Shared aggression concerns and organizational outcomes: The moderating role of resource constraints

Most research on workplace aggression focuses on the antecedents and consequences of aggression for individual workers. The current study examines how shared workplace aggression concerns relate to internal and external organizational outcomes. Drawing on the work stress, social identity, and social contagion literatures, we propose relationships between unit‐level aggression concerns and unit‐level measures of performance and employee attitudes in a public school sample (2989 employees; 163 schools). We also propose that these relationships differ depending on the resource context of the school. Consistent with our expectations, schools in which teachers had strong shared concerns about aggression also had poorer shared job attitudes and poorer student outcomes, as indicated by average standardized test scores at the school. The impact of shared concerns about aggression on school‐level standardized test scores was stronger for resource‐rich schools than for schools with fewer resources. The current study contributes to organizational research as it establishes that workplace aggression concerns have adverse consequences for the whole organization, not only for the individuals experiencing the events. Our findings demonstrate that employees' shared concerns about aggression have an impact on organizational outcomes and suggest a prevention‐focused approach to workplace aggression. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A test of the "dear enemy effect" in the strawberry dart-poison frog (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Dendrobates pumilio</Emphasis>)

Some territorial animals exhibit a form of social recognition, commonly termed the "dear enemy effect", in which territory residents display lower levels of aggression toward familiar neighbors compared to unfamiliar individuals who are non-territorial "floaters". Despite the widespread occurrence of territorial social systems and use of acoustic signals for communication in anuran amphibians, only two previous studies have demonstrated vocally mediated dear enemy behavior in a territorial frog. In this study, I conducted neighbor-stranger discrimination playback experiments in a third species of territorial frog, the strawberry dart-poison frog, Dendrobates pumilio (Anura, Dendrobatidae). In the first experiment (n=24), I broadcast the calls of a subject's nearest neighbor and the calls of an unfamiliar individual from the approximate midpoint between the subject's and the neighbor's territories. Although males responded to the stimuli, they did not exhibit differential responses to the calls of neighbors and strangers. In a second experiment (n=22), I broadcast the calls of a neighbor and a stranger to subjects through a speaker located in the approximate center of the neighbor's territory. Males also responded to the playback, although less intensely than in the first experiment, but no discrimination between the calls of neighbors and strangers was found. Thus, territorial males of the strawberry dart-poison frog appear not to discriminate behaviorally between the advertisement calls of neighbors and strangers. Several proximate and ultimate-level hypotheses for this lack of vocally mediated neighbor-stranger discrimination are discussed.Communicated by T. Czeschlik     

Seasonal nestmate recognition in the ant Formica exsecta

Under favorable conditions, the mound-building ant Formica exsecta may form polydomous colonies and can establish large nest aggregations. The lack of worker aggression towards nonnestmate conspecifics is a typical behavioral feature in such social organization, allowing for a free flux of individuals among nests. However, this mutual worker toleration may vary over the seasons and on spatial scales. We studied spatio-temporal variation of worker–worker aggression within and among nests of a polydomous F. exsecta population. In addition, we determined inter- and intracolony genetic relatedness by microsatellite DNA genotyping and assessed its effect on nestmate recognition. We found significant differences in the frequency of worker exchange among nests between spring, summer, and autumn. Moreover, we found significant seasonal variation in the level of aggression among workers of different nests. Aggression levels significantly correlated with spatial distance between nests in spring, but neither in summer nor in autumn. Multiple regression analysis revealed a stronger effect of spatial distances rather than genetic relatedness on aggressive behavior. Because nestmate discrimination disappeared over the season, the higher aggression in spring is most plausibly explained by cue intermixing during hibernation.     

Kin-preferential cooperation,dominance-dependent reproductive skew,and competition for mates in communally nesting female house mice

Little is known about the behavioural mechanisms facilitating kin-preferential communal breeding in wild house mice (Mus domesticus). We evaluated the effect of kinship and male availability on aggression, social structure and reproductive skew in groups of female mice freely interacting and reproducing in semi-natural indoor enclosures. Triplets of either sisters or non-sisters were established in enclosures provided with either one or three littermate males, which were unrelated and unfamiliar to the females. Sisters were more spatially associated and less aggressive than non-sisters, leading to higher incidences of communal breeding and reproduction. This is in agreement with theoretical considerations on kin selection in house mice. Reproductive success was highly skewed in favour of dominant females due to subordinate infertility or complete loss of first litters, which might have been caused by dominant females. In spite of this, subordinates only rarely dispersed from the enclosures, suggesting that perceived dispersal risk generally outweighed relatively reduced reproductive potentials. Aggression levels among females were significantly higher when one male was available, compared to when three males were available. We suggest that this might result from higher female-female competition for mates, due to the risk of missing fertilisation when synchronously oestrous females encounter limited numbers of males in a deme. Our results indicate that, first, communal nursing in house mice might have evolved to make the best out of a bad job rather than to enhance offspring fitness; and, second, that female-female mate-competition might play an important role in shaping female social structure in this polygynous mammal.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at Communicated by F. Trillmich     

Exposure to variable spatial information in the early rearing environment generates asymmetries in social interactions in cod (Gadus morhua)

