Information Sharing, Cognitive Centrality, and Influence among Business Executives during Collective Choice

Laboratory studies have shown that decision-making groups tend to focus on common information at the expense of unique information. In the current study, high level business executives completed a personnel selection task. Access to information about the candidates was not controlled as in a typical study of information sharing, but common, partially shared, and unique information arose naturally from the individual members’ information searches. During subsequent discussions, groups mentioned more common than partially shared than unique information. However, the underlying processes seemed to be different from what has been observed in laboratory studies. The popularity of information in the population from which groups were composed predicted both the number of a group’s members who accessed an item in their information searches and whether the group discussed the item. However, the number of group members who accessed an item did predict whether information was repeated during discussion, and repetition predicted which items were included on a final written summary. Finally, cognitively central group members were more influential than cognitively peripheral members

Psychologists\u27 Volunteering: Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors Toward Psychotherapy Research

Psychologists\u27 volunteering behavior and attitudes toward psychotherapy research were studied using a mail survey. A random sample of 248 male and 248 female doctoral-level members of Division 29 (Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association served as subjects. The cover letter requesting their participation in this study contained the systematic manipulation of variables believed to affect volunteering behavior: recruiter gender, normative nature of volunteering for the study, and perceived social importance of the study. The therapist variables of gender, age, and years of experience were also studied in order to determine if volunteerism might result in biased sampling across these variables. Three mailings were sent resulting in an overall response rate of 73.14%, supporting the utility of the mail survey methodology detailed by Dillman (1978). Results did not support a relationship between recruitment variables and volunteerism. Very weak inverse relationships were observed between volunteerism and therapists\u27 experience and self-reported busyness. The magnitude of the difference in experience between volunteering and nonvolunteering psychologists was felt to be clinically insignificant. No relationship was observed between self-reported therapeutic orientation and expressed opinions about psychotherapy research. Volunteerism among psychologists may be largely determined by a few important factors such as how busy the individual sees him or herself with other activities, time commitment required for participation, intrusiveness of the study into the process of therapy, and perceived importance of potential results. Although the representativeness of a sample can be affected by many other factors, volunteerism per se results in a sample of psychologists in psychotherapy research that appears to accurately represent the population on many important variables

Graphs for Ontology, Law and Policy

Le livre est en accès libre. The book is in open acces

The Dynamics on Innovation Adoption in U.S. Municipalities: The Role of Discovery Skills of Public Managers and Isomorphic Pressures in Promoting Innovative Practices

abstract: Research on government innovation has focused on identifying factors that contribute to higher levels of innovation adoption. Even though various factors have been tested as contributors to high levels of innovation adoption, the independent variables have been predominantly contextual and community characteristics. Previous empirical studies shed little light on chief executive officers' (CEOs) attitudes, values, and behavior. Result has also varied with the type of innovation examined. This research examined the effect of CEOs' attitudes and behaviors, and institutional motivations on the adoption of sustainability practices in their municipalities. First, this study explored the relationship between the adoption level of sustainability practices in local government and CEOs' entrepreneurial attitudes (i.e. risk taking, proactiveness, and innovativeness) and discovery skills (i.e. associating, questioning, experimenting, observing, and networking) that have not been examined in prior research on local government innovation. Second, the study explored the impact of organizational intention to change and isomorphic pressures (i.e., coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures) and the availability and limit of organizational resources on the early adoption of innovations in local governments. Third, the study examines how CEOs' entrepreneurial attitudes and discovery skills, and institutional motivations account for high and low sustaining levels of innovation over time by tracking how much their governments have adopted innovations from the past to the present. Lastly, this study explores their path effects CEOs' entrepreneurial attitudes, discovery skills, and isomorphic pressures on sustainability innovation adoption. This is an empirical study that draws on a survey research of 134 CEOs who have influence over innovation adoption in their local governments. For collecting data, the study identified 264 municipalities over 10,000 in population that have responded to four surveys on innovative practices conducted by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) in past eight years: the Reinventing local government survey (2003), E-government survey (2004), Strategic practice (2006), and the Sustainability survey (2010). This study combined the information about the adoption of innovations from four surveys with CEOs' responses in the current survey. Socio-economic data and information about variations in form of government were also included in the data set. This study sheds light on the discovery skills and institutional isomorphic pressures that influence the adoption of different types of innovations in local governments. This research contributes to a better understanding of the role of administrative leadership and organizational isomorphism in the dynamic of innovation adoption, which could lead to improvements in change management of organizations.Dissertation/ThesisPh.D. Public Administration 201

Center for Economic Development and Administration :

Much of the data for this study has also been collected from various agencies and institutions. The best practical research design for this study was found to be the institution building model developed by Milton Esman. It provides the necessary framework for the orderly collection, classification and analysis of the data for the case study, namely: (a) institution; (b) linkages; (c) transaction.It can be concluded that between 1969 and 1975, CEDA has become established in the sense that it was a growing concern with a program, a staff, a set of clients, an acceptable identity and a stable supply of resources sufficient to enable it to continue. The findings of this study show that institutional leadership is one of the major and crucial factors in institution building and development. It also suggests that the institution builder of Nepal must be concerned with discovering what institutions are already there before making assumptions as to what new or additional institutions may be needed. Thus, it is often much easier to add a new program to an old institution, which is already established, than it is to create a new institution merely to have a new program.The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the roles of the Center For Economic Development and Administration (CEDA) in institution building and development in Nepal. The study was performed by a questionnaire containing a variety of items relating CEDA's present and future roles, its place and position, its programs and objectives, its relationship with government agencies, university, public corporations and private enterprises, was administered to a sample of one hundred in Kathmandu, Nepal. In addition, since formal interviews were difficult to coordinate in Nepal's political environment, informal meetings were also organized

