Dwayne Whitten

The impact of logistics performance on organizational performance in a supply chain context

Purpose – The papers aim is to theorize and assess a logistics performance model incorporating logistics performance as the focal construct with supply chain management strategy as antecedent and organizational performance, both marketing and financial, as consequences.Design/methodology/approach – Data from a national sample of 142 plant and operations managers are analyzed using a structural equation modeling methodology.Findings – The results indicate that logistics performance is positively impacted by supply chain management strategy and that both logistics performance and supply chain management strategy positively impact marketing performance, which in turn positively impacts financial performance. Neither supply chain management strategy nor logistics performance was found to directly impact financial performance.Research limitations/implications – To compete at the supply chain level, manufacturers must adopt a supply chain management strategy. Such a strategy requires integration and coordinati...

Mobile computing: a user study on hedonic/utilitarian mobile device usage

Intrinsic motivators of technology beliefs have received scant attention in the technology acceptance literature despite indications of their efficacy. This study uses the framework of TAM to explore the effect of intrinsic variables on technology beliefs and user behavior. Specifically, we examine the effect of cognitive absorption and playfulness on user beliefs including perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness within the context of mobile devices. Moreover, we manipulate the hedonic and utilitarian purpose of the mobile device to determine how the nature of the device influences user beliefs. Findings indicate that cognitive absorption and user playfulness significantly impact beliefs and that the hedonic or utilitarian orientation of the technology has implications for maximizing use.

Bringing IT Back: An Analysis of the Decision to Backsource or Switch Vendors

Whereas the decision to outsource information systems (IS) has been an important focus in IS research and practice, the decision to switch vendors or to backsource has received little attention. Evidence suggests that in practice, however, the decision to backsource or to switch vendors is becoming increasingly common as firms vie for ways to continue to cut information technology (IT) costs and improve IT service levels. This research specifically examines the factors associated with the decision to backsource or to switch vendors. Based on a sample of 160 IT managers involved with application development, we compare and contrast the perceptions of those who switched vendors, backsourced, or continued in an outsourcing relationship for application development. Our findings suggest that product quality, service quality, relationship quality, and switching costs are related to the decision to backsource application outsourcing. However, service and product quality did not influence the decision to switch vendors. Rather, firms that made the decision to switch vendors reported high levels of service and product quality but low levels of relationship quality and switching costs.

Measuring switching costs in IT outsourcing services

Switching costs play a major role in managerial decisions to (dis)continue an IT outsourcing service. This paper emphasizes the importance of switching cost analysis to the understanding of interorganizational exchange relationships. Based on transaction cost theory and social exchange theory, we specify a second-order switching cost model that provides greater insight into the underlying dimensions influencing switching behavior. The multidimensional nature of the switching cost construct is modeled and tested using data from organizations that outsource the application development function. Findings provide support for a higher-order construct with implications for how switching costs are defined, measured and operationalized in larger nomonological models.

Understanding Service Quality and Relationship Quality in IS Outsourcing: Client Orientation & Promotion, Project Management Effectiveness, and the Task-Technology-Structure Fit

A national survey of firms that participated in outsourcing relationships was conducted, and service quality and relationship quality were found to be significantly and positively related to each other and both had a significant impact on user satisfaction. However, the intricacies of the causal effects between the two autonomous constructs, service quality and relationship quality, are a source of interest. In post-analysis theory building, we give a conceptual model that proposes that the positive causal effect of service quality on relationship quality would be positively moderated by the client orientation and promotion effectiveness of the vendor, while the positive causal effect of relationship quality on service quality would be mediated by the project management effectiveness. Hence, this paper comprises of two related parts: first an empirical study, and secondly developing a theory and conceptual model that delve into the causalities involved in service quality, relationship quality, and the role of Internet technologies and collaboration tools.

