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On many occasions, organizational science research has been referred to as fragmented and disjointed, resulting in a literature that is, in the opinion of many, difficult to navigate and comprehend. One potential explanation is that scholars have failed to comprehend that organizations are complex and intricate systems. In order to move us past this morass, we recommend that researchers extend beyond traditional rational, mechanistic, and variable-centered approaches to research and integrate a more advantageous pattern-oriented approach within their research program. Pattern-oriented methods approximate real-life phenomena by adopting a holistic, integrative approach to research wherein individual- and organizational-systems are viewed as non-decomposable organized wholes. We argue that the pattern-oriented approach has the potential to overcome a number of breakdowns faced by alternate approaches, while offering a novel and more representative lens from which to view organizational- and HRM-related issues. The proposed incorporation of the pattern-oriented approach is framed within a review and evaluation of current approaches to organizational research and is supplemented with a discussion of methodological and theoretical implications as well as potential applications of the pattern-oriented approach.

This paper focuses on patterns of film consumption within cultural consumption more broadly to assess trends in consumerism such as eclectic consumption, individualised consumption and omnivorous/univorous consumption and whether economic background and status feature in shaping cultural consumption. We focus on film because it is widely consumed, online and offline, and has many genres that vary in terms of perceived artistic and entertainment value. In broad terms, film is differentiated between mainstream commercially driven film such as Hollywood blockbusters, middlebrow “feel good” movies and independent arthouse and foreign language film. Our empirical statistical analysis shows that film consumers watch a wide range of genres. However, films deemed to hold artistic value such as arthouse and foreign language feature as part of broad and wide-ranging pattern of consumption of film that attracts its own dedicated consumers. Though we found that social and economic factors remain predictors of cultural consumption the overall picture is more complex than a simple direct correspondence and perceptions of other cultural forms also play a role. Those likely to consume arthouse and foreign language film consume other film genres and other cultural forms genres and those who “prefer” arthouse and foreign language film have slightly more constrained socio-economic characteristics. Overall, we find that economic and cultural factors such income, education, and wider consumption of culture are significant in patterns of film consumption.

This paper compares two alternative methods for measuring multidimensional poverty. This question has become extremely important in recent years, both in the scientific literature and in social policy. We propose to use latent class analysis to evaluate poverty in Spain. We make use of the “fuzzy set” approach, and compare the results achieved from these two methodologies.

The purpose of this paper is to study public acceptance of decontamination as a risk reduction strategy in meat production.

A representative survey of the Danish population (n=1,104) was conducted during September 2007. The survey included dimensions of assessment of decontamination techniques and background variables of socio‐economic status, food culture and safety profile. The data were analysed using latent class analyses, and subsequently the association of the predicted classes and background variables was analysed using bivariate analyses.

The analysis shows that in general members of the public do not agree with the practice of decontamination. There was, however, some variation in public rejection of the techniques. Four latent classes were identified: rejects decontamination (57 per cent), accepts decontamination (4 per cent), accepts techniques that are familiar in meat production (18 per cent), and accepts techniques known from processed foods (21 per cent). Variations in the distribution of the four classes in different population groups are identified.

This is the first study to provide in‐depth information on public perceptions of the decontamination of meat. It will be of value to the industry and other stakeholders, since some form of decontamination is likely to be a necessary element in future European risk reduction strategies designed to ensure the safety of meat and meat products.

Outsourcing of accounting increasingly attracts research interest, but research concerning the impact of the benefits of outsourcing on firm capabilities and performance across firms remains limited. This paper aims to reveal the unobservable latent classes of firms that outsource their accounting functions by testing a research model concerning the topic.

The authors build on accounting outsourcing research and adapt a research model from the literature on business services outsourcing. The authors analyze the data from 261 small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe using finite mixture structural equation modeling (FMSEM) and additional methods.

The authors reveal three latent classes with different research models. Thriving outsourcers (N = 103) have a positive attitude toward accounting outsourcing and associate competitive capabilities with mediating the relationship from outsourcing benefits to firm performance. Annoyed outsourcers (N = 143) are dissatisfied with their accounting service provider and only associate outsourcing benefits with competitive capabilities. Convenient outsourcers (N = 15) feel comfortable with their current accounting service provider and associate outsourcing benefits with neither capabilities nor with firm performance.

The study initiates the discussion about the unobservable heterogeneity among accounting outsourcers. The study introduces the use of the FMSEM method in accounting outsourcing research.

The study offers novel insights concerning accounting outsourcers and proposes original explanations for their outsourcing decisions that would help both the outsourcers and accounting service providers.

The study might be the first to categorize accounting outsourcers using FMSEM.

The purpose of this study is to identify latent classes of work values that influence the career choices of Korean workers through a person-centred approach. Because work values may be diverse in individuals, investigating the various combinations of those values will help understand individual's decisions to take, maintain and leave a job.

The authors used a total of 15,103 datasets collected at the national level in South Korea. Data were analyzed by using latent class analysis (LCA); a three-step approach was employed to address classification.

As the results of this study, Class 3, “seeking balanced work values rather than income,” presented the highest level of job satisfaction, whereas Class 1, “seeking job security and income,” exhibited the lowest.

