Vlerick Business School

This research, investigating retailer–consumer relationships, has three distinct intended contributions: (1) It shows that different relationship marketing tactics have a differential impact on consumer perceptions of a retailer's relationship investment; (2) it demonstrates that perceived relationship investment affects relationship quality, ultimately leading to behavioral loyalty; and (3) it reveals that the effect of perceived relationship investment on relationship quality is contingent on a consumer's product category involvement and proneness to engage in retail relationships. The authors empirically cross-validate the underlying conceptual model by studying six consumer samples in a three-country, transatlantic, comparative survey that investigates two industries.

The authors examine the effects of two forms of capital, i.e. human capital and social capital, on innovation at the country level. We use secondary data from the World Development Report on a country's overall human development to test for a relationship between human capital and innovation. We also use previous conceptualizations of social capital as comprising trust, associational activity, and norms of civic behaviour to test for relationships between these indicators of social capital and innovation using data from the World Values Survey. Unlike most previous studies that examined human and social capital within a given country, we develop and empirically test a theoretically grounded model that relates human and social capital to innovation at the societal level across 59 different countries, thus providing a more global view of the role of these two forms of capital in generating value. We find strong support for the positive relationship between human capital and innovation and partial support for the positive effect of trust and associational activity on innovation. However, contrary to our prediction, we find a negative relationship between norms of civic behaviour and one of our innovation measures.

Using 456 supervisor-employee dyads from four organizations, this study examined how employees use one proactive behavior, feedback seeking, as a strategy to enhance their creative performance. As hypothesized, employees' cognitive style and perceived organizational support for creativity affected two patterns of feedback seeking: the propensity to inquire for feedback and the propensity to monitor the environment for indirect feedback. Feedback inquiry related to supervisor ratings of employee creative performance. These results highlight the importance of employees' self-regulatory behaviors in the creative process and show that feedback seeking is not only a strategy that facilitates individual adaptation, but also a resource for achieving creative outcomes.

Abstract Based on the theoretical framework of newcomer sensemaking this study examines factors associated with changes in newcomers' psychological contract perceptions during the socialization process. More specifically, two mechanisms are addressed that could explain changes in newcomers' perceptions of the promises they have exchanged with their employer: (1) unilateral adaptation of perceived promises to reality and (2) adaptation of perceived promises as a function of the reciprocity norm. To test our hypotheses, a four‐wave longitudinal study among 333 new hires has been conducted, covering the first year of their employment relationship. Results show that changes in newcomers' perceptions of the promises they have made to their employer are affected by their perceptions of their own contributions as well as by their perceptions of inducements received from their employer. Changes in newcomers' perceptions of employer promises are affected by their perceptions of employer inducements received, but the impact of perceived employee contributions is less clear. The data provide limited support for the idea that the adaptation of perceived promises to perceived inducements and contributions occurs to a stronger extent during the encounter stage than during the acquisition stage of socialization. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Retailers are increasingly turning toward self-service technologies (SSTs) aimed at improving productivity and service quality while cutting costs. The authors identify a process model to understand the antecedents and consequences of SST usage by customers in an in-store retail setting. The model was validated on a combination of survey and observational data. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, reliability, and fun were identified as key drivers of customer attitude toward the SST. Customer attitude toward the SST predicted the actual usage of technology. The effects of SST usage on the actual time spent by customers in the store were studied. The authors investigate the impact of SST usage on customers' perceptions of waiting time and, consequently, on their level of satisfaction with the shopping experience. Finally, the moderating effects of age, education, and gender are analyzed. The current study evaluates the benefits of SST introduction for both customers and retailers.

There are important advantages to including reversed items in questionnaires (e.g., control of acquiescence, disruption of nonsubstantive responding, better coverage of the domain of content of a construct), but reversed items can also lead to measurement problems (e.g., low measure reliability, complex factor structures). The authors advocate the continued use of reversed items in measurement instruments but also argue that they should be used with caution. To help researchers improve their scale construction practices, the authors provide a comprehensive review of the literature on reversed and negated items and offer recommendations about their use in questionnaires. The theoretical discussion is supplemented with data on 1330 items from measurement scales that have appeared in Journal of Marketing Research and Journal of Consumer Research.

