Balancing Control and Coaching in CSO Governance. A Paradox Perspective on Board Behavior

How can the internal governance of civil society organizations be conceptualized more adequately by accounting for the dual and simultaneous requirements of controlling and coaching in board behavior? Empirically, we seem to agree that effective governance of a civil society organization is crucial to its sustained viability. Conceptually, however, we observe a lack of consensus on how to best understand CSO governance. By critically juxtaposing two major theoretical lenses to conceptualize governance, namely, agency and stewardship theory, we identify a number of challenges when dealing with board–management relations that deserve our attention. While agency theory privileges controlling behavior, stewardship theory emphasizes the coaching behavior of boards. The purpose of this article is to offer a concept of governance that is informed by a paradox perspective advancing a subtler, more adequate conceptualization of board governance that accounts for these often conflicting demands on CSO governance. Drawing on illustrations from a longitudinal interpretive case study, we exemplify our propositions empirically. The article concludes with discussing the implications of our argument for CSO governance research and practice.     

Support,social networks and the family in Portugal: two decades of research

This article presents two major surveys, carried out in Portugal, on the inclusion of families and individuals in social networks of support and affinity. The first, dating from 1999, sought comprehensively to reconstruct families' social networks by mapping effective support relations. The second survey, fielded in 2009–10, followed a family configuration perspective which sought to reconstruct individuals' networks of close relationships, and the issue of informal support only arose as providing further insight into the characteristics of personal networks. Both surveys will be analysed from a comparative perspective which, while stressing their different but connected conceptual orientations, compares each one's methodological strategies and operationalization procedures. Finally, the main results of each survey are outlined, leading to a brief discussion of the ways in which the two surveys complement each other.     

A cohort analysis of employment status and homicide victimization in the United States

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of employment status on homicide victimization among cohort members. Data were derived from the US National Longitudinal Mortality Study. Cox proportional hazards regression models were fitted to the data. Analysis showed that employment status was significantly associated with homicide. The unemployed were over 50% more likely to become homicide victims than the employed. Persons not in the labor force were 1.3 times more likely to be victimized than employed cohort members. Results also showed that race was significantly associated with homicide. Non-Hispanic Blacks were over 4.5 times as likely to die as whites. Hispanics were nearly 1.9 times as likely to be victims as Non-Hispanic whites. When the sample was stratified by race/ethnicity, unemployment was highly significant for both non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic African American men. Employment status is a significant risk factor for homicide victimization.     

The Uniqueness of the Child–Father Attachment Relationship: Fathers' Sensitive and Challenging Play as a Pivotal Variable in a 16-year Longitudinal Study

This longitudinal study of forty‐four families explored fathers’ as compared to mothers’ specific contribution to their children's attachment representation at ages 6, 10, and 16 years. In toddlerhood, fathers’ and mothers’ play sensitivity was evaluated with a new assessment, the sensitive and challenging interactive play scale (SCIP). Fathers’ SCIP scores were predicted by fathers’ caregiving quality during the first year, were highly consistent across 4 years, and were closely linked to the fathers’ own internal working model of attachment. Qualities of attachment as assessed in the Strange Situation to both parents were antecedents for children's attachment security in the Separation Anxiety Test at age 6. Fathers’ play sensitivity and infant–mother quality of attachment predicted children's internal working model of attachment at age 10, but not vice versa. Dimensions of adolescents’ attachment representations were predicted by fathers’ play sensitivity only. The results confirmed our main assumption that fathers’ play sensitivity is a better predictor of the child's long‐term attachment representation than the early infant–father security of attachment. The ecological validity of measuring fathers’ sensitive and challenging interactive play behavior as compared to infant proximity seeking in times of distress is highlighted. Findings are discussed with respect to a wider view on attachment in that both parents shape their children's psychological security but each in his or her unique way.     

The role of social support when giving up drug abuse: a female perspective

This article contains a presentation and analysis of the results from two qualitative studies, which examined female drug abusers' everyday lives and the social support available to them within their close relationships. Both studies concerned women who were participating in work-training or treatment programmes and who were in the process of giving up drug abuse. The two main questions concerned the supply of social support from the women's social networks and whether the amount of support available or lack of support had any impact on the exit process. Social support within different relationships of the women's social networks is presented, as well as different types of professional social support and treatment. The results in relation to previous research about female drug abusers and social support from gender and class perspectives are discussed. Conclusions about three important factors when creating a new life after drug abuse are drawn.     

The Inclusion of Female PhD Students in Academia: A Case Study of a Swedish University Department

The article introduces a framework for understanding women's entry into the academic world and how it interacts with internal departmental structures and practices. It presents three specific strategies applied by a group of women to gain a doctorate and acceptance in their department. Few previous studies have stressed women's strategies to cope with the organizational setting in academia. The article draws on previous research on women in academia and how organizational characteristics influence women's careers. It is based on a case study of a Swedish university department. Sweden is often recognized for creating favourable working conditions for women. Yet the Swedish academic world is very male‐dominated at the top and even the medium level. It is also more common than in many other Western countries that academics stay on at the department where they graduated. Therefore, a PhD is often a first step in a career within that department.     

Preis und Qualität als Dimensionen von Kompromissoptionen

This article deals with the question of how consumers cope with decision situations in which a compromise product exists. We examine how the compromise product's position influences choice probabilities. The products we test differ in price and overall quality rating. We present theories, which provide hypotheses on the influence of such types of compromise products and we conduct a new experiment to gain insights into the effects of a compromise product on choice probabilities. The results of the study show that even compromise products with a poor quality/price relation are frequently chosen. The loss in choice probability of the existing products depends on the price category the products belong to.