Jordan M. Barker and Rebekah I. Brau
Pricing the shipping surcharge is a major strategic decision for online retailers, and free shipping promotions are becoming more common among online retailers. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
Pricing the shipping surcharge is a major strategic decision for online retailers, and free shipping promotions are becoming more common among online retailers. The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of last mile pricing strategies on customer attraction and retention in the hypercompetitive online retailing industry. Specifically, this paper investigates the effect of partitioning the shipping surcharge on consumer logistics service quality (LSQ) perceptions and, in turn, purchase behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing signaling theory and expectation–disconfirmation theory, hypotheses are derived for two specific points in an online purchase scenario: prepurchase and following a logistics disruption. The hypotheses are tested using a scenario-based experiment with manipulations for the level of shipping surcharge partitioning and the presence of a logistics disruption.
Findings
The results suggest that partitioned shipping surcharges influence prepurchase expectations of LSQ satisfaction and amplify the negative effects of logistics disruptions. This, in turn, drives the purchase and repurchase intentions.
Practical implications
The findings inform online retailers of the perceptual and behavioral effects of last mile pricing strategies. Specifically, this research demonstrates how and under what conditioning partitioning the shipping surcharge can influence the attraction and retention of online customers.
Originality/value
This study integrates pricing and LSQ research to assess the black box of consumer purchase behavior. This is one of the first studies to empirically contrast the effects of last mile pricing strategies on consumer expectations and perceptions of LSQ.
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Majd Al‐Homoud, Salem Al‐Oun and Al‐Mutasem Al‐Hindawi
The housing sector in Jordan suffers from a lack of balance between supply and demand, in general, and from the inability to meet the demands of low‐income households, in…
Abstract
Purpose
The housing sector in Jordan suffers from a lack of balance between supply and demand, in general, and from the inability to meet the demands of low‐income households, in specific. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potentials and obstacles facing low‐income housing supply. It is shown that there is undersupply in low‐income housing.
Design/methodology/approach
The attributes of the supply–demand model are explored using qualitative and quantitative research methods. The first research step was archival. Findings indicated a presence of major obstacles facing developers and hindering them from supplying low‐income housing. The second research step included face‐to‐face interviews with the local developers in three major cities: Amman, Irbid and Zarqa. They were interviewed using a semi‐structured and open‐ended questionnaire.
Findings
Results indicated that most plausible causality of undersupply of low‐income housing is due to macro‐environment attributes: controllable – management (lack of human resources and capacity building), real estate (lack of marketing skills and sales advertising), technology and construction industry (inaccessible appropriate building technology and affordable construction), land ownership and site selection (limited to the developers geographical area); and uncontrollable – financing (small capital operation and difficulties in bank loans and lending), government policies (lack of incentives, tax exemptions, and rigid laws and regulations), and social and cultural (social needs requires certain spatial arrangements and rejection of borrowing from financial institutions for religious reasons).
Practical implications
The study recommends increasing supply of low‐income housing can be achieved by various means and not by single attribute. Attributes affecting this price reduction and increase homeownership include implementing real estate principles and processes, co‐operation of all key‐players through various forms of public/private partnership, facilitating procedures in commercial banks, increasing the number of units that share services and infrastructure, constructing multi‐use housing projects, defining gradual revenue rates for services and limiting revenue rates for the housing units, developing local construction material, using simple shapes and configurations, and reducing non‐used space like the formal reception and dining areas despite their cultural value.
Research limitations/implications
Statistical inferences will be needed in a future study to complement the present study's investigation of low‐income housing production in Jordan.
Originality/value
As the first of its kind, the research help to identify policy implications for different partners (housing developers, local planning authorities, national housing and planning authorities and government policy makers) in order to increase homeownership for low‐income groups.
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The study critically evaluates the theory of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) implementation in an attempt to provide directions for future research. Using the…
Abstract
The study critically evaluates the theory of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) implementation in an attempt to provide directions for future research. Using the extensive structured review of literature using the Scopus database tool, the study reviewed 79 articles, and in particular the topic-related 57 articles were analysed. Nine journals contribute to 51% of articles (29 of 57 articles). In particular, the three journals published 15 articles: Critical Perspectives on Accounting (7), Accounting, Organizations and Society (4), and Journal of Applied Accounting Research (4). In total, 83% (47 of 57) of the articles were published 2009–2018. A total of 1,168 citations were found from 45 articles since 12 articles were without citations. The highest cited authors were Ball (2006) – 410 citations, Kothari, Ramanna, and Skinner (2010) – 135 citations, and Napier (1989) – 85 citations. In particular, five theories have been used widely: institutional theory (13), accounting theory (6), agency theory (3), positive accounting theory (3), and process theory (2). Future studies’ focus could be on theory implications in IFRS adoption/implementation studies in a country or a group of countries’ experience. Future studies could also focus on various theories rather depending on a single theory (i.e. institutional theory).
