Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that influence effective workplace designs for knowledge workers.

During spring 2016, the employees in a large institution for research and higher education, a large consultancy company and a medium-sized consultancy company (in total 4367 employees) in Norway received invitations to participate in an anonymous online survey about workplaces and facilities. In all, 1,670 employees answered the survey (38.2 per cent response rate). The data have been analyzed with IBM SPSS version 23, among others through use of exploratory factor analysis and two-way ANOVA.

Most respondents at the institution for research and higher education have cell offices. Most respondents in the two consultancy companies have open and flexible offices. This paper indicate the respondents’ preferences or perception of their workstation and the workplace’s fit for their tasks is affected both by the respondents’ type of office and how much time they spend at their workstation during the week. There are also possible age or generation effects.

One methodical weakness in the present paper is that two-way ANOVA has been applied on survey data. Experiments are usually arranged to provide almost equal numbers of observations in each category. This is usually not possible with survey data. However, despite this weakness, the present paper provides several findings that challenge some of the workplace research’s taken for givens.

The present paper indicates that facility managers and others responsible for office and workplace design are advised to take the employees’ tasks and work patterns into consideration when designing workplaces and providing offices and workstations to their end-users. The present paper also indicates that employees require different kinds of support facilities and services depending on what kind of offices and workplaces they have.

This is a large N empirical study among knowledge workers in three organizations, one public administration and two private enterprises. The present paper indicate that provision of offices and workstations with supporting facilities should be differentiated according to the end-users’ work tasks and work patterns.

Individual differences are critical in determining how individuals think and behave in different ways. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of individual differences on users’ perceptions of print and electronic resources in terms of ease of use, usefulness and usage in the hopes that a better understanding of these effects can help Chinese university libraries to meet the diversified information needs of their users more specifically and appropriately so that the second-level capability divide and third-level outcome divide of library information resources can be much reduced.

Data collected from 273 library users were used for data analysis. The independent samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and two-way ANOVA were employed. Meanwhile, the quantitative analysis is supplemented by the qualitative interviews which present richer data about the use of specific types of print and electronic resources.

The effect of basic characteristics (gender, age, field) and experience (experience with library print resources, experience with library electronic resources, which library resources were used first) on users’ perceptions of print and electronic resources in terms of ease of use, usefulness and usage was explored and discussed. Meanwhile, the two-way interaction effect was examined and 13 significant interaction effects were presented.

Building on the digital divide, this study examines ease of use, usefulness and usage in terms of individual differences which cover not only basic characteristics but also experience and two-way interaction, which the authors think provides a new view for library information resources research and practice alike in China.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of reciprocating compressor speeds and valve conditions on the roor-mean-square (RMS) value of burst acoustic emission (AE) signals associated with the physical motion of valves. The study attempts to explore the potential of AE signal in the estimation of valve damage under varying compressor speeds.

This study involves the acquisition of AE signal, valve flow rate, pressure and temperature at the suction valve of an air compressor with speed varrying from 450 to 800 rpm. The AE signals correspond to one compressor cycle obtained from two simulated valve damage conditions, namely, the single leak and double leak conditions are compared to those of the normal valve plate. To examine the effects of valve conditions and speeds on AE RMS values, two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is conducted. Finally, regression analysis is performed to investigate the relationship of AE RMS with the speed and valve flow rate for different valve conditions.

The results showed that AE RMS values computed from suction valve opening (SVO), suction valve closing (SVC) and discharge valve opening (DVO) events are significantly affected by both valve conditions and speeds. The AE RMS value computed from SVO event showed high linear correlation with speed compared to SVC and DVO events for all valve damage conditions. As this study is conducted at a compressor running at freeload, increasing speed of compressor also results in the increment of flow rate. Thus, the valve flow rate can also be empirically derived from the AE RMS value through the regression method, enabling a better estimation of valve damages.

The experimental test rig of this study is confined to a small pressure ratio range of 1.38–2.03 (free-loading condition). Besides, the air compressor is assumed to be operated at a constant speed.

This study employed the statistical methods namely the ANOVA and regression analysis for valve damage estimation at varying compressor speeds. It can enable a plant personnel to make a better prediction on the loss of compressor efficiency and help them to justify the time for valve replacement in future.

