Assessing the effects of empowerment and emotions on job satisfaction in hotel service environments

While empowerment has been encouraged in the hotel industry, a basic understanding on the possible relationship between empowerment and positive and negative emotions has yet to emerge. Evidence on the effects of empowerment and positive and negative emotions on job satisfaction is also limited. Therefore, the objectives of the study are threefold: to empirically investigate the relationship of empowerment on both positive and negative emotions and job satisfaction, to test whether the positive and negative emotions impose effect on employee’s job satisfaction and to examine the effect of individual empowerment components (task meaningfulness and freedom to perform) on job satisfaction. The approach of the study is based on questionnaires distributed to the frontline hotel employees in Malaysia. It was found that empowerment has a significant positive relationship with positive emotions and a negative relationship with negative emotions. The results also indicate that both empowerment and positive emotions have a significant influence on employee’s job satisfaction. Moreover, as hypothesized, the results support the negative relationship between negative emotions and job satisfaction. Another noteworthy finding was that, the effect of task meaningfulness on job satisfaction was significantly higher than freedom to perform. It is significant that managers should consider employing different forms of empowerment in order to maximize employee’s potential. The management must play an important role in monitoring employee’s emotions at work

The Provision of Finance to Small Businesses: Does the Banking Relationship Constrain Performance

The beneficial economic effects of entrepreneurial activity can only be realised if such activity is relatively unconstrained in both product and factor markets, finance has been widely identified as a potential constraint on entrepreneurial activity due to either debt or equity gaps. However, in terms of externally supplied finance, it is arguably the availability of debt which is of greatest signifi­cance to most entrepreneurs. Given the inevitable information problems associated with the provision of debt finance, the nature of the relationship between bank and entrepreneur can be of considerable importance in ensuring the appropriate financing decisions are made. This paper examines the link between the banking relationship and the extent to which entrepreneurs are constrained by financing arrangements. Empirical analysis of the extent to which the banking relationship constrains performance suggests that there is no significant difference between more and less successful entrepreneurs

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Trust in financial services: Retrospect and prospect

Fostering and maintaining high levels of trust in the financial services sector is seen as crucial because of the characteristics of many financial service and in order to promote consumer engagement in the sector. In this article, we report evidence from a body of work and other commentary to provide an insight into trends in consumer trust in the sector as a whole, in comparison with other organisations and how different types of financial services provider have performed relative to each other. We show that the financial services sector as a whole is trusted more than some comparator institutions, and that aggregate levels of trust in the sector have fluctuated a relatively small amount subsequent to the financial crisis. However, important differences between provider types are apparent and these differences have become more profound in the recent past. We provide suggestions as to how trust in the sector may be improved and provider an analysis of current initiatives to improve trust levels in the sector in general and in banking in particular

Being there: Public health needs a public face

It seems that business knows a thing or two about reputation management. Social marketers – and the public health community -should pay heed, because when it comes to behaviour change, reputation matters. If you don’t believe this, just ask anyone working in infant immunisation. So how is it done? How can a corporation which is legally obliged to put its shareholder’s interests first trump a health service whose raison d’être is public welfare? How come, for instance, that for the best part of thirty years the UK Government listened to the weasel words of the tobacco industry and left advertising to an obviously failing self regulatory system? How come that it has been seduced into making the same mistake for alcohol

General insurance marketing: a review and future research agenda

The financial services sector is a huge and diverse industry comprising many different forms of organisations and product offerings. Yet, a review of past papers in the Journal of Financial Services Marketing (JFSM) reveals a heavy bias towards articles on banking, to the neglect of other equally important financial services categories. The purpose of this paper is to address this imbalance and to call for more research to be conducted in a wider range of financial services categories. In particular, general insurance is singled out as a category worthy of further research. Looking to the past, this paper reviews research published to-date on general insurance in the JFSM to establish a benchmark and explore theoretical contributions. Attention is then turned to the future to identify a research agenda for the general insurance sector going forward. 5 important themes are identified: trust, transparency and simplification, technology, HNW and Takaful

