Today, computers and communications have changed the relationship among firms, the structure of some existing companies, the advancement of information technology (IT), and increased competition among enterprises. IT plays an important role in enterprise. IT Managers face global competition, and therefore, must be prepared to respond to abrupt changes. They need to ensure their capabilities and resources are sufficient to cope with the environmental challenges that arise. Therefore, this research will concentrate on investigating the relationships among empowerment, leadership style, personality of IT manager and IT department performance. The moderating effects of organizational culture and organizational structure on the relationship between IT manager characteristics and IT department performance are also considered in the study. The result shows four major findings. First, empowerment of IT manager has a significant positive effect on IT department performance. Second, the presence of a transformational leadership style of IT manager has positive effects on IT department performance. Third, IT managers classified as Internal LOC have significantly higher departmental performance than IT managers classified as External LOC. Finally, organizational culture and organizational structure were shown to have no moderating effect between empowerment of IT manager and IT department performance. The findings of this research can serve as a reference for organizations to improve selection of managers with potential for improving department performance.

Changes in South Africa's political and economic sphere demand the democratisation of the workplace, participation and empowerment of the work force. Flatter hierarchical structures, as a result of downsizing, enhance involvement but also demand that workers function in a more autonomous manner. The use of self-managing work teams has increased in response to these competitive challenges. Self-managing work teams are groups of employees who are fully responsible for a well-defined segment of finished work that delivers a product or a service to an internal or external customer. The functioning of self-managing work teams, in terms of the systems model, can be described as certain inputs that help the team to perform certain tasks and follow processes in order to achieve certain outputs. Inputs include the motivation, skills and personality factors of team members, while the tasks and processes refer to problem solving, conflict resolution, communication and decision making, planning, quality control, dividing of tasks, training and performance appraisal. These inputs and processes lead to outputs such as efficiency, productivity and quality of work life. To date empirical studies regarding self-managing work teams in South Africa focused on the readiness of organisations for implementing these teams. Little research has been done on characteristics of successful self-managed work group members. Findings regarding members of self-managing work teams elsewhere in the world couldn't uncritically be applied to South Africa, because of widely different circumstances. Research on dispositional factors such as sense of coherence, self-efficacy, locus of control and the big five personality dimensions could therefore help to identify predictors of effectiveness that can be validated in consecutive studies for selection purposes in a self-managing work team context in South Africa. The objective of the research was therefore to determine the relationship between dispositional characteristics of members of a self-managing work team and the effectiveness and quality of work life of these members. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The sample included members of self-managing work teams (N = 102) from a large chemical organisation and a financial institution in South Africa. The Orientation to Life Questionnaire, a Self-efficacy Scale, the Locus of Control Questionnaire and Personality Characteristics Inventory were used to measure the dispositional variables. Quality of work life (measured as consisting of satisfaction, commitment to the organisation and commitment to the team) and self-rated team member effectiveness were used as dependent variables. Descriptive statistics, Pearson and Spearman correlations, canonical correlations and structural equation modelling were used to analyse the data and investigate the relationships between the various dispositional characteristics quality of work life and effectiveness of the team members. The results showed practically significant positive relationships between sense of coherence, self-efficacy, autonomy, external locus of control and internal locus of control on the one hand, and quality of work life and effectiveness of the team members of self-managing work teams on the other hand. Of the big five personality dimensions only openness was associated with commitment to the team in terms of the quality of work life. Stability, extraversion and openness were associated with the self-rated effectiveness of the team members of self-managing work teams. The structural equation modelling showed that there is a positive path from the dispositional characteristics to the satisfaction, commitment and self-rated effectiveness of the team members. The dispositional characteristics will also enhance the members' experience of role clarity and mediate the effects of job-induced tension on the members' self-rated effectiveness. Satisfaction of the team members moderate the relationship between the dispositional characteristics and commitment, as well as mediate the effects of job-induced tension on the commitment of the team members. Organisations implementing self-managing work teams can benefit from developing and enhancing these dispositional characteristics in their selected team members and could also validate these dispositional characteristics in terms of selection criteria for self-managing work team members. