The executive suite: Are women perceived as ready for the managerial climb?

In a developing profession, emphasis is placed on two key ingredients for a successful climb to the executive suite — namely, interpersonal skills and an appropriate personality structure than can cope with forms of stress and uncertainty. The data presented in this study were collected from one of the major accounting firms and offers insights into men and women on the upward climb within the accounting profession. Analysis of this data shows that although appropriate personality characteristics are predicated on a male managerial model, women and men perceive themselves similarly with respect to these characteristics. However, others' perceptions of women, male accountants as well as clients, seemed more skeptical of women's ability to succeed. Furthermore, there are indications that women and men have different job assignments along their career paths. Our data collected in the latter half of the seventies tend to corroborate many of the findings in the first half — in general women are not perceived as ready for the managerial climb.     

Personalized managerial response and negative inconsistent review helpfulness: The mediating effect of perceived response helpfulness

Understanding the effect of managerial response on online review management has attracted the attention of scholars in recent years. However, the effect of personalized managerial response on the negative inconsistent review is a lack of evidence. This study investigates how personalized managerial responses influence negative review helpfulness according to the various levels of review inconsistency and the underlying mechanism behind the effect. We adopted a secondary data analysis based on the TripAdvisor dataset and used an online experiment study to investigate the impact mechanism. Findings reveal that the personalized managerial response positively influences review helpfulness, review inconsistency (negative rating with positive textual sentiment) moderates the effect of personalized managerial response on review helpfulness, and perceived response helpfulness mediates the above relationships. More specifically, personalized managerial response to negative inconsistent reviews has a pronounced effect on consumers’ perception of response helpfulness and their evaluation of review helpfulness. This study improves the current understanding of managerial responses, and provides practical guidance for hoteliers, consumers, and travel websites.     

The influence of managerial discretion,innovation and uncertainty on export intensity: A real options perspective

Geographic sales diversification (i.e., exports) is a multidimensional phenomenon that has primarily been examined using a single theoretical perspective drawn from international trade or organizational strategy. This study uses managerial discretion, real options, and innovation literatures to examine the roles of managers, context, and environment in motivating geographic sales diversification. We contribute to the international business and organizational strategy literatures by highlighting how the combination of managerial discretion, capacity to offer innovative products, and uncertainty can motivate export-driven internationalization.     

In-store quality (in)congruency as a driver of perceived legitimacy and shopping behavior

This research builds on the institutional theory literature to investigate the impact of retailer’s in-store quality (in)congruency on consumer shopping behavior. Specifically, considering the consensual view of legitimacy as a variable of main interest to explain organizational survival, this research focuses on legitimacy as the mediating variable explaining the effects of in-store quality (in)congruency on shopping behavior. Results from a scenario-based experiment show that in-store quality (in)congruency affects legitimacy such that when merchandise quality is low, a high store environment quality leads to lower legitimacy. Also, the results show that legitimacy acts as a mediator that induces a decrease in shopping behavior. By highlighting perceived legitimacy as the underlying mechanism explaining the effect of in-store quality incongruency on consumer behavior, this research offer new insights for retailers.     

The influence of supermarket attributes on perceived customer satisfaction: an East Asian study

Despite the proliferation of theoretical developments in the area of western consumer behaviour, to date the likelihood of Asian variants to existing consumer behavioural models has not been explored in any detail. Based on prior research in the field of retail attribute testing this empirical study investigates the influence of supermarket store attributes on Chinese (Macau) customer satisfaction moderated by the biographical factors of age and income. The results indicate that the store attributes of distance and speed of check out were significant for age, and that delivery service and price reductions were significant by income. Total independent variable rankings indicated store location, price and product variety were perceived by Chinese respondents as being the most important store attributes influencing satisfaction.     

