An Application of Expectancy Theory to Explain a Manager's Intention to Use a Decision Support System

A continuing gap exists between the capabilities of sophisticated computer-based information systems and the extent to which these systems are used by individuals. Studies which have examined the relationship between system utilization and various user, system, implementation, and organizational variables have provided few consistent findings. A new approach to this topic is suggested by a recent study by Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw [11], which indicates that individuals' intentions to use a system determine subsequent use. A large body of psychology-based research also supports this relationship between behavioral intentions and subsequent behavior. This study employs expectancy theory, which has often been used to examine behavioral intentions, to explain managers' intentions to use a decision support system (DSS). The results imply that the variables of the expectancy force model are determinants of a manager's behavioral intentions to use a DSS, and the variables of the expectancy valence model are determinants of the attractiveness of using a DSS to a manager.     

组织支持感对员工工作行为的影响:心理资本中介作用的实证研究

组织支持感在人力资源管理中的价值已经受到管理者的重视,但是它与员工工作行为的关系还有待进一步研究。通过在全国不同地区调查的721份样本,本文实证研究了心理资本在组织支持感影响员工工作行为中的作用。研究结论是:组织支持感和心理资本能对员工工作行为产生直接或间接影响;心理资本在组织支持感对员工角色内行为和缺勤行为的影响中起到部分中介作用,在组织支持感对员工组织公民行为的影响中起到完全中介作用。     

The Impact of Poor Performance on Risk-Taking Attitudes: A Longitudinal Study with a PLS Causal Modeling Approach

This article addresses some important issues in risk-return, or mean-variance, research. Much of the research in this tradition has used Kahneman and Tversky's prospect theory to explain Bowman's proposition that “troubled firms” prefer and seek risk. Unfortunately, two key constructs in prospect theory, reference point and risk attitude, have not been applied in risk-return research in ways consistent with prospect theory. The author examines a series of inconsistencies in the use of prospect theory in risk-return research to date and suggests remedies. A proposed approach using a longitudinal research design at the individual-firm level is applied in an empirical test of the Bowman hypothesis with data from brewing firms in the United States. The findings strongly support the Bowman hypothesis.     

An Investigation of Equity as a Determinant of User Information Satisfaction

This paper reviews equity theory and proposes that perceived inequity in the allocation of management information systems (MIS) resources is likely to influence overall user information satisfaction (UIS). Therefore, in addition to currently identified factors such as quality of information products (QIP), user's knowledge and involvement level (KIL), and EDP staff and services (ESS), equity is also likely to be a relevant factor in determining overall UIS. The paper reports on a cross-sectional survey to obtain data for testing the relevance of equity related issues in the MIS context. Responses from 226 users showed a strong correlation (.67, p > .001) between equity and overall UIS. Further, the addition of equity to the previously identified factors that influence overall UIS (i.e., QIP, KIL, and ESS) significantly increased the explained variance (from .48 to .56). The results support the relevance of equity related issues in determining user attitudes. It is recommended that MIS researchers and professionals take into account the likely influence of equity perceptions on user attitudes and behavior, and strive to develop and implement equitable resource allocation mechanisms. Implications of the findings for future research in the areas of MIS, UIS construct, systems implementation, and management of MIS are also discussed.     

Committee Decision Making in Organizations: An Experimental Test of the Core

One concept that has been widely supported in experiments on predicting the outcome of majority-rule voting committees is the Core, the set of alternatives that cannot be defeated by any other in a binary contest. Unfortunately, the applicability of these experiments to organizations is limited by a set of rigid controls intended to ensure that the experiments are internally valid. This paper tests the Core in a laboratory environment that relaxes these controls. The Core is found to be highly predictive under these relaxed conditions, thereby enhancing confidence in its external validity.     

企业雇员组织承诺三因素模型实证研究

文章以来自西安15家企业中的742名雇员为样本,采用协方差结构等式模型对组织承诺三因素模型在中国企业雇员中的适用性进行了初步考察。研究主要发现:测量感情承诺和规范承诺的量表具有可接受的信度,但是测量连续承诺的量表信度较低。三个量表表现出可接受的会聚和区分效度,但是效标效度还需要进一步的研究。     

An Objective Review of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management

Abstract

This article presents an objective review and analysis of every article published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (JOBM) between 1987 and 1997. The purpose of this review was to replicate and extend the research conducted by Balcazar, Shup-ert, Daniels, Mawhinney, and Hopkins (1989) by providing an objective review and analysis of the second decade of JOBM publications. In doing so, we analyzed several noteworthy trends and patterns occurring within the second decade of the Journal and compared them with the first decade, where applicable. Additionally, we discussed the extent to which the Journal has continued to meet its objectives, and we offered recommendations for future JOBM publications. In general, we found evidence that the Journal has continued to grow in meaningful ways, and we report data that indicate it continues, to some extent, to meet its original objectives. Author affiliation remains largely in academe, although there is evidence that more collaboration is occurring with non-academic authors. The variety of topics addressed by JOBM researchers continues to grow, and the frequency of work simulation studies has increased as well. We also identified areas where future JOBM research could be improved. In particular, more studies should include information on the reliability and social validity of the independent and dependent variables, cost/benefit analyses, and follow-up data.     

