Resource-based Model Research Articles

Utilizing job resources: Qualitative evidence of the roles of job control and social support in problem solving

In resource-based models of job design, job resources, such as control and social support, are thought to help workers to solve problems. Few studies have examined this assumption. We analyzed 80 qualitative diary entries (N=29) and interviews (N=37) concerned with the in-role requirements of medical technology designers in the UK for problem solving. Four themes linked to using the resources of job control and social support for problem solving emerged. These were: (1) eliciting social support to solve problems; (2) exercising job control to solve problems; (3) co-dependence between eliciting social support and exercising job control to solve problems; and (4) using job resources to regulate affect. The results were largely supportive of the assumptions underpinning resource-based models of job design. They also indicated that the explanatory power of resource-based models of job design may be enhanced by considering interdependencies between various factors: how different job resources are used, workers' motivation to use resources, workers' knowledge of how to use resources and the use of resources from across organizational boundaries. The study provides qualitative support for the assumption that social support and job control are used to cope with demands.

Winners or Losers? The Adjustment Strategies of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in Tirana, Albania

This paper explores the micro-level process of adjustment undergone by rural migrants to the city. Rural migrants are expected to fully adjust to the urban lifestyle, setting aside their traditions and culture. However, as the migrant population increases in an urban area, migrants create their own communities with their own lifestyles and values, and thus there is an ongoing debate about whether this process entails the ruralisation of the city or the urbanisation of migrants. While becoming urban and being part of the city is desired, the reality is that joining a migrant community and adjusting to other migrants is more important. According to the resource-based model, migrants need personal, material, social and cultural resources to satisfy their needs, goals and demands. Socio-cultural clustering constitutes the main social resource, creating a support system for migrants. The longer the rural migrants reside in the city, the better their adjustment strategies. Moreover, economic security and willingness assist the adjustment process, while the younger generation is perceived as being better adjusted.

Disabling communications? A capabilities perspective on media access, social inclusion and communication policy

Digital information and communication technologies feature prominently in programmes to promote social inclusion and to implement extensive reform in public service provision across Europe. The transition to an all-digital communications environment and the digital ‘switchover’ of public services bring to the fore a need to rethink access as a goal of public policy. This article probes patterns of internet diffusion among disabled people using capabilities framework and resource-based models of access. The analysis highlights the multi-dimensional character of media access capability as the space to evaluate policies for social inclusion; the relational character of disability as a phenomenon of the interface between personal circumstances and structural disadvantage; a capability failure resulting from a gap in policy commitment to promote universal access for disabled people and other excluded groups; and a requirement for policies sensitive to the need for additional resources to equalize the media access capabilities of these individuals.

Abellon CleanEnergy, Ltd. – Contesting Uncontested Market Spaces

In the times of fast depleting natural sources of energy fuel, market imbalances and risks of global environment changes, there is an urgent need to increase energy access globally in a sustainable manner. This case has been contextually set under such conditions and traces the journey of Abellon CleanEnergy as an integrated sustainable energy solutions provider to contribute to clean energy generation through renewable resources. This case invites the participants to deal with macro issues like energy crisis and role of biomass energy, and micro issues like diversification, building capabilities, role of leadership, making choices, continuous learning, market challenges, sourcing, manufacturing, and marketing, expanding geographically and developing a sustainable model. The case explores the quest of Abellon for creating space in the clean energy domain mainly through harnessing the untapped potential of biomass energy using the triple bottom line approach (environmental protection, social development and economic prosperity). It presents perspectives on how Abellon is attempting to create value innovations through wealth out of waste. It also highlights the initial challenges and options made, biomass sourcing issues, unique initiatives like poornakumbha and eco chulha, domestic and international market strategies and collective learning’s emerging over a time period of 3-4 years. The case ends with Aditya Handa, founder, MD and CEO of Abellon calling in a meeting of his top executives and reflecting upon the journey of Abellon till 2010 and discussing the strategic options, alternative strategies and challenges for the future. The case also touches upon the role of senior management in creating a sustainable business model in bio energy. The case can be used in the strategic management course of MBA programs for introducing topics like competitive landscape, I/O and resource-based model, strategic leadership, environment analysis, firm responses, and vision and mission. It can also be used to highlight and discuss the concept and application of blue ocean strategy by arguing whether Abellon was contesting in uncontested market spaces or not. The case may also be used in other courses covering challenges in biomass procurement, manufacturing challenges, and marketing related issues.

