In service design projects, collaboration between design consultant and service provider can be problematic. The nature of these projects requires a high level of shared understanding and commitment, which providers may not be used to. We studied designer-provider collaboration in multiple real-life cases, in order to uncover determinants for successful collaboration. The case studies involved six service innovation projects, performed by Dutch design agencies. Independent researchers closely monitored the projects. Additional interviews with designers and providers gave insights in how both parties experienced their collaboration in the innovation projects. During data analysis, a coding scheme was created inductively. The scheme supported us in formulating 12 themes for designer-provider collaboration, amongst them four contextual determinants of shared understanding and stakeholder commitment in SD-projects. The insights from this study were then grounded in literature. Knowledge gaps were identified on themes about agreements of responsibilities, the open-endedness of an SD-process, an opportunitysearching approach, and organizational change that is required for the successful implementation of innovative service concepts.
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Abstract Background: Many countries in Europe have implemented managed competition and patient choice during the last decade. With the introduction of managed competition, health insurers also became an important stakeholder. They purchase services on behalf of their customers and are allowed to contract healthcare providers selectively. It has, therefore, become increasingly important to take one's insurance into account when choosing a provider. There is little evidence that patients make active choices in the way that policymakers assume they do. This research aims to investigate, firstly, the role of patients in choosing a healthcare provider at the point of referral, then the role of the GP and, finally, the influence of the health insurer/insurance policies within this process. Methods: We videotaped a series of everyday consultations between Dutch GPs and their patients during 2015 and 2016. In 117 of these consultations, with 28 GPs, the patient was referred to another healthcare provider. These consultations were coded by three observers using an observation protocol which assessed the role of the patient, GP, and the influence of the health insurer during the referral. Results: Patients were divided into three groups: patients with little or no input, patients with some input, and those with a lot of input. Just over half of the patients (56%) seemed to have some, or a lot of, input into the choice of a healthcare provider at the point of referral by their GP. In addition, in almost half of the consultations (47%), GPs inquired about their patients' preferences regarding a healthcare provider. Topics regarding the health insurance or insurance policy of a patient were rarely (14%) discussed at the point of referral. Conclusions: Just over half of the patients appear to have some, or a lot of, input into their choice of a healthcare provider at the point of referral by their GP. However, the remainder of the patients had little or no input. If more patient choice continues to be an important aim for policy makers, patients should be encouraged to actively choose the healthcare provider who best fits their needs and preferences.
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Objective To describe communication between pharmacy staff and patients at the counter in outpatient pharmacies. Both content and communication style were investigated. Methods Pharmaceutical encounters in three outpatient pharmacies in the Netherlands were video-recorded. Videos were analyzed based on an observation protocol for the following information: content of encounter, initiator of a theme and pharmacy staff's communication style. Results In total, 119 encounters were recorded which concerned 42 first prescriptions, 16 first refill prescriptions and 61 follow-up refill prescriptions. During all encounters, discussion was mostly initiated by pharmacy staff (85%). In first prescription encounters topics most frequently discussed included instructions for use (83%) and dosage instructions (95%). In first refill encounters, patient experiences such as adverse effects (44%) and beneficial effects (38%) were regularly discussed in contrast to follow-up refills (7% and 5%). Patients’ opinion on medication was hardly discussed. Conclusion Pharmacy staff in outpatient pharmacies generally provide practical information, less frequently they discuss patients’ experiences and seldom discuss patients’ perceptions and preferences about prescribed medication. Practice implications This study shows there is room for improvement, as communication is still not according to professional guidelines. To implement professional guidelines successfully, it is necessary to identify underlying reasons for not following the guidelines.
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Demographic changes, such as the ageing of society and the decline of the birth rate, are gradually leading to the loss of valuable knowledge and experience in the Dutch Labour market. This necessitates an explicit focus on workers' sustainable employment so that they can add value to the organisation throughout their career. This study looks into the way in which the workers' motivation might affect their investments into their own sustainable employment. It was conducted in a major industrial service provider, Sitech Services. The conclusion is that intrinsic motivation plays an important role in both younger and older employees, and that the younger workers undertake more action in order to give physical form to their sustainable employment than their older colleagues.
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In Nederland gevestigde e-commerce bedrijven zijn meer tevreden over hun logistics service provider en affiliatenetwerk, dan over hun payment service provider. Daarnaast zijn ze aanzienlijk meer loyaal aan hun logistics service provider dan aan beide andere e-commerce dienstverleners. Dit blijkt uit onderzoek van de eCommerce Foundation en het Centre for Applied Research on Economics and Management van de Hogeschool van Amsterdam in samenwerking met onder andere Twinkle.
