Political considerations of studying tax compliance

Given the recent interest of the Internal Revenue Service in having academic social scientists do research on the problem of tax noncompliance, it is important to consider the political and administrative context in which such research would occur. While the IRS offers a tremendous opportunity in the form of data and expertise, its tax enforcement mission and political environment play an important role in shaping the research agenda. Specifically, the academic social scientists, wishing to avail themselves of the opportunity, must be able to demonstrate the practical application of their research, something that researchers of the so-called “underground economy” did not do. Moreover, the research must not perpetuate the notion that the ability or efficiency of the IRS to enforce the tax laws is being widely eroded. The criminal deterrence doctrine is an area of basic research having particular interest to the IRS. There is a discussion of how research on the deterrence of tax crime might develop. He has done research for the IRS and presently is studying the untaxed economy.     

Training Environments, Work Attitudes, and Turnover Intention

A recent and extensive review of research concluded that worker age–viewed both chronologically and in terms of career stage–was a decisive determinant of work attitudes including turnover intention, i.e., intention to remain in an occupation or to leave it. This paper reports a study of work attitudes among 732 American, British, and Spanish students undergoing training as merchant marine engineering officers. All were of the same age and were at the same point in their careers. Wide differences were shown in terms of attitudes toward the occupation including turnover intention. The single most important variable was the national context in which training was taking place: The Americans exhibited the most negative work attitudes and the higher turnover intention; the Spanish had the most positive attitudes and the lowest turnover intention; the British tended to fall in the middle. Social class origin had some, though irregular, effects. The national differences are explained in terms of the training environments existing in the schools as well as structural features surrounding the merchant marine industry and the organization of training for the occupation in each country. Hence, though age may be a decisive element in work attitudes, this study suggests that the social organization within which age factors are located may determine the scope and forms of its effects.     

Ideology and the Affective Structure of Whites' Racial Perceptions

The present study tests the hypothesis that deviations from"affective bipolarity" in the relationship between the positiveand negative dimensions of whites’ stereotypes of blacks—suchas racial ambivalence—should be stronger among conservatives.Across two different data sets (the 2000 National Election Studyand the 1991 National Race and Politics Study) and three differentmethodologies (heteroskedastic regression, confirmatory factoranalysis, and a regression analysis of attitude-ambivalencescores), this hypothesis was supported. Further analyses indicatedthat the relationship between conservatism and ambivalent perceptionsof blacks was mediated by conflict between humanitarian andindividualistic concerns in the racial context, but not in theabstract.     

Political Polling and the New Media Culture: A Case of More Being Less

Changes in journalism—including newsroom cutbacks, anemphasis on repackaging secondhand material, and the demandsof 24-hour news—have expanded the reliance on polls asnews, including polls of a sort once considered not reliablefor publication, and led to a more superficial understandingof the 2004 presidential race. The proliferation of outletsoffering news, which has resulted in greater competition foraudience, has also intensified the motivation of using pollsin part for their marketing value rather than purely their probativejournalistic value. The more "synthetic" style of contemporaryjournalism has increased the tendency to allow polls to createa context for journalists to explain and organize other news—becomingthe lens through which reporters see and order a more interpretativenews environment. A greater dependence on horse race trackingpolls by the media has reinforced these tendencies and furtherthinned the public’s understanding toward who won andaway from why. Growing audience skepticism and political polarizationhave created an environment of distrust about the methodologyand integrity of polling. All of these factors, in turn, arefrustrating the efforts of academic and commercial pollstersto maintain standards and deepen understanding among journalistsabout public opinion research and how to use it as journalism.     

The Polls--Review: Public Opinion Research and Support for the Iraq War

Professors Peter Feaver, Christopher Gelpi, and Jason Reifler'stheory of the determinants of public support for war has receiveda great deal of attention among academics, journalists, andpolicymakers. They argue that support for war hinges on initialsupport for military action and the belief in the success ofthe war. In this review, we take a critical and constructiveview of their work, focusing on methodological concerns. Wediscuss the dependent variable used by the authors—individualcasualty tolerance—and argue that it is an insufficientmeasure of war support. We also make the case that their independentvariables of interest—initial support for war and evaluationof war success—may, in fact, be best understood as indicatorsof latent support for the war more generally. Finally, we discussthe need for more research into the determinants of supportfor war, focusing on core values and elite rhetoric as potentialvariables for continued and future study.     

