Ashish Kalra, Omar S. Itani and Amin Rostami
Although research analyzing the consequences of salesperson social media use in driving sales behaviors and performance outcomes has proliferated in the recent past, there are…
Abstract
Purpose
Although research analyzing the consequences of salesperson social media use in driving sales behaviors and performance outcomes has proliferated in the recent past, there are significant research gaps in the domain. Grounded in task-technology fit theory, this paper aims to propose a conceptual framework that integrates between previously disjointed areas of research and analyzes the relationships between salesperson social media use, brand awareness, creativity, manager empowerment and company performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey responses were collected from a multi-industry sample of 158 business-to-business salespeople. Structural relationships were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling.
Findings
The analysis shows that salesperson social media use positively affects brand awareness. The relationship between social media and brand awareness is magnified with the increase in salesperson creativity. Findings also show that manager empowerment increases salesperson creativity. Finally, brand awareness positively affects company performance.
Practical implications
Sales organizations should focus on developing digital strategies, especially focusing on salesperson social media use to enhance company’s brand awareness, which in turn increases company performance. Moreover, sales managers should also follow empowering leader behaviors to enhance creativity.
Originality/value
The authors amalgamate salesperson social media use literature and branding literature by proposing salesperson social media use’s positive effects on brand awareness. This study also expands the knowledge by exploring the moderating effect of individual-level variables such as salesperson creativity on driving the effects of salesperson social media use.
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Ashish Kalra, Raj Agnihotri, Sunali Talwar, Amin Rostami and Prabhat K. Dwivedi
Although the role of the internal competitive work environment is important, it remains understudied in a business-to-business (B2B) selling context. Grounded in job-demands…
Abstract
Purpose
Although the role of the internal competitive work environment is important, it remains understudied in a business-to-business (B2B) selling context. Grounded in job-demands resources theory, this study aims to investigate the relationships between internal competitive work environment, working smart, emotional exhaustion and sales performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered from 147 salespeople working for a financial service firm. Sales performance ratings were reported by supervisors. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.
Findings
This study finds dual effects of the internal competitive work environment on salesperson’s job outcomes. Although such an environment improves working smart behaviors, which increases sales performance, it also increases emotional exhaustion, which reduces sales performance.
Research limitations/implications
This study extends job-demands resources theory by proposing internal competitive work environment as a challenge demand and extends the theory by proposing that a salesperson’s time management skills as a personal resource that may reduce such environment’s deleterious effects.
Practical implications
Sales managers should consider the complex nature of increasing competition within the organization and assess the ability of their workforce to effectively manage their time. Training programs that develop time management skills should also be promoted.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to consider the multifaceted effects of the internal competitive work environment in a B2B sales context. By focusing on the duality of the work environment, this study provides a greater understanding of the influences of organizational factors on sales performance.
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Fahime Ebrahimi, Mehdi Sarikhani and Amin Rostami
The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the silence of internal auditors. To this end, the impacts of the perceived climate of silence, professional…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the silence of internal auditors. To this end, the impacts of the perceived climate of silence, professional commitment, independence commitment, role conflict and role ambiguity on internal auditor silence have been investigated. Furthermore, the effects of role conflict and role ambiguity through independence commitment on internal auditor silence were investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
The statistical population of the study consisted of Iranian internal auditors in 2021. The study used a self-administered survey of 217 internal auditors. In this research, a hierarchical component model in the partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis was used to examine the hypotheses.
Findings
The results of testing the hypotheses indicated that the perceived climate of silence and role ambiguity have positive effects, and professional commitment and independence commitment have negative effects on internal auditor silence. Furthermore, role conflict has an insignificant effect on internal auditor silence. In addition, role conflict and role ambiguity affect the internal auditor silence through the independence commitment.
Originality/value
This study examined the factors affecting the internal auditor silence by combining the construct of the perceived climate of silence that has been previously discussed in the field of management with the professional (professional commitment and independence commitment) and role (role conflict and role ambiguity) factors that are discussed in the internal audit profession. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that examines the factors affecting internal auditor silence behavior. The importance of conducting this study is that it investigates a phenomenon among internal auditors that conflicts with the mission and origin of internal audit.
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Yong Joo Lee, Seong-Jong Joo and Hong Gyun Park
The purpose of this paper is to measure the comparative efficiency of 18 Korean commercial banks under the presence of negative observations and examine performance differences…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to measure the comparative efficiency of 18 Korean commercial banks under the presence of negative observations and examine performance differences among them by grouping them according to their market conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ two data envelopment analysis (DEA) models such as a Banker, Charnes, and Cooper (BCC) model and a modified slacks-based measure of efficiency (MSBM) model, which can handle negative data. The BCC model is proven to be translation invariant for inputs or outputs depending on output or input orientation. Meanwhile, the MSBM model is unit invariant in addition to translation invariant. The authors compare results from both models and choose one for interpreting results.
Findings
Most Korean banks recovered from the worst performance in 2011 and showed similar performance in recent years. Among three groups such as national banks, regional banks, and special banks, the most special banks demonstrated superb performance across models and years. Especially, the performance difference between the special banks and the regional banks was statistically significant. The authors concluded that the high performance of the special banks was due to their nationwide market access and ownership type.
