Individual-level Relationships Research Articles

Are Workers More Likely to be Deviant than Managers? A Cross-National Analysis

Using Robert Merton’s perspective on social structure [Social theory and structure. Free Press, New York, 1968], this study tested the individual-level association between job position and ethical reasoning. Anomie theory was employed to examine how country-level factors moderate that individual-level association. The hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) method was used to analyze 22,359 subjects from 28 nations. The statistical results proved that workers are more likely to justify ethically suspect behaviors, and that this individual-level relationship is moderated by the country-level factors of power distance, masculinity, social inequality, and education accessibility. These results imply that Merton’s view of social structure and contemporary anomie theorists’ perspective of anomie [Messner and Rosenfeld (Crime and the American dream. Wadsworth, Belmont, 2001); Rosenfeld and Messner (The future of anomie theory. Northeastern University Press, Boston, 1997)] are mutually complementary rather than exclusive.

Do Francophone and Islamic schooling communities participate differently? Disaggregating parents' political behaviour in Mali

ABSTRACTDespite strong empirical evidence of the influence of religious brokers on political mobilisation in Africa, we know very little about the individual-level relationship between religious association and political behaviour. Drawing upon an emerging comparative literature on the effect of social service provision on political participation, this article asks whether Malian consumers of Islamic schooling are as likely to seize new democratic opportunities for electoral participation as their peers who send their children to public schools. Using an original survey of 1,000 citizens, exit polling and interviews, this analysis demonstrates that parents who enrol their children in madrasas are less likely than other respondents to report voting. Conversely, parents who send their children to public schools are more likely to participate in electoral politics.

Social Participation in Poland: Links to Emotional Well-Being and Risky Alcohol Consumption

Social participation has been hypothesised to have both positive and negative impact on health outcomes via a variety of pathways, but previous studies have found few significant effects of social participation, and there is a lack of research from post-communist societies, which are known to be low on social capital. Using cross-sectional data from Poland on 2,970 individuals surveyed in 2009, we investigated the individual-level relationships between formal and informal social participation, emotional well-being, and risky alcohol consumption while controlling for demographic variables, socioeconomic status, employment and partnership status, health, religiosity, and generalised trust. Frequent joint activities with friends and neighbours were related to higher positive affect but also to more risky alcohol consumption. Membership in voluntary organisations was associated with more risky alcohol consumption, especially among younger males and for certain types of organisations. In contrast, volunteer work was related to higher positive affect and fewer depressive symptoms in the whole sample and to less risky alcohol consumption among the younger participants. The findings illustrate that some types of social participation, even if they are not typical of a given context (e.g., volunteering in Poland), may be more beneficial than others.

Modeling the dynamic relationship between HIV and the risk of drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The emergence of highly drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) and interactions between TB and HIV epidemics pose serious challenges for TB control. Previous researchers have presented several hypotheses for why HIV-coinfected TB patients may suffer an increased risk of drug-resistant TB (DRTB) compared to other TB patients. Although some studies have found a positive association between an individual's HIV status and his or her subsequent risk of multidrug-resistant TB (MDRTB), the observed individual-level relationship between HIV and DRTB varies substantially among settings. Here, we develop a modeling framework to explore the effect of HIV on the dynamics of DRTB. The model captures the acquisition of resistance to important classes of TB drugs, imposes fitness costs associated with resistance-conferring mutations, and allows for subsequent restoration of fitness because of compensatory mutations. Despite uncertainty in several key parameters, we demonstrate epidemic behavior that is robust over a range of assumptions. Whereas HIV facilitates the emergence of MDRTB within a community over several decades, HIV-seropositive individuals presenting with TB may, counterintuitively, be at lower risk of drug-resistant TB at early stages of the co-epidemic. This situation arises because many individuals with incident HIV infection will already harbor latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection acquired at an earlier time when drug resistance was less prevalent. We find that the rise of HIV can increase the prevalence of MDRTB within populations even as it lowers the average fitness of circulating MDRTB strains compared to similar populations unaffected by HIV. Preferential social mixing among individuals with similar HIV status and lower average CD4 counts among HIV-seropositive individuals further increase the expected burden of MDRTB. This model suggests that the individual-level association between HIV and drug-resistant forms of TB is dynamic, and therefore, cross-sectional studies that do not report a positive individual-level association will not provide assurance that HIV does not exacerbate the burden of resistant TB in the community.

