Influence Of Important Others Research Articles

An Empirical Study on Demotivating Factors of Non-English Majors in Colleges of Science and Engineering

Motivation is widely seen as the main factor of second language learning process. The major goal of this study is to find demotivators that impede non-English major learners’ second language learning. This paper took non-English major undergraduates in Colleges of science and engineering as the experimental objects, and conducted a survey on 250 students by a combination of interviews and questionnaires. The study found 6 main factors that contribute to non-English majors’ English learning demotivation in Colleges of science and engineering: English learning ability, value, influence of important others, negative attitude towards second language learning, the mandatory nature of second language learning and influence of teaching content. In order to further study the changing trend of demotivators of non-English majors, learners of different grades were identified and analyzed. Learners of different phases can be divided into junior learners and senior learners on the basis of their grades. Freshmen and sophomores were classified into junior learners, and juniors and seniors were classified into senior learners. Generally, the results showed no significant difference between the two stage learners except for English learning ability and professional work and future expectations. Junior learners were more demotivated by English learning ability while senior learners were more affected by professional work and future expectations.

A qualitative study to identify factors that influence patients' decisions to call Emergency Medical Services for syncope.

Protocols that support paramedics to assess, treat and refer low-risk syncope (fainting) may allow for ED transport of only high-risk patients. The development and uptake of such protocols is limited by a dearth of information about factors patients consider when deciding to seek EMS care following syncope. We explored decision-making processes of individuals with syncope regarding whether (or not) to call EMS after fainting as a starting point in the development of prehospital risk-stratification protocols for syncope. Twenty-five Canadian adults (aged 18-65years) with a history of ≥ 1 syncopal episode were recruited. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted, recorded, and transcribed. Straussian grounded theory methods were used to identify common themes and a core (overarching) category. Four themes were identified: (a) previous experiences with the healthcare system (e.g., feeling dismissed), (b) individual patient factors (e.g., age, medical history), (c) attitudes and beliefs (e.g., burdening the health care system, syncope is "not serious"), and (d) contextual factors (e.g.,influence of important others, symptom severity). Perceived judgement, including judgement from EMS and negative self-evaluations, was identified as the core category that influenced patients' decisions to seek care. We theorize that, while patients consider many factors in deciding to contact EMS for syncope, previous experiences of feeling judged and unfavorable beliefs about syncope may interfere with patients' receptiveness to traditional EMS protocols for syncope. The findings highlight potential patient needs that program developers may wish to consider in the development of prehospital protocols to improve care and satisfaction among patients with syncope.

Motivational and Demotivational Factors Affecting a Teacher’s Decision on Whether to Do Research

One of the teacher’s basic tasks should be to ensure that the quality of his/her educational work is continually enhanced by the application of practitioner research, as a recognised genre of educational research. The aim of this study was to explore factors that can motivate or demotivate teachers to include research in their educational practice. An online questionnaire was addressed to all Slovenian primary and secondary school teachers and full responses were received from 325 teachers. Although the teachers expressed high perceived self-confidence in their research abilities, this did not transfer to research activity, as only about one quarter of the respondents reported that they performed research. The main drivers of research are an intrinsic motivation for research and career goal orientation, followed by the relatively low influence of important others. Practitioner research is highly valued among teachers, so there must be other factors at work preventing more teachers from starting research activities. Among the leading factors recognised as obstacles are those that can be regarded as facilitating conditions in terms of motivational theory. Work overload, lack of time, school bureaucracy and family life can be regarded as competing with research for the teacher’s time, along with other important issues. The school climate cannot be regarded as the main obstacle to research. The findings call for the reallocation of at least some work duties in favour of research as part of regular employment.

The role of mindful organising in relation to innovation adoption of employees in logistics

