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Showing papers on "Empirical research published in 2000"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw upon previous research conducted in the different social science disciplines and applied fields of business to create a conceptual framework for the field of entrepreneurship, and predict a set of outcomes not explained or predicted by conceptual frameworks already in existence in other fields.
Abstract: To date, the phenomenon of entrepreneurship has lacked a conceptual framework. In this note we draw upon previous research conducted in the different social science disciplines and applied fields of business to create a conceptual framework for the field. With this framework we explain a set of empirical phenomena and predict a set of outcomes not explained or predicted by conceptual frameworks already in existence in other fields.

11,161 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report an empirical assessment of a model of service encounters that simultaneously considers the direct effects of quality, satisfaction, and value on consumers' behavioral intentions, and further suggest that indirect effects of the service quality and value constructs enhanced their impact on behavioral intentions.

6,176 citations


Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: In this paper, a general framework of mastery and performance goals is proposed to conceptualize the academic achievement goals that students may adopt in classroom settings and their role in facilitating or constraining self-regulated learning.
Abstract: Publisher Summary Current research on goal orientation and self-regulated learning suggests a general framework for examining learning and motivation in academic contexts. Moreover, there are some important generalizations that are emerging from this research. It seems clear that an approach-mastery goal orientation is generally adaptive for cognition, motivation, learning, and performance. The roles of the other goal orientations need to be explored more carefully in empirical research, but the general framework of mastery and performance goals seems to provide a useful way to conceptualize the academic achievement goals that students may adopt in classroom settings and their role in facilitating or constraining self-regulated learning. There is much theoretical and empirical work to be done, but the current models and frameworks are productive and should lead to research on classroom learning that is both theoretically grounded and pedagogically useful.

3,835 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors conducted a meta-analysis on existing empirical studies to determine the empirical status of Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) general theory of crime, and found that low self-control is an important predictor of crime and of "analogous behaviors".
Abstract: To determine the empirical status of Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) “general theory of crime,” we conducted a meta-analysis on existing empirical studies. The results indicate that, regardless of measurement differences, low self-control is an important predictor of crime and of “analogous behaviors.” Also, low self-control has general effects across different types of samples. Contrary to Gottfredson and Hirschi's position, however, the effect of low self-control is weaker in longitudinal studies, and variables from social learning theory still receive support in studies that include a measure of low self-control. Finally, we argue that meta-analysis is an underutilized tool in discerning the relative empirical merits of criminological theories.

1,871 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the ways a firm may signal the unobservable quality of its products through several marketing-mix variables, and develop a typology that classifies signals and discuss the available empirical evidence on the signaling properties of several marketing variables.
Abstract: Recent research in information economics has focused on signals as mechanisms to solve problems that arise under asymmetric information. A firm or individual credibly communicates the level of some unobservable element in a transaction by providing an observable signal. When applied to conveying product quality information, this issue is of particular interest to the discipline of marketing. In this article, the authors focus on the ways a firm may signal the unobservable quality of its products through several marketing-mix variables. The authors develop a typology that classifies signals and discuss the available empirical evidence on the signaling properties of several marketing variables. They consider managerial implications of signaling and outline an agenda for future empirical research.

1,714 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For example, the authors used game theory, the economics of the family, and endogenous growth theory to study general social interactions and found that observable outcomes may be generated by many different interaction processes, so empirical findings are open to a wide variety of interpretations.
Abstract: Economics is broadening its scope from analysis of markets to study of general social interactions. Developments in game theory, the economics of the family, and endogenous growth theory have led the way. Economists have also performed new empirical research using observational data on social interactions, but with much less to show. The fundamental problem is that observable outcomes may be generated by many different interaction processes, so empirical findings are open to a wide variety of interpretations. To make sustained progress, empirical research will need richer data, including experiments in controlled environments and subjective data on preferences and expectations.

