Servant leaders inspire servant followers: Antecedents and outcomes for employees and the organization

Despite widespread adoption of servant leadership, we are only beginning to understand its true utility across multiple organizational levels. Our purpose was to test the relationship between personality, servant leadership, and critical follower and organizational outcomes. Using a social influence framework, we proposed that leader agreeableness and extraversion affect follower perceptions of servant leadership. In turn, servant leaders ignite a cycle of service by role-modeling servant behavior that is then mirrored through coworker helping behavior and high-quality customer service, as well as reciprocated through decreased withdrawal. Using a multilevel, multi-source model, we surveyed 224 stores of a U.S. retail organization, including 425 followers, 110 store managers, and 40 regional managers. Leader agreeableness was positively and extraversion was negatively related to servant leadership, which was associated with decreased follower turnover intentions and disengagement. At the group-level, service climate mediated the effects of servant leadership on follower turnover intentions, helping and sales behavior.     

Floral abundance and richness drive beneficial arthropod conservation and biological control on golf courses

Urban Ecosystems - Golf courses are among the largest, most ubiquitous highly maintained urban green spaces in the U.S. Although their primary function is recreation, a large portion of golf course...     

Shelf Space Management When Demand Depends on the Inventory Level

Two factors that their influence on the demand has been investigated in many papers are (i) the shelf space allocated to a product and to its complement or supplement products and (ii) the instantaneous inventory level seen by customers. Here we analyze the joint shelf space allocation and inventory decisions for multiple items with demand that depends on both factors. The traditional approach to solve inventory models with a state‐dependent demand rate uses a time domain approach. However, this approach often does not lead to closed‐form expressions for the profit rate with both dependencies. We analyze the problem in the inventory domain via level crossing theory. This approach leads to closed‐form expressions for a large set of demand rate functions exhibiting both dependencies. These closed‐form expressions substantially simplify the search for optimal solutions; thus we use them to solve the joint inventory control and shelf space allocation problem. We consider examples with two products to investigate the significance of capturing both demand dependencies. We show that in some settings it is important to capture both dependencies. We consider two heuristics, each one of them ignores one of the two dependencies. Using these heuristics it seems that ignoring the dependency on the shelf space might be less harmful than ignoring the dependency on the inventory level, which, based on computational results, can lead to profit losses of more than 6%. We demonstrate that retailers should use their operational control, e.g., reorder point, to promote higher demand products.     

Sexual behavior among HIV-positive men who have sex with men: what's in a label?

Relatively little attention has been paid to the use and importance of labels used by men who have sex with men to describe insertive or receptive sexual behavior during intercourse. This study examines sexual self-labels, sexual behavior, HIV transmission risk, and psychological functioning among 205 HIV-seropositive men who have sex with men. The majority of participants (88%) identified as a top, a bottom, or versatile. Tops were more likely to engage in insertive anal intercourse than bottoms, and bottoms were more likely to engage in receptive anal intercourse than tops, with versatiles reporting intermediate rates of both behaviors. Although the results suggest preliminary evidence regarding the predictive utility of self-labels, sexual behaviors of self-label groups were greatly overlapping. Differences were found among self-label groups in gay self-identification, internalized homophobia, sexual sensation seeking, and anxiety. Results suggest an added value in assessing self-labels in addition to asking about sexual behavior.     

Hazardous Materials Releases in the Northridge Earthquake: Implications for Seismic Risk Assessment

In recent years, increasing attention has been given to the problem of earthquake-initiated hazardous materials releases (EIHRs). While the evidence indicates that EHIRs are an important part of the earthquake hazard profile, little attention has been given to documenting them in a way that could form the basis for more systematic estimates of their probability and consequences. Data from the January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake document the range and nature of hazardous materials events in the impact area, including those at fixed-site facilities and in transportation systems. Proportional estimates of hazmat incidence are provided, and the implications of these data for developing risk assessments and earthquake hazard management are discussed.     

Moral Incongruence and Pornography Use: A Critical Review and Integration

Internet pornography use (IPU) remains a controversial topic within sexual behavior research fields. Whereas some people report feeling dysregulated in their use of pornography, mental health and medical communities are divided as to whether IPU can be addictive. The present review sought to examine this issue more closely, with a focus on how variables other than pornography use, such as moral disapproval and moral incongruence (i.e., feeling as if one’s behaviors and one’s values about those behaviors are misaligned), might specifically contribute to self-perceived problems around pornography use. Through an examination of recent literature, the present work reviews evidence that moral incongruence about IPU is a common phenomenon and that it is associated with outcomes relevant to current debates about pornography addiction. Specifically, moral incongruence regarding IPU appears to be associated with greater distress about IPU, greater psychological distress in general, greater reports of problems related to IPU, and greater reports of perceived addiction to IPU. The implications of this body of evidence for both clinical and research communities are discussed, and future directions for research are considered.     

Experiences of National Disability Insurance Scheme planning from the perspective of adults with intellectual disability

The Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is attempting to address long‐term inequalities experienced by people with disability. Planning is central to the NDIS. People with intellectual disability will be the largest group of NDIS participants, and their perspectives are underrepresented in the literature. It is important to understand how they experience and perceive NDIS planning. Ten adults with intellectual disability participated in semi‐structured interviews to explore their experiences of NDIS planning. Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke's (2006, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77) six stages of thematic analysis. Six themes were identified: planning preparation not fit for purpose, creating goals, goals not met, planning not meeting real needs, lack of choice and control and importance of relationship with planner. In principle, the NDIS presents a real opportunity to increase the choice and control, social and economic participation, and independence of people with disability; however, this does not always translate into practice for people with intellectual disability.     

Not Practicing What You Preach: Religion and Incongruence Between Pornography Beliefs and Usage

Religious Americans, and conservative Protestants in particular, have historically been the most ardent opponents of pornography’s production, dissemination, and use. Yet while religiously committed and theologically conservative Americans are generally less likely to view pornography than others, the difference is often not as great or consistent as one might suppose given their strong moral stance. Drawing on insights from religious incongruence theory, this study considered whether religious commitment and theological conservatism predicted a greater incongruence between what Americans say they believe about pornography morally and whether they actually watch it. Data are taken from the nationally representative 2006 Portraits of American Life Study (N = 2,279). Analyses show that greater religious service attendance and prayer frequency are predictive of American men (not women) affirming that viewing pornography is “always morally wrong” while still viewing it in the previous year. Evangelicalism and other sectarian Protestantism are also the religious traditions most likely to believe pornography is always morally wrong while also viewing it. Findings ultimately suggest that religious commitment and affiliation with theological conservatism may influence Americans (primarily men) to oppose pornography more strongly in principle than reflected in actual practice. Data limitations and implications for future research are discussed.