Anna Wulf and Lynne Butel
The sharing of knowledge between partners in collaborative relationships is widely accepted to be fundamental to supporting strategic decision making, particularly in relation to…
Abstract
Purpose
The sharing of knowledge between partners in collaborative relationships is widely accepted to be fundamental to supporting strategic decision making, particularly in relation to innovation management and business sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to focus on how the structure of collaborative relationships in business networks may determine successful knowledge sharing and thus improve decision making and business performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Expert interviews were conducted with participants operating in networks and business ecosystem in four different sectors in Italy and Germany, exploring the process of knowledge sharing, organisational learning and decision making within collaborative relationships. A qualitative textual analysis was used to analyse the experts’ responses.
Findings
The research found that an organisation’s network position and the network structure, as well as the governance and richness of the business ecosystem in which it operates, influence its ability to share knowledge, to innovate and therefore to compete sustainably.
Research limitations/implications
The research demonstrates that innovative strategic decision making, based on access to appropriate knowledge, occurs within the context of social and business network relations operating within a broader more diverse business ecosystem. Closer dyadic or small working group ties best facilitate trust and sharing of the most valuable knowledge. Appropriate participation in and management of such structures is therefore essential to support knowledge-based decision making, and critical to sustained competitive advantage.
Originality/value
The research focusses on how interfirm relationships are established and maintained, how firms establish trust and facilitate knowledge sharing forming the basis of organisational learning.
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Monica Faraoni, Riccardo Rialti, Lamberto Zollo and Anna Claudia Pellicelli
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the micro-linkages fostering consumers’ e-loyalty in grocery retailers B2C e-commerce context. Specifically, the authors focused on the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the micro-linkages fostering consumers’ e-loyalty in grocery retailers B2C e-commerce context. Specifically, the authors focused on the neglected role of security, privacy and website design. Grocery retailing has been selected as the context of research because grocery retailers too have been required to develop B2C e-commerce platforms to meet their consumers’ evolving preferences.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was distributed to several students from University of Florence (Italy). Structural equation modeling was used to compile the research, and its results reflect the impact on e-loyalty development on specific features of the e-commerce environment.
Findings
The main findings of this research are related with the importance of website characteristics as antecedents of e-loyalty in online grocery retailing.
Originality/value
Albeit the explored phenomenon has been subject to extensive study, some of its facets are yet to be fully explored. In particular, though the influence of e-trust, e-satisfaction and e-commitment on e-loyalty has been shown, little attention has been paid to the factors affecting these three antecedents of e-loyalty. In this regard, this research focuses on the importance of B2C e-commerce platform characteristics such as security, perceived relationship investment and website design. In addition, the phenomenon was scarcely explored in grocery retailers B2C e-commerce context.
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Melanie F. Boninsegni, Olivier Furrer and Anna S. Mattila
This article explores four dimensions of frontline employee (FLE) friendliness (humorous, informal, conversational, and approachable) to propose a relevant measurement instrument…
Abstract
Purpose
This article explores four dimensions of frontline employee (FLE) friendliness (humorous, informal, conversational, and approachable) to propose a relevant measurement instrument of the influence of FLE friendliness on relationship quality and perceived value, as well as its indirect influence on repatronage intentions. Recent studies suggest FLE friendliness, defined as a tendency to convey an affective customer–employee social interaction, is a critical determinant of relationship marketing, but few scholars agree on its dimensionality. This study seeks a deeper understanding of FLE friendliness by investigating its different dimensions in various service contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The mixed-method design, including both qualitative and quantitative research, offers a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of FLE friendliness.
Findings
The content analysis suggests FLE friendliness is multidimensional and composed of humorous, informal, conversational, and approachable behaviors. The results of a quantitative survey, conducted across four service contexts, validate this four-factor model. A second quantitative survey across two service contexts reveals the weights and relative importance of the dimensions, and then a third quantitative survey across three service contexts confirms that FLE friendliness is a significant driver of relationship quality, perceived value, and repatronage intentions (indirectly).
Originality/value
This study contributes to relationship marketing literature by strengthening the conceptual foundations of FLE friendliness, clarifying the dimensionality of the construct, developing a comprehensive measurement instrument, and extending previous research on the customer–employee interactions.
