Relationships among Perceived Organizational Core Values, Corporate Social Responsibility, Ethics, and Organizational Performance Outcomes: An Empirical Study of Information Technology Professionals

This study is an extension of our recent ethics research in direct marketing (2003) and information technology (2007). In this study, we investigated the relationships among core organizational values, organizational ethics, corporate social responsibility, and organizational performance outcome. Our analysis of online survey responses from a sample of IT professionals in the United States indicated that managers from organizations with organic core values reported a higher level of social responsibility relative to managers in organizations with mechanistic values; that managers in both mechanistic and organic organizations which were perceived as more socially responsible were also perceived as more ethical; and that perceived ethical attitudes and social responsibility were significantly associated with organizational performance outcome measures. Our article discusses research premises, conceptual framework, hypotheses, research methodology, data analysis, recommendations for further research, and conclusions.     

Integrating customer orientation, corporate entrepreneurship, and learning orientation in organizations-in-transition: an empirical study

The paper addresses the issue of interrelationships between market orientation, corporate entrepreneurship, and learning orientation in the context of emerging economies. These three constructs have drawn an increasing level of interest in both marketing and management fields as organizations face challenges in a volatile environment. With a national sample of state-owned enterprises in China, the present study simultaneously tests potential relations between these structural constructs and their relationships with the organizational outcome that is reflected with marketing program dynamism. The findings of this study indicate that: (1) sampled state-owned enterprises demonstrate a higher level of changes in organizational outcome resulted from a stronger customer orientation, corporate entrepreneurship, or learning orientation; (2) learning orientation fully or partially mediates the impact of customer orientation and corporate entrepreneurship on outcome; (3) state-owned enterprises with foreign partnership have a higher level of customer orientation, entrepreneurship, and learning orientation; and (4) state-owned enterprises in the service sector have a higher level of customer orientation.     

Impact of operational innovations on customer loyalty in the healthcare sector

This study investigates the effects of operational innovations, such as application of advanced information technology (IT) systems and supported knowledge and skills (SKSs), on care quality and customer loyalty in the healthcare industry. A research model is proposed based on previous studies and examined the relationships among the constructs using the structural equation modeling approach. Research data were collected through a survey of patients and employees of participating hospitals in Korea, with a patient and an employee as one set. The results of the study indicate that operational innovations result in improved customer closeness, which is associated with IT systems usage and SKSs for delivery of quality care, which have a positive impact on patient satisfaction and customer loyalty. Thus, hospital managers should encourage employees to generate new ideas for work efficiency, care quality, customer loyalty, and organizational performance.     

Market Orientation and Organizational Learning Capabilities

The platform of contemporary marketing thought is founded upon the marketing concept. While there has been much debate about the precise nature of this concept, related discussion concerning its manifestation, in the form of a firm's market orientation, has developed to suggest that it is a feature exhibited by organizations possessing superior skills in understanding and satisfying customer needs. Despite the favourable externalities likely to accrue to an organization that is market oriented, it has been claimed that for a firm to achieve its full potential to learn about the marketplace, instilling a market orientation is only a first principle. While market orientation provides the norms for responding to the marketplace, this needs to be complemented by appropriate mechanisms and processes for higher-order learning to occur. This article examines such a conceptual argument and empirically investigates the relationship between two key constructs: market orientation and organizational learning capabilities. Data were generated from a survey of medium and large industrial firms and five dimensions of organizational learning capability items are tested against two different groups of firms in terms of their degree of market orientation. As contrasted with low market orientation firms, organizations characterized by high levels of market orientation perceived greater organizational learning capability with regard to the dimensions of strategic awareness, operational flexibility, strategic development processes and managerial skills. Discussion is given to these findings and implications are drawn for business executives and future research.     

Organizational context and knowledge acquisition in IJVs: An empirical study

This article investigates the impact of organizational context on the acquisition of explicit and tacit marketing know-how from foreign partners in an IJV. A structural equation model is developed and tested using survey data from 219 IJVs in Vietnam. The organizational factors investigated include management commitment, teamwork, relationship strength and cultural distance. The results show that these factors have different effects on explicit and tacit learning.     

