Investigating the influence of velocity performance on satisfaction with third party logistics service

The Third Party Logistics (3PL) service industry is characterized by customer relationships that can extend over several years, involving multiple instances of service delivery. When services are delivered on an ongoing basis, customers are able to not only evaluate positional (current) performance, but also velocity (rate at which the service changes) performance. This research presents findings from an empirical study utilizing an online survey of 3PL customers to examine the influence of these two types of performance on 3PL service satisfaction. Environmental moderators including market turbulence and competitive intensity are also examined, and results indicate that velocity performance is a more important driver of satisfaction when customers operate in industries characterized by high market turbulence. The findings suggest that 3PL service providers should implement velocity performance metrics, especially for customers operating in rapidly changing environments, and use velocity performance information during the sales process and customer negotiations.     

A Tale of Two Cities: Case Studies of Group Support Systems Transition

Research shows that, under certain circumstances, people using GSS can be substantially more productive than people who do not. However GSS has been slow to transition into the workplace. This paper argues that the Technology Transition Model (TTM) may be a useful way to explain this seeming paradox. The paper presents a case study of GSS transition in two organizations – one where a self-sustaining and growing community of users emerged, and one where it did not. Following TTM, it explores the frequency with which users perceived cognitive, economic, affective, political, social, and physical value from using the system. Comparison of the cases reveals differences in perceptions of value along several of these dimensions that are consistent with TTM. The findings suggest the model may be a useful way to explain the transition of collaboration technology, but more research will be required to test the model more rigorously.     

The historian and the future

Historians had to come to terms with the fact that there is no ‘absolute’ past, long before forecasters were pondering the benefits of the ‘absolute’ future. They have also had to come to terms with their style of presentation, their personal biases, and the fact that they are grounded in the present and are therefore influenced by present preoccupations. Historians and futures researchers have much in common. This article explores the extent of their common ground and how it might be extended.     

A preliminary look at readmission and mortality among chronically critically ill and other medically complex Medicare patients

Chronically critically ill and other medically complex patients (CCI/MC-Ps) are those who are hospitalized with long-term intensive care needs and require extended periods of hospital-level care. CCI/MC-Ps may be at higher risk for readmission and mortality than other populations due to the severe nature their illnesses. This article examines factors that lead to increased probability of hospital readmission or mortality among CCI/MC Medicare patients. Logistic regression analyses are used to examine mortality and readmissions among the CCI/MC population. Numerous factors including length of stay in the acute hospital, age and gender affect whether a patient is readmitted to the acute care hospital within 90 days of discharge or dies within 60 days following a hospital stay.     

More is better: evidence that joint patenting leads to quality innovation

Joint ownership of a patent is most often viewed by firms as a second-best option compared to single, monopoly ownership. However, the results of this article suggest that there may be reason for businesses and policymakers to incentivize joint patenting behaviour. This is because, joint patent ownership is found to positively impact the quality of an innovation (as measured by forward patent citations). In addition, the degree of quality increases with the number of patent owners. Since past research confirms the important links between patent quality and ongoing innovation, and between innovation and growth, those factors that impact patent quality are deserving of attention. Economic research on joint patenting is currently limited, but we hope to shed light on the importance of expanding dialogue on this topic.     

Putting Quality First in Ideation Research

Teams use ideation techniques such as brainstorming to generate alternatives in response to a crisis or opportunity with the goal of converging on a few high-quality ideas. Ideation research, however, tends to focus on developing techniques that generate a large quantity of ideas, sometimes giving little attention to the cognitive mechanisms that give rise to good-quality ideas, or to the validity of the metrics by which ideation quality is measured . This study examines a theoretical link between idea quality and quantity in the ideation literature using Bounded Ideation Theory (BIT). BIT proposes that the relationship between participant ability and ideation quality is moderated by cognitive factors such as scarcity of attention resources, mental and physical exhaustion, understanding of the problem, and goal congruence, as well as attributes of the problem being addressed. Ideation quality is measured in the literature using a number of approaches which diverge to differing research conclusions, even when applied to the same data set. We use a Monte Carlo simulation to demonstrate conditions under which some of these measures exhibit a bias. We present theoretical and methodological arguments to support our call for future ideation research to shift its focus from quantity to quality by focusing on the cognitive factors that influence ideation quality and using unbiased measures of ideation quality.