bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
How customers respond to the assistive intent of an E-retailer?
Authors: Shobeiri Saeed , Mazaheri Ebrahim , Laroche Michel 
Published: June 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate how an E-retailer's assistive intent impacts the perceptions and behaviours of online shoppers. The paper introduces a model that explains and examines the process through which the perceived assistive intent of an E-retailer leads to improved patronage intentions towards the web site.Design/methodology/approach– A survey on the most recent e-purchase experiences of more than 600 individuals in North America was conducted. Structural equation modelling based on EQS 6.1 was used to assess the measurement and structural models.Findings– Results indicated that customers’ impressions of an E-retailer's assistive intent positively impact web site patronage intentions both directly and indirectly through two key constructs of e-shopping, including web site involvement and web site attitudes.Research limitations/implications– The student sample is not representative of the population. Students are familiar with internet and feel less need for assistance online. Another shortcoming might be its settings. Since the survey was on the respondents’ most recent online experiences, the data quality depends on the amount and accuracy of the information they could retrieve from memory.Practical implications– The findings suggest that E-retailers would highly benefit from investing in the development of an assistive image. To do so, E-retailers should leverage the interactive nature of the web and provide supportive tools that facilitate the e-shopping task of clients.Social implications– Developing impressions of the site's assistive intent is highly rewarding for E-retailers that are new to the business.Originality/value– This paper represents the first effort to link the newly developed construct of E-retailer's assistive intent to two fundamental variables of online shopping, including web site involvement and web site attitudes. This work would also be an extension of the past studies that call for further investigation of the link between customer orientation and customer's loyalty intentions.
The effect of adaptive mechanism on behavioural biometric based mobile phone authentication
Authors: Meng Weizhi , S. Wong Duncan , Kwok Lam-For 
Published: June 2014

Purpose
– This paper aims to design a compact scheme of behavioural biometric-based user authentication, develop an adaptive mechanism that selects an appropriate classifier in an adaptive way and conduct a study to explore the effect of this mechanism.

Design/methodology/approach
– As a study, the proposed adaptive mechanism was implemented using a cost-based metric, which enables mobile phones to adopt a less costly classifier in an adaptive way to build the user normal-behaviour model and detect behavioural anomalies.

Findings
– The user study with 50 participants indicates that our proposed mechanism can positively affect the authentication performance by maintaining the authentication accuracy at a relatively high and stable level.

Research limitations/implications
– The authentication accuracy can be further improved by incorporating other appropriate classifiers (e.g. neural networks) and considering other touch-gesture-related features (e.g. the speed of a touch).

Practical implications
– This work explores the effect of adaptive mechanism on behavioural biometric-based user authentication. The results should be of interest for software developers and security specialists in deciding whether to implement such a mechanism for enhancing authentication performance on mobile phones.

Originality/value
– The user study with 50 participants indicates that this mechanism can positively affect the authentication performance by maintaining the authentication accuracy at a relatively high and stable level. To the best of our knowledge, our work is an early work discussing the implementation of an adaptive mechanism on a mobile phone.
What is normal profit for power generation?
Authors: Simshauser Paul , Ariyaratnam Jude 
Published: June 2014

