The Development and Validation of the Technology-Supported Reflection Inventory

Reflection is an often addressed design goal in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research. An increasing number of artefacts for reflection have been developed in recent years. However, evaluating if and how an interactive technology helps a user reflect is still complex. This makes it difficult to compare artefacts (or prototypes) for reflection, impeding future design efforts. To address this issue, we developed the \emph{Technology-Supported Reflection Inventory} (TSRI), which is a scale that evaluates how effectively a system supports reflection. We first created a list of possible scale items based on past work in defining reflection. The items were then reviewed by experts. Next, we performed exploratory factor analysis to reduce the scale to its final length of nine items. Subsequently, we confirmed test-retest validity of our instrument, as well as its construct validity. The TSRI enables researchers and practitioners to compare prototypes designed to support reflection.Comment: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '21), May 8--13, 2021, Yokohama, Japa

Foundations for knowledge advancement and relevance to practice

Madureira, L., Popovic, A., & Castelli, M. (2023). Competitive Intelligence Empirical Validation and Application: Foundations for Knowledge Advancement and Relevance to Practice. Journal of Information Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/01655515231191221--- The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by national funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia), under the project - IDB/04152/2020 - Centro de Investigação em Gestão de Informação (MagIC)/NOVA IMSThe competitive intelligence (CI) construct must be scientifically defined, characterised, empirically validated and accurately measured to grow in science and business. This study aims at elevating the accuracy of the empirical validation of the CI construct suggested and confirmed by Madureira, Popovic and Castelli to serve as the scientific foundation for CI praxis. This construct is selected due to its unmatched recency, thoroughness, universality identified limitations of its empirical validation. We relied on a multistrand design of fully sequential with equivalent status qualitative and quantitative mix-methods followed by the triangulation of the findings and the development of the meta-inferences. Validity, reliability and applicability were tested using computer-aided text analysis and artificial intelligence methods based on 61 in-depth interviews with CI subject matter experts. Contributions to knowledge advancement and relevance to practice derive from the scientific-grade empirical construct validation, providing undisputed levels of accuracy, consistency, applicability, and triangulation of results. This study highlights three critical implications. First, the delimitation of the body of knowledge and recognition of the CI domain serve as the baseline for theory development. Second, the validated construct guarantees reproducibility, replicability and generalisability, laying the foundations for establishing CI science, practice and education. Third, creating a common language and shared understanding will drive the much-claimed definitional consensus. This study thus stands as a foundational pillar in supporting CI praxis in improving decision-making quality and the performance of organisations.publishersversionepub_ahead_of_prin

On The Role Of Normative Influences In Commercial Virtual Communities

The potential to reconcile economic benefits to the firm with the social needs of customers has made commercial virtual communities a popular tool for companies to support their core products/service with a value-added service option. An important key to the success of such a virtual community is the behavior of its members. In this paper, we develop a framework of pro-social behavior (i.e., community citizenship behavior and contribution intentions) for understanding and explaining the motivation of virtual community members to actively participate in and care for the community. We show that the main determinants of pro-social behavior are the social norm of reciprocity and the personal norm of obligation. Reciprocity, in turn, is impacted by the value of the information and the socio-emotional support exchanged by the virtual community members.marketing ;

Health and medical research funding agencies' promotion of public engagement within research: a qualitative interview study exploring the UK context

Background: Public engagement (PE) has become a common feature of many liberal governmental agendas worldwide. Since the turn of this century there has been a succession of United Kingdom policy initiatives to encourage research funding agencies, universities and researchers to reconsider how they engage with citizens and communities. Although most funding agencies now explicitly promote PE within research, little empirical work has been carried out in this area. In this study, we explored why and how health and medical research funding agencies in the United Kingdom have interpreted and implemented their role to promote PE within research. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 30 key informants from 10 agencies that fund health or medical research. Data were also gathered from agencies’ websites and documentation. The analysis was based on the constant comparative method. Results: Across agencies, we found that PE was being interpreted and operationalised in various different ways. The terminology used within funding agencies to describe PE seems to be flexibly applied. Disciplinary differences were evident both in the terminology used to describe PE and the drivers for PE highlighted by participants – with applied health science funders more aligned with participatory models of PE. Within the grant funding process PE was rarely systematically treated as a key component of research. In particular, PE was not routinely incorporated into the planning of funding calls. PE was more likely to be considered in the application and assessment phases, where it was largely appraised as a tool for enhancing science. Concerns were expressed regarding how to monitor and evaluate PE within research. Conclusions: This study suggests funding agencies working within specific areas of health and medicine can promote particular definitions of PE and aligned practices which determine the boundaries in which researchers working in these areas understand and practice PE. Our study also highlights how the research grant process works to privilege particular conceptions of PE and its purpose. Tensions are evident between some funders’ core concepts of traditional science and PE, and they face challenges as they try to embed PE into long-standing systems that prioritise particular conceptions of ‘scientific excellence’ in research

The political economy of fiscal policy and inflation in developing countries : an empirical analysis

