Data Analysis report. Accounting, Finance, SPSS Coursework

Data Analysis Report
LatifaAlnuaimi
Research Methods in Business (MGT 524)
Instructor:
Abu Dhabi University
Date:
Executive Summary
The report analyses the factors affecting economic performance focusing on the descriptive analysis, reliability test, regression analysis and correlation analysis. Cronbach's Alpha was used to evaluate whether the data was reliable. The data collected was analyzed to determine the impact of sustainable policy, lean management, social responsibility and management of inputs on economic performance. The predictors were determined to be positively correlated with economic performance. Management practices such as lean management are associated with sustainability policy. Besides the business practices, the efficient use of resources improve productivity and economic performance.
Model Description
The independent variables are: Sustainable Policy (SP), Lean Management (LM), Social Responsibility (SR) and Management of Inputs (MIP). The null hypothesis is that these factors d not influence economic performance, whereby when P-value < 0.05; reject the null hypothesis and if P-value > 0.05; fail to reject the null hypothesis. For the firm, there are frequency measures for the top management and the middle management, while for the employees the valid categories are those with less than 500 and those with between 500 and 1500.
* A sustainable policy reflects the strategies and procedure to meet current and future needs with emphasis on equity in the use and distribution of resources, where practices create value, maximize positive impacts and minimize the negative impacts.
* Lean management is managing organizations and optimizing resources to facilitate continuous improvement, which improves the quality and efficiency.
* Social responsibility is the commitment, duty and obligations that individuals have or as members of a group or organization for the benefit of a just society and may include protecting the environment.
* Management of inputs relates to the resources in management including assets, human resources and investments that improve performance.
* Economic performance focuses on analysis of productivity when considering the business activities and may look into different measures such as growth capacity, efficiency in use of scarce resources, sales, profitability and employment.
Descriptive Analysis
Descriptive statistics are statistical techniques and procedures that summarize, organize, and simplify the data. This includes the measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion or variability.
Descriptive Statistics


N

Sum

Mean

Std. Deviation

Variance

SP

123

459.33

3.7344

.63727

.406

MIP

123

468.25

3.8069

.60124

.361

LM

123

459.33

3.7344

.58043

.337

SR

123

483.00

3.9268

.62948

.396

EP

123

507.33

4.1247

.59045

.349

Valid N (listwise)

123





The descriptive statistics on the five variables will provide insights on differences in the sum and mean (measure of central tendency), standard deviation and variance (measures of dispersion/ variability). The highest sum and mean was for economic performance at 507.33 and 4.1247 respectively, while the least standard deviation and variance was for the lean management variable at .58043 and 0.337. When there are small differences among the score, then the variability is small and more clustered like lean management and when there are large the variability is larger and sustainable policy has the highest degree of dispersion.
Reliability Test
The reliability of a test or instrument refers to the consistency of the scores obtained by the same individuals on different occasions or with different sets of equivalent items. The Cronbach alpha coefficient measures the internal consistency of a scale and is based on average correlation and assumes that the items measure the same construct and that they are highly correlated. An α of 0.6-0.7 and above this indicates reflects the acceptable level of reliability.
Scale: Sustainable Policy
Item Statistics


Mean

Std. Deviation

N

SP 1

3.87

.941

123

SP 2

3.73

.840

123

SP 3

3.60

.866

123

Item-Total Statistics


Scale Mean if Item Deleted

Scale Variance if Item Deleted

Corrected Item-Total Correlation

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

SP 1

7.33

1.945

.315

.503

SP 2

7.47

2.169

.315

.493

SP 3

7.60

1.881

.431

.309

In the case of sustainable policy the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for SP 1 to SP 3 are all below 0.6 even when the items are deleted in the data analysis. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the items are all less than 0.6 and as such are below the acceptable level of reliability.
Scale: Management of Inputs
Item Statistics


Mean

Std. Deviation

N

MIP 1

3.87

.701

123

MIP 2

3.85

.856

123

MIP3

3.80

.972

123

MIP 4

3.70

.819

123

Item-Total Statistics


Scale Mean if Item Deleted

Scale Variance if Item Deleted

Corrected Item-Total Correlation

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

MIP 1

11.36

4.084

.427

.637

MIP 2

11.37

3.367

.536

.561

MIP3

11.42

3.000

.546

.553

MIP 4

11.53

3.956

.355

.678

For the management of inputs variable, Cronbach's alpha for MIP 1 is 0.637 when the item deleted, and MIP 4 it is .678, but is less than 0.6 for MIP 2 and MIP 3. The Cronbach's coefficient assesses internal consistency and the alpha for MIP 1 and MIP 4 are > 0.6 , and while a coefficient equal to or greater than 0.70 is the most acceptable in many studies the 0.60 - 0.70 is also used.
Scale: Lean Management
Item Statistics


Mean

Std. Deviation

N

LM 1

3.81

.717

123

LM 2

3.82

.820

123

LM 3

3.57

.869

123

Item-Total Statistics


Scale Mean if Item Deleted

Scale Variance if Item Deleted

Corrected Item-Total Correlation

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

LM 1

7.39

1.912

.306

.506

LM 2

7.38

1.320

.552

.077

LM 3

7.63

1.742

.233

.638

In the analysis of lean management, LM 2 was Cronbach's alpha was 0.077, which is very weak, but 0.638 for LM 3. As the Cronbach’s technique shows the magnitude in which the items of an instrument are correlated, then LM 1 and LM 2 items reflect will score low consistency.
Scale: Social Responsibility
Item Statistics


Mean