Partial Explanations Research Articles

Relational Dynamics of Leadership: Problems and Prospects

Relationships are central to understanding what occurs in the workplace. The leader-member exchange (LMX) approach dominates the literature on relational dynamics of leadership. Research supports LMX as a mediator between leadership and outcomes, and this reflects the centrality of relationships at work. However, LMX is not a leadership theory. We critically review the literature on LMX, with discussion of the requirements for “good” theory and how LMX falls short. We acknowledge some attempts through the years to develop theory to guide LMX research. The concept of “exchange” was not original to LMX. Our review of social exchange theory reveals that, contrary to the common approach, LMX is not consonant with exchange theory. Other attempts at theory offer partial explanations that do not capture leader-member relational dynamics. Some promising approaches to studying leader-member relationships have emerged in recent years. We offer suggestions for future theory and research and advocate for a return to role theory and the development of emotional sociocognitive approaches.

The governance role of shareholders and board of directors on firm performance: an eclectic governance-performance model

PurposeThis study aims to examine the governance role of shareholders and board of directors in determining firm performance through an eclectic multi-theoretic model that integrates structure and incentive functions of agency theory and capability aspect of the resource-based view.Design/methodology/approachThe research model uses a large panel data set of 2,364 UK firms over the period 2000–2010 and uses alternative specifications of the model to improve robustness.FindingsThe results show that the industry experience of major shareholders as a proxy for shareholder capability has a significant positive impact on investee firm performance. The findings also reveal that the lock-in effect of the largest shareholder has a positive impact on performance, whereas the monitoring effectiveness of shareholders is not associated with ownership concentration. Moreover, the results indicate the underlying capabilities of the board of directors and their impact on corporate performance – particularly, the interlocking directorates of executives have a positive impact on firm performance but those of non-executives have a negative one. However, the previous directorship experience of non-executives has a positive impact on performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis study presents a more comprehensive and complete understanding of the governance-performance relationship beyond the narrow or partial explanations provided by single-theory-based studies or those of investigating the effect of various governance tools separately.Practical implicationsThis study provides more insights into the capability dimension of shareholders and the role of incentives in motivating shareholders to exercise stronger oversight on the management rather than just using ownership concentration. Hence, the study can serve as valuable guidance for investors, corporate managers and policymakers.Originality/valueTo the best of the knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study that uses an eclectic philosophical approach, integrating the agency theory and resource-based view, to not only examine the impact of board of directors but also investigate the governance role of shareholders in modern corporations to understand how shareholders acquire the requisite skills and information, the best practices and processes, and ultimately use the scarce and inimitable resources that help investee firms in improving their performance.

Critical junctures, agrarian change, and the (re)production of vulnerability in a marginalised Indigenous society

• Many societies globally and throughout Papua New Guinea have experienced significant capitalist-driven agrarian change. • The Bedamuni have remained marginal to the extractive industry-led development seen throughout the country. • The Bedamuni have experienced (non-capitalist) agrarian change, which has increased their socioecological vulnerability. • I explore key historical and contemporary critical junctures and show how vulnerability has been (re)produced over time. • I problematise essentialist, universal narratives about the drivers of vulnerability in marginalised Indigenous societies. Marginalised agrarian societies are suggested to be the most vulnerable to environmental hazards and other perturbations. There are competing explanations for this phenomenon, which include: a lack of development, global environmental change, and the development process itself, or capitalism more specifically. All three causal arguments are compelling, but typically offer only partial explanations. With most societies experiencing significant capitalist-driven agrarian change over the last few centuries (e.g., depeasantisation, dispossession, proletarianisation), the critical agrarian change literature is biased towards these studies. Here I explore one of the most marginalised societies in Papua New Guinea, the Bedamuni People of Western Province. After 60 years of Western contact, at the time of fieldwork (2018), they remained shifting horticulturalist who had not been disposed of their land, had no commodity production and very limited opportunities for paid work. By exploring agrarian change within Bedamuni society since first Western contact (1962) and the arrival of missionaries (1968), and employing the concept of critical junctures, I critically unpack some of the root causes of heightened socioecological vulnerability. In the Bedamuni case study, and likely in many other societies, it is not just lack of development, environmental change, or the development process itself, it is all these things, and more, concomitantly. With the resource and commodity frontier almost upon them, and many Bedamuni desiring it to come, it is critical to understand the root causes of growing hunger. I argue that the development approach being driven by powerful actors will not meaningfully address this crisis and, in fact, may exacerbate the processes and factors that have produced heightened socioecological vulnerability. This paper problematises essentialist, universal narratives about the drivers of vulnerability in marginalised Indigenous societies in the global South. Whilst universal explanations can be insightful, we must not forget the centrality and specificity of space and place in development research.

