U-shaped Curvilinear Relationship Research Articles

Board Age and Gender Diversity: A Test of Competing Linear and Curvilinear Predictions

The inconsistent findings of past board diversity research demand a test of competing linear and curvilinear diversity–performance predictions. This research focuses on board age and gender diversity, and presents a positive linear prediction based on resource dependence theory, a negative linear prediction based on social identity theory, and an inverted U-shaped curvilinear prediction based on the integration of resource dependence theory with social identity theory. The predictions were tested using archival data on 288 large organizations listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, with a 1-year time lag between diversity (age and gender) and performance (employee productivity and return on assets). The results indicate a positive linear relationship between gender diversity and employee productivity, a negative linear relationship between age diversity and return on assets, and an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between age diversity and return on assets. The findings provide additional evidence on the business case for board gender diversity and refine the business case for board age diversity.

Religious Coping and Depression in Young Adulthood: Effects of Global Stress Exposure and Pre-Teenage Religious Service Attendance

This paper builds upon previous research on the association between religiosity and depressive symptomatology in young adults by focusing on the coping aspects of religious involvement (use of beliefs, comfort seeking, and prayer). Data come from a representative sample of Miami-Dade County, Florida, youths interviewed initially at around age 11 and then at age 19 to 21 ( N = 1,210). OLS regression models demonstrate an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between religious coping and depression which, in subgroup analyses, applies only to females, and specifically to those young women reporting above-average stress exposure who had attended religious services at least once a week during their middle school years. No association is found among those reporting lower stress exposure or less frequent pre-teenage service attendance. These results provide evidence that early religious exposure on a regular basis and high global stress exposure may be essential preconditions for a relationship at the aggregate level between current religious coping and depressive symptomatology in young adults.

Organizational Longevity: A Duet of Exploration and Exploitation

This study investigates the effects of exploration and exploitation on organizational longevity. There has been intense debate over the importance of pursuing a balance between exploration and exploitation in an organization's long-term performance and survival. However, most empirical studies have not contributed to this debate because they have focused mainly on organizations' short-term financial outcomes. This study examines the effects of this balance on organizational longevity. The results, based on a sample of 81 manufacturing firms in IT-related industries in Korea, indicate an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between the relative extent of explorative innovation and organizational longevity. This relationship is moderated by financial slack, strategic orientation, and environmental dynamism.

Organizational Tenure and Mastery-Avoidance Goals: The Moderating Role of Psychological Empowerment

Mastery-avoidance (MAv) goals are recognized to be detrimental as they arouse counterproductive work-related behaviours. In the current literature, MAv goals are assumed to be more predominant among newcomers and longer tenured employees. The alleged relationship provides important implications but yet has received scant empirical attention. In response, this study examines the proposed U-shaped curvilinear relationship between organizational tenure and MAv goal orientation. In addition, the potential moderating role of psychological empowerment on this curvilinear relationship is investigated. Based on data from 655 certified accountants, the results support the existence of the hypothesized curvilinear relationship. Also, it revealed that for employees who experience higher levels of psychological empowerment, the U-shaped relationship between organizational tenure and MAv goal orientation becomes flattened. Implications and future research are discussed.

Empowering Leadership and Employee Performance: The Moderating Role of Individual Goal Orientation

Despite the fact that empowering leadership is considered to be important to individual performance, little research has explored whether and when empowering leadership could be detrimental. This study examined the proposed inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between empowering leadership and individual in-role and extra-role work performance. Moreover, it also examined the potential moderating role of individual goal orientations. Based on data from 655 certified accountants, the results indicated that too little empowerment might have no/limited or negative impact on individual in-role and extra-role work performance. In addition, individual mastery orientation positively moderates these curvilinear relationships. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Internationalisation, vertical integration and performance: a case study of BOE

This paper examines the relationship between internationalisation, vertical integration and performance, using a longitudinal case study of a Chinese firm named BOE Technology, an international supplier of display products and solutions. By exploring the international expansion along with its vertical integration through cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A), we use time-series data from 1997 to 2008 to capture both the static and dynamic components of the relationship. We found a significant U-shaped curvilinear relationship between internationalisation and innovation and a positive linear relationship between vertical integration and innovation. Results also show an inverted U-shaped curvilinear model and an S-shaped curve model, but not significant, correspondingly in internationalisation-performance (ROS) relationship and vertical integration-performance relationship. The results of this study provide evidence of the importance of vertical integration in international expansion for competitive advantage, but also suggest the complexities to achieve these advantages, especially for emerging market multinational corporations which seek the advantages through cross-border M&A.

Internationalization and financial performance in the global forest industry

SUMMARY In this study we analysed the relationship between degree of internationalization and corporate financial performance in the forest industry at firm level. Both linear and curvilinear regression models were estimated for the impact of depth and scope of internationalization on corporate performance, using data available for 50 large forest products firms. As a result, we confirmed a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between depth of internationalization (measured by percentage of foreign employees to total employees, FETE) and corporate financial performance (measured by return on capital employed, ROCE). The threshold proportion of foreign employees was found to be 35% in the forest industry. In addition, we also confirmed that the scope of internationalization (measured by number of operating countries, OC) has a positive effect on corporate performance. From a strategic management point of view, our study thus corroborated Michael Porter's dictum: “if you go global, do not get stuck in the midd...

