3.

7 Analysis of the quantitative data

3.7.1 Assessment of data from the pilot test and main study

A total of 202 responses (33 from the pilot survey and 169 from the main survey) were
used for the study. In order to assess the reliability and validity of all the data from
both the pilot test and the main study so as to eliminate bias, a series of t-tests were
used to compare the differences between the two groups of data, namely, data from
the early pilot test (n=33, 16.3%) and data from the main study (n=169, 83.7%). The
test results indicated that no statistical differences existed between the means of the
data from the early and late respondents for all 94 items on GSCM pressures, practices
and performances (TURE at 5% or higher level of significance). Therefore, the full
dataset of 202 responses was suitable for use in examining the research hypotheses.

3.7.2 Analysis plan

To test the hypotheses of this research, the statistical software SPSS (Statistical Product

and Service Solutions) was used to calculate and analyse the quantitative data. A number

of methods were used for analysis, including descriptives, factor analysis, correlations and

regression. Descriptive statistics can help to easily summarise the samples and measures,

while the means reveal the significance of the pressures, practices and performances

within the enterprises (Swift and Piff, 2010). Moreover, factor analysis can be conducted

to further confirm grouping of GSCM practice and GSCM performance from the survey
data. Factors were extracted using the maximum likelihood method, followed by varimax

rotation. The relationship between GSCM practices and performances was examined using
bivariate correlation, and regression analysis was employed to test and confirm the

correlations between these practices and performances. Foremost, however, before

analysing the data

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collected, the statistical parameter Cronbach’s alpha will be introduced and discussed
to explain its importance in verifying the reliability of the questions employed in this
study.

Cronbach’s alpha – to ensure the reliability of the questions and items

The alpha (α) measure was developed and named by Lee Cronbach in 1951 with the
aim of developing further coefficients. In statistics, Cronbach’s alpha is a coefficient of
internal consistency which can help to describe the extent to which all the items in a
test measure the same concept or construct, and to demonstrate the interrelatedness
of items within the test. Thus, it is commonly used as an estimate of reliability within
a psychometric test for a sample of examinees. However, it is now also widely used in
the social sciences, business, nursing, and other disciplines (Pastore and Lombardi,
2011). Therefore, the term “item” could have more meanings, such as questions, raters
or indicators, of which one might ask to what extent they measure the same thing. In
this research project, “items” are manipulated as questions in the framework of
different GSCM items and factors.

Theoretically, Cronbach’s alpha ranges in value from 0 to 1 as it is used to describe the

reliability of factors extracted from dichotomous questions (i.e. those with two
possible answers) and multi-point formatted questionnaires or scales (i.e. rating scale:
1 = poor, 5 = excellent) (Streiner and Norman, 1989). A five-point Likert-type scale was
used when designing the questions; thus, Cronbach’s alpha can be taken into account
to examine the internal consistency within each group of questions for this research
project. Empirically, however, Cronbach’s alpha can take on any value less than or
equal to 1, including negative values, although only positive values make sense. A
commonly accepted rule of thumb for using Cronbach's alpha is as follows:

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Table 3.8 Rule of thumb for using Cronbach’s alpha

Based on: Cortina (1993)

Descriptive statistics

Descriptive statistics quantitatively describe the main features of a dataset, and

include measures of ce ntral tendency, such as mean, median and mode, and
measures of variability or dispersion like standard deviation, variance, minimum and
maximum variables, kurto sis and skewness (Mann, 1995). The means can help show
the tendency of the GSC M pressures undertaken by SME manufac turers, and the
standard deviations indic ate how much difference between those pressures exist
among SMEs from the same industrial sector. A low standard deviation suggests more
similar experiences among SMEs within the same industrial sector, while a high one
indicates that SMEs f rom the same industrial sector feel different levels of GSCM
pressures. The five GSCM pressures for SME manufacturers in the area of Chang
Chiang Delta will be discu ssed in the following section.

Factor analysis

1) Factor analysis helped to verify the groupings of GSCM pressures and practices
used in this research, bot h of which contain 29 and 45 items respectively.

2) Before regressing t he relationships between the GSCM practices and performances,

another tw o steps had to be taken to ensure reliable r esults. Firstly, in

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the questionnaire, 20 items asked about GSCM performances; however, 20 items is too
many for building up a picture of the relations between each of the five practice factors,
and some of the items may be homogeneous in nature with different focuses. Thus, factor
analysis helped to group the 20 items into fewer GSCM performance factors, which could
be used to further examine the relationships between each of the GSCM practices and the
grouped performance factors.

Pearson’s correlation coefficient

Next, a preliminary examination on the relationships between the GSCM practices and
the grouped GSCM performance factors was carried out. Thus, Pearson’s correlation
coefficient was calculated to measure the extent to which the variables are related. The
results of Pearson’s correlation coefficient range between -1 and 1. A result of -1 means
that there is a perfect negative correlation between the two variables, while a result of 1
means that there is a perfect positive correlation between the two variables. Therefore,
the high correlations lie on the value intervals between 0.5 and 1, as well as between -1
and -0.5.

Regression

Finally, regression analysis was used to identify the linear relationships between
independent variables (GSCM practices, including green purchasing, eco-design,
investment recovery, cooperation with customers, and internal environmental
management) with dependent variables (each of three GSCM performances including
environmental performance, economic performance, and operational performance), as
hypothesised from H3a to H3o.