No / In the past, transaction cost economics (TCE) literature has largely stressed the benefits of contractual commitments in relationships. TCE traditionally recommends safeguarding specific assets against holdup, thus reducing behavioral uncertainty. In contrast, the reverse side of the coin has been disregarded for a long time. Firms may lose some of their flexibility and thus the opportunity to benefit from future emerging business activities due to prior contractual commitments. Flexibility becomes especially important in dynamic environments where there is rapid technological change. To manage the emergent trade-off between contractual commitments and flexibility in dynamic markets, the authors propose a real options approach. The value of a firm's flexibility to switch to a new trading partner is represented by a real switching option. It can be shown how contractual commitments directly affect the value of the switching option. To clarify, the authors numerically analyze the respective trade-off and derive implications for an optimal choice of contractual commitments.

A contingency model describing the moderating effects of perceived environmental uncertainty on the relationship between human resource flexibility (HR flexibility) and firm performance was proposed and tested. This study aimed to examine the relationship between different dimensions of HR flexibility and firm performance and further investigated the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty on this relationship. A survey research was conducted using a sample of publicly traded firms listed in Taiwan Economic Journal data bank. Data was collected from different sources, including the opinions of CEO and HR managers in each company and the public disclosure of corporate information. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. After collecting empirical data and performing the factor analysis, five dimensions of HR flexibility, including behavior flexibility, skill flexibility, financial flexibility, functional flexibility, and market-oriented flexibility, were identified in this study. By testing Hypothesis1, results showed that skill flexibility, functional flexibility and market-oriented could predict some of the performance measures. However, behavior flexibility and financial flexibility had no significant influence on any firm performance measures. By testing Hypothesis2, three dimensions of environmental uncertainty were identified first. They were response uncertainty, effect uncertainty, and state uncertainty. Then, the results of the hierarchical regression models supported the argument that effect uncertainty positively moderated the influence of behavior, skill and functional flexibility on firm performance. But, the moderating effects of response and state uncertainty were not supported. Implications and future research directions were suggested in the final part of this study.

The primary objective of this study was to empirically test J. D. Thompson's proposition that organizations seek to buffer their technical cores from the uncertainty of the environment. Secondary objectives included: to explore the relationship among core technology, perceived environmental uncertainty, size, and buffering; to provide descriptive statistics on the use of part-time and temporary workers in manufacturing firms; and to empirically test the Perceived Environmental Uncertainty Instrument developed by Duncan and modified by Downey. These were accomplished by examining in an applied setting the relationship among one buffering method, two types of core technologies, size, and perceived environmental uncertainty. / Ph. D.

This study examines the three-way interactive effects of organizational commitment¡B perceived environmental uncertainty and the perceived usefulness of the use of management accounting systems (MAS) information on the relationship of managerial performance. In addition, this research supplements the conclusion of Gul(1991), that is, the prospect of perceived environmental uncertainty can moderate the effect of the usefulness of MAS information leading to improved managerial performance was under the premise of managers with high organizational commitment. Our conclusion could also be regarded as the extension of the research of Mia and Chenhall (1994). The results indicate that aggregation characteristic of MAS information is the key characteristic of the interactive effects. The responses of 138 managers, drawn from manufacturing departments of Taiwanese public companies, to a questionnaire survey were analyzed by examining the regression equations for the three-way interaction model.

