Abstract: Clinical Governance (CG) generally aims to enhance the quality of clinical services, increases the accountability of those who are responsible for health affairs. This study examines the quality of presenting medical services in Dr. Shariati hospital in Tehran after executing the CG project. To attain the aforesaid goal, this research also surveys the implementation rate of CG in Dr. Shariati hospital based on the CG seven-pillar model. The study is a descriptive and cross-sectional research fulfilled in summer 2013. Statistical population contains the employees of Dr. Shariati hospital in Tehran and the research sample includes 80 people of the mentioned population who were selected, randomly. Data was gathered through a questionnaire and the experts confirmed its validity and the reliability was approved via Cronbach's alpha of 0.947 and then, the analysis was carried out by the SPSS software and T-test. The findings for each CG pillar in Dr. Shariati hospital have placed less than the medium amount and they are not in desirable level. The CG at the above-mentioned hospital places in a medium rank so that the efforts by the managers will create successful changes at the hospital; meanwhile, the managers will be able to utilize the CG method in systematic prediction of changeable priorities to present the best strategies for achievable performance of managerial techniques and processes.

Abstract: This paper presents a study to find the relationship between earnings response coefficient and earnings management on some selected firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The study uses Johns’s model to investigate the behavior of earnings management [Jones, J. J. (1991). Earnings management during import relief investigations. Journal of accounting research, 29(2), 193-228]. In addition, the proposed study uses Ohlson’s model [Ohlson, J. A. (1995). Earnings, book values, and dividends in equity valuation. Contemporary accounting research, 11(2), 661-687] to estimate earnings response coefficient. The study gathers the necessary information from 250 firms from TSE market over the period 2006-2012. The result of our survey indicates that there was a negative and meaningful relationship between earnings response coefficient and earnings management.

Abstract: This paper presents a study to find the effects of human resource management on empowering employees in banking industry. The proposed study designs a questionnaire and distributes it among 243 randomly selected employees of the first Iranian private banks called Saman. There are four hypotheses in this survey. The first hypothesis investigates whether employment type influences customer satisfaction or not. The second hypothesis of the survey studies whether training as well as empowering employees could increase organizational commitment or not. The third hypothesis of the survey investigates whether there is a positive relationship between creating motivation as well as job security and profitability. Finally, the last hypothesis of this survey tries to find out whether there is a positive and meaningful relationship between leadership style and supplier satisfaction. The implementation of some statistical tests confirms all four hypotheses of the survey.

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the relationship between knowledge management and organizational change in one of Iranian producers of wire and cable. The proposed study of this paper designs a questionnaire consists of 23 questions in Likert scale and distributes it among 76 randomly people who work for this organization. The results of Spearman correlation coefficients show that harvest index, refining, organizing, disseminating and applying knowledge have positive and meaningful relationship with organizational change. Managers need to develop organizational change to integrate the wealth of knowledge in various sectors and having knowledge of internal and external forces.

Abstract: This research proposes a comprehensive model that investigates the relationships between service quality, hedonic, perceived value and behavioral intentions. The purpose of this study is to build a better understanding of the determinants of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty throughout the restaurant services by incorporating the perceptions of hedonic effect in service delivery and outlining why and how service quality is important to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Respondents were chosen from three regular customers of Atawich chain restaurants in city of Tehran by using stratified random sampling method. A total of 390 questionnaires were used for data analysis. Structural equations modeling by using LISREL was performed to empirically test the relationships between the constructs of this study. Results show that both service quality and hedonic effect are importance predictors of customer satisfaction in Iranian society. In addition, results indicate that service quality and hedonic effect have positive and significant effects on perceived value. However, relationship between customer satisfaction and perceived value with attitudinal loyalty was not significant. Finally, it suggests that restaurant managers should improve their restaurant service offerings to satisfy customers. In addition, the results emphasize the significance of hedonic effect and positive emotions in creating perceived value and customer satisfaction.

Abstract: One of the primary concerns in product development is to meet customers’ wishes and this could be accomplished through detecting the most popular characteristics of products. In other words, the fulfillment of customers’ preferences in a profitable way needs that companies recognize which specifications of their product and service are most valued by the customer. Conjoint analysis is believed to be one of the most popular techniques for achieving this purpose. Conjoint analysis includes generating and conducting specific experiments among customers for modeling their purchasing decision. This paper presents an empirical investigation on detecting appropriate customer preferences in an auto-industry. The results of the survey indicate that price, braking system and having airbag are the most important characteristics for selling cars in Iranian market.

