The Moderating Effect of Self-efficacy on Job Insecurity and Organisational Commitment Among Nigerian Public Servants

The study examined the moderating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between perceived job insecurity and organisational commitment of survivors of retrenchment among Nigerian public workers. Using a cross-sectional survey, data was collected from 186 survivors. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that organisational commitment was inversely related to job insecurity and positively related to the interaction factor for self-efficacy and job insecurity. However, the relationship between job insecurity and organisational commitment was moderated by self-efficacy such that as perceived job insecurity increased, survivors with moderate to high levels of self-efficacy showed greater levels of organisational commitment than those with low self-efficacy. The findings of this study suggest that as perceived job insecurity increased survivors' organisational commitment decreased. The theoretical and practical implications of the present findings and suggestions for enhancing the self-efficacy of survivors were discussed.     

Happy-productive groups: How positive affect links to performance through social resources

Abstract

The current study extends the Broaden & Build theory to the collective (i.e. groups) level of analysis, focusing on the mediating role of group social resources (i.e. cohesion, coordination, teamwork, supportive team climate) between group positive affect (i.e. enthusiasm, optimism, satisfaction, comfort) and group performance (i.e. in-and extra-role performance, creative performance). To test our hypotheses, we conducted two studies using independent samples. Study 1 is a laboratory study with 449 participants nested in 112 small groups who performed an organizational simulation creative task. Study 2 is a field study that aggregated scores of 2159 employees nested in 417 groups. In both the lab and field studies, structural equation modeling results revealed that group social resources fully mediate the relationship between group positive emotions and performance.     

Contemporary Environmental Ethics From Metaethics to Public Philosophy

In the past thirty years environmental ethics has emerged as one of the most vibrant and exciting areas of applied philosophy. Several journals and hundreds of books testify to its growing importance inside and outside philosophical circles. But with all of this scholarly output, it is arguably the case that environmental ethics is not living up to its promise of providing a philosophical contribution to the resolution of environmental problems. This article surveys the current state of the field and offers an alternative path for the future development of environmental ethics toward a more publicly engaged model of applied philosophy.     

Does the Public Intellectual Have Intellectual Integrity?

This article is concerned with the devaluation of the work of public intellectuals within the academic community. The principal reason given for this devaluation is that the work of the public intellectual does not have intellectual integrity as independent thought and original scholarship. I develop three models of public intellectual work: the permanent–critic model, the popularizer model, and the public–theorist model. I then consider each model in relation to the concern with intellectual integrity and conclude that both independent thought and original scholarship are possible within work that is engaged with nonacademic publics.     

The Adaptation of Patients During the Hospitalization Period of Bone Marrow Transplantation

A longitudinally study was conducted among 42 bone marrow transplantation (BMT) patients to investigate the association between pretransplant psychosocial variables and psychophysiological outcomes during the immediate convalescence period. Family relationships (cohesion, expressiveness, and conflict) and coping resources (cognitive, social, emotional, spiritual/philosophical, and physical resources) were assessed on the admission day (Day –7 Time 1). Data on psychological distress and pain intensity were obtained on Day +7 (Time 2) and Day +14 (Time 3). The average scores at Times 2 and 3 were computed to indicate the overall adjustments of the patients during the hospitalization period after the day of actual transplant (Day 0). It was shown that higher expressiveness family relationships and higher resources to cope effectively with stressful situations were associated with less psychological distress during the above period. Both pretransplant psychosocial variables were not associated with pain intensity during hospitalization. Allogeneic transplant patients reported higher pain intensity than did autologous transplant patients. Psychological distress and pain intensity were positively correlated with each other. Our findings show that pretransplant family relationships and coping resources associate moderately with psychological distress during the immediate convalescent period of BMT. The present findings support the family-centered approach to BMT care and provide a scientific basis for pretransplant psychosocial interventions.     

Overcoming Barriers to Collaboration Between Basic Behavioral Scientists and Public Health Scientists in Research on Mental Disorders

The behavioral and public health sciences both have a long and rich history supporting basic, translational, and applied research aimed at improving human lives and reducing human suffering. Through the complementary expertise of these disciplines, investigators have contributed to significant, worldwide improvements in mental and physical health. Further gains can be achieved through collaborative research among scientists in these 2 fields. Unfortunately, there are a number of barriers to such collaboration originating in different intellectual traditions, research methods, and the structure and values of academia. We identify these barriers and potential strategies for overcoming them. Several areas for future collaborative research appear promising, especially comorbid mental and physical disorders, adherence to interventions, stigma, and emotional processes. Theory-guided preventive interventions may represent especially fertile areas of collaborative effort.     

Theorising the Rainbow? The Puzzle of the Public-private Divide

Two influential approaches to conceptualising the relationship between public and private law have suggested that the distinction between them should be abandoned. The first, as exemplified by Oliver, suggests that the distinction should be abandoned in favour of fusion based on the notion of commonality. The second, as exemplified by Teubner, rejects fusion, arguing for the replacement of the distinction with a concept capturing the multi-dimensional complexity of law in multiple social contexts: `polycontexturality'. This article focuses primarily on exploring conceptual puzzles presented by Oliver's `commonality thesis', and argues for a reconceptualisation of the relationship between public and private law as multi-layered. Monolithic and rigidly binary concepts alike should be replaced by a complex set of relationships – a position broadly supportive of Teubner's. However, it is argued that the relationships between public and private law are to be seen as existing on a spectrum, or even on an overarching meta-spectrum, in which the existence of distinctive `archetypal conceptual paradigms' influence as `meta-spectrum extremities'. This presents a limited caveat to Teubner's thesis. I suggest that explicit theoretical attention to both the implications of polycontexturality and the existence of the archetypal conceptual paradigms as meta-spectrum extremities might avoid occluding important distinctions and nuances within a fusion that tends illegitimately to subsume private law within a public law paradigm. Such an analysis, I argue, could enhance the coherence of the law in complex, multi-dimensional cases at the troubled borderline between public and private law. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Why Can't Psychology Get a Stamp?

In the latter half of the 1980s as the centennial of the American Psychological Association approached, the APA organized an effort to persuade the United States Postal Service to issue a stamp recognizing the contributions of psychology to the quality of life in America. That effort failed. The history of psychology and psychologists represented on stamps worldwide is described, as is a recent attempt to create a United States stamp focused on mental health. The failure of psychology to achieve recognition on a U. S. stamp is discussed in the context of the stigma of mental illness and the public image of psychology.     

公共行政伦理价值定位与规范体系

加强公共行政伦理建设,是加强政风建设、建设廉洁勤政务实高故政府、建设高素质公务员队伍的基本途径。因此,必须对公共行政伦理进行价值定位,借鉴国外公共行政伦理建设的经验,建构中国当代公共行政伦理的规范体系。