EuroMed Journal of Business最新文献

Purpose

Some firms excel at positively presenting their employer brand (talk), while others excel at effectively implementing human resource management (HRM) practices for the benefit of the employees (walk). Which approach is more effective? Focusing specifically on small and medium-sized hotels (SMHs), this study explores the relation of employer branding (EB) and HRM practices with organizational performance (OP).

Design/methodology/approach

Stratified sampling was used to identify 34 top management figures (owners, CEOs, and top HR managers) from SMHs across Greece. These individuals agreed to participate in in-depth, semi-structured, one-on-one interviews, focusing on their hotels’ HRM, EB, and organizational performance. The interviews were subjected to content analysis, further coupled with graphical exploration of the relations between the concepts under study.

Findings

The findings reveal a noteworthy pattern: high-performing SMHs tend to prioritize EB, particularly leveraging social media channels. This prioritization is further reinforced by the implementation of HRM practices, including extensive training and rewards. Clustering SMHs into four different levels based on their application of EB and HRM practices and the effect of these practices on OP, enables us to extend this study and gain valuable insights into the interplay of these factors.

Practical implications

This study highlights the need for practitioners to invest in HRM practices, especially in training and rewards, while giving due attention to EB, despite the potential resource limitations SMHs often face. Importantly, when basic levels of HRM are combined with high levels of EB, OP seems to be maximized.

Originality/value

Both HRM and EB deal with the employer – employee interaction, that’s why EB in most companies is the responsibility of the HRM department. Surprisingly, academic research has treated them as distinct fields, in isolation, ignoring their combined effects. This paper is the first to conceptualize EB as communication (“talk”) and HRM as practice (“walk”) and to thus propose that a complementarity relationship between these two dynamics may facilitate OP. Additionally, this study is the first to combine content analysis with a quantitative exploration to gain more holistic and valuable insights on the topic.

Purpose

The document underscores the need for systematic smart mobility policies to advance smart cities, addressing resource waste and environmental issues. Recognizing challenges in adopting efficient smart mobility, the paper seeks to fill a literature gap by identifying governance-related best practices and success factors. The objective is to develop a clear framework for smart mobility adoption with policy implications, especially for Euro-Mediterranean (EuroMed) Smart Cities, reducing congestion and costs while promoting sustainability through data-driven decision-making and integration models.

Design/methodology/approach

To conduct the study, we adopt a multiple-case approach, examining different smart mobility applications in three of the world's most relevant smart city contexts according to international rankings, namely New York, Copenhagen and Singapore. Starting with the framework emerging from the research sample, which is representative of three different continents and cultures, a comparative assessment is then made with two EuroMed Smart Cities, highlighting their relative gaps.

Findings

The paper presents an innovative framework for smart mobility that highlights five key success factors. In addition to highlighting related gaps with a sample of EuroMed Smart Cities, it offers guidelines and implications for administrators, policy makers and mobility managers.

Originality/value

This success framework is a powerful tool, framework and guideline with numerous theoretical and managerial implications. Indeed, it directs policymakers, policymakers and mobility managers toward creating innovative business models for sustainable smart mobility, maximizing the efficiency of the centralized urban system, reducing negative externalities, breaking down barriers and pursuing greater efficiency, resilience and equity in the accessibility, mobility and sustainable livability of smart cities.

Purpose

The growing interest on ecosystems on both managerial and academic side reflects a vibrant field of study, nevertheless, the subject is very heterogeneous and in particular concerning a particular form of ecosystems: collaborative ecosystems, the purpose of this study is to shed light on these.

Design/methodology/approach

The definition gap existent and the multiplicity of fields and composite studies on collaborative ecosystems have made it necessary to conduct a systematic literature review of the phenomenon, a bibliometric analysis and content analysis.

Findings

The research offers an overview of the phenomenon, three main cluster categories emerged: ecosystem, competition and open innovation; this cluster offers a comprehensive schematization of the research topics.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations of this research are that the investigation has been confined to specific keywords related to collaborative ecosystems that led to a strict selection of papers to be analyzed and in having confined the investigation to publications in the managerial area. Further research will be able to expand the selection of keywords or use more strings and proceed to a comparative analysis of results. Another limitation is the small number of databases assessed (only Scopus and Web of Science) and have confined the analysis to specific clusters that emerged from the quantitative analysis of papers.

