abstract: Families and schools share the monumental responsibility of educating children. Children and parent-teacher conferences remain the primary means by which parents and teachers share academic information. Given the limited effectiveness of these conferences, a more compelling alternative for home-school collaboration on academic matters is warranted. The purpose of this action research study was to examine an alternative approach to parent-teacher conferences, Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT). APTT is a classroom-based parent involvement model composed of three 75-minute parent-teacher team meetings and an individual 30-minute parent-teacher session. Team meetings are highly structured and include six components: personally inviting parents by the teacher; sharing whole-class and individual student data; setting 60-day academic goals; coaching parents in `teaching' skills; distributing take-home practice materials; and networking. Quantitative data included pre- and post-intervention parent surveys, and pre- and post-intervention student scores on high frequency words and oral reading fluency. Qualitative data included field notes from APTT meetings, pre- and post-intervention teacher reflections, and teacher, parent, and student interviews. Findings from this study supported previous research that suggested most parents have high aspirations for their children's academic success. Findings also indicated parents understood their involvement was important to support academic growth. Increased quality and quantity of parent-teacher communication and interaction improved parents' ability to support student learning at home. Parents increased involvement in children's academics was related to teachers' provision of detailed information and training of parents. Qualitative results showed parents' teaching efforts contributed to students' improvement in reading. To understand this outcome, effectual congruence (EC) was offered as an explanation. EC occurred when parents and teachers agreed on an action plan for student achievement, when there was a mutual commitment to taking specific actions and when each person's role was clearly defined and implemented. EC became the process that supported achievement growth. These results demonstrated that relationships between parents and teachers are complex. Further, when teachers and parents were fully invested in collaboration it produced powerful results for students. This study provided critical information for parents, teachers, administrators and policy makers attempting to implement more effective parent involvement initiatives. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011

abstract: Original equipment manufacturers (buyers) are increasingly involving suppliers in new product development as a means to increase efficiency and expand capabilities. To realize such benefits, however, the two firms need to have appropriate communication and goal structures to minimize friction while maximizing design quality. In addition, the effectiveness of the inter-firm interaction process, i.e. their collaboration quality, is also a key success factor. This study draws from Information Process Theory to propose that higher technical and relational uncertainty requires more inter-firm communication. The misalignment between communication intensity and uncertainty reduces both design quality and design efficiency. Goal incongruence, which always lowers project performance, is less harmful for projects with high technical uncertainty due to the potential of the conflict resolving process in improving decision quality and efficiency. Finally I use Hackman's theory of work group effectiveness to propose that collaboration quality fully mediates the effects of communication intensity and goal congruence on project outcomes. The study used an empirical survey of manufacturers as the primary method of data collection. Manufacturers that integrate and assemble complex and discrete products are the target population. Design engineers and project managers from manufacturers were my target respondents. Both SEM and hierarchical regression were used to test the conceptual model. The dissertation made five theoretical contributions. First, I introduced the concept that there is an optimal level of inter-firm communication intensity, exceeding which lowers design efficiency without improving design quality. Second, I theoretically defined and empirically operationalized two types of uncertainty, one on the project level and one on the inter-firm level, which were shown to moderate the effects of inter-firm communication and goal structures on collaboration outcomes. Third, this study examined the conditions when goal congruence is more effective in improving collaboration outcomes. Fourth, this study nominally and operationally defined collaboration quality, a theoretical construct which measure the effectiveness of inter-partner interactions rather than mere existence or amount of certain activities pursued by partners. Finally, I proposed several enhancements to existing construct measures. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Business Administration 2011

