Online/offline self-disclosure to offline friends and relational outcomes in a diary study: The moderating role of self-esteem and relational closeness

Previous work suggests that the experiences of online and offline self-disclosure are heterogeneous among individuals. Yet little work has been done to identify the moderating role of individual characteristics and pre-existing relationship characteristics on the diverse relational outcomes. The present study using a 7-day diary design examined whether individuals' self-esteem level and relational closeness would moderate the relationships between online and offline self-disclosure to offline friends and two relational outcomes, that is, relationship satisfaction and trust in friendships. The analyses on 686 diary responses from 98 participants revealed that offline self-disclosure generally predicted greater relationship satisfaction and trust in friendships, whereas the role of online self-disclosure was not statistically significant. More importantly, self-esteem moderated the pattern associated with offline self-disclosure but not that with online self-disclosure. Specifically, offline self-disclosure predicted greater benefits to people with lower self-esteem relative to people with higher self-esteem. Moreover, pre-existing relational closeness moderated the relationship between offline self-disclosure and trust in friendships such that casual friendships benefited more from offline self-disclosure than close friendships did. The present study highlights the importance of personal characteristics and relationship characteristics in understanding the heterogeneous relational influence of different communication modes.     

Trust in organization as a moderator of the relationship between self‐efficacy and workplace outcomes: A social cognitive theory‐based examination

Drawing on a social cognitive theory perspective, we contend that an employee's trust in oneself, or self‐efficacy, will interact with the individual's trust in the system, or trust in organization, to predict job attitudes and behaviours. Specifically, we expected that self‐efficacy would have stronger effects on job attitudes (job satisfaction and turnover intentions) and behaviours (task performance and organizational citizenship behaviours) to the degree to which employees perceive high levels of trust in organization. Using data collected from 300 employees and their respective supervisors at a manufacturing organization in Turkey across three waves, we found that self‐efficacy had more positive effects on job satisfaction, task performance, and citizenship behaviours when trust in organization was high. Interestingly, self‐efficacy had a positive effect on turnover intentions when trust in organization was low, indicating that high trust in organization buffered the effects of self‐efficacy on intentions to leave. The results suggest that the motivational value of trust in oneself is stronger to the degree to which employees also have high trust in the system, whereas low trust in system neutralizes the motivational benefits of self‐efficacy.

Practitioner points

• Practicing managers should not only invest in increasing self‐efficacy of their employees, but also invest in building trust to improve employees’ attitudes, behaviours, and performance. This is because when employee trust in organization is high, employee self‐efficacy has greater potential to have a positive influence over job satisfaction, task performance, and organizational citizenship behaviours.
• Self‐efficacy may actually increase an employee's desire to leave the organization when organizational conditions are unfavourable, such as in the case of low trust in the organization. Practicing managers should be aware that employees who have high levels of confidence may be at higher risk of turnover when they are unhappy with the organization.

     

An experimental investigation of justice-based service recovery on customer satisfaction, loyalty, and word-of-mouth intentions

Service recovery is related to many important organizational outcomes such as customer satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability. Within the theoretical framework of organizational justice, an experiment using a simulated "live" service failure was used to assess the effects of justice-based service-recovery strategies on customer satisfaction, loyalty, positive word-of-mouth intentions, and negative word-of-mouth intentions. Analysis indicated that strategies including interactional justice, distributive justice, and a combination of these were equally effective in maintaining customer satisfaction, loyalty, and positive word of mouth, and minimizing negative word of mouth after a service failure. No support for the service recovery paradox, that is, increased satisfaction following service failure and recovery compared to never having a problem, was found. Satisfaction and loyalty for those in the failure conditions were equal to, although not higher than, in the no-failure control condition. Practical implications for organizational practices are discussed.     

