Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Partners' Commitment'

Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2004.
Thesis research directed by: Dept. of Family Studies. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

Bakgrund: Partners har en betydelsefull roll för en långsiktig upprätthållning av amning. Partners önskar bli bekräftade som en viktig resurs vid amning av barnmorskor men upplever att stödet mest riktas till kvinnor. Barnmorskor beskriver den egna rollen som viktig i att ge stöd till partners vid amning. Syfte: Att beskriva barnmorskors erfarenheter av att ge stöd till partners vid amning. Metod: En kvalitativ intervjustudie med induktiv ansats. Data inhämtades genom 11 semistrukturerade intervjuer med barnmorskor som jobbar på BB och/eller amningsmottagning i fyra städer i Sverige. En innehållsanalys enligt Graneheim, Lindgren och Lundman valdes som analysmetod. Resultat: Barnmorskornas stöd utgick ifrån partners engagemang som framträdde genom närvaro, intresse och kunskap i amning. Partners amningsnormer utifrån kultur och jämställdhetssyn hade betydelse för amningsstödet. Barnmorskornas förutsättningar i form av kompetens, samarbete inom professionen samt organisatoriska strukturer kunde påverka stödet till partners vid amning. Slutsats: Barnmorskorna besitter unik kompetens för att ge stöd till partners vid amning. Framförallt handlar det om att se individen och erbjuda ett anpassat stöd vid amning utifrån partners förståelse. Vidare kan partners förmåga till förståelse i amningsstödet ha samband med partners ålder, socioekonomiska status, kultur och tidigare erfarenheter. Barnmorskor ser vikten i att ge stöd till partners men upplever att tidsbrist och platsbrist kan vara hinder.
Background: Partners have an important role in long-term maintenance of breastfeeding. However, partners feel that breastfeeding support is mostly directed to their women and wishes to be confirmed as an important resource by midwives. Again, midwives consider that they have an important role in providing support to partners during breastfeeding. Aim: To describe the midwives' experiences of providing support to partners during breastfeeding. Method: A qualitative interview study with inductive approach. Data was collected through 11 semi-structured interviews with midwives who work at postpartum departments and/or breastfeeding receptions in four cities in Sweden. A content analysis according to Graneheim, Lindgren and Lundman was chosen as the analytical method. Result: The midwives support was based on the partner's involvement that appeared through attendance, interest and knowledge in breastfeeding. Partners' breastfeeding standards based on culture and gender equality had significations for the breastfeeding support. Midwives' competence, collaboration within the profession and organizational structures could influence the breastfeeding support to partners. Conclusion: The midwives possess unique skills to support partners during breastfeeding. It is about offering individually adapted support during breastfeeding based on the partner's understanding. Furthermore, the partner's ability to understand the breastfeeding support may be related to partner's age, socio-economic status, culture and experience. Midwives see the importance of providing support to partners but feel that lack of time and lack of space can be obstacles.

Since the early 1980's there has been a heightened academic interest in the field of commitment, particularly as it relates to business relationships. Knowledge of commitment continues to advance and has begun splintering and applied into specific and narrow fields. The particular field of interest in this study surrounds commitment levels in business relationships within property and casualty insurance distribution networks. The intent of understanding and enhancing commitment levels is to allow stakeholders to explore new ways to improve profitability. This can be achieved by deepening the level of understanding and knowledge of relationship partners with a view to anticipating and fulfilling their needs better than the competition. However, commitment is intangible and involves many factors including human emotion. This increases the difficulty in comprehending the whole phenomenon of commitment. To assist in furthering the knowledge in this area, transaction cost theory is examined and applied to insurance company and broker relationships. In seeking a greater understanding of the underlying drivers of commitment, this thesis investigates the theoretical contribution of transaction cost economics theory in assessing commitment levels. The purpose is to utilize the elements of transaction costs as a means to extend the awareness of how commitment is constructed, and to search for ways to improve and strengthen these relationships. The primary research method consists of three major case studies within the Canadian property and casualty insurance distribution sector. The first case study explores the perspectives of insurance brokers in Ontario. The second study reveals the perceptions of relationship managers employed with ING Canada, the country's largest property and casualty insurance company. Lastly, the research incorporates a series of interviews with ING Canada senior executives to capture their perspectives and validate the research findings from the first two case studies. These investigations into the Canadian insurance industry have provided several outputs, chief among them is the development of a conceptual model referred to as the 'Commitment Wheel'. This model has the advantages of seating affective and calculative commitment at the centre of a moving environment of commitment enablers.