Predicting the performance and innovativeness of scientists and engineers.

A study of 644 scientists and engineers from 5 corporate research and development organizations investigated hypotheses generated from an interactionist framework of 4 individual characteristics as longitudinal predictors of performance and innovativeness. An innovative orientation predicted 1-year-later and 5-years-later supervisory job performance ratings and 5-years-later counts of patents and publications. An internal locus of control predicted 5-years-later patents and publications, and self-esteem predicted performance ratings for both times and patents. Team-level nonroutine tasks moderated the individual-level relationships between an innovative orientation and performance ratings and patents such that the relationships were stronger in a nonroutine task environment. Implications for an interactionist framework of performance and innovativeness for knowledge workers are discussed.

Nationality, Immigrant Groups, and Arrest: Examining the Diversity of Arrestees for Urban Violent Crime

We seek to help move the criminological literature beyond studying racial dichotomies and crime by assessing individual-level relationships between immigration/race/ ethnicity and violence. We examine whether immigration status predicts likelihood of arrest for robbery relative to aggravated assault, violence types that differ in seriousness, motive, and other ways. Immigrant status is examined relative to the native-born and then is disaggregated by country of origin. Using data from Miami, logistic regression results indicate that net of controls, immigrants overall and almost all groups identified are less likely than natives to be arrested for robbery. Race/ethnic differences are also found.

Initial validation of a measure of self-efficacy in romantic relationships

This study examines the psychometric properties of a self-report measure of self-efficacy in romantic relationships (SERR). Analyses (with 775 undergraduates) indicated a coherent factor structure representing broad beliefs about task demands in romantic relationships and abilities to meet such demands. SERR scores predict relationship anxiety and expectations of relationship success when demographic characteristics, current romantic relationship status, general self-efficacy, and social self-efficacy are considered. The SERR assesses broad feelings of relationship self-efficacy, independent of specific relationships or partners, important for understanding individual-level relationship expectations, behaviors, and interventions.

A multi-level study on employee voice: Evidence from a chain of retail stores

The objective of this research is to examine the joint influence of both organizational characteristics and individual personality on employee voice. Employing a multi-level design, data from a chain of retail stores were collected for hypothesis testing. A total of 267 employees from 59 stores participated in this study. The results offered support for the individual-level relationships among proactive personality, voice behavior, and individual creative performance. At the store-level, both transformational leadership and supportive peer relations exerted significant effects on voice climate, but not on store performance. In addition, negative cross-level interaction between transformational leadership and proactive personality was found for voice behavior. Lastly, implications for managerial theory and practice are discussed.

Exploring Supply Managers' Intrapreneurial Ability and Relationship Quality

This article examined the degree to which a supply manager's intrapreneurial ability influences the quality of individual-level relationships with internal customers and the supplier's account executive. The moderating influence of the buyer's firm-level commitment to the supplier and how these relationships subsequently impact supplier performance were explored. The study assessed the supply manager's intrapreneurial ability using survey data gathered from 110 supply managers across a variety of industries. In key supplier relationships, a supply manager's intrapreneurial ability positively influences the quality of internal and external relationships. The firm's commitment to the supplier weakens the relationship between intrapreneurial ability and relationship quality. The findings highlight the value of individual skills to enhance relationships The ability to behave intrapreneurially shapes the quality of internal and supplier relationships. However, only the supply manager's relationship with the supplier's account executive is related to supplier performance. By examining the impact of intrapreneurial ability on individual-level relationships with internal customers and supplier's account executive, a more comprehensive view of business-to-business relationship management in the supply chain is gained.

