Dissertations / Theses: 'Structural Equation Modelling (SME)'

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Yoo, Keunyoung. "Probabilistic SEM : an augmentation to classical Structural equation modelling." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/66521.

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Structural equation modelling (SEM) is carried out with the aim of testing hypotheses on the model of the researcher in a quantitative way, using the sampled data. Although SEM has developed in many aspects over the past few decades, there are still numerous advances which can make SEM an even more powerful technique. We propose representing the nal theoretical SEM by a Bayesian Network (BN), which we would like to call a Probabilistic Structural Equation Model (PSEM). With the PSEM, we can take things a step further and conduct inference by explicitly entering evidence into the network and performing di erent types of inferences. Because the direction of the inference is not an issue, various scenarios can be simulated using the BN. The augmentation of SEM with BN provides signi cant contributions to the eld. Firstly, structural learning can mine data for additional causal information which is not necessarily clear when hypothesising causality from theory. Secondly, the inference ability of the BN provides not only insight as mentioned before, but acts as an interactive tool as the `what-if' analysis is dynamic.
Mini Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2018.
Statistics
MCom
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Kurdi, Heba. "The impact of visitors satisfaction in explaining expenditure behaviour : A structural equation modelling approach." Thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Nationalekonomi, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-30030.

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Visitor expenditure can be affected by different economic, socio-demographic and psychological variables. Previous literature have focused on the use of observed tourists and destination characteristics as explanatory variables to explain visitor expenditure, whereas the use of psychological factors has been underresearched. The present study aims to fill in the gap in the existing literature through the exploration of more extensive use of psychological variables. This is accomplished by the use of structural equation modelling (SEM), a methodological approach which seems not to have been applied before in tourism expenditure econometric models. In econometrics expenditure research, Mortazavi (2018) found satisfaction to be an endogenous regressor of expenditure. Hence, the contribution of our model is that it allows for the relationship between visitor satisfaction and visitor expenditure, and vice versa, to be tested simultaneously. Consequently, under this context we may identify the magnitude of one variable impact on another while at the same time accounting for simultaneous relationship between the two paths. The findings of this study go in hand with previous literature and economic theory which have found a positive relationship between visitor satisfaction and visitor expenditure.

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Claffey, Austin M. "Metamemory in multiple sclerosis." Thesis, Brunel University, 2010. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/4513.

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The concept of metamemory proposes that supplementary to typically measured memory abilities, memory monitoring and control processes are used to optimise learning. Accurate memory monitoring appears to be underpinned by a range of cognitive, and possibly affective, contributions. In populations with these deficits, metamemory has been shown to be impaired. In Multiple Sclerosis (MS), only a limited metamemory literature exists, surprising given that MS is a leading cause of disability among people of working age, and cognitive and mood disorder is common. Using structural equation modelling, this study of 100 people with MS explored factors contributing to performance on episodic Judgment of Learning, Retrospective Confidence and Feeling of Knowing. Given its negative influence on cognitive domains in MS, the impact of information processing deficits on metamemory was also investigated. Finally, memory self-report, a frequently used clinical indicator of memory functioning, was assessed. Findings suggest that memory complaint is associated with mood, and is unrelated to tested memory. Second, Retrospective Confidence Judgments were predictive of memory performance, even in the presence of memory impairment. Third, an unusual finding of maintained underconfidence at delay was observed in the Judgment of Learning task. Finally, Feeling of Knowing judgments related to executive, but not to memory ability. A novel finding in respect of this judgment was of processing speed relating negatively to accuracy, in the context of executive dysfunction. This suggests that some top-down direction of processing resources may be a factor in supporting accuracy, rather than the speed at which information is processed. Of all the task-based judgments, accuracy in this judgment was the only one with a reliable association with mood. Faster processing speed, executive dysfunction and least depression symptomatology related to low accuracy, perhaps typifying a profile of disinhibition seen in MS, characterised by poorly constrained processing and apparently elevated mood.

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Angell, Robert J. "Exploring the grocery store satisfaction of England's older population : an evaluation of antecedents and consequences using structural equation modelling." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/291.

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The number of people aged 60 years and above is increasing in the UK. In total, this age group represents 22% of the population with estimates indicating a rise to 29% by 2050 (United Nations, 2009). One market sector that is extremely important to the health and wellbeing of older people is grocery retail (Khan, 1981). However, little previous research has addressed how older people rate the service delivered by their grocery provider, particularly in regard to satisfaction. To reconcile this gap in theoretical understanding, a sequential transformative mixed-method research design was specified using 36 qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaires with 524 subjects. A model including both drivers and consequences of satisfaction was formulated using past research. As such, an antecedent scale for grocery store image was developed via procedures suggested in the extant literature (e.g. DeVellis, 2003). Pre-existing scales (i.e. commitment and loyalty) representing exemplary reliability and validity were borrowed and specified as consequences. The scales were modified and integrated into a ‘structural equation model’. Older people were found to place a high level of importance in aspects of merchandise, store environment, personnel and services. Price/promotions and clientele were found to be insignificant in driving satisfaction. Differences in factor mean scores and structural parameters were then analysed using ‘finite mixture structural equation modelling’ to identify segments of similar respondents (Jedidi et al, 1997). Using posterior probabilities, the emerging segments were subjected to profiling using personal and behavioural variables (Hahn et al, 2002). Market Segmentation showed three groups of similar respondents in the sample population, differing in factor mean scores and psychological operationalisation of satisfaction. Nonetheless, only several differences in personal and behavioural characteristics were found between the segments. Whilst, the results show that segmenting this group is necessary when measuring satisfaction, basing this purely on a priori descriptive variables might be erroneous given the inherent levels of unobserved heterogeneity. The model developed and tested in this study is considered the most up-to-date available in the literature.

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Candy, Ryan David. "Resources, Strategy and Performancein the Smaller Firm." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Management, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/3522.

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This study investigates the relationship between firm resources, positioning strategies and performance in the smaller firm. Porter’s generic strategies have been useful in describing how firms compete in the marketplace, and the resource based view has shown that resources can lead to a sustained competitive advantage. The strategic management field has begun to combine the two theories and examine the link between them. Small firms must make the best use of their relatively scarce resources. It is proposed that the relationship between resources and performance is contingent upon the positioning strategy the firm competes on, although there has only been limited supporting research to date. This research builds on work by Edelman et al. (2005) by examining the relationship between human, organisational and physical resources, and the strategies of quality/ customer service, innovation, and cost leadership in 447 retail, engineering, and professional service firms in New Zealand. Using Structural Equations Modelling this research finds that positioning strategies are the mechanism by which firms can leverage their resources into higher performance. This relationship can be modelled as mediated or moderated, with statistical analysis sensitive to model complexity. The firm’s environment influences this relationship with different resources required to support each position depending on the industry. Specifically human, organisational, and physical resources appear to be viable sources of competitive advantage when they are leveraged by a strategy of quality/ customer service, innovation or cost leadership when the industry environment is conducive to the resource – strategy combination.

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Pearce, Antony. "Lean thinking and the factors necessary for its success." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Mechanical Engineering, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/9662.

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Lean management is becoming the standard for systematic productivity improvement, but the majority of implementations fail to sustain. Hence, the critical success factors for lean were the focus of this work. Literature review showed that the causality for lean success was not empirically developed beyond case study contextualisation. A multifaceted work was developed with contextualisation studies, survey of lean knowledge (758 responses), and a comprehensive case-study questionnaire (1253 responses from 44 countries). The statistical methods included exploratory factor analysis and path analysis by structural equation modelling (SEM). The first questionnaire revealed two different understandings of lean, and the second explored the underlying causality for lean success, including contingency for business size and product variety. Many contributions to the body of knowledge issued from this work. First of all, there was a methodological contribution, pioneering explorative structural modelling of full scope lean implementation. Second, SEMs of the lean knowledge-based view showed the profound positive effects of management knowledge on the primary factors for lean success. These factors were shown to be leadership and employee development. Third, the most beneficial lean methods were highlighted for specific scenarios. Fourth, the negligible and negative effects of a consultant-based approach to lean were uncovered. The results showed that the majority of consultants did not aid the long-term performance and sustainability of lean but significantly hindered it, except where masterful consultants acted as coaches. Fifth, a shortage of lean knowledge was observed in New Zealand; their participants averaged only half of what the USA�s did. Sixth, as culture has been emphasised in current literature, the present danger of overly focusing on it was discussed. Seventh was a conceptual contribution integrating lean and risk management, and a practical application with a risk analysis. This developed a risk matrix for the assessment and prioritisation of implementation components. Eighth, some adjustments to government lean strategies were proposed. And finally, the work integrated the findings in a tangible stage process model for implementation in SMEs. The dissemination of this knowledge has the potential to enhance productivity and commercial success of industries in New Zealand and abroad through successful lean implementations. Lean is not a weak methodology but it has been misunderstood and misapplied.

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Shirin, Artyom. "Evaluating the effects of corporate reputation on employee engagement." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23051.

