SHORT REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article: Paul Demeny and Geoffrey Mcnicoll (eds.), Encyclopedia of Population Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild (eds.), Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Agriculture: Towards 2015/2030: An FAO Perspective and Summary Report Jeanne X. Kasperson and Roger E. Kasperson, Global Environmental Risk Richard Lynn, Eugenics: A Reassessment Douglas W. Maynard, Hanneke Houtkoop‐Steenstra, Nora Gate Schaeffer, and Johannes van der Zouwen (eds.), Standardization and Tacit Knowledge: Interaction and Practice in the Survey Anthony M. Messina (ed.), West European Immigration and Immigrant Policy in the New Century     

Nonprofit management education through distance learning

Course books 1–12 for “Managing Voluntary and Non-Profit Enterprises.” Milton Keynes, U.K.: The Open University, 1991. (For information, contact Open University Enterprises, 12 Coferidge Close, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, MK11 1BY, U.K.) Issues in Voluntary and Non-Profit Management: A Reader, edited by Julian Batsleer, Chris Cornforth, and Rob Paton. Workingham, England: Addison-Wesley, in association with The Open University, 1991. 215 pp., paper. Writers on Organizations (4th ed.), by D. S. Pugh and D. J. Hickson. London: Penguin Books, 1989. 201 pp., paper.     

Basic Skills in Adolescents' Occupational Preparation

Occupational preparation is directed at giving young people access to continuing and rewarding employment. It attempts to impart personal qualities and competencies that will attract potential employers and provide the particular skills necessary for employment in different kinds of jobs. This article addresses the first of these two issues: what are the basic elements of employability, and how do young people acquire them?     

SHORT REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article: Chris Beyrer, War in the Blood: Sex, Politics and AIDS in Southeast Asia Caroline H. Bledsoe et al. (eds.), Critical Perspectives on Schooling and Fertility in the Developing World Donald J. Hernandez and Evan Charney (eds)., From Generation to Generation: The Health and Well-Being of Children in Immigrant Families Nana Poku and David T. Graham (eds.), Redefining Security: Population Movements and National Security Jyoti Shankar Singh, Creating a New Consensus on Population Jael Silliman and Ynestra King (eds.), Dangerous Intersections: Feminist Perspectives on Population, Environment, and Development; A Project of the Committee on Women, Population, and the Environment Michael S. Teitelbaum and Jay Winter, A Question of Numbers: High Migration, Low Fertility, and the Politics of National Identity United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population Monitoring 1997 Anthony Young, Land Resources: Now and for the Future     

Social Networking and Individual Perceptions: Examining Predictors of Participation

Social networking is a process and practice that draws people and organizations together in an electronic medium. This article explores social interaction-based theories to suggest a social networking participation model that may help organizations understand acceptance or rejection of participation. Responses from 191 public administrators were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM), focusing on relationships between participation and five constructs: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived improvement potential (PIP), intra-organizational trust, and type of use. The study found favorable model fit statistics that support positive correlations between the latent variables examined and participation in social networking activities. The results demonstrate the potential of the survey instrument to serve as an adoption and participation model to predict and promote social networking activities as they relate to perceived performance improvement.     

Leader behaviors and career derailment potential: A multi-analytic method examination of rating source and self–other agreement

Based on extensive research that views leadership as a multi-faceted phenomenon, we examined how the relationships between task-oriented and relationship-oriented leader behaviors and career derailment potential vary by observer perspective. We present findings using three different analytical techniques: random coefficient modeling (RCM), relative weight analysis (RWA), and polynomial regression (PR). RCM findings suggest that self-, direct report, peer, and supervisor ratings of leader behaviors differ and are associated with career derailment potential. RWA results indicate that self-ratings matter the least, whereas peer ratings of leader behaviors typically matter the most in predicting career derailment potential. PR analyses indicate that career derailment potential is lowest when self-ratings are lower than other ratings of leader behaviors and/or when self–other ratings converge on higher, rather than lower, ratings of leader behaviors. Implications for leadership and self–other agreement research and professional practice are discussed.     

RFID‐Enabled Visibility and Retail Inventory Record Inaccuracy: Experiments in the Field

Accurate inventory records are key to effective store execution, affecting forecasting, ordering, and replenishment. Prior empirical research, however, shows that retailer inventory records are inherently inaccurate. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) enables visibility into the movement of inventories in the supply chain. Using two different field experiments, the current research investigates the effectiveness of this visibility in reducing retail store inventory record inaccuracy (IRI). Study 1 used an interrupted time‐series design and involved daily physical counts of all products in one category in 13 stores (8 treatments and 5 controls) of a major global retailer over 23 weeks. Results indicate a significant decrease in IRI of approximately 26% due to RFID‐enabled visibility. Using an untreated control group design with pre‐test and post‐test, Study 2 expands the number of categories to five and the number of stores to 62 (31 treatment and 31 control stores). Results show that the effectiveness of RFID in reducing IRI varies by category (ranging from no statistically significant improvement to 81%). Results also suggest that RFID ameliorates the effects of known determinants of IRI and provide the key insight that the technology is most effective for product categories characterized by these determinants.