Background. The study was conducted in the context of a number of comparative studies into student approaches to studying, particularly in an Asian context, and used the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (RASI).
Aims. (i) Explore the cross cultural validity of the RASI; (ii) compare the approaches to studying of Hong Kong and UK students; (iii) examine the predictive validity of the RASI; (iv) investigate the relationships between age, gender and approach.
Samples. The samples consisted of undergraduates at two institutions in Hong Kong (N = 183) and the UK (N = 225) following business studies and related degree programmes.
Method. The RASI was administered in the course of a study skills workshop in which co‐operation was voluntary. Learning performance data from summative and formative assessments were used to examine the predictive validity of the RASI.
Results. Principal components analysis was generally successful in reconstructing the three RASI scales; however the ‘relying on memorising’ subscale loaded ambiguously. The RASI failed to predict any aspect of learning performance for the Hong Kong sample, whilst for the UK sample there were some low correlations. An interaction of age and gender in their effect upon deep and strategic approaches was observed for the Hong Kong sample.
Conclusions. (i) The conception of ‘Asian learners as rote learners' is not supported; (ii) approaches to studying should not be seen in isolation from contextual factors, particularly the demands of assessment regimes; (iii) conceptualisations of memorisation require further theoretical and empirical elaboration.
The Cognitive Style Index (Allinson and Hayes, 1996) is a relatively new measure which aims to assess an individual's position on an intuitionanalysis dimension of cognitive style. The CSI was designed specifically as a self-report measure for use with management groups in large scale organizational research. In this respect it is similar to the Kirton Adaption-Innovation inventory (KAI) (Kirton, 1976) which is a measure of a bi-polar style construct that reflects an individual's preferred mode for problem solving. The CSI has been used in a number of studies (for example:
This paper illustrates that small business managers in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom over-rely on the financially related performance measures in a manner inappropriate for handling the complexities and uncertainties in the business environment. It also shows that managers must address the development of new approaches to performance measurement to anticipate market trends and respond to changing customer needs. The paper suggests that small business success is dependent upon the ability of managers to understand the external environment and match this to the internal capabilities of the business. This implies that managers will have an external focus and possess the ability to continuously develop the small business's capabilities to meet the challenges created by the external environment. The paper concludes by advocating that performance measures should adapt as businesses are affected over time by different factors. We recommend a broad approach to performance measurement which incorporates tangible, non-tangible, financial and non-financial indicators.
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