1,687 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a framework for understanding key mechanisms that shape satisfaction in individual encounters and loyalty across ongoing exchanges, and specify how trust mechanisms cooperate and compete with agency mechanisms.
Abstract: The authors propose a framework for understanding key mechanisms that shape satisfaction in individual encounters, and loyalty across ongoing exchanges In particular, the framework draws together two distinct approaches: (1) agency theory, rooted in the economic approach, that views relational exchanges as encounters between principals (consumers) and agents (service providers) and (2) trust research that adopts a psychological approach toward consumer-provider relationships In so doing, the authors specify how trust mechanisms cooperate and compete with agency mechanisms to affect satisfaction in individual encounters and influence loyalty in the long run Because a multidimensional conceptualization of trust is used, the hypothesized framework offers a fine-grained understanding of the interrelated mechanisms The high level of specificity allows extraction of multiple propositions, facilitates empirical testing, and encourages theoretical development of the proposed model Several directions to guide future research are provided

1,608 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the M3-Competition, the latest edition of the M-Competitions, is described and its results and conclusions are compared with those of the previous two M-competitions as well as with other major empirical studies.

1,515 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors distinguish three ideal-typical models of processes which may underlie spatial concentrations of related activities, with very different implications both in terms of relevant evidence and the scope for promotional policies.
Abstract: The concept of industrial clusters has attracted much attention during the past decade, both as descriptive of an increasingly important phenomenon and as a basis for effective public intervention in the economies of lagging city-regions. However, there is much ambiguity in the way in which this concept is used, presenting an obstacle both to empirical testing and to realistic assessments of policy relevance. In this paper, we distinguish three ideal-typical models of processes which may underlie spatial concentrations of related activities, with very different implications both in terms of relevant evidence and the scope for promotional policies. Survey data for the London conurbation are used to explore the relation between concentration and different forms of linkage, with results which point to the dominance of pure agglomeration effects in this context at least.

1,312 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors survey the body of available econometric evidence accumulated over the past 35 years and develop a framework for analysis of the problem of whether public R&D spending complementary and thus "additional" to private research, or does it substitute for and tend to "crowd out" private research.

1,270 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that corporate finance theory, empirical research, practical applications, and policy recommendations are deeply rooted in an underlying theory of the firm, and they also argue that although the existing theories have delivered very important and useful insights, they seem to be quite ineffective in helping us cope with the new type of firms that is emerging.
Abstract: In this paper I argue that corporate finance theory, empirical research, practical applications, and policy recommendations are deeply rooted in an underlying theory of the firm. I also argue that although the existing theories have delivered very important and useful insights, they seem to be quite ineffective in helping us cope with the new type of firms that is emerging. I outline the characteristics that a new theory of the firm should satisfy and how such a theory could change the way we do corporate finance, both theoretically and empirically. FOR A RELATIVELY YOUNG RESEARCHER like myself, there is a very strong tendency to look at the history of corporate finance and be overwhelmed by the giants of the recent past. A field that 40 years ago was little more than a collection of cookbook recipes that ref lected practitioners’ common sense is today a bona fide discipline, taught not only to future practitioners but also to doctoral students, both in business schools and in economic departments—a discipline whose ideas are now inf luencing other areas of economics, such as industrial organization, monetary policy, and asset pricing. The quality and the impact of the contributions that were made to the field during the last 40 years, and in particular in the period from the late 1970s to the late 1980s, justify the widespread feeling that the “golden age” of corporate finance is behind us. Two excellent recent surveys of the main areas of corporate finance reinforce this sense: the capital structure survey by Harris and Raviv ~1991! and the corporate governance survey by Shleifer and Vishny ~1997!. Both are very lucid categorizations of the existing literature. This lucidity is the product not only of the ability of their authors but also of the ripeness of the moment. Both surveys follow a period of intense activity in the field, and in a certain sense, they close it. It is especially noteworthy that, 10 years later, the survey by Harris and Raviv ~1991! would not necessitate any dramatic rewriting. Although there have certainly been important contributions afterward, they have been mostly empirical, and they have not undermined the conceptual framework underlying Harris and Raviv’s analyses.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the implications of institutional theory for the successful implementation of multidimensional performance measurement and management in the public sector, and discuss the influence of these core concepts on the possibilities of achieving some balance between the stakeholder interests examined in the overall control of provider organizations.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors summarized the multitude of empirical studies that test ethical decision-making in business and suggested additional research necessary to further theory in this area and provided insights for future empirical work on organizational ethical decision making.
Abstract: This article summarizes the multitude of empirical studies that test ethical decision making in business and suggests additional research necessary to further theory in this area. The studies are categorized and related to current theoretical ethical decision making models. The studies are related to awareness, individual and organizational factors, intent, and the role of moral intensity in ethical decision making. Summary tables provide a quick reference for the sample, findings, and publication outlet. This review provides insights for understanding organizational ethical decision constructs, where ethical decision making theory currently stands, and provides insights for future empirical work on organizational ethical decision making.

