Elmira Shahriari, Hamid Abbassi, Ivonne M. Torres, Miguel Ángel Zúñiga and Nourah Alfayez
The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which cultural differences and slogan meaning type affect the role of comprehension in attitude toward the ad (Aad) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which cultural differences and slogan meaning type affect the role of comprehension in attitude toward the ad (Aad) and attitude toward the brand (Abrand) formation.
Design/methodology/approach
In an online experiment, a total of 256 adult participants from the USA (ranged in age from 19 to 26 years old) and 184 participants from France (ranged in age from 18 to 28) were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions (slogan: single meaning vs polysemous) in a between-subjects experimental design. After getting exposed to the ad, participants responded to questions related to their Aad, Abrand, comprehension, uncertainty avoidance and demographics.
Findings
Results from this research demonstrate the moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance and slogan type (single meaning vs polysemous) on the relationship between comprehension and Aad. The authors show that for polysemous (and not single meaning) slogans, comprehension results in more favorable Aad for low uncertainty avoidance individuals than for high uncertainty avoidance individuals. In addition, the authors demonstrate the mediating effect of Aad in the relationship between comprehension and Abrand.
Research limitations/implications
The authors used nationality as a proxy for culture. Future research should include other cultural dimensions in the development of conceptual models and analysis of data. Another limitation is that the authors used a college student sample for this research. A more representative sample should be used in future research to examine cultural differences in interpreting adverting messages. One other limitation concerns the measurement tool the authors used to measure objective versus subjective comprehension in this research. While the theoretical foundations of the two modes of comprehension are clear and robust, improved measurement tools can enhance the validity and reliability of future research. Finally, the authors suggest that future research examine the effect of such variables as figure-ground contrast, figure attractiveness, stimulus repetition, prototypicality, symmetry and semantic or visual priming that may impact the processing of brand slogans.
Practical implications
This study argues that the processing of brand slogans in advertising is impacted by culture. Individuals from different cultures perceive and comprehend brand slogans differently. This study contributes to the research stream that examines the influence of cultural dimensions on the effectiveness of advertising by focusing more precisely on the impact of uncertainty avoidance (one of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions). In the case of single meaning slogans, advertisers might diminish the use of objective comprehension advertising strategies to influence both individuals with high and low uncertainty avoidance. In the case of polysemous slogans, advertisers should consider that consumers with high uncertainty avoidance (vs low uncertainty avoidance) are impacted more by subjective comprehension (vs objective comprehension) when forming Aad and Abrand.
Originality/value
This research contributes meaningfully to the marketing literature by examining previous work on ad slogan processing through subjective vs objective comprehension and extending the analysis by incorporating culture as an important factor.
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Rasoul Shafaei, Hamid Shahriari and Morteza Moradi
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the competitiveness of the Iranian leather value chain (LVC) and compare that with those of nine other countries including China…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the competitiveness of the Iranian leather value chain (LVC) and compare that with those of nine other countries including China, Pakistan, Turkey, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Spain, Italy, Brazil and the USA. The results presented in the paper seek to assist in assessing the competitive performance of the LVC in Iran. In addition, based on Porter's diamond of competitive advantages, the aim is to provide recommendations to improve the competitive performance of the industry.
Design/methodology/approach
An economic method, i.e. revealed comparative advantage (RCA), as a well‐known approach, is used to investigate the competitive performance of LVC in Iran. The LVC products analyzed in this research include hide, skin, leather manufacture, trunks and cases, and footwear. In addition, in order to investigate the factors which affect the low competitive performance, a questionnaire based on Porter's diamond of competitive advantages was designed and completed by researchers and practitioners working in the field of leather industry. Finally the reasons for low competitive performance of the industry are discussed.
Findings
The results reveal that the competitiveness of the Iranian LVC is low, compared with those of some other countries. China and Italy have superior comparative advantages in the period studied. The results also indicate that except one product, Iran has no comparative advantage in LVC industry. In addition, Iran has mainly focused on the upstream sector of LVC whereas China and Italy compete more in the downstream sector which offers more value added products. The results also reveal that among the elements studied, specialized factors, availability of capital, quality of demand and stability of macroeconomics highly influence the competitive performance of LVC in Iran. This is followed by subsequent recommendations on how best to improve the competitive performance of the industry.
