Rodrigo Uribe, Pedro Hidalgo and Carolina Martinez
The purpose of this paper are to determine: how disasters are used as a theme in advertising; how the public evaluates different ways of using disasters in advertising; what…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper are to determine: how disasters are used as a theme in advertising; how the public evaluates different ways of using disasters in advertising; what dimensions directly affect these evaluations; and what aspects should be taken into account by an organization that wants or need to develop a campaign after a disaster.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents two studies examining the relationship between catastrophes and advertising in the context of the February 2010 earthquake in Chile. The first study scrutinizes the characteristics of print ads that used this event as their main theme. The second study evaluates the reactions of consumers to different types of post-catastrophe ads. This issue was explored in a survey on the attitudes toward and credibility of these ads and in a qualitative examination, which explored the reasons for the interviewees’ evaluation.
Findings
The first study identified nine types of advertisements as the most used by advertisers. The second study showed that the most common ad types had the worst evaluations by the public. In addition, the evaluation of the ads was directly related to three dimensions: opinion with regard to the advertised brand, evaluation of the ad’s performance, and perception of commercial intent.
Research limitations/implications
It is important to consider some limitations of this study: this paper used only print advertising, and the sample was selected from Chilean internet users (50 percent of the population).
Practical implications
This paper provides recommendations for for-profit and non-profit organizations that need or want to effectively develop campaigns in the context of a disaster.
Originality/value
Within the context of a few studies on the development of campaigns in the context of a catastrophe, this paper seeks to test and expand upon the scarce findings in this field.
Details
Keywords
Patricia Martinez and Carolina B. Gómez
This study aims to examine how the amount and type of flexibility in work schedule (flextime) and work location (telecommuting) may be related to receiving fewer training and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how the amount and type of flexibility in work schedule (flextime) and work location (telecommuting) may be related to receiving fewer training and development opportunities. Given that under flextime, employees remain at the work location, while under telecommuting employees are removed from the regular work site and social system, the paper expects that as employees have more telecommuting flexibility, they will receive fewer training opportunities, which in turn will be associated with more negative job attitudes and behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants (n=298) were recruited from a healthcare and a software development firm. Employees provided self-report ratings of their intentions to quit and supervisor supportiveness. Supervisors rated employees' citizenship behaviors and the flextime, telecommuting and training and development practices for the job positions.
Findings
As employees possess greater flexibility to telecommute, they received fewer training and development opportunities, while employees with greater work schedule flexibility (flextime) actually received more training opportunities. Additionally, the paper finds that training and development mediates the negative relationship between telecommuting flexibility and organizational citizenship behaviors. Thus, as employees had greater telecommuting flexibility, they exhibited lower levels of organization citizenship behaviors.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides evidence of how greater telecommuting flexibility that leads to decreased training and development opportunities may negatively influence employees' citizenship behaviors. The study also supports that flexibility to work away from the regular work location and not schedule flexibility, is the key antecedent. The findings suggest that supervisors should monitor the amount of training opportunities provided to employees with telecommuting flexibility.
Originality/value
This is one of the few studies to examine telecommuting flexibility: the extent to which employees can work at home and modify their schedule in order to do so. It is also one of the few studies to compare how work schedule and work location flexibility may be differentially related to training and development. The paper examines the potential trade-offs between this flexibility and receiving fewer training and development opportunities.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to understand national cultural dimensions and identify their relationship to survey‐response strategies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand national cultural dimensions and identify their relationship to survey‐response strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
This empirical paper will highlight the importance of understanding national cultural dimensions for adopting normative equivalence strategies in international survey research. The survey was sent to 104 Human Resource Directors located in Mexico via email and efax. The paper will identify survey strategies that contributed to a response rate of 49 per cent, which is considered high in cross‐cultural research.
Findings
The importance of normative equivalence strategies in international survey research is highlighted. While semantic and conceptual equivalence are aimed at survey coherence, normative equivalence strategies highlight the significance of the relationship‐building with the respondents. Normative equivalence strategies include identifying people that the respondents will trust and respond to, building an excellent rapport with the respondents, and identifying strategies to be perceived as part of the respondents’ group.
Research limitations/implications
This paper identifies strategies that potential researchers can adopt to increase response rate. Further, it integrates national cultural dimensions and strategies and provides a model that potential researchers can adopt.
