Khawaja Fawad Latif MA Ph D Assistant Professor

Khawaja Fawad Latif, MA, Ph. D Assistant Professor Department of Management Sciences COMSATS University Islamabad, Attock Campus

§ Ahmad, M. S. , Jamil, A. , Latif, K. F. , Ramayah, T. , Leen, J. Y. A. , Memon, M. , & Ullah, R. (2019). Using food choice motives to model Pakistani ethnic food purchase intention among tourists. British Food Journal. § Latif, K. F. , & Marimon, F. (2019). Development and validation of servant leadership scale in Spanish higher education. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 40(4), 499 -519 § Latif, K. F. , Latif, I. , Sahibzada, U. F. , & Mohsin Ullah (2019) In search of quality: measuring Higher Education Service Quality (Hi. Edu. Qual), Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 30(7 -8), 768 -791. § Sahibzada, U. F. , Jianfeng, C. , Latif, F. , Shafait, Z. (2019). Development and validation of a multidimensional instrument for measuring internal marketing in Chinese higher education. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 32(3), 413435 § Iqbal, A. , Latif, K. F. , Marimon, F. , Sahibzada, F. U. , Hussain, S. (2019). From knowledge management to organizational performance: Modelling the mediating role of innovation and intellectual capital in Higher Education. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 32(1), 36 -59. § Latif, K. F, & Sajjad, A. (2018). Measuring corporate social responsibility: A critical review of survey instruments. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 25(6), 1174 -1197. § Latif, K. F. (2018). The Development and Validation of Stakeholder-Based Scale for Measuring University Social Responsibility (USR). Social Indicators Research, 140(2), 511– 547 § Latif, K. F. , & Williams, N. (2017). Team effectiveness in Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) projects. Evaluation and program planning, 64, 20 -32.

§ Research, a somewhat intimidating term for some, is simply the process of finding solutions to a problem after a thorough study and analysis of the situational factors. § Along these lines, people (consumers, investors, managers) constantly engage themselves in exploring and examining issues – and hence are involved in some form of research activity‐ as they want to change mobile phone providers, buy a new car, go to the movies, invest in a business startup, or increase advertising expenditures in their role as a manager.

Research, in some form or another, may help managers in organizations to make decisions at the workplace. As we all know, sometimes they make good decisions and the problem gets solved; sometimes they make poor decisions and the problem persists; and on occasions they make such colossal blunders that they get stuck in the mire. The difference between making good decisions and committing blunders often lies in how we go about the decision‐making process. In other words, good decision making fetches a “yes” answer to the following questions: § Do we identify where exactly the problem lies? § Do we correctly recognize the relevant factors in the situation needing investigation? § Do we know what types of information are to be gathered and how? § Do we know how to make use of the information so collected and draw appropriate conclusions to make the right decisions? § And, finally, do we know how to implement the results of this process to solve the problem? § This is the essence of research and to be a successful manager it is important to know how to go about making the right decisions by being knowledgeable about the various steps involved in finding solutions to problematic issues of interest to the organization and/or its stakeholders.

§ Business research can be described as a systematic and organized effort to investigate a specific problem encountered in the work setting, which needs a solution. It comprises a series of steps that are designed and executed with the goal of finding answers to the issues that are of concern to the manager in the work environment. § This means that the first step in research is to know where the problem areas exist in the organization, and to identify as clearly and specifically as possible the problems that need to be studied and resolved. § Once the problem is clearly defined, steps can be taken to determine the factors that are associated with the problem, gather information, analyze the data, develop an explanation for the problem at hand then solve it by taking the necessary corrective measures.