Interdependence theory (Kelley & Thibaut, 1978), one of the most widely used theories in the literature on interpersonal relationships, posits that both partners in a romantic relationships play integral roles in maintaining their relationship. Based in interdependence theory, research on the investment model of commitment (Rusbult, 1980) has revealed that individuals’ greater satisfaction and investments and lower alternatives predict greater commitment to their relationships, and commitment in turn promotes a variety of relationship-maintenance behaviors. However, no past research had examined the role of partners. Across three studies, I examined the notion that partner investments would predict individuals’ commitment above and beyond their own satisfaction, investments, and alternatives. Study 1 found that higher levels of partner investments predicted higher levels of commitment within ongoing marriages. Study 2 provided experimental support by manipulating the degree to which individuals thought their romantic partners would sacrifice for their relationship. Specifically, participants told their partners would sacrifice a great deal reported higher levels of commitment than did those told their partner would sacrifice very little. Further, the perception of partner investments mediated the relationship between the partner investments prime and commitment. Study 3 was a couples study designed to examine both actual and perceived partner investments. Despite failing to provide additional support, the findings can inform designs for future dyadic research. Studies 1 and 2 provided the first evidence of partner effects in the investment model and advance the understanding of relationship functioning by demonstrating how both partners can work to strengthen each others’ commitment.

Relationship self-regulation (RSR) refers to the “work”, or effort and strategies, that partners exert over time to maintain the health of their romantic relationships. Most research focuses on self-reports of RSR, however, several studies suggest that partner perceptions are more influential in relationship appraisal. In addition, most RSR research has focused not on partners' attitudes and virtues like commitment, but instead on personality traits, emotional health, and communication skills. In this study, we examine the relationship between partners' levels of commitment and forgiveness within their relationships, and how they perceive their partner's use of RSR behaviors. Using paired data from 679 cohabiting and married couples who took the RELATE questionnaire, we found that males' and females' self-reports of commitment and forgiveness were both positively associated with higher perceptions of partner RSR. Likewise, we found that, for females, higher self-reports of commitment and forgiveness were positively correlated with higher male perceptions of her RSR, and male forgiveness was positively correlated with female perceptions of his RSR. The variables of commitment and forgiveness explained an average of 44% of the variance in perceptions of partner RSR for both genders. Implications for future research and clinicians are discussed.

