Predicting teleworker success: an exploration of personality,motivational, situational,and job characteristics

This study explored personality and motivational traits related to teleworker performance and satisfaction, including sociability, need for achievement and autonomy, diligence and organisation. Situational factors were also compared between teleworkers and non‐teleworkers, such as number of children, job autonomy and job complexity. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

The work motivation of research scientists and its effect on research performance

This research examines the work motivation profile of research scientists and the effect of work motivation on research performance. A sample of United Kingdom‐based research scientists (N = 405) working in the chemical, biological and biomedical research domains took part in the study. Participants completed a survey based measure of motivational sources and self‐report research performance evaluation. The motivational sources of internal self‐concept motivation and instrumental motivation were found to be the strongest and weakest respectively for research scientists. External self‐concept motivation was found to be significantly higher among younger scientists. No gender differences were found in the motivational profile of scientists. While controlling for the influences of age and gender, internal self‐concept motivation was found to have a significant positive effect on research performance, and instrumental motivation was found to have a significant negative effect on research performance. Consistent with prior research, differences in research performance across age and gender were also identified. The implications of these findings for our understanding of the effective management of scientific research are discussed.     

Innovation Performance in New Product Development Teams in China's Technology Ventures: The Role of Behavioral Integration Dimensions and Collective Efficacy

In emerging markets, technology ventures increasingly rely on new product development (NPD) teams to generate creative ideas and to mold these innovative ideas into streams of new products or services. However, little is known about how behavioral integration (a behavioral team process) and collective efficacy (a motivational team process) jointly facilitate or inhibit team innovation performance in emerging markets—especially in China, the world's largest emerging‐market setting with collectivist and high power distance cultures. Drawing on social cognitive theory and behavioral integration research, this article elucidates the relationships between behavioral integration dimensions (i.e., collaborative behavior, information exchange, and joint decision‐making) and innovation performance and also examines how collective efficacy moderates these relationships in China's NPD teams. Results from a sample of 96 NPD teams in China's technology ventures reveal that information exchange is positively associated with innovation performance. Collaborative behavior positively but marginally influences innovation performance, whereas joint decision‐making does not relate to innovation performance. Moreover, collective efficacy demonstrates an important moderating role. Specifically, both collaborative behavior and joint decision‐making are more positively associated with innovation performance when collective efficacy is higher. In contrast, information exchange is less positively associated with innovation performance when collective efficacy is higher. This study makes important theoretical contributions to the literature on team innovation and behavioral integration in emerging markets by offering a better understanding of how behavioral and motivational team processes jointly shape innovation performance in China's NPD teams. This study also extends social cognitive theory by identifying collective efficacy as a boundary condition for the overall effectiveness of behavioral integration dimensions. In particular, this study highlights the condition under which behavioral integration dimensions facilitate or inhibit NPD team innovation performance in China.     

Integrating the Kano model into a robust design approach to enhance customer satisfaction with product design

The aesthetic qualities of products are critical factors in achieving higher customer satisfaction. This study presents a robust design approach incorporating the Kano model to obtain the optimal combination of design form elements. This can effectively enhance customer satisfaction and aesthetic product qualities with multiple-criteria characteristics. The Kano model is used to better understand the relationship between performance criteria and customer satisfaction, and to resolve trade-off dilemma in multiple-criteria optimization by identifying the key criteria in customer satisfaction. The robust design approach combines grey relational analysis with the Taguchi method to optimize subjective quality with multiple-criteria characteristics. This simultaneously yields the optimal aesthetic performance and reduces the variations in customer evaluations. Based on Kano model analysis, a weight adjustment process determines the weight of each product criterion for achieving the desired customer satisfaction performance. This process guides the prioritizing of multiple criteria, leading to higher customer satisfaction. A mobile phone design experiment was conducted to verify the benefits of using the proposed integrative approach. Results show that the generated optimal mobile phone design can effectively enhance overall aesthetic performance and customer satisfaction. Although mobile phone designs are the examples of this study, the proposed method may be further used as a universal robust design approach for enhancing customer satisfaction and product quality with multiple-criteria characteristics.     

Mobile technology usage and B2B market performance under mandatory adoption

This paper investigates the relationship between mandatory adoption of mobile information technology and market performance in the business-to-business (B2B) setting. This study presents and tests the B2B technology satisfaction model (TSM), including perceived loss of control as the mandatory technology acceptance-specific variable. The results of this study reveal that integrating perceived loss of control with user satisfaction and the TAM (technology acceptance model) in a single model can better explain the B2B market performance model. The empirical results suggest that perceived loss of control has a negative effect on user satisfaction and perceived market performance is influenced by user satisfaction and perceived usefulness. Managerial implications of the study are discussed.     

The role of personality and motivation on key account manager job performance

Key account management (KAM) has strengthened its relevance as a managerial process in business-to-business (B2B) markets. In many companies, the success of KAM initiatives often rely on individual-level achievement, that is, the performance of key account managers. Despite the relevance of research on individual-level KAM, these topics are largely neglected. This research addresses the problem by developing and testing a structural equation model of personality, motivation, and key account manager job performance. Our results show that two motivational constructs—learning orientation and performance orientation—play major roles in key account manager job performance. In addition, relationships between personality traits and motivational constructs are observed: Extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability are found to have significant relationships to motivational constructs. Two of the personality traits, extraversion and conscientiousness are linked to both learning orientation and performance orientation. We discuss theoretical and managerial implications of our findings and finally provide future research directions.     