Originality/value
The results of the investigation presented in this paper give an insight into the competitiveness of the LVC in Iran compared with nine other countries which play an important role in this industry in the world. The results also confirm that RCA can be used as an effective approach to assess the competitive performance of industries. Furthermore, reommendations provided in this paper assist in improving the competitive performance of the industry. In general, the findings should prove useful for both researchers and practitioners.
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Zeinab Zamani, Ameneh Khadivar, Hamid Padash, Javad Shekarkhah and Morteza Akbari
This chapter recognizes and ranks the factors that impact the adoption of mobile commerce (MC) by users. The results showed that compatibility, perceived usefulness (PU)…
Abstract
This chapter recognizes and ranks the factors that impact the adoption of mobile commerce (MC) by users. The results showed that compatibility, perceived usefulness (PU), perceived risk (PR), mobility, and perceived cost (PC) have a significant effect on the adoption of MC by users. The results of multilayer perceptron (MLP) showed that mobility, among other model variables, had the greatest impact on the adoption of MC, and PC had the lowest effect on the adoption of MC. The comparison of the MLP model with linear regression illustrates that the predictive power of MLP outperforms the linear regression model in predicting MC adoption.
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Kingsley Konadu, Abigail Opoku Mensah, Samuel Koomson, Ernest Mensah Abraham, Edmund Nana Kwame Nkrumah, Joshua Amuzu, Joan-Ark Manu Agyapong, Awo Essah Bempong and Abdulai Munkaila
The purpose of this study is to test the hypotheses proposed by Konadu et al. (2023) for the first time and provide empirical insight on the subject. Corruption concerns affect…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to test the hypotheses proposed by Konadu et al. (2023) for the first time and provide empirical insight on the subject. Corruption concerns affect all economies, but those attempting to avoid foreign grants are especially vulnerable. Stakeholders in these economies have pushed for more honest public sector (PS) workers and better oversight of public funds in an effort to build a more trustworthy and efficient government to improve PS performance. Just as the mechanisms through which employee integrity (EI) influences work performance (WP) have not been proven empirically, neither has the effect of EI on WP in African economies. Also, how purposeful leadership (PL) interacts with EI to boost WP is yet to be empirically examined in the integrity literature.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper surveyed and analysed the responses of 875 workers across the three most corrupt large PS organisations in Ghana using Smart PLS 4. Perceived organisational support and contract fulfilment functioned as control factors influencing job satisfaction (JS, a mediator). Psychological need satisfaction and perceived procedural justice serve as control factors for organisational identification (OI, an additional mediator). Education, tenure, job position, sex and age were used as control variables in WP. Product indicator and variance accounted for (VAF) methods were used to estimate the impacts of moderation and mediation, respectively. A 5% level of significance was determined.
Findings
As hypothesised, this study found that EI and WP had a significantly positive connection (ß = 0.119, p = 0.026), and both JS (VAF = 25.16%) and OI (VAF = 39.59%) partially mediated this connection. Moreover, PL positively moderated the EI–JS (ß = 0.155, p = 0.000) and EI–OI (ß = 0.095, p = 0.000) connections.
Research limitations/implications
This paper affords empirical insight on the EI–WP relationship, how this relationship is mediated and how the EI–JS and EI–OI relationships are amplified. In this context, it sheds light on new ways in which EI and WP in the PS are improved. In addition, this paper provides a roadmap for forthcoming academics to test the hypotheses in diverse PS contexts globally to triangulate the results.
Practical implications
Leadership in PS organisations must maintain a “values-grounded approach” to all parts of human resource (HR) practices, including hiring, performance reviews, leadership enhancement programmes, training and promotions, if they are to attract, develop and retain employees who stand for the sector’s ethics and beliefs.
Social implications
This research gives African nations proof that enhancing EI in the PS is important, and it lays out the many ways in which EI transforms into WP. It also draws attention to the challenges that purposeful leaders may help alleviate and the opportunities that they may present.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the hypotheses put forward in the conceptual research by Konadu et al. (2023) are tested empirically for the first time in this study. It also adds to the empirical literature that already exists on EI, JS, OI, WP and PL in the PS. This contributes to the disciplines of integrity, performance and leadership by enhancing theoretical frameworks and expanding upon existing knowledge.
