bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
What a performance! the influence of call centre workflows on workers’ skills and emotional wellbeing
Authors: Alexander Clarke Julian 
Published: November 2014

Purpose– This purpose of this paper is to use the concepts of performance and emotional labour to shed new light on the skills workers use on two workflows in one call centre. In addition, the paper demonstrates how different workflows impact on workers everyday emotional experiences and wellbeing.Design/methodology/approach– Using an auto-ethnographic approach to data collection the paper provides insights by focusing on both the self and others as objects of research. The underpinning theoretical inspiration is drawn from Labour Process Theory but considering the interactive nature of front-line call centre work, it adopts Goffman's (1959) dramaturgical concepts and draws on micro-sociological analyses of the labour process, particularly Hochschild (1983).Findings– The case study illustrates how workers use social skills, through the performance of emotional labour, to different extents on contrasting workflows. The concept of performance is also used to demonstrate how management rely on worker's social skills to deliver fast and quality customer service. Contrary to other research, this study finds that the greater time front-line workers spend on calls and the wider scope they have for exercising discretion does not necessarily mean they experience greater levels of satisfaction and emotional wellbeing. Rather, the workflow with the tightest scripting and shortest call cycles – which inhibit the need to perform emotional labour – offered the greatest protection from the emotional demands of the job.Originality/value– This paper is the first to apply Goffman's theatrical metaphors and concepts of performativity to unpack the nature of front-line call centre workers’ skills.
Sentiment-based commercial real estate forecasting with Google search volume data
Authors: Alexander Dietzel Marian , Braun Nicole , Schäfers Wolfgang 
Published: November 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine internet search query data provided by “Google Trends”, with respect to its ability to serve as a sentiment indicator and improve commercial real estate forecasting models for transactions and price indices.Design/methodology/approach– This paper examines internet search query data provided by “Google Trends”, with respect to its ability to serve as a sentiment indicator and improve commercial real estate forecasting models for transactions and price indices.Findings– The empirical results show that all models augmented with Google data, combining both macro and search data, significantly outperform baseline models which abandon internet search data. Models based on Google data alone, outperform the baseline models in all cases. The models achieve a reduction over the baseline models of the mean squared forecasting error for transactions and prices of up to 35 and 54 per cent, respectively.Practical implications– The results suggest that Google data can serve as an early market indicator. The findings of this study suggest that the inclusion of Google search data in forecasting models can improve forecast accuracy significantly. This implies that commercial real estate forecasters should consider incorporating this free and timely data set into their market forecasts or when performing plausibility checks for future investment decisions.Originality/value– This is the first paper applying Google search query data to the commercial real estate sector.
Compulsory purchase and compensation update – 2014
Authors: Sams Gary 
Published: November 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to summarise and analyse the new compensation provisions brought in by the government for Phase 1 of the HS2 high-speed train line.

Design/methodology/approach
– To summarise each of the proposals and provide a critical assessment of each of them.

Findings
– For the most part, and the Homeowner Payment Scheme (HPS) is a marked exception, the new HS2 compensation provisions set out a logical approach to reducing the impact of the scheme on the people most directly affected by its blighting affect. There are, however, a number of concerns as to whether there are more urgent reforms that have not been considered.

Research limitations/implications
– The proposals were announced in April and in respect of some of them, particularly the HPS, very little information is available as yet.

Practical implications
– The paper should provide factual information on a very new set of compensation provisions and a critical appraisal of their value.

Originality/value
– As the compensation provisions have been published only recently there will be few other similar commentaries available.
The performance of entrepreneurial ventures
Authors: Jayawarna Dilani , Jones Oswald , Lam Wing , Phua Sabrina 
Published: November 2014

