Modeling synergy:How to assess a Type D personality effect

Objective In research on Type D personality, its subcomponents negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI) are hypothesized to have a synergistic effect on various medical and psychosocial outcomes. As some methods to analyze Type D personality have been criticized, this study investigated whether these methods adequately detect a Type D effect. Method We used a simulation and two empirical illustrations to investigate each method's performance (bias, power and false positives) in detecting the Type D effect. Results Our simulation showed that the two most commonly used methods to assess the Type D effect (subgroup methods) were primarily picking up the presence of NA or SI main effects, indicating that these methods might falsely suggest synergistic Type D effects. Moreover, these methods failed to detect the combined presence of the NA and SI main effects, resulting in significant Type D effects when only one of the NA/SI main effects was present. The method that best detected Type D effects modeled the continuous NA/SI main effects and their statistical interaction in a regression analysis. Reanalysis of two empirical Type D personality datasets confirmed the patterns found in our simulation. Conclusion This study showed that Type D effects should be modeled with a continuous interaction approach. Other approaches showed either more bias, more false positive findings or lower power. We recommend against using subgroup approaches to operationalize Type D personality, as these methods are biased, regardless of whether the Type D effect is synergistic or additive in nature

Medical psychometrics:A psychometric evaluation of Type D personality and its predictive value in medical research

Type D personality–a combination of high negative affectivity and high social inhibition–has been identified as a risk factor for adverse outcome in various patient populations. However, common methods used to establish the predictive value of Type D personality have been criticized and several recent studies were not able to replicate previous findings. To explain these inconsistencies, this interdisciplinary dissertation brings together experts from the fields of medical psychology and psychometrics. It presents a psychometric evaluation of the construct Type D personality and illustrates how it can best be modeled in medical and psychological research. Based on thousands of computer-simulated datasets, as well as empirical data from patients with various types of diseases, this dissertation shows why most published research testing a Type D personality effect should be reanalyzed using modern psychometric and statistical methods. It also presents a first attempt at this endeavor by reanalyzing various earlier published datasets, showing that coronary artery disease patients with Type D personality are at increased risk for adverse outcome

The moderating effect of brand orientation on inter-firm market orientation and performance

While prior research has shown that market and brand orientation are key contributors to successful business performance, research to date has not fully explored how inter firm collaboration for these two key orientations can enhance business performance. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the relationship between inter-firm market and performance; to test for the moderating role of brand orientation in that relationship. A total of 169 completed pairs of surveys were collected of small and medium enterprises operating internationally in a variety of industries in Switzerland. The results show that inter-firm market and brand orientation are two antecedents of marketing and financial performance. The impact of inter-firm market on marketing and financial performance is significant when the brand orientation is favorable. This study extends previous research by examining the moderating role of brand orientation on inter firm market orientation, which is important, especially for firms wanting to increase their brand reputation by entering into partnerships with other firms. Further research is indicated, to identify the key moderators of the driving force of inter-firm market in relation to business performance and the reason why maintaining a strong brand presence is important in the international marketplace

Expected operational synergies as a determinant of M&A premium levels and their cyclical changes in time

Purpose of the study Expected synergies are often presented as a motivator to pay high premiums in corporate mergers and acquisition. In the existing literature on the topic, however, there is a distinct dissonance on whether this holds true empirically. Apparently, the inability to agree on the role of expected synergies as a determinant of takeover premiums stems from differing interpretation of synergies as a concept and differing methodologies to measure synergistic value. This paper aims to provide new information to this discussion via three vehicles. First, I narrow the scope from overall synergies and focus merely on operational cost-side synergies to decompose the relationship between premiums and expected synergistic value. Secondly, I introduce differing valuation processes between industries as a possible way to increase prediction power for premiums. Thirdly, I study the premiums’ autocorrelative time-behavior and its dependency on expected operational synergies as an extension to speculative explanations for the premiums’ momentum proposed in extant research. Data and methodology The data set consists of 2,082 European public takeovers between 2006 and 2015, extracted from Mergermarket database. The relationship between takeover premiums and expected operational synergies is tested with simple OLS regressions and subsequent F-tests for testing the joint power of additional variables included in the model, with and without a set of industry classification binaries included. The momentum effect in premiums is confirmed with estimating monthly premium average’s autocorrelation coefficients and testing their significance. Based on these results, an autoregressive moving average model is estimated for two subgroups determined by the assumed existence of expected operational synergies to determine whether changes in expected operational synergies cyclically drive the premiums in time. Findings Takeover premiums are found to be generally independent on expected operational synergies. Also, premium levels significantly differ between industries. The expected operational synergies’ role as a determinant of takeover premiums is found to significantly deviate between industries, but individual industries where the effect would be considerably strong are not identified. Consistently with the existing research, takeover premiums are found to exhibit momentum. Specifically, monthly premium averages are found to be correlated with up to five lagged monthly periods. The time-behavior of premiums is not found to significantly deviate between transactions with and without expected operational synergies. Thus, it is concluded that changes in expected operational synergies do not generally drive takeover premiums

The Relationship between Supervision, Job Satisfaction, and Burnout among Live-In and Live-On Housing and Residence Life Professionals

