Cho Hyun Park, Sunyoung Park and Bora Kwon
The purpose of this study is to review the overall trends in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) research in the management field.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to review the overall trends in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) research in the management field.
Design/methodology/approach
We performed a scoping review to comprehensively understand how DEI research has been conducted and to inform future research and practices in the management field. We reviewed 725 articles published from 1976 to 2022 in SSCI-indexed management journals. We examined publication profiles (number of articles and research focus), publication tendency (journals and years), chronological publication trends, work environments (traditional vs remote/virtual work settings) and dimensions of DEI, including age, gender, race and culture.
Findings
We identified six common DEI research themes: (1) DEI management and practice, (2) perspectives on DEI, (3) team/group diversity, (4) DEI conceptualization, (5) leadership for DEI and (6) DEI climate. Finally, discussion, implications and recommendations for future research are presented.
Originality/value
Our research provides a comprehensive outline of the DEI research and suggests future directions to contribute to and advance knowledge on DEI in the management field.
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Salman Saleem, Rana Muhammad Umar and Stephen Oduro
This study aims to enhance our understanding of employee emotional competence (EEC) in the context of service failure and recovery. Accordingly, the present study investigates the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to enhance our understanding of employee emotional competence (EEC) in the context of service failure and recovery. Accordingly, the present study investigates the relationship between perceived EEC and customer emotional attachment (CEA) through the mediating role of service recovery satisfaction (RES). Furthermore, the study examines the moderating impact of service failure severity (SFS) on the relationship between perceived EEC and RES.
Design/methodology/approach
A self-administered online survey was carried out to collect data. Using a convenience sampling technique, 195 US consumers were recruited from Prolific Academic. To test the hypotheses, this study employed partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
According to the analysis, perceived EEC impacts CEA directly and indirectly via RES. Additionally, the study finds that consumers reported feeling more emotionally connected to the restaurant when they were satisfied with service recovery. Finally, the study identified that the connection between perceived EEC and RES increases with service failure severity.
Practical implications
This study emphasizes enhancing EEC through organization-wide training to increase customer satisfaction and emotional attachment to the service organization. Furthermore, it underscores the need for comprehensive employee training to categorize service failure severity and formulate appropriate recovery strategies.
Originality/value
The authors believe this is the first RES study to examine perceived EEC’s effect on CEA. By combining the affect infusion and cognitive appraisal theories to examine recovery satisfaction, this study contributes to the existing body of research on service recovery by shedding light on the relationship between perceived EEC and CEA. Furthermore, the study offers preliminary findings indicating an increase in the impact of perceived EEC on RES during high failure severity (SFS).
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Wooyang Kim, Hyun Sang An, Donald A. Hantula and Anthony Di Benedetto
This study aims to examine the younger generations’ experiential consumption of foreign contemporary music online (i.e. digital music streaming services) by generation and gender…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the younger generations’ experiential consumption of foreign contemporary music online (i.e. digital music streaming services) by generation and gender in the US market.
Design/methodology/approach
The author proposes a sequential experiential consumption model by applying Jacoby’s refined stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory to better understand the experiential sequences in foreign music consumption among young generations in the US market. The proposed model, using structural equation modeling (SEM), examines a cognitive permeable role and a hierarchical affective mediating role. Also, moderating roles of generation and gender are simultaneously tested in overall and specific causal relationships.
Findings
The refined S-O-R framework is superior to a linear one in better understanding young consumers’ online experiential foreign music consumption behavior. Moreover, hierarchical sequenced affective organismic behavior is crucial to enhance young consumers’ online music consumption experiences to regulate subsequent behavioral responses. Furthermore, gender differences but no generational differences exist in the experiential consumption process among young consumers. Nevertheless, the strength of S-O-R factors affecting experiential consumption seems idiosyncratic simultaneously in gender and generation.
Practical implications
The study suggests foreign music streaming services boost profitability by focusing on young consumers' psychological ownership and tailored experiences, encouraging a shift from freemium to premium subscriptions. Also, the findings recommend adopting phygital experiences using technologies like AR, VR and MR to enhance engagement and create unique, emotionally resonant experiences for young consumers, thus fostering a more profitable business model.
Originality/value
The authors address under-researched topics relevant to young generations by applying Jacoby’s refined S-O-R framework to foreign music consumption through online streaming. This approach delves into a lesser-explored consumer behavior framework, highlighting young generations’ musical trends. The model reveals cognitive and affective roles, offering advantages over traditional linear S-O-R models. It also uniquely incorporates the moderating effects of generation and gender in music consumption studies, addressing a gap in music-related studies.
