scholarly journals Mediated Communication and Customer Service Experiences: Psychological and Demographic Predictors of User Evaluations in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Mays ◽  
James Katz ◽  
Jacob Groshek
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Demographic Predictors ◽  
User Evaluations ◽  
Service Experiences

scholarly journals EMAIL VERSUS FACE-TO-FACE NEGOTIATIONS: PERSPECTIVES OF SALES AND CUSTOMER SERVICE EMPLOYEES IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaysh Nazzal Alshammri
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Face Negotiation ◽  
Cultural Negotiation

This research aims to identify the differences between email negotiation and face-to-face negotiation with respect to negotiation process, negotiation flexibility, face-saving, level of collaboration, and appropriateness for cross-cultural negotiation. The survey questionnaire was distributed to the sales and customer service employees in many business organizations located in different regions of the United States of America. Data from 519 respondents (including both males and females) were analyzed using the one-sample t-test, two sample t-test, and Pearson Correlation. The findings reveal that the characteristics of face-to-face negotiation assist in smoothing the negotiation process more than that of email negotiation. Participants also tend to cooperate more in face-to-face negotiation than in email negotiation. However, participants prefer using email negotiation because they find it more flexible. They also feel that a face-threatening act is less likely to occur in an email negotiation than in a face-to-face negotiation. The findings also show that email negotiation could be more appropriate than face-to-face negotiation for the purpose of cross-cultural negotiation. This is because communicating via email minimizes the influence of culture on the negotiation process. Age and gender do not have any influence on the perspectives of participants regarding email negotiation versus face-to-face negotiation. The findings have significant implications for both business and dispute resolution. They contrast the differences between face-to-face negotiation and email negotiation and identify the situations in which each of these types could be most appropriate.

scholarly journals Small Business Entrepreneurships In The United States

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 117 ◽  
Author(s):  
RamMohan R. Yallapragada ◽  
Mohammad Bhuiyan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Small Business Administration ◽  
Efficient Operation ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Service Information ◽  
Qualified Personnel

A small business entrepreneur is defined as an individual who establishes and manages a business for the principal purpose of profit and growth. Small businesses constitute an increasingly large proportion of businesses generally in the United States economy. They account for 39 per cent of the United States gross national product and create two out of every three new jobs in our economy. Seven important prerequisites are identified as being necessary for successfully operating a small business. These include adequate financing, qualified personnel, efficient operation and production, marketing and sales, customer service, information management and administration. One of the most significant contributors to failure of a small business relates to acquisition of adequate capital. Small Business Administration (SBA) was established by Federal Government in 1953 to provide low interest loans to small business borrowers that would not otherwise have access to credit. However, there is some criticism that these SBA programs unfairly benefit, not the small businesses, but the financial institutions that participate in the SBA loan programs. Another significant source of debt financing to small businesses is known as micro-financing, started as new wave in providing capital to small businesses by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, in Bangladesh.

scholarly journals Computer-Mediated Communication to Facilitate Synchronous Online Focus Group Discussions: Feasibility Study for Qualitative HIV Research Among Transgender Women Across the United States (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea L Wirtz ◽  
Erin E Cooney ◽  
Aeysha Chaudhry ◽  
Sari L Reisner ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transgender Women ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Computer Mediated

BACKGROUND Novel, technology-based methods are rapidly increasing in popularity across multiple facets of quantitative research. Qualitative research, however, has been slower to integrate technology into research methodology. One method, computer-mediated communication (CMC), has been utilized to a limited extent for focus group discussions. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to assess feasibility of an online video conferencing system to further adapt CMC to facilitate synchronous focus group discussions among transgender women living in six cities in eastern and southern United States. METHODS Between August 2017 and January 2018, focus group discussions with adult transgender women were conducted in English and Spanish by research teams based in Boston, MA, and Baltimore, MD. Participants were sampled from six cities: Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; New York, NY; Washington, DC; Atlanta, GA; and Miami, FL. This was formative research to inform a technology-enhanced cohort study to assess HIV acquisition among transgender women. This analysis focused on the methodologic use of CMC focus groups conducted synchronously using online software that enabled video or phone discussion. Findings were based on qualitative observations of attendance and study team debriefing on topics of individual, social, technical, and logistical challenges encountered. RESULTS A total of 41 transgender women from all six cities participated in seven online focus group discussions—five English and two Spanish. There was equal racial distribution of black/African American (14/41, 34%) and white (14/41, 34%) attendees, with 29% (12/41) identifying as Hispanic/Latina ethnicity. Overall, 29 of 70 (41%) eligible and scheduled transgender women failed to attend the focus group discussions. The most common reason for nonattendance was forgetting or having a scheduling conflict (16/29, 55%). A total of 14% (4/29) reported technical challenges associated with accessing the CMC focus group discussion. CMC focus group discussions were found to facilitate geographic diversity; allow participants to control anonymity and privacy (eg, use of pseudonyms and option to use video); ease scheduling by eliminating challenges related to travel to a data collection site; and offer flexibility to join via a variety of devices. Challenges encountered were related to overlapping conversations; variable audio quality in cases where Internet or cellular connection was poor; and distribution of incentives (eg, cash versus gift cards). As with all focus group discussions, establishment of ground rules and employing both a skilled facilitator and a notetaker who could troubleshoot technology issues were critical to the success of CMC focus group discussions. CONCLUSIONS Synchronous CMC focus group discussions provide a secure opportunity to convene participants across geographic space with minimal time burden and without losing the standardized approach that is expected of focus group discussions. This method may provide an optimal alternative to engaging hard-to-reach participants in focus group discussions. Participants with limited technological literacy or inconsistent access to a phone and/or cellular data or service, as well as circumstances necessitating immediate cash incentives may, however, require additional support and accommodation when participating in CMC focus group discussions.

