Shanan G. Gibson

Examining the entrepreneurial attitudes of US business students

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the entrepreneurial attitudes of undergraduate students enrolled in the Small Business Institute® (SBI) program at multiple universities in the USA. Research has encouraged a continuous study and refinement of the entrepreneurial profile, particularly for young adults. Past studies have linked certain personality constructs and entrepreneurship, and shown a connection between entrepreneurial intentions and past business experience.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 216 students completed the entrepreneurial attitudes orientation (EAO) survey. The EAO provides a composite score based on four attitude subscales: achievement in business; innovation in business; perceived personal control of business outcomes; and perceived self‐esteem in business. In addition, participants were asked to provide demographic information and past entrepreneurial experience.Findings – Results indicated that the majority of students possessed entrepreneurial attitudes. Furthermore, both ...

Technology Acceptance in an Academic Context: Faculty Acceptance of Online Education

The authors surveyed faculty from a college of business and a college of education regarding their attitudes toward online education. Results of the survey were examined to determine the degree to which the technology acceptance model was able to adequately explain faculty acceptance of online education. Results indicate that perceived usefulness is a strong indicator of faculty acceptance; however, perceived ease of use offers little additional predictive power beyond that contributed by perceived usefulness of online education technology.

Holistic versus Decomposed Ratings of General Dimensions of Work Activity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the accuracy of the US Department of Labors Occupational Information Network (O*NET), which, replacing the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, analyzes jobs via a hierarchical taxonomy of work in which all task‐level activities are summarized into a 42‐construct taxonomy of first‐order generalized work activities (GWAs).Design/methodology/approach – This study examined the degree of convergence between ratings made using the holistic‐judgment process in the O*NET (which directly rates GWAs using single‐item scales) vs traditional decomposed‐judgment methods which statistically combine ratings of multiple activity items for each GWA.Findings – Analysis of holistic O*NET general work activity ratings with decomposed common‐metric questionnaire (CMQ) ratings revealed poor convergence between holistic vs decomposed methods, low interrater agreement and a tendency for incumbents to rate higher than job analysts.Practical implications – It is believed that these...

Perceptions of U.S. military leadership: are all leaders created equally?

Organisational success is largely predicated upon the ability of leaders to effectively implement strategies that yield competitive advantage in rapidly changing, and sometimes chaotic environments. Hence, an understanding of those leadership characteristics which are perceived by followers as being effective and instilling confidence is imperative. In order to examine the impact of contextual factors on leadership prototypes, 176 U.S. Marines were surveyed regarding their perceptions of leaders of who were either male or female and new or highly experienced. Approximately twenty three percent of the leader characteristics were found to be differently applied to leaders based upon either the gender, tenure, or both characteristics of the leader. In every one of these instances, significant differences were perceived between new female leaders and experienced male leaders, with the more positive characterisation always being of the latter. Suggestions for future training and research are made based upon these findings.

Gender and ethnicity based differential item functioning on the armed services vocational aptitude battery

Utilising Item Response Theory (IRT) methodologies, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) was examined for differential item functioning (DIF) on the basis of crossed gender and ethnicity variables. Both the Mantel‐Haenszel procedure and an IRT area‐based technique were utilised to assess the degree of uniform and non‐uniform DIF in a sample of ASVAB takers. Findings were mixed. At the item level, DIF fluctuated greatly. Numerous instances of DIF favouring the reference as well as the focal group were found. At the scale level, inconsistencies existed across the forms and versions. Tests varied in their tendency to be potentially biased against the focal group of interest and at times, performed contrary to expectations. Implications for the ASVAB as well as other g‐loaded selection instruments are considered.

Strategic relationships in a small business context: The impact of information quality and continuous quality improvement

This study examines the performance between operational variables for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) within the context of interorganizational relationships. Specifically, it investigates the role of information quality and continuous quality improvement and the varying importance that SMEs place on each of these constructs. The sample consists of 134 vendors of a large university in the southwestern region of the United States.The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between information quality and continuous quality improvement with performance in SMEs. Implications for both research and practice, as well as ideas for future research, are discussed.

Microaggression, anxiety, trigger warnings, emotional reasoning, mental filtering, and intellectual homogeneity on campus: A study of what students think

ABSTRACT College campus life is changing based on pressures to create safe environments for students to learn. Much of this change has been outlined in an article by Lukianoff and Haidt entitled “The Coddling of the American Mind.” The authors of the present article asked 188 students from two universities if microaggressions, trigger warnings, emotional reasoning, and mental filtering are prevalent on campus and whether colleges are promoting these concepts. The results show that the majority of students believe that universities must change the way these concepts are addressed to prevent intellectual homogeneity and to adequately prepare them for their business professions.

Small Business Owner Satisfaction with Financial Performance: A Longitudinal Study

This exploratory study examines the financial performance satisfaction of small business owners at two time periods: (1) nearing the end of the Great Recession and (2) three years into economic recovery. In addition to considering small business owners in general, special attention has been paid to women and minority owners. Using independent samples t-tests, results indicate that business owners are more satisfied with their financial performance in 2012 than they were in 2009. However, results were not consistent for all subgroups of the population; differences exist between men and women owners and between Caucasian and minority owners. Whereas men mirrored the results for all business owners, women did not report increased satisfaction in any of the five areas of financial performance examined. Caucasian owners reported increases in four of the five areas of financial health and minority owners saw an increase in only three. The study also provides practical implications and areas for future research.

Completion of Naval Flight Training: Do Gender or Race Matter?

Data provided by the U.S. Navy were analysed to examine differences in successful flight training completion between men and women and among minorities. Results indicated that there were not significant differences between men and women with regard to attrition; however differences in the non‐completion of flight training did exist among those of different racial backgrounds. Consistent with previous studies, white aviators were found to have consistently higher graduation rates than all other racial groups and Blacks were found to have significantly higher rates of attrition than Hispanic student aviators. Recommendations to seek greater understanding of these discrepancies, including the potential for unfair discrimination, are made.