Kim O'Mahony and Thomas N. Garavan
This paper aims to report and analyse the lessons learned from a case study on the implementation of a quality management system within an IT Division in a higher education (HE…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report and analyse the lessons learned from a case study on the implementation of a quality management system within an IT Division in a higher education (HE) organisation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a review of the relevant literatures and the use of primary sources such as document analysis, participant observation and interviews to develop a case study that describes and evaluates the implementation process.
Findings
The case study identifies four factors central to the effective implementation of the quality management system within a Division of a HE institution: senior leadership and sponsorship; stakeholder engagement; the management of culture change; and implementing quality processes.
Practical implications
The case study reveals that the implementation of quality management systems requires sustained effort, continuous leadership, and the long term commitment of resources and systematic auditing of performance and is best done on an incremental basis.
Originality/value
The paper is based on a single organisation case study, and utilises a variety of data collection methods to generate findings. The study findings illustrate that HE institutions may achieve greater success in implementing quality management systems if they focus on a particular division rather than an organisation‐wide approach.
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Seong-Soo Cha, Cheol Park and Xiaowu Wang
IThis study aims to investigate the effects of the consumption motivations of restaurant customers on their perception of the importance of experiential and functional restaurant…
Abstract
Purpose
IThis study aims to investigate the effects of the consumption motivations of restaurant customers on their perception of the importance of experiential and functional restaurant attributes.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 330 questionnaires were issued in China (168) and Korea (162). The resulting data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 to verify the reliability and validity of the measured variables. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses of the study.
Findings
The results showed that customers with hedonic consumption motivation were more sensitive to the experiential attributes than to the functional attributes of a restaurant. In addition, those customers with utilitarian consumption motivation were more influenced by functional attributes than by experiential attributes. However, these relationships differed between China and Korea. In China, the consumers’ hedonic motivation had a stronger relationship with functional restaurant attributes, which reflects a culture that emphasizes pragmatism.
Originality/value
This study analyzed the relationship between the motives to eat at a restaurant and the evaluation of restaurant attributes and how this differed between China and Korea, while suggesting practical implications.
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Karl-Emanuel Dionne and Paul Carlile
Innovation challenges are increasingly complex, cutting across distributed actors from different disciplines, organizations, and fields. Solving such challenges requires creating…
Abstract
Innovation challenges are increasingly complex, cutting across distributed actors from different disciplines, organizations, and fields. Solving such challenges requires creating the capacities of opening up for innovation to access and develop a greater amount and variety of knowledge and resources. Perspectives on open source, open innovation, and interorganizational collaboration have explored such capacities, but from different origins and scopes of analysis. Our practice-based integrative framework of “opening innovation” helps highlight these differences and connect their relative strengths. Through a critical literature review paired with an analysis of different empirical cases from Hacking Health, a non-profit organization helping drive digital health innovation, the authors reveal the user-centric, firm-centric, and field-centric approaches to opening innovation that progressively connect a greater variety of actors and resources. The authors show how specific new relational practices they produce address the new relational dynamics these connections bring to accumulate more resources for innovation to keep progressing.
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Linchi Kwok, Karen L. Xie and Tori Richards
The purposes of this study are to synthesize the current research findings reported in major hospitality and tourism journals and to discuss the knowledge gaps where additional…
Abstract
Purpose
The purposes of this study are to synthesize the current research findings reported in major hospitality and tourism journals and to discuss the knowledge gaps where additional research endeavors are needed.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review approach was adopted to analyze 67 research articles about online reviews that were published between January 2000 and July 2015 in seven major hospitality and tourism journals.
Findings
This study presents a thematic framework of online review research, which was advanced by integrating the interactions among quantitative evaluation features, verbal evaluation features, reputation features and social features of online reviews with important outcomes of consumer decision-making and business performance. The thematic framework helps researchers identify the areas in extant hospitality literature of online reviews and point out possible directions for future studies.
Research limitations/implications
The systematic review approach has a qualitative nature, where relevant literature was interpreted based on the authors’ domain knowledge and expertise.
Practical implications
Practitioners can gain a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic relationships among the key influential factors in online reviews, as presented in the thematic framework of online review research. Accordingly, managers will be able to develop effective strategies to leverage the positive impacts of online reviews to the business outcomes.
Originality/value
This systematic review synthesizes the findings reported in most recent publications (January 2000-July 2015; also including “Online First” articles) in seven major hospitality and tourism journals and develops an integrated research framework, anchoring on four meta-research questions and showing the dynamic relationships among the key players/factors/themes in online review research. This framework provides a visual diagram to practitioners for a better understanding of the relevant literature and assists researchers in developing new research questions for future studies.
