Development and preliminary validation of a questionnaire to measure satisfaction with home care in Greece: an exploratory factor analysis of polychoric correlations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The primary aim of this study was to develop and psychometrically test a Greek-language instrument for measuring satisfaction with home care. The first empirical evidence about the level of satisfaction with these services in Greece is also provided.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The questionnaire resulted from literature search, on-site observation and cognitive interviews. It was applied in 2006 to a sample of 201 enrollees of five home care programs in the city of Thessaloniki and contains 31 items that measure satisfaction with individual service attributes and are expressed on a 5-point Likert scale. The latter has been usually considered in practice as an interval scale, although it is in principle ordinal. We thus treated the variable as an ordinal one, but also employed the traditional approach in order to compare the findings. Our analysis was therefore based on ordinal measures such as the polychoric correlation, Kendall's Tau b coefficient and ordinal Cronbach's alpha. Exploratory factor analysis was followed by an assessment of internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, construct validity and sensitivity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Analyses with ordinal and interval scale measures produced in essence very similar results and identified four multi-item scales. Three of these were found to be reliable and valid: socioeconomic change, staff skills and attitudes and service appropriateness. A fourth dimension -service planning- had lower internal consistency reliability and yet very satisfactory test-retest reliability, construct validity and floor and ceiling effects. The global satisfaction scale created was also quite reliable. Overall, participants were satisfied -yet not very satisfied- with home care services. More room for improvement seems to exist for the socio-economic and planning aspects of care and less for staff skills and attitudes and appropriateness of provided services.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The methods developed seem to be a promising tool for the measurement of home care satisfaction in Greece.</p

Kestävää energiaa edistämässä: onko institutionaalisesta yrittäjyydestä apua?

Institutional entrepreneurship research has described and conceptualized dramatic cases of successful institutional change. We know less about whether it can help people trying to change institutions, for example, struggling to change the energy system. Do concepts from the institutional entrepreneurship literature offer sustainable energy practitioners insights on the political aspects of their work? And vice-versa: do practitioners have useful insights on the potential and limits of agency in institutional change? The present study contributes to these questions through collaborative inquiry together with government-affiliated organizations with a mission to promote sustainable energy. The results suggest that concepts from the institutional entrepreneurship literature do serve to make practitioners' implicit competencies explicit and hence a legitimate subject for organizational development and joint learning about the political aspects of energy systems change. We conclude that institutional entrepreneurship appears to require a form of organizing that combines environmental scanning, grand strategy and everyday tactical moves on the ground.peerReviewe

The relationship between individualism and entrepreneurial intention : a Finnish perspective

Purpose This study aims to analyze the relationship between individualist values and entrepreneurial intentions. Previous surveys have shown that major national differences in entrepreneurial intentions can be observed within Europe and that part of this variation can be explained by cultural values, especially the individualism–collectivism dimension. However, previous findings about the relationship between individualism and entrepreneurship remain contradictory. Design/methodology/approach This study is a micro-level analysis of the influence of individualistic values. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991, 2001) and theories of individualism advanced by Hofstede (1980) and Triandis and Gelfand (1998). The research data were gathered from a survey of Finnish students (N = 725). Findings The results show that the relationship between cultural values and entrepreneurial intention is very complex. In contrast to Hofstede (1980), the study assumes individualism and collectivism to be two separate and independent dimensions of cultural values, both of which have a positive, indirect effect on entrepreneurial intention by way of subjective norms and perceived control. Practical implications Both individualist and collectivist values promote entrepreneurial intentions. From this point of view, general citizenship education, which supports the development of young people’s cultural values, can be seen as a significant element in entrepreneurship education. This suggests an instance of holistic education, the aim of which is for individuals’ autonomy and contestability to be combined with community and collective responsibility. Originality/value The analysis of Triandis and Gelfand (1998) has not been systematically utilized in the previous studies on entrepreneurial intentions. The findings of this study address not only the influence of psychological factors over entrepreneurial intentions but also the impact of individualist and collectivist values. The results complement the results of previous studies

