bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Twenty years of service quality performance in the US airline industry
Authors: Rhoades Dawna L. , Waguespack Blaise 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to review the conceptual background for service quality as applied to the airline industry and use data from the Air Travel Consumer Report to examine airline quality performance on such key indicators as on‐time arrival, customer complaints, denied boarding, and mishandled baggage to determine the trend in airline service performance over the past two decades.Design/methodology/approachData collected for this study included customer complaints on flight problems, ticketing, refunds, fares, customer service, advertising, and other problems, overall carrier on‐time performance, involuntary denied boardings, and mishandled baggage. Total yearly departures by carrier were obtained from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and used to normalize the service data. Service quality rates were calculated for the industry overall and by individual carrier. The total quality rate represents the sum of the following data: the percentage of late flights, total number of consumer complaints, total number of involuntary denied boardings, and total number of mishandled baggage reports divided by total yearly departures for a particular airline. In a real sense, this rate is a measure of disquality and can be interpreted as the number of quality problems per departure.FindingsThe data show that during periods of retrenchment when airlines are reducing flight schedules due to economic downturns the level of on‐time arrival tends to improve while customer complaints, denied boardings, and mishandled baggage decline. Part of the explanation for the changes is the lack of airport and air traffic capacity to handle periods of higher traffic volume.Originality/valueAs a critical component of the transportation system, the ability of the airline industry to provide reliable, timely service is important. Understanding the factors that contribute to service problems can help guide airline decisions about process and government decisions about infrastructure needs.
No more heroes… as all managers become leaders at Lancashire County Council
Authors: McPherson Blair 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to advance the view that, as organizations realize the limitations of working in isolation and accept the need to develop partnerships and coalitions, they seek a new type of leadership model in which the charismatic individual who, by sheer force of personality, drives through changes and makes thing happen – the hero – is replaced by a type of leadership in which all managers are leaders.Design/methodology/approachProvides a case example of how Lancashire County Council's Directorate of Community Services introduced this new leadership through management development.FindingsDescribes the origins and implementation of the directorate's executive‐coaching initiative, and how this was rolled out to the next tier of management through learning sets or management‐development groups facilitated by management consultants. Following this, the program focused on the 300‐plus first‐line managers, by using the management‐development groups facilitated by volunteers from the top 30 managers working in pairs.Practical implicationsReveals how management development in the Directorate of Community Services is being used to equip managers for the fast‐changing world of local government.Originality/valueHighlights the way in which two management consultants have been used over four years, in contrast to the usual model of hiring consultants for short‐term assignments.
Designing a supply chain management academic curriculum using QFD and benchmarking
Authors: Gonzalez Marvin E. , Quesada Gioconda , Gourdin Kent , Hartley Mark 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to utilize quality function deployment (QFD), Benchmarking analyses and other innovative quality tools to develop a new customer‐centered undergraduate curriculum in supply chain management (SCM).Design/methodology/approachThe researchers used potential employers as the source for data collection. Then, they used QFD and benchmarking to develop a Voice of Customer matrix. Using information from the matrix, a new customer‐oriented SCM undergraduate programme was designed.FindingsThe researchers outline a practical solution to the problem of designing academic programmes which satisfy the main expectations of potential employers (customers).Research limitations/implicationsThe study is specifically concerned with the design of an SCM curriculum, but the researchers argue that the design methodology could be applied in other academic contexts.Practical implicationsThe application of QFD and benchmarking as a joint analysis tool is an interesting approach in education because the information is analysed from different perspectives simultaneously. The new programme successfully meets customer/employer expectations and requirements.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates the effective application of quality design tools to enhance academic programmes. The approach can clearly be extended to other areas for the design of specific courses and programmes. The most important needs in programme design are those of identifying the programme's main customers and of clarifying their expectations.