The current study explored coping strategies toward the context of discovering a partner's sexual infidelity. There were two primary goals for the current study. First, the current study examined the gender and national differences in conflict styles toward the context of discovering a partner's sexual infidelity. Second, the current study examined the relationship between face concerns and commitment. There were national and gender differences on self-construal face concern, face-concern and conflict styles in the current study. The current findings also suggested that face concern is moderating the relationship between commitment and conflict styles. The limitation and future directions were discussed as well as the clinical implications in the current study.
Ph. D.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health concern. Existing interventions for male IPV offenders (i.e., Duluth Model with CBT principles) have shown small-to-negligible effects in reducing future perpetration of violence and have high dropout rates. Offenders who fail to complete treatment, or are deemed to be at “high risk”, are sent to jail. Efficacious and acceptable interventions for incarcerated IPV offenders are needed. The objective of this dissertation study was to test the feasibility of implementing an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) skills group with incarcerated IPV offers. The ultimate goal of ACT is to help individuals make behavioral choices in the service of their values, despite the presence of unwanted internal experiences, through the use of acceptance and mindfulness skills. The specific aims of the study were: 1) to examine post-treatment effects in the targeted ACT skills (i.e., present-moment awareness, acceptance, defusion, experiential avoidance), internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behaviors; and to test whether treatment effects were moderated by IPV-related criminal history severity (IPV-CHS); 2) to explore participants’ perceptions of the group; and 3) to examine whether pre-treatment IPV-CHS predicted worse ACT skills and greater symptom severity at pre-treatment. A sample of 33 court-mandated IPV offenders who participated in the 1 month ACT skills group (12 sessions, delivered 3 times per week) and who completed self-report questionnaires at pre and post treatment was used to evaluate the first two aims. The sample used to evaluate aim three consisted of 58 participants who had completed either the ACT skills group or another treatment offered at the jail at the time (treatment-as-usual) and for whom pre-treatment data were available. Quantitative results revealed that ACT did not produce significant pre to post changes in any of the outcome measures (i.e., ACT skills, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behaviors), that IPV-CHS did not reliably moderate treatment effects, and that IPV-CHS did not predict worse ACT skills or greater symptom severity at pre-treatment. Qualitative results, however, revealed that participants viewed the ACT treatment favorably, found the material useful, and felt accepted and understood by the facilitators. The present study provides evidence for the feasibility of administering a standardized ACT-based protocol within a correctional setting. It further demonstrated that incarcerated IPV offenders perceived ACT to be an acceptable and useful treatment approach. The quantitative data, however, do not support the widespread dissemination of this ACT protocol with incarcerated IPV offenders at this time. Future research should follow-up on these discrepant findings by testing this ACT protocol with a larger sample, randomizing into ACT versus control group, including multiple follow-up time points, collecting one-year recidivism data, and exploring the effects of longer treatment and alternate forms of delivery (e.g., combination of individual and group sessions). Strengths and limitations of the study, as well as additional recommendations and directions for future research, are discussed.

碩士
逢甲大學
企業管理所
95
The companies’ operation is changed in today’s environment; they set up a long and steady cooperation only with few partners and try to make the best benefit to each other through this association; therefore, the supply chain management is one of the important things to the enterprises, and the “trust and commitment” which can makes the relationship become favorably will be one of the most important key point. The study of Morgan and Hunt (1994) also believed that trust and commitment has a compact relationship. For this reason, this study wants to find out the relationship between trust, commitment and performance. The research conducted comprehensive theoretical literature review in order to build the conceptual model of research. We developed questionnaire and conducted a subsequent survey in the member of the “Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers'' Association”. We mailed 800 questionnaires and received 124 valid questionnaires. For measure validation, we used statistical methods such as coefficient alpha and exploratory factor analysis. Besides, SPSS 12.0 and Amos 4 are utilized as the analytical tool for testing statistical assumptions and estimation of the measurement and structural equation models.

碩士
國立中央大學
人力資源管理研究所
99
From some research, it could find that execution failures in the companies were often the result of poor human capital management. This opened the door for Human Resource (HR) to add important value to their organizations. First, this study tried to understand the situation of HR in the companies by exploring the relationships between HR professionals’ strategic involvement and competencies. Second, while HR professionals got perception of P-J fit through combing their responsibilities and competencies, they would enhance commitment to their current jobs. Data for the research were collected from companies in Taiwan. In our survey package there were two types of questionnaire. One was designed for HR managers; another was for HR members. Total 92 survey packages were returned. The results showed that HR professionals’ objective P-J fit (match between their responsibilities and competencies) positively influenced on career commitment through subjective P-J fit (perception of P-J fit). We also found while HR professionals became business partners, it was necessary to have variety of competencies to put their role in order to achieve effectiveness. Therefore, from analytic results, we found the knowledge and skills of HR domain had become increasingly important in the companies; in addition, we also suggested to pay attention on the importance of diversity of HR competencies. They were all beneficial to organizational performance and their career development.

