Valuable Managerial Implications Research Articles

Influencing Factors of Sustainable Rural Entrepreneurship: A Four-Dimensional Evaluation System Encompassing Entrepreneurs, Economy, Society, and Environment

The implementation of rural entrepreneurship emerges as a pivotal pathway for fostering rural economic growth. However, unsustainable entrepreneurial endeavors have posed notable ecological threats and environmental degradation. Drawing upon the triple bottom line framework, this research devised a comprehensive evaluation system for sustainable rural entrepreneurship, spanning four dimensions: entrepreneurs, economic, social, and environmental aspects. Employing the fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DANP) approach, we delineated the intricate causal relationships among influencing factors and identified key determinants along with their respective weights. Our findings underscore the prominence of economic dimensions in fostering sustainable rural entrepreneurship. Specifically, entrepreneurial motivation, type of entrepreneurship, financial backing, economic value, favorable policy frameworks, and a conducive business environment emerged as pivotal indicators. Notably, the type of entrepreneurship, financial support, economic value, and favorable policies emerged as propelling factors driving sustainable rural entrepreneurial progress. Conversely, entrepreneurial motivation and the business environment manifested as dependent factors within this causal nexus. This study offers valuable managerial implications for entrepreneurial teams and pertinent government agencies, enabling decision-makers to formulate evidence-based strategies aimed at realizing sustainable rural entrepreneurship.

Informal Institution and Tourism Development: Insights From Confucian Culture

ABSTRACTAs the cornerstone of traditional Chinese culture, Confucian culture significantly shapes personal values and behaviours. This study investigates the impact of Confucian culture on tourism development, from a supply‐side perspective, using a sample of 269 Chinese cities between 2013 and 2019. The baseline results, validated through endogeneity tests and robustness checks, consistently indicate a positive correlation between Confucian culture and regional tourism growth. Utilising a chained multiple mediation model, the study delineates the primary mechanisms, showing that Confucianism bolsters tourism innovation by elevating labour quality and capital investment, thus propelling tourism development. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis demonstrates the synergistic effect of Confucian culture with formal institutions in advancing tourism. However, the positive effects of Confucian culture on tourism are attenuated by the effects of other cultures. These findings significantly contribute to the literature and offer valuable managerial implications.

Analyzing the Benefits of Industry 4.0 Technologies That Impact Sustainability 4.0 in Banking Services

The main aim of this paper is to analyze, through the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) methodology, the contextual relationships between the systematization of benefits influenced by Industry 4.0 technologies in the banking services sector from the perspective of Sustainability 4.0. The proposed ISM approach was structured based on 14 benefits capable of influencing Sustainability 4.0 in the services sector through I4.0 technologies. The results showed that Macro (5) and Customer (8) benefits have a direct influence on all other S4.0 benefits in the banking sector. The article presents valuable managerial implications for managers of organizations that intend to or currently use 4.0 technologies in the banking services sector. A priori, the search for economic advantages appears to be a catalyst with greater influence on the model. However, this is not entirely evident, since there appears to be a strong interconnection between social, environmental, and economic benefits. This suggests that the search for other attributes beyond financial aspects can generate advantages for the organization considered essential for the type of business explored.

Effects of e-CRM: Experience-Based Marketing, Digital Communications on Garuda Indonesia Airlines, Brand Trust, and Repurchase Intention

The research studied the effects of electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM), digital communications, and experience-based marketing on brand trust and repurchase intention in Garuda Indonesia Airlines, the National Flag Carrier of Indonesia. The primary data was collected through an online questionnaire distributed from March 2022 to July 2022. Purposive sampling was used to select passengers who had previously used the services of Garuda Indonesia Airlines. Out of the distributed online questionnaires, 270 respondents met the sampling criteria and responded to the questionnaire. Structural Equation Model (SEM), supported by LISREL software, was employed as the data analysis technique. The results show empirical findings on the significant effects of e-CRM, digital communications, and experience-based marketing on brand trust. The research also reveals that e-CRM and the airline's brand trust have positive and significant effects on repurchase intention. Based on the obtained data, this research provides several valuable managerial implications for Garuda Indonesia, one of the largest airline companies in Indonesia. In general, the research yields four significant implications, including the optimization of Instagram usage, the utilization of social media as an e-CRM tool, experience-based marketing through brand collaboration, and the implementation of thematic campaigns. The other findings indicate that brand trust plays a crucial role in reducing risk and uncertainty. The majority of passengers surveyed in this study expressed that Garuda Indonesia Airlines demonstrates a strong commitment to fulfilling passengers' needs during flights, reflecting a high level of trust in the brand. This positive perception carries significant implications, as it encourages passengers to choose Garuda Indonesia Airlines for future travel. Moreover, it motivates passengers to willingly recommend the airline to their friends and family. Additionally, the research findings reveal that passengers actively seek up-to-date information on flight tickets, programs, events, and schedules. Future research should consider studying low-cost carrier airlines (LCC) using a similar framework, focusing on respondents from Generation Z, to obtain diverse research results and contribute to the scientific research and literature on marketing and communication. Keywords: Airline’s brand trust, digital communications, e-CRM, experience-based marketing, repurchase intention.

