The relationships among leadership,goal orientation,and service quality in high-contact service industries: An empirical study

High-contact service industries are characterized by close interaction between service employees and customers, and diverse customer needs. Such characteristics pose a great challenge to the delivery of services of superior quality. In this research we conceptually explore and empirically examine several attitudinal and motivational factors of customer-contact employees, and the management style of managers as antecedents to service quality in high-contact service sectors. Based on dyadic data collected from 230 service firms in Hong Kong, we examine the relationships among transformational leadership, transactional leadership, affective organizational commitment, learning goal orientation, performance goal orientation, and service quality. We find that learning goal orientation is more effective than performance goal orientation in fostering service quality in the high-contact service context. We also observe that transformational leadership tends to be more effective than transactional leadership in influencing employee attitude in high-contact service firms. This research pioneers theory-driven examination of service quality in high-contact service firms using data collected from service employees and shop managers for hypothesis testing.     

What is a strategic acquisition? Decision modeling in support of foreclosed housing redevelopment

This paper describes and develops a model for calculating location-based strategic values of foreclosed properties considered for acquisition and redevelopment by community development corporations (CDCs). A property’s strategic value refers to its proximity to site-specific neighborhood amenities and disamenities (e.g. schools, public transit, distressed properties), given the relative importance of that proximity to CDC organizational and community objectives. We operationalize the concept of strategic value, and apply this concept to a salient public sector decision problem. Using data and value assessments from a CDC engaged in foreclosed housing redevelopment, we compute measures of strategic value for a set of acquisition candidates. We show that strategic values can differ in systematic ways depending on the types of amenities and disamenities identified as relevant for CDC acquisition decisions, the relative importance assigned to those amenities and disamenities, and the utility maximization objectives of the CDC. We conclude by proposing a multi-criteria decision model for foreclosed housing acquisition and redevelopment which incorporates a theory of residential housing impacts for which strategic value measures are a special case.     

Grocery shopping and an ageing population: research note

This study focuses on grocery shopping and an ageing population. It hypothesizes that as a population ages so there will be a change in preferences for certain service and product factors associated with grocery shopping. Survey responses were collected from 393 people and the results confirmed the expectations. To analyse the data, a multiplicative determinance model was used. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for retailers.     

Consumer Behavior, Public Policy, and Country-of-Origin Labeling

Recent work by agricultural economists has failed to adequately identify why consumers desire country-of-origin labeling, a key piece of information needed to determine whether a market-failure exists. This paper brings to the attention of agricultural economists a sizable body of literature on country-of-origin effects from the marketing and business disciplines. Based on this literature, we draw a distinction between several consumer motivations for origin labels and we identify which of these is cause for public policy. We propose several research questions that require answers if the consequences of country-of-origin labeling policy are to be fully understood.     

Environmental Change, Leadership Succession and Incrementalism in Local Government

A theoretical model of strategic budgetary choices in local government is developed and tested. The model assumes that expenditure decisions are a function of changes in environmental circumstances and the characteristics of local leaders. Environmental change is operationalized through measures of workload, munificence and regulatory controls. Leadership succession is defined as the turnover in managerial and political élites. These environmental and leadership variables are included in a multivariate statistical model of budgetary incrementalism. The model is tested on the spending decisions of 402 English local authorities from 1981 to 1996. The empirical results suggest that the extent of budgetary change is influenced strongly by environmental change but weakly by leadership succession. Furthermore, environmental constraints became tighter during the study period. The characteristics of public sector organizations that impose limits on the strategic choices of new leaders are identified.