Le son, sur un support audio-visuel, est le vecteur d’un sens supplémentaire pour l’image. La captation de ce sens concerne trois attitudes de l’individu vis-à-vis de la bande-son: réaction affective, cognitive et comportementale. Cette recherche aborde la réaction cognitive de l’individu par rapport à une bande-son publicitaire produite, en 2012, pour les voitures européennes. Ce travail de recherche vérifie quelles modalités des éléments constitutifs d’une bande-son sont adéquates aux valeurs « dynamisme, modernité et sécurité» des voitures européennes. La méthodologie de cette recherche comporte deux parties. La première partie est l’analyse de la structure narrative de chaque spot publicitaire afin de découvrir les stratégies narratives de chaque spot publicitaire de notre corpus. L’autre partie consiste à effectuer une expérimentation dans le cadre d’un entretien directif avec deux échantillons: l’un comprend des consommateurs potentiels quelconques, et l’autre sera constitué de consommateurs potentiels experts. L’entretien avec ces deux groupes nous permet de faire une comparaison entre la réaction cognitive des experts et celle des non experts vis-à-vis de la même bande-son. / The sound, on an audio visual support, is the vector of meaning to the image. The capture of this sense covers three attitudes of the individual vis-a-vis the soundtrack: emotional response, cognitive and behavioral. This research addresses the cognitive reaction of the individual in relation to soundtracks advertising produced in 2012, for European cars. This research verifies what terms the constituent elements of a soundt rack are adequate values "dynamism, modernity and security" of european cars. The methodology of this research has two parts. The first part is the analysis of the narrative structure of each commercial to discover the narrative strategies of each commer cial of our corpus. The other part is to perform an experiment in the context of a structured interview with two samples: one comprises any potential consumers, and the other will consist of potential consumer’s experts. The meeting with these groups allows us to make a comparison between the cognitive response of experts and of noun experts vis-a-vis the same soundtrack.

En organisation existerar för att individer ska samverka för att uppnå ett gemensamt mål. I tider med hög personalomsättning är det en utmaning för många organisationer att nå målkongruens och syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur företag arbetar för att uppnå målkongruens i takt med ökad personalomsättning med hjälp av incitamentsprogram. För att besvara syftet har intervjuer utförts på två olika företag inom detaljhandeln med personer som arbetar aktivt med incitamentsprogram och en enkät har genomförts i ett av företagens varuhus. I den teoretiska referensramen beskrivs teorier gällande förhållandet mellan arbetsledning och arbetstagare, olika typer av incitamentsprogram och motivationsfaktorer. Det empiriska resultatet visar att incitamentsprogram används i de undersökta organisationerna för att nå målkongruens, minska personalomsättning och höja engagemanget hos de anställda. Det visade sig även att kombinationer av olika incitamentsprogram tillämpas för att nå olika typer av mål och att personlig utveckling är den främsta motivationsfaktor för de butiksanställda / An organization exists for individuals to work together and reach a common goal. In times of high personal turnover rate, it is a challenge for many organizations to achieve goal congruence and the purpose with this study is to examine how companies work to achieve goal congruence in line with increasing personal turnover rate with the aid of incentive plans. In the theoretical reference frame theories are described regarding the relationship between superior and subordinate, different types of incentive plans and motivational theories. To be able to answer the purpose of this essay, interviews have been conducted on two different companies in retail with individuals who works with incentive plans and a survey has been conducted in one of the companies© stores. The empirical result shows that the incentive plans are used in the researched organizations to achieve goal congruence, increase employee retention and improve the commitment with the employees. The results showed that incentive plans apply to reach different types of goals and that personal development was the primary motivational factor.

