bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Contemporary Racism in Australia: The Experiences of Aborigines
Authors: Mellor David
Published: April 2003

In recent decades, social psychologists have suggested that contemporary racism is more subtle in nature than it had been in previous times. However, such theorizing has been from the perspective of the perpetrators. The present study follows a small number of other studies that have focused on the perspective of the victims of racism. It investigated the experiences of racism reported by 34 Aboriginal Australians during semi-structured, open-ended interviews. The data suggest that racism is experienced commonly and frequently by the participants and that much of it is overt or old-fashioned rather than subtle and modern. It is argued that if the data are reflective of what happens in intergroup encounters, social scientists may have embraced the theories of modern racism too readily. This may have contributed to the maintenance of social institutions that impact negatively on the minority populations in the community.
Self-Infiltration: Confusing Assigned Tasks as Self-Selected in Memory
Authors: Baumann Nicola , Kuhl Julius
Published: April 2003

Two studies examined determinants of self-infiltration (i.e., false self-attribution of externally controlled goals or activities). According to Personality Systems Interactions (PSI) theory, a sad mood was expected to reduce access to integrated self-representations and to lead to self-infiltration for participants who have an impaired ability to cope with negative affect (i.e., state-oriented participants). Consistent with expectations, state-oriented participants had a tendency toward self-infiltration (as indexed by higher rates of false self-ascription of assigned activities) when reporting higher levels of sadness (Study 1) and after the experimental induction of a sad mood (Study 2). Participants who are able to downregulate negative affect (i.e., action-oriented participants) did not show this tendency. Theoretical and practical implications of the process of self-infiltration are discussed.
Mood as Information in Making Attributions to Discrimination
Authors: Sechrist Gretchen B. , Swim Janet K. , Mark Melvin M.
Published: April 2003

Previous research demonstrates that people use their mood as information when making a variety of judgments. The present research examines the extent to which people use their current mood as information when making attributions to discrimination. Women were given a positive or negative mood induction and either provided with an external attribution for their current mood state or not. They then reported on discrimination occurring to themselves and other women. When an external attribution for induced mood was not provided, women in positive moods were less likely to report discrimination across three measures than were women in negative moods. When an external attribution was provided, mood had no effect. Implications for understanding the effects of context and individual differences in the perception and reporting of experiences with discrimination are discussed.
Autocracy Bias in Informal Groups Under Need for Closure
Authors: Pierro Antonio , Mannetti Lucia , De Grada Eraldo , Livi Stefano , Kruglanski Arie W.
Published: April 2003

Two experiments investigated the tendency of groups with members under high (vs. low) need for cognitive closure to develop an autocratic leadership structure in which some members dominate the discussion, constitute the “hubs” of communication, and influence the group more than other members. The first experiment found that high (vs. low) need for closure groups, as assessed via dispositional measure of the need for closure, manifested greater asymmetry of conversational floor control, such that members with autocratic interactional style were more conversationally dominant and influential than less autocratic members. The second experiment manipulated the need for closure via time pressure and utilized a social network analysis. Consistent with expectation, groups under time pressure (vs. no pressure) showed a greater asymmetry of participation, of centrality, and of prestige among the group members, such that the more focal members were perceived to exert the greater influence over the groups’ decisions.
The Precision of Gain Scores Under an Item Response Theory Perspective: A Comparison of Asymptotic and Exact Conditional Inference About Change
Authors: Fischer Gerhard H.
Published: April 2003

The precision of simple difference or “gain” scores is described in terms of their confidence intervals on the latent trait scale and of significance probabilities under the H₀ of no change. For this, two approaches are compared: one employs the asymptotic normal distribution of the maximum likelihood estimator of the person parameter, the other is based on the exact conditional distribution of the gain score, given the total number-correct score over the two time points. In either case, a detailed assessment of the precision of change measurements results. For illustration, results are presented of three test scales. The present methods yield more relevant and much more detailed psychometric information than the traditional estimation of reliability as a sole indicator of measurement precision. Other areas of application, namely, the comparison of the abilities of two examinees or the aggregation of individual signi.cance levels within groups of examinees, are also mentioned.
Determining the Significance of Correlations Corrected for Unreliability and Range Restriction
Authors: Raju Nambury S. , Brand Paul A.
Published: April 2003

