Self-service technology in supermarkets – do frontline staff still matter?

This paper uses the concept of psychological distance under construal level theory to explore the differences in the customers’ evaluations of overall store quality, satisfaction and loyalty, based on their experiences with the traditional staff-checkout method and the relatively new self-checkout machines. Two empirical studies, a field survey with retail shoppers in UK (N1 = 313) and an online survey with members of a consumer panel in Australia (N2 = 474), show that the perceived quality of staff checkout has a stronger positive impact on the overall store quality, satisfaction and loyalty, than the quality of self-checkout. Similarly, satisfaction with staff-checkout has a stronger positive effect on store satisfaction and loyalty, than the satisfaction with self-checkout. Finally, loyalty to staff-checkout also has a stronger positive influence on store loyalty, than the loyalty towards self-checkout. These results show that despite growing use of self-service technology, frontline staff continue to be important for overall store evaluations

Border-busting microenterprises: handshakes and eye contact, not headshakes and binding contracts, the keys to stellar growth

Trust-based relationships impact foreign market success of NZ Micro-enterprises. Firms capable of building trust-based relationships as a springboard to foreign market entry and growth perform better than those reliant upon the protective mechanisms of a transactional cost approach. The implications of such findings are discussed

Customer engagement and relationships in multi-actor service ecosystems

With the growing realization that most service ecosystems consist of interactions among multiple participants, including customers, employees, and others, there are increasing calls for research on the interdependent nature of customer engagements and relationships in multi-actor service ecosystems. This special issue addresses these calls with 22 articles (including three invited articles), classified along five distinct groups, including a) Co-creation, collaboration and socialization among actors, b) Actors’ (dis)engagement, c) role of the ‘other’ actors, d) dark side of multi-actor service ecosystems, and e) emerging trends – digital technologies and others. This editorial begins by reviewing the multi-actor service ecosystems literature to identify some important research gaps. Next, it briefly describes the 22 articles included in this special issue arranged along the above five themes and their major findings. Finally, the guest editors discuss the implications of these findings and some useful directions for future research in this area of growing importance

'Happy-Performing Managers’ thesis: Testing the Mediating Role of Job-related Affective Outcomes on the Impact of Role-Stressors on Contextual Performance

Purpose –This study extends the ‘Happy-Performing Managers’ thesis to show that managers’ job-related affective wellbeing and affective job satisfaction mediate the impact of their role stressors (ambiguity, conflict, and overload) on their contextual job performance. Design/methodology/approach – Results from an online survey of 305 managers from the private, public and third sectors in Western Australian support most of the hypotheses. The psychometric properties of all the scales were analysed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and the conceptual model was tested using Structural Equation Modelling. Findings – Role stressors have a direct negative effect on the managers’ affective wellbeing and affective job satisfaction, which in turn mediate the negative effects of the three role stressors on the managers’ contextual performance. Research limitations/implications – Conceptual and managerial contributions along with methodological limitations and future research directions are discussed. Originality/value – Contemporary managers face a wide-range of intrinsic and extrinsic role and environmental stressors. This research suggests that organisations may need to redesign manager roles to reduce their role stressors (ambiguity, conflict and overload) in order to optimize their contextual performance

Are We Training Our Detectives? A Survey of Large Law Enforcement Agencies Regarding Investigation Training and Training Needs

In this study, a mail survey was conducted of 146 of the largest local, sheriff, and state law enforcement agencies in the United States to assess the extent and type of investigation training they receive, and to identify needs. Twenty-nine agencies (20%) responded regarding extent and training for investigators that provided references for agency training programs. Many agencies reported similar courses, delivery systems, and needs. This indicated similar central investigation tasks across agency types, and suggested standardized training courses and delivery systems would likely fit their training needs. Two promising developments concerning online training were noted

Minimal attachment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to DNA modified surfaces