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This study explores the previously less researched impact of corporate reputation on employees, more specifically on employee engagement. Employee engagement and corporate reputation are concepts that have been receiving attention in both business and academia alike, especially in view of the economic turmoil of the past decade as both constructs have been shown to affect profits. The study was designed in a way to measure the impact of employees’ perceptions of corporate reputation on their engagement with the corporation, while controlling for the state of their psychological contract with the organisation. An online survey of 509 employees from a large South African bank provided the data to which a Structural Equation Model (SEM) emanating from the theoretical background was fitted. The results of the model unequivocally confirmed that corporate reputation perceptions are an important predictor of employee engagement. It was also found that psychological contract breach influences both perceptions of reputation by employees and employee engagement directly. The implication is that corporate reputation can have a strong influence on tangible results through employee engagement.
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
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Abdul, Ghani Suzaini. "Seam performance : analysis and modelling." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2011. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/seam-performance-analysis-and-modelling(da79315f-5f65-4c8d-9715-a7d270d453c8).html.

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Seam quality is affected by various fabric mechanical properties with a combination of their sewing parameters. Previously, a lot of research has been done on identifying the parameters that influencing seam quality by looking into correlation between fabric properties and sewing parameters. The purpose of this current study was to investigate the performance of seam quality in terms of seam appearance and strength constructed with different sewing parameters. Another aim was to identify parameters that influence the seam quality using the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) by AMOS and leads to the development of multivariable predictive equations using SPSS. Finally, the validation between experimental and predicted results using newly developed equations was examined using a new set of fabrics. The investigation was done for five different fabric categories, namely light, light to medium, medium, medium to heavy and heavy weight. A total of 45 fabrics with different weave densities, fibre types and structures were used. Seams were produced using various sewing parameters such as threads with different fibre types and structures, needle sizes and stitch densities. All fabrics were tested for their mechanical properties using two established items of equipment known as Kawabata Evaluation System for Fabrics (KES-F) and Fabric Assurance by Simple Testing (FAST). Seam evaluations together with thread and fabric mechanical properties obtained from KES-F and FAST were used as input for modelling. From the experimental work, it was concluded that the usage of thicker threads did not always give better strength and the seam appearance was also poor. A combination of finer thread with moderate strength and a medium level of stitch density according to fabric weight category provided an effective result for both seam appearance and strength. From the modelling work, it was found that the extensibility, bending and shearing properties, together with thread properties including extensibility, tensile strength and size, were among the properties selected by SEM to be included in the predictive equations. The validation results showed that the standard deviation between fabric properties used to develop the equations and new fabric properties used for validation plays an important role. The principal conclusion was that the prediction equations developed using SEM and SPSS possible to be used and gave a strong validation between experimental and predicted results when the new fabric properties were within one standard deviation.

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Andrea, Andrea Ximena. "Housing and Homelessness: Two Models of the Relationship Between Quality of Life, Physical Health, and Mental Health." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/31902.

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With the increase in quality of life (QoL) research in recent years and its relationship to physical and mental health, building a model of these relationships is an important pursuit for researchers with the aim of creating targeted social policy and programs. Two studies were designed to test a model of the relationship between quality of life, physical health, and mental health on two different groups in the National-Capital region: a housed sample and a homeless and vulnerably housed sample. Study 1 consisted of 1,339 adults who took part in the 2007-2008 Canadian Community Health Survey and were stably housed in either a rented or owned residence. Study 2 consisted of 395 single adults who participated in the City of Ottawa baseline measure of the Health and Housing in Transition (HHiT) study (Hwang, Aubry, et al., 2011) and were homeless or vulnerably housed. Subjective levels of various physical and mental health indicators were measured for each of the samples, along with subjective quality of life indicators. Of interest in each of the studies was: 1) The effect that physical and mental health factors have on quality of life in each of the samples, and 2) determining if mental health or physical health is a better predictor of quality of life. Structural analysis of the housed sample model resulted in both physical and mental health having a significant positive effect on QoL, although neither physical nor mental health was a better predictor of quality of life. For the homeless and vulnerably housed model, structural analysis determined mental health to have a significant direct positive effect on QoL, while physical health showed a non-significant negative effect. Mental health was determined to be a significantly better predictor of QoL in the homeless and vulnerably housed model, accounting for 30.47 percent of the variance in quality of life. Implications of this research are discussed.

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Chegus, Matthew. "The Influence of Technology on Organizational Performance: The Mediating Effects of Organizational Learning." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/37086.

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Organizations depend upon ever greater levels of information technology (IT), such as big data and analytics, a trend which shows no sign of abating. However, not all organizations have benefited from such IT investments, resulting in mixed perceptions on the value of IT. Organizations must be knowledgeable in order to properly utilize IT tools and be able to apply that knowledge to create unique competencies in order to gain sustained advantage from IT investments. Organizational learning (OL) has been proposed as the mechanism to accomplish this task. Existing empirical research demonstrates that OL may indeed act as a mediator for the effect of IT on organizational outcomes. Yet, these studies are not consistent in their conceptualizations of the relationships involved, nor in their definitions and measurement of OL. Many use a descriptive measure of OL despite theory suggesting that a normative measure may be more appropriate. This study aims to address these concerns in a Canadian setting by using structural equation modelling (SEM) to compare the effectiveness of descriptive and normative measures of OL as mediating variables in knowledge-intensive organizations. Survey results support OL as a mediator between IT and organizational performance in addition to normative measures of OL outperforming descriptive measures. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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Soteriades, Andreas Diomedes. "Trade-offs in sustainable dairy farming systems." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/18753.

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A key challenge facing dairy farming is to meet the increasing demand for dairy products from a growing and more affluent global population in a period of unprecedented socio-economic and environmental change. In order to address this challenge, policies are currently placing emphasis on ‘sustainable intensification’ (SI), i.e. producing ‘more’ outputs and services with ‘less’ resources and environmental impacts. Determining whether or not SI can deliver greater yet sustainable dairy production requires understanding of the relationships between sustainability pillars (environmental; economic; and social) and farm aspects (e.g. on-farm management; and animal productivity) under particular farming systems and circumstances (e.g. regional bio-physical conditions). Trade-offs between pillars and aspects is inevitable within a farming system. Many widely-used assessment methods that aim to measure, scale and weight these pillars and aspects are unable to fully capture trade-offs between them. The objectives of this thesis are: 1) to identify key trade-offs in dairy farming systems to inform greater yet sustainable food production; and 2) to introduce models and methodologies aiming at a more holistic measurement and better understanding of dairy farm sustainability. This thesis assesses the sustainability of French and UK dairy farming systems via a farm efficiency benchmarking modelling framework coupled with statistical analyses. It explores the relationships between pillars, aspects and technical, economic and environmental performance; and identifies important drivers/differentials in dairy farm efficiency. Importantly, it also suggests ways in which farm inputs and outputs can be adjusted so that improvements in environmental, technical and economic performance become feasible. Efficiency benchmarking was performed with the multiple-input – multiple-output productive efficiency method Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). DEA calculates single aggregated efficiency indices per farm by accounting for several farm inputs and outputs which the DEA model endogenously scales and weights. In this work, the notion of farm inputs and outputs was extended to also include ‘undesirable’ outputs (greenhouse gas emissions) and environmental impacts (e.g. eutrophication, acidification etc.) of dairy farming. The DEA models employed belong to the family of ‘additive’ models, which have several advantages over ‘traditional’ DEA models. These include their ability (i) to simultaneously increase outputs and reduce inputs, undesirable outputs and environmental impacts; (ii) to identify specific sources of inefficiency. These ‘sources’ represent a farm’s shortfalls in output production and its excesses in input use and/or in undesirable outputs and environmental impacts, relatively to the other farms; (iii) to position undesirable outputs in the output set rather than consider them as inputs or ‘inverse’ outputs; and (iv) to rank farms by efficiency performance. Importantly, this thesis also proposes a new additive model with a ranking property and high discriminatory power. In a second stage, DEA was coupled with partial least squares structural equation modelling (SEM) so as to develop and relate latent variables for environmental performance, animal productivity and on-farm management practices. The results suggested that the efficacy of SI may be compromised by several on-farm trade-offs between pillars, aspects and farm inputs and outputs. Moreover, trade-offs depended on particular farming systems and circumstances. Increasing animal productivity did not always improve farm environmental performance at whole farm-level. Intensifying production at animal and farm-levels, coupled with high reliance on external inputs, reduced farm environmental performance in the French case, i.e. a significant negative relationship was found between intensification and environmental performance (SEM path coefficients ranged between -0.31 and -0.57, p < 0.05). Conversely, in the UK case, systems representing animal-level intensification (via genetic selection) for increased milk fat plus protein production performed better, on average, than controls of UK average genetic merit for milk fat plus protein production in terms of technical efficiency (DEA scores between 0.91– 0.92 versus 0.78–0.79) and environmental efficiency (scores between 0.92–0.93 versus 0.80), regardless of whether on a low-forage or high-forage diet. The levels of inefficiency in (undesirable) outputs, inputs and environmental impacts varied among farming systems and depended on the regional and managerial characteristics of each system. For instance, in France, West farms had higher eutrophication inefficiencies than East farms (average normalized eutrophication inefficiencies were, respectively 0.141 and 0.107), perhaps because of their more intensive production practices. However, West farms were more DEA-efficient than East farms as the former benefited from bio-physical conditions more favourable to dairy farming (mean DEA score ranks were 97 for West and 83 for East). Such findings can guide policy incentives for SI in different regions or dairy systems. The proposed modelling framework significantly contributes to current knowledge and the search for the best pathways to SI, improves widely-used modelling approaches, and challenges earlier findings based on less holistic exercises.

