Structuring reality through the faultlines lens: the effects of structure, fairness, and status conflict on the activated faultlines-performance relationship

We investigate how activated team faultlines represent an informal sensemaking structure through which teammates interpret their social reality. Constructed from inter-subgroup comparisons, activated faultlines likely result in status perceptions that are ambiguous or illegitimate. Thus, activated faultlines threaten the justice climate within the team, which drives status conflict, impairing team performance. We explore the effects of team structure clarity in providing certainty or legitimacy around status and structure, ameliorating the negative effect of activated faultlines on team justice climate. We tested our model using a multi-source (three sources), multi-wave cross-lagged design (four waves) on a sample of 271 employees and 41 leaders in 41 teams. We found that the negative relationship between activated faultlines and team performance was mediated by the team justice climate—status conflict causal chain. We also found that team structure clarity reduced activated faultlines negative effect on team justice climate. The results highlight the value of using team faultlines, the social identity approach, and justice theories to understand how diverse teams interpret their social reality that influences their performance. Furthermore, our research provides practical guidance to managers in building clear team structures that minimize the harmful effects of activated faultlines on justice perceptions and team performance.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

The effect of age on daily positive emotions and work behaviors

This study draws on socioemotional selectivity and person–job fit theories to investigate the emotional bases for age-related differences in daily task crafting and in-role performance. We tested a mediation model in which age is related to positive emotions that in turn predict task crafting and in-role performance. A total of 256 people working in multiple organizations participated in a 5-day diary study. Multilevel modeling showed that, at the person level of analysis, age is significantly and positively related to positive emotions and task crafting and, via crafting, to in-role performance. No significant mediation of high- and low-arousal positive emotions was found between age and task crafting. However, at the day level of analysis, high-arousal positive emotions are positively related to task crafting, and this in turn is positively related to in-role performance. These findings make important theoretical contributions to understanding within-person processes associated with employee age in addition to more traditional between-person factors. They also have implications for managing an age-diverse workforce by means of job crafting.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Parthenolide induces rapid thiol oxidation that leads to ferroptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is both a devastating and common disease. Every year in the United States, about 24,500 men and 10,000 women are diagnosed with HCC, and more than half of those diagnosed patients die from this disease. Thus far, conventional therapeutics have not been successful for patients with HCC due to various underlying comorbidities. Poor survival rate and high incidence of recurrence after therapy indicate that the differences between the redox environments of normal surrounding liver and HCC are valuable targets to improve treatment efficacy. Parthenolide (PTL) is a naturally found therapeutic with anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. PTL can alter HCC’s antioxidant environment through thiol modifications leaving tumor cells sensitive to elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS). Investigating the link between altered thiol mechanism and increased sensitivity to iron-mediated lipid peroxidation will allow for improved treatment of HCC. HepG2 (human) and McARH7777 (rat) HCC cells treated with PTL with increasing concentrations decrease cell viability and clonogenic efficiency in vitro. PTL increases glutathione (GSH) oxidation rescued by the addition of a GSH precursor, N-acetylcysteine (NAC). In addition, this elevation in thiol oxidation results in an overall increase in mitochondrial dysfunction. To elucidate if cell death is through lipid peroxidation, using a lipid peroxidation sensor indicated PTL increases lipid oxidation levels after 6 h. Additionally, western blotting reveals glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPx4) protein levels decrease after treatment with PTL suggesting cells are incapable of preventing lipid peroxidation after exposure to PTL. An elevation in lipid peroxidation will lead to a form of cell death known as ferroptosis. To further establish ferroptosis as a critical mechanism of death for HCC in vitro, the addition of ferrostatin-1 combined with PTL demonstrates a partial recovery in a colony survival assay. This study reveals that PTL can induce tumor cell death through elevations in intracellular oxidation, leaving cells sensitive to ferroptosis

Validating the Job Crafting Questionnaire (JCRQ): A multi-method and multi-sample study