© 2018 Author(s). Extracellular deoxyribonucleic acid (eDNA) exists in biological environments such as those around medical implants since prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells can undergo processes such as autolysis, necrosis, and apoptosis. For bacteria, eDNA has been shown to be involved in biofilm formation and gene transfer and acts as a nutrient source. In terms of biofilm formation, eDNA in solution has been shown to be very important in increasing attachment; however, very little is known about the role played by surface immobilized eDNA in initiating bacterial attachment and whether the nature of a DNA layer (physically adsorbed or covalently attached, and molecular weight) influences biofilm formation. In this study, the authors shed light on the role that surface attached DNA plays in the early biofilm formation by using Si wafers (Si) and allylamine plasma polymer (AAMpp) coated Si wafers to adsorb and covalently immobilize salmon sperm DNA of three different molecular weights. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was chosen to study the bacterial interactions with these DNA functionalized surfaces. Characterization of surface chemistry and imaging of attached bacteria were performed via x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy, and epi-fluorescence microscopy. XPS results confirmed the successful grafting of DNA on the AAMpp and Si surfaces, and surprisingly the results showed that the surface attached DNA actually reduced initial bacterial attachment, which was contrary to the initial hypothesis. This adds speculation about the specific role played by DNA in the dynamics of how it influences biofilm formation, with the possibility that it could actually be used to make bacterial resistant surfaces

The Importance of Cerebellar Connectivity on Simulated Brain Dynamics

The brain shows a complex multiscale organization that prevents a direct understanding of how structure, function and dynamics are correlated. To date, advances in neural modeling offer a unique opportunity for simulating global brain dynamics by embedding empirical data on different scales in a mathematical framework. The Virtual Brain (TVB) is an advanced data-driven model allowing to simulate brain dynamics starting from individual subjects’ structural and functional connectivity obtained, for example, from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The use of TVB has been limited so far to cerebral connectivity but here, for the first time, we have introduced cerebellar nodes and interconnecting tracts to demonstrate the impact of cerebro-cerebellar loops on brain dynamics. Indeed, the matching between the empirical and simulated functional connectome was significantly improved when including the cerebro-cerebellar loops. This positive result should be considered as a first step, since issues remain open about the best strategy to reconstruct effective structural connectivity and the nature of the neural mass or mean-field models generating local activity in the nodes. For example, signal processing is known to differ remarkably between cortical and cerebellar microcircuits. Tackling these challenges is expected to further improve the predictive power of functional brain activity simulations, using TVB or other similar tools, in explaining not just global brain dynamics but also the role of cerebellum in determining brain states in physiological conditions and in the numerous pathologies affecting the cerebro-cerebellar loop

Substantia Nigra Volumetry with 3-T MRI in De Novo and Advanced Parkinson Disease

Background: Magnetization transfer–prepared T1-weighted MRI can depict a hyperintense subregion of the substantia nigra involved in the degeneration process of Parkinson disease. / Purpose: To evaluate quantitative measurement of substantia nigra volume by using MRI to support clinical diagnosis and staging of Parkinson disease. / Materials and Methods: In this prospective study, a high-spatial-resolution magnetization transfer–prepared T1-weighted volumetric sequence was performed with a 3-T MRI machine between January 2014 and October 2015 for participants with de novo Parkinson disease, advanced Parkinson disease, and healthy control participants. A reproducible semiautomatic quantification analysis method that entailed mesencephalic intensity as an internal reference was used for hyperintense substantia nigra volumetry normalized to intracranial volume. A general linear model with age and sex as covariates was used to compare the three groups. / Results: Eighty participants were evaluated: 20 healthy control participants (mean age ± standard deviation, 56 years ± 11; 11 women), 29 participants with de novo Parkinson disease (64 years ± 10; 19 men), and 31 participants with advanced Parkinson disease (60 years ± 9; 16 women). Volumetric measurement of hyperintense substantia nigra from magnetization transfer–prepared T1-weighted MRI helped differentiate healthy control participants from participants with advanced Parkinson disease (mean difference for ipsilateral side, 64 mm3 ± 14, P < .001; mean difference for contralateral side, 109 mm3 ± 14, P < .001) and helped distinguish healthy control participants from participants with de novo Parkinson disease (mean difference for ipsilateral side, 45 mm3 ± 15, P < .01; mean difference for contralateral side, 66 mm3 ± 15, P < .001) and participants with de novo Parkinson disease from those with advanced Parkinson disease (mean difference for ipsilateral side, 20 mm3 ± 13, P = .40; mean difference for contralateral side, 43 mm3 ± 13, P = .004). / Conclusion: Magnetization transfer–prepared T1-weighted MRI volumetry of the substantia nigra helped differentiate the stages of Parkinson disease