Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Moderated regression'

As export competition becomes more intense and export success vital for survival (Katsikeas, 1994), so the effective processing and use of information regarding the international environment becomes a critical prerequisite for gaining competitive advantage (Leonidou and Theodosiou, 2004). Symbolic use of information is one type of information use, which although relatively underexplored to date, may be the most prevalent form of information use within organisations – especially in an export setting (Beyer and Trice, 1982). Symbolic use occurs when information is used for purposes other than the ones which led to its collection (Menon and Varadarajan, 1992). Symbolic use of information has been conceptualised as a multi-dimensional construct encompassing various dimensions (Vyas and Souchon, 2003). Examples include “exporters that engage in distorting market research findings, taking conclusions out of context, disclosing only the findings that confirm an executive‟s predetermined position or consciously ignoring information” (Toften and Olsen, 2004, p. 106). Symbolic use can also legitimate decisions reached on the basis of intuition or managerial assumptions (Vyas and Souchon, 2003). Although conceptual propositions of the potential relationship between each of the symbolic use dimensions and performance exist (Vyas and Souchon 2003), no empirical research has yet been undertaken. As a result, little is known about how and why symbolic use of export information may affect export performance, and under what circumstances. Furthermore, reliable and valid measures for each one of the symbolic use dimensions are absent in the literature. The purpose of this thesis is to fill in these research gaps. In so doing, a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods is employed. The exploratory phase takes the form of in depth interviews with export decision makers in the UK. The data collected in this exploratory phase are analysed through the use of within-case and cross-case displays as per Miles and Huberman (1994) and are used not just for hypothesis development, but also to identify potential outcomes of using information symbolically in specific ways and to create pools of items for the development of measures of symbolic use. (Continues...).

C-reactive protein (CRP) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, and stroke. In addition to traditional risk factors of CVD, some studies have shown that depression and anger independently predict CRP, but other studies have found null results, and few, if any, studies have considered possible roles of physical activity and diet. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of certain psychosocial variables to predict CRP controlling for traditional CVD risk factors. Cross-sectional data for 300 healthy women who participated in the Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study were analyzed. Regression analyses were performed to determine whether anger, depression, social support, marital stress, and self-esteem were associated with CRP levels while controlling for relevant covariates. Analyses investigated possible mediating effects of certain aspects of diet and physical activity and whether body composition (measured by waist circumference) and fasting glucose moderates the relationship between psychosocial variables and CRP. We found that anger symptoms were negatively associated with CRP and anger discussion was positively associated with CRP controlling for several biological variables. Diet and physical activity did not explain the relationship between these anger variables and CRP. Social support in the forms of social attachment and social integration were positively associated with CRP among women with a larger waist circumference and higher fasting glucose, respectively. Marital stress was positively related to CRP among women with a larger waist circumference. Among women with a smaller waist circumference, marital stress was negatively related to CRP and social integration was positively related to CRP. These findings suggest that having a large waist in addition to less social support and more marital stress is disadvantageous with regard to CRP. Furthermore, it is possible that being quite thin may not necessarily be advantageous with regard to inflammation.

In order to drive sustainable financial profitability, service firms make significant investments in creating service environments that consumers will prefer over the environments of their competitors. To date, servicescape research is over-focused on understanding consumers’ emotional and physiological responses to servicescape attributes, rather than taking a holistic view of how consumers cognitively interpret servicescapes. This thesis argues that consumers will cognitively ascribe symbolic meanings to servicescapes and then evaluate if those meanings are congruent with their sense of Self in order to form a preference for a servicescape. Consequently, this thesis takes a Self Theory approach to servicescape symbolism to address the following broad research question: How do ascribed symbolic meanings influence servicescape preference? Using a three-study, mixed-method approach, this thesis investigates the symbolic meanings consumers ascribe to servicescapes and empirically tests whether the joint effects of congruence between consumer Self and the symbolic meanings ascribed to servicescapes influence consumers’ servicescape preference. First, Study One identifies the symbolic meanings ascribed to salient servicescape attributes using a combination of repertory tests and laddering techniques within 19 semi-structured individual depth interviews. Study Two modifies an existing scale to create a symbolic servicescape meaning scale in order to measure the symbolic meanings ascribed to servicescapes. Finally, Study Three utilises the Self-Congruity Model to empirically examine the joint effects of consumer Self and servicescape on consumers’ preference for servicescapes. Using polynomial regression with response surface analysis, 14 joint effect models demonstrate that both Self-Servicescape incongruity and congruity influence consumers’ preference for servicescapes. Combined, the findings of three studies suggest that the symbolic meanings ascribed to servicescapes and their (in)congruities with consumers’ sense of self can be used to predict consumers’ preferences for servicescapes. These findings have several key theoretical and practical contributions to services marketing.