Target Cueing Provides Support for Target- and Resource-Based Models of the Attentional Blink

The attentional blink (AB) describes a time-based deficit in processing the second of two masked targets. The AB is attenuated if successive targets appear between the first and final target, or if a cueing target is positioned before the final target. Using various speeds of stimulus presentation, the current study employed successive targets and cueing targets to confirm and extend an understanding of target-target cueing in the AB. In Experiment 1, three targets were presented sequentially at rates of 30 msec/item or 90 msec/item. Successive targets presented at 90 msec improved performance compared with non-successive targets. However, accuracy was equivalently high for successive and non-successive targets presented at 30 msec/item, suggesting that–regardless of whether they occurred consecutively–those items fell within the temporally defined attentional window initiated by the first target. Using four different presentation speeds, Experiment 2 confirmed the time-based definition of the AB and the success of target-cueing at 30 msec/item. This experiment additionally revealed that cueing was most effective when resources were not devoted to the cue, thereby implicating capacity limitations in the AB. Across both experiments, a novel order-error measure suggested that errors tend to decrease with an increasing duration between the targets, but also revealed that certain stimulus conditions result in stable order accuracy. Overall, the results are best encapsulated by target-based and resource-sharing theories of the AB, which collectively value the contributions of capacity limitations and optimizing transient attention in time.

No pain, no gain? A resource-based model of work-to-family enrichment and conflict

Work–family scholars tend to work in two largely disconnected research streams, focusing on either work–family enrichment—the positive side of the work–family interface—or work–family conflict—the negative side of this interface. The purpose of this study is to suggest a reconciliation of the two research streams by proposing and testing a resource-based model of work-to-family enrichment and conflict. Specifically, we propose that an individual's work role engagement has two independent outcomes, work role resource gain and loss, and they separately mediate the relationships between work role engagement and work-to-family enrichment and conflict. We further propose that two dimensions of regulatory focus, promotion focus and prevention focus, moderate the relationships between work role engagement and work role resource gain and loss respectively. Structural equation modeling results based on data from 1052 employees of Chinese firms offer general support for these notions.

Anomaly Detection Using Model Generation for Event-Based Systems Without a Preexisting Formal Model

Detecting and debugging faults more efficiently can significantly improve the performance of systems, and a first step toward fault detection is anomaly detection. A new anomaly detection solution is proposed in this paper for event-based systems that consist of processes that interact through shared resources and that do not have a preexisting formal discrete event system model. This solution generates models of the system, assesses the models' performance in detecting faults, and then uses the models and their performance to detect anomalies in new event streams. A new resource-based Petri net formalism is introduced to model these types of systems. The model generation uses an algorithm based on workflow mining to generate resource-based models. The proposed solution is demonstrated on two manufacturing cell examples.

Foreign Markets Entry Mode Decision for Italian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Using a resource-based view model, this paper examines the main factors influencing Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) international entry mode selection. In addition, a possible relationship between firms belonging to industrial districts and the entry mode choice has been verified. Data for the analysis of this study were collected interviewing 221 owners/managers of SMEs in Italy. Results showed that entry mode decisions are mainly influenced by firm specific factors. Furthermore, the study does not support the hypothesis of a connection between the firm’s belonging to an industrial district and firms’ behavior in entry mode selection. This study has made it possible to detect by a resource-based perspective the main factors influencing the choice of entry modes.

Variability in the quality of visual working memory

Working memory is a mental storage system that keeps task-relevant information accessible for a brief span of time, and it is strikingly limited. Its limits differ substantially across people but are assumed to be fixed for a given person. Here we show that there is substantial variability in the quality of working memory representations within an individual. This variability can be explained neither by fluctuations in attention or arousal over time, nor by uneven distribution of a limited mental commodity. Variability of this sort is inconsistent with the assumptions of the standard cognitive models of working memory capacity, including both slot- and resource-based models, and so we propose a new framework for understanding the limitations of working memory: a stochastic process of degradation that plays out independently across memories.

