Management training in small and medium-sized enterprises: methodological and conceptual issues

The paper examines the impact of management training and development on the organisation and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), via a variety of quantitative and qualitative research techniques and including both crosssectional and longitudinal approaches to analysis. The paper demonstrates the value of management training and development in SMEs and demonstrates a series of one-off and longer lasting effects on their organization and performance. The paper also highlights the conditions under which management development projects are likely to be more successful. Finally, the paper extends the schema developed by Arthur and Hendry (1990) and Hendry et al. (1991), indicating the factors influencing training within businesses, and shows the indirect and complex links between management training and firm performance.     

Exploring necessary conditions in HRM research: Fundamental issues and methodological implications

Although the notion that HRM activities are necessary conditions for achieving certain outcomes is widespread in HRM research, most empirical studies follow an additive sufficiency logic. That is, they analyse whether HRM activities increase an outcome, assuming that they can compensate for one another. However, this does not correspond to the idea of necessity where single HRM activities are required for an outcome to occur and cannot be compensated when absent. We discuss the differences between sufficiency and necessity logics in terms of theory, methodology, and practical relevance. Also, we suggest using a new approach and analysis technique in HRM research: necessary condition analysis. We illustrate the application of the method by analysing data on the relationship between ability‐, motivation‐, and opportunity‐enhancing HRM practices (i.e., high‐performance work practices) and employee performance. This illustrative example highlights that necessary conditions require particular theoretical attention and suitable empirical methods. The paper concludes by showing the value of studying necessary conditions, because such analyses allow straightforward recommendations to be given of high relevance for HRM practice, which differ from and add to recommendations based on additive sufficiency logic and analyses.     

The numbers of Intimate Partner Violence and femicide in Italy: methodological issues in Italian research

Quality & Quantity - The article reviews the research conducted in Italy on the issue of gender-based violence and in particular on femicide, a phenomenon that has become increasingly important...     

Interdisciplinary social science: a methodological analysis

Since the 1930's, interdisciplinarity has been advocated in the social sciences for the purpose of achieving more comprehensive explanations of observable social phenomena. However, the realization of this promising perspective has been rather poor. This article argues that two main causes of the failure to create interdisciplinary social science can be distinguished, i.e., methodological and theoretical problems. Methodological problems stem either from taking a reductionist approach towards interdisciplinarity, or by mistaking measurement issues for theoretical topics. Theoretical problems result from the poor state and rate of theory formation within psychology. The implications of these problems are that the validity and reliability of explanations of macro social phenomena, which are provided by disciplines such as sociology and macro economics, are seriously at stake.     

Analyzing party competition through the comparative manifesto data: some theoretical and methodological considerations

This paper deals with some of the theoretical and methodological concerns arising from an in-depth analysis of one of the most successful research groups in comparative politics: the Comparative Manifesto Project. The first part of the paper discusses its theoretical background: the dimensionality of the political space, the operationalisation of the saliency theory and whether through election manifestos it is possible to determine the actual party positions. The second part attempts to contribute to the methodological debate by focusing on generally neglected weaknesses of the CMP’s method with regard to both the classification scheme and the coding procedure. In particular, it shows that it is probably impossible to correct the major problems here identified without destroying their comparability across time and space, since they are so deeply rooted in the CMP’s approach.     

The use of network analysis to handle semantic differential data

The aim of this paper is to propose a method to transform semantic differential data into a network whose graph representation is interpreted as an empirical network of adjectives. The graph is constituted by the adjectives of the semantic differential task. Two adjectives are linked depending on the scoring assigned by a set of respondents. The proposed approach aims at using concepts and methods of Social Network Analysis to explore the network structure and study roles and positions of dominant adjectives. A simulation design has been realized to assess the stability of results under different conditions, i.e. in order to set the optimal threshold in presence of different data generator processes. A case study carried out on real data shows how the emerging network of adjectives can be effectively used to define the concept arising from a semantic differential task.     

Applied linguistics research in three decades: a methodological synthesis of graduate theses in an EFL context

Quality & Quantity - The recent years have witnessed an increasing awareness in methodological issues in the field of applied linguistics, which brought about what Byrnes (Mod Lang J...     

Ethical issues in counseling: a trend analysis

The purpose of this study was to examine research about Ethical Issues in Counseling published in selected professional sources and databases between the period of 1986–2017. The data on documents relating ethical issues contained in the Web of Science, EBSCO, Scopus, Taylor & Francis collected were analyzed using content analysis. Ethical issues, Ethical dilemmas and counseling psychology related keywords and phrases were employed together in the analysis of the documents. In total 157 documents were categorized among be relevant to Ethical issues and counseling and they were analyzed. The results reveal that 2010 was the year the most articles on counselling ethics were published. From 2014 to date there has also been a steady increase in articles on ethics in counseling. This is largely because of the increase in articles in counselling psychology as both developing and developed countries employ such research more to solve their social problems, indigenizing psychological research. The study also revealed that America produced more than half of the sampled articles (51.6%).     