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Omoge, Akinyemi Paul. "The direct and mediated effects of customer relationship management (CRM) systems usage as service delivery channels on consumer buying behaviour : an empirical appraisal of the context of the Nigerian banking industry." Thesis, Robert Gordon University, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2139.

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Ample evidence from the literature suggests that in recent years, banks have been heavily investing in customer relationship management (CRM) systems. The reasons for this are traced to banks' emergent need to gain and sustain competitive advantage through greater knowledge of their customers. In turn, this increased knowledge is likely to also lead to increased: a) customer base, b) customer satisfaction, c) customer retention and, d) customer loyalty. The literature suggests that there is a knowledge gap, which relates to the reasons for CRM systems in adoption and usage as service delivery channels, as well as its effects on banks' customers. This is particularly the case with regards to the banks' customers' buying behaviour and is stemming from the fact that bank customers display some unique buying patterns. Based on the above, the aim of this study is to find out whether or not there is a potential influence of newly implemented CRM systems on consumer buying behaviour in the context of the Nigerian banking industry and also to assess the extent and nature of this influence (if any).

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Maware, Catherine. "Evaluation of the impact of Lean Manufacturing implementation on operational performance in Zimbabwean industries." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/72175.

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The rapid rate of increase in competition among the manufacturing industries has caused many organizations to continuously seek improvement in the quality of the products they manufacture to meet and exceed customer expectations. Organizations are under pressure to minimize the production costs to offer competitive prices for their products. The success story of Toyota Motor Company in implementing Lean Manufacturing (LM) has inspired many organizations around the world to adopt LM in order to improve their operational performance. There are, however, mixed results on the impact of LM on operational performance. Some studies have shown that its implementation increases operational performance while others have shown little to no improvement or even negative results. Institutional and contingency theories may provide insight into some of these contradictions and give a perception of why the implementation of LM has yielded different results on operational performance. The institutional theory states that organizations mimic the actions and practices of other organizations because of the pressure to remain competitive. Organizations in the developing countries also seem to have been imitating the Toyota Motor company that has been successful in implementing LM. On the other hand, the contingency theory states that corporations are organized according to external situations. Related to the contingency theory is the effect of Industry Clockspeed (IC). Some industries are transforming at a high speed while others are transforming at a low speed. The high IC industries are characterized by the quick development and release of new products, shorter development time and frequent changes in organizational structures. Low IC industries, however, manufacture products with a long life cycle, thus the products, processes and organizational structures for these industries change only after a long period. This study opines that the environment under which an organisation operates may affect the results of LM implementation process. The research was conducted in three parts and each of these parts is presented as chapters in this thesis. The first part (Chapter 4) gives a review and classifies the impact measurement models that have been used by various researchers to measure the success of implementing LM. These models can be classified as quantitative, qualitative, simulation-based and graphical measurement models. Pareto analysis is used to select the type of measurement model and Lean practices that are frequently used by researchers to develop Lean measurement models. The qualitative measurement model was preferred for evaluating the effect of implementing LM on operational performance because of its ability to use question structures that allow qualitative data collection for a rich analysis of opinion. With a proper structure, the questionnaire items can also be parsed and analyzed quantitatively with modern statistical techniques like Structural Equation Modelling. The Lean practices selected were Just In Time (JIT), Jidoka, People integration and Stability and standardization for building the model. This part concludes by developing a structural model that can be used to measure the impact of Lean implementation in industry, using Zimbabwean industry data. The second part (Chapter 5) evaluates the effect of implementing LM tools on operational performance across various industries in Zimbabwe. The major goal of this chapter was to develop an operational model (based on the lead from chapter 4) and test it in manufacturing organizations across various industries. A structured survey questionnaire was used for the collection of data in identified companies and 214 useful responses were obtained. The results of the study indicated that operational performance was improved by implementing the selected LM tools. The performance improvement variables that were significantly influenced were speed, flexibility and dependability. The third part (Chapter 6) analyzed the moderation effect of IC on the relationship between LM tools and operational performance. The industries grouped under low IC were pharmaceutical, agrochemicals, steel, automobile, timber production, battery, chemical and plastics. The high IC industries were food, beverage, electronics and garment. A structural equation model was proposed and investigated across the two groups. A structured survey questionnaire was used to collect empirical data from manufacturing companies. The data obtained from the responses was analysed using Smart PLS 3 and SPSS version 25. The results of the study showed that IC had a moderating effect on the relationship between LM practices and operational performance for both low and high IC industries. The last chapter summarises the findings, made recommendations and proposes directions for further research.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019.
Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD)
Industrial and Systems Engineering
PhD
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Nieuwoudt, Anna-Marie. "Confirmatory factor analysis of the organisational climate measure : a South African perspective." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/24706.

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The effective management of organisational climate has become an increasingly important ingredient for business success. This has resulted in a need for up-to-date research and information on the subject, leading to the development of various measurement instruments. The main purpose of this study was to validate the Organisational Climate Measure (OCM) for the South African context. The OCM is designed to serve as a global multi-dimensional measure of organisational climate and is based on the competing values model developed by Quinn and Rohrbaugh. In this study a comprehensive literature review was conducted prior to the OCM’s administration to a sample of 200 individuals currently employed in a South African organisation. The reliability and validity of the OCM was evaluated by means of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and confirmatory factor analysis. The results indicated strong correlations between factors and a good model fit. It was concluded that the OCM is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring organisational climate within the South African context. Copyright
Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2011.
Human Resource Management
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Al, Solaiman Sultan. "An empirical study of the factors impacting on the involvement of clients in Saudi Arabian construction projects." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2014. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/72580/1/Sultan_Al%20Solaiman_Thesis.pdf.

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This thesis is an empirical study of the factors impacting on the client involvement in Saudi Arabian construction government projects. The study investigated the impact of some factors that limited the client involvement and developed a framework called "client involvement interactive" to improve the client involvement practices in Saudi Arabian construction projects through the implementation of an implementable strategy elaborated.

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Alboqami, Hassan Abdullah. "Investigating the factors affecting customers' trust and acceptance of online banking : the case of Saudi Arabia." Thesis, Brunel University, 2018. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/17127.

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The need for online banking technology in the banking industry is important to allow financial institutions to serve their customers worldwide, without having the need to be present in person or face-to-face to benefit from the service. Despite the investment in informational technology and information system infrastructure by Saudi Arabian financial institutions, the Saudi banks have lagged their Western counterparts when it comes to provision of online banking services. Given a relatively recent adoption of online banking in Saudi Arabia, consumer trust in online banking is a critical challenge facing bank managers, warranting further research. The aim of this research is to develop a framework to improve consumer trust toward online banking services and its affect consumer intentions to use the online banking service and e-WOM. The literature included the assessment of relevant theories including social cognitive theory, technology acceptance model and commitment trust theory. These theories formed the basis of formulation of research framework, including development of 12 research hypotheses. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, relationship termination cost, shared value, communication, privacy and demographic factors all have an important role in influencing the extent of trust and the subsequent intention of customers to engage in and use online banking services provided by the financial institutions. When it comes to the literature gap, there remains a relative lack of existence of research on the subject of consumer trust in online banking within Saudi Arabia (Zhou, 2012; Alanezi and Brooks, 2014; AL-Malkawi et al., 2016), which presents a gap in the literature warranting further research. Moreover, most of the prior research on the subject of consumer trust in online banking has concentrated on the information cues such as reputation and information quality (Montazemi and Qahri-Saremi, 2015). This is alongside relatively little attention given to other factors such as perceived usefulness, ease of use, shared value, and privacy/security, which are crucial factors in online banking services (Fatima, 2011; Aloul., 2012; Montazemi and Qahri-Saremi, 2015). Regarding methodology, the positivist research philosophy, deductive approach, survey questionnaire and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques were undertaken. A key rationale for selection of such a methodology is the review of relevant literature, which led to development of research hypotheses that are tested through the survey technique, which is consistent with positivist and deductive research approach. The survey questionnaire request was sent online to 800 research participants (users of online services in Saudi Arabia). Out of these 800, 585 responded (indicating a response rate of an impressive 73%). The response rate was improved through giving regular reminders to the research participants who had not responded to the survey earlier. The findings of this research support the argument that trust in e-bank website play an important role in maintaining long term relationship with customers. Therefore, online banks who deal with their customers in a confidential, transparent and honest manner and ultimately protect the consumers' interests are likely to contribute to greater adoption of online banking by customers in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, it is also concluded that perceived ease of use, trust in online banking website, trust in technology, relationship termination cost, privacy/security, shared value, and communication have positive and significant effect on customer trust in e-bank website, intention to use online banking, and e-WOM.