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Ala’a Azzam and Salem Alhababsah
This study aims to examine whether the age and tenure of the chair of the board of directors are related to research and development (R&D) investment in China.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine whether the age and tenure of the chair of the board of directors are related to research and development (R&D) investment in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses A-share manufacturing firms that traded on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchange between 2009 and 2018. This study uses OLS regressions, controls for self-selection bias, and uses an instrumental variable to alleviate the concern of endogeneity.
Findings
This study finds that chair tenure has a negative relationship with R&D investment. This study does not find a significant relationship between chair age and R&D investment.
Originality/value
This study contributes to corporate governance and strategic management literature by highlighting chair tenure as a new factor affecting R&D investments. It also adds a significant contribution to the limited literature on the chair’s role in strategic decisions. Moreover, companies that are eager to strengthen corporate governance and maintain sustained innovation may reconsider the chair tenure. Given that many proposals for board governance reform explicitly stress the importance of limiting board tenure, this study contributes to policymakers by providing evidence in support of these proposals.
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Despite the recognition of the importance of leaders for the formation and ongoing success of social and political movements, the study of leadership in terrorist groups remains…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the recognition of the importance of leaders for the formation and ongoing success of social and political movements, the study of leadership in terrorist groups remains underdeveloped. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to stimulate additional research into terrorist leadership in three main ways: by providing a broad overview of the theoretical perspectives that scholars have used to examine terrorist leadership, by critically reviewing the current state of the academic literature on terrorist leadership, and by presenting various ways in which future research on terrorist leadership can be improved.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes a conceptual and critical approach to reviewing the scholarly literature on terrorist leadership, and draws upon the author’s expertise with the wider multidisciplinary literature on leadership to make methodological and conceptual recommendations to improve related future research.
Findings
There is a paucity of empirical and theoretical research devoted to understanding important social and strategic aspects of terrorist leadership, and existing scholarly research is largely conducted in isolation with differing methodological and epistemological starting points. This has hampered efforts to measure, operationalize, and understand key concepts involving leadership in terrorist groups.
Practical implications
This paper provides several methodological and conceptual recommendations by which future research on terrorist leadership can be improved from insights taken from the wider scholarly literature on leadership. By virtue of being published in a criminology journal, this paper helps disseminate and expose key concepts in the study of terrorism to related disciplines.
Originality/value
This paper provides a general overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the study of terrorist leadership to scholars and students interested in the topic. It provides a foundational discussion of how the current literature on terrorist conceives of and utilizes the concept of leadership. It also provides methodological and conceptual recommendations to improve future research on terrorist leadership.
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Maisam Abdelfattah and Modar Abdullatif
This study explores the experiences of Jordanian entrepreneurs in using traditional and technological methods to finance their firms and the factors affecting their choices of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the experiences of Jordanian entrepreneurs in using traditional and technological methods to finance their firms and the factors affecting their choices of financing methods.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers applied a qualitative approach, conducting 24 semi-structured interviews with Jordanian entrepreneurs who have experience with traditional or technological financing methods.
Findings
Users of technological financing methods preferred them given the ease of obtaining the fund and the opportunity to test the project’s viability, while users of traditional methods preferred them due to clear goals and regular meetings with the investors, and benefiting from the investor’s mentoring and networks. However, traditional methods were seen as needing more time, requiring high costs and facing pressure from investors for quick results, while technological methods were seen as requiring dealing with too many individuals. Users of both types of methods were critical of the current regulations regarding entrepreneurial firms in Jordan.
Originality/value
This study contributes to our knowledge by exploring preferences of entrepreneurs and problems facing them in funding their firms in the emerging economy context of Jordan. Findings of this study can, to some extent, be extended to similar emerging economies and assist in creating a better environment for entrepreneurship in these countries.
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Adel Almasarwah, Wasfi Alrawabdeh, Walid Masadeh and Munther Al-Nimer
The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between earnings quality, Audit Committees and the Board of companies located in Jordan through the lens of enhancing corporate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between earnings quality, Audit Committees and the Board of companies located in Jordan through the lens of enhancing corporate governance.
Design/methodology/approach
The real earnings management (REM) and accruals earnings management models were notably used within the panel data robust regression analysis approach; these were used against certain Audit Committee characteristics (i.e. meeting frequency, amount of Board and Committee participants [both internal and external], size) and Board of Directors.
Findings
The former characteristics were found to have a positive relationship with REM, while the latter yielded mixed results: while there was no significant identifiable relationship between Board outsiders and REM, there was a positive relationship identified between Board meetings, Board insiders and Board size and REM. In regard to this study’s limitations, the qualitative data gathered for the Board of Directors through the lens of corporate governance enhancement should have been documented with more detail; furthermore, the study was limited to the study of just one nation.
