Texas A&M University – Central Texas

The role of spirituality and religion in the workplace (SRW) is a relatively new area of inquiry that has emerged from scholarly fields not typically associated with the study of the psychology of religion and spirituality. This article explores the underlying assumptions and history as well as the state of current theory and empirical research regarding SRW. We first describe the history of the efforts to integrate spirituality and religion into the workplace, with their foundational roots in the Protestant Work Ethic and their emergence through the Faith at Work movement. Next we review the major theoretical developments in this area that have established a domain of relevant definitions, constructs, frameworks, and models. Then we review the empirical research on spirituality in the workplace and conclude that 2 major streams have emerged that have, to date, discovered similar findings in regard to their significant impact on relevant individual and organizational outcomes. Finally, we explore particular challenges associated with integrative work and future theory building and research.

The purpose of the present research was to identify rates of posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms in soldiers returning from war. During reintegration training, U.S. Army soldiers, who recently returned from a 12-month deployment to either Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom, n = 2,275) or Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom, n = 1,814), completed study materials. Surveys assessed self-reported levels of depression, posttraumatic stress, and life satisfaction. Results indicated that approximately 44% of soldiers who volunteered to participate self-reported clinically significant levels of depressive symptoms, posttraumatic stress symptoms, or both. Although assessing symptoms and not disorders, these results suggest a potentially high rate of mental health concerns in soldiers immediately after returning from a combat zone. Further research should examine the utility of broad scale interventions.

Issues regarding workplace spirituality and spiritual leadership have received increased attention in the organizational sciences. The implications of workplace spirituality for leadership theory, research, and practice make this a fast growing area of new research and inquiry by scholars. The purpose of this research was to test a dynamic relationship between the revised spiritual leadership model, consisting of inner life, spiritual leadership (comprised of hope/faith, vision, and altruistic love), spiritual well-being (i.e. a sense of calling and membership), and key organizational outcomes in a sample of Baldrige Performance Excellence Program award recipients. With structural equation modeling, results revealed a positive and significant relationship between spiritual leadership and several outcomes considered essential for performance excellence, including organizational commitment, unit productivity, and life satisfaction. These relationships were explained or mediated by spiritual well-being. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Journal Article What Causes Civil Wars? Integrating Quantitative Research Findings Get access Jeffrey Dixon Jeffrey Dixon Texas A&M University—Central Texas Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Studies Review, Volume 11, Issue 4, December 2009, Pages 707–735, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2486.2009.00892.x Published: 04 December 2009

This article proposes and develops a theory of leadership that utilizes five levels of being as context for effective leadership: 1) the physical world; 2) the world of images and imagination; 3) the level of the soul; 4) the level of the Spirit; and 5) the non-dual level. We first explore how each of the five levels of being provides a means for advancing both the theory and the practice of leadership. Second, we utilize these five levels to create the foundation for a theory of leadership based on being that goes beyond current theory which emphasizes having and doing — either having appropriate traits and competencies or doing appropriate actions depending on the situation. We present propositions for future research as we discuss each of the five levels of being. Finally, we discuss implications for leadership development and future research that arise from such a being-centered leadership theory.

Research and practice on knowledge management (KM) have shown that information technology alone cannot guarantee that employees will volunteer and share knowledge. While previous studies have linked motivational factors to knowledge sharing (KS), we took a further step to thoroughly examine this theoretically and empirically. We developed a unified model that is comprehensive and yet parsimonious, based on the decomposed theory of planned behaviour (DTPB) with three sets of critical antecedents: psychological, organisational and technological that are theorised to influence KS behaviours. Results of a field survey of knowledge workers support the majority of hypothesised relationships, and explained 41.3% of the variance in the actual KS behaviours and 60.8% of the variance in the intention to share knowledge. These results far exceed the predictive powers achieved by previous studies. Among our significant findings include a strong positive influence of perceived enjoyment in helping others (PEH) and a strong negative influence of perceived loss of knowledge power (PLK). Based on the findings, we discussed the study's implications for research and practice.

