The relationship of service failure severity, service recovery justice and perceived switching costs with customer loyalty in the context of e-tailing

Given that e-tailing service failure is inevitable, a better understanding of how service failure and recovery affect customer loyalty represents an important topic for academics and practitioners. This study explores the relationship of service failure severity, service recovery justice (i.e., interactional justice, procedural justice, and distributive justice), and perceived switching costs with customer loyalty; as well, the moderating relationship of service recovery justice and perceived switching costs on the link between service failure severity and customer loyalty in the context of e-tailing are investigated. Data collected from 221 useful respondents are tested against the research model using the partial least squares (PLS) approach. The results indicate that service failure severity, interactional justice, procedural justice and perceived switching costs have a significant relationship with customer loyalty, and that interactional justice can mitigate the negative relationship between service failure severity and customer loyalty. These findings provide several important theoretical and practical implications in terms of e-tailing service failure and recovery.     

Effects of materialism on problematic smartphone dependency among adolescents: The role of gender and gratifications

We study youth materialism as an antecedent of problematic smartphone dependency among adolescents. Based on Uses and Gratifications theory and the I-PACE framework, we consider process- and social-oriented smartphones as mediators in the relationship between youth materialism and problematic smartphone dependency. Using data from 463 French late adolescents (mean 16.8 years; 58 % female), known as digital natives, we demonstrate that paths differ depending on gender. For girls, youth materialism is positively related to problematic smartphone dependency via social-oriented smartphone use, whereas this relationship is nonsignificant for boys. Moreover, youth materialism is positively related to problematic smartphone dependency via process-oriented smartphone use for both boys and girls, but the relationship is stronger for boys than for girls. We discuss the implications of these results for business and social policies.     

Earnings manipulations and board's diversity: The moderating role of audit

This paper analyzes whether an audit index moderates the relationship between boardroom composition (gender diversity and foreign directors) and earnings-management activities in the European context. Data from a sample of 429 European firms listed on Stoxx Europe 600 Index from 1998 to 2017 are used to test a moderation model. Evidence reveals that board gender diversity is negatively associated with both accruals-based and real earnings management activities, while non-European directors are positively associated with the earnings-management activities. Further, audit index significantly moderates the link between board diversity and earnings-management. This study is unique in providing European evidence for the moderating effect of audit quality on the link between the demographic features of board members and the firm outcome. This paper is also relevant as it develops a composite index of audit quality.     

When digitalized customers meet digitalized services: A digitalized social cognitive perspective of omnichannel service usage

With the prevalence of digital technologies, various services have grown digitalized. Specific to the marketing section, multichannel has been gradually replaced by omnichannel, which aims to integrate all the physical and digital channels tightly. Although omnichannel has received considerable attention, there is still a dearth of research that theorizes the multi-faceted impacts of digitalization on omnichannel. This study thus extends social cognitive theory (SCT) to the digitalized context and contextualizes the digitalized customer and digitalized environment as mobile identity and channel integration quality, respectively. Moreover, based on the self-regulation process of human agency, we incorporate omnichannel self-efficacy, satisfaction, and habit as the agentic factors to interpret a customer’s conscious (ability and expectancy beliefs) and unconscious (automatic behavioral tendency) decision-making under the omnichannel setting. Through an online survey of 401 omnichannel customers, we find support for all the proposed hypotheses. Implications and limitations of this study are further discussed.     

利益相关者环保导向与企业生态创新——高管环保意识的调节作用

以江浙沪144家制造和有形服务企业为样本,从制度理论和高阶理论的整合视角考察了利益相关者环保导向对生态创新的影响以及高管环保意识的权变效应。主要结论包括:第一,政府环保导向对生态产品创新具有显著正向影响,与生态工艺创新呈倒U型的关系;客户环保导向对生态管理创新具有显著正向影响,与生态产品创新呈倒U型的关系;竞争者环保导向对生态管理创新、生态工艺创新和生态产品创新均具有显著正向影响。第二,不同高管环保意识对不同利益相关者环保导向与不同生态创新的之间调节效应不同。     

Contextualized impacts of an infodemic on vaccine hesitancy: The moderating role of socioeconomic and cultural factors

This study examines how perceived information overload and misinformation affect vaccine hesitancy and how this is moderated by structural and cultural factors. By applying and extending the fundamental cause theory, this study proposes a contextualized impact model to analyze a cross-national survey of 6034 residents in six societies in Asia, Europe and North America in June 2021. The study finds that (1) Older and highly-educated participants were less susceptible to COVID-19 information overload and belief in vaccine misinformation. (2) Perceived information overload led to an increase in vaccine acceptance and uptake, whereas belief in vaccine misinformation caused a decrease. (3) The structural differentiation of vaccine hesitancy was salient and higher socioeconomic status could buffer the negative impact of misinformation on vaccine acceptance. (4) Cultural factors such as collectivism and authoritarian mentality also served as buffers against the misinformation that reduced vaccine acceptance and uptake. These findings add nuanced footnotes to the fundamental causes theory and contribute to the discussion on the global recovery from the infodemic. Besides fact-checking and improving individual information literacy, effective and long-term information management and health policies must pay attention to stratified information gaps across socioeconomic groups, and to contextualize the communication and intervention strategies in different cultures.     

