Hamin

Modelling customer loyalty in financial services: A hybrid of formative and reflective constructs

Purpose – Customer loyalty is a focal concern for marketers who seek to identify its antecedents and causal structure with the aim of better understanding, predicting and managing loyalty. The purpose of this paper is to model both current behaviour (measured as share of wallet) and future intentions as measures of customer loyalty, to quantify the link between current and future behaviour.Design/methodology/approach – A hybrid model, combining reflective and formative constructs, was developed, moving away from the traditional “reflective only” approach to explain customer loyalty. New predictors such as variety seeking, “resistance to change” and risk taking behaviour were tested to explain loyalty.Findings – While “risk” is traditionally viewed as a key variable in financial services, this study finds that variety seeking and “resistance to change” predicted current behaviour and future behavioural intentions better than risk. Higher explanatory power and better model fit was found for a hybrid model c...

Competitiveness and workforce performance: Asia vis-à-vis the “West”

Purpose The purpose of this eight-country study is to examine what drives performance at the individual worker’s level and compare the explanatory power of such drivers between emerging, newly developed and developed markets around the globe. Design/methodology/approach The study combines established behavioural theory developed in a Western context with three factors anticipated to be most relevant in Asia (competitive attitude, willingness to serve and speed) as drivers of workforce performance. Four thousand working and middle-class respondents from eight countries were sampled. The associations were tested using structural equation modelling, and workforce performance was measured using univariate analysis. Findings Three country clusters emerged from the research: emerging economies in Asia (Indonesia, India), where the three factors powerfully explain performance; “Confucian orbit countries” (China, Japan, Korea), where the factors explain 81-93 per cent; and highly developed Western countries (the USA, the UK, Germany), where the factors account for only 20-29 per cent. Practical implications As well as providing a framework for modelling workforce performance, particularly in Asian countries, the findings indicate that workforce performance should be incorporated in performance indexes. The findings as to which drivers best explain workforce performance in each country can inform workforce recruitment and management, as well as the location of businesses and outsourcing. Originality/value For the first time, the study addresses the anomaly between economic growth and development experienced by Asian countries and their relatively low rankings in global competitiveness indexes by making the link between workforce performance and country performance.

Work ethic formed by pedagogical approach: evolution of institutional approach to education and competitiveness

Abstract The literature establishes that education drives competitiveness and economic performance, but the extent education impacts ‘work ethic’ remains untested. Our study analyses panel data from 10 countries to ascertain the pedagogical approach’s role in forming work ethic. The model explains 10–37% of work ethic, suggesting the pedagogical approach in education does influence work ethic. Given East Asia’s recent performance economically and educationally, Western countries soon turn to that region to understand how education systems instil work ethic through discipline and focus on academic performance. Asia and the West need to consider the role educational institutions play towards countries’ economic objectives.

Cross-cultural management of money The roles of ethnicity, religious affiliation, and income levels in asset allocation

This study examines the interplay between ethnicity, religious affiliation, and income levels to understand differences in managing money. Asset allocation decisions among 730 Caucasian and ethnic Chinese were examined. Respondents in Australia, Canada, and China revealed their monetary decisions in an online survey. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to examine differences and interaction effects between ethnic, religious, and income groups. The study found that for the higher-income respondents, asset allocation decisions converged despite differences in ethnic and religious background. In the lower-income segment, asset allocation decisions varied along ethnic lines. These differences were further compounded by their religious background. The implications of this study of management are twofold: the high-income group can be treated as one segment, for example, from the international marketing segmentation perspective. On the other hand, respondents in the low-income bracket diverged in their investment strategies on the basis of ethnicity and religion. As such, they ought to be treated separately according to their values.

Customers’ savings rate and share of wallet: the moderating role of religion and ethnicity/immigrant generation vis-à-vis attitude as mediator

Abstract This study explores the role of attitude toward money, religion and ethnicity in the relationship between income and consumer behavior. The three-country (Australia, Canada and China) study sampled 755 consumers and uses structural equation modeling and multivariate analysis to test for mediating effects of attitude toward money and moderating effects of religion and ethnicity/immigrant generation. Religion is found to be a moderating variable for savings rate and share of wallet, while ethnicity/immigrant generation only moderates the association between income and savings rate. We also demonstrate the interaction effects of religion and ethnicity/immigrant generation with income as determinants of savings rate and share of wallet. This research provides the foundation for modeling savings rate and share of wallet, incorporating attitude, religion, and ethnicity/immigrant generation, as well as income, demonstrating the need to include other factors (i.e. demographic factors in addition to attitudinal/satisfaction measures) to better identify, understand and strategically target consumer segments with potential for profitability and growth.

Quality of care and patient satisfaction amongst Caucasian and non-Caucasian patients: A mixed-method study in Australia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the key aspects of service quality within the outpatient context. The secondary aim is to compare views on quality of health service by Caucasian and non-Caucasian patients in Australia. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed-method approach was adopted for this study. Qualitative data were collected from 40 patients to develop a scale for measuring health service quality. Quantitative data were collected using self-administered questionnaires available in English, Arabic, Persian, Chinese and Vietnamese. A total of 447 patients in six outpatient clinics completed the survey and data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling technique. Findings – The qualitative findings determined eight dimensions of quality for outpatient care as follows: doctor professionalism; doctor empathy; doctor expertise; treatment outcome; staff concern; timeliness; tangibles; and operation. The quantitative findings indicated that factors related to technical aspect of...