The Job Demands-Job Control Model and absence behaviour: results of a 3-year longitudinal study

Empirical results of earlier studies only marginally supported the relevance of Karasek's Job Demands-Job Control Model for absence behaviour. Since longitudinal studies with respect to these relations were largely lacking, a four-wave panel study was carried out using data from 1755 male employees of a technical maintenance firm in the public sector. Job demands, job control, physical working conditions, and the employee's age, education, and health were measured in one year and absenteeism in the same year and in the next 3 years. Data were analysed with linear regression and Poisson regression techniques. The Poisson regression technique was superior to the linear regression technique in explaining absence. Age, health and prior absence were the best predictors of later absence behaviour. With respect to the Job Demands-Job Control Model, the main findings of the study were (1) that job control was significantly associated with a low number of simultaneous and later absence days, and (2) that, contrary to expectations, job demands were also related to a low number of simultaneous and later absence days. These results hold when age, health, education, prior absence, and working conditions are controlled for. Job control and job demands did not predict later absence frequency. In the discussion it is suggested that a high level of job demands may not only be harmful for the well-being of employees but also work as 'a pressure to attend'.     

What does client satisfaction tell us about effectiveness?

It is common in child protection research to undertake studies of client satisfaction with services. Although these studies have their own intrinsic value, it has been argued that they tell us little if anything about effectiveness—high levels of client satisfaction mean little if child abuse continues to occur. This study, undertaken in a statutory child protection service in Australia, considers the relationship between client satisfaction and other outcome measures, including worker estimates of client progress, further notifications of abuse and whether or not children have been removed. The results show strong correlations between different measures of client satisfaction and strong correlations between different measures of worker estimates of client progress. They show weaker but statistically significant correlations between client satisfaction and worker estimates of client progress, and between client satisfaction and further notifications. There is also a significant relationship between client satisfaction and children remaining at home. However, this applies only to parents, relatives and carers, not to the primary clients themselves. It is concluded that client satisfaction studies may have value beyond simply measuring client satisfaction. However, the study also supports an argument for using more than one outcome measure if the aim is to measure effectiveness. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Client Satisfaction with Live-In and Live-Out Home Care Workers in Israel

Abstract

In an era of globalization where the migration of long-term care workers is common, foreign live-in home care workers can compensate for the unavailability of family members and, perhaps, even substitute for institutional care in the provision of long-term care services to disabled older persons.

This study examines differences in home care satisfaction between disabled older persons in Israel with “live-in” home care workers and those with “live-out” workers, and explores some differences in socio-demographic and personal characteristics between these two groups. Face-to-face interviews were held with a random sample of 93 older persons in Beer-Sheva.

Older persons with live-in home care workers were more satisfied with their home care service than those with live-out workers. Those with live-in workers were more severely disabled, tended not to have any children living in close proximity, although an adult child was available as an informal caregiver. Communication difficulties between the elderly persons and their home care workers were found not to affect negatively the satisfaction with the service.     

BOOK REVIEWS

No abstract available for this article.     

Book reviews and books received

Abstract

In the field of stress research it is often assumed that social support as well as coping behaviour contributes to feelings of health and well-being. However, until now it has not been altogether clear whether a main-effect model or a buffer model was the more appropriate for explaining the role of these factors in response to stressful situations. In this paper, a research project is described in which both the direct and indirect effects of social support and coping were studied in the work situation of nurses. The results offer more support for a main-effect model than for a buffer or moderating-effect model, especially with regard to the coping strategies ‘active problem-solving’ and ‘palliative behaviour’. However, some moderating effects on nurses‘ reactions to their work situation were found for social support and for ‘comforting cognitions’ as a coping strategy.     

烟草行业零售户满意度测评及其提升对策——基于安徽烟草商业企业的调查数据分析

运用比较成熟的顾客满意度测评理论,以安徽省烟草商业企业为例,分析烟草公司面临的形势、经营状况、特别是其销售网络的现状,阐述了安徽烟草公司进行卷烟零售户满意度测评的意义,提出测评实施方法,测评卷烟零售户对烟草公司的满意程度,以了解零售户对烟草公司满意状况和存在的不满意方面。在此基础上,提出了改善这些不足的对策建议,期望以此提高卷烟零售户对烟草公司的满意程度。     

秦简中的赎——睡虎地秦墓竹简研读札记

睡虎地秦墓竹简有多处关于"赎"的规定,虽不及张家山汉简系统、完整,但正因为它的具体和零散,却承载了大量的历史信息,对于理解秦汉以前的赎刑有关键意义。"刑疑赦从赎"是赎刑产生的基础,但作为法定刑的"赎"并不必然具有"代用"意义;其法律后果不具有身份内容,属于整个刑法体系中比较轻的一个序列。"赎"的执行方式比较灵活、开明,更表明"赎"作为法定刑是一种比较单纯的财产刑。"居赎"解决了赎刑适用对象的贫富差别问题,使其成为一种周密可行的、可以普遍适用的制度。     

The impact of attitude strength on customer-oriented priority setting by decision-makers: An empirical investigation

A key question in marketing decision-making pertains to what makes decision-makers focus on various types of information in different ways. Particularly in relation to a key marketing and management variable such as customer satisfaction this is an important issue. Costly derived customer satisfaction measures need to provide customer-oriented guidance regarding where to prioritise. Traditional research on intelligence use has mainly focused on objective research attributes, such as research quality. In this article, however, we will adopt the idea that decision-makers weigh information differently based on their perception of its relevance. With respect to crucial customer satisfaction information this represents an exciting, but nevertheless unexplored field of research. The results of latent variable modelling show that the strength of decision-makers’ attitudes toward customer satisfaction leads to a differentiated usage of satisfaction intelligence. By taking this into consideration, management and intelligence providers will be able to more effectively disseminate customer satisfaction information and facilitate a more customer-oriented perspective within firms.     

An L1-type estimator of multivariate location and shape

The main goal of the paper is to specify a suitable multivariate multilevel model for polytomous responses with a non-ignorable missing data mechanism in order to determine the factors which influence the way of acquisition of the skills of the graduates and to evaluate the degree programmes on the basis of the adequacy of the skills they give to their graduates. The application is based on data gathered by a telephone survey conducted, about two years after the degree, on the graduates of year 2000 of the University of Florence. A multilevel multinomial logit model for the response of interest is fitted simultaneously with a multilevel logit model for the selection mechanism by means of maximum likelihood with adaptive Gaussian quadrature. In the application the multilevel structure has a crucial role, while selection bias results negligible. The analysis of the empirical Bayes residuals allows to detect some extreme degree programmes to be further inspected.     

试析决定海运服务企业成果的因素

在新贸易保护主义思潮的影响下,国际海运业的竞争日趋激烈,海运服务企业也面对着激烈的国际竞争。而通过实证研究海运服务企业服务的质量、顾客满意度对海运服务企业经营成果的影响,结果发现,海运服务企业投资越大,获得的信任度就越高;往来企业之间的信任度越高,满意度就越高;海运服务业之间的信任度和满意度越高,其经营成果就越好。因此,海运服务企业必须不断提高顾客的信任度和满意度,以此来提高企业的经营成果。