Practical implications
This study demonstrates how to analyze and measure the efficiency of entities when variables contain negative observations using a data set for Korean banks. The authors have tried two major DEA models that are able to handle negative data and proposed a practical direction for future studies.
Originality/value
Although there are research papers for measuring the performance of banks in Korea, all of the papers in the topic have studied efficiency or productivity using positive data sets. However, variables such as net incomes and growth rates frequently include negative observations in bank data sets. This is the first paper to investigate the efficiency of bank operations in the presence of negative data in Korea.
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Halimin Herjanto, Muslim Amin and Cut Erika Fatimah
This study investigates the role of knowledge collecting and donating in enhancing relationship proneness and intimacy and improving a bank's salesperson satisfaction and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the role of knowledge collecting and donating in enhancing relationship proneness and intimacy and improving a bank's salesperson satisfaction and performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the snowball technique, 315 online questionnaires were collected from commercial banks. A total of 300 useable questionnaires were included for further analysis.
Findings
The findings demonstrated that knowledge collecting affects relationship proneness and salesperson performance, while knowledge donating affects relationship proneness but not satisfaction. The results also suggested that relationship proneness is responsible for salesperson intimacy. Furthermore, intimacy was found to affect salesperson performance and satisfaction. Finally, salesperson satisfaction was found to affect salesperson performance positively.
Practical implications
The findings help bankers understand and utilize the power of their knowledge management in improving their sales performance and developing suitable training and strategies to strengthen salesperson intimacy.
Originality/value
This study incorporated knowledge management, relationship proneness and intimacy to enhance a better understanding of how these indicators will affect the salesperson's satisfaction and performance.
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Ioan Pop, Mohammadreza Nademi Rostami and Saeed Dinarvand
The purpose of this article is to study the steady laminar magnetohydrodynamics mixed convection stagnation-point flow of an alumina-graphene/water hybrid nanofluid with spherical…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to study the steady laminar magnetohydrodynamics mixed convection stagnation-point flow of an alumina-graphene/water hybrid nanofluid with spherical nanoparticles over a vertical permeable plate with focus on dual similarity solutions.
Design/methodology/approach
The single-phase hybrid nanofluid modeling is based on nanoparticles and base fluid masses instead of volume fraction of first and second nanoparticles as inputs. After substituting pertinent similarity variables into the basic partial differential equations governing on the problem, the authors obtain a complicated system of nondimensional ordinary differential equations, which has non-unique solution in a certain range of the buoyancy parameter. It is worth mentioning that, the stability analysis of the solutions is also presented and it is shown that always the first solutions are stable and physically realizable.
Findings
It is proved that the magnetic parameter and the wall permeability parameter widen the range of the buoyancy parameter for which the solution exists; however, the opposite trend is valid for second nanoparticle mass. Besides, mass suction at the surface of the plate as well as magnetic parameter leads to reduce both hydrodynamic and thermal boundary layer thicknesses. Moreover, the assisting flow regime always has higher values of similarity skin friction and Nusselt number relative to opposing flow regime.
Originality/value
A novel mass-based model of the hybridity in nanofluids has been used to study the foregoing problem with focus on dual similarity solutions. The results of this paper are completely original and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the numerical results of the present paper were never published by any researcher.
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Amin Shahsavar, Pouyan Talebizadeh Sardari and D. Toghraie
This paper aims to numerically investigate the heat transfer and entropy generation characteristics of water-based hybrid nanofluid in natural convection flow inside a concentric…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to numerically investigate the heat transfer and entropy generation characteristics of water-based hybrid nanofluid in natural convection flow inside a concentric horizontal annulus.
Design/methodology/approach
The hybrid nanofluid is prepared by suspending tetramethylammonium hydroxide-coated Fe3O4 (magnetite) nanoparticles and gum arabic (GA)-coated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in water. The effects of nanoparticle volume concentration and Rayleigh number on the streamlines, isotherms, average Nusselt number and the thermal, frictional and total entropy generation rates are investigated comprehensively.
Findings
Results show the advantageous effect of hybrid nanofluid on the average Nusselt number. Furthermore, the study of entropy generation shows the increment of both frictional and thermal entropy generation rates by increasing Fe3O4 and CNT concentrations at various Rayleigh numbers. Increasing Rayleigh number from 103 to 105, at Fe3O4 concentration of 0.9 per cent and CNT concentration of 1.35 per cent, increases the average Nusselt number, thermal entropy generation rate and frictional entropy generation rate by 224.95, 224.65 and 155.25 per cent, respectively. Moreover, increasing the Fe3O4 concentration from 0.5 to 0.9 per cent, at Rayleigh number of 105 and CNT concentration of 1.35 per cent, intensifies the average Nusselt number, thermal entropy generation rate and frictional entropy generation rate by 18.36, 22.78 and 72.7 per cent, respectively.
