Features of the Z-scoring method in graphical two-dimensional web surveys: the case of ZEF

Research in the human and behavioral sciences has long been burdened by a methodological distinction between two categories of research: that which measures and produces facts and that which understands and interprets phenomena. However all interpretation of numbers requires that results be viewed in relative terms and there are no other means for this than comparison. The Z-scoring method, that is to say standardization, in web survey ZEF, emphasizes relative traits of survey answering. Questions in ZEF are illustrated in graphical two-dimensional chart where respondents are able to compare their answers at the moment of answering process. This trait of answering emphasizes the relationship of questions more than an absolute values on the scales of two dimensions. The Z-scoring method that is used in ZEF for handle results is based for same assumption: The respondents are compared questions and are formulated their answers through comparison. The significance of differences between groups cannot be measured directly: in some content areas, even small differences may be important, while in others changes of even several per cent are not significant. Standardization makes visible how different respondents and groups value things, that is, construct an order for them, using the dimensions given.     

Work–Family Practices and Complexity of Their Usage: A Discourse Analysis Towards Socially Responsible Human Resource Management

Journal of Business Ethics - The question of work–family practices commonly arises in both theory and daily practice as a matter of responsibility in today’s organisations. More...     

Solution business models: Transformation along four continua

Using a business model perspective, we identify four continua that are of specific relevance for industrial firms transforming toward solution business models: customer embeddedness, offering integratedness, operational adaptiveness, and organizational networkedness. Using these continua, we explore the opportunities and challenges related to solution business model development in two different business logics that are of particular importance in an industrial context: ‘installed-base’ (IB) and ‘input-to-process’ (I2P). The paper draws on eight independent research projects, spanning an eleven-year period, involving a total of 52 multinational enterprises. The findings show that the nature and importance of the continua differ between the I2P and IB business logics. IB firms can almost naturally transition toward solutions, usually through increasing customer embeddedness and offering integratedness, and then by addressing issues around the other continua. For I2P firms, the changes needed are less transitional. Rather, they have to completely change their mental models and address the development needs on all continua simultaneously.