Impact of formal and informal deterrents on driving behavior

This paper explores, using panel data of traffic accidents in Japan, how formal and informal deterrence affect driving manners. I found through fixed effects and fixed effects 2SLS estimations that formal deterrents, such as police, cause drivers to drive attentively but that this effect is not inversely associated with dangerous driving. Informal deterrents, on the other hand, impede dangerous driving but do not induce drivers to drive more attentively.     

Technology,international competitiveness,and union behavior

Union opposition to a free trade agreement with Mexico affirms the conventional wisdom that international trade damages the union movement. This study uses data from the March and May CPS for 1984 to 1987 to investigate this issue for production workers. The results indicate that union wages are not influenced by greater trade at medium union densities. However, at low union densities, greater imports (exports) reduce (increase) wages with the opposite pattern occurring at high union densities. The union wage pattern is consistent with product market considerations playing a strong role at low union densities and end game considerations playing a strong role at high union densities. In general, nonunion wages are not significantly impacted by greater trade. After controlling for imports and exports, nonunion wages are much greater in internationally competitive industries while union wages are not significantly greater in competitive industries. Nonunion wages appear to be more influenced by efficiency wage considerations. Thus, a Mexican free trade agreement will have little influence on union wages and should increase nonunion wages. I thank Wally Hendricks, Larry Kahn, Dan Rickman, and Doug Dalenberg for their very useful comments. All remaining errors are my own.     

Emotional intelligence and counterproductive work behavior: The mediating role of organizational climate

ABSTRACT

This research investigates the impact of emotional intelligence on counterproductive work behavior through examining the mediating role of organizational climate. Data were collected from 304 administrative employees working in nine private universities in Amman, Jordan. Validity and reliability tests were conducted using factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha. Research hypotheses were tested through multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling methods. Outcomes of the analysis indicate that there is a significant impact on the relationship between emotional intelligence and counterproductive work behavior. The research proposes several recommendations for managers to apply specifically in private universities, and/or in any type of sector in Amman- Jordan. It also laid the groundwork for future research.     

The nature and effectiveness of program models for adolescents at risk of entering the formal child protection system

This article compares rationales and outcome research for five areas of programming for adolescents: adolescent competence and skill development programs, family- and parent-focused programs, social integration programs, multiple component programs, and neighborhood transformation programs. The article examines program evidence for maltreated teens as well as teens coping with a variety of other challenges. The study uses a framework based on common developmental challenges and risk factors for adolescents to select and review programs.     

A formal theory approach to lawsuits and corporate deviant behavior: building a more efficient system

This paper discusses the problems in the efficient implementation of tort reform. Current, and many proposed reforms, fail to provide a Pareto optimal solution. The problems with current policies lie in the fact that they only alter the incentive structures of one actor in the tort system. A truly efficient system needs to alter incentive structures for both potential litigants and potential defendants. Using economic modeling, the paper argues that efficient tort reform can be achieved by utilizing decoupled tax incentives.     

Marx,formal subsumption and the law

Recent work rethinking the place of the law in Marxian analysis of capitalist society provides us with a foundation for a renewed look at the labor process. Drawing on this literature, which emphasizes the materiality of institutions through which labor is exploited, and returning to Marx’s discussion of formal subsumption in Capital, I argue that the law was central for subordinating labor. I then present three case studies from industries in Victorian England to demonstrate the diverse ways in which law was implicated in formal subsumption. The case studies focus on the ways in which capitalists used master and servant law, the key law governing the workplace, to subordinate labor. I conclude by considering how these cases provoke us to consider the materiality of the law in labor relations more broadly, and such questions might be pursued in developing capitalist economies such as China.     

The prominence of formal theory in sociology

In sociology, work in formal theory is more extensive and intensive today than at any time in the past, but remains invisible to some, including S. Zhao [(1996) “The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning: The Theory Construction Movement Revisited,” Sociological Forum, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 305–318]. I trace the growth of formal theory in sociology focusing on theoretical research programs and show that, whereas formal theory came after the books on theory construction, it was not based on them. Elementary Theory's research program provides an example of that discontinuity. Some misunderstandings concerning formal theory can be traced to the Maryland Theory Conference of 1990 and a critique of selected ideas of that Conference is offered.     

Narrative intelligence and the novelty of our lives

Essential to making meaning across the lifespan, I argue, is narrative intelligence. After sketching the dynamics of such intelligence, I offer some speculations on how our experience and expression of it may change with advancing years.     

Convoys of care: Theorizing intersections of formal and informal care

Although most care to frail elders is provided informally, much of this care is paired with formal care services. Yet, common approaches to conceptualizing the formal–informal intersection often are static, do not consider self-care, and typically do not account for multi-level influences. In response, we introduce the “convoy of care” model as an alternative way to conceptualize the intersection and to theorize connections between care convoy properties and caregiver and recipient outcomes. The model draws on Kahn and Antonucci's (1980) convoy model of social relations, expanding it to include both formal and informal care providers and also incorporates theoretical and conceptual threads from life course, feminist gerontology, social ecology, and symbolic interactionist perspectives. This article synthesizes theoretical and empirical knowledge and demonstrates the convoy of care model in an increasingly popular long-term care setting, assisted living. We conceptualize care convoys as dynamic, evolving, person- and family-specific, and influenced by a host of multi-level factors. Care convoys have implications for older adults' quality of care and ability to age in place, for job satisfaction and retention among formal caregivers, and for informal caregiver burden. The model moves beyond existing conceptual work to provide a comprehensive, multi-level, multi-factor framework that can be used to inform future research, including research in other care settings, and to spark further theoretical development.     