The Role of Buyer Trust in Outsourced CRM: Its Influence on Organizational Learning and Performance

Purpose: Company outsourcing of customer relationship management (CRM) functions is increasing (Kalaignanam and Varadarajan 2012). Although outsourcing CRM may provide financial benefits, the tasks of developing and utilizing the complex, cross-functional processes needed to gain enhanced customer knowledge from CRM may be more difficult when some or all CRM activities are outsourced. Trust in the information provided by the outsourced CRM supplier is vital. In this study, the authors examine the influence of buyer trust in its outsourced CRM supplier on cross-functional learning processes and firm performance within the buyer firm.

Methodology: Data were collected from a survey of marketing managers in 221 firms. LISREL 9.2 was used to assess convergent, discriminant, and nomologic validity using the two-step approach (Anderson and Gerbing 1988). Convergent and discriminant validity were evaluated in the measurement model phase, whereas the structural model provided an appraisal of nomologic validity.

Findings: The results provide evidence of buyer firm trust in the outsourced CRM supplier playing a critical role in the buyer firm’s success with information sharing, and both trust and information sharing strongly influencing information interpretation and information access in the buyer firm. All three organizational learning processes positively influence buyer firm customer satisfaction/retention and market performance.

Research implications: An important area for future research is the possibility of varying levels of trust needed for success with outsourced CRM depending on the buyer firm’s goals for its CRM system. It is possible that the simpler CRM functions could be outsourced effectively through efficiency strategies that do not require significant levels of trust, whereas the more complex CRM activities that affect organizational learning require more stringent coordination and inter-organizational development. Varadarajan’s (2009) cost versus quality classifications of outsourcing could be a useful starting point for this type of analysis. Considering the finding in this study that information sharing is critical for information interpretation and information access in the buyer firm, another area for future research is possible differences in the extent of information sharing required by firms that are outsourcing CRM versus those that conduct the CRM function in-house. One starting point could be possible differences in relevance among Maltz and Kohli’s (1996) factors affecting information dissemination.

Practical implications: For effective use of CRM data, it is important for buyer firms to develop trust in their outsourced CRM supplier. Managers can assist in this by communicating qualifications of the outsourced CRM supplier, such as any trade-specific certifications, awards, information about the supplier’s number of years in business, and examples of other companies the supplier has assisted. Managers can also help employees develop confidence in the supplier’s integrity by sharing the supplier’s code of ethics and serving as a champion for the supplier. In addition, firms engaged in outsourced CRM are encouraged to develop reward systems that motivate employees to build relationships with their counterparts in the supplier firm, and it would be useful for the buyer firm to help its employees understand the importance of the CRM outsourcing relationship to the buyer firm’s success. Finally, it is important for management to provide opportunities for interaction between the outsourcing partner and key buyer firm employees who will use the CRM data, to encourage effective processes in information sharing, information interpretation, and information access.

Contribution of the article: This article addresses the significance of outsourcing the CRM function and provides evidence that buyer trust in its CRM supplier is a critical factor in its utilization of CRM data for organizational learning and firm performance. It also demonstrates that effective sharing of information, cross-functional integration of customer data, and CRM information accessibility are critical for firm success.     

Information Technology Investments and Organizational Productivity and Performance: An Empirical Investigation

The extent to which investment in information technology (IT) is related to organizational performance and productivity remains an open question in the minds of managers responsible for such investment decisions. Most past research into this relation has been based on cross-sectional analyses of 1-year periods. Attempts to determine relations between IT investment and the associated effect of that investment in such short periods have resulted in mostly mixed or negative findings. This study is thought to be the first to apply a multiyear, cross-sectional analysis. In the research, covering a 3-year period and involving firm-level data for a broad cross-section of U.S. industry, we found positive relations between higher levels of IT investment and selected measures representing organizational performance and productivity. These results, being based on multiyear analysis, are thought to be an important contribution in view of the fact that much of the existing literature in the area has failed to explain conclusively the economic impact of IT investment on organizational performance and productivity.     

Organizational and Interorganizational Determinants of EDI Diffusion and Organizational Performance: A Causal Model

Electronic data interchange (EDI), a specific form of interorganizational systems, has the potential to significantly influence business operations and the exchange of business documents in a number of industries and to provide substantive tangible and intangible benefits to the participating firms. However, successful implementation and diffusion of these systems innovations requires the cooperation and commitment of all participating member firms. A number of interorganizational as well as internal, organization-specific factors can influence both the extent to which EDI is diffused and used and the level of subsequent benefits that accrue to the firms.

