The advent of the Internet in personnel selection has brought with it many opportunities, challenges and concerns. The opportunities afforded to the employer include, among others, increased security, a reduction in the resources needed, reduced geographical constraints, reduced time to hire, immediate scoring and a lowering of costs. Owing to these benefits, the use of the Internet for psychological testing will continue to become more prevalent in personnel selection over the next few years. The use and acceptance of the Internet has encouraged organisations and assessment practitioners to make use of Internet-delivered testing as the preferred mode of administration, especially in view of the benefits that it offers to the employer, as well as to the candidate. Internet-delivered testing brings with it a few concerns and many organisations are still making use of the paper-and-pencil version of an instrument even though it is available in an online version. This is because of concerns over measurement equivalence, as the paper-and-pencil version is seen as a “safer” and more accepted mode of administration. There are also many test publishers that would like to take advantage of the practicability of Internet-delivered testing by converting their current selection procedures to an Internet format. This conversion cannot simply be assumed and needs to be examined and documented for each instrument. The primary purpose of this study is to determine the construct equivalence of the Customer Contact Styles Questionnaire (CCSQ7.2) when it is administered via paper-and-pencil in the presence of a proctor and when it is administered online in the absence of a proctor. The aim is to determine whether the online version of the CCSQ7.2 can be considered equivalent to its paper-and-pencil counterpart without loss of psychometric property. The results of the study revealed that the mode in which the CCSQ7.2 is administered does not compromise scale reliabilities and that the relationship between scales of the CCSQ7.2 are not affected by modes of administration. It can thus be said with confidence that the online version of the CCSQ7.2 can be considered equivalent to its paper-and-pencil counterpart without loss of psychometric property. Copyright / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

This research explores the management problem of how individuals can influence the development of a strategic orientation within a firm. A market orientation strategy builds upon three dimensions: the organisation-wide acquisition, dissemination, and co-ordination of market intelligence (Jaworski & Kohli, 1993). Such management of market-based information requires a set of distinct dynamic capabilities or routines. Empirical research about the association between market orientation and performance shows that firms that develop these capabilities improve both their organisational and financial performance (Gray, Buchanan, & Mallon, 2003). This research attempts to understand the circumstances that prompt employees in all areas of an organisation to become accountable for the implementation of a market-oriented strategy. To date, studies have inadequately measured individual contribution to the market orientation of a firm and do not understand each employee's personal responsibility and willingness to act in a market-oriented way. In response, this thesis developed a dynamic, multi-dimensional scale of individual market-oriented behaviour. First-stage research used focus groups and extant literature to construct a measure of individual market orientation. Then, a cross-section of financial services employees completed a web-based survey measuring individual market-oriented behaviour and individual and interpersonal antecedents. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the presence of a single latent construct with three dimensions. Study results identified a strong and significant relationship between the performance of market-oriented behaviours and the perception of a high-quality fulfilled psychological contract with the employer. Employees who were agile learners and frequently in contact with customers were also more likely to practice market-oriented behaviours.

