CSR marketing outcomes and branch managers' perceptions of CSR

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of bank branch managers’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in CSR marketing outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The paper proposes a causal model establishing that managers’ perceptions of CSR influence the perception of CSR held by the branch’s customers, which in turn directly affects customer satisfaction, customer trust, customer engagement and customer loyalty. The unit of analysis in this quantitative study is the bank branch. Two questionnaires were administered: one to branch managers and another to five customers in each branch. Findings Branch managers’ perceptions of CSR have a marked influence on customers’ perceptions of CSR, which again have a notable impact on the relationship variables studied: customer satisfaction, customer trust, customer engagement and customer loyalty. Research limitations/implications The sample was taken from two banks in the same country (Spain) and only five customers were interviewed in each branch. The type of customers analyzed should be taken into account since a growing number of customers now carry out all of their banking online and are less likely to visit their branch. Practical implications The results highlight the importance of adopting socially responsible actions not only in the bank as a whole, but also in individual branches. It would, therefore, seem crucial for high level bank executives not only to involve branch managers in the bank’s CSR strategy, but also to empower them to undertake CSR actions that involve the customers and local community with which they interact. Originality/value First, the paper reveals the differences within the same organization in the way its CSR strategy is implemented. Second, intermediary figures or supervisors are shown to have a key role in ensuring the organization’s CSR strategy is effective. Third, the study emphasizes the importance of customers’ perception of CSR in achieving the main outcomes of relationship marketing (satisfaction, trust, engagement and loyalty). Fourth, the methodology applied in the study is innovative in its construction of dyads in which the branch is the unit of analysis, enabling a comparison between the manager’s perceptions of CSR with that of five customers from the same branch. Fifth, the findings add to the knowledge of a particularly relevant sector in the recent economic crisis, namely, the retail banking industry

Construction and validation of the service climate scale for hybrid service delivery models in the hospitality industry

