Price Jr., L R (2019) Causal-comparative analysis: Leadership efficacy of construction and manufacturing continuous improvement practitioners. PhD thesis, Grand Canyon University, USA.
Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to examine if, or to what extent, there was a difference in the leadership efficacy of continuous improvement practitioners (1) between the construction and manufacturing industries and (2) within each industry, in the United States. To explain this phenomenon, this study was based on the theoretical foundation of Social Cognitive Theory and its description of efficacy. Studying this topic was intended to assist with identifying opportunities to increase economic value by improving the effectiveness of continuous improvement programs in the construction and manufacturing industries. For the study, the target populations were continuous improvement practitioners from each industry that were associated with corresponding professional networking organizations. The categorical, independent variables for the study were the construction industry and the manufacturing industry. The dependent variable was the leadership efficacy of the groups of practitioners. Research questions for the study compared the leadership efficacy mean scores between the manufacturing industry (n = 54) and the construction industry (n = 59) and within each industry. With limited confidence, the researcher found that the manufacturing continuous improvement practitioners (mean = 80. 32) exhibited higher levels of Overall Leadership Efficacy than the practitioners from the construction industry (mean = 80. 07). The results of the study were limited by shortcomings in the data collection plan that resulted in a sample size that was too small to make proper inferences about the findings.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Seymour, J |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | continuous improvement; effectiveness; population; leadership; manufacturing; professional; United States; sample size |
| Index terms: | program, population, practitioner, dependent variable, United States, social cognitive theory, networking, manufacturing industry, comparative analysis, comparative study, effectiveness, construction industry, continuous improvement, independent variable, sample size |
| Subjects: | software systems, performance management, performance measurement, statistical analysis, industry analysis, research design and methodology, communication, data analysis and analytics, Geography, demography, behavioral psychology, practitioner |
| Topics: | Quality Management, Geographical Context, Urban Studies, Digital Applications, Research Practice, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here