§ We can now define business research as an organized, systematic, data‐based, critical, objective, inquiry or investigation into a specific problem, undertaken with the purpose of finding answers or solutions to it. § In essence, research provides the necessary information that guides managers to make informed decisions to successfully deal with problems. § The information provided could be the result of a careful analysis of primary data gathered first‐hand or of secondary data that are already available (in the company, industry, archives, etc. ). § These data can be quantitative (quantitative data are data in the form of numbers as generally gathered through structured questions) or qualitative (qualitative data are data in the form of words) as generated from the broad answers to questions in interviews, or from responses to open‐ended questions in a questionnaire, or through observation, or from already available information gathered from various sources such as the Internet.

§ There are different types of questions research projects can address and there are many different approaches to collecting and analyzing different types of data. § What’s more, some research is aimed at building theory, whereas other research is designed to test a theory or to describe what is going on, using an existing framework, instrument, or model. Indeed, in one form or another, both theory and information play an important role in a research project. § The term ‘theory’ can mean a lot of different things, depending on whom you ask. § Many people use the word ‘theory’ to mean an idea or hunch that someone has, for instance about the optimal formation of a soccer team, investment bankers’ salaries, or the Apollo program and the associated moon landings (‘the Apollo moon landing didn’t happen’).

§ For others, a theory is any concept, instrument, model, or framework that helps them to think about or solve a problem, to describe a phenomenon, or to better understand a topic of interest, such as competitive advantage, stakeholder management. § To a scientist, a theory explains a certain phenomenon, and the idea is that this explanation will hold in a wide range of settings. For instance, expectancy theory proposes that people will choose how to behave depending on the outcomes they expect as a result of their behavior. § In other words, people decide what to do based on what they expect the outcome to be. At work, for example, it might be that people work longer hours because they expect an increase in pay. § Like this, a theory may generate testable – and sooner or later, tested – predictions. A theory (in the formal, scientific sense) may thus vary in the extent to which it has been conceptually developed and empirically tested.

§ Research can be undertaken for two different purposes. One is to solve a current problem faced by the manager in the work setting, demanding a timely solution. § For example, a particular product may not be selling well and the manager might want to find the reasons for this in order to take corrective action. Such research is called applied research. § The other is to generate a body of knowledge by trying to comprehend how certain problems that occur in organizations can be solved. This is called basic, fundamental, or pure research.

The hallmarks or main distinguishing characteristics of scientific research may be listed as follows: § Purposiveness § Rigor § Testability § Replicability § Precision and Confidence § Objectivity § Generalizability § Parsimony

Purposiveness The manager has started the research with a definite aim or purpose. The focus is on increasing the commitment of employees to the organization, as this will be beneficial in many ways. It will translate into less turnover, less absenteeism, and probably increased performance levels. The research thus has a purposive focus. Rigor (Accuracy) A good theoretical base and sound methodological design would add rigor to a purposive study. Let us say the manager asks 10 -12 employees to indicate what would increase their commitment. It would lack rigor for the following reasons: 1. The conclusions would be incorrectly drawn as just a few employees are involved, 2. The manner of framing and addressing the questions could have introduced bias or incorrectness in the responses, and 3. There might be many other important influences that this small sample did not or could not verbalize during the interviews

Testability Scientific research lends itself to testing logically developed hypotheses to see whether or not the data support the educated conjectures or hypotheses that are developed after a careful study of the problem situation. Testability thus becomes another hallmark of scientific research. Replicability A researcher would place more faith and credence in findings and conclusion of a study, if similar findings emerge on the basis of data collected by other organizations employing the same methods. To put it differently, the results of the tests of hypotheses should be supported again and yet again when the same type of research is repeated in other similar circumstances. To the extent that this does happen (i. e. , the results are replicated or repeated), we will gain confidence in the scientific nature of our research. In other words, our hypotheses would not have been supported merely by chance, but are reflective of the true state of affairs in the population. Replicability is thus another hallmark of scientific research.

