bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The relative importance of improvement routines for implementing lean practices
Authors: Knol Wilfred H. , Slomp Jannes , Schouteten Roel L.J. , Lauche Kristina 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThis paper examines whether and when improvement routines are critical for implementing lean practices in small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs). Improvement routines such as “employees initiate and carry through improvement activities” are generally seen as an important means to achieve the full benefit of structural lean interventions. Womack and Jones (2003) suggest that these improvement routines should be developed as the company becomes more experienced in lean. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relative importance of individual improvement routines at various degrees of lean practice implementation.Design/methodology/approachA Between-Case Comparison Analysis (Dul and Hak, 2012) and a Necessary Condition Analysis (Dul, 2016) were performed on self-assessment data from 241 respondents at 38 Dutch manufacturing SMEs.FindingsThe importance of improvement routines depended on the degree of lean practice implementation. Lean practices could be implemented to some extend without developing specific improvement routines, yet certain routines were necessary for more advanced implementations of lean. These routines relate to employees conducting shared improvement activities and in the most advanced cases to aligning different improvement activities.Originality/valueThese findings question existing lean implementation models that neglect improvement routines and indicate the need to integrate improvement routines into every lean transformation for it to be sustainable.
Examining customer engagement and brand loyalty in retail banking
Authors: Kosiba John Paul Basewe , Boateng Henry , Okoe Amartey Abednego Feehi , Boakye Robert Owusu , Hinson Robert 
Published: October 2018

PurposeIn recent times, there has been a growing research interest in customer engagement; however, there is a paucity of empirical evidence on the drivers and outcomes of customer engagement such as brand loyalty. Furthermore, the customer engagement and brand loyalty literature have paid little attention to trustworthiness, even though it has the potential of explaining customer engagement, brand loyalty and their relationships. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to ascertain the drivers of customer engagement and its relationship with brand loyalty in the context of retail banking in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed the survey research design. The authors collected data from retail banking customers in Ghana using the intercept approach. There were 385 respondents. The authors analysed the data using the structural equation modelling approach.FindingsThe results show that trustworthiness drives customer engagement which results in brand loyalty. The findings reveal that trustworthiness is defined through integrity, benevolence and ability while customer engagement is defined via emotional engagement, cognitive engagement and behavioural engagement.Originality/valueThis study examines the impact of trustworthiness on customer engagement and brand loyalty. It shows the mediating role of customer engagement in the relationship between trustworthiness and brand loyalty.
Factors influencing savings among land reform beneficiaries in South Africa
Authors: Antwi Michael , Chagwiza Clarietta 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of socio-economic factors of land redistribution for agricultural development project beneficiaries on savings in the North West Province, South Africa.

Design/methodology/approach
A binary logistic regression model was employed to determine the effects of socio-economic factors of project beneficiaries on their savings.

Findings
The results show that the average number of trainings attended by the beneficiaries, the proportion of youth per project and the average net farm income of the project positively and significantly influence the level of savings by the beneficiaries. About 62 percent of the beneficiaries did not have savings; thus, only 38 percent of beneficiaries had savings. Of the 38 percent who had savings, the majority (77 percent) had an annual net farm income of less than R1,000. Only 2 percent of the projects had an annual net farm income of more than R10,000.

Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study are valuable to policymakers dealing with the issue of land reform and could shed some light on how land redistribution can achieve its intended purposes. These findings should be granted serious consideration when formulating policies aimed at improving savings within collective groups.

Practical implications
The findings of this study have revealed the importance of training and participation of youth in influencing savings. As well, the findings imply that an organization or household with a health income have a higher propensity of saving.

Social implications
The research findings point out to the importance of saving. With savings, a household is in a better position to deal with situations that arises in case of emergency.

Originality/value
This paper is among the few studies to analyze the determinants of savings at a group or project level. Most studies are done at household or individual level.
Effect of the micro-structure evolution of friction layer on the sliding tribology behavior of TiAl-10 Wt.% Ag at 16 N-0.5 m/s
Authors: Yang Kang , Ma Hongru , Liu Xiyao , Zhang Yangming 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
This paper aims to study the micro-structure evolution of friction layers to optimize the friction and wear behaviors of TiAl-based material. It further enlarges the scope of using TiAl alloys and increase in the service life of TiAl alloy-made mechanical components, especially under some extreme conditions.