Practical implications

By proposing a taxonomy of collaborative ecosystems, the paper highlights what solutions and architectures an ecosystem manager must consider when developing collaborative ecosystems, what factors he or she must pay attention to in order to ensure their development and survival, and what elements determine the development of an ecosystem, in particular, the management of innovation and knowledge and the scarcity of resources in a hyper-competitive environment.

Originality/value

A combination of research methods was used to identify the intellectual structure of collaborative ecosystems. In addition, we propose a taxonomy for collaborative ecosystems, opening the study to new lines of investigation and providing a new research agenda.

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to illustrate an emerging typology that theoretically links work values with personal values and to provide evidence of construct validity for this typology.

Design/methodology/approach

A hypothesis was developed that four types of work values – intrinsic, extrinsic, prestige and affective – underlie the relative importance that individuals place on aspects of work. Evidence of construct validity was provided using triangulation analysis. Data from three different samples in Japan were analysed with three different techniques; exploratory factor analysis (N = 229), hierarchical cluster analysis (N = 244) and smallest space analysis (N = 203).

Findings

The results demonstrate acceptable internal consistency and a coherent structure that fits the theoretical model across methods and samples. These findings lend strong support to the use of the intrinsic, extrinsic, affective and prestige typology for studying work values. This will hopefully encourage field scholars to adopt the typology in future values-based explorations in the context of work.

Originality/value

The study adds to the emergent literature in business research that stresses the importance of triangulation analysis to enhance the reliability and validity of findings. In this sense, it is an innovative paradigm of a multiple triangulation approach, which combines both data and within-method triangulation. The methods employed covered – for the first time – all commonly applied techniques for exploring the structure underlying the data and provided inductive, deductive and spatial evidence to corroborate the observed structure of work values.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of augmented reality (AR) media characteristics on consumers’ purchase intention (PI) for fashion goods within the fashion industry context.

Design/methodology/approach

This study establishes five independent variables of salient AR media characteristics derived from existing studies which includes interactivity, vividness, augmentation, simulated physical control and environmental embedding. A quantitative online survey method is conducted with a sample of 172 respondents.

Findings

The findings suggest that all five AR media characteristics have a positive and significant influence on consumers’ PI for fashion goods. Among these five characteristics, interactivity and simulated physical control have the strongest positive impact on PI, followed by vividness, environmental embedding and augmentation.

Originality/value

This study provides valuable insights for fashion brands to better understand the media characteristics that consumers may be looking out for in AR experiences that could have an influence on their PI for fashion goods. This study also contributes to the literature by identifying the most influential AR media characteristics in the context of the fashion industry.

Purpose

Fierce competition among over-the-top (OTT) platforms has rendered branding a precondition for consumer appeal. This study proposes a new structural equation model for OTT brands, especially Netflix, where hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment motives function as facilitators of consumer brand engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey was conducted. Structural Equation Modeling was used to build the model and test for various direct, mediation, and moderation effects.

Findings

The results suggest a multiple mediation model in which the relationship between the two types of entertainment and intention to use Netflix is sequentially mediated by consumer attention and consumer brand engagement. Moreover, this study confirms that female consumers, compared to male consumers, exhibit higher levels of consumer brand engagement when motivated by hedonic entertainment.

Originality/value

This is the first study to present a novel structural model for the content consumption of OTT brands and test the role of the two types of entertainment in the intention to use Netflix.

Purpose

This study investigates the role of market concentration and efficiency in banking system stability during the COVID-19 pandemic. We empirically test the hypothesis that market concentration and efficiency are significant determinants of bank performance and stability during the time of crises, using a sample of 575 banks in 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Design/methodology/approach

The main sources of bank data are the BankScope and BankFocus (Bureau van Dijk) databases, World Bank development indicators, and official websites of banks in MENA countries. This study combined descriptive and analytical approaches. We utilize a panel dataset and adopt panel data econometric techniques such as fixed/random effects and the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator.

