Organizational socialization of newcomers: the role of professional socialization

Organizational socialization is the process through which newcomers learn the requisite social and task knowledge in order to resolve role uncertainty and become organizational insiders. Successful socialization of newcomers implies better retention of employees, higher productivity, and reduced recruitment and training costs. Many organizational newcomers undergo professional socialization through education and related work experience during their schooling. These newcomers may respond differently to an organization's efforts to socialize them when compared with newcomers without any related professional education or work experience. The importance of prior work experience and professional education for organizational socialization of newcomers, however, has received attention only recently. The aim of the research reported in this paper is to investigate the moderating effects of prior related work experience and professional education on the relationship between organizational socialization tactics and newcomer's adjustment. The study was conducted with a sample of new graduates from an Asian university. Findings show that prior related work experience and professional education moderate the effects of socialization tactics on newcomer's role clarity, role conflict and organizational commitment. The moderators have effects on different outcomes and in opposite directions. The paper discusses theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

The moderating impact of internal social exchange processes on the entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationship

This paper applies a social exchange perspective to understand the internal contingencies of the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and performance. It focuses on two aspects of social interactions among functional managers (procedural justice and trust), as well as on their organizational commitment, as potential enhancements to the firm's successful exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities. A study of 232 Canadian-based firms finds several positive moderating effects: The EO–performance link is stronger for higher levels of procedural justice, trust, and organizational commitment. In addition, consistent with a systems approach to organizational contingencies, the EO–performance relationship is stronger when the organization's social context comes closer to an “ideal” configuration of procedural justice, trust, and organizational commitment that is most conducive to knowledge exchange within the organization. The study's implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Linking Brand Orientation with Service Quality,Satisfaction, and Positive Word-of-Mouth: Evidence from the Higher Education Sector

Brand orientation has been recognized as having a positive impact on organizational performance in both commercial and nonprofit sectors. However, limited studies have examined the moderating effects of brand orientation in the nonprofit sector, particularly in the higher education context. This study attempts to examine the construct of brand orientation from the perspective of the students and examine its moderating role on the relationship between service quality, satisfaction, loyalty, and word-of-mouth (WOM) communication behavior. Two hundred and fifty-eight questionnaires were completed by undergraduate students of an Australian university. The study found that students’ perception of a university’s brand orientation significantly moderates the relationship between service quality, loyalty, and WOM communication behavior. Significant managerial and theoretical implications were identified.     

Tiger Woods,Nike, and I are (not) best friends: how brand's sports sponsorship in social-media impacts brand consumer's congruity and relationship quality

This study examines the effects of brand's sports sponsorship in social media on brand consumer's congruity and brand relationship quality. The study included a survey of targeting consumers whose ages range between early twenties and late forties; data from 322 respondents were collected. The results are as follows. First, brand's sports sponsorship in social-media activities relating to sports brands has significant effects on brand consumer's congruity. Second, this congruity significantly influences brand relationship quality. Third, male consumers, who have previously purchased products and services associated with a sports brand, perceive the sponsor's brand image more positively when they are exposed to the sponsor's brand's sports sponsorship in social-media activities, compared to those consumers having no previous purchases of the sponsored brand. Lastly, consumers in their forties with prior experience consuming the sponsor's brand products are most affected by the level of self-congruity with the sports brand compared to younger or older consumers.     

Service climate and employee service performance: exploring the moderating role of job stress and organizational identification

Drawing on a sample of 368 frontline employees and 45 managers from five Chinese banks, this study examined the relationship between service climate and frontline employee service performance, including in-role and extra-role performance, and the difference of this relationship considering the moderating role of employee's emotional experience (job stress and organizational identification). Empirical results indicated the positive effect of service climate on service performance as hypothesized. Moreover, job stress negatively moderated the relationship between service climate and extra-role performance, while organizational identification positively moderated the climate–performance relationship.     

