Teaching Business Statistics by Examples: An Illustration, Benefits, and Challenges

This study proposes the teaching-by-examples (TBE) approach where the learning objectives are achieved by creating lesson plans encompassing hands-on examples that take precedence in operationalizing the concepts and theories. It illustrates the TBE approach within the context of business statistics and proposes that there is a significant difference in the mean performance of students taught by the TBE approach and of those taught by the traditional lecture method. The findings suggest that the TBE approach results in better student performance than the traditional lecture method. This study also discusses the challenges that accompany the benefits of the TBE approach

Investigating the relationship between the business performance management framework and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award framework.

The business performance management (BPM) framework helps an organization continuously adjust and successfully execute its strategies. BPM helps increase flexibility by providing managers with an early alert about changes and, as a result, allows faster response to such changes. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) framework provides a basis for self-assessment and a systems perspective for managing an organization's key processes for achieving business results. The MBNQA framework is a more comprehensive framework and encapsulates the underlying constructs in the BPM framework. The objectives of this dissertation are fourfold: (1) to validate the underlying relationships presented in the 2008 MBNQA framework, (2) to explore the MBNQA framework at the dimension level, and develop and test constructs measured at that level in a causal model, (3) to validate and create a common general framework for the business performance model by integrating the practitioner literature with basic theory including existing MBNQA theory, and (4) to integrate the BPM framework and the MBNQA framework into a new framework (BPM-MBNQA framework) that can guide organizations in their journey toward achieving and sustaining competitive and strategic advantages. The purpose of this study is to achieve these objectives by means of a combination of methodologies including literature reviews, expert opinions, interviews, presentation feedbacks, content analysis, and latent semantic analysis. An initial BPM framework was developed based on the reviews of literature and expert opinions. There is a paucity of academic research on business performance management. Therefore, this study reviewed the practitioner literature on BPM and from the numerous organization-specific BPM models developed a generic, conceptual BPM framework. With the intent of obtaining valuable feedback, this initial BPM framework was presented to Baldrige Award recipients (BARs) and selected academicians from across the United States who participated in the Fall Summit 2007 held at Caterpillar Financial Headquarter in Nashville, TN on October 1 and 2, 2007. Incorporating the feedback from that group allowed refining and improving the proposed BPM framework. This study developed a variant of the traditional latent semantic analysis (LSA) called causal latent semantic analysis (cLSA) that enables us to test causal models using textual data. This method was used to validate the 2008 MBNQA framework based on article abstracts on the Baldrige Award and program published in both practitioner and academic journals from 1987 to 2009. The cLSA was also used to validate the BPM framework using the full body text data from all articles published in the practitioner journal entitled the Business Performance Management Magazine since its inception in 2003. The results provide the first cLSA study of these frameworks. This is also the first study to examine all the causal relationships within the MBNQA and BPM frameworks

Causal Latent Semantic Analysis (cLSA): An Illustration

Article discussing an illustration of causal latent semantic analysis (cLSA)

Internationalization of SMEs: A Developing Country Perspective

Internationalization has become increasingly important to the competitiveness of firms of all sizes, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs play a crucial role in the development of lower-income countries. In Bangladesh, SMEs account for between 80 and 85 percent of industrial employment and 23 percent of total employment and are critical to economic growth. Though the literature on firm internationalization is well established, the internationalization process of SMEs from developing countries, such as Bangladesh, remains relatively under-explored. The main aim of this study is to explore factors that hinder the internationalization of SMEs in a developing country, with Bangladesh serving as the context of the investigation. Qualitative research methods were adopted, comprising semi-structured interviews with leaders of 16 SMEs in Bangladesh. Six major themes were identified as hindrances to the firms’ internationalization: (1) lack of market knowledge, (2) lack of family support, (3) the proliferation of ‘scammer buyers’, (4) the (negative) involvement of third parties, (5) mismanagement of domestic ports, and (6) unregulated local market. Regarding positive factors, only one theme emerged from the data, the strong support from the local government, which provides considerable backing for local SMEs with international ambitions. This study’s primary contribution and originality lie in the context of the investigation, with Bangladesh primarily overlooked in the international business literature. Therefore, the study presents several novel insights into the internationalization process of SMEs

Causal Latent Semantic Analysis (cLSA): An Illustration

Article discussing an illustration of causal latent semantic analysis (cLSA)

Impact of Experienced Workplace Incivility (EWI) on Instigated Workplace Incivility (IWI): The Mediating Role of Stress and Moderating Role of Islamic Work Ethics (IWE)

There has been an increase in uncivil behaviors in the 21st century workplace, emphasizing the need for discussion. The current study is aimed at extending the literature available on workplace incivility by examining the impact of experienced workplace incivility on instigated workplace incivility. The study proposes that stress mediates the relationship between experienced workplace incivility and instigated workplace incivility. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that Islamic work ethics moderates the relationship between experienced and instigated workplace incivility, and between stress and instigated workplace incivility. Data were collected at three-time lags from respondents (N = 258) working in the sustainable public service sector. Results supported the hypotheses that experienced workplace incivility impacts instigated workplace incivility. The results also supported mediation and moderation hypotheses, confirming that stress is a mediator, and Islamic work ethics is a moderator. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed followed by limitations