Yearly Archives: 2004

Information Systems

Risk profile and consumer shopping behavior in electronic and traditional channels

Alok Gupta, Bo-chiuan Su and Zhiping Walter
Decision Support Systems Vol. 38, Issue 3, Pages 347-367

This paper develops an economic model that captures consumer shopping channel choices based on shopping channel characteristics and consumer risk profiles – risk-neutral or risk-averse. Analyses of results show that after making purchases through one channel, electronic or traditional, risk-averse consumers tend to be more loyal customers than risk-neutral consumers. Further, the two types of consumers may exhibit split channel behavior – risk-neutral consumers prefer one channel and risk-averse consumers prefer the other. However, risk-neutral consumers are not always more likely to prefer electronic channel than risk-averse consumers. Implications for retailer pricing strategies are discussed.

Management

Cautionary note on reporting eta-squared values from multifactor ANOVA designs

Pierce, Charles A., Block, R. A., and Aguinis, Herman
Educational and Psychological Measurement Vol. 64 Issue 6, p. 916-924.

We provide a cautionary note on reporting accurate eta-squared values from multifactor analysis of variance (ANOVA) designs. We reinforce the distinction between classical and partial eta squared as measures of strength of association. We provide examples from articles published in premier psychology journals in which the authors erroneously reported partial eta-squared values as representing classical eta-squared values. Finally, we discuss broader impacts of inaccurately reported eta-squared values for theory development, meta-analytic reviews, and intervention programs.

Health Management, Management

The Power of Mind

Fiol, C. Marlene and O’connor, Edward J.
Journal of Management Inquiry Vol. 13 Issue 4, p. 342-352.

This essay invites you to entertain the possibility that our current ideas about the human mind and its supposed limitations may themselves be limited. What if organizational realities were more malleable than we believe? What if organizational members could alter their physical surroundings even just occasionally through focused mental attention? We review evidence from numerous fields suggesting that the human mind may be capable of affecting physical reality from a distance and into the past and the future. Although not all studies have provided universal support, the evidence for the impact of focused mental attention is sufficiently compelling and the potential implications sufficiently important that we believe it is time to explicitly examine the organizational implications of the power of the human mind.

Management

Examination of the roles of action-state orientation and goal orientation in the goal-setting and performance process

Diefendorff, James M.

Human Performance Vol. 17, Issue 4, Pages 375-395.

This investigation examined the roles of action-state orientation and goal orientation in predicting task-specific motivation and performance in an academic context. Results showed that action-state orientation predicted performance independent of goal orientation, cognitive ability, self-efficacy and self-set goals. Goal orientation primarily related to self-efficacy beliefs, which predicted goals and performance. Although action-state orientation and goal orientation were correlated, they had independent relationships with task-specific goal-setting and performance variables.

Information Systems

On models for the operation of a class of electronic marketplaces

Scott, Carlton H. and Scott, Judy E.
Omega Vol. 32 Issue 5, p. 373-383

Innovation in information technology and the use of the Internet have enabled electronic marketplaces to become an important mechanism for linking suppliers and customers in a cost-efficient fashion. Previous research has generally focused on the benefits of electronic marketplaces from transaction cost economics and strategic perspectives. Yet very little academic research has addressed how to actually operate such a marketplace. In this paper, after reviewing the status of electronic marketplaces research, we focus on an operational perspective. A model of an electronic marketplace linking customers and suppliers either directly or via an intermediary is given and solved under various scenarios. This model uses a single cost-minimizing objective and the extensions address issues such as (1) a physical presence for the electronic marketplace, which can provide value-added services and preserve anonymity; and (2) sole sourcing or dual sourcing. An additional model explicitly represents the diverse objectives of the multiple players in the market using goal programming. The contribution of this research to practitioners is to offer a cost-effective alternative to current forms of allocating supply and demand. The cost-minimizing and multiple criteria models and extensions in this study make a contribution to research by expanding the horizons of previous studies on the operation of electronic marketplaces.