Sustainability management in the global automotive industry: A theoretical model and survey study

In the past decade, several publicized issues have revealed that the environmental and social performance of major automotive companies does not always conform to regulations or expectations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the sustainability behavior of automotive companies. Based on a systematic literature review, it is found that previous studies (a) offer only partial explanations for the behavior of automotive companies related to sustainability issues, and (b) both case studies and survey-based papers use inconsistent measurements. To address these gaps and inconsistencies, we propose a comprehensive theoretical model that describes the behavior of automotive companies along the relationships between “external pressures – strategy – practices – operational performance – financial performance”. To empirically validate our model, we apply structural equation modeling in SmartPLS using data on 142 automotive units from 22 countries. The results of the analysis suggest that pressure from external stakeholders has a positive impact on the inclusion of sustainability in the strategic agenda of automotive companies, which, in turn, increases the effort undertaken by these companies to implement sustainability practices. The implementation of such practices has a positive influence on operational performance in terms of environmental and social sustainability. Surprisingly, however, our findings do not indicate any significant effect on the financial performance of these firms.

Genetic essentialism: The mediating role of essentialist biases on the relationship between genetic knowledge and the interpretations of genetic information

PurposeGenetic research, via the mainstream media, presents the public with novel, profound findings almost on a daily basis. However, it is not clear how much laypeople understand these presentations and how they integrate such new findings into their knowledge base. Genetic knowledge (GK), existing causal beliefs, and genetic essentialist tendencies (GET) have been implicated in such processes; the current study assesses the relationships between these elements and how brief presentations of media releases of scientific findings about genetics are consumed and affect the readers. MethodsAn Australian national survey of GK, GET, and existing causal beliefs about health phenomena (heart disease and obesity) was conducted. Participants were also exposed to news headlines that offered genetic and non-genetic partial explanations of the same health phenomena and reported their evaluations of these headlines, as well as the effects of the headlines on their personal understanding of the health phenomena. ResultsGK was negatively-associated with GET. Whereas GK did not directly predict the evaluation and effects of the genetic headlines, GET did. GK predicted the effects of the headlines indirectly via GET and via GET and existing causal beliefs. ConclusionGET seem to predict unwarranted effects of exposure to news headlines about genetic science, whereas GK seems to indirectly mitigate the same unwarranted effects.

Digital payments adoption and the demand for cash: New international evidence

Around the world, the adoption of digital payment systems continues to grow apace. At the same time, however, the demand for cash continues to grow in both developed and developing economies. This puzzle has found only partial explanations in the previous empirical literature. This paper presents further conclusive evidence that the adoption of digital payments reduces the demand for cash. It also discusses how growth in the demand for cash is driven by economic growth and lower interest rates as well as secular positive trends in the demand for large denomination banknotes, related to unobservable factors.

Family Business and Transaction Exposure

This study provides additional evidence and insight into theories on transaction exposure as it empirically examines the magnitude of transaction exposure in Kuwait, a developing country. Specifically, it investigates factors that might influence Kuwaiti firms’ responses to their transaction exposure and how being a family business or part of a family business group could play a mediating role in this response. Through conducting a questionnaire survey with the largest 147 industrial and commercial Kuwait firms, the results of a multinomial logistic regression indicate that theories on financial hedging seem to be inapplicable in the Kuwaiti case. However, these theories provide only partial explanations for management behavior in response to the transaction exposure of Kuwaiti companies. Findings show that a firm being part of a family business group is significantly correlated with its level of hedging, suggesting that firms that are members of a family group of businesses are expected to hedge at a higher level. This points to other theories, such as institutional theory, as playing greater roles in explaining the transaction exposure behaviors of firms in developing countries, and also suggests that family-controlled businesses are expected to engage in more innovative financial strategies and hedge at a higher level. The research findings imply that Kuwaiti firms need to be more aware of their transaction exposure and pay more attention to the related issues. Training programs in risk-management strategies should be provided to decision makers to help them evaluate the hedging strategies they employ. This study shows how different behaviors toward risk exist between firms that operate in developed and developing countries, including the effect of being part of a family business resulting in firms engaging in more innovative financial strategies when dealing with risk.

