On Rapport Uncertainty in the Sharing Economy - Extending the Categories of Uncertainty

Sharing Economy platforms enable a close physical interaction among strangers by mediating goods and services owned or provided by individuals. This close physical interaction is an inherent part of the service experience, is highly individual and thus can hardly be evaluated beforehand. This gives rise to a novel type of service uncertainty that we term as rapport uncertainty. Building on the hierarchical decomposition of service quality, we construct an uncertainty model that encompasses three uncertainty categories consumers face when sharing a resource: rapport, technical, and environment uncertainty. Our empirical study in a ride sharing context reveals that rapport uncertainty differs from other categories of uncertainty and significantly reduces the intention to transact with a service provider. Our findings illustrate how the concept of uncertainty must be extended to reflect the nature of shared service experiences. We suggest that owners of these platforms should actively manage this aspect through platform design

The Influence of Job Demand, Respect, and Rapport on Work Engagement of Employees in the Foodservice Sector

Many foodservice operators in Malaysia depend on superior services to entice customers to keep visiting their business. The researchers chose a purposive convenience sampling, and questionnaires were distributed to 303 employees in the foodservice industry in three selected districts in Terengganu, Malaysia. Results of the inferential analysis revealed that there are positive relationships between two of the independent variables, respects, and Rapport with the dependent variable, job engagement. Job demand, however, has no significant impact on Job Engagement. We proposed that trust, efficient communication, mutual respect, and the honest relationship has a strong impact on employees’ engagement with their job.Keywords: Job Engagement; Job Demand; Rapport; Foodservice Industry eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i12.193