Paul H. Schwager

Online Survey Research: Can Response Factors Be Improved?

ABSTRACT The use of the Internet and online methods for data collection brings about new challenges for academic and managerial researchers. Our objective is to advance our level of knowledge regarding online data collection through an experiment. Using a local organizations e-mail list, we evaluate survey introductory elements such as invitation from a known leader and introductory length. We evaluate resulting levels of response rate, response quality, and respondent satisfaction to assess the effects of modified survey introductory designs. Findings reveal that an invitation from a known leader leads to improved levels of response quality while shorter introductions result in a quicker response from survey participants.

Informing the HR Hiring Decision of IT Personnel: The HR Professional's View of IT Certification, Education, & Experience

This study examined the importance of IT Certification from the HR Professional’s perspective, specifically the value of certification in relation to education and experience in a hiring decision. We found that an increase in formal education was subsidized by a decreasing emphasis on experience until a balance was reached. The relative weight of certification, however, was generally stable. A repeated measure analysis showed a statistically significant main effect and interaction effect. An exploratory factor analysis yielded five underlying dimensions which may be possible value drivers of IT certification on HR Professional’s hiring decisions: internal organizational benefits, external organizational benefits, same-job employee benefits, different-job employee benefits, and certification credibility. A mixed-design analysis also yielded five statistically significant interactions which shed further light on possible moderators of the value drivers of certification value: years of management experience and certification perception.

Investigating the resistance to telemedicine in Ethiopia

BACKGROUND Telemedicine has great potential to improve health care in Africa as well as other developing areas, especially when medical expertise is urgently needed in emergency situations. Yet resistance from healthcare professionals could prevent telemedicines social value from being materialized. OBJECTIVE This article intends to understand why healthcare providers resist using telemedicine from a threat-control perspective. METHOD A survey on 107 healthcare professionals in Ethiopia was conducted. CONCLUSIONS The resistance to telemedicine is determined by perceived threat and perceived controllability, which in turn are influenced by reduced autonomy, anxiety, and costs. Government support weakens the effect of perceived threat but strengthens the effect of perceived controllability on telemedicine resistance.

Is what you see what you get? Investigating the relationship between social media content and counterproductive work behaviors, alcohol consumption, and episodic heavy drinking

Abstract Employers are increasingly using social networking website (SNW) content to screen applicants for employment despite the absence of much empirical support for this practice. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of using SNW content to predict employee behavior. Specifically, we investigated the relationship between SNW content and counterproductive work behaviors (CWB), occurrence of workplace accidents, alcohol consumption, and episodic heavy drinking. Participants (N = 146 MBA and upper level undergraduate business students) self-reported demographic information and information about workplace counterproductive behavior. Participants also provided access to their SNW profile, which the researchers subsequently accessed in order to assess potentially compromising content. Results indicate SNW profiles are not associated with CWB or involvement in workplace accidents, while SNW profiles containing alcohol and drug content are associated with alcohol consumption and episodic heavy drinking. Our study is among the first to examine the relationship between SNW profile information and CWBs of interest to HRM personnel and provides evidence that practitioners should exercise caution in drawing inferences about workplace behaviors based on SNW profile information.