Search results

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the goodness of the input-process-output (IPO) model in order to evaluate work team performance within the Italian National Health Care System (NHS); and second, to test the mediating role of reflexivity as an overarching process factor between input and output.

The Italian version of the Aston Team Performance Inventory was administered to 351 employees working in teams in the Italian NHS. Mediation analyses with latent variables were performed via structural equation modeling (SEM); the significance of total, direct, and indirect effect was tested via bootstrapping.

Underpinned by the IPO framework, the results of SEM supported mediational hypotheses. First, the application of the IPO model in the Italian NHS showed adequate fit indices, showing that the process mediates the relationship between input and output factors. Second, reflexivity mediated the relationship between input and output, influencing some aspects of team performance.

The results provide useful information for HRM policies improving process dimensions of the IPO model via the mediating role of reflexivity as a key role in team performance.

This study is one of a limited number of studies that applied the IPO model in the Italian NHS. Moreover, no study has yet examined the role of reflexivity as a mediator between input and output factors in the IPO model.

The purpose of this paper is to present the X model, which is an inputs – processes – outputs (IPO) model well suited to describing and assessing individual projects. It argues and illustrates that this kind of model is appropriate for project control. It shows that X models can be used on the macro level by presenting the typical Norwegian project of 2008 based on several X models.

The theoretical justifications (systems and socio‐technical theories) for IPO models, and the X model in particular, are presented. Empirical data in the form of X models from 54 Norwegian projects are used to illustrate the application of X models.

The findings are on two levels. For the single project, the paper demonstrates that the X model provides an insight into the situation of a project and causal relationships usually not available with other forms of project control. On the macro level based on the sample of X models, the paper presents the situation for the typical Norwegian project of 2008, which appears to be sufficiently robust to adopt. It shows that further improvements in project management and leadership, good information and feedback to the team members, and good cooperation with the base organisation will give even better results.

Further studies are needed to verify the usefulness of X models.

This paper provides practitioners with an insight into how an IPO model like the X model can be applied to project management. The technique is particularly useful for project owners, and even for project managers, in their control of a project.

The paper presents new ways of looking at project control and describing and assessing both a single project and a community of projects.

This study aims to investigate the perceptions of elderly learners in experiencing Zoom learning under the effects of COVID in the case of Hong Kong.

An online survey and focus group interviews have been conducted with quantitative and qualitative approaches, respectively. The survey design was based on the input-process-output (IPO) model conceptual framework and used to assess students’ perceptions regarding their Zoom learning experiences at the Elder Academy of Hong Kong Metropolitan University. Thereafter, selected students were invited to participate in focus group interviews to offer more in-depth comments for analysis purposes. Statistical Product and Service Solutions software and SmartPLS were used for data analysis of the survey, and content analysis was used to summarize opinions from the focus group interviews; thus, a comprehensive picture of elderly learners’ learning experiences on Zoom is presented.

An overall positive perception was the result of elderly learners’ Zoom learning journeys, particularly in the “input” and “process” stages of the IPO model. Yet, their perception of the “learning outcomes achieved” level in the “output” stage was lower among the rest, thus strongly affected by the factors of “interactions” and “teaching” experienced by elderly learners on Zoom. Although the perception of the youngest age group was more positive, none have agreed that Zoom learning was more favourable when compared with the traditional face-to-face mode.

Given Zoom as the short-term replacement option under the COVID pandemic, this study will provide recommendations for educators/institutions to improve their design of the whole learning process for elderly learners on the Zoom platform.

In light of the growth of internet usage and its important role in the field of e‐commerce, electronic word‐of‐mouth (eWOM) has been changing people's behavior and decisions. People count on other users' opinions and information; they sometimes even make offline decisions based on information acquired online. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise eWOM activity from an input‐process‐output (IPO) perspective; propose a classification framework based on the identified academic literature; analyze eWOM literature in terms of quantitative development and qualitative issues that are useful to both academics and researchers; and provide directions and guidelines for future research studies in eWOM.

The authors performed a systematic literature review of peer‐reviewed published journal articles and examined the current state of knowledge on eWOM literature based on a comprehensive search of several leading databases. In total, 94 articles were identified that comprised contributions from different strands of eWOM research. The scope of this investigation was limited to the timeframe of 2000‐2009.

The present study finds that research in eWOM is relatively new and has evolved only during the last ten years. This ten‐year study is deemed to be representative of the available eWOM literature. It is also shown that many scholars have incorporated established theories to explain eWOM communication phenomena. The current study not only fills the current gap in eWOM research but also provides a roadmap in analyzing eWOM communications.

This study serves as a consolidated database that may be used to guide future research. It provides a structured approach to analyzing the literature and identifying trends and gaps in order to map out an appropriate agenda for eWOM research. The proposed integrated classification framework can serve as a roadmap for academic research.