Entrepreneurial Orientation,Managerial Networking,and New Venture Performance in China

Based on institutional theory, this study investigates the moderating effects of different types of managerial networking (political networking, financial networking, and business networking) on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and new venture performance in China. The study finds that political networking has a negative moderating effect on the positive relationship between EO and new venture performance, financial networking has an inverse U‐shaped impact, and business networking has a positive effect. The findings not only enrich our understanding of the impact of managerial networking on the performance implication of EO in new ventures, but also offer new ventures some guidance on how to use EO and different types of managerial networking to enhance performance in China's transition economy.     

新零售企业多渠道整合服务质量对重购意愿的影响--顾客涉入度的调节作用

采取线上线下多渠道整合的零售模式已成为新零售企业主流模式,顾客重购意愿是新零售企业重要竞争力之一,也是衡量多渠道整合服务实施效果的重要标准。通过构建以顾客体验为中介的多渠道整合服务质量对重购意愿影响概念模型,引入顾客涉入度作为调节变量,经过调查分析384名在同一新零售企业线上线下渠道有购物经历的消费者,研究结论如下:多渠道整合服务质量对重购意愿有显著积极影响;多渠道整合服务质量对顾客体验有显著积极影响;顾客体验对顾客重购意愿有显著积极影响;顾客体验在多渠道整合服务质量与重购意愿之间起部分中介作用;顾客涉入度在多渠道整合服务质量与顾客体验关系中起正向调节作用。研究结论拓展了多渠道整合服务质量对重购意愿影响的内在机理,明确了顾客体验在其中的重要中介作用,探明了顾客涉入度在多渠道整合服务质量影响顾客体验过程中的重要调节作用。新零售企业既可以通过多渠道整合服务质量提升顾客重购意愿,也可以通过极致的顾客体验提升重购意愿,而且通过加强顾客涉入度管理可有效提升顾客体验与重购意愿。     

Quest for the eco‐apparel market: a study of mothers' willingness to purchase organic cotton clothing for their children

The purpose of this study was to examine what consumer characteristics are related to willingness to purchase and selection of children's organic cotton clothing (OCC). A survey was conducted on mothers of pre‐schoolers to collect data on mothers' environmental characteristics, involvement with OCC and children's clothing, children's clothing purchasing behaviour and willingness to purchase OCC. A buying scenario experiment was used to examine whether price and other product characteristics influenced the participants' selection of OCC. It was found that a mother's environmental concerns, environmental purchasing behaviour and recycling behaviour significantly affected their involvement in OCC, which further significantly determined mother's willingness to purchase OCC. However, mothers were not willing to pay a premium for purchasing children's OCC. A majority (59.5%) of the mothers who selected OCC in the buying scenario indicated fabric softness was the main reason for their selection. Preparing environmental education materials for consumers and producing OCC with high quality and good performance would help improve the acceptance of OCC in the market.     

Customer Response to Web Site Atmospherics: Task-relevant Cues,Situational Involvement and PAD

Using the pleasure, arousal, and dominance (PAD) model, this study seeks to extend existing knowledge about consumers' activities in online retail environments by focusing on the largely ignored role of perceived dominance. In online environments, perceived dominance might influence purchasing intentions both directly and indirectly through pleasure. Furthermore, consumers' perceptions of Web site atmospherics (informativeness, navigational cues, perceived organization, and entertainment) likely affect two dimensions of emotion (perceived dominance and arousal). This study also investigates the moderating effects of situational involvement on the relationships among the PAD dimensions for online consumers. The results affirm that perceived dominance has direct effects on purchasing intentions, as well as indirect impacts through pleasure. The impact of perceived dominance on pleasure also is moderated by situational involvement. Whereas high task-relevant cues exert significant effects on perceived dominance, low task-relevant cues influence arousal. Therefore, this research shows that perceived dominance relates to online customers' purchasing intentions, which represents an extension of existing knowledge about the PAD model applied online; it also provides notable managerial implications for e-marketers.     

