Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore the comprehensive, ongoing role of communication in an enterprise crowdfunding context, which has been largely overlooked.

A large public higher education institution in the Southeastern USA was chosen as the case study unit to illuminate an enterprise-wide crowdfunding program using a proprietary, in-house platform, compared to commercial sites like Kickstarter that do not let organizational leaders strategically plan and manage the platform and its communication functions. Such autonomy provides a richer landscape for studying organizational members’ communication and communication management related to an enterprise crowdfunding program.

The case study identified communication-related challenges to the fundraising program’s success such as limited project leader and funding recipients’ commitment to communicate with their social networks about the projects. Internal communication and conflicting expectations, largely ignored in current crowdfunding research, were seen as critical to program effectiveness.

This study adds scholarly and practical depth to knowledge of enterprise crowdfunding, a relatively new phenomenon in nonprofit and higher education fundraising. While not generalizable to all settings, findings can offer transferable guidance for organizations seeking to engage internal stakeholders related to new and innovative fundraising programs that require their active buy-in and participation.

The purpose of this paper is to identify if and how the see-now-buy-now model impacts the traditional buying, merchandising and supply chain processes (BMSCP) of multi-brand fashion retailers (MBFR) and whether they need to be adapted in order to facilitate this development.

This exploratory study includes three industry case studies, triangulated with external observers. A total of 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted within Germany and the UK.

Findings demonstrate that in order to adopt the see-now-buy-now model there is a need for process-shortening, as well as better process and network alignment between MBFR and brands through agility, supplier–relationship management and vertical integration in order to stay competitive against time-based competition. Whilst most steps of the traditional BMSCP are still applicable under the see-now-buy-now model, they must be re-engineered and shortened, with the steps being rolling rather than linear, with buyers and merchandisers operating in a more hybrid role.

This paper addresses the lack of research on the see-now-buy-now model as well as on the BMSCP of MBFR and the implications that see-now-buy-now could have on those processes. A modified buying, merchandising and supply chain framework adapted to incorporate see-now-buy-now is created which will be useful for academics and practitioners.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to consider the use of the Internet as a potential facilitator of positive health-related perceptions. Specifically, we propose that online health information seeking fosters positive perceptions of health. Using path modeling, we theorized several mechanisms through which information seeking could be conducive to positive health perceptions, which we conceptualized into the following four dimensions: (1) sense of empowerment in managing health, (2) self-reported ability to take better care of health, (3) sense of improved health-related quality of life, and (4) self-reported improvement of health.

Methodology: Our sample consisted of respondents who have used the Internet as a resource for health information (n = 710), drawn from the largest national probability-based online research panel. Our comparison subsample consisted of older respondents (age ≥ 60; n = 194). We used Internet-specific measures and employed structural equation models (SEM) to estimate the direct, indirect, and total effects of health-related use of the Internet on subjective health perceptions. Based on our review of the literature, competent health communication with healthcare providers and sense of empowerment in managing personal health were modeled as mediator variables. We assessed whether the proposed mediational relationships, if significant, differed across our indicators of positive health perceptions and whether any differential associations were observed among older adults. We run parallel models for each indicator of positive health perception.

Findings: Provider-patient communication informed by the Internet resources were perceived to impart a greater sense of empowerment to manage health among our respondents, which in turn, was associated with perceived contributions to better self-reported ability to provide self-care, increased health-related quality of life, and improvement in self-reported health. The SEM results revealed a good fit with our full sample and subsample.

Research Implications: Conceptualization of the multidimensional aspects of online health information seeking with separate multi-indicator analyses of the outcome variable is important to further our understanding of how technology may impact the pathways involved in influencing health perceptions and as a result health outcomes.

In this study, the authors explore students' and industry’s perceptions about the challenges and opportunities of participating in a large-scale, non-compulsory, individual, in-person and unpaid business placement programme at an Australian university. The placement programme aims to support students' workplace transition by emphasising the development of key employability skills through reflective learning and linking theory to practice.

Utilising a case study methodology and integrating survey questionnaires, the authors collected both quantitative and qualitative data with large sample sizes.

The results highlight curriculum areas for improvement, emphasising tailored feedback to manage placement expectations and addressing employability skill strengths and weaknesses.

Recommendations include co-partnering with students to develop short, tailored and hot tip videos along with online learning modules, including the presentation of evidence-based statistics to inform students about post-programme employment prospects.