Commentary: 'Is the Social World Flat? W.S. Robinson and the Ecologic Fallacy'

If the social world were ‘flat’ in the sense that it did not matter where you lived or with whom you associated—no place effects, no context effects, no contagion effects—then single-level analysis would do. The message of Subramanian, Jones, Kaddour and Krieger 1 is that the social world usually is not flat, so multilevel analysis usually is called for. The idea that single-level analysis is problematic when there are multilevel effects is quite consistent with Robinson’s classic warning about the ecologic fallacy. 2 In fact, I suspect that Robinson himself would have embraced multilevel analysis had it existed in his day. Because Robinson has had a multiplicity of interpreters, it is sometimes difficult to separate what Robinson actually said from a caricature of what he said (his article is only seven pages long, and I recommend that readers examine it for themselves). In some instances interpreters have ‘out-Robinsoned’ Robinson. To cite one example: after defining terms, Robinson lists, in his third paragraph, more than a dozen pre-1950 articles that used ecological correlations to estimate individual-level correlations. In the next paragraph, referring to ‘these studies’ (sic), Robinson writes that ‘Ecological correlations are used simply because the properties of individuals are not available’ (p. 352). Although that statement refers specifically to the aims of the studies Robinson has just listed, it is sometimes quoted out of context as axiomatic for all social research. To be true to Robinson, let us begin where he did, with the issue of whether individual-level relationships can be reliably inferred from aggregate-level correlations. Consider this simple example from US history: the vote for George Wallace in the 1968 Presidential election. Suppose we want to know how much less likely blacks were (than others) to vote for Wallace, a four-term governor of Alabama and well-known segregationist who ran as a thirdparty candidate. Because we do not have individuallevel election data on who voted for whom, we might try to infer the relationship between race and Wallace vote by calculating the correlation of percent black and percent vote for Wallace across Congressional districts. The correlation, it turns out, is strongly positive (r ¼0.55 for districts in the South 3 ).

Response: The value of a historically informed multilevel analysis of Robinson's data

Background W S Robinson made a seminal contribution by demonstrating that correlations for the same two variables can be different at the individual and ecologic level. This study reanalyzes and historically situates Robinson's influential study that laid the foundation for the primacy of analyzing data at only the individual level. Methods We applied a binomial multilevel logistic model to analyse variation in illiteracy as enumerated by the 1930 US. Census (the same data as used by Robinson). The outcome was log odds of being illiterate, while predictors were race/nativity (‘native whites’, ‘foreign-born whites’ and ‘negroes’) at the individual-level, and presence of Jim Crow segregation laws for education at the state-level. We conducted historical research to identify the social and scientific context within which Robinson's study was produced and favourably received. Results Empirically, the substantial state variations in illiteracy could not be accounted by the states' race/nativity composition. Different approaches to modelling state-effects yielded considerably attenuated associations at the individual-level between illiteracy and race/nativity. Furthermore, state variation in illiteracy was different across the race/nativity groups, with state variation being largest for whites and least for foreign-born whites. Strong effects of Jim Crow education laws on illiteracy were observed with the effect being strongest for blacks. Historically, Robinson's study was consonant with the post-World War II ascendancy of methodological individualism. Conclusion Applying a historically informed multilevel perspective to Robinson's profoundly influential study, we demonstrate that meaningful analysis of individual-level relationships requires attention to substantial heterogeneity in state characteristics. The implication is that perils are posed by not only ecological fallacy but also individualistic fallacy. Multilevel thinking, grounded in historical and spatiotemporal context, is thus a necessity, not an option.

