Abm Abdullah

The development and research tradition of statistical quality control

The purpose of this study is to fill three gaps in the literature of quality control. First, this study expounds the chronological development of statistical quality control (SQC) to date, for there is a paucity of an up-to-date chronology of SQC in the literature. Second, the concept of statistical quality control has been analysed from the perspective of scientific inquiry to determine whether SQC has evolved or has been evolving as an evolutionary, revolutionary or progressive research program. Third, this paper discusses whether the discipline of statistical quality control has its own research tradition. We employed a qualitative method to address our research questions. We argue that the concept of statistical quality control has emerged as a scientific revolution in the arena of quality control and that the discipline of statistical quality control has its own research tradition. This study provides both practitioners and academicians with not only an up-to-date account of SQC but a sense of the legitimacy of SQC as a discipline. SQC provides a systems perspective to quality control and has paved the way for enterprise-wide quality philosophies such as TQC, TQM, zero defects, Six Sigma, ISO, etc.

An overview of forecast models evaluation for monitoring air quality management in the State of Texas, USA

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate forecast models using data provided by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to monitor and develop forecast models for air quality management.Design/methodology/approach – The models used in this research are the LDF (Fisher Linear Discriminant Function), QDF (Quadratic Discriminant Function), REGF (Regression Function), BPNN (Backprop Neural Network), and the RBFN (Radial Basis Function Network). The data used for model evaluations span a 12‐year period from 1990 to 2002. A control chart of the data is also examined for possible shifts in the distribution of ozone present in the Houston atmosphere during this time period.Findings – Results of this research reveal variables that are significantly related to the ozone problem in the Houston area.Practical implications – Models developed in this paper may assist air quality managers in modeling and forecasting ozone formations using meteorological variables.Originality/value – This is the...

The Mediating Role of Psychological Contract

This chapter reviews the literature on salient HR practices, employee psychological contract and employee cognitive and behavioral outcomes to build the theoretical model for the quantitative study. The chapter starts with literature identifying the salient HR practices for this study and presents a review of current literature on six salient HR practices. In the next two sections, employee psychological contract and how HR practices lead to the creation of employee psychological contract are discussed. After that, literature on the mediating role of employee psychological contract, employee–employer relationship in the light of social exchange theory and fulfillment or breach of psychological contract is discussed. Finally, the chapter discusses the relationships between employees’ cognitive and behavioral outcomes, perceived fulfillment or breach of employee psychological contract and employee performance. Based on the reviewed literature, relevant hypotheses are proposed to test those relationships quantitatively. The chapter concludes with a presentation of the research framework.

General Discussion and Conclusion

This chapter provides a discussion of the results and findings of the qualitative and quantitative components of the study. The first section summarizes previous studies and the context that frames the background of the present research. The next section discusses the major contributions of this research to our understanding of employees’ psychological contract in the non-Western context of South Asia and the consequences of fulfillment of psychological contract on their cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Then are presented the findings of the two components of this study, and a discussion of the role of culture in shaping employee expectations. This section includes a discussion on psychological contract among South Asian employees and its implications on managing employment relationships in the organizational context. The next section describes the strengths and limitations of the conducted study and suggests areas for future empirical research. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the practical implications of the current research for the organizations and for employees in the non-Western context.

Factors Influencing Web Customers’ Willingness to Engage in Online Shopping with an Internet Retailer

ABSTRACT This study is an effort to identify and analyze the factors that could potentially influence web customers’ willingness to engage in online shopping with an Internet retailer. Using the primary data collected from a large sample of a web-based consumer survey, researchers developed a structural Equation model that embodied those factors that potentially influenced web customers’ willingness to engage in online shopping with an Internet retailer. Seven constructs were considered to study the effects of those factors on the web customers’ willingness to engage in online shopping with an Internet retailer, including quality of service, inertia to change, economic value, stress reduction, enjoyment in doing business, comfort level with website, and aesthetic appeal. The proposed model is largely supported and validated by several statistical measures and tests.

Doing Business in Norway: An International Perspective

This is an open access journal available from the publisher Asian Research Consortium http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=publisher&type=167