Attributional Perspective Research Articles

Measuring efficiency in tourism: A problem of shared factors and multiple attributes in DEA

The current research makes three main contributions to the DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) literature. First, when using DEA to derive an efficiency score for a given DMU, it is normally assumed that each and every DMU has its own unique set of inputs and outputs, there are situations whereby a DMU can have a factor that is shared with other DMUs. This means that one must view efficiency from the perspective of groups of DMUs rather than from the perspective of the individual DMU. Second, two stage problems can, in the presence of shared factors, result in different groupings of DMUs in one stage than in another. Third, in certain circumstances efficiency can be viewed from the perspective of multiple attributes (e.g. different types of tourism). Herein, we develop a model to cater for these features and illustrate the model using a data set on tourism in Mexico.

The impacts of supervisory information communication technology (ICT) demands after hours on employee proactive behavior and unethical behavior at work: An attribution perspective

It is not unusual that employees are required by their supervisors to stay accessible and responsive to work during nonwork time in the digitalized workplace. Yet, we know little about how and when supervisory information communication technology (ICT) demands after hours influence employee behavior at work. Drawing on attribution theory, our research aims to unpack the underlying mechanisms that transmit the effects of supervisory ICT demands after hours on employee proactive behavior and unethical behavior at work. We collected data from 397 employees in a media company (Study 1) and 493 employees in a retail corporation (Study 2) in East China, both using a three-wave time-lagged design. Results showed that supervisory ICT demands after hours positively related to employee proactive behavior through employees' performance-promotion attribution. Employees' self-serving attribution mediated the positive association between such demands and employee unethical behavior. Moreover, ICT centrality strengthened the indirect relationship between supervisory ICT demands after hours and employee proactive behavior. Specifically, this indirect relationship was stronger (vs. weaker) when employees perceived higher (vs. lower) ICT centrality. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Research on the evolution of innovation ecosystems in the asset-light business model: a case study of Xiaomi (China)

ABSTRACT In the current era of rapid development of the digital economy, ‘becoming light’ is not only a choice, but also a necessity. More and more companies are ‘avoiding the heavy and choosing the light,’ choosing the asset-light business model to gradually establish their own market competitive advantages. This study takes Xiaomi, a well-known Chinese company, as an exploratory case study to construct a theoretical model of the evolution of the enterprise innovation ecosystem under the asset-light business model. The results show that the innovation ecosystem under the asset-light business model has gone through the initial construction stage, expansion stage and strengthening stage, and three asset-light models in three stages are extracted: user participation model, complementary resource integration model and embedded platform model. This study attempts to deduce the evolution of the innovation ecosystem from the perspective of asset attributes, which helps to expand the research scope of the evolution of the enterprise innovation ecosystem.

The Connections Between Attribute-Induced and Object-Induced Decision Rules in Incomplete Formal Contexts

For a given incomplete context, object-induced approximate concepts have been defined, and this type of approximate concept can induce a type of decision rule. Based on the duality principle, another set of approximate concepts can be defined from the perspective of attributes, i.e., attribute-induced approximate concepts. Although object induced approximate concepts and attribute induced approximate concepts are symmetrical by duality principle, their induced decision rules exhibit different properties and the connections between attribute induced decision rules and object induced decision rules in incomplete formal contexts are not clear. To this end, a type of attribute-induced approximate concept and a method of extracting attribute-induced decision rules are presented. More importantly, it is revealed that given a type of decision rules, there must be corresponding decision rules of the other type, and both of them can provide some useful information, but they are not equivalent to each other. In other words, each type of decision rule can provide some unique and irreplaceable information.

