Raymond J. Cole, Amy Oliver and Aiste Blaviesciunaite
The purpose of this paper is to determine how the unprecedented developments in information and communications technologies now permit a variety of forms of remote working and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine how the unprecedented developments in information and communications technologies now permit a variety of forms of remote working and the subsequent shifting of spatial and temporal boundaries between home, office and city. It examines the changing context within which knowledge-based work is conducted with the specific objective of understanding how the blurring of the distinction between the domains of “work” and “leisure” is influencing the notion of workplace culture. It offers a framework that organizes the key issues in a legible form.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on concepts, theories and ideas in workplace, information and communications technology and green building literature and restructures them to formulate an emerging set of key issues, trends and relationships.
Findings
The paper identifies possible implications for both the changing nature of the workplace in current green building practice and understanding the notion of workplace within different national cultural contexts. It outlines implications for employees, employers and facilities managers.
Research limitations/implications
The work represents an initial attempt to bridge across issues not immediately evident in several bodies of literature. While several other issues may also have bearing on the work, the findings with regards to the blurring of work and leisure have significant theoretical and practical implications.
Practical implications
As the “workplace” now embraces a wide range of possibilities that extend beyond the domain of the “office” to the home and to a host of “hot-spots” in public venues available within the city, the broader framing has significant consequence for comfort provisioning and other services in the office buildings and facilities management.
Originality/value
The paper’s originality derives from emphasizing the potential positive and negative consequences for employers, employees and facilities managers associated with the blurring of work and leisure.
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Carolyn Folkman Curasi and Karen Norman Kennedy
Research in customer satisfaction over the past decade has lead to a much richer understanding of service quality and customer expectations. In trying to untangle the linkage…
Abstract
Research in customer satisfaction over the past decade has lead to a much richer understanding of service quality and customer expectations. In trying to untangle the linkage between satisfied customers and long‐term success for the organization, however, attention has evolved from a focus on customer satisfaction to a realization that retaining customers and developing loyalty are essential for organizational success. This interpretive investigation focuses on customer retention and loyalty in an effort to understand better these variables in the context of service organizations. In so doing we review the rise of managerial concern for customer retention and loyalty and examine the definitions and relationships of these constructs. Then, to develop a richer understanding of repeat buyers, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with consumers identifying themselves as “loyal”. A typology of loyalty is offered consisting of five levels of repeat buyers, ranging from “prisoners” to “apostles”. Additionally, the managerial implications of this typology are discussed.
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Christopher W. J. Steele, Madeline Toubiana and Royston Greenwood
The core goal of the “micro-foundational” agenda appears to be less an institutionalism founded in the micro, or reduced to the micro, and more some form of integrative…
Abstract
The core goal of the “micro-foundational” agenda appears to be less an institutionalism founded in the micro, or reduced to the micro, and more some form of integrative institutionalism: that is, an institutionalism that does justice to the perpetual, co-constitutive interplay of local activities (the micro) and trans-local patterns (the macro). In this chapter, thus, the authors argue for a conscious, explicit embrace of integrative institutionalism; and of the broader agenda that this terminology opens up. Based on this overdue rewording the authors highlight additional problems and possibilities – providing a constructive reformulation and elaboration of the “micro-foundational” agenda as it currently stands.
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To survey ambient intelligence research in Europe, the USA and Japan and, in particular, in the context of the issues of privacy, identity, security and trust and the safeguards…
Abstract
Purpose
To survey ambient intelligence research in Europe, the USA and Japan and, in particular, in the context of the issues of privacy, identity, security and trust and the safeguards proposed to protect them.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on research being conducted by the SWAMI consortium under the EC's Sixth Framework Programme. SWAMI stands for Safeguards in a World of Ambient Intelligence. The consortium comprises five partners: the Fraunhofer Institute (Germany), the Technical Research Center of Finland (VTT Electronics), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) (Spain) and Trilateral Research & Consulting (UK). The 18‐month SWAMI project began in February 2005.
Findings
Most AmI projects do not take into account privacy, security and related issues. However, a reasonable number do (perhaps a quarter of those in Europe) to a greater or lesser extent and some have proposed safeguards.
Research limitations/implications
This paper references only a limited set of the research projects being carried out in Europe, the USA and Japan. More detailed information can be found on the SWAMI web site (http://swami.jrc.es).
Practical implications
A mix of different safeguards will be needed to adequately protect privacy, etc. in the new world of AmI.
Originality/value
Until now, there has been no reasonably comprehensive survey of AmI research projects in Europe, the USA and Canada focused on privacy, security, identity and trust issues. None has considered the range of safeguards needed to protect privacy, etc.
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This paper aims to present changes in customer brand commitment and its components in relation to the cellular and financial markets using three sets of data that were collected…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present changes in customer brand commitment and its components in relation to the cellular and financial markets using three sets of data that were collected before, during and after the social protests of the Summer of 2011 in Israel.
