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The purpose of this study is to propose a hybrid model integrating the expectation-confirmation model with the views of cognitive absorption (CA) theory and updated DeLone and McLean information system success model to examine whether quality factors as antecedents to medical professionals’ beliefs can affect their continuance intention of the cloud-based e-learning system.

This study’s sampling frame was taken from among medical professionals working in hospitals with over 300 beds in Taiwan which had implemented the cloud-based learning management system (LMS) with a blend of asynchronous and synchronous technologies. Sample data for this study were collected from medical professionals at six hospitals in Taiwan. The data for this study were gathered by means of a paper-and-pencil survey, and each sample hospital that participated in this study was asked to identify a contact person who could distribute the survey questionnaires to medical professionals who had experience in using the cloud-based LMS in their learning. A total of 600 questionnaires were distributed, and 378 (63.0%) usable questionnaires were analyzed using structural equation modeling in this study.

This study proved that medical professionals’ perceived learner–content interaction quality, learner–system interaction quality, service quality, cloud storage service quality and learner–human interaction quality all positively caused their perceived usefulness, confirmation and CA elicited by the cloud-based e-learning system, which jointly explained their satisfaction with the system, and resulted in their continuance intention of the system.

Several limitations and suggestions may open avenues for future research. First, the limitation of self-reported measures should be considered; future research may combine with qualitative data (e.g. semi-structured, narrative, in-depth interviews, focus group interviews and open-ended questions) to get more complete interpretations of medical professionals’ cloud-based e-learning continuance intention. Next, this study’s data were collected from hospitals in Taiwan only; given this study’s limited scope, future research may generalize this study’s sample to the respondents of other national cultural backgrounds and make cross-country comparisons to enhance the completeness of this study. Finally, this study’ results were based on cross-sectional data; future research may use a longitudinal analysis by taking into account the evolution of medical professionals’ cloud-based e-learning continuance intention over time.

This study fully evaluates interaction-related and cloud-related quality determinants through an understanding of medical professionals’ state of CA in explaining their cloud-based e-learning system continuance intention that is difficult to expound with only their utilitarian perception of the system. Hence, the results contribute to deep insights into an all-round quality evaluation in the field of medical professionals’ cloud-based e-learning continuance intention, and extrinsic and intrinsic motivators are both taken into consideration in this study’s theoretical development of medical professionals’ cloud-based e-learning continuance intention to acquire a more comprehensive and robust analysis.

Multicultural individuals are those who identify with two or more cultures, such as Chinese-Canadians, Turkish-Germans, or Arab-Americans. They are more likely to see multiple sides of an ethical dilemma than monocultural individuals, who identify with one culture. This tendency toward ethical relativism – where ethics are seen to be relative to the context – could help multicultural individuals excel as ethical global leaders. Global leaders must manage the ethical tensions inherent in their multinational operations by understanding multiple ethical perspectives. Multiculturals’ inclination toward relativism may be driven by the structure or content of their cultural identities. The identity structure argument is based on the patterns in which individuals mentally organize their cultural identities, while the identity content argument is based on the degree to which individuals endorse relativism as a result of having internalized cultural schemas with relativist norms. We offer an exploratory test of these dual hypotheses, and find evidence to support the identity structure, but not the identity content argument. Specifically, multicultural individuals who separate their cultures are more likely to exhibit relativism in decision-making than those who integrate them. This indicates that identity patterns can drive relativism. In contrast, individuals who identify with high relativism cultures are not more likely to endorse relativism than those who identify with low relativism cultures, indicating a lack of evidence for identity content driving relativism. These findings have implications for hiring or placement managers who seek global leaders who are likely to see more than one side of an ethical issue.

In this chapter, we posit that identity integration, an individual difference variable measuring the degree to which multiple and disparate social identities are perceived as compatible, moderates the relationship between team diversity and innovation. Prior research shows that individuals with higher levels of identity integration exhibit higher levels of innovation on tasks that draw from identity-related knowledge systems. In this chapter, we extend this research to examine how innovation can be increased in cross-functional teams. We propose that reinforcing the compatibility between functional identities within a team facilitates access to functionally unique knowledge systems, which in turn increases team innovation.

In an effort to better understand value-oriented general attendees, the purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically test a comprehensive model to examine the effect of three factors of service quality in exhibitions (i.e. service product, service environment and service delivery) on satisfaction through three factors of perceived value (i.e. emotional value, economic value and social value).

A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to determine key factors in exhibition service quality, perceived value and satisfaction. A structural equation modeling was conducted to analyze the causal relationships among the factors.

The empirical results indicated that service product and service environment were significantly and positively associated with all factors of perceived value, which in turn significantly influenced satisfaction. Service delivery, however, was associated only with emotional value. On the other hand, all three factors of perceived value significantly influenced general attendees’ satisfaction. The findings indicated perceived value as an important mediator between exhibition service quality and general attendees’ satisfaction.

Clearly identifying specific trajectories from service quality to satisfaction through distinct perceived values can be a stepping stone to establishing effective and efficient marketing strategies for general attendees and customizing for their needs. The distinct and clear associations between service quality and perceived value can help exhibition organizers and practitioners understand the process of determining general attendees’ overall satisfaction.

Although scholars have paid considerable attention to the relationship between technological diversification and firm performance, research on this relationship has produced mixed findings. To reconcile these inconsistent findings, this study, thus, aims to revisit the performance effect of technological diversification by considering two organizational characteristics as crucial moderators, namely, firm size and financial slack.