Voluntary turnover among non-supervisory casino employees

As gaming is expanding nationally and internationally, existing gaming operations are facing increased competition for employees with gaming experience. This study investigates the factors related to employee turnover in the gaming industry. Workers of six casinos in Reno, Nevada were surveyed concerning their work attitudes and turnover intentions, resulting in a sample of 492 observations. The sample represents all non-supervisory job types typically found in casinos. Pearson correlations and multivariate regression analysis were employed to investigate the relationships among turnover intentions and job satisfaction, specific satisfaction dimensions, organizational commitment, worker perceptions, pay, and labor market conditions. The results show that job satisfaction and organizational commitment are most strongly related to turnover. In contrast to previous findings, labor market conditions and pay play only a minor role in an employee's decision to quit. Instead, perceived lack of job security, satisfaction with supervision, and perceived employer concern with employee well-being emerge among the most important factors. The results imply that employers in the gaming industry can manage employee turnover by providing effective supervision that is based on employee participation and fair treatment of employees. Training of supervisors, therefore, may be a relatively inexpensive method of controlling employee turnover in casinos.     

Self–care practices among social workers: do they predict job satisfaction and turnover intention?

ABSTRACT

The current health and mental health care delivery system in the United States strives to provide efficient quality care at a lower cost. This cost-effective approach and recent budget cuts have created new challenges for social workers. This study explores the relationships between self-care strategies, role stress, job autonomy, and job satisfaction and turnover intention. Four-hundred sixty-nine social workers were surveyed to assess multiple measures of self-care including professional support, professional development, coping strategies, and professional resilience, and their effects on job satisfaction and turnover intention. Role stress and job autonomy were also examined in relation to job satisfaction and turnover intention. The results supported the main hypotheses that claimed that self-care strategies are associated with both job satisfaction and turnover intention. The author discusses the important implications of these findings in education and training of both students and practitioners.     

Career Adaptability and Turnover Intention: A Dual-Mediation Model

Career adaptability denotes psychosocial resources that help employees self-manage career change through both adapting themselves to the environment and adapting the environment to themselves. Previous studies have probed the former strategy and proposed a negative relationship between career adaptability and turnover intention. However, the presence of the latter strategy suggests a more complex relationship than previously thought. From a person-job fit perspective, the authors used structural equation modeling to examine the mechanism underlying the relationship between career adaptability and job satisfaction (an important predictor of turnover intention) among 218 employees working in China. The results showed that career adaptability had mixed effects on job satisfaction through the mediating role of task adaptivity and perceived overqualification. Overall, these findings carry theoretical and practical implications for career adaptability research and career counseling practices related to employee development.     

Supportive organizational environment,work-life enrichment,trust and turnover intention: A national survey of PRSA membership

Based on an online survey of a national random sample of the PRSA membership (n?=?650), this study is among the first to explore public relations employees’ own turnover intention and propose three contributing factors for employers to keep top talent in PR industry: a family-supportive organizational environment; the positive, enriching impact of professional work upon practitioners’ life; and PR practitioners’ trust toward employers. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Male-Female Power Differences at Work: A Comparison of Supervisors and Policymakers*

This study estimates differences in access to power positions and the degree to which supervisors and policymakers exercise work power among women and men. The relative importance of sex and other relevant characteristics in determining the acquisition of supervisor and policymaker positions is assessed. Furthermore, the attainment of supervisory authority and strategic power of male and female supervisors and policymakers is analyzed. The results of logistic regression analyses suggest that regardless of other characteristics men have significantly more access to supervisor and policymaker positions than women. Nevertheless, ordinary least squares regression analyses demonstrate that once individuals are in supervisory or policy-making positions, sex is not an important determinant of the degree of work power. Additional results indicate that occupational status (evaluated by Duncan's Socio-Economic Index) but not sex segregation by occupation affects the acquisition of work power.     

Factors impacting intention to leave in social workers and child care workers employed at voluntary agencies

Introduction

To ameliorate high turnover in child welfare, researchers have attempted to identify factors that lead to undesirable turnover. While this has been studied extensively, little attention has been paid to turnover based upon job roles. Like social workers in child welfare, the field of child care also experiences high turnover. Child care workers employed in child welfare settings are no exception. The current study seeks to understand differential factors that impact intent to leave for preventive and child care workers employed in child welfare agencies.

Materials and methods

Data for prevention workers (n = 538) were obtained from all preventive service programs under contract with the City. Data for child care workers (n = 222) were obtained from three voluntary agencies located elsewhere in the State. The instrument was a modified version of a survey developed to examine job satisfaction and potential turnover among public child welfare workers. Domains measured included job satisfaction, intention to leave, career commitment, and agency investment. Data were analyzed using bivariate analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

Results

Child care workers had more positive perceptions of child welfare and planned to stay in child welfare longer. Despite this, prevention workers felt more invested in their work. Child care and prevention workers had different levels of satisfaction with their jobs although overall job satisfaction did not differ nor did their intention to leave. Tenure at the agency was predictive of career investment. Investment, perceptions of child welfare, satisfaction with nature of work, and contingent rewards were associated with career commitment. Commitment and satisfaction with supervision were the greatest predictors of intention to leave.