Abstract: Having an efficient budget normally has different advantages such as measuring the performance of various organizations, setting appropriate targets and promoting managers based on their achievements. However, any budgeting planning requires prediction of different cost components. There are various methods for budgeting planning such as incremental budgeting, program budgeting, zero based budgeting and performance budgeting. In this paper, we present a fuzzy goal programming to estimate operational budget. The proposed model uses fuzzy triangular as well as interval number to estimate budgeting expenses. The proposed study of this paper is implemented for a real-world case study in province of Qom, Iran and the results are analyzed.

Abstract: Green marketing plays important role on developing different business plans without harming environment. Green marketing may also help us find more loyal customers since many people do care about taking care of environment and prefer purchasing only green products and services. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to find the effect of different green strategies on brand loyalty. The proposed study designs a questionnaire and distributes it among 384 randomly selected people who purchase various brands in city of Tehran, Iran. The gathered data are analyzed using structural equation modeling and the results indicate that different green marketing strategies including green pricing, green promotion, green distribution positively influence brand loyalty.

Abstract: Leadership style plays essential role on the success of organizations. The proposed study of this paper compares the efficiency of leadership study based on EFQM and Bass models in national land and housing organization of Iran. The proposed study of this paper designs a questionnaire and distributes it among all managers on this organization. The study covers all different levels of management including middle and top-level management. The results of the survey indicate that the average efficiency of EFQM model is located in 2.7276

DOI: 10.5267/j.msl.2013.09.012
Keywords: Leadership style; Bass model; EFQM model; National land and housing organization

Abstract: Having loyal customer is the primary objective of any business owner since loyal customers purchase on regular basis, create sustainable growth and reduce risk of bankruptcy. During the past few years, many people argue that customer loyalty must be established through ethical values. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to detect ethical factors influencing customer loyalty. The proposed study determines five criteria including customer repurchase, interest in brand, recommending brand to others, positive attitude toward brand and cognitive loyalty to brand. These criteria have been ranked using fuzzy analytical network process. The study determines 14 different ethical values, which may play essential role on customer loyalty and using VIKOR, different ethical values are ranked. The study indicates that welcoming customers is the most important factor followed by cheerfulness, on time delivery, being informative and having appropriate standards.

Abstract: Quality of services is considered as one of the most important factors for customer retention as well as having a healthy business. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to determine the most important factors influencing patients’ satisfaction in one of Iranian hospitals. The proposed model of this paper uses fuzzy analytical network process (FANP) to rank different factors. The proposed model considers four major criteria including employee, management as well as organization, physicians and nurses. Our survey indicates that management and organizational issues are the most important factors followed by issues associated with physicians, nurses and employees. In terms of management and organization, waiting time to receive services is the most important factor followed by geographic location of the hospital, peaceful and quiet environment and quality of services. In addition, our surveyed patients expected their patients to listen to them very carefully and this is the most important item. They also expect nurses to provide a fast and reliable response while they expect employees to treat them with respect.

Abstract: Empowering employee plays essential role in having sustainable social capital. When social capital is depreciated, we may expect some negative consequences on society and working environment. Therefore, we need to investigate different factors influencing depreciation of social capital as well as empowering employees. The proposed model of this paper designs a questionnaire and distributes it among some randomly selected employees who worked for treasury department in Iran. The study uses two regression models, where empowering employees is a function of four independent variables including being effective, having the right to select, competency and being meaningful. The other regression model studies the relationship between depreciation of employee as dependent variable and four independent variables including job involvement, television, living affairs and generation change. The results of both regression analyses indicate that there were some positive and meaningful relationship between empowering employees as well as depreciation of employees as dependent variable and independent variables.