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common breathing disorder with numerous health consequences, including greater risk of complications perioperatively. Undiagnosed OSA is known to place surgical patients at a higher risk of serious adverse events, including stroke and death. Polysomnography (PSG) assessment is the current gold standard test for diagnosing OSA. However, due to the significant time commitment and cost associated with PSG, a substantial number of OSA patients go undiagnosed before the perioperative period. Although the STOP-Bang questionnaire screening tool is currently used to help detect OSA patients, the low specificity to screen people without the disease is considered a major limitation. There is a clear need to develop a quick and effective prediction rule with higher overall accuracy to help streamline OSA diagnosis. Tracheal breathing sound analysis in awake patients at the bedside has shown potential to screen OSA patients with higher specificity compared to the STOP-Bang questionnaire. To date, no screening tools exist to detect OSA patients that combine the results of breathing sound analysis and STOP-Bang. Objectives: The present study aimed to develop a prediction rule, using both breathing sound analysis and variables in the STOP-Bang questionnaire, to better streamline the diagnosis of OSA. Methods: This prospective cohort study recruited patients referred for PSG at the Ottawa Hospital Sleep Centre from November 2016 to May 2017. The study conduct was approved by the Ottawa Health Science Network Research Ethics Board (#20160494-01H). After obtaining informed consent, anthropomorphic, breathing sound recordings, and STOP-Bang questionnaire data was collected from over 400 consenting patients. All patients that met the eligibility criteria were included. The breathing sound analysis and STOP-Bang results were utilized to design a prediction rule using logistic regression. Sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratio were used to compare the diagnostic performance of the final model. Results: Of the 439 consenting study participants, 280 study participants data were eligible for inclusion in the logistic regression analysis. Physician sleep specialists diagnosed 114 participants (41%) with moderate-to-severe OSA and 166 participants (59%) with normal-to-mild OSA. At a predicted probability of moderate-to-severe OSA greater than or equal to 0.5, breathing sound analysis had a similar sensitivity of 75.9 (95%CI; 65.4, 82.0) and higher specificity of 74.5% (95%CI; 68.5, 82.0) when compared to STOP-Bang with a sensitivity and specificity of 68.4% (95%CI; 58.9, 76.6) and 63.2% (95%CI: 55.0, 70.1), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity for the Safe-OSA rule, obtained by combining breathing sound analysis and STOP-Bang variables, were determined to be 75.4% (95%CI; 65.4, 82.0) and 74.5% (95%CI; 68.5, 82.0), respectively. A sensitivity analysis using a likelihood ratio test showed that breathing sound analysis contributed significantly to the performance of the Safe-OSA rule. The Safe-OSA rule was determined to be reasonably discriminative and well calibrated. The five-fold cross-validation showed similar results for the final model in the derivation and testing subsamples, which provides support for the internal validity of the Safe-OSA rule in our study population. Conclusion: The present study lends further support for the future testing of tracheal breathing sound analysis as a potential method to screen for moderate-to-severe OSA to help streamline patient care in the perioperative setting. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02987283.

