Rita S. Mano

E-mail characteristics, work performance and distress

The purpose of the study is to examine how e-mail affects work performance. E-mail communication studies have aroused both praise and query regarding the suitability, appropriateness and effectiveness of electronic messages in information management. Less is known about the effects of e-mail on work performance. We consider (1) which e-mail features affect work performance; (2) whether these features are differentially associated with positive (work effectiveness) or negative (stress and distress) side-effects; and (3) whether individual- and organizational-level characteristics are associated with positive and/or negative work performance. Using a secondary level analysis based on the Pew and American Life sample we show that extent, content, and increased volume of e-mail are (a) more frequently reported by managers than by non-managers (b) age, gender, marital status and education can become a critical issue (c) the amount of e-mail received and sent is positively related to work performance. These findings suggest that assessing the costs and benefits of electronic communication should cover individual features as well as e-mail-related features to assess their impact on work performance.

Minority status and health information search: a test of the social diversification hypothesis.

Group differences in the search of health information were investigated, to test the diversification hypothesis that argues that disadvantaged groups in society will be more likely to use the Internet and computer mediated communication to access health information to compensate for their lack of social capital. Data were gathered from a sample of Internet users representative of the percentage of minorities in the general population in Israel (n = 1371). The results provide partial support for the hypothesis, indicating that in multicultural societies disadvantaged groups show greater motivation to use the Internet to access medical information than the majority group. We interpreted our findings as suggesting that minority groups that do not have access to specialized networks use the Internet to overcome their lack of access to specialized information. Implications of the finding are discussed.

Workplace romances in cold and hot organizational climates: The experience of Israel and Taiwan

Workplace romances and their consequences have been frequently seen as undesirable for organizational performance. The goal of this study was to examine how organizations themselves influence the emergence, development and discourses of workplace romances. Using qualitative fieldwork from three organizations in Israel and four in Taiwan, we examine if and how organizational climate – cold, temperate and hot – influences the ways workplace romances are reported and narrated. We argue that these climates reflect the predominance of different types of work arrangements, notably aestheticization, performance and policy. The findings lead to the conclusion that workplace romances are more likely to become embedded in organizational discourses in hot climates where a hedonistic approach to work enhances the aestheticization of the work environment, providing work arrangements that enhance physical contact mostly outside the premises and a policy that does not punish participants. By contrast, in cold climates, romances are more likely to emerge in opposition and occasionally as a challenge to organizational impersonality and formality.

Social media and online health services

Online health information increases use of online health services.Social media sites offering consulting increase use of online health services.Positive internet usability attitudes increase use of online services.Health concerns do not precipitate use of online health services.Differences between types of social media in relation to health are addressed. This study investigates how differences in the use of online health information and social media affect the use of online health services. We attempt to predict the extent to which the use of social media and online health information prompt individuals to use online health services. We draw upon a combination of sociology and communication studies and integrate relational maintenance assumptions regarding the quality of online social relationships to promote the importance of health empowerment factors-socio-demographic characteristics, internet attitudes and health status models to predict the likelihood of using online health services. The studys sample consists of 1406 individuals using the Internet, including 633 individuals using the Internet and social media to look for health information. The studys results provide evidence that (a) online health information empowers most of the examined individuals to use online health services; (b) among all social media only those that offer consulting have a significant effect on the likelihood of using online health services. The implications of these findings support that a conceptual integration of CMC and social media use theories along with health empowerment assumptions, is a promising theoretical framework to test the effectiveness of social media use in prompting use of online health services. The practical applications for health management are highlighted as well. Finding practical and affordable ways to support the use of social media and encourage access to online health information and use of online health services could improve health literacy and self-management of health at the individual level and increase the efficiency in the provision of health services at the institutional level.

Online health information, situational effects and health changes among e-patients in Israel: A 'push/pull' perspective.

Access and use of online health information become increasingly important to health‐oriented individual that may have implication for their health and wellness. The phenomenon of e‐patients suggests that e‐patients use the internet to increase health literacy and achieve health information about diagnosis, treatments, specialists and well‐being before undergoing a health changes. Online health information may not ‘fit’ consultations with providers mainly when online source of information is trusted mainly when e‐patients express lack of satisfaction with health‐care providers. The strain between the two becomes evident when e‐patients consider health changes.

Information Technology, Adaptation and Innovation in Nonprofit Human Service Organizations

This report examines how two measures of performance—adaptation and innovation—can be predicted by the use of digital communication. It suggests that information technology in nonprofits offers strong leverage for adaptation but not for innovation. This suggests that (a) the two measures are dissimilar in both their nature and their relevance to organizational performance in nonprofit settings, (b) that service organizations are more likely to use information technology for adapting to change, and (c) it is probable that large and well-founded organizations will use IT for establishing innovations.

Performance Gaps and Change in Israeli Nonprofit Services: A Stakeholder Approach

The present study tests how differences between public and private stakeholders in definitions of performance influence organizational change in nonprofit human services. The results show that larger gaps in performance between the organization and its public stakeholders increase the probability of change, whereas more frequent reporting to the private stakeholders, but not performance gaps, results in a lower likelihood of change.

Individual and Organizational Determinants of Wage Disparities in Israel's Local Authorities

Abstract In this study I compare hypotheses derived from a resource-based view of management with those based on an institutional perspective to test whether wage levels in local authorities are more likely to reflect technical or allocative efficiency measures, the former deriving from “autonomous” revenues from private sources, the latter from policy-based allocation of resources. A focus on wage variations for 5,033 employees from 83 local authorities shows that the level of autonomous revenues lowers the wages for women and Arab employees but not for men and Jewish employees. The results suggest that local authorities use a differential wage allocation, probably indicating increased access to privatized and outsourced employee recruitment. Moreover, the results show that equal opportunity notions, presumably inherent in social policy guidelines, do not ensure interorganizational homogeneity in wages: metropolitan and larger local authorities are more likely to use technical than institutional measures of organizational success. I conclude that neoinstitutional hypotheses that focus both on the competitive and institutional aspects of governance are differentially applied in regard to wages.