Influence In Decision Research Articles

Musculoskeletal Effects of Prolonged Use of Safety Footwear among Construction Workers in Selected Sites of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Occupational injuries and work-related musculoskeletal disorders are among the significant issues affecting the construction industry. This work evaluated the musculoskeletal effects of prolonged use of safety footwear on the field construction workers of selected construction sites of a company in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The study used a Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire as the primary tool. The study revealed the short-term and long-term effects of repeated use of safety footwear for long periods. The gender distribution of the respondents showed that (76%) were male while (24 %) were female. The research also reported that (84.8%) of the respondents experienced ankle pain, (49.6 %) suffered hip pain, (34.8%) suffered neck pain and (34.8%) suffered lower back pain respectively from prolonged use of safety footwear which ranged from mild, moderate to severe pain. Chi-square test and correlation analysis at p-value (0.05) were conducted for the test hypotheses with a decision to reject the null hypothesis (H0) if p <0.05. The results showed p-values of (0.707), (0.434); (0,288), 0.066); (0.159), (0.828), and therefore the null hypotheses were not rejected for hypotheses 1, 2, and 3. The study revealed that 35.6 % of respondents were not trained to use safety boots properly. The study further recommends that organizations should ensure work rotation and break periods for workers, and adequate training, education, and awareness programs should be conducted in organizations to enlighten workers on the proper usage and hazards of safety footwear. Employers and decision influencers (managers and safety supervisors) should also be educated about foot health and safety footwear choices that will meet workers' requirements in the work environment, improve working conditions for workers, and impact the high level of MSDs repeatedly reported in the construction industry.

Perceived stress among dental students and the role of parental influence in career decision-making.

The current study aimed to assess perceived stress levels among dental students at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and to explore the influence of parental roles in their decision to pursue dentistry as a potential source of social stress. This cross-sectional study employed the validated Dental Environmental Stress (DES) Scale to evaluate perceived stress, and incorporated additional questions to fulfill the research aim. We approached all undergraduate dental students at King Saud University, both male and female, across all academic years, using online channels (such as emails, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc.) and hard copy distribution. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 20, utilizing descriptive and correlation statistics. A total of 326 students participated in the study, with an even distribution of male and female students. Female students reported higher levels of stress compared to their male counterparts across most DES domains. A notable correlation emerged between mean DES scores in certain domains and influence of parents in the decision to pursue dentistry. Our findings indicate that female dental students experience higher stress levels than males in all examined areas, barring social stressors. Furthermore, the study underscores the significant impact of parental involvement in choosing dentistry as a career on students' stress level.

Beyond coercion: reframing the influencing other in medically assisted death

This essay considers how we are to understand the decision to end one’s life under medical aid-in-dying (MAID) statutes and the role of influencing others. Bioethical concerns about the potential...

Experiences of Frontline Managers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Recommendations for Organizational Resilience

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a global health crisis directly impacting the healthcare system. Healthcare leaders influence and shape the ability of an organization to cope with and recover from a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Their actions serve to guide and support nurses’ actions through unpredictable health service demands. The purpose of this paper was to examine frontline managers’ experiences and organizational leadership responses that activated organizational resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to learn for ongoing and future responses to healthcare crises. Fourteen managers participated in semi-structured interviews. We found that: (1) leadership challenges (physical resources and emotional burden), (2) the influence of senior leader decision-making on managers (constant change, shortage of human resources, adapting care delivery, and cooperation and collaboration), and (3) lessons learned (managerial caring behaviours and role modelling, adaptive leadership, education and training, culture of care for self, and others) were evidence of managers’ responses to the crisis. Overall, the study provides evidence of managers experiences during the early waves of the pandemic in supporting nurses and fostering organizational resilience. Knowing manager’s experiences can facilitate planning, preparing, and strengthening their leadership strategies to improve work conditions is a high priority to manage and sustain nurses’ mental health and wellbeing.

Investment Decision and Market Value of Nigerian Listed Deposit Money Banks

This study considered the influence of investment decision on the market value of Nigerian listed deposit money banks (DMBs). Ex-post facto research design was employed. Secondary sources were used to gather information on market value and investment decisions. These sources included the annual reports of the banks that were sampled from 2010 to 2021. Out of the total population of 14 listed banks as of December 31, 2021, twelve (12) listed DMBs were chosen using the purposive sample technique. For data analysis, panel regression, correlation, and descriptive were tools employed. The outcome stated that return on capital employed recorded positive and significant influence on the Tobin Q and the market share price of listed Nigerian DMBs. The implication of the results is that banks that are able to generate better return on the capital employed in their operation have higher tendency to attract higher valuation in the market. It was concluded that investment decision served as determinant factors that influence the market valuation of Nigerian Deposit Money Banks. The study recommends that strategies to increase investment portfolio should be a priority; and also continue efforts should be made to improve return on capital employed that can enhance market valuation.