While ‘trust in top management’ matters to organisational performance and effectiveness, low trust in top management remains an issue in many organisations despite their efforts in building trust. The persistence of such problems appears to be largely due to improper approach used in the treatments of trust. While the literature reflects a fair amount of effort directed towards an understanding of trust building process, little research, if any, has been done into three important issues that follow. First, the potential effects of group processes on employee perceptions of management’s trustworthiness. Second, the moderating effects of potential moderators on the relationships between trust in management and important organisational outcomes. Third, the potential impacts of cultural differences on trusting relationships.This research investigates into how organisations can strategise to deal with the persistent problem of low trust in top management. Backed by research evidence, the study provides insights for organisations to deal with this problem through (1) promoting group cohesiveness to improve employee trust in top management; and (2) promoting senior manager role-modelling to minimize the impacts of trust in top management on organisational outcomes.To carry out the research, this study develops a theoretical framework that includes group cohesiveness, top management’s trustworthiness factors, trust in top management, important organisational outcomes (i.e., affective commitment, job satisfaction, turnover intention, and intention-to-return), senior manager role-modelling, and their proposed interrelationships. From the theoretical framework emerges an analytical model which elucidates the theories and empirical evidence underlying the proposed relationships in the theoretical framework, and develops a series of theoretically justified and testable hypotheses to address the research questions/problem.Data collection was administered in two field studies conducted in WesternAustralia (the WA study) and Singapore (the SIN study). In both field studies, the population of interest was employees from a diverse range of industries. Thesampling frame for the WA study comprised ten (10) randomly selected companiesoperating in various industries; and a random sample of employees in a variety ofindustries. For the SIN study, the sampling frame included fifteen (15) randomlyselected companies operating in various industries. Of the 1,500 survey packsdistributed in the WA study, the hypotheses were empirically tested on a final sampleof 305 respondents using multiple regression analysis, simple regression analysis,and subgroup analysis. And, of the 1,000 survey packs distributed in the SIN study,the hypotheses were empirically tested on a final sample of 212 respondents using the same data analysis techniques.Evidence from both the WA and SIN studies consistently concludes, inter alia, that (1) group cohesiveness positively influences employee perceptions of top management’s trustworthiness, which in turn improve trust in top management; and (2) in situations where trust in top management is low, senior manager role-modelling can serve to minimize the impacts that trust in top management has on organisational outcomes, thereby minimizing undesirable impacts on organisational performance and effectiveness. Since the research findings have been replicable across two culturally different countries, their generalisability to other settings is highly possible.Further, the research findings offer several theoretical implications. First, referent of trust (trustee) moderates the trust–antecedent relationships, such that the trust model with two predictors (trustee’s ability, and integrity) is statistically desired for predicting trust in top management, whereas the trust model with three predictors (trustee’s ability, integrity, and benevolence) may be well-suited for predicting trust in other organisational authorities. Second, social context for trust (e.g., groups), in which group processes play a major role in the social construction of trust, must not be neglected in the study of trust. Third, at any level of trust in top management, senior manager role-modelling can serve to improve the levels of desirable outcomes, which in turn enhance desirable impacts on organisational performance and effectiveness. Fourth, study of trust should increase emphasis on potential moderator variables in trust–outcome relationships to enhance accuracy of research findings. Likewise, study of organisational performance and effectiveness should not neglect potential moderator variables that can possibly minimize the strong impacts that trust in top management has on important organisational outcomes, especially for situations with low trust in top management.Fifth, the regression models of trust in top management across culturally different countries may differ significantly due to the differences in valuing top management’s integrity when making judgments about top management’s trustworthiness. Sixth, positive influence of group cohesiveness on employee perceptions of top management’s trustworthiness may not be affected by cross cultural differences. Last but not least, cross cultural differences may not affect the impacts of trust in top management on affective commitment, turnover intention, and intention-to-return. However, they may vary the impacts that trust in top management has on job satisfaction due to the differences in valuing trust in top management when evaluating job experiences or work context.Equally important, the research findings suggest two practical implications. First, considering trust is both an interpersonal and a collective phenomenon, promoting group cohesiveness is important and instrumental in improving trust in top management. In this regard, firms can build group cohesiveness by ways of team building activities, management actions, and use of cohesion messages. Next, when appropriate senior manager role-modelling is lacking, trust in top management is very critical, and is required if high levels of affective commitment, job satisfaction, intention-to-stay, and intention-to-return are to be attained. However, when appropriate senior manager role-modelling exists, trust in top management becomes less critical in terms of affective commitment, job satisfaction, intention-to-stay, and intention-to-return. Some helpful steps for firms to promote senior manager role-modelling include: (1) top management formalizes an organisational value system that is consistent with the organisation’s goals and objectives; (2) top management internalizes the organisational value system as part of senior managers’ character, with role-modelling expert’s guidance; and (3) senior managers ‘role model’ the organisational value system for subordinates, provide an example of exemplary behaviour for subordinates to imitate, and thereby instilling the organisational value system into subordinates such that shared values are internalized in them.