The Alzheimer patient from the dermatologist's point of view.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by a cluster of signs and symptoms that include memory loss, language disturbances, psychological and psychiatric changes and difficulty in carrying out daily activities. Although it may seem to be far from a dermatologic competence, the ageing of populations in industrialized and developing countries has changed things, making AD a multidisciplinary question. Indeed, this neurodegenerative disorder is not exclusively neurological, but rather may involve multiple tissues and organs. The abnormalities in metabolic and biochemical processes described in affected brains are also present in the skin and may condition specific dermatological manifestations. In fact, although a history of non-melanoma skin cancer is linked to a significantly reduced risk of developing AD, this is not so for melanoma. Several biological, social and environmental hypotheses can be advanced to explain these correlations. AD patients' memory problems and the partial inability to express an informed consent, could make a simple tumor excision challenging for a dermatologic surgeon. Moreover, attention should also be paid to the possibility of pharmacological interactions with AD therapies and to surgery timing. Observational studies have provided evidence for a non-spurious correlation between bullous pemphigoid (BP) and dementia. The demonstration of neurological isoforms of both BP180 and BP230 in the central nervous system has provided partial explanations for these findings and raised the question as to whether AD patients should be given accurate screening for BP and vice versa. Some adverse skin reactions have been observed with AD drugs and although mainly localized others are diffuse. Importantly, some of these drugs are available for administration in a patch or systemic form. When dealing with bedridden patients, the skin examination should be as complete as possible, since ulcer location is not only influenced by pressure and paratonia but also by spasticity, conditioning wounds in atypical sites.

Opening up the black box of scholarly synthesis: Intermediate products, processes, and tools

AbstractSynthesis is a foundational scholarly product that generates new conceptual wholes from independent intellectual sources. But effective synthesis products—such as literature reviews—are rare, in part due to inadequate support from existing tools and information systems. A detailed, situated understanding of the work practices behind synthesis is necessary to inform the development of synthesis tools. Previous work in scholarly primitives, active reading, and sensemaking provide partial explanations of aspects of synthesis, but a detailed explanation of scholarly synthesis, specifically, is lacking. This paper presents a foundational empirical examination of the work practices behind synthesis to address the gap, focusing on unpacking the intermediate products, processes, and tools through in‐depth contextual interviews with scholars. Results shed light on the distinctive intermediate products generated during synthesis—including in‐source annotations, per‐source summaries, and cross‐source syntheses—as well as effortful processes for nonlinear progression of these intermediate products towards a final synthesis product. These products and practices were also embedded in a complex ecology of creative re‐appropriated tools. This work enriches understanding of the complex scholarly practices that produce synthesis and opens up a research agenda for understanding and supporting scholarly synthesis more generally.

Well-Being and the Good Death.

The philosophical literature on well-being and the good life contains very little explicit discussion of what makes for a better or worse death. The purpose of this essay is to highlight some commonly held views about the good death and investigate whether these views are recognized by the leading theories of well-being. While the most widely discussed theories do have implications about what constitutes a good death, they seem unable to fully accommodate these popular good death views. I offer two partial explanations for why these views have been neglected in discussions of well-being and make two corresponding recommendations for future work in the philosophy of well-being.

