Customer heterogeneity in operational e-service design attributes: n empirical investigation of service quality

Purpose – This study aims to empirically examine whether heterogeneity in personal customer profiles translates to heterogeneity in the valued operational e-service design attributes. It focuses on a key operational e-service design attribute – service quality – by investigating whether customers with different profiles (demographics, pattern of use of the service, and pattern of channel use) attach different levels of importance to different dimensions of web site quality. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on path analysis of data collected from multiple sources in a commercial e-service setting (e-banking): data from an online survey of the customers of the e-service; data stored in the transaction and log files generated by the operation of the e-service over time; and data from the e-service provider’s customer database and back office IT systems. Findings – The results suggest that: customer demographics, pattern of service use, and pattern of channel use have no influence on the importance attached by customers to web site quality dimensions; and customer demographics affect the pattern of use of an e-service. Research limitations/implications – Future research should examine this question in other types of e-services and should examine other types of profile variables. Practical implications – Service providers may not need to employ customization at the level of web site quality dimensions. The findings support the existence of the concept of an “optimal” web site design for quality. Originality/value – The paper answers calls for an increased understanding of the design of high quality e-services and for multidisciplinary research in the field of services management, in particular, incorporating operations management perspectives

An empirical study on digitalization's impact on operational efficiency and the moderating role of multiple uncertainties

While many organizations are increasingly willing to invest in adopting digitalization in recent years, they might not be aware that different levels of uncertainty within and outside their organizations may impend digitalization's effectiveness. This study aims to empirically explores the performance impact from digitalization on organizations and the effect from uncertainty on the impact. More specifically, the objectives are pertinent to examining 1) the association between digitalization and operational efficiency and 2) the moderating effect of macro-level uncertainty, industrial-level uncertainty, and firm-level uncertainty on this association. Using a dataset collected from multiple sources employing innovative methodologies including natural language processing (NLP) to analyze digitalization announcements from Factiva and measuring operational efficiency based on the stochastic frontier approach (SFA), this study analyzes the impact from digitalization via 2,520 samples from 496 listed firms in North America during 2015-2021. The results show that digitalization significantly enhances operational efficiency, and this positive impact from digitalization is weakened by macro-level uncertainty and industrial-level uncertainty. Our findings provide researchers and practitioners with useful insights into digitalization's important role in enhancing operational efficiency and guidance indicating the business environments deserve extra attention so as to retain digitalization's positive impact

The bright side of being uncertain: the impact of economic policy uncertainty on corporate innovation

Purpose: This study aims to theoretically hypothesize and empirically examine the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on firms' innovation performance as well as the contingency conditions of this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: This study collects and combines secondary longitudinal data from multiple sources to test for a direct impact of EPU on firms' innovation performance. It further examines the moderating effects of firms' operational and marketing capabilities. A series of robustness checks are performed to ensure the consistency of the findings. Findings: In contrast to the common belief that EPU reduces the innovativeness of firms, the authors find an inverted-U relationship between EPU and innovation performance, indicating that a moderate level of EPU actually promotes innovation. Further analysis suggests that firms' operational and marketing capabilities make the inverted-U relationship steeper, further enhancing firms' innovation performance at a moderate level of EPU. Originality/value: This study adds to the emerging literature that investigates the operational implications of EPU, which enhances our understanding of the potential bright side of EPU and broadens the scope of operational risk management

The impact of firms’ social media initiatives on operational efficiency and innovativeness

Social media have been increasingly adopted for organizational purposes but their operational implications are not well understood. Firms’ social media initiatives might facilitate information flow and knowledge sharing within and across organizations, strengthening firm‐customer interaction, and improving internal and external collaboration. In this research we empirically examine the impact of social media initiatives on firms’ operational efficiency and innovativeness. Taking the resource‐based view of firms’ information capability, we consider firms’ social media initiatives as strategic resources for operational improvement. We posit that firms’ social media initiatives enhance dynamic knowledge‐sharing routines through an information‐rich social network, leading to both operational efficiency and innovativeness. Collecting secondary data in a longitudinal setting from multiple sources, we construct dynamic panel data (DPD) models. Based on system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation, we show that firms’ social media initiatives improve operational efficiency and innovativeness. We identify the importance of an information‐rich social network to the creation of knowledge‐based advantage through firms’ social media initiatives, and discuss the theoretical and managerial implications from the perspective of operations management

First to market: Is technological innovation in new product development profitable in health care industries?