Identification of interaction effects is of increasing importance to the social sciences; however, interaction (or moderator) effects have often been difficult to detect with continuous data. Structural equation modeling (SEM) methods have been touted as a solution to the problem of detecting moderators with continuous data because they are thought to account for the presence of measurement error. Also some of the optional fitting algorithms are thought to be less sensitive to non-normality, a common characteristic of the cross-product terms used in evaluation of interaction effects. Although much of the literature to date describes SEM methods to detect interactions among latent variables, the current study contrasts well known moderated multiple regression (MMR) as compared to various analogous SEM models for estimating moderation among manifest variables. While some SEM estimation methods were found inferior, no clear advantage of any SEM method over MMR was observed in the detection of interaction effects. Furthermore, SEM models, with stable Type I error rates, either failed to converge or reported errors about 10% of the time while MMR always yielded a solution<br>acase@tulane.edu

Evidence indicates that individual intention, as conceptualised by Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is the most proximal predictor of physical activity; yet, the intention-physical activity relationship might vary by difference in socioeconomic status (SES). The present study systematically reviewed the existing literature in an attempt to explore the moderation effect of SES on the relationship between intention and physical activity. Searching identified 90 studies from 82 articles. SES indicator was comprised three dimensions – education, occupation and income, and SES indices were measured using the standardised point system Random effect meta-regression was employed, and the result found that intention was a significant predicator of physical activity (28% variance explained). Moderation analysis revealed that overall SES indicator was not a significant moderator for intention-physical activity relation. Analysis on individual indicators showed that education and occupation were significant moderators, whereas income was not. Different facets of SES have more merits than the overall SES, which provided more specific information on intention-physical consistency.

碩士<br>國立交通大學<br>管理科學系所<br>95<br>This research is stating the modeling of Moderates Multiple Regression and application direction at the beginning, and has proved that can use it in the examination way of Moderates Multiple Regression , then will put forward the condition which can be used in some discussions and elaboration and distribution situation on the method (Welch T-test , WLS , MWLS ) put forward. A main one in this research is Welch T-test and WLS formula derive in the article originally, is it prove two assay type long as if the same to make use of the deriving of the formula, but because the degree of freedom of two is different, the distribution of examining definite value will be different to some extent. Finally using the SAS software to imitate movements analyzed, utilize the similarities and differences between size and figure that samples are being counted separately, we use 4 group of experiments separately, and four group count various kinds of associations different variation, type one error that the eggplant lies in the types of 3 kinds of examination under various kinds of situations, and relatively lie in α= 0.05 situations, Welch T-test is superior to the identification of 2 kinds of other examination methods , and the result of study of utilizing identification and simulation that formulae pushed over to analyses has overthrown the statements put forward of Overton (2001 ).

