Religious Conflict and the Chain of Command in the American and French Militaries

Analyzing characteristics of the organizational environment, the organization, and its actors recommended by the framework guiding this symposium on the cross‐cultural study of religion in public institutions, we identify common elements of military organization that shape local and national policies surrounding religion cross‐nationally. Comparison of cases from U.S. and French militaries—a secularist group at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and Muslim soldiers in France—demonstrates this framework's utility by directing attention to when, how, and by what logics constitutional protections are afforded to religious (and nonreligious) minorities. This analysis also reveals two additional arenas of investigation important to the study of religion in public institutions. Because religion today is often at the center of disputes over citizens’ conflicting rights, conflicts over religion in the military, and in other public institutions, demand special attention. In addition, our cases call attention to the importance of organizational structures and authority. Military settings make this point obvious, since the chain of command plays a fundamental and powerful role in the operation of militaries cross‐nationally—including in activities and policies surrounding religion and religious groups.     

An evaluation of the cross‐national generalizability of organizational commitment

Using data from two large multinational samples, this research sought to contribute to our knowledge of international organizational behaviour by examining the cross‐national generalizability of organizational commitment. Sample 1 included employees of 10 subsidiaries of a large multinational organization, whereas Sample 2 relied on data collected in 25 nations in the context of a large opinion survey. Results in both samples supported the expectation that measures of commitment would be more susceptible to measurement non‐equivalence than measures of job satisfaction. Differences in relationships between commitment and satisfaction across countries were observed in both samples, as were differences in mean commitment levels. Nation‐level individualism/collectivism (I/C) failed to account for the observed differences, however, suggesting that commitment and I/C are largely independent, despite theoretical arguments to the contrary. Results of the study suggest that despite some cross‐national variation, differences in commitment across national boundaries are small and empirically unrelated to I/C.     

Cultural Authority in Comparative Context: A Multilevel Analysis of Trust in Science and Religion

Science and religion are among the most influential forces for organizing social life around the world, yet we know little about how national context shapes perceptions of them. Using data from the 2008 International Social Survey Program, we begin to fill this gap by investigating cross‐national differences in public attitudes about science, religion, and society. We find that exposure to science is associated with more trust in science relative to religion whereas religiosity is associated with less trust in science relative to religion. Moreover, these relationships are amplified in secular societies and in those where science is prioritized. We argue that secular and scientific societies provide a context in which personal characteristics are more influential in the formation of social attitudes. These results highlight the importance of macro‐level factors for shaping trust in science and religion and for understanding the sources of their influence in society more broadly.     

Introduction to the Symposium

Abstract. The articles in this section were presented at the conference “Toward a Theology of Disease” sponsored by the Zygon Center in October, 2002. This was a second conference designed to address the question of what the science‐religion dialogue could contribute to the larger discussion of the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS. The conference brought a wide range of perspectives to this question from different religious traditions. I draw them together here around the idea that Philip Hefner introduced in his keynote address: our fragmented experience of the world. The notion of fragmentation opens the door for both a recognition of several possible approaches to building a theology of disease and the pluralism of religious traditions, as well as providing a framework for integrating our full awareness that HIV/AIDS is a problem without solutions and requiring a level of humility in posing any real answers. The essays clearly suggest that the question remains perplexing but that our efforts do show that a multifaith, multidisciplinary religion‐science dialogue can contribute significantly to the larger discussion.     

STUDENT THINKING WHEN STUDYING SCIENCE‐AND‐RELIGION

Thirteen theology/religious studies students were interviewed while studying science‐and‐religion courses at four different institutions of higher education in the United Kingdom. They held a range of views about science and religion, their respective ontological status, and their science‐and‐religion studies. The interviews reveal that it may be possible to assign individuals to one of four different religioscientific conceptual frameworks and, furthermore, to relate differences in their approach when studying science‐and‐religion to their conceptual framework. The implications for course designers are discussed, including how the frameworks may enable teachers to be more aware of the range of possible reactions students may have while being introduced to science‐and‐religion topics.     