Discussion

There is a gap in literature addressing child care workers in child welfare, and future study of this group is needed. Child care workers are just as likely to intend to leave their jobs as prevention workers. For both groups, it appears that investment in their jobs increases commitment to the field which reduces intention to leave.     

The Politics of Ideals of Care: Danish and Flemish Child Care Policy Compared

Most European welfare states today have said farewell to themale breadwinner–female caretaker model. Still, childcare policy has a different pace and shape in each country.This article studies the (late) origins as well as the diversityin Danish and Flemish (Belgian) child care policy. In Denmark,a universal child care provision was made possible because ofthe advocacy coalition of women with social pedagogues. Theypromoted the ideal of professional care. To combat the idealof full-time motherhood, the Flemish Catholic women’smovement strived for subsidizing childminders—the idealof surrogate motherhood—supported by the Christian DemocraticParty. Both strategies led to comparatively high levels of childcare provisions, but also to very different contents and shapes.In short, one of the factors that shaped child care policy isthe promotion of different (moral) ideals of care by the women’smovement, together with other—often more powerful—allies,and backed up by parental preferences.     

Retention and job satisfaction of child welfare supervisors

Supervisors play a vital role in workplace productivity and organizational health, and are at the forefront of improving the capacity of the child welfare workforce. Yet there is limited research about their organizational longevity and satisfaction compared with child welfare caseworkers. This study uses data from 85% of supervisors statewide in a child welfare organization to describe intent to leave, supervision provided and received, and job qualities. Questions are: (1) what are the personal and job qualities of child welfare supervisors? (2) To what extent do supervisors report receiving and providing supervision, and (3) what personal and job qualities predict intent to leave among supervisors? Using bivariate and multivariate analyses, results showed that supervisors who receive more frequent supervision report lower levels of job stress and time pressure and more positive perceptions of organization leadership. These supervisors also reported providing more supervision to caseworkers. Greater time pressure predicted intent to leave among supervisors, indicating that there is an important balance between workload and resources in efforts to maintain quality supervisors.     

The Ties that Bind: Social Networks, Person-Organization Value Fit, and Turnover Intention

This article examines the influence of social networks and valuecongruence on turnover intention among public and nonprofitemployees. We argue that employees exist in social networksinside and outside their organization, and these networks shapeemployee attitudes and behavior. To illustrate this theory,we use turnover intention. A strong and positive intraorganizationalsocial network characterized by good relations with and a senseof obligation toward other staff is hypothesized to make itmore likely that employees will stay. A strong social networkexternal to the organization is hypothesized to increase theopportunities that employees have to leave. Our findings offerstrong support for the role of intraorganizational networks,but relatively weak support for the effect of external networks.We also propose that person-organization (P-O) fit shape turnoverintention. Our results suggest that employees who experiencea strong P-O fit in terms of value congruence are more likelyto offer a long-term commitment.     

Policy, Preferences, and Patriarchy: The Division of Domestic Labor in East Germany, West Germany, and the United States

Individual agency observed in the gendered division of laboris shaped by structural factors, but only recently has evidenceemerged that the effect of women’s resources varies systematicallyin its sociopolitical context. Here we use the 1994 InternationalSocial Survey Program to assess whether the relative effectof a proxy for women’s and men’s preferences—hallmarkof individual choice—varies as well across three countrieswith divergent historical policy approaches regarding the privatesphere. East German socialist policies required and supportedwomen’s employment; West German policy promulgated a malebreadwinner model, and U.S. policy primarily remains silenton the private sphere. The division of domestic tasks and relativestrength of individual preferences on shifting it vary by region.In the former East Germany the division of domestic labor ismore egalitarian and the effect of preferences is small butequal for the genders. In West Germany the division is moretraditional and preference effects are greater, but gender differencesin these are insignificant. The U.S. division of domestic taskfalls between the two German regions, and the gender differencein preference effects is the greatest, with U.S. men’spreferences predicting significantly more variance than do U.S.women’s. Consequently, allowing the market to dominatedoes not yield equal strength of preferences in the individual-levelmodels used to predict the division of domestic tasks. Thissupports the dual-system feminist claims that capitalism canexacerbate nonmarket patriarchal hierarchies.     

Elite Revisionists and Popular Beliefs: Christopher Columbus, Hero or Villain?

