Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of structural empowerment, psychological empowerment and intrinsic motivation on perceived customer satisfaction in contact centers.

A questionnaire was conducted among 703 employees of a contact center. Data analysis was based on structural equation modeling.

Structural empowerment results in higher levels of perceived customer satisfaction through psychological empowerment and intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, structural empowerment effect on psychological empowerment is mediated by intrinsic motivation.

Previous predictions regarding counterproductive impact of empowerment in a low-service heterogeneity sector, such as contact center are challenged and a transformative message is disclosed in what concerns human resource management (HRM) in contact centers.

The research provides valuable insights for both scholars and practitioners regarding the process through which employees’ psychological empowerment and intrinsic motivation improves customer satisfaction in the context of contact centers.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the relations among different knowledge management (KM) factors, such as human capital (HC), processes and information systems (IS) on organizational sustainable competitive advantage (CA), within the SMEs context.

Structured questionnaires were distributed to CEOs and managers of Portuguese organizations through an electronic survey. Partial least squares software was utilized to analyze the data.

The measurement model results identify and validate the dimensions of HC, processes and IS representing the KM construct. The structural model results demonstrate that HC and processes have a direct and significant impact on organizational CA, on the customer and financial dimensions, respectively. IS indirectly and significantly influence organizational CA, mediated by HC and processes.

The sample size includes mostly service business and SMEs. Other organizations sectors, such as industry, should be analyzed in order to develop a comparative cross-sectorial study.

This study establishes suggestions for managers to make legitimate decisions concerning investments on knowledge assets and organizational capabilities that can foster business growth and sustainable CA within a SMEs context.

The authors propose a mediation mechanism showing that the relationship between IS and sustainable CA is not direct, but it is mediated by HC and processes. This mechanism points out some critical issues for the strategic knowledge and intellectual capital assets, as a source of organizational CA.

Ethic code moral and ethic dilemma.

The case study is based on a series of in-depth interviews carried out with the owners and directors. The data were complemented by documentary analysis, including descriptions of internal processes, and industry information. The teaching note opted for an exploratory study using the open-ended approach of grounded theory.It is important to mention to the students that although the names of the characters and the company were modified for confidentiality reasons, the case actually happened.

Roberto Rodarte, an employee of Internet Architects Interactive, won a luxury car in a raffle from the hotel where he was staying in a business trip. Roberto decided to keep the car and did not inform the company of what had happened.The company did not have any established policies for these situations. Manuel de la Torre, a partner, thought that it would be fair if either Roberto give the car to the company Roberto, thought that the car belonged to him.The company decided to fire him. What could be done to avoid similar situations arising in the future?

The case can be used by administrative program students and Master of Business Administration students in courses such as management, good management practices, human resources, leadership and business ethics.

This study aims to examine the antecedents and consequences of strategic online-reputation management among tourism firms. It is proposed that customer relationship management (CRM) is an antecedent of strategic online-reputation management, brand equity is a consequence of strategic online-reputation management and the use of online tools moderates the effect of strategic online-reputation management and CRM on brand equity.

A quantitative empirical study is conducted among online marketing managers of chain hotels. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to verify the proposed relationships.

The results show that CRM is an antecedent of strategic online-reputation management, and that strategic online-reputation management and CRM exert a positive effect on brand equity among firms that frequently use a range of online tools. No such effect is found in cases of limited usage of online tools.

Tourism firms seeking to achieve greater brand equity by means of strategic online-reputation management should implement CRM and make extensive use of online tools.

The main contributions of this study are that it analyzes the antecedents and consequences of strategic online-reputation management jointly and empirically; studies the moderating role of the use of online tools in the effect of online strategies – such as online-reputation management and CRM – on brand equity; and studies the consequences of CRM in online media.

本研究探讨旅游公司战略性在线声誉管理的前因和后果。建议 a) 客户关系管理 (CRM) 是战略性在线声誉管理的先决条件, b) 品牌资产是战略性在线声誉管理的结果, c) 在线工具的使用调节战略性在线声誉管理的效果- 品牌资产的声誉管理和 CRM。

本研究对连锁酒店的在线营销经理进行了定量实证研究。结构方程模型 (SEM) 用于验证所提出的关系。

CRM 是战略在线声誉管理的前身, 战略在线声誉管理和 CRM 对经常使用一系列在线工具的公司的品牌资产产生积极影响。在有限使用在线工具的情况下没有发现这种效果。

