Justin Beneke, Simon Blampied, Nadine Dewar and Linda Soriano
This study aims to consider the impact of market orientation and learning orientation on organisational performance in the context of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to consider the impact of market orientation and learning orientation on organisational performance in the context of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Cape Town, South Africa. SMEs play a vital role in developing countries’ economies given their large contribution towards employment and the economic output (gross domestic product). However, many SMEs struggle to implement practices that are used to successful ends by their corporate counterparts. In view of this, this study sought to probe this issue within an emerging market context.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 162 enterprises, using partial least squares -structural equation modelling path modelling, was used to link the constructs of market orientation, learning orientation and organisational performance.
Findings
The results revealed a significant relationship between market orientation and organisational performance. However, in contrast to other studies in the developed world, this study found that learning orientation has neither a significant effect on organisational performance nor a moderating effect on the relationship between market orientation and organisational performance of SMEs.
Practical implications
The implications of these findings suggests that, inter alia, the organisation’s implicit marketing plans should be made explicit and shared with employees throughout the enterprise. Moreover, owners and senior managers should embrace a positive marketing philosophy and optimal organisational structure, as well as be willing to assume risks to achieve organisational objectives. However, further research is advocated to understand the nuances distinguishing developing and developed countries.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to consider the interrelationships between market orientation, learning orientation and organisational performance in the context of SMEs within an emerging market setting. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is pioneering research in the South African domain.
Details
Keywords
Linda D. Hollebeek, Tripti Ghosh Sharma, Ritesh Pandey, Priyavrat Sanyal and Moira K. Clark
In recent years, customer engagement (CE) with brands, which has been shown to yield enhanced firm sales, competitive advantage and stock returns, has risen to occupy a prominent…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, customer engagement (CE) with brands, which has been shown to yield enhanced firm sales, competitive advantage and stock returns, has risen to occupy a prominent position in brand management research and practice. Correspondingly, scholars have explored CE’s conceptualization, operationalization and its nomological networks as informed by different theoretical perspectives. However, in spite of important advances, the knowledge structure of the overall corpus of CE research remains tenuous. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the intellectual structure of CE research.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on this gap, this study deploys bibliometric and network analysis to map CE’s literature-based landscape. Using bibliometric analysis, important CE-publishing journals, authors and influential CE articles (2005–2020) are uncovered. Using network analysis, prominent CE themes are also unearthed.
Findings
The results document key CE-publishing journals and authors and their respective contributions to the literature. Five CE themes are also identified, including CE measurement/methods, online CE, CE’s value co-creating capacity, CE conceptualization and customer/consumer brand engagement. Further, an agenda for future CE research is provided based on the presented network analysis results.
Practical implications
The reported findings generate important implications for brand managers. For example, the identified critical role of online (vs offline) CE offers a range of strategic opportunities, as outlined.
Originality/value
This paper offers a pioneering bibliometric and network analysis of the CE literature, thus mapping the field. From the identified CE themes, important avenues for further CE research are also identified.
Details
Keywords
Linda Alkire (née Nasr), Christine Mooney, Furkan A. Gur, Sertan Kabadayi, Maija Renko and Josina Vink
The purpose of this paper is to provide an interdisciplinary framework bridging service design and social entrepreneurship with transformative service research (TSR) to create…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an interdisciplinary framework bridging service design and social entrepreneurship with transformative service research (TSR) to create greater synergetic effects to advance wellbeing and drive social impact.
Design/methodology/approach
This research provides an interdisciplinary review and synthesis of literature to establish a basis for a conceptual framework advancing human wellbeing and driving social impact.
Findings
The overarching framework created incorporates various concepts, methods and tools across the three research domains. At the core of the framework is the ultimate goal of multilevel wellbeing and social impact. The core is subsequently supported by established social entrepreneurship concepts and strategies: prosocial motivation, hybrid identity, social bricolage, entrepreneurial thinking, community engagement, business model design and innovative delivery. The implementation of these concepts could benefit from the methods and tools used in service design, such as: design probes, service blueprints, appreciative inquiry, contextual interviews, actor maps, sustainable business model canvas and service prototyping.
Practical implications
The paper uses the refugee crisis as an illustrative example of how the proposed framework can be put into action by service organizations.
Originality/value
By bridging literature in TSR, service design and social entrepreneurship, this paper provides service managers with a framework to guide scalable systemic solutions for service organizations interested in advancing human wellbeing and driving social impact.
Details
Keywords
Ileana Zeler, Cristina Fuentes-Lara and Ángeles Moreno
This paper aims to explore the position of women in the communication management sector in Spain from their own experiences. The study examines female communication and leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the position of women in the communication management sector in Spain from their own experiences. The study examines female communication and leadership styles, emphasising the cost of leadership in which they are leaders or led.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a qualitative methodology based on in-depth interviews with 22 women actively working in top companies and agencies: female communication directors, female employees with a female leader and female employees with a male leader. Data were analysed through thematic analysis.
Findings
Results show mixed communication and leadership styles. In addition, the high level of self-demand of female communication managers stands out, making it challenging to achieve a work-life balance and the implementation of successful role models.
Social implications
Exploring the factors of female leadership remains necessary to understand and make their situation in various industries and positions visible. It also helps remove barriers to leadership, guide organisations in addressing gender discrimination issues and develop mechanisms for the internal promotion of female professionals.
Originality/value
To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study exploring the leadership and communication styles of women in the Spanish Public Relations (PR) and communication management industries. It also highlights the aspects influencing the cost of leadership.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this study is to conduct a structured literature review of scientometric research of the knowledge management (KM) discipline for the 2012–2019 time period.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to conduct a structured literature review of scientometric research of the knowledge management (KM) discipline for the 2012–2019 time period.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 175 scientometric studies of the KM discipline were identified and analyzed.
