Social identity and applicant attraction: Exploring the role of multiple levels of self

Applicant attraction is a critical objective of recruitment. Common predictor variables of applicant attraction are limited in that they do not provide a comprehensive understanding of the process that shapes the perceptions and beliefs of job applicants about the firms for which they aspire to work for. Because individuals have the inherent desire to expand and enhance their social identities (e.g., personal, relational, and collective identities), they are likely to be attracted to organizations that allow them to do so. Building on recent work on levels of self, our paper suggests that social identities mediate the relation between currently established predictor variables of applicant attraction (e.g., compensation, type of work, and organizational image) and important applicant attraction outcomes. Common predictor variables of applicant attraction can lead to the activation, evaluation, and identification processes described by social identity theory. A theoretical framework is presented that illustrates the mediating influence of social identity on the relations between common predictor variables and applicant attraction outcomes. This framework may lead to more effective recruitment strategies. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Occurrence of the Kumamoto oyster Crassostrea sikamea in the Ariake Sea, Japan

The Kumamoto oyster Crassostrea sikamea is distinguished from the closely related Pacific oyster C. gigas by concordant differences in 16S rDNA, allozymes, and a one-way gametic incompatibility. After repeated failures to find this oyster in its native habitat, we speculated in 1994 that “the Kumamoto oyster may be extinct in Japan”. In September 1996, we sampled small, deep-cupped oysters from the Ariake Sea and typed these for 16S rDNA and ITS-1 DNA markers previously shown to be diagnostic for the three most common oysters in the Ariake Sea, C. gigas, C. sikamea and  C. ariakensis. Our earlier suggestion of the demise of  C. sikamea proved incorrect. Of the 256 oysters sampled, 181 (71%) were  C. gigas, 53 (21%) were C. sikamea, and 22 (9%) were  C. ariakensis; no interspecific hybrids were observed. The distributions of C. sikamea and  C. ariakensis are clumped in the Ariake Sea:  C. sikamea occurs on the eastern and northern shores,  C. ariakensis occurs only in the northern part. These results emphasize the value of molecular markers for discriminating these morphologically plastic species both in the field and in aquaculture. Received 6 July 1998 / Accepted 8 October 1998     

Risk vs. reward: how predators and prey respond to aging olfactory cues

Many animals use olfaction to find food and avoid predators, and must negotiate environments containing odors of varying compositions, strengths, and ages to distinguish useful cues from background noise. Temporal variation in odor cues (i.e., “freshness”) seems an obvious way that animals could distinguish cues, yet there is little experimental evidence for this phenomenon. Fresh cues provide a more reliable indicator of donor presence than aged cues, but we hypothesize that the benefits of responding to aged cues depend on whether the cue indicates the proximity of a predator or a potential meal. As prey cannot remain eternally risk averse in response to predator odor, we predict that antipredator responses should diminish as predator cues age. In contrast, animals searching for food should investigate aged prey cues if investigation costs are sufficiently low and the potential benefit (a meal) sufficiently high; thus, we predict that predators will maintain interest in aged prey cues. We tested these ideas using free-ranging rats (Rattus spp.) in two separate experiments; firstly assessing giving-up densities in the presence of predator odor, and secondly examining investigation rates of prey odors. As predicted, giving-up densities dropped once predator odor had aged, but investigation rates remained similar for aged and fresh prey odor. Thus, rats used temporal variation in odor cues to evaluate the cost–benefit relationship of responding to predator and prey odors. We suggest that the ecological significance of variable cue age needs more research and should be considered when interpreting behavioral responses to olfactory information.     

Influence of residency and social odors in interactions between competing native and alien rodents

Residency status of individuals in populations may be an important determinant of the outcomes of interspecific competition between native and introduced species. We examined direct behavioral interactions between two similarly sized rodents, the alien Rattus rattus and native Rattus fuscipes when they were respective residents and intruders in a small enclosure. Resident individuals were dominant in their behaviors toward intruders irrespective of the species that was resident. In contrast, interactive behaviors between conspecifics were often neutral or amicable, supporting suggestions that R. rattus and R. fuscipes are social animals. We then tested whether rodent species use heterospecific odors to avoid aggressive competitive interactions and partition space in the field. Neither R. fuscipes nor R. rattus responded to traps scented with the odors of male or female heterospecifics. If R. fuscipes does not recognize the odor of introduced R. rattus, then odors will not be cues to the presence or territorial space of competing heterospecifics. Rather, findings from both enclosure and field trials suggest that direct aggressive interactions between individual R. rattus and R. fuscipes probably facilitate segregation of space between these two species in wild populations, where resident animals may typically be the winners and exclude heterospecific intruders. These findings have implications for the invasion success of introduced rodents such as R. rattus into intact forests, where native populations may have competitive advantage because of their residency status.     

Influence of light fleck and low light on foliar injury and physiological responses of two hybrid poplar clones to ozone

Five-month old hybrid poplar clones NE388 and NE359 were exposed to square-wave 30, 55, and 80 ppb O(3) (8 h/day, 7 day/week) under constant high light (HL) and light fleck (LF) during 28 May-29 June 1999, and exposed to 30 and 55 ppb O(3) under HL, LF, and constant low light (LL) during 22 May-28 June 2000 within Continuously Stirred Tank Reactors (CSTR) in a greenhouse. Ramets of these two hybrid clones received similar total photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) within the LF and LL treatments. Visible foliar symptoms, leaf gas exchange, and growth were measured. More severe O(3) induced foliar symptoms were observed on ramets within the LF and LL treatments than within the HL treatment for both clones. The LF treatment resulted in significantly greater foliar injury than the LL treatment for NE388. The LF and LL treatments generally resulted in lower photosynthetic rates (Pn) for both clones, but did not affect stomatal conductance (g(wv)); therefore, the ratios of g(wv)/Pn and the O(3) uptake/Pn were greatest in plants grown under the LF treatment, followed by those grown under LL treatment; plants grown under HL had the lowest ratios of g(wv)/Pn and O(3) uptake/Pn. Greater ratios of g(wv)/Pn and O(3) uptake/Pn were consistently associated with more severe visible foliar symptoms. The negative impacts of the LF treatment on growth were greater than those of the LL treatment. Results indicate that not only the integral, but also the pattern of photo flux density, may affect carbon gain in plants. Increased foliar injury may be expected under light fleck conditions due to the limited repair capacity as a result of continuity of O(3) uptake while photosynthesis decreases under LL conditions.     

Differential attraction of females to dominant males: Olfactory discrimination and mating preference in the brown lemming (Lemmus trimucronatus)

Summary This study investigated differential attraction of estrous brown lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus) to conspecific males recently exposed to each other for a 10-min agonistic encounter. In tests conducted 5 min, 1 h and 24 h after agonistic encounters, females preferred the oder of dominant males to that of defeated males when both odors were presented simultaneously in a Y-maze olfactometer. Defeat in an agonistic encounter did not reduce the propensity of male lemmings to initiate sexual behavior. In one-male, one-female tests conducted 5 min after agonistic encounters, dominant males achieved higher mount and thrust scores while defeated males obtained higher scores for attempted mounts. The sexual behavior of dominant and defeated males did not differ significantly in similar tests conducted 1 h and 24 h later. In contrast, females readily mated with dominant males and tended to avoid defeated males in two-male tethering tests conducted 5 min after agonistic encounters. In these tests, females still showed a preference for dominant males 1 h and 24 h after male agonistic encounters.