Latent Growth Modeling Approach Research Articles

Does service innovation reduce customer defection intentions among disappointed customers? A latent growth modeling approach in the hotel sector

Despite the importance of service innovation research, it remains unclear how service innovation paradoxically induces customer defections during service failures. Using a three time-lag interval design, our findings show that customers’ negative responses to hotel betrayals outweigh their positive responses to service innovations. Thus, we demonstrate that service innovation does not always positively impact organizational performance. Similar outcomes arise when examining the insignificance of static online reviews and review change rates. We find that while customers experiencing hotel service failures are likelier to end their relationships with said hotels as their negative perceptions increase, their experiences are unaffected by the rate at which the hotel implements service innovations. Finally, online reviews directly and indirectly affect defection intentions in service failure contexts, especially when time is a factor.

Examining Self-Regulation and Problematic Smartphone Use in Canadian Adolescents: A Parallel Latent Growth Modeling Approach.

Despite extensive research on the prevalence and mental health implications of problematic smartphone use in adolescents, the cognitive mechanisms underpinning its development, such as self-regulation, remain underexplored. This study aims to fill this research gap by investigating the developmental trajectories of self-regulation and problematic smartphone use among Canadian adolescents. Participants (N = 1303; 614 girls; Mage = 14.60 years, SD = 1.16 years) attended one of five public high schools in Southern British Columbia. Adolescents self-reported their self-regulation skills, as well as problematic smartphone use annually for three years. In line with developmental expectations, results indicated that both self-regulation and problematic smartphone use increased across the three years. Parallel latent growth models revealed significant intercept and positive slope differences for self-regulation and problematic smartphone use, showing that higher initial self-regulation predicted lower initial problematic smartphone use, and vice versa. Girls exhibited higher initial levels of problematic smartphone use, but gender differences in developmental trajectories were not observed. These findings emphasize the importance of early self-regulation skills in preventing the escalation of problematic smartphone use in adolescents, providing evidence-based insights for developing targeted interventions.

The dynamic outcomes of service recovery in tourism services: A latent growth modeling approach

The cross-sectional focus of service recovery literature can lead to a static effect or snapshot view of consumer responses; however, the dynamic outcomes of service recovery should play an important role in driving performance. Using a longitudinal approach, this study focuses on the dynamic changes in customers’ psychological responses during service recovery events. This study provides strong evidence that customer forgiveness and attitudes shift positively when service recovery efforts increase rapidly. We also no difference in the initial value of customer forgiveness, whereas its rate of change rises sharply toward behavioral intentions. Interestingly, the mean of customer forgiveness drops between T1 and T2 and increases sharply again at T3 (constituting a U-shaped curve). In contrast, the mean of customer attitudes steadily increases from T1 to T3. Therefore, we demonstrate that customer forgiveness and attitude trajectories vary, and their impacts can be extended or diluted during service recovery events. Thus, our research highlights that dynamic pathways are essential because they significantly influence behavioral intentions beyond the impact of the static levels, resulting in dynamic pathways playing a fundamental role in driving recovery performance.

Social Entrepreneurship, Employment, and Financial Performance: A Latent Growth Modeling Approach

The social value created by organizations has been in the spotlight during periods of rapid social change, such as COVID-19. However, the existing literature has been limited by the inability to demonstrate the cumulative effects of social value over time, which has led to academic and practical limitations. Drawing on stakeholder theory, socially responsible customer behavior, and institutional theory, the author collected data from 208 social enterprises in South Korea over 3 years, from 2017 to 2019, and tested hypotheses using latent growth modeling. This analytical technique, which uses structural equation modeling, estimates the latent growth rate of each data measure by year and analyzes the causal relationship between the growth rate of each variable. The results show that higher levels of social entrepreneurship are associated with higher growth rates of total employment and vulnerable worker employment, followed by higher growth rates of financial performance. The implications of this paper are as follows. First, this study reports that social entrepreneurship can help social enterprises develop sustainably by increasing financial performance. Second, this study overcomes the methodological limitations of the existing literature by reporting the relationship between growth rates. Third, this study reports that social enterprises can help solve employment problems for vulnerable populations, who are often the first to be affected by the economic crisis. Fourth, this study contributes to resolving the conflicting and contradictory perspectives of practitioners and academics on the relationship between social and economic value. Fifth, it offers suggestions for the future direction of the academic field.

The double-edged sword of personality in shaping craftsmanship spirit: an investigation of conscientiousness and openness to experience.

