Uncertainty,Fairness Perceptions,and Job Satisfaction: A Field Study

Following uncertainty management theory, we argue that when people face increased uncertainty, fairness becomes more important to them and judgments of fairness affect their reactions more strongly. The organizational field study reported here examines the effects of uncertainty about performance standards and appropriate behaviors on the relationship between fairness and job satisfaction. Results reveal that uncertainty moderates the positive relationship between fairness perceptions and job satisfaction such that the more uncertain people are about performance standards and appropriate behaviors, the stronger the relationship between fairness and job satisfaction. Further results reveal a significant moderating effect of uncertainty specifically for procedural fairness and interactional fairness. We discuss the implications of our findings for the uncertainty management model.     

Whistle While You Work: Job Satisfaction and Retirement from the U.S. House

Abstract: The literature analyzing the effects of job satisfaction on congressional retirement has been inconclusive. The problem with this literature is its reliance on indirect measures of job satisfaction. We use a direct measure of job satisfaction to demonstrate that job satisfaction does have a significant independent effect on congressional retirement. The findings imply that the indirect measures of job satisfaction measure frustration as opposed to job dissatisfaction, a conceptually different variable. The fact that members' job satisfaction affects their career length suggests that a Congress that keeps its members happy will have greater retention and will, presumably, keep its best members.     

Expertise, Counterfactual Thinking, and Fairness Perceptions: A Test of Fairness Theory

While fairness theory (Folger & Cropanzano, 1998, 2001) suggests perceptions of injustice are due to accountability judgments and counterfactual thinking, few studies have examined the influence of contextual variables on counterfactual thinking and the mediating role of counterfactual thought. Further, the few studies that have examined this have resulted in mixed findings, which may be attributable to the methodology used. The present research utilized a unique approach to examine fairness theory: the double-randomized design. Study 1 showed that agent expertise is related to would and should counterfactual strength and the generation of other-attributed counterfactuals (X → M). Study 2 showed that would and should counterfactuals are related to fairness perceptions (M → Y). This study integrates previous research examining fairness theory and highlights the importance of counterfactual thoughts on fairness perceptions when a person’s level of expertise is made salient. Additional implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Work Roles,Domestic Roles,and Marital Quality: Perceptions of Fairness Among Dual-Earner Couples

Previous studies on the role of spouses' perceptions of fairness within marriage have typically dealt with the effects of those within the realm of the division of household labor. Using data from the 1993 National Survey of Families and Households, this study posits that the predominance of dual-earner couples necessitates the consideration of perceptions of fairness in both spouses' paid labor and domestic roles. Issues of fairness are shown to significantly affect husbands' and wives' evaluations of marital quality, yet these effects are limited to a noncomparative form (e.g., wives' evaluations of marital quality are not substantially affected by husbands' perceptions of unfairness). Implications of these findings for contemporary couples are discussed.     

行政听证:美国与加拿大实践的比较

加拿大广袤的疆域、丰富的资源、恶劣的气候及稀少的人口,要求有富有想象力的领导层和政府的财政资源,以解决联邦的诸多问题.因此,加拿大人将经济、社会及文化发展等重要领域的决策权授予了政府.政府则将许多此类权力授予行政裁判所.     

美国、欧盟、亚洲各国专利代理制度现状及发展研究

专利制度是激励社会创新、鼓励社会成员发明创造的最有效制度之一。随着国家和企业知识产权战略的发展完善,提供知识产权中介服务的专利律师和专利代理人的数量将会增加。本文着眼于世界发达国家的现行专利中介服务体系,通过比较研究,找准差距,看清问题,在充分借鉴外国经验的基础上,立足本国现实,提出可行的改进措施,提高我国专利中介服务的水平和能力,建立我国高效、协调的专利中介服务体系。     

Cognitive Salience of Subjugation and the Ideological Justification of U.S. Geopolitical Dominance in Japan

To explore the causal role of cognition about subjugation in the justification of the geopolitical status quo, Japanese attitudes about U.S.–Japan relations were assessed after experimentally making salient either Japan’s dominance or subjugation regarding the United States. In addition, participants completed measures of ideology, including system justification, social dominance orientation, and right-wing authoritarianism. Results demonstrated that those reminded of Japan’s geopolitical subjugation to (but not dominance over) the U.S. endorsed U.S. hegemony to the degree that system justification motivation was high. Findings suggest that (a) international hierarchies have attitudinal consequences that may be especially pronounced among those who endorse the status quo, and (b) current Japanese policy-related attitudes are influenced by the salience of U.S. hegemony in Japan.     

