Online mentoring and computer-mediated communication: New directions in research

While there has been a veritable explosion of online mentoring websites and opportunities within a wide variety of professions, very few academic articles to date have addressed this phenomenon. The purpose of this article is to remedy this gap in our knowledge by: (a) suggesting that the Internet can provide a viable context for mentoring within defined roles, (b) presenting a new typology of mentoring based on the computer-mediated-communication (CMC) literature, and in doing so suggest new opportunities and challenges, and (c) providing recommendations for researchers and practitioners to explore online mentoring. Past research has found that within the three functions of mentoring (psychosocial, vocational, and role modeling), a mentor can play a number of roles such as business coach, friend, counselor, and/or teacher to a protégé. We extend past research by assessing the major issues applicable to these mentor roles through an examination of CMC literature. We provide specific research propositions to inspire future research into online mentoring and its related contexts, roles, opportunities, and challenges.     

The future of workplace commitment: key questions and directions

This position paper presents the state-of-the art of the field of workplace commitment. Yet, for workplace commitment to stay relevant, it is necessary to look beyond current practice and to extrapolate trends to envision what will be needed in future research. Therefore, the aim of this paper is twofold, first, to consolidate our current understanding of workplace commitment in contemporary work settings and, second, to look into the future by identifying and discussing avenues for future research. Representative of the changing nature of work, we explicitly conceptualize workplace commitment in reference to (A) “Temporary work”, and (B) “Cross-boundary work”. Progressing from these two themes, conceptual, theoretical and methodological advances of the field are discussed. The result is the identification of 10 key paths of research to pursues, a shared agenda for the most promising and needed directions for future research and recommendations for how these will translate into practice.     

The sales manager as a unit of analysis: a review and directions for future research

This article analyzes empirical research in which the sales manager is the unit of analysis to determine what knowledge has been generated by sales scholars about sales managers and sales management practice. It examines what we have learned from sales managers about their jobs and themselves with particular emphasis on the managerial relevance of the work. While the sales literature is vast and despite the importance of sales managers being widely recognized and accepted, an extensive search of the sales literature identified only 163 articles in which the sales manager was the focus of empirical research about what they do. To help better understand what has been discovered, these articles are examined and categorized according to the main focus of each article's research. The results show that with respect to sales managers, our knowledge is limited and substantial opportunities exist for additional research to expand our understanding of the nature, roles, and impact of sales managers as well as providing usable advice for the practice of sales management.     

Word of mouth and interpersonal communication: A review and directions for future research

People often share opinions and information with their social ties, and word of mouth has an important impact on consumer behavior. But what drives interpersonal communication and why do people talk about certain things rather than others? This article argues that word of mouth is goal driven and serves five key functions (i.e., impression management, emotion regulation, information acquisition, social bonding, and persuasion). Importantly, I suggest these motivations are predominantly self- (rather than other) serving and drive what people talk about even without their awareness. Further, these drivers make predictions about the types of news and information people are most likely to discuss. This article reviews the five proposed functions and well as how contextual factors (i.e., audience and communication channel) may moderate which functions play a larger role. Taken together, the paper provides insight into the psychological factors that shape word of mouth and outlines additional questions that deserve further study.     

Eye movements in reading: Old questions and new directions

Trends in the articles reported in this volume are identified: (1) landing position effects, (2) word skipping, (3) parafoveal‐on‐foveal effects, (4) eye movement control, and (5) eye movements and word identification. Each of these issues is discussed in the context of prior research on the issue. We also identify some issues that are not included in the present set of articles, as well as some research questions that need further attention.     

The touch-sensitive screen as a flexible response device in CAI and behavioral research

Two different touch-sensitive surface units are described and evaluated from a technical as well as an applications standpoint, with particular emphasis on their use as response devices in computer-assisted instruction with young children. Several other interesting touch-sensitive surface concepts and laboratory applications are also described.     

Field-dependence-independence and career counseling: directions for research

This paper reviews relevant research concerning the utilization of Field-dependence-independence cognitive style in vocational decision-making as well as in implementation and adjustment of career choices. Need for further investigation is highlighted and how career interventions can be enriched by including cognitive style indicated. A test of cognitive styles offers complementary information to traditional career counseling but needs to be explicitly integrated into personal history, academic experiences, achievements, motivations, and vocational goals. New directions for research are offered.     

The professional approach to engineering ethics: five research questions

This paper argues that research for engineering ethics should routinely involve philosophers, social scientists, and engineers, and should focus for now on certain basic questions such as: Who is an engineer? What is engineering? What do engineers do? How do they make decisions? And how much control do they actually have over what they do?     

