Search results

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of hospital leaders and high-performance work practices (HPWPs) in intensive care units (ICUs) in organizational agility and its impact on healthcare personnel satisfaction.

This study was carried out in three ICUs of an important Spanish public hospital, one for adults, one paediatric and one neonatal. The unit of analysis was ICUs personnel (324 individuals: 14.5%, 48.8% and 36.7% from the categories of doctors, nurses and nurses' aides, respectively) who were invited to participate in the study. The sample had 248 individuals, with a sampling distribution by categories that was quite similar to that of the population. To test the hypotheses proposed, structural equations modeling (SEM) were used as the maximum likelihood estimation method.

The results confirm the proposed model and reveal the importance of the human dimension in ICUs on hospital agility and performance in terms of satisfaction of the clinical staff working in this area.

This paper is original because it analyses units of high complexity, such as ICUs from a management and non-clinical perspective. In addition, it studies the role of hospital managers and HPWPs on employee outcomes, as well as in-hospital responsiveness in a very dynamic context that demands agility on the management approach.

This work seeks to contribute a series of reflections and conclusions in response to the following questions: what variables determine satisfaction in the pre‐sale phase and post‐sale phase of B2C electronic commerce? How are the variables of the pre‐sale phase related to those of the post‐sale phase of B2C electronic commerce?

The authors develop a theoretical scale that includes the important variables of quality in the pre‐sale and post‐sale phases of B2C electronic commerce. After the empirical validation of the theoretical scale, we measure the impact of the pre‐sale dimensions on the post‐sale dimensions.

The results confirm the principal hypotheses of the study, that is to say, the dimensions of the pre‐sale phase have a significant impact on the dimensions of the post‐sale phase of B2C electronic commerce.

This research shows that, in B2C electronic commerce, the organisation's actions in the pre‐sale phase will, to a great extent, condition its actions in the post‐sale phase.

This paper highlights the importance of high‐performance in the pre‐sale phase in order to achieve success.

This paper bridges a gap in the empirical works in the field of quality in electronic commerce by studying the importance and implications of the different phases in the electronic purchase.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role and importance of results in B2C e‐commerce from the customer's perspective, together with impact on overall perceived quality and customer attitudes.

The data base for this study was obtained from a sample of 191 individuals who had purchased on the internet and the techniques used in the statistical analysis of the data were as follows: principal components analysis, structural equations and regression analyses.

Two dimensions – cost and guarantee – explain value in e‐commerce. In the data resulting from the analyses, guarantee turns out to be a more important factor with respect to overall perceived quality and consumer attitudes than cost.

If a company manages to improve its e‐commerce transaction results, this will have a favorable effect on overall perceived quality and consumer attitudes. In other words, the result is as important as the process for a successful purchase.

The scale, integrated for the dimensions “guarantee” and “cost” should help firms to identify and improve their B2C e‐commerce results from the customer perspective. Consequently, it will have a positive effect on overall quality, disposition to repeat and disposition to recommend.

Companies operating on the internet will find a number of suggestions in this paper on how to achieve competitive advantage through the successful management of their websites, improving results – guarantee and cost – to customers.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual model of behavior in the franchise network from the perspective of quality management.

Based on the review of the literature, the development of a theoretical scale for measuring quality in franchise systems in the short term (i.e. transactional quality) and in the long term (i.e. relationship quality) is proposed.

Two dimensions of transactional quality are identified from the franchisee perspective: contents and assistance. The dimensions of transactional quality from the franchisor's point of view refer to two aspects: formality and identify. The relationship quality identifies variables such as trust between cooperation partners, mutual commitment, and relationalism.

The proposed model is a theoretical model; an additional step is to validate empirically the dimensions of the model.

The main practical implication is that the contract does not completely reflect the actual conduct of franchisor‐franchisee relationships. It is necessary to harmonize the transactional or contractual perspective with the relationship view.

The franchise system has assumed great importance as a pattern for the expansion of services and, just like any other organization, needs to preserve the quality of the business concept to achieve overall success. On that basis, this paper aims to contribute to quality management in franchise networks and proposes a dual model for measuring quality: transactional and relational quality.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role and importance of the tangible elements of purchase processes in business to customer (b2c) electronic commerce, as well as the impact on overall perceived quality and the customers' attitudes.

The database for this study was obtained from a sample of 191 individuals who had purchased on the internet. The techniques used in the statistical analysis of the data were the following: principal component, analysis structural equations and regression analyses.

The paper finds that four attributes – navigation, signposting, tools and explanation – explain the tangible dimension in electronic commerce. In the data resulting from the analyses, design is seen as an important factor of overall perceived quality and the willingness to recommend the purchase experience to others.

If the company acts positively in the design, this will favorably affect overall perceived quality, but this is not enough to make a customer repeat. In future research, other dimensions which could retain the customers must be investigated.

The proposed scale to measure the dimension design could help firms to set an optimum design of their web sites, because a muddled and complex design represents a significant obstacle and may constitute a valid reason for a potential customer to decide not to return to the site.

Companies operating on the internet will find some suggestions in this paper on how to achieve competitive advantage through the optimum design of their web sites.

The purpose of this paper is to examine three strategic decisions that determine firm size in the franchise distribution system: price policy, the timing decision, and network ownership.

The paper uses data covering 384 franchise chains operating in the catering and fashion retailing sectors for an 18‐year period (from 1986 to 2004). The panel data methodology is applied.

The paper finds that the pricing policy and the ownership structure can be used to attract new franchisees and it also finds empirical evidence of the advantages of early followers. Some differences are found between the two sectors analysed. Additionally, it finds evidence of the use of different strategies by mature and young franchise chains.

The focus is only on the fashion and catering sectors in the franchise industry. Although they are the two most important sectors in the Spanish market, this limitation provides researchers with interesting possibilities for further research in other countries and in other sectors.

The results may help franchisors to know which strategies can increase their system size. First, franchisors should focus on minimizing their control of the network strategy. Second, franchisors should increase the franchise fee and the royalties as the chain matures to expand their system size. Third, managers who are planning to begin to franchise their businesses should decide to enter at the growth stage of the franchise market in order to achieve greater advantages.

This paper highlights the importance of the price strategy and of the entry timing decision in the franchising context in countries where the franchise system is still developing.

This study aims to build a comprehensive knowledge structure of smart hospitality and tourism research.

Content analysis is carried out on the themes of pertinent research from the perspectives of customers, suppliers, technology and policymakers.

Results show that over half of the reviewed articles are carried out from the perspective of customers, while those of suppliers, technology and policymakers are less discussed. The unbalanced number of articles reveals an evident mismatch between the supply and demand.

Findings provide theoretical and practical implications from different perspectives. Collaboration among various stakeholders is also advocated to achieve sustainable and balanced development of the smart hospitality and tourism industry.

This study contributes to smart hospitality and tourism research through an in-depth review of relevant literature. Based on the findings, the identified research gaps provide potential directions for future knowledge development.