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Study Tries (study + try)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	60%

Selected Abstracts

The facilitating factors for organizational learning: bringing ideas from complex adaptive systems

KNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT: THE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION, Issue 2 2003
Ricardo Chiva-Gómez
The importance of the factors that facilitate organizational learning have traditionally been outlined in the literature. However, there is no agreement about what the essential facilitating factors are, as each author emphasizes different features. Complexity science is increasingly being used by researchers and practitioners to improve their understanding of organizations. This exploratory study tries to determine the essential facilitating factors for organizational learning, and demonstrate the importance of the ideas from complex adaptive systems (CAS) to it. In order to do this, we put forward a comparative case study of four heterogeneous companies from the Spanish ceramic tile sector in which we analyzed the facilitating factors for organizational learning, by relating them with ideas from CAS. As a result, we determined that the five attributes suggested by CAS to facilitate organizational learning were present in the innovative companies, which had the most organizational learning facilitating factors, and three of them were only present in the company with the highest performance and the most innovative approach: individuals' relationship with the environment; cultural diversity; and state of equilibrium between formal and informal structures. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Moderators of the negativity effect: Commitment, identification, and consumer sensitivity to corporate social performance

PSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 1 2010
Tsung-Chi Liu
Numerous studies have identified constructs such as commitment and brand familiarity as moderators of negativity effects. However, boundary conditions for this moderation have yet to be identified within a retailing context. This study tries to rectify this gap in the literature. This study finds that three factors (commitment, consumer,company identification, and consumer sensitivity to corporate social performance) moderate attitude change toward a retailer following exposure to moderately negative (vs. positive) publicity. However, given extremely negative information, the buffering effects of the moderating factors disappear, and attitude changes are significant for all consumers. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]

Understanding two-sided persuasion: An empirical assessment of theoretical approaches

PSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 7 2007
Martin EisendArticle first published online: 24 MAY 200
This study tries to evaluate empirically the validity and generality of causal models based on alternative theories and the integrative frame-work provided by Crowley and Hoyer (1994) to explain the underlying persuasive mechanisms of two-sided messages in marketing. In addition to an empirical test of the models, the study theoretically discusses and empirically explores suggestions for model modifications. Applying meta-analytic-based causal estimation, the results show that the parsimonious model based on attribution theory provides high generality and affirms the prevalent use of the theory in previous studies. All other models could be meaningfully improved by integrating alternative processes of less-effortful message elaboration as suggested by dual-process theories. The results suggest that the impact of argument quality in two-sided messages is in line with previous models assuming effortful message elaboration, while less-effortful elaboration processes seem to rely on the number of arguments used in two-sided messages. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]

Friction and Party Manifesto Change in 25 Countries, 1945,98

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2009
Stefaan Walgrave
Political processes are affected by "friction." Due to cognitive limitations and institutional delays, political agendas do not adapt smoothly to real-world impulses; political agendas either ignore them or overreact. The first question this article tackles is whether the same punctuated change process can be observed in party manifestos. Secondly, it examines whether there are differences across political systems and across party lines. Thirdly, the study tries to account for differences in the degree of "punctuatedness" of party manifestos. Drawing on the vast dataset of the Manifesto Research Group, the article shows that party manifestos are indeed characterized by friction and resistance to change; it also establishes that there are considerable differences in frictional patterns between parties and political systems; and it finds that electoral fragmentation, government participation, and electoral volatility are key to understanding these differences. [source]

REVIEW ARTICLE: Reducing fracture risk with calcium and vitamin D

CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGY, Issue 3 2010
Paul Lips
Summary Studies of vitamin D and calcium for fracture prevention have produced inconsistent results, as a result of different vitamin D status and calcium intake at baseline, different doses and poor to adequate compliance. This study tries to define the types of patients, both at risk of osteoporosis and with established disease, who may benefit from calcium and vitamin D supplementation. The importance of adequate compliance in these individuals is also discussed. Calcium and vitamin D therapy has been recommended for older persons, either frail and institutionalized or independent, with key risk factors including decreased bone mineral density (BMD), osteoporotic fractures, increased bone remodelling as a result of secondary hyperparathyroidism and increased propensity to falls. In addition, treatment of osteoporosis with a bisphosphonate was less effective in patients with vitamin D deficiency. Calcium and vitamin D supplementation is a key component of prevention and treatment of osteoporosis unless calcium intake and vitamin D status are optimal. For primary disease prevention, supplementation should be targeted to those with dietary insufficiencies. Several serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) cut-offs have been proposed to define vitamin D insufficiency (as opposed to adequate vitamin D status), ranging from 30 to 100 nmol/l. Based on the relationship between serum 25(OH)D, BMD, bone turnover, lower extremity function and falls, we suggest that 50 nmol/l is the appropriate serum 25(OH)D threshold to define vitamin D insufficiency. Supplementation should therefore generally aim to increase 25(OH)D levels within the 50,75 nmol/l range. This level can be achieved with a dose of 800 IU/day vitamin D, the dose that was used in succesfull fracture prevention studies to date; a randomized clinical trial assessing whether higher vitamin D doses achieve a greater reduction of fracture incidence would be of considerable interest. As calcium balance is not only affected by vitamin D status but also by calcium intake, recommendations for adequate calcium intake should also be met. The findings of community-based clinical trials with vitamin D and calcium supplementation in which compliance was moderate or less have often been negative, whereas studies in institutionalized patients in whom medication administration was supervised ensuring adequate compliance demonstrated significant benefits. [source]