The extended website stage model: a study of Canadian winery websites

Rao, Metts, and Mora Monge (2003) proposed a stage model to reflect the progression small businesses follow in their use of Internet technology. We extend their work in two ways. We introduce marketing integration into this technology-focused model and further differentiate the transactions stage of the framework. We then use the model to examine differences in the degree of sophistication of websites used by businesses in the Canadian winery sector. Data collection entailed a content analysis on a census of English language Canadian winery websites (N = 206). A supplementary survey was used to distinguish among those sites that were making use of relatively advanced technologies. A multinomial logit analysis was applied to examine a series of research questions based upon our integrated model. Implications of the findings for scholarship and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender fatigue: The ideological dilemma of gender neutrality and discrimination in organizations

Although gender discrimination remains a feature of working life in many contexts, research on gender in organizations has shown that workplaces are often constructed as gender neutral. This poses an ideological dilemma for workers: how can they make sense of gender discrimination at work while presenting their workplace as gender neutral? This article explores that dilemma through an analysis of how information communication technology (ICT) workers talk about gender discrimination. Instead of denying gender discrimination, workers acknowledge it can happen but construct it as singular events that happened in the past and they place the onus on women to overcome such obstacles. Navigating the ideological dilemma around gender neutrality and discrimination, interviewees display what the article characterizes as gender fatigue. Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of information communications technology (ICT) on cash management and financial department performance: An explanatory model

We delineated the extent to which various facets of information communications technology (ICT) are used and are perceived as useful by treasury managers, focusing on three indicators of financial department performance: cost savings, improvements in the quality of the information, and enhancements in the use of scenario simulations for decision making. Specifically, we examined the relationship between ICT use in cash management functions within financial departments, perceptions of the importance of cash management to treasury managers, and their perceptions of the usefulness of ICT to financial department performance. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural replacement or structural inducement: government ties of Chinese business executives

We suggest that the structural replacement thesis, which proposes that managers in Chinese nonstate-owned enterprises (NSOEs) possess more government ties than managers in Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), is theoretically incomplete because it considers only the motivation of managers of NSOEs. The extensiveness of social ties is influenced also by the capability and opportunity for social actors to cultivate these social ties. We introduce the structural inducement thesis, which holds that SOE managers have more government ties than do NSOE managers, as an alternative to the structural replacement thesis. Our analysis of 250 Chinese managers' ties supports this structural inducement thesis. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.