Book
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a survey of the literature on qualitative and quantitative research in educational research, focusing on the problem of problem identification and hypothesis formation, and the three necessary conditions for cause-and-effect relations.
Abstract: Each Chapter begins with an "Introduction" and ends with a "Summary," "Study Questions," "Exercise(s)," and "Key Concepts and Terms." I.INTRODUCTION. 1.Introduction to Educational Research. Why Study Educational Research? Areas of Educational Research. Examples of Educational Research. Basic and Applied Research. Action Research. Evaluation Research. Sources of Knowledge. The Scientific Approach to Knowledge Generation. Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Quantitative Research Methods: Experimental and Nonexperimental Research. Qualitative Research Methods: Ethnography and Historical Research. Multimethod Research. II.PLANNING THE RESEARCH STUDY. 2.Problem Identification and Hypothesis Formation. Sources of Research Ideas. Review of the Literature. Literature Search and the Internet. Feasibility of the Study. Statement of the Research Problem. Formulating Hypotheses. The Research Plan. Consumer Use of the Literature. 3.Research Ethics. What Are Research Ethics? Ethical Concerns. Ethical Guidelines for Research with Humans. Informed Consent. Informed Consent and Minors as Research Participants. Additional Consent. Deception. Freedom to Withdraw. Protection from Mental and Physical Harm. Institutional Review Board. III.FOUNDATIONS OF RESEARCH. 4.Standardized Measurement and Assessment. Scales of Measurement. Assumptions Underlying Testing and Measurement. Identifying a Good Test or Assessment Procedure. Educational and Psychological Tests. Sources of Information about Tests. 5.Methods of Data Collection. Questionnaires. Interviews. Focus Groups. Observation. Secondary Data. 6.Sampling. Terminology Used in Sampling. Random Sampling Techniques. Nonrandom Sampling Techniques. Random Selection and Random Assignment. Determining the Sample Size When Random Sampling Is Used. Sampling in Qualitative Research. 7.Validity of Research. Validity Issues in the Design of Quantitative Research. Internal Validity. External Validity. Construct Representation. Research Validity in Qualitative Research. IV.SELECTING A RESEARCH METHOD. 8.Experimental Research. The Experiment. Independent Variable Manipulation. Control of Confounding Variables. Experimental Research Designs. 9.Quasi-Experimental and Single-Case Designs. Quasi-Experimental Research Designs. Single-Case Experimental Designs. Methodological Considerations in Using Single-Case Designs. Group Comparison or Single-Case Designs. 10.Nonexperimental Quantitative Research. Steps in Nonexperimental Research. Independent Variables in Nonexperimental Research. Causal-Comparative and Correlational Research. Three Necessary Conditions for Cause-and-Effect Relationships. Applying the Three Necessary Conditions for Causation in Nonexperimental Research. Techniques of Control in Nonexperimental Research. Time Dimension in Research. Classifying Nonexperimental Research Methods by Research Objective. 11.Qualitative Research. Phenomenology. Ethnography. Case Study Research. Grounded Theory. 12.Historical Research. What Is Historical Research. Significance of Historical Research. Historical Research Methodology. Identification of the Research Topic and Formulation of the Research Problem or Question. How to Locate Historical Information. Evaluation of Historical Sources. Data Synthesis and Report Preparation. V.ANALYZING THE DATA. 13.Descriptive Statistics. Descriptive Statistics. Frequency Distributions. Graphic Representations of Data. Measures of Central Tendency. Measures of Variability. Measures of Relative Standing. Examining Relationships among Variables. 14.Inferential Statistics. Sampling Distributions. Estimation. Hypothesis Testing. Hypothesis Testing in Practice. 15.Data Analysis in Qualitative Research. Interim Analysis. Memoing. Data Entry and Storage. Coding and Developing Category Systems. Enumeration. Creating Hierarchical Category Systems. Showing Relationships among Categories. Computer Programs for Qualitative Data Analysis. VI.WRITING THE RESEARCH REPORT. 16.Preparation of the Research Report. General Principles Related to Writing the Research Report. Writing Quantitative Research Reports Using the APA Style. Writing Qualitative Research Reports. Appendix A: Quantitative Research Article. Appendix B: Qualitative Research Article. Appendix C: Correlations of Different Strengths and Directions. References. Index.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors assesses several major streams in this research over the last two decades, which in some ways refute widely held a priori assumptions about similarities and differences between public and private organizations.
Abstract: Research comparing public and private organizations and examining the publicness of organizations represents a substantial and growing body of empirical evidence, relevant to many international issues in political economy and organization theory such as the privatization of public services. This article assesses several major streams in this research over the last two decades, which in some ways refute widely held a priori assumptions about similarities and differences between public and private organizations but which in some ways support such assumptions. The review covers research on goal complexity and ambiguity, organizational structure, personnel and purchasing processes, and work-related attitudes and values. The research results converge in important ways, but they also present anomalies. For example, in spite of virtually universal agreement among scholars that public organizations have more goal complexity and ambiguity, public managers do not differ from business managers in response to survey questions about such matters. Public managers do not differ from business managers on perceptions about organizational formalization, in spite of a chorus of assertions that government agencies have more red tape and rules than private firms have. Public managers do, however, show very sharp differences in response to questions about constraints under personnel and purchasing rules. The article concludes with an assessment of the credibility of these streams of research through consideration of alternative plausible hypotheses. No enemy of empiricism, Immanuel Kant simply insisted on empiricism's knowing its place. God, freedom, and immortality, Kant asserted, cannot be denied. Each is an a priori category of the mind and, as such, must necessarily be presupposed. One of J-PART 10(2000):2:447-469 modernity's strongest candidates for the a priori, and presumed 447/Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory at U niersity of G ergia on Feruary 9, 2012 http://jpaordjournals.org/ D ow naded rom Comparing Public and Private Organizations exemption from the hurly-burly world of empirical knowledge, is the public organization. Persons on the street and scholars in the academy will lecture at length on the character of public bureaucracies, blithely free of any concern over the need to show evidence for their assertions. Less confident of our own omniscience about this topic, we feel the need to look at evidence. Our article assesses nearly two decades of empirical research comparing public and private