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Changes in South Africa's political and economic sphere demand the democratisation of the workplace, participation and empowerment of the work force. Flatter hierarchical structures, as a result of downsizing, enhance involvement but also demand that workers function in a more autonomous manner. The use of self-managing work teams has increased in response to these competitive challenges. Self-managing work teams are groups of employees who are fully responsible for a well-defined segment of finished work that delivers a product or a service to an internal or external customer. The functioning of self-managing work teams, in terms of the systems model, can be described as certain inputs that help the team to perform certain tasks and follow processes in order to achieve certain outputs. Inputs include the motivation, skills and personality factors of team members, while the tasks and processes refer to problem solving, conflict resolution, communication and decision making, planning, quality control, dividing of tasks, training and performance appraisal. These inputs and processes lead to outputs such as efficiency, productivity and quality of work life. To date empirical studies regarding self-managing work teams in South Africa focused on the readiness of organisations for implementing these teams. Little research has been done on characteristics of successful self-managed work group members. Findings regarding members of self-managing work teams elsewhere in the world couldn't uncritically be applied to South Africa, because of widely different circumstances. Research on dispositional factors such as sense of coherence, self-efficacy, locus of control and the big five personality dimensions could therefore help to identify predictors of effectiveness that can be validated in consecutive studies for selection purposes in a self-managing work team context in South Africa. The objective of the research was therefore to determine the relationship between dispositional characteristics of members of a self-managing work team and the effectiveness and quality of work life of these members. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The sample included members of self-managing work teams (N = 102) from a large chemical organisation and a financial institution in South Africa. The Orientation to Life Questionnaire, a Self-efficacy Scale, the Locus of Control Questionnaire and Personality Characteristics Inventory were used to measure the dispositional variables. Quality of work life (measured as consisting of satisfaction, commitment to the organisation and commitment to the team) and self-rated team member effectiveness were used as dependent variables. Descriptive statistics, Pearson and Spearman correlations, canonical correlations and structural equation modelling were used to analyse the data and investigate the relationships between the various dispositional characteristics quality of work life and effectiveness of the team members. The results showed practically significant positive relationships between sense of coherence, self-efficacy, autonomy, external locus of control and internal locus of control on the one hand, and quality of work life and effectiveness of the team members of self-managing work teams on the other hand. Of the big five personality dimensions only openness was associated with commitment to the team in terms of the quality of work life. Stability, extraversion and openness were associated with the self-rated effectiveness of the team members of self-managing work teams. The structural equation modelling showed that there is a positive path from the dispositional characteristics to the satisfaction, commitment and self-rated effectiveness of the team members. The dispositional characteristics will also enhance the members' experience of role clarity and mediate the effects of job-induced tension on the members' self-rated effectiveness. Satisfaction of the team members moderate the relationship between the dispositional characteristics and commitment, as well as mediate the effects of job-induced tension on the commitment of the team members. Organisations implementing self-managing work teams can benefit from developing and enhancing these dispositional characteristics in their selected team members and could also validate these dispositional characteristics in terms of selection criteria for self-managing work team members. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

The Covid-19 pandemic caused countries across the world to implement a wide range of restrictions and recommendations to control the spread of the virus. The current study aimed to investigate how differences in personality traits and differences in how an individual perceives the situation of Covid-19 among Swedish university students affect the overall compliance with guidelines applied by their government. A total of 106 university students completed a questionnaire measuring personality traits (Big Five) and perceptions of the situation (Situational Eight DIAMONDS) in relation to their self-estimated compliance. The data analysis showed that the students complied with the guidelines with a mean of 77%. Individuals who were less agreeable and perceived less adversity in the Covid-19 situation complied more. All predictor variables could account for approximately 28% of the explained variance in compliance. These results are of importance in a preparatory purpose for governments to efficiently cope with future threats.

