THE IMPACT OF FLEXIBLE BENEFITS ON EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION: A FIELD STUDY

This study examines the attitudes of 110 employees of a financial service organization before and after the introduction of a flexible benefit plan. A large, statistically significant increase in benefit satisfaction was observed following implementation, as was a smaller significant increase in overall satisfaction. Employee understanding of the benefit package also increased significantly. No significant relationships were found between demographic characteristics and responses to the flexible plan. Potential confounds due to the complexity of the intervention are discussed. Future research is called for to examine the processes through which flexible benefits impact worker reactions and to examine the impact of flexible benefits on behavioral responses such as attraction and retention.     

A TALE OF TWO JOB MARKETS: ORGANIZATIONAL SIZE AND ITS EFFECTS ON HIRING PRACTICES AND JOB SEARCH BEHAVIOR

Small firms employ half the U.S. private sector workforce, yet recruitment research has traditionally focused on large firms. The present study attempts to advance knowledge on how recruitment practices vary with firm size. Results suggest that the recruitment practices of larger firms are generally more formal and bureaucratic than those of smaller firms. In addition, the study demonstrates that many job seekers have distinct preferences regarding firm size, and that preferred firm size is related to job search behavior. Taken together, these findings suggest that firm size is an overlooked and important aspect of the recruitment/job search context. The processes involved in matching employers and applicants differ so much as a function of firm size that one might argue that large and small firms comprise separate labor markets.     

JOB SEARCH ACTIVITIES: AN EXAMINATION OF CHANGES OVER TIME

Existing job search research has been criticized for ignoring the dynamic nature of search. This study examined three models of changes in search behavior over time: sequential, learned change, and emotional response. Data on search behaviors were collected from a sample of 186 college and vocational-technical school graduates early in their search, at graduation, and again 3 months following graduation for individuals who remained unemployed. Job searchers decreased the intensity of their search, increased their use of informal sources, and reduced their emphasis on information related to the availability of jobs between early search and graduation. These changes were reversed following graduation. This pattern is most consistent with the sequential model, which suggests that individuals first search broadly to develop a pool of potential jobs, then examine jobs within that pool in detail, reopening the search only if the initial pool does not lead to an acceptable job offer.     

Against Matricide: Rethinking Subjectivity and the Maternal Body

In this article I critically re‐examine Julia Kristeva's view that becoming a speaking subject requires psychical matricide: violent separation from the maternal body. I propose an alternative, non‐matricidal conception of subjectivity, in part by drawing out anti‐matricidal strands in Kristeva's own thought, including her view that early mother–child relations are triangular. Whereas she understands this triangle in terms of a first imaginary father, I re‐interpret this triangle using Donald Winnicott's idea of potential space and Jessica Benjamin's idea of an intersubjective space of thirdness. I argue that this space provides a maternal third term: a relation of connection and difference between two, a relation that inherits the affective, mobile, generative qualities of the maternal body as the infant (according to Kristeva) imagines it. This connecting space allows both mothers and children to emerge as subjects in their own right. I then suggest that potential‐maternal space expands into language, so that language intrinsically allows the possibility of a speaking position of connection with the mother. Entrance into language need not entail separation or matricide: the problem is not language as such but the particular way that speech and logos have been defined historically.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF EYE GAZE AND ITS RELATION TO SELECTED VERBAL BEHAVIOR

Eye gaze avoidance is examined in relation to the occurrence of turn-taking, vocalized pauses, sentence changes, repetitions, “you know,”“like,” sentence fragments, simple sentences, and complex sentences. The results provide support for the hypothesis that people avoid eye gaze when experiencing difficulty in encoding. This finding is discussed in relation to previous research and possible implications for the study of interpersonal communication.