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Advancing digitalization, the emergence of disruptive technologies, the radically changing customer requirements, or the growing competitive work environment force every organization to re-invent themselves rapidly and constantly and to re-think the relevance of their current business model. In this dynamic organizational environment, companies rely increasingly on their employees’ creativity and need to motivate them to cultivate and drive new ideas and proposals for products and services. At the same time, it is also imperative for organizations to encourage their employees to communicate issues, problems or concerns that might decrease the organizational performance. However, employees might decide to rather withhold their beneficial ideas or relevant concerns, which impedes the enhancement of organizational efficiency or hinders the necessary development of new and improved processes, services or products. This behavior was defined as employee silence, withholding any form of genuine expression from a person that might be able to make a change. Despite the high relevance of employee silence and the growing research body over the last two decades, the relationship of employee silence and innovative behavior has received just little empirical attention in the field of organizational behavior and management sciences. Therefore, the overall purpose of this thesis is to empirically examine the role and relevance of employee silence in the context of disruptive business model transformation. The comprehensive literature review conducted within this thesis demonstrated that silence behavior is a distinct and valid multidimensional construct that is rather complex to measure and therefore also scientifically defiant. The literature review also provides a comprehensive overview of scientific outcomes in the area of organizational and employee silence over the last 20 years. Based on two preliminary qualitative studies (16 expert interviews) in different work settings a structural equation model (SEM) for the empirical investigation was designed by combining the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). For the empirical (quantitative) examination, a global survey (n = 4,527) was rolled out in an industrial company undergoing major change initiatives. The main results of the SEM (n = 4,527) demonstrated that job dissatisfaction significantly increased employee silence, whereas work engagement significantly decreased silence behavior. With respect to the direct influential factors causing employee silence, it was also shown that certain job demands (collaboration) and job resources (authentic leadership) significantly influenced the antecedents of silence, even with certain buffering effects. These results also confirmed the dual pathways of the JD-R model and the interaction effects between job demands and resources suggested by the literature. Moreover, the study also revealed that employee silence showed a weak positive, but significant relation to innovative performance. Therefore, the assumption that silence is more than just the absence or opposite of voice could be supported empirically. Within the thesis also potentially fruitful implications for research and practice as well as limitations are discussed.
This dissertation comprises three essays on the leveraged loan market. The first essay investigates leveraged loan market liquidity. The second essay evaluates several models in terms of their ability to predict leveraged loan volatility. The third essay analyzes the informational efficiency of the leveraged loan market.
This thesis develops methodological approaches to extend the service spectrum of price comparison websites for electronic consumer goods with respect to the determination of the optimal purchase time point. The central decision criterion of price comparison sites’ customers is the (expected) minimum price.
This paper therefore focuses on the prediction of minimum prices and therefrom derived events and answers three questions that set the stage for extending services of price comparison sites:
1. How long do is the expected waiting time to buy our desired product for a set budget or desired price?
2. When should a customer buy so that s/he pays the lowest price within a short, predefined decision horizon?
3. How can a price comparison site make price predictions for a large, heterogeneous set of products over different horizons, and what are the best methods for doing so?
The database used for the analysis results from the specific requirements of the study context. While the first two papers focus on a subset of electronic consumer goods - smartphones - to demonstrate the application of the developed methodology, the third paper addresses the challenges of price prediction for the heterogeneous product landscape on price comparison sites and therefore includes multiple product categories in the analysis.
Diese Arbeit ist eine wissenschaftliche Untersuchung von Zusammenhängen der Arbeitsbelastung und Patientenzufriedenheit in Krankenhäusern. Für die Analysen standen Leistungsdaten des Ärztlichen Dienstes und des Pflegedienstes sowie Ergebnisse einer kontinuierlichen Patientenbefragung aus insgesamt 36 Krankenhäusern in Deutschland zur Verfügung.
