The Campbell Paradigm as a Behavior-Predictive Reinterpretation of the Classical Tripartite Model of Attitudes.

In this article, we introduce the Campbell Paradigm as a novel variant of Rosenberg and Hovlands (1960) tripartite model of attitudes. The Campbell Paradigm is based on a highly restricted measurement model that speaks of a compensatory relation between a persons latent attitude and the costs that come with any specific behavior. It overcomes the overarching weakness of the original tripartite model (i.e., its relative irrelevance for actual behavior) and offers a parsimonious explanation for behavior. Even though this seems attractive, we also discuss why the paradigm has not gained momentum in the 50 years since it was originally proposed by Donald T. Campbell. To demonstrate the paradigms suitability even when implemented with an unrefined instrument in a domain where it has not been used previously, we apply the paradigm to a classic data example from attitude research from the 1984 US presidential election to account for the electorates voting intentions and actual voting behaviors

Designing a Tool to Assess Professional Competences: Theoretical Foundations and Potential Applications

This conceptual paper outlines the descriptive theoretical foundations or kernel theories for designing an information and communication technology (ICT) tool to assess professional competences in the Austrian trade and craft sector. Upon completion, the ICT-tool serves as a boundary object in which applicants and assessors can interact. While this paper consists of a literature review and conceptual discussion, the overall project is methodologically placed within a multidisciplinary design-science paradigm. Design science scaffolds and structures the development of a theoretical model, the generation of assessment-items and the ICT-tool itself. This paper discusses the necessary descriptive knowledge or kernel theories on which the design of the ICT-tool rests. First, we describe the validation of prior learning - a process advocated by the European Union to make professional competences visible. Second, we describe the process how professional competences come about: through formal, non-formal and informal learning. Subsequently, we outline a knowledge-driven discourse on professional competences and discuss how different definitions of professional competence afford different approaches for its assessment. By presenting a use-case, we outline how the ICT-tool may guide applicants and assessors through this process

Towards a prioritization of needs to support decision making in organizational change processes

A focus on needs and the ability to generate knowledge about needs is highly valuable for organizations because it extends the range of possible solutions and therefore enables them to create more innovative and sustainable products and services. Our paper will explore how a framework based on an abductive reasoning process for the creation and discovery of knowledge about needs in organizations can look like and what the main steps of such a framework are, in order to integrate this approach into the model of the knowledge-based firm. Moreover we will present empirical findings from a project with Austrian companies where this framework has been used

Environmental Attitudes in 28 European Countries Derived From Atheoretically Compiled Opinions and Self-Reports of Behavior

People differ in their personal commitment to fighting climate change and protecting the environment. The question is, can we validly measure people's commitment by what they say and what they claim they do in opinion polls? In our research, we demonstrate that opinions and reports of past behavior can be aggregated into comparable depictions of people's personal commitment to fighting climate change and protecting the environment (i.e., their environmental attitudes). In contrast to the commonly used operational scaling approaches, we ground our measure of people’s environmental attitudes in a mathematically formalized psychological theory of the response process - the Campbell paradigm. This theory of the response process has already been extensively validated, and its relevance for manifest behavior has repeatedly been shown as well. In our secondary analysis of Eurobarometer data (N = 27,998) from 28 European countries, we apply the Campbell paradigm to a set of indicators that was not originally collected to be aggregated into a single scale. With our research, we propose a distinct way to measure behavior-relevant environmental attitudes that can be used even with a set of indicators that was originally atheoretically compiled. Overall, our study suggests that the Campbell paradigm provides a sound psychological measurement theory that can be applied to cross-cultural comparisons in the environmental protection domain

Experimental Study of Brittle Behavior of Clay Shale in Rapid Triaxial Compression

The brittle failure behavior of an over-consolidated clay shale (Opalinus Clay) in undrained rapid triaxial compression was studied. The confining stress levels were chosen to simulate the range of confining stresses relevant for underground excavations at the Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory, and to investigate the transition from axial splitting failure to macroscopic shear failure. Micro-crack initiation was observed throughout the confining stress range utilized in this study at a differential stress of 2.1MPa on average, which indicates that friction was not mobilized at this stage of brittle failure. The rupture stress was dependent on confinement indicating friction mobilization during the brittle failure process. With increasing confinement net volumetric strain decreased suggesting that dilation was suppressed, which is possibly related to a change in the failure mode. At confining stress levels ≤0.5 MPa specimen rupture was associated with axial splitting. With increasing confinement, transition to a macroscopic shearing mode was observed. Multi-stage triaxial tests consistently showed lower strengths than single-stage tests, demonstrating cumulative damage in the specimens. Both the Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek-Brown failure criteria could not satisfactorily fit the data over the entire confining stress range. A bi-linear or S-shaped failure criterion was found to satisfactorily fit the test data over the entire confinement range studie