The Influence of Confucianism on Women’s Leisure in Taiwan

Abstract

Confucian philosophy has traditionally had a considerable influence on many aspects of the lives of the Taiwanese people. It is therefore necessary to take this belief structure into account in order to explain Taiwanese women’s leisure perceptions and behaviours. The purpose of this study is to examine this issue. The factors that constrain women’s leisure in Taiwan are identified. These categories can be broadly termed economic, domestic, social, and cultural constraints     

The Relationships among Theatrical Components,Experiential Value,Relationship Quality,and Relationship Marketing Outcomes

Both marketing practitioners and academic researchers have traditionally recognized the major influence that relationship quality (RQ) has on relationship marketing outcomes. Differing from previous studies, this study proposes a more integrated model by including theatrical components and experiential value in the “RQ-relationship marketing outcomes” paradigm. The structural relationships among the variables are examined by adopting a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach in the context of a theme park. The results confirm the existence of the path “theatrical components → experiential value → RQ → relationship marketing outcomes”.     

Factors affecting hotel human resource demand in Taiwan

This study explores the factors affecting hotel human resource (HR) demand and focusing on the organizational, industrial and macroeconomic factors of the hospitality industry. A prediction model was built with eight independent variables and four dummy variables. Secondary data was collected via a governmental statistic database, and regression analysis was performed using the Generalized Least Squares (GLS) method. The results show that the HR demand of international tourist hotels is more likely to be affected by industrial factors and macroeconomic factors, while the HR demand of standard tourist hotels is less complex, and is mainly affected by organizational factors.     

Competency analysis of top managers in the Taiwanese hotel industry

The purpose of this study was to identify top managers’ competencies in hotel unit leaders perceived to be most critical for career development, and using the Fuzzy Delphi and Analytic Hierarchy Process methods to determine perceptions of the importance of various competencies in different dimensions. This study uses snowball sampling methods to collect data from 25 hotel top managers and uses qualitative and quantitative surveys, including interviews, questionnaire review and a questionnaire survey. A two-stage research design is adopted to understand the differences in perceived competency requirements better. The analytical results demonstrate the required competencies of top managers in the hotel industry, and divide them into generic and technical dimensions, 18 competency domains, and 107 competency indices. The top three most important competency domains are “leadership,” “crisis management,” and “problem-solving.” The proposed management competency framework provides an important implication for educators, practitioners, and researchers.     

The nexus between sustainable practices in hotels and future Gen Y hospitality students’ career path decisions

This study explored tertiary hospitality students’ attitudes and overall perceptions about green and sustainable practices; and how these may impact their future career paths in the hotel industry. A thematic analysis with data from 12 semi-structured interviews with students in a hotel management school in Australia was used to identify patterns and interpretive themes. Results revealed positive attitudes among Generation Y hospitality students towards working in a green and sustainable hotel environment. Implications highlight the need for sustainability education in the curriculum of tertiary education providers and strong emphasis on sustainability practices in employee training programs. The results also suggest possible impacts of sustainability practices in recruiting and hiring in the hospitality industry and how this may affect future hospitality employees and leaders.     

Global Versus Local Consumer Culture Positioning in a Transitional Market: Understanding the Influence of Consumer Nationalism

To shed cultural insights on the complex interplay between globalization and local ideologies, this study presents an online experiment that tested the comparative effects of global and local consumer culture positioning strategies in China. Reflecting the prevailing trend of nationalism around the globe, the study findings highlight the power of consumer nationalism on driving the effects of these culture-oriented positioning strategies. Furthermore, self-brand connection was found to be a critical mediator of the effects of consumer nationalism on brand evaluation. Based on the findings, this study provides strategic guidelines for both domestic and global brands to craft culturally relevant campaigns that capitalize on the growing trend of consumer nationalism in transitioning markets such as China.     

Information systems and technology sourcing strategies of e-Retailers for value chain enablement

In the e-Retail industry, a well-designed IT infrastructure is essential in creating a tightly integrated value chain and delivering high quality service. With intense competition for market share and profits, information systems and technology (IST) sourcing decisions are becoming increasingly important to e-Retail firms to support continued growth and market responsiveness. Drawing on the contingency theory, we examine organizational and environmental factors that influence an e-Retailer's IST sourcing strategy of make versus buy in enabling its value chain activities, and we also look at firm-level performance impacts of IST sourcing decisions that involve bundling across value chain activities. We test the proposed model and hypotheses using a panel data set of 307 firms over the period of 2006–2010. The results show that firms that make transformative IT investments tend to source a smaller portion of IST for their e-Retail value chain activities than firms that pursue automate or informate as their strategic role for IT investment. Capabilities are positively associated with IST sourcing. Firms experienced in e-Retail are more likely to build rather than buy their IST. In addition, we find mimicking behavior for IST sourcing among firms in the same merchandizer category. We find that IT strategic role is strongly associated with growth metric, whereas sourcing decisions predominantly impact operational performance measures. There is partial evidence that alignment between IT strategic role and IST sourcing decisions results in better performance effects. Moreover, complementary IST sourcing of synergistic marketing and sales activities positively impacts Web sales and conversion rate, but the sourcing combination of logistics, operations, and sales activities is associated with lower Web sales and conversion rate.     

Resolving the innovation puzzle of latecomers: the case of Taiwan

In the currently rapidly changing business world, innovation has not only become the key to survival and success, but also the defining challenge of organisations. For latecomer firms, however, because of their inherent resource constraints, innovation has become a far more complex undertaking, similar to a multidimensional puzzle. Although there have been an increasing number of practitioner-based surveys, a discrepancy still remains between academia and industry concerning the role and importance of R&D in innovation. Therefore, this study carried out an industry–university–institution survey of Taiwan, based on a multidimensional framework of the innovation puzzle: human, R&D, flow and connection. The results reveal several interesting clues and provide a better understanding of the innovation puzzle for latecomers, and more importantly, resolves the puzzle that could help latecomers identify where new opportunities lie and what weaknesses they must strengthen.     

Social comparison among competing firms

Extending social comparison theory to the context of interfirm competition, we investigate whether and under what conditions firms may benefit by deviating from consumers' views concerning firm comparisons. Based on all of the possible dyadic competitive comparisons among the 26 automakers in the United States, we found that: (1) a focal firm enjoys a greater increase in sales than the target firm when it compares itself with a more reputable target firm, even though consumers do not perceive the focal firm to be comparable to the more reputable firm; and (2) a focal firm enjoys a greater increase in sales than the target firm when it avoids comparison with a less reputable target firm, even though consumers compare the focal firm with the less reputable firm. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extending the link between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intention: a moderated mediation model

This study extended the research on the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intention by developing a moderated mediation model. This model posits that the link between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intention is mediated by attitudes toward entrepreneurship and planned entrepreneurial control, and that these mediation processes are further moderated by subjective norms. Based on a sample of 308 valid responses, regression analysis yielded two noteworthy results. First, entrepreneurial self-efficacy positively affects intention through attitudes toward entrepreneurship and planned entrepreneurial control. Second, the direct effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy on intention decreases as subjective norms increase. By contrast, the indirect intention effects of entrepreneurial self-efficacy through attitudes toward entrepreneurship and planned entrepreneurial control increase as subjective norms increase. In addition, the results indicated that subjective norms positively affect entrepreneurial intention. These findings indicated that the model advances the use of the theory of planned behavior and can be used to define a person as an entrepreneur.