Originality/value
To the best knowledge of the authors, there are not any archival publications considering the detailed behaviour of the natural convective heat transfer and entropy generation of hybrid nanofluid in a concentric annulus.
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Saeed Dinarvand and Mohammadreza Nademi Rostami
This research numerically investigates the steady laminar 3D forced convective flow and heat transfer of a rotating Al2O3/water nanofluid past a linearly stretching sheet with the…
Abstract
Purpose
This research numerically investigates the steady laminar 3D forced convective flow and heat transfer of a rotating Al2O3/water nanofluid past a linearly stretching sheet with the help of a novel two-phase analysis method by considering different nanoparticle shapes as well as velocity slip boundary condition plus internal heating.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors’ novel two-phase analysis method implements the Jang and Choi model for the effective thermal conductivity and incorporates it with Tiwari–Das mathematical model. Besides, the shape factors of the nanoparticles have also taken into account using the Timofeeva model for effective dynamic viscosity. The Prandtl number of the base fluid is kept constant at 6.2 and the temperature of the nanoparticles as well as the base fluid molecules is assumed to be 300 K. In short, after using the similarity transformation method, the obtained dimensionless nonlinear ODEs are numerically solved using the bvp4c built-in function from MATLAB. The governing parameters are solid volume concentration, rotation parameter, velocity slip parameter, heat generation or absorption parameter and Prandtl number of the base fluid.
Findings
It is argued that when the cylindrical shape for alumina is chosen, the maximum values for skin friction coefficients and local Nusselt number have been obtained among the other shapes. Further, the velocity slip enhancement in this problem will lead to a drastic reduction in the foregoing quantities of engineering interest.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is a novel attitude to two-phase nanofluid model.
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Nur Syuhada Jasni, Haslinda Yusoff, Mustaffa Mohamed Zain, Noreena Md Yusoff and Nor Syafinaz Shaffee
The present digital era has integrated the conventional telecommunications companies as service providers in this ever-competitive environment. Towards gaining business…
Abstract
Purpose
The present digital era has integrated the conventional telecommunications companies as service providers in this ever-competitive environment. Towards gaining business competitiveness, businesses are operated from the stance of dynamic business model that places focus on both economic activities and, more importantly, value-added benefits. One essential value embedded into business strategies refers to the aspect of sustainability in conjunction to environmental social governance (ESG). Within the context of Malaysia, ESG practices have been expected to grow rapidly in years to come, along with the vision of becoming a digital economy nation, by 2050. The continuous discussions appear to support the significance of implementing ESG practices amidst organizations, which in turn, could enhance a more sustainable economic growth for the country. Although many studies have probed into the dimensions of ESG, little attention has been given to the ESG practices incorporated into business strategy agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper combed through the literature to retrieve the multi-dimensions of ESG concepts, as well as related in-depth insights into ESG disclosures amongst leading companies established in Malaysia. As for the research design, this study used the content analysis method and the ESG Grid as the benchmarking tool to explore superior commitments amongst its peers.
Findings
As a result, this study stumbled upon two major outcomes: the pattern of ESG disclosures in telecommunications industry and the approaches in implementing ESG practices in telecommunications companies. These two aspects appear essential to establish a competitive advantage, apart from addressing the issues raised by concerned stakeholders.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies may explore deeper into comprehending the ESG practices by using the interview method and incorporating other industry or arena.
Practical implications
The decisions made by the companies to invest in ESG practices mark the ability of a company in devising viable survival strategies within the industry.
Originality/value
Hence, this study offers several vital insights into the practical value to learn from the best experiences, aside from analyzing the current progress of ESG practices within the context of developing nation.
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Mohammad Reza Sadeghi, Seyed Mohammad Moghimi and Majid Ramezan
In recent decades, many managers have conceived the radical role of knowledge in acquiring a competitive advantage and pursuing organizational strategic goals. Therefore…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent decades, many managers have conceived the radical role of knowledge in acquiring a competitive advantage and pursuing organizational strategic goals. Therefore, knowledge management is now a competitive requirement in organizations. However, if proper infrastructures and necessary prerequisites are not provided for executing such a process, the result will be nothing except failure and resource waste. Therefore, it is necessary that organizations identify effective factors for their readiness in executing knowledge management. The purpose of this study is identifying and prioritizing of effective constructs in readiness of knowledge management implementation by using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP).
Design/methodology/approach
In the present study, the relevant literature is initially reviewed and then seven factors and 19 affecting indicators on knowledge management readiness are identified by using a questionnaire for knowledge management elites which also constitute the research conceptual model. Finally, the weight of each factor is determined by fuzzy analytical hierarchy process and the readiness priority and preference of each factor are discussed.
Findings
The results of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process show that the management factor is recognized as the most effective factor in knowledge management execution readiness.
Research limitations/implications
The model proposed in this study is applicable to the academic culture. Modification of the proposed model may be needed in applying this model to other environments.
Originality/value
As limited studies have been carried out on identifying and prioritizing of effective constructs in readiness of knowledge management implementation by using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, the findings of this study will be useful in identifying and assessing the main components in readiness of knowledge management implementation in the research and training centers.