The use of a personal development plan and the undertaking of learning activities,expertise-growth,flexibility and performance: the role of supporting assessment conditions

In the current search for tools that encourage and assess learning and development, personal development plans (PDPs) are being used ever more frequently by organizations. A PDP is an assessment tool used by the employee to reflect on, to document the competencies s/he has been working on and to present his/her plans for further development. This study conducted among employees working in a governmental organization in the Netherlands (N = 287) focused on the PDP practice as conceptualized by three supporting conditions: learning and reflection, information and feedback and the motivating supervisor. It examined which of these features enhance the undertaking of learning activities, expertise-growth, flexibility towards changing circumstances and performance. Results from the hierarchical regression analyses indicate that a motivating supervisor, information and feedback and reflection by the employee on the basis of his/her PDP affect whether or not a PDP contributes to the four measured output variables. Next, by conducting mediation analyses evidence is found for the mediating role of undertaking learning activities in the relation between the PDP practice and two output variables.     

欧洲传统游记中的嘉绒藏区社会

19世纪下半叶到20世纪中叶,游历于藏区东缘嘉绒地区的外国传教士、探险家、动植物学家和驻华领事官员络绎不绝于途,并且留下了不少考察观光型文字资料,较少为学界所知。通过对这些文献的比较阅读,可以使我们获得不少相关区域的有价值的资料,加深我们对汉藏边缘嘉绒藏区经济、政治、风俗、语言、宗教与族群认同的了解。当然,在使用这些游记资料时,还需做比较阅读,避免单个游记在知识上的局限。     

The Multidimensionality of Welfare State Attitudes: A European Cross-National Study

When evaluating the various aspects of the welfare state, people assess some aspects more positively than others. Following a multidimensional approach, this study systematically argues for a framework composed of seven dimensions of the welfare state, which are subject to the opinions of the public. Using confirmatory factor analyses, this conceptual framework of multidimensional welfare attitudes was tested on cross-national data from 22 countries participating in the 2008 European Social Survey. According to our empirical analysis, attitudes towards the welfare state are multidimensional; in general, people are very positive about the welfare state’s goals and range, while simultaneously being critical of its efficiency, effectiveness and policy outcomes. We found that these dimensions relate to each other differently in different countries. Eastern/Southern Europeans combine a positive attitude towards the goals and role of government with a more critical attitude towards the welfare state’s efficiency and policy outcomes. In contrast, Western/Northern Europeans’ attitudes towards the various welfare state dimensions are based partly on a fundamentally positive or negative stance towards the welfare state.     

Estimating the reliability of repeatedly measured endpoints based on linear mixed‐effects models. A tutorial

There are various settings in which researchers are interested in the assessment of the correlation between repeated measurements that are taken within the same subject (i.e., reliability). For example, the same rating scale may be used to assess the symptom severity of the same patients by multiple physicians, or the same outcome may be measured repeatedly over time in the same patients. Reliability can be estimated in various ways, for example, using the classical Pearson correlation or the intra‐class correlation in clustered data. However, contemporary data often have a complex structure that goes well beyond the restrictive assumptions that are needed with the more conventional methods to estimate reliability. In the current paper, we propose a general and flexible modeling approach that allows for the derivation of reliability estimates, standard errors, and confidence intervals – appropriately taking hierarchies and covariates in the data into account. Our methodology is developed for continuous outcomes together with covariates of an arbitrary type. The methodology is illustrated in a case study, and a Web Appendix is provided which details the computations using the R package CorrMixed and the SAS software. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Market transition or path dependency?: Changing effects of income determinants in the Czech Republic,Hungary, Poland,Russia, and Slovakia, 1991–2002

A major issue in the market transition debate on transitional societies is the extent to which changing economic institutions are responsible for the changing stratification order in post-Communist societies, as assumed by the Market Transition Theory (MTT). Advocates of path dependent transformation processes assume varying transformation processes across post-Communist societies. They have criticized the MTT of being insensitive to the different paths of transformation post-Communist societies go through and the way this will influence changes in the effects of income determinants. This study will test the extent to which trends in the effects of income determinants converge across post-Communist societies. A cross-national and across time comparative research design will be employed, analyzing 61 cross-sectional, standardized surveys for five Central and Eastern countries covering the period 1991–2002. Results from modified weighted least squares regression analyses show an increasing trend in the effect of years of education on standardized personal income for all five countries as predicted by the MTT. Income effects of years of experience, private sector employment and gender do not show increasing trends for all countries, contradicting the MTT. The empirical trends in effects of income determinants are to a great extent consistent with Stark's typology of privatization strategies, giving some support to the theoretical notion of path dependent transformation processes.     

The Imaginary Audience and Personal Fable: Factor Analyses and Concurrent Validity of the “New Look” Measures

This study examined key components of the “New Look” at the imaginary audience and personal fable constructs. Toward this end, data from four samples of Belgian high school students (N= 1,458) were analyzed. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses failed to confirm that the measures associated with the New Look theory, the New Imaginary Audience Scale, and the New Personal Fable Scale (NPFS), tapped a common underlying construct. Only the invulnerability and omnipotence subscales of the NPFS proved to be highly related. In line with the New Look theory, boys were found to believe more strongly in their own uniqueness, invulnerability, and omnipotence than were girls. Higher scores on the invulnerability and omnipotence subscales were associated with lower levels of depression and loneliness. Finally, each aspect of the personal fable seemed to have its own specific role in the process of separation – individuation. Implications of these findings for the New Look theory of the imaginary audience and the personal fable are discussed. Suggestions for future research are put forth, with particular emphasis on the role of the invulnerability/omnipotence complex in adolescent development and behavior and on the family resemblances among the various aspects of the personal fable.     

Solidarity towards immigrants in European welfare states

The concern that immigration could threaten the sustainability of the European Social Model is a reason to have a closer look at popular images of immigrants in the context of European welfare states. The focus is on Europeans' informal solidarity towards immigrants relative to other vulnerable groups in society. Using data from the European Values Survey 1999/2000 we find that in all European countries the public is least solidaristic towards migrants, in comparison with elderly people, sick and disabled people and unemployed people. Contrary to expectation, there is little relation between welfare state characteristics and people's solidarity, while the relative solidarity towards immigrants is higher in culturally more diverse countries. As expected, the relative solidarity towards immigrants is lower in countries with a more negative opinion climate towards immigrants and in poorer countries of Europe.     

South African quotas on textile imports from China: A policy error?

In August 2006 the South African government announced quotas on the imports of clothing and textile products from China. Three questions arise. What are these expected benefits? What will be the most likely impact of the import quotas on the South African economy? And what are the policy implications? In this paper we answer these questions by using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. We find that, contrary to the motivations apparently underlying the quota implementation, the macro-economic, sector and household effects are negative and result in greater inequality between poorer and richer households. We refer to modeling results elsewhere in the literature which report results consistent to ours. The policy implications are that the imposition of these quotas could come to be seen as a policy mistake, and that South Africa may benefit more from considering a free trade agreement with China.