bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Project delivery methods in European social housing energy renovations
Authors: Baldiri Salcedo Rahola Tadeo , Straub Ad 
Published: May 2013

PurposeThe aim of the present study was to characterize the main project delivery methods that are used for the renovation of social housing, and to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of their application for energy renovations in order to assist social housing organisations in making an informed decision on the choice of a project delivery method that suits their organizational context.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a literature review, five case studies of renovation processes by five social housing organizations in four EU countries, a questionnaire completed by 36 social housing organizations from eight EU countries, and a series of 14 interviews with energy renovation experts from ten EU countries.FindingsFour main project delivery methods were identified: iterative minor renovations, design‐bid‐build, design‐build and design‐build‐maintain. Design‐build‐maintain has the maximum potential to deliver energy savings because it facilitates collaboration between the various actors and promotes their commitment to achieving project goals.Research limitations/implicationsThe presented data is not meant to be representative for a country or the sector as a whole, but aims to indicate the main characteristics of the current energy renovations carried out by European social housing organizations.Practical implicationsSocial housing organizations are provided with useful information about the advantages and disadvantages of different project delivery methods for energy renovation projects, assisting them to choose the option that suits their organizational context.Originality/valueThis study fills a knowledge gap about the project delivery methods currently used in social housing energy renovations and their potential for energy renovations.
Marketing performance assessment systems and the business context
Authors: Frösén Johanna , Tikkanen Henrikki , Jaakkola Matti , Vassinen Antti 
Published: May 2013

PurposeThis study provides empirical evidence for the contextuality of marketing performance assessment (MPA) systems. It aims to introduce a taxonomical classification of MPA profiles based on the relative emphasis placed on different dimensions of marketing performance in different companies and business contexts.Design/methodology/approachThe data used in this study (n=1,157) were collected using a web‐based questionnaire, targeted to top managers in Finnish companies. Two multivariate data analysis techniques were used to address the research questions. First, dimensions of marketing performance underlying the current MPA systems were identified through factor analysis. Second, a taxonomy of different profiles of marketing performance measurement was created by clustering respondents based on the relative emphasis placed on the dimensions and characterizing them vis‐á‐vis contextual factors.FindingsThe study identifies nine broad dimensions of marketing performance that underlie the MPA systems in use and five MPA profiles typical of companies of varying sizes in varying industries, market life cycle stages, and competitive positions associated with varying levels of market orientation and business performance. The findings support the previously conceptual notion of contextuality in MPA and provide empirical evidence for the factors that affect MPA systems in practice.Originality/valueThe paper presents the first field study of current MPA systems focusing on combinations of metrics in use. The findings of the study provide empirical support for the contextuality of MPA and form a classification of existing contextual systems suitable for benchmarking purposes. Limited evidence for performance differences between MPA profiles is also provided.
A view to a brand: introducing the film brandscape
Authors: O'Reilly Daragh , Kerrigan Finola 
Published: May 2013

PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to the development of a film brand theory and in doing so, illustrate the utility of a socio‐cultural approach to branding. The purpose is to develop the conceptual framework within which the film brandscape may be considered. An illustrative case study of the James Bond franchise is provided so that the potential application of the framework can be clearly understood.Design/methodology/approachThe paper approaches the topic from a socio‐cultural perspective in order to take particular account of the symbolic nature of film offerings. It combines insights from contemporary production and consumption practices in the film industry with theoretical perspectives from marketing, branding, consumer, cultural and film studies. Although a conceptual paper, it incorporates an illustrative case, the James Bond franchise, in order to support the proposed brandscape.FindingsFilms are marked with signs of ownership and may carry other cues which function as risk‐reducing shorthand devices. Consumers look to brand characteristics as communicated through brand cues. Particular brandscapes can be viewed as loosely bounded sites within which meaning is derived from making sense of the various, interrelated brands within this brandscape. Such meaning is dependent on cultural cues which evolve over time.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper presents a theory of film branding which is primarily applicable to mainstream commercial films. The implications for marketing and branding scholars are highlighting the need to view brands within their wider brandscapes in order to understand how consumers understand brands in relation to one another. There is also a need to move beyond dominant relational modes of thinking about brands and consumers to consider the temporal nature of brand meanings.Practical implicationsThe paper offers a theoretical approach enabling scholars in a range of disciplines to engage in cross‐disciplinary dialogue about film brands, thus facilitating debate and opening up new lines of research inquiry. The case study included is merely illustrative and further empirical studies are needed to test and develop the brandscape.Originality/valueThe paper develops the cultural approach to branding through introducing the idea of the granularity of the brandscape: particular brandscapes can be viewed as loosely bounded sites within which meaning is derived from making sense of the various, interrelated brands within this brandscape. Such meaning is dependent on cultural cues which evolve over time. Managerial decision making can be understood through considering the various cast and crew decisions, genre and positioning. Through understanding the granularity of the brandscape, marketing and branding practitioners can have a greater understanding of consumer sensemaking which can be used in strategic decision making.
An integrated service recovery system (ISRS)
Authors: Leticia Santos‐Vijande María , María Díaz‐Martín Ana , Suárez‐Álvarez Leticia , Belén del Río‐Lanza Ana 
Published: May 2013

