Josep Llach, Maria Del Mar Alonso-Almeida, Jordi Martí and Alfredo Rocafort
The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to test the role of the managerial team’s commitment to quality deployment, quality performance and firm performance; second, to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to test the role of the managerial team’s commitment to quality deployment, quality performance and firm performance; second, to shed light on the effects of a certified quality management system on this chain; and third, to analyze the effects of changes in this chain on different management team attitudes, namely, innovativeness.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a survey conducted in a sample of 370 hotels from the region of Madrid (Spain), the model and hypotheses were validated using structural equation modeling analysis.
Findings
The results reveal the importance of a commitment to quality for quality deployment. In addition, quality deployment has a strong impact on operations and employee and customer performance. However, only impacts derived from customers’ perceptions of service quality affect firm performance. In addition, a contextual analysis was performed to verify whether various contextual factors (certification in a quality management standard and the innovative attitude of the management team) could modify the previously obtained results for the full sample.
Practical implications
The management team should understand that its attitude toward quality management could affect the company’s overall performance. On the one hand, the team should be aware that the cost of implementing quality practices could be a burden for employees in the performance of their daily activities. On the other hand, there is a positive relationship between involvement in addressing customers’ requirements and financial performance. Therefore, a balance between the efforts to maintain a certain level of quality by the firm’s employees and the service quality offered to the customers is crucial to achieving better financial performance.
Originality/value
The impact of the implementation of quality management practices on performance has been widely studied; however, the role of intangible factors has not been commonly discussed in service industries in general and even less so in the hospitality sector. This paper analyses the influence of the quality management team’s attitudes toward innovativeness and the implementation of a quality management standard.
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Gemma Tejedor, Martí Rosas-Casals and Jordi Segalas
This paper aims to identify patterns and trends taking place in engineering education in sustainability, through analyzing the evolution of research conducted in relevant…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify patterns and trends taking place in engineering education in sustainability, through analyzing the evolution of research conducted in relevant publications in the field of engineering education for sustainability in the past decades.
Design/methodology/approach
First, a bibliometric approach has been applied, adopting a co-word analysis based on co-occurrence of the keywords (300 items) in articles from three indexed journals related to engineering, education or sustainability. The selection of the articles has been based on the appearance of the previous three terms in the topic and title fields of the journal, where journal scope (based in the categories of the InCites Journal Citation Reports) covered at least two topics, and the third topic was applied in the search, as follows: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education – Scope of the journal: sustainability and education, Keyword search: engineering (20 papers); Journal of Cleaner Production – Scope of the journal: sustainability and engineering, Keyword search: education (122 papers); International Journal of Engineering Education – Scope of the journal: engineering and education, Keyword search: sustainability (29 papers); Second, to identify topological patterns and their evolution, a structural and temporal analysis of the network of keywords and a categorization of the keywords in thematic clusters (named categories) have been performed.
Findings
The most relevant categories in terms of corresponding number of keywords, even though these have decreased in recent years, are those related with institutional and policy aspects to embedding or applying sustainability in higher education. At the same time, categories related to the professional development of faculty members, implementation and use of learning strategies (i.e. real-world learning experiences, educational innovative initiatives/tools/techniques) and cross-boundary schemes (i.e. transdisciplinarity, ethics, networking, etc.) increase their relevance in the past five years, signaling some of the challenging fields of interest in engineering higher education in sustainability in the near future.
Practical implications
Knowledge of the trends in devising sustainability education in engineering allows for designing curricular schemes and learning strategies to achieve competences, which are key factors for the change toward sustainability.
Originality/value
This research has a strong strategic value, as it indicates the focus of future research efforts and networking on some of the topics of greatest concern in engineering higher education for sustainability.
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Carolina Aldao, Dani Blasco and Manel Poch Espallargas
This research aims at arriving at a broad scope of the lessons learnt after two years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak by analysing the catalyst and…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims at arriving at a broad scope of the lessons learnt after two years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak by analysing the catalyst and inhibiting factors within three aspects of the tourism sector: destination crisis management, tourist behaviour and tourism industry trends.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology of this paper involves semi-structured interviews with high-ranking European travel agents as the agents represent the intermediates between the tourism offer and demand.