Design/methodology/approach
To study the structure evolution of friction layers, the HT-1000 tribometer is used to study the friction and wear properties of as-prepared samples. With the assistance of field emission scanning electron microscopy and an electron probe micro-analyzer, the stratified structures in cross-sections and a surface morphology of the wear scars are well characterized. A ST400 surface profiler helps in better understanding of the three-dimensional texture profiles of wear scars. X-ray diffractometer (XRD) is also used to analyze phases in the as-prepared samples.

Findings
An analysis method on the micro-structure evolution can provide better views to understand the influence of friction layers on the tribological behavior, at different wear stages. It finds that the micro-structure evolution of friction layers has an immediate effect on the friction coefficients and wear rates of TiAl-based material. It also proves to be a useful tool for evaluating the behaviors in friction and wear of TiAl-based material.

Originality/value
The findings of this paper provide better assistance to explore the effect of friction layers on the friction and wear behaviors of TiAl-based materials. The results help in deep understanding of the micro-structure evolution of friction layers. It also increases the service life of TiAl-based mechanical components.
From fragile to agile: marketing as a key driver of entrepreneurial internationalization
Authors: Hagen Birgit , Zucchella Antonella , Ghauri Pervez Nasim 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to conceptualize strategic agility in entrepreneurial internationalization and highlight the role of marketing “under particular conditions” – those of early and fast internationalizers.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on in-depth case studies of four entrepreneurial internationalizers using an inductive approach. The role of marketing is studied along a set of four key business processes, i.e. sensing through selective customer/partner intimacy; business development through selective experimentation and testing; coordination and harmonization of multiple stakeholders; and creative extension of resources.FindingsStrategic agility is a composite of flexibility and selective responsiveness. Marketing thought, mainly through customer and partner interaction, plays a prominent role in achieving strategic agility. Customer- and market-centric thinking needs to be built in a key set of business processes. Marketing’s contribution to strategic agility means an ability to cope with time, relationship and functional dependencies. Strategic agility helps improve the risk profile of the entrepreneurial internationalizer. Entrepreneurial internationalizers are particularly suited to compete on and benefit from strategic agility.Practical implicationsThe findings show managers and entrepreneurs in early and fast internationalizing ventures a path to strategic agility which helps to overcome the many parallel challenges that come with firm foundation and internationalization.Originality/valueStrategic agility is a novel explanation for entrepreneurial internationalization. The study explains the prominent role played by marketing in achieving strategic agility and growth. Strategic agility is reconceptualized in the context of the young and small internationalizing firm.
Financial integration and macroeconomic volatility: evidence from Asia
Authors: Yadav Inder Sekhar , Goyari Phanindra , Mishra Ram Kumar 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the impact of financial integration on macroeconomic volatility for developing and emerging economies of Asia.

Design/methodology/approach
The effects of financial integration and dynamics of macroeconomic volatility over time and across different groups of Asian economies vis-à-vis advanced economies are investigated using four different variables such as consumption, output, income and the ratio of consumption to income. Further, an empirical link between the degree of international financial integration and macroeconomic volatility for Asian economies is econometrically investigated using generalized method of moments (GMM) system one-step estimator.

Findings
Macroeconomic volatilities of per capita output and consumption growth tend to be lower for advanced economies compared to Asian economies. The computed cross-sectional median of the volatility of consumption, output, income and the ratio of consumption volatility to income suggested that the volatility of advanced economies is lower compared to all the regions of Asia. GMM results suggested that the financial openness, trade openness and broad money are negatively and significantly associated with macroeconomic volatility whereas inflation is positively and significantly associated with macroeconomic volatility but the magnitude of trade openness is found to be negligible.

Research limitations/implications
The present study has not included the effects of other country-specific variables (such as fiscal policy volatility) and other external factors to understand macroeconomic volatility.

Practical implications
High integration of economies promote economic growth, reduce macroeconomic volatility and reduce vulnerability to external shocks. This implies that policy makers should thrive to reform and create institutional infrastructure to deepen the integration.

Originality/value
The paper is an important empirical contribution toward examining the effects of financial integration on dynamics of macroeconomic volatility for a large number of Asian developing and emerging economics over time and across different groups using recent data and latest analytical framework and techniques.
Application of cloud computing in financial services: an agent-oriented modelling approach
Authors: Misra Subhas C. , Doneria Kriti 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
Cloud computing is rapidly becoming the new norm of doing business. Lately, the extent of virtualization has enabled full-fledged cloud solution to become affordable, quantitatively and/or qualitatively. The purpose of this study is to explore the former in detail. In this paper, implementation of cloud-based services in the financial services, intermediaries and banking industry where security has always been the greatest concern are studied through actor-based stakeholder modelling. Drivers for adoption, benefits and trade-offs and challenges have been discussed in detail through a hypothetical comprehensive case study of a bank.

