Group-level Factors Research Articles

Commitments, Disrupted: Understanding and Addressing Commitment Drift in For-Profit Enterprises

Businesses frequently make promises and commitments to employees, customers, investors and civil society as a means to secure resources or obtain cooperation. Many of these commitments are made on behalf of the business as an organization, as if it were a moral actor. Yet evidence suggests that businesses do not have a strong track record for keeping commitments and broken commitments contribute to stakeholder distrust. Though historical explanations emphasize the role of “bad apples” or old-fashioned personal greed and static individual traits above all, recent work on institutional and organizational corruption suggests that “bad barrels” or individual-, interpersonal-, and group-level factors may also be at play. Yet even these views are relatively narrow, which has led to “a relative neglect of the role of processes and systems” in creating corruption. Separate bodies of research suggest that unclear or ambiguous commitments or failures in “connecting the dots” across organizations can also contribute to “commitment drift.” We therefore argue for the inclusion of “weak commitments” and disconnected dots as two additional sources of institutional and organizational corruption. Given these four possible causes, we argue that keeping organizational commitments may be harder than it first appears, and that developing commitment-keeping competence could help companies advance their own interests as well as build trust with other stakeholders. In this paper, we report on a project to develop and pilot two tools for diagnosing “commitment drift” and building commitment-keeping competence: a Commitment Scorecard and a Commitment-Keeping Employee Survey. We draw on an 18-month multi-methods study with a U.S.-based global Fortune 500 company whose CEO had committed to keeping promises as an explicit business strategy, where we piloted the Survey and Scorecard. We begin by outlining a working causal model of commitment drift. We then analyze the Employee Survey and Commitment Scorecard pilot results, and present implications for future study.

Moral judgments and emotions in contexts of peer exclusion and victimization.

Morality is at the core of social development. How individuals treat one another, develop a sense of obligation toward others regarding equality and equity, and understand the emotions experienced by victims and victimizers, are essential ingredients for healthy development, and for creating a just and civil society. In this chapter, we review research on two forms of social exclusion, intergroup exclusion and interpersonal victimization, from a moral development perspective, identifying distinctions as well as areas of overlap and intersections. Intergroup exclusion (defined as exclusion based on group membership, such as gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality) is most often analyzed at the group level in contrast to interpersonal victimization (defined as the repeated infliction of physical and psychological harm on another) which is most often analyzed at the individual level. In this chapter, we assert that research needs to examine both group-level and individual-level factors for intergroup and interpersonal exclusion and that moral development provides an important framework for investigating these phenomena.

Suicide Terrorism as a Process of Meaning-Making and Identity-Formation Among Youth

Youth have been involved in politically-motivated violence throughout history. Currently, youth are considered to be the most common age demographic targeted by terrorist organizations to participate in suicide attacks. However, youth cannot be viewed merely as pawns of persuasive terrorist groups, for this disregards youth as actors in their own lives and the decisions of youth to create meaning and identity that is aligned with a terrorist organization. There are many push and pull factors that contribute to youth engagement in suicide attacks. By examining individual-level factors — such as socio-economic status, fear and hatred — and group-level factors — such as family, peer, and group influences — this paper places the discourse of terrorism into a critical perspective. Viewing suicide terrorism through a holistic lens helps provide a more nuanced understanding of the ways that youth negotiate their involvement with terrorist groups. This paper concludes by offering suggestions for practice and policy to deter youth from becoming involved in potential suicide attacks in the future.

Interpretation of group-level factors from a large population dataset in the determination of ethyl glucuronide in hair.

Ethyl glucuronide in hair (HEtG) is the most accredited marker to prove chronic alcohol abuse. In this study, we evaluate the comprehensive results of HEtG determination obtained during four years of activity (2009-2013) in our laboratory (Northwestern Italy) - across a large cohort of subjects (over 20 000 subjects mostly undergoing medical examination for driving re-licensing) - to provide a general perspective on HEtG analysis and dependence on group-level factors (e.g. age, gender, site and period of hair collection) that could bias the analytical results. HEtG was measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. About 12% of the subjects presented HEtG concentrations over 30 pg/mg. Upon non-parametric hypothesis tests, distributions of HEtG in independent populations categorized by age proved statistically different, while no differences were found by considering gender, BMI, and site of sampling (head vs. chest hair). A 'seasonality' factor was evaluated by comparing periods of collection approximately representing the hair growth in winter, spring, summer and autumn, and a seasonal trend was observed showing the highest HEtG levels in winter (16.7%) and minimum levels in summer (8.3%). The experimental HEtG distributions confirm that chest hair sampling can be trusted as an alternative to scalp. Furthermore, among biological and external factors, age and season of sampling may significantly influence the measured HEtG concentration, and this potential source of bias should be taken into account when the results are interpreted.

