Strategic choice and inter-organisational information systems

The objective of this paper is to clarify the complex notion of flexibility and to explore the impact of inter-organisational information systems (IOS) on the flexibility of the interaction between organisations. Based on previous research and on Vickers's appreciative systems thinking, the paper examines flexibility as a multidimensional concept, influenced by the inter-organisational context. Following an interpretive approach and a multiple case design, it analyses the flexibility of the interaction of two retailers and two suppliers. Based on the empirical findings, it shows that the use of IOS can constrain even competent organisations. It also shows how different organisational contexts affect the flexibility of inter-organisational collaboration. It finally discusses the socio-technical and dynamic nature of flexibility, as well as examining the relationships between its different dimensions.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate employee behavior toward work engagement with an integrative research framework that combines human resource practices, employee psychological empowerment and well-being. Moreover, the moderating effect of transformational leadership is tested between employee engagement at workplace during crisis such as COVID-19 and sustainable employment.Design/methodology/approachThis study empirically investigates research framework with 353 responses retrieved from employees working in private sector organizations. The data were collected through structured, closed-ended questionnaires. For inferential analysis, structural equation modeling approach has been used. To test the predictive power of the research framework, blindfolding procedure Q2 is incorporated.FindingsStatistical findings indicate that HR compensation, HR training, opportunity enhancing, motivation enhancing, psychological well-being and empowerment have explained substantial variance (R2 = 67.5%) in employee work engagement during crisis. Concerning with sustainable employment, the transformational leadership and work engagement have shown significant variance (R2 = 20.6%) in determining sustainable employment. Moving further psychological empowerment has revealed maximum effect size (f2) to determine employee engagement behavior at work place during pandemic crisis. The blindfolding procedure Q2 has exhibited substantial power to predict employee work engagement and sustainable employment during crisis such as COVID-19 pandemic.Practical implicationsThis study has several contributions to theory and practice. Theoretically, this study develops an integrative research framework with the help of human resource practices and employee psychological factors such as employee well-being and empowerment. Therefore, practically, this research suggests that factors such as opportunity enhancing, transformational leadership and employee psychological empowerment need managerial attention to increase employee engagement at workplace and sustainable employment during pandemic crisis.Social implicationsWith the growing concerns of layoff during pandemic crisis, employees have shown lack of interest at workplace because of psychological fears. Nevertheless, this study has established that policymakers could enhance employee engagement at workplace and sustainable employment during crisis by redesigning HR practices and improving employee psychological well-being and empowerment. In addition to that, employee psychological well-being and empowerment are considered healthy factors for human beings and nurture society at large.Originality/valueThis research is original as it establishes an integrative research framework grounded in HR practices, employee psychological empowerment and employee psychological well-being to investigate employee behavior at work place during crisis such as pandemic. In addition to that, this study has enriched leadership literature by examining the moderating effect of transformational leadership between employee work engagement and sustainable employment.

An electronic market is an interorganizational information system through which multiple buyers and sellers interact to accomplish one or more of the following market-making activities: (1) identifying potential trading partners, (2) selecting a specific partner, and (3) executing the transaction. It has been suggested that electronic markets, by lowering search costs, may lead to significantly increased price competition among sellers and hence, lower prices for buyers. Or, by allowing efficient, direct interaction between buyers and sellers, they may eliminate the role of intermediaries. Little evidence exists to support the claims. This paper empirically examines the validity of these arguments in the context of one electronic market: Inventory Locator Service (ILS) in the aircraft parts industry.Specifically, the paper addresses two questions: When do buyers use an electronic market? How do electronic markets affect each of the following: prices, inventory levels, and the role of brokers? The data show that current models do not adequately capture the complexity of electronic markets. For instance, while ILS sometimes helps buyers find a better price, in other cases it can help suppliers extract an extra premium by providing more accurate information on parts availability. ILS has also had little impact on the extent to which brokers are used, although the specific nature of the value added by brokers appears to be changing. Finally, inventory levels in the industry have been unaffected by the use of ILS.The scope of ILS is limited to the identification process only, so caution must be exercised in generalizing the findings to systems that also support selection and execution. However, the data do suggest additional variables that must be considered in understanding the uses and impacts of electronic markets, including the scope of the electronic market.