Exploring Supply Managers' Intrapreneurial Ability and Relationship Quality

This article examined the degree to which a supply manager's intrapreneurial ability influences the quality of individual-level relationships with internal customers and the supplier's account executive. The moderating influence of the buyer's firm-level commitment to the supplier and how these relationships subsequently impact supplier performance were explored. The study assessed the supply manager's intrapreneurial ability using survey data gathered from 110 supply managers across a variety of industries. In key supplier relationships, a supply manager's intrapreneurial ability positively influences the quality of internal and external relationships. The firm's commitment to the supplier weakens the relationship between intrapreneurial ability and relationship quality. The findings highlight the value of individual skills to enhance relationships The ability to behave intrapreneurially shapes the quality of internal and supplier relationships. However, only the supply manager's relationship with the supplier's account executive is related to supplier performance. By examining the impact of intrapreneurial ability on individual-level relationships with internal customers and supplier's account executive, a more comprehensive view of business-to-business relationship management in the supply chain is gained.     

Designing loyalty programs that matter to customers

This study explores a model proposing a customer loyalty program as an identity marketing tool that evokes customer's identity salience (one's perception that a loyalty program membership is important to his/her identity). The results of a Web-based experiment indicate that identity salience is heightened by (1) the uniqueness and exclusiveness of a loyalty program (distinctiveness), and (2) by the fit between the function of the program's rewards and the customer's identity goal (identity congruence). The heightened identity salience, in turn, positively influences the customer's attitude toward the retailer, satisfaction with the loyalty program and the perceived quality of his/her relationship with the retailer.     

Revealing travellers’ satisfaction during COVID-19 outbreak: Moderating role of service quality

User-Generated-Content (UGC) has gained increasing attention as an important indicator of business success in the tourism and hospitality sectors. Previous literature has analyzed travelers' satisfaction through quantitative approaches using questionnaire surveys. Another direction of research has explored the dimensions of satisfaction based on online customers' reviews using the machine learning approach. This study aims to present a new method that combines machine learning and survey-based approaches for customers' satisfaction analysis during the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, we investigate the moderating role of service quality on the relationship between hotels' performance criteria and customers' satisfaction. To achieve this, the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was used for textual data analysis, k-means was used for data segmentation, dimensionality reduction approach was used for the imputation of the missing values, and fuzzy rule-based was used for the prediction of satisfaction level. Following that, a survey-based approach was used to validate the research model by distributing the questionnaire and analyzing the collected data using the Structural Equation Modeling technique. The result of this research presents important contributions from the methodological and practical perspectives in the context of customers' satisfaction in tourism and hospitality during the COVID-19 outbreak. The outcomes of this research confirm the significant influence of the quality of services during the COVID-19 crisis on the relationship between hotel services and travellers’ satisfaction.     

Language and cross-border acquisitions: An exploratory study

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of language on post-acquisition performance of US based cross-border acquisitions. In this study we attempt to show that post-acquisition performance is explained by the linguistic distance between the acquirer and target country of the acquisition. In addition, this study explains the moderating role of acquisition experience in the linguistic distance-acquisition performance relationship. An analysis of 1120 US acquisitions in 33 target countries over a period of 6 years (2007 to 2012) demonstrates that linguistic distance has explanatory value in post-acquisition performance. Our analysis also demonstrates that the acquirer’s cross-border acquisition experience plays a significant role as a moderator of this linguistic distance—acquisition performance relationship. In addition, our analysis of lingua franca proficiency also lends support to our hypothesized relationships and demonstrates the robustness of our findings.     

Performance or learning goal orientation: Implications for business performance

An organization's long-term effectiveness and efficiency reflect its learning goal or performance goal orientation. Goal orientation concepts originate in psychology of achievement motivation theory. Goal orientations drive the development and deployment of organizational capabilities, such as market orientation and innovativeness to achieve organizational performance outcomes. Extant research pays little attention to whether or not industry type (services or manufacturing) operates as a significant moderating factor in the relationships among an organization's capabilities, goal orientation, and performance outcomes. This study addresses this gap. The study results indicate a significant moderating effect of industry type on relationship between goal orientation and performance but not between goal orientation and either market orientation or innovativeness. Goal orientation appears to be more important for service industries than for manufacturing.     