Proponents of the use of cotherapists have stressed the importance of compatibility for effective cotherapy teams; however, the nature of compatibility has received little attention in experimental literature. This study investigated the nature of an effective cotherapy relationship through use of concepts espoused by George Kelly in his personal construct theory. Based on the results of the study, it was recommended that cotherapists be paired on the basis of their cognitive congruence. It was further proposed that cotherapists, especially those low in content congruence, allow themselves sufficient time for case discussion prior to and following their therapy sessions.

xvi, 152 p. : col. ill. / Millions of dollars are spent on celebrity contracts each year by assuming that the benefits of using celebrities will exceed the costs. Accordingly, many researchers have studied the impact of celebrity endorsements on advertising effectiveness. One of the theories used frequently by these researchers is the match-up hypothesis. This theory suggests that there should be a good fit between the celebrity and the product; however, it is not clear what constitutes a good fit. Some researchers suggested that attractive celebrities will be more effective if they are used to promote attractiveness-related products. Other researchers claimed that when there is congruence between the product type and the celebrity profession, advertising effectiveness will be enhanced; however, these existing dimensions of the match-up hypothesis fall short of explaining some popular celebrity endorsement campaigns (e.g., Sharpie Pens and David Beckham). The current research contributes to the study of celebrity endorsements by adding another dimension, values, to the match-up hypothesis. Specifically, the congruence between celebrity values (as perceived by consumers) and values represented by products was considered as an alternative to the attractiveness and expertise dimensions. In a series of six experiments, support for the positive impact of celebrity-product value congruence on advertising effectiveness was found. College students exposed to the high value congruence ad spent less time in examining the ad, suggesting that participants were easily and quickly able to match up the celebrities and products. Moreover, participants who were exposed to the high value congruence ad had significantly more favorable attitudes toward ad and brand, had higher intentions to buy the product, and were more likely to recommend the product to other people than were participants who were exposed to the low value congruence ad. The results also suggested that value congruence with unfamiliar celebrities was more effective than value congruence with familiar celebrities for generating more favorable attitudes toward ad and brand and higher behavioral intentions, due probably to the minimized effect of pre-established thoughts or feelings about unfamiliar celebrities. Together these results suggest that the congruence between celebrity and product values plays an important role in advertising effectiveness. / Committee in charge: Lynn R. Kahle, Chairperson; Joan Giese, Member; David Boush, Member; Deborah Morrison, Outside Member

In this study the social worker-in-work context relationship in a welfare organization is described within an ecological epistemology so as to construct an alternative view on employee mental health. A literature study shows how descriptions of the interconnectedness between a sense of individuation and a sense ofbelonging creates a double view ofboth levels to form a more holistic view of an ecological relationship system. Organizational interrelationships are described within this framework as being congruent or incongruent and thereby promote or detract from social work practitioner mental health. Conclusions and recommendations discuss the usefulness of such a perspective for social work management practice and suggest a framework for managers to view organizational mental health and to evolve ideas for co-creating a greater sense of coherence in disrupted organizations. / Social Work / M.A. (Mental Health)

abstract: Individuals are attracted to occupational environments that align with their interests and personality characteristics (Holland, 1985, 1997). When an individual's attributes (i.e., needs, abilities, values and/or interests) align with the occupational environment's characteristics an individual is more satisfied. Past research suggests this relation is modest at best, hovering between .20 and .30 (Meyer et al., 2001, c.f. Wilkins & Tracey, 2014), with slightly higher estimates (ranging from .24 to .35) depending on how the variables of person and environment were measured (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005). Several factors contribute to such low estimates, most notably the role of moderator variables in suppressing or exacerbating the true magnitude of this relation. A moderator that has yet to be explored is that of nonwork role priority, or the degree to which an individual's work identity is valued relative to other role identities. In the current study, three hypotheses were posited to investigate nonwork role priorities as a potential moderator to the congruence-satisfaction relation. Latent class analysis was used to apply a person-centered approach to understanding response patterns and differences in these roles. The sample was differentiated best by a two-class solution and the class variable in all three hierarchical regression models explained about five percent of the variance in job satisfaction, which suggests that work and nonwork role priority are meaningful to understanding individual career happiness. Class was not identified as a significant moderator to the congruence-satisfaction relation. Discussion of limitations to the current study and recommendations for future work in this area are presented. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Counseling Psychology 2016