Stackelberg game-based method towards carbon-economy equilibrium for the prefabricated construction supply planning: A case study from China

Prefabricated building systems that take advantage of modern manufacturing, transportation, and assembly approach have attracted great attention as solutions for sustainable cities and urban construction carbon emissions mitigation, especially under the 30% prefabrication of new buildings target in China’s development plan of the construction industry. Nevertheless, few research has focused on the carbon reduction/economic costs equilibrium for the integrated traditional and prefabricated construction supply planning (PCSP). Aiming at the sustainable construction for urbanization, this study develops a Stackelberg game-based method for economic and environmental equilibrium under the carbon allocation scheme in an integrated prefabricated construction supply planning. In the bi-level model, the regional authority on the upper level determines the carbon allocations and the enterprises on the lower level develop plans to maximize revenue under the prefabricated rate targets and construction supply logistics limitations. The superiority and practicality of the proposed methodology are then validated through a case study from China. The scenario analyses under different policy control levels indicate that the proposed methodology is capable of systematically controlling the integrated PCSP carbon emissions and promoting the low-carbon transformation and sustainable development of construction industry. Valuable managerial implications are also provided for the policymakers and relevant practitioners.

Robust optimisation for vertiport location problem considering travel mode choice behaviour in urban air mobility systems

With the rapid development of novel vehicle technologies, air taxis are becoming a new transport servicing model to achieve better urban air mobility (UAM) systems. The UAM system can mitigate severe traffic congestion problems on the ground in many metropolitan areas effectively. This research aims to design a robust UAM network to serve broader mobility needs in the future. In this study, we consider the two main competition transportation modes of air taxis (luxury ground taxis and ordinary ground taxis) and establish a travel mode choice behaviour model based on the multinomial logit choice approach to determine the aggregate air taxi demand flow. Furthermore, we account for the varying temporal preferences of different UAM passengers by incorporating different time values for heterogeneous passengers, such as leisure and business passengers, into the travel mode choice behaviour model. Additionally, to address uncertainties in user demand, we introduce a robust optimisation model for vertiport location under a budget uncertainty set. This model is then reformulated as a mixed-integer linear programming model to address computational challenges. Ultimately, we conduct a series of numerical experiments to showcase the effectiveness of our proposed mathematical model. The outcomes of this research offer valuable managerial insights and implications, aiding governments and UAM operators in scientifically designing UAM networks and making strategic decisions regarding infrastructure investments.

Do “Likes” in a Brand Community Always Make You Buy More?

Online brand communities often use social plug-in features, such as the Like button, to facilitate social interactions and engage users with the brands. However, whether and how such a community feature affects users’ purchases remain open questions. Analysis of user behavior following the adoption of the Like feature indicates a surprising downturn in purchases, with a 4.1% decrease in orders and a 25.0% reduction in expenditure. Notably, online purchases dip by 3.4% in order numbers and 21.1% in expenditure, with a slighter offline decrease. The treatment effect of the adoption is not always negative but varies over time and across users. First, the Like feature adoption has a positive effect on users’ purchases in the first two months (primarily through enhancing their community participation), and the treatment effect turns negative in subsequent months, leading to the overall negative treatment effect on purchases. Second, the negative treatment effect likely stems from unflattering social comparison and can become weaker or even positive when users accrue more Likes. However, only a small proportion of users receive sufficient Likes to be motivated to purchase more. Our results caution against potential downsides of the Like feature in online communities and provide valuable managerial implications.

