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While investor relations have become an established corporate function, research into how investor relations officers (IROs) practice measurement and evaluation is limited. The purpose of this paper is to examine which approaches and metrics IROs use to gauge their success.

To address this gap in the literature, this study surveyed (n=384) the corporate membership of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), the world's largest investor relations association, on the topic of measurement and evaluation.

The results indicate that IROs strongly (80 percent) believe that mixed-methods (i.e. both quantitative and qualitative methods) should be used to measure the success of investor relations. Mixed-methods advocates place significantly more importance on measurement than IROs that prefer quantitative- or qualitative-only approaches.

The results of this survey indicate that IROs typically place the most value on metrics that are qualitative, non-financial and relationship-oriented. These findings suggest that IROs believe they should be evaluated in large part on their competency at relationship management.

From a benchmarking perspective, these findings suggest that IROs looking to align with their peers should use a mix of both quantitative and qualitative evaluation measures that are non-financial and relationship management-focused.

These findings contribute to recent efforts to explicate a general theory of investor relations. While investor relations scholarship has grown in recent years, up until this point, little attention had been paid to measurement and evaluation.

The conditions under which forecasts from expert judgement outperform traditional quantitative methods are investigated. It is shown that judgement is better than quantitative techniques at estimating the magnitude, onset, and duration of temporary change. On the other hand, quantitative methods provide superior performance during periods of no change, or constancy, in the data pattern. These propositions were tested on a sample of real business time series. To demonstrate how these propositions might be implemented, and to assess the potential value of doing so, a simple rule is tested on when to switch from quantitative to judgemental forecasts. The results show that it significantly reduces forecast error. These findings provide operations managers with some guidelines as to when (and when not) they should intervene in the forecasting process.

The authors have systematically reviewed 534 corporate social responsibility communication (CSRC) papers, updating the current debate about the ontological and epistemological paradigms that characterize the field, and providing evidence of the interactions between these paradigms and the related methodological choices. The purpose of this paper is to provide theoretical and methodological implications for future research in the CSRC research domain.

The authors used the Scopus database to search for titles, abstracts and related keywords with two queries sets relating to corporate social responsibility (e.g. corporate ethical, corporate environmental, social responsibility, corporate accountability) and CSRC (e.g. reporting, disclosure, dialogue, sensemaking). The authors identified 534 empirical papers (2000–2016), which the authors coded manually to identify the research methods and research designs (Creswell, 2013). The authors then developed an ad hoc dictionary whose keywords relate to the three primary CSRC approaches (instrumental, normative and constitutive). Using the software Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, the authors undertook an automated content analysis in order to measure these approaches’ relative popularity and compare the methods employed in empirical research.

The authors found that the instrumental approach, which belongs to the functionalist paradigm, dominates the CSRC literature with its relative weight being constant over time. The normative approach also belongs to the functionalist paradigm, but plays a minor yet enduring role. The constitutive approach belongs to the interpretive paradigm and grew slightly over time, but still remains largely beyond the instrumental approach. In the instrumental approach, many papers report on descriptive empirical analyses. In the constitutive approach, theory-method relationships are in line with the various paradigmatic traits, while the normative approach presents critical issues. Regarding methodology, according to the findings, the literature review underlines three major limitations that characterize the existing empirical evidence and provides avenues for future research. While multi-paradigmatic research is promoted in the CRSC literature (Crane and Glozer, 2016; Morsing, 2017; Schoeneborn and Trittin, 2013), the authors found no empirical evidence.

This is the first paper to systematically review empirical research in the CSRC field and is also the first to address the relationship between research paradigms, theoretical approaches, and methods. Further, the authors suggest a novel way to develop systematic reviews (i.e. via quantitative, automated content analysis), which can now also be applied in other literature streams and in other contexts.

