Should the Criteria for Evaluating an Organizational Theoretical Contribution be Universal, Distant from Cultural and Contextual Factors?

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-26
Author(s):  
Aisha Ahmed Hamdy

This paper aims to discuss the criteria used for evaluating theoretical contributions and whether these are universally applicable. Questions are raised regarding the impact of cultural and contextual variables in perceiving the value of a theoretical contribution especially in the field of organizational theory.

2022 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 94-106
Author(s):  
Urszula Kobylińska

Purpose: The article analyses the influence of personal and contextual variables on entrepreneurial intentions of students from Poland. The article presents a structural model that has been developed from a set of student perceptions. Chosen variables included in the model allows explaining and managing the formation of the intention in the context of higher education. This study provides answers to the following questions: What role and which personal variables do play importance in the formation of entrepreneurship intention in the case of young people? Which and how contextual variables are important to enhance personal variables for entrepreneurial intentions? Methodology: The research was carried out by using critical literature analysis as well as statistical research. In carrying out this work, a causal quantitative methodology (structural equation modeling) was applied using the Amos program. Factor analysis has also been used in a descriptive methodological context. The empirical research was conducted in first quarter of 2020. Findings: Research conducted on a sample of over 330 Polish students has shown that not all personal factors are statistically significant in assessing the entrepreneurial intentions of young people. As the results show, subjective norms do not play a significant role in the intention to take up self-employment. External (contextual) factors related to the broadly understood environment supporting the future entrepreneur play an important role, but much less clear than the factors at the individual level and generally indirectly influence entrepreneurial intentions, strengthening the entrepreneur's personal factors. Practical Implications: The results suppose a theoretical and practical contribution to the promotion of entrepreneur intentions of university students inside and outside the educational context. Entrepreneurship promotion programmes run by universities must focus on developing the attitude of the potential entrepreneurs, conveying the message that, despite all the obstacles that exist when launching a business, the entrepreneurship route can be an interesting alternative. Originality/Value: In the study, the personal and contextual factors influencing the entrepreneurial intentions of students were taken into account. The causal model generated on a sample of 332 Polish respondents shows the importance of individual factors on entrepreneurial intentions and the impact of contextual constructs on personal factors. Contextual variables (i.e. education, public policy, supporting entrepreneurial environments) were found to have a positive impact on personal variables as well as entrepreneurial intentions.


2022 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Efat Mohamadi ◽  
Mohammad Mehdi Kiani ◽  
Alireza Olyaeemanesh ◽  
Amirhossein Takian ◽  
Reza Majdzadeh ◽  
...  

Background: Measuring the efficiency and productivity of hospitals is a key tool to cost contamination and management that is very important for any healthcare system for having an efficient system.Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of contextual factors on hospital efficiency in Iranian public hospitals.Methods: This was a quantitative and descriptive-analytical study conducted in two steps. First, we measured the efficiency score of teaching and non-teaching hospitals by using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. Second, the relationship between efficiency score and contextual factors was analyzed. We used median statistics (first and third quarters) to describe the concentration and distribution of each variable in teaching and non-teaching hospitals, then the Wilcoxon test was used to compare them. The Spearman test was used to evaluate the correlation between the efficiency of hospitals and contextual variables (province area, province population, population density, and the number of beds per hospital).Results: On average, the efficiency score in non-teaching hospitals in 31 provinces was 0.67 and for teaching hospitals was 0.54. Results showed that there is no significant relationship between the efficiency score and the number of hospitals in the provinces (p = 0.1 and 0.15, respectively). The relationship between the number of hospitals and the population of the province was significant and positive. Also, there was a positive relationship between the number of beds and the area of the province in both types of teaching and non-teaching hospitals.Conclusion: Multilateral factors influence the efficiency of hospitals and to address hospital inefficiency multi-intervention packages focusing on the hospital and its context should be developed. It is necessary to pay attention to contextual factors and organizational architecture to improve efficiency.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Saida Parvin

Women’s empowerment has been at the centre of research focus for many decades. Extant literature examined the process, outcome and various challenges. Some claimed substantial success, while others contradicted with evidence of failure. But the success remains a matter of debate due to lack of empirical evidence of actual empowerment of women around the world. The current study aimed to address this gap by taking a case study method. The study critically evaluates 20 cases carefully sampled to include representatives from the entire country of Bangladesh. The study demonstrates popular beliefs about microfinance often misguide even the borrowers and they start living in a fabricated feeling of empowerment, facing real challenges to achieve true empowerment in their lives. The impact of this finding is twofold; firstly there is a theoretical contribution, where the definition of women’s empowerment is proposed to be revisited considering findings from these cases. And lastly, the policy makers at governmental and non-governmental organisations, and multinational donor agencies need to revise their assessment tools for funding.