Revisiting Robinson: The perils of individualistic and ecologic fallacy

W S Robinson made a seminal contribution by demonstrating that correlations for the same two variables can be different at the individual and ecologic level. This study reanalyzes and historically situates Robinson's influential study that laid the foundation for the primacy of analyzing data at only the individual level. We applied a binomial multilevel logistic model to analyse variation in illiteracy as enumerated by the 1930 US. Census (the same data as used by Robinson). The outcome was log odds of being illiterate, while predictors were race/nativity ('native whites', 'foreign-born whites' and 'negroes') at the individual-level, and presence of Jim Crow segregation laws for education at the state-level. We conducted historical research to identify the social and scientific context within which Robinson's study was produced and favourably received. Empirically, the substantial state variations in illiteracy could not be accounted by the states' race/nativity composition. Different approaches to modelling state-effects yielded considerably attenuated associations at the individual-level between illiteracy and race/nativity. Furthermore, state variation in illiteracy was different across the race/nativity groups, with state variation being largest for whites and least for foreign-born whites. Strong effects of Jim Crow education laws on illiteracy were observed with the effect being strongest for blacks. Historically, Robinson's study was consonant with the post-World War II ascendancy of methodological individualism. Applying a historically informed multilevel perspective to Robinson's profoundly influential study, we demonstrate that meaningful analysis of individual-level relationships requires attention to substantial heterogeneity in state characteristics. The implication is that perils are posed by not only ecological fallacy but also individualistic fallacy. Multilevel thinking, grounded in historical and spatiotemporal context, is thus a necessity, not an option.

When is straightforwardness a liability in negotiations? The role of integrative potential and structural power.

Negotiations present individuals with a paradox. On the one hand, individuals are expected via social norms and formal regulations to be honest and straightforward in their negotiations. On the other hand, individuals who mislead their negotiation counterpart are often rewarded with more favorable settlements. The authors investigate this paradox by examining the relationship between negotiators' dispositional straightforwardness and concessions made during a negotiation. Drawing from the dual concern model (D. G. Pruitt & J. Z. Rubin, 1986), the authors show how dispositional straightforwardness leads individuals to develop a greater concern for their counterpart's interests, which in turn leads to greater concession making during the negotiation. The authors then show how this individual-level relationship is moderated by features of the negotiation task, namely integrative potential and power.

Studying place effects on health by synthesising individual and area-level outcomes

It is well established that there exist substantial area-level socio-demographic variations in population health. However, area-level associations between deprivation and health cannot necessarily be interpreted as place effects on individual health. We demonstrate how recently developed statistical models for combining individual and aggregate data can help to separate the effects of place of residence and personal circumstances. We apply these to two health outcomes: risk of hospitalisation for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and risk of self-reported limiting long-term illness (LLTI). A combination of small-area data from UK hospital episode statistics and the UK census and individual data from the Health Survey for England are analysed, using a new multilevel modelling method termed hierarchical related regression (HRR). The standard multilevel model for place and health explains outcomes from individual data in terms of individual and area-level characteristics. HRR models increase precision by also explaining population aggregate outcomes, in terms of the same predictors. Aggregate outcomes are modelled by averaging the individual-level exposure–outcome relationship over the area, which can alleviate the ecological bias associated with interpreting the relationship between aggregate quantities as an individual-level relationship. We find that there are associations between area-level deprivation indicators and both area-level rates of hospital admission for CVD and area-level rates of LLTI. Multilevel models fitted to the individual data alone had insufficient power to determine whether these associations were due to compositional or contextual effects. Using HRR models which incorporate area-level outcomes in addition to individual outcomes, we found that for CVD, the area-level differences were mostly explained by individual-level effects, in particular the increased risk for individuals from non-white ethnic backgrounds. In contrast, there remained a significant association between LLTI and area-level deprivation even after adjusting for the significant increased risk associated with individual-level ethnicity and income. Our study illustrates that extending multilevel models to incorporate both individual and area-level outcomes increases power to distinguish between contextual and compositional effects.

Alcohol consumption and sickness absence: evidence from microdata

Aggregate time-series evidence has shown that overall per capita alcohol consumption is associated with sickness absence. This study re-examines the relationship between alcohol consumption and sickness absence by using individual-level microdata and methods that yield results which are less likely to be due to spurious correlations. Data on sickness absence and alcohol consumption for 18 Finnish regions over the period 1993-2005 was used. Sickness absence was measured as the number of sickness absence days during 1 year. Alcohol consumption was measured as the number of alcohol drinks consumed per week. The individual-level relationship between alcohol consumption and sickness absence was estimated by using Poisson regression models. Unobserved determinants of lifestyle behaviours associated with the region and survey year were controlled for. Personal characteristics as well as the clustering of observations by regions were also taken into account. The estimates show that alcohol consumption is associated with sickness absence. The positive relationship between alcohol consumption and sickness absence is particularly pronounced for low-educated males. Aggregate time-series evidence for the relationship between alcohol consumption and sickness absence is confirmed by using individual-level microdata. The policy lesson is that it is important to take into account the effects of alcohol consumption on the prevalence of sickness absence (i.e. labour supply on an intensive margin) when one is considering the level of taxation of alcoholic beverages.