Abstract Problem: This thesis was made by a commission from Svensk Logistikanalys AB (SLA). SLA is a relatively new firm who is working as a freight broker for firms that wants to lower their freight costs. SLA contacted Jönköpings international business school because they experienced a problem with too many firms, that had SLA’s concept introduced to them, but turned down their services. On the basis of this, following purpose of the report has been stated. Purpose: In this thesis we will study companies that have said no to the services of SLA. The purpose is to find and understand the factors that make them say no to the services. Method: In order to investigate factors that influence potential customer to SLA we interviewed six firms to whom SLA had introduce their concept to, but after a negotiation turned them down. The interviews have been well documented with help from a tape recorder, so there would be no loss of important details. The interviews was then reviewed and compared with the theory and our own opinions of the content of the interviews. Analysis: The analysis is divided into three topics; contact with customers, relations and resistance to change. When analyzing these topics we have gone through all the firms’ topic by topic and this led us to several conclusions. Conclusion: We have found several causes which has influenced SLA’s potential customer to reject SLA’s concept. Something that is common for all the firms are that time of delivery is very important and the uncertainty with introducing a new transportation company influences their decisions. Another cause is the resistance to change that arises when introducing a new transportation company. We also found some skepticism about the savings promised by SLA. / Sammanfattning Problem: Denna uppsats är gjord på uppdrag av Svensk Logistikanalys AB (SLA). SLA är ett relativt nystartat företag som arbetar som fraktmäklare åt företag som vill minska sina fraktkostnader. De kontaktade högskolan eftersom de upplevde att de hade problem med att för många företag, som fick deras koncept presenterat för sig, tackade nej till deras tjänster. Utifrån detta arbetades följande syfte med uppsatsen fram: Syfte: I denna uppsats kommer vi studera företag som tackat nej till SLA:s tjänster. Syftet är att finna och förstå de faktorer som gör att de tackar nej till tjänsterna. Metod: För att undersöka vad som påverkat potentiella kunder till SLA har vi genomfört intervjuer med sex stycken företag som SLA har presenterat sitt koncept för men som efter förhandling inte har köpt deras tjänster. Intervjuerna har noga dokumenterats med hjälp av en bandspelare för att inte missa några viktiga detaljer i intervjuerna. Intervjuerna har därefter granskats och jämförts med den teori som studerats och våra egna uppfattningar av intervjuernas innebörd. Analys: Analysen är uppdelad i tre områden; kontakt med kunden, relationer samt motstånd till förändring. Vid analys av dessa områden så har vi gått igenom alla företagen område för område vilket har utmynnat till flera slutsatser. Slutsats: Vi har funnit flera orsaker till vad som har påverkat SLA:s potentiella kunder till att de tackar nej. Något som är gemensamt för alla företagen är att leveranssäkerheten är av största vikt, och att osäkerheten med att införa en ny transportör påverkar deras beslut. En annan orsak är att den förändring som uppstår vid införandet av en ny transportör är jobbig samt skapar motstånd hos dem som jobbar närmast transportören. Vi har även funnit en viss skepsis hos företagen till SLA:s lovade besparing vid upphandlingstjänsten.

This research explores the management problem of how individuals can influence the development of a strategic orientation within a firm. A market orientation strategy builds upon three dimensions: the organisation-wide acquisition, dissemination, and co-ordination of market intelligence (Jaworski & Kohli, 1993). Such management of market-based information requires a set of distinct dynamic capabilities or routines. Empirical research about the association between market orientation and performance shows that firms that develop these capabilities improve both their organisational and financial performance (Gray, Buchanan, & Mallon, 2003). This research attempts to understand the circumstances that prompt employees in all areas of an organisation to become accountable for the implementation of a market-oriented strategy. To date, studies have inadequately measured individual contribution to the market orientation of a firm and do not understand each employee's personal responsibility and willingness to act in a market-oriented way. In response, this thesis developed a dynamic, multi-dimensional scale of individual market-oriented behaviour. First-stage research used focus groups and extant literature to construct a measure of individual market orientation. Then, a cross-section of financial services employees completed a web-based survey measuring individual market-oriented behaviour and individual and interpersonal antecedents. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the presence of a single latent construct with three dimensions. Study results identified a strong and significant relationship between the performance of market-oriented behaviours and the perception of a high-quality fulfilled psychological contract with the employer. Employees who were agile learners and frequently in contact with customers were also more likely to practice market-oriented behaviours.

This study extends past research regarding the impact of human resource management (HRM) practices on performance by investigating the mediating mechanism. The employee-organization relationship, which is defined as a dual-commitment relationship, was hypothesized to be a crucial mechanism of high commitment HRM systems and unit performance. Collecting data from store managers and customer-contact employees in 176 stores in Taiwan, including retail stores, beauty salons, and restaurants and caf