Electronic markets are inter-organizational information systems that allow the buyers and sellers to exchange information about prices and product offerings, and have become the important virtual marketplaces matching transactions which play an increasing role on the physical markets and absorb eyeballs of researchers and practitioners. In this paper, we incorporate the proxies about price dispersion in electronic markets into the same analytical framework for research, examine the explaining strength of existing literature on electronic markets form different perspectives. Based on that, we point out that price dispersion phenomena in electronic markets result from comprehensive effects of many factors, and it is consumers' search heterogeneity, buyers' preferences including brand, trust and loyal degree factors, service differentiation and market structure characteristics that co-assume the degree of price dispersion, information value and efficiency.

The importance of inter-organizational system (IOS) has been increasingly recognized by organizations. However, IOS adoption has proved to be difficult and, at this stage, why this is so is not fully uncovered. In practice, benefits have often remained concentrated, primarily accruing to the dominant party, resulting in low rates of adoption and usage, and often culminating in the failure of the IOS. The main research question is why organizations initiate or join IOS and what factors influence their adoption and use levels. This paper reviews the literature on IOS adoption and proposes a theoretical framework in order to identify the critical factors to capture a complete picture of IOS adoption. With our proposed critical factors, we are able to investigate their relative contributions to IOS adoption decisions. We obtain findings that suggested that there are five groups of factors that significantly affect the adoption and use decision of IOS in the Supply Chain Management (SCM) context: 1) interorganizational context, 2) organizational context, 3) technological context, 4) perceived costs, and 5) perceived benefits.

This study examines the risks motorcyclists face in traffic, focusing on intersections and curves, through in-depth interviews with 62 motorcyclists.It investigates how knowledge of multi-vehicle accidents influences motorcyclists' behavior and information gathering.The motorcyclists were divided into three groups: Group 1 (less than 3 years of riding experience), Group 2 (more than 3 years of riding experience), and Group 3 (professional connection to motorcycling).Group 3 expressed more consistent strategies compared to Groups 1 and 2, which often had unclear assessments.Interaction and preventive riding are crucial in motorcycle training.Group 3 was more proactive and better prepared for conflict situations.Regarding curve riding, Group 3 showed a better understanding of normal positioning and maneuvering space, while Groups 1 and 2 had greater trust in other road users and were less consistent in their strategies.In terms of speed choices, Group 3 showed greater awareness of speed reduction in curves and had a better tactical repertoire.Groups 1 and 2 described strategies with increasing speed through curves but showed the ability to adjust speed when necessary.Braking in curves was seen as a risk factor by Groups 1 and 2, while Group 3 viewed it as a tactical tool.Group 3 had a more nuanced understanding of braking in curves and used it as part of their tactical repertoire.These findings highlight the importance of riding experience and training to improve motorcyclists' safety and reduce accident risk.The research question was: "To what extent will different levels of experience influence self-awareness and stated descriptions of tactical and strategic choices?" .The research question was: "To what extent will different levels of experience influence self-awareness and stated descriptions of tactical and strategic choices?

The proliferation of the Internet and other technological innovations has transformed the structure of the tourism industry as well as affected how tourism destinations are perceived and consumed. The 3D virtual world provides opportunities for destination marketing organizations to communicate with targeted markets by offering a rich environment for potential visitors to explore tourism destinations. However, as of yet, there is little understanding about how to effectively market tourism destinations to virtual world participants who are technology users as well as potential consumers. The purpose of the present study is to develop a research framework that integrates the technology acceptance model (TAM) and self‐determination theory to understand how tourists use a 3D virtual world. Primary data were obtained for this study through self‐administered Web questionnaires. The data were conducted in a laboratory setting with 186 participants. This study contributes to the empirical TAM literature by applying the model to a 3D virtual tourism site. Additionally, this study provides a research framework to capture the entertainment nature of a 3D virtual world by extending the TAM to incorporate psychological elements of self‐determination theory to understand consumer experience. From the perspective of tourism professionals, this study contributes to an understanding of how best to construct informative and interactive tourist destinations in 3D virtual worlds to attract potential online and real‐world tourists. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The dynamic capability view (DCV) has been developed and considered one of the most promising approaches to research service innovation (SI) and the competitive advantage of firms. Extending on the existing works of service innovation and DCV, this paper proposed an integrated model of dynamic service innovation capabilities (DSICs). More specifically, the research framework is created by consolidating earlier works on DCV and SI. And this theoretical model incorporated both antecedents and consequents of DSICs. It also presents broad insights on the environmental factors as the contingency effect.

