Ability to Manage Resources in the Impression Management Process: The Mediating Effects of Resources on Job Performance

Purpose

Based on the conservation of resource (COR) theory, we hypothesize that one’s ability to manage resources will moderate the relationship between the use of positive impression management (IM) and other desired resources, such that those able to manage resources will have higher levels of social resources (reputation and leader–member exchange) when expending energy through the use of positive IM tactics. Additionally, we expect higher levels of these social resources will lead to higher performance ratings.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We conducted a two-study replication. In Study One (n = 213), data were collected at two time points. Dyadic data were collected in Study Two (n = 83) to demonstrate consistent relationships across two different study designs.

Findings

Our findings indicate that the ability to manage resources is associated with higher levels of social resources, such as reputation and high quality LMX, which are ultimately associated with positive workplace outcomes, specifically job performance.

Implications

The ability to manage one’s resources is a crucial individual capability that allows individuals to secure positive work outcomes. This research highlights the utility of resources management initiatives that organizations might want to provide to their workers, such as equipment, support personnel, and the autonomy to pace oneself during hectic endeavors.

Originality/Value

We investigate an individual difference in the COR process, which is lacking in the current literature (Hobfoll and Shirom 2000). Further, this research examines COR consequences beyond stress-related outcomes. Lastly, our research highlights the value of examining IM in light of COR theory.

     

Amygdala circuitry in attentional and representational processes

The amygdala has long been implicated in the display of emotional behavior and emotional information processing, especially in the context of aversive events. In this review, we discuss recent evidence that links the amygdala to several aspects of food-motivated associative learning, including functions often characterized as attention, reinforcement and representation. Each of these functions depends on the operation of separate amygdalar subsystems, through their connections with other brain systems. Notably, very different processing systems seem to be mediated by the central nucleus and basolateral amygdala, subregions of the amygdala that differ in their anatomy and in their connectivity. The basolateral amygdala is involved in the acquisition and representation of reinforcement value, apparently through its connections with ventral striatal dopamine systems and with the orbitofrontal cortex. The dentral nucleus, however, contributes heavily to attentional function in conditioning, by way of its influence on basal forebrain cholinergic systems and on the dorsolateral striatum.     

Becoming a ‘real’ Catholic: Polish migrants and lived religiosity in the UK and Ireland

The effect of migration on religiosity is a well-documented theme in the sociology of religion. Despite the rapid growth in the number of Polish Catholics in the UK and Ireland, little has been written on the spiritual and religious aspects of their journeys. This article is based on the authors’ ethnographic fieldwork with Polish migrants in the UK and Ireland. Drawing on qualitative interviews and participant observation with Polish migrants of various ages and class backgrounds, we identify three possible outcomes for individuals of Catholic faith being transplanted to a secular context: firstly, Catholic Poles continue to practise in the same way as they did in their home country; secondly, they begin to question their faith and leave the church altogether; thirdly, they take the opportunity to explore their faith in a flexible and relatively independent manner. We argue that the third possibility leads to the privatisation and intellectualisation of their Catholicism. Thus, the experience of migration gives some Polish Catholics the freedom and courage to question their beliefs, but it does not necessarily make them irreligious. In their own words, they ‘believe in the way they have always wanted to but did not dare’. In conclusion, this article highlights the secondary benefits of migration for the personal experience of religious faith.     

Conversation with 2016 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching Award Winner Joanne Maguire Robinson

This conversation between the editors of Teaching Theology and Religion and Joanne Maguire Robinson continues an occasional series of interviews that has previously featured Jonathan Z. Smith, Stephen Prothero, Mary Pierce Brosmer, and Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore. The exchange takes as its point of departure the teaching statement that Professor Robinson produced in support of her candidacy for the American Academy of Religion's Excellence in Teaching Award. Issues addressed include the impact of institutional context on one's teaching, teaching the humanities in universities that are ever more focused on job training, making the transition from a graduate program focused on research to teaching undergraduates who are unlikely to take even a second course in the study of religion, and ways in which women are challenged to navigate multiple responsibilities while striving to make their way in a male‐dominated academy.     

Complexity of online gender confirmation resources surpass patient literacy

Background: Increasing transgender health care coverage has resulted in easier access to gender confirmation surgery. Patients considering surgery consistently access medical information online to improve knowledge regarding surgical options, complications, recovery, and life after transitioning. As a result, national health institutes recommend that patient educational materials be written at a sixth-grade–reading level. The purpose of this study is to assess the complexity of online gender confirmation surgery information.

Methods: An Internet search was performed using the key phrase “transgender surgery”. Health care and non–health care websites were evaluated for pertinent articles regarding gender confirmation surgery. Readability analyses were conducted using Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog Index, Coleman-Liau Index, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook Index, and Automated Readability Index. A two-tailed z test was used to compare means; significance was set at p ≤ 0.05.

Results: A total of 108 articles from 87 websites were analyzed. The average readability for all online gender confirmation-surgery information was at an 11th-grade reading level. Materials written by health care entities were written at a 12th-grade–reading level compared to non–health care articles, which were written at a 10th-grade level (p < 0.001). Male-to-female surgery materials were written at a 12th-grade level, significantly higher than the 11th-grade reading level of female-to-male surgery materials (p = 0.04).

Conclusion: Online information regarding gender confirmation surgery is written at a level that is too complex for patients to understand. Informational materials should be written at lower grade levels to improve patient education, informed consent, and outcomes.     

Interference with reelin signaling in the lateral entorhinal cortex impairs spatial memory

Entorhinal neurons receive extensive intracortical projections, and form the primary input to the hippocampus via the perforant pathway. The glutamatergic cells of origin for the perforant pathway are distinguished by their expression of reelin, a glycoprotein involved in learning and synaptic plasticity. The functional significance of reelin signaling within the entorhinal cortex, however, remains unexplored. To determine whether interrupting entorhinal reelin signaling might have consequences for learning and memory, we administered recombinant receptor-associated protein (RAP) into the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) of young Long-Evans rats. RAP prevents reelin from binding to its receptors, and we verified the knockdown of reelin signaling by quantifying the phosphorylation state of reelin’s intracellular signaling target, disabled-1 (DAB1). Effective knockdown of reelin signaling was associated with impaired performance in the hippocampus-dependent version of the water maze. Moreover, inhibition of reelin signaling induced a localized loss of synaptic marker expression in the LEC. These observations support a role for entorhinal reelin signaling in spatial learning, and suggest that an intact reelin signaling pathway is essential for synaptic integrity in the adult entorhinal cortex.     

What Accounts for Heterosexual Women’s Negative Emotional Responses to Lesbians?: Examination of Traditional Gender Role Beliefs and Sexual Prejudice

This study examined a pathway to heterosexual women’s experience of anger and anxiety in response to lesbian interactions. Participants were 149 18–30 year old heterosexual female undergraduates (56% African American) from a southeastern United States university. Participants completed measures of female gender role beliefs, sexual prejudice, and state affect, viewed a video depicting relationship behavior between a female–female or male–female dyad, and again completed a measure of state affect. Results indicated that traditional beliefs about women were associated with higher levels of sexual prejudice toward lesbians. In turn, higher levels of sexual prejudice predicted increased anger (not anxiety) in response to the female–female, but not the male–female, dyad. Findings elucidate determinants of heterosexual women’s anger, and potentially aggression, toward lesbians.