Examining intellectual capital and knowledge absorptive capacity for high innovative performance

AbstractIn the contemporaneous business environment, intangible assets and capabilities are building blocks of an organization's innovative performance. Despite the rising importance of absorptive capacity in knowledge management and innovation literature, there has been limited focus on its dimensions, such as knowledge acquisition, assimilation, and transformation, particularly in relation to intellectual capital (IC) and innovative performance. This research unravels the mediating role played by the dimensions of absorptive capacity in connecting IC to innovative performance. This research offers a novel combination of individual mediation effects of absorptive capacity components on the relationship between IC and innovative performance. Data for this cross‐sectional research were gathered from 295 organizations through a Likert scale questionnaire. This research employs partial least square‐structural equation modeling to analyze the individual mediating pathways of absorptive capacity. This study shows that knowledge acquisition adversely influences the relationship between IC and innovative performance, which challenges conventional wisdom. Conversely, all other mediation paths, including knowledge assimilation, transformation, and exploitation, exhibit a positive influence on innovative performance. Furthermore, this study also offers valuable managerial implications and suggests potential areas for future research.

Culture fit and employee engagement in foreign subsidiaries: Evidence from Chinese multinational enterprises in the United States

Engaging local employees in foreign subsidiaries has emerged as a critical concern for Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs). This study employs the theoretical framework of culture fit to conduct an inductive multiple-case study of Chinese subsidiaries in the United States. We examine how culture fit between the organizational and societal levels is manifested through human resource management practices at the foreign subsidiaries of Chinese MNEs. Particularly, we demonstrate how culture fit or misfit influences the intellectual, social, and affective engagement outcomes of local employees at the individual level. This study extends the understanding of culture fit across multiple levels and its direct impact on employee engagement. The findings provide valuable managerial implications for global human resource managers to effectively engage their culturally diverse workforces.

Two-echelon collaborative routing problem with heterogeneous crowd-shippers

In this study, we consider a setting in which a retail store uses occasional couriers (OCs), which are not regular couriers but work as couriers on occasion, and in-store customers, which make a single delivery on the way back to their origin locations from the retail store, to perform the last-mile delivery along with its own fleet of couriers. To represent this setting, we design a two-echelon hetero-collaborative routing problem (2E-HCRP) that facilitates parcel transfers between couriers and OCs at customer nodes, in addition to in-store customer deliveries for optimizing last-mile services. We develop a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model and an adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) heuristic algorithm to devise cost-effective delivery plans that incorporate couriers, OCs, and in-store customers simultaneously. Furthermore, we introduce novel neighborhood search algorithms specifically tailored for parcel transfers and a scheduling algorithm designed for enhancing OC utilization and timely delivery to customers. We evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms with the genetic algorithm, Monte Carlo method, and neighborhood search. The results indicate that our proposed algorithms outperform the others in minimizing travel costs and time window violations. Moreover, we provide valuable managerial implications through sensitivity analysis.

Me, like Chanel: Examining Antecedents and Consequences of Consumers’ Luxury Brand Engagement on Instagram

This study investigates the key antecedents and outcomes of consumer–brand engagement (CBE) in the context of luxury brands on social media. Based on data collected from 547 nonstudents—specifically, young consumers who followed luxury brands on Instagram—the results reveal that predicting variables (consumer involvement, need for status signaling, and brand self-expressiveness) have a differing effect on CBE dimensions (cognitive processing, affection, and activation) and brand outcomes (brand attitude, brand usage intention, and self–brand connection). The study provides valuable managerial and academic implications and suggestions for future research.

Relational exchanges in the tourism distribution channels: An exploratory study on accommodation providers and tour operators

Distribution channel relationships are highly relevant in the tourism industry. The social exchange theory (SET) is a popular theoretical framework for exploring such inter-organizational relationships because it concerns economic and social interactions. However, the social exchange theory has rarely been applied to the tourism industry. The current study addresses this research gap and applies the social exchange theory in tourism. In-depth interviews were conducted with accommodation providers and tour operators in Japan to examine the dynamics of their relationships. Respondents confirmed the importance and difficulty of managing distribution channel relationships. Due to growing online platforms, traditional tour operators are losing channel power and accommodation providers depend less on them. Nevertheless, both sides highlighted the importance of commitment to maintain long-term healthy relationships. Apart from the theoretical contribution, this study also provides valuable managerial implications. It recommends that accommodation providers should develop a consistent multi-channel strategy and pricing strategy to avoid unnecessary channel conflicts with intermediaries. Traditional tour operators should innovate themselves in order not to be disintermediated, instead of relying on the old business model.

