Intra- and interorganisational learning processes: an empirical comparison

The organisational learning literature has so far focused primarily on intraorganisational learning processes. However, during the last 10 years or so, a growing number of organisational learning studies have focused explicitly on interorganisational learning. So far this literature has concentrated on the requirements for such learning. Little attention has been devoted to examining the potentially unique dynamics of interorganisational learning processes. Consequently, few if any studies have examined whether interorganisational learning processes differ from traditional intraorganisational learning and, if so, in what respects. The purpose of this paper is to make an empirical comparison between intra- and interorganisational learning processes by drawing on a longitudinal qualitative case study of experiential learning processes within and between a business organisation and its partners, continued over a period of 3 years.     

Perceived importance of native language use in service encounters

Despite the importance of interactions in services, the role language plays in services is an under-researched field. This paper outlines for which services language is especially important. Consistent across studies in three countries (Belgium, Canada and Finland), the findings suggest that bilingual consumers find it particularly important to be served in their native language in high-involvement services. Moreover, for high-involvement services, all consumers find it important to be served in their native language. For low-involvement services, elderly consumers are less willing to switch language than young consumers. The importance of native language use did not differ between males and females.     

Discrimination in Services: How Service Recovery Efforts Change with Customer Accent

Journal of Business Ethics - Discrimination represents an important moral problem in the field of business ethics, and is often directed against minority groups. While most of the extant literature...     

Examining the relationship between language divergence and word-of-mouth intentions

More than half of the countries in the world are multilingual, and more than half the world's consumers speak more than one language. Thus, bilingual consumers often receive services provided in a second or nonnative language. This article examines these consumers' word-of-mouth intentions after a service provision in a second language. Two studies show that consumers served in a second language are less likely to spread positive word of mouth. The results also reveal a negative halo effect, such that consumers served in a second language perceive the service provider as less responsive in general. Furthermore, the service provider's perceived responsiveness appears far more important for determining positive word-of-mouth intentions than other factors, such as service reliability. This study therefore contributes to the fields of service and sociolinguistics, with important implications for managers as well.     

Management in the “neo-paternalistic organization”: The case of worksite health promotion at Scania

This paper proposes a qualitative study of Work Site Health Promotion (WHP) at the large Swedish producer of trucks and buses, Scania. While the concept of WHP implies that it is employees’ improved health at work that is strived for, we suggest that its main area of intervention is neither the work environment, nor what employees do at work, but employees’ lifestyles. To capture the potential of WHP for the management of organization, we introduce the concept of “neo-paternalistic organizational control.” By this term we want to draw attention to how WHP shares paternalistic approaches’ tendency of disregarding the professional-private divide, while also drawing attention to how this extra-professional control dimension is at once less intrusive and more discriminatory than what is traditionally referred to as paternalism in the literature on managerial control.     

Material Distortion of Economic Behaviour and Everyday Decision Quality

Misleading information and unfair commercial practices have to be viewed against the background of what consumers otherwise do, i.e., what their purchase decisions look like when no misleading information or no unfair commercial practices are in place. This article provides some of this background by studying how consumers sample information when making an in-store purchase decision. This was done by an eye-tracking study which reveals to what extent consumers succeed in purchasing the products that best meet their purchase intentions when only a representative amount of misleading information is present. The study shows that decisions were suboptimal in relation to what the consumers claimed they wanted to purchase. Only in one product category did consumers in this study actually look at products that were slightly better than average, and as a result, they mainly selected products that were just as often poor as good. If the proportion of bad purchase decisions based on misleading information is small enough, perhaps it might be better to direct the authors’ attention to other ways of improving the decision environments that consumers encounter. In addition, the eye-tracking study provides some insight into how consumers sample information when making an in-store purchase decision. The present data show that consumers invested on average of less than 1 s to look at products.     

‘SMART GOODS’ AND MOBILE RFID A CASE WITH INNOVATION FROM VOLVO

This paper presents a case from Volvo that explores an innovative RFID solution that leverages the exiting infrastructures of mobile usage. ‘Smart goods’ is used to explain features applied through Radio Frequency IDentification, utilization of cellular networks (GSM/GPRS) and web technology together with collaboration among supply chain actors. This has reduced traditional barriers of entry. An empirical case provides the basis for evaluation from the perspectives of operational reliability, usability and productivity.     

Linking drinking to injury--causal attribution of injury to alcohol intake among patients in a Swedish emergency room

This study analysed the drinking patterns and motivation to change drinking behaviours among injury patients who acknowledged alcohol as a factor in their injuries. A cross-sectional study was conducted over 18 months at a Swedish emergency department. A total of 1930 injury patients aged 18 - 70 years were enrolled in the study (76.8% completion rate). Of those who reported drinking, 10% acknowledged alcohol as a factor in their injury. A patient was more likely to report a causal attribution of the injury to alcohol the higher the weekly intake and the higher the frequency of heavy episodic drinking. The motivation to change variables showed a similar pattern of increased likelihood of attributing a causal link of alcohol and injury with increasing discontent with drinking behaviours and increasing desire to change drinking behaviours. The findings suggest that the ability to measure causal attribution of alcohol to injuries could be a promising tool to help patients explore the association between their injuries and alcohol use and motivate patients to modify drinking behaviours in order to avoid future injuries.