The role of moral intensity and fairness perception in judgments of ethicality: A comparison of managerial professionals and the general public

Using a scenario approach involving hypothetical moral decisions, the study aims to (1) compare managerial professionals' ethicality judgments with those made by the general public, and (2) ascertain the roles of perceived intensity (Jones, 1991) as well as perceived fairness of the moral issue in judgments of ethicality. While the two respondent groups made similar ratings on variables of moral intensity, fairness, and ethicality; the evaluation processes underlying their ethicality judgments were different. Empirically, the study has also established a link between judgments of fairness and judgments of ethicality.M. Singer is senior lecturer in Psychology at Canterbury University, New Zealand. She holds a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and has published widely in academic journals. Her areas of interest include decision making, work motivation, social justice and selection issues.     

Speed in acquisitions: A managerial framework

The advantage of speed is often invoked by academics and practitioners as an essential condition during post-acquisition integration, frequently without consideration of the impact earlier decisions have on acquisition speed. In this article, we examine the role speed plays in acquisitions across the acquisition process using research organized around characteristics that display complexity with respect to acquisition speed. We incorporate existing research with a process perspective of acquisitions in order to present trade-offs, and consider the influence of both stakeholders and the pre-deal-completion context on acquisition speed, as well as the organization’s capabilities to facilitating that speed. Observed trade-offs suggest both that acquisition speed often requires longer planning time before an acquisition and that associated decisions require managerial judgement. A framework for improving manager decisions during acquisitions is discussed and its implications for managers and research summarized.     

More than just a utensil: The influence of drinking straw size on perceived consumption

This research replicates and extends Wansink and colleagues' research on the effect of container size on actual consumption by examining the influence of medium size of consumption (straw size) on perceived consumption. Results from two studies show that participants who used a thin straw perceived their consumption as greater than those who used a thick straw, because straw size can lead to different perceptions of consumption time. Furthermore, sip size does not moderate the effect of straw size on perceived consumption.     

The legitimacy of international-business political behavior

Political behavior on the part of international-business firms must be evaluated, like any other type of business behavior. The concept of legitimacy provides a way of framing this evaluative issue because it definitely includes a consideration of “values” without having to specify which values apply—a task left to ethicists.     

Exploring the determinants of organizational emergence: A legitimacy perspective

In an attempt to explain why some nascent organizations become new organizations while others do not, we contend that the process of organizational emergence can be understood and predicted by viewing it as a quest for legitimacy. We subsequently find empirical evidence to suggest that the actions a nascent organization takes (or strategic legitimacy) may be more important than its characteristics (or conforming legitimacy) in explaining organizational emergence. Such a conclusion is important in that it provides a theoretical framework with which to understand organizational emergence and in so doing advances our knowledge of this important process.     

Ethics in american companies: A managerial perspective

This study investigated several issues with 1498 managers nationwide regarding, for example, how ethical they felt their organizations were and whether their personal principles must be compromised for the organization's sake. In addition their decision criteria for two scenarios involving ethical implications were articulated. Barry Z. Posner is Associate Professor at the Santa Clara University. He has been awarded the President's Distinguished Faculty Award and Dirksen Fellow. He has written three books on Management and his articles have been published in journals as Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Resource Management and Academy of Management Journal. Warren H. Schmidt is a professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Southern California, where he also serves as faculty director of the Institute for Public-Private Partnership. He has written several books on management topics and authored several management training films.     

Implementing big data strategies: A managerial perspective

Despite considerable recent advances in big data analytics, there is substantial evidence that many organizations have failed to incorporate them effectively in their own decision-making processes. Advancing the existing understandings, this article lays out the steps necessary to implement big data strategies successfully. To this end, we first explain how the big data analytics cycle can provide useful insights into the characteristics of the environments in which many organizations operate. Next, we review some common challenges faced by many organizations in their uses of big data analytics and offer specific recommendations for mitigating them. Among these recommendations, which are rooted in the findings of strategy implementation research, we emphasize managerial responsibilities in providing continued commitment and support, the effective communication and coordination of efforts, and the development of big data knowledge and expertise. Finally, in order to help managers obtain a fundamental knowledge of big data analytics, we provide an easy-to-understand explanation of important big data algorithms and illustrate their successful applications through a number of real-life examples.     