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Kumar Saurabh, Ridhi Arora, Neelam Rani, Debasisha Mishra and M. Ramkumar
Digital transformation (DT) leverages digital technologies to change current processes and introduce new processes in any organisation’s business model, customer/user experience…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital transformation (DT) leverages digital technologies to change current processes and introduce new processes in any organisation’s business model, customer/user experience and operational processes (DT pillars). Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a significant role in achieving DT. As DT is touching each sphere of humanity, AI led DT is raising many fundamental questions. These questions raise concerns for the systems deployed, how they should behave, what risks they carry, the monitoring and evaluation control we have in hand, etc. These issues call for the need to integrate ethics in AI led DT. The purpose of this study is to develop an “AI led ethical digital transformation framework”.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the literature survey, various existing business ethics decision-making models were synthesised. The authors mapped essential characteristics such as intensity and the individual, organisational and opportunity factors of ethics models with the proposed AI led ethical DT. The DT framework is evaluated using a thematic analysis of 23 expert interviews with relevant AI ethics personas from industry and society. The qualitative data of the interviews and opinion data has been analysed using MAXQDA software.
Findings
The authors have explored how AI can drive the ethical DT framework and have identified the core constituents of developing an AI led ethical DT framework. Backed by established ethical theories, the paper presents how DT pillars are related and sequenced to ethical factors. This research provides the potential to examine theoretically sequenced ethical factors with practical DT pillars.
Originality/value
The study establishes deduced and induced ethical value codes based on thematic analysis to develop guidelines for the pursuit of ethical DT. The authors identify four unique induced themes, namely, corporate social responsibility, perceived value, standard benchmarking and learning willingness. The comprehensive findings of this research, supported by a robust theoretical background, have substantial implications for academic research and corporate applicability. The proposed AI led ethical DT framework is unique and can be used for integrated social, technological and economic ethical research.
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The purpose of this paper is to test the effects of the financial performance of local governments to the level of welfare in 25 city/regency in South Sulawesi during 2009–2014.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test the effects of the financial performance of local governments to the level of welfare in 25 city/regency in South Sulawesi during 2009–2014.
Design/methodology/approach
The financial performance is measured by the rate of local autonomy, the effectiveness of local own-source revenue, budget harmony and budget absorption, while the welfare society measured by the Human Development Index (HDI), unemployment and poverty level.
Findings
The regression analysis showed that the performance of region autonomy proved to increase the HDI over the next year and to reduce the poverty rate in two and three years ahead, however, has no correlation with the unemployment. The effectiveness of local own-source revenue can lower unemployment at two and three years ahead but failed to increase the HDI and to reduce poverty. Harmony of spending also neglected to raise the HDI and to reduce the level of unemployment although it can alleviate poverty. The level of budget absorption can improve HDI and reduce the unemployment at two and three years ahead, but failed to lower poverty. Expenditure harmony and budget absorption failed to moderate the relationship between local autonomy, the effectiveness of local own-source revenue and all measurement of welfare, while the expenditure harmony able to moderate the relationship between the effectiveness of local own-source revenue and HDI.
Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, no previous study has comprehensively studied the effects of level of regionality autonomy and effectivity of local own-source revenue to public welfare, and the moderation effect of Expenditure harmony, budget absorption in relationship between financial performance of local government to public welfare, especially in Indonesia.
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Hamid Asgari, Mohsen Fathi Jegarkandi, XiaoQi Chen and Raazesh Sainudiin
The purpose of this paper is to develop and compare conventional and neural network-based controllers for gas turbines.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and compare conventional and neural network-based controllers for gas turbines.
Design/methodology/approach
Design of two different controllers is considered. These controllers consist of a NARMA-L2 which is an artificial neural network-based nonlinear autoregressive moving average (NARMA) controller with feedback linearization, and a conventional proportional-integrator-derivative (PID) controller for a low-power aero gas turbine. They are briefly described and their parameters are adjusted and tuned in Simulink-MATLAB environment according to the requirement of the gas turbine system and the control objectives. For this purpose, Simulink and neural network-based modelling is used. Performances of the controllers are explored and compared on the base of design criteria and performance indices.
Findings
It is shown that NARMA-L2, as a neural network-based controller, has a superior performance to PID controller.
Practical implications
This study aims at using artificial intelligence in gas turbine control systems.
Originality/value
This paper provides a novel methodology for control of gas turbines.
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Emmanuel Twumasi Ampofo and Osman M. Karatepe
This paper aims to examine the impacts of links, fit and sacrifice as the sub-dimensions of on-the-job embeddedness (JE) on turnover intentions through the mediating roles of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the impacts of links, fit and sacrifice as the sub-dimensions of on-the-job embeddedness (JE) on turnover intentions through the mediating roles of affective organizational commitment (AOC) and work engagement (WENG) and explore AOC and WENG as the two mediators linking on-the-JE to quitting intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collected from small-sized hotels in three waves in Ghana were used to assess the aforesaid relationships. The hypothesized relationships were tested using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings reveal that on-the-JE is negatively related to turnover intentions. Additionally, the relationship between on-the-JE and turnover intentions is partly mediated by AOC and WENG. The findings further demonstrate that AOC and WENG partly mediate the impact of links on turnover intentions.