The development and testing of a nonconsequentialist decision‐making model
Authors: Elaydi Raed 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to show that new conceptual work in the judgment and decision‐making research arena has suggested a nonconsequentialist perspective to decision‐making. The current study successfully tested and found support for a decision‐making model, which serves an alternative to expected utility theory.Design/methodology/approachUsing a natural decision‐making setting, 578 participants completed a one time study using questionnaires attempting to test a nonconsequentialist decision‐making model, which includes indecisiveness as a vital construct.FindingsFull mediation was found for the Nonconsequentialist Decision‐Making Model (NDMM), allowing us to discuss directionality and causality. Further, 81 percent of the 578 participants felt indecisive about their personal decision, highlighting the importance of examining this understudied construct. Research limitations/implications – The current study suggests that individuals facing a difficult decision would soon rather make a detrimental decision than stay in the decision‐making process. This means that the actual act of making a decision functions as a coping behavior in and of itself.Practical implicationsUnderstanding the decision‐making process is complex, and many individual and environmental variables play critical roles that lead the decision maker to a particular choice. Traditionally, the judgment and decision‐making literature has interpreted decision‐making as rational or irrational, with an attempt to understand and negate common flaws in logic. However, this study supports a nonconsequentialist perspective, suggesting that emotions play a significant role in the decision‐making process. By such an inclusion we can move beyond the sole focus of rational‐irrational and move toward a consequentialist‐nonconsequentialist paradigm in decision‐making. By making this shift, we are better able to deal with and understand individual emotions during the decision‐making process, and ultimately help individuals functionally cope and stay in the process, rather than escape and make a poorly thought through decision. This work is especially critical in the upper echelons of organizations, where nonconsequentialist dysfunctional decisions can affect millions of lives and cost billions of dollars.Originality/valueNonconsequentialist dysfunctional decisional coping behavior is a recently developed topic with significant conceptual work but insufficient empirical evidence. Loewenstein et al. (2001, p. 267) note that: “Virtually all current theories in decision‐making under risk or uncertainty are cognitive and consequentialist”. If Loewenstein et al.'s (2001) quote is accurate, then the current study offers empirical support for an alternative, nonconsequentialist model.
Unified diversity in top‐level teams
Authors: Michie Susan G. , Dooley Robert S. , Fryxell Gerald E. 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThis study attempts to move beyond the “congruence assumption” surrounding top management team (TMT) demography by exploring the intervening processes that link TMT diversity and organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachUsing Fiol's concept of unified diversity and employing an information processing perspective of strategic decision‐making, this article proposes a model that incorporates both moderating and mediating influences; and then tests the hypotheses using data from specific strategic decisions faced by 85 top‐level decision‐making teams within the health care industry.FindingsEvidence was found to support the expectation that goal consensus moderates the relationship between informational diversity and decision quality within the management teams. In addition, team member collaboration was found to partially mediate this effect.Research limitations/implications– The retrospective nature of the data collection captured the essence of the decision‐making process over time, but future research using longitudinal designs that include different types of industries is needed to confirm the validity of the findings.Practical implicationsThe practical implications of this study point towards a need for managers to set in motion both divergent and convergent thinking during the strategic decision‐making process. The findings indicate that if managers want to reap the benefits of teams with members from different functional and educational backgrounds, they must instigate some aspect of shared framing among team members, such as consensus on broad organizational goals.Originality/valueThis research identified relevant contingency and mediating variables that help to explain the equivocal results of previous studies attempting to link top management team demography to organizational performance.
Accounting for performance variation: how important are intangible resources?
Authors: Galbreath Jeremy , Galvin Peter 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the degree to which intangible resources explain performance variation among firms.Design/methodology/approachThe method includes a purpose‐designed survey to measure the impact of tangible resources, intangible resources and industry structure on firm performance.FindingsThe results suggest that, in the main, intangible resources do explain performance variation, even when measured against other potential performance impacting factors. Research limitations/implications – The results suggest that capabilities, conceptualized as an intangible resource, might not be the firm's most important, contrary to theory. Further, this study suggests that future research might best be served by exploring relationships between resources and the degree to which resource combinations are important to firm performance.Practical implicationsResource allocation is a constant struggle for management. The results of this study suggest that investment in intangible resources might be a means to drive, and possibly sustain, competitive advantage.Originality/valueThis paper studies intangible resources in conjunction with other potential performance determinants, thus demonstrating a more stringent test of the resource‐based view of the firm than previous studies.
