In Good Company? Personal Relationships, Network Embeddedness, and Social Inclusion

How do individuals’ networks of personal relationships affect their social in‐ and exclusion? Researchers have shown that micro‐level, informal relationships can be highly consequential for social inclusion, but in complex, contradictory ways: Personal networks reflect the degree of relational exclusion and protect against (other forms of) exclusion, but they also erode in conditions of exclusion and reproduce exclusion. While network researchers have widely studied some of these mechanisms, they have yet to embrace others. Therefore, this thematic issue reconsiders the complex relationship between personal networks and social inclusion. It offers a unique vantage point by bringing together researchers who work with different marginalised social groups, typically studied separately: refugees, transnational migrants, indigenous people, older people, people experiencing poverty, LGBT people, and women who have experienced domestic violence. This combination allows us to detect commonalities and differences in network functioning across historically excluded groups. This editorial lays the theoretical groundwork for the thematic issue and discusses the key contributions of the seventeen articles that compose the issue. We call for more attention to relationship expectations, the reciprocity of support flows, and contextual embeddedness, and question universally adopted theoretical binaries such as that of bonding and bridging social capital.

Contemporizing island biogeography theory with anthropogenic drivers of species richness

Classic ecological theory must explain effects of humans on biodiversity to be more applicable today. We contemporized island biogeographic theory providing native, introduced, and total species richness relationship expectations with natural and anthropogenic metrics of habitat diversity (geographic and economic area) and isolation from source pools (geographic and economic isolation). We assessed these expectations across Caribbean island herpetofauna clades. As expected by the contemporized theory, natural habitat diversity metrics exhibited positive relationships with native and introduced richness, strengthening positive total richness-area relationships. Geographic isolation exhibited negative relationships with native and positive relationships with introduced richness, weakening total richness-isolation relationships. Economic area and isolation exhibited negative and positive relationships, respectively, with native richness but positive and negative relationships, respectively, with introduced richness. Total richness relationships with economic area and isolation were strongest in clades with many introductions. As more species spread globally, these contemporary expectations will increasingly predict Anthropocene island biogeography.

Importance and Establishment of Partnership: Doctoral Candidate - Mentor(S) - University

The paper deals with the triangle of participants in the Doctoral Study process: Institution-mentor-Doctoral student. Shown are: Basic dimensions of the student – mentor relationship, Motivation and responsibility in the student – mentor relationship, Expectations, perceptions and satisfaction in the student-mentor relationship, Factors which influence expectations in the student-mentor relationship, Keys to Successful Mentoring Relationships on personal and interpersonal levels, Possible solutions for Successful Mentoring on the Faculty and university level, and the Benefits of those activities.

Antecedents and outcome of commitment in Islamic banking relationships – an emerging African market perspective

Purpose This study aims to investigate how the commitment of Islamic banking customers is influenced by trust, relationship expectations and conflict management. In turn, the influence of their commitment on future satisfaction is determined. Design/methodology/approach A descriptive research design was applied and responses were obtained from Islamic banking customers through the application of self-administered questionnaires. A total of 350 completed questionnaires were used in analysing the data. An exploratory factor analysis established the interrelationships of the scales used to measure the study’s constructs. In addition, both the measurement and structural models were evaluated. Findings Trust and relationship expectations significantly and positively influence customer commitment, while conflict management has no significant influence on the commitment of Islamic banking customers to their bank. In addition, commitment significantly and positively influences the satisfaction experiences of Islamic banking customers. Research limitations/implications The tested model validates the hypothesised relationships between the trust, relationship expectations, commitment and satisfaction of Islamic banking customers. However, the relationship between conflict management, commitment and satisfaction was not established. Commitment is linked to trust and relationship expectations, as well as its outcome, satisfaction. However, commitment could not be linked to antecedent conflict management. Practical implications The findings could assist retail banks servicing Islamic banking customers in offering in-depth knowledge of how trust and relationship expectations can foster customer commitment, eventually securing the positive satisfaction of customers. Originality/value The study focussed on Islamic banking customers and determined the interrelationships between commitment and related constructs. Few studies, however, have examined how commitment relates to its precursors and outcome from an Islamic banking perspective in an emergent African economy.

Highlighting Effort Versus Talent in Service Employee Performance: Customer Attributions and Responses

Firms often attribute their service employees’ competent performance to either dedicated effort or natural talent. However, it is unclear how such practices affect customer evaluations of service employees and customer outcomes. Moreover, prior work has primarily examined attributions of one’s own performance, providing little insight on the impact of attributions of others’ performance. Drawing on research regarding the warmth–competence framework and performance attributions, the current research proposes and finds that consumers expect a more communal-oriented and less exchange-oriented relationship when a service employee’s competent performance is attributed to dedicated effort rather than natural talent, as effort (vs. talent) attribution leads consumers to perceive the employee as warmer. The authors further propose customer helping behaviors as downstream consequences of relationship expectations, finding that effort (vs. talent) attribution is more likely to induce customers’ word-of-mouth and idea provision behaviors. The findings enrich existing literature by identifying performance attributions as a managerially meaningful antecedent of relationship expectations and offer practical guidance on how marketers can influence consumers’ relationship expectations and helping behaviors.

Parental Divorce and Interparental Conflict: Spanish Young Adults’ Attachment and Relationship Expectations

This study focused on the associations between parental divorce and interparental conflict with young adults’ current attachment-related anxiety and avoidance, and romantic relationship expectations. The moderating effect of attachment history was also investigated. Using a sample of 1,078 Spanish young adults (544 women, 518 men; average age 21.4 years), our results confirmed that parental divorce is not associated with young adult children’s higher attachment anxiety and avoidance nor poorer romantic relationship expectations. Moreover, interparental conflict is more strongly associated with attachment-related avoidance (p < .001) and romantic relationship expectations (p < .05) than parental divorce, yet depending on attachment history. In fact, in support of our hypothesis, a more secure attachment history with mother has a buffering effect on the association between high-unresolved interparental conflict and attachment avoidance (β = .17, p < .001). Findings add to the existing literature and promote a better understanding of the complex associations between parental divorce and conflict on adult children´s current attachment and relationship expectations.

Integration of Common Factors and Specific Ingredients

This chapter presents the theoretical framework and research evidence of the contextual model, which integrates common factors and specific ingredients in psychotherapy. In working with clients, the specific ingredients and common factors of various therapy approaches are not mutually exclusive but work together to make psychotherapy effective. The benefits of psychotherapy accrue through three pathways: the real relationship, expectations created through explanation for distress and a cogent treatment plan, and the specific actions enacted in treatment. It is suggested that the outcome of psychotherapy can be improved by the deliberate practice of particular skills that characterize effective therapists. The chapter concludes with case examples, diversity considerations, and future directions.