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1 – 10 of over 34000Martin Götz and Ernest H. O’Boyle
The overall goal of science is to build a valid and reliable body of knowledge about the functioning of the world and how applying that knowledge can change it. As personnel and…
Abstract
The overall goal of science is to build a valid and reliable body of knowledge about the functioning of the world and how applying that knowledge can change it. As personnel and human resources management researchers, we aim to contribute to the respective bodies of knowledge to provide both employers and employees with a workable foundation to help with those problems they are confronted with. However, what research on research has consistently demonstrated is that the scientific endeavor possesses existential issues including a substantial lack of (a) solid theory, (b) replicability, (c) reproducibility, (d) proper and generalizable samples, (e) sufficient quality control (i.e., peer review), (f) robust and trustworthy statistical results, (g) availability of research, and (h) sufficient practical implications. In this chapter, we first sing a song of sorrow regarding the current state of the social sciences in general and personnel and human resources management specifically. Then, we investigate potential grievances that might have led to it (i.e., questionable research practices, misplaced incentives), only to end with a verse of hope by outlining an avenue for betterment (i.e., open science and policy changes at multiple levels).
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The purpose of this paper is to argue that the time is ripe to establish a powerful tradition in Experimental International Business (IB). Probably due to what the Arjen van…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue that the time is ripe to establish a powerful tradition in Experimental International Business (IB). Probably due to what the Arjen van Witteloostuijn refers to as the external validity myth, experimental laboratory designs are underutilized in IB, which implies that the internal validity miracle of randomized experimentation goes largely unnoticed in this domain of the broader management discipline.
Design/methodology/approach
In the following pages, the author explains why the author believes this implies a missed opportunity, providing arguments and examples along the way.
Findings
Although an Experimental Management tradition has never really gained momentum, to the author, the lab experimental design has a very bright future in IB (and management at large). To facilitate the development of an Experimental IB tradition, initiating web-based tools would be highly instrumental. This will not only boost further progress in IB research, but will also increase the effectiveness and playfulness of IB teaching.
Originality/value
Given the high potential of an Experimental IB, the Cross-Cultural and Strategic Management journal will offer a platform for such exciting and intriguing laboratory work, cumulatively contributing to the establishment of an Experimental IB tradition.
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Lawrence Hoc Nang Fong, Rob Law, Candy Mei Fung Tang and Matthew Hong Tai Yap
This paper aims to examine the prevalence and trend of experimental research in hospitality and tourism. Hospitality and tourism researchers have long been encouraged to increase…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the prevalence and trend of experimental research in hospitality and tourism. Hospitality and tourism researchers have long been encouraged to increase their use of experimental designs. However, a solid support for such advocacy is lacking, and the present paper fills in this research gap.
Design/methodology/approach
By using a systematic approach, this study reviews 161 tourism and hospitality articles and conducts content analysis based on certain criteria including journal outlets, Social Sciences Citation Index journals, years of publication, contexts, disciplinary foci, experimental designs, settings, number of independent variables, number of studies per article, manipulation methods, manipulation check, research subjects, sample size, subjects per experimental condition, statistical analyses and provision of effect size. The criteria between hospitality and tourism publications are also compared.
Findings
Findings show that the number of experimental publications has significantly increased over the past decade, especially in hospitality publications. Nonetheless, there is still room for improvement in applying the experimental design in hospitality and tourism research.
Research limitations/implications
Researchers in hospitality and tourism are recommended to report manipulation check results and the effect size of statistically significant results, as well as to devote more effort to knowledge accumulation and methodological advancement of experimental designs.
Originality/value
This study is the first to review experimental research in hospitality and tourism. The findings of this study provide significant implications and directions for hospitality and tourism researchers to conduct experimental research in the future.
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Eugene F. Stone‐Romero and Patrick J. Rosopa
Tests of assumed mediation models are common in research in many disciplines, including managerial psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, organizational behavior…
Abstract
Purpose
Tests of assumed mediation models are common in research in many disciplines, including managerial psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, organizational behavior, and organizational theory. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to detail experimental design options for conducting such tests in a manner that has the potential to yield results that have high levels of internal and construct validity.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a logical analysis of strategies for testing mediation models so as to insure valid inferences about causal relations between variables.
Findings
The most appropriate strategy for testing assumed mediation models is research that uses randomized experimental designs.
Practical implications
Managers should base their actions on valid evidence about phenomena. More specifically, managerial actions should be predicated on research results that have high levels of internal, construct, and statistical conclusion validity. Thus, this paper encourages managers to base decisions about organizational policies and practices on well‐designed experimental research.
Originality/value
This paper addresses a number of points about issues involving internal and construct validity in tests of assumed causal models that have not been covered in previous work.