Author(s):  
Anne Nassauer

This book provides an account of how and why routine interactions break down and how such situational breakdowns lead to protest violence and other types of surprising social outcomes. It takes a close-up look at the dynamic processes of how situations unfold and compares their role to that of motivations, strategies, and other contextual factors. The book discusses factors that can draw us into violent situations and describes how and why we make uncommon individual and collective decisions. Covering different types of surprise outcomes from protest marches and uprisings turning violent to robbers failing to rob a store at gunpoint, it shows how unfolding situations can override our motivations and strategies and how emotions and culture, as well as rational thinking, still play a part in these events. The first chapters study protest violence in Germany and the United States from 1960 until 2010, taking a detailed look at what happens between the start of a protest and the eruption of violence or its peaceful conclusion. They compare the impact of such dynamics to the role of police strategies and culture, protesters’ claims and violent motivations, the black bloc and agents provocateurs. The analysis shows how violence is triggered, what determines its intensity, and which measures can avoid its outbreak. The book explores whether we find similar situational patterns leading to surprising outcomes in other types of small- and large-scale events: uprisings turning violent, such as Ferguson in 2014 and Baltimore in 2015, and failed armed store robberies.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4556
Author(s):  
Anuradha Iddagoda ◽  
Eglantina Hysa ◽  
Helena Bulińska-Stangrecka ◽  
Otilia Manta

Some of the frequently used buzz words in the corporate sector include green leadership, green human resource management, green employee engagement and green work-life balance. The intention of this article is to identify and examine the logical reasons that govern “green work-life balance” or, in simple terms, “greenwashing” work-life balance. The paper also aims at providing a comprehensive conceptualization of work-life balance, while thoroughly examining the components of measuring the construct. Based on a cross-sectional study in the banking industry with a sample of 170 managerial employees, this study analyzes the impact of work-life balance on employee job performance mediated by employee engagement. Results support the assumed relationship between work-life balance and employee job performance embedded in employee engagement. The theoretical contribution of this study concerns the application of role behavior theory to describe the mechanisms shaping the relationship between work-life balance and job performance through employee engagement. The practical implications of the paper include recommendations for improving job performance by enhancing the work-life balance and strengthening employee engagement.


2021 ◽  
pp. 154805182098653
Author(s):  
Jonathan C. Ziegert ◽  
David M. Mayer ◽  
Ronald F. Piccolo ◽  
Katrina A. Graham

This research explores the nature of collective leadership by examining the boundary conditions of how and when it relates to unit functioning. Building from a contingency perspective that considers the impact of contextual factors, we propose that collective charismatic leadership will be associated with lowered unit conflict, and this relationship will be strengthened by the contingency elements of individual charismatic leadership, task complexity, and social inclusion. Furthermore, we propose that the interactions of collective charismatic leadership with these contextual factors will relate to performance and satisfaction through conflict. We examine our hypotheses across two unit-level field studies, and the results illustrated that high levels of these contextual factors enhanced the negative relationship between collective charismatic leadership and conflict, which generally mediated the relationships between these interactive effects and performance and satisfaction. The results also highlight the detrimental aspects of collective leadership and how it can relate to reduced unit functioning when it is not aligned with an appropriate context. Overall, these findings begin to provide a more complete picture of collective leadership from a contingency perspective through a greater understanding of when and how it is related to unit functioning.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0258042X2199101
Author(s):  
Mukti Clarence ◽  
Viju P. D. ◽  
Lalatendu Kesari Jena ◽  
Tony Sam George

In the recent times, researchers have shown an increased interest in positive psychological capital (PsyCap). However, it is acknowledged that due to the limited number of studies conducted on the antecedents of psychological capital, there is a lack of sufficient data for conclusively proving the antecedents of PsyCap. Consequently, this article aims to explore the potential antecedents of PsyCap as a reliable source of data in the context of rural school teachers. The focus is to investigate both the individual differences and the contextual factors as desirable variables that constitute PsyCap among the school teachers of rural Jharkhand, India. Samples of 1,120 respondents from different rural schools were collected and analysed with Structural Equation Modeling (AMOS 20.0). The findings of the study explained that both the individual differences ( proactive personality and emotional intelligence) and the contextual factors ( perceived organizational support, servant leadership and meaningful work) have a positive relationship with PsyCap. The impact of PsyCap on teacher performance can form the basis for further research on the subject. JEL Codes: M12, M53


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Fujiwara ◽  
Masanori Kimura ◽  
Ikuo Daibo

Abstract This study examined ways in which rhythmic features of movement contribute to bonding between individuals. Though previous studies have described synchrony as a form of social glue, this research extends those findings to consider the impact of fast versus slow tempo on movement synchrony. This two-part experiment examined dyadic interactions as they occurred between same-sex strangers (Study 1) and friends (Study 2). Participants were video-recorded as they engaged in 5- or 6-min chats, and synchrony was evaluated using wavelet transform via calculations of cross-wavelet coherence. Study 1 employed regression commonality analysis and hierarchical linear modeling and found that among various frequency bands, rapport between individuals was positively associated with synchrony under 0.025 Hz (i.e., slower than once every 40 s) and 0.5–1.5 Hz (i.e., once every 0.67–2 s). On the contrary, Study 2 determined that synchrony of 0.5–1.5 Hz was not impactful among friend dyads and only predictive of the motivation to cultivate a friendly relationship during interactions with strangers. These results indicate the existence of a distinctive rhythm for bonding individuals, and the role of pre-existing friendship as a moderator of the bonding effect of synchrony. However, the role of relative phase (i.e., timing of movement; same versus opposite timing) remains unclear, as the ratio of in- and anti-phase patterning had no significant influence on perceived rapport and motivation to develop relationships. On the basis of the research results, a theoretical contribution is proposed to the study of interpersonal coordination.


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