Richard A. Spreng, Linda Hui Shi and Thomas J. Page
The purpose of the paper is to investigate the effects of service quality and service satisfaction on intention in a business‐to‐business setting.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to investigate the effects of service quality and service satisfaction on intention in a business‐to‐business setting.
Design/methodology/approach
This research addresses three unanswered questions regarding satisfaction and service quality: the distinction between customer satisfaction and perceived service quality; their causal ordering; and their relative impact on intentions. The data were collected using a large survey of buyers in a business setting.
Findings
The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that service quality has a larger impact on intentions than does customer satisfaction. The results also show that the effects of individual transactions on intentions are mediated by corresponding cumulative constructs.
Research limitations/implications
The primary implications for theory include demonstrating the distinction between satisfaction and service quality; specifying, based on theory and logic, the causal ordering between transaction constructs and cumulative constructs, and between service quality and satisfaction; and assessing their relative impact on behavioral intentions.
Originality/value
The results show that one negative transaction outcome may not be sufficient to cause the customer to switch if the cumulative levels are sufficiently positive. Thus, a negative outcome may be discounted by the user if it is seen as a unique occurrence. However, a series of successive negative transaction outcomes may cause the cumulative constructs to become less positive, resulting in lower intentions to repurchase from the same supplier.
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Once introduced and conceptualized as a factor that causes erosion and decay of social institutions and subsequent deinstitutionalization, the notion of entropy is at odds with…
Abstract
Purpose
Once introduced and conceptualized as a factor that causes erosion and decay of social institutions and subsequent deinstitutionalization, the notion of entropy is at odds with predictions of institutional isomorphism and seems to directly contradict the tendency toward ever-increasing institutionalization. The purpose of this paper is to offer a resolution of this theoretical inconsistency by revisiting the meaning of entropy and reconceptualizing institutionalization from an information-theoretic point of view.
Design/methodology/approach
It is a theoretical paper that offers an information perspective on institutionalization.
Findings
A mistaken understanding of the nature and role of entropy in the institutional theory is caused by conceptualizing it as a force that counteracts institutional tendencies and acts in opposite direction. Once institutionalization and homogeneity are seen as a product of natural tendencies in the organizational field, the role of entropy becomes clear. Entropy manifests itself at the level of information processing and corresponds with increasing uncertainty and the decrease of the value of information. Institutionalization thus can be seen as a special case of an increase in entropy and a decrease of knowledge. Institutionalization is a state of maximum entropy.
Originality/value
It is explained why institutionalization and institutional persistence are what to be expected in the long run and why information entropy contributes to this tendency. Contrary to the tenets of the institutional work perspective, no intentional efforts of individuals and collective actors are needed to maintain institutions. In this respect, the paper contributes to the view of institutional theory as a theory of self-organization.
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Purpose – This chapter will utilize the apprenticeship model developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in their Preparation for the Professions series…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter will utilize the apprenticeship model developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in their Preparation for the Professions series to study how American Library Association (ALA)-accredited Master of Library Science (MLS) programs could be reformed to better integrate the interests of educators with those of the practicing profession and the public they serve.
Design/Methodology/Approach – The Carnegie model uses three “apprenticeships” to distinguish the three areas professional education must address, labeled in this chapter as knowledge, practice, and identity. Each of these three areas is explored as it relates to the education of librarians, with an emphasis on what constitutes the general knowledge, skills, and identity of librarianship. Examples of how these three components could be integrated into an MLS program are given.
Findings – Current ALA-accredited MLS programs differ widely on the number and content of required courses. Applying the model developed in the other Carnegie studies to the field of library education yields a clearer vision for the professional education of librarians and to a reorienting of the educational experience students encounter in their MLS studies.
Originality/Value – Using examples from other professional education programs allows library educators to see the means by which a holistic education is achieved in other professions. The novelty of this approach is in the breakdown of the various components of a professional education program. The tripartite approach to professional education also provides a useful framework around which to build an MLS program.
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Because of the physical size of the structural components of much chemical plant and the relative absence of standard construction modules, the choice of materials is generally…
Abstract
Because of the physical size of the structural components of much chemical plant and the relative absence of standard construction modules, the choice of materials is generally limited by the requirement to reproduce the flexibility of design features which the plant engineer has come to expect from ‘conventional’ materials of construction. In order to comply with such requirements, the fabricator in re‐inforced plastics must, therefore, employ raw materials which offer him the greatest possible design freedom and this in turn demands: (a) Reinforcements which can be draped readily. (b) Resins which will completely bind the re‐inforcement together into a uniform, reproducible mass, and which will convert from the low viscosity (liquid) phase to the solid phase at temperatures which are readily attainable, and with little or no applied pressure.