Originality/value
This paper associates the latest national cultural dimensions (global leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness study) and survey research strategies – an aspect that has not been addressed in the literature before.
Details
Keywords
Vicente Martínez-Tur, Agustín Molina, Carolina Moliner, Esther Gracia, Luisa Andreu, Enrique Bigne and Oto Luque
The purpose of this paper is to propose that the manager’s perception of the service quality delivered by his/her team acts as a precursor of his/her trust in team members. In…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose that the manager’s perception of the service quality delivered by his/her team acts as a precursor of his/her trust in team members. In turn, the manager’s trust in team members is related to team members’ trust in the manager. Furthermore, engagement and burnout at the individual level are considered outcomes of trust reciprocity.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors test this trust-mediated multilevel model with a sample of 95 managers and 754 team members working in services for people with intellectual disability. These services are delivered by team-based structures of workers who perform coordinated tasks.
Findings
The findings suggest that service quality delivered by team members is positively and significantly related to the manager’s trust in them. The results also suggest that the manager’s trust in team members leads to the trust that managers received by team members. Finally, team members who trust their managers show less burnout and high engagement.
Research limitations/implications
Previous literature has neglected the reciprocity of trust. In contrast, this research study considered the perspective of both managers and team members and how this reciprocity of trust is related to service quality and well-being at work.
Practical implications
The current study highlights the critical role of service quality and achieving high-quality relationships between managers and team members.
Originality/value
Performance and well-being are compatible because team members’ efforts are compensated by forming relationships with managers based on trust, and the quality of these relationships, in turn, prevents burnout and stimulates engagement among employees.
Details
Keywords
Renee Dumont, Alicia M. Sellon, Tina M.K. Newsham, Mary C. Hollifield, Alicia Thomas, Melannie Pate and Elizabeth Fugate-Whitlock
Many older adults engage in volunteer activities, drawing meaning and purpose through such efforts. Social distancing restrictions, put in place during Covid-19 surges to reduce…
Abstract
Purpose
Many older adults engage in volunteer activities, drawing meaning and purpose through such efforts. Social distancing restrictions, put in place during Covid-19 surges to reduce the risk of transmission, disrupted older adult volunteers’ lives and volunteer experiences. Social distancing measures provide a unique opportunity to explore what happened when the choices around pausing or stopping volunteering were not entirely within the control of older adults. This paper aims to explore the experiences of older adult volunteers as they navigated uncertainties and made difficult decisions around balancing their safety and their desire to continue volunteering.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted interviews with 26 community-dwelling older adults, age 50+, who had engaged in volunteer activities for at least 1 h a week prior to the start of the pandemic. The interviews were conducted on the phone or via Zoom. The authors used thematic analysis to help us analyze the data and identify patterns from participants’ experiences.
Findings
Despite the risk presented by Covid-19, most participants volunteered during the pandemic. They continued some or all of their previous activities with safety-related adjustments, with some seeking new or different opportunities. Participants’ discussions highlight the challenges of volunteering during the pandemic and the importance of engagement to their resiliency and subjective well-being.
Originality/value
This paper provides original contributions to understanding how and why older adults volunteered during the Covid-19 pandemic. The social distancing measures provide a novel opportunity to enrich our understanding of the meaningfulness and value of volunteerism to older adults’ lives and subjective well-being.
Details
Keywords
Carolina Herrando, Julio Jimenez-Martinez and M. Jose Martin De Hoyos
Social commerce websites entail a completely new scenario for sharing experiences and opinions due to its richness in terms of social interactions. Nowadays, users can interact…
Abstract
Purpose
Social commerce websites entail a completely new scenario for sharing experiences and opinions due to its richness in terms of social interactions. Nowadays, users can interact with the company and with other users; hence, it seems important to study how social stimuli affect users. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response framework and flow theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose that the social stimulus (named social passion (sPassion)) has a positive effect on the organism (state of flow), which leads to a users’ positive response (via social word of mouth (sWOM)).
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected through an online survey in 2015. The sample consists of 771 users of social commerce websites, of which 51 percent are male and 49 percent female, aged between 16 and 80 years old. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data with the statistical software SPSS version 22 and EQS 6.
Findings
The empirical results confirm that passionate users are prone to experience a state of flow and, as a consequence, share positive sWOM.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on customers’ online participation, and the findings are hoped to help companies in developing social commerce websites that boost users’ exchange of information.
