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The purpose of this paper is to investigate and theoretically explain how line managers and lower-status experts work together in public health-care organizations. Hence, this study explores how lower-status experts influence line managers' decision-making and task prioritizing in order to guide staff experts' cooperation and performance improvements.

The authors used a qualitative method for data collection and analysis of the experts' and line managers' explanations about their cooperation. A theoretical approach of experts' identity positioning, in terms of differences and similarities, was used in analyzing the interaction between managers and experts.

This study shows that similarities and differences in positioning acts exist simultaneously. Similarity is constructed by way of strategic and professional alignment with the line managers' core tasks. Differences stem from the distinction between knowledge-grounded skills and professional attributes such as language, analytical tools, and jargon. Lower-status experts need to leave their entrenched positions and match the professional status of line managers in both knowledge aspirations and appearance to reach a respected approach of experts' identity positioning.

Unlike many previous studies, this study demonstrates that similarities and differences in positioning acts exist simultaneously.

Communities of Practice (CoPs) are increasingly being created to facilitate knowledge mobilization in organizations. This paper aims to elucidate an underexplored aspect of participation in mandated CoPs – identity reconciliation. Specifically, the authors explore how actors reconcile their existing identities with becoming members of new knowledge mobilization CoPs.

The authors conducted a longitudinal qualitative case study over a 12-month period to explore identity reconciliation practices during the formation of the “ED CoP” – mandated by policymakers to mobilize knowledge between process improvement advisors and clinicians from various hospitals. Observation and interviews allowed us to uncover “front stage” and “backstage” practices of identity reconciliation.

The findings reveal two key unexpected modes of identity reconciliation – “distancing” and “peripheral lurking”. These modes resulted in different trajectories of participation of two of the key participant groups – “veteran” improvement advisors and “veteran” clinicians.

Different modes of identity reconciliation of different participants impact the formation of CoPs and how knowledge mobilization occurs within them. This paper offers a sensitizing lens for practitioners creating CoPs which enhances awareness of hidden identity practices, and recommendations to enable practitioners to effectively facilitate CoP formation.

This study suggests that identity reconciliation is an integral aspect of CoP formation, and essential for knowledge mobilization within CoPs. Whereas studies on CoPs in the knowledge management literature have mostly assumed that collaboration produces beneficial knowledge mobilization outcomes, the findings build a more nuanced picture of the processes involved in producing these outcomes.

A long-standing question is how group perception, which is the perception of a whole group, becomes an exaggerated perception of the individuals who comprise the group. The question receives scant attention within computer-mediated communication (CMC), which is increasingly a communication mode for groups and a research tool to study groups. I address this gap by examining bias in group perception when rating copresence, which is the sense of being together, with the group.

I model bias as occurring when perceivers differentially weigh ratings of individual group members on a variable while rating the whole group on the same variable. I analyzed how the degree of bias in participants’ ratings of copresence with a status-differentiated group varied by the availability of visual cues during CMC in an experiment. I also examined how the group’s status hierarchy impacted bias.

Bias increase as the availability of visual cues decreased and ratings of middle status members were weighed more in group perception than ratings of other members.

Middle status was based on possessing inconsistent statuses. Inconsistency, and not status position, may have rendered these members more salient than others.

Interventions that target group perception may benefit from targeting the group’s middle status members. Researchers and practitioners can minimize bias in group perception through increasing the availability of visual cues in CMC.

The findings illustrate the underpinnings of copresence with an entire group. This is important because copresence shapes several group processes during CMC.

This chapter presents a theory of socialization that explains cultural transmission while balancing both biological aspects of development and the child’s agency and creativity.

This chapter presents a synthesis of research in sociological theory, developmental psychology, and neuroscience. It is roughly divided into two complementary sections based around the metaphor of ivy growing upon a trellis. The discussion centered around the “ivy” utilizes psychological and neuroscience research to explain how early learning is guided by significant others. The “trellis” section synthesizes literature in developmental psychology and social theory to explain how the child’s experience is enframed both cognitively and emotionally in ways that guide the child into appropriate forms of action and feeling. Finally, I discuss how this model can explain other forms of socialization.

I propose that the child’s innate capacities and motivations are enframed through significant relationships in order to direct the child’s emergent behavior into sequences of competent action. Isolated competencies are guided into simple and delimited domains of social activity like games and, later, more complex and interpretive structures like paradigms and ideologies.

This chapter synthesizes research in several literatures in order to develop a new theory that addresses some old questions regarding cultural transmission. Additionally, it represents another step in showing how sociology can integrate research from biological fields without deferring to them.

Long-term care (LTC) organizations have struggled to protect their vulnerable clients from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although various suggestions on containing outbreaks in LTC facilities have gained prominence, ensuring the safety of residents is not just a crisis issue. In that context, the authors must reasses the traditional management practices that were not sufficient for handling unexpected and demanding conditions. The purpose of this paper is to suggest rethinking the underlying attributes of LTC organizations and drawing insight from the parallels they have to high-reliability organizations (HROs).

The authors analyzed qualitative data collected from a Canadian LTC facility to shed light on the current state of reliability practices and culture of the LTC industry and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional management approaches.

To help the LTC industry develop the necessary crisis management capacity to tackle unexpected future challenges, there is an urgent need for adopting a more systemic top-down approach that cultivates mindfulness, learning and resilience.

This study contributes by applying the HRO theoretical lens in the LTC context. The study provides the LTC leaders with insights into creating a unified effort at the industry level to give rise to a high-reliability-oriented industry.

