Search results

David Maines established himself as one of the premier symbolic interactionists who did not attach himself to any particular interactionist school of thought. In creating an extensive and intensive legacy via his publications, Maines looked into issues that other interactionists, bound to particular schools of thought, either took for granted or neglected to examine. In so doing, Maines resembled Simmel's Stranger not only as one who fits into a community but also as one who remains distant from the community. One of the key areas of investigation that defined Maines' work and that separated him from other interactionists pertained to his interest in social structure and specifically, how people become structurally situated as social-structural interactors. This chapter examines, in detail, Maines' interest in getting structurally situated and uses a television series, Dopesick, to discuss the relationships between institutional actors as a way to substantiate Maines' theoretical interest in social structure and the activities involved in the process of getting structurally situated.

In this study, we analyze sport as a cultural product of a particular place. We use the concept of “tradition” to highlight the collective (as opposed to individual) aspects of sport, emphasizing the importance of temporality, emergence, and novelty in social processes. We conducted a case study of internationally successful Icelandic men’s team handball that provides an interesting topic in this respect. Our findings challenge decades of research on sport that has stressed innate talent, individual qualities or physiological processes rather than the sociocultural processes. They support the interactionist approach to culture showing how local culture, rooted in specific interaction settings, influences the formation and development of a successful sport tradition. It is the way that cultural elements interact and combine in various networks that is crucial for national variations in playing sport. The social processes involved are best captured by Mead’s concepts of emergence, novelty, and the principle of sociality. These concepts help us to explain how unique national styles of playing sports derive from general cultural and social mechanism that interact to produce emergent and novel national variations. Our findings also support and extend earlier work on craftsmanship indicating that crafts-work, which is a part of an organized community resembling the old “workshop,” explains in part how innovations originate in sport-specific and other local networks. These theories offer a sociological extension of pragmatic theories of learning, emphasizing the group in the tradition of Mead.

This paper aims to introduce how sociological traditions can provide a complementary, conceptual lens needed to better understand a country’s orientation in its digital transformation policies. While historically sociology has been used to study technological effects, introducing a sociological lens that considers broader macro digital policies can better complement a country’s national innovation system framework by highlighting where forms of acceleration and inertia in digital diffusion may or may not occur.

To formulate this lens, iterative literature reviews were conducted and four major sociological traditions (i.e. Durkheim, Functional-Utilitarian, Marxist and Micro-interactionist) were identified and integrated into one structure. The integrated structure was then applied to the French case of Minitel as a sample application. The French Minitel was selected because it is well-known and due to one of the author’s familiarity with the French culture. The description was based upon secondary data.

Through the use and application of this lens, the findings reveal that understanding a country’s specific orientation within a sociological tradition can help academics and practitioners determine what accelerates or provides inertia in the diffusion of new digital technologies within a country’s sociological frame. For the French Minitel, two dominant views seem to exist in France, the Durkheim and the Functional-Utilitarian view, which both affected the country’s path dependency in continued investments in Minitel.

While policymakers are tasked with the development and implementation of digital transformation policies, a key consideration for both scholars and practitioners on digital policy and governance is to understand the broader macro ramifications of sociological frameworks on the evolving effects of digital transformation. While the authors provide a sample illustration, future research is needed to operationalize this lens and to apply it across various regions and countries in the development of new digital transformation policies.

As countries face considerable pressure to digitize their economies, policymakers require a better framework to advance the sociological aspects of digitization and its effects upon local institutions and actors in society. The paper provides a complementary lens that can better help them in this regard.

To date, policymakers and governments lack an integrated framework to understand the sociological effects of digital technologies and their diffusions along with their implications on societies such as on the framework of national innovation. The authors provide a sample integrated structure and sample application.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Core Self-Evaluations Scale (CSES) and the Brief Index of Affective Job Satisfaction (BIAJS) in terms of internal consistency and factor structure and to, subsequently, analyze the influence of a set of dispositional factors (namely, core self-evaluations, CSEs) and situational factors (namely, psychosocial factors) on job satisfaction.

In total, 209 academics from an Argentinian university completed online surveys at two stages, separated in time, to reduce the common method bias.