Described in this thesis is research that examined the influence of courtroom symbolism on jurors' ability to focus on the evidence presented in a criminal trial. This research is unique as participants were 'real' jurors who had, at the time of participation in the research, recently completed deliberations on a District Court trial. To date no other research has explored the interaction between symbolism in the courtroom and the juror experience. The broad research question examined in this research was: Do symbolic elements in the courtroom environment draw juror attention away from the evidence being presented?. Three theories drawn from environmental psychology were utilised in this research (i.e., environmental uncertainty theory, environmental arousal theory and environmental load theory). Additionally, Rapoport's (1983, 1990) theory, which was drawn from the architectural field of knowledge, was utilised. Rapoport's theory facilitated the measurement of symbolism in the form of environmental cues found in the courtroom. To address the broad research question, eight subordinate research questions were formulated those being: (1) Do trait anxiety and court related factors influence the amount of attention jurors pay to the elements of the courtroom environment?, (2) Do trait anxiety and court related factors influence the effect on jurors of the attention they paid to the elements of the courtroom environment?, (3) Do trait anxiety and court related factors influence the sense of stress or arousal in jurors?, (4) Is there an association between attention paid by jurors to the environmental cues found in the courtroom, their ability to perform their role as a juror and their sense of appreciation for the function of the law?, (5) Is there an association between attention paid by jurors to the environmental cues in the courtroom and a state of elevated stress?, (6) Does the amount of attention paid by jurors to environmental cues found in the courtroom diminish over time?, (7) Does the effect on jurors of the attention they paid to the environmental cues in the courtroom diminish over time? and, (8) Does the amount of stress jurors experience diminish over time?. The eight research questions were addressed in two studies. The first involved a survey of jurors who had completed deliberations in District Court trials in Brisbane and Cairns during the period 19th July, 2001 and 18th July, 2002 (N=192). This study examined the amount of attention jurors paid to four elements of the courtroom environment (i.e., the courtroom design, the appearance and behaviour of court officials, the appearance and behaviour of those associated with the offence and the task of being a juror). Also examined in this study was the influence on jurors of the attention they paid to the elements of the courtroom environment. Juror experience of state anxiety as measured by the State Trait Anxiety Inventory [STAI] (Spielberger, 1983) was also examined. Additionally, the influence of trait anxiety as measured by the STAI (Spielberger, 1983) and court related factors (i.e., location of trial, prior jury experience, nature of the offence and length of trial) on the juror experience was examined. Two time frames were examined (i.e., initial contact with the courtroom and midpoint of juror experience) which allowed the examination of the influence of time on the juror experience. Interviews with jurors who had completed the survey (N=19) comprised the second study. This study allowed jurors to describe their experience on a jury from a more personal perspective. The elements of the juror experience that distracted and reinforced their ability to focus on the evidence and facilitated a sense of appreciation for the function of the law were discussed. Also discussed were the elements of the juror experience that caused jurors to experience anxiety. Overall, the findings of this research indicated that although symbolism in the courtroom was linked to juror anxiety, this was positive and facilitated juror attention to the evidence and a sense of respect for the criminal justice system. That anxiety experienced by jurors facilitated their focus on the evidence is consistent with environmental arousal theory in that for optimum performance one must experience a certain level of arousal. Also confirmed by the findings of this research is environmental load theory, an element of which predicts that jurors will be task driven when experiencing environmental load. That these two theories are linked by an underlying construct is evidenced by the findings of this research. These findings open up possibilities for future theoretical research using environmental arousal theory and environmental load theory. The findings of this research also suggest that jurors found the symbolism in the courtroom environment distracting and that some elements of the juror experience were onerous and stressful. However, previous experience in the courtroom and lower trait anxiety moderated these factors. Consequently, consistent with the results of this research courts might benefit from implementing an orientation program for prospective jurors such that they are familiarised with the courtroom environment. Such a program would moderate any distress experienced by jurors. In the context of such adjustments by the courts, the influence of symbolism in the courtroom are considered beneficial to the juror experience and there is no need for the courts to alter the courtroom setting or robing practices of lawyers.

Abstract In recent years, the Ministry of Education's policy on higher education is no longer the way to indulge control operation, the opposite order to improve the quality of higher education. The Ministry of Education used the double-dealing, first of all, the university evaluation system begin and regulate the so-called "university exit mechanism." In addition the education and implementation of large grants of accreditation providing subsidies to the better universities, and thus evaluation of poor schools can¡¦t get grants, so the formation of most of the subsidies to the school an excellent university, and therefore caused the situation to strong become more stronger, the weak become more weaker. Therefore, if colleges and universities can¡¦t achieve the minimum number of students remain in operation, and it will eventually be forced out of the education market, and then it will be accompanied by referred students, teachers, severance and other social issues. This study used the purposive sampling with snowball sampling, and questionnaires the domestic 14 private university teachers, a total of 224 valid questionnaires recovered, and then to use the SPSS 18.0 in statistical analysis and examination the collected date. The results showed: 1. Teachers with high degree of Internal Marketing consciousness will increase their organizational commitment in the university. 2. Teachers with high degree of environmental uncertainty Perceptions will reduce their organizational commitment in the university and it will affect the teaching quality. 3. Teachers with high degree of organizational commitment and the internal marketing consciousness will increase the teaching quality. 4. Teachers with organization commitment have positive mediation effect between the internal marketing consciousness and teaching quality 5. In the situation of internal marketing consciousness, the environmental uncertainty perception does not have any effect the organizational commitment and the teaching quality.