Findings

The results reveal that market concentration negatively affects bank profitability, whereas improved efficiency further enhances bank performance and contributes to the banking sector’s overall stability. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that during the COVID-19 pandemic, bank stability strongly depended on the level of market concentration, but not on bank efficiency. However, more efficient banks are more profitable and stable if the banking institutions are Islamic. Similarly, Islamic banks with the same level of efficiency demonstrated better overall financial performance during the pandemic than their conventional peers did.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation is related to the period of COVID-19 pandemic that was covered in this paper (2020–2021). Therefore, further investigation of the COVID-19 effects on bank profitability and risk will require an extended period of the pandemic crisis, including 2022.

Practical implications

This study provides information that will enable bank managers and policymakers in MENA countries to assess the growing impact of market concentration and efficiency on the banking sector stability. It also helps them in formulating suitable strategies to mitigate the adverse consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our recommendations are useful guides for policymakers and regulators in countries where Islamic and conventional banking systems co-exist and compete, based on different business models and risk management practices.

Originality/value

The authors contribute to the banking stability literature by investigating the role of market concentration and efficiency as the main determinants of bank performance and stability during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is the first to analyze banking sector stability in the MENA region, using both individual and risk-adjusted aggregated performance measures.

Purpose

The research aims to provide a longitudinal case study to understand how digital transformation can be embedded in municipal reporting frameworks. The central role of such technology becomes increasingly evident as citizens demand greater transparency and engagement between them and governing institutions.

Design/methodology/approach

Utilising a longitudinal case study methodology, the research focusses on Turin’s Integrated Popular Financial Report (IPFR) as a lens through which to evaluate the broader implications of digital transformation on governmental transparency and operational efficiency.

Findings

Digital tools, notably sentiment analysis, offer promising avenues for enhancing governmental efficacy and citizenry participation. However, persistent challenges highlight the inadequacy of traditional, inflexible reporting structures to cater to dynamic informational demands.

Practical implications

Embracing digital tools is an imperative for contemporary public administrators, promoting streamlined communication and dismantling bureaucratic obstructions, all while catering to the evolving demands of an informed citizenry.

Originality/value

Different from previous studies that primarily emphasised technology’s role within budgeting, this research uniquely positions itself by spotlighting the transformative implications of digital tools during the reporting phase. It champions the profound value of fostering bottom-up dialogues, heralding a paradigmatic shift towards co-creative public management dynamics.

Purpose

This research seeks to understand whether employer branding (EB) and internal marketing (IM) are fundamental to the challenge of attracting and retaining talent and how these strategies can help companies to overcome the difficulties related to the talent shortage, from the perspective of a SME Portuguese metallurgical industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The research resorts to a case study of a qualitative nature, through a semi-structured interview with the head of the human resources (HR) training and development area of the Navarra Group, and quantitative, through surveys to its employees. Based on the literature, a conceptual model was constructed, whose application allowed us to perceive the relationships between the practices of EB and IM; satisfaction, motivation and commitment; attraction and retention.

Findings

The exploratory interview concluded that organizations consider EB and IM essential for an effective talent management strategy. The quantitative results demonstrate that IM and EB practices implemented in the organization contribute to the satisfaction, motivation and involvement of employees, which results in a decrease in the intention to leave. It is also noted that these practices promote an increase in the perception of organizational attractiveness, which represents a positive impact on its ability to attract.

Research limitations/implications

From a theoretical perspective, the research contributes to the development of knowledge about IM, EB and talent management, providing relevant data that can help define the best strategies for attraction and retention, from the point of view of IM and EB.

Originality/value

The research presents preliminary insights that can be an auxiliary tool for HR managers and professionals in the context of industrial SMEs.

Purpose

Given the importance of the growing segmentation of ageing consumers and their increasing interaction with the Internet, digital marketing scholars are becoming more interested in this market. Prior research needs to pay more attention to this market in many contexts of digital marketing. This study aims to provide insights into ageing consumers’ content usage, content typology choices, and online brand advocacy (OBA).

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were applied, and 16 consumers from Southern Europe aged 55+ were included. The interviews were transcribed and examined following the principles of content analysis.

Findings

According to the research, older consumers display their usage and concerns regarding online content. They have different decision-making processes depending on whether they are purchasing products or services. Likewise, their choices of content typology vary based on the utilitarian or hedonic product category.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature by providing insights into this growing segmentation and proposing an OBA framework for older consumers related to content marketing. Finally, the study suggests that older consumers are passive online and active offline brand advocates.