Most economists treat fiscal policy as exogenous and consider policymakers as machines to be programmed. Rarely do they seek to determine why, for instance, some countries rely on the inflation tax while others use direct taxation, let alone what political factors affect such decisions. Yet without a theory of how fiscal policymakers behave, at both the revenue and the expenditure levels, there is no guarantee that policy advice will turn out to be sound. The authors present the results of an empirical analysis of the political economy of fiscal policy for a group of developing countries. They look at alternative ways of incorporating political variables into the explanation of government policy actions. Dividing their results into three sections, one each for inflation, budget deficits, and devaluations, they find that: (a) the equilibrium inflation rate is higher the more citizens disagree about which party should hold office, and the more unlikely it is that the government currently in office will be reappointed; (b) political instability and polarization lead to a collective myopia that sometimes tempts policymakers to borrow too heavily and to leave the bills to their successors; and (c) governments tend to implement adjustment policies early in their tenure when they command political authority, but if political conflict arises, they may lack the strength to change the macroeconomic status quo and will resort instead to inflation and deficits.Economic Theory&Research,Economic Stabilization,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,National Governance

Transcending Compromise: Principal Practices Predicting Teacher Effectiveness and Teacher Morale

Two leadership styles have dominated the literature- instructional leadership and transformational leadership. No study could be found quantitatively integrating principal practices from these styles in ways that simultaneously predicted teacher effectiveness and teacher morale. Therefore, this study sought to better understand the complex relationships between principal practices, teacher effectiveness and teacher morale. First, this study synthesized meta analyses of principal effects for studies produced between 1978-2008 and presented a unique empirically grounded integration framework summarizing principal effects for student achievement and teacher morale. Second, the study used this framework to explore four research questions. An online survey was utilized to collect data from a snowball sample of middle school teachers. The study compared teacher perspectives on principal practices, teacher effectiveness and teacher morale in low and high poverty middle schools in California. Second, this study analyzed the relationships between twelve leadership dimensions and five teacher outcomes. Next the study tested the predictive effects of school level variables and twelve leadership dimensions. Finally, this study explored if and how diverse leadership practices could be integrated to predict burned out, ineffective, overextended , or engaged teachers. Results of this study demonstrated no significant difference between the perspectives of teachers in low or high poverty middle schools. Correlations were stronger between dimensions of instructional leadership and dimensions of teacher effectiveness. Laissez-faire leadership correlated with increased emotional exhaustion and depersonalization experienced by teachers. Regression analyses found that each dimension of leadership predicted one or more dimensions of teacher effectiveness and teacher morale, confirming the effort to integrate leadership practices. Finally, discriminant function analysis substantially improved prediction of teacher effectiveness and teacher morale. Practices from transformational, transactional, instructional, and even passive-avoidant leadership loaded on one or both functions. Each integrated function identified a specific set of principal practices. The optimal frequency of these practices for function one (improvement-responsivity) was “sometimes” whereas the optimal frequency for function two (community learning) was “frequently.” The two functions can be interpreted as a theory of action principals can enact inter-dependently with teachers

Validity and usefulness of members reports of implementation progress in a quality improvement initiative: findings from the Team Check-up Tool (TCT)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Team-based interventions are effective for improving safety and quality of healthcare. However, contextual factors, such as team functioning, leadership, and organizational support, can vary significantly across teams and affect the level of implementation success. Yet, the science for measuring context is immature. The goal of this study is to validate measures from a short instrument tailored to track dynamic context and progress for a team-based quality improvement (QI) intervention.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Design: Secondary cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of data from a clustered randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a team-based quality improvement intervention to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates in intensive care units (ICUs).</p> <p>Setting: Forty-six ICUs located within 35 faith-based, not-for-profit community hospitals across 12 states in the U.S.</p> <p>Population: Team members participating in an ICU-based QI intervention.</p> <p>Measures: The primary measure is the Team Check-up Tool (TCT), an original instrument that assesses context and progress of a team-based QI intervention. The TCT is administered monthly. Validation measures include CLABSI rate, Team Functioning Survey (TFS) and Practice Environment Scale (PES) from the Nursing Work Index.</p> <p>Analysis: Temporal stability, responsiveness and validity of the TCT.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found evidence supporting the temporal stability, construct validity, and responsiveness of TCT measures of intervention activities, perceived group-level behaviors, and barriers to team progress.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The TCT demonstrates good measurement reliability, validity, and responsiveness. By having more validated measures on implementation context, researchers can more readily conduct rigorous studies to identify contextual variables linked to key intervention and patient outcomes and strengthen the evidence base on successful spread of efficacious team-based interventions. QI teams participating in an intervention should also find data from a validated tool useful for identifying opportunities to improve their own implementation.</p

Alignments and misalignments of realized marketing strategies with administrative systems: Performance implications

On the basis of intended marketing strategy plans, firms design administrative systems to support strategy implementation. In increasingly turbulent business environments-characterized by complexity, scarce resources, and escalating competitive opportunities and threats-firms are forced to alter intended and realize emergent strategies more frequently than ever before. The eventualities of realized marketing strategies may lead to misalignments between the strategy and the existing administrative system designed to support it. To examine performance implications of such misalignments we use Slater and Olson's (2001) taxonomy of marketing strategies. We distinguish between intended and realized plans and we propose an administrative system framework of structural (i.e., centralization, formalization, and specialization) and dynamic (i.e., interdepartmental connectedness and strategic control mechanisms) parameters for the effective implementation of realized strategies. We propose three-way interactions between realized marketing strategies and the dynamic parameters of the system. Research hypotheses on performance implications and responses from 215 marketing executives show performance differences across strategy types and (mis)alignments of the administrative system. Our findings confirm three-way interactions among strategy types, interdepartmental connectedness, and control mechanisms for all realized strategy types