Measurement Development and Validation in Research

This chapter describes the importance of measurement in social research and education research. In order to validly compare across groups, whether it is age, gender, ethnicities, or cultures, measurement invariance needs to be established. This is accomplished through single-group and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. The procedural approach is presented with a detailed illustration from real research in servant leadership in K-12 principals in the United States. Second-order confirmatory factor analysis is described due to its popularity. Procedural steps are cited, and an example is given for illustration. As a major statistical technique in instrument development, exploratory factor analysis is discussed and illustrated at the beginning of this chapter

The Role of Owner-Manager in SMEs for the Adoption of Information and Communication Technology in United Arab Emirates

This study evaluates the factors that lead SMEs to adopt information and communication technology (ICT). Our research proposes an ICT Adoption Model using structural equation modelling that examines the role of small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) owner- manager as a mediator for the adoption of ICT. The model is focused on the investigation of the direct and indirect influence of technological, cultural, environmental and organisational factors on the SME’s adoption process. The results indicate the validity of adoption factors and their applicability to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) environment. The main focus of the research was to develop a new framework that develops further the research of Rashid and Al-Qirim (2001). This identifies the critical mediating role of the owner-manager’s decision to adopt ICT in SMEs in the UAE. The results showed the importance of owner/ manager as a mediator; and confirmed the importance of technological, organisational and environmental factors in the process of ICT adoption in the UAE. Although there is culture diversity in the UAE, culture was not significant either directly or indirectly in its effect on ICT adoption by SMEs in the UAE