Search results

This study aims to rectify a significant gap in traditional sales control research, which has predominantly focused on identifying factors contributing to positive sales performance, neglecting the essential conditions necessary for achieving these outcomes. This oversight is critical, particularly in inside sales, where dynamics are complex and monitoring stringent. Using necessary condition analysis (NCA), this research aims to delineate the indispensable “must-have” factors – specifically, activity and capability controls – crucial for achieving effective sales control outcomes and enhancing agent satisfaction within an inside sales context.

This study used a two-wave email survey to collect data from 184 business-to-business inside sales agents. NCA was used to identify the indispensable conditions that directly influence sales outcomes and agent satisfaction. This methodological choice allows for a nuanced exploration of how individual and combined sales control elements, such as activity and capability controls, contribute to overall sales effectiveness, addressing the what and the why of necessary conditions in sales control systems.

The findings underscore the critical role of both formal and informal sales controls in shaping effective sales environments. Specifically, activity and capability controls emerged as essential, nonsubstitutable conditions for achieving desired sales outcomes. Furthermore, cultural controls, grounded on autonomous motivation, significantly influence agent behavior and job satisfaction, often outweighing the impact of traditional behavioral and outcome controls. These insights reveal the complex interplay of formal and informal mechanisms in driving sales performance within the high-demand context of inside sales.

For sales managers and organizational leaders, the study’s insights offer actionable strategies to enhance inside sales performance and agent satisfaction. Emphasizing the integration of cultural controls can foster a supportive work environment conducive to high performance. In addition, understanding the non-substitutable nature of certain sales activities and capabilities enables managers to prioritize these elements within their control systems. By applying these findings, sales organizations can refine their control strategies to support their teams better, ensuring that essential conditions for success are met and potentially increasing overall sales effectiveness.

This research introduces NCA to sales control studies, significantly enriching the academic dialogue by shifting focus from sufficient to indispensable conditions for sales success. It uniquely identifies the essential factors that must be present for sales effectiveness and agent satisfaction, offering a pioneering perspective within sales research. The study bridges a critical research gap by comprehensively analyzing both formal and informal controls within the specific context of inside sales. It enhances practical understanding of effectively managing and motivating inside sales teams in various market conditions.

The resurgence of VR began in 2009 with Palmer Luckey's project to create a head-mounted 3D VR gaming device, leading to the development of Oculus. This movement was heavily influenced by hardcore gaming values, particularly those of John Carmack, a pioneer in first-person shooter games. The Oculus Kickstarter in 2012 emphasised VR for hardcore gamers, aiming for high graphical fidelity and immersive experiences. However, this focus has limited VR's potential. The chapter examines two case studies: SuperHot VR and Beat Saber. SuperHot VR challenges the emphasis on photorealism by offering immersion-through-proprioception, providing a unique VR experience without relying on high graphical fidelity. Beat Saber, though often seen as a casual game, has become the bestselling VR game by offering a pleasurable, short-play experience reminiscent of Nintendo Wii's casual games. The success of these games suggests that VR can thrive by appealing to a broader audience beyond hardcore gamers. By focusing on embodiment rather than purely visual immersion, these games highlight the potential for diverse VR experiences. This chapter argues that the fixation on hardcore gaming values, characterised by hyper-realistic graphics and intense gameplay, has restricted VR's growth. The success of games like SuperHot VR and Beat Saber demonstrates that VR can achieve broader appeal and greater success by catering to more varied gaming preferences and moving beyond the narrow confines of hardcore gamer culture.

The purpose of Lat-Intersectology is to foster a deeper, more holistic understanding of societal structures, guiding more effective, inclusive policies and social justice initiatives. It champions the complexity of human diversity, urging a shift from linear analytical models to a more expansive, interlaced understanding of social realities.

Lat-Intersectology is a relatively new field of study that emerged from the intersection of Latino critical race and intersectionality theories. Lat-Intersectology seeks to build on Latino Critical theory (LatCrit) by examining the complex ways in which immigration status, race and ethnicity intersect Latino immigrants’ identities. Lat-Intersectology proposes a novel approach that seeks to unravel the deficit layers prevalent among Latino immigrants in the United States. This new approach emphasizes the understanding of these intersections not just as theoretical constructs but as privileged realities, influencing scholarly discourse. By foregrounding new perspectives, Lat-Intersectology contributes to a more nuanced understanding of US Latino immigrants’ social dynamics, promoting strategies for inclusion that are both informed by and tailored to the specificities of Latino immigrants’ context.