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Gamal S.A. Khalifa, Abdallah M. Elshaer, Kashif Hussain and Ahmed K. Elnagar
This paper aims to explore the factors influencing customers' attitudes and behaviours, specifically in terms of affective satisfaction, participation behaviour, and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the factors influencing customers' attitudes and behaviours, specifically in terms of affective satisfaction, participation behaviour, and word-of-mouth, within the restaurant industry, with a focus on both tangible and intangible elements. Additionally, the study seeks to identify the dual mediating role of customer affective satisfaction in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
In this exploratory study, SEM-VB was utilized to examine data from 312 valid respondents who completed a face-to-face questionnaire using a quantitative methodology. The respondents were targeted at restaurants that serve comparable food and beverages for a similar socioeconomic class.
Findings
The findings reveal that perceived value, physical appearance, and standardization significantly contribute to customer affective satisfaction, which, in turn, positively influences their participation behaviour and word-of-mouth.
Practical implications
Practically, restaurant managers can enhance customer experiences and boost positive word-of-mouth by fostering affective satisfaction and encouraging interactive customer participation.
Originality/value
The novel concept of “affective satisfaction” contributes to restaurant management literature by identifying its tangible and intangible drivers and uncovering its outcomes in participation behaviour and word of mouth. By combining numerous factors and investigating the mediating function of affective satisfaction and based on the theory of Expectancy-Disconfirmation, this study adds to the theoretical understanding of what drives the affective satisfaction and word-of-mouth of casual dining restaurants’ customers.
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Hana Medler-Liraz and Tali Seger-Guttmann
This study aims to examine whether authentic flirting behavior contributes to positive service outcomes (i.e. rapport and tip size) in luxury vs non-luxury restaurants.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine whether authentic flirting behavior contributes to positive service outcomes (i.e. rapport and tip size) in luxury vs non-luxury restaurants.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 261 participants was randomly assigned to reading scenarios depicting four conditions in a 2 × 2 between-subjects design: restaurant status (luxury vs non-luxury) and flirting type: authentic vs fake.
Findings
The results showed that rapport mediated the relationship between flirting type and tip size. Moderated mediation analyses further revealed that the mediated relationship was stronger for non-luxury restaurants alone. Whereas authentic flirting amplified rapport and tip size in non-luxury restaurants, it had no effect in luxury restaurants.
Originality/value
Flirtatious behavior has not been examined in the context of luxury restaurants. This study provided an opportunity to explore whether flirting would be perceived as unprofessional and as exceeding personal boundaries as in other settings, damaging to the meticulous service experience, or whether interpersonal friendly gestures can take place without undermining the service interaction.
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This paper aims to reconcile conflicting findings about the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in counteracting the negative impacts of brands’ ethical transgressions…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to reconcile conflicting findings about the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in counteracting the negative impacts of brands’ ethical transgressions by testing the moderating role of self-brand connection (SBC).
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on motivated reasoning theory, this paper posits that high- and low-SBC consumers’ information processing and moral judgment are driven by distinct goals: to reach desired versus accurate conclusions, respectively. Five experiments were conducted to test whether CSR efforts can mitigate the impact of blatant ethical transgressions.
Findings
CSR allows high-SBC consumers to evaluate brand transgressions more favorably, as CSR serves as counterfactual evidence that reinforces their beliefs in the brand’s morality. In contrast, low-SBC consumers view CSR as hypocritical, leading to more negative responses. Increased perceptions of brand morality (hypocrisy) mediate CSR’s buffering (backfiring) effects among high- (low-) SBC consumers.
Research limitations/implications
This paper does not control for the effect of the time gap between CSR and ethical transgressions even if buffering effects of CSR could be faded out as memories recede.
Practical implications
Brand transgressions may be inevitable events, but firms or managers can alleviate the negative impact of transgressions by engaging in CSR activities. In doing so, they need to make clear to whom they will appeal using CSR information considering its backfiring effects among low-SBC consumers.
Originality/value
Few studies have examined when and how CSR attenuates or exacerbates the negativity of brand transgressions with a strong theoretical framework. This paper, grounded in motivated reasoning theory, explains how the same CSR initiative can yield opposing outcomes based on the consumer’s self-brand connection. Rather than solely exploring how strong consumer-brand relationships buffer brand transgressions, this research shows how high-SBC consumers biasedly seize CSR information to justify brand transgressions, even when they are blatant.
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This study aims to empirically test the influence of customer perceptions of employee emotional labour (CPEL) and customer emotional labour (CEL) on perceived service quality…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to empirically test the influence of customer perceptions of employee emotional labour (CPEL) and customer emotional labour (CEL) on perceived service quality, satisfaction with service and repurchase intentions in luxury retail. It further examines the moderating role of perceived customer interactivity in the relationships among CPEL, CEL and service outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey of 249 customers with experience in offline luxury service interactions was conducted. Statistical analyses and hypothesis testing were performed using SPSS and AMOS.