Emerging life sciences ventures: The quest for legitimacy

As an emerging life sciences venture, gaining legitimacy (credibility) with external stakeholders (e.g., investors) is a critical challenge in today's environment. This quest for legitimacy relates to issues that focus on the individual, the environment, and the process. Integrating insights gained from interviews with three CEOs of life sciences companies along with the academic literature, we provide guidance for entrepreneurs regarding the unique challenges facing life sciences ventures. We propose that these ventures are driven by a “quest for legitimacy” and that life sciences entrepreneurs therefore must be aware of the strategic issues which impact legitimacy in the eyes of external stakeholders (e.g., investors).     

Leading the way: Motivating environmental action through perceived marketplace influence

This research explores the perceived marketplace influence (PMI) belief and its role in explaining behavior. Across three studies, we show PMI to be distinct from other efficacy-based constructs and a powerful predictor of pro-environmental and socially-motivated behavior. Specifically, consumers are motivated to act when they believe their behavior influences other marketplace actors. We develop a ten-item scale for PMI and display its predictive and incremental validity in explaining environmental behavior before showing its power to translate environmental concern into corresponding behavior. We then find that PMI predicts social environmentalism and environmental citizenship behaviors, and that these effects are attenuated by consumer skepticism of marketing. While complementing existing efficacy-related beliefs with its explicit marketplace focus, PMI provides an important tool for marketers operating in environmental and prosocial niches by allowing them to understand and target the consumers most likely to adopt their products or attempt to recruit others in environmentally-motivated efforts.     

Culture and personal values: How they influence perceived service quality

This research analyzes the effects of culture and personal values on perceived service quality. Data on bank service quality are collected from 509 Canadian and 216 French users. The results confirm that power distance and uncertainty avoidance influence perceived service quality. Personal values such as self-fulfillment, self-respect, sense of accomplishment, and security also influence perceived service quality. The study findings show that the effects of personal values (micro-level variables) and culture (macro-level variable) on perceived service quality are distinct.     

Assessing data quality: A managerial call to action

While awareness of data quality has increased in recent years, there have been very few studies on the actual level of data quality within organizations. This article outlines the analysis of 75 data quality assessments collected over the course of 2 years from a wide range of organizations, data sets, and business processes. The results reveal that data is in far worse shape than most managers realize. On average, 47% of recently created data records have at least one critical error. High-quality data is the exception, with only 3% of the DQ scores rated acceptable (≥97%). Indeed, the results suggest an unhealthy organizational tolerance of bad data and underscore the magnitude of improvement organizations need to make in order to be truly effective in the knowledge economy. By providing a unique insight and benchmark for data quality practitioners, this article serves as a call-to-action for all organizations—regardless of size and type—to determine their level of data quality. Finally, we set out a typology that presents a categorical scheme to promote preemptive actions against the most frequent types of data error.     

The influence of the training environment on trainee motivation and perceived training quality

To examine the relationships between the training environment and employee responses to training provided by their organisations, 105 managers employed by different 12 Australian organisations completed measures of the personal aspects of organisational commitment, job involvement, self esteem, and personal control, as well as of the organisational aspects of social support from work, social support outside work, training incentives, training resources, and training needs. The trainees also indicated how motivated they were for the training, and how they judged the quality of the training provided by their organisations—the two outcomes of the study. Eight of the 10 relationships between the organisational aspects and outcomes were significant, but only three of the eight relationships between the personal aspects and outcomes. It is argued that the results suggest that it is how organisations go about managing training, especially how many resources they provide, what training incentives they make available, and how much the training is needed that counts, rather than the personal attributes of the trainees.