In this chapter we bind together three elements: governance structures, the health care industry and modern information and communication technology (ICT). Our hypothesis is that modern ICT has even more than before made the concept and operation of the governance structures important. ICT supports some governance structures in health care better than others, and ICT itself needs governing. Our research question also is: which kinds of governance structures in health care are supported and needed by modern ICT? Our chapter should be of primary interest for Health Care professionals. They should be given a new, partly revolutionary point of view to their own industry. For parties discussing governance structure issues in Health Care, the chapter should give a lot of support for argumentation and thinking. The models and conclusions should be extendable to other industries too. For academic researchers in Governance Structure and IT issues, the chapter should contain an interesting industry case.

The e-integration dilemma: The linkages between Internet technology application, trading partner relationships and structural change

Research suggests that friendships are associated with better emotional outcomes. Still, little is known about the implications of daily friend encounters on emotional well-being in the context of race and age. Guided by the integrative conceptual framework for friendship research, this study considers racism and cultural beliefs associated with racial groups and different social and emotional goals associated with age and investigates whether the frequency of friend encounters and the link between friend encounters and emotional well-being in everyday life would vary by race and age. Black (n = 80; Mage = 53.62) and White American adults (n = 89, Mage = 52.01) from the Stress and Well-being in Everyday Life study provided background and social network information, followed by ecological momentary assessment surveys in which they reported their social encounters and mood every 3 hours for 4 consecutive days. Multilevel linear models revealed no significant differences by race or age in the frequency of friend encounters. At times when individuals were with friends, their positive mood was elevated compared to when they were not (within-person association). Yet, this association was observed only among White adults and among Black individuals who were aged 41 or younger. This work contributes to the conceptual framework for friendship research by considering how individuals' race and age are linked to friendship patterns. Findings highlight the importance of everyday contact with friends for enhancing momentary emotional well-being, particularly among White individuals and younger Black adults.

The aim of this work is to show that organizational change is a response to certain problems generated by a market specialization strategy. Our study is based on two cases of SMEs that first engaged in a business relationship with a single client for more than five years. This led to a high degree of skills specialization and a certain organizational rigidity which was subsequently detrimental to the continuity of the company's activity, particularly when the relationship with the only single client was unexpectedly concluded, for the client had become increasingly demanding in terms of cost and time. Analysis of the data shows that both SMEs have made a series of organizational changes (restructuring of the company, recruitment of new skills, training activities, use of partnerships with other organizations, etc.) to overcome this perilous situation. As a consequence, these companies were able to reorient their business policy in order to reduce their dependence and then ensure their business sustainability and growth. Keywords: Organizational change, dependency situation, customer-supplier relationship, strategic choices. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-27-04 Publication date: September 30 th 2020

On IT governance structures and their effectiveness in collaborative organizational structures

Natural Hazards: An Integrative Framework for Research and Planning

Based in interpersonal theory, the present study tested associations of trait affiliation (i.e., warmth vs. hostility) and control (i.e., dominance vs. submissiveness) with ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) and momentary affective experiences. Ninety-four married couples (mean age 29.6) completed trait affiliation and control measures, and a 1-day protocol with random interval-contingent measurements of ABP and affective experience. Higher trait control (i.e., dominance) predicted higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP) in men, but not in women. For both men and women, high affiliation predicted lower SBP. These associations occurred within individuals (i.e., actor effects) but not between spouses (i.e., partner effects). Dominance and affiliation also predicted momentary affect. Associations of dominance and affiliation with ABP may indicate a mechanism by which trait social behavior influences CVD risk. These findings also illustrate the interpersonal perspective as an integrative framework for research on psychosocial risk for CVD.