The document discusses developing a well-defined research problem. It covers defining the management decision problem versus the research problem, developing research questions, and identifying the components of a research problem such as the unit of analysis, research variables, theoretical framework, and hypotheses. Key points include: - The management decision problem asks what needs to be done, while the research problem asks what information is needed and how to obtain it. - Important to define the unit(s) of analysis, such as individuals, groups, organizations, or industries. - Research variables could include independent, dependent, moderating, mediating, and control variables. - The theoretical framework models relationships between variables based on literature and theories.

1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESIS
FORMULATION
SONALI BHATTACHARYA
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2. MANAGEMENT DECISION
PROBLEM
RESEARCH PROBLEM
Asks what the decision maker
need to do ?
Asks what information is needed
and how it should be obtained
Action oriented Information oriented
Focuses on symptoms Focuses to the underlying causes
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3. DEFINING THE PROBLEM- WALMART
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DM: We have seen a decline in patronage of our store
R: How do you know that?
DM: Well it is reflected in our sales and market shares
R: Why do you think your patronage has declined?
DM: I suspect we are better than competitions on some factors and
worse on others
R: How do customers view your store?
DM: I think most of them view it positively, although we may have a
weak area or two.

4. MANAGEMENT DECISION PROBLEM & RESEARCH PROBLEM
 MANAGEMENT DECISION PROBLEM
 What are factors that are leading to drop in patronage of Walmart?
 RESARCH PROBLEMS
 Factors that determine the preferences of a customer for a department stores?
 The strengths and weaknesses of Walmart vis-a-vis its competitors
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5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
 What criterion do households use while selecting department stores?
 How do households evaluate Walmart and competing stores in terms of choice criteria?
 Which stores are patronized when shopping for specific product categories?
 What is the market share of Walmart and its competitors on specific product categories?
 What is the demographic and psychographic profiles of competing stores?
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6. COMPONENTS OF WELL DEFINED RESEARCH PROBLEM
 UNIT OF ANALYSIS
 RESEARCH VARIABLES
 THEORETICAL FORMULATION AND MODEL BUILDING
 FORMULATION OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
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7. UNIT OF ANALYSIS- ONBOARDING EMPLOYEES
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Gupta, P. D., Bhattacharya, S., Sheorey, P., & Coelho, P. (2018). Relationship
between onboarding experience and turnover intention: intervening role of locus
of control and self-efficacy. Industrial and Commercial Training.

8. UNIT OF ANALYSIS-INDUSTRY
 Sharma, D., Bhattacharya, S., & Thukral, S. (2019). Resource-based view on corporate sustainable financial
reporting and firm performance: evidences from emerging Indian economy. International Journal of
Business Governance and Ethics, 13(4), 323-344.
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ESG Disclosure Reporting
• Environmental Reporting
• Sustainability Reporting
• Governance Reporting
Firm Performance
• Return on Asset
• Tobin’ Q

9. UNIT OF ANALYSIS: GROUP & TEAM
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 Neelam, N., Sheorey, P., Bhattacharya, S., & Kunte, M. (2020). Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development guidelines for learning
organization in higher education and its impact on lifelong learning–evidence from Indian business schools. VINE Journal of Information and
Knowledge Management Systems.
Lifelong Learning
Attitude
Learning
Organization
Perceived Quality of
Learning Process
H1
H2a
H2b
H2c

10. UNIT OF ANALYSIS: TRIAD
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Psychological
Ownership
Territoriality
Knowledge
Hiding
Workplace Deviant
Behaviour
Research Scientist
Subordinate
Supervisor

11. RESEARCH VARIABLE
 Any symbol or word to which we assign numeric value
 Types of Variables
 Independent Variables
 Dependent Variables
 Control Variables
 Moderating Variables
 Mediating Variables
 Intervening Variables
 Cofounding Variables
 Exogenous and Endogenous variables
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12. DEPENDENT VARIABLE (DV)
 The most important variable
 Variable under study
 A dependent variable is what you measure in the experiment and what is affected during the
experiment. The dependent variable responds to the independent variable. It is called dependent
because it "depends" on the independent variable.
 Example: Turnover Intention, Job Performance, Firm Performance, Purchase Intention, Productivity,
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13. INDEPENDENT VARIABLE (IV)
 The independent variable is the variable the experimenter changes or controls and is assumed to have a
direct effect on the dependent variable.
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ESG Disclosure Reporting
• Environmental Reporting
• Sustainability Reporting
• Governance Reporting
Firm Performance
• Return on Asset
• Tobin’ Q
Independent Variable Dependent Variable
Onboarding Experience
Early Turnover
Intention

14. MODERATING VARIABLE (MV)
 Has a strong contingent effect on the
relationship between Independent and
Dependent Variable
 It changes the strength or direction of an effect
between independent and dependent variable.
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OBPO
Gupta, P., Bhattacharya, S., Neelam, N., & Kunte,
M. (2016). Boomers like to confront, generation Y
is okay with withdrawal, but they all love to
negotiate in India. Conflict Resolution Quarterly,
33(4), 403-435.

