Givers,takers and matchers – Reciprocity styles and their contribution to organizational behaviour

This article in the journal “Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO)” bridges Adam Grant’s popular concept of givers, takers and matchers to state-of-the-art theories and research of prosocial organizational behavior such as Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB). By proposing a three-dimensional framework of social orientation, the authors provide an approach allowing the reconciliation of inter-individual differences of social motives and situational factors, enabling cooperative behavior in the workplace. The practical implications of encouraging cooperative behaviour and collegial support are indicated for individual (personnel selection and development), team (team design and values) and organizational (organizational culture development) levels.     

Implementing Box–Cox Quantile Regression

The Box–Cox quantile regression model introduced by Powell (1991 Powell , J. ( 1991 ). Estimation of monotonic regression models under quantile restrictions . In: Barnett , W. , Powell , J. , Tauchen , G. , eds. Nonparametric and Semiparametric Methods in Econometrics . New York , NY : Cambridge University Press , pp. 357 – 384 . [Google Scholar]) is a flexible and numerically attractive extension of linear quantile regression techniques. Chamberlain (1994 Chamberlain , G. ( 1994 ). Quantile regression, censoring, and the structure of wages . In: Sims , C. , ed. Advances in Econometrics: Sixth World Congress . Vol. 1 . Econometric Society Monograph . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . [Google Scholar]) and Buchinsky (1995 Buchinsky , M. ( 1995 ). Quantile regression, Box–Cox transformation model, and the U.S. wage structure, 1963–1987 . Journal of Econometrics 65 : 109 – 154 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) suggest a two stage estimator for this model but the objective function in stage two of their method may not be defined in an application. We suggest a modification of the estimator which is easy to implement. A simulation study demonstrates that the modified estimator works well in situations, where the original estimator is not well defined.     

The Role of Child Characteristics and Peer Experiences in the Development of Peer Cooperation

Cooperation with peers is challenging for young children, and there are large individual differences in the development of cooperation. The roles of child characteristics and peer experiences for peer interaction during free play have been studied extensively, but it is unclear which factors predict young children's successful cooperation at different points in development. In this study, 2‐, 3‐, and 4‐year‐old children were observed during a peer cooperation task. Both their interactive behavior and cooperation success were examined, and the association of these variables with child characteristics and peer experiences was explored. Results showed that successful peer cooperation increased with age. Moreover, early individual differences in peer cooperation were related to temperamental characteristics, and, among older children, the rate of cooperation was related to prior peer experience.     

The Architecture of Dynamic Capability Research Identifying the Building Blocks of a Configurational Approach

The dynamic capability view (DCV) of the firm has become one of the leading frameworks aimed at identifying drivers of long-term firm survival and growth. Yet, despite considerable academic interest, there are many questions about what dynamic capabilities (DCs) are, how they relate to other organizational operations, and how they relate to firm performance. In this article, we provide a unique and comprehensive examination of the DCV literature that goes beyond past reviews by combining text-based analysis with surveys of, and interviews with, researchers in the field. With this approach, we are able to examine the evolution of the DCV in written literature and identify missing research themes. Based on this review, we argue that future research will benefit from integrating the DCV with configuration theory and the recent micro foundational thinking. We encapsulate this discussion via an architectural model of the DCV (entitled “House of Dynamic Capabilities”) that combines micro foundations underlying DCs at the varying levels of analysis (individual, business unit, and organizational) while also accounting for important enablers of DCs and firm strategic orientation. We also show how this logic requires a completely different set of methodological approaches to those currently in use.     

On the role of data,statistics and decisions in a pandemic

AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis - A pandemic poses particular challenges to decision-making because of the need to continuously adapt decisions to rapidly changing evidence and available...     

