The impact of telework on emotional experience: When,and for whom,does telework improve daily affective well-being?

Teleworking has become increasingly popular in organizations around the world. Despite this trend towards working outside of the traditional office setting, research has not yet examined how people feel (i.e., their affective experiences) on days when working at home versus in the office. Using a sample of 102 employees from a large US government agency, we employed a within-person design to test hypotheses about the relationship between teleworking and affective well-being. We also examined four individual differences (openness to experience, rumination, sensation seeking, and social connectedness outside of work) as cross-level moderators. Results show that employees experience more job-related positive affective well-being (PAWB) and less job-related negative affective well-being (NAWB) on days when they were teleworking compared to days they were working in the office. Findings show that several of the individual differences moderated the relationships. Discussion focuses on the need to consider the affective consequences of telework and the characteristics that determine who will benefit more or less from working at home.     

Going beyond the Human: Christians and Other Transhumanists

Abstract

Today's transhumanists ask good questions about the human future. What about their answers? Is their version of transhumanism useful or acceptable to Christian theology today? No, at least not in its usual form. Transhumanism and Christianity divide on how we think about the cause of the changes that lie ahead for humanity. For transhumanists, the cause or the agent of human transcendence is technology. For Christians, it is grace, the underserved goodness of God who gives life and wholeness to the creation. Our core question is whether it is proper for Christian theology to see technology as contributing in any way to the future that a gracious God has in store for the creation. Does God work through technology? Yes. We may contribute through technology to what God is doing; but it is always God's doing.     

Time Theft in Organizations: The development of the Time Banditry Questionnaire

Time banditry has recently been introduced as a conceptually distinct construct in the counterproductive work behavior literature. An employee is engaged in time banditry if s/he pursues unsanctioned and/or unethical nonwork activities during work time. An analysis of the time banditry construct would be facilitated by the rigorous development of a measure of this construct. The purpose of this research was to develop and refine a multidimensional measure of time banditry. Items were generated through an extensive literature review and numerous workplace discussions with a diverse sample of employees. Through this process, we developed a 45‐item time banditry scale (Time Banditry Questionnaire; TBQ) and utilized it with a diverse sample. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the construct of time banditry is multidimensional, exhibiting three distinct factors (classic, technology, and social). The TBQ demonstrated an internal consistency reliability of .90. Implications for the use of the TBQ in future research and application in organizations are discussed. The most salient suggestion in this study is that time banditry is more closely related to situational variables and personality variables than it is related to demographic variables.     

Neuropsychological profiles of children with depressive and anxiety disorders

The neuropsychological functioning of 56 children and young adolescents with diagnoses of unipolar depression (n = 17), anxiety disorder (n = 19), or comorbid anxiety/depressive disorder (n = 20) was examined. The neuropsychological profiles of the three groups were parallel, but not equal in level of performance. The three groups displayed similar patterns of performance with profiles suggesting diminished attention abilities. The groups, however, were not equal in level of performance. While subjects with an anxiety or a depressive disorder were similar in level of performance, subjects with a comorbid anxiety/depressive disorder generally performed worse than those with either an anxiety or depressive disorder alone. There was no significant evidence of asymmetrical cerebral dysfunction in any of the diagnostic groups. Results are discussed in relation to adult models of psychopathology with an emphasis on the importance of considering developmental factors when formulating models of childhood psychopathology.     

In search of those boundary conditions that might influence the effectiveness of supportive supervision

Supportive supervision is doubtlessly beneficial in many instances in organizations. Paustian‐Underdahl, Shanock, Rogelberg, Scott, Justice, and Altman ( 2013 ) have examined the predictors of supportive supervision. We might suggest that they have underidentified those factors that impact the potential influence of supportive supervision and suggest a more comprehensive approach to this important variable.     

Individual Differences In Intra-Individual Variability

For each of 75 Ss several estimates of intra-individual variations were calculated for each of 4 motor skills. The reliability of intra-individual variation for these data, estimated from Pearson productmoment correlations, ranged from r = .31 to r = .51 (in all cases p < .05). It was also found that in 3 of the 4 skills, intra-individual variation correlated significantly (r = .36, .54, .55) with mean performance level. Second order partial correlations, holding constant the effect of mean performance level, were then used to estimate the reliability of intravariation. These correlations were statistically significant and ranged from r = .27 to r = .34. When correlations of intra-individual variation were calculated among the four skills it was demonstrated that intra-individual variation was approximately 95 to 100% task specific.     

The Effects of Object Weight on the Kinematics of Prehension

The purpose of these experiments was to determine the effects of object weight and condition of weight presentation on the kinematics of human prehension. Subjects performed reaching and grasping movements to metal dowels whose visible characteristics were similar but whose weight varied (20, 55, 150, 410 g). Movements were performed under two conditions of weight presentation, random (weight unknown) and blocked (weight known). Three-dimensional movements of the thumb, index finger, and wrist were recorded, using a WATSMART system to obtain information regarding the grasp and transport components. The results of the first experiment indicated that object weight and condition of presentation affected the temporal and kinematic measures for both the grasp and transport components. In conjunction with the results of a second experiment, in which time in contact with the dowel was measured, it was shown that the free-motion phase of prehension (i.e., up to object contact) was invariant over the different conditions, however. The changes were observed in the finger-object interaction phase (when subjects applied forces after contact with the dowel), prior to lift-off. These results were interpreted as indicating (a) object weight does not influence the planning and execution of the free-motion phase of prehension and (b) there are at least two motor control phases involved in prehension, one for making contact with the object and the other for finger-object interaction. The changing contributions of visual, kinesthetic, and haptic information during these two phases is discussed.     

Efficiency of Learning as a Function of Practice Schedule and Initial Ability

2 groups of 50 Ss practiced a pursuit rotor skill under different schedules of practice. A massed practice (MP) group (40 sec. work, 20 sec. rest) performed just as well as a distributed practice (DP) group (20 sec. work, 20 sec. rest) on the first day of practice. However, after 24 hr. of interpolated rest MP Ss demonstrated significantly greater amounts of learning. A further analysis of the 15 high initial ability and 15 low initial ability Ss from each of the two main groups resulted in no statistical differences among these subgroups in Day 1 performance that could be attributed to the practice schedules; however, a significant Ability Level × Practice Schedule interaction was obtained for Day 2 performance. It was caused by the low ability Ss under MP learning relatively more than the high ability Ss under MP when compared to the two DP groups. Thus learning was seen as being a function not only of schedule of practice but also of initial ability level.