Career mentoring in context: A multilevel study on differentiated career mentoring and career mentoring climate

This study explores how supervisor career mentoring contributes to contemporary organizational career development, which strives to foster employees' promotability while strengthening their intention to stay. Specifically, we focus on the implications of career mentoring in team contexts. Applying a multilevel framework, we distinguish between individual‐level differentiated mentoring (i.e., an employee's mentoring perceptions as compared to those of other team members) and group‐level career mentoring climate (i.e., the average perception across all group members). In a workplace setting, we collected data from vocational job starters (N ranged from 230 to 290) and their company supervisors (N ranged from 56 to 68). We find that career mentoring climate positively relates to promotability, more so than differentiated career mentoring. Both career mentoring climate and differentiated career mentoring are positively related to the intention to stay. At the individual level, this relationship is mediated by job satisfaction. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of differentiated and group‐level mentoring.     

How middle managers manage the political environment to achieve market goals: Insights from China's state‐owned enterprises

Research summary: Although the middle management literature has identified various bridging roles performed by middle managers in the market environment, it is relatively vague about whether and how they manage the political environment to achieve market‐related goals. In an inductive field study of four large state‐owned enterprises based in mainland Communist China, operational middle managers were found to take an active role in dealing with political actors to achieve market efficiency in their local environments, performing two distinct bridging strategies. Our field study suggests that middle managers are better equipped than their bosses (top executives) as well as their subordinates (frontline employees) to perform the bridging function between competing market and political imperatives in various local settings. Managerial summary: For firms that operate in diverse geographies, it is challenging for a handful of top executives to deal with numerous political actors. This burden could be shared with operational middle managers, who play a bridging role by drawing on their operational knowledge and local networks. Our research on middle managers who work under the scrutiny of political actors in China found that they bridge market and political ideology by conveying common features that seem legitimate to both. They also bridge market goals and political actors with personal affect. Compared to top executives and frontline employees, middle managers have unique advantages in performing these bridging functions. Firms can enhance their strategy execution ability by training middle managers in dealing with political actors in diverse contexts. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

U.S. House Prices over the Last 30 Years: Bubbles,Regime Shifts and Market (In)Efficiency

This paper studies U.S. house prices across 45 metropolitan areas from 1980 to 2012. It applies a version of the Gordon dividend discount model for long‐run “fundamentals” and uses Mean Group and Pooled Mean Group estimation to estimate long‐run and short‐run determinants of house prices. We find great similarity across cities in that the long‐run house prices are largely explained by the same fundamentals; the long‐run rent to price ratio is approximately 5% plus 0.75 times the real interest rate (which is on the order of 2%). However, adjustments to deviations from the fundamentals are slow, in the long‐run, closing the gap at a rate of around 10% per year. We find sharp differences in short‐run adjustments (momentum) away from the fundamentals across cities, and the differences are correlated with local supply elasticities (more momentum with lower elasticity). Analysis of residuals suggests strong cyclical deviations, which are mean‐reverting.     

Habitat fragmentation has interactive effects on the population genetic diversity and individual behaviour of a freshwater salmonid fish

Sufficient genetic diversity can aid populations to persist in dynamic and fragmented environments. Understanding which mechanisms regulate genetic diversity of riverine fish can therefore advance current conservation strategies. The aim of this study was to investigate how habitat fragmentation interacted with population genetic diversity and individual behaviour of freshwater fish in large river systems. We studied a population of the long‐distance migratory, iteroparous freshwater salmonid European grayling (Thymallus thymallus) in south‐eastern Norway. Genotyping (n = 527) and radio‐tracking (n = 54) of adult fish throughout a 169‐km river section revealed three major migration barriers limiting gene flow and depleting genetic diversity upstream. Individuals from upstream areas that had dispersed downstream of barriers showed different movement behaviour than local genotypes. No natal philopatry was found in a large unfragmented river section, in contrast to strong fidelity to spawning tributaries known for individuals overwintering in lakes. We conclude that (a) upstream sub‐populations in fragmented rivers show less genetic variation, making it less likely for them to adapt to environmental changes; (b) fish with distinct genotypes in the same habitat can differ in their behaviour; (c) spawning site selection (natal philopatry) can differ between fish of the same species living in different habitats. Together this implies that habitat loss and fragmentation may differently affect individual fish of the same species if they live in different types or sections of habitat. Studying behaviour and genetic diversity of fish can unravel their complex ecology and help minimize human impact.     

Simple approaches towards the design of an attached-growth sponge bioreactor (AGSB) for wastewater treatment and reuse.

Wastewater treatment and reuse is being emphasized due to the shortage of water sources and the continuous deterioration of the aquatic environment. In this study, a novel sponge bioreactor was studied as a low cost, high efficiency alternative for an attached growth biological system. This was designed by combining of number of sponge trays. This emerging technology has many beneficial properties in wastewater treatment and reuse. The approaches towards the conditions for system design were: (i) selection of sponge types; (ii) selection of sponge shapes; and (iii) selection of designated slope of sponge tray. They were determined through a series of experiments using a laboratory-scale unit with synthetic wastewater. It was then tested with a pilot-scale unit at the predetermined optimum conditions. The results indicate that the highest biomass growth was found at the sponge type with a cell count of 70-90 cells/in(2) (6.45 cm(2)) The relationship between biomass growth and biological oxygen consumption was well established. The prism-shaped sponge (triangular polyurethane sponge of 70-90 cells/in(2) with designated slope of sponge tray at 10 degrees) led to the best performance in terms of both organic and nutrient removal efficiency.     

How much does household collateral constrain regional risk sharing?

We construct a new data set of consumption and income data for the largest US metropolitan areas, and we show that the extent of risk-sharing between regions varies substantially over time. In times when US housing collateral is scarce nationally, regional consumption is about twice as sensitive to income shocks. We also document higher sensitivity in regions with lower housing collateral. Household-level borrowing frictions can explain this new stylized fact. When the value of housing relative to human wealth falls, loan collateral shrinks, borrowing (risk-sharing) declines, and the sensitivity of consumption to income increases. Our model aggregates heterogeneous, borrowing-constrained households into regions characterized by a common housing market. The resulting regional consumption patterns quantitatively match those in the data.     

General versus Product-Specific Life Style Segmentations

Given a segmentation problem, marketers may be forced to consider the benefits of both general and product-specific life style segmentations. This study therefore explores the procedures and refinements associated with each approach and offers overall conclusions as to each one's efficacy.