Resource-based modelling of B2B information systems' effect on achieving supply chain ambidexterity: a focus on dynamic heterogeneity

Drawing on organisational theories of resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capability, this paper introduces a novel concept of dynamic heterogeneity to better characterise the significant impact of B2B information systems (B2BIS) on achieving supply chain ambidexterity. This paper contributes to supply chain research and information systems (IS) research on three aspects: First, we specify the positive link between B2BIS and B2BIS-enabled capacity-related resources, which in turn directly enhances supply chain ambidexterity practices and ultimately improves the level of supply chain ambidexterity; second, our findings suggest that B2BIS bring in intention-related resources, which ensures the capacity-related resources can take effect; third, B2BIS-independent resources is presented and considered as a premise for temporal separation and parallel structure supply chain ambidexterity. By analysing the effects of B2BIS on supply chain ambidexterity, we conclude that it takes not only capacity-related resources but also associated intention-related resources to improve supply chain ambidexterity. Only by taking advantage of these two types of resources simultaneously can we achieve B2BIS dynamic heterogeneity and thus to achieve optimal supply chain ambidexterity.

Environmental modulation of yield components in cereals: Heritabilities reveal a hierarchy of phenotypic plasticities

Yield components are relatively easy to measure and their interpretation is intuitive. However, strong environmental influences, genetic and physiological controls, and evolutionary constraints collectively lead to lack of independence among yield components that restrict their value in breeding and agronomic applications.Here, we first sketch a framework of plant responses to environmental factors to highlight the modulation of yield components by resources and their interplay with non-resource factors including developmental cues (e.g. maternal effects), extreme events (e.g. frost), predicting factors (e.g. photoperiod) and synchronising and integrating information (e.g. spectral composition of light). We suggest that, to the extent that non-resource cues allow plants to predict future availability of resources, simple resource-based models may be sufficient to capture the macroscopic responses of yield components to the environment.Next, we expand the original concept of hierarchy of plasticities between grain size (a relatively stable trait) and grain number (a plastic trait) to test the hypothesis of a broader hierarchy in the plasticities of yield components. Using published data for wheat, rice, barley and triticale, we verified that heritabilities capture the established hierarchy between plasticity of grain size and number. Median heritabilities of 0.31 for tiller number, 0.58 for inflorescence number, 0.59 for grains per inflorescence, and 0.79 for grain size supported the hierarchy of plasticities: tiller number>inflorescence number≈grains per inflorescence>seed size. The heritability of grain yield was consistently higher than the heritability for tillering, consistently lower than the heritability for grain size, and suggestively close to the heritability of inflorescence number and grains per inflorescence, the components of grain number per unit ground area. We conclude that understanding the environmental regulation of yield components in cereals would benefit from a dual focus on yield-related traits per se and their plasticity.

Multiple resource limitation theory applied to herbivorous consumers: Liebig’s minimum rule vs. interactive co‐limitation

There is growing consensus that the growth of herbivorous consumers is frequently limited by more than one nutrient simultaneously. This understanding, however, is based primarily on theoretical considerations and the applicability of existing concepts of co-limitation has rarely been tested experimentally. Here, we assessed the suitability of two contrasting concepts of resource limitation, i.e. Liebig's minimum rule and the multiple limitation hypothesis, to describe nutrient-dependent growth responses of a freshwater herbivore (Daphnia magna) in a system with two potentially limiting nutrients (cholesterol and eicosapentaenoic acid). The results indicated that these essential nutrients interact, and do not strictly follow Liebig's minimum rule, which consistently overestimates growth at co-limiting conditions and thus is not applicable to describe multiple nutrient limitation of herbivorous consumers. We infer that the outcome of resource-based modelling approaches assessing herbivore population dynamics strongly depends on the applied concept of co-limitation.