Disciplinary roots of knowledge management: a theoretical review
Authors: Jasimuddin Sajjad M. 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to reflect on the development of knowledge management so as to argue whether knowledge management (KM) is a multidisciplinary field.Design/methodology/approachTo set the scene by reviewing and synthesizing the scholarly works and published practices of knowledge management, this paper presents an overview of the recent and rapidly growing literature on knowledge management.FindingsThe paper presents a discussion, addressing the question of what those disciplines are on which knowledge management discourse is exactly drawn on. The fact is that knowledge management draws from a wide range of disciplines. Although scholars from several disciplines attempt to claim ownership of the knowledge management, today both practitioners and academics alike recognize that knowledge management is an eclectic field rather than grounded in a specific ideology.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper does not offer comprehensive understanding of the disciplinary roots of knowledge management because it has not reviewed all the papers available in KM.Practical implicationsThe paper does raise awareness of the genesis of knowledge management. It will encourage insightful managers to examine this research in more depth as a means of guidance for making use of KM initiatives in their organization.Originality/valueHighlighting the growing interest in knowledge management, the paper inspires knowledge management researchers to be rigorous in both disciplinary grounding and integration. Although the paper does not attempt to detail the origins and the gradual development of the KM field, it contributes to improving theory, practice, and pedagogy in the field of KM by articulating its origin.
Factors influencing online auction repurchase intention
Authors: Yen Chia‐Hui , Lu Hsi‐Peng 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to integrate expectancy disconfirmation theory (EDT) to explore cognitive beliefs and affect influencing an individual's intention to repurchase in online marketplaces.Design/methodology/approachThe paper used EDT to conduct an empirical study and data were collected from a total of 303 bidders of online auctions. A structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the relationships of the research model.FindingsThe findings show that bidders' disconfirmation of online auctions is positively associated with their satisfaction, which in turn is positively associated with their repurchase intentions.Practical implicationsBoth bidders' expectation of policy and auctioneers' performance of policy are important determinants of disconfirmation. Auctioneers need to recognize the distinctive roles of information policy in selling and bidding rules. Besides, neither bidders' expectation of sellers' reputation nor their expectation of service quality has a significant relationship with disconfirmation. This finding implies that in a mature e‐commerce environment bidders pay more attention to the sellers' performance than their prior expectation.Originality/valueThis study, which aims to shed light on bidder behavior in online auctions, is the first study that has applied an EDT‐based model to investigate the determinants of repurchase intention in online auctions.
Empirically testing innovation characteristics and organizational learning capabilities in e‐business implementation success
Authors: Lin Hsiu‐Fen 
Published: February 2008

PurposeBased on the innovation diffusion theory and organizational learning literature, the purpose of this paper is to develop a research model to examine innovation characteristics and organizational learning capabilities as the determinants of e‐business implementation success.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data from 163 IS (information system) managers in large Taiwanese firms were collected and used to test the research model.FindingsThe results showed that two innovation characteristics (perceived relative advantage and compatibility) and four organizational learning capabilities (managerial commitment, systems orientation, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge dissemination) have a significant effect on e‐business implementation success.Research limitations/implicationsSome factors, other than the innovation characteristics and organizational learning capabilities included in this study, may also influence e‐business implementation. The research model could act as a theoretical basis for studying further sources of value creation from technology innovations.Practical implicationsResults from this study suggest that, to achieve successful e‐business implementation, managers should pay more attention to cultivating a climate where learning is valued and supported, develop systematic perspectives of various activities and events, and establish mechanisms that facilitate effective learning environments.Originality/valueThis study is significant for at least two reasons: first, it contributes to e‐business research that technological innovation can be better understood by including both innovation characteristics and organizational learning capabilities, while earlier literature has traditionally treated the two separately and, second, it provides valuable guidelines to policy‐makers and practitioners in implementing e‐business and accelerating e‐business development.
