Editorial

Citation

Moutinho, L. and Huarng, K.-H. (2011), "Editorial", Journal of Modelling in Management, Vol. 6 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jm2.2011.29706aaa.002

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Modelling in Management, Volume 6, Issue 1

Welcome to 2011 and the sixth year of publication of the Journal of Modelling in Management (JM2). Thanks for all your support. This first issue of volume 6 is quite diversified – the issues range from stochastic multidimensional scaling, linear modelling and service quality measurement to sports marketing and proportionality Markov Model.

The first article, by Scott and De Sarbo deals with a new constrained stochastic multidimensional scaling vector model. Multidimensional scaling represents a family of various geometric models for the multidimensional representation of the structure in data as well as the corresponding set of methods for fitting such spatial models. Its major uses in business include positioning, market segmentation, new product design, consumer preference analysis, etc. The authors present a new stochastic constrained multidimensional scaling vector model for the analysis of two-way dominance data. This constrained vector or scalar products model represents the column objects of the input data matrix by points and row objects by vectors in a T dimensional derived joint space. An iterative maximum likelihood based algorithm is devised for efficient parameter estimation. The authors present an application to a study conducted to examine the importance of some 45 different leadership attributes as they impact perceptions of effective leadership practice.

There are various reasons for people to leave their organizations such as external inequity of salary, limited growth opportunities, lack of recognition, etc. Ghosh and Sahney conducts a study on the impact of organizational sociotechnical system on managerial retention by using a general linear modeling approach. The causal impact of social and technical subsystem elements on retention of managerial personnel in organizations have been examined. The focus of sociotechnical system theory approach lies in its balanced emphasis on social and technical variables. The sample data are the managers in India.

In higher education, quality measurement has been increased with the emphasis on education accountability. Many studies use the adapted version of SERVQUAL to evaluate students’ course experience as part of the quality assurance system. There are still many areas in the debate over how to measure the service quality for higher education, such as the gaps, perceptions-only, etc. Senthilkumar and Arulraj identified that there exist, a gap in the research pertaining to higher education service quality evaluation in India among SERVQUAL, HEdPERF, EduQUAL and other related studies. They propose a 30-item instrument would be a tool that Higher Educational institutions could use to improve service performance when they face the increasing competition worldwide.

The sports industry is one of the fastest growing business sectors in the world today and its primary source of revenue is derived from fans. Yet, little is known about fans’ allocation of time, effort, and/or financial expenditures in regard to the sports they care so desperately about. The objective of the research conducted by De Sarbo and Madrigal is to explore the multidimensional aspects of such manifestations of fan avidity and examine the nature of heterogeneity of such expressions. In total, 35 different expressions of fan avidity are developed related to how fans follow and support their favourite team. A spatial choice multidimensional scaling model is developed to uncover four latent dimensions of fan avidity expression. The managerial aspects of these empirical findings are provided, and we suggest several directions for future research.

Finally, Markov Manpower Models have treated recruitment and promotion flows as essentially independent of each other. However, many organizations have been found to be following proportionality policies, which restrict the recruitment to each grade to a pre-specified proportion of the promotions. The article by Nilakantan, Sankaran and Raghavend has developed a Markov manpower system model, which incorporates these proportionality restrictions, called the proportionality Markov manpower system model. The inherent characteristics of such systems and their long-term behaviour have been analyzed. Systems which reach a steady state as well as those which continue to expand in the long run have been taken up. And significantly it has been shown that such “Proportionality Systems” do not compromise on their flexibility vis-à-vis the general systems, but are every bit as flexible in the long-term. The model is of relevance to organizations which “outsource” a part of their work, the outsource work-force being notionally viewed as recruits to the system. Also included in this issue is the second tutorial published by JM2 and authored by Graeme Hutcheson on the subject of data coding, (management manipulation). It includes hints about data coding conversions, how to save data and a transformation of files.

I hope you will enjoy not only reading this issue of JM2 but also strengthening your knowledge about modelling issues. Many thanks for your readership and interest.

Luiz Moutinho, Kun-Huang Huarng