Ashleigh I. Hodge, Keith L. Warren and Jessica V. Linley
– The purpose of this paper is to examine personal and social network characteristics that predict staff ratings of therapeutic community (TC) resident role model status.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine personal and social network characteristics that predict staff ratings of therapeutic community (TC) resident role model status.
Design/methodology/approach
In all, 49 incarcerated female residents tracked interactions with peers, including verbal affirmations and corrections, during a 12-hour period. Two weeks later, staff members were surveyed about their view of participants as role models. Poisson regression was used to analyze resident interactions and demographics as predictors of role model status.
Findings
The number of corrections given to peers was positively related to staff ratings of role model status (B=0.234, SE=0.088, p=0.008). The number of affirmations given was negatively related to staff ratings (B=−0.112, SE=0.051, p=0.028). Resident phase was positively related to staff ratings (B=0.256, SE=0.102, p=0.012). These values did not significantly change when controlling for affirmations and corrections received from peers, non-programmatic interactions between residents, or resident demographics.
Research limitations/implications
These results imply that TC staff judge role model status by resident actions in the community rather than demographics or peer reactions. External validity is limited by the single site, case study design, and the fact that only female TC residents were sampled.
Originality/value
This study is the first to track resident peer interactions over the course of a day and to link those interactions to role model status.
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Matthew E. Brashears and Laura Aufderheide Brashears
Balance Theory has accumulated an impressive record of empirical confirmation at both the micro- and macro-levels. Yet, it is unclear why humans consistently prefer balanced…
Abstract
Purpose
Balance Theory has accumulated an impressive record of empirical confirmation at both the micro- and macro-levels. Yet, it is unclear why humans consistently prefer balanced relations when imbalance offers the opportunity to reap material rewards. We argue that balance is preferred because it functions as a “compression heuristic,” allowing networks to be more easily encoded in, and recalled from, memory.
Methodology/approach
We present the results of a novel randomized laboratory experiment using nearly 300 subjects. We evaluate the independent and joint effects of degree of balance/imbalance and presence/absence of kin compression heuristics on network recall.
Findings
We find that memory for relationship valence is more accurate for balanced, rather than imbalanced, networks and that relationship existence and relationship valence are separable cognitive elements. We also use comparisons between kin and non-kin networks to suggest that humans are implicitly aware of the conditions under which imbalanced networks will be most durable.
Research limitations/implications
We show that the tension/strain postulated to generate mental and behavioral responses to increase balance likely stems from cognitive limitations. More broadly, this connects balance theory to models of human cognition and evolution and suggests that human general processing ability may have evolved in response to social, rather than physical, challenges.
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Antigone G. Kyrousi, Eugenia Tzoumaka and Stella Leivadi
The paper aims to explore employability in business as perceived by Generation Z (late millennials) business students and faculty. It focuses on perceptions regarding necessary…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to explore employability in business as perceived by Generation Z (late millennials) business students and faculty. It focuses on perceptions regarding necessary employability skills from the diverse standpoints of two different groups of stakeholders within one Higher Education Institution.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a Mixed Qualitative Design approach including a core and a supplementary component; Generation Z student perceptions are initially identified through a thematic analysis of students’ research reports on employability. These perceptions are then further contextualized through findings from a series of personal interviews conducted with Generation X academics in the same institution.
Findings
The findings support the two basic dimensions of perceived employability, work readiness and employability skills, for which students and educators hold similar notions. Both stakeholders distinguish between “hard” and “soft” skills, but filter their relative importance through a generational lens. An emerging finding was the link between personality traits and perceived employability skills.
Originality/value
The paper examines the much-debated issue of perceived employability through the eyes of Generation Z students; research on employability perceptions of Generation Z is, to date, limited. The topic is timely, as Generation Z is the newest generation entering the business job market. In addition, the paper adds to the emerging contemporary stream of literature exploring employability in the field of business education.
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Martyn Quigley, Charlotte Smith, Eloise Stocker and Alexander Bradley
The purpose of the current study was to examine university students' knowledge, confidence and experience of popular graduate employer selection tests.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the current study was to examine university students' knowledge, confidence and experience of popular graduate employer selection tests.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional self-report survey was administered to gather a sufficient number of quantitative responses from undergraduate students. A total of 241 students completed the survey with most of them being psychology students from Swansea University. Four key variables were examined: (1) students' experience, (2) confidence and (3) knowledge of selection tests and (4) their desire for more information about selection tests as part of their degree. An audit of selection tests used by the Times Top 100 graduate employers was also conducted.
Findings
Students tended to misjudge how often selection tests were used by employers, and generally lacked experience with these tests. Students' confidence in completing each test varied as a function of the selection test; however, prior experience with these tests positively predicted confidence. Additionally, over 70% of students reported a desire for further information about selection tests as part of their degree.
Practical implications
These novel findings suggest that students could benefit from further information about selection tests as part of their degree programme which would be of benefit to both students and universities.
Originality/value
These findings are, to the authors knowledge, the first to explicitly assess second- and third-year undergraduate students' knowledge, experience and confidence with popular graduate employer selection tests and demonstrate that students would like more information about these tests on their programme.