Menstrual-cycle synchrony: problems and new directions for research

Since M. K. McClintock (1971) published the 1st study on menstrual synchrony among women, a number of other studies have also reported synchrony using a variety of methods. The most recent reports of synchrony come from A. Weller, L. Weller, and colleagues, and their findings of synchrony have been getting stronger (by their own account). In this article, the author analyzes their new methodology and presents 2 simulation studies that demonstrate how biases and errors can produce synchrony as an artifact. Two mutually reinforcing categories of errors are identified: (a) errors in calculating the expected mean onset difference between cycles when there is cycle variability and (b) errors that may result from allowing participants to fill out menstrual-cycle-onset calendars, including recall biases and the mutual exchange of information. It is suggested that synchrony may be a biological state to be avoided and that cycle variability may facilitate female mate choice.     

MMPI item subtlety research: current issues and directions

This article examines the methodology from recent item subtlety research with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The Christian, Burkhart, and Gynther (1978) ratings, used in this research, define item subtlety as the perceived degree of psychopathology associated with individual items rather than specifying subtlety in relation to qualities characteristic of individual scales. Consequently, the ratings often violate commonsense notions of subtlety, and the results of research with the ratings are difficult to interpret. Studies with the ratings also contain procedural defects which limit generality. It is recommended that future investigators give greater consideration to the operational definition of item subtlety, to the intended applications of the MMPI, and to item properties other than simple correlations with criteria that can enhance the predictive and discriminative powers of MMPI scales.     

Job burnout: new directions in research and intervention

Job burnout is a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job and is defined here by the three dimensions of exhaustion, cynicism, and sense of inefficacy. Its presence as a social problem in many human services professions was the impetus for the research that is now taking place in many countries. That research has established the complexity of the problem and has examined the individual stress experience within a larger social and organizational context of people's response to their work. The framework, which focuses attention on the interpersonal dynamics between the worker and other people in the workplace, has yielded new insights into the sources of stress, but effective interventions have yet to be developed and evaluated.     

Agenda 2000—communication: language as an implementational device for cognition

The aim of this paper is to identify the functions of social cognition in a communication context. It is argued that social cognition is for the regulation of adaptive action and makes use of external devices (e.g. language) to implement action. First, the complexity of communication as a social achievement is discussed to prepare the ground for examining the link between language, cognition and communication. The implementational devices (language) of social cognition are addressed next. On the basis of these considerations a message‐modulation model is proposed to conceptualize the interplay between language, cognition, motivation and communication. The application of this model to research on the transmission and maintenance of stereotypes illustrates the types of open research issues and directions that may be possible routes for future work. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The six most essential questions in psychiatric diagnosis: a pluralogue part 3: issues of utility and alternative approaches in psychiatric diagnosis

In face of the multiple controversies surrounding the DSM process in general and the development of DSM-5 in particular, we have organized a discussion around what we consider six essential questions in further work on the DSM. The six questions involve: 1) the nature of a mental disorder; 2) the definition of mental disorder; 3) the issue of whether, in the current state of psychiatric science, DSM-5 should assume a cautious, conservative posture or an assertive, transformative posture; 4) the role of pragmatic considerations in the construction of DSM-5; 5) the issue of utility of the DSM ?C whether DSM-III and IV have been designed more for clinicians or researchers, and how this conflict should be dealt with in the new manual; and 6) the possibility and advisability, given all the problems with DSM-III and IV, of designing a different diagnostic system. Part 1 of this article took up the first two questions. Part 2 took up the second two questions. Part 3 now deals with Questions 5 & 6. Question 5 confronts the issue of utility, whether the manual design of DSM-III and IV favors clinicians or researchers, and what that means for DSM-5. Our final question, Question 6, takes up a concluding issue, whether the acknowledged problems with the earlier DSMs warrants a significant overhaul of DSM-5 and future manuals. As in Parts 1 & 2 of this article, the general introduction, as well as the introductions and conclusions for the specific questions, are written by James Phillips, and the responses to commentaries are written by Allen Frances.     

The logic of questions as a theory of erotetic arguments

This paper argues for the idea that the logic of questions should focus its attention on the analysis of arguments in which questions play the role of conclusions. The relevant concepts of validity are discussed and the concept of the logic of questions of a semantically interpreted formalized language is introduced.This paper was presented at the symposium Erotetic Logic. A Dialogue organized by the Center for the Philosophy and History of Science of Boston University (February, 1994) and prepared during my stay at the Department of Philosophy, University of California, Riverside as a Fulbright grantee.I would like to thank Professors David Harrah and Sylvain Bromberger for valuable suggestions and comments.