Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) is a widely researched construct of corporate entrepreneurship. Despite long-standing research on EO, past studies on this construct have been unable to resolve issues related to its measurement. Innovation Intensity (II) is also a dynamic construct of corporate entrepreneurship but has received relatively less empirical attention. Previous research has reported an absence of an empirically validated quantitative scale of innovation, particularly innovation intensity. This research has addressed these gaps by proposing a refinement and validation of the Entrepreneurial Orientation scale and the development of an Innovation Intensity scale. The research proposes an Entrepreneurial Transformational Model (ETM) positing that EO impacts II. A predominantly quantitative research strategy supported by qualitative inputs, is employed to obtain empirical data from 404 corporate firms in Oman, drawing from a list of corporate firms registered with the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry. A mix of questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews was conducted with senior managers from firms representing various industries of the Omani corporate sector. Utilising exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM), a two-stage data analysis approach was adopted. Measurement and structural models were developed for EO and II measures, while a complete SEM model was developed to test the causal relationship between EO and II. The results indicate that EO is a second-order construct consisting of five first-order factors, namely ready to innovate, competitive aggressiveness, autonomy, risk taking and proactiveness, which are its reflective components. Similarly, II is a second-order construct consisting of two first-order factors, namely degree and frequency of incremental and radical innovation, which are its reflective components. The II scale developed through this study allows corporate firms to assess their innovation intensity on a two-dimensional four-celled grid with varying levels of degree and frequency of innovation. Finally, EO is found to influence II and the entire relationship is posited as Entrepreneurial Transformation Model. This study, by addressing the empirical irregularities, has brought clarity to the measurement of EO and II constructs and is an original contribution to the advancement of theoretical knowledge and improvement in professional practice.

Cette étude a pour objectif la validation d’un nouvel instrument qui intègre des concepts récents reflétant l’évolution de la paternité. Le Questionnaire d’Ouverture au Monde version 12 à 18 mois (QOMt) s’intéresse plus particulièrement aux comportements parentaux favorisant l’ouverture au monde chez l’enfant, fonction plus souvent attribuée au père (Le Camus, 2000). Le QOMt s’insère ainsi dans le débat sur la complémentarité des comportements parentaux en proposant des structures factorielles distinctes pour un échantillon de 664 pères et 225 mères. Six facteurs ont été extraits de l’analyse factorielle des mères (stimulation à la prise de risque, stimulation à la persévérance, protection, fixation de limites, réaction de l’enfant à la fixation de limites et discipline) dont trois ont une cohérence interne acceptable (alphas de Cronbach entre 0,44 et 0,80). Six facteurs ont émergé de l’analyse des pères (stimulation au dépassement de soi, à l’exploration, à l’autonomie et à la persévérance, fixation de limites et discipline) avec une cohérence interne acceptable (alphas entre 0,61 et 0,85). Parallèlement au QOMt, les familles ont participé aux procédures de la situation risquée et de la situation étrangère dans le but de tester la validité convergente et divergente. Cependant, seule la validité divergente est jugée satisfaisante. La fidélité, examinée avec la version préscolaire du Questionnaire d’Ouverture au Monde (QOM), suggère une stabilité des comportements parentaux de stimulation à la persévérance et des comportements maternels de stimulation à la prise de risque à travers le temps. En somme, bien que le QOMt ne soit pas un outil valide, il est intéressant de souligner que la stimulation à la prise de risque a uniquement émergé de l’analyse factorielle des mères, faisant ainsi contraste aux prémisses théoriques qui ont guidé notre étude. Nos résultats doivent cependant être interprétés avec prudence puisqu’une analyse confirmatoire s’avère nécessaire. / This study investigates the validity of a novel instrument built around recent concepts that exhibit the evolution of paternity. The Toddler Openness to the World Questionnaire (QOMt in french) focuses more specifically on parental behaviors that favor openness to the world in children, a function mostly attributed to fathers (Le Camus, 2000). Therefore, the QOMt joins the debate on the complementarity of parental behaviors by proposing two distinctive factorial structures for a sample of 664 fathers and 225 mothers. Six factors emerged from the mother’s factor analysis (stimulation of perseverance, stimulation of risk-taking, protection, limit setting, children’s reaction to limit setting and discipline) of which three have acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach alphas ranging from .44 to .80). Six factors emerged from the father’s analysis (stimulation of self-transcendence, stimulation of exploration, stimulation of autonomy, stimulation of perseverance, limit setting and discipline) with an overall acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach alphas coefficients ranging from .61 to .85).Along with the QOMt, families were asked to participate to the risky situation procedure and the strange situation procedure to test convergent and divergent validity. However, only divergent validity is considered to be satisfactory. Fidelity assessed using the preschool version of The Openness to the World Questionnaire (QOM in french) suggests that parental behaviors of stimulation of perseverance and maternal behaviors of stimulation of risk-taking are stable across time. In summary, while the QOMt isn’t a valid instrument, it is noteworthy to emphasize that stimulation of risk-taking only emerged from the mother’s factor analysis, therefore challenging our theorical framework. Our results should however be interpreted with caution as a confirmatory analysis is needed.

