How to reduce the negative impact of customer non-compliance: an empirical study

This article focuses on the notion of customer non-compliance with front-line employees' instructions and company's policies during the service encounter. The aim of the study is to offer an alternative solution to the issue of customer non-compliance, exploring the factors that reduce its negative impact on service quality. For that reason, we developed a conceptual framework integrating the negative influence of customer non-compliance on perceived service quality with three moderating effects. To test the validity of the framework, a hierarchical approach was followed and data were collected from 120 managers and 585 customers of 120 hotels. The results confirm the negative influence of customer non-compliance on perceived service quality and indicate three organizational factors as reducing moderators of this influence: customer orientation, service blueprinting effectiveness and employee empowerment. Based on these conclusions, important implications for academics and practitioners are drawn

Applying FCM to Predict the Behaviour of Loyal Customers in the Mobile Telecommunications Industry

Using empirical data from the Kuwaiti mobile telecommunications sector, this study models a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) to investigate the reciprocal effects of customer loyalty and its antecedents in an emerging market context. This study investigates the effect of perceived service quality, perceived service value and brand equity on customer loyalty and the simultaneous analysis of the reverse causality of these variables. Data pertaining to 350 subscribers were analysed. According to the results, the model reaches the equilibrium when brand equity and customer loyalty are increased and reach an optimal level. Based on these findings, the authors provide implications for managers in the mobile telecom industry

Volunteer Tourism as a Transformative Experience: A Mixed Methods Empirical Study

In an effort to combine tourism with pro-social giving and personal development, more and more people choose to go abroad on volunteer tourism trips. We explore the potential transformational influence such trips have on travelers, aiming to map the transformation process stages and examine their boundary conditions. In doing so, we follow a mixed methods approach using a qualitative study comprising ethnographically informed in-depth interviews and a quantitative one, by means of a structured questionnaire. Findings indicate that the transformation process volunteer tourists undergo involves three stages related to liminality. We conceptualize the degree of liminality as immersiveness and show how the transformation process is significantly influenced by the degree of authenticity and the immersiveness of volunteer tourists’ experiences, as well as their own perceptions on how societally meaningful their actions were during their trips. Based on our conclusions, we present important implications for academics, managers and tour operators

Linking internal marketing with customer outcomes

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore how the adoption of an internal marketing (IM) programme in a retail banking setting enhances some positive employee behaviours that promote customer perceived service quality. Design/methodology/approach – A multilevel research design is adopted which draws evidence from branch managers, employees and customers in order to investigate whether branch manager’s adoption of an IM philosophy affects front-line employee responsiveness to the firm’s IM strategies and their levels of motivation, empowerment and organizational identification (OI), respectively. Findings – Results indicate that manager’s IM adoption can enhance employee adoption of IM and raises their levels of motivation, empowerment and OI. The moderating role of manager-employee dissimilarity is also discussed. Finally, findings confirm that employee motivation, empowerment and OI affect customer perceptions of service quality. Originality/value – This study provides an important shift by formally including IM into multilevel marketing research and establishes another link in the IM-organizational performance relationship, uncovering some behavioural routes through which the positive effects of IM can add to the achievement of firm’s external marketing objectives

Experimental study of the turbulent structure of the surface marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer over the Aegean Pelagos under etesian winds

In order to study the physical processes of the turbulent transportation of mass and energy within the surface Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer over the Aegean Pelagos, field measurements were conducted on the island of Skyros, mainly under the etesian winds, during summer 2011. Α meteorological mast was installed close to the shoreline, instrumented with fast anemometer (sonic) and hydrometer measuring the three components of the wind, the virtual temperature and water vapor at 10m height with a sampling frequency of 20Hz. At the same mast slow response sensors were measuring wind speed and direction, temperature and humidity at three levels (2, 6 and 10 m). Weak stable to near neutral flows were recorded during the experimental period. The eddy correlation analysis re-vealed the momentum and heat fluxes values which are presented and discussed. The estimated values are related both with stability and wind speed variations

Online simulation games for guided learning: a sport business case study

Business simulation games (BSG) have become a very popular pedagogical tool in university courses and programmes all around the world. Their immense popularity has been a subject of research and academic discourse, especially the past twenty years when many experts have called for more student-centric and reality based pedagogical approaches. Their implementation in business schools has been particularly successful, leading to improved student outcomes, satisfaction and skills development. Their use in sport business courses, though, has been surprisingly neglected in the pertinent literature. In the present study, we attempt to close this gap in the literature by exploring the effectiveness of BSG implementation in sport business courses, as well as the conditions and factors that facilitate the teaching and learning experience in such cases. In doing so, this research followed a mixed methods case study approach. Our findings expand previous conclusions and arguments on the effectiveness of BSGs’ use in universities, to the case of sport business courses. They also identify conditions under which the teaching and learning experience is improved, namely effective group work, student engagement, satisfaction from the game and others. Based on these findings we propose useful recommendations and suggestions for future research. We also establish BSG as a form of independent, guided learning activity which is facilitated merely by individual engagement and group work and less from the tutors

Antecedents of Supplier Selection Decisions in the Public Sector in Nigeria

This paper develops and tests a conceptual model of supplier selection decisions in the public sector. The study seeks to determine the relative importance of a broad range of non-economic variables in explaining supplier selection decisions during strategic organizational purchases. Data were collected from a national sample of 341 senior staff and top management team (TMT) members in 40 public sector organizations in Nigeria using structured questionnaires. Results of structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis shows that government policy requirements, social ties of organizational actors, party politics, decision-makers’ experience, and the perception of instrumental ethical work climates are, respectively, the most important determinants of strategic supplier selection decisions, followed in descending order of importance by: the perception of rules ethical work climates, self-enhancement personal values, CEOs’ structural position, self-transcendent personal values and the perception of time pressure. Findings also indicate that the choice of a supplier per se is not an important determinant of organizational performance

Do ethical work climates influence supplier selection decisions in public organizations? The moderating roles of party politics and personal values.

Purpose - This study examined the relationship between ethical work climates (EWCs) and supplier selection decisions (SSD), and the moderating roles of party politics and personal values on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach - A total of 600 senior level personnel from 40 Nigerian public organizations were surveyed using structured questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses developed for the study after assessing construct reliability and validity. Findings - Results show that both high and low levels of external political pressures significantly reduce the perception that organisational SSDs are ruled-based and pro-social in nature. Furthermore, regardless of the level of perception of instrumental personal values by employees, instrumental ethical climates significantly determine SSDs; principled/cosmopolitan climate and benevolent/cosmopolitan climate only become significant perceptible determinants when there is less room for the accommodation of personal goals during SSD processes. Research limitations/implications - This study only examined the relationship between ethical climate perceptions and supplier selection decisions without controlling for the effects of some important possible intervening variables on this relationship. Therefore, the study encouraged future researcher to enhance the generalizability of our findings by incorporate relevant control variables in the model, as well as examining other decision phases in the public buying process. Originality/value – This study is original to the extent that only a few studies in the literature are devoted to perceptions of EWCs in African organizations, and no previous studies have examined this phenomenon in relation to SSDs in Nigerian public firms. Key Words: Ethical Work Climates, Supplier Selection Decisions, Public Sector, Nigeria, Party Politics, and Personal Values