Implementation Science and Fidelity Measurement: A Test of the 3-5-7 Model™

Children and youths engaged with the child welfare system can experience grief and loss as a result of trauma, broken relationships, and inadequate attachments. Interventionists are often challenged to implement effective strategies that help youths to reestablish trusting relationships and to promote overall psychological well-being. A 5-year federal demonstration project funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau, guided by an implementation science model, sought to increase well-being in youths age 12–21 who were involved in the child welfare system. The 3-5-7 Model™, a strengths-based approach that empowers children, youths, and families to engage in grieving and integrating significant relationships, was studied. A fidelity system was created in order to test the model. Important lessons about implementation science guided the work of the demonstration project. Although definitive conclusions could not be reached, several indicators of psychological well-being were found to be associated with high levels of fidelity to the 3-5-7 ModelTM. Suggestions for future research are offered

The Impact of Social Media on the Sales Cycle and Prospecting

Sharing information and networking with business contacts are the crux of social media in sales. The use of social media platforms (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) for all phases of the sales cycle is a relatively new technique, about 20 years since the arrival of the internet and associated technologies. Research to measure the impact of social media on the sales cycle time is not adequately addressed in the current literature. Our research highlights the impacts of social media on this important business function and examines individual performance aspects associated with the use of social media

Marketing Mavens’ Fusion with Social Media

Maven behavior and its fusion with social media was a natural progression from an auspicious beginning. The acknowledgement of market influencers and their impact on consumer behavior emerged in the discipline literature during the 70’s with a study by Sheth (1971) who recognized the marketing opportunity of information disseminators. The potential publicizing influence of these brokers was investigated by Kotler and Zaltman (1976) whose findings advocated for their inclusion within a communication stratagem. Further examination produced precise demographic variables and personality traits along with the more accurate terminology of market mavens (Feick and Price, 1987) to delineate their unique dispositions. Laughlin and MacDonald (2010) recently proposed the identification of online mavens as indispensable, predicated on the significant position they hold in web based purchase behavior. This research explores the idea of social media mavens and determines specific actions most likely to transpire by online market mavens

Being Māori and Pākehā: Methodology and Method in Exploring Cultural Hybridity

This article addresses the first author’s experience of identifying as both Māori and Pākehā in Aotearoa New Zealand. Based on her own research using both kaupapa research theory and heuristic research method, and supervised by the second author, the article describes her negotiation of the experience of being a hybrid cultural subject and object, of belonging and not belonging. The article extends the practice and understanding of cross-cultural research on a number of levels: the intrapsychic (i.e., within the principal investigator herself), the interpersonal (i.e., between the researcher and supervisor), and the methodological (i.e., between an indigenous and a Western theory)

Differences in Online Social Media Mavens: the Gender Gap

Consumer Behavior experts have acknowledged the significant impact market mavens play in the dissemination and acceptance of new products in the market place. The emergence of online social media mavens has only recently been recognized. Based on traditional patterns of behavior and Internet usage it could be assumed the predictable demographics of the social media maven would be male, young, educated and with an above average income. This study investigated these traditional assumptions and discovered unique differences in online social media mavens. In order to determine potential Social Media Mavens, this research looked beyond usage of social media and instead at who was communicating with others about social media both in the form of recommending and encouraging the usage of social media. Results indicate the gender dominance of males is leveling, signaling the potential of females to drive social media acceptance and usage to ultimately reign as Online Social Media Mavens

Collegiate Competition and the Propensity for Gender Bias

Since the dawn of time gender has played a starring role in human behavior. The behavioral implications of an individual’s sex have permeated research findings in a wide variety of academic disciplines. This preliminary investigation will explore the concept and definition of gender, gender bias, and gender stereotype on actions and conduct. Specifically, this inquiry will determine the scope and types of gender bias/stereotypes that exist in the business world with a primary concentration on the area of professional sales. The ultimate objective is to discover the type and level of influence a person’s gender contributes to evaluation, performance and judging in student sales competition