Supply Chain Knowledge and Performance: A Meta‐Analysis

Many firms make significant investments into developing and managing knowledge within their supply chains. Such investments are often prudent because studies indicate that supply chain knowledge (SCK) has a positive influence on performance. Key questions still surround the SCK–performance relationship, however. First, what is the overall relationship between SCK and performance? Second, under what conditions is the relationship stronger or weaker? To address these questions, we applied meta‐analysis to 35 studies of the SCK–performance relationship that collectively include more than 8,400 firms. Our conservative estimate is that the effect size of the overall relationship is  = .39. We also find that the SCK–performance relationship is stronger when (i) examining operational performance, (ii) gathering data from more than one supply chain node, (iii) gathering data from multiple countries, (iv) examining service industries, and (v) among more recently published studies. We also found that studies that embraced a single theory base (as opposed to using multiple ones) had a stronger SCK–performance relationship. Looking to the future, our meta‐analysis highlights the need for studies to (i) include lags between the measurement of SCK and performance, (ii) gather upstream data when examining innovation, (iii) examine SCK within emerging countries, and (iv) provide much more information relative to the nuances of the SCK examined.     

Derrick Bell,CRT, and educational leadership 1995–present

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has become a centered conceptual framework to understand American education and reform (Ladson-Billings and Tate 1995; Solorzano and Yosso; 2001; Decuir and Dixon 2004). Indeed, educational leadership scholars have not been far behind in recognizing the explicative and powerful role of CRT studies in their work (Lopez 2003; Parker and Villalpando 2007). As we acknowledge the role of CRT, we cannot do so without reflecting on the life and works of the quintessential Critical Legal Studies (CLS) scholar Derrick Bell (1930–2011). In this article, we use Bell’s collective works to analyze current trends and research in educational leadership. We bring his works into conversation not only with conceptions of instructional and distributed leadership, but with the palpability that CRT has on the current state of educational reform. More specifically, we use Bell’s theories of interest convergence and conversations around ‘racial remedies’ to understand two recent trends in educational leadership: discourses of social justice leadership and the move toward data-driven leadership behaviors. We ask questions like: what has been the impact of research discourses social justice on the education of African American and Latino urban youth? And, how has the current social structures benefited from such discourses? We conclude with recommendations for educational leadership researchers and professors, and encourage them to consider race as an integral part of their works.     

Punctuated Entropy as Culture-Induced Change:The Case of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

This article grew out of the obser-vation that as disaster events increase in frequency and severity , recovery from certain kinds , or com-binations of , disasters becomes increasingly diffi-cult, i...     

Examining Foundations of Qualitative Research: A Review of Social Work Dissertations, 2008–2010

This study examined the treatment of epistemology and methodological rigor in qualitative social work dissertations. Template-based review was conducted on a random sample of 75 dissertations completed between 2008 and 2010. For each dissertation, we noted the presence or absence of four markers of epistemology: theory, paradigm, reflexivity, and power. We also examined methods choices and the strategies used for ensuring rigor. Results suggested that most (96%) doctoral students completing qualitative dissertations address theory, but fewer refer to reflexivity (45%), paradigm (13%), or power dynamics (8%). Students typically used multiple strategies for ensuring rigor. Grounded theory and phenomenology were the most popular methods choices, followed by case studies, ethnography, or narrative methods. Implications for doctoral education are offered.     

Giving Voice to Rural and Urban Social Service Providers: Recessionary Effects on the Provision of Services in Hawai'i

Utilizing an Internet-based survey, 98 administrators, managers, and supervisors in social service settings answered quantitative and qualitative questions about recessionary effects on services and strategies employed to cope with budget shortfalls. Respondents reported making reductions in personnel and programs, with private providers suffering more reductions, and rural counties cutting programs and personnel at higher rates than urban counterparts. Respondents also related concerns about program sustainability, caseload sizes, personnel burnout, impacts to quality, and long-term impacts to clients. Providers utilized a variety of strategies in an attempt to preserve services for vulnerable individuals and their families.     

Issues of Psychoanalytic Technique With Adoptees

Treatment issues relevant to the psychoanalytic treatment of the adoptee are presented; clinical formulation is encouraged within broad ego-diagnostic parameters. The adoptee's internal cathexis of the biological mother is identified as a core dynamic and the binary transference involving the adoptee's displaced relation to a dual set of parental representations is described. A metapsychological bias, predicated upon differential perceptions of the status of self and object representations is described and related to the adoptee's treatment. Various transference/countertransference dyads are discussed, as are corresponding technical considerations.     

Exploring the association between alcohol,marijuana, and secondhand effects with rural college students

ABSTRACT

The current study investigated the association between secondhand effects and personal consequences with substance use in a sample of rural college students (N = 412; 55.1% women; 92.2% white/non-Hispanic). The study extends the body of secondhand effects research by (a) investigating the association of marijuana use with the experience of secondhand effects; (b) examining the association of onset risk of substance use (< 18 years old) with the experience of secondhand effects; (c) exploring the multiplicity of experienced effects associated with substance use by employing a four-category typology that exhaustively represents exposure to secondhand effects and personal consequences. Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate the data. The majority of students (90.3%) experienced undesirable effects from substance use, with 15% reporting only secondhand effects, 28.5% only personal consequences, and 46.8% reporting both secondhand effects and personal consequences. Residing on-campus, onset risk, and past 30-day alcohol or marijuana use increased risk for experiencing personal consequences and the combination of secondhand effects and personal consequences. Secondhand effects are likely to compound the harm for substance users because they often experience both secondhand effects and personal consequences.     

Biracial Americans' Experience with Identity,Gender Roles,and Anxiety

The current study aims to shed light on the experiences of a small but growing group, biracial Americans with one African American and one European American birth parent. Prior results suggest that it would be useful to study ethnic identity and its correlates among members of this group. Additionally, although research to date suggests different gender role norms for African Americans and European Americans, and that anxiety level differs across gender role categories, apparently no research so far has looked at these factors among biracial Americans. The measures used in the study were the Revised Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (R-MEIM), the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ), and the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Scale (IDAS). Results from the Well-being scale of the IDAS show low levels for biracial participants with feminine/undifferentiated gender roles and high levels for those with masculine/androgynous roles. Additional findings, implications, and study limitations are further discussed.     

The state of qualitative research in health and social science literature: a focused mapping review and synthesis

Abstract

Pluralism and creativity are inherent and important parts of the qualitative endeavour. The multiplicity of approaches and methods can, however, be confusing. We undertook a focused mapping review and synthesis to obtain a snap-shot profile of the state of qualitative research in health and social science literature. We retrieved 102 qualitative articles published between January and March 2015 from six leading health and social science journals. Articles were scrutinised for alignment between researchers’ reported orientation (methodological or philosophical positioning) and the techniques used (methods). In the sampled articles level of alignment was generally high, with considerable mastery of qualitative approaches evident. However, the complexity of the qualitative landscape highlighted in our review, led us to develop a diagrammatic representation: The Qualitative Research Level of Alignment Wheel?. This educational resource/teaching aid is designed to assist qualitative researchers (particularly those more novice) and research students to locate the orientation and techniques of their studies. As an important contribution to the international field of qualitative inquiry, it will assist in understanding and accounting for points at which techniques are melded and orientations blended. In turn this will lead to the individual and collective qualitative endeavour as being a coherent one.