title: Psychometric Validation of the OnFire Measure of Drive, Extraversion, Influence, Norm Following, Optimism and Resilience

authors: Bonnett, Melody Christina

subjects: Psychometric Validation

abstract: On average, 70-80% of advisors leave financial services within their first three years in the industry (Mc Manus & Kelly, 1999; Mellor, 2012; Seligman, 1998). Addressing the financial and humanitarian costs of this high turnover of staff creates a demand for a tool that can assist in the selection of individuals who are more likely to stay and commit to the field of financial services. Consequently a New Zealand consulting firm developed the OnFire measure to help predict the survival and success of advisors within the field of financial services. The measure incorporates six personality dispositions, each derived from academic literature and anecdotal data from within the field. These dispositions were: Drive, Extraversion, Influence, Norm Following, Optimism and Resilience. 

This research assessed the validity and reliability of the OnFire measure in order to determine its psychometric properties. Surveys were distributed to various professional associations operating within New Zealand’s financial and insurance industries. The study obtained a total of 204 participants, 78.5% of whom had been in the financial service industry for ten or more years. The factor structure, convergent validity and nomological network integrity were explored for each of the OnFire variables. Finally, the criterion-related validity was determined for each of the OnFire scales using the industry commitment and industry tenure of financial advisors. 

When determining the factor structure of the OnFire scales, three scales were each found to consist of two factors. Drive was separated into Inner Drive and Workaholism, Extraversion into Group Orientation and Social Skills, and Norm Following into Process Following and Group Following. Seven of the 57 OnFire items were removed due to insignificant factor loadings. The Workaholism factor of the Drive scale and the Process Following factor of the Norm Following scale failed to achieve convergent validity with the previously established International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) scales. Furthermore, the Extraversion scale, Norm Following scale and Workaholism factor obtained alpha reliabilities below Nunnally's (1994) recommended level and did not achieve a meaningful relationship with the criterion-related variable of industry commitment. Interestingly, none of the variables obtained a significant correlation with the other criterion-related variable of industry tenure. This was attributed to the high level of range restriction within the study.

Overall, the current study found partial support for the psychometric validity of the OnFire measure. Specifically, the Influence scale, Optimism scale, Resilience scale and Inner Drive factor demonstrated their psychometric utility, whereas the other OnFire scales may require further research and development in order for their use in the selection and development of advisors to be fully endorsed within the field of financial services.

text: Psychometric Validation of the OnFire Measure of Drive, Extraversion, Influence, Norm Following, Optimism and Resilience On average, 70-80% of advisors leave financial services within their first three years in the industry (Mc Manus & Kelly, 1999; Mellor, 2012; Seligman, 1998). Addressing the financial and humanitarian costs of this high turnover of staff creates a demand for a tool that can assist in the selection of individuals who are more likely to stay and commit to the field of financial services. Consequently a New Zealand consulting firm developed the OnFire measure to help predict the survival and success of advisors within the field of financial services. The measure incorporates six personality dispositions, each derived from academic literature and anecdotal data from within the field. These dispositions were: Drive, Extraversion, Influence, Norm Following, Optimism and Resilience. 

This research assessed the validity and reliability of the OnFire measure in order to determine its psychometric properties. Surveys were distributed to various professional associations operating within New Zealand’s financial and insurance industries. The study obtained a total of 204 participants, 78.5% of whom had been in the financial service industry for ten or more years. The factor structure, convergent validity and nomological network integrity were explored for each of the OnFire variables. Finally, the criterion-related validity was determined for each of the OnFire scales using the industry commitment and industry tenure of financial advisors. 

When determining the factor structure of the OnFire scales, three scales were each found to consist of two factors. Drive was separated into Inner Drive and Workaholism, Extraversion into Group Orientation and Social Skills, and Norm Following into Process Following and Group Following. Seven of the 57 OnFire items were removed due to insignificant factor loadings. The Workaholism factor of the Drive scale and the Process Following factor of the Norm Following scale failed to achieve convergent validity with the previously established International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) scales. Furthermore, the Extraversion scale, Norm Following scale and Workaholism factor obtained alpha reliabilities below Nunnally's (1994) recommended level and did not achieve a meaningful relationship with the criterion-related variable of industry commitment. Interestingly, none of the variables obtained a significant correlation with the other criterion-related variable of industry tenure. This was attributed to the high level of range restriction within the study.

