RECIPROCIDADE ENTRE INDIVÍDUO E ORGANIZAÇÃO E SEUS IMPACTOS SOBRE A SATISFAÇÃO E O COMPROMETIMENTO

Reciprocidade indivíduo-organização e afetividade são dois fenômenos presentes na vida organizacional e que se tornaram tópicos de pesquisa no campo de estudos do comportamento organizacional. Esse estudo teve como objetivo reforçar as evidências empíricas acerca das relações entre cognições de troca indivíduo-organização e afetividade no contexto de trabalho. Para tanto, foram submetidas à teste empírico cinco hipóteses inspiradas em um estudo inédito desenvolvido por Siqueira (2002b). Contou-se com a utilização de um questionário composto por cinco escalas validadas, referentes as variáveis do estudo, que avaliaram percepção de suporte organizacional (PSO), percepção de reciprocidade organizacional (PRO), comprometimento organizacional normativo (CON), satisfação no trabalho (STR) e comprometimento organizacional afetivo (COA). Participaram 275 profissionais, sendo 183 pertencentes ao setor administrativo e 92 ao setor administrativo-acadêmico de uma Instituição de Ensino Superior, situada na região do Grande ABCD Paulista e com inserção no estado de São Paulo. OS participantes do estudo tinham idade média de 32 anos, sendo a maioria (58,2%) do sexo feminino, com escolaridade em nível superior (39,6%) e tempo médio de trabalho na organização de quatro anos. Os dados coletados foram organizados em um banco de dados eletrônico para tratamento estatístico, quando se utilizou o aplicativo SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Scienses). Foram realizadas análises descritivas das variáveis e análises de correlação e de regressão múltipla para os testes das cinco hipóteses. Todas as hipóteses foram confirmadas. Conclui-se então, que o presente estudo reforça as proposições de Siqueira (2002b) acerca da pertinência de se considerar os três conceitos analisados (PSO, PRO E CON) como integrantes do esquema mental de reciprocidade. Ainda, os resultados do estudo reafirmam as evidências acerca da capacidade preditiva do EMR sobre satisfação no trabalho e comprometimento organizacional afetivo. Por fim, a análise dos dados aponta percepção de suporte organizacional como sendo o componente cognitivo do EMR com maior poder de influência sobre satisfação no trabalho e comprometimento organizacional afetivo. Portanto, cognições acerca das relações de troca social com organizações antecedem satisfação e comprometimento afetivo que, por sua vez, são importantes fatores a favor da organização, contribuindo para sua efetividade.

RECIPROCIDADE ENTRE INDIVÍDUO E ORGANIZAÇÃO E SEUS IMPACTOS SOBRE A SATISFAÇÃO E O COMPROMETIMENTO

Reciprocidade indivíduo-organização e afetividade são dois fenômenos presentes na vida organizacional e que se tornaram tópicos de pesquisa no campo de estudos do comportamento organizacional. Esse estudo teve como objetivo reforçar as evidências empíricas acerca das relações entre cognições de troca indivíduo-organização e afetividade no contexto de trabalho. Para tanto, foram submetidas à teste empírico cinco hipóteses inspiradas em um estudo inédito desenvolvido por Siqueira (2002b). Contou-se com a utilização de um questionário composto por cinco escalas validadas, referentes as variáveis do estudo, que avaliaram percepção de suporte organizacional (PSO), percepção de reciprocidade organizacional (PRO), comprometimento organizacional normativo (CON), satisfação no trabalho (STR) e comprometimento organizacional afetivo (COA). Participaram 275 profissionais, sendo 183 pertencentes ao setor administrativo e 92 ao setor administrativo-acadêmico de uma Instituição de Ensino Superior, situada na região do Grande ABCD Paulista e com inserção no estado de São Paulo. OS participantes do estudo tinham idade média de 32 anos, sendo a maioria (58,2%) do sexo feminino, com escolaridade em nível superior (39,6%) e tempo médio de trabalho na organização de quatro anos. Os dados coletados foram organizados em um banco de dados eletrônico para tratamento estatístico, quando se utilizou o aplicativo SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Scienses). Foram realizadas análises descritivas das variáveis e análises de correlação e de regressão múltipla para os testes das cinco hipóteses. Todas as hipóteses foram confirmadas. Conclui-se então, que o presente estudo reforça as proposições de Siqueira (2002b) acerca da pertinência de se considerar os três conceitos analisados (PSO, PRO E CON) como integrantes do esquema mental de reciprocidade. Ainda, os resultados do estudo reafirmam as evidências acerca da capacidade preditiva do EMR sobre satisfação no trabalho e comprometimento organizacional afetivo. Por fim, a análise dos dados aponta percepção de suporte organizacional como sendo o componente cognitivo do EMR com maior poder de influência sobre satisfação no trabalho e comprometimento organizacional afetivo. Portanto, cognições acerca das relações de troca social com organizações antecedem satisfação e comprometimento afetivo que, por sua vez, são importantes fatores a favor da organização, contribuindo para sua efetividade.