Introduction: Due to fast technological changes organisations need to innovate to remain economically viable. However, many innovations do not get implemented. This study examines innovation adoption of employees as one of the factors responsible for unsuccessful implementation. The assumption is that mindful organising positively associates with innovation adoption. The study looked into the role of mindful organising of employees, which includes resilience, as well as organisational and individual characteristics in relation to innovation adoption, i.e., the actual use of innovation by employees. Methods: Managers of 110 Dutch organisations from the transport and logistics sector took part in a survey in May 2017. They were asked to evaluate the behaviour of the employees they are supervising. The dependent variable was the actual use of innovation, as indicator of innovation adoption. Independent variables were mindful organising, workplace innovation, supportive leadership, and perception of innovation (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and subjective norm). Data was analysed using multiple regression (path analysis). Results: Workplace innovation, voice and perceived ease of use have a direct relation with actual use of innovation by employees (i.e., successful innovation adoption), according to the answers provided by their managers. Mindful organising is related with all aspects of perception of innovation: perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and subjective norm, i.e., the influence of important others (e.g., managers and co-workers). Mindful organising has an indirect influence on the actual use of innovation via perceived ease of use of innovation. Supportive leadership has a relation with perceived usefulness and subjective norm, and an indirect influence on actual use of innovation via perceived usefulness. Conclusion: Mindful organising (including resilience), workplace innovation, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use associate with innovation adoption. The practical implication is that, besides making sure that innovation is perceived as useful and easy to apply, management needs to ensure there is an environment that fosters mindful organising and gives employees sufficient room to express their opinion in the team in the process of renewal, if innovation is to be adopted by employees, and eventually implemented effectively in organisations. Apart from mindful organising attention for workplace innovation, i.e. a combination of high job autonomy, high team voice and involving operational employees in decision making, is of significant importance. While mindful organising refers to the organisational culture, workplace innovation particularly stresses organisational design elements (Oeij, Rus and Pot, 2017).

Pregnant women\u2019s attitudes and decision-making regarding prenatal Down syndrome screening and diagnosis: scale development and validation

BackgroundDown syndrome is a common chromosomal abnormality and prenatal screening can inform parents of the risk of their baby having Down syndrome. Little research has examined how decisions regarding both Down syndrome screening as well as diagnosis are made among women who are currently pregnant and how their decisions are influenced by their social contexts, specifically family and social media, using mixed methods. The study was to test the validity and reliability of a scale that measures pregnant women’s attitudes and decision-making concerning prenatal Down syndrome screening and diagnosis in urban areas of Taiwan.MethodsWe developed an item pool based on a literature review and in-depth interviews with 30 pregnant women recruited at two district hospitals in urban areas. The item pool was reviewed by a panel of experts and then administered to 300 women who had been pregnant for less than 24 weeks and had not received the Down syndrome screening tests. We used item analysis and exploratory factor analysis to validate the scale and test its reliability.ResultsThe initial item pool had 54 items. After the expert review, three items were deleted. After the item analysis, 16 additional items were deleted. Exploratory factor analysis of the remaining items revealed four factors labeled – “Attitudes towards Down syndrome and Screening Tests,” “Important others’ Attitudes towards Down Syndrome,” “Influence of Important Others on Decision-Making,” and “Influence of Social Media on Decision-Making” – and 16 of the remaining items had satisfactory loadings on those factors, explaining 72.0% of the total variance. The Cronbach’s α values of the dimensions ranged between 0.75 and 0.90, demonstrating satisfactory internal reliability.ConclusionsThe scale has satisfactory validity and reliability, and can be used to understand pregnant women’s attitudes and decision-making regarding Down syndrome screening and diagnosis, and to help design tailored consultations for pregnant women in clinical settings.

Why some people do not use Facebook?

Facebook is the most pervasive social network in the world. While, we would commonly expect everyone who has access to the Internet to use Facebook, some people have chosen not to join or to opt-out of its services. This qualitative study is an effort to understand the justifications that drive their decision. Based on in-depth semi-structured interviews, several recurring reasons were identified for Facebook non-use. Some results obtained are truly consistent with previous research. These include perceived security issues and safety risks, absence of trust, privacy concerns, influence of important others, lack of control, uselessness, availability of alternatives, lack of interest, and inappropriate content. However, some findings, such as one’s attitude toward the Facebook company and online social connectedness, diverge from previously published work. There is also enough evidence in the results to support the existence of additional contributing reasons for the rejection of Facebook that have not been directly reported before. These include religious beliefs, influence of culture, and a concern toward one’s information being available online: a point that we do put forward for further inquiry.

