Building better measures of role ambiguity and role conflict: The validation of new role stressor scales

Occupational stress researchers have given considerable attention to role ambiguity and role conflict as predictors of employee health, job attitudes and behaviour. However, the validity of the Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman’s (1970 Rizzo, J. R., House, R. J., &; Lirtzman, S. I. (1970). Role conflict and ambiguity in complex organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 15, 150–163. doi: 10.2307/2391486[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) scales – the most popular role stressor measures – has been a source of disagreement among researchers. In response to the disputed validity of the Rizzo et al. scales, we developed new measures of role ambiguity and role conflict and conducted five studies to examine their psychometric qualities (Study 1 N?=?101 U.S. workers; Study 2 N?=?118 workers primarily employed in the U.S.; Study 3 N?=?135 employed U.S. MBA students; Study 4 N?=?973 members of the U.S. Air Force (USAF); Study 5 N?=?234 workers primarily employed in the U.S.). Across these five studies, we found that the new role stressor scales have desirable psychometric qualities: they displayed high levels of substantive validity, high levels of internal consistency and test–retest reliability, they produced an interpretable factor structure, and we found evidence of their construct validity. We therefore recommend that these new scales be used in future research on role stress.     

Defining public relations roles in the U.S.A. using cluster analysis

This exploratory study attempted to discover key public relations (PR) practitioner roles through a survey design using factor-cluster analysis. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) partnered with the researchers by inviting PRSA members to complete a survey in which 256 members participated. Although different items were used, the results of this study were similar to the findings of a study conducted on European PR practitioners by Beurer-Zullig, Fieseler, and Meckel (2009) thus suggesting concurrent validity. Five PR roles were found incorporating personal characteristics, modes of communication, management and technical functions, perceived level of respondent strategic planning process involvement, and attitudes about communication goals and PR measurement (including perceived competency). The roles were labeled negotiator, policy advisor, brand officer, internal communicator, and press agent. The negotiator and policy advisor roles, which were management positions, viewed measurement research as important in the practice of PR.     

Australian Workers’ Narratives about Emergency Relief and Employment Service Clients: Complex Issues,Simple Solutions

This paper illuminates two under-investigated, and often intersecting, frontline services accessed by unemployed people. It reports on the narratives of 32 Australian service providers working in emergency relief or employment services during 2012, including perceptions of clients’ presenting issues and problems, and rationale for intervention. Workers tended to use reductionist and individualistic terms to describe complex client issues suggesting self-motivation and personal responsibility were key to gaining employment or alleviating poverty. Clients were often viewed as having the power to change their circumstances, while workers appeared unaware of their positional power and drew from dominant conservative discourse about welfarism and unemployment to fortify their compliance requirements. The findings are discussed in relation to service delivery and reform.     

“学”与“工”:社会角色的错位与回归——校外兼职对大学生学业的影响研究

校外"兼职"是当代大学生的热门话题,更是在校大学生的普遍性行动。然而,"盲目兼职"和"兼职过度"给大学生的学业带来了严重的负面影响,造成了其主导角色的错位和失败。因此,树立"理性兼职"理念,从"主观认知"和"时间控制"等方面把握兼职合理性,并实现大学生主导角色的"合理"回归与重构十分必要。     

人力资本、社会资本与工作转换①--基于城乡大学毕业生的比较研究

城乡大学毕业生在工作转换上的差异,一直以来广受关注却缺乏实证考察。研究表明：当前大学毕业生发生工作转换的比例并不高,城乡两类大学毕业生在工作转换上也不存在显著差异。总体而言,人力资本有利于大学毕业生的稳定就业,而工作年限与社会资本则会增加其工作转换的可能性。但更为细致的分析发现,与城镇家庭出生者相比,来自农村的大学毕业生的人力资本与社会资本均呈明显的劣势,且对其工作转换的影响较弱,他们工作转换后的回报也甚微,这意味着城乡差异与资本累积的不平等仍然存在。     

Daily transformational leadership and employee job crafting: The role of promotion focus

