Showing papers on "Quality (business) published in 2006"

From the Editors: What Grounded Theory is Not

Abstract: Editor’s Note. Three years ago, I invited Robert (Bob) Gephart to write a “From the Editors” column designed to help authors improve their chances of success when submitting qualitative research to AMJ. Judging from the increasing number of qualitative studies that have been accepted and published in AMJ since that time, I would like to think that his article, “Qualitative Research and the Academy of Management Journal,” has had a positive impact. Continuing in this tradition, I asked Roy Suddaby—an excellent reviewer (and author) of qualitative research—to tackle another “big issue” that the editorial team has noticed with respect to qualitative submissions to AMJ: overly generic use of the term “grounded theory” and confusion regarding alternative epistemological approaches to qualitative research. Like Bob before him, Roy has, I believe, produced an analysis that will greatly benefit those who are relatively new to qualitative research or who have not yet had much success in getting their qualitative research published. Hopefully, Roy’s analysis will help even more authors to succeed, thus allowing AMJ and other journals to continue to increase the quality of insights provided by rich qualitative studies of individual, organizational, and institutional phenomena. Sara L. Rynes

A Statistical Evaluation of Recent Full Reference Image Quality Assessment Algorithms

Abstract: Measurement of visual quality is of fundamental importance for numerous image and video processing applications, where the goal of quality assessment (QA) algorithms is to automatically assess the quality of images or videos in agreement with human quality judgments. Over the years, many researchers have taken different approaches to the problem and have contributed significant research in this area and claim to have made progress in their respective domains. It is important to evaluate the performance of these algorithms in a comparative setting and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of these methods. In this paper, we present results of an extensive subjective quality assessment study in which a total of 779 distorted images were evaluated by about two dozen human subjects. The "ground truth" image quality data obtained from about 25 000 individual human quality judgments is used to evaluate the performance of several prominent full-reference image quality assessment algorithms. To the best of our knowledge, apart from video quality studies conducted by the Video Quality Experts Group, the study presented in this paper is the largest subjective image quality study in the literature in terms of number of images, distortion types, and number of human judgments per image. Moreover, we have made the data from the study freely available to the research community . This would allow other researchers to easily report comparative results in the future

Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Relationship Marketing: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract: Relationship marketing (RM) has emerged as one of the dominant mantras in business strategy circles, though RM investigations often yield mixed results. To help managers and researchers improve the effectiveness of their efforts, the authors synthesize RM empirical research in a meta-analytic framework. Although the fundamental premise that RM positively affects performance is well supported, many of the authors' findings have significant implications for research and practice. Relationship investment has a large direct effect on seller objective performance, which implies that additional meditated pathways may explain the impact of RM on performance. Objective performance is influenced most by relationship quality (a composite measure of relationship strength) and least by commitment. The results suggest also that RM is more effective when relationships are more critical to customers (e.g., service offerings, channel exchanges, business markets) and built with an individual person rather than a selling firm (which partially explains the mixed effects between RM and performance reported in previous studies).

Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Satisfaction, and Market Value

Abstract: Although prior research has addressed the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on perceived customer responses, it is not clear whether CSR affects market value of the firm. This study develops and tests a conceptual framework, which predicts that (1) customer satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between CSR and firm market value (i.e., Tobin’s q and stock return), (2) corporate abilities (innovativeness capability and product quality) moderate the financial returns to CSR, and (3) these moderated relationships are mediated by customer satisfaction. Based on a large-scale secondary data set, the results show support for this framework. Notably, the authors find that in firms with low innovativeness capability, CSR actually reduces customer satisfaction levels and, through the lowered satisfaction, harms market value. The uncovered mediated and asymmetrically moderated results offer important implications for marketing theory and practice.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Satisfaction, and Market Value

Abstract: Although prior research has addressed the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on perceived customer responses, it is not clear whether CSR affects market value of the firm. This study develops and tests a conceptual framework, which predicts that (1) customer satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between CSR and firm market value (i.e., Tobin's q and stock return), (2) corporate abilities (innovativeness capability and product quality) moderate the financial returns to CSR, and (3) these moderated relationships are mediated by customer satisfaction. Based on a large-scale secondary data set, the results show support for this framework. Notably, the authors find that in firms with low innovativeness capability, CSR actually reduces customer satisfaction levels and, through the lowered satisfaction, harms market value. The uncovered mediated and asymmetrically moderated results offer important implications for marketing theory and practice.

