Paper Example Undergraduate 621 words

Research manuscript critique and analysis

Last reviewed: January 13, 2012 ~4 min read

Manuscript Reference: Van der Voort, Glac, & Meijs (2009).

Review of case studies, so qualitative in nature.

The research topic of interest is corporate community involvement (CCI), which is the provision of goods and services to nonprofit and civic organizations by corporations.

To introduce a social movement approach to understanding CCI dynamics within corporations. Social movements are defined as "organized collective endeavors to solve social problems […] that occur over longer term time stretches, are driven by long-term goals, and develop formal organizations." (p. 312).

Overarching Research Question or Theory: There has been little research that has tried to understand how corporations address the dynamics and challenges of managing CCI activities in the context of their business. This paper attempts to address that understanding.

Specific Research Questions / Philosophical Underpinnings: The hypothesis was that efforts by corporations to incorporate CCI as a standard business practice would actually hinder the growth of CCI in corporations. Moreover, making CCI standard business practice might result in a decrease in employee motivation to perform these activities (via cognitive dissonance) as well as making CCI more contested and perceived as illegitimate by employees and shareholders.

II. Manuscript Reference: Shugan (2005).

Type of Study: Primarily based on the results of quantitative studies, but this is actually an editorial or critique of theory.

Research Topic: Consumer behavior, specifically consumer rationality, which is described as a consumer choosing the most advantages behavior for them in an environment where all parties such as retailers, manufacturers, etc. have different incentives to act.

Purpose of the Study: To offer a definition of consumer rationality and explain how different methodologies can account for different findings in regard to consumer rationality. Understanding how consumers make choices is of course important. Here, the purpose is to discuss how methodological factors can lead to different results pertaining to consumer rationality.

Overarching Research Question or Theory: The primary theory implied in this paper is that consumer rationality is defined by the methodology under which it is observed or tested. Different methodologies will result in different outcomes with regard to consumer rationality.

Specific Research Questions / Philosophical Underpinnings: The ability to predict consumer behavior is a variant of the model involved. When models predict consumer behavior well, the consumers predict high rationality; however, when models cannot predict consumer behavior the consumers appear more irrational. Thus, the concept of consumer rationality is a product of the researcher's model rather than consumer themselves.