Achieving desired images while avoiding undesired images: Exploring the role of self-monitoring in impression management.

A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that high self-monitors more effectively manage impressions than low self-monitors do. Students in work groups indicated the extent to which they used 5 impression-management tactics over the course of a semester-long project. At the project's conclusion, students provided their perceptions of the other members of their group. The relationship between impression management and image favorability was then examined across 339 student-student dyads. The results generally suggest that high self-monitors can use impression-management tactics more effectively than can low self-monitors. In particular, high self-monitors appear to be more adept than low self-monitors at using ingratiation, self-promotion, and exemplification to achieve favorable images among their colleagues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Heterogeneity and low detection rate of RET mutations in Hirschsprung disease

Mutations in some exons of the RET proto-oncogene were recently observed in Hirschsprung patients. Using DNA polymorphisms and single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis for the whole coding sequence of the RET proto-oncogene, 82 unrelated Hirschsprung patients were screened systematically. A total of 4 complete deletions of RET and 12 point mutations were identified, each present in no more than one patient and distributed along the whole gene. De novo mutations could be documented in 4 patients. Southern blot and fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis carried out in a restricted number of patients did not reveal any deletion of RET. The low efficiency in detecting mutations of RET in Hirschsprung patients (20%) may originate mainly from genetic heterogeneity.     

The Personal Costs of Citizenship Behavior: The Relationship Between Individual Initiative and Role Overload, Job Stress, and Work-Family Conflict.

By and large, prior research has focused on the positive aspects of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). D. W. Organ and K. Ryan (1995), though, suggest that individuals who engage in high levels of OCB may become overloaded. This research explores the relationship between a specific type of OCB--namely, individual initiative--and role overload, job stress, and work-family conflict. Results from a sample of 98 couples indicate that higher levels of individual initiative (as assessed by the spouse or significant other) are associated with higher levels of employee role overload, job stress, and work-family conflict. The findings also suggest that the relationship between individual initiative and work-family conflict is moderated by gender, such that the relationship is stronger among women than among men. Some implications of this work and directions for future research are discussed as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Too engaged? A conservation of resources view of the relationship between work engagement and work interference with family.

In a number of studies, researchers interested in positive organizational behavior have sought to better understand the favorable aspects of work engagement—a pervasive state of emotional attachment and motivation toward work. In this study, however, we investigate a potentially negative outcome of engagement. Drawing upon conservation of resources theory, we hypothesize that engagement will be associated with higher work interference with family due to the resources engaged employees may expend when they engage in extrarole work behavior such as organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). We further propose that conscientiousness, as a personal resource, serves to buffer the relationship between OCB and work interference with family. Examining multisource data, collected at multiple points in time, from 3 diverse samples (total N = 844), we find that state engagement is associated with higher levels of work interference with family and that this relationship is mediated by the performance of OCBs. The findings also indicate that engaged employees who are highly conscientious experience lower levels of work interference with family than engaged employees who are less conscientious. The implications of our study and directions for future research are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)