碩士
國立清華大學
教育心理與諮商學系
107
This thesis aimed to explore the violent behavior between intimate partners in marriageable ages and understood whether the relationship satisfaction can be a mediator which affecting the intimate partner violent behavior and the commitment of a relationship between intimate partners in marriageable ages. This study gathered 504 intimate partners in marriageable ages as research subjects. They were asked to fill a set of questionnaires, including Intimate Partner Violent Behaviors Scale, Relationship Satisfaction Scale, and Relationship Commitment Scale. We analyzed the data by using descriptive statistics, independent-samples T test, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression. The results were as follows: About 56.5% of the participants underwent intimate partner violent behaviors. About 37.3% of the participants were both victims and perpetrators in violent behaviors. Males who were in marriageable ages had more experience in using sexual violence, suffering from minor violence, verbal abuse, overall violence and undergoing overall intimate partner violent behaviors than females（M = 1.42v.sM = .48；M = .77v.s M = .28；M = 3.09v.s M = 1.57；M = 5.17v.s M = 2.61；M = 9.70v.s M = 5.94）. In the aspect of relationship satisfaction and relationship commitment, there was no significant difference between genders. The data showed that there was a positive correlation between intimate partners in marriageable ages in relationship duration and intimate partner violent behaviors（r=.16）, relationship duration and intimacy（r=.14）, relationship satisfaction and relationship commitment（r=.624）.There was a negative correlation between intimate partners in marriageable ages in age and relationship satisfaction（r=-.12）, intimate partner violent behaviors and relationship satisfaction（r=-.24）, intimate partner violent behaviors and relationship commitment（r=-.29）.There was no significant correlation between age and intimate partner violent behaviors. Also, there was no significant correlation between age, relationship duration, and relationship commitment between intimate partners in marriageable ages. In conclusion, relationship satisfaction had a function as a partial mediator in intimate partner violent behaviors and relationship commitment（β=-.148）. There are some recommendations for future research. First,adopt couples as research subjects and increase the heterogeneity of research subjects. Second, understandthe changes in mental process and personal experience over time by long-term longitudinal and qualitative researches. Third, add the Social Expectation Scale to value the authenticity of research subjects’ answer. At last, find out the cause of violent behaviors and the reason for the individual who uses violence. Keyword: intimate partner in marriageable age, intimate partner violence, relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment

碩士
國立成功大學
企業管理學系碩博士班
101
With regard to service innovation issue, many researchers focus on the value-created when end-customers co-participate with business. Few researches investigate how the firms build up service network with other organizations to enhance their radical service innovation. Moreover, concerning collaboration network, many researchers focus on product innovation rather than service innovation. Based on the above research gaps, this study investigates three main factors influencing value co-creation and further enhancement of radical service innovation. The samples of this study are from manufacturing and service industries. This study targets on the presidents, general managers, associated managers, and section managers. Two hundred and seventy six (276) questionnaires were sent out and 119 valid questionnaires were returned. SPSS17.0 was used for data analysis including reliability and validity analysis, regression analysis, t test, and ANOVA test. The results of this study show that (1) partner compatibility is positively related to value co-creation, (2) partner affective commitment is positively related to value co-creation, (3) partner expertise is positively related to value co-creation, (4) value co-creation is positively related to radical service innovation.

