Project CHOICE: Validity of Interest and Ability Measures for Student Choice of Vocational Program

This project sought to determine whether interest and ability measures can help high school students identify vocational education programs in which they may experience satisfaction and success. Interest measures (6) and ability measures (15) were administered to 2,101 seniors in 19 area vocational-technical schools. About 80% of the satisfied/successful seniors would have been referred, by a computer-based score interpretation, to the job cluster containing the vocational program they completed. Generally, score profiles were congruent with program content. Results indicate that computer-based interpretations can effectively and efficiently link interest and ability scores to vocational-technical program options.     

Human Interindividual Variability–A Major Source of Uncertainty in Assessing Risks for Noncancer Health Effects

For noncancer effects, the degree of human interindividual variability plays a central role in determining the risk that can be expected at low exposures. This discussion reviews available data on observations of interindividual variability in (a) breathing rates, based on observations in British coal miners; (b) systemic pharmacokinetic parameters, based on studies of a number of drugs; (c) susceptibility to neurological effects from fetal exposure to methyl mercury, based on observations of the incidence of effects in relation to hair mercury levels; and (d) chronic lung function changes in relation to long-term exposure to cigarette smoke. The quantitative ranges of predictions that follow from uncertainties in estimates of interindividual variability in susceptibility are illustrated.     

Further Evidence for the Use of Career Subtypes in Defining Career Status

Four groups of career-decided students differentiated by the level of comfort they reported with their career choices (Uncomfortable, Somewhat Comfortable, Moderately Comfortable, Very Comfortable) and two groups of career-undecided students differentiated by the level of the problem they perceived their indecision to be (Not Serious, Serious) were compared using three measures of career status and two measures of anxiety. Generally, the results seriously challenge the use of decided versus undecided groupings in defining career status and suggest that many career-decided students may benefit from career intervention. Further investigation of career subtypes, examining both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of career status, is recommended.     

How Does Performance Management Affect Workers? Beyond Human Resource Management and Its Critique

While performance management (PM) is pervasive across contemporary workplaces, extant research into how performance management affects workers is often indirect or scattered across disciplinary silos. This paper reviews and synthesizes this research, identifies key gaps and explores ‘recognition theory’ as a nascent framework that can further develop this important body of knowledge. The paper develops in three main stages. The first stage reviews ‘mainstream’ human resource management (HRM) research. While this research analyses workers’ reactions to performance management in some depth, its focus on serving organizational goals marginalizes extra‐organizational impacts. The second stage reviews more critical HRM research, which interprets performance management as a disciplinary, coercive or inequitable management device. While this literature adds an important focus on organizational power, there is scope to analyse further how PM affects workers’ well‐being. To develop this strand of PM research, the third stage turns to the emerging field of recognition theory independently developed by Axel Honneth and Christophe Dejours. The authors focus especially on recognition theory's exploration of how (in)adequate acknowledgement of workers’ contributions can significantly affect their well‐being at the level of self‐conception. Although recognition theory is inherently critical, the paper argues that it can advance both mainstream and critical performance management research, and also inform broader inquiry into recognition and identity at work.     

Longitudinal predictors of cigarette use among students from 24 Texas colleges

ABSTRACT

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine differences between current and non-current cigarette users, focusing on sociodemographic factors, non-cigarette tobacco product use, parental and friend use, and alcohol and marijuana use; and to identify predictors of cigarette use sixmonths later. Participants: Participants included young adults (n = 4,296) from 24 Texas colleges, participating in a young adult cohort study, beginning in fall 2014. Methods: Mixed effects logistic regressions were conducted accounting for school-level variability. Results: Cigarette users were older, more likely to report use of non-cigarette tobacco products and peer use of cigarettes than non-current users. Wave 1 cigarette and non-cigarette tobacco product use, marijuana use and binge drinking, and peer use all uniquely predicted cigarette use at wave 2. Conclusions: Colleges need prevention programs targeting multiple tobacco products, because non-cigarette tobacco use and other risky behaviors appear to be independent risk factors for cigarette use in young adults.     

The effects of human resource systems on operational performance in mass customisation manufacturing environments

This study empirically examines the impact of two human resource management (HRM) systems on operational performance in two distinct mass customisation manufacturing (MCM) environments. Using the survey data collected electronically from 148 mass customisation manufacturers in the USA, moderated hierarchical multiple regression was employed to test the research hypotheses. Results suggest that operational performance significantly increases when a bundle of complementary basic HRM practices are integrated in MCM contexts that emphasise module and process standardisation. This finding indicates that these types of mass customisation manufacturers are capitalising on the opportunity to improve operational performance by strategically combining several different, but supportive, traditional HRM practices with a finite MCM system.     

Bayesian Interpretations of Heteroskedastic Consistent Covariance Estimators Using the Informed Bayesian Bootstrap

This article provides Bayesian interpretations for White's heteroskedastic consistent (HC) covariance estimator, and various modifications of it, in linear regression models. An informed Bayesian bootstrap provides a useful framework.