Carbon Considerations for Systems Evolution

ABSTRACTIn the early stages of systems development, systems engineers will typically evaluate alternatives based on performance, cost, risk, and schedule to evaluate the solution space of alternatives. While these criteria have proven to be successful, there is growing interest in the analysis of carbon costs as well to contribute to the decision making. These decision criteria are very good to help the decision maker select the best alternative within the solution space in which to develop a system concept. We offer another criterion for consideration to account for carbon expenditure throughout the systems engineering lifecycle. We believe that including this dimension can influence decision makers to evaluate a richer portion of the solution space. This approach is developed and exercised with a notional example.

The Scale of Effective Decision-Making in Sport (SEDMS): Validity and Reliability Study

The aim of this study is to develop a measurement tool that measures the level of influence in decision-making of licensed athletes aged 18 years and above who are active in sports. In the stages of creating the candidate form of the scale, writing essays by athletes, scale literature review, and interviews with focus groups were carried out within the scope of "qualitative steps", while hypothesis analyses and validity and reliability analyses were carried out within the scope of "quantitative steps". The expert opinion form prepared with 42 items in the item pool was presented to the experts for their evaluation according to the Lawshe technique. After the expert feedback, 15 items were removed, and 27 items remained. Trial scale form was administered online to 806 active licensed athletes aged 18 and over. Then, the basic assumptions of EFA were tested within the scope of quantitative steps; because of EFA, a 2 dimensional structure consisting of a total of 15 items was obtained. To examine the psychological construct validity of the SECVS, new data were obtained from 493 active licensed athletes by re-collecting data with the 15-item final form formed after EFA and CFA was performed. After CFA, the standardized loadings of the sub-dimensions, the estimated error variances of the variables, the T-values of all items and the goodness of fit values of the model were examined and it was determined that the 2 factor structure of the scale consisting of 15 items was confirmed as a model. In addition, when the convergent and divergent validity and convergent reliability values of the scale were examined after CFA, it was concluded that this scale had values in accordance with the criteria. Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficient was calculated as .87 for the ''External Decision Making'' sub-dimension and .85 for the ''Internal Decision Making'' sub-dimension. It was concluded that the SDEQ is a valid and reliable scale for measuring the decision-making effectiveness of athletes aged 18 and over.

Panchayati Raj and Local Leadership in Jharkhand

This paper deals with the Panchayati Raj System and the role of local leaders in the State of Jharkhand. Local leadership plays a pivotal role in ensuring the effectiveness of the Panchayati Raj system in Jharkhand. These leaders, emerging from within their communities, act as agents of change, wielding influence in decision-making, advocating for local needs, and guiding developmental initiatives. They act as a link between the local population and the Panchayat, advocating for policies and decisions aligned with the needs of the people they represent. Local leaders within the framework of the Panchayati Raj system have a diverse role deeply intertwined with governing their communities at the grassroots level. This paper have been able to establish the role and contribution of Panchayati Raj leaders towards their constituency and their attitude and the understanding of the contribution required by the Local Leaders for the overall growth of the villages they belong through the Panchayati Raj System.

Appointment of women to mining boards - Evidence of tokenism

Mining companies are required by law to improve representation of women on their boards. However, progress in this regard has been slow. Boards of directors play an important role in formulating corporate strategy, risk assessment, and effective governance for sustained financial performance. Although some women have successfully maintained board seats, others have been unable to do so. It is difficult to ascertain whether women are being appointed as tokens to satisfy social pressures, as little is known about the experiences of women board members in mining, which may inform or refute tokenism. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 women and 16 men across six listed mining companies. Thematic data analysis revealed evidence of tokenism where recruitment to mining boards is compliance-based and is informally driven by influential directors. Adverse boardroom experiences that further confirmed tokenism were reported by women, such as disregarding their contributions, condescending behaviour, and limited influence in decision-making, while other women sought to validate their competence and oppose social exclusion. This study recommends that a strong Board Chair and nominations committee is critical to ensure sustainable recruitment of competent and suitably qualified women; and further foster a culture of inclusivity and valuing gender-diverse boards.

