Homecare user needs from the perspective of the patient and carers: a review

There is a global shift towards a blending of care delivery within formal and informal environments in direct response to economic and demographic pressures. Homecare is at the hub of this activity, enabling people to age in place and keeping families intact. However, our understanding of patient and carer needs is fragmented; understandably so, given the complexity of these needs. This descriptive review offers a content analysis of papers focused on patients' and carers' needs and homecare published between January 2010 and October 2013. It is evident that homecare is an intensely researched area, yet it is disjointed. Emerging research emphasizes the need to take a holistic approach. Firstly, incorporating emotional psychosocial and cultural elements will help to draw together our current understanding within a more cohesive framework. Secondly, tensions that hinder communication and collaboration between stakeholders must be resolved. Thirdly, information and communications technology is rapidly becoming synonymous with homecare, and offers solutions for facilitating care delivery, collaboration, and training of future professionals. The rate of international activity promises much for future research collaborations to compare, contrast, and identify best practices for the future of homecare as we endeavor to meet the ever-increasing pressures on health and social care systems

Redressing the sleeper effect: evidence for the favorable persuasive impact of discounting information over time in a contemporary advertising context

The shift in the accessibility of positive and negative information about consumer products on the internet calls for a revisiting of persuasion effects. A counterintuitive effect, called the sleeper effect, predicts attitudes toward a persuasive message have the potential to increase in favorableness despite the presence of information discounting the message. An experimental study was conducted to support the existence of the sleeper effect, demonstrate its renewed relevance in the contemporary advertising environment, and provide a foundation for further sleeper effect studies

Responsible management on the organizational frontline: a stewardship perspective

Responsible management has become a business imperative in an era of growing governmental and public scrutiny of managerial practices and accountability. Top-down attempts at developing transparent codes of practice or agenda statements have been ineffective, especially given the difficulties of aligning responsibility needs with traditional performance indicators. Thus, we argue, there is a pertinent need to foster a sustainable sense of moral responsibility at the organizational frontline. We posit that stewardship offers a foundation for developing sustainable solutions based on aligning the interests of stakeholders and balancing longer-term and shorter-term benefits. Three principal stakeholders are involved at the organisational frontline; frontline management (FLM), frontline employees (FLE) and customers. Accordingly, we identify three key areas requiring development: stewardship-based control systems, climate and customers on the organizational frontline. We illustrate these areas with pertinent research and, hence, collate a research agenda across these areas to facilitate the development and embedding of responsible management based on a stewardship foundation

Redressing the sleeper effect: evidence for the favorable persuasive impact of discounting information over time in a contemporary advertising context

The shift in the accessibility of positive and negative information about consumer products on the Internet calls for a revisiting of persuasion effects. A counterintuitive effect, called the sleeper effect, predicts that attitudes toward a persuasive message have the potential to increase in favorableness despite the presence of information discounting the message. An experimental study was conducted to support the existence of the sleeper effect, demonstrate its renewed relevance in the contemporary advertising environment, and provide a foundation for further sleeper effect studies

Service-sales ambidexterity: evidence, practice and opportunities for future research

Aligning the service-sales interface within and beyond organizational boundaries is worthwhile, yet many firms are not reaping the rewards of such practice. The managerial need for in-depth insights into the blending of selling and service delivery could be better informed through resolution of current open theoretical debates. This position paper extends the current knowledge base on the service-sales interface in three ways. First, we offer a synopsis of current scholarly progress on blending service delivery with sales and identify contextual conditions that foster effective service-sales ambidexterity. Second, turning to current practice, we use an empirical case study to demonstrate how a multi-national company strategically deploys online learning to bridge structural knowledge and skills gaps within its reseller network to build ambidextrous capacity in the channel and support solution selling. Complementing this human learning approach, we also explore recent advances in machine learning and their impact on the service-sales interface. Third, we blend these academic and practice perspectives to offer a service-sales interface agenda that identifies directions for future research in terms of both the theoretical development of ambidexterity and defining the effective blending of technologies at the service-sales interface that enable ambidexterity in practice

Consucrats have agency: what next for the profecrat? Comment on “The rise of the consucrat"

The trend in ensuring adequate consumer representation across diverse activities and sectors, not least in healthcare, has been speedily implemented, sometimes at the expense of strategy. This commentary explores the concept of the consucrat as a consumer representative, presented by de Leeuw, which raised important questions regarding the way in which individuals and health services interact and collaborate. Adopting a complex services marketing lens, the position of the consucrat is discussed in relation to agency underpinning three tensions identified by de Leeuw: designation; professionalization, and; representation. For equality, professional service providers are referred to as ‘profecrats.’ Supporting de Leeuw, challenges are made to the underlying assumptions implicit in terms used around representation, the perspective that it is the consucrat only who needs to adapt, and the discourse around the competence of the consucrat. We should not be too cautious in our approach to consumer representation. Consucrats have agency – what next for the profecrat