Modes Of Funding Nigerian Universities And The Implications On Performance

This paper examined the modes of funding Nigerian universities with a view to assessing their adequacy and effectiveness. The implications of the mechanisms of funding on university performance were investigated. The history of university funding in Nigeria was explored in order to determine the causes of shift in financing the system since 1948 when the first university was established. The paper revealed that the costs of financing universities including: costs of teaching, research and administration, cost of accommodating increased enrollments, expenses of student maintenance, payment of staff entitlement/salaries and maintenance of facilities are increasing in excess of the corresponding rates of available revenues. The divergence in the trajectories of total university educational cost, the total available revenue and government subvention has led to capacity constraints of universities. This is evident in poor quality of teaching and research, poor conditions of work and insufficient attention to staff development, amongst others. The study found that the changing patterns in funding of universities are responses to the social and economic depression of the country, globalization, country’s desire to be integrated into the modern knowledge economy and increased enrollment without adequate planning. Consequently, the African political economy model was used in explaining the financial state of Nigerian universities, while the theory of human capital was used to support the arguments in favour of multiple forms of cost-sharing. These include private support from parents/students and donors since education is both a government and private investment. The study concluded that part of the solutions to cost-revenue squeeze in Nigerian universities is the development of proactive mechanisms that facilitate both the identification of multiple sources of funding as well as their optimal utilization in order to maintain financial balance and enhance performance. The Resource-Based Model for sustaining financing of universities was thus recommended.

Do edge responses cascade up or down a multi‐trophic food web?

Despite nearly 100 years of edge studies, there has been little effort to document how edge responses 'cascade' to impact multi-trophic food webs. We examined changes within two, four-tiered food webs located on opposite sides of a habitat edge. Based on a 'bottom-up' resource-based model, we predicted plant resources would decline near edges, causing similar declines in specialist herbivores and their associated predators, while a generalist predator was predicted to increase due to complementary resource use. As predicted, we found declines in both specialist herbivores and predators near edges, but, contrary to expectations, this was not driven by gradients in plant resources. Instead, the increase in generalist predators near edges offers one alternative explanation for the observed declines. Furthermore, our results suggest how recent advances in food web theory could improve resource-based edge models, and vice versa.

Job Burnout, Absenteeism, and Extra Role Behaviors

The study aimed to assess absenteeism and extra role behaviors as correlates of job burnout. Employees from a nuclear physics institute (N = 142) completed a survey that included the Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey (MBI-GS), self-efficacy, support by colleagues, and workload. Levels of absenteeism and extra role behaviors were provided by company records. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses were applied to a conceptual model of relationships among variables rooted in Maslach and Leiter's resource-based model of burnout. Results suggest that self-efficacy was positively related to support by colleagues, workload, and professional efficacy, whereas it was negatively related to exhaustion. Exhaustion and cynicism were mainly and negatively related to workload and were not related to professional efficacy. In turn, absenteeism was positively related to exhaustion, whereas extra role behaviors were negatively related to cynicism.

Intraspecific variation in space use, group size, and mating systems of caviomorph rodents

Intraspecific variation in social systems is widely recognized across many taxa, and specific models, including polygamy potential, resource defense, and resource dispersion, have been developed to explain the relationship between ecological variation and social organization. Although mammals from temperate North America and Eurasia have provided many insights into this relationship, rodents from the Neotropics and temperate South America have largely been ignored. In this review we focus on reports documenting intraspecific variation in spacing systems, group size, and mating systems of caviomorphs. This large group of New World hystricognath rodents occupies a diverse array of habitats; thus, members of the same species potentially exhibit different social systems in response to different ecological conditions. Spatial patterns vary in response to a diverse array of factors, including predation, food availability, population density, and soil characteristics. Changes in group size typically correlate with changes in resource availability, particularly food. Mating systems generally reflect the ability of males to control access to females, which may depend on population density or food distribution. In general, social organization in caviomorphs fits predictions of resource-based models; however, most studies have been purely observational, involving small numbers of animals over short time periods and reporting qualitative rather than quantitative levels of ecological correlates. In future studies the use of molecular techniques and controlled, experimental manipulations can increase our understanding of intraspecific variation in caviomorph social systems. This understudied group of rodents offers excellent opportunities to provide insights into the influence of ecological conditions on behavior such as social systems.

