A 25-year perspective on levels of analysis in leadership research

The purpose of this article is to present a comprehensive 25-year review of the incorporation of levels of analysis into conceptual and empirical leadership research published within Leadership Quarterly throughout its history. We assessed the population of Leadership Quarterly's research (790 research articles) on four key levels of analysis-based issues: (1) explicit statement of the focal level(s) of analysis; (2) appropriate measurement given level of constructs; (3) use of a multi-level data analysis technique; and, (4) alignment of theory and data. Prior reviews regarding levels of analysis incorporation into leadership research have been limited to major research domains. Results revealed that while both conceptual and empirical articles only explicitly state the focal level of analysis in approximately one-third of the articles, appropriate levels-based measurement and alignment between theory and data are relatively strong areas of achievement for the articles within Leadership Quarterly. Multi-level data analysis techniques are used in less than one-fifth of all articles. Although there is room for improvement, there is evidence that Leadership Quarterly is a premier outlet for levels-based leadership research. Given the increasing complexity of organizational science with regard to groups, teams and collectives, Leadership Quarterly has an opportunity to model for organizational research on how to build and test complicated multi-level theories and models.     

“Because being fat means being sick”: children at risk of type 2 diabetes

This study addresses the social and cultural underpinnings that shape children’s risk of type 2 diabetes, as identified by a racially and economically diverse group of parents and their children living in Anaheim, California. Based on in-depth interviews with 28 adults and 17 children, we explored how they understood what constitutes “good health” in children and the aspects of their neighborhoods and communities that acted as resources or impediments to their children’s well-being. We found that parents and children employed a language of food that reflected a fear-based, medicalized orientation to food consumption. Although nearly all agreed that children should stay active, densely populated neighborhoods, apartment complexes with rigid outdoor rules, high crime rates, police surveillance, and diminished access to public parks and recreational facilities posed challenges. Similarly problematic were deficits in school lunch programs and the limited sometimes demeaning, conversations with healthcare professionals about diabetes risk and prevention. Together, these narratives identify key structural processes attendant to type 2 diabetes risk in children and call for a more politicized conversation regarding prevention strategies and public healthcare practices.     

Structure, Agency, and Context: The Contributions of Geography to World-Systems Analysis

The interaction of geography and world-systems theory has created two groups of work. The first body of work uses world-systems theory as its theoretical framework with minor levels of critique or change. The second body of work attempts to inform world- systems theory by explicitly including a geographical perspective. Human geographers attracted to world-systems theory provide a perspective that highlights the role of agency in what is widely perceived to be a rigid structuralist approach. Key geographical concepts of region and place are viewed as social constructs created within an overarching context of structural imperatives. By conceptualizing places, states, and the macroregions of core, semiperiphery, and periphery as geographical scales, the role of agency in creating and maintaining the important structures and institutions of the capitalist world-economy, such as hegemony, is illustrated. The geographer's interest in the creation of geographical scales results in analysis of the dynamism of the contemporary world-system.     

Family Cohesion in the Lives of Mexican American and European American Parents

This study investigated similarities and differences in relations between stress and parenting behaviors for 509 Mexican American and European American fathers and mothers in Southern California. Our model posited that family cohesion mediates the relation between stressors and parenting behavior, and we found that family cohesion strongly mediated most of the relations between stress and parenting behaviors. Important ethnic and gender differences were evident. In contrast with other groups, Mexican American fathers reported higher levels of family cohesion when faced with economic pressures. Implications for future research on stress and parenting are discussed.     

EXPLAINING HUSBANDS' PARTICIPATION IN DOMESTIC LABOR

Three hypotheses of husbands participation in domestic labor (i.e., housework and child care) are examined: (1) the relative resources hypothesis states that the more resources (e.g., socioeconomic characteristics) a husband has relative to his wife, the less domestic labor he does; (2) the sex role ideology hypothesis maintains that the more traditional the husband's sex role attitudes, the less domestic labor he performs; and (3) the demand/response capability hypothesis states that the more domestic task demands on a husband and the greater his capacity to respond to them, the greater his participation in domestic labor. OLS regression results from a nationally-representative sample of employed persons overwhelmingly supports the demand/response capability hypothesis. The analysis suggests that neither attitude change nor education will alter the division of domestic labor. Rather, findings indicate that younger men who have children, employed wives, and jobs that do not require long work hours are most likely to be involved in houschold activities.     

Notes on Ostrogorski's paradox

Conclusion This note has investigated the necessary conditions for the existence of Ostrogorski's Paradox, and it showed that the paradox depends on the sizes of the groups taking each possible set of stands on the salient issues. By revising its positions on relevant issues, the majority party can avert the paradox. With increased emphasis on single-issue voting observed in the United States and other Western democracies, the analysis of the paradox should guide the understanding of parties' responses to coalition formation processes among special interest groups. Indeed, the Apex conditions characterizing the paradox provide clues as to the strategy to be followed by the majority party in selecting its platform: the party should generally follow positions advocated by the largest group while presenting a coalition of all other groups.The helpful comments of Howard Tamashiro on an earliar draft of this paper are greatfully acknowledge.     

SOURCES OF EARNINGS INEQUALITY IN THE BLACK AND WHITE FEMALE LABOR FORCES

Earnings inequality trends and their sources from 1975 to 1986 are evaluated for two historically subordinate working groups—black and white women—using Current Population Survey data. The dual nature of women's employment, improved earnings opportunities, and continuing segregation into low-paying positions create conditions under which earnings inequality in these two groups is expected to increase. Two sources of changing inequality levels are examined to determine which better explains inequality trends: the redistribution of women across labor market positions, which should have occurred due to industrial restructuring; and changes in the rates of earnings returns to labor market positions. For both groups, changes in returns better explain positive inequality trends in the 1980s, although black women's earnings are somewhat more influenced than whites' by their redistribution across labor market positions.     

Shift share analysis of change in occupational sex composition

Studies of economic restructuring frequently use two-dimensional shift share analysis to isolate components of change in labor market categories of theoretical interest. This paper adapts the shift share technique to the analysis of change in occupational sex composition. The adaptation relies on a three-dimensional data array and discusses issues of hierarchically ordering the dimensions. Sex composition change is decomposed by first isolating surplus or deficit occupational change for one sex, and then decomposing the surplus/deficit into constituent components. The model is demonstrated using Current Population Survey data for 1973 and 1987.     

AIDS Risk Behaviors among American and Australian Homeless Youth

We examined HIV/AIDS risk behaviors among homeless youth in cross-national data collected in Melbourne, Australia ( n = 398), and Los Angeles, California ( n = 498). Using structural equation modeling, we found that the Australian youth reported greater involvement in AIDS risk behaviors than the American youth and the Australian youth were more involved in intervening risk factors that promote risk behaviors and less involved with protective factors that reduce risk behaviors. Youth reporting the highest rates of delinquent behaviors also had peers engaging in delinquent acts, used alcohol and marijuana, and were more likely to utilize social services. These findings underscore the importance of having a service sector that is able to adequately address the needs of homeless youth .