The rationality and objectivity of reflection in phenomenological research

This article focuses on the reflection of lived experience as a way to understand the meaning and essence of lived experience in phenomenological research. The importance of reflection as a key learning tool in professional research development is emphasized. We argue that good reflection should result in the interviewee, the researcher, and the reader sharing a common experience as to the meaning of a certain lived experience. Therefore, the role of a researcher is likened to a bridge on which the reader travels into the interviewee’s living world. To achieve this, we argue that reflection must be rational and objective. To explain how to achieve the rationality and objectivity of reflection, we have divided the paper into two parts. First, we provide a briefly explain reflection on lived experience. Then we discuss the importance of rationality and objectivity in reflection and how to achieve and present them in research.     

Dynamic capability: Impact of process alignment and organizational learning culture on performance

Although there is much emphasis on the importance of process alignment, organizational learning culture, and dynamic capability, little attention has been paid to their interactions and joint effects on performance. While the concept of dynamic capability has received increasing attention and numerous conceptual frameworks and propositions have been suggested, few empirical studies have been conducted to examine its antecedents and outcomes. Some maintain that dynamic capability is created via organizational learning. Others contend that dynamic capability is resident in organizational processes.This empirical study utilizes a survey data from a Taiwan high-tech industry to test an integrative model of dynamic capability. The results of this study demonstrated that although organizational learning culture significantly affected performance, its influence was mediated by dynamic capability. Furthermore, this study provides supporting evidence for the hypothesis that process alignment influences performance directly and indirectly through dynamic capabilities.     

An experimental test of behavior under team production

This study reports experiments that examine behavior under team production and a piece rate. In the experiments, participants complete a forecasting task and are rewarded based on the accuracy of their forecasts. In the piece‐rate condition, participants are paid based on their own performance, whereas the team‐production condition rewards participants based on the average performance of the team. Overall, there is no statistically significant difference in performance between the conditions. However, this result masks important differences in the behavior of men and women across the conditions. Men in the team‐production condition increase their performance relative to men in the piece‐rate condition. However, this gap in male performances across conditions diminishes over the course of the experiment. In contrast, women in the team‐production condition show significantly lower performance than the women in the piece rate. As a consequence of these differences, men in the team‐production condition show significantly better performance than women in the team‐production condition. We also find evidence that men show stronger performance when they are in teams with a larger variation in skill level. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Advanced practice nurse outcomes 1990-2008: a systematic review

Advanced practice registered nurses have assumed an increasing role as providers in the health care system, particularly for underserved populations. The aim of this systematic review was to answer the following question: Compared to other providers (physicians or teams without APRNs) are APRN patient outcomes of care similar? This systematic review of published literature between 1990 and 2008 on care provided by APRNs indicates patient outcomes of care provided by nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives in collaboration with physicians are similar to and in some ways better than care provided by physicians alone for the populations and in the settings included. Use of clinical nurse specialists in acute care settings can reduce length of stay and cost of care for hospitalized patients. These results extend what is known about APRN outcomes from previous reviews by assessing all types of APRNs over a span of 18 years, using a systematic process with intentionally broad inclusion of outcomes, patient populations, and settings. The results indicate APRNs provide effective and high-quality patient care, have an important role in improving the quality of patient care in the United States, and could help to address concerns about whether care provided by APRNs can safely augment the physician supply to support reform efforts aimed at expanding access to care.     

Factors affecting NIPF landowner participation in management programs: a Massachusetts case study

Conjoint analysis is used to examine landowner attitudes toward specific management program attributes and requirements. Our results suggest that the majority of respondents are very reluctant to convey landowner rights, such as timber rights or public access, without unrealistic levels of compensation ($ 53 to $ 185 per hectare per year). This implies the need to develop alternatives to the conventional economic incentive based approach to forest management. It is envisioned that the conjoint methodology used here could readily be applied to study landowner decision making in other countries.     

Network legitimacy diffusion: a model for corporate entrepreneurship

International corporate entrepreneurship increasingly requires broader internal and external networks and legitimacy seeking in areas where the corporation and the entrepreneur are not well known. In this article, the important factors that influence the degree of legitimacy granted to corporate entrepreneurs are proposed and discussed. Specifically, we identify three primary levels of legitimacy: pragmatic legitimacy, normative legitimacy, and structural legitimacy. A model is proposed that suggests that organizations move through these levels of legitimacy resulting in differing brokering behaviors for network building. In addition, we integrate this effort into a global perspective by focusing on corporate entrepreneurs who seek to engage in international efforts. Implications for future research are provided.     

Ocupational segregation,labour force participation and the relative earnings of men and women

A model of the labour market is developed in which particiaption rates of men and women,wages rates of men and women and occupational segregation are determined simultaneously. The model is estimated using cross-sectional data from Australia. The most important empirical results are that (a) particiaption rates,wage rates and occupational segregation should be viewed as being simultaneously determined,(b) differences in male and female labour-force attactment and human capital attainment are important determinants of the gender composition of occupations and (c)there is little direct evidence in this study to support discrimination-based theories of occupational segregation.     

Making things the same: Gases,emission rights and the politics of carbon markets

This paper analyses the development of carbon markets: markets in permits to emit greenhouse gases or in credits earned by not emitting them. It describes briefly how such markets have come into being, and discusses in more detail two aspects of the efforts to ‘make things the same’ in carbon markets: how different gases are made commensurable, and how accountants have struggled to find a standard treatment of ‘emission rights’. The paper concludes by discussing the attitude that should be taken to carbon markets (for example by environmentalists) and the possibility of developing a ‘politics of market design’ oriented to making such markets more effective tools of abatement.