Predicting crime using machine learning and deep learning techniques has gained considerable attention from researchers in recent years, focusing on identifying patterns and trends in crime occurrences. This review paper examines over 150 articles to explore the various machine learning and deep learning algorithms applied to predict crime. The study provides access to the datasets used for crime prediction by researchers and analyzes prominent approaches applied in machine learning and deep learning algorithms to predict crime, offering insights into different trends and factors related to criminal activities. Additionally, the paper highlights potential gaps and future directions that can enhance the accuracy of crime prediction. Finally, the comprehensive overview of research discussed in this paper on crime prediction using machine learning and deep learning approaches serves as a valuable reference for researchers in this field. By gaining a deeper understanding of crime prediction techniques, law enforcement agencies can develop strategies to prevent and respond to criminal activities more effectively.

Purpose Marketing researchers currently lack a systematic and empirical understanding of digital social viewing strategies. Drawing on social impact theory, this study aims to investigate if and how firm-initiated digital social viewing strategies (livestreaming vs pre-recorded) influence consumer viewing experiences and consequential behavioral intentions. Design/methodology/approach A scenario-based experiment was conducted with 462 participants. The study involved social viewing strategies in a new product launch context. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings This study demonstrates that social influence cues (social presence and synchronicity) inherent in a livestreaming strategy induce a more authentic consumer viewing experience than a pre-recorded strategy, which in turn increases consumers’ searching and subscribing intention. However, a company’s social viewing strategy does not moderate the effect of search and subscribe intention on purchase intention. Research limitations/implications This study extends the application of social impact theory by showing that social presence and synchronicity impact authentic consumer viewing experiences, which influence consumers’ searching, subscribing and purchasing intention. Practical implications This study validates the importance of using social viewing as a viable digital marketing strategy for practitioners. The paper provides marketers ways to increase consumer purchase intention via livestreaming marketing content, particularly for new products. Originality/value This study extends the traditional research on social viewing into the realm of digital social viewing. It is among the first to delineate the advantages of both livestreaming and pre-recorded social viewing approaches.

A field study was conducted with 47 Army action teams spanning 9 weeks to assess the influence of team leader authenticity on team authenticity and team outcomes. Results showed that team leader authenticity at Time 1 predicted teamwork behavior and team productivity at Time 3, with these relationships mediated by team authenticity at Time 2. We further explored the moderating role of authenticity strength in the team authenticity–teamwork behavior relationship. Team authenticity interacted with authenticity strength such that the team authenticity–teamwork behavior relationship was stronger when authenticity strength was higher rather than lower. Implications of these findings for theories of shared leadership, team leadership, and authentic leadership are discussed.

Healthcare workers are especially at risk for burnout because of increased efficiency demands, reduced operations budgets, expedited turnaround times, and the consequences associated with patient errors. They also experience a number of negative personal and organizational outcomes from burnout, such as psychological distress, poor health, negative work attitudes, work conflict, absenteeism, turnover, job dissatisfaction, and medical errors, all of which have the potential to negatively affect the quality of healthcare. However, to date no empirical studies examined the influence of spiritual leadership on burnout in medical laboratories, whose workers are especially at risk for burnout. This study explores the extent to which spiritual leadership reduces burnout among medical laboratory personnel while positively influencing organizational commitment, work unit productivity, and employee life satisfaction. Results revealed spiritual leadership exhibited both direct and mediating effects on study outcomes. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.

This paper studies whether imposing carbon costs changes the supply chain structure and social welfare. We explore the problem from a central policymaker's perspective who wants to maximize social welfare. We consider two stakeholders, retailers, and consumers, who optimize their own objectives (i.e., profits and net utility) and three competitive settings (i.e., monopoly, monopolistic competition with symmetric market share, and monopolistic competition with asymmetric market share). For the monopoly case, we find that when the retailer's profit is high, imposing some carbon emission charges on the retailer and the consumers does not substantially change the supply chain structure or the social welfare. However, when the retailer's profit is low, imposing carbon costs optimally can lead to a significant increase in social welfare. Moreover, the impact of imposing carbon emission charges becomes more significant when the degree of competition increases. Additionally, the quantum of benefit may depend only on factors common across industries, such as fuel and carbon costs.