Design/methodology/approach
An actor-dependency-based technique for analyzing and modelling requirements prior to changes and charting out roadmap and rationale behind it all has been used. Through the use of i* modelling, dependencies and relationships between various stakeholders have been studied. Further, how decision makers in the financial services industry evaluate, consolidate and finally migrate to a new architecture is also explored.

Findings
Two hypothetical use cases on a hypothetical bank referred to as “The Bank” illustrate the technique and possible roadmap for implementation.

Originality/value
To the best of knowledge in the public domain, no similar work has been carried out with the perspective of modelling stakeholders and change management configuration in the financial services using cloud. This approach is valuable for augmenting technological advancements with business insights and spotting value in synergies of the sectors whenever and wherever apparent.
Understanding backers’ interactions with crowdfunding campaigns
Authors: Ahsan Mujtaba , Cornelis Erlinde F.I. , Baker Andrew 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
Crowdfunding has become a popular method to acquire capital for entrepreneurial ventures. To successfully achieve funding goals, it is critical for crowdfunding campaigns to attain support of individuals (backers). This paper aims to presents a conceptual model that links a reward-based crowdfunding campaign’s product, pitch and promoter characteristics to expert and casual backers’ evaluation and behavior.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws from literature from consumer behavior, network, signaling and informational social influence theories to design a conceptual framework that highlights factors that influence potential backers’ participation in crowdfunding campaigns.

Findings
It is demonstrated that the conceptual framework presented in the manuscript usefully organizes the real-world tactical marketing decisions of a crowdfunding backer while also being readily amendable to integrating theoretical accounts of human behavior from a diverse body of social science literature. Empirically testable propositions are derived from this social science literature and recast into a manner that could be investigated in the crowdfunding context to expand the body of knowledge on this topic.

Practical implications
This manuscript provides a framework that can be useful to crowdfunders who wish to strategically plan how their marketing communication plan features may be tailored to attract both early- and late-stage crowdfunding backers.

Originality/value
This paper is novel in the crowdfunding literature because it integrates a diverse body of literature to explicitly identify how the strategic and tactical marketing communication characteristics of a crowdfunding campaign are likely to differently influence different types of potential crowdfunding backers.
HHI-based evaluation of the European banking sector using an integrated fuzzy approach
Authors: Dincer Hasan 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate the market concentration and competition in the European Banking Sector using an integrated multi-criteria decision-making approach under the fuzzy environment.

Design/methodology/approach
The hybrid model combining fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), fuzzy analytic network process (ANP) and fuzzy VIKOR methods is applied to measure the market competition and concentration in the European Banking Sector. For this purpose, two academicians and one expert from banking sector with at least five-year experiences are selected to evaluate the dimensions, criteria and alternatives. The academicians are also appointed to define the decision-making problem and determine the dimensions and the criteria on the basis of related literature. The implementation of the model has been constructed in three main phases. The first phase consists of the fuzzy DEMATEL technique for understanding the impact-relation map among the dimensions. The second phase includes the fuzzy ANP method for measuring the relative importance of the criteria. The last phase comprises the fuzzy VIKOR approach to rank the alternatives with the values of the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI).

Findings
Turkey, France, England and Germany are placed in the competitive market structure of the European Banking Sector respectively. Additionally, the comparative results of the study confirm the market shares and the competitive policies of the European and Turkish Banking Sector.

Originality/value
The novelty of the paper is to construct a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making model with the proposed HHI scales under the fuzzy environment and defined competition dimensions and criteria based on the literature for the European Banking Industry.
Beyond the law: processes underlying religious accommodation decisions
Authors: Tabesh Pooya , Jolly Phillip M. 
Published: October 2018

