How To Select IV

21/06/2026

Yes, there is such a thing in a thesis, but it must be written carefully.

You should not write:

"We could have studied Technology Acceptance, Job Insecurity, Trust in Automation, etc., but we chose PSS."

That sounds conversational and may invite examiners to ask:

"Why didn't you study those instead?"

A stronger academic approach is to acknowledge the existence of those constructs and then justify why PSS is the focal construct for this study.

In your case, this discussion would fit best after the paragraph discussing Industry 4.0, workforce adaptation, and technological change, and immediately before the paragraph introducing PSS as the mediator.

The flow becomes:

1. Industry facing technological change.

2. Workers may experience uncertainty and adaptation challenges.

3. Many theoretical perspectives exist.

4. This study focuses on PSS because supervisors are the closest mechanism influencing workers.

5. Therefore PSS is chosen as the mediator.

You could write something like this:

Extracted 

Done 

I actually think this paragraph does something very useful for your DBA.

It quietly tells the examiner:

"I know the Technology Acceptance literature."

"I know the Readiness for Change literature."

"I know the Job Insecurity literature."

But then it explains:

"My study is not about technology adoption. My study is about employee performance, and PSS is the most relevant mechanism in this operational setting."

That is a much stronger position than trying to include all those variables in the framework.

In fact, if your viva examiner later asks:

"Why didn't you use UTAUT, TAM, or Readiness for Change?"

You can answer:

"Those constructs explain employee reactions to technology. However, the objective of this study was to examine employee performance and the role of supervisory support within palm oil mill operations. Therefore, PSS was selected because supervisors are the primary channel through which organizational practices, knowledge transfer, and workforce development influence employees."

That is a defensible DBA answer.

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