Abstract: Many women may have some experiences on having depression after they give birth to their children. When a husband provides continuous support during his wife's pregnancy, his presence may be effective in reducing her dissatisfaction with the childbirth process. This paper presents a survey on measuring the effect of counseling programs for husbands to provide more support for their pregnant wives. The study selects a sample of 60 people from pregnant people who approached Shahid Beheshti hospital in city of Esfahan, Iran in 2012. The findings of the survey indicate that there was no relationship between women’s age, educational background, infant’s gender, pregnancy type and depression. However, the study detects some meaningful relationship between pregnancy type, i.e. surgery or natural, and depression (t-student=3.19 α=0.003).

Abstract: Job satisfaction plays an important role on increasing business productivity and efficiency. This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the relationship between job satisfaction and employees’ personal characteristics including gender, marital status, etc. The proposed study designs a questionnaire and distributes it among 244 out of 800 employees who worked for cement industry in Iran. The data are analyzed using different statistical tests such as t-student and analysis of variance. The results indicate that while there was not any meaningful relationship between gender and job satisfaction there was some meaningful relationship between marital status and job satisfaction.

Abstract: This paper performs a study on testing the effect of training program on marital satisfaction among parents of children with attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder. The main hypothesis of this paper studies whether parental training influences on marital satisfaction among parents having to children with ADHD or not. The population of this survey includes all parents having children ages 5-12 year with ADHD who approached medical centers during the first three months of fiscal year of 2011 in city of Esfahan, Iran. The study designs a questionnaire, which includes 12 marital satisfaction characteristics with 47 questions. The study has selected a random sample of 30 couples and divided them into two equal groups with 15 people where half were considered as experiment and the other half were considered as control. Cronbach alpha has been calculated as 0.92. The result of Greenhouse-Geisser test specifies that there was not any meaningful difference between two groups before/after the exam. In other words, applying training program did not have any meaningful effect on marital satisfaction among parents of children with attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder.

Abstract: This paper investigates the role and the effect of the life cycle theory on explanation of dividend payout policy in Tehran Stock exchange listed companies over the period 2006-2011. For measuring the firm’s life cycle, two criteria namely retained earnings to equity ratio and retained earnings to assets ratio have been used as proxies of firm’s life cycle. The findings of this research show that only retained earnings to assets ratio has a meaningful and positive effect on dividend payout policy; In the companies that are growing, retained earnings to assets ratio is low; Whereas this ratio is high in the more mature companies and these firms have abundant retained earnings, hence they are good candidates to pay dividends. However, there was no meaningful relationship between another life cycle criteria namely retained earnings to equity ratio and dividend payout policy.

Abstract: This paper presents a study to investigate the effect of world’s financial turmoil on performance of petrochemical firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale and distributes it among 87 selected people from 250 existing experts who were active in TSE. The study considers four groups of questions associated with liquidity ratios, operating ratios, leverage and profitability ratios. The questions consider whether financial turmoil has influenced on these four groups of financial ratios or not and the results have been verified using t-student test. According to our survey, although financial turmoil does not seem to have any important impact on operating ratios in this sector, the chaos has influenced on other three financial ratios including liquidity, leverage and profitability ratios.

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the relationship between the opportunism behavior and leverage. In this study, opportunism behavior is calculated based on discretionary accruals using the method proposed by Jones [Jones, J. J. (1991). Earnings management during import relief investigations. Journal of accounting research, 29(2), 193-228.]. In addition, the proposed study uses return on assets, return on equities, financial burden and financing for investigation. Using statistical data from Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2006-2011, the study applies linear regression model and the results have indicated a positive and meaningful relationship between leverage and discretionary accruals, which is also called earnings management.

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical investigation on the effect of exports of non-oil goods and services on economic growth in Iran over the period 1991-2011 using Vector Autoregressive method. We also analyze the existing causal relationships between total factor productivity and non-oil exports. The results show that total factor productivity has direct and significant relationship with non-oil exports in long-term, it means that if total factor productivity increases, non-oil exports also increases. The results of the survey also indicate that the existing shock on non-oil exports does not have any significant impact on total factor productivity but the incoming shock on total factor productivity reduces non-oil exports during the first period. It also increases non-oil exports during the first period to the fourth period and from the fifth period; it continues until it reduces to a small amount, remains in that amount and eventually disappears.

