Security Assurance: How Online Service Providers Can Influence Security Control Perceptions and Gain Trust

Security researchers agree that security control is a difficult to observe credence quality of online services that Internet users cannot easily assess through research or experience. Yet there is evidence that users form perceptions of security control that strongly determine how much trust they put in online services. This study investigates whether users’ security control perceptions arise solely from their predispositions or whether online service providers can influence them. The study also examines whether these seemingly undependable perceptions of security control lead to trust or whether more traditional factors might offer a better explanation of trust under security risks. To address these issues, this study proposes a new theory of security assurance that integrates the frameworks of trust and quality signals. The results show that rather than being guided by predispositions, users appear to mainly assess security control based on indirect cues controlled by service providers. Importantly, Internet users do not treat the credence quality of security the same way they treat qualities that can be understood through search and experience. Although returning users develop security control perceptions and trust from the usual heuristics of ongoing relationships, they also continue to evaluate market information about service providers like they do in new relationships. The proposed model offers a new perspective of how users respond to the uncertain and technically challenging qualities prevalent in online services.     

A strategy for incorporting ISO 9000 into an internationally oriented accounting practice

Management consulting organizations generally can plan to improve their earnings by two strategies. First, they can offer their services in a more efficient manner by using a minimum amount of resources. This is normally accomplished by employing common tools such as reengineering of the processes, continuous improvement, and target costing. Second, they can attempt to raise their market share or offer new types of services required by clients. For accounting firms, this means expanding their service horizons from traditional audit, tax, and systems consulting to more contemporary areas such as ISO 9000 and total quality management (TQM). The authors outline an approach for firms to successfully undertake the inclusion of quality audit services in their practices.     

The mediating role of distributive justice perceptions in the relationship between emotion regulation and emotional exhaustion in healthcare workers

This research proposes that the use of emotion regulation strategies by employees in the service professions determines their perceptions of fairness in interactions with clients, which in turn influences their emotional exhaustion. Based on social exchange theory and models of self-control, the investigation tested whether: (1) the type of emotion regulation strategy that employees use to meet the emotional demands of their job role partially influences their perceptions of distributive justice (i.e. that clients respond to their efforts), and (2) these perceptions mediate the relationship between emotion regulation and emotional exhaustion. To test this, a longitudinal field survey study of a sample of primary care workers in Spain (general practitioners and nurses; N?=?233) was conducted. Findings showed that the relationship between emotion regulation and emotional exhaustion was mediated by perceptions of distributive justice. A bootstrapping mediational analysis showed a significant indirect effect of surface acting on emotional exhaustion through distributive justice when inter-individual differences at T1 and when intra-individual changes between T1 and T2 were considered. Deep acting indirect effects were not significant for intra-individual changes. The findings indicate that employees’ perception of distributive justice has implications for understanding the impact of emotion regulation on well-being.     

在线B2C顾客物流服务感知及相关因素的实证研究

物流服务已成为B2C电子商务的重要组成部分,关注顾客的物流服务感知也日渐成为网络零售企业管理面临的新问题.本文分析了B2C电子商务环境下顾客物流服务感知以及与之相关的产品价值感知、商流过程感知和企业形象感知等因素及其这些因素与顾客满意度,顾客忠诚之间的相互关系,并在理论与文献研究的基础上建立了在线B2C顾客物流服务感知相关因素的假设模型.通过某中国大型在线零售商顾客的实际调研并结合结构方程模型的分析,实际数据验证了"在线B2C顾客企业形象感知对其物流服务感知具有显著的正面影响","在线B2C顾客物流服务感知对其网购满意度具有显著的正面影响"等假设.据此,本文分析认为网络零售商可选择两种实施路径以提升顾客满意度:其一,凭借其良好的企业形象将渠道控制能力自然延伸到物流服务领域,其二,参与供应商的产品质量管理甚至产品研发与上游供应商协作.     

审计师关注客户所在地区社会信任水平吗? ——基于Pecking Order模型的研究

文章利用CGSS调查数据度量客户所在地区的社会信任水平,进而考察其对审计师决策的影响。文章首先分别考察了社会信任水平与审计定价、出具非标审计意见的倾向、审计师变更之间的关系,结果发现,公司所在地区的社会信任水平与审计定价、审计师变更均呈显著负向关系,表明审计师会对位于高社会信任地区的客户收取更低的审计费用、审计契约更为稳定,但社会信任与审计师出具非标意见的倾向之间没有显著关联。有序Logistic检验结果表明,在审计定价和审计师变更决策之间,审计师存在优先选择次序:对于低社会信任地区客户,他们会优先通过提高审计收费的手段来控制相关风险。只有在风险超出其承受力、不能通过提高审计费用来控制时,才会放弃客户。此外,文章还发现,地区法治水平能够缓解社会信任对审计师决策的影响。这一研究有助于加深社会信任与审计师决策之间关系的理解,并有助于理解审计师的风险管理策略。     

