The interview is the ideal opportunity for the job candidate to assess his/her fit with a potential employer. While much research from the recruiting literature shows that candidates' perceptions of PO Fit lead to important outcomes such as intentions to pursue a position and acceptance of job offers, fewer studies explore how such fit perceptions are formed. The current study utilized a policy capturing approach to model how individuals interpret and combine cues from the interview experience as they formulate their perceptions of PO Fit. The cues tested included interview question content and the contextual variables of interviewer behavior and interview process factors. College students read a series of interview scenarios where these cues were manipulated, and provided their reactions about PO Fit, as well as about fairness and the ultimate decision to pursue an employment relationship. Although values-related question content was predicted to be most influential in the determination of PO Fit, the contextual factors more strongly affected all outcomes. Furthermore, for many participants, the relationships between these contextual effects and the outcome variable (intention to continue in the selection process) were mediated by perceptions of PO Fit and fairness. Considerable intercorrelation among the three dependent variables was found, and could be attributed to limitations of the method employed or job seekers' generalized and non-focused reactions following interviews. Additional research is needed to further investigate PO Fit perceptions from interview stimuli; suggestions and implications are discussed. / Ph. D.

Diversity has become a central organizational goal especially as the U.S. population is experiencing racial demographic shifts (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). Employees of color makeup one-third of the workforce, yet higher education institutions have been slow to adjust to the shifting demographics (Birnbaum, 1988; Brown, 2004; Yancey, 2010). Higher education leaders are seeking ways to recruit and retain growing numbers of administrators of color working at their institutions. Available research focuses on organizational fit and faculty of color (Bozeman and Gaughan, 2011; Jackson, 2003b; Jayakumar et al., 2009; Ortega-Liston and Rodriguez Soto, 2014; Victorino et al., 2013) or examines organizational fit at research universities (Barrett and Smith, 2008; Gasman et al., 2011; Ryan et al., 2012; Turner et al., 2011). A review of the literature shows there is scarcity of scholarly knowledge on the experiences of administrators from historically minoritized groups with organizational fit at small liberal arts institutions. The purpose of this study was to understand and describe how administrators of color at small liberal arts institutions experience organizational fit. The conceptual framework for this study was Jackson's (2004a) Engagement, Retention, and Advancement (ERA) Model. The participants in the sample included Black/African American, Asian American, Native Hawaii/Pacific Islander, and Latina/o non-academic administrators from institutions with less than 2,500 students. Using a phenomenological design, I interviewed selected administrators twice using a modified version of Seidman's (2013) life history structure. Data analysis revealed six themes including the pathways into higher education, attraction to small liberal arts institutions, institutional culture, position empowerment, multiple hats/roles, and professional success. The findings suggest these administrators of color experience similar ERA processes as other administrators. These similarities include desiring to fit in, an on-going process of building trust, and enjoying the small family business environment of a small liberal arts institution. Unique findings included how participants valued their quality of life despite limited salaries at small liberal arts institutions. They also assimilated, code switched, and served as cultural guides, adding responsibilities to an already hard working group. Implications for higher education leaders concerning the importance of supporting administrators of color can be gleaned from these findings. / Ph. D.

Within the last few years, retail sales have averaged an annual growth of about 4% with electronic commerce retail sales averaging an increase of over 20% per year (U.S Census Bureau, 2008). The e-commerce retail sector of apparel, accessories, and footwear reached $18.3 billion in sales and ranked as a top selling category (Shop.org, 2007). A growing apparel market with strong buying power is the plus-size clothing industry with approximately $32 billion in sales in 2005, and an average of about a 10% growth rate each year (Yadegaran, 2006). Despite the growth in the industry, little empirical research has been conducted regarding plus-size Internet apparel shoppers. Additionally the field lacks research that focuses on garment fit for the plus-size market. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of product presentation factors, visual fit information (size of model photographed) and written fit information (fit related product description), on plus-size women's perceived fit risk, purchase intention, and loyalty intentions in Internet apparel shopping. This study employed a 2 x 2 between subjects' factorial design: visual fit information (plus-size model vs. non plus-size model) by written fit information (more elaborate vs. less elaborate). Four mock web pages were created to closely mimic the design of a true plus-size Internet apparel retailer. Each web page presented a model wearing the same dress for plus-size women and a written product description. The stimuli consisted of an identical dress in color and style, presented on both a plus-size model and a non plus-size model, and similar written fit information with more detailed information about garment style, garment dimensions, and fit editorial presentation for more elaborate stimuli. One hundred fourteen women between the ages of 19 and 64 participated in this study for incentives such as a free plus-size apparel gift-card, using snowball sampling method. Using descriptive statistics, multivariate analyses of variance and univariate analyses of variance, the present research showed (1) no main effects of visual fit information on perceived fit risk, purchase intention, and loyalty intention, and (2) no main effects of written fit information on perceived fit risk, purchase intention and loyalty intention. The study added valuable empirical findings to the literature on the relationship between fit related information and perceived fit risk, purchase intention and loyalty intention among plus-size Internet apparel shoppers. / Master of Science

