This paper aims to identify the management practices and priorities best suited to present-day workforce needs.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the management practices and priorities best suited to present-day workforce needs.
Design/methodology/approach
From 19 March to 6 April 2021, Dare Worldwide conducted linear regression analysis aimed at understanding the key drivers of employee performance. The target population surveyed was: US adults who are employees of companies with at least 500 employees with a job title of manager or higher within selected industries (manufacturing, information, financial services, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, wholesale and retail, education, health and government).
Findings
The research showed 85% of performance indicators is not linked to company performance and that employees value trust, engagement and communication. Businesses favour rapid adaptation to cope with crises and technology to drive job performance. In the survey, the highest performing factors for business were related to old-fashioned notions of expediency, none of which will impact company performance over the next five years. Employees meanwhile valued inclusivity and collaboration over expediency.
Originality/value
The research showed that c-suits are focussing on the wrong managerial processes and priorities to be successful over the long term. Helping employees understand and shape the purpose of their company will be critical as employees evaluate their motivations post COVID. The Dare Worldwide 2021 findings have implications for how senior management teams relate to their staff in an era of remote working and changing employee values and priorities.
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Deema Refai, Rita G. Klapper and John Thompson
Drawing on the Gestalt approach the purpose of this paper is to propose a holistic framework for enterprise education (EE) research based on Social Constructionism, illustrating…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the Gestalt approach the purpose of this paper is to propose a holistic framework for enterprise education (EE) research based on Social Constructionism, illustrating how the latter supports research into experiential learning in EE in seven UK Higher Education (HE) pharmacy schools.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a qualitative empirical study involving educators in UK Higher Education Institution pharmacy schools in semi-structured interviews, and investigates the delivery of EE through experiential learning approaches. Social Constructionism is proposed as a suitable underlying philosophical paradigm.
Findings
A Social Constructionism paradigm, which adopts relative realism ontology, transactional epistemology, and Gadamer’s hermeneutic phenomenology, offers a relevant, multi-perspectival philosophical foundation for EE research, supporting transactional relationships within contexts of multiple possibilities.
Research limitations/implications
Social Constructionism does not necessarily support the individualistic paradigm, as advocated by constructivists; and the values associated with the former encourage a more collaborative and cooperative approach different from the latter.
Practical implications
The paper supports the understanding that applying experiential learning through inter-disciplinary and inter-professional learning is regarded as an approach beneficial for educators, institutions and learners, within the context of EE.
Originality/value
This paper offers a holistic conceptual framework of Social Constructionism that draws on the “Gestalt Approach”, and highlights the harmony between the ontological, epistemological and methodological underpinnings of Social Constructionism. The paper demonstrates the relevance of the proposed framework in EE research within the context of an empirical study, which is different in that it focuses on the delivery aspect of EE by considering the views of the providers (educators), an hitherto under-researched area.
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Sérgio Moro, Guilherme Pires, Paulo Rita, Paulo Cortez and Ricardo F. Ramos
This study aims to unveil within the current academic literature the principal directions in the ethnic entrepreneurship and small business marketing research context.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to unveil within the current academic literature the principal directions in the ethnic entrepreneurship and small business marketing research context.
Design/methodology/approach
An automated literature analysis procedure was undertaken, attempting to cover all literature published on the subject since 1962. A total of 188 articles were analysed using text mining and topic modelling.
Findings
The results show a lack of framing of ethnic entrepreneurship literature outside the narrower scope of migration. Some core themes were found (e.g. network, diversity) around which several other themes orbit, including both related issues to the ethnic factor (e.g. barriers and minorities) and managerial issues (e.g. marketing and production).
Originality/value
Ethnic minority business and small business marketing research has seen a growing number of publications. However, a careful review of existing work is missing.
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Brittany Beck, Melanie Moore Koskie and William Locander
This study aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion of how consumers approach shopping directly via social media by explicating decisions related to trust on social media and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion of how consumers approach shopping directly via social media by explicating decisions related to trust on social media and how various types of electronic word of mouth (eWOM; ratings and reviews, recommendations and referrals and social media communities) contribute to these decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 198 respondents with experience shopping directly via social media were instructed to select the platform on which they had the most shopping experience (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, etc.) to answer relevant survey questions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for analyzing the results.
