title: Work attitudes and well-being among virtual workers

authors: Witzel, Marisa

subjects: virtual work

abstract: The present study examined how certain characteristics of flexible work, the home environment, and the individual impact the outcomes of work-family conflict, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and psychological strain.  
	A questionnaire measuring perceptions of control, flexibility, job involvement, family involvement, work to family and family to work conflict, organisational commitment, job satisfaction, family support, physical boundaries, workplace isolation, psychological strain, personality, and demographic information was created and posted online.  An email was circulated to 390 virtual sales employees from one large organisation in the United States inviting them to participate in the study, and 278 people responded.  
Results identified characteristics of the type of work, work enivronment, and the individual that are predictive of individual and organisational outcomes. Findings supported hypotheses that control, flexibility, and family support positively impact the outcomes of conflict, satisfaction, and strain for virtual workers.  Job involvement was found as predicted to positively impact work to family conflict, and family involvement was positively related to family to work conflict.  Contrary to predictions, a negative relationship was found between job involvement and strain, suggesting that those who identify more highly with their job also 
experience less strain. Consistent with earlier studies, workplace isolation was associated with reduced job satisfaction and organisational commitment (Marshall, Michaels, and Mulki, 2007). In line with boundary theory (Voydanoff, 2005), it was hypothesised that the presence of physical boundaries between work and non work domains would significantly impact measures of conflict and strain for virtual workers. However, results indicated no significant effects.
A comparison of perceptions of work-family conflict between individuals with children at home and those without illustrated no significant differences between employees with children at home and those without.  Speculated explanations for inconsistent findings are addressed in the discussion chapter.
	Work to family conflict was predicted to mediate the relationship between flexibility and job satisfaction for virtual workers, and analysis supported the presence of partial mediation.  Family to work conflict was also predicted to mediate the flexibility and job satisfaction relationship, however, results were not significant in this case.  Uses of workspace (i.e. for work, leisure, family activities, etc.) were tested as mediator for the relationship between family to work conflict and job satisfaction, and results did not support a mediation effect.  
	In sum, findings of this study identify sources of both positive and negative outcomes for people working from home.  Although individuals' experiences working virtually differ greatly, this study identifies common  
challenges and issues they face.  By pinpointing the sources of conflict, satisfaction, commitment, and strain in the home office, organisations and individuals can take steps to protect workers against negative outcomes, and maximise positive outcomes.  Implications and limitations of this study are discussed in the final chapter.

text: Work attitudes and well-being among virtual workers The present study examined how certain characteristics of flexible work, the home environment, and the individual impact the outcomes of work-family conflict, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and psychological strain.  
	A questionnaire measuring perceptions of control, flexibility, job involvement, family involvement, work to family and family to work conflict, organisational commitment, job satisfaction, family support, physical boundaries, workplace isolation, psychological strain, personality, and demographic information was created and posted online.  An email was circulated to 390 virtual sales employees from one large organisation in the United States inviting them to participate in the study, and 278 people responded.  
Results identified characteristics of the type of work, work enivronment, and the individual that are predictive of individual and organisational outcomes. Findings supported hypotheses that control, flexibility, and family support positively impact the outcomes of conflict, satisfaction, and strain for virtual workers.  Job involvement was found as predicted to positively impact work to family conflict, and family involvement was positively related to family to work conflict.  Contrary to predictions, a negative relationship was found between job involvement and strain, suggesting that those who identify more highly with their job also 
experience less strain. Consistent with earlier studies, workplace isolation was associated with reduced job satisfaction and organisational commitment (Marshall, Michaels, and Mulki, 2007). In line with boundary theory (Voydanoff, 2005), it was hypothesised that the presence of physical boundaries between work and non work domains would significantly impact measures of conflict and strain for virtual workers. However, results indicated no significant effects.
A comparison of perceptions of work-family conflict between individuals with children at home and those without illustrated no significant differences between employees with children at home and those without.  Speculated explanations for inconsistent findings are addressed in the discussion chapter.
	Work to family conflict was predicted to mediate the relationship between flexibility and job satisfaction for virtual workers, and analysis supported the presence of partial mediation.  Family to work conflict was also predicted to mediate the flexibility and job satisfaction relationship, however, results were not significant in this case.  Uses of workspace (i.e. for work, leisure, family activities, etc.) were tested as mediator for the relationship between family to work conflict and job satisfaction, and results did not support a mediation effect.  
	In sum, findings of this study identify sources of both positive and negative outcomes for people working from home.  Although individuals' experiences working virtually differ greatly, this study identifies common  
challenges and issues they face.  By pinpointing the sources of conflict, satisfaction, commitment, and strain in the home office, organisations and individuals can take steps to protect workers against negative outcomes, and maximise positive outcomes.  Implications and limitations of this study are discussed in the final chapter.

