The Nature and Consequences of Organization-Employee and Union-Member Exchange: An Empirical Analysis

Drawing on a study of 423 union members in a UK Primary Care Trust, we use structural equation modeling to investigate the extent to which organizational and union commitment and citizenship behaviors are a function of economic and social exchange. Findings suggest that the organization-employee and union-member exchanges are distinct, with organizational commitment a function of organization-employee exchange and union commitment and citizenship behaviors (UCB) a function of union-member exchange. Findings also suggest that union commitment and UCB are motivated primarily by social exchange, with economic exchange playing a supporting role. In addition, for organizational commitment, social exchange also seemed to be relatively more important. There was no evidence that perceived industrial relations climate moderates these relationships. Implications for industrial relations and workplace social partnerships are considered.     

Book reviews

Theory and Society -     

In the path of heroes: second-generation Tamil-Canadians after the LTTE

This paper explores how second-generation Tamil-Canadian university students have modified their ‘cultural heritage’ in the period after the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009. Using a generational framework suggested by the work of Karl Mannheim, I show that the events of May 2009 situated second-generation Tamil-Canadian political activism as a response to the ambivalence of their parents to the conflict in Sri Lanka. Second-generation Tamil-Canadians are also shown to have altered the key LTTE symbol of the Maaveerar (great hero) to better fit a transnational social field that is framed by the new realities of post-LTTE Sri Lanka and by intolerance to imported conflict in Canada. I argue that the Tamil second generation is highly engaged with the politics of their cultural identity, and that this engagement may have a lasting influence on transnational Tamil identity and on the political status of the Tamil community within Canada.     

Cost of Living Variation,Nonmetropolitan America,and Implications for the Supplemental Poverty Measure

Population Research and Policy Review - Poverty scholarship in the United States is increasingly reliant upon the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) as opposed to the Official Poverty Measure of...     

When Are Net Effects Gross Products? Communication

The rush to judgment about the social effects of the new communications media has branded them as positive and negative in equal measure. Alienation from "real world" relationships coupled with a lack of social regulation within the medium is balanced by liberation from the influences, inequalities, and identities to which people are subjected in face-to-face interaction. We argue that such general conclusions may in fact be turned upside down and propose that these media may actually strengthen social bonds but also reinforce power inequalities. Reviewing evidence of our research with university students, employing the social identity model of deindividuation effects, we show how these technologies can often be more "social," and socially regulated, than face-to-face interaction.     

Is the Internet Changing Social Life? It Seems the More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

Although there has been a tremendous amount of discussion in the popular press about how the Internet is changing all facets of social life, research on the impact of the Internet is only beginning to emerge. A review of the studies reported in this issue suggests that the Internet may have had less impact on many aspects of social life than is frequently supposed. In many cases, the Internet seems to have created a new way of doing old things, rather than being a technology that changes the manner in which people live their lives. As a consequence, the policy implications of increasing Internet use may be less than is often believed.     

Measuring inter-racial friendships

Different methods of measuring inter-racial contacts produce large differences in the level of the same. Experiments conducted on the 1998 General Social Survey indicate that estimates of how many people have inter-racial friends are much higher when a direct question is asked, intermediate when a three-step procedure is used, and the least when a name-generator, network approach is used. Cognitive and social desirability reasons for these effects are discussed.     

Examining Familial-Based Academic Success Factors in Urban High School Students: The Case of Puerto Rican Female High Achievers

ABSTRACT

This article works to dispel the myth that Puerto Rican female urban high school students living in poverty are not capable of performing at high academic levels. This article attempts to counteract these beliefs by describing the four success factors that seven Puerto Rican female high school students attribute to their high academic achievement. These success factors are: (1) religiosity and extracurricular activities as sources of social capital, (2) affirming and maintaining a Puerto Rican identity, (3) maternal influences on students' academic achievement and, (4) the potential for caring teachers and other school staff to influence high academic achievement. Finally, our findings suggest that opportunities for Latinas and other youth of color are still inequitably structured in large, comprehensive high schools. Hence, we argue that schools must continue to bridge the large gap between themselves and the families/communities they serve and utilize the funds of knowledge and social capital that their students already bring to school.     

Who We Are Affects How We Do: The Financial Benefits of Organizational Identification

One ultimate test of the material value of identification in an organizational context is whether it relates to productivity. In this rare study of a business team in a global consumer goods company, we demonstrate a sales benefit of organizational identification when correcting for systematic between‐unit differences in sales. Findings also question the theoretical and practical meaning of ‘proximity’ in accounting for salience variations in identification – the best predictor of sales was the degree of identification with the superordinate business unit. Findings shed light on the scientific as well as managerial and business utility of the organizational identity concept.