Findings
Findings reveal that eWOM provided by strong ties (recommendations and referrals; social media communities) is superior to weak ties (ratings and reviews). Surprisingly, ratings and reviews do not significantly relate to trust in the retailer, suggesting that this information may be necessary but not sufficient for trusting retailers on social media.
Originality/value
This research distinguishes trust decisions related to shopping on social media and clarifies how each type of eWOM uniquely influences trust in the retailer by using tie strength theory.
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Puneett Bhatnagr, Anupama Rajesh and Richa Misra
This study aims to analyse and understand customer sentiments and perceptions from neobanking mobile applications by using advanced machine learning and text mining techniques.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse and understand customer sentiments and perceptions from neobanking mobile applications by using advanced machine learning and text mining techniques.
Design/methodology/approach
This study explores a substantial large data set of 330,399 user reviews available in the form of unstructured textual data from neobanking mobile applications. This study is aimed to extract meaningful patterns, topics, sentiments and themes from the data.
Findings
The results show that the success of neobanking mobile applications depends on user experience, security features, personalised services and technological innovation.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to textual resources available in the public domain, and hence may not present the entire range of user experiences. Further studies should incorporate a wider range of data sources and investigate the impact of regional disparities on user preferences.
Practical implications
This study provides actionable ideas for neobanking service providers, enabling them to improve service quality and mobile application user experience by integrating customer input and the latest trends. These results can offer important inputs to the process of user interaction design, implementation of new features and customer support services.
Originality/value
This study uses text mining approaches to analyse neobanking mobile applications, which further contribute to the growing literature on digital banking and FinTech. This study offers a unique view of consumer behaviour and preferences in the realm of digital banking, which will add to the literature on the quality of service concerning mobile applications.
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Natalia Amat-Lefort, Federico Barravecchia and Luca Mastrogiacomo
Quality 4.0 is a new paradigm of quality management, which emphasises the need to adapt to recent technological innovations by updating traditional quality approaches. Amongst the…
Abstract
Purpose
Quality 4.0 is a new paradigm of quality management, which emphasises the need to adapt to recent technological innovations by updating traditional quality approaches. Amongst the most important factors for adopting Quality 4.0 is the leveraging of big data to collect insights and quality perceptions from clients. Therefore, user reviews have emerged as a valuable source of information, which can be analysed through machine learning procedures to uncover latent quality dimensions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies a combination of text mining techniques to analyse Airbnb reviews, identifying service quality attributes and assessing their relation to the users' sentiment. More than two million reviews written by guests in four European cities are analysed. First, topic modelling is applied to find the quality attributes mentioned by reviewers. Then, sentiment analysis is used to assess the positiveness/negativeness of the users' feedback.
Findings
A total of 37 quality attributes are identified. Four of them show a significant positive relation to the guest's sentiment: apartment views, host tips and advice, location and host friendliness. On the other hand, the following attributes are negatively correlated with user sentiment: sleep disturbance, website responsiveness, thermal management and hygiene issues.
Originality/value
This paper provides a practical example of how Quality 4.0 can be implemented, proposing a data-driven methodology to extract service quality attributes from user-generated content. Additionally, several attributes that had not appeared in existing Airbnb studies are identified, which can serve as a reference to extend previous quality assessment scales.
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Byung-Hak Leem and Seong-Won Eum
The purpose of this study is to propose a method of measuring service quality as well as suggesting to detect customer complaints through analysis of customer online reviews of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to propose a method of measuring service quality as well as suggesting to detect customer complaints through analysis of customer online reviews of mobile bank, which is unstructured data.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses text mining approach for customer online reviews analysis. The research procedure includes: (1) extracting users' reviews for Kakao Mobile Bank, (2) pre-processing of the extracted review data, (3) analyzing the sentiment of each review, (4) measuring the service quality score of each dimension by analyzing keyword frequency and network for each polarity, (5) evaluating total score for mobile bank service quality, and (6) detecting customer complaints on online reviews.
