Developmental Considerations and Acculturation of Children: Measures and Issues

This article presents the secondary validation of the Brief Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (Brief ARSMA-II) for use with children—carried out using two samples of Mexican-descent children (ages = 9-11) from two states ( N = 295). The Brief ARSMA-II was originally normed on adolescents and adults but has been validated and used with children. Ethnic identity development perspectives suggest that the interpretation of scores derived from acculturation measures normed on adolescents and adults may not extend accurately to children. Convergent validity and differential discrimination between groups were examined using scores on the Brief ARSMA-II; scores on an acculturation measure designed for the present study, the Things About Me (TAM); and traditional proxy measures of acculturation. Results from this study do not support the use of the Brief ARSMA-II with children. The importance of considering contextual effects in the interpretation of scores of children\u27s acculturation experience is discussed

The Limits of Price Discrimination

We analyze the welfare consequences of a monopolist having additional information about consumers’ tastes, beyond the prior distribution; the additional information can be used to charge different prices to different segments of the market, i.e., carry out “third degree price discrimination.” We show that the segmentation and pricing induced by the additional information can achieve every combination of consumer and producer surplus such that: (i) consumer surplus is non-negative, (ii) producer surplus is at least as high as profits under the uniform monopoly price, and (iii) total surplus does not exceed the surplus generated by efficient trade

Standardization versus customisation. The role of culture

Fast food restaurants have expanded globally in recent years. As companies become global marketers to acquire new knowledge and a greater understanding of the fast food business and the environment, in which they operate in order to determine and adopt an appropriate marketing mix. Managers can use knowledge of a market's national culture to develop successful image strategies. This paper aims to explore the role of culture in the formation of consumer perceptions. To measure cultural influences a store image scale was constructed for fast food restaurants. An eight - step process based on Churchill's (1979), model, guided the development, validation and refinement of the scale. The final structure of the scale included six factors consisting of 14 items. The six factors are a) Adaptation to Locality b) Service c) Facilities d) Food quality e) Place to be and g) Sales incentive program. Then the relative weights of the six factor dimensions in influencing customers' overall image, as well as satisfaction and loyalty ratings were explored. Adaptation to locality has been found as the most important factor in the formation of store image as well as in predicting satisfaction and loyalty. The results of structural equation analysis have shown that the local culture factor is strongly associated with 'food quality' and especially with the "Place to be factor". The results can be very useful to marketers who want to invest in the local or other foreign markets.Store image, internationalisation, Adaptation to locality, Consumer/Household Economics,

Essentials of Structural Equation Modeling

Structural Equation Modeling is a statistical method increasingly used in scientific studies in the fields of Social Sciences. It is currently a preferred analysis method, especially in doctoral dissertations and academic researches. However, since many universities do not include this method in the curriculum of undergraduate and graduate courses, students and scholars try to solve the problems they encounter by using various books and internet resources. This book aims to guide the researcher who wants to use this method in a way that is free from math expressions. It teaches the steps of a research program using structured equality modeling practically. For students writing theses and scholars preparing academic articles, this book aims to analyze systematically the methodology of scientific studies conducted using structural equation modeling methods in the social sciences. This book is prepared in as simple language as possible so as to convey basic information. It consists of two parts: the first gives basic concepts of structural equation modeling, and the second gives examples of applications.https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/zeabook/1064/thumbnail.jp

Incentives and Prosocial Behavior

We build a theory of prosocial behavior that combines heterogeneity in individual altruism and greed with concerns for social reputation or self-respect. The presence of rewards or punishments creates doubt as to the true motive for which good deeds are performed, and this overjustification effect can result in a net crowding out of prosocial behavior by extrinsic incentives. The model also allows us to identify settings that are conducive to multiple social norms of behavior, and those where disclosing one’s generosity may backfire. Finally, we analyze the equilibrium contracts offered by sponsors, including the level and confidentiality or publicity of incentives. Sponsor competition may cause rewards to bid down rather than up, and can even reduce social welfare by requiring agents to engage in inefficient sacrifices.altruism, rewards, motivation, overjustification effect, crowding out, identity, social norms

A study of the influences of computer interfaces and training approaches on end user training outcomes