This paper systematically reviews the current state of eWOM research. To contribute to the development of a more comprehensive database for eWOM research, a classification framework of the eWOM literature is presented, building on the IPO model, by summarizing and organizing prior research into three areas covering antecedents, processes, and consequences of eWOM. The authors further summarize the theories and models that previous scholars have applied to their studies.

Existing studies mostly rely on the static characteristics of team members, and there is still a lack of empirical investigation on how entrepreneurial team members make decisions through dynamic team process and how team members’ cognition influences team decision-making. The purpose of this study is to validate how entrepreneurial team heterogeneity affects team decision-making performance from the perspective of dynamic team process.

Drawing on the theory of input-process-output model, this study proposed and examined the mediating role of team interaction as well as the moderating role of proactive socialization tactics in the relationship between entrepreneurial team heterogeneity and decision-making performance. Based on a sample of 162 entrepreneurial teams that include pairing superiors and subordinates, hierarchical regressions and moderated mediation tests were used to test the hypotheses.

The research results show that the heterogeneity of entrepreneurial teams is positively correlated with both team interaction and decision-making performance. Team interaction plays a mediating role between entrepreneurial team heterogeneity and decision-making performance; information seeking of proactive socialization tactics moderates the impact of entrepreneurial team heterogeneity on team interaction.

Contributing to the literature on entrepreneurial team decision-making performance, this study identifies that proactive socialization tactics with a high level of information seeking can help entrepreneurial team members respond to environmental and organizational changes more effectively during team development and increase the effectiveness of team interaction. This finding helps us better understand the mechanism and context under which entrepreneurial heterogeneity may enhance the team’s decision-making performance.

As part of the banking reform, major commercial banks in China went through initial public offerings (IPOs) in the past two decades. Has this change in the ownership structure led to improvement in their performance? With a comprehensive data set of Chinese banks over 1999-2010, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of IPOs on bank performance in China.

The authors employ a stochastic frontier approach (SFA) to measure bank efficiency and assess the selection and dynamic effects of public listing.

The authors find strong selection effects. That is, banks that choose to go public are significantly more efficient than those that do not. However, the analysis of the dynamic effects shows no evidence that bank efficiency improves after going public, either in the short run or in the long run. The authors further look into bank performance around IPO events with non-parametric analysis and find that banks significantly outperform their counterparts prior to IPOs, but this superior performance disappears immediately after IPOs. This evidence is consistent with the “window dressing” hypothesis that firms time new issues to take advantage of windows of opportunity.

This is the first study that addresses the performance of IPO banks measured with SFA in China after 2005 when the major Chinese banks were listed.

This study aims to explore the influence of health-care service quality on customers’ perceived value, satisfaction, effectiveness and behavioural intention concerning district health centres (DHCs) in Hong Kong. This research also intends to assess customers’ perception of the subsidy scheme and its influence on the relationships amongst the aforementioned constructs.

The convenience and snowball sampling approaches were adopted, and the self-administered questionnaire was sent to 309 customers of DHCs.

Service quality attributes in terms of staffing and procedures positively increased customers’ perceived value and staffing, procedures and operations. Physical facilities positively promoted customers’ satisfaction, consequently improving DHCs’ effectiveness and behavioural intention. However, core treatments and services of DHCs did not impact customers’ perceived value and satisfaction. Furthermore, customers receiving subsidies exhibited a more positive perception than those without subsidies.

Health-care organisations are advised to strategically allocate resources (staffing, facilities and procedures and operations management) to optimise overall performance outcomes. DHC operators could reinforce the core services of DHCs and health-care voucher subsidies to local citizens so as to enhance the effectiveness of DHCs and behavioural intention of customers.

This study integrates the input–process–output approach in measuring the effectiveness of and customers’ behavioural intention towards newly established DHCs.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

This paper aims to explore team learning processes used by soccer players in a professional training context by focusing on their identification and evolution for 22 months.

A soccer team from a professional academy participated to this study based on six training sessions. Qualitative data on training sessions were collected. Data analysis followed four steps: reporting the game timeline and behaviours connected to each situation; coding verbal data by delineating meaningful units of activity; classifying meaningful units of activity according to team learning processes derived from previous studies; and providing a temporal graph representing occurrences of team learning processes at each training session.

Results showed that soccer players used 13 team learning processes during training sessions. Two processes are mainly mobilized to visualize the situation and to plan. A temporal graph was edited to represent processes evolve over training sessions. The latter illustrated a stability in team learning processes mobilization during the 22 months follow-up.

This study complete knowledges about team learning by providing a fine-grained understanding of how players learn in teams and how team learning processes evolve over time.

This paper can help practitioners who manage teams in high temporal pressure situations to design adapted training programs.

This exploratory study highlights that the team learning processes usually mobilized “off-field” could also be used by team members in high temporal pressure situations, “on-field”. This study offers an original longitudinal approach that fits with some recent calls for contribution about team activity and could benefit to other research fields.