Alternative quality standards in qualitative research?

Qualitative researchers often use other principles for judging the quality of their study than quantitative researchers. This inhibits a straightforward assessment of the quality and comparability of different types of studies, as well as decision-making about their usefulness for further research and practice. In this article, we question the use of alternative criteria, and argue for one coherent and inclusive framework of quality criteria for both qualitative and quantitative studies. We developed such a framework, based on a comparison and operationalization of different criteria, and the elaboration of procedures to realize them. Its usability is demonstrated by the application in a qualitative case study research and a mixed-methods study. This framework enhances advancing and judging the basic quality of any type of scientific research, promoting the assessment of the quality and hence usability of studies for further research or decision-making about practice.     

ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS: AN INTEGRATION OF THE MACRO AND MICRO APPROACHES

This article [1] suggests that the macro and micro approaches to organizational analysis represent different perspectives of the management of organizations. Differences and crossover points in the two approaches are discussed in terms of research focus, unit of analysis, and application. An integrative approach is presented in a framework which brings together key aspects of the macro and micro schools of thought. Data from a preliminary test are presented, and it is suggested that our understanding of organizations and their management may be enhanced when a holistic perspective is utilized.     

The employer's perspective on collective bargaining centralization: an analytical framework

Despite the continuing debates about the performance implications of different degrees of collective bargaining centralization, our understanding of the determinants of bargaining structures is still limited. While recent research has largely focused on macro-level factors, the role of micro-level determinants has still not been systematically scrutinized. This article develops a multi-disciplinary framework for analysing the employer's perspective on collective bargaining centralization and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different forms and levels of collective bargaining from the perspective of management, the main focus being on the comparison between single-employer and multi-employer collective bargaining. This framework can be used for qualitative and quantitative empirical research as well as for discussions of the costs and benefits of different levels of collective bargaining.     

The Dynamics of Influence in Corporate Co‐Evolution

This paper aims to offer new theoretical and empirical insights into co‐evolutionary development. Theoretically, it advances a political perspective which focuses on the role of power and how this can be translated into influence as an evolutionary driver through the relational framework between an organization and external parties. Empirically, the paper elaborates this perspective by reference to how China's largest container terminal evolved within a changing environment, and how its evolution in turn impacted on the evolution of its sector. In this case, the key relational framework was that between the organization and government institutions. Application of a political perspective to the case study suggests a theoretical model that can inform future research and practice.     

Measuring the innovation production process: A cross-region empirical study of China’s high-tech innovations

Analyzing and measuring the innovation process from a quantitative perspective is needed for policy making, which can help in grasping and controlling the performance of innovations. There has been little literature to deal with it from a systemic perspective. In this study, a novel measurement framework for the typical innovation production process (IPP) is constructed from the system perspective associated with a relational network data envelopment analysis. It provides systematic and simultaneous efficiency measures for the overall process and internal sub-processes, i.e., upstream R&D process and downstream commercialization process. For confirming our measurement framework, we apply it to a cross-region empirical study of China’s high-tech innovations. The empirical innovation measurement provides in-depth evidences of China’s high-tech innovations inefficiency, and some policy recommendations are developed.     

Validating an agent-based model of the Zipf׳s Law: A discrete Markov-chain approach

This study discusses the validation of an agent-based model of emergent city systems with heterogeneous agents. To this end, it proposes a simplified version of the original agent-based model and subjects it to mathematical analysis. The proposed model is transformed into an analytically tractable discrete Markov model, and its city size distribution is examined. Its discrete nature allows the Markov model to be used to validate the algorithms of computational agent-based models. We show that the Markov chains lead to a power-law distribution when the ranges of migration options are randomly distributed across the agent population. We also identify sufficient conditions under which the Markov chains produce the Zipf׳s Law, which has never been done within a discrete framework. The conditions under which our simplified model yields the Zipf׳s Law are in agreement with, and thus validate, the configurations of the original heterogeneous agent-based model.     

建设单位如何在设计阶段利用价值工程进行优化设计

自1978年开始引入价值工程以来,价值工程的应用已经覆盖到各行各业,应用领域也在不断地扩大。国外价值工程应用最为广泛的就是建筑业,在我国却尚未得到足够的重视。本文从建设单位角度应用价值工程理论对设计阶段的方案入手,在面对复杂的内外部环境的情势下,选择最优的设计施工方案。     

Empirical evaluation of educational interactive systems

Educational software systems are usually highly interactive systems that needs to be evaluated from two different perspectives, first as interactive software, mainly using usability and accessibility approaches, and second as an educational product that needs to be evaluated from its learning impact. The empirical evaluation methods may be quantitative, with a more deductive reasoning, or qualitative, with a more inductive reasoning, oriented, however mixed approaches have been used extensively because they combine the both main methods with a more pragmatic knowledge focusing on knowing the consequences or solving problems. The empirical evaluation of interactive educational software due to its own characteristics requires a mixed approach typically. This special issue is devoted to identify, share and valorise best practices and experiences, with a very solid modelling background, that are focused on the empirical evaluation of educational interactive systems with a special emphasis on mixed quantitative and qualitative approaches.     

