Organizational identification as a determinant of customer orientation in service organizations

The marketing literature suggests that frontline employees are the central determinant of how customer-oriented a service organization is perceived to be by its customers. However, little is known about the contingencies of employees’ customer orientation (CO) beyond personality traits and broadly construed work attitudes. Based on the social identity approach, the present article develops a multilevel model whereby CO is the result of identity-based management of frontline employees. Two empirical studies in the travel industry show that employees’ CO depends on employees’ organizational identification and their leaders’ acting as role models of CO.     

Valuation of IT Investments Using Real Options Theory

Real Options Theory is often applied to the valuation of IT investments. The application of Real Options Theory is generally accompanied by a monetary valuation of real options through option pricing models which in turn are based on restrictive assumptions and thus subject to criticism. Therefore, this paper analyzes the application of option pricing models to the valuation of IT investments. A structured literature review reveals the types of IT investments which are valued with Real Options Theory in scientific literature. These types of IT investments are further investigated and their main characteristics are compared to the restrictive assumptions of traditional option pricing models. This analysis serves as a basis for further discussion on how the identified papers address these assumptions. The results show that a lot of papers do not account for critical assumptions, although it is known that the assumptions are not fulfilled. Moreover, the type of IT investment determines the criticality of the assumptions. Additionally, several extensions or adaptions of traditional option pricing models can be found which provide the possibility to relax critical assumptions. Researchers can profit from the results derived in this paper in two ways: First, it is demonstrated which assumptions can be critical for various types of IT investments. Second, extensions of option pricing models that relax critical assumptions are introduced.     

Leapfrogging to Sustainable Consumption? An Explorative Survey of Consumption Habits and Orientations in Southern Brazil

In current political and scientific debates on sustainable consumption, the low- and middle-income classes of emerging countries are gaining attention. One common feature of such debates is the idea that these emerging consumer classes could be motivated to “leapfrog” directly to environmentally and socially aware consumption patterns and, thereby, avoid adopting the resource-intensive consumption styles of populations in industrialized countries. To be able to adapt sustainable product development or sustainable communication strategies to the needs of low- and medium-income classes, it is necessary to know more about the basic consumption orientations, current consumption habits, and future consumption aspirations of these societal groups. In order to contribute towards filling that knowledge gap, an exploratory survey was conducted, taking the example of emerging low- and middle-income classes in a Southern Brazilian city. The survey identified five different consumer types: the Home-Centered Traditionals, the Indifferent, the Up-to-date Privileged, the Wanna-be Materialists, and the Quality of Life-Oriented Postmaterialists. The paper outlines some ideas concerning how these types can be addressed with target-group-specific products and services as well as differentiated sustainability communication strategies. We conclude, however, that “leapfrogging” of Brazilian low- and middle-income classes towards sustainable consumption is not a very likely option. There are certain consumption orientations that sustainability strategies can link to, but these trends are not likely to compensate the general tendencies towards a resource-intensive lifestyle following the model of the industrialized countries.     

The stability of risk and benefit perceptions: a longitudinal study assessing the perception of biotechnology

The study of public perceptions is considered to be important for making sound policy decisions, since the public decides which products will enter and sustain in the market. Stability of public perceptions is important for policy-makers; only if public attitudes and perceptions remain constant, policy-makers will be able to take them into account. The aim of the present study was to examine the stability of participants’ risk and benefit perceptions of gene technology over a period of two years. In spring, 2008 and in spring, 2010, the same sample of participants filled out an identical questionnaire. Results of structural equation modelling show that risk and benefit perceptions of gene technology applications are moderately stable (r = .5–.7). Furthermore, results show that people distinguish between medical, plant and food applications and applications involving animals when evaluating the risk of gene technology. When evaluating the benefits, participants also take consumer-related benefits into account, such as enhancement of functional properties. Results of the present study suggest that risk research should regularly examine people’s risk perceptions in order to gain a clearer picture of the dynamics of people’s perception and preferences not only of novel technologies, but also of entrenched technologies.     

Making use of Internet interactivity to propose a dynamic presentation of web questionnaires

Quality & Quantity - New methodologies that aim to collect data in innovative ways (e.g. big data) are putting pressure on the traditional surveys based on questionnaires. In order to obtain...     

The well-being of South African university students from low-income households

ABSTRACT

The role of higher education in development and social mobility is now widely acknowledged and globally recognised. In South Africa in particular, graduates have greatly increased employment prospects. This paper takes up the importance of addressing South African university students’ multi-dimensional well-being in the light of global higher education development agendas. Considering poverty and development in the space of higher education – specifically in the lives of youth from low-income households in South Africa – I draw on two waves of life history data from undergraduate students at five universities. Material-cultural conditions for a threshold of well-being emerged powerfully in every single student narrative, indicating a need for some rethinking of capability deprivation and poverty. This paper conceptualises three broad hardship categories specific to higher education, considering the multiplicity of factors and complexity of low-income in student experiences and achievements. Even though the theoretical framing draws on Sen’s capability approach and its attractive moral perspective, the paper also foregrounds students’ material well-being as significant in understanding how education can advance change, and not only reproduce social inequalities. The challenge remains, how do we reconcile resources and capabilities, and to link freedoms to financial analysis in evaluating the lives that students value?     

Disability and earnings: Are employer characteristics important?

We use matched employee–employer data from Britain to assess the influence of disability-specific workplace policies and practices on the earnings of disabled workers. The presence of equal opportunities policies increases the relative wages of disabled workers, but this is partially offset by the negative influence of workplace accommodations.     

Interest formation in greenfield union organising campaigns

This article examines the processes by which unions come to express the interests of workers during organising campaigns. Evidence from five longitudinal cases shows the central importance of officials and organisers. Three key reasons for this are explored: the need for expert knowledge in organising campaigns, the fact that officials and organisers are well placed to identify and to construct common interests among a diversity of interest groups, and the fact that the training they receive explicitly encourages this role. Furthermore, it is argued that this helps explain some of the difficulties observed in organising campaigns specifically; the limitations of campaigns that primarily focus at workplace level, and the relatively narrow definition of collective interests that this approach encourages.