This chapter outlines current and emerging approaches in change communication from both scholarly and practice perspectives, and what this means for organisations and…
Abstract
This chapter outlines current and emerging approaches in change communication from both scholarly and practice perspectives, and what this means for organisations and practitioners, including practical implications for education. A literature review is conducted using the Kemmis and McTaggart framework for studying practice based on individual-social, objective-subjective dichotomies leading to an integrated reflexive-dialectical approach. Five roles are suggested for the practitioner in leading and influencing change, namely that of a Communication Architect, a Story-enabler, an Empathiser, an Engager and a Community Builder. These roles go beyond the traditional informative role, to practitioners co-constructing communication with stakeholders during change. With new ways of thinking about change management, there is the possibility for new methods of educating practitioners beyond the traditional qualification or professional certification. These would require greater collaboration between scholars and practitioners in creating vehicles for continuous learning.
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Oliver Rossmannek and Olaf N. Rank
This study aims to investigate how the home country institutional development influences the alliance formation process.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how the home country institutional development influences the alliance formation process.
Design/methodology/approach
A network of strategic alliances between 95 airlines over a 5-year period is analyzed with stochastic actor-oriented models [i.e. Simulation investigation for empirical network analysis (SIENA)]. Robustness analyses use a subsample of these airlines over a period of 10 years.
Findings
The results demonstrate that the membership in a firm group and a high share of state ownership are more beneficial for the number of alliances if the firm originates from a country with low institutional development.
Practical implications
Firms from less developed countries can use affiliations (e.g. to firm groups or the government) as signals to attract international alliance partners.
Social implications
Policymakers from less developed countries should support the development of (local) firm groups to stimulate interorganizational cooperation.
Originality/value
Firms form alliances based on two aspects: preferences for alliance partners and attractiveness to potential partners. Prior studies outlined that institutional development affects the preferences of firms for alliance partners. This study demonstrates how the institutional development influences the attractiveness to potential partners.
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Indu Ramachandran, Kim Clark, Derrick McIver and Stewart R. Miller
The present study develops an international joint venture (IJV) partner selection framework to explain the choice between state-owned or privately owned local partners in the…
Abstract
The present study develops an international joint venture (IJV) partner selection framework to explain the choice between state-owned or privately owned local partners in the context of emerging economies. We suggest that once an IJV is selected as the mode of entry, a multinational enterprise's strategic motivations – that is, efficiency seeking, market seeking and knowledge seeking – will influence its choice of IJV partner type: state-owned enterprise or privately owned firm. We argue that liability of foreignness and rule of law moderate the multinational enterprise's selection of IJV partner type.
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how Ukrainian scholars recognize and react to a situation of an absence of two major institutional logics of academic writing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how Ukrainian scholars recognize and react to a situation of an absence of two major institutional logics of academic writing and publishing, namely the logics of science advancement and personal career promotion and the dominance of the logic of coercive pressures to publish regardless of quality and resonance and with no material and reputational rewards. Two fundamental and essential logics that drive research activity at any university in western societies seem to be almost absent in Ukrainian context, where symbolic publishing for accountability only is taken-for-granted.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts qualitative interpretative research methodology. The scholars from seven universities were interviewed, including 16 senior scholars and 15 PhD students.
Findings
The study shows the dominance of a single logic of accountability which is persisted due to coercive pressures exerted on scholars. Despite the absence of instrumental value behind publishing requirements in Ukrainian higher education system, most academics do not question this policy and largely take it for granted as the only possible system.
Originality/value
Research conducted in this study contributes to institutional logics and institutional complexity literature by highlighting a unique situation of institutional complexity when logic that offers neither economic nor social benefits dominates the field. It is shown how actors recognize, interpret and respond to this situation, identifying three types of responses that range from blind adherence to taken-for-granted institutional definitions to strategic balance between coercive pressures and desired logics.
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This study was launched because practitioners of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) instilled awareness for needed AI outcome research. Therefore, the goal of this research was to identify…
Abstract
This study was launched because practitioners of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) instilled awareness for needed AI outcome research. Therefore, the goal of this research was to identify the salient AI processes and levers and the rate of AI success and failure. This study was specific to U.S. municipalities due to a researcher finding AI failure probability therein. In direct opposition, eight U.S. municipalities were identified from the literature as having utilized AI in 14 projects and all were successful even when resistance was present in three applications. A survey revealed 15 AI initiatives identified as successful even when resistance was present in eight, resulting in validation. This study utilized a mixed methods exploratory case study design, sequentially in the mix, consisting of a literature review and application of two unique instruments applied to three populations.