Research from sociopolitical process framework in marketing, organizational theory, innovation theory, use of information technology for competitive advantage, and information systems (IS) implementation was used to identify 3 interorganizational variables (customer support, customer expertise, competitive pressure) and 4 organizational variables (internal support, EDI's benefits potential, EDI compatibility, resource intensity). In this study, we develop a multidimensional measure for EDI diffusion to capture both external integration and internal integration. We then examine the influence of these 7 variables on the extent to which EDI adopter firms pursue diffusion and whether more diffusion leads to superior organizational-level outcomes.

Two senior executives (the chief executive officer and a senior manager responsible for the IS function or EDI) from 83 firms in the motor carrier industry participated in a field survey. The results from a structural equation model (SEM), developed using LISREL, provide quite a strong support for the hypothesized relations. All 4 organizational variables and 2 of the 3 interorganizational variables (customer support and competitive pressure) influence EDI diffusion. The results also indicate that external integration dimension of diffusion enables adopter firms to achieve improved operational and market-oriented performance, whereas internal integration contributes only to operational performance.     

Putting market-facing technology to work: Organizational drivers of CRM performance

A large proportion of firms that adopt customer relationship management (CRM) technology find it challenging to integrate CRM technology into their core marketing processes and utilize CRM strategically to appreciably improve their performance. The authors conceptualize a model to understand the drivers of superior CRM performance after CRM technology has been adopted by a firm and examine strategic utilization of CRM technology as driven by user acceptance and proficiency in the form of employee buy-in and expertise. Top management championship practices, employee information technology (IT) skills, and CRM knowledge are identified and examined as key building blocks toward strategic utilization. The empirical test of the conceptual model is based on a mail survey of North American firms that have adopted information technology-based CRM systems. The results, based on random effects model, show that strategic utilization of CRM technology leads to higher performance when there is an emphasis on using it to manage business-to-business rather than business-to-consumer relationships, user expertise (but not buy-in) impacts CRM performance through strategic utilization, and top management championship practices, CRM knowledge, and employee IT skills impact strategic utilization through buy-in and expertise.     

Organizational Learning and Market Orientation in International Marketing Education

SUMMARY

This study develops and tests a series of relationships between organizational learning and market orientation as it pertains to international marketing education. The focus is on the activities and relationships between the students, faculty, and staff in the international marketing/business program at three schools in the north, midwest, and south United States. Based on a sample of 193 undergraduate and graduate international marketing students, the results suggest that organizational learning (class and major area-based learning)-team orientation, systems orientation, learning orientation, and memory orientation-positively influences market orientation learning outcomes (i.e., intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination, and responsiveness). The major implication of the study is that the education provided to the students in an international marketing course (i.e., upper-division university course) can be enhanced by focusing on organizational learning tools as a means to increase the shared knowledge level among the Students.     

Information Technology and Customer Orientation: A Study of Direct,Mediated, and Interactive Linkages

This study investigates whether and how information technology (IT) is linked to a firm's ability to understand and fulfil customer needs, i.e. customer orientation. IT alone or in tandem with other strategic resources may enable businesses to process market intelligence and coordinate organisational responses to meet evolving buyer preferences. Based on a survey of senior marketing managers and PLS path model analyses, we learned that greater IT capabilities are associated with higher customer orientation but in mediated and interactive ways with marketing information quality and organisational trust. These and other findings largely supported the conceptual model. An implication is that while IT capabilities can help firms be more customer-focused, other critical resources must also be present.     

The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks and the Answers All Donors Crave: How You Can Inspire Someone to Give Generously,by H. McKinnon

Organizational learning and customer orientation have been a focus of research for a number of years in both marketing and management literature. Customer learning orientation is conceptualized as three important components: management customer orientation, customer feedback, and employee learning orientation. By drawing from both marketing and organizational research theories, the authors propose a model of customer learning orientation in a public sector organizational setting. Customer learning orientation is hypothesized to have a significant effect on employee attitudes of role ambiguity and self-efficacy, which in turn affects job outcomes of job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors. Using a sample of 438 employees of a public sector organization, the authors test the model through a structural equation modeling technique. The results provide general support for the model. Implications for managers of public sector organizations and future research are discussed.     

