The relationship between TQM practices, quality performance, and innovation performance: An empirical examination

This empirical study examines the relationship between total quality management (TQM) and innovation performance and compares the nature of this relationship against quality performance. The empirical data were obtained from a survey of 194 managers in Australian industry encompassing both manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors.

The role of trading partner relationships in determining innovation performance: an empirical examination

This paper examines the respective roles of trading partner relationships and innovation management practices in predicting product and process related innovation performance. The empirical data were drawn from 194 Australian managers. Data analysis using structural equation modelling indicates that supplier relationships and customer relationships have less impact on product and process innovation performance than do knowledge and creativity management. However, the results also indicate that trading partner relationships have a strong and positive association with innovation management practices, meaning that organisations commonly implement both in a synchronous manner.

Empirical examination of the stakeholder strategy matrix

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine whether the stakeholder strategy matrix provides useful guidance for managers in dealing with stakeholders. The matrix suggests that strategies for dealing with stakeholders can be determined based on stakeholder ability to cooperate and threaten organisational outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a hypothetical scenario looking at the development of a new environmentally friendly product, where eight stakeholder groups and their influencing abilities are manipulated. Marketers reviewed one version of the scenario and were then asked the applicability of 13 strategies for each stakeholder group described. Mixed design analysis is then undertaken to examine the direct effects and interactions between the four combinations of influencing abilities, the stakeholder group examined or how the strategy suggested impacted on managers' views.

Findings – The research found that there was an interaction effect suggesting that some strategies were more applicable to stakeholders with certain sets of influencing abilities, as the stakeholder strategy matrix suggested. The specific stakeholder group examined also appeared to impact on managers' views, which is inconsistent with the theory.

Research limitations/implications – The limitations are that the research focused on managers' perceptions of the applicability of strategies, rather than the actual success of strategies examined. Research into the effectiveness of actual behaviours would possibly require more in-depth examination of case studies.

Practical implications – The research suggests that the stakeholder strategy matrix may provide some guidance as to how managers deal with stakeholders. However, it also suggests that managers may be implicitly applying influencing abilities to groups irrespective of their “true” influencing ability. In this case managers are in fact ignoring valuable information when deciding how to interact with stakeholders and therefore possibly using less effective strategies to interact with stakeholders.

Originality/value – The research is unique as it looks at determining whether different types of strategies for dealing with stakeholders are perceived to be more or less effective. This therefore seeks to make stakeholder theory more strategic and applicable in a broader set of contexts. As such the paper would be of interest to managers seeking to understand better how to deal with stakeholders and to theorists seeking to understand better how stakeholder theory impacts on organisational outcomes.

An empirical examination of feedback : user control and performance in a hapto-audio-visual training environment

Utilising advanced technologies, such as virtual environments (VEs), is of importance to training and education. The need to develop and effectively apply interactive, immersive 3D VEs continues to grow. As with any emerging technology, user acceptance of new software and hardware devices is often difficult to measure and guidelines to introduce and ensure adequate and correct usage of such technologies are lacking. It is therefore imperative to obtain a solid understanding of the important elements that play a role in effective learning through VEs. In particular, 3D VEs may present unusual and varied interaction and adoption considerations. The major contribution of this study is to investigate a complex set of interrelated factors in the relatively new sphere of VEs for training and education. Although many of the factors appears to be important from past research, researcher have not explicitly studied a comprehensive set of inter-dependant, empirically validated factors in order to understand how VEs aid complex procedural knowledge and motor skill learning. By integrating theory from research on training, human computer interaction (HCI), ergonomics and cognitive psychology, this research proposes and validates a model that contributes to application-specific VE efficacy formation. The findings of this study show visual feedback has a significant effect on performance. For tactile/force feedback and auditory feedback, no significant effect were found. For satisfaction, user control is salient for performance. Other factors such as interactivity and system comfort, as well as level of task difficulty, also showed effects on performance.

An empirical examination of alliances in the Australian technology industry

This paper attempts to reduce the research gap in the alliance learning literature by reporting the results of a study based on a conceptual model on the Australian ICT industry, which is tested through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The conceptual model includes six constructs (alliance performance, learning orientation, market orientation, relational norms, trust and knowledge intensity). Suggestions for practitioners involved in alliances and directions for future research are espoused.

The role of brand orientation in church participation: an empirical examination

Although a large amount of research has been undertaken into the application of marketing techniques in church organizations, few studies have provided empirical evidence on the effects of brand orientation on church participation. This empirical study sought to contribute to the body of literature via a survey of 344 church attendees of a particular church denomination in Australia. The conceptual model hypothesizes brand orientation as performing direct and indirect effects on church participation through perceived benefits as the mediating variables. A person's perception of the extent to which a church engages in brand-oriented activities and behavior is significantly related with his or her perception of the benefits associated with church activities, which then leads to a higher level of church participation. The results reveal that brand orientation is significantly related with perceived benefits and church participation.