Online service quality and perceived value in mobile government success: An empirical study of mobile police in China

Measuring the success of mobile government (m-government) is a significant challenge faced by the public sector today, as governments are increasingly using mobile technology to provide public services to citizens and m-government endeavors have often fallen short of their potential. To address this gap, we draw on DeLone and McLean’s (2003) updated information systems (IS) success model in order to develop an m-government success model that theorizes service quality as comprising online and offline service quality and further uses perceived value to measure net benefits. The results of a survey of 286 m-government users in China indicate that information quality and online service quality, but not system quality, are positively associated with citizen satisfaction, which in turn is positively associated with perceived value. The results also show that the relationship between online service quality and citizen satisfaction is positively moderated by offline service quality, while citizen satisfaction partially mediates the relationships between information quality/online service quality (but not system quality) and perceived value. This study extends the updated IS success model by differentiating between online and offline service quality, as well as by introducing the notion of perceived value. Our results provide guidance to researchers and practitioners regarding the role of service quality and perceived value in measuring m-government system success.     

The effects of information literacy on trust in government websites: Evidence from an online experiment

Information and communication technologies in use in government systems can bring about expected benefits only when citizens are willing and able to use such systems. Previous studies from various disciplines provided a fundamental understanding of human behavior with technology adoption that focused mainly on the technical and supply sides of this adoption. We argue that it is necessary to move away from an assumption that users form a homogeneous group under the phenomenon of the digital divide. Having conducted an online experiment, this study empirically examined the effects of personal factors, particularly the perceived information literacy, and the perceived information overload, on the user’s perceptions on the usefulness and trust in a government website. We find that the higher an individual perceives one’s information literacy, the more he or she trusts the website, and this is mediated by one’s perceived information overload (negatively) and perceived usefulness (positively). This research provides a more balanced understanding of the behavior of e-government adoption, supplemented with the details of citizen engagement factors, and specifies meaningful practical implications for successful e-government policies.     

Entrepreneurial orientation in turbulent environments: The moderating role of absorptive capacity

The literature on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has confirmed the positive relationship between EO and firm performance and that relationship's dependence on several contingencies. The present study connects the resource-based view and its dynamic capability extension to introduce absorptive capacity (ACAP) as a moderator of the relationship between EO and firm performance. This theoretically derived research model is empirically validated using survey data from 219 small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany. Our empirical findings are that ACAP strengthens the EO–performance relationship in turbulent markets.     

Motivating information security policy compliance: The critical role of supervisor-subordinate guanxi and organizational commitment

Employees’ non-compliance with organizational information security policy (ISP) when using informational resources has become the main reason for continuous security incidents. Drawing upon technology threat avoidance theory (TTAT) and social exchange theory (SET), our study investigates the influence of supervisor-subordinate guanxi (SSG) and organizational commitment in the information security management. Our hypotheses were tested using survey data from 235 Chinese government employees. Results not only confirm the direct effect of SSG on government employees’ ISP compliance but also suggest that SSG indirectly influences compliance behavior via the mediation of organizational commitment. Organizational commitment weakens the negative influence of perceived costs on compliance behavior and also weakens the positive effect of self-efficacy on employees’ ISP compliance. For low-commitment employees, the negative influence of perceived costs on compliance behavior is more significant than that of those with strong organizational commitment, and self-efficacy exerts a stronger effect on ISP compliance for low-commitment employees than it does for high-commitment employees. This study contributes to current literature on information systems (IS) by confirming the critical roles of SSG and organizational commitment in motivating employees’ compliance behavior.     