The determinants of the vertical boundaries of the construction firm

In the last few years, transaction cost economics has become a popular theory within the construction research community. This approach has been singularly applied as a means to explain and predict phenomena concerning the construction firm, including its vertical boundaries. However, this is at a time when the chief proponents of transaction costs are urging researchers to take a pluralistic stance in relation to the theory of the firm. The aim of this paper is to develop a pluralistic approach to the vertical boundaries of the construction firm. In order to achieve this, an integrative framework is described, based on the development of the efficient boundaries problem and the capabilities approach to vertical integration. Specifically, this framework draws on the complementary strengths of transaction cost economics and the resource-based view. It is concluded that the potential relative merits of theoretical pluralism, in terms of the vertical boundaries of the construction firm, are sufficient grounds to motivate empirical testing of the predictions associated with the integrative framework of vertical integration presented

The influence of national culture on the level and outcome of IS decision making in the IS maintenance/redevelopment decision

Would the outcome of a Global multinational organization’s decision be the same if the same decision were to be made in different countries throughout the world? Within the same organization, we propose that national cultural differences can influence decision making in different countries and cultural clusters. While much work has been done on organizational cultural influences, this study examines the influence that national culture has on organizational decision making in respect to the evolution/redevelopment decision that organizations face when a system is believed to be entering the obsolescence phase. Building on findings from the Globe research program, we show by empirical testing of a theoretical model that national cultural dimensions are significantly associated with a) the outcome of the decision to enhance or re-develop a system, and b) the organizational level at which such decisions are made. This research is significant as a means to improve management decision making, particularly with regard to the enhancement versus re-development decision. The research suggests that a relatively uniform sub-culture exists across the global IS project level but that national cultural dimensions play a more important role in determining the organizational management level at which decisions are made.

RECIPROCIDADE ENTRE INDIVÍDUO E ORGANIZAÇÃO E SEUS IMPACTOS SOBRE A SATISFAÇÃO E O COMPROMETIMENTO

Reciprocidade indivíduo-organização e afetividade são dois fenômenos presentes na vida organizacional e que se tornaram tópicos de pesquisa no campo de estudos do comportamento organizacional. Esse estudo teve como objetivo reforçar as evidências empíricas acerca das relações entre cognições de troca indivíduo-organização e afetividade no contexto de trabalho. Para tanto, foram submetidas à teste empírico cinco hipóteses inspiradas em um estudo inédito desenvolvido por Siqueira (2002b). Contou-se com a utilização de um questionário composto por cinco escalas validadas, referentes as variáveis do estudo, que avaliaram percepção de suporte organizacional (PSO), percepção de reciprocidade organizacional (PRO), comprometimento organizacional normativo (CON), satisfação no trabalho (STR) e comprometimento organizacional afetivo (COA). Participaram 275 profissionais, sendo 183 pertencentes ao setor administrativo e 92 ao setor administrativo-acadêmico de uma Instituição de Ensino Superior, situada na região do Grande ABCD Paulista e com inserção no estado de São Paulo. OS participantes do estudo tinham idade média de 32 anos, sendo a maioria (58,2%) do sexo feminino, com escolaridade em nível superior (39,6%) e tempo médio de trabalho na organização de quatro anos. Os dados coletados foram organizados em um banco de dados eletrônico para tratamento estatístico, quando se utilizou o aplicativo SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Scienses). Foram realizadas análises descritivas das variáveis e análises de correlação e de regressão múltipla para os testes das cinco hipóteses. Todas as hipóteses foram confirmadas. Conclui-se então, que o presente estudo reforça as proposições de Siqueira (2002b) acerca da pertinência de se considerar os três conceitos analisados (PSO, PRO E CON) como integrantes do esquema mental de reciprocidade. Ainda, os resultados do estudo reafirmam as evidências acerca da capacidade preditiva do EMR sobre satisfação no trabalho e comprometimento organizacional afetivo. Por fim, a análise dos dados aponta percepção de suporte organizacional como sendo o componente cognitivo do EMR com maior poder de influência sobre satisfação no trabalho e comprometimento organizacional afetivo. Portanto, cognições acerca das relações de troca social com organizações antecedem satisfação e comprometimento afetivo que, por sua vez, são importantes fatores a favor da organização, contribuindo para sua efetividade.