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Tracy Harkison, Jill Poulston and Jung‐Hee Ginny Kim
This paper seeks to report on research investigating students' and industry's expectations and assumptions of the desired attributes of hospitality employees.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to report on research investigating students' and industry's expectations and assumptions of the desired attributes of hospitality employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Views on a range of questions about the value of a hospitality degree are analysed, based on a survey of 74 hospitality managers and 137 students.
Findings
The divergence in views between students and industry was significant. Students thought knowledge and skills were important for new employees, but industry was far more interested in personality. To get promoted, students thought they would have to become good communicators, but industry was more interested in initiative. Industry's views suggest that managers value attitudinal attributes over skills, and are therefore prepared to help employees gain the skills needed for their roles.
Research limitations/implications
There were limited responses from hotel general managers (GMs). Their views on what graduates need to accomplish to reach the position of GM would have added value to this study, so further research focusing on GMs' views is recommended.
Originality/value
This paper analyses the beliefs of hospitality students and industry regarding the desired attributes of hospitality employees. Their expectations and assumptions are significantly different, and the gap is a cause for concern for educators and industry to address.
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Henrich R. Greve and Seo Yeon Song
Industry platforms can alter relations among exchange partners in such a way that the industry structure is changed. The focus of much industry platform research has been on how…
Abstract
Industry platforms can alter relations among exchange partners in such a way that the industry structure is changed. The focus of much industry platform research has been on how platform creation and leadership offers advantages to the most central firms, but platforms can also be advantageous for small specialist firms that compete with the most central firms. We examine book publishing as an example of an industry in which the central players – large publishing firms – are losing power to self-publishing authors because the distributor Amazon has a powerful platform for customers to communicate independently, and the non-publishing platform Twitter also serves as a medium for readers to discuss and review books. Our empirical analysis is based on downloaded sales statistics for Amazon Ebooks, matched with Amazon reviews of the same books and tweets that refer to the book or the author. We analyze how Ebook sales are a function of publisher, Amazon reviews, and tweets, and we are able to assess the importance of each factor in the sale of book titles. The main finding is that Amazon reviews are powerful drivers of book sales, and have greater effect on the sales of books that are not backed by publishers. Twitter also affects book sales, but less strongly than Amazon reviews.
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In heterogeneously segmented markets, collaborating with product users in product innovation is important for business success. End user innovators and embedded user innovators…
Abstract
Purpose
In heterogeneously segmented markets, collaborating with product users in product innovation is important for business success. End user innovators and embedded user innovators differ in terms of their prior embeddedness in the target industry. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, the authors empirically compare these two types of user innovators in terms of their diffusion channel selection. Second, the authors analyze how the technological advances of their innovations affect this difference.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an online questionnaire survey, this study collected a sample of 237 user-generated innovations in Japan and analyzed several hypotheses using quantitative statistical approaches.
Findings
The analysis shows that embedded user innovators are more likely than end user innovators to transfer their innovations to producers rather than peers. As the technological advances of their innovations increase, end user innovators' likelihood of transferring their innovation to producers increases more significantly than that of embedded user innovators.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to investigate the difference between end user innovators and embedded user innovators with respect to their diffusion channel selection as well as the moderating role of technological advances. The findings bring new perspectives to the domains of user–producer collaboration and technology transfer.
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Stine Grodal and Steven J. Kahl
Scholars have primarily focused on how language represents categories. We move beyond this conception to develop a discursive perspective of market categorization focused on how…
Abstract
Scholars have primarily focused on how language represents categories. We move beyond this conception to develop a discursive perspective of market categorization focused on how categories are constructed through communicative exchanges. The discursive perspective points to three under-researched mechanisms of category evolution: (1) the interaction between market participants, (2) the power dynamics among market participants and within the discourse, and (3) the cultural and material context in which categories are constructed. In this theoretical paper, we discuss how each of these mechanisms shed light on different phases of category evolution and the methods that could be used to study them.
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Iben Sandal Stjerne, Matthias Wenzel and Silviya Svejenova
Organization and management scholars are increasingly interested in understanding how “fluid” forms of organizing contribute to the tackling of grand challenges. These forms are…
Abstract
Organization and management scholars are increasingly interested in understanding how “fluid” forms of organizing contribute to the tackling of grand challenges. These forms are fluid in that they bring together a dynamic range of actors with diverse purposes, expertise, and interests in a temporary and nonbinding way. Fluid forms of organizing enable flexible participation. Yet, they struggle to gain and sustain commitment. In this case study of the SDG2 Advocacy Hub, which supports the achievement of zero hunger by 2030, we explore how the temporality of narratives contributes to actors’ commitment to tackling grand challenges in fluid forms of organizing. In our analysis, we identify three types of narratives – universal, situated, and bridging – and discern their different temporal horizons and temporal directions. In doing so, our study sheds light on the contributions by the temporality of narratives to fostering commitment to tackling grand challenges in fluid forms of organizing. It suggests the importance of considering “multitemporality,” i.e., the plurality of connected temporalities, rather than foregrounding either the present or the future.