International Journal of Management, Economics and Social Sciences

42-57

Authors: Dong-Jenn Yang, Chih-Chung Wang, Chiu-Ping Chen

The purpose of this study was to find out how stroke patients' chronic regulatory focus interacted with message framing had impact on the therapy frequency and functional outcome. A one factor (chronic regulatory focus) x 2 (message framing: gain vs. loss) between-subject design was employed with questionnaire and evaluation form. Ninety-six stroke patients recruited from different medical units in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan were randomly assigned to read one of two messages. Therapy frequency and functional outcome, Barthel Index were used as dependent variables. One way ANOVA repeated measure, regression analyses and simple slope analysis were used to examine the effects. The results indicated that chronic regulatory focus had long term effects on the therapy frequency, and Barthel Index. The mediating effect of therapy frequency and the interaction effect between chronic regulatory focus and message framing were not supported, but the simple slope analysis showed that gain-framed message was more likely to prompt therapy frequency on patients with stroke. This study provided the practitioners guidelines to design the persuasive message to facilitate therapy and sustain the behavior.

71-91

Authors: Yun-Shi Liu, Chen-Kung Huang, Ching-Han Fang, Wei-Ya Tsai, June-Kune Chen

This study examines the processes undertaken by a state-owned enterprise to overcome limitations and successfully reverse its decline through moderate, gradual and small-scale evolutionary change. This paper utilizes the "social process research model" to analyze and record organizational changes at Jiangnan Resort, and further observes strategic countermeasures employed to address crises and successful management of organizational change. Results from our study suggest that organizational evolutionary change strategies should include institutionalization strategies, development of marketing channels, festival event marketing, placement marketing, product packaging strategies, niche market segmentation, service quality enhancement, and manpower flexibility strategies. Key factors in change management include Total Quality Management (TQM), Management by Objective (MBO), organizational members understanding of urgency and need of change, gaining support through education and communication, employee empowerment and participation, and institutionalizing change. The resulting information can serve as a reference for future qualitative research and development of strategic concepts for organizations planning to adopt evolutionary change into their companies.