year: 2008

title: Component-by-component construction of good intermediate-rank lattice rules

authors: Kuo, Frances Y.

subjects: mathematics

abstract: It is known that the generating vector of a rank-1 lattice rule can be constructed component-by-component to achieve strong tractability error bounds in both weighted Korobov spaces and weighted Sobolev spaces. Since the weights for these spaces are nonincreasing, the first few variables are in a sense more important than the rest. We thus propose to copy the points of a rank-1 lattice rule a number of times in the first few dimensions to yield an intermediate-rank lattice rule. We show that the generating vector (and in weighted Sobolev spaces, the shift also) of an intermediate-rank lattice rule can also be constructed component-by-component to achieve strong tractability error bounds. In certain circumstances, these bounds are better than the corresponding bounds for rank-1 lattice rules.

text: Component-by-component construction of good intermediate-rank lattice rules It is known that the generating vector of a rank-1 lattice rule can be constructed component-by-component to achieve strong tractability error bounds in both weighted Korobov spaces and weighted Sobolev spaces. Since the weights for these spaces are nonincreasing, the first few variables are in a sense more important than the rest. We thus propose to copy the points of a rank-1 lattice rule a number of times in the first few dimensions to yield an intermediate-rank lattice rule. We show that the generating vector (and in weighted Sobolev spaces, the shift also) of an intermediate-rank lattice rule can also be constructed component-by-component to achieve strong tractability error bounds. In certain circumstances, these bounds are better than the corresponding bounds for rank-1 lattice rules.

year: 2003

title: Investigating the Social Supports of Successful Māori Undergraduate Appellants at the University of Waikato

authors: Diamond, Danielle Jade

subjects: Social Supports

abstract: Educational disparities between Māori and non-Māori tertiary students are evident in regards to participation, retention, and completion rates at secondary and tertiary levels. Instead of focusing on negative statistics, it was of interest to investigate Māori students who had failed sufficient papers to initially be denied re-entry to university study, yet continued to attain their degrees, as a result of a successful appeal. Māori undergraduate students, who had successfully appealed from 2003-2012, were recruited for my research. The availability and utilisation of social supports were investigated, along with the decision to make an appeal, the role of cultural expectations, and barriers experienced by participants. A mixed method approach was utilised in this research through use of an adapted overarching Kaupapa Māori framework, statistical analysis, and 13 interviews. My research found that social supports were beneficial for participants throughout their appeal, as they provided: emotional, instrumental, appraisal, and informational support. Although the social supports utilised by participants were satisfactory, barriers to accessing formal supports were also found, which included: perceived stigma having failed their papers, pride, as well as being whakamā. The appeal process was a beneficial intervention from the University of Waikato, which provided participants another opportunity to overcome the factors that contributed to their initial failure. Post appeal, participants implemented strategies to address and reduce their factors in order to become academically engaged. Participants were deemed to be resilient from their continued pursuit of degree attainment, implementation of their strategies, and their use of perceived social supports.

text: Investigating the Social Supports of Successful Māori Undergraduate Appellants at the University of Waikato Educational disparities between Māori and non-Māori tertiary students are evident in regards to participation, retention, and completion rates at secondary and tertiary levels. Instead of focusing on negative statistics, it was of interest to investigate Māori students who had failed sufficient papers to initially be denied re-entry to university study, yet continued to attain their degrees, as a result of a successful appeal. Māori undergraduate students, who had successfully appealed from 2003-2012, were recruited for my research. The availability and utilisation of social supports were investigated, along with the decision to make an appeal, the role of cultural expectations, and barriers experienced by participants. A mixed method approach was utilised in this research through use of an adapted overarching Kaupapa Māori framework, statistical analysis, and 13 interviews. My research found that social supports were beneficial for participants throughout their appeal, as they provided: emotional, instrumental, appraisal, and informational support. Although the social supports utilised by participants were satisfactory, barriers to accessing formal supports were also found, which included: perceived stigma having failed their papers, pride, as well as being whakamā. The appeal process was a beneficial intervention from the University of Waikato, which provided participants another opportunity to overcome the factors that contributed to their initial failure. Post appeal, participants implemented strategies to address and reduce their factors in order to become academically engaged. Participants were deemed to be resilient from their continued pursuit of degree attainment, implementation of their strategies, and their use of perceived social supports.

year: 2013