Service Climate in Self-Managing Teams: Mapping the Linkage of Team Member Perceptions and Service Performance Outcomes in a Business-to-Business Setting

abstract    Drawing from the organizational behaviour and services marketing literature, we develop a conceptual model of self-managing team (SMT) service climate, taking into account characteristics of the organizational context, the SMT, and the individual employee. In order to assess the impact of SMT service climate, we include a number of internal consequences (i.e., in-company performance data) and external service performance outcomes (i.e., customer-perceived service quality). As a result of the hierarchically nested data-structure (i.e., groups and individuals), we investigate the antecedents of SMT service climate in service groups using a multi-level approach. Our results reveal that organizational and group factors have a significant cross-level influence on individual employee perceptions of SMT service climate. Furthermore, we demonstrate that employee perceptions of SMT service climate are positively related to customer-perceived service quality, while there is no relationship with service productivity measures.     

Comparing the generalizability of online and mail surveys in cross-national service quality research

To compare the generalizability of online and mail surveys in a cross-national service quality study, the authors use G-theory and find a comparable level of generalizability, though online surveys benefited from considerably lower costs. This article contributes to the current comparison of the response quality between online and mail surveys. Furthermore, the authors illustrate how G-theory can be used to compare online and mail surveys and take data collection costs into account. Important implications include the process and results of comparing two survey modes and the effects for service research. Martin Wetzels now also works at Maastricht University     

文化生态及其在城市建设中的维系

生态环境是人类生活的基本需求。随着经济水平的提高和人类对自然规律认识的逐步加深,生态环境保护已经逐渐成为全社会的普遍共识,受到全社会的共同关注。蓝色的天空、绿色的大地、洁净的河流、宁静的环境……,已经成为人们基本生活需求的一部分。     

Organizational characteristics and the CRM adoption process

The purpose of this study is to identify the status of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) adoption and explore the influence of organizational characteristics on the CRM adoption process in the Korean fashion industry. Using Rogers' [Rogers EM. Diffusion of innovation. New York: Free Press; 1995] innovation decision process model as the conceptual basis, this study surveyed 94 Korean fashion companies to investigate the persuasion, decision, and implementation stages of CRM adoption. Organizational variables included firm characteristics (size, strategy, maturity of information system), product characteristics (category, fashion position, seasonality), and CEO characteristics (age, education). The most frequently used CRM technology is the development of a customer database, whereas the mostly frequently mentioned benefits of CRM are encouraging repurchase. Moreover, respondents' perceptions of CRM benefits affect CRM adoption, influencing the use of various CRM technologies. Organizational strategy, maturity of information system, and product category all significantly influence the adoption process. Empirical findings provide further support for the innovation decision process model developed by Rogers [Rogers EM. Diffusion of innovation. New York: Free Press; 1995] and the CRM adoption model can be used when fashion companies do strategic planning and evaluate the possibility of adopting CRM strategies.     

Determinants of organisational identification and supportive intentions

Abstract

Organisational identification is the perception of belongingness to an organisation and a sense of oneness with the organisation. Identification has long been recognised as having important implications for the sense of satisfaction and belonging of employees and for the effectiveness of the organisation. Our research examined the impact of students' identification with a university on intentions to support the university. Drawing data collected at three different universities in Korea, the researchers investigated: (1) the effect of students' identification with athletic programmes and their academic department on identification with a university and intentions to support a university; and (2) the effect of identification with a university on intentions to support the university. Three hundred and six university students participated in the study. Structural equation modelling (i.e. LISREL) was employed to test the causal relationships among the hypothesised relationships. Results showed that identification with both athletic programmes and academic department had strong effects on intentions to support the university. In addition, those who identified with the university showed strong intentions to support the university. The results of the study indicate that individuals who identify with the organisation are apt to support it in various ways, and that identification can be encouraged through various means. The findings of this study may also suggest some important implications for marketing managers and their organisations.     

News shocks and Japanese macroeconomic fluctuations

Are the changes in the future technology process, the so-called “news shocks,” the main contributors to the macroeconomic fluctuations in Japan over the past forty years? In this paper, we take two structural vector-auto-regression (SVAR) approaches to answer this question. First, we quantitatively evaluate the relative importance of news shocks among candidate shocks, estimating a structural vector-error–correction model (SVECM). Our estimated results suggest that the contribution of the TFP news shocks is nonnegligible, which is in line with the findings of previous works. Furthermore, we disentangle the source of news shocks by adopting several kinds of restrictions and find that news shocks on investment-specific technology (IST) also have an important effect. Second, to minimize the gap between the SVAR approach and the Bayesian estimation of a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model, we adopt an alternative approach: SVAR with sign restrictions. The SVAR with sign restrictions reconfirms the results that the news shocks are important in explaining the Japanese macroeconomic fluctuations.     

Learning by investing

We test for learning among heterogeneous individuals who are engaged in bidding and who possess limited information about the auctioned assets. We use an extensive dataset taken from an auction through which state‐owned enterprises were privatized in the Czech Republic in 1993–94. To test for learning, we develop new measures of individual performance to accommodate the varying prices of assets available in six successive stages of bidding. We present evidence that learning took place among heterogeneous agents during a large‐scale multi‐stage auction that is unique in terms of its size, incentives and variation. The auction’s design, with multiple market periods, allowed agents to learn based on accumulated experience. As individuals had to pay a fee to participate, and as the potential gain was in the magnitude of several months’ salary, we conclude that large incentives were driving our results.     

AN ANATOMY OF U.S. PERSONAL BANKRUPTCY UNDER CHAPTER 13

We build a structural model that captures salient features of personal bankruptcy under Chapter 13. We estimate our model using a novel data set that we construct from bankruptcies filed in Delaware between 2001 and 2002. Our estimation results highlight the importance of a debtor's choice of repayment plan length on other Chapter 13 outcomes. We use the estimated model to conduct policy experiments to evaluate the impact of more stringent laws that impose restrictions on the length of repayment plans. We find that these provisions would not materially affect creditor recovery rates and would not necessarily make discharge more likely.     

Gute Hautverhältnisse als Therapievoraussetzung

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