The history of economics and the Constructal Theory

Abstract The signs of a new crisis appear. Some countries are moving towards real assets (gold, oil); the real estate market froze, as did the credit market; sales are on a global decline. The world has become accustomed to economic cycles and crises. At the theoretical level, efforts are aimed at finding practical methods of prevention and especially of combating the negative effects on economic cycles. The market of theories regarding the internal causes and mechanisms of economic cycles has stabilized. The theoretical barricades were formed and strengthened and now the projectiles are thrown from one side to another. Demand theories and supply theories give partial explanations, but with claims of total theories. Is it possible to see something new at the theoretical level about the causes and mechanisms of economic cycles? We think so. We believe that the Constructal Theory of Professor Adrian Bejan has an explanatory power over the present theories about the causes of the economic cycles. The perspective offered by this theory is new and offers explanations for aspects that are difficult to understand in other theories. Through this article we want a rewriting of economic history, from the perspective and through the lens of this theory. We believe that we offer a broader and deeper explanation of the causes of economic cycles using a theoretical tool borrowed from other sciences, but with great explanatory powers in the social sciences. We will rewrite the economic history by discussing: S-evolution of economic stages; overlapping economic flow systems; systems evolving from one another; increased resource consumption and increased resource efficiency. The results of this study indicate that abusive interventions in the economic system create problems. The economic system, which is essentially a flow system, like any other system, must be allowed to evolve freely.

Desert kites and aggregated cells of Mt Aragats (Armenia): Spatial coincidences?

The aggregated cells were discovered during the fieldworks about desert kites conducted on the western slopes of Mount Aragats between 2011 and 2015, which is not surprising after all: the two categories of constructions share some logics of location in the landscape and it turns out that their respective extension areas, in Armenia, are very similar. Moreover, if the questions that remain about their functions find only partial explanations, it seems that they imply animals in both cases. Could we advance the hypothesis of a coexistence of these two types of constructions, or even of their functional complementarity? The chronology, tricky to establish in the case of kites and still preliminary in that of aggregated cells, could strengthen the idea of a possible contemporaneity. However, some rare cases of superposition make probable an earlier date for the aggregated cells.

Waarom Nederland in 1848 geen revolutie kende

Abstract Why the Netherlands did not witness a revolution in 1848 In 1848, a wave of democratic revolutions struck most of Europe, but not the Netherlands. Historians have provided only partial explanations from a range of perspectives, such as socio-economic, socio-political, and institutional. We argue that none of these are fully tenable or satisfactory by comparing the Dutch situation with countries that did experience revolutions in 1848. Also, we add a cultural perspective by studying the role of the Dutch consensus culture. After tracing its roots, we identify its key characteristics and use these as a prism to interpret several governmental sources, brochures, and newspaper articles. On this basis, we argue that it is likely that the consensus culture strongly contributed to the stability of Dutch society during the European revolutionary months of 1848. Without wanting to present this perspective as the definitive explanation, we claim that (political) culture as such deserves more attention in studies to the Netherlands during 1848.

Designing public agencies for 21st century water–energy–food nexus complexity: The case of Natural Resources Wales

Public environmental organisations face a Herculean task: to be responsive to public and executive expectations for decentralisation, integration, increasing accountabilities and efficiency savings plus, contemporaneously, managing increasingly complex nature–society systems as exemplified by the water–energy–food nexus. The public-agency innovation literatures and contingency theory offer partial explanations for this challenge. However, this article, which sits at the intersection of public administration and organisational theory, proposes a new analytical framework for framing public-agency responses to nexus complexity. It first outlines the framework and then tests it on the case of Natural Resources Wales, the Welsh national natural environment agency. This case identifies six distinct innovations that have adopted to meet complex nexus pressures. This leads us to characterise the case as an example of a multi-scalar, hybrid, adhocratic organisation designed to meet nexus challenges. These findings have wider impact for the international community of public agencies with socio-environmental remits facing similar nexus pressures and challenges in the 21st century.