A new asymptotic formula for estimating the sampling variance of a correlation coefficient corrected for unreliability and range restriction was proposed. A Monte Carlo assessment of the new sampling variance formula has resulted in the following conclusions. First, the formula-based (analytical) sampling variances were very close to the empirically derived sampling variances based on 5,000 replications. Second, the sampling variance formula was quite robust against committing Type I errors. Third, the statistical power was low to moderate in distinguishing between two unattenuated and unrestricted population correlations. Fourth, the new formula produced smaller sampling variances; was closer to nominal alpha levels; and was more powerful when sample size increased, when the population correlation coefficient increased, when range restriction was less severe, and when both the criterion and predictor reliabilities increased.
Sample Size Requirements for Comparing Two Alpha Coefficients
Authors: Bonett Douglas G.
Published: April 2003

Graphs and tables are currently available for approximating the sample size needed to test the equality of two alpha reliability coefficients with desired power. These tables and graphs are limited to particular values of Type I error, power, and effect size. General formulas are derived to determine the sample size requirements for hypothesis testing with desired power and interval estimation with desired precision.
A Comparison of Item-Fit Statistics for the Three-Parameter Logistic Model
Authors: Glas Cees A.W. , Falcón Juan Carlos Suárez
Published: April 2003

In this article, the Type I error rate and the power of a number of existing and new tests of fit to the 3-parameter logistic model (3PLM) are investigated. The first test is a generalization of a test for the evaluation of the fit to the 2-parameter logistic model (2PLM) based on the Lagrange multiplier (LM) test or the equivalent efficient score test. This technique is applied to two model violations: deviation from the 3PLM item characteristic curve and violation of local stochastic independence. The LM test for the first violation is compared with the Q1 – G² j and S – G² j tests, respectively. The LM test for the second violation is compared with the Q3 test and a new test, the S3 test, which can be viewed as a generalization of the approach of the S – G² j test to the evaluation of violation of local independence. The results of simulation studies indicate that all tests, except the Q1 – G² j test, have a Type I error rate that is acceptably close to the nominal significance level, and good power to detect the model violations they are targeted at. When, however, misfitting items are present in a test, the proportion of items that are flagged incorrectly as misfitting can become undesirably high, especially for short tests.
Implementing Content Constraints in Alpha-Stratified Adaptive Testing Using a Shadow Test Approach
Authors: van der Linden Wim J. , Chang Hua-Hua
Published: April 2003

The methods of alpha-stratified adaptive testing and constrained adaptive testing with shadow tests are combined. The advantages are twofold: First, application of the shadow test approach allows the implementation of any type of constraint on item selection in alpha-stratified adaptive testing. Second, the result yields a simple set of constraints that can be used in any application of the shadow test approach to reduce overexposure and underexposure of the items in the pool. An example from the Law School Admission Test is used to demonstrate the advantages.
A Bayesian Method for the Detection of Item Preknowledge in Computerized Adaptive Testing
Authors: McLeod Lori , Lewis Charles , Thissen David
Published: April 2003

With the increased use of continuous testing in computerized adaptive testing, new concerns about test security have evolved, such as how to ensure that items in an item pool are safeguarded from theft. In this article, procedures to detect test takers using item preknowledge are explored. When test takers use item preknowledge, their item responses deviate from the underlying item response theory (IRT) model, and estimated abilities may be inflated. This deviation may be detected through the use of person-fit indices. A Bayesian posterior log odds ratio index is proposed for detecting the use of item preknowledge. In this approach to person fit, the estimated probability that each test taker has preknowledge of items is updated after each item response. These probabilities are based on the IRT parameters, a model specifying the probability that each item has been memorized, and the test taker’s item responses. Simulations based on an operational computerized adaptive test (CAT) pool are used to demonstrate the use of the odds ratio index.
Estimating the Parameters of a Structural Model for the Latent Traits in Rasch’s Model for Speed Tests
Authors: Jansen Margo G.H.
Published: April 2003

This article considers the multiplicative gamma model for reading speed originally proposed by Rasch (1960/1980) in his monograph Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests. The model can be viewed as a latent trait model for a set of pure speed tests with known length, measuring the same trait but differing in test easiness. The basic model can be expanded in several ways, for instance, by incorporating a (log-linear) regression model for the latent subject parameters. The accuracy of a simultaneous estimation method for all the parameters involved, including the regression parameters, is studied using artificial data. In particular, the estimates of the parameters of the regression model obtained by this direct method is compared with the results of a so-called indirect method where the subject parameters are estimated in an intermediate step.
Identifying Export Industries Using Parametric Density Functions
Authors: Nichols Donald , Mushinski David
Published: April 2003

