Personality and organizational health: the role of conscientiousness

Organizational health research identifies processes through which the work environment and individual differences combine to influence both individual and organizational outcomes. This study investigated the contribution of conscientiousness to organizational health. Research in the areas of occupational stress, work performance, and organizational climate was used to develop a framework for integrating different elements of organizational health. Within this framework, the work environment was assessed by perceptions of workload and role clarity ; individual well-being was assessed by psychological distress and job satisfaction ; and behaviour important for organizational success was assessed by contextual performance. Conscientiousness was investigated within the framework using self-reports from a sample of 104 Australian employees. Conscientiousness directly influenced contextual performance but did not influence well-being or perceptions of the work environment. Conscientiousness also reduced the impact of role clarity on both psychological distress and job satisfaction. The role of conscientiousness in a comprehensive model of organizational health is discussed.     

MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS APPLIED TO RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES

An interesting and promising innovation in the assessment of property for tax purposes is the application of multiple regression analysis. Sales prices are regressed on various housing characteristics, and models developed from sold properties are used to generate value estimates for unsold properties. Two important issues relating to the development of such models are (1) the extent to which real estate markets are stable in terms of structural relationships over time, and (2) the extent to which sales prices reflect actual market values. The first issue is important because it affects how current sales must be before they can be used in model development, as well as the amount of information the assessor must collect and maintain on properties. The second issue is important because it concerns the amount of measurement error in the models and the extent to which the assessor/analyst can unambiguously interpret residual variance. These issues are investigated by comparing regression models developed from a sample of properties in Eugene, Oregon, which sold in each of two well separated time periods.     

SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS WITH INTERACTION EFFECTS

The purpose of this paper is to extend the sensitivity analysis methodology as it applies to linear programming. The methodology developed herein is concerned with those changes in a technological coefficient that cause simultaneous changes in the relevant cost coefficients of the objective function. By proceeding from the definitions of feasibility and optimality, the authors develop formulas for determining bounds on the extent to which a technological coefficient, which has a predetermined effect on the corresponding cost coefficient, can vary without changing the optimal set of activities. After the formulas are developed, their use is demonstrated on a product-mix problem. This technique is of interest because changes in the rate at which an input is utilized can be expected to change the cost per unit of a resulting product. This interdependence should be recognized whenever a sensitivity analysis is performed on a technological coefficient of either a cost minimization or a contribution margin maximization problem.     

Methods for spatial and temporal land use and land cover assessment for urban ecosystems and application in the greater Baltimore-Chesapeake region

Understanding contemporary urban landscapes requires multiple sets of spatially and temporally compatible data that can integrate historical land use patterns and disturbances to land cover. This paper presents three principal methods: (1) core analysis; (2) historic mapping; and (3) gradient analysis, to link spatial and temporal data for urban ecosystems and applies their use in the Baltimore-Chesapeake region. Paleoecological evidence derived from the geochronology of sediment cores provides data on long-term as well as recent changes in vegetative land cover. This information, combined with contemporary vegetation maps, provides a baseline for conducting trend analyses to evaluate urbanization of the landscape. A 200-year historical land use database created from historical maps, census data, and remotely sensed data provides a spatial framework for investigating human impacts on the region. A geographic information system (GIS) integrates core analyses with historic data on land use change to yield a comprehensive land use and land cover framework and rates of change. These data resources establish the regional foundation for investigating the ecological components of an urban ecosystem. Urban-rural gradient analyses and patch analyses are proposed as the most appropriate methods for studying the urban ecosystem as they link ecological and social patterns and processes for varying degrees of urbanization.     

Decisions,Science, and Values: Crafting Regulatory Alternatives Analysis

Emerging “prevention‐based” approaches to chemical regulation seek to minimize the use of toxic chemicals by mandating or directly incentivizing the adoption of viable safer alternative chemicals or processes. California and Maine are beginning to implement such programs, requiring manufacturers of consumer products containing certain chemicals of concern to identify and evaluate potential safer alternatives. In the European Union, the REACH program imposes similar obligations on manufacturers of certain substances of very high concern. Effective prevention‐based regulation requires regulatory alternatives analysis (RAA), a methodology for comparing and evaluating the regulated chemical or process and its alternatives across a range of relevant criteria. RAA has both public and private dimensions. To a significant degree, alternatives analysis is an aspect of product design; that is, the process by which private industry designs the goods it sells. Accordingly, an RAA method should reflect the attributes of well‐crafted product design tools used by businesses. But RAA adds health and environmental objectives to the mix of concerns taken into account by the product designer. Moreover, as part of a prevention‐based regulatory regime, it implicates important public values such as legitimacy, equity, public engagement, and accountability. Thus, an RAA should reflect both private standards and public values, and be evaluated against them. This article adopts that perspective, identifying an integrated set of design principles for RAA, and illustrating the application of those principles.     

Immigrants' Language Skills: The Australian Experience in a Longitudinal Survey

This article is concerned with the determinants of English language proficiency (speaking, reading and writing) among immigrants. It presents a model of immigrant destination language proficiency based on economic incentives, exposure to the destination language, and efficiency in second language acquisition. A unique data set, the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia, is used to test the model. This survey had three waves, at about six months, eighteen months and three‐and‐a‐half years after immigration. The analyses are performed by wave, type of language skill and gender using probit analysis. Bivariate probit analysis is used across waves. The hypotheses are supported by the data. The bivariate probit analysis indicates a positive correlation in the unexplained component that declines with time between waves, suggesting a “regression to the mean” in the unobserved components of English language proficiency.     

Estate Inheritance: A Sociological Lacuna*

Estate inheritance, a frequently mentioned but rarely examined feature of stratification systems, has been a neglected area of research in sociology. In this paper, several possible causes of the sociological neglect are discussed. The treatment of inheritance patterns in functionalist and conflict theories of stratification is analyzed, and an overview of existing research on inheritance is presented. Finally, a conflict theory of stratification that incorporates the phenomenon of inheritance is proposed, and avenues for further research are suggested.