Managing Employee Compliance with Information Security Policies: The Critical Role of Top Management and Organizational Culture*

We develop an individual behavioral model that integrates the role of top management and organizational culture into the theory of planned behavior in an attempt to better understand how top management can influence security compliance behavior of employees. Using survey data and structural equation modeling, we test hypotheses on the relationships among top management participation, organizational culture, and key determinants of employee compliance with information security policies. We find that top management participation in information security initiatives has significant direct and indirect influences on employees’ attitudes towards, subjective norm of, and perceived behavioral control over compliance with information security policies. We also find that the top management participation strongly influences organizational culture which in turn impacts employees’ attitudes towards and perceived behavioral control over compliance with information security policies. Furthermore, we find that the effects of top management participation and organizational culture on employee behavioral intentions are fully mediated by employee cognitive beliefs about compliance with information security policies. Our findings extend information security research literature by showing how top management can play a proactive role in shaping employee compliance behavior in addition to the deterrence oriented remedies advocated in the extant literature. Our findings also refine the theories about the role of organizational culture in shaping employee compliance behavior. Significant theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

组织公民行为真的对组织有利吗——中国情境下的强制性公民行为研究

强制性公民行为的存在及其危害已引起西方学界的高度重视,但在国内的学术期刊上还未出现相关的研究.为了探讨中国组织情境下的强制性公民行为,本文通过问卷调查和分析本土企业管理者及其直接下属的配对样本,试图揭示强制性公民行为在中国组织中的存在性、危害性及其危害路径.结果表明:(1)西方学界开发的强制性公民行为测量工具不仅适合于中国组织情境,而且表现得更为明显;(2)中国情境下,强制性公民行为与员工周边绩效和组织承诺显著负相关,但对任务绩效和角色内行为无显著影响;(3)心理契约违背在强制性公民行为与员工周边绩效的关系间发挥部分中介作用的作用;(4)中国人传统性显著调节强制性公民行为与员工周边绩效之间的关系.这些研究成果不仅为强制性公民行为理论提供了强有力的支持,还为后续研究提供了良好的研究视角和基础,时企业管理实践也具有重要的参考价值.     

The Design of a Knowledge-Based Decision Support System to Support the Information Analyst in Determining Requirements

Decision support system (DSS) researchers and designers continue to look for unstructured organizational tasks where there is a critical need for intelligent computer-based support. One such decision task is information requirements determination. Requirements determination is recognized as the most crucial phase of the systems development life cycle. Unfortunately, most methodologies and CASE tools focus only on how to specify the requirements once they are determined. There is very little computer support for the process of determining requirements. This paper discusses the conceptual design and development of a knowledge-based DSS to support information analysts in the critical decision task of determining requirements for the design of effective information systems. The expert modeling support system has the expertise to assist the analyst in studying the organization as a whole and in modeling the system under study in the context of the overall organization's goals and needs. The focus of the paper is on the problems associated with building the knowledge base component of the intelligent decision support system. A prototype implementation of the system is described.     

Behavior Management of Client Contacts in a Real Estate Brokerage

A Project intended to increase client-contacting behavior on the part of 16 real-estate sales persons was described. Both contacts with prospective (initials) and with established clients (followups) were targeted for change. During a 20-week baseline, agent self-reports were used as a basis for posting weekly charts of contact behavior together with measured sales and listing performances. A conjunctive token-reinforcement procedure involving both contact behaviors was introduced during a 15 week intervention phase. For all agents as a group, a sustained increase in both behaviors was noted during this phase. Additional analyses revealed, however, that for low baseline performers, the intervention effect was only short-lived. During a subsequent three-week prewithdrawal stage, the increased behavion from the previous phase reverted nearly to baseline levels, despite the continued intervention, in response to instructions that program withdrawal was imminent. Contact behaviors further declined to below baseline levels during the following 4-week withdrawal stage when both posting and token procedures were actually discontinued. A tenninal 6 week reversal phase was marked by a nearly full recovery for all agents of asymptotic intervention levels of contact behavior under a reversed conjunctive token reinforcement schedule. Evidence indicating a correlation between changes in contact behaviors and changes in sales was presented. Also, other company benefits presumably derived from the program were described. Finally, the outcomes of this study were discussed in terms of several important validity concerns.     