Transformational leaders are expected to challenge their followers to take greater ownership of their work, allowing the leader to align followers with tasks that enhance their performance. In the present study, we hypothesize that transformational leadership is positively related to followers' job-crafting behaviour – proactive behaviour aimed at optimizing job demands and job resources. Moreover, we argue that followers' promotion focus (i.e. being driven by growth and development needs) positively moderates this relationship. Data were collected from 107 employees from Norwegian knowledge-based organizations (response?=?93.2%). Participants responded to a general questionnaire and five daily diary questionnaires (total N?=?535 occasions). The results of multilevel analyses revealed partial support for our hypotheses. Followers' day-level perception of their leader's transformational behaviour was positively related to followers' day-level job crafting in the form of increasing structural and social resources. Moreover, daily transformational leadership was particularly beneficial for job crafting when followers scored high (vs. low) on the trait promotion focus. We conclude that transformational leaders can encourage their followers' use of job crafting, and that employees' promotion focus facilitates this effect.     

高校干部选拔机制中竞争上岗与民主推荐的科学化路径

高校中的教育管理历来是高校发展目标中的重中之重,各类高等院校不再是仅仅比拼教学、科研成果,在高校中培养、选拔一批高素质、能力强的教育管理人才,并把德才兼备的教职工选拔到合适的高校领导岗位上,带领学校各项事业良好有序的发展。因此探讨如何建立一套科学、合理,并行之有效的选拔任用机制显得尤为必要。根据现有的干部选拔任用制度优劣进行分析,从当今高校干部选拔任用制度及存在的主要问题着手,在如何实现高校领导干部选拔任用制度的科学化提出了几点思考。     

Training and job search assistance programmes in Spain: The case of long-term unemployed

Exploiting administrative records of the Spanish Public Employment Services for the period 2010–2012, we analyse the influence of participation in training and job search assistance programmes on the employment probability of the long-term unemployed. Using the coarsened exact matching method, we find that participation in both programmes exerts a positive influence on the employability of jobseekers, but participation in training seems to be more effective, especially as regards the likelihood of getting jobs of a certain quality. The treatment effect is higher for the long-term unemployed, thus suggesting the convenience of their participation in these active measures.     

Understanding immigrant internal publics of organizations: Immigrant professionals’ adaptation and identity development

ABSTRACT

Immigrant professionals (IPs) compose important internal publics in U.S. organizations. This study examined the processes of intercultural identity development through IPs’ stress, adaptation, and intercultural communication competence, as well as the outcomes of such identity development. Twenty-three interviews with Indian IPs in a major southern cosmopolitan area in the United States revealed three types of stressors: insufficiency in culture-specific knowledge and skills, ineffective expression, and imbalance in home and host social communication. Adaptation responses included active language and culture learning, perspective taking, compromising, ignoring, passive acceptance, and active initiating and participating in social interactions. Further, IPs demonstrated three major types of intercultural identities: integrated with both cultures, non-integrated (leaning more toward either home or host culture), and ambivalent (feeling rootless and uncertain about what culture to teach their children). In the context of intercultural identity development, the concepts of avowed and ascribed identities become even more nuanced. This study contributes to research in public relations by deepening the understanding of organizations’ immigrant internal publics and facilitating more effective relationship management with these publics.     

Adoption by Lesbians and Gay Men in Europe: Challenges and Barriers on the Journey to Adoption

No psychological research has been done investigating the experiences of adoption by sexual minorities living in Europe. This qualitative study is the first cross-national research within the European context giving the floor to LG (lesbian and gay) adoptive parents in order to explore the main challenges they encountered in the transition to adoptive parenthood. Sixty-two LG adoptive parents (16 lesbians and 46 gay men) living in Belgium (n = 14), France (n = 26), and Spain (n = 22) participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to gather information about two key steps in the adoptive path: the decision making and the adoption process itself. Results revealed that while choosing to adopt, LG adoptive parents experienced numerous self-doubts and emotional conflicts driven by introjected heteronormative assumptions about family. During the adoption procedure, they were confronted with a large number of challenges and legal roadblocks connected to their sexual minority status. Exploring the experience of the first generation of LG adoptive parents in Europe provides insight into the great impact that the sociolegal context has on their lives. Findings suggest the necessity of promoting practice geared not only to fight discrimination but also to provide better support to LG people throughout the adoption process.