The Competitive Effects of the GDPR

Abstract The GDPR is the Magna Carta of data protection, the importance of which cannot be overstated. Yet, as this article shows, the price of data protection through the GDPR is much higher than previously recognized. The GDPR creates two main harmful effects on competition and innovation: it limits competition in data markets, creating more concentrated market structures and entrenching the market power of those who are already strong; and it limits data sharing between different data collectors, thereby preventing the realization of some data synergies which may lead to better data-based knowledge. To illustrate its claims, the article analyzes the competitive dynamics created by the GDPR, focusing on how it affects the options available to firms for amassing the data necessary for their operations, and their resultant ability to realize economies of scale and scope in data analysis. It identifies seven main parallel and cumulative market dynamics that may limit data collection and data sharing, only some of which have been recognized so far. As shown, under some market conditions, the GDPR has unintended and so far unrecognized effects on competition, efficiency, innovation, and the resultant welfare. The dynamics identified in this article offer partial explanations for some of the troubling empirical evidence regarding investment in EU data-driven markets following the adoption of the GDPR. Furthermore, the analysis enables us to identify which effects are short-term and which are here to stay. The effects on competition and innovation identified may justify a reevaluation of the balance reached to ensure that overall welfare is increased. The article suggests some means of reducing harmful competitive effects, while still protecting the vital goal of privacy, including reaching a better balance between data protection and competition law, reducing uncertainty in the GDPR, creating certification mechanisms for GDPR compliance, and structuring of mandatory data-sharing obligations under other laws in a way, which is sensitive to the dynamics of data markets.

Can the light of immunometabolism cut through "brain fog"?

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a highly debilitating disease with heterogeneous constitutional and neurological complaints. Infection-like symptoms often herald disease onset, but no pathogen or immune defect has been conclusively linked. In this issue of the JCI, Mandarano et al. illuminate bioenergetic derangements of ME/CFS T cell subsets. CD4+ and CD8+ T cells had impaired resting glycolysis. CD8+ cells additionally showed activation-related metabolic remodeling deficits and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential; a subset had increased resting mitochondrial mass. Immune senescence and exhaustion paradigms offer only partial explanations. Hence, unique mechanisms of disrupted immunometabolism may underlie the complex neuroimmune dysfunction of ME/CFS.

Gaia-DR2 extended kinematical maps

Context.In our Paper I, by using statistical deconvolution methods, extended kinematics maps ofGaia-DR2 data have been produced in a range of heliocentric distances that are a factor of two to three larger than those analyzed previously by theGaiaCollaboration with the same data. It added the range of Galactocentric distances between 13 kpc and 20 kpc to the previous maps.Aims.Here, we investigate the dynamical effects produced by different mechanisms that can explain the radial and vertical components of these extended kinematic maps, including a decomposition of bending and breathing of the vertical components. This paper as a whole tries to be a compendium of different dynamical mechanisms whose predictions can be compared to the kinematic maps.Methods.Using analytical methods or simulations, we are able to predict the main dynamical factors and compare them to the predictions of the extended kinematic maps ofGaia-DR2.Results.The gravitational influence of Galactic components that are different from the disk, such as the long bar or bulge, the spiral arms, or a tidal interaction with Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, may explain some features of the velocity maps, especially in the inner parts of the disk. However, they are not sufficient in explaining the most conspicuous gradients in the outer disk. Vertical motions might be dominated by external perturbations or mergers, although a minor component may be due to a warp whose amplitude evolves with time. Here, we show with two different methods, which analyze the dispersion of velocities, that the mass distribution of the disk is flared. Despite these partial explanations, the main observed features can only be explained in terms of out-of-equilibrium models, which are either due to external perturbers or to the fact that the disk has not had time to reach equilibrium since its formation.

Understanding Tradition: Marital Name Change in Britain and Norway

Marital surname change is a striking example of the survival of tradition. A practice emerging from patriarchal history has become embedded in an age of detraditionalisation and women’s emancipation. Is the tradition of women’s marital name change just some sort of inertia or drag, which will slowly disappear as modernity progresses, or does this tradition fulfil more contemporary roles? Are women and men just dupes to tradition, or alternatively do they use tradition to further their aims? We examine how different approaches – individualisation theory, new institutionalism, and bricolage – might tackle these questions. This examination is set within a comparative analysis of marital surname change in Britain and Norway, using small qualitative samples. We find that while individualisation and new institutionalism offer partial explanations, bricolage offers a more adaptable viewpoint.

