INTEGRAL MARINE ECOLOGY: COMMUNITY-BASED FISHERY MANAGEMENT IN HAWAI‘I

Successful fishery management requires that a dynamic balance of disciplines provide a fully integrated approach. I use Integral Ecology to analyze multiple-use conflicts with an ornamental reef-fish fishery in Hawai'i that is community-managed via the implementation of a series of marine protected areas and the creation of an advisory council. This approach illustrates how the joyful experiences of snorkelers resulted in negative interactions with fish collectors and, thereafter, produced social movements, political will, and ecological change. Although conflicts were reduced and sustainability promoted, lack of acknowledgment of differing worldviews, including persistent native Hawaiian cultural beliefs, contributed to continued conflicts.     

THE INFLUENCE OF LABOR MARKETS ON HUMAN RESOURCES UTILITY ESTIMATES

Recent work in industrial and personnel psychology has extended earlier efforts to financially evaluate the utility of organizational human resources policies. Utility analysis now includes a variety of refinements that more accurately measure the costs and benefits of human resources programs, both in the present and in the future. While this work substantially improves the firm-level evaluation of many personnel policies, conventional utility models have ignored the effects of the external labor market on estimated utilities. Specifically there appears to be an implicit assumption that utilities are invariant across changing labor market conditions and that employees (both current and prospective), as well as other employers, will be unresponsive to these labor market dynamics. This paper examines the effect of relaxing these implicit assumptions on the magnitude of expected utilities. We conclude that, in general, the omission of these considerations overstates the likely utility of the programs being evaluated.     

ACADEMIC RESEARCH INSIDE ORGANIZATIONS: INPUTS, PROCESSES, AND OUTCOMES

Although many opinions have been expressed about the potential merits and pitfalls of conducting academic research inside organizations, empirical research on the question is nearly nonexistent. Consequently, the present study examined the origins, processes, and outcomes of 141 academic research projects that were conducted in (nonacademic) organizations and published in 4 top-tier industria organizational psychology and management journals over a 3-year period. Three outcomes were assessed: implementation of research findings, academic organizational relationship continuation, and research impact (as measured by other-author citations). Results suggested a number of relationships between the way projects began, the relative contributions of organizations and authors to the research process, and eventual outcomes. Suggestions for future research are offered.     

SELECTION AMONG EMPLOYER-SPONSORED PENSION PLANS: THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Recognizing the explosive growth and increasing importance of alternative forms of retirement plans, this study investigated determinants of employees' choice among the three major types of employer-sponsored pension plans: defined benefit, defined contribution, and hybrid cash balance. Using a field survey of 2,400 employees who participated in a state sponsored retirement system covering 60 participating employers, we tested a general model of public employee pension choice, and examined the roles of plan feature preferences, employee attitudes, and demographics in pension plan participation choices. The results identified primary predictors distinguishing plan selection and indicated that employees' preferences for plan features explained significant variation in their selection among pension plans. The results challenged the conventional wisdom regarding the nature of pension plan choice and highlighted the critical role played by individual differences.     

Idea evaluation: Error in evaluating highly original ideas

Idea evaluation is a critical aspect of creative thought. However, a number of errors might occur in the evaluation of new ideas. One error commonly observed is the tendency to underestimate the originality of truly novel ideas. In the present study, an attempt was made to assess whether analysis of the process leading to the idea generation and analysis of product originality would act to offset underestimation error in the evaluation of highly original new ideas. Accordingly, 181 undergraduates were asked to evaluate the originality of marketing campaigns being developed by six different teams where the level of idea originality was varied. Manipulations were induced to encourage active analysis of interactional processes and the originality of team products. It was found that active analysis of product originality and appraisal of interactional processes reduced errors in evaluating the originality of highly novel ideas. The implications of these findings for the evaluation of new ideas are discussed.     

A MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPROACH FOR EVALUATING VARIABLES IN ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

One of the most difficult tasks facing industrial-organizational psychologists is evaluating the importance of variables, especially new variables, to be included in the prediction of some outcome. When multiple regression is used, common practices suggest evaluating the usefulness of new variables by showing incremental validity beyond the set of existing variables. This approach assures that the new variables are not statistically redundant with this existing set, but this approach attributes any shared criterion-related validity to the existing set of variables and none to the new variables. More importantly, incremental validity alone fails to answer the question directly about the importance of variables included in a regression model—arguably the more important statistical concern for practitioners. To that end, the current article reviews 2 indices of relative importance, general dominance weights and relative weights, which may be used to complement incremental validity evidence and permit organizational decision makers to make more precise and informed decisions concerning the usefulness of predictor variables. We illustrate our approach by reanalyzing the correlation matrices from 2 published studies.     

THE IMPACT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT BREACH ON WORK-RELATED OUTCOMES: A META-ANALYSIS

A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the influence of psychological contract breach on 8 work-related outcomes. Breach was related to all outcomes except actual turnover. Based on affective events theory, we developed a causal model integrating breach, affect (violation and mistrust), attitude (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions), and individual effectiveness (actual turnover, organizational citizenship behavior, and in-role performance). Structural equation modeling was used to test the model. The results indicated that affect mediates the effect of breach on attitude and individual effectiveness. Two moderators were also examined including the type of breach measure (global vs. composite) and the content of the psychological contract breach (transactional vs. relational). Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Parental shame and guilt: Distinguishing emotional responses to a child's wrongdoings

This research differentiates shame and guilt as distinct emotional reactions that parents in the United States can have for their children's misdeeds. In Study 1, when 93 parents wrote about their child's worst transgression, their ratings of perceived public exposure and threat to their self‐image predicted shame, whereas the degree to which they felt a lack of control over their child and believed the act harmed others predicted guilt. In Study 2, when 123 mothers rated their reactions to an imagined wrongdoing, the presence of a critical observer tended to elevate shame but not guilt. Across both studies, guilt predicted adaptive parenting responses, whereas, shame predicted maladaptive responses. The discussion emphasizes the implications that self‐conscious emotions have for family dynamics.     

Deconstructing the association between relationship maintenance and commitment: Testing two competing models

In this study, the author compares 2 models: the information‐seeking model, in which perceptions of relationship maintenance predict subsequent commitment, and the motivational model, in which commitment predicts subsequent perceptions of relationship maintenance, by means of a daily, cross‐lagged, dyadic design. The moderating effects of relationship length and global commitment are also tested. A sample of 98 same‐sex couples from the United States completed an Internet daily diary for 14 consecutive days. The results of 2 hierarchical linear models showed that, as predicted, the information‐seeking model was characteristic of couples who had been together for a shorter amount of time whereas the motivational model better characterized couples who had been together longer.