McCarthy's 4P classification of the marketing mix instruments has received wide acceptance in past decades. In recent years, however, increasing criticism has been voiced, among other reasons because of its inherent negative definition of sales promotion and its lack of mutual exclusiveness and collective exhaustiveness. The authors evaluate the 4P classification against the criteria proposed by Hunt and present an improved classification.

In the recent methodological literature, various models have been proposed to account for the phenomenon that reversed items (defined as items for which respondents' scores have to be recoded in order to make the direction of keying consistent across all items) tend to lead to problematic responses. In this article we propose an integrative conceptualization of three important sources of reversed item method bias (acquiescence, careless responding, and confirmation bias) and specify a multisample confirmatory factor analysis model with 2 method factors to empirically test the hypothesized mechanisms, using explicit measures of acquiescence and carelessness and experimentally manipulated versions of a questionnaire that varies 3 item arrangements and the keying direction of the first item measuring the focal construct. We explain the mechanisms, review prior attempts to model reversed item bias, present our new model, and apply it to responses to a 4-item self-esteem scale (N = 306) and the 6-item Revised Life Orientation Test (N = 595). Based on the literature review and the empirical results, we formulate recommendations on how to use reversed items in questionnaires.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the relationship between supply chain (SC) collaboration and performance improvement. Design/methodology/approach In keeping with the extant literature, hypotheses were developed incorporating dimensions of supplier and customer collaboration and performance improvement. Factor analysis and linear statistical models for correlation and analysis of variance were used to test the hypotheses with IMSS 2001 data on 374 firms from the engineering/assembly industry across 11 European countries. Findings Only weak empirical support was found for the hypothesized positive relationships between supplier (or customer) collaboration and performance improvement. There was partial empirical support for the impact of collaboration, both with suppliers and customers, on rates of improvement. For information exchange, performance improvement in respect of cost, flexibility, quality, and procurement was supported, whereas for structural collaboration, only improvement in respect of flexibility and procurement was supported. There was strong empirical support for the hypothesized higher levels of collaboration among companies showing higher performance improvement. Research limitations/implications Using cross‐sectional (versus longitudinal), perceptual (rather than absolute) data, coming from a principal firm (rather than from each collaborative entity). Practical implications This study indicates that firms need to adopt a concerted approach to collaboration both with suppliers and customers in order to reap maximum performance improvement benefits in the area of cost, flexibility, quality, delivery, procurement, and time‐to‐market. Originality/value This study goes beyond analytical modeling and case‐study research on the relationship between SC collaboration and performance improvement and offers industry‐based empirical results on consolidated practical and theoretical insights.

Purpose – Companies increasingly opt for co-creation by engaging customers in new product and service development processes. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the customer experience in co-creation situations and its determinants. Design/methodology/approach – The conceptual framework addresses the customer experience in co-creation situations, and its individual and environmental determinants. To examine the degree to which these determinants affect the customer experience in co-creation situations, the author starts by proposing and testing a multidimensional co-creation experience scale ( n =66). Next, the author employs an experiment to test the hypotheses ( n =180). Findings – Higher levels of customer role readiness, technologization, and connectivity positively affect different co-creation experience dimensions. The impact of these dimensions on the overall co-creation experience, however, differs according to customers’ expectations in terms of co-creation benefits. Therefore, the author concludes that the expected co-creation benefits determine the importance of the level of customer role readiness, technologization, and connectivity for the co-creation experience. Originality/value – This research generates a better understanding of the co-creation experience by providing insight into the co-creation experience dimensions and their relative importance for customers with different expectations in terms of co-creation benefits. Additionally, this research addresses the implications of customer heterogeneity in terms of expected co-creation benefits for designing co-creation environments, thereby helping managers to generate more rewarding co-creation experiences for their customers.

