William C. McDowell

Am I Really at Risk? Determinants of Online Users' Intentions to Use Strong Passwords

By using the protection motivation theory, this article tests a model of password protection intentions for online users. Hypotheses are proposed concerning the intention to engage in good password practices. Data were collected from 182 college students of 3 universities in the southern United States. The results suggest that fear, response cost, and response efficacy are significantly related to online password protection intentions. However, perceived severity and vulnerability are not significant predictors. The study suggests that reducing cognitive costs for passwords is imperative.

Examining Digital Piracy: Self-Control, Punishment, and Self-Efficacy

Digital piracy is a persistent and pervasive problem for society. Based on both the general theory of crime and deterrence theory, this study investigates the role of self-control, perceived severity of punishment and perceived certainty of punishment in predicting digital piracy behavior as well as self-efficacy. The results of the study show that risk-taking and punishment certainty are strong predictors of digital piracy behavior. Self-efficacy is also significantly related to punishment certainty and digital piracy behavior. Implications of the study for research and practice are discussed.

Environmental scanning as a moderator of strategy-performance relationships: an empirical analysis of physical therapy facilities.

To date, strategic management research in health care is largely confined to the acute care sector of the industry. This research examines the linkages among environmental scanning, competitive strategy and performance in physical therapy facilities. Nontrivial differences between acute and subacute care firms suggest the role of environmental scanning may change in non-acute care settings. Consistent with previous research, these results indicate that the frequency of internal and external scanning is related to the strategic orientation of physical therapy facilities. Contrary to the expectations, broader scope of scanning is positively related to an increasing market-focused and increasing efficiency strategic orientation. A key objective of the research is to test the impact of strategy/scanning alignment on facility performance. These findings support predictions on the moderating role of scanning activities in the strategy–performance relationship. However, a para-doxical pattern of results has possible implications for clinician managers in subacute care settings as well as the interpretation of scanning activities.

The Effects of a Team Charter on Student Team Behaviors

The authors contribute to growing evidence that team charters contribute positively to performance by empirically testing their effects on key team process outcomes. Using a sample of business students in a team-based task requiring significant cooperative and coordinative behavior, the authors compare emergent team norms under a variety of team charter intervention conditions. They find support for the assertion that the introduction of team charters does in fact manifest improved process outcomes, including communication, effort, mutual support, cohesion, and member satisfaction.

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.