希望寻求通过战略性在线声誉管理实现更大品牌资产的旅游公司应实施 CRM 并广泛使用在线工具。

本研究的主要贡献在于：(i) 本研究联合实证分析战略性在线声誉管理的前因和后果; (ii) 本研究探讨了使用在线工具对在线战略（例如在线声誉管理和 CRM）对品牌资产的影响的调节作用; (iii) 本研究探讨了 CRM 在在线媒体中的影响。

This article aims to provide a new paradigm for thinking about disability, which can be applied to other social groups, historically invisible and whose rights have been violated. The Model of Communication and Legitimate Acknowledgement of Disability (MCLAD) tries to break with the logic of continuing to add terms and euphemisms around the issue. The author proposes a new line to think about relationships in democratic societies. Taking the step from inclusion to acknowledgment does not imply another way of naming the disability, but rather addressing the problem from concrete practices of recognition. In order to arrive at the proposal of the MCLAD, the author will make a journey that addresses how disability has been understood throughout history, according to the study of different authors.

Disability has been perceived over time in many different ways, which led some authors to build models in order to explain certain social approaches to the subject. This article traces a journey from the first model to the present. In turn, it proposes a new one: the MCLAD, which is characterized by a paradigm shift: moving from inclusion to acknowledgment. To substantiate this, three categories are presented: acknowledgment, distance and vulnerability. The different theories and concepts that support the model will also be presented. The purpose of the MCLAD is to deepen the idea of empowering people with disabilities as part of today’s diverse societies and closing historically constructed gaps which are still in force.

The MCLAD proposes three categories: acknowledgment, distance and vulnerability. In turn, in each of them, there is a link between three axes: person with disability/society/state, analyzing the dynamics of these relationships presented, will provide us with the necessary elements to understand the proposed turnaround.

Although the different models will be presented according to the chronological order of definition over time, all of them still coexist today, in many cases in hybrid and naturalized ways in social practices. Recognizing what practices and conceptions are behind each model, allows us to recognize and resignify the ways of communicating toward people with disabilities (PWD) and on the issue of disability. It also allows other specific recognition practices, such as the legitimization of public policies from the laws that protect them.

To replace the paradigm of inclusion for that of acknowledgment and to recognize how the three categories (acknowledgment, distance and vulnerability) are linked with the three issues (PWD – society and state) allowing specific relationship and practises of legitimate or not acknowledgement. When the author affirms that the MCLAD implies a paradigm shift, the author means that it provides some elements from legitimate acknowledgment to complement aspects which inclusion does not address, and that the other models did not take into account. These are: the self-acknowledgment of people with disabilities and the sense of responsibility linked to empowerment; vulnerability as a category of reconciliation, which is typical of every human being; the contribution of the Phenomenology of the Among to think about how relationships and practices actually occur in society and, finally, the role of the state, which must watch over all its citizens, avoiding the distance between discourse (laws) and practices and, above all, avoiding exclusion from the system due to lack of monitoring of actions.

It should be noted that the MCLAD starts from the idea of language as a constructor of realities and conceives communication as an enabler of the acknowledgment of the other, who is also subject to rights. At the same time, it vindicates the voice of people with disabilities as protagonists (“Nothing about us without us”) and fosters the need for PWD themselves to be active in their struggles, promulgating legitimate acknowledgment. At the same time, it points out that the empowerment of PWD implies not only that they are aware of their rights but also that they themselves know and fulfill their duties within the democratic societies of which they are a part of and which, at least discursively, are regulated by laws. In other words, being empowered is also being responsible for living in society.

The main contribution that the MCLAD has to offer is to replace the paradigm of inclusion for that of acknowledgment. And, throughout the path followed in this article, an attempt has been made to establish that the turnaround is not to capriciously install a new concept (acknowledgment), but to demonstrate that the new paradigm involves three categories that sustain and support a model that seeks to be the basis for effective public policies, for a society that values diversity and for people who feel worthy and contribute to dignify others.

The research aims to evaluate whether this educational approach is being implemented in a Portuguese public university and looking for explicit references to education for sustainable development (ESD) in the online descriptions of course units (CU).

The research design adopted for this qualitative research follows the principles of a case study with exploratory, multiple and collective features.

It was possible to find direct matches with key ESD expressions in fifteen of CU. In addition, nine CU were identified in the second stage of analysis of the teacher training master programmes.

