Marketing management capability:the construct and its dimensions: an examination of managers’ and entrepreneurs’ perceptions in a retail setting

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the relationship between corporate cultural/intangible assets and marketing capabilities by examining managers’ and entrepreneurs’ perceptions in a retail setting.Design/methodology/approach: Nineteen face-to-face interviews were conducted with UK small and medium sized enterprise (SMEs) managers and entrepreneurs to identify six sub-capabilities that form marketing capability. The authors further validated the relationship between marketing sub-capabilities and its antecedent tangible and intangible assets. The qualitative approach used provided a deeper insight into the motivations, perceptions and associations of the stakeholders behind these intangible concepts, and their relationships with their customers.Findings: The research identified that there is a strong relationship between tangible and intangible assets, their components and the following capabilities: corporate/brand identity management, market sensing, customer relationship, social media/communication, design/innovation management and performance management. In addition, companies need to understand clearly what tangible and intangible assets comprise these capabilities. Where performance management is one of the key internal capabilities, companies must highlight the importance of strong cultural assets that substantially contribute to a company’s performance.Originality/value: Previous work on dynamic capability analysis is too generic, predominantly relating to the manufacturing sector, and/or focussing on using a single case study example. This study extends the concept of marketing capability in a retail setting by identifying six sub-capabilities and describing the relationship of each with tangible and intangible assets. Through extensive qualitative analysis, the authors provide evidence that by fully exploiting their embedded culture and other intangible components, companies can more favourably engage with their customers to attain a sustainable competitive advantage.</p

Situated cultural approach versu predefined cultural archetypes models

Within the last 20 years, the practical relevance of researching cultural issues, and especially comparing phenomena across cultures, was questioned (Ferraro, 1990). However, the importance of cultural issues is becoming increasingly evident in many applied disciplines; these include the management of information technology (IT) (Davison and Martinsons, 2003). A normative literature review has been carried out in this paper to provide IS researchers with the milestones of studying culture in IS discipline. Although there are many different models of national culture, most IS research has tended to rely almost solely on Hofstede’s cultural model (Keil et al., 2000; Straub, 1994; Tan et al., 1995; Watson et al., 1994; Myers and Tan, 2002; Kirkman et al. 2006).). In this paper, the author provides a criticism of predefined cultural archetypes models and highlight the problems of using such approach in studying culture within IS discipline. The author demonstrates a comprehensive framework of situated culture approach to study culture within IS discipline, as alternative approach to avoid the criticism of predefined cultural archetypes models. This is achieved via an articulation of Structuration Theory. The author argues that using a practice lens for studying the use of technology by Orlikowski (2000), contributes to identifying the mediated shared structures between actors through understanding the actions of the actors within IS phenomena. Then, using a Structurational analysis approach by Walsham (2002) contributes to identifying the cultural dimensions that are embedded in the identified mediated shared structures

Achieving IT diffusion within the fragments: an IT culture perspective

Many organizations still fail to make a return from the huge investments they make in implementing complex Information Technology (IT). This is usually due to cultural forces that inhibit the level of usage required to facilitate IT Diffusion. An emerging stream of research highlights the IT culture perspective, a perspective vital for understanding individuals’ social practices when they interact with IT. This paper adopted a case study approach to explore how the IT culture perspective may explain how organizational diffusion of an IT may happen despite opposing cultural forces causing a stalemate to the diffusion process. This study identified three IT culture archetypes - embracing, rejecting and confused, depicting a fragmented IT culture during the adaption, acceptance and routinization stages of diffusion of an IT. This study highlights how a salient element of a fragmented IT culture-embracing IT culture archetype could explain how diffusion of an IT happened despite the manifestations of negative IT culture archetypes - ‘confused’ and ‘rejecting’ during the diffusion process

Predictors of safe behaviour and holistic framework for promoting proactive safety culture in healthcare and nursing homes

Received: January 30th, 2023 ; Accepted: May 21st, 2023 ; Published: May 26th, 2023 ; Correspondence: [email protected] poor safety culture in nursing homes is attributed to the lack of professional and safety competencies, management commitment, and limited empirical data. The purpose of this study is to identify potential predictors of safe behaviour among care workers and establish a holistic framework for a proactive safety culture in healthcare and nursing homes. The study was conducted in 25 care institutions between September 2014 to December 2017 using mixed-methods with quantitative (NOSACQ-50; CCQ, COPSOQ II) and qualitative (focus-group interview) components. Results revealed challenges with safety systems and management, lack of resources and time, and the importance of leadership and psychosocial well-being. The study identified subcultures of proactive safety culture, including professional competence culture and psychosocial well-being culture. These subcultures aid in identifying weaknesses and improving quality, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach to safety culture in healthcare institutions, particularly in nursing homes. The author's proposition on positive safety culture, based on the theory of situated cognition, highlights the significance of subcultures such as professional competence culture and psychosocial well-being culture in influencing care workers' professional identity and safety behaviour. In conclusion, the importance of these subcultures can be emphasised due to ensuring adequate understanding and positive attitudes towards safety. Adequate care worker training and a culture that supports professional competence are crucial for patient safety and organizational outcomes. Addressing psychosocial risks and promoting a culture of psychosocial well-being can create a safer workplace culture and improve employee performance, job satisfaction, and overall organizational outcomes