Nurturing clients’ trust to encourage engagement success during the customization of ERP systems

Customization is a crucial, lengthy, and costly aspect in the successful implementation of ERP systems, and has, accordingly, become a major specialty of many vendors and consulting companies. This study examines how such companies can increase their clients’ perception of engagement success through increased client trust that is brought about through responsive and dependable customization.Survey data from ERP customization clients show that, as hypothesized, clients’ trust influenced their perception of engagement success with the company. The data also show that clients’ trust in the customization company was increased when the company behaved in accordance with client expectations by being responsive, and decreased when the company behaved in a manner that contradicted these expectations by not being dependable. Responses to an open-ended question addendum attached to the survey corroborated the importance of responsiveness and dependability. Implications for customization companies and research on trust are discussed.     

通过顾客关系服务化来强化顾客价值过程--顾客关系时代的营销新命题

本文建立在这样一个全新的观念基础之上,即营销资源和活动必须与企业所面临的目标顾客相互一致,同时,顾客价值不是由制造商或服务提供者创造的,而是由顾客在其价值创造过程中创造的.企业的资源、流程和能力并不是企业的生产(如产品)、管理(如网站)、财务(如结算)、法律(如顾客申述的处理)及其它活动过程的结果,而应当被视为顾客价值创造过程的投入要素.因此,供应商的作用是通过向顾客提供恰当的资源要素,如产品、服务、信息、服务补救、个性化关怀等来支持顾客价值创造过程,并与顾客资源形成互动,惟此,顾客才会感知到价值被创造出来.要以此方式运营,企业必须将自己看作是服务企业,而且真正地为顾客服务.为强化顾客价值的生成,企业必须将其客户关系中的所有要素"服务化"(Servicizing),无论是与制造或服务相关的,还是管理、财务或者法律等常规活动.这些常规活动通常属于"隐性服务"(HiddenService),它们在价值创造中的潜力没有得到应有重视.相反,这些要素对顾客价值的生成过程常常起到破坏而不是支撑作用."服务化"意味着要将所有与顾客关系相关的要素,不管它们的类型和特性如何,转化为顾客价值创造过程中的投入要素.最后,本文还探讨了在顾客关系管理时代,如何配置企业营销资源及营销规划等问题.     

Hong Kong managers' perceptions of American business values

This report describes empirical research conducted to study the research question, “To what extent do foreign managers' own cultural values influence their perceptions of the corporate values of companies in other cultures?” Using the authors' “Business Values Questionnaire,” business managers from Hong Kong gave their perceptions of publicly stated corporate values of very large U.S. service companies. A similar United States sample was used as a comparison group. Results gave partial support to the authors' hypotheses that an individual's own cultural values influence perceived values of another culture.     

Involving Families and Staff in Service Improvement

This study was designed to improve an important service for severely mentally retarded adolescents and adults. The overall objective was to investigate the effect on client and staff behavior of implementing procedures designed to achieve change in three priority service areas selected by the families and staff. The experimental design was a three phase time series design. In the final phase, three procedures designed to achieve change in the selected areas were introduced sequentially. The service areas selected were staff organization, staff-family communication and clients' recreational activities. The setting supervisors monitored staff use of the procedures by means of a structured checklist and gave staff direct feedback on their performance. Checklists used by the researchers revealed consistent use of the procedures by staff. Observational measures showed marked changes in the behavior of both staff and their clients. Comparisons of interviews with staff and families conducted prior to and following the interventions revealed general satisfaction with changes achieved and increased staff emphasis on client teaching. This study demonstrated the feasibility and desirability of involving staff and families in making plans for service improvement.     

平台服务和物流服务对网络商家信心的影响——商家信誉的调节作用

在电子商务平台中,商家日常经营所需的服务与传统零售业有所不同,主要包括平台服务和物流服务两种。商家信心决定着平台的生存发展,但尚未有文献从信心视角对平台服务和物流服务展开研究。本文使用3995位淘宝店铺经营者的调查数据,建立次序回归模型分析发现:平台服务和物流服务都对商家信心有正向影响;商家信誉具有调节作用,随着信誉等级的提高,平台服务对商家信心的影响逐渐增强;而信誉等级较低的商家信心更容易受物流服务影响。     

