Browsing by Subject "structural equation modeling"
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Item Alliance coordination effectiveness and the performance of international strategic alliances: development of the partnership and moderating role of market environment turbulence(Texas A&M University, 2004-11-15) Choi, Young-TaeThe purpose of this dissertation was to investigate post-international strategic alliance (ISA) formation issues, which have been neglected in the ISA literature. The specific research questions were 1) how do ISA partners develop their relationships? 2) how does this relationship development impact effective management of resources contributed by each ISA partner? and 3) how does effective resource management influence ISA performance? Data were collected by mail and web surveys from those who were/are involved in ISA operations. Structural equation modeling using LISREL was employed to test the conceptual model and multiple regression analysis was adopted to test the moderating effects in the model. The model was modified by introducing second order factors to correctly interpret the relationships between factors and achieve a more parsimonious model. Results indicate that alliance partnership interactions between ISA partners (i.e., reciprocity, transparency, formal and informal communication, two-way and participative communication, and cultural sensitivity) positively influenced the development of desire for joint action between them which is based on trust and commitment. Desire for joint action positively influenced alliance coordination effectiveness (ACE: integration and utilization of resources) which underlies effective resource management between ISA partners. ACE positively affected ISA performance. Market environment turbulence (i.e., host government interference and technology turbulence), however, did not have moderating effects between ACE and ISA performance. The first question was answered by introducing alliance partnership interaction factors which influence the building of the positive relationship between ISA partners. The introduction of ACE explained how ISA partners manage the resources provided by each partner. The significant impact of ACE on ISA performance and the nonsignificant impact of the moderating variables indicate that ACE has strong impact on ISA performance that can absorb the effects of host government interference and technology turbulence in the operation of ISAs.Item Oral English development and its impact on emergent reading achievement: a comparative study of transitional bilingual and structured english immersion models(2009-05-15) Tong, FuhuiThis quantitative study derived from an on-going federal experimental research project targeting Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) receiving services in four program models: control/experimental transitional bilingual education (TBE) and control/experimental structured English immersion (SEI). The purpose of my study was (a) to capture the growth trajectory and rate of oral English acquisition, (b) to investigate the role of oral English development in acquiring English reading skills, and (c) to compare program models in order to identify practices that promote ELLs? English oral and reading competency at the early elementary level. Structural equation modeling was utilized. Participants consisted of 534 Spanish-speaking ELLs who started at kindergarten and continued through first grade in their respective models. Striking similarities were found among the four instructional models that English oral proficiency improved significantly (p < .05) in a linear fashion over two years. However, the magnitude differed in that the experimental TBE demonstrated a steeper growth (p < .025) than that of the control group that started at the same level. Even though experimental SEI group started at a much lower level in oral English, they progressed at a rate significantly higher (p < .05) than that of the control group. In relation to English reading comprehension, for experimental SEI groups, the initial level of English oral proficiency is of great concern in reading achievement (p < .05). For both TBE groups, effective intervention is desired because the growth of English oral proficiency strongly impacts reading achievement (p < .05), and, in addition, initial level strongly predicts reading comprehension. The intervention was successfully implemented so that students advanced to a substantial amount in academic English oray. It is also evident that first language (L1) instruction did not impede the learning of a second language. On the contrary, for those students receiving a larger proportion of L1 instruction, alterations in program models are needed to nurture English oracy at a faster rate of growth, which in turn facilitates English literacy acquisition. Findings also indicate that without effective English intervention, students placed in control TBE classrooms remain below all the students in oral English proficiency.Item Spelling English Words: Contributions of Phonological, Morphological and Orthographic Processing Skills of Turkish EFL Students in Grades 6-8(2014-11-12) Unal, MelikeThe number of studies examining the simultaneous impact of multi-level metalinguistic skills influencing spelling in English is scarce. Spelling necessitates an integrated and simultaneous working of various linguistic, metalinguistic skills, and socio-cultural (SES) factors. The present study investigates the concurrent influence of multi-level metalinguistic skills including phonological, morphological, and orthographic knowledge in English as well as the impact of socio-cultural factors on EFL spelling of Turkish 6th, 7th, and 8th grade pupils (N= 367). Measures tapping phonological, morphological, and orthographic skills in English (L2) and a background questionnaire were administered to Turkish 6th to 8th grade EFL children recruited in multiple school sites in a city of Turkey. A robust configural baseline confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model for all grades confirmed that the observed variables constructed a three-factor model (phono, morpho, ortho), as it was hypothesized. The second-order structural equation model (SEM) confirmed the three metalinguistic skills work simultaneously and they tap into the linguistic repertoire construct, which predicted EFL word-spelling of Turkish 6th, 7th, and 8th grade pupils. This provides converging results with linguistic repertoire theory, which suggests utilizing multiple metalinguistic skills when spelling words and teaching spelling. The final SEM model with the integrated SES factors (i.e., SES, home-literacy, and additional English exposure) also reported good model fit statistics where the English exposure factor had the highest regression coefficient on EFL word spelling outcomes. The spelling error analyses showed parallel findings to the quantitative analyses, that phonology and orthography, but not morphology, were the two significant predictors of word spelling errors by Turkish 6th to 8th graders. The key findings can inform foreign language teachers about the roles of phonological, morphological, and orthographic processing skills in English spelling. The pedagogical implications of the present study included the importance of directly teaching the three metalinguistic skills when EFL teachers are engaged in spelling instruction. The findings can also inform Turkey?s foreign language education policy decision making by recommending the tailoring of policy and curriculum according to students? needs.Item Waiting to learn a new use of technology: motivation source and its impact on anticipated effect, time pressure and subjective norms(Texas A&M University, 2005-11-01) Loraas, Tina MarieThis research investigated the decision process surrounding the self-regulated learning of new uses of existing technology. With firms investing up to 50% of their capital budgets on information technology (in excess of 1 trillion dollars in aggregate), understanding what factors motivate or inhibit more encompassing use of technology is of practical concern (Bowen 1986; Nambisan et al. 1999; Mahmood et a. 2001). I introduced a dynamic element to the technology adoption/acceptance literature by using a framework based upon deferral option theory. This framework allows for the decision to learn a new use of technology to occur over time. I found that potential users chose to defer learning new uses of technology even when usefulness was evident and ease of learning was not prohibitive. Further, an additional benefit to using the deferral option framework was its inclusion of both rewards and penalties; I found that not only do potential users consider what can be gained by learning, but also what can be lost by trying to learn and failing. In addition to using a framework premised on deferral option theory, I investigated the properties of time pressure and subjective norms on the decision to learn new uses of technology. As time pressure offered a possible alternate explanation for why potential users defer learning, I controlled for it experimentally and determined that time pressure did affect deferral choice. Further, as subjective norms have had limited success as a predictor of intent to use technology in prior literature, I investigated the separate pieces of the theoretical construct, referent group perceptions and the motivation to comply with those perceptions. By manipulating environment between work and play settings, different motivational sources were enacted by the potential users. Specifically, I found that when potential users were externally motivated subjective norms did influence deferral, and when internally motivated, subjective norms did not influence a potential user??s decision to defer learning a new use of technology.