Communicating value to enhance service visualization

Purpose – This study aims to examine the effects of enhanced visualization of intangible service value through integration of means-end perspectives on advertising effectiveness.Design/methodology/approach – Banking advertisements, incorporating message stimuli derived from salient values desired by the financial consumers and designed to assist message elaboration and stimulate personal relevance, were developed to examine the influence of cognitive connectivity on vividness of intangible service benefits and service advertising effectiveness. Findings – The findings demonstrate that greater cognitive connectivity positively affects perceived tangibility, attitude towards the advertisement, and attitude towards the brand. Additionally, the results indicated that perceived personal relevance has higher influence on envisioning service components, compared to one’s ability to connect visual cues to perceived benefits and to immediate end-goals. Research limitations – This study incorporated visual stimuli limited only to financial security and social recognition. Future research should aim to examine the effects of different type of values on consumers’ elaboration process and their ability to visualize financial services. Originality/value – This study extends knowledge of the means-end chain by proposing a means-end cognitive connectivity (MECC) construct which influences the degree that consumers are able to mentally picture intangible service attributes. This study also provides insight that different values have different degree of influence on one’s ability to visualize service

Effects of discount framing in comparative price advertising

Purpose: Our objective is to examine the framing effects of discount presentation format in comparative price advertising in a low-price and a high-price product context. In particular, we study whether identical discounts presented in percentage and absolute terms result in different consumer perceptions of transaction value and purchase intention. Although price promotions have been the subject of previous research, a closer examination of the potential moderating influence of discount size in both contexts is warranted. Design/methodology/approach: Two separate experiments were designed to isolate the effects of the manner in which discounts are numerically expressed and the size of the discount on consumers‟ perceptions of a retail price promotion in a low-price and a high-price product context. Findings: The effects of discount framing in comparative price promotions are found to be influenced by discount size in the case of the low-price product context but not the high-price one. Research Implications/limitations: It is recommended that the study is replicated for other types of low-price and high-price products to confirm the generalisability of the results for each product context. Practical Implications: Retail managers‟ choice of discount presentation format for both low- and high-price product contexts, and in the case of the former the additional manipulation of discount size, have an impact on the ability of comparative price promotions to accelerate purchases. Meanwhile policy makers should continue to assign significant time and resources to investigating concerns about misleading price comparison based promotions. Originality/value: The paper provides original insights into the importance of considering the joint effects of discount presentation format and discount size on consumers‟ perceptual and behavioural responses to retail price promotions, unlike previous research which has examined these framing effects separately

Communicating value to enhance service visualization

Purpose – This study aims to examine the effects of enhanced visualization of intangible service value through integration of means-end perspectives on advertising effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach – Banking advertisements, incorporating message stimuli derived from salient values desired by the financial consumers and designed to assist message elaboration and stimulate personal relevance, were developed to examine the influence of cognitive connectivity on vividness of intangible service benefits and service advertising effectiveness. Findings – The findings demonstrate that greater cognitive connectivity positively affects perceived tangibility, attitude towards the advertisement, and attitude towards the brand. Additionally, the results indicated that perceived personal relevance has higher influence on envisioning service components, compared to one’s ability to connect visual cues to perceived benefits and to immediate end-goals. Research limitations – This study incorporated visual stimuli limited only to financial security and social recognition. Future research should aim to examine the effects of different type of values on consumers’ elaboration process and their ability to visualize financial services. Originality/value – This study extends knowledge of the means-end chain by proposing a means-end cognitive connectivity (MECC) construct which influences the degree that consumers are able to mentally picture intangible service attributes. This study also provides insight that different values have different degree of influence on one’s ability to visualize service

How does the alcohol industry attempt to influence marketing regulations? A systematic review

Aim: To systematically review, using a qualitative, narrative synthesis approach, papers examining alcohol industry efforts to influence alcohol marketing policy, and compare with those used by the tobacco industry. Methods: Literature searches were conducted between April and July 2011, and updated in March 2013. Papers were included if they: made reference to alcohol industry efforts to influence (a) policy debates concerning marketing regulations, (b) new specific marketing policies or (c) broad alcohol policy which included marketing regulations; were written in English; and concerned the period 1990-2013. Alcohol industry political activity was categorized into strategies/tactics and frames/arguments. Data extraction was undertaken by the lead author and 100% of the papers were fully second-reviewed. Seventeen papers met the review criteria. Results: Five main political strategies and five main frames were identified. The alcohol industry argues against marketing regulation by emphasizing industry responsibility and the effectiveness of self-regulation, questioning the effectiveness of statutory regulation and by focusing on individual responsibility. Arguments relating to industry responsibility are often reinforced through corporate social responsibility activities. The industry primarily conveys its arguments through manipulating the evidence base and by promoting ineffective voluntary codes and non-regulatory initiatives. Conclusions: The alcohol industry's political activity is more varied than existing models of corporate political activity suggest. The industry's opposition to marketing regulation centres on claims that the industry is responsible and that self regulation is effective. There are considerable commonalities between tobacco and alcohol industry political activity, with differences due potentially to differences in policy contexts and perceived industry legitimacy