and Europe.

Design/methodology/approach

A structural equation model is used to explore links between quality perception and patient satisfaction as well as between patient satisfaction and intentional behavior relying on 159 Japanese outpatient replies.

Findings

Japanese healthcare service quality is evaluated using its process characteristics (patient‐provider interaction) and physical attributes (settings and appearance). Process quality attributes were found to be patient satisfaction antecedents. Satisfaction in turn predicts patient intentional behavior (to return and to recommend). Japanese society cultural specificity seems to be an interesting background to understand Japanese evaluation when patients assess health service quality.

Research limitations/implications

The sample investigated is relatively small. The study relied on a linear approach to assess patient satisfaction and intentional behavior. However, the non‐linear model should yield a better reality fit.

Practical implications

To improve Japanese patient satisfaction, cultural values such as courtesy, empathy and harmony should be emphasized when delivering medical services. Satisfied consumers are an important asset for the healthcare provider as they intend to reuse the service and to recommend it to their families and friends. Both foreign and Japanese providers should adopt a consumer perspective to enhance the service quality and then to maintain long‐term relationships with their customers.

Originality/value

The study used structural equation analysis to assess patient satisfaction in a scarcely investigated context. Moreover, the study relies on Japanese society's cultural characteristics to explain and understand results.
Reconsidering the role of conversations in change communication
Authors: Jabri Muayyad , Adrian Allyson D. , Boje David
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose is to inspire a more Bakhtinian perspective of conversations in change communication. Inspiration is drawn from Bakhtin and argue that change management has, for too long, focused on monologic implementation of predetermined change, i.e. how to develop the “best plot”. Change agents need to consider their anthropology are argued and ask themselves whether the people in their organizations are the objects of communication or subjects in communication. Furthermore, the argument about one's anthropology and one's espoused communication theory are intrinsically intertwined: how one communicates depends entirely on whether one views people as participating subjects in the process or as objects of the process.

Design/methodology/approach

Consensus‐as‐monologue and consensus‐as‐dialogue are distinguished. Under the former, the notion of a single speaker is emphasized (expectations of response are low). But under the latter, consensus becomes saturated with the self as the other (polemic, but born between people).

Findings

Change agents need to consider their anthropology are argued and ask themselves whether the people in their organizations are the objects of communication or subjects in communication.

Originality/value

Seeing conversation among people as a never‐ending process. A different perspective on participation – a perspective whereby one person's message joins with that of another and one person's meaning joins with that of another is offered.
Ambiguity and ambivalence
Authors: Randall Julian , Procter Stephen
Published: October 2008

Purpose

Imposed change at work can present individuals with ambiguous events about which they experience ambivalence in their interpretation of meaning. This paper seeks to examine the dimensions of ambivalence as defined by Piderit among a group of managers in the public sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is based on a group of 20 Band 11 senior managers responsible for collecting tax and between them covering the UK in a business restructured into a large business group. The authors adopted a qualitative approach involving semi‐structured interviews seeking to uncover individual accounts of imposed change, allowing subjects to reflect on their experience of change and its meaning to them.

Findings

The findings suggested that long‐service civil servants and private sector managers draw on their previous experience to interpret the changes they experience, giving rise to different perceived ambiguity between rhetoric and reality. Each group either comes to terms with ambiguity by interpreting the meaning of change to fit in with their expectancies of change, or, in one case, do not reconcile the change which then becomes a point of resistance.

Practical implications

The case highlights the need for change agents to understand the full complexity of employee attitudes. Not only can a variety of attitudes be identified, but each set of responses can be understood in variety of ways.

Originality/value

The devil in the detail of imposed change offers both researchers and managers of change a significant source of information about likely individual and group responses to imposed change at work. Piderit's framework offers three dimensions of ambivalence which clarify different individual responses to imposed change.
Narratives as sensemaking accounts: the case of an R&D laboratory
Authors: Landau Dana , Drori Israel
Published: October 2008

Purpose

While conventional wisdom suggests that sensemaking is targeted towards consensual understanding of the organization's intent and action, the objective of this study is to explore a different angle of sensemaking, namely, a situation of change and crisis in which the sensemaking process focuses on presenting the organization's members with an alternative understanding of its worldview, norms, and values.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a three‐year ethnographic field study. Data collection was based on the principles of qualitative research: participant observation, induction, interpretation, close proximity and unmediated relationships with the subjects investigated. The ethnographic method enabled collection of rich data, mainly by viewing the organizational context from its members' perspective, essential for studying.