As new technologies such as immersive and augmented platforms emerge, training approaches are also transforming. The virtual reality (VR) platform provides a completely immersive learning experience for simulated training. Despite increased prevalence of these technologies, the extent literature is lagging behind in terms of evaluating and assessing such innovative training models. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap through exploring the traditional approaches of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods as well as the cutting-edge biometric approach in the evaluation and assessment of the VR-based simulated training and discuss implications for simulated training based on immersive technologies.

Evaluation and assessment is one of the most critical components of training and development. Inaccurate or ineffective approaches to evaluate and assess training programs not only risk the successful attainment of training goals and outcomes, but they also harm trainees by misleading them about their training performances and experiences. This paper uses a review of existing literature to explore effective approaches for the evaluation and assessment of VR-based simulated training and conceptually discusses new capacities in capturing involuntary trainee reaction toward stimuli, in addition to traditional evaluation and assessment methods.

Immersive VR-based simulated training is uncharted territory for trainers and human resource development professionals. The findings indicate that existing approaches are still viable options for the evaluation and assessment of this new training technology. However, biometrics presents new frontiers in this arena through its capacity for obtaining trainee emotional responses to stimuli during training, as well as providing a venue free of personal bias and external influences in determining trainee perceptions.

This paper addresses an important gap in the field of training and development by studying the affordances of the latest biometric technology for evaluation and assessment in VR-based simulated training. The existing literature is very limited in its focus on immersive training technologies such as VR in general and evaluation and assessment in particular. The paper presents new insights to both researchers and practitioners in the field of training and development.

To outline how psychology as one of the original approaches to human‐computer interaction (HCI) has formed a key part of the HCI literature, and to discuss the need for psychological approaches to HCI and system development.

The contributions to the journal Human‐Computer Interaction is examined from the journal's start in 1985 up to the millennium. The analysis focuses the three main elements, task, user and computer, in the classic study “Psychology of human‐computer interaction” from 1983.

Provides information about authorship, and form and focus of research published. The paper concludes that already from the beginning, HCI researchers too narrowly used Card et al.'s analytical framework. Today it has developed into a sub‐theory within a multidisciplinary HCI science and in this role it continues to be an important cumulative factor in HCI.

The main conclusion about the role of psychology in HCI only applies to the mainly US authors who published in the journal investigated in the given period. European research focusing on information technology and people may differ in important ways.

A much needed discussion of a central document of historical importance tying together many HCI researchers and a range of HCI studies.

This paper fulfils partly the need for meta‐analyses of the psychological approach to HCI.

The objective of this paper is to explore the dominating approaches that appear in top marketing journals.

This research is restricted to the exploration of one top journal in marketing. The journal title is kept anonymous as the topic goes beyond the targeted journal and aspires to be of interest to the marketing discipline and its research community. A triangular approach was used, which was divided into two parts.

Part one – the exploration of the editorial descriptions of selected top marketing journals shows that they tend to describe their published articles according to some key features. Part two – the content analysis of 151 articles generated an extremely skewed outcome. It appears to be almost a pre‐requisite to have applied quantitative approaches in order to make it successfully through the blind review process and get published in the targeted journal.

This research is limited to explore one of the top marketing journals. The journal is kept anonymous as the idea is not to question or hang out a specific journal, but rather to stimulate the debate of current approaches published in the top marketing journals.

The exploration of the top marketing journal shows a stereotype and myopic view of what is classified as “high quality” or “appropriate” research approaches. The editors and the editorial boards should let paradigmatic and dogmatic research myopia stand back in favour of broadminded and challenging research efforts. They should strive to avoid traditionalism and blinkers.

An increased trust and acceptability of other approaches than quantitative ones in top marketing journals would be desirable. A humble request would be to give other approaches a fair chance to get into the arena of top marketing journals. The paper contends that there may be a fatal “paradoxnoia” of top journal(s) in marketing – a “paradoxnoia” of approaches that may harm and undermine the respectability of the marketing discipline and its research community.

