Gang Qu, Lishan Shen and Xiaona Bao
The purpose of this paper is to study how the software outsourcing teams, namely, vendors, transfer effective knowledge to enhance team performance; it reports on a study of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study how the software outsourcing teams, namely, vendors, transfer effective knowledge to enhance team performance; it reports on a study of transactive memory system (TMS) theory and makes deep analyses and discussions about the influence of the cooperative behaviors of TMS on software outsourcing team’s performance under the framework of three behavioral characteristics dimensions – specialization, credibility and coordination.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is an empirical study based on investigation interviews to 28 software outsourcing teams and data of questionnaire surveys on 124 software outsourcing teams; structural equation model is used to test the data we collected.
Findings
This paper finds that both credibility and coordination have a significantly positive impact on knowledge transfer and project success, whereas specialization has a significant negative impact on project success. The results of data analysis show that TMS is an effective coordination mechanism.
Originality/value
The conclusion of the study can help us understand the coordination mechanism of knowledge transfer in software outsourcing team and provide theoretical support and paradigm reference for vendors in China to accumulate knowledge and improve the success rate of projects in the context of software project development.
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Xiaoyun Han, Shujie Fang, Lishan Xie and Junfeng Yang
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between service fairness and customer satisfaction, and test the mediation role of customer psychological empowerment…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between service fairness and customer satisfaction, and test the mediation role of customer psychological empowerment in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional empirical study is designed to test the research model. Customers of retail bank in South China are surveyed. Regression analysis and structural equation model analysis are done with SPSS 21.0 and LISREL 8.72 separately.
Findings
The results indicate that: first, service fairness increases customer satisfaction. Specifically, distributive fairness, procedural fairness and interactional fairness affect customer satisfaction positively and directly, while informational fairness affects customer satisfaction indirectly. Second, customer psychological empowerment fully mediates the relationship between informational fairness and customer satisfaction, while plays a partial mediating role between distributive fairness, procedural fairness, interactional fairness and customer satisfaction. Third, four kinds of service fairness have different influences on three dimensions of customer psychological empowerment.
Practical implications
The findings provide suggestions for managers to improve customer psychological empowerment by treating customer fairly, and to increase customer satisfaction through empowering customer in services, especially for state-owned banks.
Originality/value
It is recognized that service fairness leads to customer satisfaction in marketing literature; however, the empirical research studies about this are rare. This research not only contributes to service fairness theory, but also enriches our understanding of customer empowerment in service process.
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Shan Li and Florence Y.Y. Ling
An appropriate choice of strategies helps firms to survive and develop in a turbulent economic environment. The problem is that there are many strategies that can be adopted, but…
Abstract
Purpose
An appropriate choice of strategies helps firms to survive and develop in a turbulent economic environment. The problem is that there are many strategies that can be adopted, but it is not clear which ones would boost profitability. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how architectural, engineering and construction (A/E/C) firms headquartered in mainland China (Chinese A/E/C firms) can achieve profitability in China; specifically, to uncover the critical strategies and practices adopted by Chinese A/E/C firms to achieve profitability using Porter's generic competitive strategies, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and the networking approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire. The data collection methods were mail survey and face‐to‐face interviews. The population comprised all A/E/C firms headquartered in China. Samples were randomly drawn from the China Construction Industry Association's database. Stratified sampling was adopted to select only firms that operated in Shanghai or Beijing.
Findings
The finding is that profitable Chinese A/E/C firms are more likely to adopt practices that differentiate them from competitors instead of pursuing a low‐cost strategy or focus strategy. In addition, they adopt practices that make them adaptable and flexible. Also, practices that involve collaboration, knowledge sharing, and obtaining resources from firms in the network are adopted by profitable firms.
Research limitations/implications
The data gathered might not be easily generalized to Chinese A/E/C firms operating in other parts of China because interviews were conducted with Chinese A/E/C firms operating in Beijing and Shanghai which are members of China's Construction Industry Association.
Practical implications
The paper is to inform practitioners of the practices and strategies that lead to profitability. Foreign firms that are planning to partner with Chinese A/E/C firms may also use the findings to assess whether their prospective Chinese partners are adopting some of these practices, so that they would be profitable and not face financial difficulties in the course of the partnership.
Originality/value
The paper shows that profitability could be achieved by certain critical practices, which are underpinned by Porter's generic competitive strategies, Sun Tzu's Art of War based on military tactics, and Granovetter's network approach based on social network theory.
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Sumedha Chauhan and Mahadeo Jaiswal
The increasing importance of electronic health (e-health) has raised the significance of exploring the factors influencing the users’ acceptance of e-health applications. There…
Abstract
Purpose
The increasing importance of electronic health (e-health) has raised the significance of exploring the factors influencing the users’ acceptance of e-health applications. There has been an extensive usage of the technology acceptance model (TAM) in e-health applications acceptance research. However, not all TAM relationships are borne out in all the studies. There is a variation in predicted effects in several studies with different user type and application type. The purpose of this paper is to bridge a research gap by providing a holistic view of the e-health applications acceptance research by integrating the findings of existing relevant literature.
Design/methodology/approach
A statistical meta-analysis of the effect size of causal relationships between common TAM constructs was conducted on 111 peer-reviewed academic studies published in various journals.
Findings
The results confirm the validity and robustness of the TAM in e-health applications acceptance research. Further, a moderator analysis based on user type and e-health application type demonstrated that the effect size of causal relationships between TAM constructs majorly depends on the user type, but not on e-health application type.
Research limitations/implications
This research provides a ready reference of the existing studies on e-health applications acceptance to the researchers. Further, if researchers or practitioners want to learn more about the particular user or application type, they may find the results valuable.
Practical implications
This research suggests that the general public can be used as the surrogates for patients in e-health applications acceptance research. The implementation strategy found successful for medical staff may not work for general public and patients. This research also suggests ways to enhance acceptance of e-health applications among different user groups.
Originality/value
The research is original and is based on the existing literature and its interpretation.