The effects of influence strategies on dealer satisfaction and performance in Taiwan's motor industry

The studies of influence strategies in channel relationships have focused on western, individualistic countries. This study seeks to extend the empirical findings in Taiwan's motor industry to elucidate differences among diverse context. The results reveal that the promise strategy must be separated from coercive strategies and the request strategy must be separated from noncoercive strategies under the context of Taiwan's motor industry. Moreover, discrimination between economic and social satisfaction helps relationships between influence strategies and satisfaction and the effects of satisfaction on performance to be understood. The dealer's satisfaction is positively related to his performance, and social satisfaction is more important than economic satisfaction.     

A buyer's perspective on collaborative versus transactional relationships

This research examines collaborative and transactional relationships in buying firms to determine whether collaborative relationships offer greater benefits than transactional relationships, and to ascertain which relational factors drive satisfaction and performance for both collaborative and transactional relationship types. Factor analysis, t-tests and step-wise regression were used to analyze data from a survey of buying firms. Results show that collaborative relationships offer higher levels of satisfaction and performance than transactional relationships. Satisfaction factored into two separate constructs: satisfaction with the relationship and satisfaction with the results. Of the relational factors examined, trust is the most important predictor of performance and satisfaction with the relationship regardless of the type of relationship examined.     

Satisfaction with mobile services in Canada: An empirical investigation

While customer satisfaction and loyalty regarding most physical goods and services have been well explored in academic literature, there exists little research on these factors with respect to mobile telecommunications services. Nevertheless, standardized satisfaction measures are suggested to be useful for various telecom-industry stakeholders. However, such a global standard measure of satisfaction with mobile services does not exist. This study taps into these voids and examines the antecedents of customer satisfaction and loyalty through an empirical investigation of 210 young adult cellular subscribers in Canada by adapting the American Customer Satisfaction Model. Based on this model, the satisfaction index of young adult Canadians was calculated. Overall, this study offers insights for service providers, policymakers and subscribers; and forms the foundation for future benchmarking of the performance of wireless network operators in terms of user satisfaction and loyalty.     

Why and how knowledge sharing matters for R&D engineers

This research explored how and why knowledge sharing matters for R&D engineers by investigating the effects of knowledge sharing on R&D engineer's job performance and job satisfaction. Based on multilevel data of 242 R&D engineers from 55 teams, the results showed that the relationships between knowledge sharing and R&D engineer's job performance/satisfaction were mediated through individual learning and self-efficacy. Individual learning was a necessary step for knowledge sharing to transform into individual knowledge, which in turn enhanced individual level outcomes. At the same time, individual learning enhanced self-efficacy, which subsequently benefited R&D engineer's job performance and job satisfaction. Finally, individual learning was found to be strongly related to individual job satisfaction.     

Salespeople satisfaction and performance feedback

A model of the relationship between sales supervision and salesforce job satisfaction is developed and tested. The model hypothesizes that salespeople will experience greater job satisfaction when they receive more performance feedback and more opportunity to participate in their supervisor's decision making processes and when they have supervisors who are high on consideration and initiation of structure. In addition, because of recent empirical evidence suggesting a possible consideration/initiation of structure interaction effect on job satisfaction, a hypothesized interaction effect was examined in this study. The results suggest that performance feedback is an important predictor of job satisfaction. Furthermore, they indicate that the sales supervisor's consideration and initiation of structure are related to the salesperson's satisfaction with certain aspects of the job. Participation and consideration/initiation of structure interaction were not found to be significant predictors of salesforce job satisfaction.     

Market orientation,job satisfaction,product quality,and firm performance: evidence from China

This article examines the processes by which market orientation (MO) affects performance using a cross‐level approach. The results of a survey of 2,754 employees from 180 firms in China show that organization‐level MO culture leads to unit‐level MO behavior, which improves employee‐level job satisfaction and then product quality, which in turn fosters organizational performance. In particular, MO behavior fully mediates the effects of MO culture on employee satisfaction, product quality, and organizational performance. Leadership quality strengthens the effect of MO culture on unit‐level MO behavior. Moreover, MO behavior enhances firm performance indirectly through employee job satisfaction and product quality. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Industrial brand value and relationship performance in business markets — A general structural equation model

This paper develops a general model of industrial brand value and relationship performance in business-to-business markets from the perspectives of consumer and industrial marketing literature. The structural equation model integrates the analysis of industrial brand value and relationship performance. The model describes the extent to which supplier-buyer transaction performance is influenced by the eight important factors: supplier competence, purchasing value, customer satisfaction, switching cost, brand trust and loyalty, relationship quality, commitment, and transactional performance.The general model is applied to organizational buyer groups of comprehensive industrial markets (Electronics, Chemicals, Equipment, etc). The analysis finds that supplier competence directly affects purchasing value and customer satisfaction, and via purchasing value and customer satisfaction, it indirectly affects commitment, switching cost, brand trust and loyalty. The managerial implications of the study results are also discussed.     