Public Procurement Notices 2009

Aineisto sisältää tiedot HILMA-hankintailmoitusjärjestelmässä (www.hankintailmoitukset.fi) julkaistuista ilmoituksista. Aineisto on koottu julkisista hankinnoista annetun lain tarkoittamien hankintayksiköiden laatimista ja HILMAssa julkaistuista hankintailmoituksista. Aineisto sisältää tiedot hankintailmoituksen numerosta, hankinnan kohteesta ja hankinnan tehneestä organisaatiosta. Lisäksi mukana ovat tiedot hankintailmoitustyypeistä, hankintayksiköiden luonteesta, hankintojen cpv-koodeista sekä ilmoitustyypistä riippuen hankintojen ennakoidusta arvosta tai toteutuneesta arvosta.The data contain announcements of public contracts published in the HILMA electronic notification system in 2009. Finnish procurements laws require that contracting authorities advertise their public tenders for all procurements exceeding the threshold value. Public procurement notices contain information on the number and type of notice, publication date, object of the contract, procurement procedure to be used, type of contracting authority, award criteria, common procurement vocabulary (CPV) code, and the value of the contract

Julkiseen työnvälitykseen ilmoitettujen avointen työpaikkojen rekisteriaineisto 2022

Aineisto sisältää tietoja julkiseen työnvälitykseen vuonna 2022 ilmoitetuista työpaikoista. Aineisto on koottu työpaikkailmoituksista, joista on laskettu kussakin ilmoituksessa avoinna olevien työpaikkojen määrä. Aineisto sisältää tietoja avoinna olleista työpaikoista, niitä tarjoavista työnantajista ja työpaikan täyttöprosessista. Aineistossa mainitaan avoinna olevista työpaikoista muun muassa työpaikan sijaintikunta, työpaikan ammatti, työnantajan toimiala, työpaikan koulutusvaatimus, työaika, työn kesto, henkilökunnan koko, työnantajan sektori ja työpaikan tyyppi. Lisäksi aineistossa ovat tiedot työpaikan viimeisestä hakupäivämäärästä, aiottu työn alkamispäivä, avoinnaolon alkamis- ja päättymispäivä sekä täyttötieto. Muuttujina ovat myös työpaikkojen määrä ilmoituksessa, työpaikkailmoitusrivien alkuperäinen määrä ilmoituksessa ja työhönosoitusten määrä. Aineistossa ovat myös työ- ja elinkeinotoimistot (TE-toimistot) sekä elinkeino-, liikenne- ja ympäristökeskukset (ELY-keskukset), joiden alueella työpaikka on ollut. Aineistoon on lisätty erilaisia kestomuuttujia. Tällaisia ovat muun muassa avoinnaolon kesto, rekrytointiaika ja täyttöviive. Näille muuttujille on omat laskentasääntönsä, ks. esim. Räisänen, Heikki (2004): Työvoiman hankinta julkisessa työnvälityksessä. VATT-tutkimuksia 107. Aineistossa ovat mukana myös aluemuuttujat seutukunta, tilastollinen kuntatyyppi ja suurkaupunki.The data contain information on the vacancies notified to the Public Employment Service in Finland in 2022. The data have been compiled from job advertisements, and each individual vacancy mentioned in the advertisements has been counted. The data include information on open vacancies, employers, and the process of filling the job vacancies. The information on open vacancies covers variables such as the location, occupation, and duration of the vacancy, the employer's industry of employment, educational requirements, working hours, staff size, type of workplace, deadline for applications, and the starting date of the job. In addition, the data contain variables providing information on the number of open vacancies in the advertisements, the number of rows in the advertisement, and the number of job offers. The public employment agencies (TE Offices) and Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres) located in the region of the open vacancies are also included in the data. Various duration variables have been added to the data. These variables include the duration the vacancy was open, the time of recruiting, and the time it took to fill the vacancy. These variables have their own calculation rules. The data also include regional variables such as the sub-region, municipality type, and town