Pedro I. Leiva

Landscape components, land use, and neighborhood satisfaction

Neighborhood satisfaction is an important component of life satisfaction. As a contributor to life satisfaction, neighborhood satisfaction is influenced by individual and household background variables. However, there is limited understanding of how physical environments influence neighborhood satisfaction. This paper examines the effect of landscape components (structures, pavement, trees) and land use (residential, commercial, and open space) on neighborhood satisfaction. A survey of 276 respondents in College Station, Texas, was georeferenced and analyzed with landscape components and land-use GIS data. A structural equation model (SEM) examines the relationships among background variables, land use, landscape components, and neighborhood satisfaction simultaneously. Landscape components and land use were both found to play an important role in neighborhood satisfaction. Trees were found to have a positive effect on neighborhood satisfaction while structures were negative. Pavement, when commercial land use and structures in the SEM model were accounted for, shows a positive relationship with neighborhood satisfaction, suggesting that not all pavement is seen as undesirable. Commercial land use was also found to have a negative effect on neighborhood satisfaction, while background variables have no significant impact. The amount and arrangement of land uses and landscape components in neighborhoods may improve the well-being of residents by increasing their neighborhood satisfaction.

Enhancing Entrepreneurship: The Role of Goal Orientation and Self-Efficacy:

Entrepreneurship has become increasingly important in the workplace. Research suggests motivational traits are important in pursuing entrepreneurial activities. Yet, the extent to which factors influencing entrepreneurial versus managerial goals differ remains unclear. This study assessed the influence of goal orientation and self-efficacy in predicting entrepreneurial and managerial career anchors development. Data from 158 college students indicated learning goal orientation (LGO) and performance-prove goal orientation (PPGO) predicted entrepreneurial career anchors when coupled with high self-efficacy. For managerial goals, self-efficacy did not influence these relationships. Findings suggest providing opportunities for increased self-efficacy and adaptive goal orientations may affect entrepreneurial development.

Negative Core Affect and Employee Silence: How Differences in Activation, Cognitive Rumination, and Problem-Solving Demands Matter

Employees can help to improve organizational performance by sharing ideas, suggestions, or concerns about practices, but sometimes they keep silent because of the experience of negative affect. Drawing and expanding on this stream of research, this article builds a theoretical rationale based on core affect and cognitive appraisal theories to describe how differences in affect activation and boundary conditions associated with cognitive rumination and cognitive problem-solving demands can explain employee silence. Results of a diary study conducted with professionals from diverse organizations indicated that within-person low-activated negative core affect increased employee silence when, as an invariant factor, cognitive rumination was high. Furthermore, within-person high-activated negative core affect decreased employee silence when, as an invariant factor, cognitive problem-solving demand was high. Thus, organizations should manage conditions to reduce experiences of low-activated negative core affect because these feelings increase silence in individuals high in rumination. In turn, effective management of experiences of high-activated negative core affect can reduce silence for individuals working under high problem-solving demand situations.

An Empirical Test of an Innovation Implementation Model

Although innovation implementation success has become a survival issue for organizations given todays turbulent economic environment, it remains unclear which variables make the implementation of an innovation successful. The authors tested a model for innovation implementation that highlights the role of attitudes toward change. They proposed manager and supervisor expectations and supervisor support, as well as personnel value-fit with the project and personnel expectations, as critical antecedents for innovation implementation success. On the basis of data from 65 innovation projects, the authors found that congruence between manager and supervisor expectations and supervisor support significantly predicted innovation implementation success. Even though there was a significant relationship between the perceived value-fit employees had with the innovation purpose and the subsequent expectations they had for the innovation when the project started, neither of these variables significantly predicted the ...

How mass layoffs are related to lower job performance and OCB among surviving employees in Chile: an investigation of the essential role of psychological contract

Abstract This study aimed to investigate how mass layoffs impact surviving employees in organizations. More specifically, this study ascertained the relationships between mass layoffs and employee work behaviors. It was theorized that mass layoffs will be negatively related to employee performance and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) through its relationships with job insecurity and psychological contract breach. Moreover, it was expected that perceived manager support would buffer against the negative relations of contract breach with employee performance and OCB. A study among 615 employees in multiple Chilean organizations showed support for the hypotheses: job insecurity and psychological contract breach mediated the relationships between mass layoffs and employee performance and OCB. We also found moderating relationships of manager support, but the relations of breach with performance and OCB were particularly negative when manager support was high, indicating feelings of betrayal among high-support employees in response to contract breach. Moreover, the relation of contract breach with performance was positive for low-support employees, and non-significant for high-support employees. Our study advances understanding of the processes underlying how mass layoffs influence employee behavior in the workplace, through introducing the psychological contract as a way of understanding the relationships.

The Role of Narcissism and Should Counterfactual Thinking in the Hindsight Bias

Personnel selection decisions can lead to favorable outcomes, such as when a hired individual is successful, or unfavorable outcomes, such as when the hired individual underperforms in the workplac...