organizations with the following questions in mind: (1) What progress has come from the past twenty-five years or so of empirical research on differences between public and private organizations? (2) Why is there so often discrepancy between empirical research and a priori knowledge about public organizations? (3) Why has empirical research been so feckless in the face of well-established, but unproved, assumptions about public organizations? (4) Should this transcendence of the a priori over the empirical matter to anyone other than academic researchers? In this article we cannot resolve all these questions, but we make a start by reviewing several points in this comparative research where findings have converged on a particular conclusion. A second part of the article considers how much confidence we should place in this convergence, in view of various rival explanations that would suggest that the results are wrong. Before going on, we need to clarify what we mean by a priori views about the public-private distinction in organizational and managerial research. Here, a priori refers to untested assertions and foregone conclusions about this distinction. As we will elaborate below, two decades ago the literature on this topic was dominated by observations that had received scant empirical testing and confirmation. While empirical research has accumulated, these a priori views show remarkable staying power even though research has contradicted many of them. A striking aspect of the a priori views, one that made it necessary to test them empirically, is that there were—and still are—two general a priori positions on this topic, and they conflict with each other (see Rainey 1997, chap. 3). Many scholars in economics and political science have taken the position that public bureaucracies differ from private business firms in important ways (e.g., Barton 1980; Dahl and Lindblom 1953; Dixit 1997; Downs 1967). Their observations about the differences have coincided with the negative views of public bureaucracy in the popular culture, that Goodsell (1994) describes, coupled with the perception of business firms as inherently superior in efficiency and effectiveness. Fascinatingly, the people who specialized in analysis of 'Answers: (i) quite a bit, actually; (2) the organizations and management-organizational sociologists and unreliability of conventional wisdom; (3) psychologists, and researchers on business management—usually passive conveying of research; (4) yes! took a diametrically opposing position. They treated such UW-PART, April 2000 at U niersity of G ergia on Feruary 9, 2012 http://jpaordjournals.org/ D ow naded rom Comparing Public and Private Organizations distinctions as public vs. private and for-profit vs. nonprofit as crude stereotypes, taken seriously only by persons poorly educated in the field of organization theory. Prominent scholars denounced these distinctions as harmful and misleading oversimplifications that needed to be exorcised from the literature on organizations and management and replaced with typologies of organizations developed through sound empirical research. Some of the most eminent scholars in management and organization theory took pains to denounce the public-private distinction, or at least to point out that public and private organizations are more similar than they are different. This tradition continues and is manifest, among other ways, in a recent pronunciation by no less a social scientist than Herbert Simon (1995, 283, n. 3). Simon said that public, private, and nonprofit organizations are essentially identical on the dimension that receives more attention than virtually any other in discussions of the unique aspects of public organizations—the capacities of leaders to reward employees. The assumption that leaders in government organizations have less capacity to reward employees than do leaders in business firms, and that government needs to become more like business in this regard, has driven civil service reforms at all levels of government in the United States and in otheT nations. Yet a Nobel Laureate denies that such differences exist. Thus we have a strong a priori position among many economists and political scientists that treats a distinction between public and private organizations as a truism, while many organization theorists have treated this same distinction with contempt. This divergence among different fields complicates but also enhances the analysis of a priori assertions and of convergence in the research. When we refer to convergence of findings at various points in this article, we often are referring to convergence of findings that support one or the other of these two sides. Part of the value of the stream of research that we review is that it shows that both sides of this divergence were right in some ways 'Generalizations like these always involve and m c o m p i e te in other ways. The findings indicate definite coninjustices and oversimplifications them, • ^ .i_ i_ u » *: i -J cselves. Exceptions abound. Among mmy vergence on the point that we have substantial evidence of unporexampies are a typology developed by tant differences between public and private organizations. Yet organization theorists Peter Biau and they also indicate convergence on evidence that some of the freRichard Scott (1962) that included cate^ ^ y asserted differences receive little or no empirical confirgories for business firms and for public . , , , . . . . . . . . .. . . agencies, along with additional categories. m&tion and that the pubhc-pnvate distinction may well mvolve and many other references to public oversimplifications and stereotypes in those cases. Happily, both organizations by organization dworists sides can take pride in being right in certain ways. (Perry and Rainey 1988). The Dahl and Lindblom analysis and the Downs anal, » : « . _ » »i_ • -i •»• ysis are actually much more balanced and W e n e e d however, to continue to sort out the similarities carefully reasoned than the phrasing here and differences, whether or not our results please one side of the might suggest. debate or the other. The analysis of this topic has important 449/J-PART, April 2000 at U niersity of G ergia on Feruary 9, 2012 http://jpaordjournals.org/ D ow naded rom Comparing PubUc and Private Organizations implications for major current theoretical and practical issues, including these: privatization of public services; allocation of functions and tasks among sectors; the nature of the sectors themselves; the dimensions that define the sectors, including their complex overlapping and blurring with the third and nonprofit sectors; administrative reforms and organizational change; and the theoretical and practical analysis of major administrative topics, such as organizational goals, structure, and individual motivation and work attitudes. EMPIRICAL RESULTS COMPARING PUBUC AND PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS Research that compares public and private organizations and examines the publicness of organizations now represents a substantial body of empirical evidence. Twenty-five years ago, a systematic empirical research base had just begun to accumulate. In one comprehensive review of writings about public and private organizations (Rainey, Backoff, and Levine 1976), less than ten of the nearly one hundred papers and books cited provided propositions based on empirical research. By contrast,