Craftsmanship is associated with various positive outcomes at both individual and organizational level, and thus has attracted scholarly attention on examining its antecedents. While craftsmanship can be shaped by both contextual factors and personal traits, existing research has dominantly focused on the former, leaving the latter less examined. Such a lack of examination limits our understanding of craftsmanship in workplace. Following the view that individuals' intrinsic desire to do the job as the core of craftsmanship, we define craftsmanship spirit (CS) as an individual's psychological state of feeling competent, transcendent, and valuable during work, which evolves as an individual's skills and knowledge expand. We then draw on the classic dispositional literature to explore how individuals' personality traits (conscientiousness and openness to experience) shape the development of CS differently (i.e., the initial level and the developmental trajectory), and test our theory using a latent growth modeling (LGM) approach. We conducted a four-round on-site questionnaire survey with participants who were employees at a large manufacturing company in China. The final sample consists of 746 matched respondents. Data analysis was performed in Mplus 8.3. Empirical results confirm our hypotheses that both conscientiousness and openness to experience have a positive effect on the initial level of CS. Besides, conscientiousness has a negative effect on the subsequent growth of CS. However, the proposed negative effect of openness to experience on the subsequent growth of CS was not supported when the other four personality traits were considered simultaneously. This study reveals that conscientiousness and openness to experience have an important effect on CS. Specifically, both conscientiousness and openness to experience are associated with a high level of CS, and the former is associated with low growth of CS. This study not only broadened our understanding on the antecedents of CS, but also provided a dynamic perspective to understand CS in workplace.

Change in Newcomers’ Perceived Insider Status Over Time: An Examination of its Relationships with Abusive Supervision and Well-Being

In a time when organizations must cope with an increasingly volatile and spatially dispersed workforce, understanding how to facilitate newcomers’ perceptions of insider status is of both theoretical and practical importance. However, knowledge regarding how and why these desirable perceptions unfold over time during the socialization period is limited. Drawing on affective event theory and feelings-as-information theory, this research derives predictions about the influence of change in newcomers’ perceptions of abusive supervision and change in newcomer negative affect toward their supervisors on change in newcomers’ perceived insider status. Furthermore, considering perceived insider status through the lens of COR theory, its change is expected to have an impact on newcomers’ well-being. To test our predictions, we used a latent growth modeling (LGM) approach to analyze longitudinal data collected from newcomers working in a variety of organizations at four times across a year after organizational entry. Our results reveal a temporal process whereby change in perceptions of abusive supervision influence newcomers’ well-being and demonstrate that changes in newcomers’ negative affect toward the supervisor and in newcomers’ perceived insider status sequentially mediate these relationships. Overall, this research illustrates the temporal dynamics of the socialization process and highlights the key role of supervisors and newcomers’ affect on newcomers’ transition from outsiders to organizational insiders as well as the corresponding impact on their well-being.

Temporal changes of compassion in accounting and business students in an English course: a longitudinal study in higher education

PurposeTo measure the dynamic features of compassion as an emotional and behavioral construct, the present research used a univariate latent growth modeling (LGM) approach within the structural equation modeling (SEM) framework. The aim was to trace the dynamic development of compassion longitudinally in accounting and business students during a three-credit English course at university.Design/methodology/approachThe suggested method ensures the measurement invariance over time, deals with the first order latent variable, traces its growth and takes into account the measurement errors. This longitudinal analytical method was used to explore the initial state and the growth of compassion in four points of time during a language course. The data were collected from 60 adult accounting and business students in four time phases using Sprecher and Fehr's Compassionate Love Scale and were analyzed in Mplus 8.4 with univariate LGM.FindingsThe model fit was accepted and the invariance of the latent factor was confirmed over time. The negative covariance between intercept and slope (second-order latent variables) suggested that lower initial scores in L2 learners' compassion show a faster increase in compassion over time as the mean of slope is larger than that of the intercept. L2 learners who started off at a higher level of compassion showed a slower change in compassion over time. This can be at least partly explained by the teacher's motivating role or learners' compassion but needs to be further explored in complementary qualitative phases for deeper insights.Originality/valueIn the present research, awareness was raised of the developmental nature of compassion as an emotional and behavioral construct essential to the accounting and business profession. The great strength of this research lies in the dynamic approach to the compassion construct and the LGM used to capture the temporal growth of compassion and how it evolved through the L2 course.

Hostile attribution bias's role in perceived stress among college freshman students: A latent growth modelling approach.