Findings

The paper presents multiple cultural sensemaking accounts and the varied ways that the subjects use their diverse cultural resources and repertoires – ranging from intense ideological commitment to pure science to opportunistic views of their scientific work – in promoting their own, as well as their organization's survival. The study indicates that variations of conflict‐oriented sensemaking accounts can serve management's strategic quest for hegemony.

Research limitations/implications

Qualitative research approaches position the researcher to learn through participative observation. The researcher acts as a participant in the activities under study and instead of attempting to control procedures and measure qualities of outcomes, the researcher becomes part of the target of study itself.

Practical implications

This paper shows that conflict and power relations are ubiquitous to sensemaking, and that multiple accounts can be inherent in sensemaking work. We suggest that the study of sensemaking should also consider conflict as an alternative sensemaking mechanism.

Originality/value

Sensemaking is usually described as positive and consensual in nature. Yet, as our study shows, when evolving from conflicting viewpoints, accounts and actions sensemaking can support dissension.
Professional identity – product of structure, product of choice
Authors: Hotho Sabine
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to extend the discussion of the recursive relationship between the identity of a profession and the professional identity of individuals in the context of change.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on qualitative data collected as part of a pilot study into change in the NHS. It draws on structuration theory and insights from social identity theory (SIT) to propose that the relationship between the collective level of the profession and the individual level of the professional is recursive.

Findings

The data suggest that individual professionals use and rewrite scripts of their profession but also draw upon new scripts as they engage with local change. To that extent they contribute from the local level upwards to the changing identity of their profession. Further more detailed micro level studies are required.

Research limitations/implications

The argument is based on a limited data set and points towards the need for further microlevel studies which examine the recursive relationship between professionals' identity and the identity of a profession.

Practical implications

Further research can contribute to better understanding of local variance as professionals engage with change.

Originality/value

The paper fuses structuration theory and SIT and examines the agency/structure nexus in a specific change context.
Dominant, emergent, and residual culture: the dynamics of organizational change
Authors: Bryson Jane
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a practical conceptual tool for analysing the dynamics of cultural change in organizations. In so doing it seeks to address two concerns in the organization culture literature: issues of time and perspective which underlie the contested nature of culture; and limitations of existing analytical frameworks to cater for differing perspectives in a manner which is accessible to academics and practitioners.

Design/methodology/approach

Williams' notion of culture as a constant negotiation between the dominant, the emergent, and the residual cultures mediated by the processes of selective tradition and incorporation is discussed. For illustrative purposes this model is then used to analyse material collected in a case study of a growing IT organization.

Findings

The analysis framework identifies the paradoxes and potential tensions in the ongoing development of this organization. As a result it promotes questioning, and clarifies where choices are to be made.

Research limitations/implications

The paper shows how this framework can be used to assist investigation. Although the usual limitations of case study research apply, the framework facilitates a wider view of change over time.

Practical implications

The paper provides an accessible reflective framework that affords a more dynamic, contextual, evolutionary, and nuanced view of organizations. It accommodates multiple perspectives within an organization and facilitates their exploration.

Originality/value

The paper introduces the ideas of Raymond Williams to a wider organizational audience, and demonstrates how they can be adapted to make complex accounts of culture and organization more accessible.
Constructing the legitimate buyer of management consulting services
Authors: Bäcklund Jonas , Werr Andreas
Published: October 2008

Purpose

Hiring management consultants as external support in organizational change is in the literature described as a socially and emotionally stressful activity for managers. Management consultants need to deal with these threatening aspects of their service. This paper aims to explore the subject positions management consultants offer managers in their self‐presentations on the World Wide Web.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper studies the self‐presentations on the www of four large management consultancies–Accenture, BCG, KPMG, and McKinsey & Co. Using a Foucault inspired discourse analytical framework, we analyze the subject positions offered to client‐managers in these self‐presentations and how these subject positions relate to the management regimes of bureaucracy and post‐bureaucracy.