Marketing

Wireless Technologies For Marketing And Management Professionals

Schornack, Gary R.; Beck, Charles E.
Journal of Applied Business Research Vol. 20 Issue 4, p. 1-10

Wireless technology is rapidly expanding market in business. A survey of literature and executives in Colorado indicates extensive use of cell phones predominating in all businesses. Secondary wireless technology (wireless mouse, LAN keyboards, PDA) is gradually expanding. The future holds additional expansion in Hot Spots for use away form the home/office environment. Major concerns with wireless technology involve both security and standardization, which will determine expanded use in the future.

Management

Responding to sexual harassment complaints: Effects of a dissolved workplace romance on decision-making standards

Pierce, Charles A., Broberg, Brandee J., McClure, James R., and Aguinis, Herman
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes Vol. 95, Issue 1, Pages 66-82

We introduce and provide support for an ethical decision-making framework as an explanation for the social-cognitive process through which observers make decisions about a sexual harassment complaint that stems from a prior workplace romance. We conducted two experiments to examine effects of features of a dissolved hierarchical workplace romance and subsequent harassing behavior on raters’ responses to a sexual harassment complaint. In Experiment 1, results based on a sample of 217 employees indicate that their attributions of responsibility for the harassment mediated the link between their knowledge of features of the romance and three recommended personnel actions. In Experiment 2, results based on a sample of 258 members of the Society for Human Resource Management indicate that their degree of recognition of the accused’s social-sexual behavior as immoral mediated the link between their knowledge of features of the romance and harassment and their attributions of responsibility. Raters’ attributions of responsibility, in turn, predicted three recommended personnel actions. We discuss theoretical and practical implications from an ethical decision-making perspective.

Marketing

Perceptions Of Airline Service Quality Pre And Post 9/11

Cunningham, Lawrence F., Young, Clifford E. and Lee, Moonkyu
Public Works Management & Policy Vol. 9 Issue 1, p. 10-25

Marketing managers must be always alert to some kind of brand crisis that can occur unexpectedly. The September 11 terrorist attack dramatically changed the business environment in the United States and elsewhere and had the most pro- found impact on the American airline industry. This article reports the results of a series of longitudinal surveys on consumer perceptions of airline service quality, risks associated with air travel, and satisfaction with airlines before and after the 9/11 crisis. The results show that although the number of trips declined over the course of the research, passengers’ overall satisfaction with the airline industry, airline satisfaction, and intention to repatronize their airline generally did not change in a statistically significant manner The implications of the results are discussed from a brand management perspective.

Information Systems

Comparing Knowledge Management in Healthcare and Technical Support Organizations

Ghosh, Bishwadip (Ph.D. candidate) and Scott, Judy E.

IEEE Transactions on IT and Biomedicine, Vol. 9 , Issue 2, pp. 162 – 168

Although knowledge management (KM) tools are well established in technical support organizations, healthcare organizations have only recently become aware of their benefits. This research investigates whether healthcare should adopt the same tools taking into account the different KM requirements in the two industries. This study analyzes narratives from key personnel in a technical support organization and a healthcare organization to understand and compare their KM process components and facilitating information technology. The empirical data reveal that healthcare needs a personalization approach to KM focusing on new problem identification using interactive knowledge webs, while technical support relies on a codification approach for problem resolution using interpretive knowledge and a chain structure.

Finance

S&L Performance Persistence: Moral Hazard and Market Discipline

Cooperman, Elizabeth S. with Sinan Cebenoyan and Charles A. Register
Managerial Finance Special Issue on Performance of Financial Service Institutions Vol. 30, Issue 9, p. 56-69

This research examines for performance persistence for the U.S. thrift industry during 1989 to 1994. Results indicate significant performance persistence, with firms in the sample 16 times more likely ot remain in an initial position as a winner or loser than to switch. Consistent with a moral hazard hypothesis, persistent losers exhibit low charter values and greater risk-taking behaviour with the opposite relations for persistent winners. We also find persistent losers to have a significantly higher probability of subsequent takeover, suggesting an effective takeover market for disciplining poor performers.

