Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This manuscript advances multitrait/multimethod decomposition as a novel approach for modeling relational maintenance behavior. Results from confirmatory factor analysis demonstrate good fit for the model. Subsequent analysis using structural equation modeling reveals distinct associations between the content-specific and medium-specific components of relational maintenance behavior. Specifically, content-specific components are directly associated with control mutuality, whereas medium-specific components are indirectly associated with control mutuality via interdependence.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper studies the influence of the problem potential faced by households and the embeddedness of the household-supplier relation on the behavior of outsourcing suppliers, to be precise on (a) their efforts to convince households of their trustworthiness, and (b) opportunistic behavior. Trust problems are an important issue in household outsourcing, because suppliers often work unsupervised and alone in the private sphere of the household, and moreover, they take over tasks of special value to households. Outsourcing involves risks for the household that are not easily covered completely by (written) agreements. Although our theory applies to a variety of outsourcing alternatives, the varying levels of risk in home maintenance chores make it possible to study the influence of trust problems within comparable outsourcing transactions. Data were collected by a vignette experiment held among 83 home maintenance suppliers, with a total of 165 vignettes. To some extent, the problem potential increases supplier’s efforts to convince the household of his trustworthiness: a larger volume of the transaction increases time spent on a quotation, a binding and type revealing commitment. Suppliers are more likely to behave opportunistically when more complex jobs are involved. Network embeddedness is of influence on supplier behavior before and after the transaction is agreed upon, while dyadic embeddedness does not matter. Apparently, it is more important for suppliers to keep good relations with people who can spread negative information to others rather than investing in dyadic relations.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Common cultural attitudes about aging and long-term care equate nursing home admission with the loss of individual identity. The taken-for-grantedness of this conception of institutional care has hindered our understanding of variation in the practices of nursing home staff that both nurture and threaten residents’ sense of personhood. This paper examines the role of organizational culture in shaping these practices. I use ethnographic data on caregiving in two nursing homes that vary in their organizational cultures, particularly in their levels of bureaucratic formality. I look specifically at patterns of objectification and infantilization of nursing home residents as a way of examining conceptions of aging in each setting. I argue that caregivers in both organizations engage in practices that erode residents’ identities, but they do so in different ways that reflect the organizational cultures in which the practices are embedded. Moreover, in each facility caregivers engage in other practices that contradict the effects of objectification and infantilization, helping to preserve residents’ identities at the same time that they are being threatened. This analysis speaks to the importance of variation in organizational culture for our understanding of quality of life in long-term care settings.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Few studies to date have examined the use of Internet applications in enacting “everyday” routine relational maintenance and even fewer assess how such tools converge or replace other, more traditional forms of communication to sustain involvements. The present study is exploratory in nature and examines the role of one such tool, instant messaging (IM), in relational maintenance. Participants (N = 402) reported their general use of IM (stage 1) and subsequently conducted and reported on a specific interaction occurring either through IM or face-to-face (stage 2). Analyses indicated IM users were younger, had used the Internet for a longer period, and spent more time on-line per session than their counterparts. Among IM users, significant differences in “every communication” also emerged according to gender and the types of relationships maintained. Findings also indicate that IM is being utilized in conjunction with other richer communication channels. New research opportunities for examining the relational maintenance processes employing IM technologies are advanced.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Among the many challenges facing military marriages, one of the most pressing is maintaining healthy relationships during the hardship of separation due to deployment. Spouses are confronted with the demands of coping not only with time and distance apart, but the uncertainty of regular communication opportunities, and the anxiety involved in the dangerous nature of the deployment situation. The present study sought to examine how marital couples maintain their relationships during deployment through communication. The following sections present the conceptualization of relational maintenance and a review of previous studies on maintenance strategies. The content of deployed marital couples’ communication was analyzed using relational maintenance strategy categories. In accordance with Stafford and Canary’s (1991) typology, the strategies of assurances, positivity, and openness were observed. However, moving outside of the typology, the category of small talk emerged as a prevalent part of relational maintenance among the current sample of deployed couples. The findings also indicated the possible mutation of sharing tasks and social networking due to the constraints of the deployment situation. The current study provides a preliminary picture of relationship maintenance patterns for those experiencing this special type of long-distance relationship. Further studies involving larger samples are necessary to validate the findings.