Purpose– Despite the importance of marketing to the success of entrepreneurial ventures very few researchers have studied the links with new business performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine a number of marketing practices in relation to the performance of new firms. Furthermore, the study considers the moderating influence of market competitiveness on the marketing practice-performance relationship.Design/methodology/approach– Both postal and web surveys were utilized to collect responses from 128 entrepreneurs in the early stages of business creation. The data were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factory analyses to establish the marketing practices in new ventures. These results were then subjected to hierarchical regression analysis to study the marketing-performance relationship. Further analysis was conducted to explore the moderation hypotheses.Findings– The results demonstrate that some practices generally associated with marketing – selective distribution, market segmentation and advertising – have limited impact on performance in new ventures. In contrast, other practices such as product/service innovation, market research and service quality and functionality – do help establish competitive advantage. The results suggest that marketing practices associated with “entrepreneurial behaviour” and not “hard” marketing techniques drive new venture success. The results also support the moderation hypotheses confirming that market conditions help explain the role of marketing in new venture success.Research limitations/implications– The paper offers a new theoretical framework to better understand the marketing-performance relationship in new ventures and offers suggestions as to the specific conditions for effective use of various marketing practices.Originality/value– This is one of the first attempts to explore the underlying mechanisms that support marketing practices in new ventures. It reveals the hidden dimensions of the marketing-performance relationship and thereby makes a contribution to both the marketing and entrepreneurship literatures.
High growth trajectories in small and medium sized enterprises: a comparative study
Authors: Chanut-Guieu Cécile , C. Guieu Gilles 
Published: November 2014

Purpose– Rapid growth constitutes both a theoretical and an economic issue. Thanks to a comparative study of five high growth small and medium sized enterprises located in Rhône-Alp and Provence (France), the authors propose a processual analysis of high growth trajectories. The purpose of this paper is to identify trajectories and tools implicated in the construction and maintenance of a high growth trajectory.Design/methodology/approach– The contribution is a comparative, qualitative study of five medium size companies in France that have experienced growth of more than 20 percent annually for at least four years. This study is based on 25 semi-directive interviews with company managers.Findings– First, high growth is a result of the psychological state of the company leader. Second, high growth is a manifestation of a secure enterprise geographically based where the company originated. This, however, implies discomfort once high growth occurs when physical expansion obliges moving to unfamiliar locations. Finally, in companies with high growth trajectories, support functions develop relatively late.Originality/value– The results corroborate certain previously presented findings and bring forth new conclusions particularly concerning the place of the leader, the existence of thresholds and the relative homogeneity of trajectories.
Comparison of Post-Relational and Object-Relational modelling for real-world database applications
Authors: N. Karanikolas Nikitas , Vassilakopoulos Michael 
Published: November 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to compare the use of two Object-Relational models against the use of a post-Relational model for a realistic application. Although real-world applications, in most cases, can be adequately modeled by the Entity-Relationship (ER) model, the transformation to the popular Relational model alters the representation of structures common in reality, like multi-valued and composite fields. Alternative database models have been developed to overcome these shortcomings.

Design/methodology/approach
– Based on the ER model of a medical application, this paper compares the information representation, manipulation and enforcement of integrity constraints through PostgreSQL and Oracle, against the use of a post-Relational model composed of the Conceptual Universal Database Language (CUDL) and the Conceptual Universal Database Language Abstraction Level (CAL).

Findings
– The CAL/CUDL pair, although more periphrastic for data definition, is simpler for data insertions, does not require the use of procedural code for data updates, produces clearer output for retrieval of attributes, can accomplish retrieval of rows based on conditions that address composite data with declarative statements and supports data validation for relationships between composite data without the need for procedural code.

Research limitations/implications
– To verify, in practice, the conclusions of the paper, complete implementation of a CAL/CUDL system is needed.

Practical implications
– The use of the CAL/CUDL pair would advance the productivity of database application development.

Originality/value
– This paper highlights the properties of realistic database-applications modelling and management that are desirable by developers and shows that these properties are better satisfied by the CAL/CUDL pair.
Customer delight and work engagement
Authors: C. Barnes Donald , E. Collier Joel , Robinson Stacey 
Published: November 2014