Validity, trustworthiness and rigour: quality and the idea of qualitative research

Abstract: Aim. In this paper, I call into question the widely-held assumption of a single, more or less unified paradigm of ‘qualitative research’ whose methodologies share certain epistemological and ontological characteristics, and explore the implications of this position for judgements about the quality of research studies. Background. After a quarter of a century of debate in nursing about how best to judge the quality of qualitative research, we appear to be no closer to a consensus, or even to deciding whether it is appropriate to try to achieve a consensus. The literature on this issue can be broadly divided into three positions: those writers who wish qualitative research to be judged according to the same criteria as quantitative research; those who believe that a different set of criteria is required; and those who question the appropriateness of any predetermined criteria for judging qualitative research. Of the three positions, the second appears to have generated most debate, and a number of different frameworks and guidelines for judging the quality of qualitative research have been devised over recent years. Discussion. The second of the above positions is rejected in favour of the third. It argues that, if there is no unified qualitative research paradigm, then it makes little sense to attempt to establish a set of generic criteria for making quality judgements about qualitative research studies. We need either to acknowledge that the commonly perceived quantitative–qualitative dichotomy is in fact a continuum which requires a continuum of quality criteria, or to recognize that each study is individual and unique, and that the task of producing frameworks and predetermined criteria for assessing the quality of research studies is futile. Conclusion. Some of the implications of this latter position are explored, including the requirement that all published research reports should include a reflexive research diary.

Modern image quality assessment

Abstract: This book is about objective image quality assessmentwhere the aim is to provide computational models that can automatically predict perceptual image quality. The early years of the 21st century have witnessed a tremendous growth in the use of digital images as a means for representing and communicating information. A considerable percentage of this literature is devoted to methods for improving the appearance of images, or for maintaining the appearance of images that are processed. Nevertheless, the quality of digital images, processed or otherwise, is rarely perfect. Images are subject to distortions during acquisition, compression, transmission, processing, and reproduction. To maintain, control, and enhance the quality of images, it is important for image acquisition, management, communication, and processing systems to be able to identify and quantify image quality degradations. The goals of this book are as follows; a) to introduce the fundamentals of image quality assessment, and to explain the relevant engineering problems, b) to give a broad treatment of the current state-of-the-art in image quality assessment, by describing leading algorithms that address these engineering problems, and c) to provide new directions for future research, by introducing recent models and paradigms that significantly differ from those used in the past. The book is written to be accessible to university students curious about the state-of-the-art of image quality assessment, expert industrial R&D engineers seeking to implement image/video quality assessment systems for specific applications, and academic theorists interested in developing new algorithms for image quality assessment or using existing algorithms to design or optimize other image processing applications.

Founding Family Ownership and Earnings Quality

Abstract: This study investigates the relation between founding family ownership and earnings quality using data from the Standard & Poor's 500 companies. Existing literature has documented that financial reporting is of higher quality when firms have stronger corporate governance mechanisms and when there is greater demand for quality financial reporting. I provide two competing theories of the effect of founding family ownership on the demand and supply of earnings quality: the entrenchment effect and the alignment effect. The empirical results show that, on average, founding family ownership is associated with higher earnings quality. In particular, I find consistent evidence that founding family ownership is associated with lower abnormal accruals, greater earnings informativeness, and less persistence of transitory loss components in earnings. In addition, the results suggest a nonlinear relation between family ownership and earnings quality.

Measuring Service Quality in E-Retailing

Abstract: To managers of companies with a Web presence, an awareness of how customers perceive service quality is essential to understanding what customers value in an online service transaction. Previous research in e-service quality has primarily focused on the interaction of the consumer and the Web site while missing the big picture that e-service quality is composed of more than Web site interactivity. The goal of this article is to extend the work on e-service quality to encompass not only Web site interactivity or process quality but also outcome quality and recovery quality. A conceptual framework of e-service quality is proposed and empirically tested that combines process, outcome, and recovery dimensions. Contrary to previous service quality studies, formative instead of reflective indicators are used to conceptualize e-service quality. This study found empirical support for the use of formative indicators and the three-dimensional approach to conceptualizing e-service quality.