This study's objective was to examine the growth trajectories of freshman students' perceived stress and whether hostile attribution bias predicts the pattern of perceived stress change using latent growth analyses. A longitudinal dataset with fourth measurement points was gathered from a total of 1109 college students enrolled at a university in Guizhou Province in the first 3 months after college freshmen enrollment. The freshman students' levels of perceived stress tend to show a piecewise linear decline during the transition period, which manifests as a faster decline in the first stage (within the first month) than in the second stage (after the first month). Moreover, hostile attribution bias not only positively predicted the initial level of perceived stress but also positively predicted the slope of perceived stress in the first and second stages. In addition, there was a significant sex difference in the initial level of perceived stress where the initial level of perceived stress was higher in females than in males, but there was no significant sex difference in the rate of perceived stress decline. These results highlight the longitudinal relationship between hostile attribution bias and perceived stress and have implications for improving freshmen' college adaptation.

Unpacking daily changes in role overload and work–family balance satisfaction: A latent growth modeling approach

AbstractThis study probes the temporal nature of work–family balance satisfaction (WFBS). Drawing on distributed connectionist models and conservation of resources (COR) theory, we hypothesize that changes in work and family overload are positively associated with changes in WFBS, and these relationships are mediated by changes in work and family fatigue, respectively. Additionally, we propose that work and family crafting behaviors (decreasing hindering work and family demands) are helpful in building resources that mitigate the relationships above. We tested these hypotheses by sampling 71 full‐time employees over a work week. The results identified positive relationships between changes in role overload and changes in WFBS. In addition, we found full support for the moderating role of crafting behaviors in the work domain and partial support for the family domain. Further analyses suggested that employees' work and family crafting behaviors (i.e., decreasing hindering demands) buffered the negative effects of changes in work and family overload on changes in work and family fatigue, respectively. Also, decreasing hindering work demands moderated the indirect effect of changes in work overload on changes in WFBS. We discuss theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions.

The role of online reviews in restaurant selection intentions: A latent growth modeling approach

Despite the significant research regarding online reviews, one area remains under investigated: how the trust-behavioral intentions linkage formed by online reviews changes during subsequent restaurant consumption episodes. Using the latent growth curve at three time intervals, this study contributes to the research by highlighting (1) the mean change patterns of three specific review types, (2) the significant change rate between online reviews and trust in restaurants, and (3) the insignificant change rate between all review types and behavioral intentions during subsequent restaurant visits. Our findings showed that while consumers’ perceptions initially declined, they rose as consumption experience increased. Although this U-shaped curve appears for both pure text and text reviews with photos, perceptions of rating reviews continued to decline. Additionally, we found that all online review types directly impact increases or decreases in the change rate related to restaurant trust during subsequent visits. Finally, we observed no significant change rates between the three online review types and behavioral intentions.

Resilience trajectories and links with childhood maltreatment in adolescence: a latent growth modeling approach

BackgroundThe current definitions of resilience can be addressed as a process, an outcome, or a trait. Empirical studies should be carried out to determine the most appropriate definition for it. Therefore, the main aim of the current study was to investigate changes in adolescents’ resilience over two years and explore the links between resilience and different forms of child maltreatment.MethodsThe three-wave longitudinal study “Stress and resilience in adolescence” (STAR-A) sample was comprised of a general school-based sample of Lithuanian adolescents [baseline N = 1295, 56.7% females; M(SD)age = 14.24 (1.26)]. Resilience was measured using the 14-item Resilience Scale (RS-14), lifetime exposure to maltreatment was measured at wave 1 using a questionnaire developed by the Norwegian Center for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS), risk of psychopathology—using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The changes in resilience scores over the period of two years were investigated using the latent growth modeling approach.ResultsThe analyses revealed two classes of resilience—stable higher and stable lower. We found that experience of at least one form of abuse was significantly more prevalent in the lower resilience group in comparison to the higher resilience group. Also, adolescents with lower resilience had a higher probability of psychopathology.ConclusionsThis study provided meaningful insights into the stability of resilience over time in adolescence and its relation to various types of child maltreatment. Experiences of maltreatment, as well as risk for psychopathology, were linked to lower resilience in adolescence.

Disrupting Maternal Transmission of Depression: Using Integrative Data Analysis (IDA) to Examine Indirect Effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU) Across Three Randomized Trials.

Maternal depression is a well-established risk factor for the development of depression in offspring. As such, reducing maternal depression may be key to effective prevention efforts to reduce offspring's depression. Based on the broad risk represented by maternal depression, examining cross-over effects of parent-focused interventions on maternal depression is important. The present study examined improvements in maternal depression as a mediator of the long-term effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU) prevention program on youth depression across three randomized controlled trials. The FCU is a family-focused intervention originally designed to reduce youth problem behaviors, particularly conduct problems and substance use, but has also been found to have cross-over effects on other youth problem behaviors, including internalizing symptoms. We utilized integrative data analysis that allows for powerful tests of prevention effects across trials, specifically moderated nonlinear factor analysis, to integrate data across three trials: one trial initiated in early childhood and two in early adolescence. Using a latent growth modeling approach, we first examined direct effects of the FCU on changes in maternal depression. Then we examined the mediating effect of maternal depression on changes in both parent and youth reports of youth depression. A significant intervention effect on maternal depression was observed across the three trials, with the FCU predicting improvements in maternal depression. In turn, such improvements predicted a reduction in the growth in both parent and youth reports of youth depressive symptoms across 10years post baseline. These results demonstrate the utility in addressing cross-over effects of family-focused interventions in reducing the long-term development of depression in youth through mediating pathways.