Business Groups: An Integrated Model to Focus Future Research

abstract    Business groups are the primary form of managing large business organizations outside North America. This paper provides a systematic and integrative framework for understanding business groups. We argue that existing theoretical perspectives of business groups pay attention to four critical external contexts, each of which draws from a specific theoretical perspective: market conditions (transaction cost theory), social relationships (relational perspective), political factors (political economy perspective), and external monitoring mechanisms (agency theory). Business groups adapt to these external forces by deploying various internal mechanisms along two key dimensions: one focuses on the distinctive roles of the group affiliates (horizontal connectedness) and the other focuses on coupling and order between the parent firm and its affiliates (vertical linkages). Based on these two dimensions, a typology of business group forms is developed: network (N-form), club (C-form), holding (H-form), and multidivisional (M-form). Utilizing this model we provide research questions which facilitate an improved future research agenda.     

Evolving Purchasing and Supply Organizations: A contingency model for structural alternatives

Purchasing and Supply Management (PSM) is under significant pressure to find levers to further increase its contribution to corporate goals. In order to improve performance in line with expectations, Purchasing and Supply Organizations (PSOs) have to evolve continuously. To help address this challenge, a comprehensive contingency framework of PSO structures is presented. The framework is based on existing literature on PSO contingency factors as well as analysis of two case companies. The findings highlight the importance of taking a contingency perspective for understanding the PSO and combining a detailed view of macro-level structural dimensions with micro-level characteristics. These macro-level dimensions comprise category, business unit, geography and activity. The micro-level characteristics comprise centralization, formalization, specialization, participation and standardization. From a theoretical perspective, the contingency framework opens up insights that can be leveraged in future studies in the fields of hybrid PSOs, global sourcing organizations, and International Purchasing Offices (IPOs). From a practical standpoint, an assessment of external and internal contingencies and their relation to specific structural dimensions and characteristics provides the opportunity for more consciously evolving the PSO to continue to improve PSM's contribution.     

The external networking behaviour of public managers - the missing link of weak ties

There has been an increasing focus on managerial external networking behaviour within public administration. While most previous quantitative research has analysed such behaviour one dimensionally, we suggest a two-dimensional conceptualization based on the concepts of weak and strong ties. Utilizing measures resembling previous research, we explore the utility of the approach in an exploratory study of Danish local government. Our findings suggest that the two dimensions of external networking behaviour are distinct. We discuss our approach compared to previous approaches and argue that a conceptualization based on the distinction between strong and weak ties provides a promising framework for future research.     

Dynamic institutional analysis: measuring corporatist intermediation

In this paper a framework for empirical analysis is introduced that allows for a dynamic analysis of the interactions between different types of actors and institutions. We elaborate our argument by focusing on a complex phenomenon—corporatism—to show how this concept can be developed into a measure that travels across nations and time. The heuristic framework we developed adequately captures the interactive behaviour of the relevant actors within a corporatist institutional context. We demonstrate the usefulness of this framework for the analysis of policy formation by applying it to Dutch incomes policy. We contend that this heuristic framework contributes to alleviating the often discussed methodological trade-off between single case studies and cross-national comparisons. We also argue that it can bridge the gap between qualitative and quantitative approaches. Lastly, we propose that it can be used for empirical analysis of policy-making processes in other policy areas.     

Role overload,knowledge acquisition and job satisfaction: An ambidexterity perspective on boundary-spanning activities of IT employees

Abstract

Building upon the ambidexterity perspective, this study conceptualizes boundary-spanning activities as both transactional and learning to illuminate their different effects on IT employees’ job satisfaction. Specifically, we offer an overarching theoretical framework rooted in ambidexterity by connecting the role theory and knowledge acquisition perspective to reconcile the inconsistency of extant findings. Role overload has a mediating effect on the relationship between boundary-spanning activities (both transactional and learning) and job satisfaction, whereas knowledge acquisition mediates the relationship between learning boundary-spanning activities and job satisfaction. Furthermore, high achievement motivation and learning goal orientation moderate the positive effect of learning boundary-spanning activities on job satisfaction. The quantitative analysis of IT employees in Chinese state-owned enterprises largely supports our hypotheses. We conclude this paper by discussing theoretical and managerial implications for ambidexterity, boundary spanning, and job satisfaction.     

