U-shaped Curvilinear Relationship Research Articles

Network portfolio diversity and social innovation: An egocentric approach to cross-sector partnerships

The culmination of network and organization research suggests diverse network ties bolster innovation. Extending this line of research, this study examines how three distinct dimensions of network portfolio diversity—duration, tie strength, and collaboration type—are related to organizational innovation. Survey, ego network, and expert evaluation data on 258 U.S. social ventures suggest that these different dimensions have differential impact on the novelty of ideas organizations develop to tackle social issues (i.e., social innovation). Specifically, while diversity in relationship duration with nonprofit partners had an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship with social innovation, diversity in collaboration type with business partners and diversity in tie strength with government partners each had a U-shaped curvilinear relationship. These results highlight that the relationship between network diversity and organizational innovation is contingent on the network portfolio dimension, as well as the partner sector. This research contributes to theorizing on social and interorganizational networks, cross-sector partnerships, and social innovation. Findings also have implications for organizational leaders as they configure heterogeneous ego network portfolios to boost innovation for social impact.

The Inverted U-shaped Curvilinear Relationship Between Conscientiousness and the Quality of Life in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder that greatly affects the quality of life. While prior research suggested a linear connection between conscientiousness and health outcomes like quality of life, recent studies propose a more intricate, curved relationship. Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between conscientiousness and quality of life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Methods: This descriptive-correlational study in Tehran's private gastroenterology clinic in 2020 included 232 IBS patients. Data collected via the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and Irritable Bowel Syndrome Quality of Life (IBS-QOL) questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS version 26 and Excel 2023 for statistical assessment at a 95% confidence interval. Results: Scatter plots and regression equations demonstrated a strong curvilinear relationship (R2 = 0.14) between conscientiousness and IBS patients' quality of life, surpassing the linear relationship (R2 = 0.08). Curvilinear regression analysis revealed significant correlations (95% CI) for both the first-degree coefficient (β1 = 2.304, P < 0.001) and the second-degree coefficient (β2 = -2.043, P < 0.001). Conclusions: The findings indicate an inverted U-shaped relationship between conscientiousness and quality of life in IBS individuals. This underscores the importance of addressing exceptionally high conscientiousness levels in healthcare.

Inverted U-Shaped relationship between team size and citation impact: Mediating role of responsibility diffusion

ABSTRACT Despite the increasing prominence of research collaboration, a growing number of studies have confirmed that increasing team size can have limited performance benefits. However, the mechanism of this phenomenon has yet to be established. This study, therefore, quantified responsibility diffusion based on author contribution information and explored its mediating role in the relationship between collaboration size and citation impact (citation count in a four-year window). The results show the following: (1) An inverted U-shaped relationship exists between team size and citation count. (2) Responsibility diffusion plays a partial mediating role between team size and citation count. (3) As team size increases, the degree of responsibility diffusion increases. Lastly, (4) responsibility diffusion has an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship with citation count (e.g., a moderate degree of responsibility diffusion has the highest impact). These findings offer a new understanding of the mechanism by which collaboration size influences research performance. This study also has practical implications for solving research collaboration dilemmas based on a group-cognition perspective.

A curvilinear association between therapists' use of discourse particles and therapist empathy in psychotherapy.

This study investigates the relationships between therapists' use of discourse particles and therapist empathy. Discourse particles, commonly found in non-English languages, are verbal elements that constitute metacommunication by encoding speakers' emotions and attitudes, which are typically expressed by nonverbal behaviors (e.g., intonation, tone, facial expression, nodding). We hypothesize an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between therapists' use of discourse particles and therapist empathy, given the notion that an optimal level of therapists' emotion in psychotherapy can facilitate clients' inner experiencing and self-expression. Four psychotherapy sessions each from 39 therapist-client dyads were analyzed. After each session, therapist empathy was rated by trained observers using the Therapist Empathy Scale (TES) and by clients using the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (BLRI). Multilevel modeling shows that both the person-level negative quadratic term and positive linear term for therapists' usage of discourse particles are significant in predicting mean TES with large effect sizes. The same predictors do not yield significant results in predicting mean BLRI but they trend in similar directions of associations with medium effect sizes. Our results suggest the optimal usage of discourse particles by therapists is around 20.3% (out of all utterances). The nonsignificant results in BLRI may be attributed to the relatively small sample size of our data and the noncommunication orientation of the client-rated measure. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The impact of management gender diversity on productivity: The contextual role of industry gender composition

