This paper aims to explore the likelihood that face-to-face (FTF) interviewing will continue to be the “gold standard” survey interviewing method, to which all other modes are…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the likelihood that face-to-face (FTF) interviewing will continue to be the “gold standard” survey interviewing method, to which all other modes are compared, in an era in which daily communicative habits for many now involve selecting among many alternative modes.
Design/methodology/approach
After outlining what is known about the purported benefits and drawbacks of FTF interviewing, the paper reviews recent findings that raise questions about whether FTF interviewing still produces the highest rates of participation, best data quality and greatest respondent satisfaction.
Findings
Results of several studies suggest that at least for some respondents, asynchronous interviewing modes that reduce the interviewer’s social presence and allow respondents to participate while they are mobile or multitasking (in particular, text messaging) may well lead to higher quality data and greater respondent satisfaction.
Practical implications
To the extent that these findings generalize, the implication is that FTF interviewing will continue to be needed for at least some respondents, but multiple trends suggest that it is likely to be one mode among many, and that the assumption that it is always needed or that it always leads to the highest quality data no longer holds.
Originality/value
Exploring when and how FTF interviewing will continue to be needed is particularly important given FTF’s financial and social costs, in an era of budgetary challenges and new questioning about which data sources are essential and lead to trustworthy information.
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Alberto Ferraris, Filippo Monge and Jens Mueller
In several studies, it has been found that organizational performance is affected by ambidextrous IT capabilities. Nevertheless, business processes are essential to the value…
Abstract
Purpose
In several studies, it has been found that organizational performance is affected by ambidextrous IT capabilities. Nevertheless, business processes are essential to the value generation conversion of IT investment into performance. In the literature, this focus on the impact of IT capabilities at the business process level is still under investigated. So, the purpose of this paper is to test the effects of explorative and exploitative business process IT capabilities on business process performances (BPP) and the positive moderator role of business process management (BPM) capabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
This analysis has been done through a quantitative study in the Italian hotel industry. An OLS regression analysis has been carried out on a sample of 404 firms.
Findings
The study identifies distinct effects related to exploration and exploitation and finds a moderating effect of BPM capabilities, explaining their positive impact on BPP.
Originality/value
The main purpose of the paper is to contribute to the area of business process management by demonstrating the importance of both explorative and exploitative IT capabilities for a business process as well as the managerial capabilities at the process level. Furthermore, this focus at the process level allows us to add original insights into research on ambidexterity by expanding existing works.
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Researchers now have more ways than ever before to capture information about groups of interest. In many areas, these are augmenting traditional survey approaches – in others, new…
Abstract
Purpose
Researchers now have more ways than ever before to capture information about groups of interest. In many areas, these are augmenting traditional survey approaches – in others, new methods are potential replacements. This paper aims to explore three key trends: use of nonprobability samples, mobile data collection and administrative and “big data.”
Design/methodology/approach
Insights and lessons learned about these emerging trends are drawn from recent published articles and relevant scientific conference papers.
Findings
Each new trend has its own timeline in terms of methodological maturity. While mobile technologies for data capture are being rapidly adopted, particularly the use of internet-based surveys conducted on mobile devices, nonprobability sampling methods remain rare in most government research. Resource and quality pressures combined with the intensive research focus on new sampling methods, are, however, making nonprobability sampling a more attractive option. Finally, exploration of “big data” is becoming more common, although there are still many challenges to overcome – methodological, quality and access – before such data are used routinely.
Originality/value
This paper provides a timely review of recent developments in the field of data collection strategies, drawing on numerous current studies and practical applications in the field.
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Anja Špoljarić and Dejan Verčič
Organisations have recently become more aware of the importance of their employees and their contributions to organisational success (Bakker and Schaufeli, 2008). Employee…
Abstract
Organisations have recently become more aware of the importance of their employees and their contributions to organisational success (Bakker and Schaufeli, 2008). Employee engagement is one of the contributors that has been recognised to have several positive outcomes for organisations. This study was conducted in order to explore how different employee-related concepts affect employee engagement. Its purpose was to determine whether internal communication can influence employee engagement by insuring employees perceive a fulfilled psychological contract, as well as adequate organisational support. A total of 3,457 employees from 26 different organisations completed a survey that measured internal communication satisfaction, employee engagement, level of psychological fulfilment and perceived organisational support. To test the relationship between these variables, mediation analysis was conducted. Two research models with internal communication satisfaction as a mediator between the relationship of psychological contract fulfilment and engagement, and perceived organisational support and engagement were tested. The results show that internal communication satisfaction is a significant mediator of both the relationship of psychological contract fulfilment and engagement, as well as the relationship between perceived organisational support and engagement. This indicates that internal communication could be used in order to manage psychological contract fulfilment and perceived organisational support with the intent of increasing employee engagement, and consequently, overall organisational performance.