The dysfunctional consequences of budgetary controls have received a great deal of attention. One motivation for the current study was to test whether effects exist between two alleged dysfunctional consequences of a rigid budgetary control form: budget slack creation and managerial short-term orientation. According to the research: A rigid budgetary control will reduce budget slack creation and increase managerial short-term orientation. Reducing one form of dysfunctional behavior (slack creation) through rigid controls seems to raise another form (stronger management focus on business matters that affect short-term results). However, the budgetary control forms that organizations implement may be affected by two important antecedents: past business unit performance and environmental uncertainty. The results indicate that business units that have been more profitable are subject to more rigid budgetary controls, which reduce the propensity to build slack and, as a result, lead indirectly to managers¡¦ emphasis on short-term effects. The high environmental uncertainty of the business units is subject to less rigid budgetary controls from upper management allowing them to build slack, which seems in line with the flexibility required to respond effectively to changes in their environment as well as the tendency for managers to think about long-term effects. We collected 138 samples from 1,017 respondents, who are business unit managers of public owned companies in Taiwan, and used path analysis to test our hypotheses.

There have been significant advances in the information systems (IS) literature about the business value that can be realized through information technology (IT) investments and the mechanisms through which IT creates different facets of business value. We identify three important gaps in understanding the literature on IT business value. First, it is unclear how risk arising from deficiencies in a firm’s information environment, along with internal and external contextual factors, affects a firm’s IT implementation choices. Second, it is unclear how IT resources in a focal domain need to be combined with knowledge resources in the same domain and IT resources in other domains to develop process capabilities and create process-level benefits. Third, it is unclear what risks IT-enabled process innovations create for different process stakeholders and what controls can be applied to mitigate these risks. My dissertation addresses the above three gaps in three essays. The first essay examines the influence of a firm’s information risk on its prioritization of accounting enterprise systems (AES) relative to complementary enterprise systems and the moderation of this relationship by the weaknesses of internal controls and environmental uncertainty characteristics. The second essay focuses on the impact of AES implementation on a firm’s internal controls process, and the complementary roles of managerial competence and enterprise systems implemented in other domains related to the internal controls process of the firm. The final essay explores the risk factors that can arise for buyers and suppliers due to the use of reverse auctions, and the controls that can be applied to mitigate the key risk factors. In terms of research methods, the first two essays apply econometric analysis to panel datasets constructed from multiple sources and the third essay uses a combination of Delphi studies and semi-structured interviews. Collectively, the essays advance our understanding of (1) the factors underlying a firm’s prioritization of IT investment choices; (2) the mechanisms through which IT resources, in combination with human expertise, create business value; and (3) the risks introduced for different stakeholders by the adoption of IT-enabled process innovations and the controls that can be used to effectively mitigate them.

In this study we investigate the impact of trust on the performance of cooperating firms, taking into account two core aspects: First, we look at environmental uncertainty, which shows in the degree of change there is in business freedom. Second, we account for behavioral uncertainty-captured as the average level of freedom from corruption in a country. Based on survey data from 791 firms engaged in national cooperation in Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia, we find that behavioral coordination based on trust impacts on cooperating firms' performance positively in dynamic and negatively in stable contexts. Freedom from corruption enhances firm performance in dynamic contexts but is not a significant predictor in stable contexts. Further, we find the trust-performance relationship to be moderated by freedom from corruption in dynamic but not in stable contexts. The findings contribute to a more contextualized research on trust and interorganizational cooperation, as has been called for recently. (authors' abstract)

Cette recherche réalisée auprès des PME implantées en France et au Cameroun, montre que le comportement stratégique de l'entreprise exerce une influence positive significative sur la performance. L'environnement incertain n'exerce pas d'effet direct sur la performance, mais modère positivement la relation entre le comportement stratégique et la performance. En revanche, le rôle des variables culturelles est plus contrasté. Certaines exercent à la fois un effet direct sur les variables du comportement stratégique et jouent aussi le rôle de variables modératrices de la relation entre le comportement stratégique et la performance. D'autres exercent à la fois un effet direct sur la performance, en même temps qu'elles modèrent les relations entre le comportement stratégique et la performance. Les résultats par pays ne montrent pas de relation significative entre le comportement stratégique et la performance. Le pays n'est pas, non plus, une variable modératrice, mais exerce un effet direct significatif sur la performance. Les implications sur le plan managérial et théorique sont nombreuses. / This research of SMEs in France and Cameroon, shows that the strategic behavior of the company has a significant positive influence on performance. The environmental uncertainty has no direct impact on the performance, but positively moderate the relationship between strategic behavior and performance. However, the role of cultural variables is more contrasted. Some have both a direct effect on the strategic behavior variables and also play the role of moderating variables of the relationship between the strategic behavior and performance. Others are both a direct effect on performance, as they moderate the relationship between strategic behavior and performance. Results by country show no significant relationship between strategic behavior and performance. The country is not a moderator, but has a significant direct effect on performance. At the managerial and theoretical levels implications are numerous.