Critical review of the e-loyalty literature: a purchase-centred framework

Over the last few years, the concept of online loyalty has been examined extensively in the literature, and it remains a topic of constant inquiry for both academics and marketing managers. The tremendous development of the Internet for both marketing and e-commerce settings, in conjunction with the growing desire of consumers to purchase online, has promoted two main outcomes: (a) increasing numbers of Business-to-Customer companies running businesses online and (b) the development of a variety of different e-loyalty research models. However, current research lacks a systematic review of the literature that provides a general conceptual framework on e-loyalty, which would help managers to understand their customers better, to take advantage of industry-related factors, and to improve their service quality. The present study is an attempt to critically synthesize results from multiple empirical studies on e-loyalty. Our findings illustrate that 62 instruments for measuring e-loyalty are currently in use, influenced predominantly by Zeithaml et al. (J Marketing. 1996;60(2):31-46) and Oliver (1997; Satisfaction: a behavioral perspective on the consumer. New York: McGraw Hill). Additionally, we propose a new general conceptual framework, which leads to antecedents dividing e-loyalty on the basis of the action of purchase into pre-purchase, during-purchase and after-purchase factors. To conclude, a number of managerial implementations are suggested in order to help marketing managers increase their customers’ e-loyalty by making crucial changes in each purchase stage

The Living and Working Together Perspective on Creativity in Organizations

Although creativity represents a cornerstone for organizations that want to keep up with competitors, customers, and the current socio-economic context, there is a dearth in the literature of systemic and comprehensive models focused on the complexity and addressing several dimensions and factors. In this context, we propose the perspective of “working and living together in organizations” to enrich the scientific dialogue with a proposition that aims to hold together different variables of interaction and relationship between different parts of the organization (Gozzoli, 2016a,b). In fact, according to our previous studies (Frascaroli et al., 2016; Gorli et al., 2016; Marta et al., 2016; Saita et al., 2016; Tamanza et al., 2016), a generative living and working together environment is itself directly linked to creativity and innovative processes. This is because in a generative living and working together environment relationality – that is, the possibility of exchange among workers mediated by the object of work – is enabled. With this study, we intend to provide a contribution to the creativity study field, applying our perspective to an extensive level of analysis. The model was tested using the Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling methodology with EQS-6.3. Our results found some interesting elements in support of the theory behind this study

A Cross-Sectional Survey on Burnout Prevalence and Profile in the Sicilian Population of Ambulance Driver-Rescuers

Introduction: Burnout is present at a high rate in emergency medicine. The ambulance driver-rescuers, who furnish first aid to the victims, are the non-medical part of the Italian 118-service staff. There is a lack of research on burnout risk in Italian Emergency Medical Services and, particularly, for this category of workers. The two Italian studies, including a little group of ambulance driver-rescuers, reported inconsistent findings. Hypothesis: This survey investigated for the first time the prevalence and exact profile of burnout in a large sample of Italian driver-rescuers. As a secondary aim, the study described how the items of the Italian version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) cluster in components in this sample. Methods: This cross-sectional census survey was conducted from June 2015 through May 2016 and involved all the driver-rescuers operating in Sicily, the biggest and most southern region of Italy. The subjects received a classification according to different profiles of burnout by using the Italian version of the MBI-HSS (burnout, engagement, disengagement, over-extension, and work-inefficacy). In order to explore the existence of independent factors, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted on the survey to obtain eigenvalues >one for each component in the data. Results: The final sample comprised 2,361 responders (96.6% of the initial sample). Of them, 29.8% were in burnout (95% confidence interval [CI], 27.8% to 31.8%) and 1.7% presented a severe form (95% CI, 1.1% to 2.3%); 30.0% were engaged in their work (95% CI, 21.0% to 34.8%), 24.7% of responders were disengaged (95% CI, 22.9% to 26.5%), 1.2% presented an over-extension profile (95% CI, 0.8% to 1.7%), and 12.6% felt work-inefficacy (95% CI, 11.3% to 14.1%). The factors loaded into a five-factor solution at PCA, explaining 48.1% of the variance and partially replicating the three-factor structure. The Emotional Exhaustion (EE) component was confirmed. New dimensions from Personal Accomplishment (PA) and Depersonalization (DP) sub-scales described empathy and disengagement with patients, respectively, and were responsible for the increased risk of burnout. Conclusions: These results endorse the importance of screening and psychological interventions for this population of emergency workers, where burnout could manifest itself more insidiously. It is also possible to speculate that sub-optimal empathy skills could be related to the disengagement and work-inefficacy feelings registered

Sustainability and the Talentship Paradigm: Strategic Human Resource Management Beyond the Bottom Line

[Excerpt] This paper proposes such a framework that simultaneously shifts the prize to reflect Sustainability and shifts the paradigm of HRM toward a decision science called “Talentship” (Boudreau & Ramstad, 2002). It defines Sustainability and its measures, defines the typical connection between HRM and sustainability using the traditional HRM paradigm. Then, the HC BRidge® talent decision framework that connects HRM, talent, and competitive/financial strategic success, is used to logically make similar connections between HRM, talent and sustainability. Examples from Shell and DuPont show how the combination of shifting the prize and the paradigm reveals pivotal roles for talent that are not apparent with traditional definitions of strategic success and the traditional HRM paradigm