Purpose– This paper aims to present a multi-period dynamic power project financing model to produce pragmatic estimates of benchmark wholesale power prices based on the principles of normal profit. This, in turn, can guide policymakers as to whether price spikes or bidding above marginal cost in wholesale electricity markets warrants any investigation at all. One of the seemingly complex areas associated with energy-only wholesale electricity pools is at what point market power abuse is present on the supply side. It should not be this way. If a theoretically robust measure of normal profit exists, identification of potential market power abuse is straightforward. Such a definition readily exists and can be traced back to the ground-breaking work of financial economists in the 1960s.Design/methodology/approach– Using a multi-period dynamic power project model, the authors produce pragmatic and theoretically robust measures of normal profit for project financed plant and plant financed on balance sheet. These model results are then integrated into a static partial equilibrium model of a power system. The model results are in turn used to guide policymaking on generator bidding in energy-only power markets.Findings– Under conditions of perfect plant availability and divisibility with no transmission constraints, energy-only markets result in clearing prices which are not economically viable in the long run. Bidding must, therefore, deviate from strict short-run marginal cost at some stage. To distinguish between quasi-contributions to substantial sunk costs and market power abuse, a pragmatic and robust measure of normal profit is required.Originality/value– This article finds policymakers can be guided by an ex-post analysis of base energy prices against pragmatic estimates for the long-run marginal cost of the base plant, and an ex-ante analysis of call option prices along the forward curve against pragmatic estimates of the carrying cost of the peaking plant.
Founder-CEO board involvement and optimal IPO valuation
Authors: Mousa Fariss-Terry , J. Ritchie William , Reed Richard 
Published: June 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to extend governance research in the small business context by examining the moderating influence of top executive involvement on the board of directors on market valuation.Design/methodology/approach– Drawing on a sample of initial public offering (IPO) high-tech firms engaged in late-stage funding, the study uses stepwise regression to test board involvement moderation effects.Findings– Primary market investors reward governance structures that limit founder power.Originality/value– The current study introduces the notion that optimal market valuation depends not only on whether a CEO-founder governs the firm, but also on level of involvement on the board of directors.
Netnography approach as a tool for marketing research: the case of Dash-P&G/TTV
Authors: La Rocca Antonella , Mandelli Andreina , Snehota Ivan 
Published: June 2014

Purpose
– Online communication technologies have profoundly affected consumption and buying behaviours, and put pressure on businesses to find ways of dealing with these developments. Businesses are increasingly experimenting with new approaches and tools to keep up, and netnography – ethnography applied to the web – has become popular. However, exploiting the potential of netnography requires companies to cope with new problems and acquire new capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to examine the organizational and managerial implications of using the netnographic approach in market research.

Design/methodology/approach
– After a literature review on netnography in marketing research, the authors present a case study of best practice of netnography for market research: the research project of Dash-Procter & Gamble on Motherhood Support.

Findings
– The authors found four issues as critical for exploiting the potential of netnography as a tool of market research: first, immersive involvement; second, mediated participation; third, the use of multiple techniques and distributed specialized capabilities; and fourth, the need for orchestrating the emergent network organization of the project. The quality of the research outcomes is related to the resources available and the integration of different roles and competences in the project.

Research limitations/implications
– Since netnographic studies involve collaborative research, further studies of experiences in organizing netnography projects are needed. These studies are bound to yield valuable insights.

Practical implications
– Exploiting the potential of netnography implies experimenting with novel approaches and solutions in marketing research practices to orient management decisions and calls for developing skills to orchestrate research project networks.

Originality/value
– The value of this work lies in zooming in on the methodological principles of netnography and zooming out on the networking managerial processes that make it possible to implement the networking required to exploit the potential of netnography.
Does a differentiation strategy lead to more sustainable financial performance than a cost leadership strategy?
Authors: D. Banker Rajiv , Mashruwala Raj , Tripathy Arindam 
Published: June 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the strategic positioning of firms and the sustainability of firm performance. The paper argues that pursuing a differentiation strategy leads to more sustainable financial performance compared to following a cost leadership strategy. However, a differentiation strategy may also be associated with greater risk.Design/methodology/approach– To investigate the research questions, the authors utilize publicly available archival data consisting of 12,849 firm-year observations for the period 1989-2003. In the first stage of the analysis, factor analysis is used to determine firms’ strategic positioning. The resulting factor scores are subsequently used in regression analysis to investigate the sustainability of performance based on the strategic positioning of firms.Findings– The results indicate that both cost leadership and differentiation strategies have a positive impact on contemporaneous performance. However, the differentiation strategy allows a firm to sustain its current performance in the future to a greater extent than a cost leadership strategy. The differentiation strategy, though, is also associated with greater systematic risk and more unstable performance.Originality/value– Sustainability of performance refers to how much a firm's current profitability can be sustained in future periods. The main contribution of this study is the comparison of generic strategies based on the sustainability of firm performance. This aspect of the strategy-performance link has not been considered in prior work. Another contribution of the study is that it considers multiple dimensions of firm performance in order to evaluate the trade-offs involved with pursuing different strategies. In particular, the authors contribute to the literature by documenting that while differentiation leads to more sustainable earnings, it also leads to riskier and more unstable earnings.
Consumer willingness to communicate in a second language
Authors: Holmqvist Jonas , Van Vaerenbergh Yves , Grönroos Christian 
Published: June 2014