Practical implications
Management of hotels should enhance formal and informal connections between employees and their coworkers and supervisors through socialization tactics. Establishing and maintaining an environment that fosters social support would increase employees’ sense of belongingness and their proclivity to remain with the organization.
Originality/value
Little is known about the effects of the sub-dimensions of on-the-JE on work-related consequences in the hospitality and tourism literature. The literature is also devoid of evidence concerning affective variables as the potential mediators relating the sub-dimensions of on-the JE to turnover intentions. The study sets out to fill in these gaps.
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Fatemeh Mollaamin and Majid Monajjemi
This study aims to investigate the potential of the decorated boron nitride nanocage (BNNc) with transition metals for capturing carbon monoxide (CO) as a toxic gas in the air.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the potential of the decorated boron nitride nanocage (BNNc) with transition metals for capturing carbon monoxide (CO) as a toxic gas in the air.
Design/methodology/approach
BNNc was modeled in the presence of doping atoms of titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) which can increase the gas sensing ability of BNNc. In this research, the calculations have been accomplished by CAM–B3LYP–D3/EPR–3, LANL2DZ level of theory. The trapping of CO molecules by (Ti, V, Cr, Co, Cu, Zn)–BNNc has been successfully incorporated because of binding formation consisting of C → Ti, C → V, C → Cr, C → Co, C → Cu, C → Zn.
Findings
Nuclear quadrupole resonance data has indicated that Cu-doped or Co-doped on pristine BNNc has high fluctuations between Bader charge versus electric potential, which can be appropriate options with the highest tendency for electron accepting in the gas adsorption process. Furthermore, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy has explored that the yield of electron accepting for doping atoms on the (Ti, V, Cr, Co, Cu, Zn)–BNNc in CO molecules adsorption can be ordered as follows: Cu > Co >> Cr > Zn ˜ V> Ti that exhibits the strength of the covalent bond between Ti, V, Cr, Co, Cu, Zn and CO. In fact, the adsorption of CO gas molecules can introduce spin polarization on the (Ti, V, Cr, Co, Cu, Zn)–BNNc which specifies that these surfaces may be used as magnetic-scavenging surface as a gas detector. Gibbs free energy based on IR spectroscopy for adsorption of CO molecules adsorption on the (Ti, V, Cr, Co, Cu, Zn)–BNNc have exhibited that for a given number of carbon donor sites in CO, the stabilities of complexes owing to doping atoms of Ti, V, Cr, Co, Cu, Zn can be considered as: CO →Cu–BNNc >> CO → Co–BNNc > CO → Cr–BNNc > CO → V–BNNc > CO → Zn–BNNc > CO → Ti–BNNc.
Originality/value
This study by using materials modeling approaches and decorating of nanomaterials with transition metals is supposed to introduce new efficient nanosensors in applications for selective sensing of carbon monoxide.
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Ayham A.M. Jaaron, Mudaser Javaid and R.L. Fernando Garcia
This paper analyses the role of green human resources management (GHRM) practices on the application of logistics social responsibility (LSR) practices and examines the moderating…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyses the role of green human resources management (GHRM) practices on the application of logistics social responsibility (LSR) practices and examines the moderating effect of big data analytics (BDA) utilisation levels within these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on quantitative research methodology using survey data from 404 managers in the logistics service providers (LSPs) industry in the Philippines, PLS-SEM technique was used to test hypotheses formulated in this research.
Findings
Empirical results achieved suggest that GHRM practices have a significant positive impact on LSR. Among all individual GHRM practices, green training and development did not have any influence on LSR. While the results also revealed that BDA assimilation acts as a moderator of the relationship between GHRM and LSR, no support was found for the moderation effect of BDA acceptance or adoption on this relationship.
Originality/value
The study fills a gap in the logistics literature by introducing dynamic capabilities theory to the nexus between GHRM and SLR for the first time, which reveals previously unknown answers on effects of GHRM practices on LSR. The study also introduces BDA assimilation as an important moderator that can strengthen positive impact of GHRM on LSR.