The success of e-commerce startups: an empirical study in Vietnam

Objective of the study: Although many e-commerce startups have been established in recent years, there is a high rate of business failure in start-up community. In addition, e-commerce in Vietnam is still at a beginning stage with many potentials and risks. The research aims to find impact factors which lead to the success of e-commerce startups in Vietnam.Methodology/approach: The qualitative method was applied to identify appropriate measurement scales. Then, the quantitative questionnaire survey was leveraged to test the research framework based on data from local e-commerce startups.Originality/Relevance: This research focuses on evaluating the impact of founder factors, e-service factors, and external factors on the success of startups in Vietnam.Main results: Research findings show that four factors have significant contribution to e-commerce startups’ success including risk-taking propensity, achievement orientation, reliability of e-service quality, and e-networking. Among the four, risk-taking propensity is the most contributed factor in e-commerce startups’ success.Theoretical/methodological contributions: The study helps to test the measurement scales and contributes an empirical study regarding to the success of startups in a developing country like Vietnam.Social/management contributions: Managerial implications for e-commerce incubators, entrepreneurs, and government are also recommended to improve the success rate of e-commerce startups in Vietnam.

A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis of Entrepreneurial Personality

Entrepreneurial Personality (EP) is a collection of personality traits that broadly and strongly relate to entrepreneurial outcomes across most contexts. The goal of the current article is to address present uncertainties surrounding EP by identifying its dimensions and assessing their relations with entrepreneurial outcomes. Our systematic literature review demonstrates that seven dimensions are commonly used to represent EP: innovativeness, risk-taking, achievement orientation, locus of control, proactiveness, self-efficacy, and autonomy orientation. Via meta-analytic structural equation modeling, we find support for a one-factor model composed of these seven dimensions, suggesting that they indeed represent a unitary construct. Our meta-analysis also supports that EP and its dimensions consistently produce significant relations with entrepreneurial attitudes, intent, status, and performance. EP is thereby supported as an important component of successful entrepreneurial endeavors, and our meta-analytic results provide clear criteria for determining the inclusion of dimensions within the construct of EP – which our seven identified dimensions satisfy.

Validation of the Need for Competing Inventory

Past studies have been conducted on competitiveness and achievement orientation as two noncooperative explanations for achievement motivation and achievement behavior. But a complimentary representation of a competitive-achievement orientation has yet to be explored. This paper developed and validated the need for competing inventory (NCI), and further investigated its relations with achievement orientation, emotional assessment, self-efficacy, grit, anxiety, and flow. The results from the present study support the theoretical construct of the need for competing, in the hope that it will provide a solid foundation for a competitive-achievement orientation, which is suggested to play a significant role in competitive achievement behavior. It is anticipated that the results from the present study will open a debate for including a competitive-achievement orientation in future research with the aim for a stronger predictor for achievement behavior.

Interaction Effect of Gender on Academic Procrastination and Achievement Orientation among In-School Adolescents

The study investigated the interaction effect gender on academic procrastination and achievement orientation among in-school adolescents. The study adopted a pretest posttest non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design with a population of 804 SS II students (518 female and 286 males). The sample size of 129 SS II students from Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State was drawn through purposive sampling technique. Procrastination Assessment Scale for Students (PASS) and Achievement Orientation Questionnaire (AOQ) were used for data collection. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the measures. Internal consistency reliability coefficients of 0.69 and 0.87 for PASS and AOQ were estimated through Cronbach alpha. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while ANCOVA and t-test were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. It was found that gender does not significantly have effect on in-school adolescents’ academic procrastination and achievement orientation. The researchers recommended that among others that the government at all levels should employ competent educational psychologists/psychotherapists and provide enabling environment and facilities for regular cognitive behavioural change programme for in-school adolescents who may be facing problems with academic procrastination. More so, government agencies and professional bodies whose responsibility is to design and revise curriculum for secondary schools should incorporate and emphasize the use of rational emotive behavioural therapy in secondary schools.