Effective and efficient training is a key factor in determining the success of end user computing (EUC) in organisations. This study examines the influences of two application interfaces, namely icons and menus, on training outcomes. The training outcomes are measured in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and perceived ease of use. Effectiveness includes the keystrokes used to accomplish tasks, the accuracy of correct keystrokes, backtracks and errors committed. Efficiency includes the time taken to accomplish the given tasks. Perceived ease of use rates the ease of the training environment including training materials, operating system, application software and associated resources provided to users. In order to facilitate measurement, users were asked to nominate one of two approaches to training, instruction training and exploration training that focussed on two categories of users, basic and advanced. User category was determined based on two questionnaires that tested participants\u27 level of knowledge and experience. Learning style preference was also included in the study. For example, to overcome the criticisms of prior studies, this study allowed users to nominate their preferred interfaces and training approaches soon after the training and prior to the experiment. To measure training outcomes, an experiment was conducted with 159 users. Training materials were produced and five questionnaires developed to meet the requirements of the training design. All the materials were peer reviewed and pilot tested in order to eliminate any subjective bias. All questionnaires were tested for statistical validity to ensure the applicability of instruments. Further, for measurement purposes, all keystrokes and time information such as start time and end time of tasks were extracted using automated tools. Prior to data analysis, any \u27outliers\u27 were eliminated to ensure that the data were of good quality. This study found that icon interfaces were effective for end user training for trivial tasks. This study also found that menu interfaces were easy to use in the given training environment. In terms of training approaches, exploration training was found to be effective. The user categorisation alone did not have any significant influence on training outcomes in this study. However, the combination of basic users and instruction training approach was found to be efficient and the combination of basic users and exploration training approach was found to be effective. This study also found out that learning style preference was significant in terms of effectiveness but not efficiency. The results of the study indicates that interfaces play a significant role in determining training outcomes and hence the need for training designers to treat application interfaces differently when addressing training accuracy and time constraints. Similarly, this study supports previous studies in that learning style preferences influence training outcomes. Therefore, training designers should consider users\u27 learning style preferences in order to provide effective training. While categories of user did not show any significant influence on the outcomes of this study, the interaction between training approaches and categories of users was significant indicating that different categories of users respond to different training approaches. Therefore, training designers should consider the possibility of treating differently those with and without experience in EUC applications. For example, one possible approach to training design would be to hold separate training sessions. In summary, this study has found that interfaces, learning styles and the combination of training approaches and categories of users have varying significant impact on training outcomes. Thus the results reported in this study should help training designers to design training programs that would be effective, efficient and easy to use

Reduction of Market and Technology Uncertainty during the Front End of New Product Development