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Yeung, Ho Yi Polly. "An investigation of citizenship participation of young adults with and without cerebral palsy." Thesis, Curtin University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/1859.

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Citizenship participation by young adults has reciprocal benefits for both individuals and society. Capacity to participate in activities that positively influence the community is indicative of healthy individuals and healthy communities. While there are some studies on citizenship participation among adolescents, little empirical evidence exists regarding the meaning of, or practical participation in citizenship activities by young adults in contemporary Australia society, and particularly those who have a disability such as cerebral palsy (CP).This study investigated citizenship participation and identified factors that influenced citizenship participation in young adults with and without a disability, particularly CP. The study occurred in three phases: (1) a qualitative phase; (2) a quantitative, cross-sectional phase; and (3) a consultation phase.The aim of Phase 1 was to develop a measurement of citizenship participation based on literature and consultation with key stakeholders. Before proceeding to the item development, the ideas of how young adults in general perceived the underlying meanings of citizen participation and how they classified social and civic activities were explored through focus groups and individual interviews. A pool of 36 items was initially developed based on a critical review of participation instruments. The process of developing a suitable measurement was undertaken by item reduction, thus generating a list of 29 items. This led to the development of a self-report survey instrument of the Citizenship Inventory (CI) to measure citizenship participation. Psychometric properties of the CI were evaluated.Phase 2 involved identifying potential factors influencing citizenship participation. Supported by qualitative findings and propositions in the literature, it was predicted that citizenship participation was shaped by a number of factors labelled as civic communication, sense of place, life values and physical and social conditions, via the mediators of self-efficacy and life satisfaction. Measures of proposed independent variables and the two mediating factors identified above were then employed with a sample of 434 typical young adults, using a cross-sectional survey design. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed to investigate the interrelationships of the variables and for testing the goodness-of-fit. The identified variables contributing to citizenship participation in the typical young adults were used to compare against 60 young adults with CP.The results from modelling demonstrated that: 1) citizenship participation is influenced by the personal, social and environmental factors, which is multidimensional and subject to ongoing changes; 2) early positive activity participation creates later engagement in citizenship activities; 3) young adults’ social contexts are important socializing agents that promote citizenship participation; 4) young adults’ values influence civic participation; and 5) life satisfaction and self-efficacy are important mediating factors of citizenship participation.Similar to the typical young adults, young adults with CP developed their capacity for civic service and participation through social relationships and social memberships (formal and informal). The overall results suggest that that young adults with and without disabilities must be supported across many contexts – homes, jobs, social and community situations – to utilize their skills and abilities to actively participate in citizenship activities.Phase Three involved consulting key stakeholders, based on the research findings from the previous two phases, to identify key priorities for enhancing citizenship participation specifically for young adults with CP. These key priorities in turn helped shaping a framework of recommendations for future directions on how to promote and sustain citizenship participation in young adults with CP. The expert panel consisted of eight stakeholders who identified key priorities during a group discussion meeting using Nominal Group Techniques (NGT). Several key topics were evident in this list of priorities nominated by this group. Many of the ideas endorsed by the expert panel on enhancing citizenship participation mirrored the outcomes from the citizenship participation model. They stemmed from the principles of focusing on positive social networks, ongoing skills development, providing customised services, support and information, adopting a holistic lifespan perspective, and linking and providing real-world opportunities and experiences. Priorities identified were grouped into four main recommendations: (1) customise the types of services for each individual; (2) develop strategies to increase positive family and peer support; (3) young adults with a disability seen as competent community builders; and (4) building individual capacity.The present research sought to add to the current knowledge in understanding the changing experiences of citizenship participation of young adults living in Australia and whether young adults with a disability, particularly those with CP shared the same or different citizenship experiences as their non-disabled peers. Findings demonstrate that ideas about citizenship participation are not homogenous as they depend on circumstances. For young adults with and without CP, their citizenship identity is believed to be shaped by age, by societal expectations and by personal experiences. This thesis provides practical implications and a framework for service providers and policy makers that can be implemented to promote positive citizenship participation. This thesis also provides a rationale for further research to investigate other methodologies that enables researchers to explore the positioning and experiences of young adults’ participation in social and civic actions in this changing world.

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Appiagyei, Kwadjo. "Evaluating integrated reporting quality, its determinants and its effect on sustainability in a mandatory reporting environment." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2020. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2378.

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over time firms may be looking beyond merely satisfying the regulatory requirements to realise the full benefits of IR. Furthermore, the study finds that among the three examined determinants of IR quality—political visibility, effective corporate governance and financial performance—on the JSE, political visibility is the best predictor. Also, the study finds evidence to support the assertion that IR affects sustainability. Moreover, IR quality is found to mediate the relationship between corporate governance, political visibility and sustainability performance. Hence, the argument that IR has abandoned sustainability cannot be substantiated. Although IR continues to evolve, the full potential of IR in the corporate reporting environment may not have been realised yet. Therefore, countries and capital market regulators that are considering mandating IR may find the evidence from this study useful in their considerations.

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Elsheikh, Yousef M. A. "A model for the Adoption and Implementation of Web-based Government services and applications. A Study Based in Grounded Theory Validated by Structural Equation Modelling Analysis in a Jordanian Context." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/5378.

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Among the many promises of the revolution in the information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly the Internet, continues to be its potential to significantly transform governments around the world. This transformation is referred to as e-government or web-based government, often used interchangeably in most of the IS literature. Despite these however, the level of adoption and use of such innovation is still low and does not meet expectations in developing countries in general and Jordan in particular. Yet, existing research on the adoption and implementation of e-government in developing countries is still lacking explanatory power for the following reasons: 1) focusing either on the supply-side, or on the demand-side separately to study the adoption and implementation of e-government, and therefore there is no enough research on the integration between them as a single phenomenon, and 2) focusing on the results of previous research, and therefore not to develop theories fit the new context to be investigated to understand the relationship between the IT implementation and social structures in the same context. This research aims to fill these gaps through the use of a holistic approach to enable in-depth understanding and gain valuable insights on the adoption and implementation of e-government from multiple perspectives, and in the real context of a developing country, namely Jordan. This would reduce the gap between government strategies and policies related to implementation of e-government services and applications on the one hand, and perceptions of citizens on the other hand, allowing a better understanding of the needs of citizens and the priorities that must be taken into account by governments in order to ensure the success of such projects on a large scale. Through two phases, this research proposes and empirically tests an integrated model of the determinants of adoption and implementation of e-government services and applications in Jordan. The first phase employs a grounded theory methodology for the development of the research model, as well as the survey instruments necessary to test the model. The second phase employs a survey questionnaire to test the research model using multivariate and SEM with the results demonstrating support for the proposed model. The empirical results indicate that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and the security of e-government systems are no longer among the main determinants that affect the decision to adopt and implement e-government services and applications in this particular context. This confirms that the prevailing models and theories on the adoption of IT do not apply equally to the context of developing countries such as Jordan, and thus do not explain and predict behaviour toward the adoption and implementation of e-government services and applications in the same context. There is a direct and positive relationship between citizen involvement in the change process towards e-government and the decision to adopt and implement e-government services and applications. There is also a strong positive relationship between the decision to adopt and implement e-government services and applications and the decision to use such services and applications within the same context. Unexpectedly, the prevailing sociocultural determinants indicate a direct and positive relationship with the decision to adopt and implement e-government services and applications in the same context. Also, the results indicate direct and negative relationships between citizen trust and website design issues with the decision to adopt and implement e-government services and applications. Finally, the research concludes by highlighting the theoretical and practical implications, limitations and future directions.

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Koch, Rainer, Ulrich Julius, Werner Jaross, and Hans-Egbert Schröder. "Estimation of the Heritability of Latent Variables Which Are Included in a Structural Model for Metabolic Syndrome." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2014. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-137470.

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In a study looking for risk factors of atherosclerosis in families with combined hyperlipidemia and hypertension, clinical and biochemical data of 1,149 persons were analyzed to develop two hypothetical multivariate scores concerning the degree to which a patient is affected by the metabolic syndrome. The scores are based on a structural model for low-density cholesterol (LDL) and high-density cholesterol (HDL), triglycerides, uric acid, creatinine, glucose, insulin, systolic blood pressure and waist-to-hip ratio. Age, gender and body mass index were used for adjusting all variables. In segregation analyses of 42 pedigrees without using genotype information, estimations of the heritabilities and environmentally caused variance and covariance components were computed for the individual score values of the two latent factors. The first score shows a heritability of 42%; the environment component disappeared. The score mainly reflects the HDL, LDL and triglyceride levels. The second score shows a heritability of 16% with an environment component of 7%. It includes mainly insulin, uric acid and creatinine. In the search for genetic causes, both scores could be a basis for further phenotypic classification of the metabolic syndrome
Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich

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Garcia, Elaine. "The use of blogs for teaching and learning in UK and US Higher Education." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/9296.