Purpose– The service management literature emphasizes the importance of communication, but language difficulties can make communicating in business settings more difficult. The purpose of this paper is to address consumer willingness to communicate in a second language to identity the antecedents that drive consumer language preferences.Design/methodology/approach– The paper presents the findings from two empirical studies in two multilingual countries with a total of 361 adult respondents.Findings– The findings show perceived control to be the strongest antecedent of consumer willingness to communicate in a second language, and identifies second language skills as an antecedent in countries with little political tensions related to language, while political considerations is a strong antecedent in countries where language use is political.Research limitations/implications– The studies are limited to countries with more than one official language. While multilingual countries make up around two-third of the world's population, future research could test whether the same antecedents are applicable in monolingual societies.Practical implications– The findings help managers to understand in which situations consumers may be willing to switch language, and in which situations it is important to serve consumers in more than one language.Originality/value– The paper is the first to draw upon both the service management literature and the sociolinguistic literature to develop and test a model to explain consumer language preferences. This model may help managers to develop strategies for customer service in multilingual markets.
How do resources and diversification strategy explain the performance consequences of internationalization?
Authors: Chen Yan , Jiang Yiwei , Wang Chengqi , Chung Hsu Wen 
Published: June 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine how firm resources and diversification strategy explain the performance consequences of internationalization of emerging market enterprises.Design/methodology/approach– The paper conducts a regression analysis by using a novel panel data set comprising of 685 listed Chinese firms over the period of 2008-2011.Findings– The results show that the relationship between internationalization and performance is inverse U-shaped. Further, marketing resources play a greater role in enhancing the performance effects of internationalization than technological resources do. Related product diversification enhances the performance effects, while unrelated product diversification does the contrary.Research limitations/implications– The study focusses on listed firms in one country, and as a result, the findings cannot be generalized to non-listed firms and firms in other countries.Practical implications– This paper offers guidelines for international managers to improve performance of internationalization by developing a particular type of resources and diversification strategy.Originality/value– This paper extends the literature on the functional form of the internationalization-performance relationship, and further suggests that the analysis of the performance consequences of internationalization should go beyond the nexus between internationalization and performance, and focusses on firm-specific resources and strategies that may facilitate or constrain the performance effects of internationalization.
The determinants of involuntary delisting rate in the Egyptian IPO equity market
Authors: M. Algebaly Esam-Aldin , Ibrahim Yusnidah , A. Ahmad-Zaluki Nurwati 
Published: June 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of involuntary delisting rate for the Egyptian initial public offerings (IPOs) issued over the period 1992-2009.

Design/methodology/approach
– A definition of survival time that considers the date when the new Egyptian listing rules were enforced to track delisting status for each IPO firm for five survival years is relied on. Binary logit regression analysis is used to identify these determinants. Total sample is divided into two subsamples: the first subsample covers the period from 1992 to 2004. It is used to estimate the logit equations and to predict delisting status of firms included in the second subsample, which covers the period from 2005 to 2009.

Findings
– The probability of involuntary delisting decreases significantly with the increase in firm size, institutional ownership, assets growth rate, operating efficiency, offering size, initial returns and insider ownership. However, it increases significantly in IPO firms with high financial leverage. Based on the estimated logit regression equations, the status of the six firms included in the second subsample are correctly predicted.

Practical implications
– The results provide several implications for investors, issuing firms and setters of listing rules.