Overall, the current study found partial support for the psychometric validity of the OnFire measure. Specifically, the Influence scale, Optimism scale, Resilience scale and Inner Drive factor demonstrated their psychometric utility, whereas the other OnFire scales may require further research and development in order for their use in the selection and development of advisors to be fully endorsed within the field of financial services.

year: 2012

title: Industrial heat pump integration in non-continuous processes using thermal energy storages as utility - An NLP enhancement of the graphical approach

authors: Stampfli, Jan A.

abstract: The aim of this paper is to enhance the results of the graphical approach for Heat Pump (HP) integration in noncontinuous processes. A nonlinear programming (NLP) formulation is developed which optimizes temperature levels of condensation, evaporation, and storage temperature layers in order to further reduce total annual cost (TAC) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, the NLP formulation requires low computation time given the practical approach. By its application on an AMMIX butter production of a large dairy factory, it is shown, that the temperature differences in the condenser and evaporator are reduced sharply which improves the COP of the HP from 2.2 to 3.4. As a result, the TAC can be reduced by an additional 16,721 NZD/y and the GHG emissions by an additional 29 tCO2/y in comparison to the graphical approach.

text: Industrial heat pump integration in non-continuous processes using thermal energy storages as utility - An NLP enhancement of the graphical approach The aim of this paper is to enhance the results of the graphical approach for Heat Pump (HP) integration in noncontinuous processes. A nonlinear programming (NLP) formulation is developed which optimizes temperature levels of condensation, evaporation, and storage temperature layers in order to further reduce total annual cost (TAC) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, the NLP formulation requires low computation time given the practical approach. By its application on an AMMIX butter production of a large dairy factory, it is shown, that the temperature differences in the condenser and evaporator are reduced sharply which improves the COP of the HP from 2.2 to 3.4. As a result, the TAC can be reduced by an additional 16,721 NZD/y and the GHG emissions by an additional 29 tCO2/y in comparison to the graphical approach.

year: 2018

title: Te Puea Herangi: an ethno-biographical study

authors: King, Michael

abstract: Early explanations of Maori leadership (for example Buck 1950) tended to emphasize the principle of male primogeniture - the expectation that community leadership would in the normal course of affairs pass to the eldest sons of lines of first-born males. Later studies of Western-educated leaders and those with a non-traditional power base (see Butterworth 1969, Cody 1953, Condliffe 1971, and Henderson 1972) continued to emphasize male primacy. Against the tenor of these studies, however, is the fact that in the first half of the twentieth century the Maori King Movement was dominated and welded together by a woman who preached male primogeniture though her life seemed to contradict the principle; Te Puea Herangi was not of a senior descent line and neither compensated for its absence by a substantial degree of European education nor consolidated her position by marriage. Nor was she simply a forceful leader in Maori terms only: Professor J.G.A. Pocock (in The Maori and New Zealand Politics) called her “possibly the most influential woman in our political history”.

This study examines Te Puea's leadership role: how she came to assume it, how she exercised it, and its consequences. Analytical concepts like Max Weber's distinctions between charismatic, traditional and rational-legal authority, have been avoided. The danger of adopting them is that the themes and emphases of research material can be easily and unintentionally warped to fit the model, in the interests of tidiness and intelligibility. Instead, this study proceeds by way of a detailed and chronological examination of the major events of Te Puea's life, and an evaluation of actions and statements as they occur and in the context in which they occur. It is, in other words, a consideration of Te Puea's life in terms of her own concepts, and in relation to the Maori and wider public affairs of her day. Explanations for her behaviour are sought within the boundaries of her own life and culture rather than from the imposition of alien models.

text: Te Puea Herangi: an ethno-biographical study Early explanations of Maori leadership (for example Buck 1950) tended to emphasize the principle of male primogeniture - the expectation that community leadership would in the normal course of affairs pass to the eldest sons of lines of first-born males. Later studies of Western-educated leaders and those with a non-traditional power base (see Butterworth 1969, Cody 1953, Condliffe 1971, and Henderson 1972) continued to emphasize male primacy. Against the tenor of these studies, however, is the fact that in the first half of the twentieth century the Maori King Movement was dominated and welded together by a woman who preached male primogeniture though her life seemed to contradict the principle; Te Puea Herangi was not of a senior descent line and neither compensated for its absence by a substantial degree of European education nor consolidated her position by marriage. Nor was she simply a forceful leader in Maori terms only: Professor J.G.A. Pocock (in The Maori and New Zealand Politics) called her “possibly the most influential woman in our political history”.

This study examines Te Puea's leadership role: how she came to assume it, how she exercised it, and its consequences. Analytical concepts like Max Weber's distinctions between charismatic, traditional and rational-legal authority, have been avoided. The danger of adopting them is that the themes and emphases of research material can be easily and unintentionally warped to fit the model, in the interests of tidiness and intelligibility. Instead, this study proceeds by way of a detailed and chronological examination of the major events of Te Puea's life, and an evaluation of actions and statements as they occur and in the context in which they occur. It is, in other words, a consideration of Te Puea's life in terms of her own concepts, and in relation to the Maori and wider public affairs of her day. Explanations for her behaviour are sought within the boundaries of her own life and culture rather than from the imposition of alien models.

year: 1977