Gender-Based Vicarious Sensitivity to Disempowering Behavior in Organizations: Exploring an Expanded Concept of Hostile Working Environment

The purpose of this study was to explore evidence of gender-based vicarious sensitivity to disempowering behavior in organizations, expanding the concept of hostile working environment beyond the context of sexual harassment. Male and female graduate and undergraduate students viewed 10 video segments of Anita Hill's interview by U.S. senators during the October 1991 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Nominee, Clarence Thomas. Although no significant relationship was found between the personal attributes of age and ethnicity to perceptions of disempowering behavior, female participants reported seeing significantly more offensive behavior in the video segments than did male participants. The results are discussed in terms of greater female sensitivity to common forms of disempowering behavior in organizations, and having a disparate negative impact and systematically placing women at a disadvantage in today's workforce.     

中国员工"工作/生活平衡"的理论框架

“:工作/生活平衡(work-lifebalance)”是全球人力资源管理领域的前沿课题。文章在对有关“工作/生活平衡”理论和实证研究的各种文献的综合回顾的基础上,提出了中国“工作/生活平衡”的理论框架。通过问卷调查,经过统计学方法的分析和检验,得出结论:发现中国员工面对的工作需求远大于世界很多国家,总体的“工作/生活平衡”状况不容乐观;中国员工老年亲属的支持作用相当显著,是中国“工作/生活冲突”的一个重要的缓和因素。     

The evolution of consumer knowledge and sources of information: Hungary in transition

The authors’ research in Hungary during the period of transition to a market economy provides an opportunity to examine the evolving relationships between consumer product knowledge and its antecedents, including advertising, personal search, interpersonal sources, and brand experience. Their findings, based on survey data collected in Budapest in 1992 and 1998, indicate that the market information variables explain more variance in consumer knowledge later rather than earlier in the transition. Advertising is an important predictor of consumer knowledge later but not earlier in the transition, personal search is important at both times, and interpersonal sources are not important in either time period; brand experience is negatively related to knowledge earlier in the transition and positively related later in the transition. This study allows one to begin to understand the boundary conditions associated with studies conducted in developed economies. Managerial implications for firms investing in transitional economies are presented. Robin A. Coulter (robin.coulter@business.uconn.edu) is Ackerman Scholar and an associate professor of marketing in the School of Business at the University of Connecticut. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include branding, cross-cultural consumer behavior, advertising, and research methods. Her work has appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Applied Psychology, and theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing. Linda L. Price (llprice@email.arizona.edu) is Soldwedel Professor of Marketing in the Eller School of Management at the University of Arizona. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies to examine the active, emotional, imaginative aspects of consumers’ decisions and activities, and the social and cultural context of marketplace behaviors. Her work has appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, and other leading marketing, management, and social science journals. Lawrence Feick (feick@katz.pitt.edu) is a professor of business administration in the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. His current research focuses on cross-cultural consumer behavior, consumer word-of-mouth, and referrals. His work has appeared in the Journal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Consumer Research, Psychological Bulletin, andPublic Opinion Quarterly. Camelia Micu (camelia.micu@business.uconn.edu) is a marketing doctoral candidate at the University of Connecticut. Her research interests include advertising and product trial and cross-cultural consumer behavior.     

The effects of internal and external sources of justice on employee turnover intention and organizational citizenship behavior toward clients and workgroup members

Abstract

Organizational justice research tends to focus on the effects of fair treatment from organizations or supervisors on employee attitudes and behaviors. Thus, there is a dearth of research on the effects of fair treatment attributable to other parties that employees interact with at work such as coworkers and clients. Controlling for organization-focused and supervisor-focused justice, results from our field study of employees working in a healthcare organization demonstrate that perceptions of client-focused fairness uniquely predicts supervisor ratings of employees organizational citizenship behavior toward clients and that perceptions of workgroup-focused justice uniquely predicts organizational citizenship behavior toward workgroups. Further, we find that client-focused justice perceptions uniquely predict employee turnover intention.     