PARENTAL WARMTH AND PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT AND THEIR ASSOCIATIONS WITH CHILDREN’S SOCIAL AND ACADEMIC SKILLS IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Using the major tenets of interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory (IPARTheory), Baumrind’sparenting styles typologies and the Developmental Niche Model as guides, this study examined the moderating role of parental warmth on the associations between severity and fairness of physical punishment and preschool-aged children’s social and academic skills in families in the twin-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The sample consisted of 191 mothers and 179 fathers, and their preschool-aged children from four diverse ethnic and socioeconomic communities. Mothers and fathers filled out a socio-demographic questionnaire, the parental acceptance-rejection questionnaire (PARQ-Short-Form), and the physical punishment questionnaire (PPQ). Teachers provided assessments of children’s early academic skills using the Child Development Index Card. Teachers also assessed children’s social skills by completing the Child Rating Questionnaire. Three questions were examined: (a) Do mothers and fathers differ in the use of different modes of physical punishment with boys and girls?(b) Does maternal warmth moderate the associations between maternal assessments of severity and fairness of physical punishment and children’s early social and academic skills? And, (c) Does paternal warmth moderate the associations between paternal assessments of severity and fairness of physical punishment and children’s early social and academic skills? Results indicate that mothers were more likely to slap, pull, and pinch children than fathers. Mothers and fathers did not differ in their use of different modes of physical punishment with boys and girls. There were no significant direct associations between paternal and maternal assessments of severity and fairness of punishment and children’s social and academic skills. Paternal and maternal warmth did not moderate the associations between paternal and maternal assessments of severity and fairness of punishment and children’s social and academic skills. Findings are discussed within the context of a children’s rights perspective

Liquidity Risk Management in the Islamic Banking: Portfolio of Ijara and Murabaha

Liquidity risk management in finance has always been well known as a necessity for conventional finance and Islamic finance. Conventional financing addresses this risk through known means. Unlike Islamic financing, this has few instruments suitable for Shari’a to manage this risk. If this risk accelerates, the Islamic bank faces significant challenges in the face of their depositors and investment projects. The objective of this study is to show that holding an optimal level of liquidity is necessary for Islamic banks to minimize the liquidity risk. In this paper, we also examine the relationship between profitability and liquidity. This importance is explained by the fact that these banks cannot always count on the support of the central bank, or on the Islamic money market. We refer in particular to the work of Ben Jedidia et al. (2013).Unlike Ben Jedidia et al. paper, our model of financial intermediation and liquidity risk management uses two factors: Murabaha and Ijara. Two analysis were used, the first one is static and the second one is dynamic, to determine the optimal amount to be held by an Islamic bank using the optimization method. The study reveals that the factors in the first analysis are: the anticipated penalty costs, the rate of return on financing, the sharing rate between the bank and the depositors. This study also reveals in a second dynamic analysis that the factors are: the expected marginal cost of penalty, the ratio of the change in deposits to the change in funding

HR differentiation : a double edged sword?

This thesis presents three studies which explore the effects of individualized human resource management (HRM) practices from recipients’ and non-recipients’ perspectives. The first two studies, focusing on the concept of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals), investigate the role of managers’ emotions and employees’ behaviours in translating negotiated i-deals into attainment (Study 1), and how obtained i-deals influence recipients’ work performance positively in the long term (Study 2). In delineating how individualized HRM practices unfold for their recipients, the concept of i-deals is challenged. The third study explores the effects of non-entitlement to flexitime on employees’ overall perceptions of fairness, which in turn shape their affective commitment toward the organization. This study also introduces a contextual condition – the normativeness of flexitime – to understand under what conditions the association between non-entitlement to flexitime and overall fairness perceptions is stronger or weaker. A quantitative methodology is adopted across the three studies. The first two studies draw on two-wave, multi-source data collected in Istanbul, Turkey. The third study is based on the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS, 2011). This thesis makes important theoretical contributions to research on i-deals, flexitime and, more broadly, to individualized HRM. As a practical implication, this thesis underlines that caution is needed when differentiating certain HR practices for a select group of employees

“CAUSE THAT’S THE ONLY SKILLS IN SCHOOL YOU NEED” A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF REVENGE GOALS IN POOR URBAN YOUTH

Ample research shows that revenge goals are correlated with maladjustment and retaliation is an important factor driving youth violence. Still, in environments with limited institutionalized interventions revenge might be an indispensable tool to maintain social equilibrium. This qualitative secondary analysis of 50 (30 Boys) revenge scenarios from a larger longitudinal study (N=358 dyads of youth/maternal caregiver) expands existing one-dimensional knowledge of revenge from closed-answer vignettes to the rich real world experience of 10-16 year old youth from an urban community sample. Key findings showed significant qualitative differences in both cognition and emotions of revenge scenarios. Ten distinct patterns emerged and were discussed in relation to the revised model of Social Information Processing (SIP) by Lemerise and Arsenio (2000). Specifically, importance of reputation, retaliation as a public event, confidence in non-violent solutions, parental messages, and the influence of intense emotions were important themes. Gender differences and implications for prevention are discussed