The STEP Scale: a Cross-National Scale for Short-Term Export Performance Improvement

This paper is a direct response to a recent observation in the literature that managers appear to be short-term oriented when they assess the performance of an export venture (Madsen 1998). Based on a survey of Portuguese and British exporters, this paper presents a three-dimensional scale for assessing managerial judgment of Short-Term Export Performance (the STEP scale). The three dimensions are: 1) satisfaction with short-term performance improvement; 2) short-term exporting intensity improvement; and 3) expected short-term performance improvement. The findings are used to generate implications for public policy making and managerial practice as well as directions for future research.N/

European Perspectives on Export Performance Determinants: an Exploratory Study

This exploratory study discusses main antecedents of export performance based on the perceptions of European export managers. Cross-national findings reveal that according to managerial perceptions the most important determinants of export performance are product quality, followed in importance by price competitiveness/value for money, service quality and relationship with importers/trust. While some of these determinants have been extensively researched in the literature (product and service quality), there are others in which there is limited empirical research (price competitiveness/value for money and relationship with importers/trust). Also of interest is the existence of specific issues that are not considered by managers as being top determinants, but are the focus of extensive research. Based on these findings the authors suggest several potentially fruitful streams of research.N/

Main Consequences of Prior Export Performance Results: an Exploratory Study of European Exporters

With the exception of the work of Lages and colleagues, the international marketing literature has been examining performance exclusively as a dependent variable. This exploratory study builds on this emerging body of literature to discuss the main outcomes of performance, as it is expressed through the perceptions of European export managers. According to the results of a cross-national study of Portuguese and British exporting firms, this paper indicates that the main consequences of previous performance results are: a) need to seek performance improvement as a result of bad performance, b) maintain strategy as a result of good performance, c) market diversification, d) focus on competition, e) product diversification, f) quality, and more attention to g) macro and h) micro factors. Future international marketing research is encouraged to investigate performance as an independent variable.N/

The APEV Scale: A Measure of Annual Performance of an Export Venture

Annual company reports and financial statements rarely distinguish between the domestic and export markets’ operations, and even more rarely provide annual financial indicators on specific export ventures performance. This situation is a major obstacle to the development of export marketing practice and theory. To overcome this state of affairs the authors develop and test a new measure for assessing the annual performance of an export venture (the APEV scale) as perceived by managers. The new measure has five dimensions: 1) annual export venture’s financial performance; 2) annual export venture’s strategic performance; 3) annual export venture’s achievement; 4) contribution of the export venture to annual exporting operations; and 5) satisfaction with annual export venture’s performance. Findings are used to generate managerial implications and directions for future research.N/

The MIXADAPT Scale: a Measure of Marketing Mix Adaptation to the Foreign Market

This study presents a four-dimensional multi-item scale for assessing the degree of marketing mix adaptation to the foreign market (the MIXADAPT scale). The scale shows evidence of reliability as well as convergent, discriminant and nomological validity in samples of Portuguese and British exporters. Additionally, the scale reveals factorial similarity and factorial equivalence across the two samples. The findings are used to generate managerial and theoretical implications as well as directions for future research.N/

Positively and negatively valenced customer engagement: the constructs and their organizational consequences

Until recently, the majority of academic research on customer engagement (CE) has focused on the concept’s positive valence that reflects consumers’ favorable brand-related cognitions, emotions, and behaviors, which typically contribute positively to brand performance. While the existence of negative CE manifestations has been recognized, little is known regarding their particular expressions, characteristics, and position in the broader nomological network, as explored in this chapter. While the antecedents and consequences of unidimensional and multidimensional negatively valenced CE (NVCE) have been explored in the literature, the consequences of multidimensional NVCE, particularly those at the organizational level, remain nebulous, as explored in this chapter. In addition, we examine organizational-level consequences of positively valenced CE (PVCE) that are contrasted to those of NVCE. To achieve these objectives, we first conceptualize positively and negatively valenced CE, followed by an exploration of their respective consequences. We conclude by offering specific managerial recommendations to increase positive CE whilst halting the concept’s negative expressions

The growth of services : towards a better understanding of service measurement, performance and innovation

In an increasingly globalised world economy, firms in the developed world are encouraged to move up the value chain in order to remain competitive. In many cases this means offering services, either as a stand alone, or increasingly as a complement to existing products, either alongside or directly incorporated into those products

Reshaping the contexts of online customer engagement behavior via artificial intelligence: A conceptual framework

As new applications of artificial intelligence continue to emerge, there is an increasing interest to explore how this type of technology can improve automated service interactions between the firm and its customers. This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework that details how firms and customers can enhance the outcomes of firm-solicited and firm-unsolicited online customer engagement behaviors through the use of information processing systems enabled by artificial intelligence. By building on the metaphor of artificial intelligence systems as organisms and taking a Stimulus-Organism-Response theory perspective, this paper identifies different types of firm-solicited and firm-unsolicited online customer engagement behaviors that act as stimuli for artificial intelligence organisms to process customer-related information resulting in both artificial intelligence and human responses which, in turn, shape the contexts of future online customer engagement behaviors

Personality and the creativity of frontline service employees: linear and curvilinear effects

Previous studies have investigated the relationship between the Five Factor model of personality and creativity. As this model has been criticised for providing a limited account of an individual’s personality, this study considers additional personality traits that have recently been investigated in the literature as determinants of employee behaviour. Moreover, we also contribute to the existing body of literature by conducting this study in a services setting, for which we predict personality traits will exert differentiated effects on creativity when compared to other settings. Finally, while past research has focused on linear effects, this study examines the existence of non-linear effects between personality and creativity. The results indicate that personality traits apart from the Five Factor model have an impact on creativity and that the effects of several personality traits on the creativity of frontline service employees differ from those obtained in other settings. Lastly, the findings also show that five of the personality traits have non-linear effects on creativity, and this may be a stimulus for a new stream of research in the human resources literature

Corporate image: a service recovery perspective

This article explores direct and indirect antecedents that contribute to corporate image formation in a service recovery context. Two studies were carried out in Egypt. Study 1 comprises 29 semistructured interviews with complainants of mobile phone network service providers in Egypt. Study 2 encompasses a mail survey of another 437 complainants. Findings reveal the importance of perceived justice, namely, interactional justice, in corporate image formation, as well as the mediating role of satisfaction with service recovery in the perceived justice-corporate image relationship. Results also reveal two empirical relationships: problem solving as a determinant of distributive justice and follow-up as a driver of procedural justice. Accordingly, this study contributes to the service field by providing the first empirical evaluation of new direct and indirect antecedents of corporate image formation in a service recovery context. Managerial recommendations are provided that encourage service practitioners to emphasize perceived justice and satisfaction with a service recovery process to enhance the company’s image. Additionally, companies should invest in implementing problem solving and follow-up as service recovery strategies since both significantly enhance perceived justice