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The purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of total quality management (TQM) practices adopted by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on their financial performance in a period where ...

This paper aims to ascertain: whether (1) there were any immediate effects on managers’ leadership competencies, leadership outcomes and teamwork as a result of the Outdoor Management Development (...

This study seeks to identify the strategic and operational factors necessary for the effective operation of the International Olympic Academy (IOA), and of the National Olympic Academies (NOAs). It applies Resource Dependence Theory (RDP) and Inter-organizational Relationships Theory (IOR) to the institutional environment of the NOAs. A set of exploratory semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), IOA, NOAs and Academics. A thematic analysis of the interview data provided themes to be incorporated into a questionnaire conducted with NOA directors and NOC officials focusing on relationships of the NOAs with other organisations and the implications for their autonomy. The nature of the field of NOA activity and its environment, is such that, for many NOAs, it is beset by an imbalance of power. This is reflected in the resource dependency of many NOAs on, in particular, NOCs and ultimately the IOC for legitimacy, human, financial and physical resources. The paper highlights a number of ways in which these relationships might be modified for the benefit of all the organisations involved.

In recent years, business companies are challenged with various difficulties in connection to human resources (HR), for example, adapting to one’s sentiments, managing debates, developing collaboration, affecting leadership, addressing motives, interpersonal susceptibility, dealing with capabilities and also individual emotional intelligence (EI) or inward characteristics (e.g. moral qualities). Expanding on and reaching out earlier and ongoing work, the scope of this research is to experimentally look at the connection between the components of EI and ethics in contemporary organizations and their resulting impact on employees’ motives and performance. A quantitative method was utilized, and an entirety of 386 questionnaires was collected from three diverse high-tech new businesses based in Greece and analyzed with SPSS programing. For triangulation reasons, auxiliary information from the organizations’ sites were gathered and a meeting with each organization’s executive of the HR division was held. The outcomes propose that ethical values add to motives and thus employee motives add to employee performance. Helpful administrative ramifications resulted from this research.

All-inclusive hotels have been evolved as an attractive holiday choice for several travelers due to their ability to provide a relaxed holiday with predetermined costs and full amenities. Previous studies on that specific feature of hospitality firms have examined the motivations of travelers behind that choice, yet there is scarce evidence regarding the satisfaction of all-inclusive visitors and whether income and family size are significant determinants of their satisfaction. The study utilizes a large survey of “all-inclusive” visitors summing up to 1600 questionnaires for the exploration of the factors determining tourists’ satisfaction. This research adjoins the existent bibliography by exploring some additional determinants not examined by previous studies such as the size of the family and the income level of the travelers. Empirical evidence indicated that the factors of convenience and economy of resources were impacting customer satisfaction positively along with previous positive experience of visitors. Nevertheless, empirical evidence seem to differentiate when the impact of income and family size is taken into consideration. Specifically, the previous all-inclusive experience, convenience and economy of resources seem to be highly significant only for families with children while the same factors were insignificant for families without children. Finally, the same factors were highly and positively significant for low income visitors and start to become insignificant when examining the medium and high income groups. These evidence provide useful policy implications for hotel managers which offer all-inclusive packages, in order to improve their services and target adjust their tactic strategically based on customer characteristics.

Background: Recent technological innovations which adapted from tourism sector have a decisive impact on the traveler experience. The rapid growth of the Internet usage, confirms that websites consist a critical competitive resource for tourism firms. In this dynamic environment, it is important for online travel agencies to fully understand what aspects of the website affect the perceived quality and to provide web services that fulfil online consumers’ needs. The main goal of the study was to investigate the effect of perceived quality on customers’ overall satisfaction, and purchase intentions of online travel agency services. Methods: The sample consisted of 346 internet users who had visited an online travel agency in less than one year, 192 of whom were women (55.5%) and 154 men (44.5%), and their age ranged from 18 to 62, with the majority of participants belong to the age category of 18–25 years old (26.6%). Data collection was performed through an electronic questionnaire, which was based on WebQual of Loiacono et al. (2007). The results: Results indicated that among all the quality factors, the ease of understanding, response time, and the website intuitive operation (ease to use and navigation) emerged as the most important. Quality perception was significantly different in terms of gender, age and educational level. Also, the perceived quality needs and purchase intentions were different for browsers and purchasers. With regard to the Internet user profile, the annual amount spending on online booking, the reasons of booking and the reason of visiting the website, seemed to influence the perceived quality. Correspondingly, purchase intentions were found to be affected by the reasons of booking and the reason of visiting the website. Finally, a positive correlation was found between the overall perceived quality and purchase intentions. Conclusions: The results of this study are considered important for practitioners in the online travel sector, by identifying significant factors that affect online consumers’ willingness to purchase and will also contribute to building the concept of online travel agency quality performance.

The primary objective article was to investigate the websites’ persuasiveness of the luxury hotels in Greece and its implications for their financial performance. As a result, a content analysis was applied primarily as a quantitative research method, with website characteristics classified into distinct categories and then described using statistics; 335 websites of luxury hotels were reviewed and data were analyzed by means of STATA 12. Persuasiveness measured using six dimensions, namely: informativeness, usability, credibility, inspiration, involvement and reciprocity. The research divulged a comparatively low degree of the hotels overall persuasiveness, specifically in involvement dimension. Furthermore, current research attempted to pinpoint the relation among the hotels’ website overall persuasiveness and its impact on their financial performance. The findings could offer the hotel managers useful insights into enhancing their website’s persuasiveness and accordingly their financial performance.

Purpose: The object of this research is to investigate work motivating factors in the public sector in Greece, as well as to study demographic attributes, placing emphasis on age and gender as determinants of employee motives. Design/methodology/approach: To answer our research questions, a questionnaire was distributed at the beginning of 2015 to a public - sector organization in central Greece. A total of 318 anonymous survey responses were collected and analysed with SPSS. Findings: In the public organization under survey, the leading employee motives are an increase in salaries, opportunities for hierarchical advancement in the organization, as well as the development of personal skills. Moreover, motivational differences are noted among Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. Research limitations/implications: As the present study has been conducted on a single public organization, awareness should be raised as far as the generalizability of the results providing useful insights for further exploration. Originality/value: Limited research has been conducted in the Greek public sector comparing motives among generations.

The primary purposes of this study were: to determine the extent to which the strategic planning process was being used in NCAA Division I‐A athletic departments; to identify the key factors that discourage the above mentioned departments from engaging in strategic planning activities; to develop and recommend a generic strategic planning process model, which could be implemented by the athletic departments; and to examine the relationships between the extent of strategic planning used by the athletic departments and these selected variables: type of the university (private versus public), university size, and background of athletic directors. All 106 NCAA Division I‐A athletic departments were surveyed. The response rate was 72 per cent. Findings of this study were as follows: 33 (43.4 per cent) of the athletic departments were classified as strategic planners; insufficient financial resources and time were the factors that highly discouraged the athletic departments from engaging in strategic planning; a strategic planning process model was developed and an analysis of its several components was presented; the extent of strategic planning used by the athletic departments was not related to the type of university, university size, and the background of athletic directors.