Search results

With growing literature on corporate reputation, different perspectives are being reported on the concept of corporate reputation. These stem from different sets of issues to be managed, and various disciplinary competencies brought to bear on them. This paper presents a review of these efforts.

Additionally, a new methodological basis for understanding perceptions of corporate reputation is presented. This paper introduces social judgement theory as a potentially useful theoretical and methodological basis for understanding perceptions of corporate respectability.

Though it is generally recognized that subjectivity plays an important role in the assessment of reputation, that people rely on naïve theories of judgement to make such assessments, and that subjective or clinical judgements are generally not accurate, investigations of the process by which corporate respectability is assessed are not generally reported. However, a computerized procedure facilitates identification, measurement and reporting of judgemental sources of assessment of corporate respectability.

This paper provides an account of an empirical study as an example of how the procedure described here can be used for both research and practical application in formulating corporate reputation policy.

The procedure described here can be used for both research and practical application in formulating corporate reputation policy. The approach presents an alternative approach to the assessment of corporate respectability.

The description of policies in terms of parameters of the judgement process provides an operational definition of the decision makers’ cognitive sets about the domain of corporate respectability. This information would prove invaluable in developing and implementing a judgement‐based decision support system for the benefit of managers of public relations, corporate communications, and corporate reputation.

This study aims to focus on providing a computerized classification testing (CCT) system that can easily be embedded as a self-assessment feature into the existing legacy environment of a higher education institution, empowering students with self-assessments to monitor their learning progress and following strict data protection regulations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of two different versions (without dashboard vs with dashboard) of the CCT system during the course of a semester; to examine changes in the intended use and perceived usefulness of two different versions (without dashboard vs with dashboard) of the CCT system; and to compare the self-reported confidence levels of two different versions (without dashboard vs with dashboard) of the CCT system.

A total of N = 194 students from a higher education institution in the area of economic and business education participated in the study. The participants were provided access to the CCT system as an opportunity to self-assess their domain knowledge in five areas throughout the semester. An algorithm was implemented to classify learners into master and nonmaster. A total of nine metrics were implemented for classifying the performance of learners. Instruments for collecting co-variates included the study interest questionnaire (Cronbach’s a = 0. 90), the achievement motivation inventory (Cronbach’s a = 0. 94), measures focusing on perceived usefulness and demographic data.

The findings indicate that the students used the CCT system intensively throughout the semester. Students in a cohort with a dashboard available interacted more with the CCT system than students in a cohort without a dashboard. Further, findings showed that students with a dashboard available reported significantly higher confidence levels in the CCT system than participants without a dashboard.

The design of digitally supported learning environments requires valid formative (self-)assessment data to better support the current needs of the learner. While the findings of the current study are limited concerning one study cohort and a limited number of self-assessment areas, the CCT system is being further developed for seamless integration of self-assessment and related feedback to further reveal unforeseen opportunities for future student cohorts.