On the adoption decision and the intensity of use of complementary innovations: The intra firm diffusion of management practices across UK establishments

This paper contributes to the literature on the intra-firm diffusion of innovations by investigating the factors that affect the firm’s decision to adopt and use sets of complementary innovations. We define complementary innovations those innovations whose joint use generates super additive gains, i.e. the gain from the joint adoption is higher than the sum of the gains derived from the adoption of each innovation in isolation. From a theoretical perspective, we present a simple decision model, whereby the firm decides ‘whether’ and ‘how much’ to invest in each of the innovations under investigation based upon the expected profit gain from each possible combination of adoption and use. The model shows how the extent of complementarity among the innovations can affect the firm’s profit gains and therefore the likelihood that the firm will adopt these innovations jointly, rather than individually. From an empirical perspective, we focus on four sets of management practices, namely operating (OMP), monitoring (MMP), targets (TMP) and incentives (IMP) management practices. We show that these sets of practices, although to a different extent, are complementary to each other. Then, we construct a synthetic indicator of the depth of their use. The resulting intra-firm index is built to reflect not only the number of practices adopted but also the depth of their individual use and the extent of their complementarity. The empirical testing of the decision model is carried out using the evidence from the adoption behaviour of a sample of 1,238 UK establishments present in the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS). Our empirical results show that the intra-firm profitability based model is a good model in that it can explain more of the variability of joint adoption than models based upon the variability of adoption and use of individual practices. We also investigate whether a number of firm specific and market characteristics by affecting the size of the gains (which the joint adoption of innovations can generate) may drive the intensity of use of the four innovations. We find that establishment size, whether foreign owned, whether exposed to an international market and the degree of homogeneity of the final product are important determinants of the intensity of the joint adoption of the four innovations. Most importantly, our results point out that the factors that the economics of innovation literature has been showing to affect the intensity of use of a technological innovation do also affect the intensity of use of sets of innovative management practices. However, they can explain only a small part of the diversity of their joint adoption use by the firms in the sample.

An assessment of factors affecting performance and growth of new technology based firms in the UK

New Technology Based Firms (NTBF) are considered to be important for the economic development of a country in regards to both employment growth and innovative activity. The latter is believed to contribute significantly to the increase in productivity and therefore the competitiveness of UK’s economy. This study contributes to the above literature by investigating two of the factors believed to limit the growth of such firms in the UK. The first concerns the existence of a ‘knowledge gap’ while the second the existence of a ‘financial gap’. These themes are developed along three main research lines. Firstly, based upon the human capital theory initially proposed by Backer (1964) new evidence is provided on the human capital characteristics (experience and education) of the current UK NTBF entrepreneurs. Secondly, the causal relationship between general and specific human capital (as well as their interactions) upon the company performance and growth is investigated via its traditional direct effect as well as via its indirect effect upon the access to external finance. Finally, more light is shed on the financial structure and the type of financial constraints that high-tech firms face at start-up. In particular, whether a financial gap exists is explored by distinguishing between the demand and the supply of external finance as well as by type of external source of financing. The empirical testing of the various research hypotheses has been obtained by carrying out an original survey of new technology based firms defined as independent companies, established in the past 25 years in R&D intensive sectors. The resulting dataset contains information for 412 companies on a number of general company characteristics and the characteristics of their entrepreneurs in 2004. Policy and practical implications for future and current entrepreneurs and also providers of external finance are provided.