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Sylvain Max and Valérie Ballereau
The purpose of this paper is to approach women's entrepreneurship from a social psychological perspective, with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to approach women's entrepreneurship from a social psychological perspective, with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of the entrepreneurial phenomena and to its development as a field of research.
Design/methodology/approach
The gender aspect of entrepreneurship is essentially socio‐psychological in nature. First, the authors define the social psychology research scope and present a selection of social psychology theories that are particularly relevant to the domain of women's entrepreneurship. Concepts such as stereotypes, stereotype threat and role models are introduced. Second, the authors instantiate how the social psychology experimental method can address core questions in the women's entrepreneurship field, such as women's under‐representation in entrepreneurial positions.
Findings
The conclusion of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, social psychology theories can address crucial issues in women's entrepreneurship and on the other hand, experimentation as a research methodology enables us to determine causal relationships. However, given the specificities of both social psychology and women's entrepreneurship, we strongly recommend collaborative research between researchers in the two areas.
Research limitations/implications
The authors propose concrete though non‐exhaustive areas of study in women's entrepreneurship research, where social psychological theories can be successfully employed.
Social implications
Using applied social psychology research, the authors suggest practical ways to reject negative stereotypes that prevent women from being entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
Although women's entrepreneurship is a social psychological phenomenon, this field of study still rarely makes reference to social psychology as a discipline for theorizing the relationship between gender and entrepreneurship.
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Sandra G.L. Schruijer and Petru L. Curseu
– The paper aims to describe and understand the gap between the psychodynamic literature on groups and the social psychological perspective on group dynamics.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to describe and understand the gap between the psychodynamic literature on groups and the social psychological perspective on group dynamics.
Design/methodology/approach
As Wilfred Bion is the most influential group dynamics representative of the psychodynamic tradition the authors performed a citation analysis of Bion's work to find out whether it influenced the social psychological research on group dynamics. They compared three domains of literature: therapy/clinical, management/organization studies and social psychology. Moreover, they depict (by drawing on interviews with European pioneers in social psychology) the historical context in which European social psychology developed to explain the gap between the psychodynamic and social psychological approaches in the study of group dynamics.
Findings
The results clearly indicate the existence of a gap between the social psychological and psychodynamic perspectives on group dynamics. Moreover, the authors show that Bion did influence scholars studying or working with real-life groups and is cited more by American than European scholars. The attempt to build a legitimate scientific identity for social psychology provides a context for understanding of the neglect of the psychodynamic tradition.
Research limitations/implications
The authors conclude by exploring ways in which the psychodynamic tradition may fertilize the social psychological tradition in studying groups.
Originality/value
The paper is one of the first to address the discrepancy between the social psychological and psychodynamic perspectives in the study of group dynamics.
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George Loewenstein, a prominent behavioral economist, recalls thatIn 1994, when Thaler, Camerer, Rabin, Prelec and I spent the year at the Center for Advanced Study in the…
Abstract
George Loewenstein, a prominent behavioral economist, recalls thatIn 1994, when Thaler, Camerer, Rabin, Prelec and I spent the year at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, we had a meeting to make a kind of final decision about what to call what we were doing. Remarkably, at that time, the name behavioral economics was not yet well established. I actually advocated “psychological economics,” and Thaler was strong on behavioral economics. I'm kind of glad that he prevailed; I think it's a better, catchier, label, although it creates confusion due to association with Behaviorism. (G. Loewenstein, personal email to author, June 16, 2008)
The results of standard lab experiments have long been questioned because of the convenience samples of subjects they typically employ and the abstract nature of the lab settings…
Abstract
The results of standard lab experiments have long been questioned because of the convenience samples of subjects they typically employ and the abstract nature of the lab settings. These two characteristics of experimental economics, it is argued, are the key factors that endanger the external validity of experiments.
Researchers have tried to address these issues by bringing the lab to non-traditional subjects including participants in remote locations, and/or by moving the setting of experiments closer to reality by using real goods and/or settings that are not stripped of context.
While field experiments might help experimental economists to increase the external validity of their investigations, these potential benefits might come at costs that can be considerable. Specifically, going into the field can dramatically increase the demands on, and challenges to, experimental control. This is particularly true for experiments in small-scale societies in remote locations on which I focus in this article.
Psychology, the scientific study of the mind and of behavior, has experienced a rapid professional growth during the past 30 years. The number of research articles published each…
Abstract
Psychology, the scientific study of the mind and of behavior, has experienced a rapid professional growth during the past 30 years. The number of research articles published each year continues to multiply, attendance at professional meetings and conferences increases at an almost exponential rate, and students continue to enroll in psychology courses in large numbers.