Pay It Forward: The Positive Crossover Effects of Supervisor Work–Family Enrichment

This research examines the crossover effect of supervisors’ work—family enrichment on subordinates’ work—family enrichment and job performance. Drawing on broaden and build theory and Westman’s crossover work, the authors posit that supervisors’ work—family enrichment leads to the creation of a family-friendly work environment, which in turn promotes subordinate work-to-family enrichment and subsequent performance. Subordinate perceptions of schedule control and family-supportive organization are used to operationalize a family-friendly work environment because immediate supervisors are frequently key gatekeepers in setting these organizational practices within a work unit. The authors test hypotheses based on this model using a sample of 161 subordinates and their immediate supervisors (N = 48) and find that work-to-family enrichment crosses over from the supervisor to the subordinate through the subordinate’s perceptions of greater schedule control. Crossover effects were not detected for family-to-work enrichment. Furthermore, this study substantiates the impact of the subordinate’s work-to-family enrichment on job performance as rated by the supervisor and the job incumbent.

Work-Family Enrichment and Job Performance: A Constructive Replication of Affective Events Theory

Based on affective events theory (AET), we hypothesize a four-step model of the mediating mechanisms of positive mood and job satisfaction in the relationship between work-family enrichment and job performance. We test this model for both directions of enrichment (work-to-family and family-to-work). We used two samples to test the model using structural equation modeling. Results from Study 1, which included 240 full-time employees, were replicated in Study 2, which included 189 matched subordinate-supervisor dyads. For the work-to-family direction, results from both samples support our conceptual model and indicate mediation of the enrichment-performance relationship for the work-to-family direction of enrichment. For the family-to-work direction, results from the first sample support our conceptual model but results from the second sample do not. Our findings help elucidate mixed findings in the enrichment and job performance literatures and contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms linking these concepts. We conclude with a discussion of the practical and theoretical implications of our findings.

The strategic choice to continue outsourcing, switch vendors, or backsource: Do switching costs matter?

IT outsourcing contracts are often discontinued in favor of other alternatives (returning to in-house development, or switching to another vendor). Switching costs are experienced when terminating a business relationship and securing an alternative. We tried to answer the question: do switching costs matter significantly in the strategic choice to continue outsourcing, switch vendors, or backsource? Switching costs were considered, such as those due to IT operations (sunk investment, lost performance, system upgrades, uncertainty, and induction-retraining-performance), personnel-replacement costs (candidate search, and IT/setup), and in-house learning (cognitive/behavioral learning). A field survey was conducted, and, for each of these cost types, the differences between group means across the three groups (outsourcing continuation, vendor switching, and backsourcing) were determined. The findings suggested that customer organizations preferred outsourcing continuation most and backsourcing least when their switching costs were high. However, the relative preference for vendor switching depended on the switching cost type.

Work–Family Enrichment and Satisfaction: Mediating Processes and Relative Impact of Originating and Receiving Domains

Previous research has been inconsistent in the prediction and empirical findings regarding work–family enrichment and satisfaction. The current research seeks to clarify this inconsistency by examining both directions of work–family enrichment (work-to-family enrichment and family-to-work enrichment) with both job satisfaction and family satisfaction to determine if their effects are similar or diverse. Building on the theoretical foundation of Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory, the authors explore the mediating roles of psychological distress and positive mood in this process. Using a sample of 310 working respondents, the authors found that psychological distress was a mediator to both job satisfaction and family satisfaction, while positive mood was a mediator to job satisfaction but not family satisfaction. Further, the authors found that the direct effect of work-to-family enrichment was on job satisfaction, the originating domain. In addition, the total effect of enrichment to satisfaction (through the mediation mechanisms of distress and mood) was again in the pattern of the originating domain such that work-to-family enrichment more strongly influenced job satisfaction. However, family-to-work enrichment did not directly impact family satisfaction, nor was it significantly stronger than work-to-family in its total effect on family satisfaction.

Organisational Culture of Customer Care: Market Orientation and Service Quality

The purpose of this study is to assess the proposition that adoption of a market orientation leads to improved service quality for service sector organisations. We argue that an organisational culture incorporating customer care as its central tenet and involving efforts to understand the needs of customers through a market orientation enables the organisation to provide quality services that satisfy the identified customer needs. Data were collected from 15 service providers using the MORTN scale to measure market orientation and the SERFPERF scale to measure service quality. The results support the theorised positive link between market orientation and service quality.