Antoine Harfouche

Salespeople’s unethical behavior during a sales contest: The mediation effect of the perceived ethical climate of the game

This article aims to improve Murphy’s explanation of the consequences of sales contests by underlying the relationships that exist between the psychographic variables of salespeople (competitiveness and status aspiration), the perceived ethical climate of the contest, and unethical behaviors observed during the contest. Data were gathered via a survey questionnaire that targeted salespersons selling financial products in four different French banks. A total of 747 completed questionnaires were collected and their data analyzed using Partial Least Squares techniques. Results show that sales contests can create a specific ethical climate that mediates the relation between salespeople’s status aspiration and competitiveness and their unethical behavior during a sales contest.

E-Government Implementation in Developing Countries

This paper presents preliminary results of an ongoing study of e-government implementation in Lebanon. Following suggestions by various scholars that students of e-government employ theory to strengthen our knowledge about ICT for development, we apply a neoinstitutional theoretical lens to understand the role of international donor agencies that led Lebanese public authorities, since 2000, to invest in e-services despite the country’s serious economic difficulties and heavy debt. We situate implementation of an e-government infrastructure in the context of external pressures that Lebanese public administrators confronted. This analysis is based on the triangulation of evidence from semi-structured interviews with senior officials in government agencies who led the implementation effort, official government documents, and newspaper reports on the progress of this project. We find that the response by Lebanese public officials can be explained by the three isomorphic processes of coercion, mimesis, and transmission of norms. This case study suggests that implementing e-administration by developing countries is not necessarily motivated by a search for efficiency; under certain conditions adoption results from external institutional pressures. Nonetheless, this implementation needs to be understood as only a very small part of a larger story of the history and politics of Lebanon that contributed to what has been called the “still born” implementation of e-government in Lebanon.

Hidden facets of IT projects are revealed only after deployment: The case of French agricultural cooperatives

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on an information technology (IT) deployment project in the specific field of agricultural cooperatives. It also aims to underline the importance of the IT implementation phase, but also the pre-implementation phase. Design/methodology/approach A four-year canonical action research project was conducted within a network of more than 300 agricultural cooperatives. Research was carried out both during the IT implementation and after deployment. Key information was gathered through unstructured and unofficial interviews, observations, field notes, meetings, focus groups, and documentary analysis. Findings Despite user resistance behavior, the findings show that information systems (IS) implementation may lead to unexpected results that extend beyond the tool’s initial objectives. Indeed, four hidden facets of the tool were revealed: inductor, symbol, pretext, and reference. Research limitations/implications Although the research is limited to one single-case study, it puts the emphasis on in-depth research, vs cross-sectional data collection, to analyze the relationship between IT implementation initiatives and organizational intelligence. Furthermore, the authors argue that while IS literature has separately developed related theories (actor-network theory, competitive intelligence), the authors conceptualize a whole theoretic system interrelating the two above-stated theories. Practical implications The implication for IS practitioners is that, by focusing only on experiences that have occurred during IT implementation, one may disregard critical information, behaviors and knowledge from unforeseen effects that have occurred after implementation. In future IT projects, IS managers therefore need to capitalize on post-implementation knowledge, through sociology of translation and competitive intelligence, in order to anticipate potential diversions from the initial objectives. Finally, while most IT implementation methods tend naturally to manage resistance maximize users’ satisfaction and to reduce potential resistance, the authors support an alternative approach. It consists into enhancing resistance in order to anticipate and resolve latent resistance behaviors directly or indirectly related to the project. Originality/value Despite widespread literature on resistance, appropriation or acceptance during IT projects, there is little research that addresses the impact of IT projects on organizational intelligence, and the kind of behaviors that lead to its failure or success. In the case, the implemented IT tool revealed hidden structural and organizational roles, which were unanticipated by IT designers and managers.

Le comportement non-éthique des vendeurs durant un concours de vente : L’effet médiateur du climat éthique perçu du concours

L’objet de cet article est d’approfondir les travaux de Murphy (2004) des conséquences des concours de vente en montrant qu’il existe une relation entre les variables psychographiques (esprit de compétition et ambition des commerciaux), le climat éthique perçu du concours et les comportements non-éthiques observés pendant celui-ci. Les données ont été collectées par un questionnaire adressé à des conseillers commerciaux vendant des produits financiers dans quatre banques françaises. 747 questionnaires complets ont été collectés et les données ont été analysées par l’approche PLS (Partial Least Square). Les résultats montrent que les concours de vente peuvent créer un climat éthique spécifique qui est médiateur de la relation entre l’esprit de compétition, l’ambition des commerciaux et leur comportement non-éthique durant le concours.

Religiosity, Hedonism, Social Image and E-banking Acceptance in Lebanon

This paper develops a contextual model of individuals’ intention to accept/reject e-banking in Lebanon. It captures the influence of local cultural variables on banking e-services’ acceptance at the first stages of the adoption process. Based on the MATH, an adapted model was proposed that includes religiosity to identify the factors that would influence the adoption of Internet banking. The proposed model was empirically tested using data collected through a survey designed to capture a cross-sectional snapshot of the underlying phenomena. Data was collected from over 147 Lebanese potential adopters of e-banking. Results revealed that the utilitarian factors, the hedonic factors with social influences and computer self-efficacy are antecedents to the intention of e-banking acceptance. In addition, extrinsic religiosity is an antecedent to intrinsic religiosity and they are both negatively associated with e-banking acceptance. The implications of this research are discussed and suggestions for future research presented.

e-Business Assimilation Levels in Lebanon

Developing countries are a potential growth site for e-business expansion and adoption. But despite this promising opportunity, Lebanon has been slow to adopt e-business and the gap between initial and advanced adopters (routinizers) is significant. This paper investigates the factors that explain the differences in e-business assimilation levels. The Perceived e-Readiness Model was adopted and then adapted to fit the Lebanese context. Quantitative data were collected from a large sample of 171 executives from three different industries: banking, retailing, and tourism. While comparing initial adopters to routinizers, our results have shown that routinizers choice to adopt e-Business was based on strategic planning, while initial adopters were mimetic followers.