Findings

The study identifies two different discursive practices–one normalizing practice, constructing the use of management consultants as a natural aspect of management and a second practice rationalizing the use of management consultants, providing arguments aimed at reducing the pressures on the manager. The normalizing discourse which draws on a post‐bureaucratic regime was found in Accenture and KPMG. The rationalizing discourse was found in McKinsey and BCG and draws on the bureaucratic regime.

Originality/value

This work highlights how consultants deal with the pressures their presence puts on managers. It illustrates how managerial truth regimes contribute to shaping the conditions for management consulting and the consultant‐client relationship.
The evolution of biotechnology in hostile financing environments
Authors: Patzelt Holger , Audretsch David B.
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the development of the biotechnology industry at the industry and firm level when the financing environment becomes hostile and assess the reasons for this development.

Design/methodology/approach

An organizational evolution perspective to analyze the case of the German biotech sector was applied and its response to the hostile financing environment in the years 2002‐2004, which followed the burst of the high‐tech bubble at the stock markets. Population ecology and data from biotech reports to investigate the pattern of external adaptation processes at the industry level were used. The evolutionary economics perspective, multiple case studies of bioventures, and biotech reports to study internal adaptation processes at the firm level was employed.

Findings

The assumption of both external and internal adaptation processes was found in parallel is necessary to explain the evolution of the biotech industry in a hostile financing environment. Although external adaptation takes place to some extent through insolvencies and a reduced rate of new firm foundations, many bioventures adapt internally by downsizing, changing their business models, and entering into strategic alliances and M&As. This results in surprisingly weak consolidation at the industry level.

Originality/value

This paper provides an explanation why the consolidation of the German biotech industry in 2002‐2004 was much weaker than expected by experts. Moreover, the paper shows that application of population ecology and evolutionary economics in parallel well describes industry evolution and organizational change. Finally, the paper demonstrates how bioventures can adapt their financing strategies to hostile environments.
Management theory and practice: bridging the gap through multidisciplinary lenses
Authors: Brownlie Douglas , Hewer Paul , Wagner Beverly , Svensson Göran
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue that critically examines topics informing long‐standing disputes concering the status of theory and practice in management studies. Contributions explore the character of the imputed relationship between theory and practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The editorial introduction sets the discussion of topics in the context of institutional change influencing the production, circulation and consumption of knowledge products in the economy of relevance and reputation. It also presents an overview of the papers included in the special issue.

Findings

The main themes addressed in the papers represent a call for change; a call to radicalize the approaches to understanding ways of knowing; a call to re‐evaluate relations with practitioners; and a call to reimagine ways of representing knowledge to various constituencies, including fellow academic practitioners, management practitioners, students, and policy‐makers and other opinion‐formers.

Research limitations/implications

The key message is one of the importance of encouraging broad discussions concerning the direction and impact of flows of knowledge and the various products in which that knowledge is embedded. It calls for a more market‐oriented approach to understanding the knowledge economy and the mediating role of various institutional players, including the academy, in the circulation, creation and destruction of knowledge products.

Practical implications

That a more‐market oriented approach to arrangements for the distribution of research resources in management studies calls for the development of more market‐oriented institutions capable of shaping relationships of collaboration, involvement and accountability.

Originality/value

Contributions expand the understanding of the problems and opportunities of imputing links to theory and practice.
Producing and socializing relevant management knowledge: re‐turn to pragmatism
Authors: Fendt Jacqueline , Kaminska‐Labbé Renata , Sachs Wladimir M.
Published: October 2008

Purpose

Management practice is progressing at unprecedented pace and often academia is lagging behind, if not totally irrelevant, both in management research and in education. This paper strives to show how principles of pragmatism and action research are likely to increase the relevance of management research and education.

Design/methodology/approach

A reflection based on a broad review of ontological and epistemological issues leads to a call for philosophical re‐foundation of management academia.

Findings

Pragmatism defines truth seeking as reducing doubt, and therefore necessarily includes the notion of a client for the research effort. Action research is a practical embodiment of this approach and deserves a more prominent role.