Growth trajectories in lipid profile and fasting blood sugar in prediabetic people over a 16- year follow-up and future risk of type2 diabetes mellitus: A latent growth modeling approach

ABSTRACT Introduction The current study aimed to investigate whether the pattern of changes in lipid profile and fasting blood sugar (FBS) can predict the future risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) incidence in prediabetic people. Methods In a prospective cohort study, 1228 prediabetic patients were followed from 2003 until 2019 and longitudinal data on lipid indices (CHOL: cholesterol; HDL: high-density lipoprotein; LDL: low-density lipoprotein; TG: triglyceride) and fasting blood sugar (FBS) were recorded. The latent class growth model (LCGM) was used to estimate growth trajectories and to determine distinct subgroups (latent class) with a similar trajectory for lipid profile and FBS over time. The incidence of T2DM in extracted latent classes was compared. Results Finally, 946 people with complete data were included in statistical analysis. Two latent classes were identified based on the change in FBS including high-risk and low-risk classes (class size: 5.2% vs. 94.8%) with T2DM incidence rates 100% and 35.9%, respectively (P < 0.001). Two distinct subgroups were identified based on changes in lipid profile. Latent classes with abnormal TG, CHOL, HDL, and LDL included 18.8%, 21.8%, 38.8%, and 24% of study participants, respectively. The incidence rates of T2DM and remaining prediabetic in abnormal TG latent class were 57.2% and 30.8%, and in abnormal HDL latent class were 41.5% and 31.7% were significantly different from normal latent classes (P < 0.001). While in the extracted latent classes based on CHOL and LDL the incidence rates were not statistically significant differences (P > 0.05). Conclusions We identified two subgroups with high and low risk of future T2DM based on the changes in FBS and lipid profile by applying LCGM. The incidence of T2DM in extracted latent classes was significantly different. LCGM is a reliable approach for predicting the risk of T2DM incidence based on trajectories of risk factors.

RETRACTED: Predicting the change trajectory of employee robot-phobia in the workplace: The role of perceived robot advantageousness and anthropomorphism

In recent years, robotics has been widely adopted in the workplaces of various industries. Resultantly, human employees have to work increasingly with non-human robotic coworkers. Although the rapid development of robotic technology (e.g., stronger capabilities and more human-like qualities) brings about greater efficiency, human employees may feel threatened and harbor fears toward robots (i.e., robot-phobia). This study explores the complexity of employees' robot-phobia by examining its change trajectory during the adaptation phase. Further, by drawing upon an integrated threat theory, we propose two perceived threats that impact robot-phobia: robots' perceived advantages compared to humans and anthropomorphism. The model was tested via quantitative (Study 1) and qualitative (Study 2) analyses. In Study 1, we tracked 163 hotel employees seven times over one and a half months from their first days working with service robotics and analyzed the data using the Latent Growth Modeling (LGM) approach. Results reveal a positive quadratic growth curve regarding employee robot-phobia over time. Moreover, this growth curve is influenced by employees’ perceived advantages of robots compared to humans and perceived anthropomorphism. Study 2 consists of a series of post-hoc semi-structured interviews with 18 hotel employees, which further corroborates our theoretical mechanism. Our study advances the knowledge of the dynamics of employee robot-phobia, facilitating future applications of robotics in the workplace. • The dynamics of employee robot-phobia is investigated. • Employee robot-phobia demonstrated a positive quadratic growth curve over time. • The above dynamics is conditioned on the perceived advantages of robots compared to human. • The above dynamics is conditioned on the perceived anthropomorphism.

The Effect of Formal Time Allocations on Learning Trajectories and Performance

How do formal time allocations in teams affect team learning trajectories and performance? We argue that allocating more time for transition phases induces steeper learning trajectories that engender a positive group atmosphere, which in turn improves team performance by improving coordination quality. We tested our hypotheses in a laboratory experiment in which teams worked on a creative design task over multiple iterations. Using a latent growth modeling approach, we found that teams with shorter action and longer transition phases during prototyping had lower initial performance but steeper learning trajectories, which indirectly led to better final team performance.