No / Guest Editorial.

This research provides quantitative data to aid engineers in the selection of various attributes to facilitate fit-up during I-girder bridge construction. Concepts and procedures for explicit calculation of locked-in forces due to cross-frame detailing are developed and discussed. Fit-up forces are evaluated and discussed for a suite of bridge cases analyzed in this research. Bridge cases with difficult fit-up are highlighted. Recommendations for erection procedures are provided to facilitate fit-up. The research investigates and recommends beneficial staggered cross-frame framing arrangements that are applicable to straight skewed bridges, framing arrangements with liberal offsets around bearing lines at interior pier in continuous spans bridges, and the use of staggered versus lean-on cross-frame arrangements in straight skewed bridges. The research also addresses the impacts of cross-frame detailing methods, that is, the “fit condition” of the structure, on cross-frame forces, girder elevations, girder layovers, girder stresses, and vertical reactions in the completed bridges.

Discrete-time survival analysis as an educational research technique has focused on analysing and interpretating parameter estimates. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of certain data characteristics on the hazard estimates and goodness of fit statistics. Fifty-four simulated data sets were crossed with four conditions in a 2 (time period) by 3 (distribution of Y = 1) by 3 (distribution of Y = 0) by 3 (sample size) design.

Cette recherche, menée auprès de PME manufacturières françaises, étudie les relations entre stratégie, innovation et performance. Plus précisément, il s'agit de comprendre si des configurations spécifiques d'alignement entre la posture stratégique et le type d'innovation influencent la performance. Ce travail étudie à travers trois essais l'influence de la posture stratégique sur le profil d'innovation, l'influence de « l'effet industrie » et de « l'effet firme » en tant que contingences sur la posture stratégique, le profil d'innovation et l'alignement stratégie-innovation, et enfin, l'existence d'alignements stratégie-innovation privilégiés, en relation avec la performance. Le champ d'analyse de cette relation est étendu aux dimensions techniques, marketing et organisationnelles de l'innovation. Le modèle utilisé, fondé sur le cycle d'adaptation permanente développé par Miles et Snow, explore à la fois les conditions nécessaires pour générer un avantage concurrentiel et la dynamique de l'avantage concurrentiel dans les PME. Les résultats confirment l'existence d'alignements spécifiques entre les caractéristiques entrepreneuriales, engineering et administratives des postures stratégiques de Miles et Snow et les caractéristiques des profils d'innovation associés, et valident ainsi le rôle prédictif de la stratégie compétitive sur les comportements d'innovation des entreprises. En second lieu, les résultats soulignent l'influence distincte et complémentaire des contingences spécifiques liées au secteur d'activité et aux capacités stratégiques des entreprises sur la relation stratégie-innovation / This doctoral research, conducted on French manufacturing SMEs, investigates the relationship between competitive strategy, innovation, and performance. More specifically, the purpose of this work is to understand whether specific patterns of alignment between competitive strategy and innovation influence firm performance. We propose to explore, in three essays, firstly, the influence of strategic posture on innovation behavior, and the existence of strategy-innovation alignments. Secondly, we explore the influence of industry effects and firm's specific effects on strategic posture, innovation behavior, and on strategy-innovation fit. Thirdly, this research investigates the implication of fit between strategic posture and innovation behavior from a performance perspective. The research enhances the scope of analysis of this relationship to the technical but also marketing and organizational dimensions of innovation. Our model, stemming from the rationale of Miles and Snow's adaptive cycle (1978), contributes to further understanding the content - the conditions for achieving competitive advantage - and the process - the dynamics – dimensions of competitive advantage in small businesses. First, results confirm the existence of differentiated alignments between the Entrepreneurial, Engineering and Administrative characteristics of Miles and Snow's strategic postures and the characteristics of their respective innovation behavior, thus supporting the predictive validity of competitive strategy on firms' innovation behavior. Second, results highlight the influence of distinct but complementary industry and firm contingencies on the strategy-innovation relationship

No description available.