<p>Abstract</p><p>Problem: This thesis was made by a commission from Svensk Logistikanalys AB (SLA). SLA is a relatively new firm who is working as a freight broker for firms that wants to lower their freight costs. SLA contacted Jönköpings international business school because they experienced a problem with too many firms, that had SLA’s concept introduced to them, but turned down their services. On the basis of this, following purpose of the report has been stated.</p><p>Purpose: In this thesis we will study companies that have said no to the services of SLA. The purpose is to find and understand the factors that make them say no to the services.</p><p>Method: In order to investigate factors that influence potential customer to SLA we interviewed six firms to whom SLA had introduce their concept to, but after a negotiation turned them down. The interviews have been well documented with help from a tape recorder, so there would be no loss of important details. The interviews was then reviewed and compared with the theory and our own opinions of the content of the interviews.</p><p>Analysis: The analysis is divided into three topics; contact with customers, relations and resistance to change. When analyzing these topics we have gone through all the firms’ topic by topic and this led us to several conclusions.</p><p>Conclusion: We have found several causes which has influenced SLA’s potential customer to reject SLA’s concept. Something that is common for all the firms are that time of delivery is very important and the uncertainty with introducing a new transportation company influences their decisions. Another cause is the resistance to change that arises when introducing a new transportation company. We also found some skepticism about the savings promised by SLA.</p> / <p>Sammanfattning</p><p>Problem: Denna uppsats är gjord på uppdrag av Svensk Logistikanalys AB (SLA). SLA är ett relativt nystartat företag som arbetar som fraktmäklare åt företag som vill minska sina fraktkostnader. De kontaktade högskolan eftersom de upplevde att de hade problem med att för många företag, som fick deras koncept presenterat för sig, tackade nej till deras tjänster. Utifrån detta arbetades följande syfte med uppsatsen fram:</p><p>Syfte: I denna uppsats kommer vi studera företag som tackat nej till SLA:s tjänster. Syftet är att finna och förstå de faktorer som gör att de tackar nej till tjänsterna.</p><p>Metod: För att undersöka vad som påverkat potentiella kunder till SLA har vi genomfört intervjuer med sex stycken företag som SLA har presenterat sitt koncept för men som efter förhandling inte har köpt deras tjänster. Intervjuerna har noga dokumenterats med hjälp av en bandspelare för att inte missa några viktiga detaljer i intervjuerna. Intervjuerna har därefter granskats och jämförts med den teori som studerats och våra egna uppfattningar av intervjuernas innebörd.</p><p>Analys: Analysen är uppdelad i tre områden; kontakt med kunden, relationer samt motstånd till förändring. Vid analys av dessa områden så har vi gått igenom alla företagen område för område vilket har utmynnat till flera slutsatser.</p><p>Slutsats: Vi har funnit flera orsaker till vad som har påverkat SLA:s potentiella kunder till att de tackar nej. Något som är gemensamt för alla företagen är att leveranssäkerheten är av största vikt, och att osäkerheten med att införa en ny transportör påverkar deras beslut. En annan orsak är att den förändring som uppstår vid införandet av en ny transportör är jobbig samt skapar motstånd hos dem som jobbar närmast transportören. Vi har även funnit en viss skepsis hos företagen till SLA:s lovade besparing vid upphandlingstjänsten.</p>

Datum: 2014-06-02 Nivå: Magisteruppsats i företagsekonomi 15 HP Institution: Akademi för ekonomi, samhälle och teknik EST Författare: Alexander Ivsjö Robin Saha Titel: Bankerna i en ny miljö - Den teknologiska utvecklingens påverkan på svenska bankers marknadsföring Handledare: Sikander Khan Nyckelord: Marknadsföring, relationsmarknadsföring, transaktionsmarknadsföring, kundkontakt, kundlojalitet, kundnöjdhet, banker Frågeställning: Har och i så fall hur har bankernas marknadsföring mot privatkunden förändrats med tanke på den tekniska förändringen som har skett på den svenska bankmarknaden? Har och i så fall hur har bankernas syn på kundrelationer och kundlojalitet förändrats med avseende på den tekniska förändringen som har skett på den svenska bankmarknaden? Syfte: Syftet är att skapa en bild över hur bankerna använder sin marknadsföring mot privatkunder, samt att hur det har förändrats med tanke på den tekniska förändringen på den svenska bankmarknaden. Metod: Denna studie är uppbyggd av en deduktiv forskningsansats då författarna har gjort en förstudie för att få en förståelse av den svenska bankmarknaden. Studien har inslag av en kvantitativ metod, men huvudfokus ligger i en kvalitativ metod. Primärdata insamlades genom intervjuer med anställda och chefer på Handelsbanken och Nordea. Slutsats: De svenska storbankerna bedriver en relationsmarknadsföring med i vissa fall inslag av transaktionsmarknadsföring.Efter den tekniska utvecklingen har svenska storbankerna gått från att bedriva någon form av transaktionsmarknadsföring / Date: June 2, 2014 Level: Master thesis in Business Administration 15 ECTS Institution: The School of Business, society and engineering Authors: Alexander Ivsjö Robin Saha Title: The banks in a new environment - the technological developments’ impact on the marketing of banks in Sweden Tutor: Sikander Khan Keywords: Marketing, relationship marketing, transaction marketing, customer contact, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, banks Research Question: Has the marketing on the banking market towards private costumers in Sweden changed, and if so how, depending on the technological development? Has the view on customer relationships and customer loyalty changed on the banking market in Sweden, depending on the technological development and if so, how has it changed? Purpose: The aim of this study is to understand banks marketing efforts towards the private costumer and how it has changed on the banking market in Sweden depending on the technological development. Method: This is a study with a deductive approach based on a feasibility study of the situation on the banking market in Sweden. The study is mainly based on a qualitative approach but has also element from a quantitative approach. The primary data were collected through interviews with personal at Handelsbanken and Nordea. Conclusion: The major Swedish banks’ marketing is relationship marketing that in some case has elements of transaction marketing.Depending on the technological developments the marketing on the banking market in Sweden has gone from transaction marketing to relationship marketing.