At the Convergence of Input and Process Models of Group Discussion: A Comparison of Participation Rates across Time, Persons, and Groups

We investigate the stability and change of participation patterns in small groups by examining two longitudinal data sets at the individual and group levels of analysis. Rejecting the dichotomy between input and process models, we advance a view at the convergence of these two perspectives. We argue that stability in participation reflects input factors and that change emerges from process mechanisms. Study 1 analyzed discussion data from zero-history laboratory groups that worked on three similar tasks in succession, each with stable membership across the tasks. Results showed significant variation within participants and between groups, indicating that group members varied their participation as needed and that group-level factors influenced participation. Study 2 analyzed longitudinal data collected from the Australian Citizens' Parliament, where tasks and group membership varied over time. Study 2 replicated Study 1's findings, but analyses showed more complex patterns of both stability and change across groups and tasks. Taken together, results from the two studies support our position that both input and process mechanisms cause variation in participation. Our Conclusion examines how structural features and participation impact democratic group deliberation.

How to Satisfy and Retain Personnel Despite Job-Market Shortage

Retaining valuable employees is a major issue for organizations, especially for professions characterized by shortage (e.g., nursing). It is thus important for organizations to determine which factors predict personnel satisfaction and intent to leave at various levels (i.e., organization, group, and individual). Nevertheless, few studies on satisfaction in nursing have analyzed a comprehensive set of factors and taken multiple organizational levels into account using appropriate statistical analysis techniques. We conducted a study with 1,547 nurses working in 17 hospitals in Switzerland. Results from multilevel analyses suggest that job satisfaction is predicted by both individual-level (burnout and work-family conflict) and group-level (group cohesion and unit effectiveness) factors, while organizational-level factors (e.g., autonomy) have less impact. Moreover, intent to leave the job is predicted by job satisfaction, whereas the relationship is moderated by perceived differences in priorities between nurses and their employer. When developing strategies to satisfy and retain key personnel, administrators should consider both individual-level and group-level factors as well as how to align priorities and how to best communicate what they have done.

"Legitimacy, Ties and the Performance of Female Entrepreneurs: Evidence from Kenyan Microcredit"

Networks are important for a range of entrepreneurial outcomes. However, literature often makes implicit assumptions about the immediate benefits of network size for venture performance. Building on Status Expectation State Theory and network perspective, we argue that female entrepreneur’s legitimacy is an important consideration in understanding the extent to which network ties translate into venture performance and examine several of its aspects that may affect this relationship. We build and test our model in the microfinance context, and explore microcredit group ties’ effects on the outcomes of female entrepreneurs where microcredit has historically focused its efforts. Using three distinct data samples from microcredit agencies in Nairobi, Kenya, we find that firm performance for female clients is a function of increasing number of ties within the group and its interrelationships with both individual and group level factors. We discuss implications and future research directions for networks, microcredit, and gender literature.

Factors influencing innovation at individual, group and organisational levels: a content analysis

By undertaking an exhaustive content analysis on all innovation studies published over the last 12 years (2000-2012) in the top rated scientific journals of management. The present review investigated and summarised the determinant factors that can either foster or hinder innovation at the individual, group and organisational level. The result indicated that: 1) personality, motivation and cognition ability were the main influencing factors at the individual level; 2) structure, climate, leadership and task characteristics were the group level factors; 3) structure, culture, strategy and resources were the influencing factors at organisational level. We also discussed the effect of the influencing factors on innovation and suggested a new future framework.