Service climate scales are oriented predominantly to measure employee perceptions toward hotels with human interaction service delivery. The thesis aims to develop and validate a scale to measure service climate in hotels with hybrid service delivery models. Comprises three systematic literature reviews, with bibliometric (Bibliometrix) and network (VOSviewer) analysis, one eDelphi research to develop the scale via an international expert panel, and two quantitative studies to instrument reliability and validity. Our systematic literature reviews are the first to utilize bibliometric analysis and knowledge network analysis structures to assess service climate construct as a sustainable competitive advantage in the hospitality field. This thesis presents a new instrument to measure the People-Technology Hybrid Service Climate Scale (P-THSCS). P-THSCS has an original, innovative, and compact perspective. It measures the perceptions of people (employees and customers) in hybrid service deliveries (Human Interaction Service and Self-Service Technologies) with one English version of 31 items grouped into five dimensions: Co-Creation, Standards, Support, Characteristics, and Global Service Climate. The co-creation dimension shows the most significant predictive value overall.Ao longo dos últimos anos, o Fórum Económico Mundial tem vindo a alertar que um dos principais riscos para o futuro das sociedades é a deterioração do emprego. Um dos objetivos de desenvolvimento sustentável, o ODS8 – estabelece como foco o trabalho digno e o crescimento económico como um meio para atingir a sustentabilidade e a competitividade. No sector da hotelaria, os gestores estão focados em encontrar soluções que conduzam ao aumento da competitividade e a sustentabilidade dos seus hotéis. Neste sentido, algumas decisões sobre o tipo da entrega de serviço são fundamentais para o futuro dos mesmos. Tradicionalmente, as entregas de serviço eram operacionalizadas através da interação com os empregados de contato. Cada vez mais, com a introdução das tecnologias, a entrega híbrida de serviços é uma opção estratégica e essencial para inovação, sustentabilidade e competitividade, uma vez que os recursos combinados de pessoas (incluindo empregados e clientes) e tecnologia cocriam a experiência do serviço. Na área da hospitalidade, a literatura que explora estes modelos híbridos com os dois tipos de entrega de serviço é escassa e dispersa. Desta forma, os gestores hoteleiros continuam a manter uma postura cautelosa, com muitas dúvidas e alguns receios, para implementar integralmente esta nova tendência, sem que, antes, haja uma compreensão clara do impacto da adoção das mesmas. Como tal, é necessário desenvolver e validar novos instrumentos de medição que potenciem a recolha de dados sobre as variáveis mais críticas da hotelaria, nomeadamente, as experiências das pessoas e o desempenho financeiro. O clima de serviço é uma dessas variáveis. O clima de serviço é uma vantagem competitiva potencial e sustentável do ponto de vista da gestão devido à sua inimitabilidade. Um ativo intangível único, impossível de replicar, que relaciona os empregados, as experiências do cliente e, consequentemente, o desempenho financeiro. Embora na literatura o clima de serviço seja um construto inicialmente relacionado com as perceções do empregado e as respetivas escalas orientadas predominantemente para medir essas perceções em hotéis com entrega através de interação humana, atualmente, o clima de serviço percecionado pelo cliente tem ganho alguma dimensão. Assim sendo, uma medida das perceções das pessoas (empregados e clientes) em entregas de serviços híbridas (serviço de interação humana e tecnologias de auto-atendimento) pode ser uma ferramenta relevante. Neste contexto, o objetivo principal da tese é desenvolver e validar um novo instrumento, original, inovador e compacto, para medir o clima de serviço em hotéis com entregas de serviço híbridas em que pessoas (empregados e clientes) cocriam a experiência de serviço através da tecnologia. A metodologia da tese tem por base 3 etapas. Na primeira etapa, pesquisamos conceitos, definições, dimensões e subdimensões e itens através de 3 estudos qualitativos (revisões sistemáticas da literatura). Os resultados permitiram desenvolver uma estrutura de pesquisa preliminar para a escala de Clima de Serviço Híbrido Pessoas-Tecnologia (PTHSC). Na segunda etapa, elaboramos um trabalho de pesquisa qualitativa com base na técnica Delphi (com três rondas), com análise de conteúdo, para construir a redação final do instrumento e validar o conteúdo por consenso entre os especialistas. Utilizámos o método Delphi modificado, não aplicando o questionário aberto inicial, e estabelecemos as dimensões, subdimensões e itens iniciais com base nas revisões sistemáticas da literatura realizadas. As três rondas com um painel de 21 especialistas foram realizadas em ambiente virtual [online], através do software eDelphi.org, nas datas [21/dez/22/jan], [22/fev/22/mar] e [22/mar/22/abr]. Na última etapa, validámos o instrumento através de Análise de Componentes Principais, Análise Fatorial Exploratória e Análise Fatorial Confirmatória para validar a respetiva estrutura fatorial. Entre 2019 e 2022, foram realizados 6 trabalhos de investigação, compilados em quatro artigos para publicação em revistas científicas especializadas. Desta forma, a tese compreende três revisões sistemáticas da literatura, com análise bibliométrica (Bibliometrix) e de rede (VOSviewer), que deram origem a três artigos. O artigo “Mapping service quality and service climate for sustainable strategy in the business to the consumer hospitality and tourism industry" com o objetivo específico de identificar e resumir a literatura existente sobre a conexão entre clima de serviço e construtos experiências do cliente, nomeadamente a qualidade de serviço. O Segundo artigo "A bibliometric analysis of trust in the field of hospitality and tourism" surge da necessidade de incluir a confiança como dimensão ou sub-dimensão do clima de serviço. Por último, o artigo "A bibliometric analysis of service climate as a sustainable competitive advantage in hospitality" que contribuiu para a conceção da estrutura do clima de serviço híbrido de pessoas-tecnologia. Compreende ainda, uma pesquisa eDelphi para desenvolver a escala através de um painel internacional de especialistas e dois estudos quantitativos para a confiabilidade e validade do instrumento. Estes três trabalhos de investigação deram origem ao artigo "Developing a people-technology hybrid scale to measure service climate in hospitality", que divulga à comunidade científica e hoteleira um novo instrumento (P-THSCS) com uma versão em inglês de 31 itens, agrupados em cinco dimensões: Cocriação, Padrões, Suporte, Características e Clima de Serviço Global, em que a dimensão de cocriação mostra o valor preditivo mais significativo. A tese apresenta uma componente inovadora muito forte de onde se destaca duas originalidades. As revisões sistemáticas da literatura foram as primeiras a utilizar análises bibliométricas e estruturas de análise de rede de conhecimento para avaliar a construção do clima de serviço como uma vantagem competitiva sustentável. A outra é o facto de desenvolver um novo instrumento (People-Technology Hybrid Service Climate Scale) que abre uma nova agenda científica para pesquisas futuras com base na estrutura do clima de serviço, e fornece à hotelaria um novo instrumento para a obtenção de novos dados. Apesar do protocolo com o grupo hoteleiro Vila Galé para a colaboração na recolha de respostas para os trabalhos quantitativos, a taxa de respostas validadas é a maior das limitações encontradas. Ainda assim, os resultados mostram uma ferramenta de gestão relevante, que faculta dados essenciais para a gestão de recursos humanos, para a gestão comercial, “revenue management”, marketing, e gestão financeira. Ao nível académico esta tese abre as portas a toda uma nova agenda científica