Many re-introduction programs used for conservation of populations and species threatened with extinction advocate the use of enriched rearing environments to train animals how to behave appropriately in the wild. Curiously, most of the current fish re-stocking programs have paid little attention to lessons previously learned in bird and mammal re-introductions. Many rehabilitation programs that use releases of hatchery fish observe higher mortality in released fish compared to wild, with most mortality arising shortly after release. One explanation for this mortality is based purely on selection processes; many hatchery fish normally selected out of the population thrive in the predator free, food-rich hatcheries. Alternatively, mortalities may be high because hatchery nursery environments fail to shape fish behaviour appropriately. Here, we empirically address the effect of enrichment in the early rearing environment in coastal cod (Gadus morhua). We find asymmetries in aggressive behaviour when fish reared in plain or enriched environments are allowed to interact. Furthermore, cod reared in standard, impoverished, hatchery environments spend less time in shelter, are more active, and show weaker anti-predator responses than fish reared with access to heterogeneous spatial cues. These results suggest that the constant, plain environments of fish farms may generate behavioural deficits that could reasonably be expected to be associated with lower survival in fish released into the wild.     

Movements of vervets (Cercopithecus aethiops) and patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) as estimators of food resource size, density, and distribution

The effect of food resources on behavior has been difficult to measure. Here we use animals themselves to describe “effective” food abundance and distribution by comparing, relative to where individuals stopped to eat, movements of (1) adult females living in a small group of vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) with those living in a large group and (2) vervets and patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas). Although females in the large vervet group travelled farther and stopped to eat more often than females in the small vervet group, these differences resulted from foraging in Acacia drepanolobium habitat. In A. xanthophloea habitat, females in the large group travelled less far, travelled shorter distances between foods, and stopped as often as females in the small group. Greater foraging costs of females in larger vervet groups may be offset by access to home ranges of better quality. Compared to patas, vervets travelled shorter distances, moved shorter distances between food sites, stopped less often, and had longer feeding bouts, suggesting that foods of vervets are denser and larger, overall, than foods of patas. When vervets foraged in A. drepanolobium habitat, also the habitat of patas, their foraging behavior became more like that of patas. Vervets travelled farther, stopped more often, and spent less time at food sites in A. drepanolobium habitat than in A. xanthophloea habitat, suggesting that foods are smaller and less usurpable in A. drepanolobium habitat. Distance between foods, a component of food distribution, did not increase, however. The critical variable underlying usurpability of foods may be food site depletion time, a temporal measure. Received: 14 March 1997 / Accepted after revision: 19 October 1997     

Understanding internal,external, and relational attributions for abusive supervision

Despite abundant research on the consequences of perceived abusive supervision, less is known about how employees develop perceptions of supervisory abuse. Across two studies, we integrate classic and recent theoretical work on attributions to understand the causal explanations underlying employee perceptions of and reactions to abusive supervision. In the first study, we develop measures of internal, external, and relational attributions for perceived supervisor abuse. In the second study, we demonstrate that internal and external attributions are indirectly related to aggressive and citizenship behaviors through employees' perceptions of interactional justice. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social and situational dynamics surrounding workplace mistreatment: Context matters

In our introduction to this special issue, we explain why understanding the social and situational context around workplace mistreatment is important. We then provide summaries of the six articles in this special issue and conclude by identifying three key themes—social interpretation, recursive nature of mistreatment, and beyond the dyad—and some important directions for future research.     

Interspecific aggression in colonies of the slave-making ant Harpagoxenus sublaevis

Colonies of the slave-making ant, Harpagoxenus sublaevis, may simultaneously contain workers of several Leptothorax slave species. We observed aggressive interactions among slave-makers, between slavemakers and slaves, and among slaves in 11 mixed colonies. The first two types of aggression appear to be correlated with reproductive competition for the production of males. Aggressive interactions among slaves, however, occurred mainly between slaves belonging to different species. In two colonies, in which one slave species clearly outnumbered the other, the majority attacked and finally expelled all nestmates belonging to the minority species. Our observations thus suggest that in Harpagoxenus colonies a homogeneous colony odor is not always achieved and that heterospecific slaves may occasionally be mistaken for alien ants. Gas chromatographic analyses of ants from mixed colonies similarly show that cuticular hydrocarbon profiles may differ strongly between heterospecific nestmate slaves.     

Is obligate siblicidal aggression food sensitive?

In avian species whose chicks show facultative siblicide, attacks increase with food deprivation. In species that show obligate siblicide, this causal relationship is not expected, but no test has been made. When we composed artificial pairs of young brown boobies, Sula leucogaster (an obligately siblicidal species), and supplied variable amounts of food to the older nestlings in each pair, food ingestion was related to the most intense form of attack, pushes, which can cause death by expelling the broodmate from the nest. The less food an older nestling ingested, the more time it spent active and the greater its rate and absolute frequency of pushes, and the more often it expelled its nestmate. Hence, deficient food provision to older nestlings could precipitate siblicidal expulsion of broodmates. Younger nestmates were aggressive too, and the more they were pushed and expelled, the more they pecked. Aggression of senior brown-booby broodmates may be flexible and food sensitive in order to optimize the timing of siblicide or to make siblicide weakly facultative.Communicated by R. Gibson