In order to improve the performance of PPP project management, remarkable numbers of work has been done by theorists and practitioners. However, the incentive of PPP partners has not fully been interrogated. When looking for an incentive approach of project governance, we found proper risk allocation as a motivating factor. It suggests that proper risk allocation allows contractor control construction costs reasonably, and gain compensation from the contract status changes, to ensure the profits expected at the end of the construction process. Currently, despite the fact that proper risk allocation has been recognized by practitioners to have a positive impact on the performance of project management, however, due to the lack of trust and trust insufficient supplies from PPP partners when designing risk allocation. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to explore the impact mechanism of PPP partners’ trust on proper risk allocation scheme formation and mechanism chain in which contractor achieves compensation as the contract status changed to form "trust-PPP partners proper risk allocation-PPP partners act dutifully while obtaining compensation when contract status changed positive loop adaptive process has become an important key scientific problem. Specifically, this thesis is discussed in the following four areas: 1. Theoretical sort of trust and risk allocation in PPP project: we analyzed research progress of risk allocation in PPP project from the perspectives of technology, organization and contract paradigms. Based on the sorting existing literature of trust, we analyzed fit of trust and risk allocation with paradigm tension as foothold, and proposed the potential impact of trust on the formation of risk allocation scheme. 2. Research design employed qualitative and quantitative study for reliability: Trust in construction project involves characteristics of scenarios dependency and moral risk, where data reliability issue has become a bottleneck of development of trust research in PPP project. Therefore, by having focus groups to explore on the optimal projection and ‘scenario into’ semi-structured interview process design module, we designed targeting approaches for trust and risk allocation study. 3. Building of ‘trust, proper risk allocation and contract status changes compensation’ theoretical assumptions model based on exploratory analysis with grounded theory and interpretation of literature: due to the gap in the literature which explores the relationship between trust and risk allocation, initial exploratory analysis model along with grounded theory and the analysis of social exchange based on reciprocity, social capital, and incomplete contract theories, we build driver, moderating theoretical assumptions model between trust, proper risk allocation and contract status changes compensation. 4. Empirical Analysis from questionnaire: by fixing existing scales of trust and proper risk allocation, hypothesis testing were answered through questionnaire survey, where it revealed driving action of trust on the formation of proper risk allocation and risk-sharing non-moderating act of trust on the relationship between proper risk allocation and contract status changes compensation.<br>Nos últimos anos temos assistido ao aparecimento de um grande número de trabalhos realizados quer por académicos quer por gestores sobre como melhorar o desempenho da gestão de projetos das PPPs. Contudo, somos da opinião que os incentivos dos parceiros não foram totalmente analisados em especial no que respeita à alocação do risco enquanto fator motivador. Apesar da alocação do risco ter sido reconhecida pelos gestores como tendo um impacto positivo no desempenho da gestão de projetos, aquando da definição da alocação existe uma falta de confiança ou esta é insuficiente entre os parceiros das PPPs, o que prejudica o resultado final. O propósito desta tese é pois investigar o mecanismo do impacto da confiança entre os parceiros das PPPs na formação do sistema de alocação do risco adequado e na cadeia de compensações para o contratante quando ocorrem mudanças contratuais. Mais especificamente, esta tese abordará as seguintes quatro áreas: 1. Tipo teórico de confiança e alocação do risco adequado em projetos de PPPs: analisamos a investigação realizada na alocação do risco nas perspetivas da tecnologia, organização e contrato. Com base nos tipos de confiança existentes na literatura, analisamos de que forma a confiança se adequa à alocação do risco. 2. A nossa pesquisa combina métodos qualitativos e quantitativos. Considerando que a confiança envolve cenários de dependência e de risco moral e que, em projetos PPPs, a fiabilidade dos dados é um problema para a investigação da variável confiança utilizámos um método qualitativo - a discussão em grupo - como método de aferição desta variável. 3. Com base numa análise exploratória e utilizando o modelo da teoria fundamentada investigámos a construção da “confiança, alocação de risco adequado e compensação derivada de mudanças contratuais”. Considerando a lacuna existente na literatura no que concerne à relação entre confiança e alocação de risco, realizamos uma análise exploratória com base na teoria fundamentada (grounded theory) relevando as questões relacionadas com o capital social. 4. Análise empírica com base em questionários: utilizando escalas de confiança e escalas de alocação de risco já existentes, testamos hipóteses através da recolha de dados provenientes de questionários. Com os questionários pretendemos estudar a relação entre a alocação de risco adequado e a compensação devido a mudanças contratuais.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)<br>Linking the new institutionalism to entrepreneurial orientation (EO), my dissertation investigates institutional forces and entrepreneurial forces—two contradicting types of forces—as main effects and moderating effects upon practices and performance of organizations embedded in the institutional duality. The case chosen observes unique hybrid funders that this study collectively calls social investment funders (SIF), which integrate philanthropy and venture capital investment to create and implement a venture philanthropy model for a pursuit of their mission. A theoretical framework is developed to propose regulative and normative pressures from two dominant institutions governing SIFs. Original data collected from 146 organizations are scrutinized by moderated multiple regressions for two empirical studies: Study 1 for effects on SIFs’ venture philanthropy practices, and Study 2 for effects on SIFs’ social and financial performance. Multiple imputations, diagnostic analyses, and several post hoc analyses are also conducted for robustness of data and results from multiple regression analyses. Results from these analyses find that EO and venture capital institutional forces both enhance SIFs’ venture philanthropy practices. A hypothesis postulated for a negative relationship between the nonprofit status and venture philanthropy practices is also supported. Results from moderated regression analyses, along with a subgroup and EO subdimension analyses, confirm a moderating effect between EO and the nonprofit status, i.e., a regulative institutional pressure. A positive relationship is found in EO- financial performance, but not in EO-social performance. While support is lent to hypotheses posited for a social/financial performance relationship with donors’/investors’ demand for social outcomes, and with the management team’s training in business, the overall results remain mixed for Study 2. Nonetheless, this dissertation appears to be the first study to theorize and test EO as a micro-level condition enabling organizations to strategically shape and resist institutional pressures, and it reinforces that organizations’ behavior is not merely a product of their passive conformity to environmental forces, but of the agency, also. As such, this study aims to contribute to scholarly efforts by the “agency camp” of the new institutionalism and EO, answering a call from the leading scholars of both EO (Miller) and the new institutionalism (Oliver).