Lat-Intersectology provides a critical approach to the complex dynamics of privilege within Latino immigrant populations in the United States. It offers a nuanced analysis that recognizes diverse experiences shaped by race, ethnicity and legal status. The findings underscore that privileges are not monolithic among Latino immigrants; rather, they are fragmented and highly dependent on intersecting identities, providing a way for more inclusive and effective advocacy, tailored to the multifaceted nature of immigrant experiences in the United States.

Lat-Intersectology, as a groundbreaking methodology, shifts the paradigm in examining Latino immigrants in the United States by focusing on the intersections of their privileges, a concept often overshadowed by the dominant narrative of marginalization. This novel approach does not negate the systemic challenges faced but instead enriches our understanding by acknowledging the multifaceted identities within this community. By analyzing privileges alongside adversities, Lat-Intersectology facilitates a more nuanced discourse, recognizing that within the struggles, there are varying degrees of social advantages, perhaps tied to factors like skin color, immigration status, economic background or education. This methodology’s originality lies in its balanced view, offering a more comprehensive analysis of Latino immigrants’ experiences. Ultimately, the value of Lat-Intersectology is profound, as it fosters empathy and promotes a deeper comprehension of the complexities within human experiences, encouraging policies and social attitudes that reflect the diversity of experiences within the Latino immigrant community.

This paper posits the need for English language arts (ELA) teachers to foster students’ use of languaging about their relations with ecosystems and peers, leading to their engaging in collective action to critique and transform status-quo systems impacting the climate crisis.

This paper reviews the current theory of languaging theory and research that focuses on the use of languaging to enact relations with ecosystems and others and voice emotions for transforming communities and reducing emissions contributing to climate change.

This review of languaging theory/research leads to identifying examples of teachers having students critique the use of languaging constituting status quo energy and community/transportation systems, respond to examples of characters using languaging in literary texts, using languaging in discussing or writing about the need to address climate change, critiquing languaging in media promoting consumption, using media to interact with audiences and using languaging through engaging in role-play activities.

This focus on languaging in ELA classrooms is a unique perspective application of languaging theory, leading students to engage in collective, communal action to address the climate crisis.

During the last decade, several areas in the biomedical and social sciences experienced a reproducibility crisis, where mounting empirical evidence indicated that many published findings could not be successfully replicated. This crisis resulted in considerable introspection within the field of statistics because the null hypothesis statistical testing (NHST) paradigm is acknowledged as one of its root causes based on widespread agreement that it is deeply flawed. However, unlike in many other areas, there has yet to be a concerted effort within the discipline of accounting to acknowledge these developments, let alone steps taken to improve practice. This essay aims to spark discussion and debate on the validity of the NHST paradigm by presenting a comprehensive case, incorporating the latest arguments and findings, that demonstrates why the paradigm needs to be abandoned, especially in fields where statistical model misspecification looms large and statistical power is low, such as in management accounting. In so doing, the analysis exposes why obtaining robust knowledge in management accounting has proved elusive. Additionally, it offers a new perspective on the reproducibility crisis and critical insights for improving statistical practice.

Building on the forms of immersion in computer games, this chapter argues that games, whether played alone or with others, require a level of engagement equal to that of immersive artworks. Drawing on concepts from Ernest Adams, Staffan Björk and Jussi Holopainen, the chapter explores how games and digital worlds engage and immerse the viewer through sensory-motoric, cognitive, emotional and spatial elements. These digital spaces position the audience as both participants and co-creators, similar to immersive art forms dating from the 1950s and 1960s, where the shift from passive spectator to active participant, as seen in the works of Allan Kaprow and the Light and Space Movement, is mirrored in contemporary digital practices. This chapter examines how digital tools and new thinking enable unique opportunities for representation, display, engagement and interpretation, where the concept of an expanded narrative, incorporating active spaces and cross-disciplinary collaboration, is crucial for contemporary digital and new media practice. This chapter explores the intersection of art and VR gaming, using Half-Life: Alyx as a case study to demonstrate immersive engagement. Highlighting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this chapter also discusses how cultural and heritage institutions have adopted technology to engage remote audiences. By linking research with practical examples, the chapter illustrates how VR and gaming push the boundaries of immersive experiences, creating novel opportunities for audience interaction and engagement.

The present study aims to analyse the presumed relationship between VLC use and students’ grades.

The research strategy unfolds as a case study (Yin, 1994), framed by how undergraduate students of pharmaceutical sciences used video lecture capture (VLC) and the impact of VLC on pedagogic differentiation. Looking at the course of Mechanistic Toxicology (MecTox), the objective is to describe this case of pharmaceutical sciences in depth.

The findings reveal that over 90% of students engaged with VLC videos, with the average viewing time exceeding the total available video minutes, indicating strong student engagement. The study particularly highlights VLC’s positive impact on students with lower academic performance (grades D and E), suggesting that VLC can help reduce the performance gap and support a more inclusive educational environment.

