Benefit System Effects on Employees’ Benefit Knowledge,Use, and Organizational Commitment

We identified four attributes of benefit systems thought to influence employee attitudes and behavior: employee participation, system quality, communication quality, and benefit importance. Survey data from 974 employees of a Fortune 500 energy industry firm supported a partially mediated model in which these benefit system features exerted both indirect and direct effects on benefit knowledge and use, as well as on affective and continuance commitment. However, the findings differed across benefit system features and across types of benefits. Specifically, improving organizational communications about benefits appears more useful than increasing employee participation or improving benefit system service quality.     

如何消除子团队的消极作用——子团队成员交换的作用

本文探究子团队层面的团队构成动态变化, 即子团队成员交换是否有助于消除子团队的消极影响。本文将存在两个平衡的以认同为基础的子团队的团队作为研究对象, 试图通过实验的研究方法来探讨子团队成员交换是否能够消除子团队对团队的消极影响。通过对75组子团队进行实验后发现: (1)相较于无子团队成员交换的团队, 有子团队成员交换的团队其团队信息深化及团队决策质量更佳; (2)团队信息深化在子团队成员交换与团队决策质量关系间呈中介作用。     

Perceived organizational support as a mediator between relational exchange and organizational identification

Using cross-level data from 364 supervisor–subordinate dyads, we examined how relational exchange quality, perceived organizational support (POS), and organizational identification interrelate. We found subordinate POS mediates the relationship between leader-member exchange (i.e., LMX) and organizational identification. We also found the relational context matters—namely, the immediate supervisor’s relationship with his or her manager (i.e., leader–leader exchange, LLX). Our findings suggest higher quality LLX creates a spillover of resources and reduces the negative association between lower quality LMX and POS. Our study extends both social exchange and social identity theories. First, we delineate how relational exchange quality associates with one’s identity in the organization—placing POS as an integrative mechanism between exchange and identity. Second, we expand the purview of social exchange theory by including other proximal (and interpersonal) relationships as context for social exchange between the individual and organization. Limitations, future research directions, and practical implications are also discussed.     

This is Not About Sex? A Discussion of the Understanding of Love and Grace in Bernard of Clairvaux's and Martin Luther's Theologies

Abstract : This article engages the understanding of love and grace in Bernard's and Luther's theologies. Taking as a point of departure Anders Nygren's dichotomy of love in agape and eros, Wiberg Pedersen outlines some of the issues raised by Nygren's thesis. Arguing against Nygren's caricature of Bernard's theology, Wiberg Pedersen shows the similarities between Bernard's and Luther's understandings of love and grace, which lead her to hypothesize that Luther was inspired by Bernard in a theologia caritatis that is simultaneously a theologia cordis (creation and inspiration) and a theologia crucis (incarnation and justification), all led by grace.     

Position exchange: The social development of agency

Human agency can be defined in terms of acting independently of the immediate situation. Humans have a considerable independence from immediate situational demands because, on the one hand, they are able to distanciate from ongoing activity and reflect upon it, while on the other hand, they are able to identify with other people in different situations. It is argued that this form of agency arises through intersubjectivity because intersubjectivity enables the actor to take a perspective outside of the immediate situation and thus extricating the actor from the immediate situation. The paper contributes to the question of how intersubjectivity, as the basis of agency, develops. Explanations from phenomenology, child development and mirror neuron research are critically reviewed and the novel idea of position exchange is advanced. The paper concludes by examining some of the implications of position exchange for our understanding of the development of agency focusing upon mirror neurons, role play and autism.     

An examination of regifting

This study develops an operational definition of the phenomenon of regifting. Gifting refers to the act of giving something to someone else without an expectation of compensation. Regifting is similar to gifting in that there is no expectation of compensation, but the gift itself differs in that it is one previously given to the giver. This study uses previous literature on established gift‐giving themes to explore regifting's meaning, importance, and implications to consumer research. In‐depth interviews and focus groups aid in the discovery of themes within regifting and regifting motivations, as well as those within relationships between the regifter and recipient. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

探讨三级综合医院基于信息交互体系的双向转诊

建立基于信息交互体系的双向转诊信息平台,通过大连市某三级综合医院与社区卫生服务中心双向转诊研究,着重于探索临床路径这一研究方向对双向转诊的意义。用同期非随机对照试验,收集大连市黄河路社区上转患者人次和医院下转患者人次,以及分别比较转诊费用和医患转诊认知度。结果,上转患者402人,下转患者179人,上转服务明显好于下转,试验组和对照组患者医疗费用（除诊疗费）差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）,双向转诊认知度差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）。目前双向转诊还处于单向流动状态,上转率明显高于下转率,双向转诊节省了医疗费用,在医患对其认知度方面,前者明显高于后者,制度上的支持是双向转诊顺利实施的关键。     

Understanding the unique impact of dimensions of ethical leadership on employee attitudes

This study extends earlier findings on ethical leadership by testing the relationship of the seven dimensions of ethical leadership with job satisfaction, organization commitment, job embeddedness, and cynicism. It uses time-lagged data from 585 employees in Pakistan. Using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, the study supports the concept of multidimensional ethical leadership in the Eastern setting and indicates that the dimensions of people orientation, fairness, power sharing, ethical guidance, and role clarification are associated with the majority of outcomes, as suggested by social exchange theory. However, the concern for sustainability and integrity dimensions had a limited effect.