Added value? Denaturalizing the “good” of urban greening

AbstractIn recent years, “urban greening” has become a new keyword in urban policy and practice, used to describe a proliferation of urban quality of life and environmental sustainability initiatives including street trees, public parks, greenways, farmers' markets, green roofs, and LEED certification in design. The emerging critical literature on urban greening has highlighted important ways green's social and economic added value affects the political economy of contemporary greening and produces inequalities in access to real or perceived environmental goods. However, such research has only infrequently asked why and under what conditions naturalized understandings of green as “good” make it possible for such initiatives to add value in the first place. As a result, it offers only partial explanations of why green has the effects it has—for instance, increasing property values—and only very rarely questions the fundamental “good” of nature itself. I argue that integrating insights on green's naturalized social and economic value from a growing body of social‐theoretical work across geography and the social sciences can complement political economic explanations for greening and provide new vantage points for critique.

The mechanism of lipopolysaccharide administration-induced cognitive function impairment caused by glucose metabolism disorder in adult rats.

ObjectiveThis essay aims to make investigation on the mechanism of glucose metabolism disorder and Lipopolysaccharide administration-induced cognitive function impairment in adult rats with surgery. Methods: Divide the objects, 40 male Sprague-Dawley rats at the age of 9 months, into 4 groups. Provide unilateral nephrectomy surgery and/or lipopolysaccharide intraperitoneal injection. Postoperative cognitive function evaluation would be tested by the Morris water maze. Rats with Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction (POCD) were scanned to analyze the brain glucose metabolism by means of 18F-FDG PET/CT. Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase (PI3K), Protein Kinase β (AKT), Insulin Substrates Receptor-2 (IRS-2) and Glucose Transporter 4 (GLUT4) were detected as well. Data will be captured through gene expression in POCD rats via Quantitative Real-Time PCR (QRT-PCR). On the other side, Western Blot was used to measure the expression levels of IRS-2, p-IRS-2, p-PI3K, PI3K, p-AKT, AKT, GLUT4, and p-GLUT4. Results: During the Morris water maze test, the staging time (latency) of rats in each group was becoming short gradually as the training progressed. The incubation time of Day 5 of each group was shorter than that of Day 1 (P < 0.05). On the Day 3 after the surgery, the average target quadrant residence time of Group S+L (100 μg/Kg) was shorter, compared with Group C, L and S. Of which, the average number of perforation was reduced greater than that of Group C (P < 0.05). The average swimming speed of the groups is of no distinct difference (P > 0.05). After the operation, there was no great difference shown among the subjects (P > 0.05) in the average residence time of the target quadrant, the mean number of passages, and the mean swimming speed. On Day 3, the average latency of Group S+L (100 μg/Kg) was longer than Group C (P < 0.05) in the working memory test after the operation. The average latency of rats in Group L and S was showed longer than that in Group C, with tiny difference (P > 0.05). In the 7-Day working memory test, the average latency of the rats in Group L, S and S+L (100 μg/Kg) was obviously longer than that in Group C. Comparing to preoperative rats, POCD rats of Group S+L (100 μg/Kg) were scanned by 18F-FDG PET/CT three days later after the operation. Its SUVmax of the frontal and temporal lobe areas were decreased significantly (P < 0.05). However, difference degree was not significantly shown in the SUVmax between Group C and the preoperative rats (P > 0.05). In comparison with the gene expression of of Group C, the PI3K, IRS-2, AKT and GLUT4 mRNA genes are the key genes in the insulin signaling pathways of the hippocampus of the POCD rats. The expression level was reduced. The expression level of all protein of PI3K, IRS-2, GLUT4 and AKT in the POCD rats was of no great contrast with that in Group C. But for IRS-2 protein, the phosphorylation level has increased, and meanwhile decreased for AKT, PI3K and GLUT4 proteins (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Adult SD rats cognitive dysfunction model treated with unilateral nephrectomy combined and 100 μg/kg LPS intraperitoneal injection were led to abnormal both brain glucose metabolism and insulin expression. The proved phenomenal results signal pathway-related proteins PI3K, IRS-2, AKT and GLUT4. It reached the conclusion that surgical trauma, rather than anesthesia, leads to impaired cognitive function. PI3K, IRS-2, AKT, and GLUT4pathway of brain can be partial explanations of the pathogenesis of POCD.