An Examination of Two Screen/Report Design Variables in an Information Recall Context*

Screen/report design for output organization is still very much a common sense-driven activity. This paper identifies a preliminary set of factors beyond display format for examination as screen/report design variables. A laboratory experiment was conducted to assess the influence of one of these factors, spatial layout of information, along with display format in an information recall context. Individual imagery orientation (verbalizer/visualizer) was used as a moderating variable in the experimental design. The findings indicate that spatial layout of information significantly influenced performance when the recall task involved pattern detection. In fact, a central location of data in a document was the most conducive to pattern recall performance. Further, terminal items facilitated pattern recall better than early input items. With respect to display format, the results support previous findings that a tabular display enhances performance for point-value recall tasks while graphs exhibit an edge over tables for pattern types of recall tasks. Overall, the verbalizers demonstrated a complete supremacy in performance. Interaction between individual imagery orientation and display format indicates that, while the verbalizers and the mixed type were immune to display format variations, the graphical stimulus enhanced the pattern recall performance of the visualizers.     

Examining the Influence of the Social Cognitive Factors and Relative Autonomous Motivations on Employees’ Knowledge Sharing Behaviors

By incorporating the perspectives of social cognitive theory and relative autonomous motivations, this study examines a model that depicts the influence of personal and environmental factors on employees’ knowledge sharing behaviors (KSBs). Data that were collected from 294 professionals in the industry were analyzed using component‐based structural equation modeling to examine the proposed model. The research results indicate that trust, relationship orientation, knowledge sharing self‐efficacy, and relative autonomous motivation regarding KSBs are the key influencing factors of KSBs of professionals. A key implication is that managers must consider the impact of the level of employee‐perceived autonomous motivation when they seek to facilitate KSBs. Finally, the theoretical and practical contributions are discussed, followed by the suggestions for future research directions.     

Measurement Equivalence Using Generalizability Theory: An Examination of Manufacturing Flexibility Dimensions

As the field of decision sciences in general and operations management in particular has matured from theory building to theory testing over the past two decades, it has witnessed an explosion in empirical research. Much of this work is anchored in survey‐based methodologies in which data are collected from the field in the form of scale items that are then analyzed to measure latent unobservable constructs. It is important to assess the invariance of scales across groups in order to reach valid, scientifically sound conclusions. Because studies have often been conducted in the field of decision sciences with small sample sizes, it further exacerbates the problem of reaching incorrect conclusions. Generalizability theory can more effectively test for measurement equivalence in the presence of small sample sizes than the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tests that have been conventionally used for assessing measurement equivalency across groups. Consequently, we introduce and explain the generalizability theory (G‐theory) in this article to examine measurement equivalence of 24 manufacturing flexibility dimension scales that have been published in prior literature and also compare and contrast G‐theory with CFA. We show that all the manufacturing flexibility scales tested in this study were invariant across the three industry SIC groups from which data were collected. We strongly recommend that G‐theory should always be used for determining measurement equivalence in empirical survey‐based studies. In addition, because using G‐theory alone does not always reveal the complete picture, CFA techniques for establishing measurement equivalence should also be invoked when sample sizes are large enough to do so. Implications of G‐theory for practice and its future use in operations management and decision sciences research are also presented.     

欧洲跨国公司在华投资企业的环境管理及其影响

本文以问卷调查与调研结果为依据,对欧洲跨国公司在中国的环境管理实践进行了较为深入的研究。作者认为,跨国公司的跨国界环境管理体系具有非强制性与指导性,而且就某个跨国公司而言,各地子公司的环境管理目标还因各子公司所在行业与地区的特点而异。在环境管理战略方面,多数跨国公司倾向于选择分散化或当地化的管理模式来适应不同的环境管理制度与环境标准,而不是国际一体化的环境管理模式。作者还认为,中国的环境管理体制与总部的环境管理政策决定着子公司的环境管理行为与环境表现。     

An integrated response to trauma in three post office businesses

Abstract

This paper looks at the way the UK Post Office has developed a core trauma care programme that is capable of being adapted to meet the needs of three of its businesses. The core programme includes an introductory stage that is involved in the selection and education of the workforce and the promotion of the programme; crisis management; manager debriefing; psychological debriefing; trauma counselling; and a final stage involving the evaluation of the programme and following up traumatized employees. The core programme was tailored to the needs of each of the three Post Office businesses, using information on the business operation, culture and policies of the businesses in the light of the nature and range of the traumatic incidents that affect their workforce.