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The main purpose of this paper was to evaluate the validation process of food safety control measures.

The validation of control measures has been analyzed at 50 food companies in Serbia. The sample included companies that produce food of both plant and animal origin and have certified food safety management systems. A total of 156 control measures that combat physical hazards (41.6%), followed by microbial hazards (34.0%) and chemical hazards (24.4%), have been analyzed. To enable quantification of the validation protocols, each control measure was assigned a score.

The validation scores showed that the highest level of validation was observed in large companies, as opposed to small and medium-sized companies (p < 0.05). The type of food safety hazards and the food sector did not reveal any statistical differences in-between the scores. The main approach to validating control measures was referring to the technical documentation of equipment used (52.6%), followed by scientific and legal requirements (30.7%). Less than 20% of the analyzed control measures were validated with operational data collected on-site. No mathematical modeling was observed for the sampled food companies. Future steps should include the development of validation guides for different types of control measures and training modules.

This study can serve as an improvement guide for food safety consultants, food safety auditors, certification bodies, inspection services, food technologists and food managers.

This study is one of the first to provide an insight into how food companies validate their control measures to combat microbial, chemical and physical food safety hazards.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a method to measure the difficulties of items required to achieve Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) validation and investigated companies’ abilities to obtain AEO certification based on an empirical analysis of 201 supply chain-related companies in Taiwan.

The Rasch model was applied to convert the ordinal raw data collected from questionnaire surveys into values on an interval scale to measure companies’ abilities and item difficulties for AEO validation. The model was estimated using WINSTEP, which is an iterative computer program.

The study results show that self-risk assessment and the formulation of security policies are the most difficult items to accomplish for AEO validation, whereas establishing security facilities is the easiest task to accomplish. Additionally, a company’s ability to obtain AEO validation was found to be positively correlated with a company’s turnover volume and its number of staff.

This research focusses on supply chain-related companies in Taiwan. Thus, the findings may not be transferable directly to other companies, circumstances, or countries.

Using the Rasch analysis, both company’s abilities and item difficulties could be measured numerically and compared meaningfully. The study results could be used as references for the government to create polices to guide companies to meet the requirements of AEO validation in the future.

According to the study results, only 43.28 percent of the respondent companies have sufficient confidence to completely comply with all 26 security items for AEO validation; this implies that AEO validation criteria should be adjusted or some programs should be provided by the government to improve companies’ abilities for AEO validation, if the government genuinely wants to effectively encourage companies to obtain AEO certification.

This study introduced a method to estimate items’ difficulties and companies’ abilities for AEO validation with values on a consistent interval scale. Thus, a comparison between companies’ abilities and items’ difficulties could be graphically illustrated. The results of this study provide a useful tool to investigate whether the AEO validation criteria are appropriate for the potential companies that can apply for AEO validation.

This paper aims to extend Rossiter’s C-OAR-SE method of measure design (IJRM, 2002, p. 19, p. 4, pp. 305-335; EJM, 2011, p. 45, p. 11, p. 12, pp. 1561-1588) by proposing five distinct construct models for designing optimally content-valid multiple-item and single-item measures.

The paper begins by dismissing convergent validation, the core procedure in Nunnally’s (1978) and Churchill’s (1979) psychometric method of measure design which allows alternative measures of the same construct. The method of dismissal is the mathematical demonstration that an alternative measure, no matter how highly its scores converge with those from the original measure, will inevitably produce different findings. The only solution to this knowledge-threatening problem is to agree on an optimal measure of each of our major constructs and to use only that measure in all future research, as is standard practice in the physical sciences. The paper concludes by proposing an extension of Rossiter’s C-OAR-SE method to design optimal standard measures of judgment constructs, the most prevalent type of construct in marketing.

The findings are, first, the mathematical dismissal of the accepted practice of convergent validation of alternative measures of the same construct, which paves the way for, second, the proposal of five new C-OAR-SE-based construct models for designing optimal standard measures of judgment constructs, three of which require a multiple-item measure and two of which a single-item measure.

The common practice of accepting alternative measures of the same construct causes major problems for the social sciences: when different measures are used, it becomes impossible, except by remote chance, to replicate findings; meta-analyses become meaningless because the findings are averaged over different measures; and empirical generalizations cannot be trusted when measures are changed. These problems mean that we cannot continue to accept alternative measures of the constructs and that, for each construct, an optimal standard measure must be found.

The ideas in this paper, which have untold value for the future of marketing as a legitimate science, are unique to Rossiter’s C-OAR-SE method of measure design.

Addresses the standardization of the measurements and the labels for concepts commonly used in the study of work organizations. As a reference handbook and research tool, seeks to improve measurement in the study of work organizations and to facilitate the teaching of introductory courses in this subject. Focuses solely on work organizations, that is, social systems in which members work for money. Defines measurement and distinguishes four levels: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Selects specific measures on the basis of quality, diversity, simplicity and availability and evaluates each measure for its validity and reliability. Employs a set of 38 concepts ‐ ranging from “absenteeism” to “turnover” as the handbook’s frame of reference. Concludes by reviewing organizational measurement over the past 30 years and recommending future measurement reseach.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current state of the art and trends with regard to business process measurement by means of a systematic review of literature.