The Spanish version of the CSES and the BIAJS showed acceptable psychometric properties, which were similar to those previously reported in North-American, European and Asian settings. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that both situational and dispositional factors are significant predictors of job satisfaction.

The CSES and the BIAJS seem to be valid and reliable instruments for assessing CSEs and job satisfaction, respectively, in Latin America. The adoption of an interactionist approach that includes both situational and dispositional factors is crucial in future research examining job satisfaction.

Managers should carefully evaluate the personality traits of candidates during personnel selection, as well as the working conditions they offer to their employees, since both factors seem to affect job satisfaction.

This paper contributes to the validation of two scales that may promote future organizational behavior/psychology research in Latin America. In addition, it provides empirical evidence on the relative influence of a set of situational and dispositional factors on job satisfaction, thus contributing to the resolution of the person-situation debate.

El objetivo de este estudio es examinar las propiedades psicométricas de las versiones en español de la Escala de Autoevaluaciones Esenciales (CSES) y el Índice Breve de Satisfacción Laboral Afectiva (BIAJS) en cuanto a su consistencia interna y estructura factorial y, posteriormente, analizar la influencia relativa de ciertos factores disposicionales (autoevaluaciones esenciales) y situacionales (factores psicosociales) sobre la satisfacción laboral.

209 académicos de una universidad argentina completaron cuestionarios en dos etapas, separadas en el tiempo, para reducir la varianza por uso de método común.

Las versiones en español de la CSES y el BIAJS poseen propiedades psicométricas similares a las reportadas previamente en contextos no hispano-parlantes. Los análisis de regresiones múltiples jerárquicas revelan que tanto los factores situacionales como los disposicionales constituyen predictores significativos de la satisfacción laboral.

La CSES y el BIAJS parecen ser instrumentos válidos y confiables para medir las autoevaluaciones esenciales y la satisfacción laboral en el ámbito latinoamericano. La inclusión simultánea tanto de factores situacionales como disposicionales resulta esencial en futuras investigaciones que examinen la satisfacción laboral.

Los directivos deberían evaluar cuidadosamente los rasgos de personalidad de los candidatos en los procesos de selección de personal, así como también las condiciones laborales tendientes a reducir los riesgos psicosociales, ya que ambos factores condicionan la satisfacción laboral.

Este artículo contribuye a la validación, en el ámbito latinoamericano, de dos escalas de gran utilidad para la Psicología Laboral y el Comportamiento Organizacional. Además, aporta evidencia empírica sobre la influencia relativa de un conjunto comprehensivo de factores situacionales y disposicionales sobre la satisfacción laboral, contribuyendo a la resolución del controversial debate individuo-situación.

Generally, this study contributes to our understanding of the situations when conflict facilitates performance versus when it hampers performance. More specifically, the study distinguishes between conflict potential, conflict stimulus, and actual conflict. We present two hypotheses that compare two competing views to further disentangle whether and when conflict is functional. Our empirical tests, using a sample of Mennonite congregations, lead us to speculate that conflict may be functional for individual‐centered performance measures, but dysfunctional for group‐based performance measures.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the construction of the meanings of auditor independence (AI) in an oil‐rich autocratic state with an ideology straddling liberal market capitalism and Shari'ah (Islamic teachings).

The concept of AI was explored using Blumer's interactionist approach or the Chicago School of Symbolic Interactionism (CSSI). Multiple methods were adopted in collecting and interpreting data: document analysis, personal professional experience, observation and interviews with auditors in two audit firms in Saudi Arabia.

Using discourse analysis, the paper demonstrates that auditors construct the meanings of independence in appearance and in fact through their social interactions at three levels: micro (personal self‐reflexivity through ethical reasoning and reputation of individual auditor); meso (organisational culture through range of commercial activities and image management) and macro (through political, de jure, and socio‐economic structure).

The paper contributes to the auditing literature by providing insights into the construction of the meaning of AI in a context different from the dominant Anglo‐American discourse, as well as transition and emerging economies discourse. The paper also contributes to the CSSI research methodology by extending it to consider interactions not only within an organisational context, but also within the context of a country.