The drivers of domestic acquisitions in People's Republic of China: a resource-based analysis

Domestic acquisitions of firms in emerging markets have so far evaded scholarly interest. This article contributes to closing this gap by looking into the drivers of cross-province acquisitions in the People's Republic of China, covering 569 deals in manufacturing industry conducted between 1999 and 2012. Drawing on the resource-based view, this study looks at prior Chief Executive Officer (CEO) experience and organizational slack as two drivers of cross-province acquisitions, and analyses the moderating effects of firm ownership types and the location of an acquiring firm. The results show that private firms having CEOs with experience outside of the home province are the drivers of cross-province acquisitions in China.     

Gender and Hedonic Usage Motive Differences in Social Media Site Usage Behavior

ABSTRACT

This study investigates how the user's gender and hedonic usage motive differences influence evaluation and usage of social media sites. This study develops and tests a conceptual model that captures the relationship among four social media site usage determining factors, social media involvement, satisfaction, and usage intention. The moderating role of two user characteristics on the social media site usage behavior is also empirically tested. Structural equation analysis results show significant moderating effects of gender and the hedonic usage motive of users on the evaluation and usage behavior of social media sites. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Corporate social responsibility disclosure and market value: Family versus nonfamily firms

We investigate the moderating role of family involvement in the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting and firm market value using a longitudinal archival data set in the French context. Our empirical results show that family firms report less information on their CSR duties than do nonfamily firms. However, market-based financial performance, as measured by Tobin's q, is positively related to CSR disclosure for family firms and negatively related to CSR disclosure for nonfamily firms. Family firms would benefit greatly from communicating commitment to CSR; specifically, they could obtain shareholders' endorsement more easily than nonfamily firms could.     

Perceived threats of terrorism and job performance: The roles of job-related anxiety and religiousness

This study investigates the relationship between employees' perceptions of the threat of terrorism and job performance, as well as a potential mediating effect of job-related anxiety and a moderating effect of religiousness on this relationship. Multisource, time-lagged data from employees and their supervisors in Pakistan reveal that an important reason that perceived threats of terrorism diminish job performance is the anxiety that employees experience at work. Employees' religiousness buffers the negative effect of perceived threats of terrorism on job-related anxiety though, such that the relationship is mitigated when their religiousness is high. Finally, the results indicate the presence of moderated mediation: the indirect effect of perceived threats of terrorism on job performance is not as strong at higher levels of religiousness. In external environments in which terrorism presents a credible threat, organizations can therefore consider the religiousness of their employees as a resource for countering their anxiety.     

Knowledge complementarity,knowledge absorption effectiveness,and new product performance: The exploration of international joint ventures in China

Firms use international joint ventures (IJVs) to access and learn from partners’ knowledge and thus enhance their new product performance, especially when the partners have complementary knowledge bases. Most of the existing literature assumes that knowledge complementarity can directly lead to enhanced new product performance, while ignoring the mediating role of knowledge absorption effectiveness and moderating effects of organizational structure and organizational culture to integrate and manage knowledge complementarity. Using dyadic data from 119 IJVs in China, this article suggests that knowledge complementarity influences IJV new product performance through the full mediation of knowledge absorption effectiveness. Also, the results suggest that an IJV's departmentalization of organizational structure significantly hurts the effect of knowledge complementarity on knowledge absorption effectiveness, while a strong learning culture of the IJV can significantly enhance such effects.     

Globalization,Coordination, and Subsidiary Performance-Evidence from Companies in an Advancing Country

ABSTRACT

We investigate an important issue in globalization, the relationship between production capacity of a global company's subsidiary and its performance, where the subsidiary's relative size of production capacity is regarded as its globalization level. Analyzing the field data on 42 Korean companies engaged in global operations, we reached preliminary conclusions. First, the optimal level of subsidiary globalization represented by its relative production capacity does not exist. This lack of significance subsides when we associate the globalization level with global coordination between the headquarters and its subsidiary. Global coordination turns out to be a significant factor, either direct or moderating in relation to the globalization level, in determining the subsidiary's performance. We also found that the type of coordination supporting the subsidiary's innovation is different from that enhancing its operational efficiency: for the subsidiary's innovation capability, indirect coordination is effective, whereas direct coordination can be detrimental. In addition, we report effects of other factors such as global experience, host country and target market characteristics on the subsidiary performance.