Three theories of commitment were tested by surveying 92 nursing students 3 times during their first year. The social exchange approach and unmet expectations about nursing careers influenced commitment during the latter eight months. The circumstances surrounding the decision to enter nurse training (behavioral approach) predicted commitment only…

An exploration of the rhetorical contract--i.e., the expectations for appropriate interaction--as it develops in human-computer interaction revealed that direct manipulation interfaces were more likely to establish social expectations. Study results suggest that the social nature of human-computer interactions can be examined with reference to the…

Purpose: The study seeks to examine how a short intervention, aimed at enhancing occupational choice skills, influences turnover during the early stages of organizational membership. It seeks to explore two theoretical rationales for this effect: social exchange and self-determination. Design/methodology/approach: The study is a "constructive…

Noting that the informal communication network or grapevine plays an important role in organizational functioning, this paper reviews research focusing on organizational grapevines from the communication, organizational psychology, and management literature. Among the issues discussed in the review are (1) the speed and accuracy of the grapevine,…

Problems of aging are seen as problems of decreasing power resources. Because power resources decline with increased age, older persons become increasingly unable to enter into balanced exchange relations with other groups with whom they are in interaction. The relative power of the aged vis-a-vis their exchange partner increasingly deteriorates.…

This review of the literature on prosocial behavior in the elderly provides empirical data on the prevalence of helping behaviors among the elderly and the range of motives underlying their helping. Implications of these data for theories of social behavior in later life are considered, and questions are raised about the validity of the models…

This paper examines the impact of individual and family life transitions on marital relationships from a social exchange perspective. The first section of the paper reviews and integrates several social exchange perspectives, derived from both sociological and social psychological traditions, in particular the works of Thibaut and Kelly (1959),…

This paper demonstrates the utility of interdependence theory for understanding older persons' social relationships. Using friendship as an exemplary case, a model of expectations for and reactions to social exchanges is described. Exchanges which are perceived to be motivated by obligation are distinguished from those which are perceived to…

A study was conducted to examine self-disclosure as a relational control strategy in speech communication. Conversations of seven married couples were coded using L. E. Rogers-Millar's Relational Communication Control Coding Scheme and a self-disclosure coding system developed for the study. A message-by-message comparison of the codes from the…

A major problem in the study of marital interaction has been the lack of attention to contextual determinants of differences within couples' behavioral exchanges. To compare spouses' control behaviors in overt and ongoing communication as a function of both conflict and intimacy situational contexts, and to analyze the influence of spouse's role,…

Inequity theory differs from social exchange theory in its analysis of a worker's reaction to pay by asserting that effects on work performance caused by high or low pay are due to social comparison of fairness rather than principles of direct exchange, such as reciprocity and power. The present experiment held piece-rate pay constant at two…

This paper discusses the conceptualization of interpersonal power and offers a relational definition and measure of power. A distinction is made between "power attempts" (domineering message behavior) and "power" (transactional patterns of dominance). To test this distinction, 45 husband/wife dyads were randomly sampled from a…

A theoretically-derived, easily employable, and widely applicable coding system for processing analysis of small group discussions is described. The system was constructed from established social influence theory, and pilot results from application of the system to group therapy interactions were presented. Eighty percent of all group…

By utilizing reinforcing and punishing light cues the verbal output and leadership status of Target Ss in a four-person group was manipulated. There were three conditions: Control (no light cues used); Agree, where Non-Target Ss were reinforced for agreeing with the Target, and punished for all other verbalizations; and Disagree, where Non-Target…