In this article, the authors present a new way of identifying the set of industries that may constitute a region’s economic base. The authors focus on the differences among regions in their regional employment shares (the percentage of total employment in a particular region attributable to a particular industry). They find that the distribution across regions of regional employment shares can be characterized by what they call a mixed-exponential distribution for industries that are easy to classify as being export industries—such as automotive manufacturing—while the distributions of regional employment shares for some easy-to-classify local industries tend to be normal. The authors then attempt to classify each of the remaining industries as being either export or local to determine whether the empirical distribution of employment shares in each industry is more like the mixed-exponential distribution or more like the normal distribution. The attempt is partially successful.
Is The Cost Of Living Less In Rural Areas?
Authors: Kurre James A.
Published: April 2003

There seems to be a general presumption that rural areas benefit from lower costs of living than urban areas. However, there is relatively little systematic data, other than anecdotal evidence, to support this. To test this presumption, this study develops spatial cost of living estimates for each of the sixty-seven counties of Pennsylvania. In addition to the overall cost of living, it generates indexes for each of six component subindexes: groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services. These estimates find that the average urban resident of Pennsylvania pays about 6 percent more than rural residents for a broad basket of goods and services. Moreover, urban residents pay more on average for all six major categories of goods, with the greatest difference (12.7 percent) occurring for housing costs. Interestingly, the article also finds that the efficiency of the local public sector can affect local cost of living. The article also identifies policy implications of these differences for economic development and other purposes.
Microstates And Subnational Regions: Mutual Industrial Policy Lessons
Authors: Armstrong Harvey W. , Read Robert
Published: April 2003

Small nation-states and subnational regions share many similarities in terms of the challenges faced in implementing successful industrial policies. Globalization and the emergence of supranational organizations such as the European Union are also making the two sets of entities much more similar over time. This article argues that recent research advances are revealing that policy makers in small nations and regions can share important policy lessons. In particular, extensive recent research on industrial clusters, the determinants of economic growth, and new regional governance structures is generating a number of important policy lessons. The mutual lessons being exposed by this research suggest strategic policy stances for smaller nation-states and regions that significantly differ from those of larger countries and industrial giant regions.
Externalities, Economic Geography, And Spatial Econometrics: Conceptual And Modeling Developments
Authors: Fingleton Bernard
Published: April 2003

On the assumption that it is sometimes necessary to take a step sideways to make progress, this article describes the author’s preferred spatial econometric modeling approach based around recent theory developed in the field of urban economics. This has many features in common with geographical economics but is seen as more amenable to the analysis of externalities and to the development of new, more realistic, economic geography theory.
Total Quality Management and Inequality: The Triple Helix in Global Historical Perspective
Authors: de Miranda Alvaro
Published: April 2003

The development and international diffusion of total quality management (TQM) as a normative theory are examined. It is shown that the main concepts associated with TQM contain an implicit Darwinist view of society made up only of institutions struggling to survive against increasingly ruthless competition. It is also shown that their development was the result of a process in which universities, large corporations, and government interacted to develop a response to the increasingly serious economic challenge that Japan presented to the United States from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. The TQM paradigm was taken up by U.S. multinational corporations and the leading business and management schools of the United States and disseminated throughout the world. It is concluded that TQM has an ideological dimension designed to help diffuse to private and public service institutions throughout the world the dominant U.S. view of society and economy at the end of the twentieth century.
Inequality and University Research Agendas in Latin America
Authors: Sutz Judith
Published: April 2003

The aim of this article is to explore the merit, feasibility, and possible scope of equality-biased academic research agendas in Latin America. First, it discusses the merits of university research agendas as tools in the fight against inequality. Second, it analyzes the feasibility of defining such research agendas in Latin American public universities, taking into account their long tradition of institutionalized social commitment. Third, it comments on two Uruguayan examples of research programs that may make contributions to the reduction of inequality. Finally, it assesses the possible impact of such programs in the light of inadequacies in Latin American national systems of innovation.
Technology Theory and Deliberative Democracy
Authors: Hamlett Patrick W.
Published: April 2003

This article examines the debate about the normative relevance of social constructivism, arguing that the criticisms of Winner, Radder, and others are fundamentally accurate. The article argues that a combination of Radder's notion of nonlocal values and Martin's concern for deliberative interventions may offer a theoretical exit from the normative irrelevance that marks constructivism. The article goes on to suggest that theoretical and praxeological developments in two other literatures, participatory public policy analysis and deliberative democracy, may provide fruitful initiatives for constructivist scholars eager to address normative concerns. The article next reviews a range of problems facing deliberative and participatory practices and suggests ways in which constructivist insights might help to advance deliberative theory.
Authorship Practices and Institutional Contexts in Sociology: Elements for a Comparison of the United States and France
Authors: Pontille David
Published: April 2003

