Assessing the Self-service Technology Encounters: Development and Validation of SSTQUAL Scale

Self-service technologies (SSTs) have enhanced the role technology plays in customer interactions with firms, yet instruments that systematically measure the service quality of SSTs from the perspective of customers remain underdeveloped. Based on psychometric scale development approaches, this study conceptualized, constructed, refined, and tested a multiple-item scale that examined key factors influencing SST service quality. Through qualitative and quantitative studies in four separate phases, a 20-item seven-dimension SSTQUAL scale was developed that includes functionality, enjoyment, security, assurance, design, convenience, and customization. The scale demonstrates sound psychometric properties based on findings from various reliability and validity tests as well as vigorous scale replications across industries and consumer traits using several different samples. The utility of the proposed scale is discussed for implications, limitations and future research.     

Asymptotics for duration-driven long range dependent processes

We consider processes with second order long range dependence resulting from heavy tailed durations. We refer to this phenomenon as duration-driven long range dependence (DDLRD), as opposed to the more widely studied linear long range dependence based on fractional differencing of an i.i.d. process. We consider in detail two specific processes having DDLRD, originally presented in Taqqu and Levy [1986. Using renewal processes to generate long-range dependence and high variability. Dependence in Probability and Statistics. Birkhauser, Boston, pp. 73–89], and Parke [1999. What is fractional integration? Review of Economics and Statistics 81, 632–638]. For these processes, we obtain the limiting distribution of suitably standardized discrete Fourier transforms (DFTs) and sample autocovariances. At low frequencies, the standardized DFTs converge to a stable law, as do the standardized sample autocovariances at fixed lags. Finite collections of standardized sample autocovariances at a fixed set of lags converge to a degenerate distribution. The standardized DFTs at high frequencies converge to a Gaussian law. Our asymptotic results are strikingly similar for the two DDLRD processes studied. We calibrate our asymptotic results with a simulation study which also investigates the properties of the semiparametric log periodogram regression estimator of the memory parameter.     

Does supervisor-perceived authentic leadership influence employee work engagement through employee-perceived authentic leadership and employee trust?

The issue of authentic leadership has been generating increased interest in both practical and academic domains. This study examines the influence of authentic leadership on employee trust and employee work engagement from the dyadic supervisor–employee viewpoint. The sample data consists of responses from 77 team supervisors and 345 employees in 36 companies. We utilize hierarchical linear modeling to test the hypotheses. The cross-level results show that employee trust fully mediates supervisor-perceived authentic leadership and employee work engagement, and that employee-perceived authentic leadership fully mediates the relationship between supervisor-perceived authentic leadership and employee trust, as well as the relationship between supervisor-perceived authentic leadership and employee work engagement. On the individual level, employee trust has a partial mediating effect on the relationship between employee-perceived authentic leadership and employee work engagement.     

Locating experts using social media,based on social capital and expertise similarity

Information and communication technologies boost knowledge activities, both within and across organizations, and in online communities. Determining how to effectively search for and find experts via social media has become a critical issue. Although social capital is a key driver of knowledge contribution, we have not addressed the issue of how to locate experts based on their social capital. Systems designed to locate experts typically recommend such experts based on keywords, thus failing to consider any semantic similarity between their areas of expertise and the problem domain (a.k.a., “expertise similarity”). The system designed and developed in this study recommends experts based on both their social capital and expertise similarity. We measure the social capital of experts based on their consultant service relationships and their friendships. We conduct a field experiment to evaluate user satisfaction and the system’s knowledge-contribution predictive capability. The results show that the proposed system is of high quality and delivers excellent information. Hence, users expressed their intention to use this system. In addition, the positive effect of social capital on the knowledge contribution is verified from the perspective of user behavior.     

Integrating means-end chains and the Kano model to understand tourists’ cognitive structure toward leisure and recreational resources of suburban-mountains

This study integrates the means-end chain (MEC) theory and Kano model to better understand tourists’ inner thinking toward the leisure and recreation resources of suburban-mountains, and help in prioritizing decisions on mountain recreational resource management for the government and related managerial officers. A total of 303 valid responses from individuals aged over 50 years with the habit of hiking in this area at least once a week were collected for MEC and Kano analyses. The results of the hybrid hierarchical value map show that one-dimensional attributes (i.e. “water resources, “providing cultural and educational facilities,” “providing hiking trails,” “providing scenic overlook and pavilion,” “providing guardrails,” and “providing resting area”) are the priorities that the government and managers should pay the most attention to for the elderly people hiking the suburban-mountains. By following the same deduction process proposed in this study, the rest of the one-dimensional consequences and values can be depicted. Finally, the theoretical and managerial implications as well as the limitations of this work are also provided. This study can not only enrich the theoretical development of MEC theory, but also provide the government with valuable information to enhance the leisure and recreation resources of suburban-mountain areas for elderly tourists.     

Competitive pricing decisions in a two-echelon supply chain with horizontal and vertical competition

This study investigates the pricing decisions in a non-cooperative supply chain that consists of two retailers and one common supplier. The retailers order from the common supplier and compete in the same market. We analyze six power structures that characterize exclusively horizontal competition between the retailers and vertical competition between the supplier and the retailers, leading to different sequences of moves among the chain members. We derive the analytical forms of the equilibrium quantities under each power structure and explore the effect of retail substitutability on the equilibrium quantities among all power structures. We further investigate the performances of the game models as compared with the integrated model.     

Persuasive Charity Appeals for Less and More Controllable Health Causes: The Roles of Implicit Mindsets and Benefit Frames

This research investigates whether donors' beliefs in changeability influence the persuasiveness of charity ads for less and more controllable health conditions. Across three studies and using different health conditions, we show that fixed-mindset consumers' beliefs about immutability lead them to donate more to less (vs. more) controllable causes. The results show that this effect is driven by their tendency to blame people with more controllable health conditions. Conversely, controllability does not influence consumers with growth mindsets, who believe in the changeability of health conditions. Moreover, we examine benefit framing as a potential persuasive factor encouraging donations of consumers with growth mindsets. Specifically, we find that in less controllable cases, consumers with growth mindsets are more persuaded to donate by other-benefit appeals (focusing on how donating enhances others' lives and makes others feel better); in more controllable conditions, they are more persuaded by self-benefit appeals (focusing on how donating enhances their own lives and makes them feel better). The perceived efficacy of donation drives this effect. Meanwhile, consumers with fixed mindsets are more willing to donate to less (vs. more) controllable causes regardless of benefit frames used in the charity ad. This research offers managerial implications for advertisers and marketers.     

Does Raising Value Co-creation Increase All Customers’ Happiness?

Happiness, defined as a state of well-being and contentment, is a central human goal. Despite advances in customer behavior research related to value co-creation, the link between customer happiness and these behaviors remains unclear. This study therefore examines customers’ in-role participation behavior and extra-role citizenship behavior to determine their influence on customers’ happiness. Customer participation and citizenship behaviors relate positively to customers’ perceptions of both service performance and their contributions to others’ welfare. In addition, collectivism moderates the relationship between perceived contributions to others’ welfare and happiness; individualism instead moderates the relationship between perceived service performance and happiness. These findings provide both managerial implications and directions for business marketing ethics.