Employees and High-Performance Work Systems: Testing inside the Black Box

Most work on high‐performance work systems has examined only the direct relationship between a set of management practices and performance outcomes. This presumes that any connection operates through the incentive and motivational effects captured as 'high-commitment' or 'high-involvement' employee outcomes. No attempt has been made to examine the alternative, Labour Process conceptualization, which expects performance gains from new management practices to arise instead from work intensification, offloading of taskcontrols, and increased job strain. Using data from WERS98, we tested models based on high-performance work systems and labour process approaches. Both were found wanting, and we consider the possible implications of these failures.     

Customer relationship management processes: How faithful are business-to-business firms to customer profitability?

Marketing academicians and practitioners have over the past decade advocated the implementation of customer equity principles within firms. This article draws on adaptive structuration theory to frame the faithfulness of firms to acquiring and maintaining customers according to their profit potential. Using survey data from 158 business units engaged in business-to-business sales, this article examines the motivational effects of market growth rate and customization requirements, and the technology and information integration capabilities of the firm as determinants of firm adherence to treating customers according to their profitability. The study finds that firms are better at maintaining customers according to their profit potential than acquiring customers according to their profit potential. Further, maintenance faithfulness appears to have more ultimate impact on firm performance. The study suggests that pursuing customer profitability has limited effectiveness unless accompanied by a broader range of initiatives aimed at making the firm more customer-focused.     

A contextual model of negotiation orientation

Much of the previous research on buyer-seller negotiations has demonstrated that the styles and approaches taken by individual negotiators can impact the buyer and seller satisfaction levels as well the profit levels of the organizations that they represent. In demonstrating these effects, however, researchers have characterized these negotiation approaches in a variety of ways. This research proposes negotiation orientation (NO) as a contextually determined motivational construct that underlies behavior in negotiations. NO is defined and linked to several antecedents and consequences drawn from the negotiation and sales literature in a theoretically sound nomological network. The proposed model reduces conceptual confusion and overlap in the literature while suggesting a number of interesting directions for future research.     

Motivating self-regulated learning in technology education

This paper proposes a compensative model for self-regulated learning in technology education (SRLT) comprised of cognitive, metacognitive and motivational domains. Discussion of the cognitive domain centers on problem-solving and creativity, with a focus on the need to engage students in open-ended assignments in informal contexts and to teach them a repertoire of methods, strategies and heuristics for inventive design and problem-solving, rather than letting them search randomly for ideas or use the trial-and-error method. The notion of metacognition deals with peoples’ ability to be aware of and control their own thinking, for example, how they selects their learning goals, use prior knowledge or intentionally choose problem-solving strategies. Self-regulatory behaviour is highly correlated with an individual’s motivation to handle challenging assignments, and with his or her internal satisfaction from being engaged in a task that contributes more to creativity than to receiving external rewards. Another important factor is an individuals’ self-efficacy belief in their ability to handle a highly demanding assignment determined by previous positive experience in similar tasks and the existence of a supportive social and emotional environment. The SRLT model highlights the interrelationships between the cognitive, metacognitive and motivational aspects of learning, problem-solving and invention. For example, teaching students problem-solving strategies could help them accomplish a task, improve their ability to monitor their own thinking and reflect on their learning, and enhance their self-efficacy beliefs about problem-solving and creativity. The teachers’ role in promoting SRLT education and directions for further research are also discussed.     

The moderating effect of control systems on the relationship between commission and salesperson intrinsic motivation in a customer oriented environment

Using a social psychology theory, Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET), the authors show how commission compensation can be viewed as a sales performance contingent reward and the extent of its use to reward performance, coupled with a sales control system, impacts salesperson intrinsic motivation in a relationship selling environment. In essence, the sales control mechanisms modify the impact of the commission based on whether it is perceived as controlling or informative. This is empirically tested using a sample of business-to-business salespeople. Partial support for three hypothesized relationships is shown providing preliminary evidence that CET is a way to study the integration of commission compensation rewards, sales control systems, and motivational impact. Implications of the findings for theory and for managers are considered, along with suggested directions for future research.     

Investigating the influence of velocity performance on satisfaction with third party logistics service

The Third Party Logistics (3PL) service industry is characterized by customer relationships that can extend over several years, involving multiple instances of service delivery. When services are delivered on an ongoing basis, customers are able to not only evaluate positional (current) performance, but also velocity (rate at which the service changes) performance. This research presents findings from an empirical study utilizing an online survey of 3PL customers to examine the influence of these two types of performance on 3PL service satisfaction. Environmental moderators including market turbulence and competitive intensity are also examined, and results indicate that velocity performance is a more important driver of satisfaction when customers operate in industries characterized by high market turbulence. The findings suggest that 3PL service providers should implement velocity performance metrics, especially for customers operating in rapidly changing environments, and use velocity performance information during the sales process and customer negotiations.