Construct Measurement in Information Systems Research: An Illustration in Strategic Systems

This study seeks to highlight construct measurement issues in information systems (IS) research. It describes the normative process of construct measurement and identifies the difficult problems involved in measurement and some ways in which these difficulties may be overcome. An illustrative construct-operationalization study in the area of strategic systems outlines how the normative guidelines may be applied to IS. Some specific recommendations for IS include developing a preliminary model of the construct even if there is little previous measurement research, devoting greater attention to predictive validity because a lack of theories in IS precludes the examination of nomological validity, verifying the assumptions underlying the computation of an overall index, and examining the measurement properties of the index.     

A Passage to India: Altering Tracks through Paternalistic Welfarism for High Performance in India's Public Sector Rail Undertakings

High-performance work practices (HPWPs) enacted within public sector undertakings (PSUs) in emerging economies are a relatively underexplored topic. By employing the theoretical lens of social exchange and the ability, motivation and opportunity paradigm, this paper highlights the mediating effects of knowledge sharing on the relationship between employee perceptions of HPWPs and employee and business unit performance. We provide evidence drawn from both manager- and employee-level voices by applying a qualitative case study design to two large Indian PSUs and taking a reverse/inverse approach in order to delineate the commonly understood conceptualizations of HPWPs. Our findings confirm the presence of a combination of high-commitment, high-involvement and high-performance work systems that increase the ability, motivation and opportunity of employees to share knowledge, and thus help achieve positive employee and financial outcomes. We found that our set of HPWPs exhibit a strong paternalistic welfarism ethos. We also discuss the implications of our study for research and practice.     

Rationality in Strategic Information Technology Decisions: The Impact of Shared Domain Knowledge and IT Unit Structure*

Rationality is a fundamental concept to several models of IT planning and implementation. Though the importance of following rational processes in making strategic IT decisions is well acknowledged, there is not much understanding on why discrepancies occur in the IT decision‐making process and what factors affect rationality. Drawing upon structural and resource‐based perspectives of strategy, this study examines the influence of shared domain knowledge and IT unit structure on rationality in strategic IT decisions. Data were gathered from 223 senior IT executives using a survey to examine the relationships among the research constructs. The results suggest a positive impact of shared domain knowledge and formalization of IT unit structure on rationality in strategic IT decisions. Further, a highly centralized IT unit structure was found to negatively influence shared domain knowledge. On the other hand, formalization of IT structure positively influenced shared domain knowledge. The implications of the findings for research and practice are presented.     

一篇引人入胜的论文

国际统计学会第45届会议《社会经济统计报告》的特邀论文会议于1985年8月15日下午在阿姆斯特丹举行。荷兰中央统计局国民核算司司长H.K.van图伊宁(H.K.van Tuinen)担任主席。会上宣读了李成瑞同志的论文《关于中国近几年的经济政策对居民收入和消费影响的统计报告》,国际统计学会研究中心(ISI Reasearch Centre)主任V.弗马(V.Verma)博士被邀请对李成瑞同志的论文进行评论,现将其中有关的部分译出,供读者参考。标题是译者根据弗马博士的评语加上的。     

Minimum variance unbiased estmation in some nonregulr families

Explicit expressions for the umvues of the means survival functions quantiles of order p and density are obtaicned for some one and two truncation parameter probability density functions the umvue of the hazard fuction whenever it exsts is also derived variances of some of these estimators are also computed .