On the meaning of formative measurement and how it differs from reflective measurement: Comment on Howell, Breivik, and Wilcox (2007).

D. Howell, E. Breivik, and J. B. Wilcox (2007; see record 2007-07830-006) have presented an important and interesting analysis of formative measurement and have recommended that researchers abandon such an approach in favor of reflective measurement. The author agrees with their recommendations but disagrees with some of the bases for their conclusions. He suggests that although latent variables refer to mental states or mental events that have objective reality, to gain knowledge of the existence of these states or events requires that emphasis be placed on the nature and interpretation of the relationship between latent and manifest variables. This relationship is not a causal one but rather a kind of correspondence rule that contains theoretical, empirical, operational, and logical meanings as part of its content and structure. Implications of the above views are discussed for formative and reflective measurement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitude organization and the attitude-behavior relation: A reply to Dillon and Kumar.

Analyzed W. R. Dillon and A. Kumar's (see record 1985-29911-001) reanalysis of data previously reported by M. Fishbein and I. Ajzen (see record 1974-24385-001) and subsequently reanalyzed by the present authors (see record 1980-30231-001). Data involved attitude–behavior relations. The present authors show that the unidimensional attitude model fails to achieve convergent validity and that the 2-component model achieves convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing method variance in multitrait-multimethod matrices: The case of self-reported affect and perceptions at work.

P. Spector (see record 1987-33304-001) concluded that there was little evidence of method variance in multitrait–multimethod data from 10 studies of self-reported affect and perceptions at work, but L. J. Williams et al (see record 1989-31744-001) concluded that method variance was prevalent. These studies were extended by examining several important but often neglected issues in assessing method variance. A direct-product model is described that can represent multiplicative method effects and propose that model assumptions, individual parameters, and diagnostic indicators, as well as overall model fits, be carefully examined. Reanalyses indicate that method variance in these studies is more prevalent than Spector concluded but less prevalent than Williams et al asserted. The methods can have multiplicative effects, supporting the claim made by D. T. Campbell and E. J. O'Connell (1967, 1982). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shared Consumer Needs Across India and China: A Path to Global Advertising of Services?

Global advertising often uses cultural values to standardize globally advertised messages. However, this exploratory study investigates the possibility that rather than cultural values (and consumer wants), it is consumer needs that are strongly shared across countries. Therefore, it might be possible to replace cultural values with these shared consumer needs for the standardization of globally advertised messages. This study does not argue against the universality of the content or structure of values, but rather against the universality of the importance of values across countries. The means-end theory is used to link the relationships between consumer wants, needs, and values. Data collected from Indian and Chinese consumers of information technology education services were analyzed using the laddering technique to reveal hierarchical value maps for each of the two country samples. The results indicate that at the level of consumer wants, Indian consumers seek more tangible attributes while Chinese consumers seek more intangible ones. Also, at the level of cultural values, Chinese consumers associate more values with the service than their Indian counterparts. At the same time, within both groups of consumers the same set of consumer needs were strongly shared among consumers; these were the need for knowledge enhancement, the need for skill improvement, and the need for better employability. Therefore, the results suggest that if managers want to successfully standardize their global advertising, their message strategy could focus on consumer needs that are strongly shared across countries.     

Culture moderates the self-regulation of shame and its effects on performance: The case of salespersons in the Netherlands and the Philippines.

In this study, the authors investigated how salespeople within an interdependent-based culture (the Philippines) and an independent-based culture (the Netherlands) experience and self-regulate shame. Filipino and Dutch employees were found to experience shame as a consequence of customer actions in largely similar ways (i.e., for both, shame is a painful self-conscious emotion with unique physiological/behavioral urges, self-focused attention, and felt threat to the core self) but have different responses to their felt shame. Specifically, shame is self-regulated dissimilarly in the 2 cultures and leads to opposite effects on performance, namely, enhanced customer relationship building and civic virtue and helping occur for Filipino employees, and diminished sales volume, communication effectiveness, and relationship building transpire for Dutch employees. The positive effects experienced by Filipino employees occur through direct responses to felt shame and as a result of adaptive resource utilization. The negative effects experienced by Dutch employees occur as a result of the dysfunctional (from the firm's point of view) discharge of protective actions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes, intentions, and behavior: A test of some key hypotheses.

Employed a causal modeling methodology to test hypotheses concerning the attitude–behavior relation in 157 undergraduates, faculty, and staff. Using measures of actual blood donation behavior at 2 points in time as criteria, it was found that attitudes influenced behavior but did so in an indirect manner only through their impact on intentions. Further, the attitude–intention relationship was stronger when expectancy-value attitude measures were used as predictors than when semantic differential measures were employed. However, for both attitudinal operationalizations, the attitude–intention relationship was attenuated when the extent of past behavior was included as an explanatory variable. Similarly, past behavior lessened the impact of intentions on behavior. With respect to the organization of attitude, the expectancy-value attitude occurred as a complex, multidimensional representation, whereas the semantic differential attitude existed as a unidimensional response. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hierarchical representation of motives in goal setting.

The authors developed a framework for thinking about motives in goal setting. The reasons for choosing a particular goal are represented in a hierarchical network of motives. To uncover context-specific motives and their interconnections, the authors propose a procedure based on the elicitation of justifications for one's goal. The authors applied the procedure to the motivation of volunteering to join the Italian Army by officers (N = 151) and 3 groups of enlisted soldiers (Garibaldi Brigade, N = 141; Folgore Brigade, N = 144; and volunteers in training, N = 150). The resulting idiographic motives and linkages between motives were validated by regressing attitudes, intentions to reenlist, and commitment toward the army on motives and linkages between motives. A heuristic nomothetic summary of goals, arranged in an interconnected hierarchy, was derived. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitude organization and the attitude–behavior relationship.

The validity of a single-component model of attitude was assessed and compared with a 2-component (affective/cognitive) conceptualization of attitude. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed in a reanalysis of data previously reported by N. Fishbein and I. Ajzen (see record 1974-24385-001). A total of 125 undergraduates from 2 samples completed 5 scales measuring attitudes toward religion. Convergent validity, in the sense of uniform consistency of responses, did not hold for the single-component model but was achieved for the 2-component model. Further, the 2-component model of attitude predicted scaled, but not unscaled, multiple-act behavior criteria, and the predictive validity of the relationship between the 2-component model and single-act behavior criteria was not supported. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)