Investigating online recognition for blood donor retention : an experiential donor value approach

Recognising that charitable behaviour can be motivated by public recognition and emotional satisfaction, not-for-profit organisations have developed strategies that leverage self-interest over altruism by facilitating individuals to donate conspicuously. Initially developed as novel marketing programs to increase donation income, such conspicuous tokens of recognition are being recognised as important value propositions to nurture donor relationships. Despite this, there is little empirical evidence that identifies when donations can be increased through conspicuous recognition. Furthermore, social media’s growing popularity for self-expression, as well as the increasing use of technology in donor relationship management strategies, makes an examination of virtual conspicuous tokens of recognition in relation to what value donors seek particularly insightful. Therefore, this research examined the impact of experiential donor value and virtual conspicuous tokens of recognition on blood donor intentions. Using online survey data from 186 Australian blood donors, results show that in fact emotional value is a stronger predictor of intentions to donate blood than altruistic value, while social value is the strongest predictor of intentions if provided with recognition. Clear linkages between dimensions of donor value (altruistic, emotional and social) and conspicuous donation behaviour (CDB) were identified. The findings provide valuable insights into the use of conspicuous donation tokens of recognition on social media, and contribute to our understanding into the under-researched areas of donor value and CDB.

Repurchase intention in B2C e-commerce—A relationship quality perspective

Information systems professionals must pay attention to online customer retention. Drawing on the relationship marketing literature, we formulated and tested a model to explain B2C user repurchase intention from the perspective of relationship quality. The model was empirically tested through a survey conducted in Northern Ireland. Results showed that online relationship quality and perceived website usability positively impacted customer repurchase intention. Moreover, online relationship quality was positively influenced by perceived vendor expertise in order fulfillment, perceived vendor reputation, and perceived website usability, whereas distrust in vendor behavior negatively influenced online relationship quality. Implications of these findings are discussed. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Projecto de criação de metodologia de análise da Usabilidade para selecção de plataforma SaaS de Gestão de Projectos online CATCH, Global Marketing

O aparecimento de soluções de software baseadas na Cloud vieram democratizar o acesso a aplicações de suporte à actividade empresarial, permitindo a micro e pequenas empresas aceder a ferramentas que outrora apenas as grandes empresas poderiam financiar, dada a introdução de novas formas de pagamento mensais com base em contratos flexíveis, acesso via internet e ausência de instalação de hardware específico ou compra de licenças por utilizador – a verdadeira utilização de software como um serviço, vulgo SaaS (Software as a Service). As aplicações de tipo SaaS aportam inúmeros benefícios para as empresas e mesmo vantagens competitivas importantes, estando disponíveis soluções em diversas áreas, nomeadamente para a Gestão de Projectos, como ferramentas de CRM (Customer Relationship Management) e CMS (Content Management System), entre outros. Assim, as empresas de Marketing e Comunicação, caso da empresa em que se centra este Projecto, têm hoje em dia acesso a um conjunto de aplicações SaaS, que pelo seu custo acessível e fácil acesso online, permitem às empresas mais pequenas serem rapidamente tão competitivas quanto as maiores, por norma com processos mais pesados e tradicionais. Adicionalmente, assistimos também ao fenómeno da consumerização das TI, em que os consumidores passam a querer ter o mesmo tipo de User Experience (UX) de que usufruem na utilização de aplicações fora do seu trabalho, aplicadas à vida empresarial. Este Projecto argumenta que a Usabilidade deve ser um dos elementos chave para a selecção correcta de uma aplicação online de Gestão de Projectos (do tipo SaaS), algo que deveria ser facilitado pela aplicação de uma metodologia de teste da Usabilidade, disponível numa plataforma online de acesso livre. A metodologia deverá ser eficaz e passível de ser utilizada por colaboradores de uma micro ou pequena empresa, apoiando o seu processo decisório de investimento, sendo eles especialistas ou não na matéria. A metodologia proposta neste projecto exploratório pressupõe uma complementaridade entre a avaliação Heurística de Usabilidade pelo método de Nielsen e o Método de Purdue - Purdue Usability Testing Questionnaire (PUTQ).

