The Persistence of Status Differentials in Computer Conferencing

One feature of electronic communication media is its potential to remove the effects of occupational role identity. For better or for worse, electronic communication technologies may reduce occupational status differentials and allow individuals to communicate as equals. This article reports results from a study of health-care professionals engaged in an educational program using computer conferences over a five-month period. Results show that the content and network of communication among health-care professionals using the computer conference were significantly related to occupational roles. Specifically, physicians and hospital administrators were afforded higher status in computer conferences than nurses. The effects of occupational status differentials were manifest and became more established with greater use of the computer conferencing system. Status characteristics derived from the educational task also appeared to affect communication patterns. The importance of considering multiple social contexts when implementing information technology is discussed.     

Reading Preferences for Counseling and Values: A Sample of the ASERVIC Membership

This article presents the results of an ASERVIC (Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling) membership survey included as an insert (Maples, 1997) in the newsletter Interaction in the spring of 1998, requesting information related to topic preferences for the organization's journal Counseling and Values. The project had 4 goals: (a) to determine what topics a sample of the ASERVIC membership wants to read about in Counseling and Values, (b) to determine what topics Counseling and Values is currently publishing, (c) to determine the extent to which the articles being published are satisfying the preferences of the membership sample, and (d) to determine to what extent the articles being published in Counseling and Values have changed since the organization's name change in 1993.     

The Mentoring Relationship as a Context for Psychological Contract Development

This study examined the mentoring relationship as a context for the development of psychological contracts and investigated the obligations that mentors and protégés feel that they owe and are owed in the mentoring relationship. By using psychological contract theory, we develop new insights into the dynamics of the mentoring relationship and extend psychological contract research by applying the theory to a relation outside the employer–employee context. Results indicate that both parties perceive that they owe and are owed obligations, and these perceptions are influenced by the formality of the relationship and the supervisory status of the mentor. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

STATUS AND ORGANIZATIONAL ENTRY: HOW ORGANIZATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL STATUS AFFECT JUSTICE PERCEPTIONS OF HIRING SYSTEMS

Despite the fact that cognitive ability tests are highly predictive of job applicants’ future performance, these tests are often viewed as procedurally unfair by both hiring managers and job applicants. In this paper, we build on existing rationales by theorizing that status—both personal and organizational—may affect individuals’ procedural justice perceptions of selection tests. In 2 quasi‐experimental studies representing 435 managers and executives across both the United States and United Kingdom, we demonstrate that status is a double‐edged sword: helpful for high‐status organizations that use demanding selection tests to choose applicants but harmful because high‐status job applicants view these selection tests as more procedurally unjust than low‐status applicants.