Sheng-Wei Lin, Eugenia Y. Huang and Kai-Teng Cheng
This study employed the commitment–trust theory in social psychology and relationship marketing to explore female customers' perception of channel integration quality in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study employed the commitment–trust theory in social psychology and relationship marketing to explore female customers' perception of channel integration quality in omnichannel retailing and its influence on their relationship commitment to and trust in the relationship with retailers, and thus on their stickiness. Channel integration quality consists of two dimensions: channel service configuration (channel choice breadth and channel service transparency) and integrated interactions (content consistency, process consistency and perceived fluency).
Design/methodology/approach
The study was carried out via a questionnaire survey, to which 868 valid responses were collected. The partial least squares technique was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Channel service transparency and perceived fluency influence relationship commitment; content consistency, process consistency and perceived fluency all have significant effects on trust. Interestingly, although less influential than integrated interactions, channel service configuration is the foundation of channel integration quality, testifying to its significant role.
Originality/value
This study provides strong evidence on how channel integration quality affects customer stickiness. Moreover, this study replicates the finding of significant relationships among relationship commitment, trust and stickiness in omnichannel retailing.
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Sheng-Wei Lin, Yuan-Hung Liu and Eugenia Y. Huang
This study empirically verified employee engagement (EE) as an outcome of organizational communication and confirmed that the formation of EE is strengthened when smartphone use…
Abstract
Purpose
This study empirically verified employee engagement (EE) as an outcome of organizational communication and confirmed that the formation of EE is strengthened when smartphone use (SU) is at a higher level.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative approach was used in this research, whereby 408 valid samples were collected with an online survey. The hypotheses of direct effects were tested using the structural equation modeling (SEM) procedure, and the moderating effects were tested using the unconstrained product indicator method and the PROCESS macro.
Findings
The results showed that EE was significantly influenced by person–organizationvalue fit (POVF), transformational leadership (TFL) and job autonomy (JA), and the effects of POVF and TFL were moderated significantly by SU. Although the influence of social support (SS) on EE was insignificant in the full model, SU moderated the effect of SS. The evidence also showed that work–family conflict (WFC) had no negative impact on EE.
Research limitations/implications
The participants of this study were restricted to a local area.
Practical implications
Organizations should develop job designs via two-way communication to bring up EE and SU can facilitate the process.
Originality/value
Previous research has identified EE as an outcome of organizational communication, but this concept has not yet been empirically verified. This research provides evidence to verify the above-mentioned concept and additionally confirms the moderating role of SU.
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Eugenia Y. Huang and Shu‐Chiung Lin
This paper seeks to identify the variables that affect the innovation performance of R&D teams, and to investigate the interactions between these variables.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to identify the variables that affect the innovation performance of R&D teams, and to investigate the interactions between these variables.
Design/methodology/approach
A research framework is first established through a literature review, and is then adjusted according to case studies of five high‐tech companies in Taiwan. The adjusted model is then tested through a survey of high‐tech companies in Taiwan.
Findings
It is concluded that the style of the upper management team and the leadership of the R&D manager are the main forces that determine R&D management practice, but that the educational background, work experience, and expertise of R&D managers do not distinguish the level of discipline or the sophistication of R&D management practice. Some aspects of R&D management practice, for example, the generation and utilization of technical reports and the cultivation of professional knowledge, can be reinforced by office support and alliance. With adequate resource support, more sophisticated R&D management practice does lead to better innovation performance as measured by the number of new products, patents, and technical reports.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are derived only from the high‐tech industry in Taiwan. This regional limitation is inevitable in a single study. In the future, more regions can be investigated and compared.
Practical implications
R&D management practice links closely to innovation performance. Disciplined and sophisticated practice improves innovation performance in many ways under different contingencies.
Originality/value
R&D management practice was never a focus of study. This paper approaches the topic of innovation performance from this perspective and confirms its importance in many ways.
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The purpose of this paper is to study how web site quality affects traffic performance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study how web site quality affects traffic performance.
Design/methodology/approach
An experimental design is employed to study how web quality affects traffic performance. A revamping of the experimental web site was used as the treatment, targeting visitors' perceived quality of the web site. Four traffic performance measures, page: views, visitor count, daily registrations, and average duration are tracked, and t‐tests are performed on pre‐treatment and post‐treatment data.