Neighborhood Effects and Regional Poverty Traps in Rural China

AbstractThe present paper investigates how neighborhood effects are connected to chronic poverty. We examine a large sample of groups of households and find that neighborhood effects are significant in a majority of groups, especially in the poorest groups. People living in poor communities tend to suffer from poverty over time. It is of theoretical and empirical importance to explore how neighborhood effects are interrelated with chronic poverty and the channels through which this occurs. Unlike other econometric analyses, we establish a multilevel econometric model to show that: (i) it is difficult for an individual living in a neighborhood with a high proportion of agricultural labor, low education levels, and poor transport and telecommunication infrastructure to escape from poverty traps; (ii) neighborhood effects dominate in poor communities; and (iii) although poverty is affected by group‐level factors, individual factors still play a dominant role in regards to escaping poverty when income surpasses a threshold level. Therefore, policy priority should be given to providing social protection and public services, especially in poor rural areas.

Factors related to nurses' patient identification behavior and the moderating effect of person-organization value congruence climate within nursing units

This research was an empirical study designed to identify precursors and interaction effects related to nurses' patient identification behavior. A multilevel analysis methodology was used. A self-report survey was administered to registered nurses (RNs) of a university hospital in South Korea. Of the questionnaires, 1114 were analyzed. The individual-level factors that had a significantly positive association with patient identification behavior were person-organization value congruence, organizational commitment, occupational commitment, tenure at the hospital, and tenure at the unit. Significantly negative group-level precursors of patient identification behavior were burnout climate and the number of RNs. Two interaction effects of the person-organization value congruence climate were identified. The first was a group-level moderating effect in which the negative relationship between the number of RNs and patient identification behavior was weaker when the nursing unit's value congruence climate was high. The second was a cross-level moderating effect in which the positive relationship between tenure at the unit and patient identification behavior was weaker when value congruence climate was high. This study simultaneously tested both individual-level and group-level factors that potentially influence patient identification behavior and identified the moderating role of person-organization value congruence climate. Implications of these results are discussed.

From Loss to Looting? Battlefield Costs and Rebel Incentives for Violence

AbstractResearch into the causes of civilian abuse during civil conflict has increased significantly in recent years, yet the mechanisms responsible for changes in actors' tactics remain poorly understood. I investigate how the outcomes of discrete conflict interactions influence subsequent patterns of rebel violence against civilians. Two competing logics suggest opposite influences of material loss on violence. A stylized model of rebel-civilian bargaining illustrates how acute resource demands resulting from recent severe conflict losses may incentivize insurgent violence and predation. I also identify several factors that might condition this relationship. I evaluate hypotheses based on these expectations by first analyzing the behaviors of the Lord's Resistance Army using subnational conflict data and then analyzing a cross-sectional sample of post–Cold War African insurgencies. Results from both the micro- and macrolevel analyses suggest that rising battlefield costs incentivize attacks on civilians in the period immediately following the accrual of losses. However, group-level factors such as effective control over territory and the sources of rebel financing condition this relationship. The findings suggest potential benefits from examining the interaction of strategic conditions and more static organizational characteristics in explaining temporal and geographic variation in rebel violence.

Success and Failure. The Same in Sport As in Work

This paper presents learnings from a research program that considers individual, group and organisation level factors that may influence groups' utilisation of diverse members' perspectives in decision-making. Implications for research and practice relating to decision-making in groups are explored.

83 International variation in musculoskeletal sickness absence: Findings from the CUPID study

ObjectivesTo quantify the variation in rates of absence for musculoskeletal pain across 47 occupational groups (mostly nurses and office workers) from 18 countries, and to explore personal and group-level risk...

Hotels' environmental policies and employee personal environmental beliefs: Interactions and outcomes

Recent trends in green consumerism are leading the hotel industry to assume corporate social responsibility that may place the industry at the forefront of green innovation. Research reveals that adopting green practices is beneficial for the hotel and tourism industry. Nonetheless, a corporation's success in adopting green practices depends not only on corporate attitudes towards environmental issues but also on its employees' personal beliefs and everyday actions. This study fills the gap in existing research by adopting the concept of a “green organisational climate” and using personal belief variables to explore the contextual and individual variation in hotel employees' environmental behaviour. The results from two-level linear hierarchical models (HLM) show that individual- and group-level factors are significantly associated with the employees' environmental beliefs and behaviour. In other words, personal environmental norms explain within-hotel variance, but green organisational climates explain between-hotel variance and moderate the effect of personal environmental norms on employees' environmental behaviour. Greater emphasis on intense corporate engagement in incorporating environmental policies, human resources management and provision of environmental education for employees should be introduced and implemented.