Trends and guidelines in online privacy policy

Online privacy policies (OPP) are important mechanisms for informing online consumers about the level of information privacy protection afforded when visiting web sites. To date, societal mechanisms and technologies have been the focus of attempts to improve the quality and effectiveness of OPPs. We present findings from a longitudinal, empirical study of online privacy policies. Our research found that although online privacy policies have improved in quality and effectiveness since 2000, they still fall well short of the level of privacy assurance desired by consumers. This study analyses trends in OPPs over the two years of the study, identifying areas of deficiency and improvements, and offering a solution in the form of a detailed set of guidelines for organisational online privacy policy. Our study adds to existing theory in this area and, more immediately, will assist businesses concerned about the effect of privacy issues on consumer web usage.

A good chat - are online forums fit for PLT? - a review

The effectiveness of asynchronous Online Discussion Forums (ODF) as a teaching medium in Practical Legal Training (PLT) is dependent on factors affecting student satisfaction with the learning task.
A literature review was undertaken as part of a proposed research project to: (a) investigate the relationship between the use of ODF as a teaching medium in PLT, students’ learning behaviours, and student satisfaction; (b) ascertain students’ perceptions of their own learning behaviours during the ODF activities and to compare those perceptions with learning behaviours identified in the Community of Inquiry Framework; and (c) make recommendations that might improve the fit between the use of ODFs, positive learning behaviours, and student satisfaction. The research project is still underway.
The review and the proposed study is framed by a constructivist learner-centred approach informed by the theories of Piaget, Vygotsky and others, together with Marzano and Kendall’s ‘New Taxonomy of Education Objectives’, and the ‘Community of Inquiry Framework’ described by Archer, Garrison, Arbaugh, Gunawardena and others.
A search for articles with abstracts including the terms ‘satisfaction’ and ‘online’ on ERIC and online peer-reviewed journals during September 2010 produced 76 relevant articles for this review; these disclosed that factors involving student satisfaction with ODFs as a teaching medium include: students’ contexts; students’ perceptions of self-efficacy and of the importance and relevance of the learning task; learning and personality styles; technological self-efficacy; student-student and lecturer-student interactions; flexible learning environments; instructional design; online learning management systems; and the blend of online and face-to-face instruction delivery.
These factors are likely to be significant for framing the proposed research and the design, implementation, and evaluation of instruction involving online forums in practical legal training.

Responsible management of online academic reputations

Online professional persona creation in academia provides individuals and their employing institutions a range of positive reputational benefits. However, not all academics are equipped to keep pace with the speed and dynamism of the new media environment. This paper examines the challenges experienced by academics who are communicating with multiple audiences across several online platforms, some mandated by their institutions. Some academics are vulnerable to the negative consequences of heightened exposure and need additional protection and support. This paper outlines a set of recommendations that centres on the need for universities to accept greater social responsibility in managing this emerging issue.

Fuzzy Online Reputation Analysis Framework

The fuzzy online reputation analysis framework, or “foRa” (plural of forum, the Latin word for marketplace) framework, is a method for searching the Social Web to find meaningful information about reputation. Based on an automatic, fuzzy-built ontology, this framework queries the social marketplaces of the Web for reputation, combines the retrieved results, and generates navigable Topic Maps. Using these interactive maps, communications operatives can zero in on precisely what they are looking for and discover unforeseen relationships between topics and tags. Thus, using this framework, it is possible to scan the Social Web for a name, product, brand, or combination thereof and determine query-related topic classes with related terms and thus identify hidden sources. This chapter also briefly describes the youReputation prototype (www.youreputation.org), a free web-based application for reputation analysis. In the course of this, a small example will explain the benefits of the prototype.

