Keo Mony Sok, Devin Bin and Phyra Sok
Business-to-business (B2B) firms increasingly have a need for frontline sales employees who can both sell and service customer account, a task known as sales-service ambidexterity…
Abstract
Purpose
Business-to-business (B2B) firms increasingly have a need for frontline sales employees who can both sell and service customer account, a task known as sales-service ambidexterity which may pose significant challenges to frontline sales employees. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to show that one has to be cognizant of the potential negative consequences brought about requiring frontline sales employees to engage in sales-service ambidexterity and find a way to mitigate such negative consequences.
Design/methodology/approach
The multisource data for this study was collected from frontline sales employees and their respective supervisors working across multiple B2B pharmaceutical companies in a Southeast Asian country. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and PROCESS Macro.
Findings
The results reveal a negative indirect effect of sales-service ambidexterity sales performance through role overload. This negative indirect effect is fully neutralized when information exchange is high but not when it is low.
Originality/value
This study underscores the importance of not only the negative consequence of sales-service ambidexterity but also offers insights into how this negative consequence is neutralized so that sales performance is maximized.
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Devin Bin, Keo Mony Sok, Phyra Sok and Sonariddh Mao
Prior studies have mainly advanced the understanding of a linear relationship between leadership humility and employee work outcomes, mediated and/or moderated by various…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior studies have mainly advanced the understanding of a linear relationship between leadership humility and employee work outcomes, mediated and/or moderated by various individual, team and organizational variables. This study attempts to advance prior knowledge by investigating a potential curvilinear relationship between leadership humility and frontline service employee (FSE) performance and the role of FSE's psychological capital (PsyCap) in attenuating this curvilinear relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were drawn from a survey sample of 273 FSEs working in the hospitality industry of the United States of America. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was used to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The results uncover the existence of a tipping point in the relationship between leader humility and FSE performance; that is, humble behaviors expressed by leaders positively influence FSE performance up to the tipping point beyond which FSE performance starts to diminish. However, this curvilinear effect is attenuated when FSE's PsyCap is high but not when it is low.
Practical implications
The findings provide service managers with insights into the importance of balancing their humble behaviors to yield optimal FSE performance. Furthermore, the paper points to the need for FSE's PsyCap cultivation within service firms so that FSEs are less dependent on their supervisors and can deliver highly satisfactory results.
Originality/value
This research is one of the very first to investigate the curvilinear relationship between leader humility and FSE performance and the moderating role of PsyCap in attenuating the curvilinear effect.
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Ryan Atkins, Kim Deranek and Robert Sroufe
Research and interest in food loss and waste (FLW) have increased, but barriers stand in the way of firms engaging in food recovery efforts. The purpose of this study is to gain a…
Abstract
Purpose
Research and interest in food loss and waste (FLW) have increased, but barriers stand in the way of firms engaging in food recovery efforts. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of how firms overcome these barriers.
Design/methodology/approach
This study followed a qualitative, field-study-based research design in which 23 decision-makers at food-based organizations were interviewed. Quotes were extracted and categorized to develop a conceptual model of the food recovery process.
Findings
The conceptual model that evolved helps to explain decision-making related to FLW across the following dimensions: barriers to food recovery, incentives to overcome the barriers, internal processes for engaging in food recovery and external relationships influencing internal incentives and processes. In addition, the barriers and incentives were divided into operational and managerial issues.
Originality/value
Building on the barriers to food recovery in prior research, we explored the processes that help firms overcome these barriers. The model developed in this study is an important step toward addressing these processes and relationships. It can serve as a foundation for a variety of future studies of food recovery.
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Rong Jiang, Bin He, Zhipeng Wang, Xu Cheng, Hongrui Sang and Yanmin Zhou
Compared with traditional methods relying on manual teaching or system modeling, data-driven learning methods, such as deep reinforcement learning and imitation learning, show…
Abstract
Purpose
Compared with traditional methods relying on manual teaching or system modeling, data-driven learning methods, such as deep reinforcement learning and imitation learning, show more promising potential to cope with the challenges brought by increasingly complex tasks and environments, which have become the hot research topic in the field of robot skill learning. However, the contradiction between the difficulty of collecting robot–environment interaction data and the low data efficiency causes all these methods to face a serious data dilemma, which has become one of the key issues restricting their development. Therefore, this paper aims to comprehensively sort out and analyze the cause and solutions for the data dilemma in robot skill learning.