Information Systems

Impact of Environmental Uncertainty and Task Characteristics on User Satisfaction with Data

Karimi, Jahangir, Somers, Toni M. and Gupta, Yash P.
Information Systems Research Vol. 15 Issue 2, p. 175-191

Today, more than ever before, organizations are faced with the task of processing volumes of information under more uncertain and more competitive environments. This study investigates the impact of environmental uncertainty and task characteristics on user satisfaction with data by using IS and organizational theories. Responses were matched from 77 CEOs and 166 senior managers, who were end users of IS. The partial least squares technique indicated that environmental uncertainty has a positive impact on task characteristics. Task characteristics have a direct and mediating impact on user satisfaction with data. Our findings also demonstrated that user satisfaction with data could be better understood by overlapping IS and organizational theories, rather than by treating the subject matter in disjoint fields. The paper concludes with discussions and implications for researchers and practitioners.

Marketing

Consumer Views of Service Classifications in the United States and France

Cunningham, Lawrence F., Clifford E. Young, Wolfgag Ulaga, and Moonkyu Lee
Journal of Services Marketing Vol. 18, Issue 6, p. 421-432

In the services marketing literature, few service classifications are based on how customers view services, and fewer of these have been validated cross-culturally. To fill this gap, this research presents the results of a study that examined how U.S. and French customers perceived and classified a set of thirteen services based on multidimensional scaling (MDS). Service classifications were developed on a perceptual space where the actual services were mapped for two countries, U.S. and France. The results of the study suggest that there are two underlying dimensions that explain approximately 80% of the total variance in service perceptions and classifications. The dimensions and correlations for the classifications and services displayed many consistencies and some differences among American and French consumers. Directions for future academic research and managerial implications are cited and discussed.

Information Systems

Measuring Dimensions of Perceived e-Business Risks

Scott, Judy E.
Journal of Information Systems and e-Business Vol. 2, Issue 1, p. 31-56

The risks to e-business from breaches of security and privacy are well known. However, research has given very little attention to other important e-business risks. Using a socio-technical approach, in this study we survey a diverse sample of almost 200 participants to rate their perception of 16e-business risks, compiled from the research and practitioner literature. Strategic risks, organizational risks and e-business policy risks emerged as the three underlying dimensions of e-business risk. In terms of the sociotechnical model, strategic risks focus on the actor-structure component, and policy risks focus on the task-structure component. Organizational risks cover a wide spectrum of socio-technical components such as technology, actor-technology, technology structure and task-actor. The main contribution of this study is a multi dimensional scale of e-business risk perception. Practitioners can benefit by focusing their risk management efforts on the three dimensions of e-business risk, which are easier to manage than a long checklist of unrelated risks. Researchers benefit from a raised awareness on the importance of strategic and organizational risk factors in addition to policy risk factors for e-business risk management. A model that incorporates the three dimensions of e-business risks and shows theoretically based relationships with control mechanisms, trust, perceived uncertainty and profitability is proposed for testing in future research.

Management

The dimensionality and antecedents of emotional labor strategies.

Diefendorff, James M., Croyle, Meredith H., & Gosserand, Robin H.
Journal of Vocational Behavior Vol. 66, p. 339-357

This investigation had two purposes. The first was to determine whether the display of naturally-felt emotions is distinct from surface acting and deep acting as a method of displaying organizationally-desired emotions. The second purpose was to examine dispositional and situational antecedents of surface acting, deep acting, and the expression of naturally-felt emotions. Results supported a three-dimensional structure separating deep acting, surface acting, and the expression of naturally-felt emotions. In addition, the dispositional and situational variables exhibited theoretically-consistent and distinct patterns of relationships with the three emotional labor strategies. Overall, the results of this study expand the nomological network of surface acting and deep acting and suggest that the expression of naturally-felt emotions is a distinct strategy for displaying emotions at work and should be included in research on emotional labor.

Management

Protecting Domain Name Assets

Bagby, John W. and Ruhnka, John C.
CPA Journal Vol. 74 Issue 4, p. 64-69

Focuses on the importance of monitoring and protecting Internet domain names. Functions of domain names in e-commerce; General approaches to Internet operations; Strategies for protecting domain name assets.