Effects of knowledge management on client-vendor relationship quality : the mediating role of global mindset

Purpose: This study argues that knowledge management (KM) by itself has only limited effects on client–vendor relationship (CVR) of global providers of highly customised services. Rather, it is the ability of top management to properly evaluate and utilise a vast array of complex knowledge which allows global firms to develop and maintain superior CVR. The paper tests the proposition that global mindset (GM) of top management mediates the effects of KM on CVR quality. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses survey data from a sample of 68 international service providers (ISPs) in the information technology sector in India and partial least squares approach to structural equation modelling to test the hypotheses. Findings: The results show that both KM and GM have positive and statistically significant effects on the quality of CVRs. The results also confirm that the GM of top management has significant and substantive mediation effects on the relationship between KM and CVR quality. Research limitations/implications: The small size of the sample and the focus on ISPs in a single country constitute the main limitations of the study. Future research should ideally draw from a larger sample of ISPs from multiple countries and sectors in order to allow for greater generalisation of the findings. Practical implications: ISPs will benefit from developing the GM of their top management teams to enhance their CVRs. Originality/value: The paper provides new insights into how, in an international context, firms can transform their KM into superior CVR quality through the development of GM.

Business Service Management

Business Service Management describes the emerging discipline dedicated to the IT-enabled management of services as corporate assets. Business Service Management deals with the service orientation of the organisation and the provisioning and use of business services. The term business service describes an autonomous transformational capability that is offered to and consumed by external or internal customers for their benefit. The prefix ‘business’ stresses that such a service has a market value, requires the ability to be managed internally as a corporate asset and that its implementation is technology-agnostic. While business services (or so called capabilities) have attracted the attention of many vendors and organisations, a lack of understanding of the activities required for the successful management of such business services remains a critical issue. In order to fill this gap, a framework consisting of Service Lifecycle Management, Service Value Management, Service Relationship Management and Service Enablement is proposed. This Framework has the potential to provide organisations with the much needed guidance in their attempts to convert current IT-driven service initiatives into successful service-centric business models.

Final report implementation of relational management

Construction teams and construction organisations have their own distinctive cultures. There also exists an infrastructure, both social and contractual, which ensures that these projects within which the teams operate are completed successfully. It is these issues which this research has addressed. The project was instigated by Queensland Department of Main Roads, Public Works and John Holland Group in order to address how they might better implement relationship management (RM) on their construction projects. The project was devised initially in order to facilitate a change in culture which would allow the project to be run in a relational manner and would lead to effective performance in terms of the KPIs that the organisations set for themselves, described as business better than usual. This report describes the project, its outcomes and deliverable and indicates the changes that were made to the project during the research process. Hence, the initial premise of the project and the problem to investigate was the implementation of relational contracting: • throughout a range of projects; • with a focus on client body staff. The additions that were made to the project, and documented in the variations to the project, included two major additional areas of study: • client management and stakeholder management; • a live case study of an alliancing project. The context within which the research was undertaken is important. The research was driven by main roads with their desire to improve their operations by focusing on the relationship between the major project participants (however, stakeholder and client organisation management became an obvious issue as the research progressed, hence the variations). The context was initially focussed on main roads, public works and John Holland group organisations but it became clear very quickly that this was in fact an industry-wide issue and not an issue specific solely to the project participants. Hence, the context within which this research took place can be described as below: The deliverables from the project are a toolkit for determining RM needs in an organisation, a monograph describing the practical implementation of RM and the outline for a RM CPD and Masters course

Report on client management

There can be many interpretations of relationship management. In this short report, we are concerned with relationships arising under an alliance project and in managing stakeholders under a more traditional approach to procurement. Each aspect is supported by an example project.