Job crafting presents one set of proactive behaviours that employees may engage in to alter the job content or their relations at work. In recent years, several measures have been developed to capture job crafting. In the present study, we test the validity and reliability of an existing job crafting questionnaire (JCRQ) in four studies: First, we test the scale validity of the JCRQ in a Spanish diary study (Spain, N = 164, diary occasions 820). Second, we test the scale validity across two Western (Spain, N = 164, UK, N = 109) and two Eastern cultures (China, N = 170, Taiwan, N = 165). Third, we test the test-rest reliability in a Spanish three-wave longitudinal sample (N = 191). Finally, we test the criterion validity using data from the four countries. Results confirm the presence of five independent job crafting dimensions: increasing challenging demands, decreasing social job demands, increasing social job resources, increasing quantitative demands, and decreasing hindrance job demands. The JCRQ shows acceptable test-retest reliability, scale and criterion validity across the four studies

The Polyamine Inhibitor Alpha-Difluoromethylornithine Modulates Hippocampus-Dependent Function after Single and Combined Injuries

Exposure to uncontrolled irradiation in a radiologic terrorism scenario, a natural disaster or a nuclear battlefield, will likely be concomitantly superimposed on other types of injury, such as trauma. In the central nervous system, radiation combined injury (RCI) involving irradiation and traumatic brain injury may have a multifaceted character. This may entail cellular and molecular changes that are associated with cognitive performance, including changes in neurogenesis and the expression of the plasticity-related immediate early gene Arc. Because traumatic stimuli initiate a characteristic early increase in polyamine metabolism, we hypothesized that treatment with the polyamine inhibitor alpha-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) would reduce the adverse effects of single or combined injury on hippocampus structure and function. Hippocampal dependent cognitive impairments were quantified with the Morris water maze and showed that DFMO effectively reversed cognitive impairments after all injuries, particularly traumatic brain injury. Similar results were seen with respect to the expression of Arc protein, but not neurogenesis. Given that polyamines have been found to modulate inflammatory responses in the brain we also assessed the numbers of total and newly born activated microglia, and found reduced numbers of newly born cells. While the mechanisms responsible for the improvement in cognition after DFMO treatment are not yet clear, the present study provides new and compelling data regarding the potential use of DFMO as a potential countermeasure against the adverse effects of single or combined injury

Adaptación al español de la versión reducida del Cuestionario de Capital Psicológico (PCQ-12)

Psychological capital (PsyCap) has been a topic of increasing interest in the last decade. However, there is a lack of validated instruments in Spanish to map PsyCap and its consequences for individuals’ well-being. Consequently, the goal of this study is to adapt the 12-item short version of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-12) to the Spanish context by analysing its internal consistency and reliability, factor solution and external validity. Results indicated that the PCQ-12 exhibited good Cronbach’s alpha (.87) and omega coefficient (.93) values in a sample from a vehicle inspection company (n = 798). As expected, results also revealed that a second-order factor structure provided the best fit. Moreover, PsyCap is associated with increased job engagement (? = .579; R2adjusted = .333), decreased job burnout (? = ?.409; R2adjusted = .166), and lower psychological distress (? = ?.349; R2adjusted = .121) (all p < .01), which provided additional support for using the PCQ-12 in the Spanish context. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Explorando habilidades requeridas para la Industria 4.0: Un enfo-que orientado al trabajador.