This paper seeks to explore the theoretical bases for teacher‐delivered and peer‐delivered sexual health promotion and education.

The first section briefly outlines the main theories informing sexual health interventions for young people, and the second discusses their implications for modes of delivery.

Most interventions that claim to be theoretically based draw on social‐psychological cognition theories. Other programmes aim to develop self‐esteem and/or empowerment, while the two main sociological ideas underpinning sexual health programmes are the gendered construction of sexuality and the diffusion of innovations.

More research is necessary to clarify the mechanisms by which sexual health promotion works, which in turn should contribute to more empirically based theory.

If theoretical ideas are to be translated into potentially effective programmes, the specific features of the setting, target group and those delivering the programme must be taken into account.

This paper compares the theoretical justifications for different modes of delivering sexual health promotion, through outreach peer educators, formal school‐based peer educators and teachers.

The purpose of this paper is to present a discussion of the ways that personality tests have been used in accounting research.

The paper is structured as a literature review of the personality testing area, with particular emphasis on its application in accounting research.

The idea of personality impacting accounting has received some attention in recent years. However, it is an understudied area and the research to date is somewhat inconclusive. The findings are that over the last decade personality psychologists have made significant advances in personality theory and measurement. This paper summarizes: the theory of personality; the two most common personality typologies (i.e. the Jungian psychology‐based Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Five Factor Model (FFM); and discusses the application of personality in accounting research.

It is somewhat problematical to draw precise boundaries that include all relevant studies, and yet exclude appropriately distant ones, as there are a number of constructs that may, or may not, be considered to be “personality”. Another limitation is that the research studies published so far do not all agree one with another.

The conclusion reached is that, while there is a role for personality/accounting research using both MBTI and FFM, research using the FFM is particularly important for analytical and predictive research in this area and to triangulate previous MBTI studies.

As a literature review, there is little that is intrinsically new here, but the juxtaposition of different approaches and findings will be informative to researchers in the area and, to a lesser extent, practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to test a model of the effects of intragroup conflict (relationship conflict, task conflict and process conflict), past performance feedback and perceptions of team decision‐making effectiveness on team performance and affective responses.

A sample of 183 individuals, working in 47 different teams, participated in this study. All the teams were involved in a national management challenge for a five‐week period. Three questionnaires were sent directly to team members by e‐mail at different times of the challenge period to collect data concerning demographic data (questionnaire 1), perceptions of team functioning (questionnaire 2) and perceptions of team decision‐making effectiveness as well as the affective responses (questionnaire 3). The level of analysis in this study was the group. Thus, all individual survey responses were aggregated to the team level for statistical analysis.

Results showed a full mediation effect of perceptions of team decision in the relationship between process conflict and team performance. Task and relationship conflict showed no significant relationships with team performance and satisfaction with the team. The result that effective past performance feedback directly influences team performance, in a positive way, suggests that past effective decisions may reinforce the decision‐making processes previously used by team members.

One possible limitation of this study is the fact that measurements were taken at different times of the management challenge. In fact, while intragroup conflict was measured two weeks after the beginning of the challenge, the other variables were measured at the end of the challenge. This time measurement difference could raise some questions concerning the stability of the intragroup conflict over time in work teams. Future research should address this hypothesis. Future research should also elucidate the influence of contextual variables, such as cultural values, on the relationship between intragroup conflict and performance outcomes.

This study helps managers to understand how to benefit from conflict. In a highly competitive environment, disagreement among team members about “how to do it” seems to decrease decision‐making effectiveness.

This study fills a gap in the conflict literature concerning the impact of intragroup conflict in the team members' perceptions of decision‐making effectiveness and how it affects the overall performance. Moreover, this study also clarifies the importance of past performance to the actual team outcomes.

SI offers a distinctive theoretical language for practice: a vocabulary and a grammar for identifying the personal troubles and joys of group members and for locating these experiences in shared symbol systems and in associated social arrangements (Weigert, 1995). SI can provide the ideal base for social work and sociological helping work (Forte, 2004a, 2004b). It is a coherent organizing language that can guide practitioner thinking, acting, and feeling especially when professional action is blocked.