Biological Control of Plant Pathogens

Abstract: Plant diseases need to be controlled to maintain the quality and abundance of food, feed, and fiber produced by growers around the world. Different approaches may be used to prevent, mitigate or control plant diseases. Beyond good agronomic and horticultural practices, growers often rely heavily on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Such inputs to agriculture have contributed significantly to the spectacular improvements in crop productivity and quality over the past 100 years. However, the environmental pollution caused by excessive use and misuse of agrochemicals, as well as fear-mongering by some opponents of pesticides, has led to considerable changes in people’s attitudes towards the use of pesticides in agriculture. Today, there are strict regulations on chemical pesticide use, and there is political pressure to remove the most hazardous chemicals from the market. Additionally, the spread of plant diseases in natural ecosystems may preclude successful application of chemicals, because of the scale to which such applications might have to be applied. Consequently, some pest management researchers have focused their efforts on developing alternative inputs to synthetic chemicals for controlling pests and diseases. Among these alternatives are those referred to as biological controls.

Relation‐specific capabilities and barriers to knowledge transfers: creating advantage through network relationships

Abstract: This study examines the role of network knowledge resources in influencing firm performance. More specifically: Can a firm that uses the identical supplier network as competitors and purchases similar inputs from the same plants achieve a competitive advantage through that network? In a sample of U.S. automotive suppliers selling to both Toyota and U.S. automakers, we found that greater knowledge sharing on the part of Toyota resulted in a faster rate of learning within the suppliers' manufacturing operations devoted to Toyota. Indeed, from 1990 to 1996 suppliers reduced defects by 50 percent for Toyota vs. only 26 percent for their largest U.S. customer. The quality differences were found to persist within suppliers because the inter-organizational routines and policies at GM, Ford, and Chrysler acted as barriers to knowledge transfers within suppliers' plants. These findings empirically demonstrate that network resources have a significant influence on firm performance. We also show that some firm resources and capabilities are relation-specific and are not easily transferable (redeployable) to other buyers or networks. This result implies that a firm may be on its production possibility frontier for each customer but the productivity frontier will be different for each customer owing to constraints associated with the customer's network. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Guidelines for Systematic Review in Conservation and Environmental Management

Abstract: An increasing number of applied disciplines are utilizing evidence-based frameworks to review and disseminate the effectiveness of management and policy interventions. The rationale is that increased accessibility of the best available evidence will provide a more efficient and less biased platform for decision making. We argue that there are significant benefits for conservation in using such a framework, but the scientific community needs to undertake and disseminate more systematic reviews before the full benefit can be realized. We devised a set of guidelines for undertaking formalized systematic review, based on a health services model. The guideline stages include planning and conducting a review, including protocol formation, search strategy, data inclusion, data extraction, and analysis. Review dissemination is addressed in terms of current developments and future plans for a Web-based open-access library. By the use of case studies we highlight critical modifications to guidelines for protocol formulation, data-quality assessment, data extraction, and data synthesis for conservation and environmental management. Ecological data presented significant but soluble challenges for the systematic review process, particularly in terms of the quantity, accessibility, and diverse quality of available data. In the field of conservation and environmental management there needs to be further engagement of scientists and practitioners to develop and take ownership of an evidence-based framework.

Relationship value and relationship quality: Broadening the nomological network of business-to-business relationships

Abstract: Purpose – Established models of buyer-seller relationships do not reflect managerial emphasis on supplier performance evaluation when modelling business relationships. Proposes that relationship value should be included as a key constituent in such models. Aims to explore the construct's links with key constituents of relationship quality, i.e. commitment, satisfaction, and trust. Design/methodology/approach – A two-stage research design was used. First, depth-interviews were conducted with ten senior-level purchasing managers in US manufacturing companies. Second, data were gathered in a nation-wide mail survey among 400 purchasing professionals. Findings – The findings suggest that relationship value is an antecedent to relationship quality and behavioural outcomes in the nomological network of relationship marketing. Value displays a stronger impact on satisfaction than on commitment and trust. Value also directly impacts a customer's intention to expand business with a supplier. In turn, its impact on the propensity to leave a relationship is mediated by relationship quality. Contrary to previous research, trust does not appear in this study as an antecedent of behavioural outcomes, but as a mediator of the satisfaction-commitment link. Research limitations/implications – Confirms the role of value as a key relationship building-block. Researchers should integrate this cognitive performance-based construct in models of business relationships. Limitations and research directions refer to the sampling procedure, the need to include the supplier's value perceptions, the possibility of conducting longitudinal research, and the opportunity to assess additional moderating variables. Practical implications – When the goal is to increase business with an existing customer, managers should focus on relationship value. In turn, when managers are concerned with the risk of customers leaving a relationship, they should focus on relationship quality. Trust appears as an important ingredient in stabilising existing business relationships. Originality/value – Stresses the pivotal role of relationship value in marketing. Contributes to a better fit between relationship marketing models and managerial practice in business markets.