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Within the last decade there has been a significant increase in the range of Social Media tools that have become available. This has led to a significant increase in the use and popularity of Social Media within many aspects of everyday life, particularly within the UK and US. One of the areas in which there has been a rise in the use of Social Media is within Higher Education (HE). Within HE there have been reports that Social Media has been successfully utilized for teaching and learning, particularly in the case of blogs. Despite reportedly successful usage there has to date been relatively few empirical studies which have explored whether the use of blogs within teaching and learning leads to an increase in perceived learning by students. This research study therefore provides an empirical study of perceived learning by students when using blogs within teaching and learning in UK and US HE. This research study adopts a post positivist research approach and a quantitative research design method. Questionnaires have been utilised in order to explore student views of perceived learning when using blogs as a tool for HE teaching and learning within the UK and US. This study provides a framework for student use of blogs within HE teaching and learning and explores whether the use of blogs in this way leads to greater levels of perceived learning amongst students. The results of this research are analysed using PLS-SEM and have shown that the successful use of blogs for teaching and learning is complex. The results have demonstrated that students do report higher degrees of learning from using blogs within teaching and learning, however, this is influenced by the perceptions students hold relating to digital technology, teaching and learning, previous experience and expectations of blogging. The results of this study have implications for both HE teachers and HE students and provides a framework which can be used to help ensure the successful use of blogs when utilised for HE teaching and learning within the UK and US in the future.

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Koch, Rainer, Ulrich Julius, Werner Jaross, and Hans-Egbert Schröder. "Estimation of the Heritability of Latent Variables Which Are Included in a Structural Model for Metabolic Syndrome." Karger, 2001. https://tud.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A27735.

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In a study looking for risk factors of atherosclerosis in families with combined hyperlipidemia and hypertension, clinical and biochemical data of 1,149 persons were analyzed to develop two hypothetical multivariate scores concerning the degree to which a patient is affected by the metabolic syndrome. The scores are based on a structural model for low-density cholesterol (LDL) and high-density cholesterol (HDL), triglycerides, uric acid, creatinine, glucose, insulin, systolic blood pressure and waist-to-hip ratio. Age, gender and body mass index were used for adjusting all variables. In segregation analyses of 42 pedigrees without using genotype information, estimations of the heritabilities and environmentally caused variance and covariance components were computed for the individual score values of the two latent factors. The first score shows a heritability of 42%; the environment component disappeared. The score mainly reflects the HDL, LDL and triglyceride levels. The second score shows a heritability of 16% with an environment component of 7%. It includes mainly insulin, uric acid and creatinine. In the search for genetic causes, both scores could be a basis for further phenotypic classification of the metabolic syndrome.
Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

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23

Robertson, Claire Michael. "The mediating role of learning styles and strategies in the relationship between cognitive ability and academic performance." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/30164.

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Cognitive ability has a strong and important relationship with academic performance. Numerous factors, however, affect a student’s performance, including among others; learning style, or the way in which students typically receive and process information, and learning strategies, or the level at which students approach learning and studying. Current studies are, however, divided in their findings regarding the relationship between learning styles and strategies and academic performance as well as the mediatory role they may play. The study sought to investigate the role of students’ learning styles and strategies in the relationship between cognitive ability and academic performance, in order to advance an understanding of the role that they play in this relationship. The study was conducted using a correlational research design within a cognitive psychology framework. Using convenience sampling, a total of 172 university students completed cognitive tests (Raven's Progressive Matrices and the Letter-N-Back) and a learning style and strategy survey. Structural equation modelling (SEM), specifically path analysis in combination with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), was then used to test relationships between constructs. Results from the first model suggest that higher cognitive abilities and the use of rehearsal (the surface learning strategy) each play a unique role in predicting academic performance (÷2 (67, N = 172) = 145.31, p < .001). It, in additio, seems as if various components of learning style and strategy do not predict academic performance at all. A refined model of the relationship between constructs confirmed this (÷2 (64, N = 172) = 70.51, p < .05). Learning styles along with the deep and metacognitive learning strategies were found to have no meaningful relation with academic performance. Cognitive abilities and rehearsal however were key predictors of performance. Mediation analysis further identified rehearsal as a mediator in the relationship between cognitive ability and academic performance (÷2 (65, N = 172) = 74.10, p >.05). Results show that cognitive ability indirectly affects academic performance through the surface learning strategy rehearsal). Copyright
Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
Psychology
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Günther, Thomas, and Heike Moses. "Faktoren für eine erfolgreiche Steuerung von Patentaktivitäten." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2006. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:swb:14-1158060347086-06372.

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Empirischen Studien zufolge können Patente sich positiv auf den Unternehmenserfolg auswirken. Allerdings wirkt dieser Effekt nicht automatisch, sondern Unternehmen müssen sich um den Aufbau und die gesteuerte Weiterentwicklung eines nachhaltigen und wertvollen Patentportfolios bemühen. Bisher ist jedoch nicht wissenschaftlich untersucht worden, welche Maßnahmen Unternehmen ergreifen können, um die unternehmensinternen Vorraussetzungen für eine erfolgreiche Steuerung von Patentaktivitäten zu schaffen. Um diese betrieblichen Faktoren zu identifizieren und deren Relevanz zu quantifizieren, wurden 2005 in einer breiten empirischen Untersuchung die aktiven Patentanmelder im deutschsprachigen Raum (über 1.000 Unternehmen) mit Hilfe eines standardisierten Fragebogens befragt. Auf der Basis von 325 auswertbaren Fragebögen (Ausschöpfungsquote 36,8 %) konnten zum einen Ergebnisse zum aktuellen Aufgabenspektrum der Patentabteilungen sowie zu deren organisatorischen und personellen Strukturen gewonnen werden. Ebenfalls wurde in dieser Status quo-Analyse der Bekanntheits- und Implementierungsgrad von Methoden und Systemen (z. B. Patentbewertungsmethoden, Patent-IT-Systeme) beleuchtet. Zum anderen wurden die betrieblichen Faktoren herausgestellt, auf die technologieorientierte Unternehmen achten sollten, um das Fundament für eine erfolgreiche Patentsteuerung zu legen
Empirical studies have shown that patents can have a positive effect on corporate success. However, this effect does not occur by itself. Companies have to make an effort to create and to develop a sustainable patent portfolio. So far, no academic studies have investigated into which actions a company can take to establish the internal conditions for successful patent management. To identify and to quantify the relevance of these internal factors, a study was conducted using a standardized written questionnaire with more than 1,000 patent-oriented companies in the German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein). In total, 325 valid questionnaires were included in the analyses; this corresponds to an above-average response rate of 36.8 %. These analyses revealed insights into the current task profile of patent departments and their organizational and personnel structures. This status quo analysis also included the investigation into the awareness and implementation level of used methods and systems (e. g. patent evaluation methods, patent IT systems). Furthermore, the study could expose the internal determinants, which technology-oriented companies should focus on to ensure a successful patent management

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Els, Leonie. "A confirmatory factor analytic study of the aspects of identity questionnaire (AIQ-IV)." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/27800.

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To obtain valid and reliable research findings it is important to follow the process to validate measuring instruments. This entails determining the psychometric properties of a measure to eliminate or decrease the presence of measurement errors. Measurement errors have a negative impact on the validity of research findings. The aim of this study was to perform a confirmatory factor analytic study on the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire (AIQ-IV) to assess the model fit of the data. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed as part of the process to assess construct validity of a questionnaire to discover the misrepresenting influences of these measurement errors and to provide a foundation for further research. The AIQ-IV was administered to a sample of 157 participants in the South African context including different race, gender, age and occupation groups, drawn by means of convenient sampling. The research results and fit indices indicated that the data reflected a reasonable model fit. Copyright 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Els, L 2010, A confirmatory factor analytic study of the aspects of identity questionnaire (AIQ-IV), MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-02092012-122330 / > C12/4/67/gm
Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2010.
Human Resource Management
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26

McKenzie, Kirsten. "Exploring first year academic success through structural equation modelling." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2002. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36788/2/36788_Digitised%20Thesis.pdf.

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27

Alkhwaldi, Albeeer F. A. H. "Jordanian Citizen-Centric Cloud Services Acceptance Model in an e-Government Context: Security Antecedents for Using Cloud Services." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/18241.

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Vargas, Sepúlveda Mauricio. "Structural equation modelling application : profiling and analyzing students' university scores." Tesis, Universidad de Chile, 2015. http://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/135274.

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Seminario para optar al grado de Ingeniero Comercial, Mención Administración
This work analyses chilean university students performance in different courses. These students belong to different major programs imparted at Universidad de Chile: Accounting, Business Administration, Economics and Information Systems. The analyzed courses are those they share under the same course syllabus and examination and also they are mixed together without distinction of their respective programs in those courses. The provided dataset for this work considers the period 2002-2013. The cornerstone of this study is to determine if the course performance can be analyzed under a satisfactory factorial structure. For this purpose I used Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) which is a part of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Cronbach’s Alpha and Vuong Test are used for cross validation and to choose the best model from data. This work uses advanced statistical tools and Psychometric Theory developments are considered as theoretical pillars of this study. Altogether with this pdf file, the interested reader may find the datasets and both the LATEX and R files I’ve created during this work in the next URL: http://github.com/pachamaltese/thesis. My github repo includes all the diagrams and the thesis template that I’ve designed according to my university’s rules.

