Browsing by Division "I.FPM - Institute for Leadership and Human Resource Management"

We apply a consistent sexual partnership formation model which hinges on the assumption that one gender's choices drives the process (male or female dominant model). The other gender's behaviour is imputed. The model is fitted to UK sexual behaviour data and applied to a simple incidence model of HSV-2. With a male dominant model (which assumes accurate male reports on numbers of partners) the modelled incidences of HSV-2 are 77% higher for men and 50% higher for women than with a female dominant model (which assumes accurate female reports). Although highly stylized, our simple incidence model sheds light on the inconsistent

Past research on team boundary work has focused on a “cold,” information-exchange perspective to explain why boundary activities affect team innovation. Although the theory is widely accepted, empirical studies on the actual mechanism are scant and produce inconsistent results. Drawing from Interaction Ritual Theory (Collins, 2004), we propose a “warm,” affective perspective that emphasizes team emotional energy – a shared feeling of enthusiasm among team members – as a mechanism linking boundary work and team innovation. Moreover, we examine a theory-driven contextual factor –team role overload – that modifies the hypothesized mediated relationship. Based on field data from four different sources of 89 automotive research and development teams (comprising 724 employees, 89 direct supervisors and 18 managers), we found that both team boundary-spanning and boundary-buffering activities are associated with higher levels of team emotional energy, which, in turn, are related to greater levels of team innovation. Moreover, the mediated relationship of boundary-buffering activities, team emotional energy and team innovation is moderated by team role overload, such that the mediated relationship is stronger when team role overload is higher. Our study contributes to the literature by broadening our understanding of why boundary work is effective and when it matters most.

The origin of the obesity epidemic in developing countries is still poorly understood. It has been prominently argued that economic development provides a natural interpretation of the growth in obesity. This paper tests the main aggregated predictions of the theoretical framework to analyze obesity. Average body weight and health inequality should be associated with economic development. Both hypotheses are confirmed: we find higher average female body weight in economically more advanced countries. In relatively nondeveloped countries, obesity is a phenomenon of the socioeconomic elite. With economic development, obesity shifts toward individuals with lower socioeconomic status

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the applicability of Prochaska and colleagues' "stages of change model," which has generated substantial support in the therapeutic literature as a useful framework for understanding the dynamics of motivation to change problem behaviors, in a leadership development context. Design/methodology/approach - A group of over 70 supervisors/managers was studied over a period of nine months as they participated in a company?sponsored leadership development effort. Findings - Results provide initial evidence that the stages of change model has the potential for being reliably and validly assessed in a leadership development context. Participants' stage scores related in meaningful ways to relevant criteria such as job attitudes, perceptions of personal leadership areas needing improvement, and evaluations of actual development module content and presentation over a nine?month period. Research limitations/implications - Participants were drawn from only one organization and this was the first major leadership development effort undertaken by this organization. Practical implications - Study results provide support for the appropriateness of applying the stages of change model and its measurement in a leadership development context. Results demonstrate that the stages of change model appears to offer useful and pragmatic insight into motivation to learn and on improving the effectiveness of leadership development activities. Originality/value - The present study is unique in that makes use of a stages of change model to empirically examine differential patterns of relationships between participants' stages of change and their organizational attitudes, leadership developmental needs, and longitudinal reactions to the development effort.