DINAMIKA PERILAKU POLITIK MASYARAKAT MENJELANG PEMILIHAN KEPALA DAERAH SERENTAK 2024 DI KECAMATAN LAWA KABUPATEN MUNA BARAT

This research reviews the dynamics of the political behaviour of the people of Lawa District in the 2024 West Muna Regency regional head election, with a focus on Latugho Village, Lalemba Village, Wamelai Village, and Lapadaku Village. Through the concept of political behaviour, this research explores socio-political factors that influence political participation, especially the phenomenon of high abstention. Data was collected through questionnaires, literature studies, and documentation, and analyzed in three stages: data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The research results show that the dynamics of political behavior are influenced by sociological, psychological and rational choice factors. Ethnicity is not dominant, while psychological factors (family) dominate with 27.5% influence. Rational choices, especially the vision and mission of the Regent candidate, influence 22.5% of the community. In conclusion, psychological factors are key in shaping political behaviour in Lawa District, where the family has a significant influence in political decision-making.

Research on safety risk control of prepared foods from the perspective of supply chain

Prepared foods bring great convenience to people’s lives, but they also entail safety risks in all aspects, from production to sales. The cooperation of the supply chain and the supervision of the government are key to promoting the safety management of prepared foods. This paper considers the government’s regulation, focuses on the interaction relationship between the producer and the retailer of prepared foods, and builds an evolutionary game model to analyze the influence of collaborative decision-making between prepared food producers and retailers in preventing and controlling food safety risks under the government’s regulatory strategy. The research finds that: (1) Under certain conditions, there are three stable equilibrium strategies within the prepared foods supply chain: bilateral low-safety inputs, unilateral high-safety inputs, and bilateral high-safety inputs. (2) Government regulators can influence the safety input behaviors of prepared food supply chain enterprises by adjusting investigation probabilities and punishment severity. (3) The safety input behaviors of these enterprises are influenced by various factors, including costs, revenues, brand image, reputation, and the consequences associated with contractual violations. This paper represents the first systematic analysis of prepared food safety from a supply chain perspective. It fills a gap in the existing literature in this area, offering guidance and suggestions for prepared food supply chain enterprises, as well as references and recommendations for government regulators.

Uptake of a self-guided digital treatment for depression and anxiety: A qualitative study exploring patient perspectives and decision-making.

Despite the demonstrated efficacy and potential scalability of self-guided digital treatments for common mental health conditions, there is substantial variability in their uptake and engagement. This study explored the decision-making processes, influences and support needs of people taking up a self-guided digital treatment for anxiety and/or depression. Australian-based adults (n = 20) were purposively sampled from a trial of self-guided digital mental health treatment. One-to-one, semistructured interviews were conducted, based on the Ottawa Decision-Support Framework. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically using framework methods. Baseline sociodemographic, clinical and decision-making characteristics were also collected. Analyses yielded four themes. Theme 1 captured participants' openness to try self-guided digital treatment, despite limited deliberation on potential downsides or alternative options. Theme 2 highlighted that immediacy and ease of access were major drivers of uptake, which participants contrasted with gaps in access and continuity of care in face-to-face services, especially rurally. Theme 3 centred on participants as the main agents in their decision-making, with family and health professional attitudes also reportedly influencing decision-making. Theme 4 revealed participants' primary motivations for deciding to take up treatment (e.g., the potential to increase insight and coping skills), while also acknowledging that pre-existing characteristics (e.g., health and digital literacy, insight) determined participants' personal suitability for self-guided digital treatment. Findings help to elucidate the decision-making influences and processes amongst people who started a self-guided treatment for depression and anxiety. Additional information and decision support resources appear warranted, which may also improve the accessibility of self-guided treatments. Patients were interviewed about their views and experiences of decision-making about accessing and taking up treatment. As such, patient contribution to the research was as study participants.

Factors Influencing Mutual Fund Investment Decisions: Insights from Women Investors

With the economic transformations and wider access to financial knowledge, the capital market is witnessing a surge in female investors. Among the various investment options available in the market, mutual funds are one of the major options that are known to provide greater returns compared to the traditional investments. This study has been carried out with the objectives of studying mutual fund investment decisions from the perspective of women investors in Nepal. It identifies different factors that affect the investment decision of women investors in Nepal. Basically, this study adopts descriptive research design to describe and measure the data whereas causal comparative research design is used to analyze the impact of specific factors on mutual fund investment decisions of women investors. Meanwhile the study showed that different factors such as financial and accounting information, investors’ consultation with advisors and the image of mutual fund issuing companies have a positive significant influence in the investment decision of women in Nepal. Unlikely the study showed insignificant effect of investment knowledge of investors and general economic condition on the investment decision of women investors. This study can lay the groundwork for effective educational programs and policy changes that enables women investors to make financial decisions and promote equitable practices in the financial investment sector.