Retraining midcareer managers: Career history and self-efficacy beliefs

Many corporations are retraining midcareer managers in order to combat employee obsolescence and boost corporate competitiveness. The receptivity of midcareer managers to retraining is mixed. Those managers who believe they can master new work-related learning (in the terms of this study, those who have positive self-efficacy in learning beliefs) are most amenable to retraining. The objective of the present study was to determine the antecedents of positive self-efficacy beliefs for midcareer managers facing retraining. We discovered that managers' advancement potential and the relevance of their previous training had a profound impact on their self-efficacy beliefs. These findings have important practical implications. The seeds of receptivity to retraining are planted throughout managers' careers. Hence, retraining should not be viewed on a program-by-program basis, but rather should be understood in the broader context of corporate life and individual career history. To prepare for the inevitable corporate evolution and change demanded in a dynamic business environment, senior executives and human resource managers should be proactive in creating those conditions that facilitate the development of positive self-efficacy in learning beliefs.     

Does support from government help firms survive? Evidence on financial and political assistance in China, 1998–2007

ABSTRACT

Using the National Bureau of Statistics data set over the period 1998–2007, this article examines the dual roles of financial assistance and strong political links on firm survival in China by applying a semi-parametric duration model. We find that generally either financial assistance or strong political links had a positive effect on the likelihood of firm survival. Furthermore, if firms received both types of support from government, their survival rate was around two times as high compared to only receiving a single support. The likelihood of survival depended on the amount of assistance a firm received. We also find firm ownership impacts on its survival pattern. Lastly, China joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) coincided with (cet. par.) higher firm failure, especially with regard to state-owned firms; however, this period also saw the authorities targeting political and financial help on the ‘better’ firms (especially SOEs) with characteristics likely to increase their chance of survival.     

Book Reviews

M. Arsjad Anwar, Thee Kian Wie, Iwan Jaya Azis, Pemikiran, Pdaksanaan, dan Perintisan Pembangunan Ekonomi[Concepts, Implementation, and Pioneering in Economic Development], Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas Indonesia and PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, Jakarta, 1992, pp. xx + 700.

Adam Schwarz, A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia in the 1990s, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, and Westview, Boulder, 1994, pp. 370. Paper: A$24.95.

East Asia Analytical Unit, Expanding Horizons: Australia and Indonesia into the 22st Century,Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, 1994, pp. xviii + 346. A$34.95.

Sjahrir, Pikiran Politik[Political Ideas], LP3ES, Jakarta, 1994, pp. xiv + 191.

Sjahrir, Persoalan Ekonomi Indonesia: Moneter, Perkreditan dan Nenca Pembayaran[Problems of the Indonesian Economy: Money, Credit and the Balance of Payments], Pustaka Sinar Harapan, Jakarta, 1995, pp. xv + 205.

Sjahrir, Analisis Bursa Efek[Analysis of the Stock Exchange], PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, Jakarta, 1995, pp. xiv + 169.

Sjahrir, Ekonomi Indonesia dalam Perspektif Bisnis[The Indonesian Economy in a Business Perspective], PT Jurnalindo Aksara Grafika, Jakarta, 1994, pp. xvi + 239.

Sjahrir, Kebijakan Negara Mengantisipasi Masa Depan[National Policy: Anticipating the Future], Yayasan Obor Indonesia, Jakarta, 1994, pp. xv + 251.

Sjahrir, Formasi Mikro-Makro Ekonomi Indonesia[Indonesia's Macro and Micro Economy], Penerbit Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, 1995, pp. xii + 313

F.B.A. Bouman and Otto Hospes, Financial Landscapes Reconstructed: The Fine Art of Mapping Development,Westview, Boulder, 1994, pp. xi + 416. US$45.00

Robert Cribb (ed.), The Late Colonial State in Indonesia: Political and Economic foundations of the Netherlands Indies 1880–1942,Verhandelmgen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 163, KITLV Press, Leiden, 1994, pp. xiii + 295.

Shinya Sugiyama and Milagros C. Guerrero (eds), International Commercial Rivalry in Southeast Asia in the Inierwar Period,Yale Southeast Asia Studies Monograph 39, Yale Center for International and Area Studies, New Haven, 1994, pp. ix + 222.

W.L. Korthals Altes, Changing Economy in Indonesia. Volume 15: Prices (Non-Rice) 1814–1940,Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, 1994, pp. 175. Paper: Dfl. 48.00.