Research limitations/implications

The research limitations and implications are inherent in the chosen methodology/approach: a viewpoint that hopefully stimulates others.

Practical implications

This paper makes concrete suggestions as to how to bring research and education closer to the client to permit cross‐fertilization and improve problem‐solving processes.

Originality/value

The paper offers a meta‐synthesis of ontological and epistemological approaches to the theory‐praxis gap. It outlines the imminent pertinence of pragmatism as a philosophy and as a practice of management science and relates pragmatism to theory of action, purporting pragmatist paradigms of management knowledge socialization.
Exploring metaphor as an alternative marketing language
Authors: Fillis Ian , Rentschler Ruth
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The main aim of this paper is to stimulate more relevant and critical ideas about marketing and the wider management field by exploring the actual and potential contribution of metaphor to marketing theory and practice. The subsequent connections made can help contribute towards understanding and coping with the theory/practice gap.

Design/methodology/approach

To date, the majority of metaphor application has tended to be literal and surface‐level rather than theoretically grounded. This paper interrogates the literature surrounding metaphor in marketing and management fields, while also examining the contribution of other areas such as art. The paper constructs and debates the conceptual notion of the marketer as an artist.

Findings

Incorporation of theoretically grounded metaphors into marketing theory can help develop a form of marketing which is capable of dealing with ambiguity, chaotic market conditions, creative thinking and practice.

Originality/value

Adoption of a metaphorical approach to marketing research helps to instil a critical and creative ethos in the research process. Marketers are concerned with identification and exploitation of opportunities. Metaphor assists in the process by enhancing visualisation of these future directions. We live out our lives to a large degree through the making of metaphorical connections. We should therefore embrace more qualitative, creative associations in marketing theory, as well as practice.
Theory and practice across disciplines: implications for the field of management
Authors: Brennan Ross
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate about the existence and nature of a “gap” between theory and practice in management.

Design/methodology/approach

The putative theory/practice “gap” in management is investigated by examining the theory/practice debate in three cognate fields–economics, nursing and marketing.

Findings

The relationship between theory and practice is actively debated in all three of the fields. In economics, criticism has been directed at the implicit ontological assumptions made in formal mathematical methods employed by orthodox neoclassical economists. In nursing the debate has centred on the practical issues associated with implementing evidence based practice; in particular identifying and seeking to overcome barriers to implementation. In marketing, managers find most academic theory difficult to read and irrelevant; this may be because the goals of academics and the goals of practitioners are different.

Research limitations/implications

Potentially fruitful topics for further research are identified at the pragmatic, epistemological and ontological levels.

Originality/value

The paper identifies lessons for the field of management research from economics, nursing and marketing. Each of these three areas provides a unique lens through which to view the research/practice “gap” in management.
Education for practice
Authors: Baker Michael J.
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this short opinion piece is to focus on the role of marketing, its theory and practice, and its relevance now and in the future.

Design/methodology/approach

The article analyses the present situation – which is not new – the perceived divide between marketing theory and marketing practice and, therefore, the issue of what academics should research and teach that might be of relevance to practitioners.

Findings

The article shows that if marketers – both academic and practitioner – are to meet and resolve the present challenges then they need to be customer focused, build long‐term relationships with customers, and think of their life‐time value as opposed to their short‐term profitability.

Originality/value

The article highlights issues of relevance to those involved with marketing theory and practice.
A case of mistaken identity: theory, practice and the marketing textbook
Authors: Ardley Barry
Published: October 2008

Purpose

One field in business where there is a purported gap between theory and practice is in marketing. This paper aims to examine one area of the debate, the degree of congruence between the established textbook theories of marketing and the practical activity of marketing managers.

Design/methodology/approach

Phenomenological interviews were carried out with senior marketing managers from a diverse range of organisations. The aim was to establish what types of factors inform manager's approaches to practice. Meaningful comparisons were made possible, as a range of marketing texts were also examined.

Findings

Textbook theories represent a flawed view of the practitioner's world. Many texts are very similar, based on an implicitly systems based paradigm. Universal truths are seen as indispensable modes of representational language. In contrast, the interviews with managers show that marketing is a locally contingent activity, occupying a discursive space separate from that of textbook theory.