The perfidious effect of topical placebo: calibration of Staphylococcus aureus ventilator-associated pneumonia incidence within selective digestive decontamination studies versus the broader evidence base.

Among various methods for preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), the evidence base for selective digestive decontamination (SDD) appears most compelling. However, the extent of Staphylococcus aureus emergence with SDD use remains uncertain. Groups from 37 observational studies and component (control and intervention) groups from 58 studies of SDD and other methods of VAP prevention were sourced exclusively from 10 systematic reviews. S. aureus as a proportion of VAP isolates (S. aureus isolate proportion [S. aureus IP]) among component groups was calibrated versus that among observational groups (the benchmark). The influence of topical placebo used for blinding purposes and other group-level factors was estimated using generalized estimating equation methods (GEE). The mean S. aureus IP is 22% (95% confidence interval [CI], 19 to 25) for 37 observational groups versus 32% (24 to 41) and 20% (15 to 25) for 22 control groups from the SDD evidence base which did versus did not receive topical placebo, respectively. In GEE models including all 148 observational and component groups, membership of a control (P = 0.03) or intervention (P < 0.001) group of an SDD study that used topical placebo was associated with higher S. aureus IP, whereas, in contrast, membership of these groups was without effect on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Topical placebo is implicated as a vehicle for selective cross-infection with S. aureus within the specific context of the SDD evidence base. This effect of topical placebo is perfidious; it could contribute to the higher VAP incidence and inflate the apparent "effectiveness" of SDD. The SDD evidence base requires reappraisal.

International variation in absence from work attributed to musculoskeletal illness: findings from the CUPID study

ObjectivesTo quantify the variation in rates of absence due to musculoskeletal pain across 47 occupational groups (mostly nurses and office workers) from 18 countries, and to explore personal and group-level...

Factors affect companies’ safety performance in Jordan using structural equation modeling

This research examines effects of organizational, safety management, and work group level factors on safety self-efficacy, safety awareness, and safety behavior in Jordanian companies. A total of 324 surveys are collected. Structural equation modeling is then used for data analysis. Results reveal that management commitment, interrelationships harmony, continual improvement and employee empowerment significantly affect safety performance. However, blame culture obstacles spreading safety behavior through safety reporting system or reward system. For large-sized companies, top management, interrelationships, continual improvement, blameless culture, and employee empowerment significantly affect safety awareness and safety behavior. Still, top management should implement effective safety activities and management practices to enhance safety self-efficacy and safety behavior, respectively. For medium-sized companies, it is concluded that top management, as well as interrelationships, continual improvement, and empowered employees do not enhance a safety behavior. Thus, continual improvement and blameless culture should be well-established in safety management system to significantly affect safety behavior. In conclusions, the results of this research provide a valuable feedback to decision makers about the effectiveness of safety performance in Jordanian companies.

Individual and group-level factors for students' emotion management in online collaborative groupwork

The current study examines empirical models of students' emotion management in online collaborative groupwork. Student- and group-level predictors of emotion management in groupwork were analyzed in a survey of 298 graduate students from 86 online study groups in the Southeast of U.S. Results from the multilevel analyses revealed that most of the variance in emotion management occurred at the student level, with help seeking and learning-oriented reasons being the two significant predictors at the group level. Results further revealed that emotion management in groupwork was positively related to feedback, learning-oriented reasons, arranging the environment, monitoring motivation, and help seeking. In addition, compared with part-time students, full-time students were more likely to take initiative in managing their emotion while doing online groupwork.