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Background Variations in childbirth interventions may indicate inappropriate use. Most variation studies are limited by the lack of adjustments for maternal characteristics and do not investigate variations in adverse outcomes. This study aims to explore regional variations in the Netherlands and their correlations with referral rates, birthplace, interventions, and adverse outcomes, adjusted for maternal characteristics. Methods In this nationwide retrospective cohort study, using a national data register, intervention rates were analysed between twelve regions among single childbirths after 37 weeks’ gestation in 2010–2013 (n = 614,730). These were adjusted for maternal characteristics using multivariable logistic regression. Primary outcomes were intrapartum referral, birthplace, and interventions used in midwife- and obstetrician-led care. Correlations both between primary outcomes and between adverse outcomes were calculated with Spearman’s rank correlations. Findings Intrapartum referral rates varied between 55–68% (nulliparous) and 20–32% (multiparous women), with a negative correlation with receiving midwife-led care at the onset of labour in two-thirds of the regions. Regions with higher referral rates had higher rates of severe postpartum haemorrhages. Rates of home birth varied between 6–16% (nulliparous) and 16–31% (multiparous), and was negatively correlated with episiotomy and postpartum oxytocin rates. Among midwife-led births, episiotomy rates varied between 14–42% (nulliparous) and 3–13% (multiparous) and in obstetrician-led births from 46–67% and 14–28% respectively. Rates of postpartum oxytocin varied between 59–88% (nulliparous) and 50–85% (multiparous) and artificial rupture of membranes between 43–52% and 54–61% respectively. A north-south gradient was visible with regard to birthplace, episiotomy, and oxytocin. Conclusions Our study suggests that attitudes towards interventions vary, independent of maternal characteristics. Care providers and policy makers need to be aware of reducing unwarranted variation in birthplace, episiotomy and the postpartum use of oxytocin. Further research is needed to identify explanations and explore ways to reduce unwarranted intervention rates.
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In recent years, the subsidiarity principle has been underlined in Sport-for-All policies in countries such as Germany, Austria and Belgium. According to this organising principle, issues need to be handled by the lowest possible political and administrative level, and as close to the citizens as possible. The 2007 decree concerning Sport-for-All policies at the local level in Flanders (Belgium) clearly referred to this. It emphasised the decentralisation of the Sport for All policy, and highlighted the regulatory and coordinating role of local sports authorities. As a consequence, they may face conflicting roles of being coordinator, regulator and provider of mass sport at the local level. In this paper, a mixed-method approach is used to give a closer insight in the role perceptions of local sports authorities in Flanders, and their position towards private sport providers. The results show that local sports authorities consider the coordination and regulation of mass sport in their municipality as their primary task. Yet, it appears that private sport providers also perceive competition from local sports authorities. Moreover, a considerable number of the local sports authorities believe they can combine the roles of provider and coordinator. As there appears to be considerable goal ambiguity, it is necessary for local sports authorities to formulate clear goals. Referring to the principle of subsidiarity, it is argued that sports authorities should only intervene when (non-)profit sport providers are not able to achieve the desirable outcomes with regard to sport and the welfare agenda.
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Intermediate reports of my PhD project which reports the results of a Stated Preference Experiment conducted within 18 companies within the chemical industry
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Trust between providers and consumers in the sharing economy are crucial to complete transactions successfully. From a consumer's perspective, a provider's profile is an important source of information for judging trustworthiness, because it contains multiple trust cues. However, the effect of a provider's self-description on perceived trustworthiness is still poorly understood. We examine how the linguistic features of a provider's self-description predict perceived trustworthiness. To determine the perceived trustworthiness of 259 profiles, real consumers on a Dutch sharing platform rated these profiles for trustworthiness. The results show that profiles were perceived as more trustworthy if they contained more words, more words related to cooking, and more words related to positive emotions. Also, a profile's perceived trustworthiness score correlated positively with the provider's actual sales performance. These findings indicate that a provider's self-description is a relevant signal to consumers, even though it seems easy to fake.
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This paper assesses the impact of perceived HRM practices on organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and whether leader membership exchange (LMX) mediates this relationship. The required research data were retrieved from four different departments within a logistics and supply chain management organisation. The results show that there is a significant relationship between the HRM practices as perceived by a subordinate and their level of organisational citizenship behaviour. The relationship that subordinates have with their frontline manager (LMX) acts as a significant mediator. In the final section, of this paper the findings are discussed and recommendations for future research and practical implications are given.
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