The Virtue of Heaven: From Calvin to Cyber-Talk and Back

Protestant theology at the beginning of the twentieth century, as represented by such influential figures as Johannes Weiss, Albert Schweitzer, Franz Over‐beck, and later Rudolf Bultmann, asked what was no longer believable in the Gospel talk of heaven given the modern frame of reference. A century later the opposite question invites at least equal attention: what is no longer believable in the modern frame of reference given the Gospel talk of heaven? Calvin’s references to the real (or true) presence of Christ's heavenly life as "virtus" invite a conversation with computer talk of virtuality that illumines by contrast the current task of dogmatic theology in addressing what is heard today in the Gospel message as "the real world".     

Finding a Between-Person Negative Effect of Self-Efficacy on Performance: Not Just a Within-Person Effect Anymore

Research examining the relationship between self-efficacy and performance has tended to find a positive effect at the between-person level and a weak negative or null effect at the within-person level. This pattern of results has led to a belief that the level of analysis is a key factor in determining the sign of the relationship. Using a between-person experimental design, the authors demonstrate a negative effect for self-efficacy on motivation and quality of performance at the between-person level. A positive effect for self-efficacy on the quantity of tasks engaged, apparently due to the reduction in motivation on each task, was also found. The discussion focused on the relevance of the findings in the debate between social cognitive and control theorists.     

Cross‐cultural Measurement Invariance of the Employment Opportunity Index (EOI) in Mexican and Brazilian Professionals

Perceived employment alternatives have been shown to add incremental variance in understanding voluntary turnover as well as factors related to recruiting and staffing. The Employment Opportunity Index (EOI) is a multidimensional assessment of perceived employment alternatives that has exhibited predictive validity across multiple job types and populations. This study assessed the measurement invariance of the EOI in American, Mexican, and Brazilian professionals. We found support for configural and metric invariance in all five dimensions of the EOI with these populations, and support for scalar invariance three of the five EOI dimensions. The construct validity of the EOI appears to be relatively robust in Latin American populations, although cultural and macroeconomic factors may impose some response bias in these groups.