服务员工品牌内化及影响因素的探索性研究

随着服务经济和体验经济的发展，服务企业面临的市场竞争日趋激烈，服务品牌的建设已经成为品牌管理的一个新兴主题。对于服务企业而言，构建强势品牌不仅仅在于品牌的外部传播，必须从平衡的视角，致力于品牌的内部建设，通过与顾客接触的员工的品牌态度和行为，塑造良好的品牌形象。本研究基于扎根理论对服务员工品牌内化及其影响因素进行了探索性研究，通过文献分析和质性研究相结合的方法，构建了服务员工品牌内化的概念模型。研究认为服务员工品牌内化体现在服务员工品牌态度和品牌行为两个层面，驱动服务员工品牌内化的要素包括品牌形象、品牌定位和工作特征三个方面，研究为服务员工品牌内化的定量研究打下了坚实的基础，对品牌管理具有重要的实践意义。     

Monte-Carlo方法在科研项目定量风险分析中的应用

定量分析风险对项目目标的影响、量化评估达成项目目标的可能性是有效规划风险应对措施并有效控制风险的重要手段。论文从风险控制的视角出发,在对常用的几种定量分析方法比较的基础上,选用Monte-Carlo方法进行项目定量风险分析。依据Monte-Carlo方法进行多次重复抽样试验,获得足够精确的近似结果对项目目标进行有效的预测。同时以实例介绍了此方法在科研项目实际定量风险分析的具体应用。     

Institutional perspectives on cost allocations: integration and extension

The debate on cost allocations in the management accounting literature has been dominated by a largely rationalistic perspective primarily informed by economic theories. However, there is growing evidence of institutional factors influencing cost allocation practices in organizations. This paper draws on neo-institutional sociology (NIS) and attempts to integrate prior research evidence of the institutional influence on cost allocation practices into an analytical framework. The core of our argument hinges on the observation that most cost allocations generate some degree of ambiguity. We argue that the implementation of various cost allocation techniques (in terms of their coupling to operating control) reflects differences in management of such ambiguity, but that this is conditioned by the patterns in which cost allocation techniques diffuse across organizations. We also address some pertinent criticisms of the NIS literature by discussing how certain intra-organizational factors and aspects of the organization's technical environment might interact with external institutional pressures in the implementation of cost allocation techniques. We advance six research propositions reflecting how such external institutional pressures and interaction effects influence the coupling of cost allocation practices to operating control.     

Green Product Innovation in Manufacturing Firms: A Sustainability‐Oriented Dynamic Capability Perspective

Despite environmental sustainability being identified as one of the key drivers of innovation, extant literature lacks a theoretically sound and empirically testable framework that can provide specific insights into green product innovation from a capability perspective. This study develops a theoretical framework from a sustainability‐oriented dynamic capability (SODC) perspective. We conceive SODCs as consisting of three underlying processes (external resource integration, internal resource integration, and resource building and reconfiguration) that influence the change/renewal of sustainability‐oriented ordinary capabilities (SOOCs) (green innovation capability and eco‐design capability). This study answers two key questions: which SODCs are needed to develop green innovation and eco‐design capabilities? Which of these capabilities lead to better market performance of green products? We test a structural model linking SODCs to market performance in 189 Italian manufacturing firms. First, we find that the nature of the SODC–performance link (direct or indirect) depends on the SODC type. Specifically, resource building and reconfiguration is the only SODC with a direct effect on market performance. Second, all three types of SODC affect the eco‐design capability, which mediates the link between SODCs and market performance. Third, we find that external resource integration is the only SODC affecting the green innovation capability, which mediates the link between external resource integration and market performance. Resource building and reconfiguration is the SODC with the overall (direct and indirect) highest impact on market performance. This study, among the first to consider capabilities for green product innovation under a dynamic capability perspective, provides implications for scholars, managers and policy makers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Micro-foundations of environmental entrepreneurship resistance in SMEs

This article characterizes theoretical problems regarding the essence of environmental entrepreneurship resistance. The objective of the current research was to search for micro-foundations of environmental entrepreneurship resistance occurring in SME. We relate the concept of resistance in entrepreneurship with the idea of micro-foundations, thus creating new opportunities for analysis in two areas: conceptual view that interprets the phenomenon of resistance in relation to the organization's activities in the field of entrepreneurship, and cognitive supplementary knowledge of micro-foundations, which affect the entrepreneurial behavior of employees. Environmental entrepreneurship resistance in SMEs has been defined in our interpretation as targeted individual or collective daily activities, implemented from the perspective of various intentions, motivations and other internal and external premises, which are in opposition to commonly used pro-environmental activities constituting the CER component of small and medium business. In addition, we identified a group of 20 micro-foundations, which from the level of an individual or organization may constitute the initiation of entrepreneurial activities, focused on environmental protection in SME. The indicated group was examined on a sample of 122 employees of the SME sector in Poland. After performing qualitative and quantitative analyses, it turned out that eight elements could be considered as micro-foundations of environmental entrepreneurship resistance.

     

生产服务业比率时序稳定性研究:1996~2009年

本文在奈特经济框架下通过对生产服务业的均衡分析,在逻辑上推导出生产服务业比率时序稳定的结论,并利用世界投入产出数据库(WIOD)中40个经济体1996~2009年的560份投入产出表追踪数据,采用方差分析和一阶差分均值对0的t检验方法对生产服务业比率的时序稳定规律进行了经验研究,发现：服务业中间需求率、服务业增加值率、生产服务业对服务业增加值比率均在时序上稳定,从而为生产服务业聚类分析法与投入产出分析法的沟通提供一个方法论平台。