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue for a more discourse-near but not discourse-exclusive approach to organizational research and refer to this as discursivism, in which the researcher concentrates on the details of empirical material that lends itself to representations in the form of language, for example, conversations and texts.
Abstract: This article takes the linguistic turn, or turns, in the social sciences as its point of departure and discusses the implications for methodology, empirical research, and field practices in social and organizational studies. Various responses can be identified: grounded fictionalism, giving up the hope of making substantive, empirical claims in terms of research texts capturing social phenomena; data-constructionism, where the ambiguous and constructed nature of empirical material gives space for a more relaxed, freer, and bolder way of interacting with empirical material; and discursivism, in which the researcher concentrates on the details of empirical material that lends itself to representations in the form of language, for example, conversations and texts. The article develops some ideas for a more reflective way of dealing with language issues in empirical social research. It argues for a more discourse-near but not discourse-exclusive approach to organizational research and refers to this as discur...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present empirical support for a value proposition with 13 value drivers and find that Flexibility and responsiveness are important value drivers for all the business customers surveyed, while relationship value drivers are assessed the most differently in two of the three sectors studied, finance and information, communication, entertainment.
Abstract: Although customer‐perceived value is discussed widely in the literature, few empirical studies have been conducted due to an absence of operational measures. Reports on the development of measures and tests two customer‐perceived value structures using data collected from industrial customers of the information technology industry. The findings generally support both structures and provide empirical support for a value proposition with 13 value drivers. Furthermore, results indicate that most of the 13 drivers are assessed in a similar way by industrial customers of three service sectors surveyed, ICE (information, communication, entertainment), distribution and finance. Flexibility and responsiveness – two service‐related benefits – are important value drivers for all the business customers surveyed. Relationship value drivers are assessed the most differently in two of the three sectors studied, finance and ICE (information, communication, entertainment).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Results support the relevance of the project uncertainty and product strategy to explain the design of management control systems and show that better cost and design information has a positive association with performance, but that time information hasa negative eAect.
Abstract: New product development has changed significantly over the last decade and management control systems have played an important role in this transformation. This study draws on Galbraith’s concept of uncertainty and investigates the relationship between project uncertainty, product strategy and management control systems. It also explores whether these systems help or, as argued in the innovation literature, hinder product development performance. Results support the relevance of the project uncertainty and product strategy to explain the design of management control systems. They also show that better cost and design information has a positive association with performance, but that time information has a negative eAect. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a review of the literature on empirical studies of the transportation-land-use interaction with the objective of identifying the current state of knowledge concerning the interactions, particularly with respect to the impact land-use policies are likely to have on the system.
Abstract: The last two decades have witnessed the implementation of various policies based on land-use to address problems stemming from automobile ownership and use. There are, however, questions with respect to the efficacy of such policies. This paper therefore reviews the literature on empirical studies of the transportation–land-use interaction with the objective of identifying the current state of knowledge concerning the interactions, particularly with respect to the impact land-use policies are likely to have on the system. The focus is on studies conducted in North America. The results are mixed; some studies conclude that urban densities, traditional neighborhood design schemes, and land-use mix have an impact on auto ownership and use. Other studies find the impact of such variables to be at best marginal. Gaps in our understanding of the interaction are identified. These are found to be primarily the result of data limitations and methodological weaknesses. A detailed discussion of the implications of the findings for the development and application of integrated transportation–land-use models is provided, with the recommendation that without such an integrated approach to analyzing the transportation–land-use interaction, any study of impacts of urban form on travel behavior is likely to yield erroneous results.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the main question is what information should be reported and what results can be deleted without much loss of judgment about the quality of research and the validity of conclusions being made.
Abstract: This contribution is focused on how to write a research paper when structural equation models are being used in empirical work. The main question to be answered is what information should be reported and what results can be deleted without much loss of judgment about the quality of research and the validity of conclusions being made. The major conjecture is that all information should be reported, or referred to, that enables each member of the scientific community, at least in principle, to replicate the analysis as it is published. The recommendations are ordered in the framework of the empirical research cycle. They are meant for authors, in particular students employing structural equation models for their dissertation, as well as for editors and reviewers.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Views on attachment development, attachment representation, and attachment in family and cross-cultural perspective need to be updated in light of empirical research and advances in developmental theory, behavioral biology, and cognitive psychology.