Design/methodology/approach
First, this review analyzes the causes of the data dilemma based on the classification and comparison of data-driven methods for robot skill learning; Then, the existing methods used to solve the data dilemma are introduced in detail. Finally, this review discusses the remaining open challenges and promising research topics for solving the data dilemma in the future.
Findings
This review shows that simulation–reality combination, state representation learning and knowledge sharing are crucial for overcoming the data dilemma of robot skill learning.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are no surveys that systematically and comprehensively sort out and analyze the data dilemma in robot skill learning in the existing literature. It is hoped that this review can be helpful to better address the data dilemma in robot skill learning in the future.
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Amlan Haque, Gamithri Gayana Karunasena and David Pearson
This paper aims to stimulate the pursuit of waste-free food consumption and develop guidelines to avoid irresponsible consumer behaviours. In doing so, the paper answers the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to stimulate the pursuit of waste-free food consumption and develop guidelines to avoid irresponsible consumer behaviours. In doing so, the paper answers the questions: How much food is thrown away by Australian households? What are the causes of food wasted? And, how motivated are Australian household members to reduce food waste?
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was completed by a demographically representative sample of 5,272 households in Australia to address these questions. Using the state-wise data set and a structural equation modelling technique, this paper analyses behavioural and socio-demographic factors that influence household food waste in Australia.
Findings
The study identified that inedible food waste was the most common waste that people threw away (69%). The second-largest contribution towards waste came from meal leftovers (44%). The study identified household members not finishing their meal and cooking too much food as the leading causes of food waste from meal leftovers. Furthermore, household food members were unable to identify whether the food was safe to eat, uncertain whether they would eat prepared food that was saved for later consumption and remained confused about when to discard food. Finally, 42% indicated a high level of motivation to reduce food waste, while 34% indicated a moderated level.
Originality/value
This study's findings contribute to the practical challenges associated with the measurement of food waste in households. Further, the study provides insights to policymakers and practitioners to develop customised interventions to reduce household food waste.
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Given the dramatic changes taking place in society, the economy, and technology, 21st-century organizations need to engage in new, more spontaneous, and more innovative ways of…
Abstract
Given the dramatic changes taking place in society, the economy, and technology, 21st-century organizations need to engage in new, more spontaneous, and more innovative ways of managing. I investigate why an increasing number of companies are including artists and artistic processes in their approaches to strategic and day-to-day management and leadership.
Lucas Mak, Devin Higgins, Aaron Collie and Shawn Nicholson
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that Electronic Theses and Dissertation (ETD) metadata can be used as data for institutional assessment and to map an extended research…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that Electronic Theses and Dissertation (ETD) metadata can be used as data for institutional assessment and to map an extended research landscape when connected to other data sets through linked data models.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents conceptual consideration of ideas behind linked data architecture to leverage ETD and attendant metadata to build a case for institutional assessment. Analysis of graph data support the considerations.
Findings
The study reveals first and foremost that ETD metadata is in itself data. Concerns with creating URIs for data elements and general applicability of linked data model formation result. The analysis positively points up a rich environment of institutional relationships not readily found in traditional flat metadata records.
Originality/value
This paper provides a new perspective in examining research landscape through ETDs produced by graduate students in higher education sector.
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Noel Scott, Brent Moyle, Ana Cláudia Campos, Liubov Skavronskaya and Biqiang Liu
Myriam Cano-Rubio, Ascension Barroso, Ramón Sanguino, Alfredo Valentino, Andrea Calabrò and Rodrigo Basco
By investigating the reactions of family businesses to COVID-19 pandemic this article aims to explaining how family firms are capable to preserve employment during hardship.
Abstract
Purpose
By investigating the reactions of family businesses to COVID-19 pandemic this article aims to explaining how family firms are capable to preserve employment during hardship.
Design/methodology/approach
Stemming from resource-based-view, we theorise that familiness is not directly associated with new hiring but instead fully mediated by pivoting strategic decisions (the propensity to transform the business).
Findings
Our findings show that familiness triggers pivoting strategic decisions and consequently increases the likelihood of new hiring. Additionally, we found that the involvement of multiple generations strengthens this relationship.
Practical implications
Family firms must consolidate their family human and social resources (familiness) and assure the presence of multiple generations in the firm because they can leverage their entrepreneurial disposition and increase the need to preserve employment and new hires during crises.
Originality/value
The main contribution lies in the explanation of the mechanisms that family firms deploy to overcome a crisis and thus explains why some family firms are more resilient than others in relation to firm’s employment during hardship.