Tuotekehityksen alkuvaiheiden johtaminen on äärimmäisen tärkeää organisaation tutkimus- ja kehitystoiminnan menestymiselle, sillä tässä vaiheessa tehdyt päätökset vaikuttavat olennaisesti myös kehitystyön myöhempiin vaiheisiin. Keskeinen haaste tuotekehitysprosessin varhaisessa alkuvaiheessa on teknologiseen innovaatioon liittyvien markkina- ja teknologiaepävarmuuksien vähentäminen ja näihin liittyvän ymmärryksen lisääminen. Merkittävä syy uusien tuotteiden puutteille ja vakaville viivästymisille on epäonnistuminen tuotekonseptin, kohdemarkkinan ja tuotevaatimusten asianmukaisessa määrittelyssä ennen varsinaisen tuotekehityksen aloittamista. Menestyvät tutkimus- ja kehitysorganisaatiot kykenevät vähentämään markkinaan ja teknologiaan liittyviä epävarmuuksia jo tuotekehityksen alkuvaiheiden aikana. Mitä enemmän käyttäjän tarpeisiin ja teknologiaan liittyviä epävarmuuksia kyetään vähentämään, sitä paremmat mahdollisuudet kaupallisesti menestyvän tuotteen kehittämiselle ovat. Tämä tutkimus soveltaa viimeisintä teknologian käyttöönoton mallia (engl. Technology Acceptance Model 3, TAM3) tuomaan asiakkaan vaatimuksia tuotekehityksen alkuvaiheessa olevaan robottiteknologian kehitysprojektiin. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on ymmärtää missä määrin TAM3:a voidaan soveltaa vähentämään markkinaan ja teknologiaan liittyviä epävarmuuksia jo tuotekehityksen alkuvaiheen aikana. Tutkimuksessa markkinat jaetaan teknologian varhaisiin ja myöhäisiin käyttöönottajiin perustuen innovaation diffuusioteoriaan, ja TAM3mallin soveltuvuus arvioidaan myös markkinasegmenteille erikseen koko markkinan ohella. Tämän tutkimuksen monimenetelmällinen tutkimusasetelma jaetaan kahteen vaiheeseen. Vaiheessa 1 suoritetaan kvantitatiivinen tutkimus jossa 121 koekäyttäjää evaluoivat robottiteknologiaprototyyppiä ja osallistuvat TAM3-mallin teoreettisiin konstruktioihin perustuvaan kyselytutkimukseen. Kyselytutkimuksen aineistoa tulkittiin ja mallinnettiin rakenneyhtälömalleilla. Vaiheessa 2 vaiheen 1 TAM3aineisto ja tulokset esitetään robotiikan alueen tuotekehityksen asiantuntijaryhmälle, tarkoituksena arvioida TAM3-mallin tuottaman tietämyksen mahdollisuudet vähentää markkinaan ja teknologiaan perustuvaa epävarmuutta jo tuotekehityksen alkuvaiheessa. Tutkimuksen havainnot viittaavat merkittäviin eroihin TAM3-mallin käyttäytymisessä robotiikan teknologia-alueen tuotekehityksen alkuvaiheessa verrattuna mallin aiempiin sovelluksiin lähinnä tietojärjestelmäprojektien myöhemmässä kehitysvaiheessa. Osa TAM3-mallin sisäisistä ja ulkoisista konstruktioista käyttäytyvät perustavanlaatuisesti eri tavalla robotiikan tuotekehityksen alkuvaiheessa. Tämä tutkimus myös tuo esiin eroja teknologian varhaisten ja myöhäisten käyttöönottajien välillä perustuen TAM3-malliin. Lisäksi, tutkimuksen tulokset tarjoavat näkemyksiä, miten TAM3-malliin pohjautuva asiakasnäkökulma voi vähentää markkinaan ja teknologiaan liittyvää epävarmuutta tuotekehitysprosessin tärkeän ja haastavan alkuvaiheen aikana.The management of the fuzzy front-end (FFE) phase of innovation is pivotal to the underlying success of new product development (NPD) initiatives. A crucial challenge that research and development (R&D) teams face at this early, and often chaotic, FFE phase is dealing with market and technology uncertainty related to product and technology innovation under development. A remarkable cause of new product defects and serious delays is a failure to adequately define the product concept, target market, positioning, and requirements before beginning product development. Successful NPD teams are capable of performing uncertainty reduction during the FFE phase, and the more the innovation team reduces uncertainty with regard to user needs and technology, the higher the possibilities of producing a commercially successful product. This study employs the technology acceptance model 3 (TAM3) as the voice of the customer (VoC) to a robotics FFE project, with the aim of understanding the extent to which TAM3 can be applied beyond its typical information technology (IT) product development (PD) phase setting to reduce market- and technology-based uncertainty during the FFE phase. The market is divided into early and late adopters of technology based on the diffusion of innovations theory. Further, the applicability of TAM3 is evaluated for both market segments. The multimethod research setup is implemented in two phases. In Phase 1, a quantitative study is conducted in which 121 test users evaluated a technology prototype and participated in a survey based on TAM3 theoretical constructs. Survey data is analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLSSEM) technique. In Phase 2, the technology acceptance data collected from the early and late market segments was tested by a robotics R&D team to evaluate the capability of TAM3 to reduce market and technology uncertainty in the FFE phase. The findings suggest that there are significant differences in how the TAM3 performs in the robotics FFE phase compared to earlier findings mostly done in an IT PD setting. A few of the inner and outer constructs of TAM3 perform fundamentally differently in FFE. This research also reveals differences between the early and late market segments based on the TAM3 model. In addition, the results offer insight into how the TAM3-based VoC can reduce market and technology uncertainty during the important and challenging FFE phase

Solving the mystery of mobile learning adoption in higher education

The rapid expansion in users of mobile devices, particularly among university students, makes mobile learning (m-learning) the modern style of learning for the new millennium. Thus, it is important to identify and explore the factors that may influence students' intention to use m-learning. In Jordan, research on mobile learning adoption is still very narrow. For the purpose of this study, we propose a framework that is based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model, to explore the potential factors that may impact students' intention to acceptance and use of m-learning in developing countries such as Jordan. The proposed framework is empirically tested using a total of 444 paper-based questionnaires, collected from students at four Jordanian universities. The results reveal that effort expectancy, performance expectancy, trust expectancy, self-management of learning, system functionality and social influence are significant determinants of m-learning adoption, and explain 64.8% of the variance in the students' intentions to adopt m-learning. Gender and uncertainty avoidance are found to have moderating effects on some of the relationships of the research model. These findings offer multiple useful implications for m-learning adoption, in terms of both research and practice

Twenty questions about design behavior for sustainability, report of the International Expert Panel on behavioral science for design

How behavioral scientists, engineers, and architects can work together to advance how we all understand and practice design—in order to enhance sustainability in the built environment, and beyond.https://www.nature.com/documents/design_behavior_for_sustainability.pdfPublished versio