Gesundheits- und entwicklungsf?rderliches Führungsverhalten: Gendertypische Differenzen

There has been a growing interest in the past years, in analyzing the impact of leadership behavior on employees?? health and well-being. In the present study, we investigated the relationships between supervisors?? behavior and indicators of employees?? well-being among a sample of 685 female and 637 male employees. Employees assessed the leadership behavior of their direct supervisors using the recently developedGesundheits- und Entwicklungsf?rderliche FührungsverhaltensAnalyse (GEFA) and reported information on their well-being. Supervisors?? behavior was significantly related to all indicators of examined employees?? well-being. The underlying model of health- and development-promoting leadership behavior??with the dimensions: demanding leadership, development-oriented leadership, and support-oriented leadership??could be confirmed. Gender-differentiated analyses regarding the gender of the supervisors and of the employees, revealed differences in leadership behavior which were reflected in employees?? well-being. We discuss implications of these findings for research and practice.     

Pitirim A. Sorokin’s integralism and public sociology

Major features of the thought of Pitirim A. Sorokin are related to Michael Burawoy’s four forms of sociology. The article develops the theme that Sorokin’s system of sociology makes major contributions to identifying standards of excellence for professional, critical, policy, and public sociology and for their interrelationships. Sorokin’s integral ontology and epistemology are described and identified as sources of the distinctive characteristics of his system of thought.     

Success factors of management consulting

Management consulting as a service has become part of almost every medium to big company’s daily business. Despite management consulting’s high practical relevance the scientific discussion of this discipline is relatively young and needs to advance. Notably, there is little empirical research that focuses on the conceptualization and operationalization of management consulting’s success factors from a client perspective. Therefore, in this article we theoretically conceptualize and subsequently operationalize critical success factors of management consulting. Also, we examine those factors’ particular impact on management consulting success. Based on a survey of 255 companies and structural equation modeling, we show that six out of seven theoretically derived success factors have a significant positive effect on management consulting success. In particular, Consultant Expertise, Intensity of Collaboration and Common Vision have a strong impact on the performance of management consulting.     

Risk Assessment of Dimethylfumarate Residues in Dwellings Following Contamination by Treated Furniture

Recently, numerous cases of dermatitis induced by dimethylfumarate (DMFu) have been reported in Europe. DMFu has been used to prevent mold development in various items, although it is not registered as a biocide. In France, from October 2008 to December 2009, more than 100 cases were reported. Despite a ban on articles containing DMFu and the removal of potentially contaminated products, some people were still suffering from dermatitis or other health problems. The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety was mandated to assess whether the existence in the past of DMFu‐contaminated items in dwellings could continue to pose a threat to the health of inhabitants. A risk assessment was performed based on the classical risk analysis approach for environmental contaminants. Hazard assessment of DMFu with regard to its sensitizing properties was performed, based on human case reports collected in France between January 2009 and February 2010. For around half of the 132 individual cases reported, the causal link to DMFu was considered at least probable. An Organisation for Economic Co‐Operation and Development (OECD) local lymph node assay performed in a study on mice showed strong sensitizing potential for DMFu. Exposure was assessed by measuring DMFu in items sampled in preselected dwellings. These investigations demonstrated that DMFu exposure can persist after removal of the primary contaminated items. We therefore concluded that there was clearly a risk of skin reactions in patients previously sensitized to DMFu. Furthermore, the available data do not support the existence of significant health effects through the respiratory route.     

The Interplay Between Gender and Structure: Dynamics of Adolescent Friendships in Single‐Gender Classes and Mixed‐Gender Classes

This study reviews theories on striving for closure in adolescent networks related to trust issues of adolescents and further examines whether adolescents in mixed‐gender and single‐gender classes are different in striving for closure. Stochastic actor‐based models for network dynamics are applied to test our hypotheses based on longitudinal friendship nominations of 406 Taiwanese adolescents in mixed‐gender, all‐boy, and all‐girl classes. The results show that adolescents strive for closure through connections of friends' friends. Further, the results reveal that while the tendency toward closure is stronger for girls in mixed‐gender classes, such tendency toward closure is stronger in all‐boy classes than in all‐girl classes. Testing effects between types of classes supports the indications of variances in striving closure.     

Firm‐level Evidence on Gender Wage Discrimination in the Belgian Private Economy

In this paper we explore a matched employer–employee data set to investigate the presence of gender wage discrimination in the Belgian private economy labour market. Contrary to many existing papers, we analyse gender wage discrimination using an independent productivity measure. Using firm‐level data, we are able to compare direct estimates of a gender productivity differential with those of a gender wage differential. We take advantage of the panel structure to identify gender‐related differences from within‐firm variation. Moreover, inspired by recent developments in the production function estimation literature, we address the problem of endogeneity of the gender mix using a structural production function estimator alongside instrumental variable‐general method of moments (IV‐GMM) methods where lagged value of labour inputs are used as instruments. Our results suggest that there is no gender wage discrimination inside private firms located in Belgium, on the contrary.     

Bayesian and Dominant‐Strategy Implementation in the Independent Private‐Values Model

We prove—in the standard independent private‐values model—that the outcome, in terms of interim expected probabilities of trade and interim expected transfers, of any Bayesian mechanism can also be obtained with a dominant‐strategy mechanism.