Abstract: The theory of attachment as a secure-base relationship integrates insights about affect, cognition, and behavior in close relationships across age and culture. Empirical successes based on this theory include important discoveries about the nature of infant-caregiver and adult-adult close relationships, the importance of early experience, and about stability and change in individual differences. The task now is to preserve these insights and successes and build on them. To accomplish this, we need to continually examine the logic and coherence of attachment theory and redress errors of emphasis and analysis. Views on attachment development, attachment representation, and attachment in family and cross-cultural perspective need to be updated in light of empirical research and advances in developmental theory, behavioral biology, and cognitive psychology. We also need to challenge the theory by formulating and testing hypotheses which, if not confirmed, would require significant changes to the theory. If we can accomplish these tasks, prospects for important developments in attachment theory and research are greater than ever, as are the prospects for integration with other disciplines.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of the empirical studies conducted so far in order to investigate effects of animated agents on the user's experience, behaviour and performance.
Abstract: Over the last years, the animation of interface agents has been the target of increasing interest. Largely, this increase in attention is fuelled by speculated effects on human motivation and cognition. However, empirical investigations on the effect of animated agents are still small in number and differ with regard to the measured effects. Our aim is two-fold. First, we provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of the empirical studies conducted so far in order to investigate effects of animated agents on the user's experience, behaviour and performance. Second, by discussing both implications and limitations of the existing studies, we identify some general requirements and suggestions for future studies.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the effect of environmental purchasing on firm performance and found that environmental purchasing is significantly related to both net income and cost of goods sold, after controlling for firm size, leverage, and primary earnings per share.
Abstract: Much debate has occurred in the extant literature as to whether socially responsible actions undertaken by firms result in improved financial performance. One key dimension of social responsibility is environmental initiatives and programs. While the purchasing function can create value and significantly affect the environmental actions of a firm and its upstream supply chain, no research to date has explored the effect of environmental purchasing on firm performance. Our research provides an initial examination of this relationship. We combine survey and archival data to show that environmental purchasing is significantly related to both net income and cost of goods sold, after controlling for firm size, leverage, and primary earnings per share.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a framework for examining the service recovery process and then report on an empirical study to test this framework, which not only validate much of what is anecdotally claimed by researchers and casual observers of service industries but also highlight the role of operational activities in service recovery.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a theory of groups as complex systems is proposed and some methodological and conceptual issues raised by this theory are identified, and a 3-pronged research strategy based on theory development, computational modeling, and empirical research is proposed.
Abstract: A century of research on small groups has yielded bountiful findings about many specific features and processes in groups. Much of that work, in line with a positivist epistemology that emphasizes control and precision and favors the laboratory experiment over other data collection strategies, has also tended to treat groups as though they were simple, isolated, static entities. Recent research trends that treat groups as complex, adaptive, dynamic systems open up new approaches to studying groups. In line with those trends, a theory of groups as complex systems is offered and some methodological and conceptual issues raised by this theory are identified. A 3-pronged research strategy based on theory development, computational modeling, and empirical research that holds promise for illuminating the dynamic processes underlying the emergence of complexity and the ongoing balance of continuity and change in groups is proposed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The analysis reveals major themes in research and characterizes strengths and shortcomings in methodology, theoretical conceptualization, and applicability of findings.
Abstract: Design of the physical environment is increasingly recognized as an important aid in caring for people with dementia. This article reviews the empirical research on design and dementia, including research concerning facility planning (relocation, respite and day care, special care units, group size), research on environmental attributes (noninstitutional character, sensory stimulation, lighting, safety), studies concerning building organization (orientation, outdoor space), and research on specific rooms and activity spaces (bathrooms, toilet rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, and resident rooms). The analysis reveals major themes in research and characterizes strengths and shortcomings in methodology, theoretical conceptualization, and applicability of findings.