Two decades of research have identified a robust effect: Members of decision-making groups mention and repeat shared information that all members know more so than unshared information that a single member knows. This chapter explores the idea that processes related to member status both affect and explain information exchange in decision-making groups. First, we offer five propositions that identify information sharing patterns and their implications for high- and low-status group members. Second, we highlight three theoretical explanations for the group preference for shared information and examine how well each theory accounts for the proposed member status processes.

While the consumer engagement (CE) concept is gaining traction in the literature, little remains known regarding the ways in which consumers displaying differing cultural traits engage with brands and their differences. The purpose of this paper is to explore CE with brands for consumers exhibiting differing cultural traits, and develop a set of research propositions for these individuals’ cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social CE in brand interactions. These propositions, collectively, reflect consumers’ individual-level cultural CE styles – consumers’ motivationally driven disposition to think, feel, act, and relate to others in a certain manner characteristic of their specific individual cultural traits in brand interactions.

In this conceptual paper, literature is reviewed in the areas of CE and its conceptual relationship with Yoo et al.’s (2011) individual cultural values.

Key differences between individual-level cultural traits and consumers’ ensuing cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social CE with brands are addressed in a set of research propositions based on Yoo et al.’s model of individual cultural values, from which the concept of individual-level cultural CE styles is developed.

This research explores differences across individuals displaying differing cultural traits and their ensuing CE with brands, which remains underexplored to date. It also develops the concept of individual-level cultural CE styles, which reflect consumers’ characteristic cultural trait-based cognitions, emotions, behaviors, and social dynamics in engaging with particular brands.

The outlined managerial implications reveal that unique marketing approaches are expected to be effective for engaging consumers exhibiting different cultural traits with brands, based on their distinctive CE styles (e.g. focusing on personalized interactions/interactions that stress consumers’ similarity to and fit with salient others for individualist/collectivist consumers, respectively).

This paper makes two important theoretical contributions. First, by offering a conceptual analysis of consumers displaying differing cultural traits and their ensuing engagement with brands, it provides an early attempt to explore individual-level cultural CE-based differences. Second, it develops the concept of individual-level cultural CE styles, which is expected to hold important theoretical and managerial implications.

This chapter seeks to theoretically answer the question: under which circumstances do groups succeed under female leadership? Further, is it possible to conceptualize the engineering of groups such that group success under female leadership is a likely outcome?

In this chapter, I draw on identity control theory (Burke & Stets, 2009; Stets & Burke, 2005) and role congruity theory (Eagly, 2003) to discuss the implications for female leaders of the discrepancy between the female gender identity and the leader identity. Next, I draw upon status characteristics theory (Berger et al., 1972) to further illustrate the negative consequences of being a female leader. Then, drawing on group processes research, I make the explicit link between the negative expectations for female leaders on group performance through the endorsement of group members. Finally, I utilize innovative research using institutionalization of female leadership to propose a possible solution for improving group performance.

I present nine testable hypotheses ready for empirical test.

I propose that training materials underscoring the skills that females have as leaders can subvert the development of conflictual expectations facing female leaders, thus removing the deleterious effects on group performance. That is, if group members receive training that emphasizes the competencies and skills women bring to the group’s task and to the leadership role, then group performance will not be threatened.

This study aims to explore how status differences relate to strained working relationships with co-workers and clients. Two statuses, gender and occupation, are examined using data from veterinarians and animal health technologists (AHTs). Competing perspectives regarding exposure to stressful relationships and access and effectiveness of work-related resources are considered.

An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design is used that combines quantitative survey data with open-ended qualitative data. The survey data are used to examine how interpersonal strain and access to work-related resources vary by status. The qualitative data are used to illustrate how strain is experienced by these workers and aids in interpreting the quantitative findings.

Status is linked to interpersonal client strain and access to resources. Challenging work is widely available to all three groups, but is more beneficial in reducing higher status veterinarians’ client strain. Autonomy is a scarce resource for the lowest status group (female AHTs), yet appears effective in reducing co-worker strain for everyone. Unexpectedly, work overload and market concerns appear to aggravate work-related strain and greater numbers of the lowest status group exacerbates interpersonal tensions with clients.

This paper contributes by examining stressful interactions experienced by two occupations who work side-by-side in the same employment settings, but who vary significantly by gender representation and occupational status. The authors argue that in addition to gender and occupational status, the organizational health of employing clinics and the feminization of veterinary practice may offer insights into how status differences are related to interpersonal conflict experienced in these work places.

This paper aims to explore and test the relationship between emotion recognition skill and assessment center performance after controlling for both general mental ability (GMA) and conscientiousness. It also seeks to test whether participant sex or race moderated these relationships.

Using independent observers as raters, the paper tested 528 business students participating in a managerial assessment center, while they performed four distinct activities of: an in‐basket task; a team meeting for an executive hiring decision; a team meeting to discuss customer service initiatives; and an individual speech.

Emotion recognition predicted assessment center performance uniquely over both GMA and conscientiousness, but results varied by race. Females were better at emotion recognition overall, but sex neither was related to assessment center performance nor moderated the relationship between it and emotion recognition. The paper also found that GMA moderated the emotion recognition/assessment performance link, as the former was important to performance only for people with low levels of GMA.

The results seem to contradict those who argue that E‐IQ is an unqualified predictor of performance. Emotional recognition is not uniformly valuable; instead, it appears to benefit some groups more than others.

The paper clarifies the emotional intelligence literature by providing further support for the predictive validity of emotion recognition in performance contexts, and by separating out how emotional recognition benefits certain population groups more.