15. INTERVENING VARIABLE AND MEDIATING VARIABLE
 An intervening variable has a temporal
connotation
 Factor which theoretically affects the observed
phenomena but cannot be seen or measured or
manipulated
 A mediating variable is a variable that links
the independent and the dependent variables,
and whose existence explains the relationship
between the other two variables.
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Onboarding
Experience
Early
Turnover
Intention
Job satisfaction can be the intervening variable

16. EXTRANEOUS VARIABLE AND CONTROL VARIABLE
 Extraneous variable are those that might exist
and might affect defined relationship and are of
not prime interest. They may cause chance
variations observed in research investigation
 In case the impact is too much the researcher may
want to block or the control the variable by using a
control variable
 The term control variable refers to variables that
are not of primary interest (i.e., neither the
exposure nor the outcome of interest) and thus
constitute an extraneous or third factor whose
influence is to be controlled or eliminated.
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Psychologic
al
Ownership
Territoriality
Knowledge
Hiding
Workplace
Deviant
Behaviour
Age
Gender
Tenure in
Organizatio
n
Control Variable

17. CONFOUNDING VARIABLE
 In statistics, a confounder is a variable that influences both the dependent variable and independent
variable, causing a spurious association. Confounding is a causal concept, and as such, cannot be
described in terms of correlations or associations.
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18. EXOGENOUS AND ENDOGENOUS VARIABLES
 An endogenous variable is one that is explained by a model. So if you have a set of simultaneous
equations, those equations (the simultaneous equation model) should explain the behavior of any
endogenous variable.
 On the other hand, if the model doesn’t explain the behavior of certain variable, then those variables are
exogenous.
 An exogenous variable is a variable that is not affected by other variables in the system. For example,
take a simple causal system like farming
 Y=a+b *x+c*z+d* r+error1
 X= c*z+ error2
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19. AN EXAMPLE
Self Efficacy(MeV)) mediates the relationship between
Locus of Control (IV) and Onboarding Experience (DV)
Onboarding Experience (MeV) mediates the relationship
between Self Efficacy (IV) and Turnover Intention(DV)
Self Efficacy (M) moderates the relationship between
onboarding experience and Turnover Intention
Industry is confounding variable impacting both Turnover
Intention and Onboarding Experience
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20. THEORETICAL FORMULATION AND MODEL BUILDING
 Operationalizing theoretical Interrelationship
between various variables
 TI= function of (LC, SE, OE, I)
 OE =function of (LC, SE, I)
 SE= function of (LC)
 Where
 LC= Locus of Control
 SE= Self –Efficacy
 OE= Onboarding Experience
 TI = Turnover Intention
 I= Infustry
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21. FORMULATION OF HYPOTHESIS
 A hypothesis is a declarative mode.
 A conjectural statement about the relationship between two or more variables (Kerlinger, 1986) based
on literature, theories and gut feeling
 A hypothesis is written in such a way that it can be proven or disproven through valid and reliable data
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Hypothesis
Descriptive
Attrition rate is 10%
Primary- Enrolment Ratio is 90%
Relational

22. AN EXAMPLE
 H1: OE has inverse relationship with TI
 H2: Some dimensions of self-efficacy will moderate the
inverse relationship between OE and TI.
 H3: The relationship between certain dimensions of
self-efficacy and TI is mediated through newcomer’s OE.
 H4: OE mediates the relationship between locus of
control and TI, with the existence of a negative
association between internal locus of control and a
positive association between external locus of control
and TI.
 H5: There will be industry wise differences in TI and OE.
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23. MODELING IN WALMART CASE
 Verbal Model
 A consumer first becomes aware of
a department store. That person
then gains an understanding of the
store by evaluating the store in
terms of the factors comprising the
choice criteria, Based on the
evaluation. the consumer forms a
degree of preference for the store. If
preference is strong enough. the
consumer will patronize the store
Awareness
Evaluation
s
Preference Patronage
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Graphical Model

24. THEORETICAL MODEL
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Belief Attitude
Affect
Purchase
Evaluation/
Experience
Repeat
Purchase
Loyalty

25. RESEARCH QUESTION AND HYPOTHESIS TESTING
 RQI: What foods are considered to be comfort foods?
HI: Potato chips are considered comfort food.
H2: Ice cream is considered comfort food.
RQ2: When do people eat comfort foods?
H3: People eat comfort foods when they are in a good mood.
H4: People eat comfort foods when they are in a bad mood.
RQ3: How do people become attached to comfort foods?
H5: People are artached to comfort foods that are consistent with their personality.
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A hypothesis (H) is an unproven
statement or proposition about a
factor or phenomenon that is of
interest to the researcher. It may,
for example, be a tentative
statement about
relationships between two or
more variables as stipulated by
the theoretical framework or the
analytical model.

26. DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESIS
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