Nowadays there is a pre-eminent need to measure very complex phenomena like poverty, progress, well-being, etc. As is well known, the main feature of a composite indicator is that it summarizes complex and multidimensional issues. Thanks to its features, Structural Equation Modeling seems to be...

The objective of this paper is to study the direct and mediating effects on the motivation to become self-employed of a set of two individual factors (entrepreneurial self-efficacy and risk-taking) and five environmental factors (family self-employment background, social networks, social norms,...

Observed and unobserved characteristics of an individual are often used by researchers to explain choices over the provision of environmental goods. One means for identifying what is typically an unobserved characteristic, such as an attitude, is through some data reduction technique, such as...

The objective of this study is to determine the impact of manufacturing performance, which is created by the manufacturing strategy in textile and automotive supply industries, on business performance. The research was applied to small and medium-sized enterprises operating in textile and...

For over 50 years (1958–2012) the American National Election Studies (ANES) survey has been measuring citizens’ evaluations of the trustworthiness of the “government in Washingtonâ€â€”an indicator that has been widely used to monitor the dynamics of political trust in...

Individuals with greater social capital have better health outcomes. Investment in social capital likely increases one’s own social capital, bearing great implications for disease prevention and health promotion. In this study, the authors developed and validated the Social Capital Investment...

This paper analyses the Dow Jones daily industry sector total return indices for the last 18 years and the Data Stream daily industry sector price indices over the past 30 years. We show how broad movements in both sets of data can be described in terms of five underlying variables and how...

In this paper we explore how a firm can develop disaster immunity—the capability to manage disaster-through the exploitation of market acuity and supply network partnerships. We use the hierarchy of capabilities framework and a social capital lens to view partnerships wherein a service supply...

This study shows the value of a set-theoretic comparative technique—namely, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis—as a means to supplement other traditional techniques, such as regression analysis and structural equation modeling. The study illustrates the technique by using the...

The globalization of business reflects the view that most companies have to compete in a borderless environment. Challenges and opportunities are tremendous especially in the European Community, where profound changes have been experienced (common currency, restructuring of Eastern Europe,...