Organizational capabilities in the digital era: Reframing strategic orientation

The digital era is changing consistently the previous marketing scenarios and actual issues have to be addressed in order to close the capabilities gap created by digital innovations. Different authors call for theoretical and empirical contributions that cope with the issues brought out by the digitalization of marketing channels and the consequent ever increasing volume of digital data. This study develops a theoretical framework and propositions through a reframing and reconceptualization of previous theoretical constructs from managerial and marketing literature. The resulting model offers insights about organizational processes and capabilities needed to cope with the actual fast changing, but at the same time, data-rich environment

\u201cYou talkin' to me?\u201d The Italian Taxi drivers rhetoric as strategy of institutional resistance

The study deals with the institutional resistance dynamics, trying to enlighten the actors, contents and modes of the "institutional battle" around the liberalization of Italian Taxi Drivers' license. The article highlights that the main field of the struggle regards the discourse about the legitimacy of what is perceived as privilege of the Taxi Drivers' category. It also tries to delineate the rhetorical patterns that can act as successful strategies of institutional resistance

Digital analytics and high organizational performance: a fuzzy-set QCA approach

Empirical evidence and previous literature on the effect of customer analytics on organizational performance demonstrate contrasting results. The enormous expansion of digital customer-related data, which is accessible almost freely and in real time, has made this a critical issue for contemporary marketing managers. Employing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analyses (fsQCA), this study examines which configurations of digital analytics and organizational customer-related culture, processes and capabilities drive high market performance. The evidence finds certain conditions are necessary for achieving high market performance, and other conditions constitute a path of sufficient conditions, depending on the level of environmental dynamisms

Organizations in the Digital Transformation: essays on the impact of digital data-rich environments on organizational capabilities and performance

Contemporary organizations have to face a technological scenario characterized by the so-called Digital Transformation. One of the main consequences is a massive expansion of data available in the different digital channels. These information assets are accessible to all organizations, but not all of them are able to extract value from digital data. Recent reports by major IT consulting firms have claimed that the deployment of digital data inside organizations can lead to superior performance. But at the same time the organization and management theory literature displays substantial gaps about these issues. The present thesis aims to fill some of these gaps, first of all developing a theoretical framework, rooted in management and organizational literature, which is able to explain the organizational systems, processes and capabilities needed to extract value from the actual data-rich environment. Then three empirical essays are developed to answer to the research questions investigated in this thesis. A survey was developed, pre-tested, refined and sent to a sample of 1200 Italian firms drawn by a state-of-art commercial database of the Italian limited company. The response rate was 20.9% for a final sample of 251 respondents. With these data three theoretical models are developed in order to test different sets of hypotheses related to the deployment of digital data analytics inside organizations. The results suggest that the deployment of digital analytics systems and activities is fundamental to make sense of digital data and to gain superior performance. Moreover, these studies underline the central role of organizational capabilities, inter-functional integration and personnel analytics skills as mediators between digital analytics deployment and organizational performance

People-related TQM practices: the role of metaperceptions

Purpose– The authors investigate the role of people-related Total Quality Management (TQM) practices, specifically metaperceptions, in hearing care students’ vocational decision-making. In Italy, audiologists are health professionals and must hold a degree in hearing care. They operate according to clinical principles but must also develop marketing and commercial skills. While employers take these aspects for granted, the expectations of hearing care students often differ from reality. Thus, the authors aim to investigate the vocational expectations of hearing care students. Design/methodology/approach– A survey was distributed to 600 hearing care students. Multiple regression analysis with bootstrapped confidence intervals was employed to test the hypotheses. Findings–Studentswhoperceivedaudiologyastheircallingweremoreinterestedintheclinicalaspectsthan the marketing and commercial aspects of audiology. Moreover, those desiring a meaningful career path in audiology were more interested in becoming a store owner or franchisee. Social implications– Universities and recruiters should consider the influence of relevant others’ metaperceptions on students’ self-perceptions of their aptitudes for different careers. Universities should assist studentstoidentifyaptitudesthatare relevanttocareer-related decision-making.Inthis context,people-related TQMcanhelp students avoid incorrect aspirations and expectations. Originality/value– This study is the first to investigate the role of metaperceptions from a people-related TQMperspective. Metaperceptions play a crucial role in determining the correct course of study as well as job satisfaction and expectations