Investigating relationships between relationship quality, customer loyalty and cooperation : an empirical study of convenience stores' franchise chain systems in Taiwan

Franchising has been widely accepted as an effective way to conduct and expand businesses. However, a franchise system is not a guarantee of success in the market. A successful franchise system should rely on a close and strong franchising relationship. Franchising is an important relationship management business. Franchising arrangements normally last for a number of years, so the franchisor and franchisee in the arrangement relationship are usually motivated to cooperate with each other. In addition, highly loyal franchisees may be obtained through a successful long-term franchising relationship. Over the last few decades, there has been a tremendous wave of interest in franchising relationships. However, little research has been conducted to determine the reasons for long-term franchising relationships. As a result, this study focuses on the important elements that might lead to a successful long-term franchising relationship. This study attempts to examine empirically three essential constructs (relationship quality, cooperation and customer loyalty), which might lead to successful long-term franchising relationships between franchisees and franchisors among the convenience stores in Taiwan. Mailed questionnaires were utilised to collect the research data. A total of 500 surveys were mailed randomly to the manager/supervisor of convenience stores’ franchisees among the four main franchisors (7-ELEVEN, Family, Hi-Life and OK) in Taiwan. The final sample size is 120, yielding a response rate of 24 per cent. The results show that relationship quality positively influences the cooperative relationships between franchisors and franchisees. Relationship quality is also positively correlated with franchisees’ loyalty. Additionally, the results indicate that the cooperative relationships between franchisors and franchisees are significantly associated with franchisees’ loyalty.

The soft skills of project management : a view from diploma graduates

A research study was conducted in a key area of project management: stakeholder and relationship management through communication - ‘the soft skills’. It was conducted with Diploma of Project Management graduates from one Australian Registered Training Organisation (RTO), the Australian College of Project Management (ACPM). The study was designed to initially identify the qualifications and project management experience of the participants. Further, it identified the respondents’ understanding of and attitude to commonly held principles and literature within the project management field as it relates to the soft skills of projects. This is specifically connected to their project experience and knowledge, approach to project communications, and the stakeholder’s needs. Some of the literature showed that through the management and application of the project soft skills by project managers may actually be a recipe for project success. Hence, an important underpinning of this study was that the project manager can enhance project success (or reduce the impact of failure) by identifying and prioritising stakeholders, developing and implementing strategies for engaging and communicating with them. The use of a positivist approach to this research study allowed for the evaluation and understanding of respondents to the emergent theories of successful projects being delivered through the management of stakeholders, communications, and relationships. Consequently, a quantitative approach to this study was undertaken. The participants were drawn from graduates who completed (graduated) from the ACPM with the Diploma of Project Management between January 2004 and December 2007 only. A list of graduates was collated from this period indicating that a total of 656 graduates have completed and graduated with the qualification. The data collection for this study was done in one phase only. The questionnaire was emailed individually by the researcher directly to the selected potential respondents. Subsequently, a total of 44 responses were received, providing an overall response rate of 43%. Two key factors emerged from the survey questionnaire. Firstly, the need for the soft skills to be incorporated in project management curriculum and education programs, and secondly, that successful projects are delivered through the management and application of the project soft skills. It is expected that the findings of this study be provided across various forums (such as vocational education and training, and project management conferences) and via project management bodies such as the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) to inform learning and provide greater insight into the soft skills of project management. It is the contention of the researcher that this quantitative study of Diploma of Project Management graduates’ views and attitudes highlights the importance of project soft skills and its importance in the delivery of successful projects as well as being part of the competencies of a successful project manager. This study also revealed the value of project experience and knowledge as it pertains to the management and application of the project soft skills.

Sustainable relationship : an Australian case study

Successful construction project managers often stress the importance of team working, relationship management, project environment and senior management commitment as being key determinants of project success. However, it is generally accepted that the construction industry has stronger preference for displaying distrust rather than emancipating the full benefits of cooperation. In the research domain, the impact of culture and organisation on project performance is becoming an increasingly important topic for the establishment of a sound relational approach to projects. Relational procurement strategies emphasise the importance of sustainable relationships. However, the efficacy of relational contracting is, so far, unproven. This study examines the organisational factors that facilitates sustainable relationship between project organisations and hence, lead to long-term business success. Initial findings captured from a survey undertaken with construction contracting organisations in Australia, where the perceptions of professional personnel and supply chain relationships are reported in this paper. A four-level project performance effectiveness model developed in this research is also presented.