Teachers as Facilitators: What Autonomy‐Supportive Teachers Do and Why Their Students Benefit

Abstract: Students are sometimes proactive and engaged in classroom learning activities, but they are also sometimes only reactive and passive. Recognizing this, in this article I argue that students’ classroom engagement depends, in part, on the supportive quality of the classroom climate in which they learn. According to the dialectical framework within self‐determination theory, students possess inner motivational resources that classroom conditions can support or frustrate. When teachers find ways to nurture these inner resources, they adopt an autonomy‐supportive motivating style. After articulating what autonomy‐supportive teachers say and do during instruction, I discuss 3 points: teachers can learn how to be more autonomy supportive toward students; teachers most engage students when they offer high levels of both autonomy support and structure; and an autonomy‐supportive motivating style is an important element to a high‐quality teacher‐student relationship.

Voluntary environmental disclosures by large UK companies

Abstract: This paper examines the patterns in voluntary environmental disclosures made by a sample of large UK companies. The analysis distinguishes between the decision to make a voluntary environmental disclosure and decisions concerning the quality of such disclosures and examines how each type of decision is determined by firm and industry characteristics. We find that larger, less indebted companies with dispersed ownership characteristics are significantly more likely to make voluntary environmental disclosures, and that the quality of disclosures is positively associated with firm size and corporate environmental impact. We find significant cross-sector variation in the determinants of both the participation and quality decisions. Furthermore, the manner of this variation differs between the two.

Media Bias and Reputation

Abstract: A Bayesian consumer who is uncertain about the quality of an information source will infer that the source is of higher quality when its reports conform to the consumer’s prior expectations. We use...

Efficient, High-Quality Force-Directed Graph Drawing

Abstract: We propose a graph drawing algorithm that is both efficient and high quality. This algorithm combines a multilevel approach, which effectively overcomes local minimums, with the Barnes and Hut [1] octree technique, which approximates shortand long-range force efficiently. Our numerical results show that the algorithm is comparable in speed to Walshaw’s [2] highly efficient multilevel graph drawing algorithm, yet gives better results on some of the difficult problems. In addition, an adaptive cooling scheme for the force-directed algorithms and a general repulsive force model are proposed. The proposed graph drawing algorithm and others are included with Mathematica 5.1 and later versions in the package DiscreteMath‘GraphÑ Plot.

Relationship-centered care. A constructive reframing.

Abstract: All illness, care, and healing processes occur in relationship—relationships of an individual with self and with others. Relationship-centered care (RCC) is an important framework for conceptualizing health care, recognizing that the nature and the quality of relationships are central to health care and the broader health care delivery system. RCC can be defined as care in which all participants appreciate the importance of their relationships with one another. RCC is founded upon 4 principles: (1) that relationships in health care ought to include the personhood of the participants, (2) that affect and emotion are important components of these relationships, (3) that all health care relationships occur in the context of reciprocal influence, and (4) that the formation and maintenance of genuine relationships in health care is morally valuable. In RCC, relationships between patients and clinicians remain central, although the relationships of clinicians with themselves, with each other and with community are also emphasized.

Quality of Electronic Services Conceptualizing and Testing a Hierarchical Model

Abstract: For providers of electronic services, quality is a major driving force on the route to long-term success. Comprehensive measurement of quality, in turn, is the key to effective quality management. Marketing academia has just started to attend to quality measurement in the context of electronic services. A review of existing literature on the subject reveals that important research gaps exist, both conceptually and methodologically. Building on extant research and findings from a qualitative study, the authors develop a broadly applicable, hierarchical quality model for electronic services, which includes three dimensions and nine sub-dimensions. The proposed model is rigorously tested by means of a large aggregated sample drawn from the customer bases of three different electronic services. The authors find support for the conceptualization and discuss important findings of the study as well as implications for managerial practice and research.