Do innovative products incorporated advanced technologies help firms improve operating performance? In this study we traced the operating performance of 168 publicly traded manufacturing firms in the USA that announced technologically innovative products in two major industries from the health care domain, namely pharmaceuticals and medical instruments. We employed the event-study methodology and collected objective financial data from Compustat. We found that technologically innovative products have a statistically significant positive effect on operating performance. The median abnormal increase in return-on-assets ranged from 2.20% to 7.07% over a four-year period. The median abnormal increase in return-on-sales ranged from 4.16% to 4.70% and the median abnormal increase in sales-over-assets ranged from 5.85% to 7.38%.Technological innovation New product development Event study

The service-profit chain: An empirical analysis in high-contact service industries

In their well-known conceptual framework of the Service-Profit Chain (S-PC), Heskett et al. (1994) suggest that there are strong relationships among employee satisfaction and loyalty, service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty, and firm profitability. However, there is little empirical evidence on this proposition. In this research, we empirically examine the relationships among employee attributes, operational performance, and business outcomes. We collected data from 210 high-contact service shops in Hong Kong. Using structural equation modeling, we find that most of the postulated relationships in S-PC are highly significant, supporting the S-PC concept. Our findings parallel anecdotal evidence in many service organizations that an increase in employee satisfaction and loyalty triggers a corresponding change in customer satisfaction and loyalty, resulting in significant increase in sales revenues. We provide strong empirical evidence that employee satisfaction and loyalty play a significant role in enhancing the operational performance of organizations in the high-contact service sectors.Service-profit chain Satisfaction Loyalty Firm profitability Empirical research

ISO 9000 and supply chain efficiency: Empirical evidence on inventory and account receivable days

ISO 9000 is the most popular and widely adopted meta-standard for quality and operational improvements in manufacturing supply chains. However, few studies have quantitatively examined its impact on supply chain efficiency. In this paper we measure the material and cash flow efficiency of ISO 9000 certified firms in terms of inventory days and account receivable days. We analyzed changes in these time-based efficiency indicators prior and after ISO 9000 implementation in 695 US-listed manufacturing firms. We found that ISO 9000 certified firms shortened the number of inventory days by 3.68 days 1 year after ISO 9000 implementation. They showed continuous improvement and shortened the number of inventory days by 8.75 days (8.29% shorter) 3 years after certification. Account receivable days and overall operating cycle time also showed similar significant reductions after ISO 9000 implementation. The results reveal that ISO 9000 adoption helps improve the material and cash flows in manufacturing supply chains.ISO 9000 Supply chain efficiency Event study

An empirical study of employee loyalty, service quality and firm performance in the service industry

Taking an operational perspective on the relations between employee loyalty and business performance, we examine the relationships among employee loyalty, service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and firm profitability, and the contextual factors influencing these relationships. We developed a research model grounded in the service-profit chain notion of Heskett et al. (1994) and empirically tested the model by conducting a survey of 210 high-contact service shops in Hong Kong. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), we observed that employee loyalty is significantly related to service quality, which in turn impacts customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, ultimately leading to firm profitability in high-contact service industries. Using multiple-group analysis of SEM, we found that the effect of employee loyalty on firm profitability through service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is robust under different scenarios of employee-customer contact level, market competitiveness, and switching cost in the sampled shops. This finding supports the generalizability of the observed relationships in various operating contexts.Employee loyalty Service quality Customer satisfaction Customer loyalty Profitability