Search results
1 – 10 of 30
Nicholas J. Ashill, Michel Rod, Peter Thirkell and Janet Carruthers
This study aims to extend previous research on the relationship between role stressors and symptoms of burnout by examining the influence of job resourcefulness as a situational…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to extend previous research on the relationship between role stressors and symptoms of burnout by examining the influence of job resourcefulness as a situational personality trait in the burnout process, and its impact on service recovery performance. Using data from call centre frontline employees (FLEs) in New Zealand, it seeks to investigate the moderating influence of job resourcefulness on the relationships between role stressors, burnout symptoms and FLE service recovery performance.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, call centre FLEs completed a self‐administered online survey questionnaire on role stressors, emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, job resourcefulness and service recovery performance. Data were analyzed using structural equations modelling (SEM) by means of LISREL 8.53.
Findings
The results show that job resourcefulness buffers both the dysfunctional effects of role stressors on symptoms of burnout and the effects of role stressors on FLE service recovery performance.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of the study include the generalisability of the findings within one organisational context. Suggestions for future research include an examination of other personality traits specific to FLE jobs such as customer orientation.
Practical implications
The research advances understanding of the relationships between role stressors, emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, job resourcefulness as a situational personality trait and FLE service recovery performance in a call centre environment. The findings highlight the value of job resourceful FLEs, and suggest a number of practical implications for the identification, recruitment and retention of call centre FLEs.
Originality/value
No attention has been given to examining the role of situational personality traits and their effect on the burnout process. By extending previous research on the relationship between role stressors and burnout symptoms, this study investigates the impact of job resourcefulness in the burnout process and in influencing the service recovery performance efforts of call centre FLEs directly.
Details
Keywords
Kate Daellenbach, Lena Zander and Peter Thirkell
– The purpose of this paper is to better understand the sensemaking strategies of managers involved in making decisions concerning arts sponsorship.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the sensemaking strategies of managers involved in making decisions concerning arts sponsorship.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative, multiple case method is employed, using multiple informants in ten arts sponsorship decisions. Within and between case analyses were conducted and examined iteratively, along with literature to generate themes to guide future research.
Findings
This study finds art sponsorships may be seen as ambiguous, cueing sensemaking; the sensemaking strategies of senior managers involve response to pro-social cues while middle managers draw on commercial benefit cues; sensebreaking and sensegiving are part of the process; and the actors and their interpretations draw from cues in the organisational frames of reference which act as filters, giving meaning to the situations.
Research limitations/implications
This study presents a novel perspective on these decisions, focusing on the micro-level actions and interpretations of actors. It extends current understanding of sponsorship decision making, contributing to a perspective of managers responding to cues, interacting and making sense of their decisions.
Practical implications
For arts managers, this perspective provides understanding of how managers (potential sponsors) respond to multiple cues, interpret and rationalise arts sponsorships. For corporate managers, insights reveal differences in sensemaking between hierarchical levels, and the role of interaction, and organisational frames of reference.
Originality/value
This study is unique in its approach to understanding these decisions in terms of sensemaking, through the use of multiple informants and multiple case studies.
Details
Keywords
James B. Wiley, Vallen Han, Gerald Albaum and Peter Thirkell
The paper's aim is to illustrate the use of a technique that can help researchers choose which techniques, and at what level, to employ in an internet‐based survey.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper's aim is to illustrate the use of a technique that can help researchers choose which techniques, and at what level, to employ in an internet‐based survey.
Design/methodology/approach
A screening experiment, designed as a Plackett‐Burman design, is used to study main effects of 11 techniques for increasing survey response. Three measures of effect used are click rate, completion rate, and response rate. A convenience sample of students at a large university in New Zealand is used.
Findings
Follow‐up had significant impact on click rate; incentive and pre‐notification had a significant impact on completion rate; no technique had significant effect on response rate.
Research limitations/implications
Main effects are examined. Also, a limited number of approaches for each technique are studied.
Originality/value
This paper illustrates the use of a methodology that researchers, practitioner, and academics alike, can use to select techniques to employ in an internet survey. This is the first known application of the technique for selecting data collection techniques in marketing.
Details
Keywords
Vallen Han, Gerald Albaum, James B. Wiley and Peter Thirkell
There is limited published work addressing factors that influence responses to internet surveys. This is due in part to lack of an agreed upon set of relevant theories. Albaum…
Abstract
Purpose
There is limited published work addressing factors that influence responses to internet surveys. This is due in part to lack of an agreed upon set of relevant theories. Albaum, Evangelista and Medina (AEM) and Evangelista et al. made a step toward filling this gap when they studied the relevance of four theories of survey response behaviour. The AEM study included a survey from a population of survey researchers. Based on their survey, they concluded that all four theories contribute to explaining survey response behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to provide an exploratory extension of AEM by using an extended set of theories in an exploratory content analysis of qualitative feedback to a large internet‐based experiment.
Design/methodology/approach
An internet‐based survey using an experimental design was sent to essentially the entire population of student e‐mail addresses at a New Zealand university. The 12,000 questionnaires distributed included open‐end questions that asked about factors related to conducting surveys over the internet, especially potential barriers to response. A total of 841 comments are collected. An extended version of the four theories identified by AEM are used to organise and summarise the feedback provided.
Findings
Cost is the most highly mentioned factor and commitment the least‐mentioned factor. Overall, cost, reward, and trust are the most significant factors in survey response, leading to the conclusion that social exchange appears to the most prominent theory for internet‐based surveys and commitment is the least prominent theory.
Originality/value
This is the first study to use qualitative research to assess the applicability of the major theories of survey response behaviour. In addition; the study is the first to apply these theories to internet‐based surveys.
Details
Keywords
Peter C. Thirkell and Ramadhani Dau
A large and representative sample of New Zealand manufacturing exporters is used to empirically test and validate the model of export performance proposed by Aaby and Slater. A…
Abstract
A large and representative sample of New Zealand manufacturing exporters is used to empirically test and validate the model of export performance proposed by Aaby and Slater. A 20‐item additive export performance scale, based on both objective and subjective measures, is formulated and found to be reliable and normally distributed. A set of independent variables proposed by Aaby and Slater is operationalised, along with an additional marketing orientation construct based on a ten item scale. A firm size control measure is also utilised. A factor analysis of the independent variable set identifies an interpretable sub‐set of independent measures. Using a multiple regression model, six of seven independent variables are found to have a significant effect on export performance as the dependent variable, and in the hypothesised direction. Implications of the findings for exporters are discussed.
Details
Keywords