More than money:developing an integrative multi-factorial measure of entrepreneurial success

This article conceptualises and operationalizes ‘subjective entrepreneurial success’ in a manner which reflects the criteria employed by entrepreneurs, rather than those imposed by researchers. Using two studies, a first qualitative enquiry investigated success definitions using interviews with 185 German entrepreneurs; five factors emerged from their reports: firm performance, workplace relationships, personal fulfilment, community impact, and personal financial rewards. The second study developed a questionnaire, the Subjective Entrepreneurial Success–Importance Scale (SES-IS), to measure these five factors using a sample of 184 entrepreneurs. We provide evidence for the validity of the SES-IS, including establishing systematic relationships of SES-IS with objective indicators of firm success, annual income and entrepreneur satisfaction with life and financial situation. We also provide evidence for the cross-cultural invariance of SES-IS using a sample of Polish entrepreneurs. The quintessence of our studies being that subjective entrepreneurial success is a multi-factorial construct, i.e. entrepreneurs value various indicators of success with money as only one possible option

Placebo prescription and empathy of the physician: a cross-sectional study

Background: Empathy in the patient-physician relationship is a major component in an effective placebo treatment, as in every medical treatment. Understanding the role of empathy of the physician in the placebo effect may help dissect some of the context variables responsible for the effectiveness of the placebo. Objectives: To determine the frequency of placebo prescription, doctors' beliefs, motivation, and attitudes to placebos in general practice in northern Portugal and to test the association between placebo prescription and physician empathy. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2014 and January 2015 among general practice specialists and interns from 14 health centres in a northern Portuguese health region. The self-report questionnaire included the Portuguese version of the Jefferson scale of physician empathy (JSPE) and a questionnaire about placebo prescription. Associations between demographic variables, JSPE score, prescription of placebo, and the attitudes to placebo score were tested with the chi-squared statistic, student t-tests for independent samples, and Pearson correlation. Results: The study included 93 general practitioners (GP) (response rate: 74%). Placebos were prescribed by 73% (n = 68) of the respondents. GPs who prescribe placebo are significantly younger (mean age = 38.4 years; SD = 11.1; t (90) = 2.98, P<.05, d = 0.67) than non-prescribers (mean age = 46.5 years; SD = 13.3). Favourable attitudes towards placebo prescription are associated with higher empathy scores (R = 0.310, P<.01). Conclusion: Placebo prescription is frequent and associated with empathy from the prescriber, especially among younger GPs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Corporate branding’s influence on front-line employee and consumer value co-creation in UK household consumer markets

General managers are presented with an extensive opportunity to innovate and gain market advantage from front-line employees (FLEs) and consumers working together to exchange services and co-create value. To do this, general managers need to understand more about what influences the content and quality of FLE and consumer service exchanges? What predisposes FLEs to commit to service exchange and value co-creation? And what organizational phenomena can general managers use to influence this predisposition? This article presents results from an empirical research study of FLEs employed by a firm that provides installation, servicing and emergency services to domestic households across the United Kingdom. The study reveals the importance of the firm’s corporate brand in its influence upon FLE’s sense of membershipand attachment to a firm (organizational identity) and the consequent effect of this on their predisposition for serviceexchange (organizational commitment), that is, whether FLEs want to remain in their role, because they feel they ought to,want to or they have too much to lose by leaving

Electronic Prescribing Usability: Reduction of Mental Workload and Prescribing Errors Among Community Physicians

Background: Medical errors are common in hospitals, and research is always needed to find ways of reducing these. This study attempts to address three gaps in this field. First, the factors leading to the reduction of mental workload and its relationship with the reduction of prescribing errors by improving electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) usability have not been empirically examined before. Second, the past research in the field of e-prescribing usability lacks robust theoretical models. Third, there are no existing studies to examine the direct influences of user interface consistency and error prevention with the reduction of mental workload and prescribing errors. Materials and Methods: A quantitative survey method was used to collect data from 188 community physicians. The partial least squares path modeling technique was applied to analyze the data. Results: Prescribing errors were reduced by improving the information quality, user interface consistency, system ease of use, and mental workload reduction. Mental workload is reduced by ease of use, error prevention, and consistency. No significant relationships between prescribing error reduction with error prevention and also between information quality with mental workload reduction were found. Conclusions: The designers of e-prescribing should improve the error prevention and consistency of the system and make it easy to use if they wish for the system to reduce users’ mental workload. They should also improve the system information quality, ease of use, and consistency if they claim that their system reduces physicians’ prescribing errors. The system should also reduce users’ mental workload to meet this objective

