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Scholars have focused their attention on systemic reform as a way to support instructional coherence. These efforts are often layered on to existing social relationships between school staff that are rarely taken into account when enacting reform. Social network theory posits that the structure of social relationships may influence the direction, speed, and depth of organizational change and therefore may provide valuable insights in the social forces that may support or constrain reform efforts. This study aims to discuss this issue.

This mixed‐methods exploratory case study examined five schools within one under‐performing school district as it enacted a system‐wide reform. Quantitative survey data were collected to assess social networks and teacher work perception of five schools enacting the reform. Qualitative data were gathered through individual interviews from educators within representative grade levels as a way to better understand the diffusion and implementation of the reform.

Despite being enacted as a system‐wide reform effort, the results suggest significant variance within and between schools in terms of reform‐related social networks. These networks were significantly related to the uptake, depth, and spread of the change. Densely connected grade levels were also associated with more interactions focused on teaching and learning and an increased sense of grade level efficacy.

The findings underline the importance of attending to relational linkages as a complementary strategy to the technical emphasis of reform efforts, as social networks were found to significantly facilitate or constrain reform efforts. Implications and recommendations are offered for leadership, policy and practice that may support the design and implementation of reforms, which may ultimately increase student performance.

The study makes a unique contribution to the reform literature by drawing on social network theory as a way to understand efforts at reform. The work suggests that the informal social linkages on which reform is layered may support or constrain the depth of reform.

To report on a study testing training methods to improve communications among virtual team members.

Training methods for improving virtual team communications were developed and administered to 12 virtual teams. Surveys tracking cohesiveness, perceptions of the process and satisfaction with the outcomes were administered before, during and after teams working on a series of projects. These results were compared with similar teams working on the same projects who did not receive training.

Results indicated that teams receiving training showed more cohesiveness, perceptions of the process and satisfaction. These factors have been shown to increase team members' ability to exchange information and to positively affect the group's performance.

Relational link training seems beneficial for virtual teams as the teams in this study that had relational link training showed higher levels of group cohesiveness, satisfaction with their group's outcome, and had a better impression of the group's virtual meeting process. Relational link training may have a benefit of establishing and managing expectations for how groups work together. This is especially true in its mitigating negative impacts on group cohesiveness. It is important to measure the impact of any training program, relational link or otherwise, over multiple periods, as the true impact may not become evident except over longer periods of time.

Provides information on improving communication among virtual team members.

This study aimed to develop an integrative model that comprehensively explores the antecedents of pro-environmental intentions in young people. The study follows customer value theory (CVT) and the theoretical framework of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB).

Data was obtained from a field survey of two secondary schools in Hong Kong. A total of 279 young people (age range: 10–12 years old; 53.8% males) were recruited to complete the survey. Smart-PLS 3 was used to test the research model with partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The findings provided empirical evidence that the perceived values of children regarding environmentalism play an essential role in developing pro-environmental attitudes and behavioural intentions, such as recycling intention and conservation intention. The results support the utility of TPB for its adoption of attitude and behavioural intention as key components of the model. The use of CVT showed that three dimensions of young people’s perceived values, namely, emotional value, functional value and relational value, predict a pro-environmental attitude, while attitude predicts recycling intention and conservation intention.

This study offers crucial insight for schools and the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region government, who are focussed on spurring the perceived values, attitudes and behavioural intentions of young people towards environmentalism. This study shows that young people’s emotional values, functional values and relational values are important for transforming pro-environmental attitudes into behavioural intentions in young people.

This study measured the impact of young people’s perceived values on pro-environmental intentions. Few studies address how perceived values affect young people’s pro-environmental behaviour. This study integrates CVT and TPB to explore the source of young people’s pro-environmental intentions.