The ‘lowest‐price wins’ philosophy has been a consistent theme of contractor selection over the years. To comprehensively elucidate this selection preference and compare it with the use of a multi‐criteria selection (MCS) approach in the tenderer evaluation process, this paper investigates MCS tender price selection preferences. That is, project‐specific criteria (PSC) and lowest‐price wins selection practices of UK construction clients, in both building and civil engineering works at in detail via results of the empirical survey. The investigation provides further insight into the evaluation of contractors' attributes (i.e. PSC). Levels of importance assigned (LIA) for each criterion were analysed (i.e. quantitative analysis of the differences in opinions and, variance amongst the respondents) in a multivariate statistical method. Importance attached by construction clients to the ‘lowest‐price wins’ philosophy is also presented. Contrast was made between the MCS approach and the ‘lowest‐price wins’ option amongst the surveyed construction clients. It was found that increased awareness of the use of PSC prevailed amongst the survey construction clients. This indicated that cost has to be tempered with the evaluation of PSC and the attempt of construction clients searching for a new evaluation paradigm (i.e. adoption of MCS approach rather than basing on the lowest‐price wins alone).

While manufacturing digitalization is currently considered an important enabler of competitive advantage, its applicability across the industrial spectrum is unclear. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the use of digital technologies and different production environments and company sizes. The focus is on three aspects of digitalization: shop floor digitalization, technologies for vertical and horizontal integration and organizational IT competence.

This study is based on data gathered from a survey questionnaire sent to 212 Norwegian manufacturing companies. To test the formulated hypotheses, the two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) method was used.

This study confirmed that large enterprises (LEs) have a significantly higher level of shop floor digitalization and organizational IT competence than small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Regarding the difference between production environments, no statistically significant difference in the implementation level of the investigated digitalization aspects could be found.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies to investigate differences in the adoption of digital technologies between different groups of production environments. This study also provides updated findings related to the relationship between digitalization and company size. The findings presented in this paper provide important insights into directing future research efforts to assist environments that are currently lagging behind in their digital transformation.

This study assessed the effect of photo themes to facilitate social media user engagement in Facebook brand pages and emphasized the important role of designing images for developing destination marketing strategies.

This study analyzed 8,900 posts that were published by official tourism destination marketers for each destination (Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea). Text mining analysis, image thematic coding analysis and two-way ANOVA were applied to examine the significant differences across proposed determinants for the following engagements: the numbers of likes, comments and shares.

The results indicated that photographs on social media of three tourism destinations can be explored based on 11 categories of image themes. The themes' significant and distinct effects on three indicators of social media engagement were verified.

This research presented methodological insights by integrating thematic and statistical analyses with social media analytics. The findings of this study provided theoretical evidence of the importance of image themes in the context of social media engagement marketing. Based on the implications of this study, practitioners would enhance the effectiveness of social media marketing.

There is growing scholarly interest in the use of penalty in employment contracts which reduce employees' pay if the employee's performance does not meet a pre-specified performance threshold. Prior accounting research has focused exclusively on the effect of penalty on employee performance. In this study, the authors extend earlier research by examining how penalty affects the employers' wage offers. Prior research suggests that employers' generous wage offers in employment contracts are normally translated as trust by employees who in turn reciprocate with higher effort. The authors present a theory that predicts penalty reduces employers' wage offers. Then, the authors propose unrestricted communication between employers and employees as a potential moderator for the negative effect of penalty on trust and reciprocity.

The authors implement a controlled lab experiment with a 2 × 3 experimental design (Penalty: Present and Absent; and Communication: None, One-Way and Two-Way).

The authors develop their predictions by utilizing insights from motivational-crowding and organizational communication theories. The authors hypothesize and find evidence that employers' ability to penalize employees can reduce employers' motivation to offer generous wages. As a result, reduced trust demotivates employees to provide high effort. However, the authors find that a two-way communication moderates the negative effect of penalties by restoring trust, thereby, increasing reciprocity. Finally, the authors find evidence that relationship-oriented messages explain the moderating effect of communication.

This study is subject to limitations inherent in all experimental studies. The decisions in the study experiment are less complex than those found in practice. Moreover, there are significantly higher costs and potential benefits to shirk on effort in practice. The authors encourage future research on other organizational features that would influence the generalizability of their theory and results. Nonetheless, this study makes an important contribution to the literature on trust, reciprocity, gift-exchange contracts, managerial controls and communication.