Culture and IS: National cultural dimensions within IS discipline

The study of culture is rooted in sociology, social psychology, and anthropology. In particular, cultural anthropology seeks to understand the similarities and differences among groups of people in the contemporary world. Within the last 20 years, the practical relevance of researching cultural issues, and especially comparing phenomena across cultures, was questioned (Ferraro, 1990). However, the importance of cultural issues is becoming increasingly evident in many applied disciplines; these include the management of information technology (IT) (Davison and Martinsons, 2003). A normative literature review has been carried out in this paper to provide IS researchers with the milestones of studying culture in IS disciplin

The influence of corporate social responsibility policy and initiatives on human resource management practices and experiences

The expectation that organisations will act in a socially responsible manner under the guise of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now one of the most significant contextual influences organisations face. This is particularly relevant to organisations located in industries that have the potential for significant environmental impact such as the cement industry. One often-acknowledged key element in CSR is the role of people in the successful implementation of CSR policy and practice. However, CSR research is rarely focused on the influence of people management in this process. This research has specifically brought back into focus the complexities, tensions and contradictions evident in the employment relationship via insights from the field of Human Resource Management (HRM) and the utilisation of the HR Causal Chain Model (Purcell et al., 2009) as a broad research framework. Using a single-case systematic combining approach (Dubois & Gadde, 2002, 2014) within a social constructionist perspective, this study aimed to address the question: How does Corporate Social Responsibility policy and initiatives influence Human Resource practices and stakeholder experiences? The case organisation used in this study was an Australian cement manufacturing plant, known for the purposes of this research as CementCo. The study utilised in-depth interviews, observation, analysis of secondary documentation, and thematic analysis to explore both the intended HR and CSR policies and practices of CementCo, and the processes involved in how these practices are enacted by line managers and experienced by employees in consideration of workplace culture and subcultures. The process-based approach provides significant insights into the HR and CSR implementation process and the ‘black box’ of HRM research. The findings demonstrate that while it is important to design and commit to strategically aligned and integrated HR and CSR strategies and policies, the dynamic and unpredictable process of implementation has a much larger impact on the success of these strategies than is recognised in contemporary CSR research. As such, one of the key contributions of this research is that within HRM and HRM-CSR research the implementation process should be considered, and it should be considered as a process that relies on the actions and attitudes of multiple stakeholders. The study has acknowledged and embraced the complexities, tensions and contradictions often neglected in mainstream HRM, and more broadly the organisation of work and people. It has explored the realities of organisational life, the perspectives and perceptions of those often forgotten in mainstream literature, and the processes of how work is organised and how people are managed. It has also contributed to the broadening of the field through the inclusion of more than just traditional HR functions, by exploring HR’s broader role in the organisation and its social responsibility. In doing so, this study has shifted the HR research approach to one that incorporates the broader realities, processes, experiences, and perceptions, and thus redefined what a HR thesis can look like

Fostering Information Security Culture In Organizations: A Research Agenda

Information security is a major challenge for organizations due to the proliferation of digitization and constant connectivity. It is becoming widely accepted that raising an information security culture, meaning instilling security behaviour in people interacting with ICTs, is key to maintaining a healthy security posture. However the academic field of information security culture has been described as immature, lacks empirical validation, while the constituents of the concept as well as methods, tools, frameworks and metrics for fostering and evaluating it within organisations remain elusive. This pa- per, based on a critical analysis of relevant literature and practice, provides a research agenda of critical issues that need to be addressed so that users, from security’s weakest link, become an important actor for proactive information security. These issues include the need for proper and employable definitions of information security culture and the need to explore the existence of security subcultures, the need to develop frameworks, tools and metrics for guiding, evaluating and comparing security culture raising programs, the need to explore the interplay between organisational elements (including organisational structure, type and management practices) and security culture, the need to identify the impact of security culture in issues such as innovation adoption, the need to investigate the influence of national and organisational culture on security culture and so on