Managers of different genders play an important role in the success of an organization. Little is known, however, about how management gender diversity is associated with employee productivity at different levels of diversity and the context that might influence this relationship. Integrating the knowledge-based view with role congruity theory, we propose a U-shaped relationship between management gender diversity and employee productivity. As role congruity–related gender stereotypes can be salient in male-majority industries, we advance knowledge by proposing industry gender composition as a key contingency. Building on the integration of theories, we propose that the U-shaped curvilinear relationship will be more pronounced in male-majority industries than in female-majority industries. The predictions were tested using data collected from 248 medium- to large-sized for-profit organizations in Australia via a human resource manager survey and an archival source. The regression results indicate a U-shaped curvilinear relationship across industries and provide the first evidence of a U-shaped curvilinear relationship in male-majority industries and an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship in female-majority industries. The findings support the integration of the knowledge-based view and role congruity theory, advance knowledge of industry gender composition dynamics, and provide leaders insights into the specific effects of various management gender compositions. JEL Classification: M12, M14

The Nonlinear Effect of Population Aging and Socio-economic Conditions on Carbon Emission: An Empirical Analysis of 30 Provinces and Regions in China

The central aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of population aging on carbon emissions in China. In order to attain a deeper comprehension of this effect, this study investigates the non-linear relationship between population aging and carbon emissions through empirical analysis of 30 provinces and regions in China from 1997 to 2019 using a panel threshold model. Our primary research findings indicate that the correlation between population aging and carbon emissions demonstrates nonlinearity. Population aging has had an inhibitory effect on carbon emissions; however, as the aging population continues to increase, its effect on suppressing carbon emissions will weaken. Moreover, we have also uncovered non-linear relationships between energy intensity, per capita GDP, industrial structure, and carbon emissions. Notably, despite rapid growth in total fossil energy consumption, energy intensity has shown a decreasing trend in China, which has mitigated the upsurge in carbon emissions attributed to fluctuations in energy intensity. The positive correlation between GDP per capita and carbon emissions is evident, but there is little variation observed across different threshold levels. Finally, the relationship between industrial structure and carbon emissions is considerably intricate, our results show that a U-shaped curvilinear relationship exists between the two variables.

(306) U-shaped Curvilinear Relationship Between the Prevalence of Testosterone Deficiency and Low-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL) Levels in Nonstatin Users

Abstract Introduction Contradictory data have been reported about the association between testosterone levels and the levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL). Objective The aim of this study was to elucidate the association between testosterone and LDL levels. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted that included 7,268 men who had participated in a health examination. Men who took agents that influence serum lipid profiles within the previous 6 months were excluded. A full metabolic work-up and serum testosterone level checks were performed. The main outcome measures included the testosterone level and testosterone deficiency (TD) prevalence of each decile of LDL and their polynomial trendlines and the odds ratio (OR) of TD according to the LDL level. Results The polynomial trendline suggests an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between LDL and testosterone levels (figure 1) and a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between LDL levels and the prevalence of TD (figure 2). The adjusted ORs of TD in men in the lowest and highest deciles were significantly higher than those of men in the 10th – 90th deciles of LDL (90th LDL, OR for TD: 1.277, 95% CI: 1.006–1.621), which reinforces the U-shaped curvilinear relationship between LDL levels and the prevalence of TD. Conclusions There was a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between LDL levels and the prevalence of TD. Both low LDL and high LDL levels were significantly and independently associated with TD. Care should be taken to screen for TD in men with low LDL levels or high LDL levels. Further study to elucidate the effect of extremely lowering LDL levels on TD is needed. Disclosure No

The dynamic effects of learning: Host country experience and international joint venture termination

A lack of host country experience is the fundamental reason for the foreign partner to establish international joint ventures (IJVs) with the local partners while host country experience has also been identified as the primary antecedent of IJV termination. Building on the organizational learning perspective, we propose that the host country experience presents two dynamic but contrasting effects on IJV termination, constituting a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between them. Specifically, we argue that there exist both cooperative and competitive learning and the host country experience changes from complementing to substituting the partnership as the foreign partner adapts from learning about to learning from the partner. Because the contributions of learning depend on environmental conditions, we further conjecture that the curvilinear relationship is steeper for IJVs with multiple partners and in growing industries but flatter for those located in more marketized provinces. An event history study that traces 803 IJVs established in China in 2000 till 2017 has lent support to the hypotheses. Overall, the study challenges previous one-sided arguments by highlighting the dynamic nature of learning while portraying the contingencies.