Psychological factor and its structure influencing the change of exercise behavior of Chinese adult community residents: a TTM-based study

Taking TTM as the research background, and focusing on the model's important theoretical value and the shortcoming of previous study, the present study assumed that the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) has characteristic of localization and reasonable structure for Chinese adult community residents. TTM could predict the exercise behavior of adult community residents and there were main psychological factors for influencing the transition between the behavioral stages of physical exercise. In study 1, 163 (66 men, 97 women, age = 37.44 ± 7.96 yrs.) adult community residents participated in the study for testing the applicability of TTM. Results suggested the need for revising Scale of Changing Stage of Exercise Behavior for the adult community residents. In study 2, semi-structured interviews were applied to 29 (mean age = 40.72 yrs.) adult community residents and the Initial Scale of Changing Stage of Exercise Behavior for Chinese Adult Community Residents was developed, in accordance with the principle of psychometrics and the theory of TTM. Then, the scale was validated by applying to 182 (78 men, 104 women, age = 39.99 ± 12.19 yrs.) adult community residents, and the standardized Scale of Changing Stage of Exercise Behavior for Chinese Adult Community Residents was formed. Subsequently, the standardized scale was re-validated by applying to 292 (120 men, 172 women, age = 37.90 ± 5.07 yrs.) adult community residents, and structures of each factor of TTM were established. Exercise behavior could be effectively divided into five Changing Stages, i.e. Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance. The Processes of Change was constructed with five lower factors: Effect Experience, Consciousness Raising, Conception Changing, Self-regulation, and Active Management. Decisional Balance was constructed with independent factors of Exercise Profits and Exercise Costs. Self-efficacy was constructed with three lower factors: Objective Environmental Factors, Subjective Personal Factors, and Influence of Important Others. In study 3, Structural Equation Modeling was adopted to discuss the structural relationship among various factors of TTM and the predictive effect to exercise behavior. Self-efficacy and Changing Stages partly mediated the relationship between the Processes of Change and exercise behavior; The Changing Stages partly mediated the relationship between the Processes of Change and exercise behavior; while Changing Stages fully mediated the relationship between Exercise Profits and exercise behavior. All factors of TTM accumulatively explained 36.09% of the variance of exercise behavior. Main psychological factors influencing the changing of stages were explored by using MANOVA and Multiple Regression: (1) Prominent stage characteristic exists in Processes of Change, Decisional Balance and Self-efficacy; (2) During the transition from Pre-contemplation to Contemplation, Self-regulation, Exercise Profit, and Consciousness Raising are the main influencing factors; during the transition from Contemplation to Preparation, Exercise Profit is the main influencing factor; during the transition from Preparation to Action, Self-regulation and Active Management are the main influencing factors; from Action to Maintenance, Exercise Cost and Self-efficacy are the main influencing factors. It was concluded that TTM has the characteristic of localization and reasonable structure for Chinese adult community residents, and can be used as an effective theoretical base of predicting and intervening their exercise behavior.

Shanghai pupils’ motivation towards learning English and the perceived influence of important others

This paper explores the perceptions of senior high school pupils in Shanghai regarding their motivation towards learning English and their perceived influence on this of important others (parents, teachers and peers). The study is based on 610 questionnaire responses and 64 interviews. The findings indicate that their English learning motivation is dominated by life and career‐based reasons rather than intrinsic or integrative reasons. The influence of important others was perceived as being positive but small, with teachers being viewed as the most influential.

Factors influencing consumption of pork and poultry in the Irish market

Comparisons of Irish consumers' beliefs about pork and poultry in the framework of Fishbein and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) showed that poultry is viewed as the tastier, healthier and less expensive of the two meats while pork is viewed as the safer meat. The influence of attitudes and important others on intention to consume these meats was explored and the findings support the basic structure of the TRA model. In this study, both attitudes towards poultry and pork consumption and the influence of important others influenced intention to consume pork and poultry, but attitude was of greater importance. For poultry, health, eating enjoyment, safety and price were most important determinants of attitude with environment and animal welfare less so. In the case of pork, health, eating enjoyment, safety and animal welfare were most important determinants of attitude with environment and price less so. Furthermore, doctor's advice influenced the subject norm for both poultry and pork, which in turn influenced intention to consume, while dietician's advice only influenced the subject norm for pork.

Identified and introjected forms of political internalization: extending self-determination theory.

Canadian voters' reasons for following political events were assessed prior to the 1992 Constitutional Referendum and the 1993 federal election. Results showed that reasons reflecting identification were endorsed more frequently than those reflecting introjection, and distinctive patterns of cognitions, emotions, and actions were associated with the 2 types of internalization. Identification was associated with actively seeking information about political events, possessing a complex set of political attitudes, and being more likely to actually vote. Introjection was associated with relying on the influence of important others, experiencing conflicted emotions about political outcomes, and vulnerability to persuasion. The study also provided evidence that identification and introjection toward politics are distinguishable from intrinsic motivation and amotivation.