Studies of scientific authorship have been developing for forty years. This phenomenon is becoming increasingly well documented. However, most of these studies deal with fields considered in only one national context. This article tries to understand the specific modalities of sociological authorship within two national contexts: the United States and France. The analysis yields an understanding of the logic intimately linking texts and contexts, throwing light not only on the way research and authorship practices are partly shaped by their particular institutional and historical contexts but also on the interactions between cognitive content and patterns of publication.
Democratizing Science: Various Routes and Visions of Dutch Science Shops
Authors: Wachelder Joseph
Published: April 2003

Science shops were established at universities throughout the Netherlands in the early 1970s with the avowed aim of democratizing science and contributing to social change. During the past few years, science shops have met with significant challenges. For one thing, they have had to adapt to various changes directly associated with the Dutch political climate, the organization of higher education, national research policies, and so on. Moreover, they have faced serious financial cutbacks. In their efforts to address these challenges, science shops have adopted various approaches, some of which have turned out to be more successful than others. Usually, the differences between the individual Dutch science shops are described and understood only in pragmatic terms, with respect to their internal organization and practices. This article, by contrast, argues that the different ways of coping with change should be understood as reflecting divergent, yet unarticulated, answers to the question of how science and technology can or should be democratized.
Impact Of Differential Response Rates On The Quality Of Data Collected In The CTS Physician Survey
Authors: Schoenman Julie A. , Berk Marc L. , Feldman Jacob J. , Singer Andrew
Published: April 2003

Survey administrators face trade-offs between expending additional survey resources to maximize response rates versus using fewer resources and accepting lower response rates. Using data from the Community Tracking Study’s Physician Survey, we examined how survey estimates and data quality changed as additional respondents completed the survey. Results showed that improvements in response rates over the range examined (i.e., up to 65%) did not change estimates appreciably nor affect data quality. As long as these results are not overstated to imply that extremely low response rates are credible, this study may permit researchers to disseminate interesting results in peer-reviewed journals even when the response rate falls slightly short of current standards. It must also be emphasized, however, that we were unable to measure the nonresponse effect of those who were never interviewed. Achieving a response rate significantly above 65% might have changed the survey results appreciably.
Validation Of An Observation Instrument For Measuring Student Engagement In Health Professions Settings
Authors: O’Malley Kimberly J. , Moran Betty Jeanne , Haidet Paul , Seidel Charles L. , Schneider Virginia , Morgan Robert O. , Kelly P. Adam , Richards Boyd
Published: April 2003

Documenting student engagement has received increased emphasis in medical schools, as teaching strategies are changing to include more student-to-student interactions. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a measure of student engagement completed by independent observers that would not interfere with student learning time. Data from 3,182 observations completed by nine observers in 32 educational classroom settings with 23 different instructors were used to evaluate the interobserver reliability and gather validity evidence for our observational instrument, named the STROBE. Results indicated that interobserver agreement was good to excellent when observations were conducted simultaneously on randomly selected students in the same classroom (84% average agreement and 0.79 average kappa coefficient) and when observations were conducted on different randomly selected students (79% average agreement). Results also provided strong evidence for validity. Overall, findings indicate that the STROBE demonstrates promise for educational research and evaluation by documenting student engagement in medical education settings.
Development Of The Approaches To Work And Workplace Climate Questionnaires For Physicians
Authors: Kirby John R. , Delva M. Dianne , Knapper Christopher , Birtwhistle R. V.
Published: April 2003

Two questionnaires were developed to investigate the workplace learning of physicians. The Approaches to Work Questionnaire for Physicians and the Workplace Climate Questionnaire for Physicians were adapted from general measures developed by Kirby, Knapper, Evans, Carty, and Gadula. These questionnaires were administered to a random sample of Ontario physicians. Consistent with the results of Kirby et al., three dimensions of approaches to work were observed: Deep, Surface-Rational, and Surface-Disorganized. Three dimensions of workplace climate were also found, Supportive-Receptive, Choice-Independence, and Workload. Results indicate that physicians adopt primarily a Deep approach to work, but that there is a smaller tendency toward Surface-Disorganized learning, one that is strongly correlated with perceptions of heavy workload. The Deep approach was associated with work environments perceived to be Supportive-Receptive and offer Choice-Independence. The use of these questionnaires in research and practice is discussed.
Mothers' and Daughters' Paternalism Beliefs and Caregiving Decision Making
Authors: Cicirelli Victor G.
Published: April 2003