01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: In this article, a two-dimensional model of corporate social responsibility and empirically testing its validity in the context of two dissimilar cultures - Australia and Bangladesh -was developed and evaluated.
Abstract: Most models of corporate social responsibility revolve around the controversy as to whether business is a single dimensional entity of profit maximization or a multi-dimensional entity serving greater societal interests. Furthermore, the models are mostly descriptive in nature and are based on the experiences of western countries. There has been little attempt to develop a model that accounts for corporate social responsibility in diverse environ- ments with differing socio-cultural and market settings. In this paper an attempt has been made to fill this gap by developing a two-dimensional model of corporate social responsibility and empirically testing its validity in the context of two dissimilar cultures - Australia and Bangladesh. The two dimen- sions are the span of corporate responsibility (narrow to wider perspective) and the range of outcomes of social commitments of businesses (cost to benefit driven perspective). The test results confirm the validity of the two-dimensional model in the two environments. The Factor analysis revealed two leading dimensions. Cluster analysis pointed to two distinctive clusters of managers in both Australia and Bangladesh, one consisting of managers with a broad contemporary concept of social responsibility, and the other with a limited narrow view. The paper con- cludes that corporate social responsibility is two- dimensional and universal in nature and that differing cultural and market settings in which managers operate may have little impact on the ethical percep- tions of corporate managers.