To test the research hypotheses, the research sample covers manufacturing firms in the 2008 Standard & Poor (S&P) 500 index. Data regarding the characteristics and patent information of the sample firms were obtained from Compustat and the US Patent and Trademark Office. The hypotheses were tested by using hierarchical regression models.

In a sample of 168 S&P 500 manufacturing firms, this study finds that technological diversification has a positive effect on firm performance. The relationship between technological diversification and firm performance is also found to be positively moderated by firm size, financial slack and their configuration.

The findings of this study further suggest that firms should be aware that the effect of technological diversification on performance can be enhanced or hindered in specific contexts.

Although a number of studies have researched food firms’ unethical practices, the mechanisms used to prevent these practices remain underexplored from the perspective of corporate governance. As independent directors (IDs) have been viewed as a mechanism to deter corporate misconducts, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influences of the ratio of IDs on the board, IDs’ industrial experience and their participation in corporate governance training courses on food firms’ unethical production practices.

This study is based on a sample of 239 firm-year observations in Taiwanese food industries. The Poisson model with fixed effects was used to test the research hypotheses.

The results show that board independence and IDs with food industry expertise were not effective in deterring food firms from unethical production practices. The expected monitoring function of IDs would only realize when they complete a sufficient number of corporate governance training courses. These courses can make IDs aware of their responsibilities and roles in governing firms.

This study is the first to identify the effects of corporate governance practices on food firms’ unethical production practices. The value of this study may provide food firms practical solutions that enable corporate executives to behave ethically.

The purpose of this study is to discuss how organizations can drive organizational performance through human capital (HC) investment through systematic thinking.

This study analyzes three companies from various industries, adopts systems thinking and uses three leading indicators from the balanced scorecard framework to explore the effects of strategic orientations for HC on innovation ecosystems and organizational performance.

In terms of academic contributions, this study broadly verifies the innovation ecosystem model for organizations and reveals that customer-oriented, internal process-oriented and innovation learning-oriented HC strategies reinforce the pathways in organizational innovation ecosystems, thereby enriching the literature on innovation ecosystems.

In terms of practical contributions, this study provides a novel HC-based perspective on developmental dynamics and details the relationships among each aspect of the innovation ecosystem and HC strategies.

The proposed architecture and strategic frameworks provide a reference for corporations to implement strategic orientations of HC, drive operations in organizational innovation ecosystems and improve organizational performance.

The industry-wide adoption of a novel practice is often considered to be an institutional change. Although research on institutionalization has been accumulating, how and why embedded actors in the field become motivated to embrace change that remains sidelined. Viewing the introduction of a new human resource management practice, the recruitment of non-compulsory certified manpower, which is still in its infancy in the service sector of Taiwan, as a new institution, the purpose of this paper is to identify the distinct motives behind firms’ hiring decisions, and examine the extent to which such hiring decisions are contingent on institutional conditions and firm attributes.

The data used to test the hypotheses were drawn from a survey on service firms in Taiwan in the second half of 2011. Hypotheses were examined through moderated hierarchical regression analyses in a sample of 254 Taiwanese service firms across major sectors.

Integrating the resource dependency and social contagion views, the study contends that resource scarcity drives, or legitimacy enables, service firms to deviate from traditional hiring patterns and instead adopt new preferences toward certified manpower. The study not only shows that social factors should be incorporated into the diffusion of a new HR recruitment practice in the service sector, which is traditionally based upon economic considerations, but also sheds light on the context-dependent nature of the process of institutional innovation.

This study is an attempt not only to test a dual-theoretical model on the extent to which a service firm’s new hiring pattern is influenced by two distinct types of motivation, but also to evidence how an institutional innovation, in terms of the regime of service manpower certification, takes root and spreads in the field. The managerially discretional account of the resource dependence theory needs to be reconciled with social contagion theory, which highlights the influence of collective actions and so provides a better understanding of the diffusion of new HR recruitment practices in the service industry.

This study aims to analyze the link between earnings pressure and R&D cut as well as the moderating effects of family control and debt.

In total, 6,130 firm-year observations of Taiwanese-listed firms were used to test the hypotheses by using a panel data regression with fixed effects estimation.

The study reveals that earnings pressure is positively related to R&D cut, and this relationship can be softened when having the presence of family control and debt.

This study is conducted based on some conditions: data collection comes from a single source, earnings pressure mainly comes from analysts, R&D intensity is significant among industries, debt is a given condition to managers. Future studies, thus, are suggested to use other approaches to have further information and extend the knowledge without these conditions.

Under the pressure of meeting analyst forecast, managers have more opportunities to flourish their priority on improving temporary profits rather than implementing R&D investments with costly budget but unpredictable outcomes. In addition to responding to the positive effect of earnings pressure on trimming long-term corporate investments, this study also found some corporate governance mechanisms to soften the managerial short-termism behavior.

The findings partially contribute to broadening the existing knowledge base on the impact of earnings pressure on corporate activities and how some mechanisms serve as moderators.

The purpose of this paper is to present a mixed method study of social capital development and use, based on an intervention which provided women from refugee backgrounds with social capital development skills and tools.

In total, 111 Afghan, Burmese and Sudanese women living in Melbourne, Australia, received peer-support training and a free unlimited fixed-dial mobile phone for one year.

Interview and call log data suggest that the training sessions and mobile phones played important roles in bonding social capital development, resulting in a complex support network among participants. To a lesser extent, there was also evidence of bridging social capital creation. By providing linkages to government institutions through an interpreter service, the mobile phones gave participants easy access to linking social capital, in their heritage language.

The program supplements existing community resources with mobile phone technology to create social capital rich networks within these disadvantaged communities, and the authors describe the community characteristics that make participants amenable to such an intervention.