The study contributes to benchmarking good practices in non-compulsory, individual, in-person and unpaid placement pedagogy within the business education context.

The objectives of the paper were to develop a theoretical framework of the online shopping experiences (OSE) concept, identify its constituent dimensions and subdimensions, and propose and test a comprehensive measurement scale that would incorporate and reconcile existing fragmented approaches to the phenomenon.

This paper utilized a mixed-method approach to conceptualize a complex phenomenon of online shopping experiences (OSE). Study 1 employed the grounded theory approach to understand the phenomenon, propose its comprehensive definition and a conceptual model. Study 2 developed and tested a comprehensive OSE measurement scale.

The study conceptualized OSE as a second-order construct with four mutually-connected constituent dimensions of OSE: practices, context, values and emotions, and their respective 21 subdimensions. It developed and validated a comprehensive scale that is superior to earlier proposed fragmented measures of OSE.

The proposed theoretical framework can serve as a foundation for the OSE research stream and consolidate existing findings by providing a conceptual umbrella for different OSE aspects addressed in earlier research. The OSE measurement scale can be used to assess the impact of each OSE component on satisfaction and loyalty in different shopping situations.

The findings can assist retailers in evaluating usefulness of various tools in eliciting certain experiential effects, devising specific approaches to consumers at different touch points along their dynamic OSEs and developing engagement tactics for various shopping environments.

The study combined qualitative and quantitative approaches to offer a most comprehensive and unifying conceptualization and measurement instrument of OSEs.

This paper aims to examine the technology acceptance model’s applicability in understanding employees’ acceptance of online platforms for knowledge sharing in organisations. Specifically, this research explores gender differences in using online platforms for sharing knowledge at the workplace in an emerging market context and the role of individuals’ motivation in online platform usage in organisations.

A web-based survey was conducted in Vietnam with 290 responses from employees in the banking and insurance industries.

Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations influenced the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and online platform usage for knowledge sharing. The results also confirm a significant influence of perceived ease of use directly on knowledge sharing behaviour using online platforms and indirectly via perceived usefulness. Regarding gender differences, perceived ease of use was more salient in women, while men considered perceived usefulness to a greater extent.

This study provides a complete picture of gender, motivation and technology used for knowledge sharing in organisational settings.

This research has provided additional insight into the importance of gender and motivation in technology acceptance. By doing this, this study helps organisations capture the potential of valuable human resources for their competitiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the key attributes that drive Muslim consumer purchase behavior in the context of imported Western food in Pakistan.

In-depth, semi-structured interviews were used as a data collection tool. In this research, the in-depth interview data were analysed by using the manual content analysis (MCA) technique. Moreover, Leximancer software was used to reanalyse the data to enhance the trustworthiness of the MCA results. A total sample of 43 Muslim consumers from three metropolitan cities in Pakistan participated in the research. The sample comprises professionals, housewives and both college and university students.

Muslim consumers in Pakistan look at both the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes when purchasing imported Western food. The ruling factors explored were product taste, ingredients, freshness, hygiene, brand name and overall product quality. However, product packaging and labeling also play a significant role. Participants were of the view that imported Western food provides a better, unique consumption experience and an opportunity to choose from a wide variety of food options. Interestingly, interview findings reveal that Western food product attributes surpass the Islamic concept of moderate spending, thus convincing Muslim consumers to engage in the consumption of imported Western food.

The presence of imported Western food may improve quality of life by having more opportunities and healthier options for the nation. If the Western food products are stamped Halal or made with Halal ingredients the product has a fair chance of adoption and penetration in the society. Further, it may result in overall health improvements within the society, which is already a major concern in the Pakistani consumer market. Also, food products coming from the Western world induces mindfulness; people are more aware about innovative and useful ingredients that can satisfy their taste buds.

This paper found that Pakistani Muslim consumers are not really concerned about the Islamic concept of moderate spending, and thus, established that Pakistani Muslim consumers are more concerned about product value rather than their Islamic teaching of moderate spending. From a population, with 97 per cent Muslim majority, product packaging and labeling were found to be a dominant and deciding factor, which, in itself, is an interesting finding. Further, established Western brand names help Muslim consumers to recognize products and plays a vital role in their purchase decisions. However, within product labeling, the element of halal ingredients was found to be a deciding factor, but not a leading factor, in purchase decisions.