Research limitations/implications

Scholars desire to reduce real world activity to over arching explanations has led to the simplification of theory. Textbooks should embrace an approach based on interpretative insights into the realities of marketing practice. Moves away from the “one size fits all” theory need to occur, to a situation where marketing is recognised as being about a socially mediated, multifaceted approach to business activity.

Originality/value

Substantial attention has been paid to what many commentators regard as an academic practitioner divide in marketing. Most of this concerns the status of research into marketing. Considerably less attention is devoted to the position of the marketing textbook. This paper helps to remedy the situation. Ideas are offered up for the development of marketing knowledge and ways are suggested to help close the theory practice gap in the discipline, through the medium of the textbook.
What is postgraduate marketing education for? Observations from the UK
Authors: Centeno Edgar , Harker Michael J. , Ibrahim Essam B. , Wang Lee‐Wei
Published: October 2008

Purpose

This paper seeks to highlight the significance of the recent debate on the “academic‐practitioner divide” for postgraduate marketing education in terms of informing objectives, chosen scope and structure and service provision.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected on 60 programmes at 45 UK higher education institutions (HEIs) by desk research and from 129 PG students enrolled at five British Universities by means of a questionnaire.

Findings

It was found that these were close parallels between PG and UG programmes in the UK. From the perspective of students intending to become marketing practitioners, five key strengths and weaknesses of current marketing education provision were identified.

Research limitations/implications

Data on current PG marketing programmes was only collected from a sample of UK HEI's and not internationally. Data from students was collected only from five UK Universities.

Practical implications

Suggestions are made for the ways and means by which PG programmes can be enhanced pedagogically and made more relevant to practice. Brief proposals are also made in respect of improving input into programme and class design by current practitioners – especially programme alumni.

Originality/value

It is hoped that all sections of this paper will be of value to postgraduate programme leaders in directing, leading and developing their courses strategically and tactically.
Purchasing theory and practice: an agenda for change
Authors: Ramsay John
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of the article is to describe the consequences for the purchasing and supply management field of its current focus on the behaviours and concerns of extremely large corporations.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a short viewpoint article.

Findings

It is found that there is a lack of research in purchasing and supply management in SMEs. Small and medium sized companies are in need of a deeper understanding of dyadic relations. Sadly, as fashion in the field has embraced metaphors‐fit‐only‐for giants, it may be increasingly difficult to get studies published that adopt this ancient, diminutive metaphor.

Originality/value

The main contribution of the piece is to draw attention to the current lack of research in the field to the dominant form of company in every economy – the SME.
Compromise is so … compromised: Goldilocks, go home
Authors: Holbrook Morris B.
Published: October 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to discuss issues concerning the desirability of finding ways to close the gap between academic research and management practice – especially in the case of marketing and consumer research.

Design/methodology/approach

The issues are addressed by means of a personal essay.

Findings

The discussion adopts the extreme viewpoint that achieving a reconciliation or resolution of the differences between scholarly inquiry and managerial relevance in either research or teaching constitutes an undesirable or even deplorable form of compromise.

Originality/value

The essay concludes that – contrary to the wisdom of Goldilocks – compromise between academic scholarship and practical relevance merits opprobrium rather than approbation.
Revisiting the smiling service worker and customer satisfaction
Authors: Söderlund Magnus , Rosengren Sara
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine if the service worker's display of smiles in the service encounter has an effect on customer satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

An experimental design was used in which participants (N=220) were randomly allocated to one of four service encounters. Two variables were manipulated; the service worker with whom the participant interacted had either a neutral facial expression or a smiling facial expression, and the service worker was either male or female.

Findings

The smiling service worker produced a higher level of customer satisfaction than the neutral service worker, regardless of the sex of the service worker (and the sex of the participant). In addition, the results indicate that this outcome involved both emotional contagion and affect infusion.

Originality/value

This paper extends the service literature's discourse on the impact of the service worker's smile behavior on customer satisfaction by including intermediate variables such as appraisals, emotions, and the attitude toward the service worker.
Stressors and resources in customer service roles
Authors: Yagil Dana , Luria Gil , Gal Iddo
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of core self‐evaluations (CSE) as a coping resource in customer service roles.