Implementing the Marketing Concept One Employee at a Time: Pinpointing Beliefs about Customer Focus as a Lever for Organizational Renewal

This paper revisits the literature on organizational culture to motivate new theorizing about implementation of the marketing concept. We propose an individual-level construct, conceived as an alternative to the SBU-level conceptions featured in current theorizing about market orientation, and ground it in the organizational cognition perspective on culture. Our alternative construct—customer focus—is defined as an individual's beliefs about the value of direct customer contact for achieving desired performance outcomes in his or her own job. A measure for the construct is presented and its predictive validity is demonstrated with respect to individuals' interactions with customers. As a parsimonious and functionally-unbounded construct, customer focus can motivate theory development through identification of its unique antecedents and consequences. A preliminary nomological network is offered to suggest avenues for future research and indicate the potential role of customer focus in effecting organizational change and vitality.     

Information Technology Professionals’ Perceived Organizational Values and Managerial Ethics: An Empirical Study

This paper summarizes the results of an analysis of empirical data on ethical attitudes of professionals and managers in relation to organizational core values in the Information Technology (IT) industry. This study investigates the association between key organizational values as independent variables and the ethical attitudes of IT managers as dependent variables. The study also delves into differences among IT non-managerial professionals, mid-level managers, and upper-level managers in their ethical attitudes and perceptions. Research results indicated that IT professionals from mechanistic organizations were much more likely to report – compared to those from organic organizations – that managers in their corporate environment engage in behaviors considered unethical and that successful managers were more unethical relative to unsuccessful managers. There were significant differences between the upper-level managers and the mid-level managers and between the mid-level managers and the IT non-managerial professionals on certain key ethical issues. This paper discusses the conceptual framework, hypotheses, research methodology, data analysis, implications of the findings, and suggested areas of further research. K. Gregory Jin, D.B.A, is Professor of the MIS Department, Ancell School of Business, Western, Connecticut State University. He has published numerous conference papers, chapters, and articles in such areas as MIS professional ideology and ethics, communication and control, behavioral issues in information systems development, role of IT and human factors in business process reengineering, service learning in database design, systems theory, MIS participant action research strategy, and political factors in IT management. He has more than twenty years of MIS administrative and professional experiences. He holds a D.B.A. in Information Technology Management from George Washington University. He is a member of the Association of Information Technology Professionals and a former member of DSI. Ronald G. Drozdenko, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Marketing Department, Ancell School of Business, Western Connecticut State University. He is also the founding Director of the Center for Business Research at the Ancell School. Dr. Drozdenko has co-directed more than 100 proprietary research projects since 1978 for the marketing and research and development departments of several corporations, including major multinationals. These projects were in the areas of strategic planning, marketing research, product development, direct marketing, and marketing database analysis. Dr. Drozdenko co-authored Optimal Database Marketing: Strategy, Development and Data Mining and also has published professional and academic articles and book chapters. He holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Missouri and is a member of the American Marketing Association, the Society for Consumer Psychology, and the Academy of Marketing Sciences. Richard A. Bassett, D.P.S, is an Associate Professor of Management Information Systems at Western Connecticut State University. He was founder and CEO of Bassett Computer Systems, Inc. for 17 years where he was involved with the design and implementation of information systems for hundreds for small and midsized businesses. He has authored several papers and articles in such areas as web-design as a web-master, web-based course design, the security threats and concerns faced by telecommuters, minimal steps required to secure a Local Area Network and the technology decision challenges which growing companies face. He is actively involved with technology endeavors of numerous nonprofit organizations including: The Children’s Center, Bridges of Milford, North Haven Rotary, Communicare, and the Amber Alert System. He holds a D.P.S. in Computing from Pace University.     

The Impact of Perceived Organizational Support on Self-Directed Learning in Sales Training

Perceived organizational support has a positive influence on the willingness of salespeople to use self-directed learning (SDL) projects. These SDL projects can be tailored to fit a salesperson's distinct learning needs, to increase performance, and to achieve the overarching goals of collaborative members of a marketing channel. Hence, it is beneficial for channel members to create a supportive learning culture that promotes the use of SDL projects by salespeople. Salespeople within the insurance industry play an essential role inside their marketing channel. Data collected from 392 insurance salespeople in over 170 firms is used to empirically test how perceived organizational support influences the use of two types of SDL projects. Salespeople encouraged to use elective SDL projects reported higher levels of performance than those required to use compulsory SDL projects.     

Information Technology Use and Firm's Perceived Performance in Supply Chain Management

Purpose: This article proposes a theoretical model to investigate (a) a positive direct relationship between the specific use of ITs (applied to management) and the firm's performance as perceived by retailers and (b) a positive indirect relationship through information quality and information sharing.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The theoretical model proposed in this paper is contrasted using structural equation modelling of the retail distribution channel for home appliances.