Originality/value
– This study uses new variables, such as firm type, institutional ownership and listing variables. In addition, several theories are tested and supported.
Stepping into the emptiness
Authors: Kokkonen Juhana 
Published: June 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this study is to analyze the personal challenges of a change agent, namely, a catalyst, attempting to promote organizational change in a hybrid and complex educational organization. The study mirrors subjective experiences with classic bureaucracy research and the theory of collaborative community. It analyzes the lack of work developmental scaffolds in the transition from a bureaucracy to a collaborative community.Design/methodology/approach– The study uses autoethnographic methods.Findings– A hybrid and complex context does not offer firm scaffolds for a change agent. Classic bureaucracy research and the theory of collaborative community have difficulties to explain the personal challenges of the change agent.Research limitations/implications– Research on weak or missing organizational scaffolding and transitional challenges should be studied using a multidisciplinary approach. The concepts of the zone of proximal development and scaffolding in a complex context should be revised.Practical implications– Hybrid and complex organizations should develop new ways to scaffold and manage their work development.Originality/value– This paper shows and analyzes the personal challenges of a change agent on a hybrid and complex organization. The autoethnographic approach gives important knowledge about the lack of theoretical explanation of the problematics of organizational transition.
Organizational learning culture and workplace spirituality
Authors: Sorakraikitikul Monthon , Siengthai Sununta 
Published: June 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of organizational learning culture as an enabler of knowledge-sharing behaviours and workplace spirituality. A model is proposed to examine the mediating role of knowledge-sharing behaviours between organizational learning culture and workplace spirituality.Design/methodology/approach– Employees from various Thai industries participated in the study, and structural equation modelling was used to test hypothesized relationships.Findings– Results suggest a positive relationship between organizational learning culture and workplace spirituality, partially mediated by knowledge-sharing behaviours.Research limitations/implications– The study was limited to Thailand, and is a cross-sectional design. Further investigation into the causality of relationships and cultural disparities is needed.Practical implications– Friendly learning environments enable both knowledge sharing and change organization members’ views regarding learning and performance improvements for organizational sustainability.Originality/value– This paper bridges a gap between theory and practice concerning the outcomes of organizational learning and factors that lead to workplace spirituality.
The influence of perceived organizational support on dimensions of learning organization
Authors: Salehzadeh Reza , Asadi Ali , Khazaei Pool Javad , Reza Ansari Mohammad , Haroni Alireza 
Published: June 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of perceived organizational support on dimensions of a learning organization among employees of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of Nowshahr in Iran.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper used an empirical research design by the questionnaire survey method to test the research hypotheses. Statistical population of this research included employees of SMEs of Nowshahr in Iran. A random sample of 950 employees was asked to respond to questionnaires from which 336 were valid. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the influence of perceived organizational support on dimensions of a learning organization.

Findings
– The findings showed that perceived organizational support had a strong effect on the learning organization. In addition, perceived organizational support had effect on continuous learning, dialogue and inquiry, team learning, embedded system, empowerment, system connection and strategic leadership. In general, all hypotheses are statistically supported.

Originality/value
– This research may be one of the first papers exploring the influence of perceived organizational support on dimensions of the learning organization and offers a foundation for future organizational research.
Evolution of differential maternal age effects on male and female offspring development and longevity
Authors: Lind Martin I. , Berg Elena C. , Alavioon Ghazal , Maklakov Alexei A. 
Published: June 2014

Summary

Maternal age effects on life‐history traits, including longevity, are widespread and can be seen as a manifestation of ageing. However, little is known about how maternal life span may influence the maternal age effect. At a given chronological age, a long‐lived parent may be at a younger biological age than a short‐lived parent and thus has a less severe parental age effect. However, earlier work using experimentally evolved short‐ and long‐lived lines did not support this hypothesis.

We scored developmental time and longevity of 14 995 individual seed beetles, Callosobruchus maculatus derived from replicate short‐lived and long‐lived lines created via artificial selection on male life span.

Offspring from older mothers had shorter life span, which is consistent with most of the literature.

We found support for the hypothesis that detrimental maternal age effects evolve to be weaker under selection for long life span. However, this finding was only apparent in males, suggesting that maternal age affects male and female offspring differently.

These results suggest that sex‐dependent parental age effects should be incorporated in the studies of longevity and ageing evolution and that selection on one sex can cause evolution of parental age effects in the other sex.