Antecedents of technological readiness in times of crises: A comparison between before and during COVID-19

We examine how individual characteristics of employees such as digital self-efficacy, workforce agility, innovativeness, and commitment to change influence technological readiness in different stages of a crisis, i.e., before a crisis and during a crisis. We carried out a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on data from 2892 employees representing companies across several sectors and countries. Our results show that specific characteristics of employees can be beneficial for reaching technological readiness in organisations before a crisis and during a crisis. Our results, e.g., show that digital self-efficacy has a differential impact on technological readiness prior to a crisis and during a crisis while workforce agility is essential for both phases.

When telecommuters are willing to be good soldiers during COVID-19.

COVID-19 pandemic can be regarded as a game changer, it has changed the way people work or live. How has the telecommuter's psychology changed under coronavirus? Accordingly, this study contributes to clarify the relationships among telecommuter's organizational citizenship behavior, happiness, work-family conflict, and job performance under COVID-19. The first purpose of present study is to evaluate the impacts of telecommuter's organizational citizenship behavior. To explore the roles of happiness and work-family conflict, the second purpose is to explore the relationships among the organizational citizenship behavior, happiness, and work-family conflict. In addition, the influences of telecommuter's happiness and work-family conflict on job performance deserve further consideration. To assess the applicability of this conceptual model, this study develops a questionnaire and distributed it to a sample consisted of telecommuters of firms. The statistical techniques adopt contain descriptive statistics, factor analysis, reliability analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM), and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Based on the empirical analyses, telecommuter's extra-role organizational citizenship behavior enhances in-role job performance, telecommuter's organizational citizenship also associates with happiness and work-family conflict. Both happiness and work-family conflict associate with the job performance. In addition, there are three causal configurations found to be sufficient for high job performance.

A silver lining in the COVID-19 cloud: examining customers’ value perceptions, willingness to use and pay more for robotic restaurants

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the restaurant industry due to enforced closures and limitations on social gatherings, prompting restaurateurs to innovate and adapt in order to ensure the viability of their businesses. Pandemic has also induced changes in our perceptions of safety in public spaces, necessitating the adoption of social distancing and more widespread use of online platforms for purchasing and communication. While the pandemic might be a catalyst for the adoption of contactless technologies, some restaurateurs remain hesitant to invest in service robots because they are not convinced of the return on investment and the potential value service robots can deliver to their customers. Therefore, this study aims to explore customer value perceptions of service robots and their impact on customers’ attitudes and behaviors toward robotic restaurants. Findings yielded by a survey of 445 potential diners in Taiwan show that customers’ willingness to use and to pay more for robotic restaurants are determined by their attitudes toward robots, which are influenced by functional, conditional, epistemic, emotional, co-creation, and social values. Our survey results also reveal that the importance of conditional value is amplified by crisis-specific antecedents, namely the need for physical distancing and mysophobia. These findings have implications for restaurant pricing policies and can be considered by restaurant managers when formulating strategies aimed at sustaining their business in these challenging times. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] 由于强制关闭和限制社交聚会，COVID-19大流行严重影响了餐饮业，促使餐馆经营者进行创新和调整，以确保其业务的生存能力. 流感大流行还导致我们对公共场所安全的看法发生了变化，这就需要采用社交距离，并更广泛地使用在线购物和交流平台. 虽然这种流行病可能是采用非接触式技术的催化剂，但一些餐馆老板仍然对投资服务机器人犹豫不决，因为他们不相信服务机器人能给顾客带来的投资回报和潜在价值. 因此，本研究旨在探讨顾客对服务机器人的价值认知及其对顾客对机器人餐厅态度与行为的影响. 对台湾445位潜在食客的调查结果显示，顾客对机器人餐厅的态度决定了他们对机器人餐厅的使用意愿和支付意愿，这些态度受到功能、条件、认知、情感、共同创造和社会价值观的影响. 我们的调查结果还显示，条件价值的重要性被特定危机的前因放大，即需要身体距离和神秘恐惧症. 这些发现对餐厅定价政策有一定的启示，可供餐厅经理在制定策略时加以考虑，以期在这个充满挑战的时代维持其业务. (Chinese) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Effectuation and causation configurations for business model innovation: Addressing COVID-19 in the gastronomy industry.

The gastronomy sector is among those that are hit particularly hard by a loss of customers and regulatory uncertainty of the COVID-19 crisis. When established ways of doing business become almost impossible, business model innovation (BMI) is a possible reaction to this high uncertainty level. Effectuation and causation are decision-making logics that may lead to BMI and help a firm navigate uncertainty. We investigate configurations of causation and effectuation components associated with a high BMI level during the first wave of COVID-19. We perform fuzzy-set-qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on a sample of 143 gastronomy entrepreneurs in Münster county, Germany. We identify two paths that lead to a high BMI level: "the planning soloist" and "the hedging networker." We conclude that innovators among the gastronomy entrepreneurs use effectuation and causation components in complex configurations.