Trade and Labour Standards: A Review of the Issues

[Excerpt] This is a paper by a labour economist for trade specialists. It is written at a time of hope tempered by fear. On the trade side, the hope is that the new World Trade Organisation will stimulate a better trading environment for all countries. On the labour side, the hope is that labour standards can continually be improved for most if not all of the world\u27s working people. But there are also fears. One fear is that these goals may be difficult to achieve simultaneously. Another is that they may be undone by various pressures, including issues left unresolved in the Uruguay Round of the GATT. Trade and labour market policies are continuously being discussed and reformulated. Strangely enough, much of this debate takes place in the absence of clearly-articulated goals. The reasons, it would seem, are twofold. On the one hand, for some analysts, the goals (e.g. freer trade, workers\u27 rights) are held to be self-evident. On the other hand, the goals are themselves sometimes hard to pinpoint. When does free trade give way to fair trade ? When does the pursuit of one labour standard (e.g. free collective bargaining) take precedence over another (e.g. full employment)

Private Health Insurance Provisions of H.R. 3962

[Excerpt] This report summarizes key provisions affecting private health insurance, including provisions to raise revenues, in Division A of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, as introduced in the House of Representatives on October 29, 2009. H.R. 3962 is based on H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, which was originally introduced on July 14, 2009, and was reported separately on October 14, 2009, by three House Committees— Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means. Division A of H.R. 3962 focuses on reducing the number of uninsured, restructuring the private health insurance market, setting minimum standards for health benefits, and providing financial assistance to certain individuals and, in some cases, small employers. In general, H.R. 3962 would require individuals to maintain health insurance and employers to either provide insurance or pay a payroll assessment, with some exceptions. Several insurance market reforms would be made, such as modified community rating and guaranteed issue and renewal. Both the individual and employer mandates would be linked to acceptable health insurance coverage, which would meet required minimum standards and incorporate the market reforms included in the bill. Acceptable coverage would include (1) coverage under a qualified health benefits plan (QHBP), which could be offered either through the newly created Health Insurance Exchange (the Exchange) or outside the Exchange through new employer plans; (2) grandfathered employment based plans; (3) grandfathered nongroup plans; and (4) other coverage, such as Medicare and Medicaid. The Exchange would offer private plans alongside a public option. Based on income, certain individuals could qualify for subsidies toward their premium costs and cost-sharing (deductibles and copayments); these subsidies would be available only through the Exchange. In the individual market (the nongroup market), a plan could be grandfathered indefinitely, but only if no changes were made to the terms and conditions of that plan, including benefits and cost-sharing, and premiums were only increased as allowed by statute. Most of these provisions would be effective beginning in 2013. The Exchange would not be an insurer; it would provide eligible individuals and small businesses with access to insurers’ plans in a comparable way. The Exchange would consist of a selection of private plans as well as a public option. Individuals wanting to purchase the public option or a private health insurance not through an employer or a grandfathered nongroup plan could only obtain such coverage through the Exchange. They would only be eligible to enroll in an Exchange plan if they were not enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, and acceptable employer coverage as a full-time employee. The public option would be established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), would offer three different cost-sharing options, and would vary premiums geographically. The Secretary would negotiate payment rates for medical providers, and items and services. The bill would also require that the Health Choices Commissioner to establish a Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) program under which the Commissioner would make grants and loans for the establishment of not-for-profit, member-run health insurance cooperatives. These co-operatives would provide insurance through the Exchange. Only within the Exchange, credits would be available to limit the amount of money certain individuals would pay for premiums and for cost-sharing (deductibles and copayments). (Although Medicaid is beyond the scope of this report, H.R. 3962 would extend Medicaid coverage for most individuals under 150% of poverty; individuals would be ineligible for Exchange coverage if they were eligible for Medicaid.

Online Manipulation: Hidden Influences in a Digital World

Privacy and surveillance scholars increasingly worry that data collectors can use the information they gather about our behaviors, preferences, interests, incomes, and so on to manipulate us. Yet what it means, exactly, to manipulate someone, and how we might systematically distinguish cases of manipulation from other forms of influence—such as persuasion and coercion—has not been thoroughly enough explored in light of the unprecedented capacities that information technologies and digital media enable. In this paper, we develop a definition of manipulation that addresses these enhanced capacities, investigate how information technologies facilitate manipulative practices, and describe the harms—to individuals and to social institutions—that flow from such practices. We use the term “online manipulation” to highlight the particular class of manipulative practices enabled by a broad range of information technologies. We argue that at its core, manipulation is hidden influence—the covert subversion of another person’s decision-making power. We argue that information technology, for a number of reasons, makes engaging in manipulative practices significantly easier, and it makes the effects of such practices potentially more deeply debilitating. And we argue that by subverting another person’s decision-making power, manipulation undermines his or her autonomy. Given that respect for individual autonomy is a bedrock principle of liberal democracy, the threat of online manipulation is a cause for grave concern

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