网络数据库的连接与远程数据的传输

由于在网络环境中传输和处理各种信息,已成为现代计算机信息管理系统的基本要求,因此如何在计算机局域网中便捷地连接网络中的数据库,以及如何构建经济、可靠、快速、安全的远程数据传输系统,是开发研制现代计算机信息管理系统中一个十分重要的问题.本文以笔者开发研制的计算机建筑物资租赁管理系统中数据传输与处理的成功经验为实例,介绍如何便捷地进行网络数据库的连接,以及构建计算机远程站点数据传输系统的主要技术和方法.     

Measurement of technical efficiency in farrow-to-finish swine production using multi-activity network data envelopment analysis: evidence from Taiwan

This study aims to propose a dynamic multi-activity network data development analysis (DMNDEA) model to measure the technical efficiency of farrow-to-finish swine production in Taiwan. Production phases are explicitly divided into two activities; namely, the breed-to-farrow phase and the wean-to-finish phase. By using this model, the problem of shared inputs and dynamic intermediates among activities that characterize pig production are taken into account in an integrated framework, simultaneously with the consideration of non-zero slack, allowing us to examine aspects of production in a more comprehensive and factual manner. For the empirical results based on sample data from 2006 to 2007, it is shown that the overall technical inefficiencies obtained from DMNDEA are not obviously different from those obtained using a traditional one-stage model. However, the DMNDEA results explicitly show us that the sources of inefficiency for each farm are different. Furthermore, second-stage bootstrapping regression results reveal that the determinants of efficiency for each production phase are not the same, indicating the need to identify the influential factors for each production phase separately.     

网络地址翻译技术应用研究

文章阐述了网络地址翻译(NAT)技术的产生背景，主要内容与内部转换机制。详细介绍了网络地址翻译技术的应用领域，以及在此领域中的最新动态。     

网络地址翻译技术应用研究

文章阐述了网络地址翻译(NAT)技术的产生背景,主要内容与内部转换机制。详细介绍了网络地址翻译技术的应用领域,以及在此领域中的最新动态。     

Applied cointegration analysis in the mirror of macroeconomic theory

Cointegration analyses of macroeconomic time series are often not based on fully specified theoretical models. We use a theoretical model to scrutinize common procedures in applied cointegration analysis. Monte Carlo experiments show that (1) some tests of the cointegration vectors do not work well on series generated by an equilibrium business cycle model; (2) cointegration restrictions add little to forecasting; (3) structural VAR models based on weak long-run restrictions seem to work well. The main disadvantages of cointegration analysis without strong links to economic theory are that it makes it hard to estimate and interpret the cointegration vectors.     

Robustness issues in multilevel regression analysis

A multilevel problem concerns a population with a hierarchical structure. A sample from such a population can be described as a multistage sample. First, a sample of higher level units is drawn (e.g. schools or organizations), and next a sample of the sub‐units from the available units (e.g. pupils in schools or employees in organizations). In such samples, the individual observations are in general not completely independent. Multilevel analysis software accounts for this dependence and in recent years these programs have been widely accepted. Two problems that occur in the practice of multilevel modeling will be discussed. The first problem is the choice of the sample sizes at the different levels. What are sufficient sample sizes for accurate estimation? The second problem is the normality assumption of the level‐2 error distribution. When one wants to conduct tests of significance, the errors need to be normally distributed. What happens when this is not the case? In this paper, simulation studies are used to answer both questions. With respect to the first question, the results show that a small sample size at level two (meaning a sample of 50 or less) leads to biased estimates of the second‐level standard errors. The answer to the second question is that only the standard errors for the random effects at the second level are highly inaccurate if the distributional assumptions concerning the level‐2 errors are not fulfilled. Robust standard errors turn out to be more reliable than the asymptotic standard errors based on maximum likelihood.     

当前中国经济热点问题分析

中国的“三农”问题 解决“三农”问题关键就是要增加农民收入。长期以来,党和政府一直都非常重视农民增收,但迄今为止,农民增收问题还是没能真正解决好。 最初解决“三农”问题的思路是实行农业产业化,就是将农业生产的链条拉长,实现生产、加工、销售的一体化。农业产业化确实可     

The Delphi technique as a forecasting tool: issues and analysis

This paper systematically reviews empirical studies looking at the effectiveness of the Delphi technique, and provides a critique of this research. Findings suggest that Delphi groups outperform statistical groups (by 12 studies to two with two ‘ties’) and standard interacting groups (by five studies to one with two ‘ties’), although there is no consistent evidence that the technique outperforms other structured group procedures. However, important differences exist between the typical laboratory version of the technique and the original concept of Delphi, which make generalisations about ‘Delphi’ per se difficult. These differences derive from a lack of control of important group, task, and technique characteristics (such as the relative level of panellist expertise and the nature of feedback used). Indeed, there are theoretical and empirical reasons to believe that a Delphi conducted according to ‘ideal’ specifications might perform better than the standard laboratory interpretations. It is concluded that a different focus of research is required to answer questions on Delphi effectiveness, focusing on an analysis of the process of judgment change within nominal groups.