Emerging technologies are shaping the world of work, thus creating an increasingly digital industry, also known as “Industry 4.0”. Thus, examining skill requirements becomes essential to facilitate organizational adaptation to this technological revolution. The aim of this study was to explore the perception of skill requirements of workers of a highly technological manufacturing company. In Study 1 (n = 671), an exploratory factor analysis was carried out to identify relevant groups of skills. A year later, in Study 2 (n = 176), we confirmed the factor structure through a confirmatory factor analysis and we conducted a latent growth curve analysis to examine potential changes of the previous skill requirements due to the lockdown and the forced remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings showed that cognitive, functional business, strategic and managing people skills are considered as important resources for the industry 4.0, being the functional business skills increasingly relevant in time 2. Moreover, we identified differences between managers and subordinates regarding such skills. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for skills development in the digital age. © 2021: Editum. Universidad de Murcia (Spain).Tecnologías emergentes están dando forma al mundo del traba-jo, creando así una industria cada vez más digital, también conocida como "Industria 4.0". Por tanto, examinar el requirimiento de habilidades se vuelve esencial para facilitar la adaptación organizacional a esta revolución tecnológica. El objetivo de este estudio fue explorar la percepción de las habilidades requeridas por los trabajadores de una empresa manufacturera altamente tecnológica. En el Estudio 1 (n = 671), se realizó un análisis fac-torial exploratorio para identificar grupos relevantes de habilidades. Un año después, en el Estudio 2 (n = 176), confirmamos la estructural factorial a través de un análisis factorial confirmatorio y realizamos un análisis de cur-va de crecimiento latente para examinar posibles cambios en las habilidades requeridas debido al confinamiento y el trabajo remoto forzado durante la pandemia del COVID-19. Los resultados mostraron que las habilidades cognitivas, funcionales del negocio, estratégicas y de gestión de personas se consideran recursos importantes para la industria 4.0, siendo las habilidades funcionales del negocio más relevantes en el tiempo 2. Además, identifica-mos diferencias entre gerentes y subordinados con respecto a tales habili-dades. Discutimos las implicaciones teóricas y prácticas para el desarrollo de habilidades en la era digital

The use of digital social networks from an analytical sociology perspective: the case of Spain

Digital social networks have attracted the attention of a growing number of specialists. The use of digital tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to express socio-political demands or to perform protest actions has become a central issue for social science today. However, few studies analyse the factors behind this phenomenon using explanatory models based on analytical sociology and rational action. In this article, we take steps in this direction and study the socio-political use of social networks based on a methodological individualism model. Through an analysis of structural equations, we analyse how the individual and social factors involved in the use of the social networks to ‘do’ politics relate to one another. We conclude that attitudes towards the political possibilities of the Internet constitute an essential factor for this kind of political action.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The new frontier of digital inequality. The participatory divide

En este trabajo estudiamos la relación entre participación digital y brecha participativa. Mientras que la participación digital hace referencia al uso de Internet por parte de los ciudadanos para producir bienes culturales que son posteriormente compartidos a escala global–, la brecha participativa se define como el conjunto de desigualdades que genera una distribución irregular de estos usos creativos de Internet. Se examina la brecha participativa desde un enfoque cuantitativo, prestando especial atención al análisis de la brecha participativa política. Concluimos que las desigualdades clásicas que caracterizaban a la brecha digital se trasladan a este nuevo entorno tecnológico. Sin embargo las consecuencias socialmente negativas de la brecha participativa exceden a las de su antecesora.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Role of Psychological Capital and Intragroup Conflict on Employees’ Burnout and Quality of Service: A Multilevel Approach

Previous studies have found a negative association between intragroup conflict and both employees’ health and performance, including the quality of service that employees provide. However, some authors have indicated that such negative effects of intragroup conflict depend on how conflict is managed. In addition, at individual level, research is increasingly emphasizing the role of psychological strengths (i.e., psychological capital) as predictors of health and performance. Thus, this research addresses both a main effect at individual level (psychological capital on burnout/quality of service) and a moderated cross-level model (2-2-1: intragroup conflict, conflict management climate and burnout/quality of service) in a cross-sectional survey study (N = 798 workers nested in 55 units/facilities). Results revealed a main effect of psychological capital on both burnout (r = -.50) and quality of service (r = .28). Also, there was an association between intragroup relationship conflict and burnout (r = .33). Finally, there was an interaction effect in which conflict management climate buffers the negative association between intragroup conflict and quality of service. Practical implications of these results for developing positive and healthy organizations that prevent potential psychosocial risks at group level while promote individual strengths are discussed