Findings
Data obtained from travel agents disclosed the factors that catalysed and inhibited the destination, the behaviour of tourists and the tourism industry trends. By contrasting data with previous literature, constructing an overview of the positive and negative outcomes of the pandemic in the tourism sector is possible.
Practical implications
Governments, destination marketing and management organisations and tourism and hospitality organisations could learn from the lessons of COVID-19 outbreak to cope better with future disruptive events affecting the tourism industry.
Originality/value
The paper is novel as it is the first overview that attempts to synthesise the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in the tourism sector by analysing tourism sector's three dimensions: the destination, the tourists and the industry.
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Pablo Aránguiz Mesías, Guillermo Palau Salvador and Jordi Peris-Blanes
This paper aims to explore how young students experience the contribution of a pedagogical assemblage based on design thinking (DT) while contributing to the transition to a more…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how young students experience the contribution of a pedagogical assemblage based on design thinking (DT) while contributing to the transition to a more just and sustainable university.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative research considers the case of two pedagogical experiences developed at Universitat Politècnica de Valencià, Spain. In both experiences, a methodological proposal that includes practices of care, just transitions and DT was implemented. The data obtained through in-depth interviews, surveys and digital whiteboard labels was analyzed under the lens of three relational categories in the context of sustainability.
Findings
Learnings are acquired through five categories: place-based learning, prior learning, embodied learning, collaborative teamwork and intersectionality. The research shows how the subjective knowledge of young students positions them as co-designers and leaders of a University that drives a more just and sustainable transition.
Originality/value
The originality of the paper lies in the shift of DT from a human-based approach to a justice-oriented relational approach.
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Candace Jones and Silviya Svejenova
City identity is a distinct form of collective identity based on the perceived uniqueness and meanings of place, rather than group category and membership. A city’s identity is…
Abstract
City identity is a distinct form of collective identity based on the perceived uniqueness and meanings of place, rather than group category and membership. A city’s identity is constructed over time through architecture, which involves three sign systems – material, visual, and rhetorical – and multiple institutional actors to communicate the city’s distinctiveness and identity. We compare Barcelona and Boston to examine the identity and meaning created and communicated by different groups of professionals, such as architects, city planners, international guide book writers, and local cultural critics, who perform the semiotic work of constructing city identity.
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Jordi Pujadas-Hostench, Ramon Palau-Saumell, Santiago Forgas-Coll and Javier Sánchez-García
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the intention to purchase products through clothing brands’ social network sites (SNS) based on the theory of planned behavior and uses…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the intention to purchase products through clothing brands’ social network sites (SNS) based on the theory of planned behavior and uses and gratifications theory (U&G), and the moderating effects of self-image congruity (SIC).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 1,003 followers of their favorite clothing brands’ SNS. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and multi-group SEM analysis. The models were estimated from the matrices of variances and covariances by the maximum likelihood procedure using EQS 6.1.
Findings
The results highlight the positive impact of U&G on attitude, SNS intentions and SNS use, and U&G, SNS intentions and SNS use were seen to be the main antecedents predicting purchase intentions. Furthermore, SIC was found to have moderating effects between SNS attitude and SNS intentions and between SNS intentions and SNS use.
Practical implications
This research can help clothing brands understand the need to generate brand beliefs, and to develop contents or events to help accomplish the transition from use to purchase.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the literature by providing a better understanding of intention to use and purchase intention through clothing brands’ SNS pages.
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During these past years, contemporary urban entertainment economy has been increasingly driven by social and spatial inequality and segmentation of consumer markets. This dominant…
Abstract
During these past years, contemporary urban entertainment economy has been increasingly driven by social and spatial inequality and segmentation of consumer markets. This dominant mode of production has involved a displacement of older modes of working-class nightlife. However, social resistances mainly played by suburban young working classes are being especially (re)produced during their nighttime leisure activities. In the case of Barcelona (Catalonia), youth policies carried out by local administration during these past three decades have intended to reinforce social sanitation through the re-catalanization of its suburbs and by marginalizing social and cultural practices of the young suburban working classes. Focusing on the Catalan capital, this chapter explores how a suburban otherness is mainly built up through the (re)production of highly politicized suburban nightscapes, which are largely related to the claiming of a Spanished ‘suburban’ identity, clashing with the Catalan official one. This chapter ends up opening a debate about the relationship of the re-bordering of postcrisis urban inequalities, the collapse of social cohesion in suburbs, and the emergence of new topographies of urban and suburban power in Barcelona.