Focuses on the pre‐testing of a global press advertising campaign for Seagram’s Chivas Regal whisky and contrasts the contributions of qualitative and quantitative applications. Examines how an informed decision could be made on the most appropriate research approach ‐ in particular the value of the concept of validity; and the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative and quantitative pre‐testing given the emotional nature of the product category, importance of branding and nature of advertising. These questions are addressed in this paper through focusing on the research needs for the “global campaign” as well as the need in Japan to evaluate the global campaign and an independently developed local campaign. In the case of Japan, Seagram’s management elected to examine two different research approaches ‐ qualitative and quantitative ‐ to address the question “how to effectively pre‐test international press advertising”. This exercise demonstrated that the two approaches produced seemingly contradictory findings. Reasons for this are discussed.

Mixed methods research is useful to enhance theoretical and practical research contributions. However, single methods have predominated much logistics and supply chain management (LSCM) research. This paper presents a review of mixed methods research across ten years in LSCM to determine their usage, identify benefits and inhibitors, and provide suggestions for LSCM researchers to realise the benefits from using mixed methods.

This paper adopts a mixed methods approach through a quantitative analysis of methods used in six leading LSCM journals, an e-mail survey of mixed methods article authors during the review period, and four published case studies that used mixed methods.

Only 144 (ten percent) of all empirical articles were published using mixed methods during the review period. A range of benefits and inhibitors regarding mixed methods adoption were found. Suggestions for LSCM authors include research training in mixed methods use and developing a project-specific research design due to the specificity and complexity associated with mixed methods research.

LSCM is at a critical juncture, shaped by new contexts, themes and challenges, and would benefit from different research approaches and methods. This paper contributes to the LSCM domain through analysing the current state, benefits and inhibitors of mixed methods research in LSCM journals to provide a renewed call to action and guidelines for mixed methods LSCM research, and suggesting research design adaptation to enable agile and resilient research when investigating rapidly changing and complex phenomena.

Mixed methods research is an approach for blending quantitative and qualitative data analyses in a single study. It emerged as an alternative to the dichotomy of qualitative and quantitative traditions in the past 20 years. Some strengths of mixed methods research include the ability to generate and test theory, the capability to answer complex research questions, and the possibility of corroborating findings.

We argue the mixed methods approach fits well with comparative education studies because they seek to acquire data to make sound and meaningful comparisons about the experience and performance of education systems in different countries. By nature, comparative education attempts to explain why educational systems vary and to explore how education relates to wider social factors and forces. It consists of both confirmatory and exploratory inquiries that are based on the fundamental belief that education can be improved in all nations. Essentially, the mixed methods approach can adequately support the goals of comparative education studies, with its quantitative components serving the confirmatory objectives and the qualitative components attending to the exploratory end.

In this study, we conducted a survey of articles published between 2000 and 2014 in Comparative Education Review, Comparative Education, and Compare to discern the changes in patterns and preferences of dominant research methods. By surveying the three major journals in the field, we hope to reveal the means by which comparative education is conducted in its constituency. At the very least, we believe our study can provide important reference points for speculation about where comparative education might be headed in terms of methodology and methods.

Activity‐based approaches, often referred to as activity‐based costing or activity‐based management, have recently gained attention as being useful tools for a better understanding of cost behaviour and cost control. Such approaches aim at providing accurate cost information in order to keep track of costs and to yield continuous improvement. Presents two case studies where activity‐based projects were run. The two firms studied represent two different objectives with the activity analysis, namely product costing and activity control. The characteristics of the activity information affect its usefulness, and in this article, activity information is subdivided into quantitative and qualitative information. Argues that it is important to have a clear objective with an activity‐based approach in order to gather the appropriate type of activity information and thereby exploit the potential improvement opportunities. Only quantitative activity information suffices for approaches aiming at costing, whereas approaches aiming at activity control require also qualitative activity information. The two case studies illustrate the significance of using the type of activity information that fits the purpose.