Promotability of Host‐Country Nationals: A Cross‐Cultural Study

Drawing on person–environment fit and national identity theory, the article proposes that person–national culture fit is likely to influence the promotability of host‐country nationals in multinational firms. Focusing on fit with upward influence tactics, it suggests that the parent company's national culture influences managerial expectations of host‐country nationals in foreign subsidiaries. It argues that host‐country managers who demonstrate upward influence tactics that are culturally appropriate to the parent company's national culture will be more promotable than those who do not. Higher‐level supervisors were asked to assess the promotability of two direct subordinates, who were independently surveyed about the upward influence tactics they used. The study contrasted ingratiation, exchange of benefits and coalition, and directness influence tactics of host‐country nationals in domestic Ecuadorian firms with American and German multinationals in Ecuador. Compatible with our hypotheses, data from a sample of 79 firms suggest that exchange of benefits and coalition are more likely to be associated with promotability in German than in domestic Ecuadorian firms. In addition, upward‐appeal assertiveness is more likely to be associated with promotability in American than in domestic Ecuadorian firms.     

Combining forecast quantiles using quantile regression: Investigating the derived weights, estimator bias and imposing constraints

SUMMARY A novel proposal for combining forecast distributions is to use quantile regression to combine quantile estimates. We consider the usefulness of the resultant linear combining weights. If the quantile estimates are unbiased, then there is strong intuitive appeal for omitting the constant and constraining the weights to sum to unity in the quantile regression. However, we show that suppressing the constant renders one of the main attractive features of quantile regression invalid. We establish necessary and sufficient conditions for unbiasedness of a quantile estimate, and show that a combination with zero constant and weights that sum to unity is not necessarily unbiased.     

A comparative study of the searching efficiencies of a parasite and a hyperparasite

Summary The searching efficiencies of a primary parasite (Diaeretiella rapae (McIntosh)) and a hyperparasite (Alloxysta brassicae (Ash.)) were investigated and compared. In both species, at all parasite densities, there was a curvilinear relationship (P<0.001) between the number of hosts parasitised and the host density. A linear regression (loga=logQ−m logP) was fitted for log area of discovery against log parasite density (P<0.001). The area of discovery for its immediate (i.e. primary) host (viz.Diaeretiella for the hyperparasite and aphid forDiaeretiella) is lower in the hyperparasite than in the primary parasite. InDiaeretialla both the searching efficiency and the mutual interference constant increased (but not significantly,P>0.05) in the presence of its males.     

Social Fathers and Child Well‐Being

Many young children born to unwed parents currently live with their biological mothers and their mothers’ new partners (social fathers). This study uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Well‐Being Study (N = 1,350) to assess whether involvement by resident social fathers is as beneficial for child well‐being as involvement by resident biological fathers and whether the involvement of the child’s nonresident biological father alters the relationship between resident social father engagement and child outcomes. Results indicate that involvement by resident social fathers is as beneficial for child well‐being as involvement by resident biological fathers and that frequent contact with the child’s nonresident biological father does not diminish the positive association between residential social father involvement and child well‐being.     

A study of BIB designs through support matrices

This paper deals with the existence and nonexistence of BIB designs with repeated blocks. The approach is an algebraic one. The concept of a support matrix is introduced and some of its basic properties are noted. Some basic examples of support matrices are given when the block size is 3. The connection between full column rank proper support matrices and irreducible designs is explored and some examples of such matrices are given.     

A Longitudinal Study of Depressive Symptoms and Marijuana Use in a Sample of Inner‐City African Americans

The association between marijuana use and depressive symptoms was examined longitudinally in a sample of 622 African American youth, interviewed on six occasions, using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). We considered whether depressive symptoms predicted changes in marijuana use and vice versa from high school through the transition into young adulthood. We also examined gender differences in these behaviors over time. The results indicated that depressive symptoms predicted later marijuana use only for males. Marijuana use did not predict later depressive symptoms for females or males. These findings are consistent with a unidirectional hypothesis indicating that marijuana use may play a role as mood regulator among young males, but not among females. Research findings also indicate that females with lower depressive symptoms use more marijuana than females who report high depressive symptoms. These findings did not change even after controlling for the effects of using other substances at previous stages, school achievement, and demographics factors. These results suggest that depressive symptoms may be an antecedent of marijuana use among African American males.     

Serial dependence and regression of Poisson INARMA models

Time series of counts occur in many fields of practice, with the Poisson distribution as a popular choice for the marginal process distribution. A great variety of serial dependence structures of stationary count processes can be modelled by the INARMA family. In this article, we propose a new approach to the INMA(q) family in general, including previously known results as special cases. In the particular case of Poisson marginals, we will derive new results concerning regression properties and the serial dependence structure of INAR(1) and INMA(q) models. Finally, we present explicit expressions for the distribution of jumps in such processes.     

Is rational choice humanity’s most distinctive trait?

The Greeks and the thinkers of the Enlightenment regarded reason as the defining quality of humankind. The Utilitarians limited it to the selection of means to any given end for action excluding the determination of moral values and social institutions. This became a postulate of classical and neoclassical economics borrowed by rational choice theory in sociology. James Coleman accepted as rational any action based on the actor's belief in its rationality, which would not rule out the delusions of psychotics. Despite this and other concessions that treat almost any explicable action as rational, sociologists have correctly criticized rational choice theory for ignoring the pervasive effects of socialization in achieving the internalization of norms and values. Rational choice theory also fails to illuminate human emotions and motivations, pictured in their full complexity in great literature.