Food Sustainability as a Strategic Value Driver in the Hotel Industry

This paper aims at exploring the impact of green food on consumers’ purchase attitudes toward a hotel stay and on consumers’ behavioral intentions (i.e., intention to visit the hotel, intention to offer positive recommendations to others and willingness to pay a premium price), focusing on an Italian perspective where the food is a worldwide famous cultural element. This research employed a survey sent out by email to a database of contacts provided by an Italian company that operates in tourism. Data collection was completed in four weeks and the initial dataset counted 3586 of target respondents. A total of 302 surveys were completed and the data were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM). Firstly, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed, followed by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) that leads to the estimation of the structural model. The results show that personal beliefs toward green food are positively associated with respondents’ purchase attitudes toward green food. Moreover, stronger purchase attitudes toward green food lead to more favorable purchase attitudes toward hotels that offer green food, further substantiating the investigation about whether or not consumers’ attitudes employ similar concerns on sustainability for their daily purchases as well as for vacation products and services. In turn, the latter purchase attitudes are positively associated with individual behavioral intentions toward hotels that offer green food

Strategic Value of Agricultural Business Networks in Sustaining Common Goods

This article aims to highlight the positive relationship between the organizational form of the agricultural business network and common goods, thus seizing their strategic value for the company in terms of protection, development, and sustainable use. The common goods analyzed in this research are of different origins: natural, such as the local environment and biodiversity, and artificial, such as cooperation and communication. To this end, a four-year longitudinal study was conducted to study the relationship between agricultural business networks and common goods. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the literature, which highlights the following as main themes: the sharing of values, the importance of trust and reputation, the central role of adaptive management, learning as participation, and environmental sustainability. The chosen case highlights how agricultural business networks can be considered both an effective tool in the protection and sustainable use of common goods and a tool that allows the development of the commons. Both these aspects have a strategic value for an organization that can derive significant benefits both from common goods developed and from the implemented organizational form and simultaneously protect the environment with strong positive externalities for itself and the community

The Co-creation of Design in Online Communities: an Actor-Network Perspective

The paper investigates the phenomenon of co-design through the interactions between designers and customers in online co-design communities. Approaching the issue with Actor-Network Theory perspective, co-design is framed as a successful story of translation process causing the re-negotiation of traditional identities and roles of designers and customers

Analysis or intuition? Reframing the decision-making styles debate in technological settings

Purpose: The debate over intuitive vs analytical decision-making styles began almost 40 years ago and had yet to deliver definite answers. The debate – however – has led to divergent theoretical stances and empirical results. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of these information processing styles in customer-related decision-making in the context of mobile technologies. Design/methodology/approach: The hypotheses are derived from the contrasting theoretical propositions and empirical evidence present in the debate around decision-making styles. The study also introduces and investigates the moderating role of environmental dynamism (ED). Analyses and results are based on survey research that involves 251 managers with responsibility for organizational decision-making processes. Findings: The study’s findings suggest that both intuitive and analytical styles are relevant in the actual context characterized by mobile technologies. Intuition still plays a central role in managers’ decision-making processes, but when the industry environment is highly dynamic analytical information processing also plays an essential role in supporting organizational responsiveness and performance. Practical implications: This study can help managers in reconsidering the way in which they employ analytical or intuitive information processing activities inside their decision making at different levels of ED. Originality/value: The novelty of this paper relies on testing hypothesis simultaneously developed by both the theoretical stances favorable to intuitive and to analytical information processing. Besides, it tests these hypotheses in the actual empirical context characterized by a transformed scenario in terms of data availability

Case Study Analysis: use of EMR in the Verona AOUI

In the last years the use of information communication technologies (ICTs) has become a leading driver of OECD national health systems to improve healthcare quality and reduce healthcare costs (Oecd, 2010). In fact, the use of ICTs are a primary lever of OECD countries to enhance the efficiency and the effectiveness of health services delivered to the citizens. This has led the Italian government to assign priority to electronic healthcare and specifically to the creation and adoption of electronic health record (EHR) (Bergamaschi, Laura, & Elianna, 2006). We analysed the experience of developing and implementing an electronic medical record, core element of a EHR, by the Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata (Integrated NHS- University Hospital) of Verona. We identified the critical factors in the system implementation, its organizational impact, and the effects on clinical practice as perceived by the system\u2019s users