Service firms increasingly need to rely on other attributes than traditional quality and performance of their service employees to become and stay truly competitive. Strong brands are essential for differentiation in today's marketplace and it becomes naturally important to align the customer contact employees with the company brand to ensure consistency in all communication externally. For a service firm employee to fully enact the brand and display on brand behavior outwards it is pivotal to make them truly committed to the brand and organization. Internal branding processes have been shown to be an enabler of employee commitment to the organizational brand. While internal branding is stated to have a connection to commitment, the concept as such is according to Meyer &amp; Allen (1991) constituted by three dimensions, normative, affective and continuance commitment. The bulk of the existing research has so far focused on internal branding and commitment as a single construct and not these dimensions. Much of this research is in addition limited to a few service sectors.The aim of this study was to determine the components of internal branding in order to clarify the relationship between internal branding and brand commitment of customer contact employees. The empirical investigation was conducted in the retail sector from the perspective of the customer contact employee by the use of a self-completion questionnaire measuring the affective commitment of the employees and the presence of the internal branding activities. The conceptual model for the study shows hypothesized positive relationships between the four internal branding activities and affective commitment. However, while all internal branding activities were significantly present, only three of these were found to have a significant positive relationship to affective commitment, excluding internal communication.The conclusions of this study gives managers of customer contact employee’s insights about how to enable affective commitment through the use of internal branding. Our results show that brand oriented training, recruitment and leadership all have a significant impact on affective commitment of customer contact employees. Although they had similar Beta values, brand oriented leadership showed a slightly higher predicting power indicating that leadership can play a greater role regarding the affective commitment of customer contact employees.

The main objective of this research is to examine the relationship between the internal and external service quality dimensions in Egyptian commercial banks. To achieve this objective, the thesis introduced the internal–external service quality model which proposes that the internal service quality has a positive impact on the external service quality. The research model was developed and tested empirically through three main stages. The first stage was based on the extensive review of the literature in order to identity the concepts and measures of the internal and external service quality. In this stage, the research objectives were identified. The second stage was concerned with the building of the internal–external service quality model which proposed that the internal service quality dimensions have a significant positive impact on external service quality. To identify causal indicators for this relationship, some control variables were used and a set of empirically testable hypotheses were developed. [Continues.]

The general aim of the research is to determine the relationship between personality traits as measured by the Customer Contact Styles Questionnaire (CCSQ 7.2) and work performance as measured by means of internal company data sources, of call centre agents. Recent literature indicates a significant relationship between personality traits and work performance. The emphasis in this research is on the factor analytical or trait approach of personality. The sample consisted of 300 call centre agents. The relationship between personality traits and work performance is discussed in terms of descriptive statistics, correlations and multiple regression analyses. The results indicate a relationship between the personality traits of analytical thinking, detail consciousness, conscientiousness, structuredness and work performance as measured by the level of financial incentives for call centre agents. This finding could be implemented in the selection and performance management of call centre agents. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial Psychology)