M.S. Balaji, Yangyang Jiang and Xiya Zhang
Customer value co-creation in robots-mediated hospitality encounters involves active collaboration between customers and robots. In such encounters, robot capabilities, which are…
Abstract
Purpose
Customer value co-creation in robots-mediated hospitality encounters involves active collaboration between customers and robots. In such encounters, robot capabilities, which are their functionalities or operational competences, and robot personalities, which are their interactive behaviors and communication styles, play a key role in enhancing customer value co-creation. The purpose of this study is to draw on service dominant logic to examine the role of robot capabilities and personalities in determining customer value co-creation and service satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopted a mixed-methods research approach. A netnographic analysis was conducted on online customer reviews for robotic hotels and restaurants to identify key robot capabilities that shaped the customer experiences. Following this, a quantitative study (survey) was conducted to investigate the effects of robot capabilities and personalities on customer value co-creation and service satisfaction.
Findings
From the netnographic analysis, the authors identified cognitive, technical, interactional, emotional, personalization and autonomous capabilities as key robot capabilities influencing customer experiences. The findings of the follow-up empirical study showed that the higher-order robot capabilities construct positively influences customer value co-creation, which, in turn, affects service satisfaction. Furthermore, extroversion robot personality positively moderates this relationship, such that robots with high levels of capabilities result in greater value co-creation when robots possess extroversion personalities compared to introversion personalities.
Practical implications
This study advances the understanding of robot-mediated encounters by emphasizing the role of robot capabilities and personalities as crucial factors for effective customer value co-creation in the hospitality sector. Furthermore, it offers actionable insights for hospitality providers in selection of robots with key capabilities and personalities for enhancing customer satisfaction and successful value co-creation.
Originality/value
While previous research has predominantly focused on customer acceptance of and interaction with robots in the hospitality settings, the present study examined how and when service robots facilitate value co-creation with customers. Specifically, this study explores robot capabilities and personalities in shaping customer value co-creation perceptions. A few recent studies that examined customer-robot interactions have considered specific robot capabilities. However, given that hospitality services are experiential in nature and involve various tasks, a broad range of robot capabilities should be considered for a comprehensive understanding of the customer value co-creation process. By addressing this gap, the present study offers novel insights into what (capabilities) and how (extraversion personality) service robots facilitate customers in value co-creation and satisfaction.
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The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we map the emerging climate narratives from the 1970s. Second, we examine how these narratives have shaped climate governance in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we map the emerging climate narratives from the 1970s. Second, we examine how these narratives have shaped climate governance in addressing the consequences of climate change. Our analysis is based on a set of 12 interviews with climate change experts from various fields, including climate science, environmental policy, and environmental sustainability. The theoretical framework primarily draws from narrative analysis (Bruner, 1991; Riessman, 2005; Freeman, 2015), with a specific emphasis on its application within climate change studies (Bottici, 2010; Bushell et al., 2015; Fløttum and Gjerstad, 2017).
Design/methodology/approach
The period of analysis starts from the 1970s. A period marked by growing concern and the creation of national and global organizations to address the effects of climate change. Semistructured interviews were conducted with a sample of 12 experts in the field using narrative analysis. We adopted an inductive approach, allowing climate narratives to emerge organically from the interview data, and facilitating the emergence of new topics and perspectives.
Findings
Through interviews with climate experts, this study identifies three key narratives and critical shortcomings related to climate governance. The dominant climate narratives identified are apocalyptic environmentalism, greening capitalism and degrowth. Notably, greening capitalism and degrowth emerge as a dichotomous framework for understanding and interpreting climate change. By exploring these climate narratives, we highlight five critical shortcomings related to climate governance: increasing citizen participation through a bottom-up governance model, reforming the environmental subsidy framework, strengthening the science-policy interface, decoupling economic growth from energy dependence and developing innovative technological models beyond traditional green growth approaches. As a result, climate governance remains confined to these binary frameworks, and the challenges that were promised to be addressed decades ago largely remain unresolved.
Originality/value
The value of this study lies in the fact that, on the one hand, it uses narrative analysis to investigate climate governance, and on the other hand, it does so through interviews with different actors. All this facilitates a holistic approach, and from a 50-year historical perspective, this study traces an evolutionary line of narratives and identifies the critical points of climate governance.