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaires were administered to 265 service providers, measuring CSE, burnout, social stressors involved in interaction with customers (perceived customer negative behaviors and emotional regulation performed by service providers) and coping resources (service orientation and social support).

Findings

The results show that CSE is negatively related to service provider burnout as reflected in depersonalization and emotional exhaustion, and positively related to a sense of accomplishment. CSE was also negatively related to perceived customer negative behaviors and to emotional regulation. The results show a partial mediation effect of emotional regulation on the relationship between CSE and burnout. Service orientation and social support were found to interact with CSE and enhance its effect on social stressors.

Research limitations/implications

The use of a non‐randomized sample might bias the results.

Practical implications

The results can inform managerial practices designed to enhance service providers' resources of coping with role stressors.

Originality/value

The study introduces a fundamental personality trait, CSE, to the area of service and shows its effect on burnout through its relationship with situational stressors and interaction with coping resources.
Exploring tools for learning about customers in a service setting
Authors: Wägar Karolina
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to explore how frontline contact persons appropriate and use learning tools from the socio‐cultural context for learning about customers in their everyday work.

Design/methodology/approach

The study utilises an ethnographic‐research approach involving participant observations, informal conversations, and interviews among car salespersons and service advisors at a car‐retailing company.

Findings

The study comes to two main conclusions. First, learning tools are appropriated and utilised for learning about customers in a two‐layered process: interactions between frontline contact persons and the socio‐cultural context; and interactions between frontline contact persons and customers. Secondly, learning about customers can be of two types: subject‐ or object‐driven learning.

Practical implications

Tools that enhance the process of learning about customers can be developed within the socio‐cultural environment of an organisation whereas tools that inhibit the learning process can be minimised.

Originality/value

This paper provides a novel socio‐cultural conceptualisation of how learning about customers takes place. This approach has not been previously emphasised in service‐management research.
Development of an integrated product‐service roadmap with QFD
Authors: An Yoonjung , Lee Sungjoo , Park Yongtae
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a concrete integrated roadmap structure and a supporting tool for efficient roadmapping, to enhance interdisciplinary research on product‐service.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper first clarifies definitions based on literature review. Next, the integrated roadmap structure is designed by overcoming limitations of the existing product‐service roadmaps. Lastly, a modified quality function deployment technique is developed to be used as a means for the integration process and applied to the mobile communications industry for the case study.

Findings

The suggested roadmap and roadmapping process have potential advantages that can help strategic planning and management of product‐service.

Research limitations/implications

There are issues related to complexity of the suggested technique and completeness of the case study.

Practical implications

The suggested approach stimulates communication and knowledge sharing between manufacturers and service providers, providing a useful guidance to picture the long‐term future from the same perspective.

Originality/value

The paper provides a holistic approach on the development of the product‐service sets, which is characterized by many challenges and uncertainties.
Revisit service classification to construct a customer‐oriented integrative service model
Authors: Liu Chun‐Hsien , Wang Chu‐Ching , Lee Yueh‐Hua
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to construct a customer‐oriented integrative service model based on the generic service process. Business strategies can then be formulated by using the model.

Design/methodology/approach

The key classifying dimensions and their respective attributes are identified through literature reviews. Operational dimensions are formed by combining their attributes weighted by manager‐determined importance weights (IW). A generalized mathematical model is built to integrate the core services of a firm with customer‐based performance weight (PW). The integrative service model is constructed by combining the operational dimensions.

Findings

The selected classification model covers knowledge, information and virtual space dimensions that most of the previous service‐process based model lack. The developed model is simpler to understand and to use for managers comparing to the other complicated mathematical models.

Research limitations/implications

Empirical studies need to be done to test the effectiveness of the model. Experienced managers are needed to decide the IW.

Practical implications

Managers can use the developed model to formulate integrated business strategies as well as forecasting competitor's strategies. The developed model is a customer‐oriented approach for service strategy formulation.

