Effect of perceived cost on judgments regarding the efficacy of investment

Three experiments examined the effect of costs associated with investments on the judgments of the causal effectiveness of those investments, and on the type of information utilised when making those judgements. Using operant conditioning technology, in an experimental analogue of making economic investments, it was found that greater costs associated with an investment reduced the judgement about the effectiveness of the response (Experiment 1). Greater investment costs tended to bias the subject toward using information integrated over a longer period of time; whereas low costs tended to produce judgements made on the basis of the conditions prevailing immediately prior to the return being acquired (Experiments 1–3). The effect of cost was modulated by the subjects' own financial background. The same absolute cost being treated as “greater” by those from less wealthy backgrounds compared to those from more affluent backgrounds (Experiments 2 and 3). These results suggest that as well as the nature of the schedule relating investment to return, the perceived cost of the investment determines the manner in which it is judged with respect to its efficacy.     

Testing the feasibility of a value‐added model of school quality in a low‐income country

Value‐added models (VAMS) are commonly used in high‐income countries for measuring the quality of teachers and schools, on the grounds that they are a fairer reflection of true quality than simple average test scores, as they account for differences in student intake. Not accounting for student's prior test scores can give a misleading impression of school quality. In this article, we adapt the current VAM of secondary school quality to the Ugandan context, and test its robustness. Using official test score data from Uganda, we test the robustness of the model to a range of different empirical specifications, including sensitivity to the inclusion of controls for student socioeconomic status. We find that the model is robust to a variety of different specifications and control variables. The VAM is low cost and has the potential to provide a clearer signal to parents, teachers, schools, and policy‐makers about how much learning is actually happening in different schools. This approach could be carried out at low cost in a wide range of low‐income countries that have similar testing regimes.     

Editorial

In recent years the imperative to involve service users and carers at every level of care, service and policy development has been extended to include involving users and carers in the training of health and social care professionals. Guidance on how this is to be achieved in practice is, however, limited. This paper describes work undertaken to explore how an Approved Social Work Programme in the north of England could involve service users and carers more fully and develop an integrated approach to service user and carer involvement in this and other social work programmes. Following a review of the literature in this area, the results of a series of meetings with individual and groups of service users and carers are presented, together with a survey of ASW programmes. It then goes on to consider the implications for service user and carer involvement in the new social work degree.     

Embodying the environment in everyday life practices1

This paper suggests ways in which ‘the environment’ needs to be reconfigured so that it better resonates with how people are experiencing politics, nature and everyday life. Through empirical research on environmental concerns and everyday practices, this paper sketches a framework through which the values associated with contemporary environmentalism might be developed in a more reflexive relationship to wider transformations in society. In particular, the research critically evaluates the standard storyline of a ‘global nature’ under threat and in need of collective action by a global imagined community. In contrast to rhetorics of the global environment, this paper explores ways in which the environment is being embodied, valued and experienced in an array of social practices. The paper further outlines the significance of such embodied practices as significant yet undervalued points of connection for wider, global environmental issues.     

A knowledge chain management framework to support integrated decisions in global supply chains

Knowledge management has been identified as a key enabler to achieve organisation’s value chain competitiveness. It, however, has been facing fresh challenges in a global supply chain setting. This paper proposes a global knowledge chain management (GKCM) framework that identifies and prioritises critical knowledge that a global supply chain can focus on to support integrated decisions. The framework explores three types of global context knowledge, namely global market knowledge, global capacity knowledge and global supply network configuration knowledge. Empirical study has been undertaken within the manufacturing industry to evaluate the GKCM framework. Analytic network process has been explored as a key method to assess the importance of the global knowledge constructs from supply chain managers’ perspectives. A key contribution of the paper is that it advances existing knowledge chain management approaches within one organisation and its local supply chain to include the global context knowledge applicable to global manufacturing settings, and highlights how the GKCM framework can support global supply chain integrated decisions.     

Effects of exposure to occupational violence and the mediating impact of fear

This paper examines the consequences of exposure to work-related violence and in particular, focuses upon the role of fear (of violence) as a mediating variable. The sample comprises UK public house licensees-individuals who manage public houses and hold the licence permitting the sale of alcoholic drinks on the premises. Questionnaires were sent to 479 licensees and a response rate of 51% was achieved. Each questionnaire measured exposure to a range of violent assaults, fear of violence, general well-being, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Based upon a final sample of 242 pub licensees, regression analyses showed that as the severity of the violence to which licensees were exposed increased, so fear of becoming a victim and symptoms of impaired well-being increased, while job satisfaction and organizational commitment decreased. Hierarchical analyses showed that fear of violence fully mediated the negative impact of exposure upon each of these other variables. It is argued that the management of fear appraisals should be integrated into organizational responses to work-place violence.     

Evaluating qualitative management research: Towards a contingent criteriology

The term qualitative management research embraces an array of non‐statistical research practices. Here it is argued that this diversity is an outcome of competing philosophical assumptions which produce distinctive research perspectives and legitimate the appropriation of different sets of evaluation criteria. Some confusion can arise when evaluation criteria constituted by particular philosophical conventions are universally applied to this heterogeneous management field. In order to avoid such misappropriation, this paper presents a first step towards a contingent criteriology located in a metatheoretical analysis of three modes of qualitative management research which are compared with the positivist mainstream to elaborate different forms of evaluation. It is argued that once armed with criteria that vary accordingly, evaluation can reflexively focus upon the extent to which any management research consistently embraces the particular methodological principles that are sanctioned by its a priori philosophical commitments.     

Work-related violence—is national reporting good enough?

Throughout Europe there are relatively few statistics, gathered a national level, which deal specifically with the problem of violence at work. In the UK, the revised Reporting of Injuries. Discases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995 now require that certain violent incidents are reported on a national basis. The criteria for reporting, which are entirely dependent on the physical outcome of incidents. are discussed. It is recommended that employing organizations should establish their own internal systems for reporting and recording a wider range of violent, and potentially violent. incidents. These should then be used to inform risk assessment and risk management.