The findings may have limited generalisability beyond the specific context and sample used. However, this study allows the research findings to be compared with previous research (Remião et al., 2022), contributing to the debate on how pedagogic research can promote evidence-based decisions regarding innovative strategies. The meaning of educational inclusion processes and diversity is, thus, contingent on the institutionalisation of research as a practice of teaching and learning.

The results of this study thus provide interesting insights for the design of strategic action, considering the diversity of students as seen in parents’ academic qualifications and students’ conditions (e.g. student-workers, living away from home, holding a grant of economic and social support).

The implications of research findings for society bring the issue of equity in education to the fore. By addressing the diverse needs of students, HEIs can contribute to greater educational equity.

Using VLC as a differentiated pedagogic device might give diversity “real” content insofar as institutional and national policies can mitigate the possible negative effects of parents’ low academic qualifications and the students’ conditions of living away from their residence area and holding a grant of economic and social support.

In today’s global and competitive e-commerce market spaces, social media influencers (SMIs) exert substantial influence on consumer behavior. This study aims to examine how electronic word of mouth (e-WOM), Instagram usage and the credibility of SMIs shape the dynamics of consumer purchase behavior (PB).

Information was gathered from 498 users in Ghana through judgmental sampling using SmartPLS 4.

The findings revealed that influencers’ credibility has a substantial impact on their followers’ parasocial interactions. As a promotional tool, Instagram plays a significant role in how followers perceive the credibility of influencers by modifying the associations between parasocial connections, e-WOM and consumer PB.

The findings offer valuable information for marketing professionals looking to improve their advertising efforts by collaborating with influencers, along with unique perspectives on influencer dynamics in a diverse socioeconomic context, extending beyond conventional boundaries.

Through an examination of the complex mechanisms underlying social media influencer advertisements on an e-commerce platform, namely, Instagram, this research uncovered the essence of customer behavior in the digital era, including the human need for connection, authenticity and trust, thus contributing to the literature empirical data from Africa, a region often overlooked in academic studies.

在当今全球化且竞争激烈的电子商务市场中, 社交媒体影响者对消费者行为有着重要的影响。本研究旨在探讨网络口碑、Instagram使用以及社交媒体影响者的可信度如何塑造消费者购买行为的动态变化。

使用SmartPLS 4, 通过判断抽样收集了来自加纳的 498 位用户信息。

研究表明, 影响者的可信度对其粉丝的准社会互动有着显著影响。作为一种推广工具, Instagram通过影响准社会联系、网络口碑和消费者购买行为之间的关系, 在粉丝感知影响者可信度方面发挥着重要作用。

本研究通过深入剖析社交媒体影响者在Instagram等电子商务平台上进行广告活动的复杂机制, 揭示了数字时代消费者行为的本质, 其中包括人们对联系、真实性和信任的需求。此外, 研究还提供了经常被学术界忽视的非洲地区的实证数据。

研究结果为希望通过与影响者合作来提升广告效果的营销专业人士提供了宝贵的信息。本文超越传统界限, 从不同的社会经济背景下提供了影响者动态的独特视角。

En un mercado tan global y competitivo como el del comercio electrónico actual, los influencers en redes sociales ejercen una influencia sustancial en el comportamiento del consumidor. Este estudio examina cómo el boca a boca electrónico, el uso de Instagram y la credibilidad de los influencers en redes sociales dan forma a la dinámica del comportamiento de compra del consumidor.

Se recogió información de 498 usuarios en Ghana mediante muestreo de conveniencia y se testó el modelo utilizando SmartPLS 4.

Los resultados revelaron que la credibilidad de los influencers tiene un impacto sustancial en las interacciones parasociales con sus seguidores. Como herramienta promocional, Instagram juega un papel significativo en la percepción de los seguidores sobre la credibilidad de los influencers, modificando las asociaciones entre las conexiones parasociales, el boca a boca electrónico y, finalmente, el comportamiento de compra del consumidor.

A través del estudio de los complejos mecanismos que subjacen en los anuncios y publicaciones de los influencers en Instagram, esta investigación desveló la esencia del comportamiento del cliente en la era digital, incluyendo la necesidad de conexión humana la conexión, la autenticidad y la confianza, contribuyendo así a la literatura con datos empíricos de África, una región a menudo pasada por alto en estudios académicos.

Los resultados ofrecen información valiosa para los profesionales del marketing que buscan mejorar sus esfuerzos publicitarios colaborando con influencers, junto con perspectivas únicas sobre la dinámica de éstos en un contexto socioeconómico diverso, más allá de los límites convencionales.