Originality/value

A generalized mathematical model is derived for a firm offering “n” kinds of core services. Computer software can be written based on it to handle the complex cases.
An examination of the impact of cultural orientation and familiarity in service encounter evaluations
Authors: Patterson Paul G. , Mattila Anna S.
Published: October 2008

Purpose

Customers' judgment of service quality is by and large based on their evaluation of personal experiences during the service encounter. The purpose of this study is to investigate from a customer perspective, the impact of familiarity (of the individual service provider) and cultural orientation on evaluations of both successful and failed service encounters.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employ an experimental design with data collected from student samples in the USA (Western, individualist culture) and Thailand (Eastern, collectivist culture).

Findings

Results show an individual customer's cultural orientation, as well as familiarity (with a focal service provider), have an impact on perceptions and post‐purchase evaluations of both successful and unsuccessful service encounters.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the services marketing and consumer behavior literature by shedding light onto the role of familiarity and cultural value orientation in influencing consumer responses to service encounters. It is one of only a handful of cross‐cultural studies in this research domain.
The development of records management at the European Central Bank
Authors: Orr Stuart
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide background to the other papers in this issue of theRecords Management Journal.

Design/methodology/approach

The information in this paper is based on the author's own experience and discussions with colleagues with direct experience of the events described.

Findings

The European Central Bank's approach to building capacity in records management, by appointing in‐house staff and investing in professional training and qualifications and fully integrating records management and archives management, is an approach that has been shown to work and deliver benefits.

Originality/value

The paper provides a description of an approach to developing a fully integrated records and archives management service.
A balancing act: learning lessons and adapting approaches whilst rolling out an EDRMS
Authors: Luisa Di Biagio Maria , Ibiricu Bernice
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse and share the experience of implementing an electronic document and records management system (EDRMS) by identifying what went well and what could be done better.

Design/methodology/approach

In the implementation of an EDRMS, the European Central Bank has opted to place the role of records managers prominently between technology and business needs to ensure that the preservation of institutional memory is the centre‐piece of its information policy.

Findings

The acceptance to improve and the flexibility to introduce corrective measures during the deployment of an EDRMS keeps the aim in sight whilst improving the quality of records management delivery.

Practical implications

The ups and downs of roll‐outs provide valuable lessons and opportunities to introduce corrective measures to keep EDRM projects on track and generate awareness of the balancing act that exists between technology and people.

Originality/value

This paper reveals practical experiences encountered during the roll‐out of an EDRMS and aims to highlight the aspects that records professionals can identify as potential sources for success, failure or a combination of both.
Organising electronic documents: the user perspective
Authors: García Garrido Beatriz
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether user needs and preferences in organising electronic information are properly identified by records managers when implementing folder structures in electronic document and records management systems (EDRMS). The intention is also to find out to what extent user needs and preferences correspond to records management best practices.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was designed as a case study of a specific team at the European Central Bank. In order to look at the user needs and preferences, the research is based on the qualitative analysis of data obtained via semi‐structured interviews and direct observation.

Findings

The case study shows that users' objectives are very similar to records management objectives. Moreover, their needs and preferences stem from a number of factors that can be identified and categorised.

Research limitations/implications

The research was subject to severe limitations in terms of resources, in particular the time and tools available. Similar studies should be conducted involving diverse teams at different organisations in order to fine‐tune the proposed principles and test their general applicability. Further studies could benefit from the use of IT tools to observe user behaviours.

Practical implications

Based on the findings, guidance principles are proposed in order to improve user acceptance of folder structures.

Originality/value

The paper aims to raise awareness in the records management world of the necessity of prioritising user needs as the best way to achieve records management objectives. Records managers should also work closely with IT experts in the design of EDRMS.
Employee attitudes to information sharing: a case study at the European Central Bank
Authors: Julibert Sara
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions and attitudes of employees towards information sharing as well as the possible reasons behind these attitudes in the specific organizational context of the European Central Bank (ECB).

Design/methodology/approach

Data obtained in interviews with seven employees were analyzed using the grounded theory technique of constant comparative analysis. Categories, their sub‐categories, attributes and dimensions were used to group data about related concepts and these groupings, and the emerging relations between categories, were linked to theoretical questions regarding the perceptions and attitudes of information sharing amongst ECB employees.