Das methodische Vorgehen bestand im ersten Schritt aus einer systematischen Literaturrecherche. Anschließend wurde anhand eines gegebenen Datensatzes ein quantitatives Verfahren zur Prüfung der Hypothese/n „Die Arbeitsbelastung des Pflegedienstes/Ärztlichen Dienstes hat einen Einfluss auf die Patientenzufriedenheit mit dem Pflegedienst/Ärztlichen Dienst“ gewählt. Abschließend wurden die Ergebnisse anhand der identifizierten Fachliteratur diskutiert.
Die statistischen Analysen kommen für den Pflegedienst und den Ärztlichen Dienst in Bezug auf den untersuchten Zusammenhang zu unterschiedlichen Ergebnissen.
Für den Pflegedienst zeigte sich für das Datenjahr 2015 ein mittlerer positiver Zusammenhang zwischen der Arbeitsbelastung und der Unzufriedenheit der Patienten mit dem Pflegepersonal insgesamt (r-Wert = 0,389). Das heißt, mit der Zunahme der Arbeitsbelastung steigt die Unzufriedenheit der Patienten. Das Ergebnis ist mit einem p-Wert von ≤ 0,001 hoch signifikant und die Anzahl der untersuchten Stationen führt hier zu einer ausreichenden Teststärke mit einem Wert von 0,999. Durch eine erfolgte Messwiederholung mit den Daten des Jahres 2016 wurde dieses Ergebnis bestätigt.
Für den Ärztlichen Dienst zeigte sich für das Datenjahr 2015 (r = 0,091) und die Messwiederholung 2016 (r = 0,046) bei einem p-Wert > 0,05 kein gesicherter Zusammenhang zwischen der Arbeitsbelastung und der Unzufriedenheit der Patienten mit dem Ärztlichen Dienst insgesamt.
Die durch die Literaturrecherche identifizierte und in dieser Arbeit diskutierte Fachliteratur, hatte im Ergebnis überwiegend eine schwache Aussagekraft. Durch die klaren Ergebnisse der Zusammenhangsanalysen ist diese Arbeit für den aktuellen Stand der Forschung von Relevanz.
Abstract paper 1:
This paper examines how service firms (i.e., car dealers) should manage the remedy for a recalled vehicle, specifically the timing of the repair and the message on its outcome. Drawing on the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM), we consider the repair for a recalled product as a protective action and propose a central role of customers' risk concerns for managing this process. Across multiple studies (including interviews with car dealers, archival data, and experiments with car owners), we show that firms' service processes are not well-aligned with these concerns. Regarding the timing, firms often delay the repair service until the next regular inspection for convenience, while customers prefer an immediate repair if they perceive a high risk and if risk exposure time (time until next inspection) is long. Regarding the outcome message, firms often communicate a benefit such as a value increase (a camouflage signal), which is ineffective. Instead, customers' satisfaction and loyalty with the service firm are increased by communicating a risk reduction (a need signal), mediated by perceived credibility. We recommend that service firms should let customers choose the timing for the repair and frame its outcome as a risk reduction, rather than concealing it as a benefit.
Abstract paper 2:
This paper examines the remedial effect of complaint process recovery (CPR) on customer outcomes (trust and repatronage intentions) after double deviations. CPR refers to improvements in complaint-handling processes aimed at avoiding another recovery failure. Drawing on the stereotype content model, we propose that CPR communication (i.e., informing customers about the improved complaint-handling processes after a double deviation) and CPR verification (i.e., providing evidence of these improvements when customers experience another service failure) foster repatronage intentions, serially mediated by perceived competence and trust. Further, it is proposed that CPR communication reinforces the latter mediation effect. Findings from one scenario-based experiment and two longitudinal field experiments support these hypotheses. Further, the effects of CPR communication and verification are robust across different levels of perceived failure severity and across strong- vs. weak-relationship customers. As a major managerial takeaway, firms learn how to signal their competence and remedy a double deviation, even when accepting and admitting that service failures can reoccur.
Abstract paper 3:
Purpose:
This paper examines how customer expectations of service quality change if a service provider is forced to adapt its service provision due to the social distancing rules applied during pandemic times.