The study investigated whether both mothers' and daughters' paternalism beliefs influenced the daughters' paternalistic caregiving decision making. Fifty mother-daughter dyads (mothers' age was 82.6, daughters' age was 54.9), where daughters provided at least 10 hours of caregiving help weekly and mothers retained their cognitive functioning, were interviewed individually. Each was assessed on paternalism beliefs, instrumental activities of daily living, the number of paternalistic caregiving decisions made by the daughter, conflict over caregiving decisions, and satisfaction with the decisions. Both mother's and daughter's paternalism beliefs were related to the number of the daughter's paternalistic decisions, as was the degree of the mother's dependency ( p < .05). Daughters'reports of conflict over decisions were related to differences in mothers' and daughters' paternalism beliefs, whereas mothers' reports of conflict were related only to the daughters' paternalism beliefs. Decision satisfaction was unrelated to beliefs. Implications for practitioners are suggested.
Recruitment for a Panel Study of Australian Retirees
Authors: Wells Yvonne , Petralia Walter , de Vaus David , Kendig Hal
Published: April 2003

Studies of change flowing from important life-course transitions such as retirement are best conducted using panel designs that allow change to be tracked at an individual level. However, for many life-course transitions, sample recruitment is especially difficult because no sampling frames exist for what are relatively rare and nonenumerated populations. This article outlines the difficulties encountered and strategies adopted in obtaining a sample of older Australian workers who were about to retire. It explores the fieldwork problems encountered and the effectiveness of alternative recruitment strategies in meeting core sampling goals. Recruitment strategies are evaluated in terms of their cost, efficiency, impact on data quality, and ability to recruit difficult-to-find subtypes of retirees. The experience of this research team is provided to offer guidance and information for other teams as they seek to recruit samples for retirement studies or for other studies of rare and nonenumerated populations.
Housing and Life Satisfaction of Older Adults in Two Rural Regions in Germany
Authors: Oswald Frank , Wahl Hans-Werner , Mollenkopf Heidrun , Schilling Oliver
Published: April 2003

The first objective of this work is to contrast objective and subjective indicators of older adults' housing situations in western and eastern German rural regions. The second objective of this study is to examine the role of housing-related variables to predict life satisfaction by simultaneously controlling for other generally acknowledged predictors. The data were gathered in two rural regions in western and eastern Germany by drawing a sample of N = 412 older adults (55-99 years old; M = 73.2 years) stratified by age and gender. All participants lived in private households. As suggested by the paradox of actual versus perceived life conditions, analysis revealed comparable levels of perceived life satisfaction in spite of significantly different objective and subjective housing-related variables to the advantage of the western region. Moreover, the central hypothesis of this work that housing-related variables explain a substantial portion of variance in life satisfaction was supported by the data.
Depression in Older Ethnic Groups
Authors: Magai Carol , Kerns Michael-David , Consedine Nathan S. , Fyffe Denise
Published: April 2003

The generality of George's model of the social precursors of depression was tested in a sample of older persons ( N = 803) from three ethnic groups: U.S.-born African Americans, African Caribbeans, and U.S.-born European Americans. The social precursors model includes demographic variables, early events and achievements, later events and achievements, social integration, vulnerability and protective factors, and provoking agents and coping efforts. Zero-order correlations indicated that nearly all the predictor variables were significantly associated with depression. A test of the overall model with all six stages was followed by separate regressions for each ethnic group. Four of the six stages of the model contributed unique variance to the prediction of depressed affect in European Americans but only two in the case of African Americans and African Caribbeans. The most robust and consistent predictor of depression was the sixth-stage variables of stress and emotion regulation.
The Role of Vision and Hearing in Physical, Social, and Emotional Functioning Among Older Adults
Authors: Jang Yuri , Mortimer James A. , Haley William E. , Small Brent J. , Chisolm Theresa E. Hnath , Graves Amy Borenstein
Published: April 2003

The present study examined the comparative roles of vision and hearing in differentaspects of older individuals' lives. The significance of vision and hearing on physical, social, and emotional functioning (disability, social activity, and depressive symptoms) was assessed along with the role of personality traits and social resources, using a stratified sample of 425 community-dwelling older individuals ( M age = 72.2). Vision was a significant factor for disability, while hearing was significantly associated with social activity, implying the unique contribution of vision and hearing. The association between sensory performance and depressive symptoms became nonsignificant in multivariate analysis. After adjusting for vision and hearing, psychosocial factors increased the amount of explained variance in physical, social, and emotional outcomes. The findings demonstrate the important roles of personality and social resources along with vision and hearing and suggest a need to consider them when planning interventions.
The City of Laguna Woods: A Case of Senior Power in Local Politics
Authors: Andel Ross , Liebig Phoebe S.
Published: April 2003