Details a cross‐cultural study to expose the extent to which public concern regulates sexual‐eroticism and withdraws it from public attention; identifies a propensity towards the ideal of sexual constraint within US society, reflected by a high degree of regulation and criminalization of sexuality ‐ ranging from strict policies on sexual‐harassment to the restriction of explicit images, even for sex education purposes. Compares with the more liberal attitudes exhibited in Germany. Develops an empirical model to establish cultural differences in attitudes to sexual issues; confirms that Germans are less likely to stigmatize sexual eroticism than their American contemporaries. Concludes that Germans exhibit emotions that typify sexual emancipation, compared with the sexually constrained emotions of Americans; suggests a link between the repression of sexual emotions and violence in society.

The purpose of this study is to produce spent hen tikka of improved quality attributes using lemon juice and ginger extract marination.

Three experimental groups were made: control group, 20 per cent lemon juice marinated group (LM) and 50 per cent ginger extract marinated group (GM). Boneless spent hen breast meat was cut into small cubes of one inch with the help of knife and kept in marinade solution in ratio of 2:1 w/v at 4 ± 1°C for 16 hours in a refrigerator. Chicken tikka was prepared using an electric oven at the temperature of 240°C for 20 minutes.

There was a significant (p < 0.05) increase in moisture content and water holding capacity of LM and GM marinated chicken tikka, whereas protein, fat, ash, cholesterol content and shear force values were significantly (p < 0.05) decreased. pH was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in GM and significantly (p < 0.05) lower in LM compared to control for chicken tikka.

Future research may be carried out to assess the effect of lemon juice and ginger extract marination on mineral content and lipid profile.

Marination of meat with LM and GM improved the sensory scores and textural properties, whereas fat and cholesterol content of chicken tikka decreased. Therefore, marination of chicken tikka with LM and GM may be used as processing technology to improve quality attributes of spent hen tikka.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the impact of perceived organizational support (POS) on organizational commitment in the voluntary and not-for-profit sector. The study extends the work done so far on the mediating roles of self-expression and perceived influence.

This paper reports an empirical research study which examined the impact of POS on organizational commitment in the voluntary and not-for-profit sector. Survey data were collected from a sample of health services workers (n=275) from a large not-for-profit organization.

Analyses showed that perception of organizational support positively influenced self-expression. In addition, self-expression mediated the relationship between perception of organizational support and organizational commitment, and both self-expression and perceived influence were statistically significant in their relationship with organizational commitment.

First, because of the cross-sectional nature of the authors’ design, it is difficult to establish the direction of causality. For example, POS and organizational commitment may be reciprocally related. It is possible that volunteers who are committed may perceive themselves as being valued and contributing members of the organization. Second, the measures used in this study were based on self-report, suggesting therefore that method variance could possibly influence the results. Because the measures reflect individual perceptions, it was not possible to obtain data from sources other the participants. However, preliminary CFA analysis showed that each measure was distinct which should minimize concerns about method variance. Further, some scholars argue that common method variance may be overstated and not as severe as is generally claimed (Lindell and Whitney, 2001).

Given the need to maintain adequate levels of volunteerism, it is of critical importance for volunteering organizations to understand how to retain their volunteers for the long-term, particularly because volunteer turnover can be very costly in terms of decreased organizational morale, recruitment and training, and decreased ability to effectively serve the public. The authors’ study serves to underscore the fact that those organizations needs to be mindful that volunteers need to perceive adequate organizational support and feel the opportunity for self-expression if those volunteers are to remain committed.

The authors’ study extends the work done so far on the mediating roles of self-expression and perceived influence in the relationship between POS and organizational commitment in voluntary and other not-for-profit organizations. The results suggest that POS positively influenced self-expression but not perception of influence. It also suggests that self-expression mediated the relationship between POS and organizational commitment, and both self-expression and perceived influence are statistically significantly related to organizational commitment. Even though prior research has examined POS as an antecedent, outcome, and a mediator, there is a paucity of research that has examined the proposed model within the context of voluntary and other not-for-profit sectors. Given the current rate of expansion in the voluntary sector, it is the authors’ hope that the present study will provide an impetus for additional research in this area.

Few studies have examined the impact of POS on self-expression and perceived influence, and the resulting impact on organizational commitment in the voluntary sector. This paper makes a notable contribution to the literature by empirically exploring this understudied relationship.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.