scholarly journals Soil microbes drive phylogenetic diversity-productivity relationships in a subtropical forest

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. eaax5088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minxia Liang ◽  
Xubing Liu ◽  
Ingrid M. Parker ◽  
David Johnson ◽  
Yi Zheng ◽  
...  

The relationship between plant diversity and productivity and the mechanisms underpinning that relationship remain poorly resolved in species-rich forests. We combined extensive field observations and experimental manipulations in a subtropical forest to test how species richness (SR) and phylogenetic diversity (PD) interact with putative root-associated pathogens and how these interactions mediate diversity-productivity relationships. We show that (i) both SR and PD were positively correlated with biomass for both adult trees and seedlings across multiple spatial scales, but productivity was best predicted by PD; (ii) significant positive relationships between PD and productivity were observed in nonsterile soil only; and (iii) root fungal diversity was positively correlated with plant PD and SR, while the relative abundance of putative pathogens was negatively related to plant PD. Our findings highlight the key role of soil pathogenic fungi in tree diversity-productivity relationships and suggest that increasing PD may counteract negative effects of plant-soil feedback.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Pellegata ◽  
Vincenzo Memoli

Existing literature has analysed the relationship between electoral systems and either corruption or satisfaction with democracy (SWD) focussing on the traditional distinction between majoritarian and proportional systems. This paper, instead, investigates if and how specific aspects of electoral systems moderate the negative effects of corruption perceptions on SWD. We argue that two mechanisms act simultaneously but at different levels. The first mechanism is the relationship between voters and the national government, while the second links single representatives to their constituents. We advance conditional hypotheses that postulate an attenuating effect of disproportionality and a reinforcing impact of personal vote. Empirical results from 35 elections in 33 democracies, using both individual and aggregate-level data, confirm the research hypotheses. More disproportional electoral systems weaken the impact of citizens’ perceived corruption on their democratic satisfaction, while this is strengthened by systems in which the ballot control is mostly in the hand of the voters.


2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joana Kuntz ◽  
Philippa Connell ◽  
Katharina Näswall

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the independent and joint effects of regulatory focus (promotion and prevention) on the relationship between workplace resources (support and feedback) and employee resilience. It proposed that, at high levels of resource availability, a high promotion-high prevention profile would elicit the highest levels of employee resilience. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was completed by 162 white collar employees from four organisations. In addition to the main effects, two- and three-way interactions were examined to test hypotheses. Findings Promotion focus was positively associated with employee resilience, and though the relationship between prevention focus and resilience was non-significant, both regulatory foci buffered against the negative effects of low resources. Employees with high promotion-high prevention focus displayed the highest levels of resilience, especially at high levels of feedback. Conversely, the resilience of low promotion-low prevention individuals was susceptible to feedback availability. Practical implications Employee resilience development and demonstration are contingent not only on resources, but also on psychological processes, particularly regulatory focus. Organisations will develop resilience to the extent that they provide workplace resources, and, importantly, stimulate both promotion and prevention perspectives on resource management. Originality/value This study extends the research on regulatory focus theory by testing the joint effects of promotion and prevention foci on workplace resources, and the relationship between regulatory foci and employee resilience.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manting Deng ◽  
Hefu Liu ◽  
Qian Huang ◽  
Guanqi Ding

PurposeOrganisations have widely adopted enterprise social media (ESM) to improve employees' task performance. This study aims to explore the mediating role of perceived task structure on the relationship between ESM usage and employee task performance. The authors investigate the moderating effects of perceived team diversity on the relationship between ESM usage and perceived task structure.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a questionnaire survey in China on 251 working professionals who use social media in their respective organisations.FindingsResults showed that employees' perception of task structure considerably mediates the relationship between ESM usage and task performance. Findings also confirmed that perceived team diversity negatively affects the relationship between ESM usage and perceived task interdependence.Research limitations/implicationsPractitioners and/or managers should pay attention to the effect of ESM usage on employee's perceived task structure. Furthermore, they should focus on the level of team diversity when adopting ESM to enhance task performance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the knowledge of perceived task structure in explaining the effect of ESM usage on task performance based on communication visibility theory. This work presents the relationship among ESM usage, perceived task structure, perceived team diversity and task performance. Moreover, this research enriches the literature on ESM usage by investigating the moderating roles of perceived team diversity whilst presenting the negative effects of perceived team diversity.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402110615
Author(s):  
Viktoria Maria Baumeister ◽  
Leonie Petra Kuen ◽  
Maike Bruckes ◽  
Gerhard Schewe

An understanding of the overall relationship between the work-related use of information and communication technology (ICT) and employees’ well-being is lacking as the rising number of studies has produced mixed results. We meta-analytically synthesize and integrate existing literature on the consequences of ICT use based on the job demands-resources model. By using meta-analytical structural equation modeling based on 63 independent studies ( N = 26,295), we shed light on the relationship between ICT use and employees’ well-being (operationalized as burnout and engagement) in a model that incorporates the mediating role of ICT-related resources and demands. Results show that ICT use is opposingly related to burnout and engagement through autonomy, availability, and work-life conflict. Our study brings clarity into the contradictory results and highlights the importance of a simultaneous consideration of both positive and negative effects for a comprehensive understanding of the relationship. We further show that the time of use and managerial position, and methodological moderators can clarify heterogeneity in previous results.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Fontal ◽  
Menno J. Bouma ◽  
Adrià San José ◽  
Mercedes Pascual ◽  
Xavier Rodó