Kärleksrelationer är en betydande del av många människors liv. En viktig del för en välfungerande relation är att visa varandra kärlek, förslagsvis genom olika kärleksspråk. De fem kärleksspråken utformades av Chapman (1992) och innefattar tjänster, fysisk beröring, bekräftande ord, kvalitetstid och gåvor. Kärleksspråk har visat sig vara en bidragande faktor för kvalitativa kärleksrelationer. Personlighetsdraget vänligheten från femfaktormodellen är bland annat kopplat till kärleksfulla och empatiska karaktärsdrag. Denna studie har som syfte att studera sambandet mellan vänlighet och kärleksspråk. Studien undersökte även om det fanns någon skillnad på vilket kärleksspråk man har beroende på om man är singel eller i en relation. Detta undersöktes genom en enkätstudie med 417 deltagare som skapades utifrån de validerade mätverktygen Dimensioner för kärleksspråk (Love Language Subscales) och Mini-IPIP (Mini International Personality Item Pool-Five-Factor Model). Data analyserades med hjälp av en korrelationsanalys samt ett t-test. Resultatet från korrelationsanalysen visade ett signifikant positivt samband mellan vänlighet och alla fem kärleksspråk. Med andra ord tyder detta på att personer som skattar högt på vänlighet även skattar högt på Chapmans fem kärleksspråk. T-testet visade endast en svagt signifikant skillnad mellan olika relationsstatus och fysisk beröring samt bekräftande ord, där de i relation skattade högre på båda. Relationsstatus tycks alltså kunna indikera personers kärleksspråk till viss del. / Romantic relationships are a significant part of many people's lives. An important part of a well-functioning relationship is showing love to each other, preferably through different love languages. The five love languages were developed by Chapman (1992) and include Acts of Services, Physical Touch, Words of Affirmation, Quality Time and Gifts. Love languageshave been shown to be a contributing factor to high quality romantic relationships. The personality trait Agreeableness from the Five-factor model is linked to loving and empathic traits, among others. This study aims to study the relationship between Agreeableness and love language. The study also investigated if there was any difference in love language depending on whether you are single or in a relationship. This was done through a survey study with 417 participants that was created using the validated measurement tools Love Language Subscales and Mini-IPIP (Mini International Personality Item Pool-Five-Factor Model). The data were analyzed using a correlation analysis and a t-test. The results of the correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation between Agreeableness and all five love languages. In other words, this indicates that people who score high on Agreeableness also score high on Chapman's five love languages. The t-test showed only a weak significant difference between relationship status and Physical Touch and Words of Affirmation, with those in relationships scoring higher on both. Thus, relationship status seems to be able to indicate love language to some extent.