Findings
The analysis shows very positive responses among members; visitor count, page views and average duration increased for opt‐in and opt‐out members. For visitor count, even non‐members showed increases. However, daily registration, which measures how many non‐members become members each day, did not change. Non‐members visited more, but neither viewed more pages, nor stayed longer. Average duration is identified as the key factor for discerning visitor groups.
Research limitations/implications
The experimental web site belongs to one web site category. The generalization is subject to reasoning by practitioners.
Practical implications
It was found that: to increase membership, alternative schemes must be employed, perhaps along the lines of a non‐technical approach; to acquire more members, do not focus on converting known non‐members. Those with the same demographic profile as existing members should be targeted; and the question must be asked whether the fact that opt‐in members are stickier than opt‐out members is a trait or a consequence of opt‐in members receiving e‐mails periodically, while opt‐out members chose not to receive e‐mails.
Originality/value
With few existing traffic experiments in the literature, this study is unique, as are its implications.
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Eugenia Y. Huang and Chia‐Yu Lin
This paper derives a personalization framework for financial services by a literature review and examines the framework against the customer's perspective via the Delphi method.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper derives a personalization framework for financial services by a literature review and examines the framework against the customer's perspective via the Delphi method.
Design/methodology/approach
The framework exhibits a product‐process viewpoint, while the panelists express a cost‐benefit viewpoint.
Findings
Concludes that financial firms should transform the content of relevance from product‐process dimensions to cost‐benefit dimensions. For customers to weigh benefits over costs, financial services should raise the level of service sophistication by keeping the promise of personal privacy, improving the accuracy and relevance of personalization results, and providing a convenient feedback channel that empowers customers by granting them full control over the accuracy of their personal information.
Originality/value
This paper explores why certain personalization practices are embraced by customers while others create nothing but nuisance.
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Antonio Marín-García, Irene Gil-Saura and M. Eugenia Ruíz-Molina
In the current dynamic and competitive environment in which retail companies operate, store equity is a differentiating factor. In view of the scarce research found regarding the…
Abstract
Purpose
In the current dynamic and competitive environment in which retail companies operate, store equity is a differentiating factor. In view of the scarce research found regarding the links between the variables traditionally related to brand equity (store awareness, store image, store perceived quality and store loyalty) and innovation, sustainability and the global retail equity, this study aims to examine these links in depth.
Design/methodology/approach
For a sample of 510 customers of grocery retail establishments and with the help of a structured questionnaire, the relationships between the variables defined in this research were examined using a structural equations model.
Findings
The authors find evidence in favor of the positive influence of innovation and sustainability on the variables related to brand equity. Likewise, store loyalty to the establishment, influenced by store image and perceived quality, emerges as a key variable in the construction of global brand equity.
Research limitations/implications
This study shows that innovation and sustainability have a significant impact on the variables traditionally linked with brand equity.
Practical implications
This research shows that new business models should be created through more innovative and sustainable businesses. In this sense, the managers of retail stores should direct their efforts toward actions aimed at implementing innovation, as well as provide evidence of the sustainability of the store’s activities, with the purpose of improving the perception that consumers have of the store.
Originality/value
The results of this research support the role of store loyalty as key element of brand equity. Also, to the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that addresses the relationship that innovation and sustainability have with the variables linked to store equity.
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Eugénia Pedro, João Leitão and Helena Alves
For better mapping the path of intellectual capital (IC) research, the purpose of this paper is to selectively review empirical studies of IC published, and identify theories…
Abstract
Purpose
For better mapping the path of intellectual capital (IC) research, the purpose of this paper is to selectively review empirical studies of IC published, and identify theories, components and three dimensions of analysis: national IC (NIC), regional IC (RIC) and organizational IC (OIC).
Design/methodology/approach
The systematic literature review (SLR) subject to analysis is based on empirical studies made between 1960 and 2016, and focuses on three dimensions of analysis: NIC, RIC and OIC. Four research questions were designed, using the following databases, namely, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar, for data collection purposes.
Findings
The SLR unveils a multidimensional taxonomy for measuring and classifying the type of IC applicable to the different levels of analysis and provides some recommendations for future studies of NIC, RIC and OIC, by outlining the need for clear definitions of components and measures of IC and identifying strengths, limitations and future research avenues.