This study examined an example of the potential for senior power in local politics. On March 2, 1999, a gated retirement community in Orange County, California, known as Leisure World, incorporated with three adjacent senior-living facilities and several businesses to form the first city in the nation—Laguna Woods—almost exclusively populated by seniors. An immediate threat to the community’s lifestyle—the building of a nearby airport—set off city incorporation and allowed the residents to fight the airport more effectively. City-generated revenues are mostly dedicated to satisfy the needs of senior residents and finance age-relevant services such as building golf cart trails for nondrivers. This case suggests that, when crises arise, “able seniors” may become influential political activists. Although the senior power model may not be robust on the federal or state levels, it may become more so on the local level.
Activity and Health-Related Quality of Life in Continuing Care Retirement Communities
Authors: Jenkins Kristi Rahrig , Pienta Amy Mehraban , Horgas Ann L.
Published: April 2003

This study examines the relationships between health-related quality of life and activity engagement among residents in two continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). Prior research indicates that involvement in activity is an important correlate of healthy aging among other community-dwelling elders, and this finding is expected to hold in CCRCs. Time spent engaged in discretionary activities, specifically active, passive, and outside retirement community activities are expected to be associated with better health-related quality of life across multiple dimensions. Data were collected from 167 independent living and assisted living residents in two CCRCs in a large Midwestern metropolitan area. Activity engagement was measured via a self-report questionnaire. Health-related quality of life was measured using the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), which generates eight health subscales (e.g., physical functioning, social functioning, pain). Based on ordinary least squares regression models, the results indicate that discretionary activities, in particular more active types of activity, are positively associated with higher healthrelated quality of life. These findings have implications for health and activity promotion in CCRCs.
The Baby Boom, Amenity Retirement Migration, and Retirement Communities: Will the Golden Age of Retirement Continue?
Authors: Haas William H. , Serow William J.
Published: April 2003

This article explores social trends that can influence the future development of retirement communities. The leading edge of the baby boom is within a decade of the traditional retirement age. Will this generation experience the same “Golden Age of Retirement” their parents experienced? Will the baby boom make that abrupt withdrawal from the labor force in their early 60s that typified the previous generation of retirees? Changes in Social Security and pension plans along career patterns may produce a phased retirement slightly later in life. Again, changes in pension plans and the age structure of the society may depreciate the post-World War II cohort economic status as they come to retirement. Finally, will the baby boom cohort have similar residential preference as their parents did in retirement? These factors can affect the course of the future development of retirement migration and the traditional retirement community.
Contrary Prescriptions: Recognizing Good Practice Tensions in Management
Authors: Huxham Chris , Beech Nic
Published: April 2003

This paper is concerned with rethinking the notion of ‘good management practice’. It explicates a way of framing management theory in terms of tensions between apparently contradictory pieces of good practice advice. The relevance of this, as a practical conceptualization that could usefully inform managers about the kinds of considerations they might take account of in both their day to day and longer term management thinking, is explored. The emerging theoretical framework is elaborated in terms of some characteristics of, and language about, tensions together with possible levels of use of the concept to inform practice. It is suggested that the use of the approach necessarily implies a view of the user as a reflective practitioner.
Russian and Georgian Entrepreneurs and Non-Entrepreneurs: A Study of Value Differences
Authors: Ardichvili Alexander , Gasparishvili Alexander
Published: April 2003

This study seeks to extend the body of knowledge of international and cross-cultural entrepreneurship and management research by testing hypotheses dealing with the degree of variance in cultural values between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs in two countries of the former Soviet Union: Russia and Georgia. A total of 867 entrepreneurs, managers, and production employees responded to a survey based on Hofstede’s work-related cultural values framework. Significant differences between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs existed on three of five cultural dimensions: Power Distance, Masculinity, and Long-term Orientation. However, the study also demonstrated that, in international entrepreneurship research, making distinctions between entrepreneurs and the rest of the population is not as fruitful as contrasting entrepreneurs with specific occupational and status groups. Thus, in this study entrepreneurs were, in some cases, different from managers but similar to employees, and, in some other cases, similar to managers but different from employees. An important implication is that some values are deeper rooted in a culture’s fabric and are less malleable than others. Thus, for Russia, Power Distance and Masculinity were substantially different from the earlier reported levels, whereas Individualism and Long-term Orientation were close to them. Also, for constructs measured in this study, significant differences were found in entrepreneurial and work-related values between the two countries of the former USSR, despite similarities in economic, political, and ideological legacies.
Path Dependence and Contractual Relations in Emergent Capitalism: Contrasting State Socialist Legacies and Inter-Firm Cooperation in Hungary and Slovenia
Authors: Czaban Laszlo , Hocevar Marko , Jaklic Marko , Whitley Richard
Published: April 2003