Employing an assessment tool to identify the distinct combinations of work values that individuals possess and then providing them with appropriate training and development programs and customized Human Resource (HR) policies aligned with the classes will be essential tasks for HRD (Human Resource Development)/HRM (Human Resource Management) practitioners.

The idea that criminal behavior is a function of the offender's personality, also called the Homology hypothesis, has a long history in forensic psychology and criminology. This assumption, however, has been decried as lacking empirical support. In spite of much social concern relative to sexual offenses, there is virtually no research looking at the stability of offending pattern in sex offenders of adult women. This paper aims to fill some of the gaps.

Latent structure analyses were conducted on a secondary dataset including 145 serial rapists. A cross‐sectional, discrete time‐series design was used including a sequence of three offenses.

Moderate support was found for the three main assumptions underlying the Homology hypothesis. Offenses tended to share a relatively similar underlying structure, with the victimology and aggression components being more prominent than the sexual dimension. The three primary profiles identified, labeled “Passive”, “Stranger‐aggressive”, and “Antisocial”, were found to be about 50 percent stable across the sequence. Finally, the presence of significant dysfunction in the family of origin predicted membership in the “Antisocial” class, as well as increased the specificity and stability of this profile. The presence of early maladjustment was not related to any of the states.

Based on the results, it is proposed that future research incorporates contextual‐environmental elements in order to increase the validity of the findings.

This study represents a unique attempt at documenting patterns of stability and variations across incidents of rape, using an institutional sample. Furthermore, it illustrates the use and potential benefits of latent structure models in criminological research.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify prominent patterns of media use across six media (e.g. television, social media, public libraries) and four gratification contexts (e.g. studying, leisure activities), and second, to investigate whether media use patterns vary with six individual characteristics by introducing the construct of information repertoire.

Data were collected through an online questionnaire completed by 811 adult internet users in the USA. Latent class analysis (LCA), including latent class regression, was performed to analyse the data.

The study found eight information repertoire profiles. The user characteristics associated with each profile, such as age, race and ethnicity, were identified. The profile with the most respondents was characterised by heavy use of TV and the internet for everyday leisure activities. Overall, the eight profiles do not show exclusive use of one or two media (such as a power-law pattern). However, the profiles do exhibit patterned behaviour, in which respondents use the same configuration of media in two or more gratification contexts. These findings suggest some level of gratification-based heuristic in media selection and use when respondents face contexts they deem to be similar.

In conceptual development, the study introduced the construct of information repertoire to capture media use profiles that account for multiple media use across multiple contexts. Methodologically, less-used LCA was applied, which allowed combining the 24 variables (6 media×4 gratification contexts) and the six demographic covariates in a single, unified analysis.

The purpose of the paper is the analysis of the evolution of students’ satisfaction over time in a large Italian university and the effects on it because of some characteristics of the teachers: didactic practices, beliefs and needs with regard to teaching and learning.

The first step of the analysis identifies a latent construct, measured with items composing the questionnaire, and proposes a reduced set of indicators to measure satisfaction and to model its evolution over time (information collected in three consecutive academic years is available). A second step clusters teachers in homogenous groups with reference to their opinions, beliefs and needs, collected with a new survey conducted at the University of Padova, with the aim of developing strategies to support academic teachers. Then, a mixture conditional latent growth model is estimated with covariates affecting the latent parameters and class membership.

Model estimation identifies a large group of university courses with a high level of satisfaction, which stays constant over time, and a small group of problematic courses with low satisfaction, moreover, that decreases over the three considered academic years. Interesting significant effects of covariates related to both the teacher and the didactic activity are estimated.

Statistical analyses show that the implementation of innovative didactic practices and commitment to quality of teaching are important factors to be encouraged by the university management. On the contrary, the traditionalist way of teaching and a low passion for teaching do not improve students’ satisfaction.

Extant research on job insecurity has traditionally investigated this construct as a hindrance stressor, based on theoretical developments and meta-analytical results that have shown consistent negative relationships between job insecurity and a host of organizational outcomes. In this chapter, the authors take a person-centered perspective based on the transactional theory of stress and argue that employees can and do appraise job insecurity in different ways which is manifested by qualitatively distinct latent profiles. The authors also argue that certain positive psychological variables (i.e., hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and grit) might influence one’s odds to belong to specific appraisal latent classes. Using a cross-lagged dataset of 322 US-based employees, the authors found evidence of five qualitatively different latent profiles (i.e., employees who viewed job insecurity as: (1) irrelevant, (2) simultaneously moderately challenging and hindering, (3) primarily hindering, (4) both highly challenging and highly hindering, or (5) primarily challenging). Further, the results showed that higher grit was associated with higher odds of belonging to any of the appraisal profiles compared to the high challenge/high hindrance group whereas higher self-efficacy was associated with higher odds of belonging to the irrelevant group compared to any of the appraisal profiles. Hope and optimism, however, did not influence latent class membership. The authors discuss the implications for theory and practice considering seemingly paradoxical findings demonstrating sometimes positive and sometimes negative outcomes of job insecurity, as well as traditional assumptions that employees primarily view job insecurity as either a hindrance or a challenge.