A Path Analysis of Online Group Buying - Insights from Taiwan

Online group buying has emerged as a new bargaining power for many shoppers and become more so as a result of increasingly growing popularity of social networking and community-based web sites. Aside from significant quantity discounts, these buying groups can also potentially influence the manufacturers and retailers on policies, product characteristics, and services. We propose an Online Group Buying Decision Framework to model the overall process of online group buying. We use a major group buying community web site in Taiwan, ihergo.com, to test our framework and conduct follow-up analysis. Based on the proposed framework, we design a survey study in an attempt to gain more insights on group buying communities, their activities, and culture within these communities. We then perform a path analysis, a special technique of structural equation modeling (SEM), to study the relationship among the factors used in the survey. Our findings provide useful advice for online group buying sites to attract customers and increase sales.

Recruiting for Resilience

Bringing a safe and effective pharmaceutical product or medical device to market requires an astonishing amount of time and money. This research features interviews with the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Scientific Officers (CSOs) and Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) of many of the most successful life science firms in the USA with the goal of to capturing their thoughts on the recruitment of new hires. The executives screened candidates for emotional commitment as an essential quality to complete the long process of bench science, regulatory clearance and product positioning in the market. They sought to hire experienced team members who thought of set-backs as problems to be solved on the way to providing life-altering options for patients. These C-suite leaders needed to create a productive workplace culture, enhanced by a diverse group of professionals with a variety of experiences and temperaments. Participants noted that shared vision and resilience played a greater role in predicting performance than any particular skill-set discernible from a resume.

Supply Chain View of Tourism

Tourism being observed as a supply chain, this article describe its practices under a conceptual research framework with a special reference to education tourism. The author projects the education tourism as a continuum where both service supply chains of education and tourism are integrated. The research implication is directed towards the cross-sectoral objectives of communities involving the tourists, students and destination communities. The original thoughts and value propositions in this research are portrayed as a supply chain framework. Unlike goods supply chain management, the service supply chain of education tourism grows complex due to the coexistence of the overlapping service objectives for education and tourism. Education tourism deals with students and tourists frequently interchanging their roles; leveraging the services of the vendors and outsourced partners. The increasing complexity of education tourism demands smart technology applications to manage it as an integrated total supply chain.

Factors Affecting Employee Retention in Zimbabwean Companies

The decline of the Zimbabwean economy characterised by the high inflation rate has rendered it difficult for Zimbabwean manufacturing to retain talented employees. The quantitative research methodology was adopted in this paper. The sample size of the study comprised 100 respondents who were randomly selected from the manufacturing companies in Zimbabwe. The sample size of the study was made out of 10 managing directors 10 managers 10 supervisors and 70 employees drawn from the 50 manufacturing companies that were randomly selected. It was established that the companies are failing to retain talented employees and a lot of the employees are leaving the organisations. Retrenchments and restructurings have become the order of the day. The study recommended that employees needed to implement employee retention strategies to remain viable.

The Moderating Role of Gender on Pathos and Logos in Online Shopping Behavior

Many research studies and observations have made it evident that there exists a difference between the shopping behavior of the male and female. The objective of this research paper is to explore the moderation effect of gender on the influence of pathos & logos in online shopping. Pathos can be explained as the emotional quotient in the purchasing behavior whereas Logos can be understood as the logic behind purchasing a particular product. Structural Equation Modeling is used for the final analysis and interpretation of the formulated hypothesis. The three approaches used are Chi-square Difference, Pairwise Parameter Comparisons & Nested Model Comparisons to know the moderating role of gender on the relationship between pathos & logos in online shopping. The findings of this research conclude that females are more governed by emotions, which is a complex buying behavior. The practical implication of this research paper is beneficial not only for the customers who frequently purchase the goods online but also for the e-commerce companies who are in the online trading business.

Making an Impact Through Information Technology

This research contributes to the fields of knowledge management, transformational leadership, as well as information technology. This article presents the theoretical underpinnings of the framework together with a thorough review of the literature. This research indicates that there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership, knowledge management, and firm performance. The synthesis of the literature also lends support for the mediating role of information technology in the relationship between transformational leadership and knowledge management.

Integrating the Information Systems Success Model With Project Success Management Process

DeLone and McLean information systems success model has become a reference for explaining the success of information systems (IS). Attempts to apply and test the model have resulted in both confirmation and challenges. One of those challenges is how to translate the learnings from this model into actionable knowledge. This position paper proposes the integration of the information systems success model with the success management process as a way of getting synergies from both models and improving the study and practice of IS projects. Moreover, the authors present several examples of IS success measures to be used in practice.

Global Income Inequality, Trickle-Down Economics, and Charity in Islamic Economics

Islam promotes charity both at an individual as well as at the community/society level. Charity has been almost a moral issue rather than an economic one though it affects the society in terms of economics. Mainstream economics has ignored the application of charity model and how it can result in reducing economic disparities. Unfortunately, charity has been ignored by researchers in the context of it being an economic entity. In 2015, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) pinpointed the persisting issue of global income inequality and gave thumbs down to the populist approach of “trickle-down economics.” This study aims to theoretically examine how the concept of charity addresses the issue of global income inequality and denies trickle-down economics. The evidence suggest that countries can minimize income inequality by mobilizing the concept of charity. The concept of charity can result in a huge amount of transfers from the upper 10% to the lower 10% of the income bracket.

Relationship Between Transformational Leadership and Commitment of Consultants in South African Management Consulting Firms

The paper is focused at addressing lack of commitment challenges by the consultants as a result of ineffectiveness of transformational leadership and other motivation factors at the management consulting firms in Gauteng Province, South Africa. A Pearson correlation analysis was carried out to determine the relationship that exists between transformational leadership and consultants' commitment variables. The sample size of the study was 100 respondents who were randomly selected from the 50 management consulting firms in Gauteng Province. The study reflected that there is an existence of a significant relationship between transformational leadership and consultants' commitment. The study recommended that leadership in management consultancy firms should embrace the transformational leadership style in order to enhance the commitment of the consultants. The consulting firms should put relevant policies and procedures that are targeted to meet the well-being of the consultants in order to retain and establish a strong dedicated team of professionals.

Cooperative Model as Organizational Mechanism for Poverty Reduction and Economic Development

Poverty reduction and economic development are the focus of both developed and developing countries. Internationally, cooperatives make an immense contribution to poverty reduction and economic development. However, in Namibia, agricultural cooperatives have not done much in this regard. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to identify and analyze the elements of the agricultural cooperative model as an organizational mechanism for poverty reduction and economic development. Adopting a qualitative approach with a cross-section case method as a research design, the study intends to address the research question: What are the strategies that can be implemented based on the best practices and elements of the cooperative advantage in the agricultural cooperative model as an organizational mechanism for poverty reduction for economic development? Findings reveal that cooperatives still face numerous challenges and recommendations include government and other stakeholders' support mechanisms for the provision of capital, training, and land acquisition.