Shift happens
Authors: Abeles Tom P. 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this editorial is to ask the question as to whether the current “cohort” model of education, particularly in the USA, can survive in an internet connected world. It also questions, with the development of increasingly porous political borders, particularly with respect to knowledge, whether the current education system can play the heroic role of maintaining US economic hegemony in the world.Design/methodology/approachThis essay looks at the increasing alternatives individuals have for obtaining both knowledge, and academic certification and the ease with which that knowledge can move across borders virtually or through population movements. It suggests that this growing international movement of knowledge may render political boundaries as vulnerable as medieval armor with the rise of gunpowder.FindingsThe increasing access to knowledge starts to make international borders look more like boundaries between states or other political divisions within current nations. The current attempt to maintain or incrementally improving existing models of education can neither meet the increasing demands of individuals for knowledge or maintain the current economic hegemony of the USA.Originality/valueThe essay questions current efforts of the educational community in general and the science/technology sector, in particular, to argue for increasing funds as the front‐line of defense in a world where political power is maintained by economics rather than military superiority. It argues for a paradigmatic change in response to the idea that knowledge wishes to be free.
Dynamic pricing and ordering decision for the perishable food of the supermarket using RFID technology
Authors: Liu Xiaofeng , Tang Ou , Huang Pei 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study how supermarkets can maximize profits of selling perishable food through price adjustment based on real‐time product quality and values.Design/methodology/approachThe value of the perishable food can be traced based on an automatic product identification technology radio frequency identification (RFID). With the support of the RFID, an optimization model can be developed to enable product tracking.FindingsThe analysis of the model shows promising benefits of applying a dynamic pricing policy and obtains the optimal ordering decision in respects of deterministic and stochastic demand function with RFID.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough technological approaches for tracking products have attracted increasing attentions in both research and practice, little research have proved the profit using RFID by mathematics, the result of this paper can prove the benefit by using RFID.Practical implicationThe result of this paper can tell the supermarket how to make the price and the ordering decision by using the RFID.Originality/valueThis study proves the benefit of using the RFID by mathematical model based on the conceptual model before, and tell the method how to use RFID for pricing and making ordering decision.
Dynamics of the manufacturer‐supplier relationships in emerging markets
Authors: Petison Phallapa , Johri Lalit M. 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the nature and the evolution of manufacturer–supplier relationships in Thailand's automobile industry and to identify the factors that influence the evolution of these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on case research method involving in‐depth interviews with 120 local and expatriates of 7 companies and their 14 suppliers.FindingsIn Thailand, the manufacturer–supplier relationship starts out as a market‐exchange‐type relationship, and then gradually moves to a partnering type. The stages in evolution involve constant efforts on the part of foreign manufacturers to develop the suppliers by offering resources, training, feedback and solutions. The supplier capability building programs, bridging of cultural differences and formation of trust provides the basis for enduring partnerships. These partnerships are symbiotic relationships in which manufacturers benefit from suppliers' knowledge of local production and market factors and suppliers benefit from manufacturer's technical and managerial support. Additionally, closer collaboration with suppliers helps to prevent the leakage of business intelligence and theft of intellectual property and to prevent suppliers from working with competitors, thus allowing manufacturers to devote undivided attention to smooth supply of parts without any shortage.Practical implicationsIn emerging markets, the local suppliers play key role in the success of foreign automobile companies. However, the local suppliers need technical and managerial support from manufacturers. The process of building a network of competent local suppliers consumes time and resources, therefore manufacturers should take a long‐term view of the market. The undeniable importance of overcoming cultural differences and building trust is the hallmark of successful partnerships.Originality/valueThe paper highlights the importance and process of developing local suppliers in emerging markets using Thai automobile industry as an example.
Hearts at stake
Authors: Balle Nana 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThe paper aims to present a model for communicating mergers and acquisitions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is a case study of a corporate merger.FindingsCommunication is a crucial strategic tool in the integration process that follows a merger or an acquisition. M&As differ from other changes as virtually everything is at stake – both practical issues as well as the corporate identity. Hence, the identity issue must be addressed specifically, as a change in corporate identity is expected to affect the employees seriously due to the identification with the corporate identity. The paper also emphasizes the importance of empowering and enabling middle managers for the communication task in order to act as change agents, as the middle manager has reason to feel as “endangered” by the acquisition as his/her employees.Originality/valueThe paper offers a practical model for integration communication.