Customer Focus at Neiman Marcus: “We Report to the Client”

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-43
Author(s):  
Robert D. Dewar
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
High Performance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Customer Focus ◽  
The Right ◽  
A Company

Describes the winning formula at Neiman Marcus that has made it the No. 1 luxury retailer in the United States in terms of sales per square foot and profitability. Highlights Neiman Marcus' efforts to define who its customers are and are not and to achieve superior focus on its customers by aligning location, price, service, and merchandise to fulfill these customers' every need. Describes ways in which Neiman Marcus prevents typical silo behavior between merchandising and selling and how it ensures that the right merchandise gets to the right customer, despite the challenge of doing this in 36 micromarkets.To show how a company integrates two strong high-performance functions—merchandising and sales—to get the right merchandise to each customer in more than 30 diverse selling locations while consistently providing exceptional customer service.

Passion meets procrastination: comparative study of negative sales associate behaviours

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 1077-1098
Author(s):  
Robert Paul Jones
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Salary Level ◽  
Brick And Mortar ◽  
Post Hoc

PurposeThis study explores procrastination, a negative work behaviour, and its unlikely source, job passion. A dualistic conceptualization of job passion is explored in retail sales associate samples from the United States and China. The study tests relationships between harmonious job passion (HJP) and obsessive job passion (OJP) and the contingent effects of job satisfaction and salary level on their relationship to procrastination.Design/methodology/approachData came from an online survey issued in the United States and China. The hypotheses were tested using hierarchical linear regression.FindingsThe analyses provide mixed findings. HJP is negatively associated with procrastination in both countries, while OJP's positive relationship is mixed. A post-hoc analysis testing the three-way interaction effect of OJP, job satisfaction and salary level on procrastination reveals a positive relationship to OJP in both countries.Research limitations/implicationsThe study demonstrates that job passion can have both positive (HJP) and negative (OJP) work behaviour outcomes.Practical implicationsBrick-and-mortar retailers facing a saturated and highly competitive environment need HJP employees to drive superior customer service. This study demonstrates that employees with OJP may engage in negative behaviours which could further impair retail performance. Expanding empowerment and flexibility may heighten HJP and minimize OJP.Originality/valueThis study explores the dualistic conceptualization of job passion in a retail environment using cross-cultural samples.

scholarly journals “There Is Always a Teacher Among Them”: Reflections From an American Medical Student on Time Spent With Medical Providers in the United States, China, and Vietnam

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 216495611880069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harrison VanDolah
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Medical Student ◽  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Medical Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Medical Providers ◽  
Medical Provider ◽  
The Many ◽  
Service Experiences

There is a famous Chinese saying by Confucius that goes “With three men walking, there is always a teacher among them.” In this narrative essay, I recount the story of how curiosity led me to find lessons about medicine from research on complementary and alternative medicine and medical service experiences in the “three men walking” of China, Vietnam, and the United States. As we visit the many teachers I had along the way, we will draw out various lessons from each experience and reflect on the value in experiencing cross-cultural medicine as a medical provider-in-training, with the hope that it will inspire other aspiring healers to cultivate their own curiosity. Travel with me from a bench outside a traditional Chinese medicine clinic in Beijing to orphanages in Vietnam and unearth what the “three men walking” of the United States, China, and Vietnam have to teach us.

Toward Developing Questionnaire Items to Measure Effectiveness of Computers in Teaching

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ananda Mitra
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Liberal Arts University ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Reliable Scale

This article reports on a longitudinal study of the effectiveness of computerizing a liberal arts university in the United States. The article uses data from the study to develop a reliable scale to measure attitudes related to four parameters of the learning process. Specifically, the scale reported here can be used to measure the climate of interaction developed by computerization, the specific communication patterns offered by computer mediated communication and the different perceived expectations about the promise of technology provided by the computerization process. It is expected that the statistically reliable scale can be used for measurements across different institutions.

‘Over to you’: Can Europe restrain Microsoft's threat to freedom of musical expression in computer-mediated communication?

Popular Music ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-78
Author(s):  
ARNOLD S. WOLFE
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Web Browser ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Open Nature ◽  
Human Enterprise

The United States Supreme Court characterised the trend toward the convergence of the communication, music and computer worlds as ‘a promising new medium that could empower citizens and promote democracy in the next millennium’. Yet inquiry into United States vs Microsoft, the case that may determine whether ‘the free and open nature of … computer-assisted communication’ will remain ‘free and open’ has been lacking. This study focuses on the antitrust and First Amendment implications of Microsoft's disputed strategy of marrying its Web browser to its operating system (OS) software.The study argues that rulings on the legality of this strategy have ramifications for Microsoft's subsequent move to suture its streaming audio and video software to its OS product. Implications of this case – and the European Commission's similar inquiry into such suturing – for popular music as an industry, as an industrialised technology, and as a form of communication are discussed. Scholars, practitioners, and fans must be ever mindful that when one firm dominates a human enterprise as central to contemporary life as personal computing, the opportunity for abuse exists.

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