Findings: The research shows that there is no positive direct relationship between the specific use of ITs and the retailer's perceived performance in the relationship with the provider. The results do, however, provide evidence for a positive indirect relationship through both information sharing and satisfaction obtained from the relationship with the provider.

Research Limitations: The analysis has been developed from the retail perspective. We suggest that future research focus on the retailer's and the provider's perspectives.

Practical Implications: In the context of SCM, the competitive advantages achieved through IT use derive from a better network of relationships between the firms involved as a result of greater information quality and information sharing. Specific use of ITs stimulates greater information sharing between retailer and provider and thus greater satisfaction and better perceived performance of the retailer in the relationship with the provider. However, the effect of IT use on information sharing occurs only through the quality of the information shared.

Originality/Value: The study shows that information quality is an antecedent of information sharing and that both information quality and information sharing act as necessary conditions for improving the retailer's perceived performance in the relationship with the provider. This article develops a measurement scale to evaluate the intensity of IT use. Finally, the research confirms that firm performance can be modeled as a second-level latent variable composed of three different dimensions (economic benefits, marketing benefits, and adaptation benefits).     

Logistics Service Providers and Their Customers: Gaining Commitment Through Organizational Implants

The current research examines the following question: how can on‐site representatives (i.e., organizational implants) be used to generate greater interorganizational relationship commitment? The relationship marketing literature explores many facets of interorganizational relationships and commitment, but until now, it has not considered the colocation of employees from separate firms. Dyadic survey data were collected from logistics service providers (LSPs) and their customers. The paired dyads were then analyzed using path analysis. Results indicate that organizational implantation can lead to greater levels of outcome interdependence between the organizations, which can then generate greater levels of commitment from the LSP toward the customer. Results also suggest that organizational implantation can lead to greater levels of relational capital and responsiveness, which is shown to generate greater levels of commitment from the customer toward the LSP.     

The impact of new technologies on customer satisfaction and business to business customer relationships: Evidence from the soft drinks industry

Sales technology has been touted as a primary tool for enhancing customer relationship management (CRM) and thus improving overall customer satisfaction. The marketing, IT, and practitioner literatures make numerous references to the impact of CRM on business orientation and performance. However, according to Richard et al. (2007), not many studies have investigated customer relationship technology adopted by a firm and the impact on relationship development. The aim of this paper is to examine the relative impact of new technologies on improving customer relations and overall customer satisfaction within the sales industry. New technologies have revolutionised the workplace and have become an integral part of organisations throughout the world (Forster, 2000). Driving this revolution are two powerful new forces, cyberspace and computing power. This article defines three key terms which include CRM, customer satisfaction and new technologies and evaluates the impact of these emerging technological developments on relationships and customer satisfaction in a sales force/customer context. Primary research was conducted using two focus groups consisting of nine participants from Britvic. The analysis reveals that technology is both beneficial and essential within the sales force industry for both the sales representative and their customers and provides an insight into the impact of technology on the sales force/customer relationship. The paper concludes with reference to new technologies and the future.     

Exploring the Internal Customer Mind-Set of Marketing Personnel

SUMMARY

With a traditional focus on external customers, marketing personnel could be expected to provide a leadership role in bringing an internal customer focus to the organization. In this study, we focus on the internal customer mind-set (ICMS) of marketing personnel and how this might impact the organization. We present a theoretically driven model that integrates current human resources literature by representing ICMS as a mediator of job satisfaction/organizational commitment and job performance/turnover intentions. The most notable results are found between ICMS and job performance, through both direct and indirect effects. Future research and study limitations are discussed.     

Impact of Transformational and Servant Leadership on Organizational Performance: A Comparative Analysis

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of two comparative leadership styles on organizational performance outcomes. The leadership styles undertaken is transformational and servant leadership. A sample of 155 participants is taken from profit-oriented service sector of Pakistan. Data through survey gathered on a five point likert scale from organizations. AMOS and SPSS are used for statistical analysis. The result shows that, transformational leadership has more impact on organizational learning than servant leadership. Furthermore organizational learning enhances organizational performance. Managers and leaders of corporate sector can get benefited from this study. Their main objective is to maximize the profitability of organization thus, they can choose leadership style which polishes their abilities and helps them to achieve profit maximization.