Improper use of formative endogenous variables

Researchers often develop and test conceptual models containing formative variables. In many cases, these formative variables are specified as being endogenous. This article provides a clarification of formative variable theory, distinguishing between the formative latent variable and the formative composite variable. When an endogenous latent variable relies on formative indicators for measurement, empirical studies can say nothing about the relationship between exogenous variables and the endogenous formative latent variable: conclusions can only be drawn regarding the exogenous variables' relationships with a composite variable. The authors also show the dangers associated with developing theory about antecedents to endogenous formative variables at the (aggregate) formative latent variable level. Modeling relationships with endogenous formative variables at the (disaggregate) indicator level informs richer theory development, and encourages more precise empirical testing. When antecedents' relationships with endogenous formative variables are modeled at the formative latent variable level rather than the formative indicator level, theory construction can verge on the superficial, and empirical findings can be ambiguous in substantive meaning.

Corporate identity at the stakeholder group level:a conceptual model of front-line employee corporate identity

There is a paucity of literature regarding the construction and operation of corporate identity at the stakeholder group level. This article examines corporate identity from the perspective of an individual stakeholder group, namely, front-line employees. A stakeholder group that is central to the development of an organization’s corporate identity as it spans an organization’s boundaries, frequently interacts with both internal and external stakeholders, and influences a firm’s financial performance by building customer loyalty and satisfaction. The article reviews the corporate identity, branding, services and social identity literatures to address how corporate identity manifests within the front-line employee stakeholder group, identifying what components comprise front-line employee corporate identity and assessing what contribution front-line employees make to constructing a strong and enduring corporate identity for an organization. In reviewing the literature the article develops propositions that, in conjunction with a conceptual model, constitute the generation of theory that is recommended for empirical testing.

Managing conflict in user-oriented development environments: Effects on information systems success

Today, many organizations are turning to new approaches to building and maintaining information systems (I/S) to cope with a highly competitive business environment. Current anecdotal evidence indicates that the approaches being used improve the effectiveness of software development by encouraging active user participation throughout the development process. Unfortunately, very little is known about how the use of such approaches enhances the ability of team members to develop I/S that are responsive to changing business conditions.^ Drawing from predominant theories of organizational conflict, this study develops and tests a model of conflict among members of a development team. The model proposes that development approaches provide the relevant context conditioning the management and resolution of conflict in software development which, in turn, are crucial for the success of the development process.^ Empirical testing of the model was conducted using data collected through a combination of interviews with I/S executives and surveys of team members and business users at nine organizations. Results of path analysis provide support for the model's main prediction that integrative conflict management and distributive conflict management can contribute to I/S success by influencing differently the manifestation and resolution of conflict in software development. Further, analyses of variance indicate that object-oriented development, when compared to rapid and structured development, appears to produce the lowest levels of conflict management, conflict resolution, and I/S success.^ The proposed model and findings suggest academic implications for understanding the effects of different conflict management behaviors on software development outcomes, and practical implications for better managing the software development process, especially in user-oriented development environments. ^

A model of school managerial control : the systematic analysis of managerial behaviors, processes, and indicators

The theoretical construct of control has been defined as necessary (Etzioni, 1965), ubiquitous (Vickers, 1967), and on-going (E. Langer, 1983). Empirical measures, however, have not adequately given meaning to this potent construct, especially within complex organizations such as schools. Four stages of theory-development and empirical testing of school building managerial control using principals and teachers working within the nation's fourth largest district are presented in this dissertation as follows: (1) a review and synthesis of social science theories of control across the literatures of organizational theory, political science, sociology, psychology, and philosophy; (2) a systematic analysis of school managerial activities performed at the building level within the context of curricular and instructional tasks; (3) the development of a survey questionnaire to measure school building managerial control; and (4) initial tests of construct validity including inter-item reliability statistics, principal components analyses, and multivariate tests of significance. The social science synthesis provided support of four managerial control processes: standards, information, assessment, and incentives. The systematic analysis of school managerial activities led to further categorization between structural frequency of behaviors and discretionary qualities of behaviors across each of the control processes and the curricular and instructional tasks. Teacher survey responses (N=486) reported a significant difference between these two dimensions of control, structural frequency and discretionary qualities, for standards, information, and assessments, but not for incentives. The descriptive model of school managerial control suggests that (1) teachers perceive structural and discretionary managerial behaviors under information and incentives more clearly than activities representing standards or assessments, (2) standards are primarily structural while assessments are primarily qualitative, (3) teacher satisfaction is most closely related to the equitable distribution of incentives, (4) each of the structural managerial behaviors has a qualitative effect on teachers, and that (5) certain qualities of managerial behaviors are perceived by teachers as distinctly discretionary, apart from school structure. The variables of teacher tenure and school effectiveness reported significant effects on school managerial control processes, while instructional levels (elementary, junior, and senior) and individual school differences were not found to be significant for the construct of school managerial control.