Building new space for institutional theory, we propose how the severity of formal and informal institutional voids shapes the productivity of entrepreneurial activities within society. Our theory makes the key assumptions that voids can exist in both formal and informal institutions and that they are capable of hindering entrepreneurial behavior that is favorable to development progress. We extend new theoretical domains by conceptualizing informal institutional voids and proposing how both formal and informal institutional voids and their interaction influence two qualitative outcomes within localities: (1) the unique forms of entrepreneurial activity, and (2) the objectives underlying this entrepreneurial activity.

Public sector organizations are mainly knowledge-intensive organizations, and to exploit their knowledge, effective knowledge sharing among the different departments is required. We focus on specific characteristics of public sector organizations that increase or limit interdepartmental knowledge sharing. Three types of organization-specific coordination mechanisms directly influence knowledge sharing between departments. Organizations are also characterized by members' social identification and trust, which in the absence of power games are assumed to create a knowledge-sharing context. Data are collected by a questionnaire survey in the public sector. The sample consists of 358 cooperative episodes between departments in more than 90 different public sector organizations. Structural equation modeling reveals the importance of lateral coordination and trust. The combination of power games and informal coordination seems to be remarkably beneficial for knowledge sharing. Furthermore, compared with other public sector organizations, government institutions have organizational characteristics that are less beneficial for knowledge sharing.

This paper is an attempt to identify what constitutes a good board of directors, and this is based on a comparison between academic literature, corporate governance rating systems and our field research into board practices. We observed that “traditional” academic research focused on a limited number of quantifiable board characteristics, while practitioners attach greater importance to “soft” elements, which are nearly absent in the literature and in the governance ratings. These findings highlight the need for a better understanding of all elements that determine board effectiveness. Furthermore, our results identify three areas of improvement for boards of directors.

ABSTRACT On the basis of a step-by-step procedure (see T. R. Hinkin, 1998 Hinkin, T. R. 1998. A brief tutorial on the development of measures for use in survey questionnaires. Organizational Research Methods, 1: 104–121. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the authors discuss the design and evaluation of a self-report battery (Organizational Change Questionnaire–Climate of Change, Processes, and Readiness; OCQ–C, P, R) that researchers can use to gauge the internal context or climate of change, the process factors of change, and readiness for change. The authors describe 4 studies used to develop a psychometrically sound 42-item assessment tool that researchers can administer in organizational settings. More than 3,000 organizational members from public and private sector organizations participated in the validation procedure of the OCQ–C, P, R. The information obtained from the analyses yielded 5 climate-of-change dimensions, 3 process-of-change dimensions, and 3 readiness-for-change dimensions.

Abstract Previous research describes supplier integration as a competitive resource that manufacturers use to create economic rents. Considering the mixed results obtained from linking supplier integration with performance outcomes, a ‘dynamic’ component – or the ability to reconfigure the supply chain to adapt to changing environments – appears critical to creating a sustainable competitive advantage. This study identifies integration sensing, seizing and transforming as sub‐capabilities that together form a dynamic capability, referred to herein as supplier integrative capability (SIC). That is, SIC enables buyers to sense changes in the supply environment by sharing information with suppliers, seize opportunities presented by establishing procedures to analyse this information and make long‐term changes to existing processes. A global sample from the industrial sector reveals that the three capabilities exhibit complementarity and must exist simultaneously for the capability to be effective, which then enhances both process flexibility and cost efficiency and helps firms avoid the traditional trade‐off of cost and flexibility. In addition, market and technological dynamics strengthen the effect of SIC on operational performance; supply base complexity attenuates this link.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is a project carried out by a research consortium dedicated to understanding the relationship between entrepreneurship and national economic development. Since 1999 GEM reports have been a key source of comparable data across a large variety of countries on attitudes toward entrepreneurship, start-up and established business activities, and aspirations of entrepreneurs for their businesses. The growing databases increasingly allow for in-depth academic research and this is mirrored by the rapidly increasing amount of GEM-based scientific publications in a wider range of academic journals. At this point it is appropriate to provide an overview on these publications, to summarize their main contributions, and to provide some directions for obtaining promising GEM-based academic contributions in the future. This publication provides a review of 89 GEM-based academic publications in SSCI-listed journals since 2004, with the objectives to highlight the particular advantages of GEM data, their quality and usability, as well as their limitations. It also recommends a number of ways in which the GEM project might evolve further and make more impact on entrepreneurship research, on entrepreneurship policy and practice, and ultimately on getting more grip on the complex relation between entrepreneurship and economic development.

