Organizational politics and organizational support as predictors of work attitudes,job performance,and organizational citizenship behavior

This study investigated the relationship of organizational politics and organizational support to various work attitudes and behaviors among a field sample of 128 participants. Consistent with our hypothesis, politics and support were related to job satisfaction, commitment, turnover intentions, and supervisor ratings of organizational citizenship behaviors. However, only support was related to job performance. We also examined whether or not organizational politics and organizational support comprise two distinct constructs or one global factor. The evidence here was ambiguous. Fit indices obtained from confirmatory factor analysis suggested that it is more parsimonious to treat politics and support as opposite ends of the same construct, though the two‐factor model did show a slightly better fit. On the other hand, subsequent multiple regression analyses showed that support tended to account for additional criterion variance beyond the effect of politics, implying that there may be some practical utility to retaining politics and support as distinct constructs. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attitudes Toward Water Allocation: Segmenting the Public on Beliefs toward Water Conservation

Environmental Management - The population in the American West has been increasing at a rapid rate and is predicted to continue growing. As a result, the availability, use, and allocation of water...     

Ontogeny of early diving and foraging behavior of northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) pups from Bering Island,Russia

The ontogeny of diving and foraging behavior of northern fur seal pups from a stable population on Bering Island, Russia, was recorded with animal-borne instruments during their first few months at sea, a critical period during their first year at sea. Thirty-five pups were instrumented with satellite-linked time-depth recorders and stomach temperature pills. Diving occurred predominantly at night with deeper and longer dives as the pups matured. Mean dive depths were correlated with lunar illumination, whereas mean dive durations were also correlated with time of day and sex. Foraging success did not differ between sexes, and there was no relationship between meal size (as indicated by feeding event duration and minimum stomach temperature) and lunar illumination fraction or maximum foraging depth. Although most pups were able to successfully forage within 3 days of starting their migration, the number of feeding events recorded each day remained low (mean 1.6 events day^?1). There was no indication of an appreciable increase in meal size after the first 2 weeks of the migration despite an increase in dive frequency and depth. The results are consistent with observations that pups do not gain mass during their first year and emphasize the risk of starvation from infrequent foraging in cold water.     

Territorial defense in the bannertail kangaroo rat (Dipodomys spectabilis): footdrumming and visual threats

Summary Footdrumming and visual displays associated with territorial defense in the bannertail kangaroo rat (Dipodomys spectabilis) were studied in the field in Arizona. We predicted that foot-drumming functioned like bird song in territorial advertisement. Rats were tested in their territories for their responses to the presentation of four different stimuli: a playback of airborne footdrumming patterns (audio); a stuffed and mounted kangaroo rat in an aggressive posture (visual); a combination of both (audio-visual); and a playback of cricket stridulation as a control. Kangaroo rats investigated all experimental stimuli equally by becoming alert, approaching, and retreating (Fig. 2). Rats, therefore, seemed to assess the amount of threat and footdrummed at higher rates and sooner in response to the more threatening visual stumulus of a stuffed rat than to the apparently less threatening ones of a airborne footdrumming playback or cricket stridulation (Fig. 1). We conclude that rats footdrum at long ranges to repel a potential intruder and also at close ranges when territories are threatened by a persistent intruder. Chase and attack, as in territorial birds, are the final lines of defense.     

Sponge-feeding fishes of the West Indies

In an analysis of the stomach contents of 212 species of West Indian reef and inshore fishes, sponge remains were found in 21 species. In eleven of these, sponges comprised 6% or more of the stomach contents; it is assumed that these fishes feed intentionally on sponges. Sponges comprise over 95% of the food of angelfishes of the genus Holacanthus, over 70% of the food of species of the related genus Pomacanthus, and more than 85% of the food of the filefish, Cantherhines macrocerus. Lesser quantities of sponges are ingested by the remaining fish species. Fishes that feed on sponges belong to highly specialized teleost families, suggesting that this habit has evolved in geologically late time. The small number of fish species that concentrate on sponges as food suggests that the defensive characters of sponges—mineralized sclerites, noxious chemical substances, and tough fibrous components—are highly effective in discouraging predation. The two sponges most frequently eaten by fishes have a low percentage of siliceous spicules relative to organic matter, but among the 20 next most frequently consumed species no striking correlation occurs with respect to spicule content. Color and form of the sponge show no special correlation with frequency of occurrence in fish stomachs. Three species of fishes appear to concentrate on one species of sponge, but in these cases over 60% of the food taken consists of a variety of other organisms. Those fishes, more than half of whose diet consists of sponges, tend to sample a wide variety of species. No strong evidence is provided by our data that fish predation is a significant factor in limiting sponge distribution in the West Indian region.