Effort-reward imbalance and work-home interference: a two-wave study among European male nurses

ABSTRACT

This one-year follow-up study among 1,421 male nurses from seven European countries tested the validity of the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) model in predicting prospective vital exhaustion and work-home interference. We hypothesised that effort and lack of reward would have both main and interactive effects on future outcomes. Results of structural equation modelling (SEM) showed that effort was positively related to exhaustion and work-home interference, both simultaneously and over time. Lack of reward predicted increased exhaustion at follow-up, but effort-reward imbalance did not influence the outcomes. Additionally, Time 1 exhaustion predicted increased work-home interference and exhaustion at follow-up. These results do not support the ERI model, which postulates a primacy of effort-reward imbalance over main effects. Instead, the findings are in line with dual path models of job stress and work-home interference. Multi-group SEM showed partial cross-cultural metric invariance for the ERI measure of effort, but the ERI measure of rewards showed no metric measurement invariance, indicating its meaning is qualitatively different across cultures. Nevertheless, the main conclusions were markedly similar for each national sub-sample. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study.     

A Joint Modeling Approach for Longitudinal Outcomes and Non-ignorable Dropout under Population Heterogeneity in Mental Health Studies

The paper proposes a joint mixture model to model non-ignorable drop-out in longitudinal cohort studies of mental health outcomes. The model combines a (non)-linear growth curve model for the time-dependent outcomes and a discrete-time survival model for the drop-out with random effects shared by the two sub-models. The mixture part of the model takes into account population heterogeneity by accounting for latent subgroups of the shared effects that may lead to different patterns for the growth and the drop-out tendency. A simulation study shows that the joint mixture model provides greater precision in estimating the average slope and covariance matrix of random effects. We illustrate its benefits with data from a longitudinal cohort study that characterizes depression symptoms over time yet is hindered by non-trivial participant drop-out.KEYWORDS: Latent growth curve, MNAR drop-out, survival analysis, finite mixture model, mental health     

Self-regulatory responses to professional misconduct within the legal profession

Dans cette communication, l'auteur s'appuie sur des documents des archives d'une association provinciale du Barreau canadien pour étudier les facteurs qui conditionnent les décisions de poursuivre ou de sanctionner les avocats pour faute professionnelle. Selon le modèle présenté, il existe des similitudes entre la façon dont les décisions sont prises par les cours criminelles et par les instances d'autoréglementation de la profession juridique. Plus précisément, l'auteur avance l'hypothèse selon laquelle la position occupée à l'intérieur de la profession, le degré d'inexpérience et l'état de l'économie influeront sur la décision de poursuivre et de discipliner un avocat. Le modèle tient compte d'autres facteurs, tels la nature de l'infraction au code de déontologie, l'existence plaintes pour faute professionnelle antérieures et le sexe de la personne. Les données étudiées tendent à confirmer les hypothèses émises et font ressortir certaines tendances communes entre le système public et le système professionel en matière de poursuites et de sanctions. Using archival data from a Canadian provincial bar association we examine contingencies that structure decisions to prosecute and sanction lawyers for professional misconduct. A model is explored which asserts similarities between criminal justice and professional self-regulatory patterns of decision-making. More specifically, we hypothesize that intra-professional position, inexperience and the economic recession will influence disciplinary decisions to prosecute and sanction lawyers. Offence characteristics, complaint histories and gender are also included in the models. Our findings offer some support for our hypotheses and for the assertion of similarities between professional and public systems of prosecution and sanctioning.     

The impact of childhood on disabled professionals

The impact of childhood on success in adulthood has been much researched. This paper discusses how parental expectations, social class, childhood experiences and gender influenced the career success of disabled people. For respondents with congenital disabilities, disability was perceived as a primary factor influencing parental expectations, but those with acquired disabilities felt it was gender. Social class played a significant part in all respondents' childhood socialisation and parental expectations. Some experienced deprivation and trauma as children, encouraging them to master future life events. The findings highlight the importance of childhood socialisation to the career success of disabled people.     

The barrier effect of conflict with superiors in the relationship between employee empowerment and organizational commitment

The author proposes the idea that conflict with superiors has a barrier effect in the positive relationship between employee empowerment and organizational commitment. Superiors with higher authority rankings set and pursue organizational goals and values to which employees with lower authority rankings are expected to become committed. Conflicts with those superiors may hinder empowered employees to develop or maintain high levels of organizational commitment. A questionnaire survey among 91 secondary school teachers in The Netherlands provides empirical support for this suggestion. The moderator effect of conflict with superiors that was proposed and found in this study suggests that psychological empowerment in the workplace interacts with other employee experiences in its effects on an employee's commitment to the organization.     

Moving beyond the child care debate toward implications for social and political agendas

Early nonmaternal child care, for at least some portion of the week, is now the reality for most families in the United States. Ongoing debates surrounding what these changes mean for our society have focused on the possible negative consequences of extended nonmaternal care and the potential impact of such arrangements on children's later development. The NICHD-Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development has made great strides toward addressing methodological limitations in previous research through a series of landmark examinations of child functioning from transition to school through 15 years-of-age. The primary goal of this commentary is to put the child care findings into a broader developmental, social, and political context by reframing the discussion to move beyond the current daycare debate and consider implications for social policy and research agendas. Given that daycare has become a normative social institution, we first consider what the research findings mean for the healthy social–emotional and cognitive growth of children. Second, we articulate the implications of the data for social interventions to improve those outcomes. Finally, we address the issue of what political changes are necessary to produce those improvements.     

Forecasting the Penetration of a New Product—A Bayesian Approach

We adopt a Bayesian approach to forecast the penetration of a new product into a market. We incorporate prior information from an existing product and/or management judgments into the data analysis. The penetration curve is assumed to be a nondecreasing function of time and may be under shape constraints. Markov-chain Monte Carlo methods are proposed and used to compute the Bayesian forecasts. An example on forecasting the penetration of color television using the information from black-and-white television is provided. The models considered can also be used to address the general bioassay and reliability stress-testing problems.