Predicting groundwater availability is important to water sustainability and drought mitigation. Machine-learning tools have the potential to improve groundwater prediction, thus enabling resource planners to: (1) anticipate water quality in unsampled areas or depth zones; (2) design targeted monitoring programs; (3) inform groundwater protection strategies; and (4) evaluate the sustainability of groundwater sources of drinking water. This paper proposes a machine-learning approach to groundwater prediction with the following characteristics: (i) the use of a regression-based approach to predict full groundwater images based on sequences of monthly groundwater maps; (ii) strategic automatic feature selection (both local and global features) using extreme gradient boosting; and (iii) the use of a multiplicity of machine-learning techniques (extreme gradient boosting, multivariate linear regression, random forests, multilayer perceptron and support vector regression). Of these techniques, support vector regression consistently performed best in terms of minimizing root mean square error and mean absolute error. Furthermore, including a global feature obtained from a Gaussian Mixture Model produced models with lower error than the best which could be obtained with local geographical features.

Given the social and environmental challenges facing all organizations, there is a need for new leadership models, methods, and tools for implementing organizational change for sustainable development. Toward that end, we review current approaches to leadership for sustainability in terms of their conceptual frameworks and extant research, which all advocate a balanced stakeholder approach to leadership to address the social and environmental issues related to sustainability and sustainable development. Then, drawing from spiritual and being-centered leadership theories, we offer a model of Global Leadership for Sustainability (GLfS) that incorporates and extends the conceptual domain beyond current approaches to leadership for sustainability. In doing so we propose that spirituality, through the qualities of self-transcendence and interconnectedness, is critical for sustainability and is foundational for GLfS. We also emphasize the importance of cultivating a Global Mindset for Sustainability, which incorporates two ethical principles—an ethic of remote moral responsibility and an ethic of care and compassion. As a result, global leaders for sustainability become more committed to moving beyond satisfying stakeholders’ demands for economic returns, toward a more sustainable, triple bottom line, balanced approach. Finally, we discuss implications for theory, research, and practice of GLfS.

Western-based models dominate leadership research and practice, although a consensus is emerging that new theories and models are needed to foster cross-cultural understanding and rapprochement. This holds not only for global organizations that employ workers from different cultures but also for public and private organizations whose cultures and employees are grounded in and embrace religious beliefs and practices as central to their work. This article addresses these issues, drawing from spiritual leadership theory and Islamic religious tenets, and performing a theoretical transposition of the components of the spiritual leadership model into a model of Islamic leadership more appropriate for Islamic organizations and organizations employing Muslim workers. Implications for future theory building, research, and practice are discussed.

Developments in strategic scorecards, performance measurement and quality, e.g. Baldrige Award Criteria, point out the pivotal role that employee well‐being and performance plays in predicting all other key strategic indicators. The purpose of this paper is to offer the Spiritual Leadership Balanced Scorecard Business Model as a driver of employee well‐being, organizational commitment and productivity, corporate social responsibility and, ultimately, financial performance, via its impact on internal processes, output quality, and customer satisfaction. An illustrative case study of is offered as an example of how the Spiritual Leadership Balanced Scorecard Business Model can be applied, through Cordon Bleu‐Tomasso Corporation’s innovative human and economic ISMAs (Integrated System of Management Activities), in the daily management of a company deeply committed to the constant pursuit of the reconciliation of human well‐being with productivity and profits through an emphasis on workplace spirituality with openness to religion and transcendence in full freedom.

This research explores extant research on artificial intelligence (AI) and big data published in the premier Information Systems (IS) journals over a period of 26 years (1997–2022), and it uses the techniques of citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and co-word analysis. Citation analysis results reveal IS as the most cited reference discipline, followed by general business, organization science, and marketing. Two major topical clusters have been identified — problem domain-specific AI (e.g., predictive analytics, machine learning algorithms, and text mining) and organizational-specific AI (e.g., big data capabilities, firm performance, agility, and strategy). Co-word analysis revealed a gradual shift of scholarly interest from problem-domain-specific AI toward organizational-specific AI. Using the citation data, the most influential (cited) authors, (cited) articles, journals, institutions, and countries are identified. Gaps in extant research and future research paths are discussed.