Supervisor‐directed anger as a link between work–family conflict and unethical pro‐family behaviours: An attributional perspective

Supervisor‐directed anger as a link between work–family conflict and unethical pro‐family behaviours: An attributional perspective

Unpacking the relationship between cultural diversity and workgroup creativity

PurposeThis study aimed to illustrate the conditions under which cultural diversity enhances workgroup creativity. It does so by investigating the impact of ethnic diversity on workgroup creativity through the mediating mechanisms of cognitive diversity and information elaboration, while also exploring the role of inclusive leadership in this process.Design/methodology/approachMulti-source data was collected from a sample of 338 employees nested within 56 workgroups across three distinct organizations. Conditional process analysis was used to empirically test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that ethnic diversity, a surface-level cultural attribute, contributed to diversity in deep-level cognitive resources, and that workgroups were able to capitalize on these variations in deep-level cognitive resources to enhance their creativity when they engaged in the elaboration of task-relevant information. Results also demonstrated that the effective management of workgroup processes through inclusive leadership helped materialize the performance-promoting effects of cultural diversity. Overall, the findings support the notion that cultural diversity is indeed beneficial to workgroups.Originality/valuePrior research has typically examined cultural diversity in workgroups from the perspective of either surface-level or deep-level cultural attributes, leading to conflicting findings. Our study takes a multifaceted approach to cultural diversity and its influence on workgroup creativity, offering a more nuanced understanding. Additionally, by integrating the concept of inclusive leadership, a relatively new conceptualization of leadership specifically relevant to diverse workgroups, we clarified strategies for fostering positive workgroup performance.

Performance pressure and annual report text manipulation: Evidence from China

AbstractBuilding on attribution theory, this study investigates the antecedents of corporate annual report text manipulation from the perspective of managerial performance pressure. Using a data set comprising 15,076 samples from companies listed on China's Shanghai and Shenzhen A‐share markets between 2009 and 2021, we reveal that as management faces performance pressure, they tend to increase content about external environmental risk and policy uncertainty in annual reports due to actor–observer bias. When incorporating Confucian cultural factors into the research framework, the study found that the strength of Confucian culture mitigates the correlation between the pressure of management performance and annual report manipulation. However, the level of marketization where a corporation is located can undermine the ethical norms upheld by Confucian culture. In additional analysis, we also discovered that the longer the duration of performance pressure, the greater the extent of manipulation within the annual reports initiated by the management. Interestingly, the social performance pressure generated from ESG performance also positively influences annual report textual manipulation, compared to operational performance pressure. This study explores the impact of management performance pressure on information disclosure decisions from the perspective of performance attribution, not only extending the boundaries of attribution theory but also providing guidance for policymakers to enhance the supervision of annual report disclosures and for capital market investors to optimize investment decisions.

Navigating the effect of Work-Family Conflict on Job Performance: The Mediating Role of Work-Family Guilt and the Moderating Effects of Gender Role Orientations and Reducing Work

This paper explores how work-family conflict is intertwined with the relationship between job performance and also delves into the mediating role of work-family guilt. Additionally, this study explores its moderation effects of gender roles and reducing work. As the paper argues, the existing research on this subject has had several gaps. The approach is grounded on two major theories namely role dynamics theory and source attribution perspective. A correlational research design was followed to test the proposed hypotheses. Data were collected from 127 married employees (73 males and 54 females) working in the service sector in Pakistan. Reliable and validated scales measured work-family conflict, work-family guilt, job performance, gender role orientations, and reducing work. Statistical analyses, moderated-moderated mediation, and so on were conducted on these relationships. The results showed that work-family conflict negatively impacted job performance and that work-family guilt is a significant mediator. On the contrary, though, gender role orientations as well as reducing work were not expected to moderate the mediated relationships. This study pointed out how important work-family guilt is in explaining how work-family conflict influences job performance. The study contributes to the organizational behavior literature by emphasizing the emotional mechanisms underlying WFC and their impact on employee performance. Practically, the findings underline the importance of developing organizational policies that minimize work-family conflict and provide emotional support to employees. The insights gained open new avenues for research, particularly in culturally diverse contexts like Pakistan, where traditional gender norms play a significant role in shaping work and family dynamics.