The current study investigated the relationship between supervision, job satisfaction, and burnout among live-in and live-on Housing and Residence Life professionals. The literature review consists of empirical research for each construct presented (supervision, job satisfaction, and burnout). The study sample consisted of live-in and live-on Housing and Residence Life professionals employed at colleges and universities across the United States and abroad. Multiple regression and Multivariate analyses were used to answer specific research questions. Results confirmed that there was a statistically significant relationship between supervision, job satisfaction, and burnout. Findings are thoroughly reviewed and compared to previous research in the field. Lastly, implications are presented along with ideas for future research directions

Social Capital and Psychological Capital as Predictors of Performance and Wellbeing in the Indian Context

The incremental contribution of social capital over psychological capital in explaining employees’ performance and wellbeing in the Indian Banking sector is explored. Data was collected from 101 clerical employees, using standardised questionnaires and they have adequate reliability coefficients. Data was analysed by hierarchical regression method. None of the demographics variables predicted any of the outcome variables. Self efficacy was the only psychological capital which emerged as the significant predictor of both performance and wellbeing. Bonding capital emerged as a significant predictor of job performance. Bridging capital caused a negative variance in both job performance and well being. Results were discussed in the light of existing theories and framework

A three-way synergistic effect of work on employee well-being : Human sustainability perspective

We explored the interaction of the United Nation’s sustainable development goals to facilitate human sustainability using occupational health and sustainable HRM perspectives. In Study 1 (n = 246), we assessed the preconditions to empirically confirm the distinctiveness of the dimensions of health harm of work from other study constructs. Subsequently, we tested the hypotheses across two studies (n = 332, Study 2; n = 255, Study 3). In alignment with the ceiling effect of human energy theory, the three-way interaction results across the samples consistently indicate that high supervisory political support (SPS) significantly strengthens the negative interactions of psychological health risk factors and high job tension as adverse working conditions (SDG-8) on working-condition-related well-being as the human sustainability dimension (SDG-3). Similarly, synergistic effects were found of the side effects of work on health, high job tension, and high SPS on well-being in sample 3. We discuss theoretical and future research for human sustainability from occupational health and sustainable HRM perspectives

CHK1 Inhibition Synergizes with Gemcitabine Initially by Destabilizing the DNA Replication Apparatus.

Combining cell-cycle checkpoint kinase inhibitors with the DNA-damaging chemotherapeutic agent gemcitabine offers clinical appeal, with a mechanistic rationale based chiefly on abrogation of gemcitabine-induced G2-M checkpoint activation. However, evidence supporting this mechanistic rationale from chemosensitization studies has not been consistent. Here we report a systematic definition of how pancreatic cancer cells harboring mutant p53 respond to this combination therapy, by combining mathematical models with large-scale quantitative biologic analyses of single cells and cell populations. Notably, we uncovered a dynamic range of mechanistic effects at different ratios of gemcitabine and CHK1 inhibitors. Remarkably, effective synergy was attained even where cells exhibited an apparently functional G2-M surveillance mechanism, as exemplified by a lack of both overt premature CDK1 activation and S-phase mitotic entry. Consistent with these findings, S-G2 duration was extended in treated cells, leading to a definable set of lineage-dependent catastrophic fates. At synergistic drug concentrations, global replication stress was a distinct indicator of chemosensitization as characterized molecularly by an accumulation of S-phase cells with high levels of hyperphosphorylated RPA-loaded single-stranded DNA. In a fraction of these cells, persistent genomic damage was observed, including chromosomal fragmentation with a loss of centromeric regions that prevented proper kinetochore-microtubule attachment. Together, our results suggested a "foot-in-the-door" mechanism for drug synergy where cells were destroyed not by frank G2-M phase abrogation but rather by initiating a cumulative genotoxicity that deregulated DNA synthesis.This study was funded by Cancer Research UK via Institute Senior Group Leader funding (C14303/A17197) to DI Jodrell, and by Sentinel Oncology through an award from Innovate UK.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from American Association for Cancer Research via http://dx.doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-14-334

Synergy and Its Limits in Managing Information Technology Professionals

We examine the effects of human resource management (HRM) practices (e.g., career development, social support, compensation, and security) on IT professionals‟ job search behavior. Job search is a relatively novel dependent variable in studies of voluntary withdrawal behavior, in general, and for IT professionals, in particular. From a universalistic perspective, HRM practices individually and in combination exhibit independently additive effects on job search behavior. Our study contrasts this perspective with configurational theory, hypothesizing that proposed idealtype configurations of HRM practices have synergistic effects on job search behavior. We contribute to the IT and broader HRM literature by theoretically explicating and empirically demonstrating with IT professionals the power of configurational theory to explain the relationship between HRM practices and job search behavior. Our empirical results show that two configurations of HRM practices – Human Capital Focused (HCF) and Task Focused (TF), which are high and low on all HRM practices, respectively – exhibit a synergistic relationship with the job search behavior of IT professionals. HCF has lower job search behavior than would be expected based on the independently additive effects of the HRM practices, whereas TF has correspondingly higher job search behavior. Our results also show that less than perfect horizontal fit detracts from the synergy of these extreme configurations. Just as importantly, several other non-extreme configurations of HRM practices exhibit independently additive effects for the HRM practices but not synergy, suggesting that synergy is limited to extreme configurations. We also discuss a number of implications for research and practice