Purpose– The purpose of the current research is to evaluate how customer contact level and customer service-based role conflict influence the relationship between customer emotions and work engagement, while simultaneously evaluating psychological capital as an outcome of work engagement. Customer service research highlights the impact of employee attitudes and behaviors on customer satisfaction. More recently, this relationship has been examined in reverse, evaluating how customer emotions influence the employee. Unfortunately, previous research has not evaluated variables that inhibit the impact of customer emotions on the employee.Design/methodology/approach– Data were collected from frontline employees across high and low customer contact service contexts. The hypothesized relationships were tested using structural equation modeling.Findings– This research provides empirical evidence that employee-perceived customer delight impacts employee work engagement. However, through a process of feedback, customer service-based role conflict impacts the relationship between customer emotions and employee emotions. Finally, the conceptual model illustrates how engaged employees can create their own personal resourcesvis-à-visthe broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.Research limitations/implications– This research identifies both antecedent and outcomes variables associated with work engagement, as well as identified mediating factors.Practical implications– Results suggest that the quality and level of contact that frontline employees have with customers impact their work engagement. Furthermore, engaged frontline employees have the ability to create their own personal resources.Originality/value– This research makes contributions to the understanding of the impact of positive customer emotions on frontline employees.
Information cascades in online reading: an empirical investigation of panel data
Authors: Liu Qihua , Zhang Liyi 
Published: November 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine information cascades in the context of users’ e-book reading behavior and differentiate it from alternative factors that lead to herd behavior, such as network externalities and word-of-mouth effects.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper constructed panel data using information concerning 226 e-books in 30 consecutive days from Sina.com’s reading channel (Book.Sina.com.cn) from October 2, 2013, to October 31, 2013 of the same year in China. A multinomial logit market-share model was employed.

Findings
– E-books’ ranking has a significant impact on their market share, as predicted by informational cascades theory. Higher ranking e-books’ clicks will see a greater increase as a result of an increase in clicks ranking. Due to the information cascades effect, review volume had no impact on the market share of popular e-books. Total votes had a powerful impact on the market share of e-books, showing that once information cascade occurred, it could be enhanced by the increase in total votes. The total clicks of e-books had a significant impact on their market share, suggesting that online reading behavior would be influenced by network externalities.

Practical implications
– As important information, the ranking or popularity of e-books should be carefully considered by online reading web sites, publishers, and authors. It is not enough for the authors and publishers of e-books to simply pay attention to the content. They should design their marketing strategies to allow network externalities and informational cascades to work for them, not against them. Online reading web sites should also focus on eliminating certain behavior, such as “brush clicks” and “brush votes,” in order to prevent an undesirable information cascade due to false information.

Originality/value
– To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study to examine information cascades in the context of users’ e-book reading behavior. Moreover, this study can help other researchers by utilizing a large sample of daily data from one of the earliest online reading platforms in China.
Measuring service quality of the Greek Ministry of Agriculture
Authors: Kontogeorgos Achilleas , Tselempis Dimitrios , Aggelopoulos Stamatis 
Published: November 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is mainly to investigate how Greek Farmers perceive service quality provided by the Greek Ministry of Agriculture and secondly, to confirm the five quality dimensions proposed by the SERVQUAL instrument for the Ministry’s service.

Design/methodology/approach
– A questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL scale, was used to determine farmers’ perceptions of service quality in the area of central Macedonia in Greece. A total of 245 completed questionnaires were collected.

Findings
– The analysis has shed some light on the quality gaps for the services provided by the Greek Public sector, suggesting that there is scope for improvement strategies. The results revealed a three-dimensional structure instead of the five dimensions of the SERVQUAL instrument. “Social skills” of the human factor were revealed as being the most critical dimension of quality.

Practical implications
– This paper provides guidelines for policymakers to develop strategies to identify service quality gaps, while the decrease of such gaps could result in the public services’ improvement.

Originality/value
– The current study is the first attempt to measure farmers’ perceptions of the service provided by the Greece ministry of Rural Development and Food. Secondly, this study provides additional evidence that the modification of the SERVQUAL scale could be used in different service sectors and cultures.
Assessing the impact of Forestry II program on agricultural productivity in the Arid Zone of Nigeria
Authors: Nasiru Medugu Idris , Rafee Majid M. , Johar Foziah , Sinami Taiwo Ibijoke 
Published: November 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to assess the sustainability of a forestry management strategy in checkmating desert encroachment and it also examines the impacts of the Forestry II program on agricultural productivity in the rural communities.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study adopted a quantitative approach in assessing the rural farmers’ level of participation in the Forestry II program in which 201 respondents were interviewed in the study area. Structured questionnaires’ were also administered to afforestation officials/extension workers in the two states regarding the different components of the projects and probable cause(s) of failures/successes as well as the level of involvement of the community in the project. Field observations of the project sites were also carried out with a view to examining the level of achievements on the physical components of the projects.