An Emergency Decision-Making Method for Coal Spontaneous Combustion Based on Improved Prospect Theory

In response to the limited available information during the initial stages of coal spontaneous combustion and the influence of decision makers’ risk preferences on decision-making, this paper proposes an emergency decision-making method for coal spontaneous combustion that integrates grey correlation degree and TOPSIS with an enhanced prospect theory. Firstly, a normalized weighted evaluation matrix is established for the emergency response plan of coal spontaneous combustion, and the entropy method is utilized to determine the weights of various indexes. Then, considering the imperfect rationality of decision makers and their diverse individual risk preferences, they are categorized into three types: risk-seeking type, risk-neutral type, and risk-averse type. The corresponding risk coefficients are determined based on these different types. Positive and negative ideal solutions are taken as reference points, and matrices representing gains and losses are constructed. The grey correlation degree is introduced to calculate both positive and negative prospect values based on these matrices. Moreover, the prospect value for each emergency response plan is calculated, respectively, based on different types of decision makers, and the entropy method is used to assign weights to decision makers according to their respective risk preferences. Consequently, based on these prospect values and the weights, comprehensive prospect values for each emergency response plan are obtained and ranked to identify the optimal one. Finally, in order to validate the effectiveness of our proposed approach, a case study is conducted, and the results obtained from this case study are discussed and compared with those from other methods.

Empowering economic growth: the mediating influence of financial decision making on financial literacy and perceived wealth creation among female IT professionals

Empowering economic growth: the mediating influence of financial decision making on financial literacy and perceived wealth creation among female IT professionals

Sustainable investment perception influence in investment decision

Sustainable investment perception influence in investment decision

The Social Ecology of Health Beliefs and Misinformation Framework: Examining the impact of misinformation on vaccine uptake through individual and sociological factors

BackgroundMisinformation presents a critical concern for academic and public health discourse, particularly around vaccine response. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy was responsible for decreased immunization uptake for vaccine-preventable diseases. Misinformation connected to the novel COVID-19 vaccine has further fueled vaccine hesitancy in Colorado and the United States. Our study brings together three different perspectives – physicians, public health professionals, and parents – to understand the impact of misinformation on vaccine uptake in Colorado. Our study proposes a framework for combining the Health Belief Model with the Socio-Ecological model to account for societal factors in healthcare decision making. MethodsSemi-structured interviews and focus groups with public health professionals, physicians, and parents (n = 31) were conducted in late spring and summer 2022. Data were coded inductively using thematic analysis. Identified themes were deductively categorized according to the Socio-Ecological Model and Health Belief Model. ResultsUsing a theoretical framework that combined the Health Belief Model and the Socio-Ecological Model, we identified seven factors that influenced vaccine hesitancy in Colorado. Intrapersonal factors included routine vaccine hesitancy connected to perceptions of severity and susceptibility, efficacy, and benefits and barriers to vaccine uptake; interpersonal factors included social networks; institutional factors included mass mediated platforms, portrayals of uncertainty, distrust in institutional sources of information, and political influences in vaccine decision making; and structural factors included economic barriers behind vaccine hesitancy. ConclusionsOur study provides a unique, triangulated, post-positivist perspective on the role of misinformation in vaccine hesitancy in Colorado. The findings provide evidence that misinformation is an important barrier to vaccination uptake and can permeate multiple socio-ecological determinants/characteristics to influence vaccination behaviors including intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, and structural levels. We introduce the Social Ecology of Health Beliefs and Misinformation Framework to account for how misinformation may interrupt vaccine uptake.

Empowering economic growth: the mediating influence of financial decision-making on financial literacy and perceived wealth creation among female IT professionals

Empowering economic growth: the mediating influence of financial decision-making on financial literacy and perceived wealth creation among female IT professionals

Empowering Innovation and Performance in Higher Education: The Transformative Role of Participative Decision-Making

Abstract Higher education institutions rely heavily on effective decision-making processes to shape teacher effectiveness, which in turn influences the performance and creativity crucial for fostering innovation and critical thinking among students. This research paper explores the significant impact of leadership decision-making styles, particularly participative decision-making, on teacher performance and creativity within the context of higher education. From 2016 to 2024, by examining the interplay between administrative heads and teachers and analyzing gendered perceptions, the study reveals the profound influence of participative decision-making on enhancing academic outcomes and offers actionable insights for administrators and policymakers.

Assessing the Role of Media Influence and Public Perception in Legal Decision-Making

Assessing the Role of Media Influence and Public Perception in Legal Decision-Making