Social bonding and loneliness after network disruption: A longitudinal study of East German refugees

After the 1989 breakdown of the communist system, 235 East Germans were interviewed three times during the two years following their transition to West Berlin. In moving to the west, the migrants had to deal with various stressors, among them the lack of social ties in their new environment. Fortunately, the number of their new friends increased steadily, and loneliness declined. These changes, however, differed between sexes and age groups. Men made more friends than women, in particular same-sex friends, whereas women knitted ties with both sexes. The young built larger networks than the intermediate age group. Loneliness emerged as an inhibiting factor in the bonding process. The study demonstrates how well these refugees coped with a social crisis. It also examines the roles that loneliness and social bonding played in the readjustment process.     

Species change in an urban setting—ground and rove beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae and Staphylinidae) in Berlin

The influence of environmental parameters on epigeic beetle communities of forest fragments in an urbanization gradient was studied in Berlin. Eight deciduous forests along a rural to urban gradient were sampled with pitfall traps. Species richness did not decline across the rural to urban gradient. As expected, impervious surface cover as an indicator of urbanization correlated not only with habitat fragmentation and heat island effect but also with altered soil properties. The proportion of forest specialist staphylinid species decreased with increasing urbanization. The differences between staphylinid communities of neighboring forest fragments were enhanced in the most urban parts, probably due to increased habitat fragmentation. Furthermore, the loss of flightless species with increasing habitat isolation emphasized the influence of habitat fragmentation. The carabid communities revealed the urbanization effects not as clearly as the staphylinid communities, but both taxa revealed that direct anthropogenic habitat alteration, indicated by removal of decaying wood, favors open-habitat specialists. The extent of the urbanization influence seems to vary seasonally. Environmental parameters associated with urbanization explain the ordination of species communities in the winter better than in the summer. Heat island effect is suggested as an explanation for this difference.     

Perseveration in Tool Use: A Window for Understanding the Dynamics of the Action‐Selection Process

Two experiments investigated how 3‐year‐old children select a tool to perform a manual task, with a focus on their perseverative parameter choices for the various relationships involved in handling a tool: the actor‐to‐tool relation and the tool‐to‐target relation (topology). The first study concerned the parameter value for the tool‐to‐target relation by asking how children use a cane for either pushing an object further away (exclosure; outside the hook) or pulling an object nearby (enclosure; inside the hook). The second study concerned the parameter value for the hand‐to‐tool relation by assessing the hand used for grasping a spoon to feed a puppet. Results from both studies showed that on the first trial, choices were driven by task information. However, when the task switched from pulling to pushing or from left hand to right hand, or vice versa, children persevered with the choice they made during the 4 previous trials. Results are discussed in terms of the dynamical field modeling work of Esther Thelen and her colleagues. Our findings underscore Thelen's hypotheses that: (a) the action‐selection process is a dynamic affair, affected by multiple influences at different time scales and its own intrinsic dynamics; and (b) that perseverative behavior is a general phenomenon that is neither indicative for a specific period in the development, nor for a particular task. Similarly, we argue that the presence (or absence) of causal understanding emerges from the action‐selection process, rather than determining this process.     

Wie verändert sich die häusliche Arbeitsteilung im Eheverlauf – oder: was kann man wie schlussfolgern?

Using the Bamberg study of married couples Schulz and Blossfeld (2006) analyze the change in the division of domestic labor and see a trend toward traditionalization. Hereby the economic theory of the family should be falsified. This result is critized in three perspectives: first, a stronger participation of men is used as the dependent variable whereby the interesting processes are misspecified. Second, only the educations of men and women, but not changes in education are looked at which would be necessary to test the economic theory. Third, the used statistical model makes some simplifications necessary which hardens the interpretation of the empirical results. With all these critics the economic theory of the family should not be defended blindly, but a test of this theory is not possible in the manner tried here.     

海因里希·伯尔与文学现代性

本文通过对伯尔的代表作《女士及众生相》的分析,证明伯尔并非一个传统意义上的现实主义作家,《女士及众生相》通过对现实主义形式的借用和过度实施完成的恰恰是对传统现实主义叙事模式的侵蚀,伯尔的小说完全可以接入艺术自主的美学现代性传统。