Findings
– The findings of this study revealed that, involvement of the stakeholders and participation of the community was lacking at the early stage of the program and the negligence of indigenous knowledge as well as the influence of bottom up approach was not incorporated in the project. The study further revealed that, appreciable positive impacts have been recorded at various levels of its implementation. The improvement of livelihood of the rural people through increased forest products supply was noted, fuel-wood and poles supply were also increased and this had gone a long way in creating employment for the rural dwellers.

Research limitations/implications
– The study involved the establishment of shelterbelts, windbreaks, woodlots, orchards and nurseries which were complimented by social forestry, and which raised public awareness through campaigns such as school forestry programs, forestry extension services and a fuel-wood conservation program.

Originality/value
– The study articulated success and failure as well as a detailed assessment of the Forestry II project. The study showed that government could significantly combat desertification in the arid zones through sustainable afforestation if adequate resources were employed.
Accounting for environmental pollution in production function
Authors: Hoon Lim Siew 
Published: November 2014

Purpose
– Traditionally, economic production models consider pollution as bads that may be modeled as either outputs or inputs in economic models. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of these modeling choices on the measurements of productive efficiency and private costs of pollution control.

Design/methodology/approach
– The authors apply the hyperbolic distance functions to measure trucking efficiency and the private costs of pollution control.

Findings
– The results show: (i) regardless of the choice of modeling, when only one bad was incorporated in hyperbolic distance functions, the efficiency loss and private abatement cost measures derived from the two models were equivalent, but potential pollution reduction and good output expansion differed; (ii) when more than one bad were introduced, the equivalence of efficiency loss measure in (i) did not hold; and (iii) the potential amounts of pollution reduction and good output expansion were larger when bads were modeled as inputs. With multiple bads, private abatement costs varied considerably under the two modeling treatments.

Practical implications
– From a policy standpoint, the results suggest that one should consider the modeling options with caution when multiple economic bads are involved, because the resulting measures of economic burden of pollution control differ.

Originality/value
– The paper shows that the traditional conceptual framework for modeling pollution in hyperbolic distance functions could yield inconsistent results.
An ecological review of the WGEEP report (2011) and environmental management planning in India
Authors: Puyravaud Jean-Philippe , Davidar Priya 
Published: November 2014

Purpose
– The Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India, set up the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) in March 2010 to provide guidelines for improved management within the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. The WGEEP's Mandate was to identify ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs). The Panel submitted their report in 2011 but it remained unimplemented. It was not clear whether the delay was due to the unwillingness of civil society to accept ambitious environment management plans, or whether the report had shortcomings. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
– The authors undertook a critique of the WGEEP report and its Mandate, to evaluate key issues that could have prevented its implementation.

Findings
– The analysis indicated that the WGEEP Mandate was ill-defined and the WGEEP report identified ESAs without providing a working definition. The absence of critical review of earlier environment management failures, the delayed dialogue with civil society, the absence of legislative foundation upon which such a management plan could be implemented, and the vague definition of ESAs were possibly the reasons for the unease among various stakeholders.

Originality/value
– The paper stresses that in order for large-scale biodiversity management projects to succeed, it is important that first, the civil society understands the project's objective before its initiation, second stakeholders are formally involved alongside ecological experts and third, that methods are critically reviewed. The lack of acceptance of the report cannot be dismissed only as a rejection of enlightened practices.
User satisfaction with mobile websites: the impact of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU) and trust
Authors: Amin Muslim , Rezaei Sajad , Abolghasemi Maryam 
Published: November 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU) and trust on mobile website satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach
– A total of 302 valid questionnaires were collected to empirically test the research model. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the measurement model and structural models.

Findings
– The results show that there is a positive relationship between PEOU, PU and mobile users’ satisfaction. PU is positively related to trust and mobile users’ satisfaction. Moreover, trust positively influences mobile users’ satisfaction.

Practical implications
– Drawing on the technology acceptance model and trust theory, this study develops and empirically examines a model for consumers’ satisfaction to use mobile services. This study contributes new insights concerning the marketing literature by examining the impact of PU, PEOU and trust on mobile users’ satisfaction.

Originality/value
– The contribution of the study is significant for both mobile marketers and academicians in the era of the third-generation environment. This study is among the first few attempts to integrate the TAM with trust to determine mobile user satisfaction.