The objective of the paper is to amalgamate theories of text retrieval from various research traditions into a cognitive theory for information retrieval interaction. Set in a cognitive framework, the paper outlines the concept of polyrepresentation applied to both the user's cognitive space and the information space of IR systems. The concept seeks to represent the current user's information need, problem state, and domain work task or interest in a structure of causality. Further, it implies that we should apply different methods of representation and a variety of IR techniques of different cognitive and functional origin simultaneously to each semantic full‐text entity in the information space. The cognitive differences imply that by applying cognitive overlaps of information objects, originating from different interpretations of such objects through time and by type, the degree of uncertainty inherent in IR is decreased. Polyrepresentation and the use of cognitive overlaps are associated with, but not identical to, data fusion in IR. By explicitly incorporating all the cognitive structures participating in the interactive communication processes during IR, the cognitive theory provides a comprehensive view of these processes. It encompasses the ad hoc theories of text retrieval and IR techniques hitherto developed in mainstream retrieval research. It has elements in common with van Rijsbergen and Lalmas' logical uncertainty theory and may be regarded as compatible with that conception of IR. Epistemologically speaking, the theory views IR interaction as processes of cognition, potentially occurring in all the information processing components of IR, that may be applied, in particular, to the user in a situational context. The theory draws upon basic empirical results from information seeking investigations in the operational online environment, and from mainstream IR research on partial matching techniques and relevance feedback. By viewing users, source systems, intermediary mechanisms and information in a global context, the cognitive perspective attempts a comprehensive understanding of essential IR phenomena and concepts, such as the nature of information needs, cognitive inconsistency and retrieval overlaps, logical uncertainty, the concept of ‘document’, relevance measures and experimental settings. An inescapable consequence of this approach is to rely more on sociological and psychological investigative methods when evaluating systems and to view relevance in IR as situational, relative, partial, differentiated and non‐linear. The lack of consistency among authors, indexers, evaluators or users is of an identical cognitive nature. It is unavoidable, and indeed favourable to IR. In particular, for full‐text retrieval, alternative semantic entities, including Salton et al.'s ‘passage retrieval’, are proposed to replace the traditional document record as the basic retrieval entity. These empirically observed phenomena of inconsistency and of semantic entities and values associated with data interpretation support strongly a cognitive approach to IR and the logical use of polyrepresentation, cognitive overlaps, and both data fusion and data diffusion.

Develops and tests a general model for understanding the influence of query‐based decision aids (QBDA) on consumer decision making in the electronic commerce environment. The results show that the use of well‐designed query‐based decision aids leads to increased satisfaction with the decision process and increased confidence in judgements. The number of stages of phased narrowing of the consideration set was higher in the case of subjects who had access to the query‐based decision aids. The mediating variables through which this influence occurs are size of the consideration set, similarity among the alternatives in the consideration set, cognitive decision effort, and perceived cost savings. The size of the consideration set and the similarity among the alternatives in the consideration set were higher in the case of subjects who had access to the query‐based decision aid. Subjects who had access to the query‐based decision aid perceived an increased cost savings and a lower cognitive decision effort associated with the purchase decision. This research is done in the context of consumers searching for information on the World Wide Web prior to the purchase of cars.

Despite technological advancements to enhance patient health, the risks of not discovering the correct interactions and trends in digital health are high. Hence, a careful policy is required for health coverage tailored to needs and capacity. Therefore, this study aims to explore the adoption of a cognitive computing decision support system (CCDSS) in the assessment of health-care policymaking and validates it by extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model.

A survey was conducted to collect data from different stakeholders, referred to as the 4Ps, namely, patients, providers, payors and policymakers. Structural equation modelling and one-way ANOVA were used to analyse the data.

The result reveals that the behavioural insight of policymakers towards the assessment of health-care policymaking is based on automatic and reflective systems. Investments in CCDSS for policymaking assessment have the potential to produce rational outcomes. CCDSS, built with quality procedures, can validate whether breastfeeding-supporting policies are mother-friendly.

Health-care policies are used by lawmakers to safeguard and improve public health, but it has always been a challenge. With the adoption of CCDSS, the overall goal of health-care policymaking can achieve better quality standards and improve the design of policymaking.

This study drew attention to how CCDSS as a technology enabler can drive health-care policymaking assessment for each stage and how the technology enabler can help the 4Ps of health-care gain insight into the benefits and potential value of CCDSS by demonstrating the breastfeeding supporting policy.

Increased interest in team dynamics has resulted in new methods for measuring teamwork over time. The primary purpose of this chapter is to provide a survey of recent developments in teamwork/collaboration measurement in an educational context. Key topics include conceptual frameworks, large-scale assessments, and innovative measurement techniques.

A range of methods for collecting and analyzing teamwork data are discussed, and five frameworks for measuring collaborative problem solving (CPS) over time are compared. Frameworks from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21S) project, Educational Testing Service (ETS), ACT, and von Davier and Halpin (2013) are discussed. Results of assessments developed from these frameworks are also considered.

New techniques for measuring team dynamics over time have great potential to improve education and work outcomes. Preliminary results of the assessments developed from these frameworks show that important advances in teamwork measurement have been enabled by innovative task designs, data-mining techniques, and novel applications of stochastic models.

