The relationship between job stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intention in childcare teachers: a conditional direct and indirect effect of gratitude

Introduction. In Korea, 25.7% of all teachers at daycare centers resigned in 2018. Turnover of childcare teachers leads to decreased quality of childcare services, so this issue merits academic interest and government measures. The purpose of this study was to examine the conditional direct and indirect effects of gratitude in relation to job stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intention of childcare teachers so that countermeasures can be prepared to reduce turnover intention. Study participants and methods. The participants of the survey were childcare teachers working in daycare centers in Korea, and regarding age, the majority were in their 40s (49.1%), followed in order by those in their 30s or younger (38.6%) and those in their 50s or older (12.3%). In terms of the marital statuses of the participants, 78.6% were married, while in terms of education, college graduates accounted for the largest group at 61.8%. The data were analyzed using SPSS Win. 25 and the PROCESS macro 3.5. The following statistical techniques were applied: descriptive statistical analysis, reliability analysis, mean comparison analysis, and moderated mediation effect analysis. The bootstrap method was used to analyze the moderated mediation effects, and bootstrapping was assigned as 5,000 samples and a 95% confidence interval, and the independent variables, mediating variables, and moderating variables were averaged. Results. First, Pearson's correlation analysis indicated that there was a significant correlation between job stress, job satisfaction, gratitude, and turnover intention. Turnover intention and job satisfaction showed the highest negative correlation coefficient (r=-.528, p<.01). Second, job satisfaction mediated the link between job stress and turnover intention. Third, the conditional effect of gratitude on the link between job stress and turnover intention was significant when gratitude was low and average, and the effect of job stress decreased when gratitude increased. Fourth, the conditional effect of gratitude on the link between job satisfaction and turnover was significant when gratitude was low, average, and high, and the effect of job satisfaction decreased when gratitude increased. Fifth, the conditional indirect effect of job stress → job satisfaction → turnover intention was significant when gratitude was low (M-1SD), average (M), and high (M+1SD). Altogether, the results verified the moderated mediation effect of gratitude. Practical significance. This study examined the mediating effect of job satisfaction and the moderating effect of gratitude in the relationship between job stress and turnover intention. This study provides basic data that can be used for program development as well as the creation of policies that can reduce turnover intention in childcare settings.

Meat price volatility as implications for food security in Indonesia

Indonesian meat consumption has 40 percent deficit which was covered by importing. Meat price in international market tend to fluctuate. The gap between domestic demand and supply meat also the imported price fluctuation causes instability of domestic price. This research is conducted to analyze the volatility of meat price which implicated to food security in Indonesia. ARCH-GARCH model is used to estimate meat price volatility in Indonesia. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller and cointegration test have been used for testing the presence of unit root and cointegration in the series. Langrange multiplier has been utilized to detect the presence of autoregressive conditional effect. Daily meat prices used are national average price which obtained from the Indonesia Ministry of Trade. This study reveals that meat price in Indonesia has high volatility with increasing price over the research period. The empirical model also shows asymetry effect. The results recommend that Indonesia should apply comprehensive managed import such as not only import on fresh meat and ready to cut bovine but also on breeding bovine. By the fulfilling production and stock, meat price can be more stable. By the price stabilization, food security concept will be reached so that every layer society can consume meat.

Pet Attachment and the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide

Background: Pet ownership is often assumed to have mental health benefits, but the effect of pets on suicide risk has a scant literature. Aims: Using the interpersonal theory of suicide, we examined the relationships between perceived burdensomeness (PB), thwarted belongingness (TB), overall attachment to one's pet, pet attachment avoidance or anxiety, and suicide risk. The following three hypotheses were investigated: (1) Higher attachment would be indirectly associated with lower suicide risk via lower TB and lower PB; (2) attachment would be associated with higher suicide risk, as conditioned on attachment avoidance/anxiety; and (3) attachment avoidance/anxiety would be associated with higher suicide risk via higher TB/PB. Method: Undergraduates ( N = 187) completed surveys, and indirect effect and conditional effect analyses were utilized. Results: Overall attachment was associated with lower PB, which was associated with lower suicide risk. The relationship between overall attachment and suicide risk was not conditional upon attachment anxiety/avoidance. Attachment avoidance was associated with increased levels of TB, which was associated with increased suicide risk. Attachment anxiety was associated with increased suicide risk via TB and PB. Limitations: We used a university sample that had limited access to pets. Conclusions: Findings suggest that pet ownership may provide mixed associations with suicide risk.

First-mover advantages and innovation success: a contingency approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose an overarching unifying theory where first-mover advantages are a conditional effect, not a main effect. By offering a closer look at how the firm, market and product characteristics influence the supply and demand of innovations, this research furthers our understanding of the advantages and disadvantages for first movers. Design/methodology/approach This paper explores first-mover advantages as a conditional effect. Adopting a contingency perspective, the authors review the literature in marketing, strategic management, innovation and entrepreneurship to offer a conceptual framework putting innovation success at the core of first-mover advantages. The authors develop an inventory of propositions specifying how first-mover advantages depend on various firm features, market characteristics and product properties through their effects on the success of innovations. Findings A conceptual framework centered around innovation success yields testable hypotheses that are coherent with extant research on first-mover advantages and reconcile the seemingly contradictory evidence in that body of work. Practical implications This research provides managers with the opportunity to think about one of the most important decisions, i.e. time of entry, not as a linear finite decision, but instead as a flow with the innovations and potential for their success in mind. Originality/value This paper distinguishes itself from the existing literature with its focus on innovation within a contingency perspective for first-mover advantages.