[Abstract] A re-examination of value co-creation in the age of interactive service robots: a service logic perspective

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Patients, Professionals and the Internet: Renegotiating the Healthcare Encounter

The aim of this research was to examine how patient use of internet information impinges on the utilisation of healthcare services. The research had the following objectives: + to quantify the extent, and patterns, of patients use of the internet as a health information resource and identify the factors leading to variations in behaviour. + to identify the search strategies employed by patients in accessing internet health information internet and the evaluative approaches used in assessing information quality. + to analyse the content and dynamics of virtual health communities and how participation in such communities is integrated into engagement with health services. + to document the evolving nature of patient-professional interaction arising from patient access to health information and the subsequent format of the healthcare encounter. + to assess the effect of changing patient access to information and changes in the healthcare encounter on patterns of patient decision making and health behaviours

Engagement-to-Value (E2V). An empirical case study

Many firms rely on distribution networks to market their products to end-customers, cognizant of the strategic role that channel partners or re-sellers play. Considerable investments are made in building and maintaining engaging relationships through Channel Partner Programs (CPPs). However, partner engagement levels vary widely within CPPs and a one-size-fits all approach to incentive structures for partner engagement may not yield the optimal value. There is a need for in-depth understanding of charting and managing different levels of engagement and examining how these translate into value. We develop a multi-step framework to assist vendors in proactively managing their Engagement-to-Value (E2V) conversion by triangulating different types of readily available empirical data. Within this empirical case study, we conceptualize the notion of E2V and introduce four areas of enquiry pertinent to our framework. First, we assess the value of the CPP in terms of sales and revenue. Second, a more granular analysis takes into account different segments of channel partners in the program. Third, we review these segments in terms of three manifestations of behavioral engagement; recency, frequency and breadth of sales of the product portfolio. Finally, we develop E2V strategies on the basis of the propensity for behavioral engagement at the individual firm level. We conclude with recommendations for customer engagement research and the management of CPPs

Technology push without a patient pull: examining Digital Unengagement (DU) with online health services

Purpose Policymakers push online health services delivery, relying on consumers to independently engage with online services. Yet, a growing cluster of vulnerable patients do not engage with or disengage from these innovative services. There is a need to understand how to resolve the tension between the push of online health service provision and unengagement by a contingent of health-care consumers. Thus, this study aims to explore the issue of digital unengagement (DU) (i.e. the active or passive choice to engage or disengage) with online health services to better inform service design aligned to actual consumer need. Design/methodology/approach Adopting a survey methodology, a group of 486 health services consumers with a self-declared (acute or chronic) condition were identified. Of this group, 110 consumers were classified as digitally unengaged and invited to write open-ended narratives about their unengagement with online health services. As a robustness check, these drivers were contrasted with the drivers identified by a group of digitally engaged consumers with a self-declared condition (n = 376). Findings DU is conceptualized, and four levels of DU drivers are identified. These levels represent families of interrelated drivers that in combination shape DU: subjective incompatibility (misalignment of online services with need, lifestyle and alternative services); enactment vulnerability (personal vulnerabilities around control, comprehension and emotional management of online services); sharing essentiality (centrality of face-to-face co-creation opportunities plus conflicting social dependencies); and strategic scepticism (scepticism of the strategic value of online services). Identified challenges at each level are the mechanisms through which drivers impact on DU. These DU drivers are distinct from those of the digitally engaged group. Research limitations/implications Adding to a nascent but growing literature on consumer unengagement, and complementing the engagement literature, the authors conceptualize DU, positioning it as distinct from, not simply a lack of, consumer engagement. The authors explore the drivers of DU to provide insight into how DU occurs. Encapsulating the dynamic nature of DU, these drivers map the building blocks that could help to address the issue of aligning the push of online service provision with the pull from consumers. Practical implications This paper offers insights on how to encourage consumers to engage with online health services by uncovering the drivers of DU that, typically, are hidden from service designers and providers impacting provision and uptake. Social implications There is a concern that there will be an unintentional disenfranchisement of vulnerable segments of society with a generic policy emphasis on pushing online services. The paper sheds light on the unforeseen personal and social issues that lead to disenfranchisement by giving voice to digitally unengaged consumers with online health services. Originality/value Offering a novel view from a hard-to-reach digitally unengaged group, the conceptualization of DU, identified drivers and challenges inform policymakers and practitioners on how to facilitate online health service (re)engagement and prevent marginalization of segments of society