PurposeAppropriate management of service failures involves a complex organizational response that allows an effective internal and external recovery, learn from mistakes and introduce future service innovations. Empirical evidence on the organizational recovery practices more suitable to achieve these objectives, leading to superior performance, is limited. The present work seeks to extend the existing literature by identifying the potential dimensions that constitute an integrated service recovery system (ISRS), introducing a strategic, proactive and relational approach to service failure and recovery management, and by proposing a causal model linking the ISRS with performance.Design/methodology/approachThe ISRS dimensions and their attributes are derived from an extensive literature review and suggestions from academics and business experts. Structural equations modeling is used to test a model linking the ISRS (conceptualized as a second order construct), with client, employee and business performance indicators, using data from a Spanish sample of 151 Knowledge‐Intensive Business Services (KIBS).FindingsResults confirm that the firms' ability to approach service recovery from a strategic, proactive and relational perspective allows improving performance among clients and employees, that is, the external and internal recovery to occur, which leads to a superior competitive performance.Practical implicationsThe ISRS scale can provide managers with a diagnostic tool to analyze their recovery practices and to further improve their competitiveness in the long term.Originality/valueThe need to assess the integrative nature of effective service recovery systems has been claimed theoretically. An empirical study showing the link between comprehensive service recovery practices and performance was lacking.
Precise versus imprecise promotional rewards at small probabilities:
Authors: Yao Qing , Chen Rong , Zhao Ping 
Published: May 2013

PurposeThis paper aims to try to investigate how consumers respond to precise versus imprecise promotional rewards at varied probabilities, including small ones and whether the effect is contingent on purchase value and promotion budget.Design/methodology/approachBased on reviewing the literature on the ambiguity effect, the certainty effect and small probabilities, the hypotheses are tested by three experimental studies.FindingsThe experiments show that at a small winning probability, promotion with imprecise reward is more attractive than with precise reward. For high value purchases, a small‐probability promotion with imprecise reward performs better than an equally costly 100 percent‐probability promotion with precise reward. However, the difference is shortened for low value purchases. Furthermore, as the promotion budget increases, the ambiguity effect becomes stronger. As a result, the small‐probability promotion with imprecise reward is preferred to the 100 percent‐probability promotion with precise reward at both low and high budget levels.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study provides a starting‐point for further research on how to design an effective marketing promotion program with precise or imprecise promotional rewards at varied probabilities.Originality/valueThis research extends previous research on tensile versus precise prices to the region of very low or small probabilities, enriches the literature on “overweighting of small probabilities,” and also significantly enriches the existing theories on decision making under ambiguity.
Desert or rain
Authors: Hartmann Patrick , Apaolaza‐Ibáñez Vanessa 
Published: May 2013

