Predicting Employee Turnover From Communication Networks

This article investigates three social network models of employee turnover: a structural equivalence model, a social influence model, and an erosion model. It was predicted that structurally equivalent individuals would be more likely to behave similarly (i.e., leave or stay at their position). The rocial influence model predicted that employees with a greater percentage of direct communication links with leavers would be more likely to leave their job. The erosion model posited that individuals located on the periphery of a social network would be more likely to leave their job or “fall off” the edges of the social network. A total of 170 employees, a census of an organization, were administered a communication network questionnaire asking them to identify the people with whom they communicate at work. Network self-report data were analyzed using NEGOPY and UCINET software. Results provided support for all three models of turnover, with the erosion model explaining more of the variance than the other two models. Future research examining communication networks and employee turnover is proposed, on the basis of these results.     

Can Research in the Human Sciences Become More Relevant to Practice?

The threads of several arguments currently under consideration in various areas of research and practice in counseling are woven together to provide a slightly altered view of the scientist-practitioner model in counseling.     

Identity Implications of Influence Goals A Revised Analysis of Face-Threatening Acts and Application to Seeking Compliance With Same-Sex Friends

Although politeness theory offers one explanation for how threats to face arise during compliance-gaining episodes, it neither predicts the conditions under which seeking compliance will create multiple face threats nor explains how such threats arise within specific contexts. The authors challenge and revise politeness theory by analyzing potential implications for both parties' face when the logical preconditions for seeking compliance are framed by specific influence goals. In a test of a revised analysis of face threats, young adults imagined asking favors, giving advice, and enforcing obligations with same-sex friends. Perceived face threats, interaction goals, and message qualities varied substantially across compliance-gaining situations defined by these goals. Directions for exploring the identity implications of influence goals across relationships and cultures are discussed.