Person-Group (PG) fit is defined as the perceived compatibility between an individual and his or her workgroup, reflecting various social- and task-related elements of group work (Li, Kristof-Brown, & Nielsen, 2019). Although Yu’s (2013) theoretical motivation model of fit suggests that individuals are motivated and capable of changing and managing their PG fit perceptions, there is limited research on the specific actions that individuals take to manage their fit perceptions. Rather, most of the research in fit is concentrated on the positive outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, commitment, performance) associated with fit (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005) and portrays individuals as passive recipients of their fit perceptions. The purpose of this study is to extend Yu’s (2013) model to demonstrate that individuals are active agents who seek to maintain high levels of PG fit and alter low levels of PG fit. To understand how individuals manage PG fit, I adopt the perspective that fit perceptions are, in part, socially constructed, such that groupmates’ actions can make individuals believe that they are more/less of a fit (Follmer, Talbot, Kristof-Brown, Astrove, & Billsberry, 2018). Thus, individuals are triggered to use impression management (IM) tactics to create, maintain, alter, control, and protect the images that others form of them (Leary & Kowalski, 1990). However, with the myriad of IM tactics, it is unclear what type of PG fit perceptions will trigger which specific IM tactics. This dissertation develops and tests a model that situates IM tactic usage based on what type of PG fit (e.g., social vs. task-based PG fit) is being pursued and what level of PG fit (higher vs. lower) the individual is currently perceiving. To facilitate the connection between PG fit and IM tactics, I also develop a typology that classifies commonly used IM tactics for explaining the situations that will influence the selection of specific tactics. Finally, I explore the psychological and emotional aftermath of engaging in IM tactics by examining which specific IM tactics are more likely to promote or harm: 1-individuals’ perception of PG fit, 2-individuals’ perception how groupmates perceive their PG fit, and 3-groupmates’ perception of the focal individuals’ PG fit. I tested this model with a multisource, three waved time-lagged field survey study across a two-month period. I collected data in two samples: university staff employees who work in group settings and student groups in a business consulting class. Using structural equation modeling and latent change scores, I found that individuals are not passive respondents of their PG fit perceptions. Rather, they are active agents who seek to maintain higher levels of fit and alter lower levels of fit using IM tactics. Yet, the likelihood of using certain tactics for individuals with higher levels of fit differed from the tactics used by individuals with lower levels of fit. Some tactics were associated with improvements in fit, others were not, and a few were associated with reductions in fit. Generally, individuals who began with higher levels of perceived PG fit engaged in IM tactics that were later associated with improved fit. In contrast, individuals who had lower levels of perceived PG fit (namely social-based PG fit) engaged in IM tactics that were later shown to be associated with reductions in fit. These results suggest that individuals with high levels of fit tend to choose the “correct” IM tactics to maintain and improve their fit to an even higher degree, but the misfits tend to choose tactics that damage their fit even further. This highlights the importance of understanding that even though individuals are active agents who seek to manage their perceived fit, the specific actions they engage in to do so are complex and not always appropriate. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as future research directions, are discussed.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an expanding trend as more organizations have adopted various CSR policies. Due to this, CSR has been a growing topic in Business and Psychology research, especially on the micro-level of CSR’s effects on individual employee outcomes. In this study, we proposed a new sub-dimension of Person-Organization (P-O) fit, such that there’s a Person-CSR (P-CSR) fit: the perceived congruence between an individuals’ values with an organization’s CSR initiatives. We predicted that P-CSR fit would explain additional variance over and beyond P-O fit for organizational outcomes: organizational commitment, organizational identity, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Further, we predicted the relationship between P-CSR fit and these organizational outcomes would be moderated by the individual’s social responsibility values. Using a sample of 230 participants, who worked for their current organization for an average of 2.92 years and an average of 35.10 hours per week, results of this study consistently found P-CSR fit to capture additional variance over and beyond P-O fit. However, this study did not find the predicted moderating relationships. This study provides important implications for organizations that do not have CSR established, organizations that have CSR but do not make it known, and organizations that have CSR that are not proactive nor reflective of their industry.