PurposeGiven the observable increase in images of nature in advertising on a global scale, this study aims to ask whether such creative strategies should adapt imagery to the natural environment of the target audiences or could it be standardised globally.Design/methodology/approachTwo samples of respondents living in different geographic locations with contrasted climates and natural environments were exposed to a set of experimental green advertisements visually featuring different categories of natural scenery and one urban landscape. Attitude towards each advertisement and emotional responses evoked by it were measured and compared across the range of stimuli and the two samples.FindingsResults did not support either the hypothesis that individuals prefer advertisements showing the natural habitat in which they had grown up or the hypothesized universal preference for advertising imagery displaying savannah type landscapes. However, the observed preferences across both samples for advertisements featuring natural landscapes with abundant green vegetation and clear water are consistent with evolutionary psychology, which proposes that perception of beauty in a landscape is universal and hypothesizes preferences for landscapes with those characteristics.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was experimental in nature and based on only two specific geographic locations, as well as on one product and experimental brand. Findings and conclusions must therefore be adopted with due caution. Future research should be conducted on a broader geographic scale, across a wider range of natural and cultural environments, and with a greater variety of products and brands.Practical implicationsResults discourage the adaptation of nature imagery to the geographic location of a target audience, and support a global strategy based on the standardised use of landscapes universally perceived to be beautiful, following the principles of environmental aesthetics.Originality/valueThis is the first study to apply evolutionary and environmental psychology to an investigation of the influence of a target audience's natural environment on its behavioural responses to natural imagery in advertising.
Using data envelopment analysis to measure hotel efficiency in Crete
Authors: Manasakis Constantine , Apostolakis Alexandros , Datseris George 
Published: May 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to: study the relative efficiency between hotels operating under a brand and hotels operating independently, on the island of Crete, Greece; identify the inefficiency causes; and suggest managerial implications to relevant business experts and managers in order to increase hotel efficiency in Crete and in other tourism destinations with similar characteristics.Design/methodology/approachThe sample is constituted by 50 superior hotels (luxury and class A) operating in Crete in 2008: 25 hotels are operating as totally independent and 25 hotels are operating under a brand. The efficiency for the above hotels is estimated through the data envelopment analysis methodology.FindingsFirst, nationally branded hotels are relatively the most efficient; internationally branded are the least efficient, while those operating under a local brand and the independent ones lie in between. This efficiency ranking can be explained by the interplay between operating under a brand and being flexible to changes in the local market's conditions. Second, the hotels' inefficiency cause is mainly due to the input/output configuration and not due to their management teams' performance to organize the inputs in the production process.Research limitations/implicationsA direction for future research could be to enrich input and output variables. The paper could also be extended through a larger sample of hotels and an enriched data set covering more variables for more than one year, so as to study the dynamics of hotel efficiency. The larger sample could also contain hotels from other popular tourist destinations in Greece.Practical implicationsThe inefficiency causes are identified and, moreover, suggestions are made to hotel owners and managers, at the level of strategic and operational management, so as to increase hotel efficiency.Originality/valueThis is the first study measuring hotel efficiency in Greece. Moreover, it identifies the inefficiency causes of hotels and offers suggestions, at the level of strategic and operational management, so as to increase hotel efficiency, which are applicable to Crete as well as to other tourism destinations with similar characteristics.
How reputation creates loyalty in the restaurant sector
Authors: Chang Kuo‐Chien 
Published: May 2013

PurposeThis study attempts to investigate the causal relationships between perceived trust, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and corporate reputation to understand how customer perceptions evolve into customer loyalty in the restaurant sector.Design/methodology/approachThis study develops a research model and empirically examines the model by collecting data from two different chain restaurants. Based on the aggregated responses (n=529) from surveys conducted in the two selected chain restaurants, structural equation modeling was used to examine the hypothesized relationships between the variables.FindingsThe results reveal that corporate reputation creates loyalty through trust and value, two factors that act as important mediating variables in the model. Another key finding, based on a comparison of the total effects, is that perceived trust affects customer loyalty through customer satisfaction and that it has a stronger effect than perceived value.Practical implicationsAlong with the reputation‐loyalty linkage, which is mediated by trust and value, the minor influence of customer‐perceived value implies that restaurant managers should consider enhancing their diners' perceived value by providing innovative products and services.Originality/valueThis study develops a conceptual stimulus‐organism‐response (S‐O‐R) model that reflects the mediating role of trust and value to indicate the effect of the customer perceptions of the corporate reputation on customer loyalty in the restaurant sector.
Relationships between lifestyle of health and sustainability and healthy food choices for seniors
Authors: Kim Myung‐Ja , Lee Choong‐Ki , Gon Kim Woo , Kim Joung‐Man 
Published: May 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the structural relationships among lifestyle of health and sustainability (LOHAS), healthy food choices, trust, and emotional loyalty and the moderating role of age between seniors and non‐seniors in restaurants.Design/methodology/approachPartial least squares (PLS)‐graph software (version 3.0) was used to analyze the measurements and structural models. The authors employed a PLS regression analysis for both the formative and reflective constructs in the empirical test of the research model.FindingsThe study revealed that the senior market segment differs from the non‐senior market segment in the following ways: the magnitude of impact of LOHAS on healthy food choices is much stronger for senior diners than for non‐senior diners and the impact of LOHAS on trust and emotional loyalty is greater for seniors than non‐seniors.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of this study can guide the restaurant industry in its research on the implications of LOHAS for seniors.Practical implicationsRestaurant marketers should develop different strategies for the senior and non‐senior market segments, and they need to focus on target segments rather than attempting to appeal to the market as a whole.Originality/valueThis paper assists researchers and practitioners by shedding light on the differences among LOHAS, healthy food choices, trust, and emotional loyalty between senior and non‐senior diners.
Employer attitudes on hiring employees with disabilities in the leisure and hospitality industry
Authors: Jasper Cynthia R. , Waldhart Paul 
Published: May 2013