Trust Dynamics and Verbal Assurances in Human Robot Physical Collaboration

Trust is the foundation of successful human collaboration. This has also been found to be true for human-robot collaboration, where trust has also influence on over- and under-reliance issues. Correspondingly, the study of trust in robots is usually concerned with the detection of the current level of the human collaborator trust, aiming at keeping it within certain limits to avoid undesired consequences, which is known as trust calibration. However, while there is intensive research on human-robot trust, there is a lack of knowledge about the factors that affect it in synchronous and co-located teamwork. Particularly, there is hardly any knowledge about how these factors impact the dynamics of trust during the collaboration. These factors along with trust evolvement characteristics are prerequisites for a computational model that allows robots to adapt their behavior dynamically based on the current human trust level, which in turn is needed to enable a dynamic and spontaneous cooperation. To address this, we conducted a two-phase lab experiment in a mixed-reality environment, in which thirty-two participants collaborated with a virtual CoBot on disassembling traction batteries in a recycling context. In the first phase, we explored the (dynamics of) relevant trust factors during physical human-robot collaboration. In the second phase, we investigated the impact of robot’s reliability and feedback on human trust in robots. Results manifest stronger trust dynamics while dissipating than while accumulating and highlight different relevant factors as more interactions occur. Besides, the factors that show relevance as trust accumulates differ from those appear as trust dissipates. We detected four factors while trust accumulates (perceived reliability, perceived dependability, perceived predictability, and faith) which do not appear while it dissipates. This points to an interesting conclusion that depending on the stage of the collaboration and the direction of trust evolvement, different factors might shape trust. Further, the robot’s feedback accuracy has a conditional effect on trust depending on the robot’s reliability level. It preserves human trust when a failure is expected but does not affect it when the robot works reliably. This provides a hint to designers on when assurances are necessary and when they are redundant.

Promoting Effects of Abilities While Enhancing Probability of College-Success: A Moderation Role of Higher Education

Studies revealed that college readiness promotes college success and higher education student learning outcomes. This study opted to 1) analyze the total effect and the conditional effect of college readiness on college success by university generations and departments; 2) analyze the differences in the probability of college success across departments and university generations; 3) describe the quality of university generations in terms of the conditional effects and the probabilities of college success. The study is an ex post facto research. The Ethiopian 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation universities; and the Ethiopian National Assessment and Evaluation Agency officers were the population of the study. The total sample size was 551. The Ethiopian General Education School Leaving Certificate Examination Grade Point Average, the Ethiopian Higher Education Entrance Examination score, and the College Cumulative Grade Point Average of the students were sources of the data. Using the Process Procedure for Software Package for Social Sciences, the binomial logistic regression was conducted. Maintaining the highest total conditional effect of college readiness on college success while heightening the probability of college success at a value of college readiness has been interpreted as a trait of the high performing university generation.

Domestic and international climate policies: complementarity or disparity?

Climate change is a global crisis that requires countries to act on both domestic and international levels. This paper examines how climate policies in these two arenas are related and to what extent domestic and international climate ambitions are complementary or disparate. While scholarly work has begun to assess the variation in overall climate policy ambition, only a few studies to date have tried to explain whether internationally ambitious countries are ambitious at home and vice versa. According to the common view, countries that are more ambitious at home can also be expected to be more ambitious abroad. Many scholars, however, portray the relationship instead as disparate, whereby countries need to walk a tightrope between the demands of their domestic constituencies on the one hand and international pressures on the other, while preferring the former over the latter. This study uses quantitative methods and employs data from the OECD DAC dataset on climate finance to measure international climate ambitions. Overall, the present work makes two major contributions. First, it provides evidence that international climate financing ambition is complementary to domestic climate ambition. Second, the article identifies the conditional effect of domestic ambition—with regard to responsibility, vulnerability, carbon-intensive industry and economic capacity—on international climate ambition.

To Partner with Human or Robot? Designing Service Coproduction Processes for Willingness to Pay More

Across two studies, this research presents a novel extension to the service coproduction literature, demonstrating when and why consumers with low- versus high-innovativeness tendencies are willing to pay more to coproduce hospitality and tourism services. Findings suggest that, in in-person coproduction settings, low-innovativeness consumers are willing to pay more to coproduce (vs. not) with human employees, while high-innovativeness consumers are willing to pay more to coproduce (vs. not) with robots. Such effects were attenuated in tech-enabled remote coproduction settings, where only high-innovativeness consumers were willing to pay more to coproduce. PROCESS analyses further revealed that self-competence mediated the conditional effect of coproduction involvement on willingness to pay more. In support of our theoretical framework, we demonstrated that lowering the challenging level of the coproduction task increased (decreased) low- (high-) innovativeness consumers’ willingness to pay more for coproduction involvement. These findings offer notable theoretical and managerial implications.

Undergraduate Students’ Entrepreneurial Attitude and Self-employment Intentions

Purpose – the study aimed at determining the interactive effect of entrepreneurial attitude and self-efficacy on students’ self-employment intentions. Design/ methodology – to attain the purpose of the study, cross-sectional and explanatory research designs were employed. Systematic sampling technique was utilized to collect data from a sample of 458 undergraduate finalists from Makerere and Kyambogo Universities in Uganda. Data were analyzed using Hayes (2018) Process macro version 3.2 (Model 1) with the help of SPSS version 23 Results – the study indicates that entrepreneurial attitude and self-efficacy significantly and positively influence self-employment intentions. Further, a negative and significant conditional effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the relationship between entrepreneurial attitude and self-employment intentions was established. Implications – theoretically, the study contributes to the extant literature by providing new insights on the interactive effect of entrepreneurial attitude and self-efficacy on students’ self-employment intentions. We also provide practical implications to educators, curriculum developers, and university management in developing appropriate training tools for students driven by first ascertaining their levels of self-efficacy. Originality/value – The study provides new insights on the conditional effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the relationship between entrepreneurial attitude and self-employment intentions.