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Hassan, Louise May. "Hierarchical stepwise structural equation modelling : a methodological contribution for combining theories." Thesis, Glasgow Caledonian University, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.404635.

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Tseng, Wen-Ta. "Motivation, self-regulation and vocabulary acquisition : a structural equation modelling analysis." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.430477.

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31

Caldarola, Bernardo. "Poverty traps in Southern rural Mozambique : a structural equation modelling approach." Master's thesis, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/12861.

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Mestrado em Desenvolvimento e Cooperação Internacional
Este trabalho visa analisar o contexto de economia rural em três distritos da região Sul de Mozambique, para demonstrar a existência de mecanismos "aprisionadores" que detêm as famílias camponesas numa condição de pobreza. Todas as variáveis tomadas em conta para o estudo resultam de uma base de dados autoproduzida que inclui informação sobre a subsistência no contexto rural e o sector agrícola. Este trabalho utiliza a abordagem dos modelos de equações estruturais (SEM) para detectar as possíveis não-linearidades no processo de criação de riqueza, em particular a través da análise da saúde, do contexto institucional e de mercado, e da segurança alimentar em relação à riqueza das famílias. Recorrendo aos conceitos de complexidade, multidimensionalidade e causação cumulativa, procura-se demonstrar a existência de uma "armadilha da pobreza" a partir da análise das diversas dinâmicas relacionadas com a relação que existe entre segurança alimentar e bem-estar das famílias inquiridas. A metodologia adotada neste trabalho constitui uma alternativa aos testes tradicionalmente utilizados na investigação sobre as armadilhas da pobreza, pois inclui um numero maior de factores na analise da pobreza persistente. Em conclusão, os resultados da estimação do modelo fornecem algumas recomendações em termos de politicas de combate contra a pobreza, de acordo com as características especificas da zona.
This article analyses the rural economy of three districts in southern Mozambique, proving the existence of a lock-in device that keeps small-scale farmers and their households into poverty. All variables taken into account result from an original survey-based dataset which includes socio-economic information about rural livelihoods and the agricultural sector. A Structural Equation Modelling approach is adopted to detect non-linearity in wealth creation - in particular by analysing health, market/institutional environment and food security in relation to an asset-based measure of wealth. Drawing upon the concepts of complexity, multidimensionality and cumulative causation, this work proves the existence of a poverty trap by analysing the varying dynamics related to the relationship that exists between food security and wealth. The methodology adopted in this work represents an alternative to the traditional tests usually applied for the detection of poverty traps, including a wider number of factors in the study of persistent poverty; finally, it provides some useful policy recommendations regarding the struggle against poverty in this area.
N/A

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Cunliffe, Jack. "Offending risk factors and area : an investigation using structural equation modelling." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2015. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3257/.

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This thesis has two main aims. The first is substantive: to investigate whether and how an individual’s perceptions of their area act as risk factors for offending. The second is methodological: to demonstrate that theoretically-informed structural equation modelling can make best use of existing and often under-utilised datasets, particularly cross-national studies such as those typically conducted by large-scale organisations or governments. Using the United Kingdom Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS) conducted between 2003 and 2006, and taking a range of questions on individual perceptions, family circumstance, self-reported offending and variables relating to the area in which the respondent lives, the work reviews previous criminological measurement constructs of well-known risk factors (from both an analytical and theoretical perspective) and once these are defined moves on to examine self-report offending using structural equation modelling. Findings are predominantly consistent with previous work and show that individual criminogenic propensities matter most, but also that a complex interrelationship of area perceptions operate in conflicting directions. Once this is accounted for, living in an area with higher disorder seems to increase self-report offending, with part of the relationship explained by perceptions of lower collective efficacy. However, this relationship seems to operate only at one time point and when looking longitudinally it appears that it is the family situation that takes precedence. This leads in turn to mixed policy implications. In the short-term, it appears that interventions to address perception of area would be most successful to combat offending behaviour but over the longer term addressing the family situation would be more appropriate. Implications for data collection processes and analytical approaches to existing data are centred on the simple analytical framework that pays equal attention to the set of questions: 1) What can be measured? 2) Can these measures be structured? 3) What are the results?

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Hayward, Ian C. "Evaluation of a leadership development programme : developing a 'fit for purpose' model to evaluate a leadership development programme at the individual, departmental and organisational levels within the BBC." Doctoral thesis, University of Bradford, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4284.

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The research was aimed at addressing the challenge of evaluating a large scale change intervention in a large organisation and in a complex environment. Finding robust, meaningful yet realistic methodologies from among the array of possible approaches, methods and techniques has proved problematic, for both organisational practitioners and academics alike. The research explored this issue of choice from the perspective of ¿fit for purpose¿ and suggests a multi-faceted approach, using a range of evaluation methods and techniques, which were applied to an ongoing example at the BBC. It was also planned to use structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques to examine the relationships between variables critical to the study. The approach described represents a ¿pilot¿ evaluation exercise, which drew on data collected from early cohorts going through the BBC Leadership Programme, a key element of the ¿Making it Happen¿ change strategy initiated by the then Director General, Mr. Greg Dyke. As a second level of research, an evaluation of the primary evaluation itself, i.e. of the BBC Leadership Programme, was also undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the primary evaluation strategy and its implementation. Three hypotheses were examined in terms of programme impact: It was proposed that participation in the programme would bring about collective improvements in individual leadership behaviour (Ho1), leading to improved departmental performance across the business (Ho2), in turn, resulting in improved organisational performance (Ho3). Due to limitations in the application of the methodology it was not possible to use SEM analyses on the data collected. Alternative analyses failed to demonstrate conclusive support for all three hypotheses and, while other factors besides programme attendance appear to influence leadership performance the afore-mentioned limitations restrict the ability to draw firm conclusions. Following evaluation of the primary evaluation it was evident that, as a pilot exercise, important outcomes from the programme evaluation give rise to ¿lessons learned¿ and changes are suggested for any future evaluation exercise of this kind.

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Neoh, Jun. "Application of meta-analysis, multidimensional scaling, structural equation modelling, and multilevel modelling in analysing carpooling behaviour." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2016. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/395306/.

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Alzahrani, Ahmed Ibrahim. "Web-based e-government services acceptance for G2C : a structural equation modelling approach." Thesis, De Montfort University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2086/5181.

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E-Government is the use of information technology particularly web applications to deliver convenient services for citizens, business and government. Governments worldwide spend billions of their budgets in order to deliver convenient electronic services to their citizens. There are two important points; government offers online services, and citizens consume these services. In order to maximize the benefits of these projects and to avoid possible failures, the gap between these points should be addressed. Yet there are few empirical studies that have covered the relevant issues of adoption from the citizen perspective in developing countries. This research study investigates citizens’ acceptance of e-government services in the context of Saudi Arabia. It posits an integrated model of the key elements that influence citizens’ adoption of e-government. The framework includes a combination of attitudinal, social, control and trust factors as well as the influence of gender. The model is validated by surveying 533 citizens and utilising the structural equation modeling technique for data analysis. Findings show that both measurement and structural models exhibit good model fit to data. The study shows that all constructs satisfy the criteria of constructs reliability and convergent and discriminant validity. The paths estimations show that of the sixteen designed casual relationships, eleven paths relationships were found to be significant while the other five paths remained unsupported.

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Staphorst, Leonard. "The impact of intellectual property rights from publicly financed research and development on governance mode decisions for research alliances." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/24604.

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This study consisted of two distinct research phases, performed within the context of the South African Council for Science and Industrial Research (and its current and potential research alliances). The purpose of the study was to develop a decision making model that would enable strategists at publicly financed research and development organisations to analyse and predict governance mode decisions, as well as select optimal governance mode structures (ranging from quasi-market structures, such as once-off contracts, to quasi-hierarchy structures, such as research joint ventures) for research alliances. During the qualitative first phase, the study aimed to identify impact domains within South Africa’s new Bayh-Dole-like Intellectual Property Rights legislative framework that consists of the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act, as well as the Technology Innovation Agency Act, which could potentially influence research alliances (based on the Transactional Cost Economics, Resource-based View and Real Options Approach perspectives) with publicly financed research and development organisations. This was followed by the quantitative second phase, which attempted to verify the validity of a value-mediated governance mode model that included the highest ranked impact domains identified during the first phase as formative indicators for the perceived Intellectual Property Rights regime strength uncertainty factor. A qualitative online survey amongst senior managers at the Council for Science and Industrial Research, followed by Theme Extraction combined with Constant Comparative Method analysis, as well as a weighted frequency analysis, constituted the research methodology employed during the first phase’s identification and ranking of impact domains within the South African legislative framework. This phase demonstrated that the highest ranked impact domains (primarily driven by the Transactional Cost Economics perspective) included the choice of Intellectual Property Rights ownership, state walk-in rights on undeclared Intellectual Property, and benefit-sharing policies for the creators of Intellectual Property. The second phase consisted of a quantitative online survey, distributed amongst current and potential research alliance partners of the Council for Science and Industrial Research, followed by Structural Equation Modelling of a value-mediated governance model that included, amongst others, the perceived Intellectual Property Rights regime strength as an uncertainty factor. This phase revealed not only that the impact domains identified during the first phase could be used as formative indicators of the perceived Intellectual Property Rights regime strength, but also that stronger perceived regimes are positively related to the preference for quasi-hierarchy research alliance governance modes. Furthermore, it established that the expected value of a research alliance, which was shown to be positively influenced by the strength of the perceived Intellectual Property Rights regime, acted as a mediating factor on the relationship between the perceived Intellectual Property Rights regime strength and the preferred research alliance governance mode. Keywords: Bayh-Dole, Formative Indicators, Intellectual Property Rights, Research Alliances, Real Options Approach, Resource-based View, Quasi-Market Governance Modes, Quasi- Hierarchy Governance Modes, Structural Equation Modelling, Transactional Cost Economics, Value-mediated Governance Model. Copyright
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted

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Nuthethi, Rishita Optometry &amp Vision Science Faculty of Science UNSW. "Structural equation modelling and its application to quality of life of visually impaired people." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. Optometry & Vision Science, 2008. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/44537.