This paper has several important implications for theory and practice. The authors show that the presence of penalty may not automatically result in increasing employees' effort level, contrary to traditional economic theory predictions. This effect is driven mainly by the crowding out effect of a penalty on employers' desire to signal trust. Therefore, the presence of an open communication channel may become an important tool to reverse the psychological effect of reduced trust when penalty is present. Therefore, the study's findings contribute to the trust–reciprocity literature on how management control system influences employers' and employees' behavior. These findings are especially germane given the trend in the workplace toward establishing open communication at different levels within the firm hierarchy. The study also contributes to the literature on trust–reciprocity as critical informal controls and social norms in accounting practices (Bicchieri, 2006; Stevens, 2019), shedding light on how firms may influence employees' reciprocity in management control practices and induce them to act in line with the firm's objectives by opening communication channels.

Prior accounting research document that penalty in employment contracts increases employee performance due to loss aversion. The study, however, demonstrates that the positive effect of penalty is not sustained in a gift-exchange contract. Specifically, the study's experimental results provide evidence that the availability of penalties can psychologically change the way employers perceive their decisions on offering generous wages (i.e. trust) and consequently reduce employees' reciprocation of high effort levels. Yet, the authors propose a two-way communication as a restorative mechanism for the lost trust. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The aim of this study is to investigate perceptions of cycle commuting barriers in relation to stage of change, gender and occupational role. Stage of change is a key construct of the transtheoretical model of behaviour change that defines behavioural readiness (intentions and actions) into five distinct categories.

A cross‐sectional online questionnaire was completed by staff and PhD students (n=831) based in cycle‐friendly buildings in a large UK university. The questionnaire included questions relating to demographics, stages of behaviour change and 18 potential barriers. Data were analysed using t‐tests, one‐way ANOVAs and two‐way ANOVAs.

Overall, environmental factors were perceived as the biggest barriers to cycle commuting. However, perceptions of cycle commuting barriers significantly differed between stages of change, genders and occupational roles. Precontemplators, females and support staff commonly perceived greater barriers to cycle commuting compared to maintainers, males and academic staff.

The results indicate that tailored individual‐level behaviour change interventions focusing on reducing perceptions of barriers that take into account stage of change, gender and occupational differences may play a role in encouraging people to cycle to work.

The study reveals evidence of a significant subjective element involved in perception formation of some potential barriers associated with cycle commuting. Women not only hold stronger perceptions compared to males of risk‐orientated barriers but also of more general barriers associated with cycle commuting. The findings also suggest that occupational roles may influence an individual's perceptions of cycle commuting barriers.

The Compliance Assurance Process (CAP) is a federally funded IRS corporate audit program. The program’s goal is to determine the best tax treatment for complex transactions before a corporation files its tax return. The US Department of the Treasury has voiced concerns regarding resource constraints and whether the program enhances public (nonprofessional investor) and investor confidence. We conduct a behavioral experiment using 176 Master of Business Administration and Master of Accounting students as proxies for nonprofessional investors. In the experiment, we examine the effects of CAP participation and corporate tax risk profile on judgments about financial statement credibility. We use a 2 × 2 experimental design with corporate tax risk profile manipulated as high risk or low risk and participation in CAP manipulated as participatory or non-participatory. This research investigates whether CAP program participation and/or tax risk level influence nonprofessional investors’ perceptions of the certainty and accuracy of the provision for income taxes. The results suggest both CAP program participation and tax risk influence nonprofessional investors’ perceptions of the certainty of the income tax provision; and tax risk also influences nonprofessional investors’ perception of the accuracy of the income tax provision.

This research sets out to assess the relevance and impact of interpersonal contact, in the form of multicultural experience, in the development of socio‐cultural adaptation for international students studying in their new country. The original contribution of this research is the application of a statistical methodology to this subject area in the Asia Pacific Basin.

The data analysis consisted of quantitative, longitudinal and cross‐sectional studies, from a sample consisting of students studying an international business degree, in the categories of living in national home culture or out of national home culture. Longitudinally, 88 students were sampled at the beginning of the semester and four months later. The cross‐sectional study of 380 students, over three years, was for students in these same categories, on the Australian and Malaysian campuses.

The analysis identified that socio‐cultural adaptation statistically demonstrates an initial negative relationship with multicultural experience, but develops beyond this period with a positive increase and relationship at the end of three years. There were no significant differences for socio‐cultural adaptation and multicultural experience between students studying in or out of their national home culture.

The results statistically demonstrated a continuous increase of multicultural experience but also a U curve shape of socio‐cultural adaptation, thereby confirming previous qualitative research on the culture shock phenomena.

This is the only statistical research to date on the U curve phenomena in the Asia Pacific Basin.