A BIOLOGIST'S PERSPECTIVE ON THE FUTURE OF THE SCIENCE‐RELIGION DIALOGUE IN THE TWENTY‐FIRST CENTURY

In recent issues of Zygon, numerous reflections have been published commenting on where the field of science‐and‐religion has been, where it presently stands, and where it should move in the future. These reflections touch on the importance of the dialogue and raise questions as to what audience the dialogue addresses and whom it should address. Some scholars see the dialogue as prospering, while others point out that much work needs to be done to make the dialogue more accessible to a larger audience and more successful at tackling the provocative questions before us. Other academics view the questions themselves as needing further consideration and focus before answers to them can even be explored. In this article I provide a general overview of these essays by outlining some general categories of thought that seem to emerge from the contributors. I then present some of my own opinions concerning the future of the science‐religion field and emphasize that the dialogue, in addition to its traditional roles, must further the philosophical framework that can aid humanity in resolving the most pressing global concerns of our time.     

Civil Religion and the Cultural Politics of National Identity in Obama's America

American civil religion (ACR) burst on to the scholarly scene in 1967, and has been periodically revived as a source of analytic insight and normative hope since that time. It posited a universalist, prophetic, nonsectarian faith, referenced on the nation, that served as both a source of unity for the American people and a discursive resource for political leaders and protest movements. Using recent political events as illustrative cases, I argue that ACR is not only a universalist, prophetic creed, it is also an expression of tribal identity that ascribes a particular character and purpose to the American people. In particular, this “tribal” civil religion has an often‐unstated assumption about the inseparability of religion, race, and national identity—that is, white, Christian, and American. Recent events have disrupted those implicit connections, leading to a vociferous reemphasis of their centrality to the national story. I maintain that neither ACR, nor recent politics involving immigration and Barack Obama's presidency, can be understood fully without considering the religion‐race‐national identity nexus.     

Inequality and the Altruistic Life: A Study of the Priestly Vocation Rate

This article takes the rate of new incorporations into the Catholic priesthood within national societies as a social fact revealing underlying societal tendencies of broad theoretical relevance extending well beyond the study of religion. Our emphasis lies on the impact of income inequality on the prevalence of altruistic life options. We examine cross‐national and time‐series variation in the priestly vocation rate as the empirical foundation to theorize social dynamics underpinning a life option that entails the renunciation of opportunities for individual material advantage alongside the commitment to serve a broader community. The article elaborates why we view the vocation rate as resting on a combination of piety and altruistic dispositions, and provides a theoretical rationale for expecting inequality to diminish this—and other—altruistic life options. We also examine the impact of other variables that have been theorized to influence the prevalence of Catholic clerical vocations and elaborate the broader theoretical relevance of our empirical findings.     

Analytic Confidence and Political Decision‐Making: Theoretical Principles and Experimental Evidence From National Security Professionals

When making decisions under uncertainty, it is important to distinguish between the probability that a judgment is true and the confidence analysts possess in drawing their conclusions. Yet analysts and decision‐makers often struggle to define “confidence” in this context, and many ways that scholars use this term do not necessarily facilitate decision‐making under uncertainty. To help resolve this confusion, we argue for disaggregating analytic confidence along three dimensions: reliability of available evidence, range of reasonable opinion, and responsiveness to new information. After explaining how these attributes hold different implications for decision‐making in principle, we present survey experiments examining how analysts and decision‐makers employ these ideas in practice. Our first experiment found that each conception of confidence distinctively influenced national security professionals' evaluations of high‐stakes decisions. Our second experiment showed that inexperienced assessors of uncertainty could consistently discriminate among our conceptions of confidence when making political forecasts. We focus on national security, where debates about defining “confidence levels” have clear practical implications. But our theoretical framework generalizes to nearly any area of political decision‐making, and our empirical results provide encouraging evidence that analysts and decision‐makers can grasp these abstract elements of uncertainty.     

Bayesian tests of measurement invariance

Random item effects models provide a natural framework for the exploration of violations of measurement invariance without the need for anchor items. Within the random item effects modelling framework, Bayesian tests (Bayes factor, deviance information criterion) are proposed which enable multiple marginal invariance hypotheses to be tested simultaneously. The performance of the tests is evaluated with a simulation study which shows that the tests have high power and low Type I error rate. Data from the European Social Survey are used to test for measurement invariance of attitude towards immigrant items and to show that background information can be used to explain cross‐national variation in item functioning.     