Information Systems

Jungles and Gardens: The Evolution of Knowledge Management at J. D. Edwards

Scott, Judy E., Globe, Alden and Schiffner, Kristen
Management Information Systems Quarterly Executive Vol. 3, Issue 1, p. 37-52

Over a period of eight years, 1995-2003, J.D. Edwards evolved three innovative approaches to knowledge management (KM). The evolution in each started with a grass-roots team effort and grew to become an institutionalized enterprise application. With limited resources, J.D. Edwards has built a Global Web site Community, a sophisticated intranet/extranet (called the Knowledge Garden®), and a content management application (called Content Manager) that allows people to reuse multilingual technical documents, drawing them from a “single source” location. The evolution of these three projects is analyzed using a four-phase stage model and illustrates 12 lessons for others on how to more effectively plan an enterprise KM project, anticipate change, and set appropriate expectations. In the initiation stage, organizations need to identify and encourage an evangelist or champion to gain executive support and sponsorship. In the contagion stage, organizations need to establish content ownership and useful standards, and devise innovative ways of aligning the KM project with revenue generation. In the control stage, organizations need to anticipate the ongoing needs of updating the technologies and improving the governance processes. Finally, in the integration stage, organizations need to find a unifying vision and use techniques that will institutionalize knowledge management. The impact of these enterprise content management initiatives at J.D. Edwards has been considerable. Early ROI studies on the Knowledge Garden indicated an 1811% return, totaling $5 million annually in saved time and reduced paper costs. Content Manager, with a 270% ROI the first year, has been a consistent revenue driver, delivering over $7 million to the bottom line by early 2003?-and an additional $7.5 million from the Web-based training tool and courseware. By February 2002, jdedwards.com was driving over $10 million worth of pipeline leads.

Information Systems

An Empirical Study of Consumer Switching from Traditional to Electronic Channels: A Purchase-Decision Process Perspective

Gupta, Alok; Bo-chiuan Su and Walter, Zhiping
International Journal of Electronic Commerce Vol. 8 Issue 3, p131-161

This paper examines the relationship between purchase decisions and channel-switching intentions. A theoretical model that explains channel-switching intentions was tested with a sample of 337 consumers. The results show a 52 percent tendency to switch from off-line to on-line across four product categories: books, airline tickets, wine, and stereo systems. The order of the switching tendency was consistent with the products’ search and experience attributes. Logistic regression analysis across product categories shows that differences in channel-risk perceptions, price-search intentions, evaluation effort, and waiting time have a significant impact on consumer switching from off-line to on-line shopping. Consumers who purchase on-line perceive significantly lower channel risk, search effort, evaluation effort, and waiting (delivery) time on-line than off-line and express significantly higher price-search intentions on-line than off-line. Consumers attracted to off-line channels also perceive lower search-cost and higher price-search intentions on-line than off-line, but their perceived on-line search effort and price-search intentions are significantly lower than for consumers attracted to on-line channels. These results support the important influence of the examined factors on channel switching. They also suggest that demographics may not be an effective basis for market segmentation.

Business Analytics, Information Systems, Marketing

Assessing Perceived Risk Of Consumers In Internet Airline Reservations Services

Cunningham, Lawrence F., Gerlach, James and Harper, Michael D.
Journal of Air Transportation Vol. 9 Issue 1, p. 21-35

This research investigates the premise that the use of Internet airline reservation systems is perceived to be riskier than traditional airline reservation systems. Unlike previous studies on perceived risk that typically focused on the relationship of perceived risk and information search, this study examines the dynamics of perceived risk throughout the various stages of the consumer buying process. A survey of 159 respondents reveals that perceived risk for both traditional and Internet airline reservation services follows a systematic pattern throughout the consumer buying process. Perceived risk for both traditional and Internet airline reservation systems falls during information search but recovers and rapidly increases as consumers approach the moment of purchase. When viewed as a dynamic process, perceived risk for Internet airline reservation services shows more radical changes in risk levels than the traditional service. Another major finding of this study is the discovery of a risk premium for Internet airline reservation services that permeates all stages of the consumer buying process.