The Bell Curve in Psychological Research and Practice: Myth or Reality?

The expression “the bell curve” designs both a kind of statistical distribution and the title of a famous and controversial book by Herrnstein and Murray. The first is so attractive that the second refers to it to give more credibility to its questionable theories on intelligence. The point is that, during the 20th century, the bell curve has assumed a more and more important role in psychological research and practice and have become both a reality and a myth. In the first case (reality) we can assist to appropriate applications of a real useful statistical concept. In the second (myth) we can have two kinds of attitudes: one attitude is typical of those researchers who search for normality in all their data and variables, just as Parsifal used to search for the Holy Graal (we call this “the Parsifal attitude”); the other is typical of those researchers who give normality for granted and act as if it were a Platonic Idea (we call this “the Plato attitude”). The article discusses the role of the normal distribution in psychological research and practice and shows how it can be dangerous to treat the bell curve as a God or an Idol.     

The effect on the Italian private pension market of increased uncertainty concerning public pension provision

This paper examines the effect on the demand for private pensions in Italy of the recent strong increase in uncertainty concernin future public pension provision. Theory suggests that such increase uncertainty will increase the demand for all forms of private sector saving, and, in particular, the demand for private pensions — despite the present generosity of the Italian public pension arrangement. This theoretical proposition is confirmed by an empirical test. The implications are important.     

Integrating parametric and non-parametric multivariate analysis of urban growth and commuting patterns in a European metropolitan area

Quality & Quantity - Mono-centric regions have experienced a progressive transformation towards polycentric structures. Transition to discontinuous and dispersed spatial configurations was...     

What Does Really Matter in the Internationalization of Small and Medium‐Sized Family Businesses?

Internationalization of family businesses is often considered a way to revitalize both the family and the business. However, the debate on its challenges and constraints is still inconclusive. This study explores whether incoming generations' involvement impacts the decision to exploit and explore international opportunities and to what extent altruism and competence‐based trust mediate that relationship. Three propositions are formulated drawing from international entrepreneurship literature and stewardship theory. To validate this framework, a multiple case study on four Italian family firms has been conducted. Implications for theory and practice are finally discussed.     

Face validity in personality tests: psychometric instruments and projective techniques in comparison

Face validity is a controversial kind of test validity. Personality tests are divided into two big categories: projective techniques and psychometric instruments. They differ also for face validity, which influences the perception that people have of tests themselves. The article reports the scientific debate on face validity, and the results of a study carried out on naive subjects in order to let them compare projective techniques and psychometric instruments on the mere basis of their surface. An ad hoc questionnaire was administered. It asked subjects to compare projective techniques and psychometric instruments by using 13 adjectives. The sample, accidental, is composed of 238 participants, 45 males and 193 females. The data were substantially analyzed through techniques of Correspondence Analysis. Personality tests are principally judged through two dimensions: the aesthetic and the efficacy. The first dimension characterizes in particular projective techniques; the second, psychometric instruments. Although participants acknowledge that psychometric instruments are credible and scientific, there is a clear preference for projective techniques, principally by females, people younger than 22 and participants with lower education. Personality tests have an appearance that is judged by those who look at them. The aesthetic seems to prevail on the efficacy perception, but it would be suitable to carry on the same research with a sample stratified in respect of the personal details measured by the questionnaire.     

Increasing the Number of Women on Boards: The Role of Actors and Processes

In this article, we offer an approach of how participative stakeholder innovation can be evaluated in complex multistakeholder settings that address wicked issues. Based on the principle of mutual value creation, we present an evaluation framework that accounts for the social interaction process during which stakeholders integrate their resources and capabilities to develop innovative products and services. To assess this evaluation framework, we collected multiple data from the case study of the Swiss Cardiovascular Network, which represents a multistakeholder setting related to the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Our findings indicate that the evaluation dimensions of the stakeholders’ mindsets, the process and context of the stakeholder interactions, as well as the outcomes are useful concepts to account for a cooperative process of innovation in a multistakeholder setting. We discuss both the theoretical and practical insights of our analysis for participative stakeholder innovation.     

Women Directors on Corporate Boards: From Tokenism to Critical Mass

Academic debate on the strategic importance of women corporate directors is widely recognized and still open. However, most corporate boards have only one woman director or a small minority of women directors. Therefore they can still be considered as tokens. This article addresses the following question: does an increased number of women corporate boards result in a build up of critical mass that substantially contributes to firm innovation? The aim is to test if ‘at least three women’ could constitute the desired critical mass by identifying different minorities of women directors (one woman, two women and at least three women). Tests are conducted on a sample of 317 Norwegian firms. The results suggest that attaining critical mass – going from one or two women (a few tokens) to at least three women (consistent minority) – makes it possible to enhance the level of firm innovation. Moreover, the results show that the relationship between the critical mass of women directors and the level of firm innovation is mediated by board strategic tasks. Implications for both theory and practice, and future research directions are discussed.     

Validation study of a model for the assessment of potential in Italian Young Professionals working in medium-sized to large companies in different business sectors

The paper presents the results of a survey carried out on the potential profiles of 1,068 Italian Young Professionals coming out from Assessment Center and Development Center activities. A review carried out on a database of potential profiles made available by GSO, which has acknowledged the potential assessments conducted by 35 medium to large sized companies of 8 different business sectors (Banking, Publishing, Pharmaceutical, Large-scale distribution, Transports, Fashion and Luxury, Telecommunications, Energy) over ten years, showed that the potential assessment of Young Professionals was carried out by means of observation grids including from 15 to 20 different skills, reaching a total number of 48 skills evaluated in all the companies examined. The aim of this research is to achieve an assessment model that includes the smallest possible number of highly predictive potential skills, avoiding dispersions and redundancies in the assessment and maximizing the opportunities for the companies to make correct managerial choices when using potential data. The research has applied a series of statistical models (correlation, factor analysis and regression) in order to reduce the number of abilities and identify those that predict the overall performance. The results show that the number of “necessary” skills is below 10. Two assessment models have been obtained, one defined as Narrow (eight necessary skills) and another defined as Broad (14 skills, the necessary ones plus others considered as “secondary” but relevant).