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The main objective of the thesis was to construct a model of r:lationships among perceived visual ability (VF), quality of life (QOL) and visual acuity (VA) using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique in an older, visually impaired population of India. The World Health Organization QOL questionnaire, adopted as a QOL questionnaire, and a 16-item visual function questionnaire (VFQ) were administered to adults in the population-based Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study prior to their detailed eye examination. Participants aged 40 years and older (n=3,702), who underwent an interview by trained professionals, were included in this study. A total of 1,333 visually impaired subjects (presenting VA < 6/18) responded to both questionnaires. The VFQ and QOL questionnaires were evaluated using Rasch analysis. The general linear model analysis (GLM) was performed to identify the factors associated with the measures of perceived visual ability and QOL. The direct and indirect relationships between VA, perceived visual ability and QOL were established using the SEM after adjusting for socio-demographic factors identified to be significant in GLM. The mean age of the visually impaired participants was 60.5 years; 753 (56%) were female. There were 760 visually impaired people with cataract in at least one eye, 524 with uncorrected refractive error, 84 with retinal disease, 41 with glaucoma and 60 with corneal disease. The VFQ and QOL measures were found to be valid and unidimensional for those with retinal disease, glaucoma, corneal disease and those who are blind due to cataract or any other cause. In QOL questionnaire the item that required the most ability was "chance to acquire new skills" and the item that required the least ability was "dressing" for the sample with retinal disease, glaucoma, corneal disease and cataract. In the VFQ, the items that required the most visual ability were "recognizing small objects" and "recognizing people across the street". The items that required least visual ability were "reaching an object that is farther or closer than you thought" and "identifying colors". Perceived visual ability to perform the functional vision activities mediated the relationship between VA and QOL, a new diagram for the International Classification of Functioning (ICF), however, the percentage of change mediated through perceived functional ability varied for different eye diseases. The total change that was mediated through perceived functional ability was 100%, 100%, 52%, 52% and 63% for people with retinal disease, glaucoma, corneal disease and those who are blind due to cataract or any cause of disease, respectively. Decreased QOL and perceived visual ability was associated with the presence of glaucoma or corneal disease independent of VA and with cataract and retinal disease as a function of VA. Perceived visual ability to perfol111 the functional vision activities mediates the relationship between VA and QOL. Improving the perceived visual ability would improve the QOL of low vision persons. Further longitudinal studies on the impact of therapy and rehabilitation for glaucoma, corneal disease and retinal disease on QOL and VF are needed.

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Khan, Shaila. "Alcohol abuse and its relationship with poverty and unemployment, a structural equation modelling approach." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq23617.pdf.

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Park, Kyungok. "Crystallising commitment through structural equation modelling : the case of manufacturing teams in South Korea." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2013. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/4324/.

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The use of teams in organisations has become widespread, and research on teams has been extensive. However, in comparison with measures of organisational level variables there has been comparatively little research on team members’ attitudes and behaviour. This study examines team members’ commitment to their team and to their organisation using data from two transport-related companies in the small- and mediumsized category in South Korea (N=358). Drawing on social exchange theory and the cognition-attitude-behaviour mechanism, the thesis proposes a multiple mediation model that suggests team commitment and organisational commitment mediate the relationship between psychological empowerment and organisational citizenship behaviour. Prior to examining the proposed theoretical model, the thesis looks at the applicability of Allen and Myer’s (1990) organisational commitment scale and the distinctiveness of team commitment from organisational commitment. Parsimonious validity testing suggests that the normative organisational commitment scale is not applicable, and a three-factor model of organisational commitment works better in a South Korean context. Analysis of structural equation models using LISREL supports the two commitments’ multiple mediation role, demonstrating that both team commitment and organisational commitment positively and independently mediate the relationships between psychological empowerment and organisational citizenship behaviour. Further, results present the negative interaction effects of the two commitment forms on organisational citizenship behaviours.

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Cois, Annibale. "Analysing the socioeconomic determinants of hypertension in South Africa: A structural equation modelling approach." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12350.

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Includes bibliographical references.
Epidemiological research has long since observed that the prevalence of hypertension varies across populations' socioeconomic strata. Higher socioeconomic status (SES) has been consistently associated with lower levels of blood pressure in most studies from Europe and North America, while research in low- and middle-income countries at an earlier stage of the epidemiological transition revealed mixed patterns. The causal mechanisms underlying these varying relationships are largely unknown. Only in recent years the pathways through which SES impacts the cardiovascular system have been explored in large-scale studies, with results suggesting that body mass index, heart rate, and to a lesser extent physical exercise, alcohol use and smoking, may play a role in mediating these associations. However, these results refer to high-income countries, while similar research in low- and middle-income countries, and sub-Saharan Africa in particular, is lacking. In 2008, the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) collected a broad range of information on a representative sample of the population of South Africa, a medium-income country undergoing rapid epidemiological transition. Among other topics, information was gathered on blood pressure, biologic and behavioural risk factors, education, income and other indicators of socioeconomic position.

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Barker, Jane Elizabeth. "An examination of the long-term effects of sexual assault using linear structural equation modelling." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq20550.pdf.

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Krabuanrat, Tanasak. "Electronic communication and manager's media choice : a structural equation modelling from rational and social perspectives." Thesis, City University London, 2000. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/7586/.

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This exploratory study examines the communication media choice of managers. Despite a substantial body of theories on media choice, inadequacies are apparent in the literature particularly in relation to modem communication technologies. A field study approach was adopted to explore some of these inadequacies and to study the media choice of subject from a manager background. Overall, within the limitations and confines of this exploratory study, this thesis has made the following contributions. First, this thesis identifies and has demonstrate at the unduly narrow focus on task equivocality in prior media choice studies has undermined the study's ability to explain the observed media choice. There is a need to consider the full range of task characteristics in explaining the communication media choice process. Second, Information Richness Theory( IRT) has enjoyed acceptance information systems researchers throughout the last decade,b ut recent unfavourable empirical evidence has precipitated a shift away from it and a search for a new theory. The application of social interaction theories responded to the problem of media richness/social presence by postulating that media selection, like most tasks in organisations, is influenced by a combination of social forces. This means that , while the media richness/social presence scale matching tasks with media would apply in most cases, it is perfectly predictable that some groups or individuals will define either tasks or media traits differently, thus explaining the problems with media richness/social presence theories. Third, drawing together ideas in the literature a broad overview of the media choice process is developed into a comprehensive framework model. A novel aspect of this framework is, to find whether Information richness and Social interaction theories directly influence media choice; or the Social interaction theories influence media choice indirectly through the Information richness theory.

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Edwards, Julian Alwyn. "Stress and well-being in the workplace : a longitudinal cross-lagged structural equation modelling investigation." Thesis, Middlesex University, 2004. http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/13405/.

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The current research expands upon previous knowledge by further investigating the causal relationship between self-ratings of occupational stress, psychological well-being, personal control and work performance. The work has also been designed to address the methodological pitfalls and deficiencies apparent in longitudinal research by incorporating the methodological and statistical rigor of structural equation modeling (SEM). A review of the occupational health literature indicates a broad range of inconsistencies regarding the causal pathways between variables. Based upon these inconsistencies, the aims of this research are to address three main hypotheses: the relationship between stress and wellbeing (H1), the relationship between stress, control and well-being (H2) and the association between stress, work performance and well-being (H3). All three hypotheses measure variables across work, non-work and context-free domains. Three samples of data were incorporated within the study in order to cross-validate findings. SEM techniques were conducted to analyse data to examine the intricate one-way, reverse and reciprocal relationship between variables. In relation to H1, results support a best fitting reciprocal cross-lagged model where both sources of stress and psychological well-being simultaneously influence one another across work, non-work and context-free life domains. A good fitting reciprocal cross-lagged model revealing that sources of stress and control across domains simultaneously effect each other was also produced in regards to H2. In relation to H3, again findings support a best fitting reciprocal cross-lagged model where both sources of work/non-work stress and work performance simultaneously effect one another. Overall the results theoretically build upon previous work conducted by further emphasising the complex causal relationship between organizational health factors including one-way, reverse and reciprocal associations. This research suggests that stress and well-being models should not be designed in the future without considering the strong causal influence of factors outside of work. This study also addresses all seven longitudinal methodological and statistical recommendations put forward by Zapf, Dormann & Frese (1996). The practical implications of the current study and recommendations for future research are also put forward.