The contagion of ethical voice among peers: an attribution perspective

The contagion of ethical voice among peers: an attribution perspective

Blaming the smurf: Using a novel social deception behavior in online games to test attribution theories

Despite their popularity, online video games possess pervasive toxicity. However, players do not categorically judge toxic behaviors as wrong. Attribution theories are well suited to disambiguate such judgment variance, but debate exists on the usefulness of motivated versus socially regulated blame perspectives. By exploring a new, potentially toxic behavior called “smurfing,” we innovate on methodological barriers that make experimentally disentangling socially regulated and motivated attribution perspectives difficult. In Study 1, we empirically present, describe, and explore smurfing and its perceived effects as a novel cheating behavior in online gaming. In Study 2, we extracted player-generated reasons for smurfing and manipulated the stakes of games to manipulate transgression salience (a key factor of blame attribution) across a moral continuum. By having participants use a mock crowd-sourced judgment platform, we observed the (in)stability of stakes across a continuum of reasons. We subsequently replicated our findings with a novel sample in Study 3.

Pakistani public sector employees burning with a low blue flame: a case of expanded attribution-emotion model of workplace aggression about perceived organizational obstruction and job neglect

PurposeEmployees of Pakistani public sector organizations feel thwarted toward their goal attainment because of strict adherence to rules and regulations and tall hierarchies existing in this region. Therefore, keeping in view the harmful effects of perceived organizational obstruction, the aim of the current study was to investigate the perceived organizational obstruction as an attribution that triggers job neglect through perceived organizational frustration. Harvey’s expanded attribution-emotion model of workplace aggression and an attributional perspective on workplace aggression provide the theoretical justification. Moreover, the moderating role of self-control was proposed to mitigate the indirect effect of organizational obstruction on job neglect through perceived organizational frustration.Design/methodology/approachA three-wave data collection was done by using a close-ended questionnaire distributed to a total of 600 administrative employees of public sector organizations operating in Rawalpindi/Islamabad (Pakistan). However, matching three times and discarding the incomplete questionnaires led to a sample of 375 on which the analysis was done.FindingsPerceived organizational obstruction positively predicted job neglect. Likewise, organizational frustration mediated the aforementioned link. Moreover, the higher level of self-control weakens this underlying process by suppressing job neglect behavior.Originality/valueThe current study added to the limited literature on public sector organizations that has taken perceived organizational obstruction as a predictor variable. Moreover, this study explains how this phenomenon translates into non-hostile behavior that is difficult to identify and punish in public sector organizations. Moreover, the trait of self-control is added to the literature of non-hostile behaviors that dampen the impulsivity to indulge in job neglect.

Salespeople’s Work-Orientation Preference: An Exploratory Attributional Analysis of Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivation

Salespeople have different work attitude toward teamwork. Some of them value communication and coordination between team members, whereas others enjoy working on their own. It is believed that the discrepancies in work attitude derives from the different attribution styles, that is, whether people attribute failure outcomes to the external environment (e.g., lack of organizational support, unstable task situation, etc.) or to internal factors (e.g., self-ability, personal skills, consciousness, etc.). In addition, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation also comes into play during the formation of work-orientation preference. Using an attributional perspective, this article examines how different attribution styles influence the development of varying work attitude (team-orientation vs. self-orientation). Self-determination theory is also employed to explain the moderation role of intrinsic/extrinsic motivations.

Comparative Evaluation of Antitumor Chinese Patent Medicine Injections Based on Evidence-Based Medicine and Markov Model

Abstract Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the safety, efficacy, economy, and other aspects of frequently-used antitumor Chinese patent medicine injections through a comprehensive evaluation of evidence-based medical research to provide scientific information and decision-making basis for drug selection, rational drug use, public awareness of safe drug use, and medical insurance. Materials and Methods: The names of five frequently used antitumor Chinese patent medicine injections were used as search terms, including the compound Sophora flavescens injection, Kangai injection, Aidi injection, Kanglaite injection, and Brucea javanica oil emulsion injection. Relevant evidence-based medical research was extracted from the databases. A descriptive evaluation was conducted, and the Markov model was used for the cost-benefit analysis. Finally, the above injections are ranked by comprehensive scores using the multi-criteria decision analysis and Delphi method. Results: The five injections had their own advantages in enhancing the effectiveness of anti-tumor treatments, improving the quality of life for cancer patients, and reducing the incidence of adverse reactions. From the perspective of economy and other attributes, compound S. flavescens was superior to B. javanica oil, Aidi, Kangai, and Kanglaite. After a comprehensive evaluation of the above five injections, the compound S. flavescens injection received the highest score. Conclusions: Compound S. flavescens, Kangai, Aidi, B. javanica oil, and Kanglaite have their own advantages in effectiveness and no significant difference in safety. Compound S. flavescens injection has the highest comprehensive score. Clinical attention should be paid to monitoring the initial stage of medication and special groups.