INVESTIGATION OF SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ATHLETES DEALING WITH WATER SPORTS

Background: It is known that many factors can cause pressure for the athlete in sports performed on water rather than any outdoor sports. In this context, it is important to train athletes' cognitive abilities and skills with a strong mindset and to increase their awareness of their psychological characteristics. Aim: The aim of the study is to examine the psychological characteristics of athletes engaged in water sports regarding locus of control, motivation and achievement orientation and to determine possible relationships between them. Appropriate sampling, one of the non-probabilistic sampling methods, was used in determining the participants, and the study was carried out with a correlational survey model. A total of 147 licensed athletes (34 females and 113 males), including 48 windsurfers, 36 individual sails, 37 sets of sails, 26 kitesurf, participated in the study. Material and methods: The participants were administered the “Revised Locus of Control Scale”, “Sports Motivation Scale II” and “2x2 Achievement Orientation Scale”. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis were used in the analysis of the data. Results: According to the analysis results, it was determined that there are statistically significant differences between national and non-national athletes in all sub-dimensions of the achievement orientation scale and that all athletes have a positive orientation towards learning. The average scores of the performance-approach sub-dimension of athletes aged 20 and under and the amotivated sub-dimension of individuals with sports age 9 and over were found to be significantly higher. In addition, a moderately significant positive correlation was found between performance-avoidance achievement orientation and the integrated regulation motivation dimension, and between intrinsic regulation and learning-approach orientation. Conclusion: As a result, it is thought that individuals dealing with water sports can develop different strategies according to their psychological characteristics on the way to success and the findings will contribute to the field of sports psychology.

You as a Change Leader

The executive or other member of the organization who is in charge of the change initiative will need to engage in self-assessment to identify the need for personal development of any change leadership competencies and skills and then implement a plan for leader for development. Traits including a high energy level, emotional maturity, personal integrity, self-confidence, and an achievement orientation are valuable assets. Task, relationship, and change behaviors and the use of influence tactics are all essential. A change leader must develop self-awareness, including the understanding of one’s basic philosophies and preferences as well as strengths and areas to develop. Ethics issues are relevant in organizational change leadership. All of these dynamics of change leadership will affect how a change leader will design and implement an organizational change intervention.

National culture and occupational fraud magnitude: The moderating role of fraud type

This study investigates the relationship between national culture and the magnitude of occupational fraud. Guided by national culture theory and economic theory of crime, we propose that a country’s culture, as measured by Hofstede’s six national culture dimensions: power distance, individualism, achievement orientation, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence, is related to the magnitude of occupational fraud. Further, we propose that the type of fraud moderates this relationship. We test these effects using a two-level model on a dataset of 2,898 occupational fraud cases across 41 countries. We find that uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation display significant positive association with occupational fraud magnitude (while power distance and achievement orientation display marginally significant positive association). Further, the effects of achievement orientation, uncertainty avoidance, and indulgence are moderated by fraud type (while power distance and long-term orientation show marginally significant interaction effects).

Understanding the Theories and Interventions of Motivation in Organization Development

This article reviews theories of motivation in the workplace, what these theories look like in the modern workplace, and interventions designed to increase individual and system-wide organizational motivation. We explored a wide range of theories, including the expectancy theory, Maslow’s hierarchy, the motivation-hygiene theory, the equity theory, reward structures, cognitive evaluation theory, and feedback, to formulate conclusions about common organization development (OD) interventions that are meant to address the theories. Reviewed interventions include; organization structure design, achievement orientation, goal setting, job design, quality feedback, and empowerment programs. We followed a multidisciplinary integrated literature review approach to move beyond merely summarizing the literature but substantially contributing new and valuable knowledge to the fields of leadership and organization development. The research cements the need for understanding individuals’ needs and goals, the value of quality feedback, rewarding positive behavior, leading with fairness, and allowing space for autonomy.