Choice confidence in the webrooming purchase process: The impact of online positive reviews and the motivation to touch

The webrooming purchase process (i.e. searching for information online and then buying the product offline) is the most extended cross‐channel shopping behaviour. With the aim of offering a better understanding of this behaviour, this research relies on information processing and uncertainty reduction theories to propose that consumers use the online information to make the offline purchase with a higher degree of confidence. We examine the effects of a previous online interaction with a product on the preferences and decision at the physical store, as well as on the outcomes of the experience. In this path to purchase, we analyse how positive online customer reviews, as a specific form of electronic word of mouth, help the consumer to improve their experience, given their great potential to reduce the consumer's uncertainty in a purchase situation. In addition, the role of the motivation to touch the product is examined. The results of two studies show that the combination of an online search and an offline purchase improves the consumers' purchase experience in pre‐choice variables (i.e. purchase intentions), choice and post‐choice variables (i.e. search‐process satisfaction and choice confidence). Moreover, reading a positive online customer review influences choice confidence, and all the variables considered in the research when it is received at the physical store. Finally, the results stress the importance of the motivation to touch when studying multichannel shopping behaviour, given its direct and moderating effects on the webrooming purchase process. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding behavioral intention to participate in virtual communities.

Virtual communities are formed on the Internet and are expected to serve the needs of members for communication, information, and entertainment. Online businesses should consider virtual communities as a new market place since their members are current or future customers. Thus, there is a need to understand the determinants of member intentions to participate in virtual communities. Based on the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study develop a research model to identify the attitudinal, social, and perceived behavioral control factors that would influence members intentions to participate in virtual communities. Specifically, the research model decomposes the attitude component into perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived trust, and the perceived behavioral control component into Internet self-efficacy and facilitating conditions. Based on a survey of 165 community members, this study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to investigate the research model. The results indicate that attitude and perceived behavioral control significantly influence member behavioral intentions, while subjective norms do not. Finally, this study discusses the implications of these findings and offer directions for future research.     

社会支持视角下顾客在线互助心理和行为机制

消费结构升级促使顾客通过参与价值共创获得更高层次心理满足感。顾客间通过网络平台参与交流、互动、分享和互助等价值共创行为,能够获得美好的情感体验,有助于形成人际之间的友谊,也使得顾客得以寻求自我表达和自我实现,收获更高层次的满足感。本研究以社会支持理论为基础,聚焦不同属性顾客在不同类型网站中参与在线互助的心理动机、心理收益和行为方式,采用行为实验、实证调查、案例研究、神经营销学等多种研究方法,深入剖析顾客参与在线互助过程中的心理和行为反应机制。预期研究成果将丰富现有顾客参与心理和行为的理论体系,也为企业激励顾客参与在线价值共创提供理论指导。     

How gender affects the relationship between hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions?

Five hundred and fifteen consumer responses are used to model the affect of online hedonic shopping motivation and online purchase intentions: moderated by the consumers' perceptions of their offline and online gendered behaviour. The model was applied across five product categories using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. We conclude that there is no online‐gender effect on hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions. However, offline‐gendered behaviour does significantly affect hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions for females across all product categories. Our findings support the proposition that gender is merely a prosthetic device of the private self and is an intentional manipulation and misrepresentation of the anonymous body. Online gender is a performance that is hidden by the technological veil from the offline space and public self, without social constraints or criticisms. Research implications are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bringing social identity to work: the influence of manifestation and suppression on perceived discrimination, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions

In the current article, we explored whether manifesting or suppressing an identity (race/ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, or disability) at work is related to perceived discrimination, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. Participants included 211 working adults who completed an online survey. The results showed that efforts to suppress a group identity were positively (and behavioral manifestations of group identity negatively) related to perceived discrimination, which predicted job satisfaction and turnover intentions. These results suggest that diverse employees actively manage their nonwork identities while at work and that these identity management strategies have important consequences.     

Qualities of online friendships with different gender compositions and durations.

This study was designed to examine the qualities of online friendships with different gender compositions that had been maintained for varying periods of time. A total of 167 Hong Kong Internet-users rated the qualities of their same-sex and cross-sex online friendships on measures such as intimacy, trust, self-disclosure, and relational satisfaction. A 2 (gender of respondents: male vs. female) x 2 (gender of online friends: same-sex vs. opposite-sex) x 3 (duration of friendships: less than 1 year vs. 1-2 years vs. more than 2 years) factorial design was adopted. MANOVA results reveal the three-way interaction effect on intimacy, trust, and relational satisfaction. Specifically, the qualities of male-female, female-male, and female-female online friendships were generally higher for those with a longer duration than those at the early stage of friendship development. However, the qualities of male-male friendships that had been maintained for more than 2 years were lower than those maintained for 2 years or less. These findings suggest that qualities of online friendships are subject to effects of gender composition and duration. The conceptual implications of these results are discussed.     