An examination of the nature of the relationship between Leader-Member-Exchange (LMX) and turnover intent at different organizational levels

The present study investigates the nature of the relationship between Leader-Member-Exchange (LMX) quality and turnover intent in the South Korean hospitality industry. Self-administered survey questionnaires were collected from 232 frontline workers as well as 88 supervisors employed in hotel properties. Prior research has produced mixed results, finding linear relationships between LMX quality and turnover intent in some studies and non-linear relationships in others. Traditional hierarchical regression analyses were performed to test the nature of the relationship in these two samples. We found evidence for a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between LMX and turnover intent for non-supervisory employees, but only a linear relationship for supervisory employees. Conceptual and practical implications and recommendations for future research are provided.

Active learning: When is more better? The case of resident physicians’ medical errors.

An active learning climate facilitates new knowledge acquisition by encouraging employees to ask questions, seek feedback, reflect on potential results, explore, and experiment. These activities, however, also increase a learner's chances of erring. In high-reliability organizations, any error is unacceptable and may well be life threatening. The authors use the example of resident physicians to suggest that by adjusting the conditions of priority of safety and managerial safety practices, organizations can balance these potentially conflicting activities. Participants in the study were 123 residents from 25 medical wards. Results demonstrated that the positive linear relationship between priority of safety and safety performance, demonstrated in earlier studies, existed only when the active learning climate was low. When the active learning climate was high, results demonstrated a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between priority of safety and number of errors. In addition, high managerial safety practices mitigated the number of errors as a result of the active learning climate.

Is the relationship between self-esteem and physical aggression necessarily U-shaped?

Recent research by Perez, Vohs, and Joiner [Perez, M., Vohs, K. D., & Joiner, T. E., Jr. (2005). Discrepancies between self- and other-esteem as correlates of aggression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 607–620] has supported a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between self-esteem and physical aggression in a sample of 140 undergraduates. The present study attempted to replicate this effect with a sample size more than 12 times larger. Thus, 1781 undergraduates completed items from Rosenberg’s [Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University] Self-Esteem Scale and from the Physical Aggression subscale of Buss and Perry’s [Buss, A. H., & Perry, M. (1992). The Aggression Questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 452–459] Aggression Questionnaire. The results did not support a U-shaped relationship between self-esteem and physical aggression; if anything, they supported an inverted U-shaped one, such that the simple relationship between self-esteem and physical aggression became more negative and as self-esteem increased. Controlling for gender strengthened these effects, consistent with a pattern of mutual suppression between gender and self-esteem.

International diversification and firm performance in Mexican firms: A curvilinear relationship?

This study examines the relationship between international diversification strategies and performance in emerging market firms. Using a longitudinal sample of Mexican firms, it finds that there is a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between international diversification and firm performance. Mexican firms initially experience negative performance as they expand internationally due to the liability of foreignness; however, over time, through gaining experience and through organizational learning, they eventually reap the positive benefits from international expansion. Contrary to expectations, our study finds no support for geographic distance as a moderator of the international diversification–performance relationship. Managers of emerging market firms should exercise patience as they initially face challenges to international expansion and should consider expanding to a diverse set of destinations, including those that are more distant.

The relationship between international diversification and performance in service firms

International diversification is a growth strategy that has a major potential impact on firm performance. The relationship between international diversification and firm performance has been extensively studied in the international strategy literature. A major gap in the literature has been the non-existence of studies that have examined the effect of international diversification on performance in service firms. Previous studies that have tested the international diversification–performance relationship were based on samples of manufacturing firms. We argue that the form of the relationship between multinationality and performance is different in service firms. We provide a theoretical argument for this claim and hypothesize that there is a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between multinationality and performance in service firms. Our sample consists of 81 major German service firms, spanning across four industries. Results show that there is support for a U-shaped curvilinear relationship. Based on the findings, implications and directions for future research are provided.

JOB SCOPE AND STRESS: CAN JOB SCOPE BE TOO HIGH?

This study examined relationships among job scope, perceived fit between job demands and ability, and stress. Data on scope and stress were provided by 418 full-time employees. Ratings of job complexity from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) and the Occupational Prestige Index (OP) also measured job scope. All three job scope measures had a U-shaped curvilinear relationship with emotional exhaustion. Anxiety had a negative association with incumbent-reported job scope but none with the DOT and OP measures. Perceived demands-ability fit moderated the relationship between the DOT and OP measures and stress. People with complex jobs who perceived fit experienced less exhaustion and anxiety than those perceiving misfit. In research on job design, leading thinkers have viewed high job scope as functional for organizations and their members. Hackman and Oldham's job characteristics model (1976, 1980) exemplifies this view. Although the magnitude of the motivating potential inherent in job scope

Fluoxetine seems to widen the nortriptyline antidepressant-like dose range in mice submitted to the tail suspension test (TST)

SummaryThis study was designed to verify whether fluoxetine (FL), a serotonin (5-HT) re-uptake inhibitor, would interfere with nortriptyline (NT), a biphasic U-shaped curvilinear dose-response relationship recently described in our laboratory. We associated 10 mg/kg NT or vehicle to 0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg FL, in one group, and 10 mg FL or vehicle to 0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg NT, in another group, 30 min before the tail suspension test (TST) in mice. Although we were not able to confirm a synergistic effect between FL and NT, FL-NT association seems to require higher doses of NT to block its own anti-immobility effect at high doses, thus widening NT effective antidepressant-like dose range in mice submitted to TST.