We wish to thank the members of the igroup for their help in conducting this research, VRT GmbH for their financial support, and Sven Waldzus and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Thomas Schubert, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Humboldtstr.

Schwartz, 1998) to measure self-esteem by assessing automatic associations of self with positive or negatlve valence. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that two IAT measures defined a factor that was distinct from, but weakly correlated with, a factor defined by standard explicit (self-report) measures of self-esteem. Experiment 2 tested known-groups validity of two IAT gender self-concept measures. Compared with well-established explicit measures, the IAT measures revealed triple the difference in measured masculinity-femininity between men and women. Again, CFA revealed construct divergence between implicit and explicit measures. Experiment 3 assessed the self-esteem IAT's validity in predicting cognitive reactions to success and failure. High implicit self-esteem was associated in the predicted fashion with buffering against adverse effects of failure on two of four measures. This research developed from the assumption that distinct im-plicit and explicit self-esteem constructs require different measure-ment strategies. In particular, the research pursued implications of Greenwald and Banaji's (1995) definition of implicit self-esteem as "the introspectively unidentified (or inaccurately identified) effect of the self-attitude on evaluation of self-associated and

A growing body of empirical literature supports key assertions of the resource-based view. However, most of this work examines the impact of firm-specific resources on the overall performance of a firm. In this paper it is argued that, in some circumstances, adopting the effectiveness of business processes as a dependent variable may be more appropriate than adopting overall firm performance as a dependent variable. This idea is tested by examining the determinants of the effectiveness of the customer service business process in a sample of North American insurance companies. Results are consistent with resource-based expectations, and they show that distinctive advantages observable at the process level are not necessarily reflected in firm level performance. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed along with a discussion of the relationship between resources and capabilities, on the one hand, and business processes, activities, and routines, on the other. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The resource-based view (RBV) asserts that firms gain and sustain competitive advantages by deploying valuable resources and capabilities that are

This is a working paper. elab.vanderbilt.edu Measuring the Flow Construct in Online Environments: A Structural Modeling Approach Though marketers have made great strides in understanding the Internet, they still understand little about what makes for a compelling consumer experience online. Recently, the flow construct has been proposed as important for understanding consumer behavior on the World Wide Web. Although widely studied over the past twenty years, quantitative modeling efforts of the flow construct have been neither systematic nor comprehensive. In large parts, these efforts have been hampered by considerable confusion regarding the exact conceptual definition of flow. Lacking precise definition, it has been difficult to measure flow empirically, let alone apply the concept in practice. Following the conceptual model of flow proposed by Hoffman and Novak (1996), we conceptualize flow as a complex multidimensional construct characterized by directed relationships among a set of unidimensional constructs, most of which have previously been incorporated in various definitions of flow. In a quantitative modeling framework, we use data collected from a large-sample Web-based consumer survey to measure this set of constructs, and fit a series of structural equation models that test Hoffman and Novak’s (1996) theory. The conceptual model is largely supported and the improved fit offered by the revised model provides additional insights into the antecedents and consequences of flow. A key insight from the paper is that the degree to which the online experience is compelling can be defined and measured. As such, our flow model may be useful both theoretically and in practice as marketers strive to decipher the secrets of commercial success in interactive online environments. 1

Differences between blacks and whites on cognitive ability tests have been attributed to a fundamental difference between these groups in general intelligence (or g, as it is denoted). The hypothesized difference in g gives rise to Spearman’s hypothesis, which states that the differences in the means of the tests are related to the tests ’ factor loadings on g. Jensen has investigated this hypothesis by correlating differences in means and tests ’ g loadings. The aim of the present article is to investigate B-W differences using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. The advantages of multi-group confirmatory factor analysis over Jensen’s test of Spearman’s hypothesis are discussed. A published data set is analyzed. Strict factorial invariance is tested and judged to be tenable. Various models are tested, which do and do not incorporate g. It is observed that it is difficult to distinguish between several hypotheses, including and excluding g, concerning group differences. The inability to distinguish between competing models using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis makes it difficult to draw clear conclusions about the exact nature of black-white differences in cognitive abilities. The implications of the results for Jensen’s test of Spearman’s hypothesis are discussed.

Research at the University of Texas at Austin for financial support. Prabhudev Konana

package for R (R Development Core Team, 2007b), an open source statistical programming language and environment. MBESS implements methods that are not widely available elsewhere, yet are especially helpful for the idiosyncratic techniques used within the behavioral, educational, and social sciences. The major categories of functions are those that relate to confidence interval formation for noncentral t, F, and � 2 parameters, confidence intervals for standardized effect sizes (which require noncentral distributions), and sample size planning issues from the power analytic and accuracy in parameter estimation perspectives. In addition, MBESS contains collections of other functions that should be helpful to substantive researchers and methodologists. MBESS is a long-term project that will continue to be updated and expanded so that important methods can continue to be made available to researchers in the behavioral, educational, and social sciences. R is an open source statistical programming language and environment for (essentially) all operating systems that has gained a widespread following in quantitative disciplines (R Development Core Team, 2007b). This following is perhaps most prevalent in the statistical sciences, where many published works now provide R routines

Explaining how entrepreneurs overcome information asymmetry between themselves and potential investors to obtain financing is an important issue for entrepreneurship research. Our premise is that economic explanations for venture finance, which do not consider how social ties influence this process, are undersocialized and incomplete. However, we also argue that organization theoretic arguments, which draw on the concept of social obligation, are oversocialized. Drawing on the organizational theory literature, and in-depth fieldwork with 50 high-technology ventures, we examine the effects of direct and indirect ties between entrepreneurs and 202 seed-stage investors on venture finance decisions. We show that these ties influence the selection of ventures to fund through a process of information transfer. (Entrepreneurship; Venture Finance; Social Capital) Entrepreneurs are often wealth constrained, and need to obtain external financing to pursue their opportunities, making financing central to the process of entrepreneurship (Evans and Leighton 1989, Casson

This article addresses the concern for effective web site design by means of the conceptualization and empirical validation of a web site user satisfaction construct. Based on IS success theory, hypermedia design theory, a qualitative exploratory pilot study, and a quantitative online critical incident technique, we introduce and define the construct of web site user satisfaction, explore its dimensionality, provide empirical validation of the construct and its underlying dimensionality, develop a standardized instrument with desirable psychometric properties for measuring WUS, and explore the measure's theoretical and practical application.

This article examines the theoretical status of latent variables as used in modern test theory models. First, it is argued that a consistent interpretation of such models requires a realist ontology for latent variables. Second, the relation between latent variables and their indicators is discussed. It is maintained that this relation can be interpreted as a causal one but that in measurement models for interindividual differences the relation does not apply to the level of the individual person. To substantiate intraindividual causal conclusions, one must explicitly represent individual level processes in the measurement model. Several research strategies that may be useful in this respect are discussed, and a typology of constructs is proposed on the basis of this analysis. The need to link individual processes to latent variable models for interindividual differences is emphasized. Consider the following sentence: “Einstein would not have been able to come up with his e � mc 2 had he not possessed such an extraordinary intelligence. ” What does this sentence express? It relates observable behavior (Einstein’s writing e � mc 2)toan unobservable attribute (his extraordinary intelligence), and it does so by assigning to the unobservable attribute a causal role in