The results are obtained through a systematic review carried out according to existing relevant guidelines. Additionally, a specific methodology through which to systematically obtain all the most important journals is followed. In total, 19 relevant articles are selected and later analyzed. A subsequent critical analysis of the data obtained is applied to identify the gaps in the current literature.

A considerable effort has been made by researchers in the field of business process measurement, particularly in recent years. Many of the defined measures for business processes have been applied to models (approximately 77 per cent). Most of the initiatives concerning business measurement have been adapted from the software engineering field. A small percentage of the existing business process measures has been empirically validated.

The results presented contribute towards providing an updated overview of the current state of research into business process measurement, in order to identify existing research gaps and concerns on which ongoing and future research efforts on this topic can be focused.

The objective of this research was to propose and validate a holistic framework for information security culture evaluation, built around a novel approach, which includes technological, organizational and social issues. The framework's validity and reliability were determined with the help of experts in the information security field and by using multivariate statistical methods.

The conceptual framework was constructed upon a detailed literature review and validated using a range of methods: first, measuring instrument was developed, and then content and construct validity of measuring instrument was confirmed via experts' opinion and by closed map sorting method. Convergent validity was confirmed by factor analysis, while the reliability of the measuring instrument was tested using Cronbach's alpha coefficient to measure internal consistency.

The proposed framework was validated based upon the results of empirical research and the usage of multivariate analysis. The resulting framework ultimately consists of 46 items (manifest variables), describing eight factors (first level latent variables), grouped into three categories (second level latent variables). These three categories were built around technological, organizational and social issues.

This paper contributes to the body of knowledge in information security culture by developing and validating holistic framework for information security culture evaluation, which does not observe information security culture in only one aspect but takes into account its organizational, sociological and technical component.

Identifying and assessing social skills has been a powerful way of linking human behaviour and human interaction with their consequences at significant developmental levels. There are some data connecting social skills with interpersonal violence but not yet with elder abuse. The reason might be the scarcity of quick and easy-to-apply measures of social skills. This study aims to adapt and validate the social skills inventory (SSI) (Del Prette and Del Prette, 2001) to the Portuguese population.

The authors conducted two studies. In Study 1, the authors gathered the psychometric characteristics of the SSI-Del-Prette through exploratoryfactor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In Study 2, the authors correlated the new measure with measures of depression and empathy to test for divergent and concurrent validity.

The obtained version of the SSI-Del-Prette showed a good model fit and internal consistency. This measure presented six factors: conversation and social confidence, easiness of self-exposure, self-expression of positive affect, coping assertively with risk, defending interests and opinions and giving and receiving praise. The indicators of convergent and divergent validity supported the integrity of the measure.

The adaptation of this measure of social skills opens new possibilities for studying these skills.

This paper provides an adaptation of a measure of six social skills expanded to the older adult population.

This study aims to propose increasing the number of dimensions around current intergenerational influence (IGI) construct and renaming it to intergenerational brand influence (IGBI). This research describes the development and validation of the items comprising the dimensions of this new construct.

This study performed a literature review to identify potential dimensions for IGBI based on previous research about IGI. Analysis of items used to measure IGI was conducted to establish a set for each dimension. A structured, self-administered survey was used. Item reduction, measure validation and regression analysis were conducted to measure the predictive validity of the instrument. Moreover, three separate studies were conducted to develop and validate IGBI construct.

IGBI quantifies the various interactions that contribute to intergenerational brand transfer. The interactions could be classified according to one of the five IGBI dimensions: communication, recommendation, observed behavior, good impression and co-shopping with parents.

IGBI recognizes the relevance of influence behaviors such as children observing their parents buy a brand, children participating in shopping and children attempting to develop a good impression through brand loyalty. The first two behaviors indicate the importance of brands advocating purchase behavior as a family activity. The measure of good impression suggests that consumers use brands to maintain family connections, which should be considered a pertinent brand strategy.

This study develops the aforementioned five IGBI dimensions that describe the interactions between parent–child consumers that result in brand transfer.

The purpose of this paper is to present a newly developed scale useful for measuring supply chain security culture (SCSC), defined as the overall organizational philosophy that creates supply chain security as a priority among its employees through embracing and projecting norms and values to support secure activities and to be vigilant with security efforts.

The approach to developing a scale for SCSC follows the steps presented by Churchill. This includes conducting steps such as: generating items, establishing face and content validity, conducting a pretest to refine items, and validating the scale through an additional data collection so reliability, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity can be evaluated.

The process yielded a unidimensional, five‐item scale with strong psychometric properties. Through empirical verification, this scale is shown to exhibit high levels of reliability and validity.

Organizational culture has been a construct of interest in social science research for many years. The new phenomenon of supply chain security has been recently introduced to academics and practitioners. Thus, the presented scale has applications for theory and practice. Limitations of the study include allowing one error term to correlate in the SCSC scale and the resiliency scale, a somewhat low response rate, and no ability to test for common method variance bias.

Practitioners will find the presented scale useful in gauging the culture of their respective organizations in terms of supply chain security. A security focused culture is important for organizations to protect their supply chain.

The paper provides a useful measurement tool for use in future research addressing the social aspects of security management within the supply chain context.