Talking engagement into being: A three-wave panel study linking boundary management preferences, work communication on social media, and employee engagement

Widespread use of social media across work and non-work boundaries has heightened concerns about employee engagement in the contemporary workforce. This study examines how employees’ boundary management preferences influence their work communication on social media, and how these factors impact their engagement. Results from three waves of survey data (N = 361) demonstrate that work communication mediates the relationship between employee boundary preferences and engagement, supporting the hypothesized causal structure over alternative models. Overall, the findings contribute a novel perspective on employee engagement by showing that mediated work communication plays a central role in constructing engagement, rather than merely demonstrating it. We discuss how organizations can leverage this knowledge to address critical concerns about workplace (dis)engagement in the digital age

Diverging and Converging: Integrative Insights on a Paradox Meta-perspective

Paradox theory stands at an exciting moment in organization and management theory. Scholars increasingly seek out insights about the nature and management of contradictory demands to explain a wide array of organizational phenomena across multiple levels of analysis. Our two reviews in the 2016 Academy of Management Annals attest to this growing breadth and depth, each integrating and expanding related, yet different bodies of research. Schad, Lewis, Raisch, and Smith (2016) emphasize the depth of scholarship by analyzing an increasing number of paradox studies within management science. Putnam, Fairhurst, and Banghart (2016) highlight the breadth of scholarship by comparing paradoxes that emerge from multiple theories and paradigms that embrace an interdisciplinary orientation. By drawing on distinct literatures, these two manuscripts reveal diverse insights and reflections about paradoxical demands in organizations. In this integrative reflection, we juxtapose our two review articles, surface distinct assumptions and emphases, highlight complementarities, and raise questions for future scholarship. In doing so, we hope to fuel insights toward a meta-perspective on paradox

Photochemical activation of TRPA1 channels in neurons and animals

Optogenetics is a powerful research tool because it enables high-resolution optical control of neuronal activity. However, current optogenetic approaches are limited to transgenic systems expressing microbial opsins and other exogenous photoreceptors. Here, we identify optovin, a small molecule that enables repeated photoactivation of motor behaviors in wild type animals. Surprisingly, optovin's behavioral effects are not visually mediated. Rather, photodetection is performed by sensory neurons expressing the cation channel TRPA1. TRPA1 is both necessary and sufficient for the optovin response. Optovin activates human TRPA1 via structure-dependent photochemical reactions with redox-sensitive cysteine residues. In animals with severed spinal cords, optovin treatment enables control of motor activity in the paralyzed extremities by localized illumination. These studies identify a light-based strategy for controlling endogenous TRPA1 receptors in vivo, with potential clinical and research applications in non-transgenic animals, including humans

Optical Control of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), the largest family of membrane signaling proteins, respond to neurotransmitters, hormones and small environmental molecules. The neuronal function of many GPCRs has been difficult to resolve because of an inability to gate them with subtype-specificity, spatial precision, speed and reversibility. To address this, we developed an approach for opto-chemical engineering native GPCRs. We applied this to the metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) to generate light-agonized and light-antagonized “LimGluRs”. The light-agonized “LimGluR2”, on which we focused, is fast, bistable, and supports multiple rounds of on/off switching. Light gates two of the primary neuronal functions of mGluR2: suppression of excitability and inhibition of neurotransmitter release. The light-antagonized “LimGluR2block” can be used to manipulate negative feedback of synaptically released glutamate on transmitter release. We generalize the optical control to two additional family members: mGluR3 and 6. The system works in rodent brain slice and in zebrafish in vivo, where we find that mGluR2 modulates the threshold for escape behavior. These light-gated mGluRs pave the way for determining the roles of mGluRs in synaptic plasticity, memory and disease

Organizational boundary regulation through social media policies

Digital ubiquity and penetration across spatio-temporal boundaries have exacerbated the need for a clearer understanding of where the boundaries of personal, professional, and public communication begin and end. Indeed, boundary specifications have become an iconic problematic for organizational control and employee communication in the age of social media. In response, corporations increasingly issue policies that aim to regulate when, where, how, and what employees communicate in online environments. We argue that these policies are forms of organizational boundary regulation. Drawing on a content analysis of 112 social media policies from the world’s largest corporations, we examine the boundary logics articulated in these policies to delineate corporate spheres of influence. Next, we show how boundary logics relate to directives for employee speech, self-expression, and relational engagement. We discuss how the boundary logic framework contributes to our understanding of the expansion of corporate control across multiple life domains in the digital age