Inter-firm relations vary significantly between capitalist economies as a result of institutional differences, especially in terms of trust and mechanisms ensuring adherence to contractual commitments. The transformation of the state socialist economies in Eastern Europe might be expected to destroy the pre-1989 relationships between suppliers and customers and generate new types of connections. This study of 18 Hungarian firms and eight Slovenian firms found significant differences between the ways companies transformed and/or preserved the way they managed their supplier-customer relationships. These differences were mainly due to the differences between the legacies of state socialism, the mode of the macroeconomic transformation and the general business environment in the two countries. This study also shows that unlike the Japanese firms studied by Sako, firms in Eastern Europe show contradictory behaviours if Sako’s indicators of trust are applied.
The Quality of Standard, Routine and Nonroutine Processes
Authors: Lillrank Paul
Published: April 2003

Efforts to increase organizational effectiveness using standardization and quality techniques have been successful in repetitive production and administrative processes but less so when dealing with nonroutine processes typical of professional organizations. Routines are defined very broadly in organization theory as either mind-numbing repetition, repositories of knowledge, or effortful accomplishments. In this article, processes are analysed as systems with distinct input assessment, algorithms and output-generating action phases. These are structured differently depending on how they are set up to deal with variation (deviations from explicit targets) and variety (distinct but functionally equivalent targets). Thus processes can be classified into three types. Standard processes are set up to deal with a single variety using binary logic. Routine processes can distinguish a limited amount of variety using fuzzy logic. Nonroutine processes are open systems in which unrestricted variety is interpreted and assigned meaning. The implications of these process types are discussed in terms of the identification of quality errors and defects, change and learning.
Strategic Innovation in Traditional Big Business: Case Studies of Two Japanese Companies
Authors: Kodama Mitsuru
Published: April 2003

This paper presents two case studies of how large, traditional corporations simultaneously created new service markets and established a dominant position in the competitive fields of the Internet and mobile communications in Japan. The corporations accepted new organizational bodies imbued with an entrepreneurial spirit supported by different types of personnel and then continuously promoted entrepreneurial strategies based on time pacing. At the same time, with the aim of implementing strategic innovation, the companies integrated the above strategies with deliberate strategies based on event-based pacing practiced by the existing organizational bodies. This paper uses case studies to discuss the factors in success and the problems encountered in the course of achieving strategic innovation in the communications field, specifically in the creation of new markets, through the deliberate and strategic maintenance and subsequent integration of paradoxical organizations and strategies under a single corporate umbrella.
A Resource-Based View of Corporate Responsiveness Toward Employees
Authors: de la Cruz Déniz-Déniz María , De Saá-Pérez Petra
Published: April 2003

This paper demonstrates the strategic importance of developing a capability to manage human resources based on a set of social responsibility principles (normative and structural) with the aim of responding to the interests of the employees. Such corporate social responsiveness will encourage employees’ collaboration and could distinguish the company from other organizations. We have tried empirically to test the existence of a significant and positive relationship between organizational results and the institutionalization of a social responsiveness toward employees. To this end, we carried out a study in the Spanish savings bank sector to analyse the strategic value of corporate responsiveness toward employees from the resource-based view. Our results seem to show that those savings banks that have institutionalized high-commitment practices toward employees have greater profitability.
Communities of Practice and Habitus: A Critique
Authors: Mutch Alistair
Published: April 2003

Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus is frequently drawn upon in work on learning and knowledge in organizations. However, this use is much looser than Bourdieu’s emphasis on habitus as generative structure. This tension is explored in an examination of the work of UK public house managers, using the notion of communities of practice. The issues that this raises about habitus are developed through a consideration of the work of Basil Bernstein. His work indicates the value of a concept that emphasizes durable dispositions to act, but such a concept needs to be embedded in a relational conception of the agency-structure divide.
Corporate Social and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: Orlitzky Marc , Schmidt Frank L. , Rynes Sara L.
Published: April 2003