Mark his motives: A motivational attribution perspective on observer responses to peer helping behaviors.

Mutual help among members is critical to the accomplishment of complex tasks in an organization. Helping behaviors are infectious, and employees learn to imitate their coworkers' helping behaviors through observation. However, whether coworker helping triggers imitation learning depends on observers' motivational attributions for coworker helping behaviors to some extent. Based on attribution theory and approach-avoidance framework, this research explored the approach and avoidance-oriented emotional and behavioral consequences of observers' prosocial and impression management motivational attributions of coworker helping behavior. An experimental study with 178 participants and a field study with 259 employees was conducted. The results revealed that observers attribute coworkers' helpfulness to prosocial motivation, which elicited observers' approach-oriented emotions (i.e., positive empathy) and behaviors (i.e., helping behavior) and reduced coworker exclusion, while impression-management motivation elicited observers' avoidance-oriented emotions (i.e., disgust) and behaviors (i.e., coworker exclusion) and reduced helping behavior. The results suggest that prosocial motivational attributions and impression management motivational attributions are key factors in determining whether observers have approach- or avoidance-oriented emotions and behaviors toward coworker helping. Accordingly, individual employees and managers should focus on employees' motivation to help others in order to promote mutual support and harmony in the workplace.

Examination of the adoption intention of new energy vehicles from the perspective of functional attributes and media richness

Drawing on the theory of media richness, this paper aims to explore the impact of media richness on consumers' adoption intention through their perception of new energy vehicle (NEV) function attributes, and assess the moderation roles of brand familiarity and locus of control. A structural equation model is applied to analyze the data collected from 427 respondents. Empirical results demonstrate that consumers' perception of an electric attribute (i.e., charging efficiency) and two intelligent attributes (i.e., car networking and self-driving) are determinants of their adoption intention of NEVs. The other electric attribute (range) is trivial in consumers' perception. We also find that low, medium, and high-richness media significantly affect consumers' perception of NEVs' functional attributes. Compared to the high-richness, medium-richness correlates significantly with two types of NEV functional attributes. Regarding moderating effects, consumer familiarity with NEV's brand negatively impacts the relationship between media richness and adoption intention. Furthermore, low and medium-richness media effectively stimulate individuals with external control to adopt NEV, while high-richness media adversely influence individuals with internal control.

Effects of work-to-family conflict on job satisfaction and reparative behaviors

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the indirect impact of work-to-family conflict (WFC) on job satisfaction and reparative behaviors toward family members through work-to-family guilt (WFG). In addition, it seeks to explore the moderating effect of intrinsic motivation on the relationship between WFC and WFG.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted two studies. Study 1 used a scenario-based experiment to investigate the mediating effect of WFG. Study 2 examined all the proposed hypotheses via survey data.FindingsStudy 1 revealed that WFC had a negative effect on job satisfaction. Concurrently, it exerted a positive impact on reparative behavioral intentions toward family members through WFG. Subsequently, Study 2 demonstrated that intrinsic motivation moderated the relationship between WFC and guilt. Furthermore, it also moderated the indirect effect of WFC on job satisfaction through WFG. Moreover, a positive relationship between WFG and reparative behaviors existed only among nontraditional men.Originality/valueThis study enriches existing literature on WFG by clarifying its impact on reparative behaviors toward family members. Moreover, it contributes to the contingent view of the source attribution perspective by highlighting intrinsic motivation as a significant boundary condition in the source attribution process.

