Formal controls are essential for well-functioning organizations, but research finds that they can negatively impact controlled individuals’ (agents) behavior. Specifically, controls can reduce agents’ intrinsic motivation to exert effort for employers (principals). In this dissertation, I investigate how agents’ beliefs about the intentionality of control influence their response to it. Further, I examine whether principals anticipate agents’ responses and adjust their risk-taking behavior accordingly. Using three interactive experiments, I examine the effects of control intentionality on agents’ effort and principals’ risk-taking. In the first experiment, I focus on the effects of intentions and control, without permitting principals to transfer resources to agents. In the second and third experiments, principals take risk by entrusting resources to agents. Further, in the third experiment, I investigate the beliefs that influence participants’ actions. In each experiment, I manipulate agents’ beliefs about control intentionality by varying the control source across three conditions. In the first condition, principals endogenously impose control, which can clearly be perceived as a distrusting signal. In the second condition, control is imposed exogenously by a computer and therefore cannot be interpreted negatively. In the third condition, the control source is unclear to the agent, such that it may be imposed by the principal or computer. I find that intentionality influences agents’ response to control. Specifically, in the first experiment, when control is imposed exogenously, agents exert high effort. However, agents’ effort diminishes when control can be interpreted as a negative signal, even if the source is ambiguous. Moreover, when the principal unambiguously imposes control, agents exert less effort than if no control is imposed. The second experiment reveals that this dysfunctional effect of intentional control persists when principals entrust resources to agents. Despite these negative effects, principals prefer to impose control. However, principals appear to accurately predict how control intentionality affects agents and take more risk when they have chosen not to impose control or when it is imposed by an exogenous or ambiguous source than when they have intentionally imposed it. Results from the second and third experiments indicate that principals’ risk-taking is influenced by their beliefs about agent opportunism. / text

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thèse (M.Sc.)--Université Laval, 2002. / Bibliogr.: f. 112-123. Publié aussi en version électronique.

Zugl.: München, Univ., Diss., 2008 u.d.T.: Hofmann, Solveig: Dynamik sozialer Praktiken und ihrer zu Grunde liegenden Einstellungen.

Universiẗat, Diss., 1999--Bonn.

Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2004--Dresden.

Human actions are generally not determined by external stimuli, but by internal goals and by the urge to evoke desired effects in the environment. To reach these effects, humans typically have to act. But at times, deciding not to act can be better suited or even the only way to reach a desired effect. What mental processes are involved when people decide not to act to reach certain effects? From the outside it may seem that nothing remarkable is happening, because no action can be observed. However, I present three studies which disclose the cognitive processes that control nonactions. The present experiments address situations where people intentionally decide to omit certain actions in order to produce a predictable effect in the environment. These experiments are based on the ideomotor hypothesis, which suggests that bidirectional associations can be formed between actions and the resulting effects. Because of these associations, anticipating the effects can in turn activate the respective action. The results of the present experiments show that associations can be formed between nonactions (i.e., the intentional decision not to act) and the resulting effects. Due to these associations, perceiving the nonaction effects encourages not acting (Exp. 1–3). What is more, planning a nonaction seems to come with an activation of the effects that inevitably follow the nonaction (Exp. 4–5). These results suggest that the ideomotor hypothesis can be expanded to nonactions and that nonactions are cognitively represented in terms of their sensory effects. Furthermore, nonaction effects can elicit a sense of agency (Exp. 6–8). That is, even though people refrain from acting, the resulting nonaction effects are perceived as self-produced effects. In a nutshell, these findings demonstrate that intentional nonactions include specific mechanisms and processes, which are involved, for instance, in effect anticipation and the sense of agency. This means that, while it may seem that nothing remarkable is happening when people decide not to act, complex processes run on the inside, which are also involved in intentional actions. / Menschliches Verhalten ist im Allgemeinen nicht reizbestimmt, sondern zielgerichtet und hat die Absicht gewünschte Effekte in der Umwelt hervorzurufen. Häufig müssen Menschen eine Handlung ausführen, um diese Effekte zu erreichen. Manche Effekte können allerdings besser oder sogar nur dann erreicht werden, wenn man sich entscheidet nicht zu handeln. Welche mentalen Prozesse finden aber statt, wenn Menschen sich entscheiden nicht zu handeln? Oberflächlich betrachtet scheint es als würde nichts weiter Bemerkenswertes ablaufen, da keine Handlung zu beobachten ist. In drei Experimentalreihen zeige ich aber die kognitiven Prozesse auf, die das Nichthandeln kontrollieren. In den vorliegenden Experimenten werden Situationen untersucht, in denen sich Menschen entscheiden nicht zu handeln, um vorhersehbare Effekte zu erzeugen. Die Experimente basieren auf der ideomotorischen Hypothese, die annimmt, dass bidirektionale Assoziationen zwischen Handlungen und den resultierenden Effekten gebildet werden können. Dadurch kann eine Vorstellung der Effekte wiederum die verbundene Handlung hervorrufen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Assoziationen auch zwischen Nichthandlungen und den daraus resultierenden Effekten gebildet werden können. Diese Assoziationen führen dazu, dass die Wahrnehmung der Effekte selbst die Nichthandlung hervorrufen kann (Exp. 1–3). Außerdem scheint die Planung einer Nichthandlung automatisch eine Vorstellung der assoziierten Effekte zu aktivieren (Exp. 4–5). Diese Befunde legen nahe, dass die ideomotorische Hypothese auch auf Nichthandlungen übertragen werden kann und dass Nichthandlungen kognitiv durch die Effekte, die sie hervorrufen, repräsentiert sind. Darüber hinaus scheinen Menschen ein Verursachungsgefühl (“Sense of Agency”) für die Effekte ihrer Nichthandlungen zu haben (Exp. 6–8). Das bedeutet, dass die resultierenden Effekte (obwohl nicht gehandelt wurde) wie selbsterzeugte Effekte wahrgenommen werden können. Zusammenfassend zeigen die Experimente, dass intentionale Nichthandlungen von spezifischen Mechanismen und Prozessen begleitet werden, die z.B. bei der Effektantizipation und dem Sense of Agency involviert sind. Obwohl es also von außen so scheint, als würde nichts Bemerkenswertes passieren, wenn Menschen intentional nicht handeln, laufen im Inneren komplexe Prozesse ab wie beim intentionalen Handeln.