Findings
This study highlights the critical role of customer perceptions of employee deep acting and customer surface acting in shaping perceived service quality. It demonstrates that customers’ efforts to regulate their emotions, similar to employees’ efforts, significantly affect service outcomes. Additionally, the results suggest that perceived customer interactivity significantly moderates only the relationship between CEL and service satisfaction.
Originality/value
By exploring emotional labour from the customers’ perspective within the luxury retail sector, this study offers novel insights into service quality management. It extends the theoretical framework of emotion regulation theory to this context, offering practical implications for enhancing service experiences in developing luxury markets.
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Zhenyan Li, Chuanhui Wu, Jiaxuan Li and Qinjian Yuan
Chatbots are increasingly embodied in business and IS contexts to enhance customer and user experience. Despite wide interest in chatbots among business and IS academics…
Abstract
Purpose
Chatbots are increasingly embodied in business and IS contexts to enhance customer and user experience. Despite wide interest in chatbots among business and IS academics, surprisingly, there are no current comprehensive reviews to reveal the knowledge structure of chatbot research in such areas.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a mixed-method approach that combines systematic review and bibliometric analysis to provide a comprehensive synthesis of chatbot research. The sample was obtained in December 2023 after searching across six databases: EBSCOhost, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, ACM Digital Library and IEEE Computer Society Digital Library.
Findings
This study reveals the major trend in publication trends, countries, article performance and cluster distribution of chatbot research. We also identify the key themes of chatbot research, which mainly focus on how users interact with chatbots and their consequences, such as users’ cognition and behavior. Moreover, several important research agendas have been discussed to address some limitations in the current chatbot research in business and IS fields.
Originality/value
The present review is one of the first attempts to systematically reveal the ongoing knowledge map of chatbots in business and IS fields, which makes important contributions and provides useful resources for future chatbot research and practice.
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Aanchal Singh, Subir Verma and Samik Shome
This study aims at examining the contentions of the agency theory by exploring the direct relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure score and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims at examining the contentions of the agency theory by exploring the direct relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure score and corporate financial performance (CFP) from the years 2016–2020. It also tests for the adaptability of slack resources theory by testing this relationship in the presence of a moderating variable (financial slack).
Design/methodology/approach
The study relies on the data obtained from Bloomberg database of 112 companies belonging to different sectors. It employs the use of partial least square structure equation modelling (PLS-SEM) for carrying out the empirical analysis.
Findings
The results obtained show that there exists a negative relationship between ESG and CFP of the sample firms. These results lend support to the propositions of both the agency theory. Further, the financial slack in the organizations does not ensure a firm's responsible behavior.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides important implications both from the perspective of managers as well as policymakers. The results of this study will aid the managers in reducing the instances of information asymmetry in the market, thereby tackling the issue of principle agent problems within an organization. From the policy marking perspective, the results of this study will help the regulatory authorities in implementing the necessary rules, regulations and laws that will ensure increased participation from the corporate sector in disclosing their sustainability-related information.
Originality/value
This study is one of its kind to explore the impact of a moderating variable on the ESG-CFP relationship in the context of an emerging economy. It also contributes to the present stream of literature by providing both a theoretical and empirical support to the propositions under consideration.
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The aim of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence consumers’ intentions to buy green food and develop conceptual framework that combines Health belief model (HBM…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence consumers’ intentions to buy green food and develop conceptual framework that combines Health belief model (HBM) and Norm activation theory (NAT).
Design/methodology/approach
The research used purposive sampling to collect primary responses from Indians and Lebanese in Ghana at restaurants and retail stores in Accra. Based on the NAT and HBM constructs, questionnaires were designed and distributed to 787 respondents. Data were analyzed using partial least squares and structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses developed through a literature review.
Findings
The findings showed that perceived benefit (PBN), perceived threat (PTT) and cue to action (CAT) are key factors that drive consumers’ intentions to purchase green food by Indians and Lebanese in Ghana. However, there are perceived barriers (PBB) that prevent individuals from buying green food, such as high prices, doubts about authorization and content, shortage of green food, inadequate selling techniques, supposed fulfillment and deficiencies. Therefore, more work is needed to address these barriers.
Practical implications
This research can be used to create advertising messages that emphasize the health and wellbeing benefits of environmental impact on communities, and stimulate customer motivation to purchase green food.
Originality/value
This is a unique study that combines HBM and NAT to investigate the factors that influence consumers’ intentions to buy green food among Indians and Lebanese in Ghana and developed a conceptual framework to offer valuable insights for marketing practitioners to develop effective marketing strategies to induce buying intentions towards green foods. The construct of NAT has been found as useful moderators of pro-environmental behavior.