Non-linear association between testosterone and LDL concentrations in men.

Contradictory data have been reported about the association between testosterone levels and the levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL). The aim of this study was to elucidate the association between testosterone and LDL levels. A cross-sectional study was conducted that included 7268 men who had participated in a health examination. Men who took agents that influence serum lipid profiles within the previous 6 months were excluded. A full metabolic work-up and serum testosterone level checks were performed. The main outcome measures included the testosterone level and testosterone<3.5ng/ml prevalence of each decile of LDL and their polynomial trendlines and the odds ratio (OR) of testosterone<3.5ng/ml according to the LDL level. The polynomial trendline suggests the inverse association of testosterone with the deciles of triglycerides, the positive association of testosterone with the deciles of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and the inverted U-shaped association between testosterone and the deciles of LDL. The polynomial trendline suggests a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between the deciles of LDL and the prevalence of testosterone<3.5ng/ml. The adjusted ORs of testosterone<3.5ng/ml in men in the lowest and highest deciles were significantly higher than those of men in the 10th-90th deciles of LDL (OR [95% CI],<10th LDL: 1.4[1.2-1.8]; 10th - 90th LDL: 1.0 [reference];>90th LDL: 1.3[1.0-1.6]), which reinforces the U-shaped curvilinear relationship between LDL levels and the prevalence of testosterone<3.5ng/ml. Further research is needed to elucidate the association of very low or very high LDL concentrations with circulating testosterone in men.

Impact of Job Demands on Employee Learning: The Moderating Role of Human-Machine Cooperation Relationship.

New artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are applied to work scenarios, which may change job demands and affect employees' learning. Based on the resource conservation theory, the impact of job demands on employee learning was evaluated in the context of AI. The study further explores the moderating effect of the human-machine cooperation relationship between them. By collecting 500 valid questionnaires, a hierarchical regression for the test was performed. Results indicate that, in the AI application scenario, a U-shaped relationship exists between job demands and employee learning. Second, the human-machine cooperation relationship moderates the U-shaped curvilinear relationship between job demands and employees' learning. In this study, AI is introduced into the field of employee psychology and behavior, enriching the research into the relationship between job demands and employee learning.

긍정심리자본과 적응행동 간의 비선형적 관계와 팀 의사소통의 교차수준 조절역할

Former studies have shown that psychological capital — a key variable in positive psychology and positive organizational behavior approach — exerts a consistently positive effect. However, recent research has begun to raise doubts about whether job outcomes are always desirable when positive emotions and cognitions are high. In this vein, this research — apart from the linear argument that the higher the psychological capital, the higher the adaptive behavior — empirically explores the idea that psychological capital might result in negative effects if it exceeds a certain level. Additionally, we examine team communication as a way to effectively manage these negative effects.&#x0D; Analysis of data collected from 62 firefighter team leaders and 261 firefighters finds that psychological capital has an inverted U-shaped non-linear effect on adaptive behavior. That is, from a low level to a certain level of psychological capital, psychological capital and adaptive behavior show a positive relationship.&#x0D; Conversely, when psychological capital exceeds a certain level, the relationship between psychological capital and adaptive behavior is negative. We also find that when team communication is sufficiently high, there is a cross-level moderating effect that lessens the inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between psychological capital and adaptive behavior. Based on these theoretical implications, we suggest managerial implications, research limitations, and future research.

Board Directorships and Carbon Emissions: Curvilinear Relationships and Moderating Roles of Other Board Characteristics

Our research investigates the moderating roles of various board characteristics (independence, gender diversity, tenure, duality, and size) on the curvilinear relationship between board directorships and carbon emissions using a two-step generalized method of moments (GMM) system approach. We use a total of 1582 observations from 391 firms listed in the US Standard and Poor 500 (S&amp;P 500) index collected from 2015 to 2021. Our findings provide empirical evidence in four aspects: (1) there is a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between board directorships and carbon emissions; (2) board directors should not go over two directorships because carbon emissions are likely to increase; (3) board independence, duality, and size positively moderate curvilinear relationships between board directorships and carbon emissions; and (4) board tenure and gender diversity negatively moderate curvilinear relationships. Our study contributes to expanding the existing literature related to sustainable corporate governance in the US market, and also has implications for regulatory issues, business practice, and further research.