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Subhendu Bikash Santra, Subodh Kumar Mohanty and Tanmoy Roy Choudhury
This study aims to propose a new connection technique of bypass diode (BD) in photovoltaic (PV) array, which reduces the circulating current (CC) within PV modules as well as…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to propose a new connection technique of bypass diode (BD) in photovoltaic (PV) array, which reduces the circulating current (CC) within PV modules as well as conduction loss in partial shaded condition (PSC).
Design/methodology/approach
Linearized circuit model of PV panel is proposed for calculating the CC and power loss of novel BD arrangements in PV array. From the analysis the best BD arrangement is applied in series parallel, TCT and honeycomb (HC) PV array structure for simulation and hardware verification. The hardware verification is performed in a 3 × 3 PV array, where individual panel capacity is 200 W.
Findings
The proposed BD arrangement reduces the power loss due to CC under PSC by almost 3% compared to conventional BD structure in a PV array.
Originality/value
The proposed BD arrangement is simple and useful in large PV power plants to reduce the CC-based extra power loss under PSC.
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Roy Liff and Airi Rovio-Johansson
The purpose of this study is to investigate how mentors can convince young, certified, inexperienced employees to remain in a healthcare organisation, and how mentors address…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate how mentors can convince young, certified, inexperienced employees to remain in a healthcare organisation, and how mentors address “stay or quit” when mentees’ lived experiences reveal feelings of insufficiency as crisis in their daily work. We explore how turnover is affected by the mentors’ and mentees’ discussions within the manager’s domain.
Design/methodology/approach
Within the framework of crisis management, the study employs qualitative content analysis of 21 interview responses from mentors, mentees and managers. The analysis includes mentees’ answers, which are analysed in terms of “weak signals” based on lived experiences and mentors’ and managers’ answers in terms of different capabilities to increase mentees’ wish to remain in the organisation.
Findings
The results show that the deep relationship between the mentee and the mentor is crucial. It is possible for the mentor to detect weak signals from the mentee’s thoughts, doubts and lived experiences. The study extends the understanding of a more subtle mechanism the mentor uses in the close relation to the mentee, alongside the manager. The findings confirm those of previous research concerning improved job satisfaction and self-improvement in the profession.
Practical implications
The findings explain why mentors, as necessary organisational resources, can contribute more successfully than managers to keeping young employees.
Originality/value
The study links the crucial relational mentorship to increased willingness to remain in an organisation among young mentees without career support.
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Jingyi Bai, Xinyuan (Roy) Zhao, Tzung-Cheng Huan and Aliana Man Wai Leong
Building on the social capital theory of career success (SCT), this paper aims to explore how and when newcomers’ overqualifications can grant them positions as informal leaders…
Abstract
Purpose
Building on the social capital theory of career success (SCT), this paper aims to explore how and when newcomers’ overqualifications can grant them positions as informal leaders within the workgroup over time.
Design/methodology/approach
The model was tested using a social relations modeling analysis conducted using a three-wave survey with 242 newcomers in Macau.
Findings
The results support the view that relatively qualified newcomers can enjoy social capital advantages in workgroup networks. Newcomers’ desired qualifications can grant them positions as informal leaders through leader–member exchange and advice network centrality. These relationships are moderated by relational dissimilarity, such that the benefits of being relatively overqualified will be weakened when relational dissimilarity is high (vs. low).
Practical implications
When assisting overqualified newcomers in integrating into their teams, practitioners shall be aware of the time and resources that new hires require for adjustment, especially when significant newcomer–veteran relational dissimilarity exists.
Originality/value
The present paper challenges the overtly detrimental outcomes of overqualification by highlighting the positive relational implications of being relatively overqualified.
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This study is aimed at interrogating the mediation role of public spending in domestic debt and economic growth nexus, drawing on debt overhang theory and the Keynesian view.
Abstract
Purpose
This study is aimed at interrogating the mediation role of public spending in domestic debt and economic growth nexus, drawing on debt overhang theory and the Keynesian view.
Design/methodology/approach
The study deployed a time series data (from 1981 to 2020) set drawn from the 2021 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin. The mediation effect of public spending was tested by performing structural equation modeling after pre-estimation Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test.
Findings
Overall, the study outcomes indicate that domestic debt and public spending have significant positive effects on economic growth. Additionally, the study finds public spending to partially mediate domestic debt and economic growth nexus.