Inference of Cross-Level Interaction between Genes and Contextual Factors in a Matched Case-Control Metabolic Syndrome Study: A Bayesian Approach

Genes, environment, and the interaction between them are each known to play an important role in the risk for developing complex diseases such as metabolic syndrome. For environmental factors, most studies focused on the measurements observed at the individual level, and therefore can only consider the gene-environment interaction at the same individual scale. Indeed the group-level (called contextual) environmental variables, such as community factors and the degree of local area development, may modify the genetic effect as well. To examine such cross-level interaction between genes and contextual factors, a flexible statistical model quantifying the variability of the genetic effects across different categories of the contextual variable is in need. With a Bayesian generalized linear mixed-effects model with an unconditional likelihood, we investigate whether the individual genetic effect is modified by the group-level residential environment factor in a matched case-control metabolic syndrome study. Such cross-level interaction is evaluated by examining the heterogeneity in allelic effects under various contextual categories, based on posterior samples from Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. The Bayesian analysis indicates that the effect of rs1801282 on metabolic syndrome development is modified by the contextual environmental factor. That is, even among individuals with the same genetic component of PPARG_Pro12Ala, living in a residential area with low availability of exercise facilities may result in higher risk. The modification of the group-level environment factors on the individual genetic attributes can be essential, and this Bayesian model is able to provide a quantitative assessment for such cross-level interaction. The Bayesian inference based on the full likelihood is flexible with any phenotype, and easy to implement computationally. This model has a wide applicability and may help unravel the complexity in development of complex diseases.

How Do Social Factors Cause Psychotic Illnesses?

Five years ago, Jarvis' heralded the rebirth of investigation of the social causation of psychoses.In this In Review section he charted the growing interest in Europe based on studies of immigrant groups.2 Evidence was accumulating that social factors have a role in the development of schizophrenia and other psychoses.1,3At that time, the mechanisms by which social factors exert their influence were unknown. It was hoped that future research would identify how the exposure to social adversity leads to the development of psychotic symptoms.1The literature has grown significantly, but researchers investigating the social causes of psychosis are still in the minority.4 This may be changing as clear and plausible mechanisms through which social factors can cause the cognitive, structural, and neurochemical changes seen in the psychoses are being reported.5,6The argument that psychosis is a brain disease does not rule out social causation.5,7It may be worth reflecting on that we have no problem accepting the social causation of other illnesses with physical manifestations, such as coronary thrombosis.The final common pathway is a blockage of the artery leading to heart muscle death. This can occur by a slow plugging of the arteries, an embolus being thrown offa fatty plaque or spasm. Fatty plaques build up over many years from childhood onwards. The actual timing of the heart attack not only depends on a person's lifetime accumulation but also the work that the heart has to do at the time; heart attacks usually occur during exercise. The amount of work is linked to individual factors, such as weight, as well as environmental factors, such as the ambient temperature, but these are not the only social risk factors. We all realize that risk is complex. Though inheritance plays a role (and for some with familial hyperlipidemias it is a significant role), for most it is a vulnerability factor, and whether we have a heart attack relies on a combination of other factors including our diet and level of exercise, which are influenced by our social contexts. For instance, our diet depends on what types of food are available and what we can afford, but we know there are other factors involved, such as our psychological state, as we tend toward eating high-calorie foods when we are stressed. Other responses to stress are the use of anxiolytics, such as tobacco and alcohol, to ease social interactions. These may increase our risk of cardiac disease. Their rate of use in society depends not only on culture but also on their availability and cost. The last 2 factors are regulated by the state, and the sources of stress that lead to these behaviours are similarly complex, including financial insecurity, job stress, family and relationship stress, and our position in society.8I could go on.The point is that clinicians, researchers, and the general public are very quickly able to build and understand complex models of risk for physical diseases. They understand that there are 4 dimensions of risk: vulnerabilities and resiliency factors at an individual level; environmental-level factors, such as where you live, what the laws are, and how easy it is to live a healthy lifestyle; an interaction can occur because individual risks and environmental risks are not independent (for instance, your social context changes if you lose a parent when you are young); and, finally, timing is important because there are sensitive periods in development and resiliency changes with age.7The model for social risk for schizophrenia and other psychoses is similar to that of heart disease. The 4-dimensional model used to explain the social causation of heart attacks was actually developed to explain the causation of schizophrenia for public health officials.7 There are individual factors, such as genetic vulnerability, that are important. There are group level factors, such as where you live and the position of your group in society. …