Implicit ontological commitment

Quine’s general approach is to treat ontology as a matter of what a theory says there is. This turns ontology into a question of which existential statements are consequences of that theory. This approach is contrasted favourably with the view that takes ontological commitment as a relation to things. However within the broadly Quinean approach we can distinguish different accounts, differing as to the nature of the consequence relation best suited for determining those consequences. It is suggested that Quine’s own narrowly formal account fails. Then a consideration of the necessitation approach championed by Jackson and Lewis shows that it does not do justice to the role of acknowledging consequences in determining rationality. I suggest that an approach which puts a priori consequence as the key relation does a better job. The task of spelling out the nature of a priori consequence is sketched, along with reasons to doubt the adequacy of the double indexing approach to analysing the a priori. The sorts of relations we can stand in to theories which allow us to inherit ontological commitments are touched on with a number of important philosophical strategies for introducing belief-like attitudes which nevertheless avoid ontological commitment.

The dispensability of (merely) intentional objects

The ontology of (merely) intentional objects is a can of worms. If we can avoid ontological commitment to such entities, we should. In this paper, I offer a strategy for accomplishing that. This is to reject the traditional act-object account of intentionality in favor of an adverbial account. According to adverbialism about intentionality, having a dragon thought is not a matter of bearing the thinking-about relation to dragons, but of engaging in the activity of thinking dragon-wise.

交叉影响还是直接影响?工作－家庭冲突的影响机制

考察了带有方向性的两个工作－家庭冲突变量(工作对家庭的冲突、家庭对工作的冲突)对一些常见的结果变量的影响, 检验了交叉影响模型和直接影响模型在中国样本中的适用性。以工作优先行为规范为基础, 在来自中国企业的管理人员的两个样本中发现：家庭对工作的冲突对工作相关结果(工作满意感、留职意向、组织承诺)具有显著的负向影响, 而工作对家庭的冲突则没有显著影响; 工作对家庭的冲突对生活满意感具有显著的负向影响。本文的发现表明交叉影响模型可以作为解释中国管理人员工作－家庭冲突影响机制的理论, 而直接影响模型不能推广到中国样本中。     

The Motivations for and Outcomes of Employee Referrals

Research on employee referrals demonstrates positive outcomes for the recruited individual and the organization. However, little research addressed employees who make employment referrals, also known as employee recommenders. To address this gap in knowledge, we developed a conceptual model and present the theoretical basis for addressing the motivation of, and organizational outcomes associated with, employees who make employment recommendations. The model is based on the theories of word-of-mouth communication, cognitive dissonance, self-perception, and attitude change through self-persuasion. Partial support for the model was found in an experimental design simulating an employee referral situation. Results showed an increase in normative commitment of recommenders.     

The Effect of Interpersonal Trust And Participativeness on Union Member Commitment

Unionized employees have their commitment courted by both their employer and union. They can form a commitment to both, or only one, or neither. It is difficult to predict which commitment might form. It is hypothesized that interpersonal trust and participation attitudes will explain the levels of union commitment formed by union officials. Multiple regression equations and a structural equation model were used to test these hypotheses. Interpersonal trust had a positive yet non-significant effect on union commitment. Participation attitudes had a significant, negative effect on union commitment, opposite that of the hypothesized relationship. The hypotheses are only partially supported.     

The Role of Human Resource Practices in Reducing Occupational Stress and Strain

The current study examined the occupational stress-strain relationship among a sample of 109 white-collar employees in Singapore. Participants completed a survey that assessed the presence of 8 human resource practices (job training, communication, job redesign, promotional opportunities, employee involvement, family-friendly policies, pay systems, and individual-focused stress interventions [SMIs]), 2 major stressors (role overload and responsibility), 2 types of strain (vocational and interpersonal), and organizational commitment. Results indicate that human resource (HR) practices did not reduce the sources of stress (role overload and responsibility) within the workplace. However, there was a direct negative relationship between HR practices and interpersonal strain. In particular, family-friendly practices, job training, and SMIs reduced interpersonal strain. An examination of vocational strain showed that it was negatively associated with SMIs and job training. In addition, organizational commitment mediated the relationship between HR practices and vocational strain. It was concluded that HR practices may be effective as part of a symptom-directed approach to stress intervention and that further replication of these results in both Asian and Western samples is required.     

Job Satisfaction as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Job Stressors and Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment: A Path Analytical Approach

This article investigates the potential mediating role of job satisfaction between job stressors—namely, role overload-quantitative, role overload-qualitative, and lack of career development—as sources of stress on the one hand, and various facets of organizational commitment—namely, affective, continuance, and normative—on the other hand. A sample of 361 employees in a number of organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was used. Path analysis revealed that role overload-quantitative directly and negatively influences both job satisfaction and affective commitment and that lack of career development as a source of stress directly and negatively influences job satisfaction. Findings also suggest that job satisfaction mediates the influences of role overload-quantitative on various facets of organizational commitment. Implications, future lines of research, and limitations are discussed.     

Goal assignment and performance: Assessing the mediating roles of goal commitment and self-efficacy and the moderating role of power distance

This study investigated the effect of goal assignment on the goal commitment, self-efficacy, and performance of individuals who differed on the power distance cultural value dimension. Data were collected from 143 university students in Australia. They were randomly assigned to either a participative or assigned goal setting condition to complete class schedules. Instructional method (i.e., “tell and sell”) and research administrator supportiveness were held constant across the two conditions. Consistent with previous findings, it was hypothesized that self-efficacy and goal commitment would mediate the relation of goal assignment and performance. Extending previous research, it was hypothesized that power distance would moderate the relation of goal assignment and each of goal commitment, self-efficacy, and performance. Hierarchical regression analyses fully supported the mediating and partially supported the moderating hypotheses. Moreover, multigroup structural equation modeling (MSEM) indicated that for low power distance individuals only, self-efficacy mediated the effect of goal assignment on performance.     

员工工作倦怠对其个人主动性行为的影响过程研究

采用工作倦怠量表、组织承诺量表、主动性氛围量表和个人主动性问卷调查了34家企业的231名员工和34名主管,使用多层线性建模进行数据分析,结果发现：工作倦怠和组织承诺、个人主动性负相关;组织承诺在工作倦怠和个人主动性之间的关系中起到部分中介作用;主动性氛围和个人主动性正相关并在组织承诺和个人主动性的关系中起到缓冲作用。研究提出了工作倦怠对个人主动性影响的一种过程模式,并对其理论和实践含义进行了讨论。     

Öst's (2008) methodological comparison of clinical trials of acceptance and commitment therapy versus cognitive behavior therapy: Matching Apples with Oranges?

Öst (2008) recently compared the methodological rigor of studies of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and traditional cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). He concluded that the ACT studies had more methodological deficiencies, and thus the treatment did not qualify as an “empirically supported treatment.” Although Öst noted several important limitations that should be carefully considered when evaluating early ACT research, his attempt to devise an empirical matching strategy by creating a comparison sample of CBT studies to bolster his conclusions was itself problematic. The samples were clearly mismatched in terms of the populations being treated, leading to differences in study design and methodology. Furthermore, reanalysis showed clear differences in grant support favoring CBT compared with ACT studies that were not reported in the original article. Given the actual mismatch between the samples, Öst's methodological ratings are difficult to interpret and provide little useful information beyond what could already be gathered by a qualitative review of ACT study limitations. Such limitations are characteristic of the earlier randomized controlled trials of any emerging psychotherapeutic approach.