This article examines the dynamics of entrepreneurial teams as they evolve through the different stages of a spin–out process. Using a unique, hand–collected set of data covering all team members in 10 cases, an in–depth analysis of the heterogeneity of team members’ experience and perception of the strategic orientation needed to attain different milestones in the spin–out process was performed. Our findings suggest that teams evolve over time and change in composition, and therefore, they cannot be studied as immutable entities. At the start of the venture formation, we introduced a new team role, the privileged witness, potentially specific for spinouts. Analysis of the teams indicates that the team's heterogeneity changes as it evolves through the different stages of the spin–out process. In particular, we found that new team members brought in different kinds of experience; however, they did not introduce a different view on doing business from the initial team members.

We developed a dual-level transformational leadership scale to measure individual-focused behavior at the individual level and group-focused behavior at the group level, and we validated the scale using a sample of 203 members from 60 work groups in a Canadian company. Results show that individual-focused leadership behavior, at the individual level, was positively related to task performance and personal initiative; group-focused leadership behavior, at the group level, was positively associated with team performance and helping behavior. Implications for leadership theory and practice are offered.

Research summary : Integrating the behavioral and institutional perspectives, we propose that a country's formal institutions, particularly its legal frameworks, affect managers' deployment of slack resources. Specifically, we explore the moderating effects of creditor and employee rights on the performance effects of slack. Using longitudinal data from 162,633 E uropean private firms in 26 countries, we find that financial slack enhances firm performance at diminishing rates, whereas human resource ( HR ) slack lowers performance at diminishing rates. However, financial slack has a more positive effect on firm performance in countries with weaker creditor rights, whereas HR slack has a more negative effect on performance in countries with stronger employee rights. The results provide a richer view of the relationship between slack and firm performance than currently assumed in the literature . Managerial summary : A key dilemma managers often encounter is whether, on the one hand, they should build in excess resources to buffer their firms from internal and external shocks and to pursue new opportunities or whether, on the other hand, they should develop “lean” firms. Our study suggests that excess cash resources—which are usually viewed as easy to redeploy—benefit firm performance, especially when firms operate in countries with weaker creditor rights. However, excess human resources—which are usually viewed as more difficult to redeploy—hamper firm performance, particularly when firms operate in countries with stronger labor protection laws. Thus, the management of slack resources critically depends on the characteristics of these resources (e.g., redeployability) and the institutional context in which managers operate . Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Firms striving for long-term profitability need to build stronger customer-firm relationships by getting their customers more engaged with the firm. One path to this end is introducing practices to manage different forms of customer engagement behaviors (CEBs). To develop more effective and efficient CEB management practices, this research proposes and empirically tests a theoretical model on managerial and psychological processes to encourage CEBs that are embedded in a broader network of customers and stakeholders. Based on qualitative and quantitative studies in nursing homes, we demonstrate that organizational support and overall service quality toward significant others influence some forms of CEBs—more particularly feedback and positive word of mouth (WOM) behaviors—through customer affect toward the organization. It is interesting to note that customer affect toward the organization encourages WOM behaviors, while it discourages feedback behaviors. Conversely, managerial processes that increase customer role readiness—such as organizational socialization and support from other customers—were found to have a positive impact on all forms of CEBs. This research helps managers of nursing homes and other services with a broad network of customers and stakeholders to improve existing CEB management practices and develop new CEB management practices that are beneficial for the firm and its stakeholders.