Key drivers of frontline employee generation of ideas for customer service improvement

Anchored in the service-dominant logic and service innovation literature, this study investigates the drivers of employee generation of ideas for service improvement (GISI). Employee GISI focuses on customer needs and providing the exact service wanted by customers. GISI should enhance competitive advantage and organizational success (cf. Berry et al. 2006; Wang and Netemeyer 2004). Despite its importance, there is little research on the idea generation stage of the service development process (Chai, Zhang, and Tan 2005). This study contributes to the service field by providing the first empirical evaluation of the drivers of GISI. It also investigates a new explanatory determinant of reading of customer needs, namely, perceived organizational support (POS), and an outcome of POS, in the form of emotional exhaustion. Results show that the major driver of GISI is reading of customer needs by employees followed by affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction. This research provides several new and important insights for service management practice by suggesting that special care should be put into selecting and recruiting employees who have the ability to read customer needs. Additionally, organizations should invest in creating work environments that encourage and reward the flow of ideas for service improvement

Consumer willingness to pay for in-flight service and comfort levels: A choice experiment

In the competitive aviation market as a result of the emergence of low cost carriers, charter airlines have had to reconsider their approach to service provision. Specifically, the reduction in service and comfort levels offered by the low cost airlines provides charter carriers with an opportunity to differentiate their product based on the quality of the offering. To consider this strategic option we employ an on-line choice experiment to examine consumer choices with respect to the bundle of services on offer when deciding to purchase a flight, With these data we use the Bayesian methods to estimate a mixed logit specification. Our results reveal that in principle passengers are willing to pay a relatively large amount for enhanced service quality. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cultural techniques for improvement in biocontrol potential of fungal antagonists for biological control of Armillaria root rot of strawberry plants under glasshouse conditions

Several in vitro and in vivo experiments were conducted to develop an effective technique for culturing potential fungal antagonists (isolates of Trichoderma harzianum, Dactylium dendroides, Chaetomium olivaceum and one unidentified fungus) selected for activity against Armillaria mellea. The antagonists were inoculated onto (1) live spawn of the oyster mu shroom (Pleurotus ostreatus), (2) extra-moistened or sucrose-enriched mushroom composts containing living or autoclaved mycelia of P. ostreatus or Agaricus bisporus (button mushroom), (3) pasteurized compost with or without A. bisporus mycelium, wheat bran, wheat germ and (4) spent mushroom composts with living mycelia of A. bisporus, P. ostreatus or Lentinus edodes (the Shiitake mushroom). In one experiment, a representative antagonist (isolate Th2 of T. harzianum) was grown together with the A. bisporus mycelium, while in another one, the antagonist was first grown on wheat germ or wheat bran and then on mushroom compost with living mycelium of A. bisporus. Some of the carrier substrates were then added to the roots of potted strawberry plants in the glasshouse to evaluate their effectiveness against the disease. The antagonists failed to grow on the spawn of P. ostreatus even after reinoculations and prolonged incubation. Providing extra moisture or sucrose enrichment also did not improve the growth of Th2 on mushroom composts in the presence of living mycelia of A. bisporus or P. ostreatus. The antagonist, however, grew rapidly and extensively on mushroom compost with autoclaved mycelia, and also on wheat germ and wheat bran. Colonization of the substrates by the antagonist was positively correlated with its effectiveness in the glasshouse studies. Whereas only 33.3% of the inoculated control plants survived in one experiment monitored for 560 days, 100% survival was achieved when Th2 was applied on wheat germ or wheat bran. Growth of the antagonist alone on pasteurized or sterilized compost (without A. bisporus mycelia) and simultaneous growth of the antagonist and mushroom on pasteurized compost did not improve survival over the inoculated controls, but growth over mushroom compost with the living mycelium resulted in 50% survival rate. C. olivaceum isolate Co was the most effective, resulting in overall survival rate of 83.3% compared with only 8.3% for the inoculated and 100% for the uninoculated (healthy) controls. This antagonist gave the highest survival rate of 100% on spent mushroom compost with L. edodes. T harzianum isolate Th23, with 75% survival rate, was the most effective on spent mushroom compost with P. ostreatus, while D. dendroides isolate SP resulted in equal survival rates of 50% on all the three mushroom composts.

Moderate Champagne consumption promotes an acute improvement in acute endothelial-independent vascular function in healthy human volunteers

Epidemiological studies have suggested an inverse correlation between red wine consumption and the incidence of CVD. However, Champagne wine has not been fully investigated for its cardioprotective potential. In order to assess whether acute and moderate Champagne wine consumption is capable of modulating vascular function, we performed a randomised, placebo-controlled, cross-over intervention trial. We show that consumption of Champagne wine, but not a control matched for alcohol, carbohydrate and fruit-derived acid content, induced an acute change in endothelium-independent vasodilatation at 4 and 8 h post-consumption. Although both Champagne wine and the control also induced an increase in endothelium-dependent vascular reactivity at 4 h, there was no significant difference between the vascular effects induced by Champagne or the control at any time point. These effects were accompanied by an acute decrease in the concentration of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-9), a significant decrease in plasma levels of oxidising species and an increase in urinary excretion of a number of phenolic metabolites. In particular, the mean total excretion of hippuric acid, protocatechuic acid and isoferulic acid were all significantly greater following the Champagne wine intervention compared with the control intervention. Our data suggest that a daily moderate consumption of Champagne wine may improve vascular performance via the delivery of phenolic constituents capable of improving NO bioavailability and reducing matrix metalloproteinase activity.

An improvement in clear-air turbulence forecasting based on spontaneous imbalance theory: the ULTURB algorithm

Recent research has shown that Lighthill–Ford spontaneous gravity wave generation theory, when applied to numerical model data, can help predict areas of clear-air turbulence. It is hypothesized that this is the case because spontaneously generated atmospheric gravity waves may initiate turbulence by locally modifying the stability and wind shear. As an improvement on the original research, this paper describes the creation of an ‘operational’ algorithm (ULTURB) with three modifications to the original method: (1) extending the altitude range for which the method is effective downward to the top of the boundary layer, (2) adding turbulent kinetic energy production from the environment to the locally produced turbulent kinetic energy production, and, (3) transforming turbulent kinetic energy dissipation to eddy dissipation rate, the turbulence metric becoming the worldwide ‘standard’. In a comparison of ULTURB with the original method and with the Graphical Turbulence Guidance second version (GTG2) automated procedure for forecasting mid- and upper-level aircraft turbulence ULTURB performed better for all turbulence intensities. Since ULTURB, unlike GTG2, is founded on a self-consistent dynamical theory, it may offer forecasters better insight into the causes of the clear-air turbulence and may ultimately enhance its predictability.