The Janus-Faced Role of Gambling Flow in Addiction Issues

YesFlow experience has been widely investigated in experiential activities such as sports, the performing arts, gaming and Internet usage. Most studies focus on the positive aspects of flow experience and its effect on performance. In stark contrast, gambling research focusing on the negative side of addiction lacks an in-depth investigation of gamblers’ (positive) flow encounters. This separation of research lines seems out of place given that recent research indicates connections between flow and addiction. Joining both constructs in a causal effects model helps to gain a better understanding of their relationship and its contingencies. This paper empirically investigates whether and how it is possible to observe a “Janus face” of flow with its various sub-dimensions in online gambling. Empirical data was collected from 500 online gamblers by applying a structured questionnaire with established scales. The data was analyzed with a confirmatory factor analysis and a double-hurdle model to separate casual gamblers who are unsusceptible to any addiction issues from gamblers affected by initiatory addiction issues. The findings indicate that online gambling addiction is negatively influenced by two sub-dimensions of flow experience, namely a sense of control and concentration on the task at hand, while enhanced by a transformation of time and autotelic experience

E-supply chain integration adoption: examination of buyer–supplier relationships

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the adoption of e-supply chain integration by electrical and electronic industry suppliers. This study has integrated both the transaction cost and resource-dependence models in understanding the influence of buyer–seller relationships on e-supply chain integration. Hypotheses were developed based on the proposed model. Data were collected from 122 electrical and electronic suppliers located in Malaysia. The data was examined using multiple regression analysis. The results showed that Asset Specificity, Product Technological Uncertainty, Transaction frequency, Proportion of sales to e-supply chain integration promoter, and number of customers are able to explain suppliers’ decisions to adopt e-supply chain integrations with their buyers. Buyers that would like to improve the adoptions of e-supply chain integration will be able to formulate and plan strategies from the buyer–seller relationships perspectives

Why business angels reject investment opportunities: Is it personal?

A major focus of research on business angels has examined their decision-making processes and investment criteria. As business angels reject most of the opportunities that they receive, this article explores the reasons informing such decisions. In view of angel heterogeneity, investment opportunities might be expected to be rejected for differing reasons. Two sources of data are used to examine this issue. Face-to-face interviews with 30 business angels in Scotland and Northern Ireland provided information on typical ‘deal killers’. This was complemented by an Internet survey of United Kingdom that attracted responses from 238 UK business angels. The findings confirm that the main reason for rejection relates to the entrepreneur/management team. However, angel characteristics do not explain the number of reasons given for opportunity rejection nor do they predict the reasons for rejecting investment opportunities. This could be related to the increasing trend for business angels to join organised groups which, in turn, leads to the development of a shared repertoire of investment approaches. We suggest the concept of ‘communities-of-practice’ as an explanation for this finding

Addressing the sample size problem in behavioural operational research: simulating the newsvendor problem

Laboratory-based experimental studies with human participants are beneficial for testing hypotheses in behavioural operational research. However, such experiments are not without their problems. One specific problem is obtaining a sufficient sample size, not only in terms of the number of participants but also the time they are willing to devote to an experiment. In this paper, we explore how agent-based simulation (ABS) can be used to address the sample size problem and demonstrate the approach in the newsvendor setting. The decision-making strategies of a small sample of individual decision-makers are determined through laboratory experiments. The interactions of these suppliers and retailers are then simulated using an ABS to generate a large sample set of decisions. With only a small number of participants, we demonstrate that it is possible to produce similar results to previous experimental studies that involved much larger sample sizes. We conclude that ABS provides the potential to extend the scope of experimental research in behavioural operational research

Utility of Parental Mediation Model on Youth’s Problematic Online Gaming

The Parental Mediation Model PMM) was initially designed to regulate children’s attitudes towards the traditional media. In the present era, because of prevalent online media there is a need for similar regulative measures. Spending long hours on social media and playing online games increase the risks of exposure to the negative outcomes of online gaming. This paper initially applied the PMM developed by European Kids Online to (i) test the reliability and validity of this model and (ii) identify the effectiveness of this model in controlling problematic online gaming (POG). The data were collected from 592 participants comprising 296 parents and 296 students of four foreign universities, aged 16 to 22 years in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). The study found that the modified model of the five-factor PMM (Technical mediation, Monitoring mediation, Restrictive mediation, Active Mediation of Internet Safety, and Active mediation of Internet Use) functions as a predictor for mitigating POG. The findings suggest the existence of a positive relation between ‘monitoring’ and ‘restrictive’ mediation strategies and exposure to POG while Active Mediation of Internet Safety and Active mediation of Internet use were insignificant predictors. Results showed a higher utility of ‘technical’ strategies by the parents led to less POG. The findings of this study do not support the literature suggesting active mediation is more effective for reducing youth’s risky behaviour. Instead, parents need to apply more technical mediations with their children and adolescents’ Internet use to minimize the negative effects of online gaming