L’objectif de notre étude était de comprendre les difficultés rencontrées par les PAB au cours de la crise de la COVID-19, et aussi comment ces problèmes ont influé leur maintien au travail dans les CHSLD de Montréal du 23 février au 11 juillet 2020. 11 PAB appartenant à trois (3) catégories ont été sélectionnés selon un échantillonnage en boule de neige. Un guide d’entrevue construit sur le modèle de Tourangeau et al. (2010) et celui de la conciliation emploi-famille-vie personnelle proposée par Duxbury et Higgins (2003) a permis de recueillir des données à l’aide d’entrevues semi-dirigées. Elles ont été réalisées entre octobre et décembre 2021 et une analyse thématique des données selon la méthode proposée par Braun et Clarke (2006) a été réalisée. Les résultats de notre étude montrent que l’intention de quitter l’emploi au cours de la période concernée était influencée par le cercle vicieux du bris de service impliquant une surexploitation des PAB, des pressions physiques et psychologiques, un épuisement au travail, un stress aigu ajouté à des émotions négatives. En plus de cela, les mauvaises conditions de travail, les enjeux éthiques spécifiques à la pandémie de la COVID-19, mais également le manque de reconnaissance et de valorisation du métier de PAB, au moment de l’apogée de la pénurie de la main-d’œuvre et les difficultés de conciliation emploi-famille-vie personnelle ont fortement contribué au retrait du travail de certaines PAB. A contrario, l’intention de rester en emploi était plus influencée par des facteurs individuels tels que le volontarisme, la satisfaction morale et l’attachement affectif au métier et des facteurs contextuels tels que le soutien perçu de l’organisation et/ou du gouvernement du Québec. Le réseau des CHSLD initialement fragilisés par la pénurie de main-d’œuvre et la précarisation des emplois de PAB a davantage été affaibli par la crise de la COVID-19 qui a accentué la pénurie de main-d’œuvre. L’amélioration des politiques de rétention des PAB passe par une sélection plus rigoureuse en tenant compte des motivations des candidates au métier, une amélioration des conditions de travail et une meilleure valorisation du métier de PAB. / Our study aims to understand the obstacles encountered by PAB during the COVID-19 crisis and how these influenced their work retention in Montreal's CHSLDs from February 23 to July 11, 2020. Three (3) categories of PAB were selected according to a snowball sampling. An interview guide based on the Tourangeau et al. model (2010) and the work-life balance model proposed by Duxbury and Higgins (2003) was used to collect data through semi-structured interviews conducted between October and December 2021. A thematic analysis was performed using the method suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006). The results of our study show that the intention to leave the job during the period concerned was influenced not only by the vicious circle of service breakdown involving overexploitation of the PAB, physical and psychological pressures, burnout at work, acute stress added to negative emotions. In addition to this, poor working conditions, ethical issues specific to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the lack of recognition and valuing of the PAB profession at the time of the summit of the workforce shortage and the challenges of reconciling work and family life have enormously contributed to the resignation from the work of some of them. On the other hand, the intention to remain employed was more influenced by individual factors such as voluntarism, moral satisfaction and emotional attachment to the job and contextual factors such as the perceived support of the organization and the Quebec government. The CHSLD network, initially weakened by the labour shortage and the precariousness of PAB jobs was further deteriorated by the COVID-19 crisis, which increased the demand for PAB. The improvement of the retention policies for PAB requires a more rigorous selection process that considers the candidates' motivations for the job, a modification of the working conditions, and a better promotion of the PAB job.

Mass-customization is a form of consumer-centric business practice, which is a hybrid of customization and mass-production (Gilmore & Pine II, 1997). It is the use of flexible processes and organizational structures to produce individually customized apparel products at the low cost of a standardized mass-production system (Hart, 1995). Very limited academic consumer research has been conducted in the area of apparel mass-customization. The purposes of the study were (a) to investigate consumers' purchase intentions of mass-customized apparel, (b) to examine the relationships among consumer characteristics, perceived usefulness, perceived behavioral control, attitude toward using apparel mass-customization, and purchase intention of mass-customized apparel, and (c) to identify the predictors of the overall purchase intentions and those of the purchase intentions of specific types of mass-customized apparel (i.e., design, fit and personalization mass-customized apparel). A conceptual model was developed, and eight hypotheses were generated to test the proposed relationships among the variables. A questionnaire was developed as the instrument of collecting data. A national sample of 474 male adults was recruited by a market research company. Statistics such as descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the collected data. The results indicated that more than half of the respondents were willing to purchase mass-customized dress shirts. The relationships among consumer characteristics, perceived usefulness, perceived behavioral control, attitude toward using apparel mass-customization, and purchase intention of mass-customized apparel were confirmed, and the predictors of the overall purchase intention and of the purchase intention of specific types of mass-customized apparel were identified. Based on the results, in-depth discussions and related marketing implications were provided. / Ph. D.