Implementing family‐friendly employment practices in banking industry: Evidences from some African and Asian countries

We examined the effects of family‐friendly policies (child‐care benefits and work flexibility benefits) on organizational commitment and work–family conflict in four developing countries: China, India, Kenya, and Thailand. We also explored the boundary condition (e.g., perceived importance of family‐friendly programmes) under which family‐friendly policies are more (or less) effective in influencing organizational commitment and reducing work–family conflict. Results revealed national similarities on the effect of flexibility benefits on organizational commitment and work–family conflict. Specifically, we found that across the four countries work flexibility‐related family‐friendly policy was positively related to organizational commitment and negatively to perceived work–family conflict among those who perceived this policy as more important than less important. Instead, national variations are found in the results regarding child‐care benefits. Among these four countries, Kenya and Thailand are two countries in which child‐care‐related family‐friendly policies showed a significant and positive relationship with organizational commitment and/or a significant and negative relationship with work–family conflict. We also found child‐care‐related family‐friendly policies had differential effect among people with various perception of policy importance in Kenya and Thailand, but not in China and India. Particularly, child‐care‐related family‐friendly policy results in greater organizational commitment and lower work–family conflict among those who perceived this policy as more important than less important in Kenya and Thailand. Implications for cross‐cultural research, theory and practice are discussed.     

Explaining cross‐national differences in peer‐directed aggression: A quantitative synthesis

A quantitative review was conducted of cross‐national studies on peer‐directed aggression to determine whether cross‐national differences in aggression could be predicted from differences in national values. Cross‐national differences on dimensions of cultural‐level values derived from the works of Hofstede [1980, 1983], Bond [Chinese Culture Connection, 1987], and Schwartz [1994] were used to predict effect sizes of cross‐national differences in aggression for 185 comparisons between pairs of cultures from a total of 36 studies. Each of the three classification systems of national values were found to predict differences in aggression, providing support for their use in future studies. In general, cultures characterized by collectivistic values, high moral discipline, a high level of egalitarian commitment, low uncertainty avoidance, and which emphasize values that are heavily Confucian showed lower levels of aggression than their counterparts. Aggr. Behav. 31:00–00, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

ANIMALS AS KIN: THE RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE OF MARC BEKOFF'S WORK

Abstract. Although the disciplines of religion and science often may seem to be at cross purposes with each other, some individuals are attempting to bridge the gap, particularly with regard to animals. Cognitive ethologist Marc Bekoff, who studies animals in their natural habitat, has addressed in his work the implications of the findings of animal study for religion and ethics. I provide here an overview of some of his most important ideas for the study of religion and animals. Bekoff argues that the differences between humans and animals are primarily ones of degree rather than kind and that our similarities are greater than our differences‐and that this reality should influence our actions. I explore three issues in particular. First, Bekoff's work, with his view of evolution, challenges the traditional Christian hierarchy of beings. Second, this evolutionary connection needs to move us in the direction of modifying our treatment of animals to make it more ethical. Third, our understanding of and relationship with animals can deepen our own spirituality. Applying some of Bekoff's findings to our religious and ethical understandings of and treatment of animals can move us closer to the peaceable kingdom toward which we all strive.     

Workaholism: Bridging the Gap Between Workplace,Sociocultural, and Family Research

This article attempts to narrow the gap between the studies of workaholism and human relations/organizational development and workaholism and cross‐cultural research and family counseling. Important studies on workaholism in the cross‐cultural and family counseling fields, which are typically absent in the organizational and career research literature, are reviewed. Recommendations for future research considerations also are presented.     

The utility of a broader conceptualization of organizational identification: Which aspects really matter?

Predictions of social identity and self‐categorization theories about the relevance of social identification in organizational contexts are presented. We propose that different foci of identification (e.g. with own career, team, organization, occupation) as well as different dimensions of organizational identification (cognitive, affective, evaluative, and behavioural) can be separated. Furthermore, these different aspects of organizational identification are assumed to be differentially associated with work‐related attitudes and behaviours. Predictions are first tested in a questionnaire study of 515 German school teachers. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that dimensions and foci can indeed be differentiated. In addition, results indicate that different aspects correlate differentially with different criteria. The results are cross‐validated in two samples of 233 German school teachers and 358 bank accountants, respectively.     