<p>Fundamental changes have been happening in healthcare organizations and delivery in these decades, including more accessible physician information, the low-cost collection and sharing of clinical records, and decision support systems, among others. Emerging information systems and technologies play a signification role in these transformations. To extend the understanding and the implications of information systems on healthcare, my dissertation investigates the influence of information systems on enhancing healthcare operations. The findings reveal the practical value of digitalization in indicating healthcare providers' cognitive behaviors, responding to healthcare crises, and improving medical performance.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The first essay investigates the unrevealed value of a special type of user-generated content in healthcare operations. In today's social media world, individuals are willing to express themselves on various online platforms. This user-generated content posted online help readers get easy assess to individuals' features, including but not limited to personality traits. To study the impact of physicians' personality traits on medicine behaviours and performance, we take a view from the perspective of user generated content posted by their supplier side as well as using physician statements which have been made available in medical review websites. It has been found that a higher openness score leads to lower mortality rates, reduced lab test costs, shorter time usage in hospitals treated by physicians with greater openness scores. Furthermore, taking these personality traits into consideration in an optimization problem of ED scheduling, the estimation of counterfactual analysis shows an average of 11.4%, 18.4%, and 17.8% reduction in in-hospital mortality rates, lab test expenditures, and lengths of stay, respectively. In future operation of healthcare, physicians' personalities should be taken into account when healthcare resources are insufficient in times of healthcare pandemics like COVID-19, as our study indicates that health service providers personality is an actual influence on clinical quality.</p> <p><br></p> <p>In the second essay, we focus on the influences of the most severe healthcare pandemic in these decades, COVID-19, on digital goods consumption and examine whether digital goods consumption is resilient to an individual’s physical restriction induced by the pandemic. Leveraging the enforced quarantine policy during the COVID-19 pandemic as a quasi-experiment, we identify the influence of a specific factor, quarantine policy, on mobile app consumption in every Apple app store category in the short and long terms. In the perspective of better responding in the post-pandemic era, the quantitative findings provide managerial implications to the app industry as well as the stock market for accurately understanding the long-term impact of a significant intervention, quarantine, in the pandemic. Moreover, by using the conditional exogenous quarantine policy to instrument app users’ daily movement patterns, we are able to further investigate the digital resilience of physical mobility in different app categories and quantify the impact of an individual’s physical mobility on human behavior in app usage. For results, we find that the reduction in 10% of one’s physical mobility (measured in the radius of gyration) leads to a 2.68% increase in general app usage and a 5.44% rise in app usage time dispersion, suggesting practitioners should consider users’ physical mobility in future mobile app design, pricing, and marketing.</p> <p><br></p> <p>In the third essay, we investigate the role of an emerging AI-based clinical treatment method, robot-assisted surgery (RAS), in transforming the healthcare delivery. As an advanced technique to help diminish the human physical and intellectual limitations in surgeries, RAS is expected to but has not been empirically proven to improve clinical performance. In this work, we first investigate the effect of RAS on clinical outcomes, controlling physicians' self-selection behavior in choosing whether or not to use RAS treatment methods. In particular, we focus on the accessibility of RAS and explore how physician and patient heterogeneity affect the adoption of the RAS method, including learning RAS and using RAS. Investigating the decision-making process on RAS implementation in both the learning and using stages, we show the synergy of RAS implementation in alleviating healthcare racial disparity. Ultimately, the mechanism analysis will be conducted to reveal the underlying mechanism that induces the enhancement of surgical outcomes. For instance, the estimations tend to reveal that, more than surging clinical performance, RAS tends to increase standardization in time and steps when applying the treatment procedures. </p>

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Recent organisational changes have refocused attention on the productivity and performance of sales representatives and consequently brought about a re-evaluation of the QWL these employees experience, as well as their trust in the organisation to support them. Responses to an internet-based survey methodology were analysed using quantitative techniques and structural equation modelling. Results confirm a positive relationship between Managerial Practices and Organisational Trust, and a lower relationship between the dimensions of Personality and Organisational Trust. A positive relationship was noted between QWL and Managerial Practices, and a lower relationship between QWL and the Personality constructs. This study accentuates the importance of management to be aware of the trust employees have in the organisation as well as their experience of QWL, as it seems as though the Personality traits and Managerial Practices of managers influences both the trust relationship and QWL experienced by employees. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Recent organisational changes have refocused attention on the productivity and performance of sales representatives and consequently brought about a re-evaluation of the QWL these employees experience, as well as their trust in the organisation to support them. Responses to an internet-based survey methodology were analysed using quantitative techniques and structural equation modelling. Results confirm a positive relationship between Managerial Practices and Organisational Trust, and a lower relationship between the dimensions of Personality and Organisational Trust. A positive relationship was noted between QWL and Managerial Practices, and a lower relationship between QWL and the Personality constructs. This study accentuates the importance of management to be aware of the trust employees have in the organisation as well as their experience of QWL, as it seems as though the Personality traits and Managerial Practices of managers influences both the trust relationship and QWL experienced by employees. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)