Cette recherche se positionne dans un contexte de parrainage d'une cause par une marque, et plus précisément dans le cadre d'une publicité de soutien en faveur d'une cause environnementale. Elle vise notamment à répondre à la problématique suivante : comment améliorer l'efficacité d'une publicité de soutien ? La littérature a mis en exergue le rôle majeur joué par la congruence/incongruence perçue entre le parrain et l'entité parrainée, mais ce concept fait néanmoins débat depuis plus de trente ans dans la littérature marketing (Fleck et Maille, 2010 ; Maille et Fleck, 2011). Les objectifs de la recherche imposent une phase importante de meilleure compréhension du concept et de sa mesure (études 1 et 2). L'étude 3, utilisant de manière originale l'approche tétraclasse, propose une nouvelle conceptualisation basée sur l'identification des éléments de contribution à la congruence et à l'incongruence. Sur la base de ces résultats, deux outils de mesure sont proposés permettant de mieux appréhender la congruence perçue et l'incongruence perçue (étude 4). Puis cette recherche étudie, au moyen d'une expérimentation (étude 5), dans quelle mesure et de quelle manière l'articulation du parrainage (explication du lien entre le parrain et l'entité parrainée) peut influencer les intentions comportementales envers la cause soutenue. Les résultats soulignent que la congruence perçue, l'incongruence perçue et la crédibilité du parrain sont médiatrices de l'effet de l'articulation du parrainage sur les intentions comportementales envers la cause soutenue, mais avec une différence d'effet entre congruence et incongruence. En effet, si l'articulation du parrainage influence positivement la crédibilité du parrain en augmentant la congruence perçue et en diminuant l'incongruence perçue entre la marque et l'organisation non commerciale, l'effet de la congruence perçue sur les intentions comportementales envers la cause n'est pas médiatisé par la crédibilité perçue du parrain, à la différence de l'effet de l'incongruence perçue qui est bien médiatisé par cette crédibilité. / This research takes place in the context of cause sponsoring by a brand, and more precisely within the framework of environmental issue advocacy advertising. It aims in particular at answering the following question: how to improve the efficiency of advocacy advertising? Previous research highlighted the major role played by perceived congruency/incongruency between the sponsor and the sponsored entity, but this concept has been still discussed for more than thirty years in the marketing literature (Fleck and Maille, 2010; Maille and Fleck, 2011). The objectives of this research require to better understand the concept and its measure (studies 1 and 2). Study 3 uses in an original way the tetraclass approach to propose a new conceptualization of the concept based on the identification of elements that contribute to congruency and to incongruency. Based on these results, two measurement tools allowing to separately capture perceived congruency and perceived incongruency are proposed (study 4). Then this research examines through an experiment (study 5) to what extent and how sponsorship articulation (the explanation of the link between the sponsor and the sponsored entity) can influence behavioral intentions toward the supported cause. The results underline that perceived congruency, perceived incongruency and sponsor credibility mediate the effect of sponsorship articulation on behavioral intentions toward the supported cause but throughout a different effect on perceived congruency and on perceived incongruency: 1/sponsorship articulation influences positively sponsor credibility due to an increase in perceived congruency and a decrease in perceived incongruency between the brand and the not commercial organization, 2/ the effect of perceived congruency on behavioral intentions toward the cause is not explained by sponsor credibility while the effect of perceived incongruency is explained by sponsor credibility.

Background:               Thanks to digitalization, the current generation Y is constantly exposed to advertising and information, blurring boundaries that can lead to a “buzz”, process more and more common online due to the possibility to publicly respond.   Purpose:          The aim is to understand the processes leading to a possible influence of consumer perception via negative online word-of-mouth and advertisements deemed controversial.   Method:          As an exploratory study, this paper conducted qualitative interviews with a group of students in which they will react to two cases of viral, controversial advertisement.    Conclusion:                The results show that there is indeed a relation between being exposed to negative online word-of-mouth: controversy and interpretation of the content influence the customer’s opinion.