Measuring U.S. innovative activity: business data at the U.S. Census Bureau

Innovation is seen as a source of strength and vitality in the U.S. economy. Better measures of innovative activity—including but not limited to innovation alone—could improve what we know about the sources of productivity and economic growth. The U.S. Census Bureau collects data on some measures of innovative activity that research shows affect economic performance. But understanding how the effects work requires more than just measures of innovative activity. It also requires solid statistical information about core measures of the economy so we can rule out the possibility that a measure of innovative activity merely proxies for something omitted from or measured poorly in the core data. Gaps in core measures can be filled by better integrating existing data and by more structured collections of new data. Versions of this paper were presented at the NSF/SRS Workshop, Advancing Measures of Innovation: Knowledge Flows, Business Metrics, and Measurement Strategies, Arlington VA, June 6–7, 2006, and circulated to the Advisory Committee on Measuring Innovation in the 21st Century Economy, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. This paper is unofficial and thus has not undergone the review accorded to official Census Bureau publications. Lucia Foster, Ron Jarmin, Jeffrey Mayer, Thomas Mesenbourg, and Daniel Weinberg, and the editors made valuable comments. However, the views expressed in the paper are those of the author and not necessarily those of the U.S. Census Bureau.     

Family Group Conferencing Comes to the U.S.: A Comparison with Victim-Offender Mediation

A boy hesitantly appears in the doorway to a meeting room. A large man wearing a name tag greets him thoughtfully and points out where he should sit in the horseshoe of chairs in the room. The boy crosses the room, picks his name tag up off the chair, puts it on crookedly, and sits down. On his face apprehension alternates with bravado. As his mother and sister, done with hanging their coats, enter the room the boy begins to fidget quietly. The large man greets them and points out their places in the horseshoe of chairs; they find their name tags on their chairs and sit down on either side of the boy. Other people that the boy and his family are close to appear in the doorway, are greeted, and move to their seats farther down the arch of the horseshoe: his grandfather and cousin, his basketball coach, his school social worker, an elderly neighbor, and a member of his mother's church. Their faces, and those of his mother and sister, betray various emotions; grim calm, hopefulness, solemnity, foreboding, sadness, and quiet interest. When they are seated, the chairs on one side of the horseshoe arch are full. The investigating officer enters, and sits at the apex of the arch. When they are all seated, the large man leaves the room and comes back with a group of people who have been waiting in a nearby room. The boy's victim enters the room first; she is a small, white-haired woman who shakes a little as she crosses the room and sits in a chair directly across the horseshoe from the boy. The boy glances quickly at her and then looks down and away to avoid her eyes. On her face, anxiety is swiftly replaced by surprise, relief, and then anger as she openly studies the boy across from her. Her daughter, a middleaged woman, sits down on one side of her, and her teenaged grandson takes his place on the other side of the victim. The older woman's minister, two elderly women neighbors, and a middle-aged male friend find their name tags on chairs further down the horseshoe's arch. When they sit down they fill the last vacancies in the horseshoe of chairs. The large man who greeted them all takes his place on a chair at the open end of the horseshoe. He is the conference coordinator and the only one with whom every person present has spoken about this meeting. He smiles quietly, looks around the circle of faces, clears his throat, and begins the family group conference.     

美国检察制度溯源与发展

美国检察制度及相关法律繁杂,相关成文法会同判例法及行业规范,相互交错,深刻影响着美国检察制度的发展与变革,其经验与教训为各国检察制度改革提供难得的学习与借鉴模板。在科学与务实批判的基础之上,美国检察制度中某些合理的内核、理念与制度有可能为我所用;而其中出现的一些问题,亦可成为我国检察制度改革的前车之鉴。     

应对竞争的抗辩:美国和欧共体反价格歧视法的比较与借鉴

价格歧视属于企业价格决策的一种,而价格决策很大程度上受制于企业所处的竞争地位和竞争环境.而价格歧视又是竞争法规范的对象.为了将与竞争法目标相容的和不相容的价格歧视区别出来,除了其他规则之外,美国和欧共体的竞争法还确立了应对竞争的抗辩,被控方可据此推翻指控.比较美国和欧共体竞争法中的有关规则,分析两者在这一问题上的相同点和不同之处,针对我国未来反垄断立法中的禁止价格歧视条款,提出具体的建议.     