PurposeCurrently, the academic understanding of religious accommodation in the workplace is skewed toward a consideration of legal decision making. The purpose of this paper is to move beyond these legal considerations and provide a fresh perspective on antecedents of religious accommodation decisions when managerial discretion is high. To this end, the authors present a model that incorporates psychological and relational processes.Design/methodology/approachThis research draws on a variety of theoretical perspectives from psychology, organizational behavior and human resource management to theorize a descriptive model of managerial decision-making regarding religious accommodation requests.FindingsThe authors develop a conceptual framework and research agenda for examining front-line decision-makers’ responses to employees’ religious accommodation requests. The focus is on characteristics of the decision maker, the requester and the request that can influence the perceived sincerity of a request and the perceived accommodation cost.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed model moves beyond US-based legal perspectives of religious accommodation and facilitates the identification of novel theoretical perspectives for better understanding accommodation decisions.Practical implicationsTwenty-first century managers are faced with a wide variety of religious accommodation requests. Identification of underlying mechanisms through which these decisions are made facilitates effective interventions to build and sustain an inclusive culture.Originality/valueThis work is among the first efforts in the management literature to theorize about the process of religious accommodation decision making. The authors address the paucity of academic research in this area by introducing perceptual drivers of religious accommodation decisions.
Urbanization, economic growth, and environmental pollution
Authors: Sun Jing , Wang Jing , Wang Tao , Zhang Tao 
Published: October 2018

PurposeGiven the recent rapid economic development, the processes of industrialization and urbanization are accelerating. At the same time, the contradiction between environmental quality and economic development has become increasingly prominent and is likely to restrict the normal pace of China’s economic development and environmental protection. As such, the purpose of this paper is to incorporate the urbanization factor into an analytic framework to discuss the relationship among urbanization, economic development, and environmental pollution.Design/methodology/approachA panel data of 31 Chinese provinces from 2004 to 2015 is selected for this research. A spatial correlation test is first conducted on the environmental pollution status, then the spatial Durbin model is used to carry out spatial econometric testing of the relationship among the above three factors.FindingsInterprovincial environmental pollution in China has significant positive spatial correlation, environmental pollution discharge in most provinces is significantly stable, discharge of environmental pollutants is transitioning from coastal to inland provinces, and urbanization and economic growth can both aggravate environmental pollution, but economic growth can relieve environmental pollution in neighboring provinces.Originality/valueThe relationship between economic growth, urbanization, and environmental quality has always been an important issue for sustainable development. As such, China’s urbanization leads to economic development, while rapid economic growth and environmental pollution are coordinated. This paper focuses on the specific relationship between them. To this end, local governments make concerted efforts to formulate sound environmental regulation policies based on local environmental conditions, where economic development is an effective means of alleviating the contradictory relationship between economic development and environmental protection.
The impact of oil price shocks on capital spending in the oil and gas industry
Authors: Iqbal Zahid , Shetty Shekar 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of oil price shocks on capital spending in relation to the following firm characteristics: firm size, debt ratio, growth prospects, earnings and key sectors of the oil and gas industry.Design/methodology/approachTo examine the impact of oil price changes on each of the sample firm’s capital spending, the authors utilize a vector autoregressive (VAR) framework which requires that the oil price and the firm’s capital spending series are stationary. The authors employ the Augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) procedure to test if these series are stationary in levels or in their first difference. Since the results show that the ADF values for adjusted oil price and for all but one capital spending series are stationary, the authors perform VAR analysis using the level data.FindingsThe impulse response results show that there is a positive relationship between oil price shocks and capital spending by the oil and gas firms. In other words, the oil and gas firms reduce (increase) capital spending when oil prices fall (rise). The responses are highest around q3. Additionally, the responses are stronger for the exploration and production, drilling, and oil services firms, and weaker for the refining firms (oil majors). Also, the small, low-earnings and low p/e firms exhibit the highest responses to oil price shocks. The impulse response results for the debt quartiles are inconclusive.Practical implicationsThe findings shed light into the impact of oil price shocks on capital spending in relation to firm characteristics. The impulse response results that capital spending of the E&P, drilling and oil services firms, and the small firms in general, have a higher positive impact of oil shocks lend support to the argument that these firms more likely reduce capital spending because of financial constraints in the capital markets. A higher positive response by the low return on assets firms indicates that firms with low earnings and cash flow problems are more likely to reduce their capital spending when oil price drops. With regard to growth prospects, it appears that shocks in oil price dampen the outlook for the low p/e firms, which leads to a cut in their capital spending. On the other hand, the high p/e firms seem to rely more on their growth prospects and downplay the adverse impact of oil price shocks.Originality/valueUnlike previous studies in this area, the study focuses on firm-level data in detail, uses quarterly data and uses firm-specific variables that explain impact of oil price shocks on capital spending in oil and gas industry.