Ali Sarkeshikian, Amir Zakery, Mohammad Ali Shafia and Alireza Aliahmadi
Much research has been conducted on technology acceptance (TA), which is mainly about the acceptance by one user. As more than one person should be involved in…
Abstract
Purpose
Much research has been conducted on technology acceptance (TA), which is mainly about the acceptance by one user. As more than one person should be involved in business-to-business TA decision-making, it is suggested that different processes for making a consensus among different stakeholders should be considered. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a model for essential activities and characteristics of advocators for accelerating the stakeholders’ consensus in the technology acceptance (SCTA).
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual model of this research is presented using a thematic analysis of the interviews with the relevant experts and existing literature. Furthermore, the structural equation model was applied for analyzing empirically how advocators’ characteristics and activities affect consensus. In total, 248 respondents completed the questionnaires. Experts’ opinions, Krippendorff’s alpha index, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and goodness of fit indices were applied to verify the reliability of the results.
Findings
Results show that “being leader” and “being influential” are two main characteristics for the advocators’ team that significantly affect SCTA. Reducing perceived “risk” for each stakeholder, developing a “common understanding” among them and demonstrating “resource readiness” are also the main tasks of advocators leading to SCTA.
Originality/value
The role of advocators in SCTA has been neglected. The main contribution of this study is identifying the required advocators’ activities and characteristics for achieving SCTA.
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Mohammad Ali Shafia, Mohammad Mahdavi Mazdeh, Mahboobeh Vahedi and Mehrdokht Pournader
This paper aims to provide a framework for evaluating the impact of implementing customer relationship management (CRM) based on the balanced scorecard (BSC). The outcomes…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a framework for evaluating the impact of implementing customer relationship management (CRM) based on the balanced scorecard (BSC). The outcomes illustrate the gaps between the present conditions of CRM implementation in a specific organization, which leads to some strategic remedies. These remedies are going to be ranked to achieve the best solution for enhancing the quality of CRM in the organization.
Design/methodology/approach
This study investigates the weights of measures presented in the CRM‐BSC by distributing the questionnaires among 44 experts in the beverage industry of Iran. It also benefits from judgment‐purposive in non‐probability sampling method for collecting data. The results are analyzed through a fuzzy approach. The strategic remedies for the drawbacks of the organization that were obtained from the CRM‐BSC are also proposed by the experts. These remedies are again evaluated by questionnaires and some selective tools of multi‐criteria decision‐making approach namely: simple additive weighting and technique for ordering preference by similarity to ideal solution.
Findings
Through the evaluation process, six significant gaps related to the CRM performance of the organization are agreed upon. For each of these gaps, the strategic remedies are proposed by the experts. The outcomes of ranking these remedies imply that customer feedbacks, updating managerial knowledge and employee belongingness should be the main objectives of the manufacturer for improvement.
Practical implications
This study provides a better understanding of a more effective CRM system for different kinds of organizations by first, clarifying the customer‐related performance gaps of the target organization and second, by presenting strategic solutions for the detected areas. The framework could be also beneficial in other fields of industry, but the relevancy of the measures should be considered.
Originality/value
The CRM‐BSC framework is customized to the Iranian industrial environment. The structure of the measures in the scorecard is proposed for the first time.
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Mohammad Ali Torabandeh, Behrouz Dorri, Masood Rabieh and Ali Reza Motameni
This study aims to design a national innovation capability appraisal model. This would indicate Iran’s competitiveness situation among regional countries and suggest factors…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to design a national innovation capability appraisal model. This would indicate Iran’s competitiveness situation among regional countries and suggest factors influencing Iran’s performance promotion.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology included four sections: bibliometric analysis to discover intellectual evolution of innovation capability and related concepts; construction of a multi-division structure of national innovation capability according to the clusters extracted from bibliometric results, and experts’ opinions; creating dynamic network data envelope analysis (DEA) according to designed structure, and analysis of Iran’s performance among regional countries; identification and prioritization of the factors extracted from experts’ opinions that improve Iran’s performance in created network using Fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory method.
Findings
The contemporary bibliometric analysis by its extracted clusters proved the necessity of a multi-division for measuring national innovation capability performance that each division and indicators of each step were designed according to clusters concepts. In designed structure, dynamic network DEA results revealed the weakness of Iran’s performance in the third division in the transformation of patents and high-tech imports to high-tech and creative exports, which led to proposing improving factors by getting experts’ opinions to enhance Iran’s performance in this division by prioritizing them.
Research limitations/implications
One of the limitations of this research was that the indicators used in three phases of national innovation capability in DEA were extracted only from the World Intellectual Property Organization database. Another limitation was the number of experts in focus group sessions because due to the difficulty of gathering them in one session, the researchers lost the participation of some of these recognized experts. Also, the research concentration was on the improvement of the third phase of national innovation capability, in which Iran’s performance was weak.
Originality/value
Creating a relationship between the divisions of dynamic network DEA, as a national innovation capability appraisal model, and the concepts of clusters extracted from reviewing the intellectual structure and evolution of innovation capability and related concepts.
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Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the relationship between intellectual capital and innovation in small and micro enterprises (SMEs) and analyses the mediating effect of dynamic ability on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a questionnaire survey to obtain research data on intellectual capital and innovation in 290 SMEs in the Jiangsu and Shandong provinces of China. The impact of intellectual capital on the innovation of SMEs is tested using hierarchical regression analysis in SPSS 22.0. The effect of intellectual capital on the innovation of these enterprises was examined using the SPSS PROCESS macro version 3.3.
Findings
The findings reveal that intellectual capital not only directly promotes innovation inputs, patent applications, and innovation income but also indirectly fosters innovation by enhancing dynamic capabilities.
Originality/value
This study not only deepens the understanding of intellectual capital and its role in SME innovation but also further elucidates the intermediary role of dynamic capabilities and the differences in the impact of various dimensions of intellectual capital on innovation. Theoretically, it provides new evidence for the application of intellectual capital theory in the field of innovation research. Practically, it provides empirical evidence to further harness the role of intellectual capital in driving innovation in SMEs.
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Mohammad Saeed Taslimi, Aryan Azimi and Mohsen Nazari
The purpose of this study is to investigate factors contributing to the development of resilience capacity and capability of industrial clusters in order for them to mitigate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate factors contributing to the development of resilience capacity and capability of industrial clusters in order for them to mitigate, absorb and adapt to the impacts of Iran’s economic sanctions.
Design/methodology/approach
The Hospital Equipment Cluster of Tehran (HECT) was selected as the case study for the research. The data were collected using the library and field research and analyzed using the thematic analysis method.
Findings
The key dimensions of resilience were grouped into socio-cultural, economic, technical-organizational and institutional–infrastructural categories. Based on the “complex adaptive system” theory, each of the abovementioned dimensions were investigated on different levels of analysis, including individual, enterprise, cluster, government and environment. Eventually, recommendations were made by considering required capacities and capabilities of resilience of the hospital equipment sector toward economic sanctions.
Originality/value
The resilience toward economic sanctions, as an extensive disaster, is a considerably new subject and few studies have been performed in the field. This research provides practical solutions for local policy-makers, authorities and enterprise managers.