Practical implications
This study's outcomes provide insights that will enable fiscal policymakers to focus on internal borrowing, keep it under strict control to avert crowding out effects and improve public spending on productive projects to stimulate economic growth.
Originality/value
As the first study to question the mediation effect of public spending in domestic debt-economic growth relationship, it deepens and extends extant literature on domestic debt-economic growth nexus.
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Priya Saha, Md. Shakhawat Hossain, Nirmal Chandra Roy, Abdullah Al Masud and Ruhul Amin
This study aims to evaluate students’ intention and actual use (AU) of artificial intelligence (AI) tools’ to discover how the power of AI influences learning and academic success.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate students’ intention and actual use (AU) of artificial intelligence (AI) tools’ to discover how the power of AI influences learning and academic success.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper used the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to develop a structural equation model (SEM) and used convenience sampling to measure 304 students’ five-point Likert scale responses. The model was tested with AMOS-24 and SPSS-25, and the study found that AI boosted students’ learning experiences and explain importance of AI skills and knowledge.
Findings
Performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence and facilitating condition directly and indirectly affect AU via intent to use (IU), while subjective norms determining the use of AI tools’ and have no substantial influence. Attitude (ATT) moderates PE and EE, although the data show that ATT has no substantial effect on EE.
Originality/value
These insights may help student to understand how AI tools’ benefit them and what factors affect their utilization. When correctly designed and executed, UTAUT provides an appropriate integrated theoretical framework for robust statistical analysis like SEM.
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Thamaraiselvan Natarajan and Deepak Ramanan Veera Raghavan
Building on the relationship marketing and stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory, the purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the integrated store service quality (ISSQ…
Abstract
Purpose
Building on the relationship marketing and stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory, the purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the integrated store service quality (ISSQ) on the omnichannel customer lifetime value (CLV). The mediating role of customer commitment (affective, normative and continuance) and relationship program receptiveness with the moderating role of customer relationship proneness were relied upon to better understand the omnichannel customer profitability metric (CLV).
Design/methodology/approach
The study is descriptive and relies upon the cross-sectional data collected using the self-administered structured questionnaires from 785 omnichannel shoppers. A purposive sampling technique was performed in the study. Structural equation modeling was performed using the SMART-PLS 4.0 software to analyze the data.
Findings
The results indicate that omnichannel customer commitment (affective, normative and continuance) differentially mediates the relationship between ISSQ and relationship program receptiveness, subsequently impacting the omnichannel CLV. The customer relationship proneness significantly and positively moderated the relationships between different dimensions of customer commitment and relationship program receptiveness.
Research limitations/implications
The study relied upon the cross-sectional data from the Indian population aged above 18 years for testing the proposed model. Further studies could test the model across different populations to generalize the study results.
Originality/value
This study addresses the need to investigate the omnichannel retail store customer profitability and their relationship performance with the store. By testing the customer relationship management model in the omnichannel retail store context, this study is the first to show that ISSQ will impact the customer profitability and relationship performance metric (CLV) through omnichannel customer commitment and relationship program receptiveness. The moderating effect of customer relationship proneness on a few proposed hypotheses was also tested to give managerial recommendations.
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Zakia Tasmin Rahman, Ruhi Lal and Ravinder Rena
The New Development Bank (NDB) is assisting the development of India's financial system. India's financial needs are met by NDB. It can contribute to the BRIC countries' economic…
Abstract
The New Development Bank (NDB) is assisting the development of India's financial system. India's financial needs are met by NDB. It can contribute to the BRIC countries' economic and social development and helps in the sustainability of the country's growth and development. The study is focused on the role of NDB in India, the growth and development of NDB, and to explore the future prospects of NDB in India. The plans and strategies of NDB are studied thoroughly, and positive conclusions can be drawn on India and other member nations of NDB. The research study is qualitative, exploratory research. It is based on secondary data. Government reports, records, published research papers, websites, related documents, etc. are taken into consideration. Content analysis is done of the secondary data. The NDB strategies are designed in such a pattern that the member nations and emerging nations of the world can get the advantage of infrastructural development, sustainable growth, and development. Investment and employment generation can lead the nations. The research study has found out that NDB accelerates development in a flexible and effective way. Also, it was found out that various infrastructural developmental projects were undertaken. Initiatives like financial support for adopting various developmental technologies and strategies should be from medium- to long-term priority.
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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…
Abstract
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.