Die studie ondersoek die inligtingswaarde van dividende as 'n moontlike verldaring van die waargenome aandeleprysreaksie op dividendaankondigings. Twee algemene hipoteses is getoets, naamlik dat 'n betekenisvolle verandering in 'n maatskappy se dividendbeleid inligting oor daardie maatskappy se toekomstige verdienste per aandeel bevat, en tweedens dat hierdie inligting in die reaksie van aandelepryse na die aankondiging van die verandering gereflekteer word. Die belangrikste bevindinge is soos volg: • Die inligting vervat in huidige dividendaankondigings kan nie deur beleggers gebruik word om die volgende jaar se verdienste per aandeel van 'n maatskappy te voorspel nie. Die aandeleprysreaksie op positiewe, negatiewe en neutrale nuus is statisties beduidend, maar vind hoofsaaklik in dieselfde rigting plaas. Beleggers sou dus nie die inligting vervat in dividendaankondigings kan gebruik om bogemiddelde opbrengskoerse te genereer nie. • Die inligtingswaarde van dividende is dus 'n onwaarskynlike verldaring van die invloed van 'n maatskappy se dividendbeleid op die waarde van sy gewone aandele.<br>This research investigates the information content of dividends as a possible explanation for the observed share price reaction to dividend announcements. Two hypotheses were tested, namely that a significant change in a company's dividend policy contains information on that company's future earnings per share, and secondly, that this information is reflected in the share price reaction after the announcement of the change. The most important findings are as follows: • Investors cannot use the information contained in current dividend announcements to predict a company's earnings per share for the next year. • Share price reactions to positive, negative and neutral news are statistically significant, but will be in the same direction. Hence investors cannot use this information to generate above-normal returns. The information content of dividends is therefore an unlikely explanation of the influence a company's dividend policy has on the value of its ordinary shares.<br>Business Management<br>MCom (Sakebestuur)

This research work concentrate on developing digital soil maps to support field based plant phenotyping research. We have developed soil organic matter content (OM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), natural soil drainage class, and tile drainage line maps using topographic indices and aerial imagery. Various prediction models (universal kriging, cubist, random forest, C5.0, artificial neural network, and multinomial logistic regression) were used to estimate the soil properties of interest.