Findings
There are some findings. First, from the customer's point of view, it was possible to see which factors are important among the various dimensions of service quality and which factors should be managed well in mobile banking setting. Second, by periodically finding customer complaints, service failures can be prevented early, and service quality and customer satisfaction can be improved.
Practical implications
From a practical point of view, mobile bank managers should pay more attention to the service quality dimensions of practicality and enjoyment. In addition, the results mean that the app design and aesthetics with the most negative reviews should be reviewed from the user's perspective rather than from the company's point of view. Second, it is possible for them to establish a systematic complaint management system that can prevent service failure in advance by detecting customer complaints early. Third, it is possible for them to make quick decisions regarding service quality with the help of real-time customer response through dashboard construction.
Originality/value
This paper is a pioneer study measuring service quality with sentiment analysis, one of the text mining applications, using customers' reviews of a mobile bank.
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Paul Agu Igwe, Nnamdi O. Madichie and Robert Newbery
The purpose of this paper is to provide fresh insights into rural artisanal activities in a developing world context. It highlights key determinants of the decision to engage in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide fresh insights into rural artisanal activities in a developing world context. It highlights key determinants of the decision to engage in an artisanal business and the challenges that impact upon the growth of these activities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a mix-method research approach to explore a rural setting where most respondents (81 per cent) combine farm and non-farm livelihood activities. Quantitatively, a multi-nominal regression is used to examine the determinants of diversified artisanal livelihoods. It modelled the differences between farming livelihoods that have not diversified, compared to those also involved in the artisanal activity or wage employment and the intensity of participation.
Findings
The findings show that nearly half of artisanal businesses (45.4 per cent) comprise only the owners and no employee, while 54.6 per cent employ one to three workers. Also, some artisanal ventures were more gender-specific than the gender-neutral activities. Other observations were in age (most artisans were under the age of 46 years) and vocational training (most were self-trained followed by a third receiving training only in specific areas such as technical works, building and construction and general trading apprenticeships).
Research limitations/implications
The study is based on a relatively small sample size of 306 business owners, which makes it difficult to generalise despite the persuasiveness of the observations made.
Practical implications
First, the use of econometric methods enabled the development of valid data sets (and various descriptive statistical and logit regression) to analyse determinants of the decision to engage in artisanal work, and the intensity of participation. Second, the ambiguity in categorising artisanal activities is unravelled. The study characterises the local artisanal sector and examines the intensity of participation. Without these, targeted support would remain elusive for practical and policy interventions.
Originality/value
Artisanal activities constitute a high proportion of small businesses in the study area – with more than half (54.2 per cent) of respondents being classified as artisans, yet it is an overlooked area of entrepreneurship. Highlighted here are both types of activities and challenges regarding better conceptualising the understanding of artisans and regarding this mostly unarticulated base of practice.
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Madjid Tavana and Vahid Hajipour
Expert systems are computer-based systems that mimic the logical processes of human experts or organizations to give advice in a specific domain of knowledge. Fuzzy expert systems…
Abstract
Purpose
Expert systems are computer-based systems that mimic the logical processes of human experts or organizations to give advice in a specific domain of knowledge. Fuzzy expert systems use fuzzy logic to handle uncertainties generated by imprecise, incomplete and/or vague information. The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive review of the methods and applications in fuzzy expert systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have carefully reviewed 281 journal publications and 149 conference proceedings published over the past 37 years since 1982. The authors grouped the journal publications and conference proceedings separately accordingly to the methods, application domains, tools and inference systems.
Findings
The authors have synthesized the findings and proposed useful suggestions for future research directions. The authors show that the most common use of fuzzy expert systems is in the medical field.
Originality/value
Fuzzy logic can be used to manage uncertainty in expert systems and solve problems that cannot be solved effectively with conventional methods. In this study, the authors present a comprehensive review of the methods and applications in fuzzy expert systems which could be useful for practicing managers developing expert systems under uncertainty.