Most theorizing on the relationship between corporate social/environmental performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) assumes that the current evidence is too fractured or too variable to draw any generalizable conclusions. With this integrative, quantitative study, we intend to show that the mainstream claim that we have little generalizable knowledge about CSP and CFP is built on shaky grounds. Providing a methodologically more rigorous review than previous efforts, we conduct a meta-analysis of 52 studies (which represent the population of prior quantitative inquiry) yielding a total sample size of 33,878 observations. The meta-analytic findings suggest that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association. For example, CSP appears to be more highly correlated with accounting-based measures of CFP than with market-based indicators, and CSP reputation indices are more highly correlated with CFP than are other indicators of CSP. This meta-analysis establishes a greater degree of certainty with respect to the CSP-CFP relationship than is currently assumed to exist by many business scholars.
The Structure of Knowledge and Seller-Buyer Networks in Markets for Emergent Technologies
Authors: Darr Asaf , Talmud Ilan
Published: April 2003

This empirical study compares the impact of knowledge structures on relational patterns in markets for emergent technology and in a mass market within the electronics industry. We hypothesized that in markets for emergent technologies, sellers and buyers do not have a common image of product use, and to reach it they must communicate contextual knowledge rooted in engineering practice. Furthermore, insofar as knowledge is contextual (as opposed to articulated in a mass market), sellers’ and buyers’ experts must engage in an intense technological dialogue. These hypotheses were tested by a key-parametric qualitative field study and quantitative network analysis. Communication activity was found more intense in the seller-buyer network in the emergent technology market than in the mass market. The seller-buyer network of emergent technology was also more hierarchical, with technical experts located at the center of the technological dialogue regarding product application. Shared practice and co-development proved to be dominant forms of work organization in the market for emergent technologies. By contrast, sequential development epitomized the activities in the seller-buyer network of the standard product. Implications for network theory, economic sociology, and organization studies are discussed.
Trust in Organizational Superiors: Systemic and Collective Considerations
Authors: Shamir Boas , Lapidot Yael
Published: April 2003

The social-psychological literature on trust in organizational superiors implies that it is an interpersonal phenomenon, based on the superior’s behaviours and on subordinates’ perceptions of the superior’s behaviours and qualities. The sociological literature, in contrast, implies that trust in a superior is a property of the system in which the superior-subordinate relationship is embedded. In this article, we suggest that trust is both an interpersonal and a collective phenomenon and focus on the linkages between three levels of trust: the system level, the group level, and the individual level. We use a longitudinal quantitative analysis of cadets’ trust in their team commanders and a qualitative analysis of critical incidents of trust building and erosion to develop and support three propositions. First, trust in a superior reflects subordinates’ trust in the system that the superior represents. Second, subordinates employ criteria derived from systemic properties such as collective identities and values to evaluate the trustworthiness of their superior. Third, team processes play a major role in the social construction of trust in a superior and in translating systemic considerations into criteria for evaluating superiors’ trustworthiness.
Terror, philosophy and the sublime
Authors: Kearney Richard
Published: April 2003

This article begins by posing the question: how can we understand the ‘terror’ of 11 September? First, a brief discussion of the reactions, both psychological and political, provides a background for establishing the particular character of this act of terror as being both inside and outside, simultaneously. The pairing of ‘us’ and ‘them’ in inextricable struggle reminds us of the role monsters have always played in putting a face on the radical alterity of the Other. Second, the experience of terror is examined from three distinct philosophical positions: the fatalism of Baudrillard, the sublime of Kant, and the political of Arendt. Third, a discussion of the media and the role of the viewer of the Event of 11 September ends the discussion. In conclusion, it is suggested that the three ways of responding to the monstrous - practical understanding, working through and pardoning - may provide the best ways to help us empathize with our fellow human beings, which ultimately may move us to a fuller imaginative understanding.
Totalizing identities
Authors: Long Christopher Philip
Published: April 2003

The Holocaust throws the study of the history of philosophy into crisis. Critiques of Western thinking leveled by such thinkers as Adorno, Levinas and, more recently, postmodern theorists have suggested that Western philosophy is inherently totalizing and that it must be read differently or altogether abandoned after Auschwitz. This article intentionally rereads Aristotle and Hegel through the shattered lens of the Holocaust. Its refracted focus is the question of ontological identity. By investigating the manner in which the totalizing dimensions of Aristotle’s thinking are both eclipsed and implicitly endorsed by Hegel’s appropriation of Aristotle’s conception of God, and further by following the surplus of Hegel’s (mis)interpretation back into the heart of Aristotle’s ontology where we find a more open conception of ontological identity, we come to recognize not only the dangers endemic to certain strands of traditional philosophical thinking, but also the resources this tradition itself brings to bear on the attempt to think ontological identity after Auschwitz.