Sozialstrukturelle Interessenlagen und Parteipräferenz in Deutschland

Based on Allbus data, stability and change of the impact of social structurally defined interests on party preference in Germany is investigated. We use both traditional cleavage indicators like union membership or frequency of church attendance and further social structural characteristics like class identification, occupation or unemployment experience. We apply a two-level model with varying intercepts for the 16 Allbus surveys from 1980 to 2008. Beyond the expected results we observe some deviations from the stable relationship between social structural variables and party preference. (1) The younger generation of active Catholics prefers the Christian Democrats less than the older cohorts and the East German working class leaned towards this party immediately after unification. (2) Union members got alienated from the Social Democrats since 2004 due to reforms of unemployment benefits for people being out of work for a longer period of time with the consequence that Die Linke could profit from this trend in West and East Germany. (3) This left socialist party and its forerunner, the PDS, has always been the preferred party of people with unemployment experience. (4) The Greens and the Liberal Party are enduringly supported by specific social groups, the Greens by the social and cultural service class and the FDP by the self-employed, at least since this latter party ended the social liberal coalition with the SPD in 1982.     

Work & stress: Information

The aim of this study was to investigate whether psychosocial factors at work are related to low-back pain among nursing personnel. It was conducted as a short-term follow-up study of 200 Danish female nursing personnel, providing care for the elderly. Self-reported measures of psychosocial factors such as time pressure, emotional demands of clients, control and social support were obtained by questionnaire at baseline, while stress, physical exertion and low-back pain were reported by diary records made in two, three-day periods in the subsequent 6 months. The study examines the possible influence of psychosocial factors preceding low-back pain as well as stress and physical exertion reported simultaneously with low-back pain. Only stress was associated with low-back pain (Odds Ratio (OR)=2.3; Confidence Interval (CI)=1.3-3.9) while neither physical exertion or any of the psychosocial factors were related to low-back pain. A possible pathway connecting emotional demands of clients to low-back pain through the mediation of stress was suggested.     

Rationing in the presence of baselines

We analyze a general model of rationing in which agents have baselines, in addition to claims against the (insufficient) endowment of the good to be allocated. Many real-life problems fit this general model (e.g., bankruptcy with prioritized claims, resource allocation in the public health care sector, water distribution in drought periods). We introduce (and characterize) a natural class of allocation methods for this model. Any method within the class is associated with a rule in the standard rationing model, and we show that if the latter obeys some focal properties, the former obeys them too.     

The effect of career exploration on subsequent training performance

In recent models of training effectiveness, it has been proposed that career exploration predicts training outcome variables such as training performance. Implementing the Career Exploration Survey developed by Stumpf and colleagues (1983), the present study explored the impact of sixteen dimensions of career exploration on subsequent training performance. A total of 145 call centre agents participated in the present study. Results demonstrated that four dimensions of career exploration predicted subsequent training performance. More specifically, trainees who (a) scored high on focused career exploration, (b) were more satisfied with information, (c) reported a higher internal search instrumentality, and (d) reported a lower external search instrumentality achieved higher training performance scores. Implications for theory, practice and future research are discussed.     

Logics and discourses in disability arts in Sweden: a neo-institutional perspective

Theatre for and with people with intellectual disabilities has gradually become a more frequent and popular work arrangement within the municipal daily activities in Sweden. This article focuses on one of those theatres - Olla - and the aim is to analyse the institutional settings and normative environment surrounding the theatre and the way in which it relates to different institutional rules and expectations. Analytical implications will be drawn against neo-institutional theory and will show how Olla expresses both an artistic and a therapeutical logic, and that legitimacy is dependent on a loosely coupled formal structure between process and product, art and therapy. These logics are formulated within two different discourses, which leave Olla balancing between being a normalisation project or disability art which puts emphasis on the celebration of difference.     

Transformational and transactional leadership styles,followers' positive and negative emotions,and performance in German nonprofit orchestras

Although the transformational‐transactional leadership paradigm has received increased attention from the research community over the past two decades, the nonprofit sector has been largely neglected. This study provides information about the effectiveness of transformational and transactional leadership styles in the domain of German nonprofit orchestras, while exploring the role of emotions within these leadership styles. We examined musicians' perceptions of their orchestra conductors' leadership behaviors and related those behaviors to performance. Positive emotions were associated with both transactional and transformational leadership. Negative emotions partially mediated the influence of transformational leadership on performance. In combination, the results allow a more thorough and detailed understanding of effective leadership behavior in nonprofit organizations.     

Are psychosocial factors associated with low-back pain among nursing personnel?

The aim of this study was to investigate whether psychosocial factors at work are related to low-back pain among nursing personnel. It was conducted as a short-term follow-up study of 200 Danish female nursing personnel, providing care for the elderly. Self-reported measures of psychosocial factors such as time pressure, emotional demands of clients, control and social support were obtained by questionnaire at baseline, while stress, physical exertion and low-back pain were reported by diary records made in two, three-day periods in the subsequent 6 months. The study examines the possible influence of psychosocial factors preceding low-back pain as well as stress and physical exertion reported simultaneously with low-back pain. Only stress was associated with low-back pain (Odds Ratio (OR)=2.3; Confidence Interval (CI)=1.3-3.9) while neither physical exertion or any of the psychosocial factors were related to low-back pain. A possible pathway connecting emotional demands of clients to low-back pain through the mediation of stress was suggested.     

Rounded responses to income questions

Summary: Responses to income questions in surveys are often rounded by the respondents. Though this is widely ignored, rounding can have detrimental effects on the results of a statistical analysis, especially with respect to the consistency of estimates. This paper deals with the analysis of data from the Finnish sub–sample of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) with respect to factors that influence rounding of personal gross wage and earnings. The finding is that the propensity to observe rounded values can be related to factors like the interview mode, the wage level, and personal characteristics like gender and job type.*Work financed by the European Commission under contract number IST–1999–11101.