Mechanisms linking employee affective delivery and customer behavioral intentions

Past empirical evidence has indicated that employee affective delivery can influence customer reactions (e.g., customer satisfaction, service quality evaluation). This study extends previous research by empirically examining mediating processes underlying the relationship between employee affective delivery and customer behavioral intentions. Data were collected from 352 employee-customer pairs in 169 retail shoe stores in Taiwan. Results showed that the influence of employee affective delivery on customers' willingness to return to the store and pass positive comments to friends was indirect through the mediating processes of customer in-store positive moods and perceived friendliness. The study also indicated that employee affective delivery influences customers' time spent in store, which, in turn, influences customer behavioral intentions.     

Predicting pedestrians’ intention to cross the road in front of automated vehicles in risky situations

Due to the absence of a human driver, the introduction of fully automated vehicles (FAVs) may bring new safety challenges to the traffic system, especially when FAVs interact with vulnerable road users such as pedestrians. To ensure safer interactions between pedestrians and FAVs, this questionnaire-based study aims to understand Australian pedestrians’ intention to engage in risky road-crossing behaviors when they interact with FAVs vs. human-driven vehicles (HDVs). A 2 × 2 between-subject design was utilized, in which two risky road-crossing scenarios were designed and took into account the vehicle type (FAV vs. HDV) and vehicle speed (30 km/h vs. 50 km/h). A total of 493 participants (aged 18–77) were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions and completed an online questionnaire based on the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). This questionnaire measured pedestrians’ intentions to cross the road in the assigned scenarios as well as the motivational factors behind these intentions in terms of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, perceived risk and trust in the vehicle. The results show that pedestrians had significantly higher intentions to cross the road in front of approaching FAVs than HDVs. Participants also reported a lower risk perception of crossing in front of FAVs and greater trust in this type of vehicle. Attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control were significant predictors of intentions to engage in risky road-crossing behavior. Findings of this study provide important implications for the development and implementation of FAVs in the future road transport system.     

Enhancing the training integrity of human service staff using pyramidal behavioral skills training

This experiment used a pyramidal training model to evaluate the effects of behavioral skills training (BST), delivered in a 1-time group-training format, on the extent to which 25 human service staff implemented BST when training others how to implement behavioral procedures. Results indicated that (a) the training workshop increased BST integrity to mastery levels for the majority of participants with varying levels of education, organizational positions, and training experience, (b) the training effects generalized to teaching an untrained skill, and (c) high levels of BST integrity maintained at follow-up 4 to 6 weeks after training for all 3 participants with whom probes were conducted. Moreover, participants indicated high levels of satisfaction with both the training workshop and BST as a training procedure.     

Studies of transformational leadership in consumer service: leadership trust and the mediating-moderating role of cooperative conflict management

This is the third in a series of studies evaluating how transformational leadership is associated with related variables such as job satisfaction, change commitment, leadership trust, cooperative conflict management, and market orientation. The present paper evaluates the effects of transformational leadership and cooperative conflict management along with their mediating and moderating of leadership trust in the life insurance industry for two sample groups, sales managers and sales employees. The main effect of leadership trust was mediated and moderated by cooperative conflict management. Cooperative conflict management made a more important contribution than transformational leadership or the moderating effect (interaction), but these three together were the most important variables predicting highest leadership trust. Transformational leadership has an indirect influence on leadership trust. This work summarizes the specific contribution and importance of building successful leadership trust associations with employees in relation to leadership and satisfaction with change commitment.     