Development of Social Skills in Kindergarten: A Latent Class Growth Modeling Approach.

Social skills acquired during early childhood are often the foundation for success later in life. Using a nationwide survey dataset in Japan, this study aims to explore the multiple growth trajectories of social skills among children in kindergarten by using a latent class growth modeling approach. It also examines whether, and to what extent, the home-rearing environment at early age predict trajectories of social skills development. Children in this study were assessed on social skills at three waves, four home-rearing environment dimensions (human stimulation, social stimulation, avoidance of punishment, and social support for parenting) and demographic background were measured at wave 1. The results indicated that three distinct growth trajectories of social skills existed during kindergarten: high increase levels, moderate increase levels, and decreased levels. The avoidance of punishment and children’s gender significantly predicted the growth trajectories of social skills. Thus, the results suggest that more attention should be paid to the home-rearing environment and boys.

Service training intervention and time-variant personal growth

Training is a vital means to continuously improve service quality. Although much literature has concentrated on the relationship between on-the-job training and job outcomes, these studies are usually static and cross-sectional in research design, which fails to capture the dynamic changes of training outcomes. This study attempted to address this issue by adopting a learning and development perspective. Drawing on psychological capital theory and self-determination theory, we examined how training progress facilitates trainees’ personal growth and psychological development. Specifically, we utilized the latent growth modeling approach to examine hotel employees’ trajectory of change regarding service knowledge, self-efficacy and job satisfaction over the pre-training, mid-training, and post-training stages. By surveying full-time trainees working in three luxury hotels, we found that the mean level of employees’ service knowledge would increase over time, while this improvisation would also result in gradual enhancement of self-efficacy and job satisfaction.

The Role of Change in the Relationships Between Leader-Member Exchange/Coworker Exchange and Newcomer Performance: A Latent Growth Modeling Approach.

This study examines whether and how the qualities of newcomers’ interpersonal relationships [i.e., leader-member exchange (LMX) and coworker exchange (CWX)] relate to their initial performance and how changes in the qualities of these relationships relate to the changes in performance. To test a latent growth model, we collected data from 230 newcomers at six time points over a 6-week period. The results showed that LMX quality is positively related to initial newcomer performance; however, changes in LMX quality are not statistically significantly related to changes in newcomer performance. In contrast, an increase in CWX quality is positively related to newcomer performance improvement, but the initial quality of CWX does not predict newcomer performance. Furthermore, newcomers’ psychological entitlement moderates the relationship between LMX quality and newcomer performance; newcomers’ conscientiousness moderates the relationship between increases in CWX quality and improvements in newcomer performance. The findings increase our understanding of the newcomer exchange relationship-performance link over time and suggest that future newcomer socialization research explore the initial level of and the changes in these relationships simultaneously.

Self-regulated learning strategies and student video engagement trajectory in a video-based asynchronous online course: a Bayesian latent growth modeling approach

The self-paced nature of asynchronous online learning (AOL) is recognized as an obstacle that disrupts student success in the learning environment. Without on-time interventions provided by instructors, students find it challenging to use learning strategies tailored to the learning environment, and their use of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies has been regarded one of the key indicators of success in AOL. To examine how student SRL strategies are associated with their video engagement trajectory and learning outcomes, we used student video engagement data collected at multiple time points. Participants were 159 students who were taking a self-paced asynchronous online statistics course. Results revealed that student video engagement was found to increase over time and student management strategies contributed to the upward change. We also found that the growth of engagement predicted student achievement in the course. Our findings shed light on instructional strategies to support students in AOL contexts.

Family socioeconomic status, subjective social status, and achievement motivation among Chinese college freshmen: A latent growth modeling approach

This study’s objective was to examine direct and indirect relationships among family socioeconomic status, subjective social status, and achievement motivation within the first 3 months after college freshmen enrollment in China. A longitudinal dataset was collected over a 3-month period at four measurement points with 4-week intervals. A cluster sample of 1,983 college freshmen from the eastern, central, and western economic regions of China was surveyed. Latent growth modeling was conducted. The results indicated that achievement motivation decreased over time and was positively related to a decline in subjective social status. Mediation analyses demonstrated that, after controlling for sex and economic region, family socioeconomic status predicted the initial level of achievement motivation directly and indirectly through the initial level of subjective social status, and notably, the directions of these effects were opposite. Further, family socioeconomic status also significantly predicted the rate of change in achievement motivation indirectly through the initial level of subjective social status. These results highlight the longitudinal relationship between family socioeconomic status and achievement motivation via different pathways and have implications for improving college freshmen’s achievement motivation.