Precision and Confidence In management research, we seldom have the luxury of being able to draw “definitive” conclusions on the basis of the results of data analysis. This is because we are unable to study the universe of items, events, or population we are interested in, and have to base our findings on a sample that we draw from the universe. Precision refers to the closeness of the findings to “reality” based on a sample. For example, if I estimated the number of production days lost during the year due to absenteeism at between 30 and 40, as against the actual of 35, the precision of my estimation compares more favorably than if I had indicated that the loss of production days was somewhere between 20 and 50. Confidence refers to the probability that our estimations are correct. That is, it is not merely enough to be precise, but it is also important that we can confidently claim that 95% of the time our results would be true and there is only a 5% chance of our being wrong. This is also known as confidence level.

Objectivity The conclusions drawn through the interpretation of the results of data analysis should be objective; that is, they should be based on the facts of the findings derived from actual data, and not on our own subjective or emotional values. For instance, if we had a hypothesis that stated that greater participation in decision making will increase organizational commitment, and this was not supported by the results, it makes no sense if the researcher continues to argue that increased opportunities for employee participation would still help!

Generalizability refers to the scope of applicability of the research findings in one organizational setting to other settings. Obviously, the wider the range of applicability of the solutions generated by research, the more useful the research is to the users. For instance, if a researcher’s findings that participation in decision making enhances organizational commitment are found to be true in a variety of manufacturing, industrial, and service organizations, and not merely in the particular organization studied by the researcher, then the generalizability of the findings to other organizational settings is enhanced. For wider generalizability, the research sampling design has to be logically developed and a number of other details in the data-collection methods need to be meticulously followed.

Parsimony Simplicity in explaining the phenomena or problems that occur, and in generating solutions for the problems, is always preferred to complex research frameworks that consider an unmanageable number of factors. For instance, if two or three specific variables in the work situation are identified, which when changed would raise the organizational commitment of the employees by 45%, that would be more useful and valuable to the manager than if it were recommended that he should change 10 different variables to increase organizational commitment by 48%. Such an unmanageable number of variables might well be totally beyond the manager’s control to change. Therefore, the achievement of a meaningful and parsimonious, rather than an elaborate and cumbersome, model for problem solution becomes a critical issue in research.

§ Observation § Preliminary Information Gathering § Theory Formulation § Hypothesizing § Further Scientific Data Collection § Data Analysis § Deduction

Observation is the first stage, in which one senses that certain changes are occurring, or that some new behaviors, attitudes, and feelings are surfacing in one’s environment (i. e. , the workplace). When the observed phenomena are seen to have potentially important consequences, one would proceed to the next step. How does one observe phenomena and changes in the environment? The peopleoriented manager is always sensitive to and aware of what is happening in and around the workplace. Changes in attitudes, behaviors, communication patterns

§ Preliminary information gathering involves the seeking of information in depth, of what is observed. § This could be done by talking informally to several people in the work setting or to clients, or to other relevant sources, thereby gathering information on what is happening and why. § Through these unstructured interviews, one gets an idea or a “feel” for what is transpiring in the situation. Once the researcher increases the level of awareness as to what is happening, the person could then focus on the problem and the associated factors through further structured, formal interviews with the relevant groups. § Additionally, by doing library research, or obtaining information through other sources, the investigator would identify how such issues have been tackled in other situations.

§ Theory formulation, the next step, is an attempt to integrate all the information in a logical manner, so that the factors responsible for the problem can be conceptualized and tested. § The theoretical framework formulated is often guided by experience and intuition. In this step the critical variables are examined as to their contribution or influence in explaining why the problem occurs and how it can be solved. § The network of associations identified among the variables would then be theoretically woven together with justification as to why they might influence the problem.