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Oriol Anguera-Torrell, Jordi Arcos-Pumarola, Aurélie Cerdan Schwitzguébel and Laia Encinar-Prat
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the disruption potential on the daily life of Barcelona’s residents of HolaPlace, a new peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace for terraces and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the disruption potential on the daily life of Barcelona’s residents of HolaPlace, a new peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace for terraces and rooftops. Specifically, it describes its listings’ characteristics and examines their geographical overlapping with signs of tourism-related disruption on residents’ quality of life.
Design/methodology/approach
Available data of the listings in this P2P platform has been scraped in November 2019. This data has been combined with two other sources of information that provide information on the tourism intensity in the different neighbourhoods of the city. The obtained information has been examined using quantitative and qualitative techniques.
Findings
P2P rooftops and terraces tend to be located in the same neighbourhoods that were already experiencing a high concentration of tourism activity. Moreover, the identified characteristics of the listings suggest that the rental of these terraces and rooftops might impact on the daily life of the residents.
Research limitations/implications
This study has only examined the offer of P2P terraces and rooftops in Barcelona. Further studies should also take into account how this business model affects other cities, and how it impacts on residents.
Social implications
The conducted analysis highlights the importance of a proactive regulation of this new P2P phenomenon that anticipates the potential socials costs on the daily life of residents.
Originality/value
The rental of terraces and rooftops in a P2P fashion is a novel phenomenon and, consequently, it has not been previously studied from an academic point of view.
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Simona Giorgi, Margaret E. Guider and Jean M. Bartunek
We discuss a recent effort of institutional resistance in the context of the 2008–2011 Apostolic Visitation of U.S. women religious motivated by Vatican concerns about perceived…
Abstract
We discuss a recent effort of institutional resistance in the context of the 2008–2011 Apostolic Visitation of U.S. women religious motivated by Vatican concerns about perceived secularism and potential lack of fidelity among Catholic sisters. We examined the process of and women’s responses to the Visitation to shed light on the institutional work associated with productive resistance and the role of identity and emotions in transforming institutions.
At a time when the male leadership can be blamed for leading the church to a state of crisis – a time when the voices of women are needed more than ever – even the modest roles accorded to female clerics have come under attack. The specific reasons for the investigation are unclear (or, more probably, not public), but the suspicion, clearly, can be put in the crassest terms: too many American nuns have gone off the reservation.
– Lisa Miller, Female Troubles, Newsweek, May 27, 2010
At a time when the male leadership can be blamed for leading the church to a state of crisis – a time when the voices of women are needed more than ever – even the modest roles accorded to female clerics have come under attack. The specific reasons for the investigation are unclear (or, more probably, not public), but the suspicion, clearly, can be put in the crassest terms: too many American nuns have gone off the reservation.
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Nadima Hassan, Jordi Trullen and Mireia Valverde
HRM decentralization and devolution have been highlighted as key HRM processes in organizations’ quest for increased flexibility. Although they have been extensively studied in…
Abstract
Purpose
HRM decentralization and devolution have been highlighted as key HRM processes in organizations’ quest for increased flexibility. Although they have been extensively studied in the MNC and International HRM literature, they have mainly been examined on a separate basis, and their definition and operationalization have often been confused. Thus, we first clarify the difference between the two concepts by refining the definitions by Hoogendoorn and Brewster (1992), and then empirically examine how they are related.
Design/methodology/approach
The relationship between HRM decentralization and devolution is examined by means of a survey in a large multi-country sample of multi-unit organizations.
Findings
Regarding our clarification objective, we contend that devolution has to do with who takes responsibilities for HRM (i.e. line managers or HRM professionals) while decentralization refers to where HRM responsibilities are allocated (i.e. headquarters or increasingly local units). Regarding the relationship between the two concepts, the results show that higher levels of HRM decentralization are related to higher levels of devolution, but this association is attenuated in organizations with more powerful HRM departments.
Originality/value
The study contributes to theory and practice by disentangling, at the conceptual, operational, empirical and practical levels, two different but related HRM decisions (how much to devolve and how much to decentralize HRM) that organizations must make to efficiently cope with the characteristics of their own structure and competitive environment. It highlights the role of the relative power of HRM departments in how HRM responsibilities are ultimately distributed across the organization.