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Alduwailah, Fahed Yousef. "Impact of CRM resources and capabilities on business performance in the mobile telecommunications industry : a resource-based view." Thesis, Brunel University, 2018. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/17142.

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Organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the necessity to maintain sustainable long-term relationships with customers in order to survive in the global competition. They are also aware that the changing needs and purchase patterns of customers requires them to choose differentiated customer-oriented marketing strategies so as to acquire a competitive advantage over their rivals and enhance their business performance. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) enables organisations to create and manage relationships with customers more effectively through a detailed and accurate analysis of consumer data using various information technologies. Several CRM theories like the resource-based view (RBV), and theories of institutions, cultures, entrepreneurship, and dynamic theory can help a company gain over competitors. If implemented appropriately, the CRM approach can help a firm with managerial efficiency, cost reduction, enhanced customer services, and increased sales and profits. The present study aims to develop a novel and comprehensive model to measure the effect of CRM resources over CRM capabilities and the effects on business performance. The present study covers infrastructural and cultural CRM resources with CRM capabilities. The results are based on information collected from three Kuwaiti mobile network operators using a questionnaire in adherence with ethical guidelines. The study measures business performance comprehensively from financial and marketing perspectives using regression analysis to determine if there is a mediation role between two variables. The results show that CRM infrastructural resources positively and directly affect CRM capabilities. However, the effect of customer and learning orientation cultures on CRM capabilities is considerably stronger than that of infrastructural resources. The study also reveals that CRM capabilities significantly and positively affect business performance from marketing and financial standpoints although the effect on marketing performance was stronger.

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Ismail, Sharinar. "Students' attitude to educational loan repayments : a structural modelling approach." Thesis, Brunel University, 2011. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/8712.

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Educational loan defaulting is a problem increasing on a worldwide scale. In Malaysia, the default rate is almost 50% in the case of loans advanced to students in higher education. With this in mind, for the first time, this study analyses this chronic problem in-depth with consideration to primary data collected from a cross-section of students currently studying in public universities in Malaysia. With help from the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the empirical analysis establishes that loan defaults are influenced by a complex interaction of personal-, social- and psychology-related variables: students’ attitude, intention to repay loan, parental influence, perceptions that loan repayment will affect quality of life after graduation, perceptions towards loan agreement, and an awareness of loan repayment issues created by the media. This study succeeds in disentangling the precise impact of such variables in regard to loan defaults. The findings are of great relevance to government-funding agencies, which can better plan the loan advancement and recovery process once they understand the true reasons behind defaults. The novel method utilised for the first time with the objective to study the default issue should also be useful to academic researchers seeking to conduct similar studies in the context of other countries. This study should also assist policy makers in planning long-term strategies in terms of assessing, designing and evaluating new loan schemes. Developing countries, such as Malaysia, face competing demands on their limited financial resources. An increase in the recovery rate will bring in funds that can be lent to additional students or used for strengthening educational infrastructure. These measures add useful value to the social and economic set-up of the country.

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O'Loughlin, Christina. "Evaluation of measurement quality in the assessment of health related issues using structural equation modelling techniques." Thesis, University of Ulster, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.342424.

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Acosta, Mesa Héctor Gabriel. "Functional anatomy of stereoscopic visual process assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging and structural equation modelling." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2003. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14748/.

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The purpose of this thesis is to study the functional anatomy of stereoscopic vision. Although many studies have investigated the physiological mechanisms by which the brain transforms the retinal disparities into three-dimensional representations, the invasive nature of the techniques available have restricted them to studies in non-human primates, whilst the research on humans has been limited to psychophysical studies. Modem non-invasive neuroimaging techniques now allow the investigation of the functional organisation of the human brain. Although PET and fMRI studies have been widely used, few researchers have explored the functional anatomy of stereoscopic vision. Most of these studies appear to be pilot work, showing inconsistency, not only in the areas sensitive to stereo disparities, but also in the specific role that each of these possesses in the perception of depth. In order to investigate the cortical regions involved in stereoscopic vision, four fMRI studies were performed using anaglyph random dot stereo grams. Our results suggest that the stereo disparity processing is widespread over a network of cortical regions which include VI, V3A, V3B and B7. Functionally, the V3A region seems to be the main processing centre of pure stereo disparities and the V3B region to be engaged in motion defined purely by spatio-temporal changes of local horizontal disparities (stereoscopic -cyclopean- motion). Interregional connectivity was investigated with two approaches. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), as the classical technique for the analysis of effective connectivity, was used to assess one connectivity model proposed to· explain the cortical interaction observed in the first experiment. The implementation and application of this technique permitted us to identify some of its weaknesses in representing fMRI data. An extension of the SEM technique was introduced as a Non-linear Auto-Regressive Moving Average with eXogenous variables (NARMAX) approach. This can be thought of as an attempt to bring SEM towards a non-linear dynamic system modelling technique which permits a more appropriate representation of effective connectivity models using fMRI time series.

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Egan, Clive K. "The influence of overseas exposure on the negotiation styles of Chinese private equity professionals." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/15900.

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Many cultural and social psychological studies have been conducted at the societal level and at the individual level and generalised for all members in that society. This ignores the fact that there are many distinctive subgroups with their own subgroup cultures within a society. These subgroup cultures also have an influence on individuals, and need to be explored at an individual level. A survey in both English and Chinese was posted to 1,869 Chinese private equity professionals in the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong and resulted in 376 responses. The survey measured the core values and beliefs of individualism, collectivism, power distance, social axioms, Machiavellianism, Confucianism, and preferred negotiation style for those who have had overseas exposure in Anglo-Saxon countries and those who have not. The theories employed in the study were institutional theory, the resource-based view, and social psychological theories. A partial least squares structural equation model was used to determine relationships. Significant differences between Chinese private equity professionals who have worked or studied in Anglo-Saxon countries and those who had not were found for individualism, vertical collectivism, Machiavellian control and status, three aspects of Confucianism, and also the controlling negotiation style. The model devised can be adapted for other societal subgroups to measure, not just preferred negotiation styles, but other important organizational relationship-dependent factors such as leadership style, decision-making, and trust. The model can be employed to further understand many types of organisations and industries anywhere in the world.

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Klingler, Katharina [Verfasser], and Florian [Akademischer Betreuer] Heiß. "Structural Equation Modelling with Latent Variables - Evidence from a Monte Carlo Study / Katharina Klingler. Gutachter: Florian Heiß." Düsseldorf : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 2015. http://d-nb.info/1073642070/34.

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Mohd, Jamil J. B. "Partial least squares structural equation modelling with incomplete data : an investigation of the impact of imputation methods." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/5728.

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Despite considerable advances in missing data imputation methods over the last three decades, the problem of missing data remains largely unsolved. Many techniques have emerged in the literature as candidate solutions. These techniques can be categorised into two classes: statistical methods of data imputation and computational intelligence methods of data imputation. Due to the longstanding use of statistical methods in handling missing data problems, it takes quite some time for computational intelligence methods to gain profound attention even though these methods have analogous accuracy, in comparison to other approaches. The merits of both these classes have been discussed at length in the literature, but only limited studies make significant comparison to these classes. This thesis contributes to knowledge by firstly, conducting a comprehensive comparison of standard statistical methods of data imputation, namely, mean substitution (MS), regression imputation (RI), expectation maximization (EM), tree imputation (TI) and multiple imputation (MI) on missing completely at random (MCAR) data sets. Secondly, this study also compares the efficacy of these methods with a computational intelligence method of data imputation, ii namely, a neural network (NN) on missing not at random (MNAR) data sets. The significance difference in performance of the methods is presented. Thirdly, a novel procedure for handling missing data is presented. A hybrid combination of each of these statistical methods with a NN, known here as the post-processing procedure, was adopted to approximate MNAR data sets. Simulation studies for each of these imputation approaches have been conducted to assess the impact of missing values on partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) based on the estimated accuracy of both structural and measurement parameters. The best method to deal with particular missing data mechanisms is highly recognized. Several significant insights were deduced from the simulation results. It was figured that for the problem of MCAR by using statistical methods of data imputation, MI performs better than the other methods for all percentages of missing data. Another unique contribution is found when comparing the results before and after the NN post-processing procedure. This improvement in accuracy may be resulted from the neural network's ability to derive meaning from the imputed data set found by the statistical methods. Based on these results, the NN post-processing procedure is capable to assist MS in producing significant improvement in accuracy of the approximated values. This is a promising result, as MS is the weakest method in this study. This evidence is also informative as MS is often used as the default method available to users of PLS-SEM software.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Structural Equation Modelling (SME)'

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