PurposeThis paper seeks to analyze government survey data on what concerns leisure and hospitality employers most when considering hiring people with disabilities, as well as what hiring practices best alleviate these concerns. Special attention is to be given to the theory of planned behavior in these aims.Design/methodology/approachUS government survey data of leisure and hospitality employers' perspectives were disaggregated and examined using F‐, T‐, and Z‐tests.FindingsEmployee abilities and workplace accommodations raised substantial concerns, while financial incentives and practices addressing workplace attitudes were seen as especially helpful solutions. Employer concerns toward hiring varied significantly by employer size, with employers with more workers being more likely to hire those with disabilities than those with fewer workers.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should work to overcome limitations inherent in the source data used by further disaggregating business types within the leisure and hospitality industry, and to examine how socio‐demographic factors impact employer perceptions.Originality/valueThis is the first study to statistically test and apply the theory of planned behavior to the most recent nationally representative and randomized survey data of leisure and hospitality employer perceptions on hiring people with disabilities.
The effects of work overload and work‐family conflict on job embeddedness and job performance
Authors: Karatepe Osman M. 
Published: May 2013

PurposeThe present study seeks to propose and test a research model that investigates emotional exhaustion as a mediator of the effects of work overload, work‐family conflict, and family‐work conflict on job embeddedness and job performance.Design/methodology/approachThe study evaluated the aforementioned relationships using LISREL 8.30 through structural equation modeling (SEM) based on data collected from 110 full‐time frontline hotel employees and their managers in Romania.FindingsThe results of SEM suggest that emotional exhaustion functions as a full mediator of the effects of work overload, work‐family conflict, and family‐work conflict on job embeddedness and job performance. Specifically, employees who have heavy workloads and are unable to establish a balance between work (family) and family (work) roles are emotionally exhausted. Such employees in turn are less embedded in their jobs and display poor performance in the service delivery process.Research limitations/implicationsIn future studies having longitudinal data would be useful for drawing causal inferences among study variables. Employing cross‐cultural research in future studies would also be helpful.Practical implicationsManagement of the hotels should take decisive steps to establish and maintain a supportive work environment because such an environment would help employees to balance their work (family) and family (work) roles and lead to reduced emotional exhaustion. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to retain high performing employees in the workplace. Hiring individuals who fit well with the job and organizational culture via objective tests and experiential exercises would also be helpful for employee retention.Originality/valueThe current study contributes to the existing knowledge base by testing emotional exhaustion as a mediator of the impacts of work overload, work‐family conflict, and family‐work conflict on job embeddedness and job performance through data gathered from frontline hotel employee‐manager dyads in Romania.
Guangdong Province, China: firms, cities and sectors of excellence
Authors: Rubini Lauretta , Barbieri Elisa 
Published: May 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an updated picture of the emergence of specific firms, cities and sectors of excellence in one of the best performing industrial areas of China: Guangdong Province.Design/methodology/approachThe paper focuses on a single province‐case study and zooms on its leading territories, sectors, firms and policies. Geographical areas, industrial sectors and firms are defined “of excellence” according to their contribution to the overall industrial performance of the province.FindingsHigh industrial performances are not equally spread in the province. They involve specific sectors (such as electronics), areas (Pearl River Delta) and even specific firms (particularly Chinese‐owned and SOEs). This picture is in line with the recent policy objectives (support to ODI by national companies, indigenous innovation, national and local champions, restructuring of SOEs) and with the history of preferential industrial development policies.Research limitations/implicationsGiven the concentration of industrial excellence in the province, there is a need to further investigate the leading actors. Given the persistent policy practice to encourage excellences (areas, sectors and firms), there is a need to further investigate the linkages between provincial/local policies and performances. The empirical test on the existence of a causal link between policies and performances of specific territories and sectors is left for further research.Originality/valueWhile much of the existing literature concentrates on the impressive industrial growth of China as a whole, the paper stresses the degree of concentration of such growth and the importance of focusing on specific leading actors in order to fully understand the industrial development of the country.