Leadership and Stress Orientations of Germans: An Examination Based on Gender, Age, and Government Work Experience

Today??s working adults often display different leadership orientations, as well as moderate to severe levels of stress depending on the situation and various demographic traits. In order to explore the stress, task orientation and relationship orientation variables of German people, this study examined the differences of 232 respondents in Germany based on their gender, age, and public sector work experience. The results showed that respondents had dissimilar scores on their leadership orientations. Younger respondents had significantly lower task and relationship orientation scores. Furthermore, females reported having a significantly higher level of stress perception. These findings are useful for expatriate managers and professionals who work with German-born workers. Besides, relevant literature on the German culture, suggestions and implications for future studies are presented.     

Weshalb die Separierung von Produktivitätseffekten und Diskriminierung bei der studentischen Lehrveranstaltungsbewertung misslingt

In their article “Mein(schöner)Prof.de. The Physical Attractiveness of Academic Staff and Its Influence on Evaluations by Students”, Ulrich Rosar and Markus Klein try to show that attractive teachers don’t perform better in the classroom. There are three objections against their conclusion from the empirical analyses based on data from the online platform MeinProf.de: the high selectivity of the used sample, the missing control for relevant covariates as well as the choice of the modeling strategy and the interpretation of the statistical models. These arguments are also backed with data of “real” students’ evaluations of teaching at the LMU Munich. It is recommended to use such “real” students’ evaluations of teaching instead of selective samples from online platforms and to (consistently) include relevant confounding factors, which seem to be relevant from a theoretical and empirical perspective, such as the students’ prior interest in the topic of the course and the course type into the analyses. Furthermore, it is suggested to clearly separate statistical detectability of effects from their practical relevance.     

Modelling of a thermomechanically coupled forming process based on functional outputs from a finite element analysis and from experimental measurements

In this paper, measurements from experiments and results of a finite element analysis (FEA) are combined in order to compute accurate empirical models for the temperature distribution before a thermomechanically coupled forming process. To accomplish this, Design and Analysis of Computer Experiments (DACE) is used to separately compute models for the measurements and the functional output of the FEA. Based on a hierarchical approach, a combined model of the process is computed. In this combined modelling approach, the model for the FEA is corrected by taking into account the systematic deviations from the experimental measurements. The large number of observations based on the functional output hinders the direct computation of the DACE models due to the internal inversion of the correlation matrix. Thus, different techniques for identifying a relevant subset of the observations are proposed. The application of the resulting procedure is presented, and a statistical validation of the empirical models is performed.     

Does Sexual Orientation Have an Impact on Nonverbal Behavior in Interpersonal Communication?

This study explores the impact of sexual orientation on the nonverbal behavior of individuals in dyadic communication situations. It is hypothesized that the patterns of nonverbal behavior displayed in dyads with and without an individual with an open homosexual orientation are different from those in dyads with heterosexual participants only. An observational study was conducted with a total of 24 participants, 12 with a heterosexual orientation and 12 with a homosexual orientation (6 males and 6 females in each group). Participants were videotaped during a 20-min conversation which took place in dyads that were composed of individuals of the same biological sex with either the same sexual orientation (homosexual or heterosexual) or differing sexual orientations. Results show that in dyads which include a homosexual person nonverbal behavior is different from that displayed in dyads consisting of heterosexual participants only in terms of self-touch, body posture, body orientation, and gaze. Results are interpreted in terms of stereotyping and presentation rules.     

Die Organisation kollektiver Aktionen durch Beeinflussung der individuellen Teilnahmeentscheidung

Computer simulations allow a more optimal organization of collective action. For this purpose, the present study followed an actor-centered approach, in which the actor’s decision to participate in collective action is modeled on the basis of an expansion of the Theory of Planned Behavior. The variables used in the model of the individual’s decision to participate in a collective action are attitude, return, subjective social norm, and perceived behavior control with regard to participation. With these four variables, various social scientific theories are integrated (Elaboration Likelihood Model, Theory of Planned Behavior, Rational Choice Theory). These theories allow a conceptualization of interactions among individuals, and the effect of the active people, who seek to recruit others to participate in a collective action, can be studied. Simulations of a population of 10,000 individuals reveal the influence of the following factors on the effectiveness of collective action campaigns: different forms of recruitment by activators, the amount of contributions to the collective good of the participants, the size of the collective good, and the resources available to activators (training in persuasion methods, possibility to reward participants). Finally, simulation results are summarized in the form of recommendations for implementation when organizing collective action.     

Social Innovation in Rural Regions: Older Adults and Creative Community Development*

Many so-called structurally disadvantaged rural regions are characterized by an ongoing demographic change, low economic productivity, and an insufficient infrastructure. Paradoxically, citizens of such regions are often urged to address local challenges by developing innovative ideas, products, or services. Innovation is becoming a “message of salvation” and imperative to local action due to a rise of an innovation regime that conceptualizes innovation as reflexive and ubiquitous. Unlike cities, however, disadvantaged rural regions are often seen as not conducive to innovation. And older adults are rarely ever regarded as potential innovators. This article will examine how innovations emerge in disadvantaged rural regions and what role older adults play in this context. It focuses on social innovation which is important for processes of rural renewal. Drawing on insights gained through the “Innovation in Rural Municipalities” research project, the paper illustrates the resourcefulness of older adults in the context of socially innovative community development. Older adults can in fact act as drivers of innovative projects, actively participate in and make use of social innovations. Their specific role, however, depends on their personal motives, community-related interests, and available resources.     

Specification testing in nonparametric AR‐ARCH models

In this paper, an autoregressive time series model with conditional heteroscedasticity is considered, where both conditional mean and conditional variance function are modeled nonparametrically. Tests for the model assumption of independence of innovations from past time series values are suggested. Tests based on weighted L²‐distances of empirical characteristic functions are considered as well as a Cramér–von Mises‐type test. The asymptotic distributions under the null hypothesis of independence are derived, and the consistency against fixed alternatives is shown. A smooth autoregressive residual bootstrap procedure is suggested, and its performance is shown in a simulation study.     

When near means related: evidence from three web survey experiments on inter-item correlations in grid questions

In this article, we present the results of three question design experiments on inter-item correlations, which tested a grid design against a single-item design. The first and second experiments examined the inter-item correlations of a set with five and seven items, respectively, and the third experiment examined the impact of the question design on inter-item correlations of follow-up questions. We found that the inter-item correlations in grid designs were higher for both the set of five and seven items than for questions in a single-item design. Additionally, the inter-item correlations of the set of follow-up questions were higher if the preceding set of questions was presented in a grid. According to the findings of the present research, respondents seem to apply the interpretative near means related heuristic when answering grid questions, and also when answering follow-up questions preceeded by grid questions.     

Gathering time-series data for evaluating behavior-change campaigns in developing countries: reactivity of diaries and interviews

Gathering time-series data of behaviors and psychological variables is important to understand, guide, and evaluate behavior-change campaigns and other change processes. However, repeated measurement can affect the phenomena investigated, particularly frequent face-to-face interviews, which are often the only option in developing countries. This article presents three intervention control studies to investigate this issue. Daily diaries in Cuba did not affect behavior or attitudes for persons with intervention but reduced attitudes for persons without intervention. Reactivity of face-to-face interviews in Bolivia was negligible if applied weekly, but strong if applied twice per week. The article concludes with recommendations for gathering time-series data in developing countries.