Personnel turnover in health care organizations: Test of a predictive model based on work assessments by employees

It is predicted that institutions in Dutch intramural health care will be increasingly confronted with problems in personnel supply. Instead of making great efforts to keep the inflow of new personnel on the desired level, control of turnover is an alternative solution. In this paper, an explanatory model is constructed, based on previous theories and research findings. It is hypothesized that the more employees have positive attitudes concerning their work and work situation, the greater their satisfaction and commitment and hence the less their intention to leave and the lower actual turnover. This model was tested using a large scale employee questionnaire. The instrument turned out to be reliable (internal consistencies above .70). The questionnaire was administered in eight institutions in four health care sectors (n = 1456). Results indicate that attitudes about work content and personnel management are relevant in predicting intention to leave. All in all, 8 work-related aspects predicted 21% of intention to leave. Aspects with the most predictive value were career guidance, work safety, responsibilities and job discretion. Furthermore, general satisfaction was shown to play an intermediary role in predicting intention to leave. It is concluded that improvements in work content and personnel management can reduce intention to leave and hence the demand for new personnel.     

Public Accounts: Defending Contested Practices

Little attention has been paid to how actors account for controversial institutional conduct or contested practices. Relying on a content analysis of letters to the editor, I explore how actors operating in the Habermasian “public sphere” justify the contested practice of linking Native American symbols with sports teams, and suggest that in their rejection of challengers to their definitions of the situation, authors create public accounts. Consisting primarily of justifications rather than excuses, these accounts are of four types: “denial of injury,” “assertion of benefit,” “claim of authority,” and “rejection of challenge.” For those who wish to conduct comparative analyses of contested practices, these concepts may prove useful.     

A Genetically Informed Study of the Intergenerational Transmission of Marital Instability

Environmental or genetic influences, or both could account for the increased risk of divorce among the offspring of separated parents. Previous studies have used covariates to statistically control for confounds, but the present research is the first genetically informed study of the topic. The investigation used the Children of Twins Design with twins, their spouses, and their young adult offspring (n = 2,310) from the Australian Twin Registry to test whether selection on the basis of genetic or shared environment factors accounted for part of the intergenerational association. The analyses also controlled for measured characteristics of both parents. The results suggest that both environmentally mediated and genetic risk account for the intergenerational transmission, supporting the roles of both selection and causation.     

Work and pay in flexible and regulated labor markets: A generalized perspective on institutional evolution and inequality trends in Europe and the U.S.

In recent years a “unified theory” has emerged out of labor economics, which argues that a combination of “macroeconomic shocks” and flexible labor market institutions in the U.S. has produced strong upward trends in wage inequality, while these same shocks have produced high unemployment and low employment growth in Europe as a side effect of the wage stability preserved by that continent's rigid labor market institutions. This paper takes issue with the common view that inequality trends are best explained by a model of stable institutions interacting with changing macroeconomic forces. It argues that European institutions in fact have changed, and that institutional changes which were triggered by the broader macroeconomic forces have affected the form as well as the size of inequality trends. While the U.S. has experienced rising strong skill-based wage inequality, institutional change in France has produced an upward trend in the density of insecure jobs and an increased concentration of low-skill workers in insecure jobs. These results challenge the view that low employment rates is the sole mechanism through which European labor markets have absorbed asymmetric shocks to their demand for labor.     

Linking Citizen Satisfaction with E-Government and Trust in Government

This article asks how Internet use, citizen satisfaction withe-government, and citizen trust in government are interrelated.We first review the literature on trust and explore how radicalinformation technologies may work to alter the production ormaintenance of trust. We then develop hypotheses about how citizens'experience with e-government, satisfaction with e-governmentand government Web sites, and trust in government are interrelated.Moreover, the model for e-government and Web site satisfactionincorporates citizen perspectives on electronic transaction,transparency, and interactivity. Using data obtained from theCouncil on Excellence in Government, we then develop and testa two-stage multiple-equation model that simultaneously predictsexperience, satisfaction, and trust. Findings indicate thatgovernment Web site use is positively associated with e-governmentsatisfaction and Web site satisfaction and that e-governmentsatisfaction is positively associated with trust in government.We also find that while citizens are generally satisfied withthe electronic provision of information (transparency), thereis some dissatisfaction with the transaction and interactivityof Web sites. We conclude that electronic government strategies—transaction,transparency, and interactivity—are important factorsthat directly affect e-government satisfaction and indirectlyaffect trust. Individuals who use government Web sites are notonly critical consumers but also demanding citizens.     

Modern racism on campus: a survey of attitudes and perceptions

Contemporary society is beset with subtle racial tensions. Modern racism is a form of racism often found in modern, politically correct America. In this form of racism, racist beliefs are often expressed only indirectly. In the present paper, race differences in attitudes about and perceptions of racism were examined through the use of a survey. Results showed several differences in the way Blacks and Whites perceive race relations on a university campus. This information helps to gain insight into the causes of modern racial tensions. The results also suggest strategies to reduce racism on college campuses.     

Stochastic, Compartmental, and Dynamic Modeling of Cross-Contamination During Mechanical Smearing of Cheeses

Cheese smearing is a complex process and the potential for cross-contamination with pathogenic or undesirable microorganisms is critical. During ripening, cheeses are salted and washed with brine to develop flavor and remove molds that could develop on the surfaces. Considering the potential for cross-contamination of this process in quantitative risk assessments could contribute to a better understanding of this phenomenon and, eventually, improve its control. The purpose of this article is to model the cross-contamination of smear-ripened cheeses due to the smearing operation under industrial conditions. A compartmental, dynamic, and stochastic model is proposed for mechanical brush smearing. This model has been developed to describe the exchange of microorganisms between compartments. Based on the analytical solution of the model equations and on experimental data collected with an industrial smearing machine, we assessed the values of the transfer parameters of the model. Monte Carlo simulations, using the distributions of transfer parameters, provide the final number of contaminated products in a batch and their final level of contamination for a given scenario taking into account the initial number of contaminated cheeses of the batch and their contaminant load. Based on analytical results, the model provides indicators for smearing efficiency and propensity of the process for cross-contamination. Unlike traditional approaches in mechanistic models, our approach captures the variability and uncertainty inherent in the process and the experimental data. More generally, this model could represent a generic base to use in modeling similar processes prone to cross-contamination.     

The socio-economic circumstances of children at risk of disability in Britain

Our aims were to describe the socio-economic circumstances faced by families supporting a child at risk of disability and to investigate the extent to which disability is associated with hardship once family income is held constant. We analysed data on 7070 family units containing 12,916 children aged under 17. Families supporting a child at risk of disability were significantly more disadvantaged across a wide range of indicators of socio-economic position. The hardship experienced by these families was only partly accounted for by between group differences in income, debt and savings. Children who are already at risk of disability as a result of a range of physical and cognitive impairments are more likely than other children to live under conditions that have been repeatedly shown to impede development, increase the risk of poor health and (additional) disability and increase the risk of social exclusion.