Diversity and the Civic Spirit in British Neighbourhoods: An Investigation with MCDS and EMBES 2010 Data

Recently, there has been a proliferation of studies investigating the relationship between diversity and outcomes such as social cohesion and civic mindedness. This article addresses several common problems in this field and, using data for British neighbourhoods, elaborates on the experiences of both white British and ethnic minority respondents. We conclude that, if anything, diversity should be encouraged to cement the integration progress of migrants and foster stronger identification with Britain in the second generation. Deprivation at the neighbourhood level along with individual factors such as fear of crime is a much stronger predictor of deterioration of the civic spirit than diversity. Bridging contacts have the expected strong positive association with cohesion outcomes; and contrary to policy concerns no strong negative impact is observed for associational bonding among minority ingroupers

The moderating role of overcommitment in the relationship between psychological contract breach and employee mental health

Reimann M. The moderating role of overcommitment in the relationship between psychological contract breach and employee mental health. JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH. 2016;58(4-5):425-433.Objectives: This study investigated whether the association between perceived psychological contract breach (PCB) and employee mental health is moderated by the cognitive-motivational pattern of overcommitment (OC). Linking the psychological contract approach to the effort-reward imbalance model, this study examines PCB as an imbalance in employment relationships that acts as a psychosocial stressor in the work environment and is associated with stress reactions that in turn negatively affect mental health. Methods: The analyses were based on a sample of 3,667 employees who participated in a longitudinal linked employer employee survey representative of large organizations (with at least 500 employees who are subject so social security contributions) in Germany. Fixed-effects regression models, including PCB and OC, were estimated for employee mental health, and interaction effects between PCB and OC were assessed. Results: The multivariate fixed-effects regression analyses showed a significant negative association between PCB and employee mental health. The results also confirmed that OC does indeed significantly increase the negative effect of PCB on mental health and that OC itself has a significant and negative effect on mental health. Conclusions: The results suggest that employees characterized by the cognitive-motivational pattern of OC are at an increased risk of developing poor mental health if they experience PCB compared with employees who are not overly committed to their work. The results of this study support the assumption that psychosocial work stressors play an important role in employee mental health

Euler-Heisenberg lagrangians and asymptotic analysis in 1+1 QED, part 1: Two-loop

We continue an effort to obtain information on the QED perturbation series at high loop orders, and particularly on the issue of large cancellations inside gauge invariant classes of graphs, using the example of the l - loop N - photon amplitudes in the limit of large photons numbers and low photon energies. As was previously shown, high-order information on these amplitudes can be obtained from a nonperturbative formula, due to Affleck et al., for the imaginary part of the QED effective lagrangian in a constant field. The procedure uses Borel analysis and leads, under some plausible assumptions, to a number of nontrivial predictions already at the three-loop level. Their direct verification would require a calculation of this `Euler-Heisenberg lagrangian' at three-loops, which seems presently out of reach. Motivated by previous work by Dunne and Krasnansky on Euler-Heisenberg lagrangians in various dimensions, in the present work we initiate a new line of attack on this problem by deriving and proving the analogous predictions in the simpler setting of 1+1 dimensional QED. In the first part of this series, we obtain a generalization of the formula of Affleck et al. to this case, and show that, for both Scalar and Spinor QED, it correctly predicts the leading asymptotic behaviour of the weak field expansion coefficients of the two loop Euler-Heisenberg lagrangians.Comment: 28 pages, 1 figures, final published version (minor modifications, refs. added

‘Content to be sad’ or ‘runaway apprentice’? The psychological contract and career agency of young scientists in the entrepreneurial university

This article examines employee agency in psychological contracts by exploring how young scientists proactively shape their careers in response to unmet expectations induced by academic entrepreneurialism. It uses the lens of social exchange to examine their relationships with the professors engaged in two types of activities: collaborative research characterized by diffuse/reciprocal exchange, and commercial ventures, by restricted/negotiated exchange. These two categories show how career agency varies in orientation, form and behavioural outcome depending on the relational context within which their psychological contracts evolve. Those involved in collaborative research experienced a relational psychological contract and responded to unfulfilled career promises by ‘extended investment’ in their current jobs. They use ‘proxy agency’ by enlisting the support of their professors. However, some become ‘trapped’ in perennial temporary employment and are ‘content to be sad’. By contrast, those involved in research commercialization experienced a transactional contract and assert ‘personal agency’ by crafting their own entrepreneurial careers. They are ‘runaways’ who seek autonomy. The evidence is based on interviews with 24 doctoral/postdoctoral researchers and 16 professors from three leading UK universities. The study extends psychological contract theory by incorporating career agency and sheds new light on changing academic careers

Typology of Web 2.0 spheres: Understanding the cultural dimensions of social media spaces

It has taken the past decade to commonly acknowledge that online space is tethered to real place. From euphoric conceptualizations of social media spaces as a novel, unprecedented and revolutionary entity, the dust has settled, allowing for talk of boundaries and ties to real-world settings. Metaphors have been instrumental in this pursuit, shaping perceptions and affecting actions within this extended structural realm. Specifically, they have been harnessed to architect Web 2.0 spaces, be it chatrooms, electronic frontiers, homepages, or information highways for policy and practice. While metaphors are pervasive in addressing and

Organizational commitment, organization-based self-esteem, emotional exhaustion and turnover: A conservation of resources perspective

We examined the relationship of four commitment dimensions (affective, normative, continuance-perceived sacrifices and continuance-lack of alternatives) to emotional exhaustion over time under the lens of conservation of resources theory. Using data from 260 employees, Time 1 lack of alternatives and normative commitment contributed positively to Time 2 emotional exhaustion, controlling for Time 1 emotional exhaustion. Organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) moderated the relationship of lack of alternatives commitment to emotional exhaustion such that the relationship was stronger when OBSE was high. We further theorized that the resource drain engendered by emotional exhaustion would cause the latter to be positively related to turnover, controlling for commitment dimensions. Results supported this prediction. The implications of these findings for future research on commitment, emotional exhaustion and turnover are discussed

High-performance work system and employee performance: the mediating roles of social exchange and thriving and the moderating effect of employee proactive personality

Research on high-performance work system (HPWS) has primarily drawn from social exchange theory and human capital theory to unlock the underlying mechanisms in relation to employee performance. In addition to social exchange theory and human capital theory, a personal resources perspective can also be used to explain the effects of HPWS. In this cross-level research, we examined the mediating roles of social exchange and thriving, and the moderating role of proactive personality in the relationships between HPWS and task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) by analyzing a sample of 391 employees and 84 supervisors from 21 firms in China. Using multilevel analyses, social exchange and thriving were found to mediate the effects of HPWS on employee task performance and OCB. Furthermore, proactive personality attenuated HPWS’s direct effect on thriving and indirect effects on employee task performance and OCB through thriving. Finally, we discuss theoretical contributions, and practical implications of the study, as well as future research directions

Managing diverse teams by enhancing team identification

Although diversity provides a greater pool of knowledge and perspectives, teams often do not realize the potential offered by these additional informational resources. In this study, we develop a new model seeking to explain when and how teams that are diverse in terms of educational background utilize the afforded informational variety by engaging in deeper elaboration of task-relevant information. We found that collective team identification moderated the rel