Design/methodology/approach
The four data sets for this study were collected from an internet panel and represent the Hebrew-speaking segment of Israel’s population. The current study examines two markets; cellular provider companies and financial service companies. The surveys were carried out at different points in time which extended from April 2011 to March 2012. The first two surveys were carried out in March 2011 and May 2011, before the outbreak of the protests the Summer of 2011. A third survey was conducted in August 2011 during the protest. The last and the fourth survey was conducted in March 2012 after the wave of protests had died down.
Findings
The current research shows that as a result of the social protest movement, consumers have changed. They perceive brands as not being as good (perceived performance) as they were before the protest; they are less satisfied with the brands they used previously; and they are less loyal and committed to them.
Practical implications
The findings of this study signify a major change in marketing and in basic aspects of consumer behavior. Brands have become less important than before the protest. Testing two markets, cellular and financial, this research suggests that the social protest movement reduced the attachment of consumers to brands they most often bought.
Originality/value
No study has tested the impact over time of the social protest on several consumer behavior variables, including brand loyalty, brand involvement, satisfaction, consumer perceptions of their brands’ performance and brand commitment.
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Hokyu Hwang and Jeannette Colyvas
The growing interest in the microfoundations of institutions is a significant, yet surprising development given that the theoretical tradition’s original insight was to account…
Abstract
The growing interest in the microfoundations of institutions is a significant, yet surprising development given that the theoretical tradition’s original insight was to account for macro, institutional influences on lower-level units. The call for microfoundations has gone on without really clarifying what institutionalists mean by microfoundations. Some reflections on the usefulness or purpose of establishing the microfoundations of institutional theory are in order. The authors advocate for treating the micro as part of pluralistic and multi-level accounts of institutional processes. Central is the conceptualization of actors as more or less institutionalized identities and roles.
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Christopher W. J. Steele and Timothy R. Hannigan
Talk of “macrofoundations” helps foreground the constitutive and contextualizing powers of institutions – dynamics that are inadvertently obscured by the imagery of…
Abstract
Talk of “macrofoundations” helps foreground the constitutive and contextualizing powers of institutions – dynamics that are inadvertently obscured by the imagery of microfoundations. Highlighting these aspects of institutions in turn opens intriguing lines of inquiry into institutional reproduction and change, lived experience of institutions, and tectonic shifts in institutional configurations. However, there is a twist: taking these themes seriously ultimately challenges any naïve division of micro and macro, and undermines the claim of either to a genuinely foundational role in social analysis. The authors propose an alternative “optometric” imagery – positioning the micro and the macro as arrays of associated lenses, which bring certain things into focus at the cost of others. The authors argue that this imagery should not only encourage analytic reflexivity (“a more optometric institutionalism”) but also draw attention to the use of such lenses in everyday life, as an underexplored but critical phenomenon for institutional theory and research (“an institutionalist optometry”).
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Joel Gehman, Michael Lounsbury and Royston Greenwood
This double volume presents a collection of 23 papers on how institutions matter to socio-economic life. The papers delve deeply into the practical impact an institutional…
Abstract
This double volume presents a collection of 23 papers on how institutions matter to socio-economic life. The papers delve deeply into the practical impact an institutional approach enables, as well as how such research has the potential to influence policies relevant to critical institutional changes unfolding in the world today. In Volume 48A, the focus is on the micro foundations of institutional impacts. In Volume 48B, the focus is on the macro consequences of institutional arrangements. Our introduction provides an overview to the two volumes, identifies points of contact between the papers, and briefly summarizes each contribution. We close by noting avenues for future research on how institutions matter. Overall, the volumes provide a cross-section of cutting edge institutional thought and empirical research, highlighting a variety of fruitful directions for knowledge accumulation and development.
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Chris Carter and Crawford Spence
This chapter argues that while Organization and Management Theory (OMT) appears in good health it stands on the precipice of a crisis of its own making. This stems from an overly…
Abstract
This chapter argues that while Organization and Management Theory (OMT) appears in good health it stands on the precipice of a crisis of its own making. This stems from an overly self-referential and narrow focus on theoretical contribution, at the expense of a broader set of societal commitments. Paradoxically, this is particularly the case if a researcher is putatively engaging with broader societal issues. The central thesis advanced in this chapter is that researchers should be more socially reflexive about what they are researching, why they are researching it, and for whom. As a corollary, the chapter calls for researchers to interrogate the research that they are undertaking critically and to work out the broader social significance of their work. The chapter unfolds with concise analyses of two branches of OMT: the sociology of the professions and institutional theory. The chapter highlights how research into the professions runs the danger of being captured by the objects of its research: as researchers busy themselves examining pre-existing concepts, rather than exploring the power struggles that take place in particular fields. The chapter argues for a re-framing of research into the professions. The chapter highlights the rise of institutional theory to its current position of dominance within OMT. Institutional theory’s recent move to study ‘Grand Challenges’ is welcomed but also problematised. The chapter closes with reflections on a course of action for making OMT matter.