The Impact of Strategic Management Practices on the Performance of UAE Banks

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of strategic planning and management practices (SPM practices) on the performance of banks in the United Arab Emirates and the challenges they face in developing and implementing their strategic plans. Although banks in the UAE were able to recover smoothly after the 2008 financial crisis, they still face challenges due to globalization, low oil prices, and political instability in the region. The situation calls for efficient strategic planning and management by the authorities of the banks. This study, therefore, aims to contribute to improving the effectiveness of SPM practices within the banking sector in the UAE. The study critically examines the UAE’s banking industry in the context of strategic planning and management practices with a focus on five key dimensions: 1) institutionalizing the planning process, 2) establishing the strategic foundation, 3) conducting strategic situational diagnosis, 4) developing a strategic plan and 5) managing the strategic plan implementation. Further, based on a critical review of the available empirical evidence, a conceptual model is developed to consider the five key dimensions, six financial ratios and one non-financial factor (customer satisfaction) and test the existing relationships between SPM practices and performance levels of banks in the country. The research covered a population of 51 conventional and Islamic banks registered on the financial markets within the UAE. A sample of 17 banks provided information for the study and data were sourced from top, middle and lower level executives of these banks. The investigation used quantitative research methods and statistical techniques such as factor analysis, analysis of variance, among others, to process data and arrive at findings. The study findings reveal that Islamic banks performed better than conventional banks in terms of most areas of strategic planning and management practices. Detailed analyses and findings indicate that specific pattern variations and relationship structures are observable in terms of the five SPM components and their impact on the performance levels of both Islamic and conventional banks. Most importantly, the quantitative findings and qualitative inferences from the study lead to the conclusion that management in the banking industry has the responsibility of putting in place the strategies, frameworks and policies that respond proactively to the prevention, detection and mitigation of shocks on banks, particularly from their external business environment. To accomplish this, the senior management authorities in each of the banks should frequently review all areas of their SPM practices (institutionalizing the planning process, establishing the strategic foundation, conducting strategic situational diagnosis, developing a strategic plan and managing strategic plan implementation) and implement adequate revisions in each component to manage their organizations more efficiently and effectively

Actions Lead to Results: How the Behaviors of Information Systems Professionals Influence the Success of Information Systems Departments