Influence of Forecasting, Planning and Controlling on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises

Production Planning and Control (PPC) systems have grown and changed because of the developments in planning tools and models as well as the use of computers and information systems in this area. Though so much is available in research journals, practice of PPC is lagging behind and does not use much from published research. The practices of PPC in SMEs lag behind because of many reasons, which need to be explored. This research work deals with the effect of identified variables such as forecasting, planning and control methods adopted, demographics of the key person, standardization practices followed, effect of training, learning and IT usage on firm performance. A model and framework has been developed based on literature. Empirical testing of the model has been done after collecting data using a questionnaire schedule administered among the selected respondents from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in India. Final data included 382 responses. Hypotheses linking SME performance with the use of forecasting, planning and controlling were formed and tested. Exploratory factor analysis was used for data reduction and for identifying the factor structure. High and low performing firms were classified using a Logistic Regression model. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to study the structural relationship between firm performance and dependent variables.

Sucesso e insucesso no licenciamento: uma perspectiva integrada.

Doutoramento em Gestão.

Testing insect movement theory: empirical analysis of pest data routinely collected from agricultural crops

Observations of an insect's movement lead to theory on the insect's flight behaviour and the role of movement in the species' population dynamics. This theory leads to predictions of the way the population changes in time under different conditions. If a hypothesis on movement predicts a specific change in the population, then the hypothesis can be tested against observations of population change. Routine pest monitoring of agricultural crops provides a convenient source of data for studying movement into a region and among fields within a region. Examples of the use of statistical and computational methods for testing hypotheses with such data are presented. The types of questions that can be addressed with these methods and the limitations of pest monitoring data when used for this purpose are discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Task 4: Testing Iowa Portland Cement Concrete Mixtures for the AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Procedure, May 2008

The present research project was designed to identify the typical Iowa material input values that are required by the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) for the Level 3 concrete pavement design. It was also designed to investigate the existing equations that might be used to predict Iowa pavement concrete for the Level 2 pavement design. In this project, over 20,000 data were collected from the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) and other sources. These data, most of which were concrete compressive strength, slump, air content, and unit weight data, were synthesized and their statistical parameters (such as the mean values and standard variations) were analyzed. Based on the analyses, the typical input values of Iowa pavement concrete, such as 28-day compressive strength (f’c), splitting tensile strength (fsp), elastic modulus (Ec), and modulus of rupture (MOR), were evaluated. The study indicates that the 28-day MOR of Iowa concrete is 646 + 51 psi, very close to the MEPDG default value (650 psi). The 28-day Ec of Iowa concrete (based only on two available data of the Iowa Curling and Warping project) is 4.82 + 0.28x106 psi, which is quite different from the MEPDG default value (3.93 x106 psi); therefore, the researchers recommend re-evaluating after more Iowa test data become available. The drying shrinkage (εc) of a typical Iowa concrete (C-3WR-C20 mix) was tested at Concrete Technology Laboratory (CTL). The test results show that the ultimate shrinkage of the concrete is about 454 microstrain and the time for the concrete to reach 50% of ultimate shrinkage is at 32 days; both of these values are very close to the MEPDG default values. The comparison of the Iowa test data and the MEPDG default values, as well as the recommendations on the input values to be used in MEPDG for Iowa PCC pavement design, are summarized in Table 20 of this report. The available equations for predicting the above-mentioned concrete properties were also assembled. The validity of these equations for Iowa concrete materials was examined. Multiple-parameters nonlinear regression analyses, along with the artificial neural network (ANN) method, were employed to investigate the relationships among Iowa concrete material properties and to modify the existing equations so as to be suitable for Iowa concrete materials. However, due to lack of necessary data sets, the relationships between Iowa concrete properties were established based on the limited data from CP Tech Center’s projects and ISU classes only. The researchers suggest that the resulting relationships be used by Iowa pavement design engineers as references only. The present study furthermore indicates that appropriately documenting concrete properties, including flexural strength, elastic modulus, and information on concrete mix design, is essential for updating the typical Iowa material input values and providing rational prediction equations for concrete pavement design in the future.