Details
Keywords
Carmina Fandos-Herrera, Carolina Herrando, Julio Jiménez Martínez and José Miguel Pina
Traditional teaching strategies are making way for a more collaborative learning style, where students play active roles in their learning process. This work focuses on the…
Abstract
Purpose
Traditional teaching strategies are making way for a more collaborative learning style, where students play active roles in their learning process. This work focuses on the discussant role activity in the market research subject in a business administration bachelor's degree as a way of empowering students' role. The discussant activity fosters critical thinking and debate between classmates while also encouraging communication and relational skills.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on expectation-disconfirmation theory, this study analysed students' expectations and perceptions before and after the discussant activity. Data were collected through two surveys carried out in class at the beginning and at the end of the course.
Findings
The empirical findings show that interactions in the classroom during the activity contribute to students' final evaluation of the activity and positively affect cross-curricular and subjective learning performance.
Originality/value
Activities that recreate real-life experiences help students in the acquisition of certain key competencies related to their future inclusion in the labour market.
Details
Keywords
Eder Martinez, Carolina K. Reid and Iris D. Tommelein
The purpose of this paper is to explore opportunities and barriers to using lean construction to address issues related to the value, quality and scalability of affordable housing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore opportunities and barriers to using lean construction to address issues related to the value, quality and scalability of affordable housing production in Latin America.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a case study of a housing developer in Ecuador that used lean construction in the design and construction stages of an affordable housing project. The study describes how the developer addressed operational challenges derived from implementing a customization strategy and analyzes qualitative and quantitative data to assess the outcomes of lean initiatives.
Findings
The developer reduced cost and delivery time without sacrificing consumer choice. However, the economic and policy conditions worked against the benefits of lean construction, demonstrating the importance of the regulatory context in facilitating or inhibiting lean initiatives and construction innovation.
Research limitations/implications
This paper focuses on conventional means for new housing construction. Self-help and upgrading are not covered.
Practical implications
The operational challenges described in this study, as well as the innovative ways to deal with them, are beneficial for practitioners seeking to improve the quality and efficiency of affordable housing construction.
Social implications
This paper advances knowledge about how to increase value and quality delivery in the built environment which may benefit low-income families.
Originality/value
This study bridges construction innovation and housing policy, discussing the potential of lean construction within the policy and regulatory environment in which affordable housing takes place.
Details
Keywords
Valerie O'Connor, Angela Hamouda, Helen McKeon, Colette Henry and Kate Johnston
The purpose of this research is to discuss the nature of co‐entrepreneurs (i.e. those companies that have a mixture of male and female founding members) within the ICT sector in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to discuss the nature of co‐entrepreneurs (i.e. those companies that have a mixture of male and female founding members) within the ICT sector in Ireland. For the purposes of this paper, the term “co‐entrepreneurship” is used to describe male and female business partnerships. The characteristics of co‐entrepreneurs; their educational, skills and family backgrounds; their current role in the company, and the nature of the team founder structure are examined. A discussion on why the team approach was selected is also included. Other issues explored in the paper include the shareholding percentage of the co‐entrepreneurs and the extent to which the business has a lead entrepreneur.
Design/methodology/approach
In 2003 the authors compiled a database of 1,026 indigenous ICT companies, which were electronically surveyed for information regarding software production, ownership of company and gender of founding members. A total of 24 per cent (81) of the responding companies from this survey indicated that there was a mixture of male and female founding members. These companies were subsequently sent another survey designed to gather information on company background, profiles of co‐entrepreneurs, co‐entrepreneurs' motivational factors and co‐entrepreneurs' roles. A total of 34 (43 per cent) of the companies responded, of which 23 were suitable for the research.
Findings
The findings of the study indicate that the family business or spouse/partner structure represents a major component of mixed gender companies in the ICT sector in Ireland, and that such companies tend to be small, with well‐educated and experienced founders.
Originality/value
A particularly interesting contribution of this paper is the provision of insights into the co‐entrepreneurial partnership through identifying the key differences between the male and female co‐founders. A key conclusion of the study is that there would appear to be a recognition among co‐entrepreneurs that complementary skills and knowledge are critically important in the exploitation of new business opportunities, especially in the IT industry.