The role of climate in the population dynamics of COVID-19 remains poorly understood, and a true seasonal signature has remained elusive. Data from both hemispheres and the second wave provide opportunities to further examine climatic drivers. With a statistical method designed to detect transitory associations, we show consistent negative effects of temperature and absolute humidity at large spatial scales. At finer spatial resolutions we substantiate these connections during the seasonal rise and fall of COVID-19. Strong disease responses are identified between 12-18°C for Temperature and 4-12 g/m3 for Absolute Humidity. These results classify COVID-19 as a seasonal low-temperature infection, and point to the airborne pathway as an important contribution to transmission for SARS-CoV-2, with implications for control measures we discuss.


2019 ◽  
pp. 009164711987029
Author(s):  
David R. Paine ◽  
Steven J. Sandage

In recent years, there have been a number of studies exploring the positive and negative aspects of spirituality. While many studies have indicated spirituality has a generally positive influence in persons’ lives, people also experience negative effects associated with spiritual struggles. Studies have also suggested that spiritual practices such as prayer have the potential to mitigate the difficult and distressing aspects of spirituality. In this study, we explore the role of prayer in the relationship between disappointment in God and relational spirituality (i.e. how one relates to what they perceive to be sacred). Our results indicated that meditative prayer has a moderating effect, such that the negative relationship between disappointment in God and relational spirituality outcomes became less significant as subjects engaged in more frequent meditative prayer. Significant effects were not found for colloquial prayer or petitionary prayer.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward C. Chang ◽  
Olivia D. Chang ◽  
Tamás Martos ◽  
Viola Sallay ◽  
Jerin Lee ◽  
...  

In this study, we examined loneliness and family support as predictors of suicide risk (viz., depressive symptoms and suicide ideation) in college students. The sample was comprised of 456 Hungarian college students. Results of conducting hierarchical regression analyses, controlling for sex and age, indicated that the inclusion of family support provided further incremental validity in predicting both depressive symptoms and suicide ideation, beyond the variance accounted for by loneliness. Moreover, consistent with the notion that family support might buffer the negative effects of loneliness on suicide risk, evidence for a significant Loneliness × Family Support interaction effect in predicting both indices of suicide risk was found. Thus, beyond the role of loneliness in predicting suicide risk in college students, the present findings are the first to show how family support both additively and interactively represents a positive psychological resource that should be considered in understanding suicide risk among students.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanghyun Kim ◽  
Hyunsun Park ◽  
Moon Jong Choi

Social network service (SNS) information has benefited many individuals. However, as such information has increased exponentially, the number of SNS users has increased dramatically and negative effects of SNSs on users have emerged. Many SNS users experience negative psychological conditions such as fatigue, burnout, and stress. Thus, in this study, we investigated the SNS and user characteristics that affect SNS fatigue, living disorder, and reduced SNS use intention. We developed a research model to examine the impact of two SNS characteristics (irrelevant information overload and open reachability) and two user characteristics (engagement and maintaining self-reputation) on SNS fatigue. We also examined the role of the experience of privacy violations in the relationship between living disorder and reduced SNS use intention. We collected data from 579 SNS users and created a partial least squares structural equation model to test the hypotheses. The results of the analysis showed that three factors, other than open reachability, positively affected SNS fatigue. Furthermore, we found that SNS fatigue significantly affected living disorder and reduced SNS use intention, and that experience of privacy violations significantly affected the relationship between living disorder and reduced SNS use intention. These results expand our understanding of SNS fatigue and users’ negative behaviors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 955-966
Author(s):  
Hana Medler-Liraz

Purpose Although studies have emphasized the need to explore the negative consequences of customer incivility, scant attention has been paid to positive factors that can mitigate its negative effects on employees’ service performance. The purpose of this study is to extend research on customer incivility and its association with rapport and tipping through the prism of conservation of resources theory. It also examines the role of agreeableness as a personal resource in coping with instances of incivility. Design/methodology/approach A total of 502 Israeli restaurant servers took part in this study. Findings Agreeableness significantly moderated the relationship between customer incivility and rapport: agreeable hospitality employees who served customers manifesting low/medium incivility reported better rapport than disagreeable hospitality employees. However, this effect was not significant for high incivility. Further, agreeable hospitality employees who served customers with low/medium incivility reported higher tips than disagreeable hospitality employees. Surprisingly, the findings also suggested that when employees served customers exhibiting high incivility, the tips were lower for servers high on agreeableness than for servers low on agreeableness. Originality/value This study broadens the frontiers of research on customer incivility and provides insights into the critical financial and emotional costs hospitality employees and service organizations incur when encountering incivility. The findings also contribute to the scant research on the potential moderators that may enable employees to handle customer interactions more constructively in the case of incivility within the hospitality industry. Agreeableness appeared to alleviate the negative effects of customer incivility on rapport and tipping but only seemed to be an effective resource up to a certain level of customer incivility.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document