Abstract The use of wild Arachis L. in cultivar improvement programs has been considered an option for more than 50 yr. Both A. Krapovickas and W.C. Gregory, independently, made interspecific hybridizations in the 1940s. However, only three cultivars have been released as a result of interspecific hybridizations, and only one of those has a clearly identifiable genetic component from the wild species. Several breeding lines have been reported and several germplasm releases are documented from Texas, North Carolina, and ICRISAT. At least four potential options exist for transferring genes from wild Arachis to the cultigen: a) The hexaploid pathway consists of crossing a diploid wild species directly with A. hypogaea, doubling the chromosome number to the hexaploid level, then backcrossing for several generations to restore the tetraploid condition. Several options are possible in this pathway involving various crossing schemes prior to crossing a diploid hybrid with A. hypogaea. North Carolina and ICRISAT have had success with this pathway. b) The diploid/tetraploid pathway has been the most successful in Texas to date. This pathway involves crossing diploid species (two to several), doubling the chromosome number of the hybrid, then crossing to A. hypogaea and backcrossing with selection for the desired character. This pathway is most successful when both A-and B-genome species are involved. Germplasm lines and a cultivar have been released in Texas using this pathway. c) Another diploid/tetraploid pathway could be to double chromosome numbers of diploid species and cross the amphiploids directly with A. hypogaea. Several attempts have been made with this technique, but no germplasm releases have been reported, in large part because sterility is too great when both A and B genomes are not included in the hybrid. Many of the sections/species of wild Arachis are so greatly isolated from A. hypogaea that plant transformation will be the likely method to introduce genes into the cultigen. d) Molecular methods of “inserting” genes into peanut that have been modestly successful and include use of Agrobacterium spp., electroporation, and direct DNA delivery techniques such as the gene gun, whiskers, and sonication. No releases have resulted.

This article examines the phenomenon of dynamic capabilities in international new ventures (INVs) from emerging markets. While this research stream is gaining traction, the literature is fragmented as to how INVs from emerging markets develop dynamic capabilities to overcome resource constraints and legitimacy issues. The authors highlight the importance of a comprehensive international entrepreneurial culture (IEC) to better understand how these INVs develop dynamic capabilities and foster international performance. This study draws on organisational learning and the knowledge-based view (KBV) to examine the role of IEC in shaping dynamic capabilities and international performance under various levels of market turbulence. To conduct our analyses, this study uses a sample of INVs from India – a key emerging market. The results indicate that IEC shapes dynamic capabilities and both support superior international performance. The findings also confirm the utility of IEC towards dynamic capabilities and international performance when operating in turbulent markets.

How to develop the character of leaders is a challenging question pursued by managers, psychologists, and consultants. To address this question, the authors introduce a developmental model for character growth. The model proposes that the integration of the leader’s core values and beliefs into the self-identity is at the heart of character development. The supporting character strengths of agency, self-awareness, selfregulation, self-motivation, and social awareness and connection to others assist in the internalization and integration of core values, beliefs, and moral standards into leaders’ identities and also ensure consistent moral and ethical behavior. The authors then introduce the spiritual leadership model and discuss how it can be used to develop character in the workplace. Implications for theory, research, and practice of character development through spiritual leadership are discussed.

The Internet Process Addiction Test (IPAT) was created to screen for potential addictive behaviors that could be facilitated by the internet. The IPAT was created with the mindset that the term "Internet addiction" is structurally problematic, as the Internet is simply the medium that one uses to access various addictive processes. The role of the internet in facilitating addictions, however, cannot be minimized. A new screening tool that effectively directed researchers and clinicians to the specific processes facilitated by the internet would therefore be useful. This study shows that the Internet Process Addiction Test (IPAT) demonstrates good validity and reliability. Four addictive processes were effectively screened for with the IPAT: Online video game playing, online social networking, online sexual activity, and web surfing. Implications for further research and limitations of the study are discussed.