Crafting Mosaics: Person-Centered Religious Influence and Selection in Adolescent Friendships

This research addresses the intersection of two key domains of adolescents’ lives: religion and peer networks. Religion scholars argue that religion is multi-faceted and better understood by focusing on combinations of indicators (i.e., mosaics), versus a variable-centered approach. We adopt this framework and investigate the interplay between religion and peer networks, both in how religious mosaics are shaped by friends and how religious profiles affect friend selection dynamics. With data from two schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we estimate religious mosaics using latent class analysis (LCA) to identify profiles consisting of combinations of commonly available survey-based measures of religious attitudes, behaviors, and identities. Finding evidence of theoretically expected profiles, we then use stochastic actor–based models (SABMs) to investigate network dynamics for these LCA-based religious profiles. We demonstrate how the profile data can be integrated within the SABM framework to evaluate processes of friend selection and influence. Results show evidence of adolescents influencing one another's religious mosaics, but not selecting friends on that basis.     

The contribution of extracurricular activities to adolescent friendships: new insights through social network analysis

Extracurricular activities are settings that are theorized to help adolescents maintain existing friendships and develop new friendships. The overarching goal of the current investigation was to examine whether coparticipating in school-based extracurricular activities supported adolescents' school-based friendships. We used social network methods and data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine whether dyadic friendship ties were more likely to exist among activity coparticipants while controlling for alternative friendship processes, namely dyadic homophily (e.g., demographic and behavioral similarities) and network-level processes (e.g., triadic closure). Results provide strong evidence that activities were associated with current friendships and promoted the formation of new friendships. These associations varied based on school level (i.e., middle vs. high school) and activity type (i.e., sports, academic, arts). Results of this study provide new insight into the complex relations between activities and friendship that can inform theories of their developmental outcomes.     

Factors Influencing Managerial Disclosure of AIDS Health Information to Coworkers

This research investigates the importance of legal concerns over lawsuits, fear of AIDS in the workplace, and gender as factors influencing a manager's decision to disclose AIDS health information to coworkers. Data was obtained from questionnaires administered to managers employed in service, manufacturing, and government organizations. Findings indicate that both fear of AIDS in the workplace and concern over lawsuits exhibited a significant relationship with the likelihood of sharing AIDS health information and gender was found to moderate the relationship between likelihood of sharing AIDS health information, and fear of AIDS in the workplace. Male managers exhibited a higher level of fear of AIDS than female managers and did female managers, were found to be somewhat less likely than male managers to share AIDS health information with coworkers. Study findings, suggestions for future research, and implications are discussed.     

Factors Influencing Employee Beliefs That Pay Is Tied to Performance

The unique relationship of perceived pay level equity, perceived appraisal accuracy, merit increase satisfaction, trust in supervisor, and trust in top management to employee beliefs that pay is tied to performance was investigated in a sample of 658 managerial, professional, and clerical employees. Pay level equity, merit increase satisfaction, and trust in top management exhibited a significant unique relationship. Post hoc analysis found appraisal accuracy exhibited a significant unique relationship with belief that pay is tied to performance among employees receiving a lower or higher than expected performance appraisal, but not among employees receiving the expected performance appraisal.     

Educational risk factors for psychological truancy in Lesotho: a qualitative exploration

A qualitative case study design was used to explore educational risk factors that may contribute to psychological truancy in a Lesotho secondary school. Purposively sampled teachers (n = 4, females = 50%) and pupils (n = 4, females = 75%), who have experience of psychological truancy, took part in a focus group and individual interviews. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse data emanating from the interviews. The findings indicate that pupil–teacher relationships, the use of English as medium of instruction and a lack of resources may be educational risk factors contributing to psychological truancy. Positive pupil–teacher relationships and active classroom engagement are prerequisites for successful and active learning.     

Self-rated performance and pay satisfaction,merit increase satisfaction,and instrumentality beliefs in a merit pay environment

The relationship of self-rated performance to pay level satisfaction, merit increase satisfaction, and instrumentality beliefs in a merit pay environment is investigated. Self-rated performance exhibited a significant negative relationship with all three variables beyond that accounted for by control variables. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Who Delivers Justice? Source Perceptions of Procedural Fairness1

Tyler and Bies (1990) argue that how leaders enact and apply formal procedures can affect perceptions of procedural fairness as much as the formal procedures themselves. This study examined directly the extent to which workers see either formal policies and procedures or their supervisors as the source most responsible for the procedural fairness they receive in their performance evaluations. Group differences in these source perceptions between exempt and nonexempt workers were also explored. Results indicate that workers attribute the responsibility for procedural fairness jointly and independently to both their organization's formal policies and procedures and to their supervisors. Results at the group level of analysis indicate that nonexempt workers perceive formal policies and procedures to be more responsible for procedural fairness than do exempt workers. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

When accuracy is not enough: The moderating effect of perceived appraisal use

It is hypothesized that perceived appraisal use in making pay related decisions will moderate the relationship between instrumentality beliefs and appraisal accuracy related variables. Perceived appraisal use was found to moderate the relationship between instrumentality beliefs and perceived appraisal accuracy, supervisor appraisal behavior, and supervisor knowledge of performance.