Effects of human-machine interaction on employee's learning: A contingent perspective.

The popularization of intelligent machines such as service robot and industrial robot will make human–machine interaction, an essential work mode. This requires employees to adapt to the new work content through learning. However, the research involved human–machine interaction that how influences the employee’s learning is still rarely. This paper was to reveal the relationship between human–machine interaction and employee’s learning from the perspective of job characteristics and competence perception of employees. We sent questionnaire to 500 employees from 100 artificial intelligence companies in China and received 319 valid and complete responses. Then, we adopted a hierarchical regression for the test. Empirical results show that human–machine interaction has a U-shaped curvilinear relationship with employee learning, and employee’s vitality mediates the curvilinear relationship. In addition, job characteristics (skill variety and job autonomy) moderate the U-shaped curvilinear relationship between human–machine interaction and employee’s vitality, especially the results of moderating effects varying with employee’s competence perception. Exploring the mechanism of the effect of human–machine interaction on employee’s learning enriches the socially embedded model. Moreover, it provides managerial implications how to enhance individual adaptability with the introduction of AI into firms. However, our research focuses more on the impact of human–machine interaction on employees at the initial stage of AI development, and the level of machine intelligence in various industries will reach a high degree of autonomy in the future. The future research can explore the impact of human–machine interaction on individual’s behavior at different stages, and the results may vary depending on the technologies mastered by different individuals. The study has theoretical and practical significance to human–machine interaction literature by underscoring the important of individual’s behavior among individuals with different skills.

How Many Are Too Few and How Many Too Much? Gender Group Composition and Absenteeism

Increasing women’s representation in organizations and politics has become a top priority for many organizations. The individual consequences of doing so, however, remain largely unknown. For example, how the rising number of women in the workplace affects withdrawal behavior of women and men is unclear. In this study, we bridge the diversity and withdrawal behavior literatures to explore the consequences of gender and gender composition in groups on individual absenteeism and ultimately on group abandonment. Using a dataset of 10,332 blue-collar workers in 1,064 groups at a public service company tracked over four years, we found that for women, gender group composition and absenteeism had an U-shaped curvilinear relationship, such that the higher the proportion of women in the group, the lower women’s absenteeism up to a tipping point from which a further increase in the share of women in the group did not decrease absenteeism. As expected, the proportion of women in their groups did not impact men’s absenteeism. Finally, we also found that these effects on absenteeism endured over time and increased group abandonment. We derive implications of our findings for managers and organizations.

The Curvilinear Relationship between Supervisor Negative Feedback and Employees’ Job Performance

This study examines the curvilinear relationship between supervisor negative feedback and employees’ job performance, and the moderating effects of leader-member exchange (LMX). Using two-wave data from 259 dyads of employees and their immediate supervisors, we find that the inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between supervisor negative feedback and employees’ job performance is significant. In addition, the result reveals that such curvilinear patterns only exist when LMX is low. Finally, we discussed the implications, limitations, and future research.

Citrus Consumption and Risk of Melanoma: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

BackgroundEpidemiological studies of citrus consumption in relation to melanoma risk have yielded conflicting results. This meta-analysis was performed to investigate the dose-response association between citrus consumption and risk of melanoma.MethodsRelevant prospective cohort studies were identified by searching PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science databases up to February 28th, 2022. Results from individual studies were pooled using a random-effects model.ResultsFive prospective studies, with 8,836 melanoma cases and 977,558 participants, were included in the meta-analysis. A significantly increased risk of melanoma was associated with the highest categories of either total citrus products (RR: 1.20; 95% CI: 1.01–1.42) or citrus fruit consumption (1.15; 1.04–1.28), but consumption of citrus juice was not associated with melanoma risk (1.08; 0.97–1.21). The dose-response analyses revealed that for per 1 serving/day increase in total citrus or citrus fruit consumption, the risk of melanoma increased by 9 and 12%, respectively. An inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship, but not linear association, was observed between citrus juice consumption and melanoma risk.ConclusionsCitrus consumption was generally associated with a greater risk of malignant melanoma. Our findings may have important public health implications with respect to preventing melanoma.