Cooperate or Compete? Attributional Perspective for Interorganizational Conflicts in Construction Projects with Trust as a Moderator

Cooperate or Compete? Attributional Perspective for Interorganizational Conflicts in Construction Projects with Trust as a Moderator

Image Aesthetics Assessment With Attribute-Assisted Multimodal Memory Network

Image aesthetics assessment (IAA) has attracted growing interest in recent years but is still challenging due to its highly abstract nature. Nowadays, more and more people tend to comment images shared on the social networks, which can provide rich aesthetics-aware semantic information from different aspects. Therefore, user comments of an image can be exploited as supplementary information for enhancing aesthetic representation learning. Previous researches have demonstrated that aesthetic attributes make significant effect on image aesthetic quality and humans’ aesthetic perception. Typically, people are used to give comments on an image from the perspective of aesthetic attributes, based on which the aesthetic quality of images can be inferred. Motivated by this, this paper presents an Attribute-assisted Multimodal Memory Network (AMM-Net) for image aesthetics assessment, which utilizes aesthetic attributes to model the interactions between visual and textual modalities. Specifically, we design two memory networks to capture the attribute-aware information most related to the image and associated comments respectively. Further, with multiple memory hops, attribute semantics shared by the two modalities are refined and cross-modal interactions are enhanced progressively. Finally, more discriminative aesthetic representations can be obtained for IAA. The experimental results and comparisons on two public multimodal IAA datasets demonstrate the superiority of the proposed model over the state-of-the-art methods. The source code is available at https://github.com/zhutong0219/AMM-Net.

The impact of human-AI collaboration types on consumer evaluation and usage intention: a perspective of responsibility attribution.

Despite the widespread availability of artificial intelligence (AI) products and services, consumer evaluations and adoption intentions have not met expectations. Existing research mainly focuses on AI's instrumental attributes from the consumer perspective, along with negative impacts of AI failures on evaluations and willingness to use. However, research is lacking on AI as a collaborative agent, investigating the impact of human-AI collaboration on AI acceptance under different outcome expectations. This study examines the interactive effects of human-AI collaboration types (AI-dominant vs. AI-assisted) and outcome expectations (positive vs. negative) on AI product evaluations and usage willingness, along with the underlying mechanisms, from a human-AI relationship perspective. It also investigates the moderating role of algorithm transparency in these effects. Using three online experiments with analysis of variance and bootstrap methods, the study validates these interactive mechanisms, revealing the mediating role of attribution and moderating role of algorithm transparency. Experiment 1 confirms the interactive effects of human-AI collaboration types and outcome expectations on consumer evaluations and usage willingness. Under positive outcome expectations, consumers evaluate and express willingness to use AI-dominant intelligent vehicles with autonomous driving capabilities higher than those with emergency evasion capabilities (AI-assisted). However, under negative outcome expectations, consumers rate autonomous driving capabilities lower compared to emergency evasion capabilities. Experiment 2 examines the mediating role of attribution through ChatGPT's dominant or assisting role under different outcome expectations. Experiment 3 uses a clinical decision-making system to study algorithm transparency's moderating role, showing higher transparency improves evaluations and willingness to use AI products and services under negative outcome expectations. Theoretically, this study advances consumer behavior research by exploring the human-AI relationship within artificial intelligence, enhancing understanding of consumer acceptance variations. Practically, it offers insights for better integrating AI products and services into the market.

Revised vulnerability analysis of group buildings based on the SPO model of equivalent individual structure

Typical individual structure and group buildings with different classification features have abundant seismic damage data. To fully utilize the theoretical seismic damage data of individual structure and the statistical seismic damage data for group buildings, establish Pushover analysis model of group buildings with certain vulnerability characteristics and improve the reliability of seismic performance of corresponding classified group buildings characterized by individual structure, a method for establishing equivalent Pushover models of group buildings based on the SPO2IDA inversion algorithm is proposed, and the theoretical Pushover curve of characterized typical structure is updated through the Bayesian theory using the equivalent individual structure model established by seismic damage statistical data, and then an vulnerability analysis model that complies with seismic damage statistical laws is established. The research results show that the SPO model of equivalent individual structure of group buildings can be established based on the seismic damage statistical characteristics of buildings. The maximum accuracy and minimum accuracy of the median seismic intensity of the vulnerability model established by the Pushover model obtained after Bayesian revision can be improved by 45% and 20% respectively. This paper proposes a method to improve the accuracy of earthquake damage results of group buildings characterized by individual structure from the perspective of inherent structural attributes, which can provide more economically reasonable design solutions for buildings with specific attribute classification in relevant regions.