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Carl Simon Heckmann and Alexander Maedche
In highly dynamic industries, business processes require exploitation, i.e. activities that are associated with an increase in productivity through automation, standardization…
Abstract
Purpose
In highly dynamic industries, business processes require exploitation, i.e. activities that are associated with an increase in productivity through automation, standardization, integrated architectures, and the usage of existing IT resources. As a complementary capability, exploration is needed, i.e. the ability to flexibly implement new and innovative IT resources (Lee et al., 2015). The purpose of this paper is to use the concept of ambidexterity, which is researched intensively outside the domain of business processes (e.g. Gibson and Birkinshaw, 2004; Tang and Rai, 2014), to address this paradoxical trade-off within business processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper follows a qualitative approach. A multiple case study comprising 11 interviews and additional document analysis in six organizations is conducted in the German energy sector to examine the proposed framework.
Findings
This paper shows the importance of balancing exploitative and explorative business process IT (BPIT) capabilities. The process-theoretical outcome of this study is the BPIT Capability Framework that provides explanation for the interaction between exploitation and exploration.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the understanding of how to build ambidextrous BPIT capabilities by explaining the underlying mechanisms for feedback loops that occur in cases of imbalance. The scope of the conducted study presents a limitation and thus future research is encouraged to further validate the findings of this paper.
Originality/value
By drilling down to the process level, this paper addresses the gaps that limited empirical studies have in business process management research (Recker and Mendling, 2015) and the focus on business processes that is lacking from the literature on organizational IT management (Gregory et al., 2015).
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The purpose of this paper is to contribute to research on information sharing by drawing on the reader-response theory developed by Louise Rosenblatt. To this end, information…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to research on information sharing by drawing on the reader-response theory developed by Louise Rosenblatt. To this end, information sharing is approached by examining how bloggers communicate their reading experiences of fiction and non-fiction books.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual framework is based on the differentiation between efferent and aesthetic reading stances specified by Rosenblatt. The efferent stance directs attention to what is to be extracted from reading for instrumental purposes such as task performance. The aesthetic stance focuses on what is being lived through during the reading event. Rosenblatt’s framework was elaborated by specifying eight categories of efferent reading and six categories of aesthetic reading. The ways in which bloggers communicate their responses to such readings were examined by scrutinising a sample of 300 posts from two book blogs.
Findings
The bloggers mainly articulated responses to efferent reading by sharing information about the content of the reviewed books, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Responses to aesthetic reading were mainly articulated by describing how the bloggers experienced the narrative, what kind immersive experiences they had and what kind of emotions were felt during the reading process.
Research limitations/implications
As the study is explorative in nature and focusses on a sample of blog posts, the findings cannot be generalised to depict how people share their responses to efferent and aesthetic reading in social media forums.
Originality/value
The paper pioneers by examining the potential of Rosenblatt’s theory in the study of sharing information about reading experiences in book blogs. The findings demonstrate that the categories of efferent and aesthetic reading can be elaborated further for the needs of information behaviour research.
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Kai Roland Green and Tom Wraight
This paper uses the cultural figure of Willy Wonka to explore the archetype of the “boy-entrepreneur”, and what the various film manifestations of Wonka (1971–2023) say about…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper uses the cultural figure of Willy Wonka to explore the archetype of the “boy-entrepreneur”, and what the various film manifestations of Wonka (1971–2023) say about changes in entrepreneurial masculinity. We (1) develop an original conceptualisation of boyhood as creatively, socially and gender liminal, (2) analyse the entrepreneurial archetype using literary theories and (3) provide a novel interpretation of Apollonian and Dionysian masculinity to aid future cultural analysis of founder/innovator depictions in children’s media.
Design/methodology/approach
Our study conducts a three-stage dramaturgical analysis of the major film adaptations of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka (1971, 2005 and 2023). After supplementing the limited literature on boyhood in entrepreneurship with literary and feminist art theory, we identify the significant narrative features which frame the Wonka dramas and produce a framework which tracks thematic changes across the films in terms of the creative, social and gender liminal elements of Wonka’s boy-entrepreneur identity.
Findings
Our interpretive analysis reveals a gradual shift in values expressed through Wonka’s boy-entrepreneurialism away from a more hegemonic, Apollonian style of masculinity towards a more Dionysian style embracing emotional expression, intimacy with female characters and kin, and collaborations with nature. Such shifts reflect the growing influence of non-hegemonic entrepreneurial gender expressions, value-driven and relational approaches to new venture creation.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the hugely unexplored area of the “boy-entrepreneur”/“boy-genius”, demonstrating its durability in reality, imagination and popular culture. We provide an in-depth character portrait to provoke further attention to children’s multi-media ways of experiencing early entrepreneurial impressions. We also expand the methodological scope of research on entrepreneurial masculinity beyond real-life founders.