Understanding Perceptions of Racism in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: The Roles of System and Group Justification

The present study examined perceptions of racism in events that occurred during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina among a community sample of New Orleans area residents. Drawing on system justification theory, we examined system justification motives (i.e., meritocracy beliefs) and group justification motives (i.e., group identity) as predictors of perceptions of racism among African Americans and European Americans. Compared to African Americans, European Americans perceived much lower levels of racism in Katrina-related events. Furthermore, meritocracy beliefs were negatively related to perceptions of racism among both African Americans and European Americans. However, private regard (a component of group identity) was positively related to perceptions of racism among African Americans, but negatively related to perceptions of racism among European Americans. The results suggest that both system and group justification motives independently predict perceptions of racism in an important real-world event. Furthermore, system and group justification motives appear to operate in opposition for African Americans, but in tandem for European Americans.     

“同源分流”与“殊途同归”——英美法律教育发展路向之比较

英国和美国都具有学徒制法律职业教育的传统,但是在本国法律文化和社会实际的影响下,英国和美国的法律教育后来又采取了不同的具体模式。虽然具体形式不同,但英美法律教育都最终走上了学术性与实践性相结合的道路。但是,单就法学院本身而言,英国和美国的法学院法律教育还存在性质、地位和教学等方面的巨大差异。     

Where and When to Spank: A Comparison Between U.S. and Japanese College Students

Although physical punishment has been studied for decades, there are gaps in the literature regarding frequently used form, context, and cross cultural differences. A comparison was made using 227 college students in the United States and Japan, who were presented with four scenarios and surveyed regarding attitudes toward physical punishment, perceptions of appropriate discipline methods, and past experience with physical punishment. Japanese and U.S. respondents reported similar personal experience with physical punishment (Japanese 86%, U.S. 91%). However, U.S. respondents reported a higher likelihood of being hit with an object than did Japanese respondents. For U.S. respondents, the bottom and the hand were the top two sites on the body used for physical punishment, whereas the head and the face were the top two places for the Japanese sample. Unlike U.S. respondents, type of child misbehavior was found to have an impact on Japanese respondents’ views on the appropriate discipline method.     

Beyond the Overall Balance: The Significance of Particular Tasks and Procedures for Perceptions of Fairness in Distributions of Household Work

This paper outlines an approach to perceptions of fairness that extends beyond the usual emphasis on the overall balance of what each person does. The emphasis falls instead on perceptions of fairness associated with particular tasks and particular procedures (ways of achieving a task division or a redistribution of tasks). The approach is illustrated by the summarized results of a series of studies. Results are discussed in terms of research questions that might now be taken further and in terms of expectations that appear to underlie perceptions of fairness: in particular, ideas about the ownership of tasks and about behaviors appropriate in family relationships.     

A comparison of educational processes at similar U. K. and U. S. institutions of higher learning

The structure and organization of the middle tier of higher education in similar institutions in the U. K. and U. S. are compared to draw conclusions on the effect which differences and similarities have upon the quality of the educational process, its cost-effectiveness, student independence and maturity, faculty load, relationships with business, industry and government.     

美国纠纷解决的体制机制及其借鉴意义

美国纠纷解决体制机制具有几个突出特点:机构设置较健全;行政机关是解决纠纷的重要渠道;调解是解决纠纷的主要方式;程序规范工作人员廉洁自律。我们应当借鉴美国经验,完善纠纷解决体制机制,健全我国的行政调解,加强行政程序制度建设,完善公务员、事业单位人事争议解决的法律规定、体制和机制。     

美国商业方法 专利制度正当性分析

1998年,美国联邦巡回上诉法院(CAFC)就“StateStreet Bank Trust Co.v.Singature Financial GroupCo.”(以下简称“State Street Bank”案)一案做出判决,肯认了商业方法的可专利性,由此引发了学界对于商业方法专利的关注。 (一)“State Street Bank”案 与商业方法是可专利主题 该案被告拥有美国专利第5793106号专利,即“轴幅式金融服务配置资料处理系统”(Data Processing forHub and Spoke Financial Services Configuration)专利。该专利的用途在于管理与计算由数个共同基金所组成的合伙关系。由于该发明所涉及的计算十分复杂,因此必须通过电脑等设备完成。在专利授权书中,该电脑被描述