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The present empirical study examined factors that affect the acceptance and use of social media platforms by farmers and vendors in farmers’ communities in North Mississippi for marketing their small farm businesses. Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), structural equations modeling was used to examine several relationships: (1) the influence of performance expectancy (PE) on behavioral intention (BI) to use social media; (2) the influence of effort expectancy (EE) on BI; (3) the influence of social influence (SI) on BI; (4) the influence of facilitating conditions (FC) on actual use (USE) of social media; (5) the moderating influence of gender on the PE–BI, EE–BI, and SI-BI relationships; (6) the moderating influence of age on the PE–BI, EE–BI, SI-BI, and FC–USE relationships; and (7) the moderating influence of experience using social media on the EE–BI, SI-BI, and FC–USE relationships. Results from 169 respondents who completed questionnaires indicated that PE, EE, SI, and FC (key constructs) did predict farmers and vendors’ BI to use social media and actual USE of social media for marketing their small farm businesses and agriproducts. Respondents’ characteristics (e.g., age, gender, social media experience) did moderate some of these relationships in different ways. Thus, the present study provided additional empirical support for UTAUT. Additionally, responses to questions that assessed constructs in UTAUT suggest that respondents are open to social media as a marketing tool for their small farm businesses. Other results indicated that farmers and vendors prefer to market their products through farmers markets and community supported agriculture groups as compared to retail outlets and noted barriers present in retail marketing channels. This study provides information that will be beneficial for the development of educational programs and contributes to the literature on the factors affecting farmers’ intention to use social media to promote agriproducts to connect new markets.

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Researchers perform multivariate techniques MANOVA, discriminant analysis and factor analysis. The most common applications in social science are to identify and test the effects from the analysis. The use of this multivariate technique is uncommon in investigating the effects of power usage and Province in South Africa on the amounts of the five power modes. This dissertation discusses this issue, the methodology and practical problems of the three multivariate techniques. The author examines the applications of each technique in social public research and comparisons are made between the three multivariate techniques. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of both the concepts of the present multivariate techniques and the results found on the use of the three multivariate techniques in the energy household consumption. The author recommends focusing on the hypotheses of the study or typical questions surrounding of each technique to guide the researcher in choosing the appropriate analysis in the social research, as each technique has some strengths and limitations. / Statistics / M. Sc. (Statistics)

The purpose of the study was to identify and transform, as necessary, constructs of communication satisfaction and to develop a hybrid quantitative audit of organisational communication satisfaction for collectivist contexts that is both reliable and valid, using Amos Graphics for structural equation modelling. The objective was also to develop a full latent variable model and to test its fitness to the data collected from a random sample of civil servants across Addis Ababa’s civil service bureaus. The study comprised three sequential parts, namely pilot, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (Main Study One) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (Main Study Two). These were used as per the existing framework in instrument development and validation. The pilot study indicated the need for more robust data. After a series of tests, principal factor axis factoring with oblique rotation was used as the most appropriate for perceptual data, out of several options on the EFA menu. The initially hypothesised six-factor solution with the dimensions of horizontal communication, personal feedback, supervisory communication, communication climate, relational trust and job satisfaction was found to be unfit for the data on conceptual and statistical grounds and psychometric analyses which involved the use of eigenvalues and the scree plot. A more appropriate two-factor solution based on the more precise parallel analysis strategy was consistent with current research that communication satisfaction is best conceptualised in terms of informational and relational domains as operationalised using the EFA procedure. The two-factor solution led to the formation of a 17-item scale out of the original 30-item measure, with two latent dimensions namely relational satisfaction and informational satisfaction. The items of the new EFA-generated organisational communication satisfaction scale were renumbered consecutively and the scale was cross-validated on a xiv new sample of 288 civil servants from the Addis Ababa City Administration. The cross-validation necessitated model respecification and re-estimation. The respecified model underwent validation at different levels. All seven aspects of validity, namely content validity, construct validity, factorial validity, reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity and nomological validity, were addressed and found to be adequate. However limitations are also indicated as avenues for further enquiry. / Communication Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)