Findings

The employees interviewed acknowledged the advantages of information sharing and expressed the need for greater access to information as well as more open communication with colleagues. The fear of disruptive intrusions to the creative process and the influence of personality and national culture on the willingness to share were raised by some interviewees. The participants' perceptions of the organizational support to information sharing and their possible influence on employees' attitudes to share with colleagues also emerged.

Research limitations/implications

Validity of findings would benefit from the use of additional data collection methods; observation or the use of focus groups could provide data that would not normally be obtained in the interview setting. Quantitative methods could be used to measure the impact of some of the elements identified.

Practical implications

Organizations need to take into account a number of factors that may enhance or inhibit information sharing behaviours. Employees seem to be inclined to adopt information practices that would contribute to improving efficiency but the unambiguous support of the management and the organization to such practices seems to be crucial to their success.

Originality/value

The descriptions obtained through the interviews provide a rich picture of different elements, from diverse perspectives, that influence the current information sharing attitudes of employees in the case study organization. This constitutes a first step in the integration of theoretical accounts of information sharing previously studied independently from each other.
Appraising the value of statistical records of the European Central Bank for retention scheduling purposes
Authors: Beneito Arias Paloma
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the practice of records retention in relation to statistical records and to provide answers and solutions to the challenge of retention from two perspectives: by offering some recommendations on how to approach the identification of validated retention periods and by presenting findings resulting from the practical use of this recommended approach.

Design/methodology/approach

The research presented in this paper was conducted for the final dissertation of the BSc (Hons) Information and Records Management Programme at the University of Northumbria. A Delphi study was used as the method to achieve the research objectives.

Findings

While answers to the question of what retention value should be attributed to records vary enormously depending on who is asked, this research shows that the involvement of end‐users to gather feedback and attempt to reach a consensus of opinions on retention periods is successful and provides meaningful results, and can also help in gaining end‐user support in the subsequent schedule implementation.

Practical implications

Successful implementation of a retention schedule is more likely to happen if end‐users are involved from the start in the design process and if they understand the benefits of this tool. In this respect, involving end‐users in the retention decisions throughout the performance of a Delphi Study has revealed to be very effective and is therefore recommended for attaining similar objectives.

Originality/value

The paper presents a validated method for assigning retention values to records that could be applied by practitioners in other organisations. Further information on the resulting retention schedule can be obtained by contacting the author.
An examination of the impact of records on the value of artworks
Authors: Fritzke Leena
Published: October 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role and type of records required to support the financial value of artworks and the importance of records for accountability. It looks at the impact of records of provenance, authenticity and investment value and it identifies the impact of the presence, absence and quality of supporting records on the value of an artwork.

Design/methodology/approach

Assessing records and their impact on the value of artworks involves investigating whether an artwork without records of authenticity, provenance and investment has the same value as one with such records. It also involves examining how records that provide evidence of an artwork's financial value (prices, auctions, transactions, condition reports, etc.) affect the value of the artwork. What is the impact of records on the value of an artwork? Research was conducted starting with a review of the literature and a small survey of experts.

Findings

The results suggest that art records are increasingly important with regard to ownership disputes, insurance claims, accountability for public spending, risk reduction and investment value. Records of provenance, investment and authenticity clearly support the value of artworks, yet the research highlighted a lack of awareness amongst experts about the importance of authenticity. Higher standards, record‐keeping, regular reviews of the artwork and the market and continuous improvements are required to maintain accountability and the value of a collection. Recommendations include regular updates of records, the keeping of records on rights, proof of ownership and long‐term retention.

Practical implications

Further research would be required to clarify whether comparison methods are adequate for the price formation of artworks, to ascertain which records would be required and to establish recognised standards for the content of records. The findings raised awareness of the need for information on the creation of artworks.

Originality/value

The paper concludes by emphasising that it is essential to obtain records for a collection and to keep them secure and updated. It proposes that good record‐keeping reduces risks, improves transparency, supports the value attained and increases in importance as the financial value of art climbs. Many sources and types of record are necessary to support the value of an artwork, especially records of provenance, investment value and authenticity. An artwork with quality records in these categories has higher financial value.