Design/methodology/approach: This research draws on the concept of zone of tolerance for service quality, using field data to determine the zones of tolerance for different service quality dimensions in traditional and adapted service settings for mass events. Customers’ zones of tolerance are compared through repeated measures analyses of variance. Further, the effect of perceived service quality on customer outcomes (i.e., satisfaction with the adapted service and repatronage intention after the pandemic) is examined through a mediation analysis, with usage frequency as the mediating variable.
Findings: This paper shows that customers’ zones of tolerance narrow following service adaptations, which can be explained by rising expectations of minimum tolerable service levels. If the perceived service exceeds this lower threshold of the zone of tolerance, customers show higher satisfaction with the adapted service. Additionally, satisfaction with the adapted service has a positive effect on repatronage intention for the traditional service (i.e., after the pandemic), mediated by usage frequency of the adapted service.
Originality: The topic of service adaption is examined from a customer point of view.
Practical implications: The findings of this study provide important implications for service providers about how to handle service adaption during times of social distancing.
This cumulative dissertation aims to provide novel and holistic ideas on how companies can solve different challenges in the implementation of responsible business conduct (RBC).
The dissertation entails three individual scientific papers:
1. Baier, C., Göttsche, M., Hellmann, A., and Schiemann, F. (2021), “Too good to be true: Influencing credibility perceptions with signaling reference explicitness and assurance depth”, published online in the Journal of Business Ethics (VHB-JQ3: B), doi: 10.1007/s10551-020-04719-7.
2. Baier, C., Beckmann, M., and Heidingsfelder, J. (2020), “Hidden allies for value chain responsibility? A system theory perspective on aligning sustainable supply chain management and trade compliance”, published in the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management (VHB-JQ3: B), Vol. 50 No. 4, pp. 439-456, doi: 10.1108/IJPDLM-02-2019-0037.
3. Baier, C. (2020), “Strengere Sorgfaltspflichten für verantwortungsvolle Lieferketten?”, published in DER BETRIEB (VHB-JQ3: D), Vol. 35, pp. 1801-1805.
The three papers of this dissertation concentrate on specific facets of RBC and aim to find new insights and solutions for different challenges in the implementation of RBC. The first paper investigates ethical sustainability reporting and assurance practices. The second paper emphasizes that corporations are responsible to manage both the upstream and downstream sustainability impacts on the value chain and thus concentrates on the RBC aspect of value chain responsibility. The third paper focuses on the concept of supply chain due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for adverse human rights and environmental impacts as an elementary part of RBC.
Die vorliegende Dissertation analysiert die reihenfolgestabile Variantenfließfertigung im
automobilen Umfeld und entwickelt neue Ansätze zur Stabilisierung der Produktion.
In der Automobilindustrie ermöglichen flexible Fertigungslinien die Produktion variantenreicher,
individuell ausgestatteter Fahrzeugmodelle mit kleinem Produktionsvolumen bis hin zur
Losgröße eins. Dies verursacht einen zunehmenden logistischen Aufwand, da die Anzahl unterschiedlicher Teile und Komponenten stark ansteigt. Um Fertigungslinien weiterhin effizient mit Teilen zu versorgen, werden neue Produktionsstrategien und Logistikkonzepte entwickelt. Die Anwendung der Auftragsfertigung und die frühzeitige Festlegung der Fertigungsreihenfolge ermöglicht die Umsetzung von bedarfs- und reihenfolgesynchronen (JIS) Anlieferungsstrategien
sowie die Einrichtung von Supermärkten an den Fertigungslinien. Basis hierfür ist eine konstante
Fertigungsfolge nach der sich die internen sowie externen Logistikprozesse ausrichten.
Dies erfordert eine hohe Prozessstabilität, die kontinuierlich gemessen werden muss. Aufgrund von stochastischen Prozesszeiten, Reihenfolgeverwirbelungen und Staueffekten im Produktionsfluss wird die Stabilität gemindert. Durch die gezielte Allokation von Puffern lassen sich diese Effekte reduzieren. Diese Arbeit untersucht Kennzahlen zur Messung von Stabilität, die Allokation von Puffern sowie Versorgungsstrategien von JIS Teilen in der reihenfolgestabilen
Automobilproduktion.