Abusive Supervision and Supervisor-Directed Deviance: A Social Network Approach

Supervisor-directed deviance is a well-established consequence of abusive supervision. However, prior accounts of the abuse–deviance relationship have overlooked the role played by power embedded in subordinates’ informal social context. To address this gap, we draw on power-dependence theory and use a social network approach to explain the link between abusive supervision and supervisor-directed deviance. In doing so, we propose a three-way interaction in which the abuse–deviance relationship is impacted by two components of informal power: subordinate social network centrality and subordinate influence. In particular, we propose that the relationship will be the strongest when subordinates have high betweenness centrality and high influence. We gathered full social network data, as well as self-report surveys from 272 primary school teachers and government contract workers in Northern China. Our results provide support for the notion that supervisor-directed deviance emerges most strongly as a consequence of abusive supervision for employees who wield informal power in their organization.

Linking Parasitism to Network Centrality and the Impact of Sampling Bias in its Interpretation

Group living is beneficial for individuals, but also comes with costs. One such cost is the increased possibility of pathogen transmission, because increased numbers or frequencies of social contacts is often associated with increased parasite abundance or diversity. The social structure of a group or population has been shown to be paramount to patterns of infection and transmission. Yet, for various reasons, studies investigating the social transmission of parasites in animals, and especially in primates, have only taken into account parts of the group (e.g., only adults or even only adult females), which is likely to impact the interpretation of any results linking sociality and parasitism. Here, we investigated the relationship between social network centrality and an estimate of gastrointestinal helminth infection intensity in a complete group of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). We then tested the impact of missing parts of the group on this relationship. We aimed to test: (1) whether social network centrality - the number of partners (degree), frequency of interactions (strength) and level of social integration (eigenvector) - was linked to parasite infection intensity; and, (2) to what extent excluding all or portions of individuals within the group from the analyses might influence the observed relationship. We conducted social network analysis on data collected from one complete group of Japanese macaques over two months on Koshima Island, Japan, to relate metrics of network centrality to an index of parasite infection intensity (eggs per gram of feces: EPG). We then ran a series of knock-out simulations to test the effect(s) of accounting only for certain age-sex classes on the observed relationship. General linear mixed models showed that, in the complete network, centrality was positively associated with infection by the examined geohelminths (Oesophagostomum aculeatum, Trichuris trichiura and Strongyloides fuelleborni), but in partial networks with only adult females, only juveniles, or random subsets of the group, the strength of this relationship - albeit still positive - lost statistical significance. Our study indicates that sampling bias can impact the relationship that is observed between social interaction and parasitism. In addition to supporting earlier results linking geohelminths to Japanese macaque social networks, this work introduces important methodological considerations for research into the dynamics of social transmission, with applications to infectious disease epidemiology, population management, and health interventions.

CEO network centrality and corporate social responsibility

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of a chief executive officer (CEO) social network centrality on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. Design/methodology/approach This study carries out a multivariate linear regression analysis on a panel data sample of 11,507 firm-year observations (representing 1,386 unique US firms) from 2004 to 2014. Findings This paper finds a significant negative relation between CEO network centrality and irresponsible CSR performance (measured as CSR concerns). The findings suggest that better-connected CEOs can better mitigate CSR concerns or weaknesses, leading to improved overall CSR performance of a firm. Originality/value This is the first study that directly examines the empirical link between CEO centrality and CSR performance.

Identifying Influential Users in Twitter Networks of the Turkish Diaspora in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany

This study investigates how members of the Turkish diaspora connected online using Twitter as a social medium during the Gezi Park protests and how those connections and the structure of the resulting Twitter network changed after the protests ended. Further, the authors examine respondents' online influence and their roles in the movement, using social network centrality measures and Tommasel and Godoy's (2015) novel metric. The authors utilize data from Twitter to determine the connections between 307 distinct users, using both online and offline surveys. The findings reveal that Turkish diaspora members' use of Twitter provided the impetus for larger structural changes to the Twitter network. Moreover, results indicate that users' influence was not related to the frequency of their re-tweets or the number of their Twitter followers. Rather, users' influence corresponds to other factors such as their ability to spread information and engage with other users and also to the importance of their Twitter content.

Mobility, Out-of-Home Activity Participation and Needs Fulfilment in Later Life

Using nationally representative survey of 4723 people aged 67 or older living in Norway, this paper explores the link between wellbeing, out-of-home activity participation and mobility in old age. A basic assumption of this paper is that out-home activities mediated through mobility can contribute to needs fulfillment, and, hence, wellbeing. This study explores the role of preferences, and individual and contextual constraints, in both the overall level of out-of-home activity participation in old age and the level of participation in three specific out-of-home activities (grocery shopping, visiting family or friends, and attending cultural activities). A person’s degree of home orientation is used as an indicator of preference for indoor activities. The findings suggest that age, living status, income, education, holding a driving license, health, social network, centrality of residence, and the quality of the public transport supply have a significant impact on the overall participation level. In addition, the study suggests that the types of constraints vary between travel purposes and the location of activities. Moreover, there is an independent effect of the degree of home orientation on the overall participation level, on the degree of visits to family and friends and on the degree of attending cultural activities, which suggest that people differ in their need for out-of-home activities. However, degree of home orientation has no impact on the degree of grocery shopping, which might imply that grocery shopping is more independent of preferences. The main conclusion from this study is that the extent to which out-of-home activities fulfill needs vary between individuals, depending on their preferences as well as the interplay between individual abilities and resources and contextual conditions.