Rapport building in B2B sales interactions: the process and explananda

Despite the expansion of digital transformation, interpersonal interactions remain the foundation for successful business-to-business (B2B) sales meetings in complex exchanges. This study focuses on rapport building and examines it as an explicitly and implicitly manifested ongoing process covering the entire duration of a B2B sales meeting. Based on empirical findings from a qualitative study of Japanese business professionals, the study develops a process conceptualization of rapport building. It draws on the rapport management model from sociolinguistics, showing how rapport building is based on meeting individuals’ fundamental needs for appreciation, approval, fair consideration, and social inclusion, besides fulfilling business-related rapport needs. Based on the data, we identified three phases in rapport building (establishing, developing, and leveraging) and various overt and covert rapport-building activities the salesperson can adopt to create and nurture rapport with a customer by relying on verbal, nonverbal, and intuitive cues. Our findings indicate that only the final phase, leveraging rapport, offers an optimal setting for discussions on future business opportunities. The study challenges the stereotypical notion of rapport as mere small talk at the beginning of a sales meeting and provides valuable managerial implications related to successful rapport building.

Brand Equity Creation through a Moderated Mediation Model in the Luxury Brand Industry

This research gauges the role of brand experience and perceived social media marketing activities in the creation of consumer based brand equity using a stimulus organism response model. The data was collected through a structured questionnaire focused on luxury fashion brands. The sample, consisting of 243 usable responses, was analyzed using structural equation modelling in Smart PLS4. Our results show that perceived social media activities play a vital role in the creation of brand equity. Brand experience partially mediates the association between consumer based brand equity and perceived social media marketing. Interestingly, high brand trust contributes to higher consumer based brand equity. This study is adds value to the literature by focusing on the role of perceived social media marketing activities in the creation of consumer based brand equity through a second stage approach to moderated mediation using brand experience and brand trust. The study also has valuable managerial implications that could help businesses enhance their consumer based brand equity. Luxury fashion brands should maximize customer experience through social media activities and engagement. Fashion brands should also invest in personalized recommendation engines on social media platforms to improve consumer experience.

Does crowdsourcing necessarily lead to brand engagement? The role of crowdsourcing cues and relationship norms on customer-brand relationships

PurposeThis paper aims to examine how the relationship norms established between customers and brands influence customer perceptions of crowdsourcing (vs firm-generated) cues.Design/methodology/approachFour studies (N = 851) examine the moderating role of relationship norms on product labeling cues (crowdsourcing vs firm-generated) effects on brand engagement, and the underlying mechanism of self-brand connection.FindingsThe findings suggest that crowdsourcing (vs firm-generated) cues lead to higher brand engagement (Studies 1A–1B), mediated by self-brand connection (Studies 2–3). In addition, relationship norms moderate the effects (Study 3), such that under exchange brand relationships crowdsourcing (vs firm-generated) cues yield higher brand engagement, whereas communal brand relationships reverse such effects.Practical implicationsThe findings provide valuable managerial implications by highlighting the importance of using relationship norms as diagnostic cues to successfully implement crowdsourcing initiatives.Originality/valueThis research adds to the customer-brand relationship literature by revealing an accessibility-diagnosticity perspective of consumers’ reactions to crowdsourcing (vs firm-generated) cues.

Effects of Customer Experience in Post-purchase Behavior

Vietnamese universities are progressing remarkably in the list of top universities inthe world. In order to obtain this achievement, Vietnamese universities havefocused on improving lecturers’ capabilities, infrastructure, academic training andresearch quality… In the context of education in Vietnam, library service is animportant factor which contributes to ranking index, attracts new enrollments anddifferentiates from other institutions. To find the best way to enhance students’ postpurchasebehaviours, the study examined students’ experience factors thatsignificantly affect post-purchase behaviours by proposing an analytical frameworkadopted from EXQ model. Data collected from 570 students studying in Vietnameseuniversities were analysed through structural equation modelling (SEM). Theresults show that post-purchase experience has a positive impact on students’satisfaction, loyalty and word of mouth. By emphasizing the role of studentexperience, this study provides valuable managerial implications and contributes tothe literature by suggesting a new analytical framework for measuring customerexperience and post-purchase customer behaviour in the library service.

