Membership-based organizations perform many functions in society. Federatively organized trade unions, sports organizations, religious congregations and other voluntary or nonprofit organizations are often large, multi-level associations. In addition to performing important services these organizations are ascribed a central role in society’s governance. They are expected to enhance the voice of the citizens and to function as schools of democracy. Based on a sample of membership organizations in Sweden – among them the Red Cross, the Social-Democratic Workers’ Party and the Swedish Football Federation – this study sets out to analyze the internal governance system in this type of organizations. Basic theoretical models of human behavior – including how and why individuals choose to get involved – and of governance of organizations are elaborated in order to adapt them to a reality which is more complex than has been previously understood. A model of factors which affect involvement in governance is presented and the analysis shows that a model of membership consisting of a bundle of dimensions is useful for creating new insight into members’ participation. The results suggest that participation is complex and depends on many factors. One interesting result is that a majority of the members place an emphasis on the formal possibilities for influence in the organization. Yet, only a minority of the members actually takes part in the formal governance system, although most members seem prepared to act if they would be disappointed enough. Torbjörn Einarsson has conducted his PhD work at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) and is today a researcher at Stockholm Center for Civil Society Studies at the SSE Institute for Research. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2012.</p>

The history of Taiwan hypermarket industry began with the entering of Makro in1989. The same year, the French company Carrefour established a joint-venture with President Group in Taiwan. Besides Carrefour and Makro, companies that joined the market include local brands Geant and RT-MART and international brands like Costco and Tesco. After years of fast booming in the early stage of development, the entire industry has faced stagnancy for years. Why the industry suffered a downturn can be explained from the following aspects: investors are not optimistic about the overall macroeconomic conditions, consumer confidence is too weak, the competition within the Taiwan hypermarket industry is intense, and the strategic groups of all the participants in the markets are similar. All the reasons combined caused some company have no choice but leave the market or change their strategy. Macro left Taiwan market and Tesco Taiwan are included in Carrefour Taiwan. However, not every company in this industry suffered, Costco¡¦s sales increased when the industry top leaders, Carrefour and RT-MART, faced decreasing sales last year. The purpose of the study is to understand how Costco satisfies customer demand through its unique way in the competitive Taiwan hypermarket industry, how Costco makes consumers accept its way of doing business and how this unique business model differs from competitors in terms of operation, profit earning by analyzing the external industry competition, consumer demand that Costco faces and Costco¡¦s internal operation model. Besides internal and external analysis, the author designs a questionnaire that focus on Costco¡¦s customers¡¦ feelings about it.

This dissertation theorizes about why a team’s network structure might affect team performance immediately and over time when membership changes. I propose that the low substitutability of a central team member immediately disrupts the structure of interactions between remaining members and leaves the team without an important resource that is relied upon to facilitate team process. This performance loss is expected to decay as time elapses because the saliency of the event creates the focus and urgency required for the team to implement widespread systemic change. Dense interaction and task redundancy among core members in a centralized structure is expected to help offset this performance loss both immediately and over time. I examine the effect of network structure on initial team performance (performance immediately following member exit and entry) and performance over time (the rate of performance change following exit and entry) in professional hockey teams experiencing membership change due to player injury. Results show that the departure of a central player has a significant and negative effect on a team’s immediate performance, but the centrality of the absent member has a curvilinear effect on team performance over time. Teams that lost a central player experienced a drop in performance immediately after that player’s exit; but subsequently demonstrated an improvement in performance over time. Teams that lost a peripheral player experienced a more positive performance trajectory over time when compared with their performance before the exit, while the performance of teams that lost a mid-central player remains constant over time. While team centralization had no influence on initial team performance, over time it dramatically altered team outcomes such that, regardless of the departing player’s network position, teams with a centralized structure improved over time, whereas decentralized teams performed more poorly over time.

This dissertation theorizes about why a team’s network structure might affect team performance immediately and over time when membership changes. I propose that the low substitutability of a central team member immediately disrupts the structure of interactions between remaining members and leaves the team without an important resource that is relied upon to facilitate team process. This performance loss is expected to decay as time elapses because the saliency of the event creates the focus and urgency required for the team to implement widespread systemic change. Dense interaction and task redundancy among core members in a centralized structure is expected to help offset this performance loss both immediately and over time. I examine the effect of network structure on initial team performance (performance immediately following member exit and entry) and performance over time (the rate of performance change following exit and entry) in professional hockey teams experiencing membership change due to player injury. Results show that the departure of a central player has a significant and negative effect on a team’s immediate performance, but the centrality of the absent member has a curvilinear effect on team performance over time. Teams that lost a central player experienced a drop in performance immediately after that player’s exit; but subsequently demonstrated an improvement in performance over time. Teams that lost a peripheral player experienced a more positive performance trajectory over time when compared with their performance before the exit, while the performance of teams that lost a mid-central player remains constant over time. While team centralization had no influence on initial team performance, over time it dramatically altered team outcomes such that, regardless of the departing player’s network position, teams with a centralized structure improved over time, whereas decentralized teams performed more poorly over time.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 288-292).

This simulation study was designed to assess the impact of three ad hoc procedures for handling missing level two (here, school) identifiers in multilevel modeling. A multiple membership data structure was generated and both conventional hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and multiple membership random effects modeling (MMREM) were employed. HLM models purely hierarchical data structures while MMREM appropriately models multiple membership data structures. Two of the ad hoc procedures investigated involved removing different subsamples of students from the analysis (HLM-Delete and MMREM-Delete) while the other procedure retained all subjects and involved creating a pseudo-identifier for the missing level two identifier (MMREM-Unique). Relative parameter and standard error (SE) bias were calculated for each parameter estimated to assess parameter recovery. Across the conditions and parameters investigated, each procedure had some level of substantial bias. MMREM-Unique and MMREM-Delete resulted in the least amount of relative parameter bias while HLM-Delete resulted in the least amount of relative SE bias. Results and implications for applied researchers are discussed. / text

This report focuses on introducing two statistical models for dealing with data involving complex social structures. Appropriate handling of data structures is a concern in the context of educational settings. From base single-level data to complex hierarchical with cross-classifications and multiple-memberships, we explain and demonstrate their distinction and establish appropriate regression models. Real data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NECS) is used to demonstrate different way of handling a cross-classified data structure as well as appropriate models. Results will be presented and compared to examine the practical operation for each model. / text

No description available.

School-based extracurricular activity participation has been linked to positive behavioral and academic outcomes; however, little is known about the participation and outcomes of participation of Hispanic students, a group that is historically at high risk for school failure. As such, extracurricular activity participation characteristics and outcomes of a diverse group of middle school students were examined in this two journal article dissertation. First, participation differences between students based on student racial group membership and student sex were examined. Logistic regression was used to examine participation status differences (yes or no). Analysis of variance was used to examine participation intensity between student groups. Additionally, the effects of participation on outcomes related to adolescent peer groups, belongingness, and school membership were examined. Multiple regression models were utilized for this analysis, and consideration was given to interaction effects that would indicate whether groups of students (i.e. sex and race) benefited differentially from participation. Results indicated that, during the 7th grade, Hispanic students were significantly less likely to participate in sports-related extracurricular activities as compared to their Caucasian peers. However, no group differences in sex or race were found for participation intensity. Furthermore, participation in sports-related extracurricular activities was related to higher feelings of school membership for Hispanic and Black, but not White, students. In addition, participation in sports was related to Black students identifying a higher percentage of their friends as displaying prosocial behavior. Overall, the results suggested that while Hispanic students may have benefited more so than their White peers from participation, they participated at lower levels as a group. This highlights a currently under-tapped potential for intervention.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-223).