Linking perceived organizational support with employee work outcomes in a Chinese context: Organizational identification as a mediator

Perceived organizational support (POS) is viewed as an important explanatory framework for understanding the relationship between employees and the workplace, and is regarded by some researchers as central in understanding job-related attitudes and behaviors of employees. However, less research has taken into account the role of organizational identification, which reflects how individuals define the self with respect to their organization, as a potential influence on such relationships. Drawing on a cross-organizational sample of 238 subordinate-supervisor dyads from the People’s Republic of China, we examined whether organizational identification mediates the effect of perceived organizational support (POS) on work outcomes including turnover intentions, work performance, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Results from the current study showed that organizational identification fully mediates the relation of POS to OCB-directed to individuals, and partially mediates relations between POS and other work outcomes (turnover intention, work performance, OCB-directed to organization). Implications for management theory and practice are discussed.     

The nostalgia for permanence at work? The end of work and its commentators

This article examines a contemporary trend in the sociology of work that is labelled here the ‘end of work’ debate after Jeremy Rifkin's book of the same name. It explores this trend, suggesting that marked similarities exist between a range of authors in Europe and North America who propose that work regimes and the meaning derived from them are changing fundamentally. This literature is then placed in the context of an older canon on decline in work and employment. Using the insights of newer qualitative studies that have emerged over the last decade it is suggested that much of the ‘end of work’ type of writing over‐generalises a complex situation, suggesting that sociology needs to incorporate macro theorisation with detailed empirical research if it is to properly understand changes in the contemporary world of work.     

Marital stability throughout the child-rearing years

Although there is evidence that the number and ages of children influence marital stability, studies have not systematically tracked the risk of marital disruption throughout the child-rearing years. This study uses marital and fertility histories from the June 1985 Current Population Survey to examine this issue. Continuous-time regression models with ages and numbers of children as time-varying covariates are estimated. Net of controls for age at marriage, year of marriage, education, and marital duration, stability increases with family size up to the third child but starts to decline as family size reaches five or more children. Aging of children is disruptive until the youngest child reaches adulthood, after which marriages become much more stable. Arrival and aging of children is an important dynamic with strong implications for marital stability.     

Engagement: A Critical Aspect of Family Therapy Practice*

Engagement must be appreciated as an integral ongoing aspect of therapy. It can provide therapists with a wealth of information about the structure and functioning of the family. Engagement/counter-engagement, assessment and interventions are essential, interdependent processes which occur throughout treatment. Ways of enhancing the engagement process are discussed.     

A Career Readiness Typology and Typal Membership in Middle School

This study explored a career readiness typology of 629 8th‐grade students using the Career Factors Inventory. Data revealed developmentally appropriate elevated needs for information, specifically self‐knowledge. In addition, cluster analysis demonstrated the heterogeneity of career development needs of 8th‐grade students. Typal membership revealed little variance on sociodemographic factors. Career development implications are presented.     

From the Editor: Contending with the Power of Words

Sociological Forum -     

CORPORATE DIVERSIFICATION REVISITED: The Political–Legal Environment,the Multilayer‐Subsidiary Form,and Mergers and Acquisitions

This article examines causes of product‐line diversification in the largest 200 U.S. corporations between 1986 and 1996. The analysis shows that some corporations decreased their level of diversification. However, in contrast with previous studies, other corporations became more diversified. Change in the number of first‐level subsidiaries and the value of mergers and acquisitions influenced corporate diversification. In contrast with the multidivisional form, the organizational characteristics of the multilayer‐subsidiary form give management greater capacity to socialize capital, pursue mergers and acquisitions, and manage a large and diversified corporation. This multilayer‐subsidiary form limits the managerial problem of bounded rationality by organizing product lines and product groups in legally independent subsidiary corporations that are embedded in their respective markets.     

Assessing performance in local government

The author outlines the complexity of trying to measure performance in local government and poses the questions: performance review by whom?—elected members, professional officers, outside bodies and management consultants: for whom?—ratepayers, recipients of services, central government: and for what purpose?—to cut costs, to cut services, to improve efficiency. He then outlines the various techniques used to measure and assess performance in local government.