Clues from networks: quantifying relational risk for credit risk evaluation of SMEs

Owing to information asymmetry, evaluating the credit risk of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is difficult. While previous studies evaluating the credit risk of SMEs have mostly focused on intrinsic risk generated by SMEs, our study considers both intrinsic and relational risks generated by neighbor firms’ publicly available risk events. We propose a framework for quantifying relational risk based on publicly available risk events for SMEs’ credit risk evaluation. Our proposed framework quantifies relational risk by weighting the impact of publicly available risk events of each firm in an interfirm network—considering the impact of interfirm network type, risk event type, and time dependence of risk events—and combines the relational risk score with financial and demographic features to evaluate SMEs credit risk. Our results reveal that relational risk score significantly improves both discrimination and granting performances of credit risk evaluation of SMEs, providing valuable managerial and practical implications for financial institutions.

How trust in coworkers fosters knowledge sharing in virtual teams? A multilevel moderated mediation model of psychological safety, team virtuality, and self-efficacy.

Examining the influence of trust in fostering knowledge sharing behavior (KSB) in virtual teams is of great research value in the current complex, dynamic, and competitive era of a knowledge economy. This study investigated the relationship between trust in coworkers (TC) and KSB. Based on social information processing theory and social cognitive theory, we developed a multilevel moderated mediation model where the team members’ psychological safety (PS) was considered a mediator, while team virtuality (TV) and knowledge sharing self-efficacy (KSSE) acted as team and individual-level moderators, respectively. On surveying 282 individuals in 37 virtual teams of three Chinese internet companies, we found that TC positively affected team members’ KSB and this relationship was fully mediated by team members’ PS. Our findings also demonstrated that the effect of TC on KSB depended on the degree of TV and employees’ KSSE. Specifically, when TV and KSSE were higher, the TC–PS and PS–KSB relationship and the mediating effects of PS in the TC–PS–KSB relationship were all stronger. Our study extends the trust-KSB literature by identifying the psychological mechanism and boundary conditions in the TC-KSB relationship. Moreover, our findings also offer valuable managerial implications for virtual team managers on facilitating team members’ PS and KSB.

Age-Inclusive Leadership and Intrinsic Motivation: The Role of the Leader-Member Age Differences

The aging population trend renders teams within workforces increasingly age diverse. Scholars and practitioners have long been interested in how age-diverse teams can be effectively managed to keep members of all ages motivated. Previous literature has suggested that age-inclusive management is effective and has emphasized that leaders play a crucial role in managing their diverse team. In this study, we examined the role of the leader more in depth by studying how the leader-member’s age difference moderates the relationship between age-inclusive leadership and team members’ intrinsic work motivation. Using a Belgian sample of 100 employee observations and 21 leader observations within 21 teams, we show that team members’ perceived level of age-inclusive leadership positively affects their intrinsic work motivation. This relationship is reinforced by the member-leader’s (absolute) age difference to the extent that age-inclusive leadership stimulates members’ intrinsic work motivation especially when the leader is substantially older or younger. This research offers valuable contributions to the literatures on age diversity (management) and the leader-member age difference. Our findings also point at valuable managerial implications we discuss in this work.

Supplier performance and selection from sustainable supply chain performance perspective

PurposeThis paper aims to address the supplier selection problem based on a developed framework capturing the essence of the supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model, sustainability and providing services to customers. Specifically, the authors consider planning, manufacturing, delivery, sustainability and customer service attributes to evaluate and select suppliers.Design/methodology/approachRelevant literature is reviewed, a framework capturing the essence of major supply chain functions was developed and suitable measurement attributes were identified. An integrated fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution method are employed to obtain the final ranking of the attributes and suppliers. The proposed methodology is illustrated through a real case of an Indian automobile company.FindingsThe authors observed that planning, manufacturing, customer service, sustainability and delivery are preferred in decreasing order to select component suppliers for an automotive company. The impact of suppliers on planning and manufacturing is most important to consider while assessing suppliers. Interestingly, concerns about sustainability and delivery are the least cared factors when selecting suppliers. The top five criteria contain measures of operational efficiency rather than purchasing cost.Originality/valueThis paper proposes and demonstrates a supplier selection framework harmonizing supply chain functions of the SCOR model, sustainability and customers service that adds a valuable wing to literature that expounds on the connection of purchasing strategy to corporate strategy. A case study in an automotive company throws unique and valuable managerial implications for purchasing and supply chain performance.