Originality/value
In order to fill the gap found in the literature and the non-existence of a study clarifying the multiple dimensions of analysis of IC, this SLR makes a twofold, original contribution to the literature on management: providing an SLR of the main empirical studies dealing with different units of analysis; and identifying a multidimensional taxonomy for measuring and classifying the type of IC applicable to the different levels of analysis.
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Irene Gil-Saura, Maria-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina, Antonio Marín-García and Géraldine Michel
Innovation and sustainability are two key factors for retailers seeking a competitive advantage. However, the way in which the joint effect of both of these variables impacts…
Abstract
Purpose
Innovation and sustainability are two key factors for retailers seeking a competitive advantage. However, the way in which the joint effect of both of these variables impacts consumer satisfaction is still unknown. To address this gap, based on the concept of sustainability-oriented service innovation (SOSI), the authors introduce a new construct named sustainability-oriented commerce innovation (SOCI) in the context of the retail sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The relationships between the variables defined in this research were examined using a structural equations model for 510 customers of grocery retail establishments.
Findings
The authors find support for a direct positive impact of SOCI on customer satisfaction and an indirect impact through store equity. These chained effects are modified according to the client participation in the development of sustainable and innovative initiatives.
Originality/value
This research analyses the joint effect of innovation and sustainability in the retail context by introducing a new concept – SOCI – and a scale for its measurement whose psychometric properties are validated.
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Eugenia Rosca, Wendy L. Tate, Lydia Bals, Feigao Huang and Francesca Ciulli
Driven by increasing concerns for sustainable development and digitalization, intermediaries have emerged as relevant actors who can help supply chains tackle grand societal…
Abstract
Purpose
Driven by increasing concerns for sustainable development and digitalization, intermediaries have emerged as relevant actors who can help supply chains tackle grand societal challenges. They can also trigger significant changes in structure, shape and governance models of supply chains. The goal of this research is to advance the understanding of supply chain intermediation and digital governance as coordinating mechanisms for enabling multi-level collective action to address the world's grand challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual research paper that uses a vignette approach, where real examples are described to help question and expand theoretical insights and provide a basis for future research. The examples are drawn from past and ongoing extensive primary and secondary data collection efforts in diverse types of supply chains.
Findings
Three contexts are proposed to illustrate how intermediaries and digital governance can play a key role in helping supply chains tackle grand challenges. The first and second context highlight the differences between material and support flow intermediaries in a triadic supply chain relationship. The third context illustrates intermediation within a multi-level network which can be industry-specific or span across industries. The three contexts are evaluated on the level of intervention, the focus on material or support flows, and traditional or digital governance. The specific Sustainable Development Goals which can be tackled through intermediary intervention are also indicated.
Originality/value
Intermediaries are often hidden actors in global supply chains and have received limited attention in the academic literature. The conceptual foundation provided in this manuscript serves as the basis for future research opportunities. Three main avenues for further research in this domain are proposed: (1) novel forms of intermediation beyond economic and transactional arrangements; (2) novel forms of digital governance; and (3) translating multi-level collective action into sustainable development outcomes. Research on intermediation driven by sustainable development and digitalization trends can spur empirical advances in sustainable supply chain and operations management with important societal impact.
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Antonio Marín-García, Irene Gil-Saura and Maria-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina
The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, to examine the relationship between the retailer’s innovativeness and sustainability from the customer standpoint. Second, to assess…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, to examine the relationship between the retailer’s innovativeness and sustainability from the customer standpoint. Second, to assess the impact of the retailer’s innovativeness and commitment toward sustainability as perceived by the consumer on store image and store equity.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this objective, a theoretical model is proposed based on the literature that is tested through an empirical study conducted on a sample of 510 customers of three grocery retail formats – i.e. hypermarkets, supermarkets and discount stores.
Findings
The results obtained confirm the hypotheses proposed and, consequently, both innovation and sustainability emerge as key elements in the development of store equity through store image.
Originality/value
This study allows to draw a set of managerial recommendations for food retailers based on the benefits of investing in innovative processes, that boosted by the implementation of innovative solutions, assist in the development of sustainable practices, thus allowing improvements in store image and store brand equity.