Extending Technology Acceptance Model to the E‐recruitment Context in Iran

Using a sample of 332 job applicants in Iran, this study integrates Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and signaling theory to explain factors influencing applicants' behavioral intentions to apply for jobs online. Of the two main constructs of TAM, perceived usefulness was found to have a significant impact on applicants' behavioral intentions, while perceived ease of use was not. Based on the signaling theory, impression of the organizational website appeared to create interests in organization as a potential employer; hence, prompt applicants to apply for jobs. These results extend our understanding of the online recruitment in different context and provide further insights with regard to possible effects of website features on applicants' attractions toward organizations operating in Iran.     

Beyond individual justice facets: How (Mis)alignment between justice climates affects customer satisfaction through frontline customer extra-role service behavior

ABSTRACT

This study examines the combined effect of organizational justice facets on store-level customer extra-role service behavior, and subsequently on customer satisfaction. Hypotheses were tested on a sample of 1,951 employees in 121 business units from four countries, and on 55,731 customers of an international retailer. The results of polynomial regression and response surface analysis revealed that unit customer service performance and customer satisfaction are higher when justice facets are aligned at high levels, compared to when they are aligned at low levels. Moreover, we found evidence that the consequences of misalignment between justice facets are asymmetrical. Unit outcomes were higher when distributive justice (DJ) and procedural justice (PJ) climates were both higher than the interpersonal justice climate, compared to when the inverse was true. Conversely, unit outcomes increased when informational justice (INF-J) climate was higher than DJ and PJ climates, compared to when DJ and PJ climates were higher than INF-J climates. The observed effects of misalignment between justice facets were non-linear, as complex curvilinear relationships were moderator-dependent. Customer satisfaction was higher in stores with higher team customer service behavior, and team service behavior was found to be a significant conduit by which justice facets (mis)alignment influence customer satisfaction.     

Not just apologizing: The impact of complaint handling on sustained participation behavior in live-streaming shopping

In a live-streaming shopping community, the quality of complaint handling may significantly influence relationship recovery between the consumer and retailer (or streamer) following service failures. Despite the significant progress made in previous works, there are still research gaps in the study of customer complaint handling and customers' post-behavior. Therefore, this study introduced the important variable “swift-guanxi” (SG) to explore the relationship between complaint handling and the sustained participation of customers. Data were collected through both online and offline methods. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the relevant hypotheses. The results from assessing these data indicate that the factors of conversational human voice (CHV), reply length (RL) and perceived justice (PJ) all exert a significant influence on SG, which in turn affects the sustained participation behavior (SPB) of customers. In addition, complaint publicization (CP) has a negative impact on this behavior.     

Be loyal but not addicted: Effect of online game social migration on game loyalty and addiction

To increase game loyalty but decrease game addiction, this study examines online game social migration and tests the mediating effects of offline social value and maladaptive cognition on the basis of the theory of consumption value and the cognitive behavioral model of pathological Internet use. The results are as follows: (i) Overall, online game social migration is associated with greater game loyalty and less game addiction; (ii) The positive association between online game social migration and game loyalty was mediated by offline social value; and (iii) Online game social migration is associated with lower game addiction. This paper provides a new perspective (taking into account both business interests and players' psychological health) for online game research and also offers practical guidance for cooperation between game companies and the public. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relationships between justice perceptions, trust, and employee attitudes in a downsized organization

The authors examined perceptions of distributive justice, procedural justice, trust, organizational commitment, organizational satisfaction, and turnover intentions among survivors in an organization that had recently completed an organizational downsizing. Results suggested that trust partially mediated the relationship between distributive justice and both organizational satisfaction and affective commitment. Additionally, the relationship between procedural justice and turnover intentions was mediated by trust perceptions.     

Increasing outgroup trust,reducing infrahumanization,and enhancing future contact intentions via imagined intergroup contact

The present study was designed to test whether imagined intergroup contact (Crisp & Turner, 2009) affects attributions of human emotions to outgroup members and positive behavioral intentions toward the outgroup via increased outgroup trust. Italian fourth-graders took part in a three-week intervention, where they were asked to imagine meeting an unknown immigrant child in various social settings. One week after the last session, they were administered the dependent measures. Results revealed an indirect effect of imagined contact on both behavioral intentions and attributions of uniquely human emotions to outgroup members via outgroup trust. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and an integration of the imagined contact and infrahumanization literature is suggested.