Adolescent depression and school social support: a multilevel analysis of a Finnish sample

AbstractThis study invokes the ecological approach to social support by examining how school social support relates to moderate or severe adolescent depression. School is seen as not only a place for supportive individual‐level relationships, but also as a source of community support created by teachers and other students. The main purpose of the study is to examine whether school‐level social support is related to adolescent depression and, if so, how much of the school‐level differences in moderate or severe adolescent depression can be explained by school social support? The study is based on data included in the Finnish School Health Promotion Survey, which covers about 70% of Finnish 14‐ to 16‐year‐old adolescents. The data were collected in 2002–2003 and the analysis was conducted by employing multilevel logistic regression analysis. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Level And Dispersion of Satisfaction in Teams: Using Foci and Social Context to Explain the Satisfaction-Absenteeism Relationship

We develop an integrative theory regarding the effects of mean levels and dispersion of satisfaction predicting absenteeism. Differential interactive predictions are derived for two satisfaction foci and tested in two distinct samples. Among student teams, absenteeism from team meetings was highest when team (internally focused) satisfaction mean and dispersion were both lower, but low when course (externally focused) satisfaction mean and dispersion were both lower. Moreover, given lower dispersion, the mean team satisfaction-absenteeism relationship appeared stronger, whereas the same relationship involving course satisfaction appeared weaker than meta-analyzed individual-level relationships. We replicated these results among manufacturing teams using team and job satisfaction foci.

A longitudinal cross-level model of leader and salesperson influences on sales force technology use and performance.

The authors examined the influence of the introduction of a new suite of technology tools on the performance of 592 salespersons. They hypothesized that the salespersons' work experience would have a negative effect on their technology self-efficacy, which in turn would relate positively to their use of technology. Sales performance was hypothesized to be positively related to both past performance and the use of new technology tools. Further, the authors hypothesized that leaders' commitment to sales technology would enhance salespersons' technology self-efficacy and usage, and leaders' empowering behaviors would influence salespersons' technology self-efficacy and moderate the individual-level relationships. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses confirmed all of the hypothesized individual-level relationships and most of the cross-level relationships stemming from average leader behaviors. In particular, empowering leadership exhibited multiple cross-level interactions, as anticipated. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of social-psychological factors related to the success of sales force technology interventions.

Multilevel and Cross-Level Effects of Workplace Attitudes and Group Member Relations on Interpersonal Helping Behavior

Scholars have consistently identified contextual performance or organizational citizenship behavior as a core component of job performance. The current literature on this issue has been dominated by a single-level approach, typically conducted at the individual level of analysis. This study adopts a multilevel approach to simultaneously examine main effects of and cross-level interactions among individual- and group-level predictors of interpersonal helping behavior. Results from a large-scale longitudinal data set show that at the individual level, helping behavior was predicted by perceived organizational support (POS), fairness, and affective commitment. At the group level, helping behavior was predicted by trust among group members. Trust among members also significantly moderated the individual-level relationships between POS and helping behavior and between fairness and helping. These crosslevel moderations indicated that the group- and individual-level predictors were complementary (instead of mutually reinforcing) in predicting interpersonal helping behavior. This finding indicates that various antecedents of interpersonal helping are characterized by distinct dynamics at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Unravelling ecological analysis

Ecological analysis involves analysing aggregate data for groups of individuals to make inferences about relationships at the individual level. Often the results of such analyses give badly biased estimates. This paper will consider the sources of bias in linear regression analysis using aggregate data. The role of variation of the individual level relationships between groups and the consequent within-group correlations and how these are related to auxiliary variables that characterise the differences between groups is considered. A method of adjusting ecological regression for the effects of auxiliary variables is described and evaluated using data from the 1991 Australian Census.