Journal ArticleDOI
Xueguang Zhou1
TL;DR: Li et al. as mentioned in this paper examined changes in income determinants between the pre-reform and reform eras, and found significant changes in returns to education and in the rise of private/hybrid firms in the reform era.
Abstract: Using panel data of 4,730 urban residents drawn from 20 cities in China, this article examines changes in income determinants between the prereform and reform eras. To guide this empirical study, a conceptual model is developed that emphasizes the coevolution of politics and markets to synthesize theoretical ideas in the recent debate on the transformation of state socialist societies. The findings show significant changes in returns to education and in the rise of private/hybrid firms in the reform era. There is also strong evidence of institutional persistence in returns to positional power and in the organizational hierarchy. These findings reveal multifaceted processes of transformation that call for more sophisticated theoretical models and in-depth institutional analyses.

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TL;DR: A comprehensive contingency-based framework for examining the content related issues involving the relationships and variables included in past studies is presented and several important research design/methodology issues are examined.

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TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the question of which societal characteristics are likely to enhance subjective well-being and present empirical results bearing on four theories: needs theory, goals theory, relative standards models, and cultural approaches.
Abstract: This article addresses the question of which societal characteristics are likely to enhance subjective well-being. Empirical results bearing on four theories are presented: needs theory, goals theory, relative standards models, and cultural approaches. The theories are to a degree compatible, rather than completely contradictory. There is empirical support for each of the theories, but also there are data contradicting a simple formulation of each model, and no approach can by itself explain all of the extant findings. For both applied and theoretical reasons, it is imperative that we determine the types of societal characteristics that enhance subjective well-being. In this vein a model called Evaluation Theory is proposed, in which SWB depends on people's evaluations of self-relevant information. Attention is selective and therefore the factors that determine its focus are likely to influence evaluations of events. Thus, appraisals are likely to be influenced by chronically accessible information, which in turn is influenced by the person's needs, goals, and culture. Currently, salient information is seen as being a key to life satisfaction judgments. The present paper describes numerous limitations in current research suggesting studies that will allow more definitive theories to emerge.