This novel overview and comparison of interdisciplinary approaches will help to indicate where progress has been made and what challenges are ahead.

The purpose of this paper is to give an empirically‐based review of the strengths and weaknesses of situational judgment tests (SJTs).

The features, history, and development of SJTs are discussed. Next, a computerized search (from 1990‐2007) is conducted to retrieve empirical studies related to SJTs. The effectiveness of SJTs is discussed in terms of reliability, criterion‐related validity, incremental validity, construct‐related validity, utility, adverse impact, applicant perceptions, fakability, and susceptibility to practice and coaching effects.

Strengths of SJTs are that they show criterion‐related validity and incremental validity above cognitive ability and personality tests. SJTs have also less adverse impact towards minorities (especially if the cognitive loading of the SJT is low). Furthermore, applicant reactions towards SJTs are positive and SJTs enable to test large applicant groups at once (through the Internet). In terms of weaknesses, SJTs might be prone to faking, practice, and coaching effects. There is also debate about what constructs are measured by SJTs.

Five avenues for future research are discussed: construct‐related validity of SJTs, utility of SJTs vis‐à‐vis other predictors, impact of SJT features on validity and adverse impact, examination of alternative stimulus and response formats, and cross‐cultural transportability of SJTs.

Practitioners receive evidence‐based information about the features, development, and strengths and weaknesses of SJTs.

Apart from the USA, SJTs have not made strong inroads in selection practice in Europe and other parts of the world. This evidence‐based paper might highlight the value of SJTs.

In Israel, institution staff classify residents’ functional status as part of the routine governmental surveillance of institutions for semi‐independent and frail elderly. However, owing to a lack of clarity and specificity in the regulation which defines functional status categories, nurse surveyors, who conduct the routine surveillance of institutions, have begun to make their own estimates of functional status. Data were collected and compared on the functional status classification of 78 per cent of the elderly residents by institution staff and nurse surveyors. Data analysis showed that the poorer the functional status, the less congruity between the classifications. This has practical consequences for estimating the number and type of staff needed. It was found that the waste of resources and discrepancies caused by reclassification of the elderly by the nurse surveyors may be avoided by using more specific and precise definitions as suggested in this article.

The aim of this article is to identify recent developments in personnel selection and to review existing research with regard to these recent developments. To this end, 26 human resource representatives were asked to list current or future trends in personnel selection. In addition, existing academic reviews of recent research in personnel selection were scrutinized. As a result, the following four main trends are identified: labour market shortages, technological developments, applicant perceptions of selection procedures, and construct‐driven approaches. Per trend, relevant existing research is reviewed and avenues for future research are discussed.

This paper aims to examine whether a computerised system for medication reviews can support physicians' decisions and improve the quality of drug treatment in the elderly.

This is a descriptive intervention study. The study included 275 patients living in community settings and nursing homes in Stockholm, Sweden. Patient data were analysed using computer software and scrutinised by a clinical pharmacologist. Pharmaco‐therapeutic advice was sent to the physician responsible for each patient. The main outcome measures were initiation and discontinuation of drugs, changes of doses and rates of identified drug‐related problems.

Expert opinions were given by the clinical pharmacologist, for 275 patients, mean age 85 years; 70 per cent female. An average of 3.3 remarks was given concerning unsuitable drugs, unclear indication, dosing when the kidney function was decreased, drug‐drug interactions and quality indicators. On average 1.5 drug‐related problems (DRP) per patient were attended to by the responsible physician at each unit. The most common action taken was withdrawal of a drug (n=208). On average the drug use decreased from 10.4 to 9.5 drugs per patient, and several quality indicators were met. The drug costs decreased, and resulted in a more cost‐effective drug therapy.

The paper develops and tests a method for intervention in the care of elderly patients. The method is based on a computerised expert support system for medication reviews at a distance and on education of the staff. A safer drug therapy with improved quality and cost‐effectiveness is thus provided.