Collective intelligence: Scale development and validation

In today’s growing competition, organizations face shrinking innovation cycles, swelling customer expectations, and distributed talent which impels organizations to apply knowledge, skills, and experience of employees most effectively. Applying collective intelligence, i.e., the combined knowledge and expertise of a diverse group, has become the order of the day. Therefore, collective intelligence level of an individual is of immense importance for high performance and achievement of the goals. In the present research, an attempt is made to operationalize the components of organizational collective intelligence from working professionals. Specifically, an attempt is made to develop a scale to measure collective intelligence among 600 working professionals. The results were subjected to the robust measurement tools such as Exploratory Factor Analysis and Structures Equation Modeling to confirm the factor structure. The instrument resulted in four factors and a 17-item scale. The instrument can be used by the policymakers and human resource managers for selecting, harnessing, and retaining appropriate talent in the organization.     

Physicians and clergy as facilitators of formal services for older adults

Researchers have sought to understand the determinants of the use of in-home and community-based services in order to better serve the needs of older adults. One component frequently included in formal service utilization models is the role of individuals who exert an influence on the service use process. An analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with 115 older adults revealed the important facilitating role that physicians and religious leaders play in encouraging the use of these services. The sample, which included African-American and white adults age 65+ from rural and urban environments, described various ways in which these "facilitators" influence the use of formal services. These ways include: (1) supplying instrumental support either by "ordering" a particular program for or linking the elder with the program and (2) providing informational and affective support, including advising or recommending the use of a program, conveying necessary background on formal services, and legitimizing the use of formal services. Regardless of personal characteristics (such as ethnicity and residence), a majority of elders in the sample recognized the important role played by physicians, and clergy. The acknowledgement of the role played by these facilitators should be viewed as an opportunity for physicians and clergy to enhance the knowledge and appropriate use of needed formal services for elders. In addition, these findings have policy implications for the current provision of aging services.     

The relationship between formal planning and performance in nonprofit organizations

A study of 240 YMCA organizations revealed that regardless of organization size, those organizations that used a formal approach to strategic planning had higher levels of financial and social performance than those with less formal processes. The better performers also assigned the responsibility for planning to a strategic planning subcommittee of the board rather than to the board's executive committee or to an outside consultant.     

Teaching and incorporating practice models in a human behavior in the social environment (HBSE) course

ABSTRACT

Human behavior and the social environment (HBSE) instructors do not systematically or routinely teach and incorporate practice models in their course. In this article, social work educators describe an approach to teaching and incorporating practice models in a HBSE course using a five-step adapted, modified version of Mosey’s extrapolation method for teaching master level social work students to evaluate and apply practice models. The authors use the Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) model as an illustration to help social work students develop critically reflective approaches to evaluating and applying practice models. The techniques and guidelines outlined in this article could be applied to other practice models and used by social work educators and students interested in other fields of practice.     

Economic development and the transition to democracy a formal model

In this essay, we have developed a rational choice model to study the transition to democracy. Such a model implies that the change or maintenance of a political system is the result of rational decisions by individuals, interest groups, and political parties under specific constraints. Our analysis shows that political systems are critically dependent upon the level of economic development. If a nation is at the lower stage of economic development, and, particularly, if its citizenry is poorly educated, the nation would lean toward choosing a dictatorship. As the nation accumulates more and more reproducible capital, it will tend to move toward democracy. Similarly, the model shows that, as the cost of democracy becomes lower and lower over time, a democratic system is likely to be chosen as the political infrastructure for social and economic development. Received: 15 February 1995 / Accepted: 23 June 1997     

An international politics of Czech architecture; or,reviving the international in international political sociology

ABSTRACT

Politics was long overlooked in analyses of architecture. International politics still is. Yet one of the sub-fields of International Relations seemingly best equipped to address this oversight, ‘International Political Sociology’ (IPS), is at a crossroads with leading scholars bemoaning the dominance of Sociology over the political and the international. They concur on the need revive the political, but some advocate abandoning the international. Instead, I argue that IPS scholars should embrace the international and suggest a particular way to do so via Rosenberg’s concept of Multiplicity. This transforms the international from the object of analysis into an analytical and heuristic lens through which to examine the constitutive effects on, (e.g.) architecture, of (international) societal co-existence, interaction, combination, difference, and dialectical change. Using examples from the late Habsburg period to the present, I sketch an international politics of ‘Czech’ architecture and show the value of ‘the international’ in and beyond IPS.     

Emotional intelligence and staff training in after-school environments

The goal of applying relational psychology and emotional intelligence to professional development for youth practitioners is to foster relationships in which both participants grow.     

Economic theory and international migration

The modern literature on the economics of immigration focuses on 3 related issues: 1) what determines the size and skill composition of immigrants flows to any particular host country; 2) how do the immigrants adapt to the host country's economy; and 3) what is the impact of immigrants on the host country's economy? This article reviews the theoretical framework and empirical evidence provided by the economics literature on these questions. It demonstrates that the economic approach, using the assumption that migration behavior is guided by the search for better economic opportunities and that the exchanges among the various players are regulated by an immigration market, leads to substantial insights in to these issues.