Social information processing and job characteristics.

This study simultaneously tested 2 theories that attempt to explain differences in job satisfaction: job characteristics theory (Hackman & Oldham, 1976) and social information processing theory (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978). The theories were tested using data collected from the civilian employees of the public works division at a U.S. military base. The results indicated that individuals' social environments had significant effects upon their attitudes. Multiple social networks were used to operationalize individuals' social environments. The results also suggested that job characteristics had an independent main effect upon job satisfaction, in addition to the effects of the social environment. Based on prior research, employees' past experience and self‐monitoring were tested as moderators of the effects of the social environment, and growth need strength was tested as a moderator of the effects of job characteristics upon job satisfaction. Only self‐monitoring was found to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between information from the social environment and job satisfaction, and growth need strength had no significant moderating effect.     

No match for money: Even in intimate relationships and collectivistic cultures,reminders of money weaken sociomoral responses

The present research tested two competing hypotheses: (1) as money cues activate an exchange orientation to social relations, money cues harm prosocial responses in communal and collectivistic settings; (2) as money can be used to help close others, money cues increase helping in communal or collectivistic settings. In a culture, characterized by strong helping norms, money cues reduced the quality of help given (Experiment 1), and lowered perceived moral obligation to help (Experiment 2). In communal relationships, money reminders decreased willingness to help romantic partners (Experiment 3). This effect was attenuated among people high on communal strength, although money cues made them upset with help requests (Experiment 4). Thus, the harmful effects of money on prosocial responses appear robust.     

A noniterative method of joint correspondence analysis

Correspondence analysis leads to a graphical representation of the associations between categories of the row and column variables of a contingency table. Greenacre's (1988) formulation of joint correspondence analysis is a multivariate extension which finds the optimal joint display of contingency tables between all pairs of variables in a set. Greenacre presented a discrepancy function and an alternating least squares algorithm for its minimization. Boik (1996) presented an alternative algorithm, also of the alternating least squares type, for minimizing the same discrepancy function. In this paper, a noniterative procedure, not based on the minimization of any discrepancy function, is described.     

Science policies to innovation strategies: “Local” networking and coping with internationalism in the developing country context

The science and technology policy perspectives followed by most developing countries during the 1980s exhibited enormous problems in coping with the incoming economic reforms of liberalization, privatization and a changing international S&T scenaria. This article critically explores the S&T policy perspectives of India, a typical example of a developing country. In an effort to render the local scientific and technological capacities more meaningful and effective in relation to the market locale, this article puts forward the concept of networking in S&T (TENs) as a “new” innovation strategy for S&T policies in the context of developing countries.     

Employee Perceptions of Workplace Theft Behavior: A Study Among Supermarket Retail Employees in Malaysia

Employee theft is costly to any business, especially to big retail chain organizations. This research is to study the perception of retail employees on the impact of the individual and organizational factors contributing to workplace theft behavior in supermarkets in Malaysia and to study the mediating effect of intention to steal and the moderating effect of internal control systems. The results proved that individual and organizational factors do influence workplace theft behavior. It is also established that internal control systems moderate the relationship between the intention to steal and workplace theft behavior.     

Color by Numbers: Minority Earnings in Canada 1995–2005

We investigate the pattern of earnings disparity across Canadian-born ethnic groups in Canada over three census years, 1996, 2001, and 2006. This extends “Colour My World” by 10 years (Pendakur and Pendakur 2002). We find that the earnings gaps faced by Canadian-born visible minorities have not eroded since the 1990s. This is somewhat surprising given that the size of this population has radically increased over the last 20 years. Other patterns observed in the 1990s, such as the relatively poor earnings outcomes of South Asians and Blacks, particularly in Montreal and Toronto, are still evident into the 2000s. An exception to the ‘bad news’ outlook is that persons of Caribbean origin have seen substantial convergence in their earnings relative to majority workers.     

Maintaining faith in agency under immutable constraints: cognitive consequences of believing in negotiable fate

Negotiable fate refers to the idea that one can negotiate with fate for control, and that people can exercise personal agency within the limits that fate has determined. Research on negotiable fate has found greater prevalence of related beliefs in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Eastern Europe than in Western Europe and English-speaking countries. The present research extends previous findings by exploring the cognitive consequences of the belief in negotiable fate. It was hypothesized that this belief enables individuals to maintain faith in the potency of their personal actions and to remain optimistic in their goal pursuits despite the immutable constraints. The belief in negotiable fate was predicted to (a) facilitate sense-making of surprising outcomes; (b) increase persistence in goal pursuits despite early unfavorable outcomes; and (c) increase risky choices when individuals have confidence in their luck. Using multiple methods (e.g., crosscultural comparisons, culture priming, experimental induction of fate beliefs), we found supporting evidence for our hypotheses in three studies. Furthermore, as expected, the cognitive effects of negotiable fate are observed only in cultural contexts where the fate belief is relatively prevalent. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the intersubjective approach to understanding the influence of culture on cognitive processes (e.g., Chiu, Gelfand, Yamagishi, Shteynberg, & Wan, 2010), the sociocultural foundations that foster the development of a belief in negotiable fate, and an alternative perspective for understanding the nature of agency in contexts where constraints are severe. Future research avenues are also discussed.     

An integrative review of sensory marketing: Engaging the senses to affect perception,judgment and behavior

I define “sensory marketing” as “marketing that engages the consumers' senses and affects their perception, judgment and behavior.” From a managerial perspective, sensory marketing can be used to create subconscious triggers that characterize consumer perceptions of abstract notions of the product (e.g., its sophistication or quality). Given the gamut of explicit marketing appeals made to consumers every day, subconscious triggers which appeal to the basic senses may be a more efficient way to engage consumers. Also, these sensory triggers may result in consumers' self-generation of (desirable) brand attributes, rather than those verbally provided by the advertiser. The understanding of these sensory triggers implies an understanding of sensation and perception as it applies to consumer behavior—this is the research perspective of sensory marketing. This review article presents an overview of research on sensory perception. The review also points out areas where little research has been done, so that each additional paper has a greater chance of making a bigger difference and sparking further research. It is quite apparent from the review that there still remains tremendous need for research within the domain of sensory marketing—research that can be very impactful.