Research limitations/implications
The data is limited to only a single country. More explanation for Board of Directors need qualitative understandings into corporate governance improvement. The control variables are essentially partial in a developing market context.
Practical implications
The different corporate governance code and guidelines improvements have varied influence on earnings quality. As predictable, boards of directors most effect on earnings quality. Improvements have included most modification to audit committees but through them slight measured effect on earnings quality.
Social implications
Jordan’s corporate governance improvements expected organised corporate governance practices generally in place amongst its boards, and though invoking considerable modification to audit committees, eventually included slight modification to earnings quality. However, both improved earnings quality.
Originality/value
This particular research appears to be the first to consider both Audit Committee and Board of Directors characteristics in one model; indeed, in this vein, this research is also the first to explore the corporate governance enhancements that initially stemmed from there being zero code or guideline regarding its use, despite it becoming required recently. Hence, the authors can say this study has high originality.
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Wayne A. Hochwarter, Ilias Kapoutsis, Samantha L. Jordan, Abdul Karim Khan and Mayowa Babalola
Persistent change has placed considerable pressure on organizations to keep up or fade into obscurity. Firms that remain viable, or even thrive, are staffed with decision-makers…
Abstract
Persistent change has placed considerable pressure on organizations to keep up or fade into obscurity. Firms that remain viable, or even thrive, are staffed with decision-makers who capably steer organizations toward opportunities and away from threats. Accordingly, leadership development has never been more critical. In this chapter, the authors propose that leader development is an inherently dyadic process initiated to communicate formal and informal expectations. The authors focus on the informal component, in the form of organizational politics, as an element of leadership that is critical to employee and company success. The authors advocate that superiors represent the most salient information source for leader development, especially as it relates to political dynamics embedded in work systems. The authors discuss research associated with our conceptualization of dyadic political leader development (DPLD). Specifically, the authors develop DPLD by exploring its conceptual underpinnings as they relate to sensemaking, identity, and social learning theories. Once established, the authors provide a refined discussion of the construct, illustrating its scholarly mechanisms that better explain leader development processes and outcomes. The authors then expand research in the areas of political skill, political will, political knowledge, and political phronesis by embedding our conceptualization of DPLD into a political leadership model. The authors conclude by discussing methodological issues and avenues of future research stemming from the development of DPLD.
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Serge Svizzero and Clement A. Tisdell
Possible reasons for using kites to kill gazelles are comprehensively reviewed in this article. Even though they are now well inventoried and documented, desert kites are still…
Abstract
Possible reasons for using kites to kill gazelles are comprehensively reviewed in this article. Even though they are now well inventoried and documented, desert kites are still not well understood, as exemplified by the recurrent controversies about their function and dating. According to the dominant view, kites were hunting structures used to drive and to mass kill large herds of wild ungulates, particularly gazelles. Although kites were intensively used during the Early Bronze Age, some of them could have been built and used before that. Beyond these issues, the cultural and socioeconomic aspects of the kites phenomenon are even less understood, and therefore, we focus on changing reasons for the long-lasting use of kites as hunting devices. We contend that the reasons why they were used during the period of utilization for hunting gazelles changed, in most cases, in response to socioeconomic development. It is hypothesized, for example, that, as a result of urban development, kites may have been increasingly (but not exclusively) used to kill gazelles to trade their products with urban communities and farmers, even though they had other uses as well which are also considered. The main hypothesis presented in this article enables diverse opinions about the types of uses and reasons for utilizing desert kites to be reconciled, including in particular varied reasons given in the literature about why they were used for killing gazelles.
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Naser Khdour, Ra'ed Masa'deh and Atef Al-Raoush
This study aims to assess the impact of organizational storytelling on organizational performance by undertaking telecommunication companies located in the Middle Eastern nation…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the impact of organizational storytelling on organizational performance by undertaking telecommunication companies located in the Middle Eastern nation of Jordan.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative design has been adopted to identify the impact of organizational storytelling on organizational performance, recruiting 460 employees at managerial levels from three telecom companies (Umniah, Zain and Orange). A step-wise regression analysis has been applied to analyze the data collected using a close-ended structured questionnaire.
Findings
A total of 284 male and 176 female employees took part in the study. The study has found a positive and significant impact of organizational learning, change management, corporate culture, training and development and leadership and indicated that these determinants positively related to organizational performance. Findings showed a positive and significant impact of organizational storytelling on organizational performance based on its components.
Practical implications
This study has contributed to identifying the impact of organizational storytelling on organizational performance in the telecommunication sector in Jordan.
Originality/value
This study is among the few to analyses the impact of organizational storytelling based on training and development, change management, corporate culture, organizational learning and development and leadership on the organizational performance of telecom companies in Jordan.