Role of authenticity and perceived benefits of online courses on technology based career choice in India: A modified technology adoption model based on career theory

In this digital era, it is important to make a wise course choice since the building blocks of a career starts from choosing the career-specific course. With the number of online courses available, it is tough to differentiate a relevant career-focused course from a mediocre one. Hence, the authenticity and validity of a particular course influence the career choice of individuals. The other important factor is perceived benefits. Additionally, an increasing number of educational businesses has already integrated or plans to integrate social media applications into their marketing plans to reach and attract future students, thus showing a shift from traditional ways of marketing. As the nature of this study is both purposive as well as probabilistic, a mixed method approach has been chosen. The study consists of two phases: the exploratory research process consisting of the literature review, the semi-structured interviews with information technology professionals to form the questionnaire and hypotheses. The researchers found that through personal inputs strongly influence the learning experiences, authenticity and perceived benefits of a course plays the most important role in the individual’s decision to adopt a technical course. The practical and research implications have also been discussed.     

The role of academic inventors in entrepreneurial firms: sharing the laboratory life

While science-based entrepreneurial firms are a key feature of the modern economy, our insights into their organization and productivity remain limited. In particular, our understanding of the mechanisms through which academic inventors shape entrepreneurial firms established to commercialize their scientific ideas is based upon a traditional perspective that highlights the importance of human capital. Based on a study of biotechnology firms and their academic inventors, this paper examines the extent and mechanisms through which academic scientists contribute not only human capital but also social capital to entrepreneurial firms. The paper makes two contributions to our understanding of the academic-firm interface: First, it establishes that the social capital of academic scientists is critical to firms because it can be transformed into scientific networks that embed the firm in the scientific community through a variety of mechanisms. Second, the paper argues that an academic inventor’s career plays a critical role in shaping his social capital, thus scientific careers mediate the networks and potential for embeddedness that an academic inventor brings to a firm. Specifically, the foundations of an academic’s social capital can be traced to two sources: The first element that the firm may leverage is the academic’s local laboratory network—a network to current and former students and advisors established by the inventor through his laboratory life. The second form of social capital is a wider, cosmopolitan network of colleagues and co-authors established through the social patterns of collaboration, collegiality and competition that exemplify scientific careers. These findings suggest that scientific careers are central in shaping an academic’s social capital which can be translated into critical scientific networks in which entrepreneurial firms become embedded.     

The moderating effect of experience in the adoption of mobile payment tools in Virtual Social Networks: The m-Payment Acceptance Model in Virtual Social Networks (MPAM-VSN)

Although mobile-related technologies are widely accepted in today's society, mobile payment in Virtual Social Networks (VSN) is not among the most widely used mobile services. This paper analyzes users’ acceptance of mobile payment in VSN. In order to analyze the level of acceptance of this technology, as well as the factors that determine its use by consumers, we have introduced a modification of the classical technological acceptance models (TRA and TAM). Thus, the study proposes and tests an integrated theoretical model, which establishes the relative importance of the key factors (external influences, ease of use, usefulness, attitude, trust and risk) in terms of the acceptance of the mobile payment system in VSN. It also analyzes the eventual moderating effect of users’ experience with similar tools. The empirical results show that the proposed behavioral model (named MPAM-VSN) is accordingly adjusted, thus showing that previous experience increases intention of use. Finally, the results obtained in this study reveal interesting implications for the diffusion of mobile payment systems in VSN.     

新兴经济体中企业国际多样化与创新绩效:所有权结构的调节效应

国际化已成为新兴经济国家企业实现创新追赶的一种重要战略。然而,现有研究对于新兴经济国家企业国际化与创新的关系机制缺乏关注。本文整合组织学习理论和制度理论视角,探索了国际多样化对创新绩效的影响,以及所有权结构的调节效应,并以中国制造企业为样本进行了实证检验。研究发现,企业国际多样化对创新绩效具有显著正向影响;跨国公司入股正向调节国际多样化与创新绩效之间的关系;而国有控股对国际多样化与创新绩效关系的调节效应并不显著。研究结论对于新兴经济国家企业国际化具有理论贡献和实践意义。     

Adoption of O2O food delivery services in South Korea: The moderating role of moral obligation in meal preparation

Most studies on O2O services have focused solely on the technological merits of mobile applications, overlooking the role of the value systems that underlie people’s lifestyles.In contrast, this research sheds light on how people’s value systems influence their decision to adopt food delivery applications. Particularly, it proposes that people’s moral obligation in meal preparation can change the mode of thinking that guides their adoption decision. Namely, moral obligation is assumed to restrict people from acting on their basic convenience orientation in meal preparation. Empirical results have supported this assumption by showing that people with a high moral obligation (or married people) are more reluctant to convert their basic convenience-seeking tendencies into actual adoption intention than those with a low moral obligation (or single people). The important theoretical and managerial implications of these results are also discussed.     