博士
國立臺灣科技大學
資訊管理系
97
Electronic commerce (EC) has gone through the ordeal of cyber-economy bubble, the successful experience of surviving firms have been constantly duplicated among firms in recent years, and the business model of EC lets a lot of small and medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan compete together with global enterprises. However, a lot of firms were first-time to adopt the EC who has not analyzed the differences between oneself and paragon; such firms may have high risk who wants to make business deal only lean simple software and hardware. Base on the strategy, firms should understand what strategic goal they want, and then realize the strategic goal by strategic planning. In the past, the improvement of EC business model prefer to operational procedures inside firms. A successful transaction of EC involves the cooperation among a lot of outside firms, such transaction need to integrate the business flow, money flow, information flow and logistics. But seldom studies discussed the implementation of EC via the viewpoint of external cooperators. This study adopts the viewpoint of external partners to probe into an issue about how partnership influences a firm’s electronic commerce strategic planning (ECSP). The research model involves five constructs: partner trust, partner commitment, alignment of ECSP, improvement in ECSP capabilities, and strategic benefits of EC. We create the theory basis after literature reviews, and then infer the research model and hypothesis base on above theory basis. The data analysis uses the structural equation modeling (SEM) to verify the research model and hypotheses. We find the alignment of ECSP is an internal alignment (internal alignment fits the internal consistency for strategic planning). Alignment of ECSP is a critical starting point for the success of ECSP. Good alignment of ECSP influences not only the improvement in ECSP capabilities, but also the fulfillment of EC strategic benefits. Meanwhile, we also find the partnership is an external influence. Partnership influences not only the strategic planning of EC, but also the fulfillment of EC strategic benefits. The viewpoint of partnership fits the external validity for strategic planning. Base on the data analysis, partner trust is a critical starting point for the partnership development, and partner trust must pass through partner commitment to influence the fulfillment of EC strategic benefits Finally, according to the research result, this study proposes certain suggestions for practitioners initiating or currently implementing ECSP, and for researchers who are interested in EC. We hope this research would help firms can achieve their strategic goal via effectively EC strategic planning.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
This study examined the roles of commitment and attributions in uninvolved partner responses to imagined sexual infidelity. Undergraduate students (N = 298) in dating relationships participated in a hypothetical sexual infidelity scenario in which they imagined their romantic partner engaged in sexual intercourse with someone else. Measured-variable path analysis was used to evaluate the predictive ability of commitment and attributions on negative emotional responses and predicted relationship continuation. The hypothesized conceptual model demonstrated poor fit to sample data. Through exploratory model building, an alternative model was generated that demonstrated good fit to sample data. A subset of commitment, investment, predicted negative affect. In addition, attributions predicted predictions of relationship continuation. Negative emotional responses were highly endorsed on a validated measure for emotional responses, the PANAS-X (Watson & Clark, 1994). Further, study findings highlight the importance of the use of a compliance check in assessing successful participant completion of imagined infidelity scenario. Unique study contributions include directions for further conceptual model development for this area of research as well as support for the use of compliance checks and careful selection of infidelity scenario.

This thesis studies problematics of healthy partners of physically handicapped people, more precisely of people after spinal cord injury. The theoretical part is focused on the relationship satisfaction of these couples. It is structured into relationship areas which should be a potential source of conflicts and which can influence less or more the relationship satisfaction. These areas were selected on the basis of literature focusing on partner and marital couples. The empirical part was created in cooperation with organizations providing services to people after spinal injury where quantitative data were collected to measure levels of satisfaction of partners in relationship with people after spinal cord injury also levels of intimacy and commitment in these relationships. The data obtained are compared with the comparative group of respondents from the general population. Keywords: spinal cord injury, relationship satisfaction, social support, household chores, finances, leisure, sexuality, intimacy, commitment.

碩士
國立東華大學
國際企業管理研究所
89
This Study analyzes the reasons that influence strategic alliance Relationship from five aspects of Transaction Cost, Resource Dependency ，Strategic Behavior, Organizational Learning, Network theory. The main purpose of this study aims to discuss the influence of partner positive perception, cooperative motives, and involvement of the resources toward the communication, trust, and conflict degree. Moreover, it attempts to analyze the impact of communication, trust and conflict on the cooperation performance and intention in the future. The data for this study was collected by a mail survey of 669 firms. 116 questionnaires were returned. 106 completed questionnaires were analyzed. Results show that partners’ positive perception, cooperative motive, resource involvement are the important contributors to the communication trust, conflict degree, and communication, trust, conflict between strategic partners will significantly effect the cooperative performance and Future commitment.

People choose partners based on different characteristics, however it is not clear whether they systematically choose partners with specific characteristics. It is also not clear what modulates partner preferences. One of the factors are parents, however the question is, whether parents influence all types of relationships (e.g. one-night stand, marriage etc.). The main objective was to analyze the consistency of mate choice in physical characteristics in heterosexual women. Another objective was to test paternal influence on the mate choice, and whether this influence differs among partners with whom women have children and partners with whom they don't. Last objective was to test whether the similarity between father and current partner influences the relationship and sexual satisfaction of the respondent. In total 693 heterosexual women, aged 18-45, participated in the research (average age = 30,7; SE = 5,9) and provided physical characteristics (weight, height, attractiveness, masculinity, eye color, hair color, facial masculinity, facial hair, musculature, BMI, relative height, body hair and leg length) of their father, current partner (with whom they had/were expecting children) and long term ex-partners (with whom they had no children), they completed the standardized questionnaire s-EMBU...