Findings
Scientometric KM research has entered the maturity stage: its volume has been growing, reaching six publications per month in 2019. Scientometric KM research has become highly specialized, which explains many inconsistent findings, and the interests of scientometric KM researchers and their preferred inquiry methods have changed over time. There is a dangerous trend toward a monopoly of the scholarly publishing market which affects researchers’ behavior. To create a list of keywords for database searches, scientometric KM scholars should rely on the formal KM keyword classification schemes, and KM-centric peer-reviewed journals should continue welcoming manuscripts on scientometric topics.
Practical implications
Stakeholders should realize that the KM discipline may successfully exist as a cluster of divergent schools of thought under an overarching KM umbrella and that the notion of intradisciplinary cohesion and consistency should be abandoned. Journal of Knowledge Management is unanimously recognized as a leading KM journal, but KM researchers should not limit their focus to the body of knowledge documented in the KM-centric publication forums. The top six most productive countries are the USA, the UK, Taiwan, Canada, Australia and China. There is a need for knowledge brokers that may deliver the KM academic body of knowledge to practitioners.
Originality/value
This is the most comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of the KM discipline.
Details
Keywords
Psychological ownership has been a topic of intense debate for several decades, especially in the digital era. In addition, as part of the digital public domain, virtual…
Abstract
Purpose
Psychological ownership has been a topic of intense debate for several decades, especially in the digital era. In addition, as part of the digital public domain, virtual communities shape our digital lives. Unfortunately, few studies have examined the communication process in virtual communities from the perspective of psychological ownership. Moreover, information and organization are key aspects of virtual communities. This research aimed to explore the impact of psychological ownership on communication satisfaction from these two perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
I collected 471 responses using a questionnaire. In terms of empirical methods, I developed a structural equation model (SEM) to examine the relationship between psychological ownership and communication satisfaction as well as the mechanism underlying this relationship – namely, information behavior. Specifically, I first examined the relationship between psychological ownership and information behavior. I then developed a comprehensive framework for the double-edged impact of psychological ownership in virtual communities on communication satisfaction.
Findings
I found that psychological ownership has a double-edged effect on communication satisfaction based on two types of information behavior in virtual communities. Specifically, organization-based psychological ownership (OPO) positively influences communication satisfaction through information exchange. In contrast, information-based psychological ownership (IPO) negatively impacts communication satisfaction through information-hiding.
Originality/value
The findings of this research demonstrate that psychological ownership has a double-edged effect on communication satisfaction. First, the findings of this study reveal the downsides of psychological ownership, which are not consistent with its beneficial role. Second, the negative effect of psychological ownership with regard to communication in virtual communities also helps explain communication failure in virtual communities. Finally, despite the downsides of psychological ownership in the context of a virtual community revealed by this study, this factor has an overall beneficial effect.
Details
Keywords
David Ludwig and Jona van Laak
Innovation is key. It improves a nations’ standing in international competition and in-creases the productivity of the workforce – a significant aspect in aging societies with a…
Abstract
Purpose
Innovation is key. It improves a nations’ standing in international competition and in-creases the productivity of the workforce – a significant aspect in aging societies with a declining entrepreneurial activity. But how can innovation be fostered? This paper argues that entrepreneurial culture is an underestimated solution to this difficult challenge. It therefore differs from common models in which other measures such as financial capital or networks play a predominant role and thus mask the influence of entrepreneurial culture on innovation in entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative literature analysis, the paper links various interdisciplinary touch points to the entrepreneurial ecosystem – including the individual-focused cognitive aspects of entrepreneurs, the social and spatial communities and the ecosystem as a service model.
Findings
The framework is conceptualized as a multi-layer model, enabling a discussion of policy measures in socioeconomic spaces with a short- and long-term perspective. It dispenses artificial assumptions and considers the complexity of human behavior as a strong and reciprocal driver of entrepreneurial culture.
Practical implications
With this framework, the paper tends to qualify policy makers and researchers in a de-tailed manner, when it comes to the formulation and application of culture-focused innovation policies.
Originality/value
The paper enriches the existing research with a new perspective on the relation between entrepreneurial culture and entrepreneurial ecosystems, which especially emphasizes the entrepreneurs experienced reality and its multi-level embeddedness.
Details
Keywords
Mojtaba Barari, Mitchell Ross, Sara Quach and Jiraporn Surachartkumtonkun
This paper aims to explore the concept of “actor engagement” within the context of the sharing economy, a novel and dynamic business model. Specifically, it investigates the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the concept of “actor engagement” within the context of the sharing economy, a novel and dynamic business model. Specifically, it investigates the formation of actor engagement and its relationship with value creation within this business model.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on Storbacka et al. (2016)actor engagement framework and service-dominant logic service ecosystem model, unstructured data (text and images) from the Airbnb platform in seven countries and text- and image-mining techniques such as machine learning are used to measure the research variables and test the model by PLS-SEM.
Findings
The results indicate that affective engagement has a more significant impact on behavioural engagement than cognitive engagement for multidimensional actor engagement. Service providers’ engagement – directly, and through customer engagement – influences value creation for service providers (i.e. performance). Moreover, national-level moderator (i.e. economic, competitiveness, technology, social and political factors) plays a significant moderating role in our model.
Research limitations/implications
This study encourages future research to explore how actor engagement leads to value creation for all actors on the different sharing economy platforms.
Practical implications
The findings provide practical insights for service providers to engage their customers and platform managers, especially in an international context, on managing their relationships with both customers and service providers in different countries.
Originality/value
This study advances the current literature on actor engagement and its role in value creation by providing a better understanding of the role of the national context in this process through unstructured data analysis.