Hypothesizing is the next logical step after theory formulation. From theorized network of associations among the variables, certain testable hypotheses or educated conjectures can be generated. For instance, at this point, one might hypothesize that if a sufficient number of items are stocked on shelves, customer dissatisfaction will be considerably reduced. This is a hypothesis that can be tested to determine if the statement would be supported. Hypothesis testing is called deductive research. Sometimes, hypotheses that were not originally formulated do get generated through the process of induction. That is, after the data are obtained, some creative insights occur, and based on these, new hypotheses could get generated to be tested later. Generally, in research, hypotheses testing through deductive research and hypotheses generation through induction are both common. The Hawthorne experiments are a good example of this. In the relay assembly line, many experiments were conducted that increased lighting and the like, based on the original hypothesis that these would account for increases in productivity. But later, when these hypotheses were not substantiated, a new hypothesis was generated based on observed data. The mere fact that people were chosen for the study gave them a feeling of importance that increased their productivity whether or not lighting, heating, or other effects were improved, thus the coining of the term the Hawthorne effect!

§ After the development of the hypotheses, data with respect to each variable in the hypotheses need to be obtained. In other words, further scientific data collection is needed to test the hypotheses that are generated in the study. § For instance, to test the hypothesis that stocking sufficient items will reduce customer dissatisfaction, one needs to measure the current level of customer satisfaction and collect further data on customer satisfaction levels whenever sufficient number of items are stocked and made readily available to the customers. § Data on every variable in theoretical framework from which hypotheses are generated should also be collected. These data then form the basis for further data analysis.

§ In the data analysis step, the data gathered are statistically analyzed to see if the hypotheses that were generated have been supported. For instance, to see if stock levels influence customer satisfaction, one might want to do a correlational analysis and determine the relationship between the two factors. § Similarly, other hypotheses could be tested through appropriate statistical analysis. Analyses of both quantitative and qualitative data can be done to determine if certain conjectures are substantiated. § Qualitative data refer to information gathered in a narrative form through interviews and observations.

§ Deduction is the process of arriving at conclusions by interpreting the meaning of the results of the data analysis. For instance, if it was found from the data analysis that increasing the stocks was positively correlated to (increased) customer satisfaction, then one can deduce that if customer satisfaction is to be increased, the shelves have to be better stocked. § In summary, there are seven steps involved in identifying and resolving a problematic issue. To make sure that the seven steps of the hypothetico-deductive method are properly understood, let us briefly review two examples in an organizational setting and the course of action taken in the seven steps.

§ Literature survey is the documentation of a comprehensive review of the published and unpublished work from secondary sources of data in the areas of specific interest to the researcher. § The purpose of the literature review is to ensure that no important variable that has in the past been found repeatedly to have had an impact on the problem is ignored. § The literature survey thus provides the basis or foundation for developing a conceptual framework for looking at the problem in a more useful and/or creative way. This, in turn, helps to develop testable hypotheses that would substantiate or disprove our theory.

A good literature survey thus ensures that: § Important variables that are likely to influence the problem situation are not left out of the study. § A clearer idea emerges as to what variables would be most important to consider (parsimony), why they would be considered important, and how they should be investigated to solve the problem. Thus, the literature survey helps the development of theoretical framework and hypotheses for testing. § The problem statement can be made with precision and clarity. § Testability and replicability of the findings of the current research are enhanced. § One does not run the risk of “reinventing the wheel” that is, wasting efforts on trying to rediscover something that is already known. § The problem investigated is perceived by the scientific community as relevant and significant.

Problem definition or problem statement, as it is also often referred to, is a clear, precise, and succinct statement of the question or issue that is to be investigated with the goal of finding an answer or solution. As mentioned earlier, problem definitions could pertain to § Existing business problems where a manager is looking for a solution, § situations that may not pose any current problems but which the manager feels have scope for improvement, § areas where some conceptual clarity is needed for better theory building, or § situations in which a researcher is trying to answer a research question empirically because of interest in the topic. § The first two fall within the realm of applied research, and the latter two under basic research.

§ To what extent do the structure of the organization and type of information systems installed account for the variance in the perceived effectiveness of managerial decision making? § To what extent has the new advertising campaign been successful in creating the high -quality, customer-centered corporate image that it was intended to produce? § How has the new packaging affected the sales of the product? § Has the new advertising message resulted in enhanced recall?