Stacking the deck: the effects of top management backgrounds on investor decisions

Abstract: Young firms going public are dependent upon the decisions of investors for a successful public offering. Yet convincing investors to invest is not easy, as young firms have limited track records and, thus, face challenges associated with gaining legitimacy in their respective industries. This paper examines ways in which select information about firms undertaking an initial public offering (IPO) can affect investor decisions. Building upon recent research on upper echelons and signaling theory, we propose that the composition of a firm's top management team can signal organizational legitimacy that in turn affects investor decisions. In the context of young firms undertaking an IPO, such signals are critical, especially when objective measures of firm quality are not easily available. We introduce a typology of signals of organizational legitimacy to elaborate on our hypotheses. Analyses of a comprehensive set of data on the career histories of the top management teams of young biotechnology firms show that investor decisions are affected by the extent to which a firm's top management team has employment affiliations with prominent downstream organizations (e.g., pharmaceutical companies), with a diverse range of organizations, and upon the role experience of one key member of the top management team—the Chief Scientific Officer. We assess and find that these effects are not mediated by the prestige of a firm's lead underwriter. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our study for strategy research on upper echelons and organizational legitimacy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The development of HEdPERF: a new measuring instrument of service quality for the higher education sector

Abstract: Preface Service quality has attracted considerable attention within the tertiary education sector, but despite this, little work has been concentrated on identifying its determinants from the standpoint of students being the primary customers. Thus, it would seem rational to develop a new measurement scale that incorporates not only the academic components, but also aspects of the total service environment as experienced by the student. Likewise, there are many areas of disagreement in the debate over how to measure service quality, and recent research has raised many questions over the principles on which the existing instruments are founded. Although these generic instruments have been tested with some degree of success in wide-ranging service industries, but their replication in higher education sector is still hazy. This paper describes the methodological development of HEdPERF (Higher Education PERFormanceonly), a new measuring instrument of service quality that captures the authentic determinants of service quality within the higher education sector. The proposed 41-item instrument has been empirically tested for unidimensionality, reliability and validity using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Such valid and reliable measuring scale would be a tool that tertiary institutions could use to improve service performance in the light of increased competition with the development of global education markets. The results from the current study are crucial because previous studies have produced scales that bear a resemblance to the generic measures of service quality, which may not be totally adequate to assess the perceived quality in higher education. Furthermore, previous researches have been too narrow, with an overemphasis on the quality of academics and too little attention paid to the non-academic aspects of the educational experience. Research findings confirmed that the six dimensions, namely, non-academic aspects, academic aspects, reputation, access, programme issues and understanding were distinct and conceptually clear. Therefore, it can be posited that student perceptions of service quality can be considered as a six-factor structure consisting of the identified six dimensions. Consequently, tertiary institutions should assess all the six dimensions of service quality to ascertain the level of services provided, and to determine which dimensions need improvement. Evaluating service quality level and understanding how various dimensions impact overall service quality would ultimately enable tertiary institutions to efficiently design the service delivery process. In addition, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of these dimensions and their relative influence may result in better allocation of resources so as to provide a better service to students. While many service quality attributes may influence a student’s perception to a certain extent, the results also indicate that access, which relates to such aspects as approachability, ease of contact, availability and convenience has significantly influenced the overall service quality perception. In other words, students perceived access to be more important than other dimensions in determining the quality of the service that they received. Tertiary institutions should therefore concentrate their efforts on the dimension perceived to be important rather than focusing their energies on a number of different attributes, which they feel are important determinants of service quality. While the idea of providing adequate service on all dimensions may seem attractive to most service marketers and managers, failure to prioritize these attributes may result in inefficient

Investigating the effect of website quality on e-business success: an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach

Abstract: This study investigates website quality factors, their relative importance in selecting the most preferred website, and the relationship between website preference and financial performance. DeLone and McLean's IS success model extended through applying an analytic hierarchy process is used. A field study with 156 online customers and 34 managers/designers of e-business companies was performed. The study identified different relative importance of each website quality factor and priority of alternative websites across e-business domains and between stakeholders. This study also found that the website with the highest quality produced the highest business performance. The findings of this study provide decision makers of e-business companies with useful insights to enhance their website quality.

Choice and Quality in Action Research Practice

Abstract: This article explores the nature of quality in action research practice. The origins and purposes of action research and its relation to social science methodology are reviewed. Action research is described in terms of four characteristic dimensions—worthwhile practical purposes, democracy and participation, many ways of knowing, and emergent developmental form—that present a broad range of criteria beyond those of the empirical research paradigm against which quality research might be judged. Recent debates concerning validity and quality in qualitative research are explored. It is argued that action research is characteristically full of choices, and the argument is made that quality in inquiry comes from awareness of and transparency about the choices available at each stage of the inquiry.