Experimental evidence on external auditor reliance on the internal audit

With the revised version of ISA 610 (revised 2013), external auditors now face both requirements and guidance addressing their responsibilities when relying on the internal audit function (IAF). The reliance decision of an external auditor has important economic consequences and implications for the efficiency and effectiveness of the annual audit. Using an experimental design, we explore how German external auditors’ reliance decisions regarding the IAF are affected by varying levels of environmental factors, like client business risk, effectiveness of the internal control system, and quality of the corporate governance. Furthermore, the experiences of external auditors in collaborating with an IAF are taken into consideration. The results indicate main effects for each factor and a two-way interaction between the effectiveness of the internal control system and the quality of corporate governance. Specifically, a strong internal control system can compensate for weaknesses in corporate governance with respect to the confidence of external auditors in the IAF. Also, the type of audit procedure influences the willingness of auditors to rely on the IAF, and the inherent risk of the examined transaction strengthens the negative impact of client business risk on the reliance decision. Moreover, past experiences of external auditors with an IAF have a significant impact on their reliance decision. Overall, the findings suggest that organizations can foster internal–external auditor coordination by enhancing corporate governance effectiveness and strengthening the internal control system.

     

Intensity of Interaction in Supply of Business Advice and Client Impact: A Comparison of Consultancy,Business Associations and Government Support Initiatives for SMEs

This paper assesses the supply of business advice using new empirical evidence from a large-scale survey of SMEs. The chief focus of the paper is on a comparison of suppliers that operate in different environments of regulation, contract and reputation. The paper argues that interaction intensity varies with the level of information asymmetry of these different environments, between different types of service supplier and their clients. Interaction intensity between suppliers also varies as a result of the level of trust they enjoy: for example, the low trust enjoyed by consultants appears to encourage higher intensity of interaction which improves the tailoring of the service to the client's needs and enhances impact. The paper assesses interaction intensity using the existence of site visits and/or a written brief/contract as indicators. Although these measures have limitations, the paper demonstrates clear and significant differences between suppliers in terms of interaction intensity, use of contracts and impact in three broad categories: private-sector consultancy (low trust, high intensity, high impact), business associations (high trust, low intensity, moderate impact) and government support agencies (moderate trust, moderate to high intensity, moderate or low impact). Multivariate estimation methods demonstrate that significant differences in interaction intensity, use of contracts and impact by client type are much less important than differences in supplier type. This indicates that suppliers generally develop more into niche service fields or groups of services rather than niches related to types of firm.     

A game mechanism for single machine sequencing with zero risk

A problem is studied in which several non-cooperating clients compete for earlier execution of their jobs in a processing sequence of a single service provider in order to minimize job completion time costs. The clients can move their jobs earlier in a given sequence. They are assumed not to take a risky decision that can decrease their utility function. A game mechanism is suggested such that each client has no incentive to claim false cost and a social criterion is addressed, which is the minimum total cost of all clients. Algorithmic aspects of this mechanism are analyzed such as relations between the values of game equilibria and the social optimum, the computational complexity of finding a game equilibrium and the values of the price of anarchy and the price of stability.     

Social model of emotional labour and client satisfaction: exploring inter- and intrapersonal characteristics of the client−provider encounter

As part of healthcare organisations’ efforts to improve client satisfaction, special attention is directed to care providers’ expression of authenticity through genuine emotional displays in care encounters. The study’s aim was to test a mediating–moderating model for predicting clients’ satisfaction. The model combined intrapersonal forces (the healthcare provider’s level of caring and emotional load) and interpersonal forces (meeting the client in a team of professionals or alone, and client?provider similarity), as predictors of emotional labour strategies, and subsequent client satisfaction. Clients’ evaluation of whether or not the emotional displays were authentic was intended to moderate the link between emotional labour and client satisfaction. The sample consisted of 103 healthcare providers’ encounters with clients’ family members, randomly selected from five nursing homes. Data were collected by validated questionnaires at three time points. Mixed linear model analyses generally supported the proposed model. Meeting a client’s family in teams, ethnic similarity, and providers’ caring and emotional load stimulated higher levels of deep acting. Meeting clients alone and less emotional load involved more surface acting. These findings offer empirical support for the social interaction explanation of emotional labour, pointing to the importance of social characteristics of the service encounter in shaping emotional labour strategies and maintaining client satisfaction.     

Motivating the client/employee system as a service production strategy

Productivity improvement in service organizations is of major concern to managers as one way of countering escalating costs. In service organizations in which the client/customer is directly involved in the production function, improved performance can be secured by viewing the client/customer as a "partial" employee. This proposition in turn leads to the suggestion that productivity gains can be realized for services by expanding conventional motivation concepts to include the client/customer.     