The Path to Information Technology Business Value: Case of Turkey

This study seeks to shed light upon the strategic value of information technology (IT) investments. Previous literature suggests that IT investments per se are not sufficient for improving firm performance. Drawing from the resource-based view, it is hypothesized in this study that IT investments can deliver higher firm performance if they are 1) combined with complementary assets, 2) leveraged to build capabilities and 3) used to support organizational core competencies. Based on the data collected, the findings show that IT support for core competencies has a significant positive effect on firm performance and the research model explains more than fifty percent variation of this performance. The study contributes to the literature by developing a comprehensive resource-based model of IT value, which takes IT, human and complementary resources into account and combines them with IT-related capabilities. The study also attempts to fill the gap of measurement by proposing a new measurement for IT stock of company which accounts for both the availability and the level of information technologies held by the company. Lastly, the study provides evidence from an under researched country, Turkey.

Job Burnout: toward an Integration of Two Dominant Resource-Based Models

The goal of this study was to integrate the job demands-resources model and the conservation of resources model of job burnout into a unified theoretical framework. The data were collected through a mail questionnaire survey among nurses holding managerial positions in the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong. From a computer-generated random sample of nurses, 543 (84.3% women) returned usable surveys, amounting to a response rate of 24.2%. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed paths originating from job demands and job resources to the core job burnout dimensions, namely, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Results supported the integrated model, indicating that job demands and job resources had differing effects on the burnout dimensions. The effect of job demands was stronger and partially mediated the effect of job resources. Implications of the results from this study on management practices were discussed.

How well do food distributions predict spatial distributions of shorebirds with different degrees of self‐organization?

1. Habitat selection models usually assume that the spatial distributions of animals depend positively on the distributions of resources and negatively on interference. However, the presence of conspecifics at a given location also signals safety and the availability of resources. This may induce followers to select contiguous patches and causes animals to cluster. Resource availability, interference and attraction therefore jointly lead to self-organized patterns in foraging animals. 2. We analyse the distribution of foraging shorebirds at landscape level on the basis of a resource-based model to establish, albeit indirectly, the importance of conspecific attraction and interference. 3. At 23 intertidal sites with a mean area of 170 ha spread out over the Dutch Wadden Sea, the spatial distribution of six abundant shorebird species was determined. The location of individuals and groups was mapped using a simple method based on projective geometry, enabling fast mapping of low-tide foraging shorebird distributions. We analysed the suitability of these 23 sites in terms of food availability and travel distances to high tide roosts. 4. We introduce an interference sensitivity scale which maps interference as a function of inter-individual distance. We thus obtain interference-insensitive species, which are only sensitive to interference at short inter-individual distances (and may thus pack densely) and interference-sensitive species which interfere over greater inter-individual distances (and thus form sparse flocks). 5. We found that interference-insensitive species like red knot (Calidris canutus) and dunlins (Calidris alpina) are more clustered than predicted by the spatial distribution of their food resources. This suggests that these species follow each other when selecting foraging patches. In contrast, curlew (Numenius arquata) and grey plover (Pluvialis squatarola), known to be sensitive to interference, form sparse flocks. Hence, resource-based models have better predictive power for interference-sensitive species than for interference-insensitive species. 6. It follows from our analysis that monitoring programmes, habitat selection models and statistical analyses should also consider the mechanisms of self-organization.

University Spin-offs in Sweden: A Longitudinal Study

There have been few studies on the long-term performance of university spin-offs (USOs). This paper builds on previous empirical research into the performance of USOs and on the resource-based model of USOs. Several research issues are addressed including, in particular, the long-term performance of Swedish USOs, the distribution of the main types of business, the extent to which USOs have been in contact with support organizations, and by how much the potential growth of USOs has been achieved by the dissemination of technological knowledge to other businesses through patents, licences and other activities of the founder of the USO. The results of studies of 25 Swedish USOs, all started between 1962 and 1990 and with a median age of 25 years, confirm previous research on USOs which experienced limited growth. The analysis indicates that most of the USOs usually operate as ‘simple’ types of business, such as consultancy services; and that 60% have been in contact with support organizations.