When Does Audience Matter? Challengers’ Stability and Audience Costs

Abstract In this article, we argue that the degree to which audience costs work depends on the challenger state's leader stability. Unlike in the previous literature, we attempt to depart from a simple categorical comparison among regime types. Instead, we argue that the magnitude of audience costs varies continuously throughout the spectrum of a leader's stability. We employ probit regression with a squared term of stability, utilizing a large-N dataset of international conflicts provided by Militarized Interstate Dispute. Empirical results suggest a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between a challenger's stability and a target's probability of reciprocation. As the challenger's stability decreases, a target of interstate military conflict is less likely to reciprocate, that is, audience costs are more likely to be generated when a challenger is less stable. However, a target is less likely to concede as stability goes below a certain level because outside actors cannot learn the challenger's political patterns and intentions. Such findings imply that audience costs would be the highest at a moderate level of instability.

An integrative model of new product evaluation: A systematic investigation of perceived novelty and product evaluation in the movie industry.

The literature on perceived novelty and product evaluation has diverged into two disparate streams of research. The first stream builds on theories of curiosity and argues that the perceived novelty of a new product benefits product evaluation because it induces curiosity and provides evaluators (e.g., customers) with positive experiences in learning new features of the product and in resolving their curiosity. In contrast, the second stream adopts theories of expectation violations and argues that perceived novelty decreases product evaluation because it violates evaluators’ expectations of a new product and requires burdensome efforts to make sense of the product. The main goal of our research is to resolve this theoretical inconsistency by offering an integrative model of new product evaluation that proposes an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between perceived novelty and product evaluation. Based on this model, we further examine whether a producer’s reputation plays an ironic moderating role in this curvilinear relationship. Utilizing content analysis and big data approaches with a large sample of 49,835 reviews of 147 movies in the movie industry, we found that an evaluator’s perception of the novelty of a new movie benefited product evaluation but only when that perceived novelty was moderate; at higher levels of perceived novelty, the product evaluation decreased. In addition, we compared the curves of high vs. low reputation producers and found that perceived novelty penalized product evaluation of new movies created by high reputation producers.

Impact of capital enrichment on resource allocation efficiency in China’s manufacturing industry

Capital enrichment (CE) results from capital flows, which reflect the capital distribution among different regions and industries. This paper constructs the evaluation model of resource allocation efficiency from the perspective of capital and innovation resources. It expounds on CE’s theoretical mechanism by using the panel data from 2011 to 2018 for system GMM estimation. It finds that the manufacturing capital allocation efficiency (CAE) and innovation resource allocation efficiency (IRAE) show a volatile development trend. Both static and dynamic panel models show that there is a significant U-shaped curvilinear relationship between CE and CAE, CE and IRAE. CE’s inhibitory effect on CAE and IRAE decreases with the improvement of CE until it exceeds the critical value of 8.27 and 8.93. After that, its impact on CAE and IRAE changes from negative to positive.

COVID-19 Fear, Compliance, and Counterproductive Behavior: A Curvilinear Relationship

Drawing from the emergent literature on functional view of fear, we develop a research model explaining a U-shaped curvilinear relationship of fear of contracting COVID-19 on employees’ workplace compliance, in turn influencing their counterproductive work behavior (CWB). We theorize for the moderating role of consistency in COVID-19 fear over time on the effect of virus-contraction fear on compliance. A diary study of 181 full-time working professionals (total daily matched morning-evening observations = 1,340) during the initial stage of COVID-19 spread in February 2020 was conducted in a metropolitan city-state when it transitioned to a proactive stance to contain the virus spread. The results provided evidence of impact of COVID-19 fear on compliance in a U-shaped curvilinear pattern affecting employees’ CWB. The effect of COVID-19 fear on compliance was contingent on consistency in COVID-19 fear over time such that COVID-19 fear reduced compliance when such fear is experienced sporadically. Our findings illuminate duality embedded in (dis) functional responses to fear in a crisis. We provide timely recommendations to managers and organizations to harness the benefits of negative emotions such as fear in a crisis in curtailing deviant behaviors at work.