The growing complexity of systems, the increasing intensity of their use, and the greater prominence of technology in supporting organizational activities has meant that information systems (IS) professionals in organizations have to go beyond offering routine task-related support when working with their non-IS colleagues. For organizations to see IS professionals as effective, they have to carry out empathic behaviors such as sharing their IT knowledge with their non-IS colleagues and taking the initiative to minimize inconveniences during IS projects. Drawing from the organizational citizenship behavior concept, we develop a multilevel research model to examine how behaviors that IS professionals perform influence IS departments’ effectiveness. Using data from more than 1,000 respondents working in the global finance industry, we conducted both cross-level and unit-level analyses and found results that support our arguments. Our results deepen the extent to which we understand the role that IS professionals play in supporting post-adoption IS use and digitally empowering business units while also performing their traditional roles

Sustaining the Promise: Realizing the Potential of Workforce Intermediaries and Sector Projects

Reviews the outcomes of sector-specific workforce development projects run by intermediaries with a comprehensive, long-term approach. Outlines the challenges of and recommendations for securing sustainability in financing, infrastructure, and operations

Social Media Analytics and Information Privacy Decisions: Impact of User Intimate Knowledge and Co-ownership Perceptions

Social media analytics has been recognized as a distinct research field in the analytics subdomain that is developed by processing social media content to generate important business knowledge. Understanding the factors that influence privacy decisions around its use is important as it is often perceived to be opaque and mismanaged. Social media users have been reported to have low intimate knowledge and co-ownership perception of social media analytics and its information privacy decisions. This deficiency leads them to perceive privacy violations if firms make privacy decisions that conflict with their expectations. Such perceived privacy violations often lead to business disruptions caused by user rebellions, regulatory interventions, firm reputation damage, and other business continuity threats. Existing research had developed theoretical frameworks for multi-level information privacy management and called for empirical testing of which constructs would increase user self-efficacy in negotiating with firms for joint social media analytics decision making. A response to this call was studied by measuring the constructs in the literature that lead to normative social media analytics and its information privacy decisions. The study model was developed by combining the relevant constructs from the theory of psychological ownership in organizations and the theory of multilevel information privacy. From psychological ownership theory, the impact that intimate knowledge had on co-ownership perception of social media analytics was added. From the theory of multi-level information privacy, the impact of co-ownership perception on the antecedents of information privacy decisions: the social identity assumed, and information privacy norms used were examined. In addition, the moderating role of the cost and benefits components of the privacy calculus on the relationship between information privacy norms and expected information privacy decisions was measured. A quantitative research approach was used to measure these factors. A web-based survey was developed using survey items obtained from prior studies that measured these constructs with only minor wording changes made. A pilot-study of 34 participants was conducted to test and finalize the instrument. The survey was distributed to adult social media users in the United States of America on a crowdsourcing marketplace using a commercial online survey service. 372 responses were accepted and analyzed. The partial least squares structural equation modeling method was used to assess the model and analyze the data using the Smart partial least squares 3 statistical software package. An increase in intimate knowledge of social media analytics led to higher co-ownership perception among social media users. Higher levels of co-ownership perception led to higher expectation of adoption of a salient social identity and higher expected information privacy norms. In addition, higher levels of expectation of social information privacy norm use led to normative privacy decisions. Higher levels of benefit estimation in the privacy calculus negatively moderated the relationship between social norms and privacy decision making. Co-ownership perception did not have a significant effect on the cost estimation in social media analytics privacy calculus. Similarly, the cost estimation in the privacy calculus did not have a significant effect on the relationship between information privacy norm adoption and the expectation of a normative information privacy decision. The findings of the study are a notable information systems literature contribution in both theory and practice. The study is one of the few to further develop multilevel information privacy theory by adding the intimate knowledge construct. The study model is a contribution to literature since its one of first to combine and validate elements of psychological ownership in organization theory to the theory of multilevel information privacy in order to understand what social media users expect when social media analytics information privacy decisions are made. The study also contributes by suggesting approaches practitioners can use to collaboratively manage their social media analytics information privacy decisions which was previously perceived to be opaque and under examined. Practical suggestions social media firms could use to decrease negative user affectations and engender deeper information privacy collaboration with users as they seek benefit from social media analytics were offered