According to revisionist historians and American Indian activists,Christopher Columbus deserves condemnation for having broughtslavery, disease, and death to America’s indigenous peoples.We ask whether the general public’s beliefs about Columbusshow signs of reflecting these critical accounts, which increasedmarkedly as the 1992 Quincentenary approached. Our nationalsurveys, using several different question wordings, indicatethat most Americans continue to admire Columbus because, astradition puts it, "he discovered America," though only a smallnumber of mainly older respondents speak of him in the heroicterms common in earlier years. At the same time, the percentageof Americans who reject traditional beliefs about Columbus isalso small and is divided between those who simply acknowledgethe priority of Indians as the "First Americans" and those whogo further to view Columbus as a villain. The latter group ofrespondents, we find, show a critical stance toward modal Americanbeliefs much more broadly. We also analyze American history school textbooks for evidenceof influence from revisionist writings, and we consider representationsof Columbus in the mass media as well. Revisionist history canbe seen as one consequence of the "minority rights revolution"that began after World War II and has achieved considerablesuccess, but the endurance of Columbus’s reputation—toa considerable extent even among the minorities who have theleast reason to respect him—raises important questionsabout the inertia of tradition, the politics of collective memory,and the difference between elite and popular beliefs.     

High tech and high performance: Managing appraisal in the information age

Conclusion Information technology leaders recognize that the greatest impediments to success are often people related rather than information, technology, and systems related (Roepke et al., 2000). Obviously, the human component is a central concern when organizations introduce technology to the performance-management process. After all, combining people and technology successfully is critically important to firms. While the potential for accelerating positive HRM outcomes through various technology applications clearly exists, implementation that fails to consider trust, fairness, system factors, objectivity, personality, or computer literacy and training (among other concepts) has negative implications for an organization’s distinct and inimitable human component. Possible gains in efficiency, objectivity, or accuracy that a high technology approach to performance management produces could turn out to be costly for firms if they bring about user dissatisfaction leading to diminished job attitudes, poor performance, or increased turnover.     

Paternal supervisor gatekeeping: How supervising fathers hinder other fathers at work in their uptake of flexible work arrangements

This study explores the role that supervisors play in the low uptake of Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA) among fathers in France. We draw on 28 interviews with fathers who had requested access to FWA and reported on the reaction of their supervisors. These supervisors were all fathers themselves and had previously benefitted from such arrangements themselves, but did not grant such policies to other fathers. To understand these unexpected findings, we conducted an additional 16 interviews with supervising fathers in organizations who had previously enjoyed similar FWA. The findings show that supervising fathers can act as barriers to other fathers in their organizations who try to push for more gender equality. We identified four ways in which supervisors tend to dissuade fathers from accessing policies to which they are entitled: gender-role confirming discourses; career threats; practical reasons as a justification; and a lack of paternal workplace support. The findings highlight the role of men (in this case, supervising fathers) in the lack of increasing gender equality at work. By showing that fathers can function as ‘paternal supervisor gatekeepers’ for other fathers in their organizations, we open up new fruitful ways for studying gender equality in organizations.     

A mixed-methods study of the impact of organizational culture on workforce retention in child welfare

The recruitment and retention of a stable, qualified workforce has been an on-going challenge for the child welfare system. Prior research has identified both individual and organizational factors influencing retention and turnover in child welfare. The current study uses mixed methods to examine the impact of perceived organizational culture on workers' intention to remain employed. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data revealed that perceived organizational culture, as understood as being comprised of both relationships and values, could be related to worker retention. Based on the qualitative findings, the researchers selected quantitative measures to operationalize the various aspects of organizational culture. Results from the logistic regression indicated that intention to remain employed was significantly related to organizational culture. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Identity without Politics: Framing the Parity Laws and Their Implementation in French Local Politics

This article provides an alternative approach to the argumentsof "critical mass," whose tenets assume that policies fosteringwomen’s rights would arise from an increase in women’spolitical representation. Instead, the article argues that thecultural repertoires that are used to justify women’shigher numerical presence also matter. Indeed, different repertoires—suchas claiming women’s inclusion into politics in the nameof women’s interests or in the name of their difference—havedifferent political outcomes. This case study of the Frenchsex-parity laws, which ensures a 50-percent quota of women inpolitics, explores the connection between the rationales tolegitimize the laws and their implementation at the local level.This provides for, first, an investigation of how the requirementto make the parity claim compatible with French cultural repertoireson citizenship and sovereignty has led parity advocates to definesexual difference as universal. Then, drawing on interviewswith local politicians, it shows how this rationale underliningsexual difference has failed to define gender relationshipsas political and, thus, to promote gender equality in localpublic policies.