Social interaction-based consumer decision-making model in social commerce: The role of word of mouth and observational learning

Social commerce mediated by social media and social network platforms has led to the development of new business models in e-commerce and digitized the consumer decision journey. Social interaction is considered as a prerequisite for successful social commerce since consumers now expect an interactive and social experience while making purchase decisions. Drawing on word of mouth (WOM) and observational learning theories, we conceptualize social interactions in social commerce environments into two forms: WOM communication and observing other consumers’ purchases, and examine their impact on consumer purchase intention and actual purchase behavior. Analyzing primary data (n = 217) collected from surveyed active consumers within social commerce sites at two stages (pre-purchase and post-purchase), we found that positive and negative valence WOM, WOM content, and observing other consumers’ purchases significantly affect consumers’ intention to buy a product, thereby increasing the likelihood of actual buying and sharing product information with others on social commerce sites.     

The role of technology and socialization in linking organizational context and knowledge conversion: The case of Malaysian Service Organizations

This case study illustrates the effects of organizational contexts (e.g., structure and climate) on knowledge conversion, along with the mediating effect of socialization and the moderating impact of technology. Using the hierarchical regression methodology in the Malaysian service sector, this article argues that socialization has a significant effect on knowledge conversion. The case analysis underlines the issue that arise when socialization serves as both a dependent variable (to organizational context variables) and an independent (mediating) variable (to knowledge conversion). However, technology does not act as a moderator between organizational context and knowledge conversion. This paper brings them together to explain their linkage through mediation by socialization and moderation by technology, and to quantify the relationship.     

Using blockchain to signal quality in the food supply chain: The impact on consumer purchase intentions and the moderating effect of brand familiarity

Food safety is a public health issue of paramount importance. In this regard, blockchain has emerged as a promising technology that allows users to effectively and efficiently record the origin and flow of products and eliminate or reduce harmful food fraud. Consumers can benefit from this development by receiving up-to-date and verifiable information about the origins and delivery routes of their purchases. Drawing on signaling theory and the results of two experimental studies with 151 and 152 participants, respectively, we investigate how the use of blockchain to trace food products impacts consumers’ perception of product quality as a mediating variable and subsequently their purchase intention. Our framework further considers brand familiarity as a moderating variable. The findings from the two experiments show that blockchain labels as a signaling mechanism in food supply chains help to strengthen consumers’ perceived quality of food products, which, in turn, increases their purchase intention. This effect is more pronounced for less familiar brands, which is valuable information for managers who want to build a brand’s reputation. From an academic perspective, we highlight the applicability of signaling theory to identify blockchain-based traceability systems as important drivers of perceived product quality and consequently purchase intention.     

How to facilitate knowledge diffusion in complex networks: The roles of network structure,knowledge role distribution and selection rule

The diffusion of knowledge within organizations provides opportunities for interpersonal co-operation, improves creative ability and therefore leads to competitive advantage. Focus of prior literature on knowledge diffusion has been on identifying factors that influence individuals' behavioral intentions to seek and share knowledge. However, knowledge diffusion as an enigmatic, emergent and organizational-level process is more than the simple aggregation of individual attributes and needs to be further investigated. Accordingly, this study focuses on three distinct system-level factors, i.e., architectures of connections among individuals, distributions of knowledge roles and designs of selection mechanisms and analyses their effects on knowledge diffusion. To be more specific, we examine three distinct knowledge roles: seekers, contributors and brokers. We also distinguish between three types of selection mechanisms: objective selection mechanisms, feedback-based selection mechanisms and random selection mechanisms. By conducting agent-based simulations on four representative networks, i.e., regular networks, random networks, small-world networks and scale-free networks, our results show that the optimal knowledge diffusion performance can be achieved on scale-free networks where all agents implement objective mechanisms and show characteristics of brokers. Moreover, our results (a) highlight the significance of brokers, (b) illustrate the superiority of objective selection rules and (c) demonstrate that scale-free networks provide an optimal framework for knowledge diffusion. Furthermore, we also find the interdependent relevance of these three factors to knowledge diffusion and propose a qualitative explanation of these findings.     

Making functional units functional: The role of rhetorical structure in use of scholarly journal articles

Scholars are reading more journal articles than ever, so it is important that they focus on the relevant text within the articles they read. To support this goal, this study explores enhancements to a journal reading system by applying the idea of the functional unit, the smallest information unit with a distinct function within four major components of scholarly journal articles—Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion. This study examined a set of functional units and their associations with scholarly journal article use tasks through literature analysis and validation surveys. Forty-one typical functional units were found in psychology journal articles, with varying relevance to five tasks requiring use of information in journal articles. The relationships among sets of functional units for particular tasks were also identified. A taxonomy was developed incorporating the relationships between functional units and information use tasks, which can be used to inform system design. Based on this taxonomy, a prototype journal reading environment signalling functional units was designed and implemented for testing.