Helping others or helping oneself? An episodic examination of the behavioral consequences of helping at work

Scholars have paid an increasing amount of attention to organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), with a particular emphasis on helping others at work. In addition, recent empirical work has focused on how OCB is an intraindividual phenomenon, such that employees vary daily in the extent to which they help others. However, one limitation of this research has been an overemphasis on well‐being consequences associated with daily helping (e.g., changes in affect and mental depletion) and far less attention on behavioral outcomes. In this study, we develop a self‐regulatory framework that articulates how helping others at work is a depleting experience that can lead to a reduction in subsequent acts of helping others, and an increase in behaviors aimed at helping oneself (i.e., engaging in political acts). We further theorize how two individual differences—prevention focus and political skill—serve as cross‐level moderators of these relations. In an experience sampling study of 91 full‐time employees across 10 consecutive workdays, our results illustrate that helping is a depleting act that makes individuals more likely to engage in self‐serving acts and less likely to help others. Moreover, the relation of helping acts with depletion is strengthened for employees who have higher levels of prevention focus.     

Life Spillovers: The Spillover of Fear of Home Foreclosure to the Workplace

Work–life research has focused on the spillover of family experiences to the workplace but has neglected other life experiences that may also be brought to work. Addressing this shortcoming, we present a conceptual framework for the study of life spillovers. We offer the idea that life experiences can include shocks and that the fear associated with nonwork shocks can spill over to the workplace. The national shock of the collapse of the U.S. financial and housing markets in 2008 offered an opportunity to test these ideas and build an empirical foundation for the study of life spillovers. Using a sample of 2,135 organizationally employed homeowners, we examined the spillover of fear of home foreclosure to the workplace. In support of our moderated mediation model, employees with greater fear of losing their homes to foreclosure reported more physical stress‐related symptoms at work, and their acknowledgment of home‐to‐work spillover fully mediated this relationship. Fear of foreclosure also directly predicted job search behaviors and negatively affected employees’ organizational commitment and turnover intentions through multiple mediators involving home‐to‐work spillover and stress. Resources and demands from the home and, to a lesser extent, work domains amplified the spillover of fear of foreclosure to the workplace. Taken together, these findings support widening the work–life lens to include a broader array of nonwork experiences. Practical implications are presented as well as new directions for future research using the life spillover framework.     

TOWARD BETTER META‐ANALYTIC MATRICES: HOW INPUT VALUES CAN AFFECT RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SIMULATIONS

Simulations and analyses based on meta‐analytic matrices are fairly common in human resource management and organizational behavior research, particularly in staffing research. Unfortunately, the meta‐analytic values estimates for validity and group differences (i.e., ρ and δ, respectively) used in such matrices often vary in the extent to which they are affected by artifacts and how accurately the values capture the underlying constructs and the appropriate population. We investigate how such concerns might influence conclusions concerning key issues such as prediction of job performance and adverse impact of selection procedures, as well as noting wider applications of these issues. We also start the process of building a better matrix upon which to base many such simulations and analyses in staffing research. Finally, we offer guidelines to help researchers/practitioners better model human resources processes, and we suggest ways that researchers in a variety of areas can better assemble meta‐analytic matrices.     

Presidential Address: Religion and Power—A Return to the Roots of Social Scientific Scholarship

Early social scientists, including Karl Marx, Max Weber, and W. E. B. DuBois, recognized the importance of religion for power systems. Since the beginning of the 20th century, however, there has been a decline in scholars examining how religion matters for power. This address proposes that scholars bring religion back to the center of understanding the production, deconstruction, and distribution of power as religion is critical to the flows of power in the social world. I propose that furthering an agenda that interrogates the role of religion for power means we emphasize that (i) religion is an institution; (ii) religious ideas motivate action; (iii) our epistemology sources theories of power rather than those that invalidate the centrality of religion in societies; and (iv) ground‐breaking theoretical and empirical contributions to the social scientific study of religion and power demand that we broaden and diversify the standpoints from which this knowledge is produced.