One of the limitations of this study which the authors identified, and which was responsible for considerably reducing the probability of finding matches, was that only results in which the key expressions appeared in the description of the CU in exactly the same form as in the research instrument were recorded.

The need for an educational programme for teachers to be developed and implemented in the near future.

A training workshop will be proposed with the main aim of supporting teaching staff in making the necessary shift in their pedagogical practices to include a ESD orientation in their CU.

The instrument eveloped that appears in Appendix - Analysis Tool with key ESD expressions.

This study aims to analyze the effect of the use of social media on the perception of brand personality and to identify its effect on customer brand engagement.

The study adopted an exploratory approach, adapting Aaker's brand personality scale (1997) to the context of cultural tourism before carrying out a quantitative study resorting to a structural equation modeling to obtain empirical evidence to identify these relationships.

The findings reveal that the use of social media has a positive effect on the perception of brand personality and that brand personality, likewise, has a positive effect on customer brand engagement.

This study indicates that transmission of an attractive brand personality according to the desires of the public, combined with dissemination through social media, is a valid strategy to improve customer brand engagement.

This study represents an advance in the specialized literature on the value that consumers place on information transmitted through social media. Specifically, it sheds light on how the transmission of brand personality through social media affects customer brand engagement.

本研究旨在分析使用社交媒体对品牌个性感知的影响, 并确定其对客户品牌参与度的影响。

该研究采用探索性方法, 将Aaker（1997）的品牌人格量表适应文化旅游的背景, 然后使用结构方程模型（SEM）进行定量研究, 以获取关于拟议关系的经验证据

研究结果表明, 社交媒体的使用对品牌个性的感知具有积极影响, 而品牌个性同样对客户品牌参与度也具有积极影响。

这项研究表明, 根据公众的需求来传递有吸引力的品牌个性, 并通过社交媒体进行传播, 是提高客户品牌参与度的有效策略。

这项研究代表了有关消费者对通过社交媒体传播的信息所具有的价值的专业文献的进步。 具体而言, 它揭示了通过社交媒体传播品牌个性如何影响客户品牌参与度。

este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar el efecto del uso de los social media en la percepción de la personalidad de marca e identificar su efecto en el customer brand engagement.

el estudio adoptó un enfoque exploratorio, adaptando la Brand Personality Scale de Aaker (1997) al contexto del turismo cultural antes de llevar a cabo un estudio cuantitativo mediante un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM) para obtener evidencia empírica sobre las relaciones propuestas.

los resultados revelan que el uso de los social media tiene un efecto positivo en la percepción de la personalidad de marca y que la personalidad de marca tiene un efecto positivo en el customer brand engagement.

este estudio demuestra que la transmisión de una personalidad de marca atractiva de acuerdo con los deseos del público, combinada con su difusión a través de los social media es una estrategia válida para mejorar el customer brand engagement.

este estudio representa un avance en la literatura especializada sobre el valor que los consumidores otorgan a la información transmitida a través de los social media. Específicamente, arroja luz sobre cómo la transmisión de la personalidad de la marca a través de los social media influye en el customer brand engagement.

This article presents research findings on Operation Roundup, a project initiated by the Santa Ana Police Department in Santa Ana, California. The covert police operation was designed to curtail gang activity in a specific neighborhood by securing indictments and arresting 130 violent gang members belonging to the notorious Sixth Street gang. A purposive sample of community members, selected from the neighborhood where the gang members operated, were surveyed before and after the intervention about their fear of crime and perceptions regarding the effectiveness of local law enforcement. The results revealed a decrease in perceptions related to the fear of crime but little change in attitudes toward the police. However, the covert police operation successfully eliminated the Sixth Street gang and their criminal activities from the neighborhood.

This study aims to research the usage of virtual reality as a tool to train employees in a changeover process in a company, and if it guarantees the same level of quality. Moreover, another goal is to understand how it can influence the machines’ availability, reducing the number of hours a machine is stopped to perform training sessions.

To achieve the goals proposed, the action research strategy was used. After defining the context and purpose, two full cycles were applied, composed by five activities: diagnosis, action planning, action taking, action evaluation and specify the learning.

The results are extremely satisfactory. On the one hand, it can be concluded that virtual reality is a reliable training tool, guaranteeing proper training to the employees. On the other hand, based on the previous point, the researchers were able to conclude that it is possible to increase machines’ availability, reducing by 50% the time needed to have the machines stopped to run a changeover training.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to use the action research strategy to develop a virtual reality simulation as a training tool for machines’ changeover in the automotive industry.