Abstract: Researchers and clinicians from many disciplines are interested in learning more about the effects of self-esteem. Self-esteem affects motivation, functional behavior, and life satisfaction, and it is associated with well-being throughout life, significantly. What individuals choose to do and the way they do it in part may depend on their self-esteem and it can also fulfill the aims of mental health. This paper presents an investigation to determine the effect of play on children’s self-esteem and surveys appropriate interventions in this area. This study was semi experimental and the sample was 3rd grade elementary students who were randomly assigned into control (n=15) and experimental (n=15) groups. The instrument was Rosenberg self-esteem scale [Rosenberg, M. (1965). Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSE). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Measures Package, 61.]. Independent variable was 12 group sessions of self-esteem games executed among experimental group. Data was analyzed with univariate analysis of covariance. Results showed that self-esteem games in α ≤ 0.05 were affected on self-esteem of children. Self-esteem game can be effective intervention for children self-esteem that with them control of factors such as time and children interactions with parent and teachers in future investigations could lead to greater confidence in its effectiveness discussed.

Abstract: Building an appropriate brand always makes it possible to reach better market share in competitive market. This paper presents a study to find important factors influencing the authenticity of brand. The proposed study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale consists of 21 questions, distributes it among 400 people who purchase regularly from chain stores in city of Tehran, Iran and collects 388 filled ones. Cronbach alpha is calculated as 0.712. In addition, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy and Approx. Chi-Square are 0.748 and 1718.212, respectively. Based on the results of our survey, we have derived five factors including brand identification, brand registration, brand position, perception image from the brand and trust to brand.

Abstract: Having a sustainable growth in economy of developing countries requires appropriate infrastructures and part of it depends on gaining market share in international market. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to find out the effects of various factors on helping export for small and mid-cap firms. The proposed study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale consists of 70 questions and distributes it among some randomly selected small and mid-cap firms. The study considers whether or not improving relationships between countries positively influences on empowering firms and export capabilities. In addition, the study also considers whether or not improving national strategies for developing exports positively influences on empowering firms and export capabilities. The study also tries to find out whether or not changes on rules and regulations harms export capabilities. Using structural equation modeling, the study confirms that empowering small and mid-cap firms contributes the whole economy through boosting export.

Abstract: Knowledge plays important role on having continuous improvement within organization. Highly skilled employees normally contribute their knowledge within organizations and help others. In this paper, we perform an empirical investigation to find important factors influencing expediting knowledge distribution in one of Iranian organizations. The proposed study of this paper designs a questionnaire and distributes it among a randomly selected employees and using some statistical test, the relationship between knowledge distribution as dependent variables with eight independent variables are investigated. The results of our survey confirm that informal mechanism, building a good trust within organization, having a good interaction among different units of organization, hiring highly committed employees, improving innovation, and learning capabilities within organization may help expedite distribution of knowledge within organization. However, the survey does not find any statistical evidence to believe that formal mechanism, having a good identity and stating objective had any meaningful impact on distributing knowledge within organization.

Abstract: World Trade Organization (WTO) has been established to facilitate fringe trade in the world and there are many studies associated with the effect of WTO membership on export of various countries. This paper presents an empirical investigation to find the effect of WTO membership on export of Iranian handmade carpet. The survey uses insights from 80 experts who have at least ten years of related job experiences in carpet industry by performing an expletory and using descriptive and quantitative method for analyzing the data. The results of the survey indicate that Iran's membership in WTO will most likely reduce the sales price of handmade carpet. In addition, Iran's membership in WTO will increase scientific and professional power in handmade carpet. It will also help industry get more exposure into international market.

Abstract: A healthy and good work condition is often involved with other factors such as leadership style, management, etc. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to study the effects of the quality of work life on job satisfaction. The study uses a standard questionnaire and distributes it among all 86 full time employees of two governmental agencies in Iran, Supreme Audit Court and Interior Ministry, and Cronbach alphas has been calculated as 0.92. The main hypothesis of this survey considers the relationship between job satisfaction and quality of work life and there. There are also eleven sub-hypotheses associated with this survey including fair and sufficient payment, safe and healthy work conditions, equal job opportunities, rule of law, service training, integration and social cohesion, human development capabilities, organizational structure, delegation of authority, job satisfaction and employee participation. The results of survey have confirmed that there were some meaningful relationships between the quality of work life on job satisfaction in both organizations.