Brand orientation and service quality in online and offline environments: empirical examination in higher education

This study examines the relationship between perceived brand orientation (PBO) and service quality (SERVQUAL) in both online and offline education environment. A total of 476 questionnaires were completed by undergraduate students of a particular university in Australia. Structural equation modeling was employed in this study to examine the associations between PBO and service quality (SERVQUAL). The “interaction” dimension of PBO is significantly related to all elements of SERVQUAL in both groups. The “affect” dimension is only significantly related to the “tangibles” dimension in the online groups and is not significantly related to all SERVQUAL dimension in the offline groups

Intellectual capital disclosures and corporate governance: an empirical examination

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Empirical examinations of the links between corporate governance and intellectual capital are underresearched, particularly from the context of emerging economies where corporate governance mechanisms tend to be largely ceremonial due to family dominance. This study aims to address this gap in the intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) literature by undertaking an empirical examination of the relationship between corporate governance and the extent of ICD of Bangladeshi companies. Inter alia, the key findings of this study suggest that there is a non-linear relationship between family ownership and the extent of ICD. This research also found that foreign ownership, board independence, and the presence of audit committees are positively associated with the extent of ICD. Conversely, family duality (i.e., where the positions of CEO and chairperson are occupied by two individuals from the same family) is negatively associated with the extent of ICD.

Stock market liquidity and firm value : an empirical examination of the Australian market

We document a positive relation between stock liquidity and firm value. We examine the mechanism through which stock market liquidity enhances firm value by dividing firm value, as measured by Tobin’s Q, into three components, namely, operating income to price, leverage, and operating income to assets. Using the switch to broker anonymity as an exogenous shock to market liquidity, we show that the increase in liquidity around the shock leads to an increase in firm value. Our results suggest that higher firm value for more liquid stocks seems to stem from enhanced stock prices rather than from better operating performance.

Religiosity and digital piracy : an empirical examination

This study aims to examine the relationship between religiosity,attitudes to digital piracy, and behavioral intention. A totalof 400 questionnaires were completed by members of a Christianmega-church in Indonesia. Cluster analysis and MANOVAwere employed to determine whether there are significant differencesbetween the less religious, moderately religious, andhighly religious respondents in their attitude to digital piracy andbehavioral intention. This study provides empirical evidence thathighly religious respondents have a stronger attitude against digitalpiracy and are more willing to stop purchasing pirated mediacompared to the less religious and moderately religious respondents.

Marketing position taxonomies : an empirical analysis

Despite the continuing need for an empirically validated classification of marketing positions, for theoretical and practical purposes, it appears that no such schema exists. This study contributes to the development of such a taxonomy through an empirical examination of marketing positions. Specifically, the research extends an existing taxonomy by empirically investigating personal selling marketing activities. Based on the taxonomy developed by Darmon (1998), data were collected about the information load, information complexity, and time and relationship management activities of marketers. Various analytical techniques were used to investigate specific features of the instrument and the taxonomy, as well as to provide convergence for the conclusions drawn by the researchers. It was established that sales positions can be more meaningfully identified, and, therefore, better categorised, by six dimensions than by job title or job role. Further, it appears that marketers in the same selling position vary significantly on these dimensions. These findings have important implications for marketing theory, applied research and management. However, future research should refine the instrument used in this study, since some anomalies emerged in the findings, and extend the study by investigating a wider range of marketing positions. Such research may also explore whether the dimensions identified in this study influence the performance and job satisfaction of marketers, and the extent to which marketing managers account for these variations.

Publishing in 20 leading marketing journals – an examination of global performance

Purpose of this paper was to examine the global contribution of academics to marketing literature between 1999 and 2003. This was done based on an examination of the location of academics institution of employment, as reported in published works within the targeted journals. This was then used to examine the globally dispersion of publishing by institutions.

Design/approach. The paper used a content analysis. The authorship of all articles in 20 leading journals was examined between 1999 and 2003. Empirical examination of institutions performance was undertaken across geographic regions. There was also an examination of whether the type of journal impacted on regional performance, using Polonsky and Whitelaw’s (2006) A, B and C journal groupings.

Findings. The research found that there is a significant “bias” of authorship within the 20 journals examined, with the majority of works published by academics at institutions in North America. There is some variation in regional performance based on the type of journal examined. However, when one considers the number of universities within each country/region, it is identified that the proportion of institutions within a country/region publishing within the targeted journals is in fact hight outside North America.

Limitations. There was no attempt to examine why any differences exist. The study also only focused on a sample of 20 English language journals over 5 years, although these journals have been ‘defined’ as a leading marketing journal for European marketing academics.

Practical Implications. The research suggests that there may in fact be a range of differences in publishing behaviour. It is unclear if these differences relate to variations in the “objectives” of institutions within each country or other factors. The research posits that a marketing knowledge may be unnecessarily restricted, if there is a bias against non-north American perspectives.

Originality. While there have been other works examining research performance of institutions, there have not been any marketing-related works that focused on the nation in which authors work. This work therefore takes a global “snapshot” of national research performance within marketing.