A preliminary insight into the role and importance of management skills in the prevention of occupational derailment: An exploratory analysis of UK and Spanish pharmacists

The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence and importance of management skills in the pharmacy profession and pharmacists’ ability to respond to current and future challenges in healthcare provision. As service professionals, pharmacists are engaged based on their expertise and skills, and are noted for their contribution to the knowledge-based economy and control over the application of their knowledge (Abbott, 1991). The same premise would apply to other professionals e.g. healthcare (nurses, doctors and psychologists); legal (lawyers, solicitors and barristers); consultancy; accountancy; banking and architecture (von Nordenflycht, 2010). An exploratory analysis of UK and Spanish pharmacists’ roles and their adoption of management skills was thus undertaken. Both healthcare systems are very similar and likewise the clinical training and role of pharmacists, professional standards and regulations are similar but there are subtle differences. Data were collected using semi-structured online surveys; two thirds of the data were collected from a UK audience and the final third from Spanish pharmacists. The data collection was planned and iterative in the first two stages (stage one influencing stage two) (UK) and the final stage (Spain) offered an opportunistic comparator study. The results demonstrated that there was overwhelming support for management skills to be part of undergraduate studies. The outputs of this study identify the most important management skills pharmacists need to perform effectively. Consideration was also given to the impact of inability to perform in their role, and hence the possibility of occupational derailment (leaving their role or being demoted). These findings offer important learning to support workforce development in all professional services.     

Self‐Service Operations at Retail Stores: The Role of Inter‐Customer Interactions

Inter‐customer interactions are important to the operation of self‐services in retail settings. More specifically, when self‐service terminals are used as part of customers’ checkout processes in retail operations without the explicit involvement of retailers as the direct service providers, inter‐customer interactions become a significant managerial issue. In this article, we examine the impact of inter‐customer interactions at retail self‐service terminals on customers’ service quality perceptions and repeat purchase intentions at retail stores. We conduct a scenario‐based experimental design (N = 674) using a 2 × 2 factorial design in which inter‐customer interactions are divided into “positive” vs. “negative” and occur during the “waiting” or during the actual “transaction” stages of self‐services at a retail store. We use attribution theory to develop the hypotheses. The results demonstrate that, through their interactions, fellow customers can exert influences on a focal customer's quality perceptions and repeat purchasing intentions toward a retail store. Furthermore, these influences were impacted by how customers attribute blame or assign responsibility toward the retail store. Service operations managers should leverage these interactions by designing into self‐service settings the capacities and interfaces that are best suited for customers’ co‐production of their self‐service experiences.     

An Interaction Model of Business Service Production and Consumption

This paper develops a conceptual framework and model of the production and consumption of a business service. The model captures the interacting and dynamic nature of relationships between individuals both within and between client and supplier firms. The role played by the client during the different phases of production of the service will influence the degree to which the final service delivered meets the customer's specifications and the probability of implementation. Some empirical evidence of the complex interactions that occur in the creation of business services is presented and is used to suggest a modified typology of business services.     

Reflexion als Herausforderung in der Organisationsberatung Ein kritisch-organisationspädagogischer Blick auf die Professionalisierung

Reflection of the consultants advances to a central attribute of professional organizational consulting. Particularly the systemic and process consulting render outstanding services to this strategy of professionalization. This strategy bases on the assumption, that especially reflection enables to structure experiences und the role of the consultants in consultation projects in order to learn from them, i. e. to professionalize. A (self-)critical view to practical experiences, as the article focusses on, points up the challenges, which accompany reflection: Consultants – as well as their clients – have the problem, that they are not able to disclose influences of power, instrumentalization and projection. A confrontation of practical experiences with educational perceptions promises further impulses.     

Whistle-blowing regulation in different corporate governance systems: an analysis of the regulation approaches from the view of path dependence theory

The research question of this paper is, if and why countries need different legal approaches to whistle-blowing regulation. The paper specifically explores whether regulation approaches from other countries are suitable to regulate whistle-blowing in the German corporate governance system. First, it is clarified which factors influence the choice of the desired action—that is, “internal whistle-blowing”—and it is demonstrated that the underlying corporate governance system has a potential influence on these factors. Next, it is shown that the consistency of systems is responsible for the lack of success of some legal approaches of the whistle-blowing regulation in special corporate governance systems, whereas in other systems they can be very successful. Finally, the paper presents the requirements for whistle-blowing regulation that does not damage the consistency of the underlying corporate governance system. The findings support path dependence theory, which claims that legal approaches of one country cannot be transferred to other countries. Moreover, whistle-blowing literature is expanded by the fact that the underlying corporate governance system of a country influences the power and loyalty of the employee. It suggests new avenues for whistle-blowing research as well as for the potential convergence of corporate governance regulation. The findings offer insights for policy makers interested in the development of legal proposals for whistle-blowing regulation in their countries. Moreover, it provides a new perspective to enable managers of multinational firms to design whistle-blowing systems within different corporate governance systems.