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Architectural drawing is changing because architects today draw with computers. Due to this change digital diagrams employed by computational architectural practices are often…
Abstract
Architectural drawing is changing because architects today draw with computers. Due to this change digital diagrams employed by computational architectural practices are often emphasized as powerful structures of control and organisation in the design process. But there are also diagrams, which do not follow computational logic worth paying attention to. In the following I will investigate one such other kind of diagram, a sketch diagram, which has a play-like capacity where rules can be invented and changed as you go. In that way, sketch diagrams are related to steered indeterminacy and authorial ways of directing behaviour of artefacts and living things without controlling this behaviour completely. I analyse a musical composition by John Cage as an example of a sketch diagram, and then hypothesize that orthogonal, architectural drawing can work in similar ways. Thereby I hope to point out important affordance of architectural drawing as a ¬hybrid between the openness of hand-sketching and the rule-basedness of diagramming, an affordance which might be useful in the migrational zone of current architectural drawing where traditional hand drawing techniques and computer drawing techniques are being combined with each other.
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Christian Nordhorn, Anna Scuttari and Harald Pechlaner
The purpose of this paper is to explore customers’ emotions during a host–guest interaction at the reception desk of a hotel. Guests’ emotional responses are analyzed in real time…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore customers’ emotions during a host–guest interaction at the reception desk of a hotel. Guests’ emotional responses are analyzed in real time to understand their link to behavior and levels of service and relationship quality.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this aim, 225 random customers experience six different types of interactions (scenarios) at a staged reception desk, representing a high/low service or relationship quality. The emotions provoked within guests are (video) recorded and analyzed with the help of SHORETM, a facial recognition software that processes four basic emotions derived from human muscular activity and calculates average emotional scores per scenario.
Findings
Results reveal that customers respond more positively to service than to relationship quality. Informal approaches to interacting with guests are mixed; they can both excite or irritate customers. As with existing evidence in service marketing research, the results found out through this study demonstrate that a good service recovery process seems to immediately generate more satisfied customers than do constant high-quality standards.
Research limitations/Implications
The main limitations are related to the semi-staged nature of social interactions, which might cause distortions in measuring emotions and limitations in the comparability of cases.
Practical Implications
Practical implications are directed to service designers and managers in hospitality to improve service design and ensure effective service recoveries.
Originality/value
This paper introduces a novel approach for assessing host–guest interactions in tourism based on a real-time emotional assessment of service and relationship quality in hospitality. Technologically advanced observation techniques enable in-depth analyses of actions and emotional responses between hosts and guests across time. New insights concerning service design and service recovery management are gained for practitioners and for future research.
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This chapter explores the profound influence of culture on learning, illustrating how cultural beliefs, customs, and practices shape perceptions, behaviors, and educational…
Abstract
This chapter explores the profound influence of culture on learning, illustrating how cultural beliefs, customs, and practices shape perceptions, behaviors, and educational outcomes. It delves into the complexity of culture within organizations, emphasizing its role in fostering a collective space for learning and experimentation. Highlighting the significance of cultural diversity in educational settings, the text discusses challenges and opportunities for inclusivity and understanding.
Anna-Sophie Oertzen, Gaby Odekerken-Schröder, Saara A. Brax and Birgit Mager
The purpose of this paper is to assess, clarify and consolidate the terminology around the co-creation of services, establish its forms and identify its outcomes, to resolve the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess, clarify and consolidate the terminology around the co-creation of services, establish its forms and identify its outcomes, to resolve the conceptual pluralism in service co-creation literature.
Design/methodology/approach
A focused literature review screened the articles published in five major service research journals to determine relevant contributions on the concept of co-creation of services. Then, a thematic analysis identifies the forms, themes and outcomes of co-creating services in the set of 80 qualifying articles.
Findings
The study reduces conceptual pluralism by establishing different forms of co-creating services and developing an explicit definition of co-creation in services. The authors develop an integrative framework that recognizes involvement, engagement and participation as prerequisites for co-creation. Relating to the different phases of the service process, the specific co-creation forms of co-ideation, co-valuation, co-design, co-testing and co-launching are classified as regenerative co-creation, while the specific co-creation forms of co-production and co-consumption are recognized as operative co-creation. Both beneficial and counterproductive outcomes of co-creation are identified and arranged into a typology.
Research limitations/implications
The integrative framework illustrates that service providers and customers are involved, engaged and participate in co-creating services, which manifests in specific forms of co-creation; they attain beneficial and counterproductive outcomes (personal, social, hedonic, cognitive, economic and pragmatic); and are influenced by a contextual multi-actor network.
Practical implications
Co-creation in services is actionable; the typology of outcomes suggests service managers ways to motivate customers and employees to participate in co-creating services.
Originality/value
This paper defines and establishes the conceptual forms of co-creating services and the identified outcomes, and develops an integrative framework of co-creation in services.