title: The Queen Bee in New Zealand: The role of group commitment in group-distancing behaviour

authors: van Lieshout, Courteney

abstract: Considering the plethora of barriers that women face in the pursuit of leadership and success as leaders, it is valuable to gain an in-depth understanding of each specific obstacle that women leaders face. In this vein, the present research strives to investigate the Queen Bee (QB) phenomenon—a term assigned to women leaders who distance themselves from their female subordinates and juniors, rather than helping them achieve leadership themselves. More specifically, this research aims to investigate the relationship between Queen Bee behaviours and an individual’s connection and commitment to their gender group—a concept termed Gender Identification (GID) here. As a secondary aim, this study also endeavours to explore the relationship between several measures used to assess QB attitudes.
Participants were recruited from the University of Waikato’s Practical Research Experience in Psychology (PREP) program, with 39 participants providing valid responses on all measures. Participants were mostly young (71.1% under 20 years old) psychology students, and mostly female (76%). They undertook an experimental in-person 1-hour session replicated from a previous study which consisted of a simulated management scenario where participants were tasked with helping a subordinate (either the male or female candidate) gain promotion. This measure indexed a behavioural assessment of QB group- distancing behaviour, and a self-report questionnaire was also included to measure participants’ explicit QB distancing attitudes.
Regression analysis revealed that, contrary to hypotheses, stronger GID predicted the favouring of the same-gender candidate and distancing from the candidate of opposite gender in both male and female participants, although this relationship did not reach statistical significance. Further, correlation analysis revealed, as expected, no correlation between the implicit (behavioural) and explicit (self-report) measures of QB distancing. The results suggest that the relationship between GID and QB distancing, in both men and women, is more nuanced than reported in previous research. Specifically, low gender-group connection and commitment may result in a nothing-to-lose mentality, sparking more engagement in radical collective action (such as favouring women over men at work), whereas strong GID may result in concerns of how such collective action will reflect poorly on the gender group. Further, the results indicate that explicit and implicit measures of QB distancing may relate poorly to each other, suggesting caution be taken when using these different types of measures interchangeably or comparing data across studies. The research highlights that further studies of a replicative nature are necessary in psychology, and that further research concerning the QB phenomenon in New Zealand women is necessary to understand the engagement with these distancing behaviours among our women leaders.

text: The Queen Bee in New Zealand: The role of group commitment in group-distancing behaviour Considering the plethora of barriers that women face in the pursuit of leadership and success as leaders, it is valuable to gain an in-depth understanding of each specific obstacle that women leaders face. In this vein, the present research strives to investigate the Queen Bee (QB) phenomenon—a term assigned to women leaders who distance themselves from their female subordinates and juniors, rather than helping them achieve leadership themselves. More specifically, this research aims to investigate the relationship between Queen Bee behaviours and an individual’s connection and commitment to their gender group—a concept termed Gender Identification (GID) here. As a secondary aim, this study also endeavours to explore the relationship between several measures used to assess QB attitudes.
Participants were recruited from the University of Waikato’s Practical Research Experience in Psychology (PREP) program, with 39 participants providing valid responses on all measures. Participants were mostly young (71.1% under 20 years old) psychology students, and mostly female (76%). They undertook an experimental in-person 1-hour session replicated from a previous study which consisted of a simulated management scenario where participants were tasked with helping a subordinate (either the male or female candidate) gain promotion. This measure indexed a behavioural assessment of QB group- distancing behaviour, and a self-report questionnaire was also included to measure participants’ explicit QB distancing attitudes.
Regression analysis revealed that, contrary to hypotheses, stronger GID predicted the favouring of the same-gender candidate and distancing from the candidate of opposite gender in both male and female participants, although this relationship did not reach statistical significance. Further, correlation analysis revealed, as expected, no correlation between the implicit (behavioural) and explicit (self-report) measures of QB distancing. The results suggest that the relationship between GID and QB distancing, in both men and women, is more nuanced than reported in previous research. Specifically, low gender-group connection and commitment may result in a nothing-to-lose mentality, sparking more engagement in radical collective action (such as favouring women over men at work), whereas strong GID may result in concerns of how such collective action will reflect poorly on the gender group. Further, the results indicate that explicit and implicit measures of QB distancing may relate poorly to each other, suggesting caution be taken when using these different types of measures interchangeably or comparing data across studies. The research highlights that further studies of a replicative nature are necessary in psychology, and that further research concerning the QB phenomenon in New Zealand women is necessary to understand the engagement with these distancing behaviours among our women leaders.

year: 2019

title: Vascular performance of woody plants in a temperate rain forest: lianas suffer higher levels of freeze-thaw embolism than associated trees

authors: Jiménez-Castillo, Mylthon

subjects: liana distribution

abstract: The success of lianas in tropical rain forests has been linked to their wide xylem vessels that confer much higher hydraulic conductivity than tropical trees. In contrast, the poorer representation of lianas in temperate forests and high elevations might reflect lower competitiveness there, because of the vulnerability of high-performance xylem to freeze–thaw embolism. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence that support this idea is surprisingly scarce.
We assessed this hypothesis comparing the hydraulic performance of five lianas and nine trees coexisting in cold weather, by measuring wood traits, hydraulic conductivity, xylem embolism and root pressures.
Vessel diameters of lianas were on average twice those of trees (51·3 vs. 23·2 μm), resulting in an 18-fold difference in mean specific hydraulic conductivity (15·5 vs. 1·05 kg s−1 m−1 MPa−1). Lianas on average suffered higher levels of freeze–thaw embolism than trees (29·9 vs. 12·8%), reducing their potential hydraulically supported competitive advantage; however, partially embolized lianas still had greater water transport capacity than trees.
Specific hydraulic conductivity (Ks) was well correlated with vessel size in lianas but not in trees; however, plants with big vessels were more vulnerable to freeze embolism. Although all species of lianas developed root pressures and these tended to be higher than trees, root pressure were insufficient to repair embolism in plants > c. 7 m tall. The magnitudes of root pressure were well correlated with vessel size in lianas, but this relationship was not observed in trees.
Synthesis: Our results show empirical evidence that hydraulic performance of temperate lianas exceed the performance of coexisting trees, in similar magnitude than its tropical counterparts. Nevertheless, this hydraulic advantage is reduced as a consequence of freeze embolism. Temperate lianas appear to employ a bet-hedging strategy entailing significant embolism in winter, but likely enabling rapid carbon gain during frost-free periods. Loss of winter carbon gain opportunities because of embolism may explain the low success of lianas in temperate rain forest. However, predicted future climatic scenarios could are likely to increase liana abundance in mid-latitudes and allow lianas to expand their ranges towards higher latitudes and elevations.

text: Vascular performance of woody plants in a temperate rain forest: lianas suffer higher levels of freeze-thaw embolism than associated trees The success of lianas in tropical rain forests has been linked to their wide xylem vessels that confer much higher hydraulic conductivity than tropical trees. In contrast, the poorer representation of lianas in temperate forests and high elevations might reflect lower competitiveness there, because of the vulnerability of high-performance xylem to freeze–thaw embolism. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence that support this idea is surprisingly scarce.
We assessed this hypothesis comparing the hydraulic performance of five lianas and nine trees coexisting in cold weather, by measuring wood traits, hydraulic conductivity, xylem embolism and root pressures.
Vessel diameters of lianas were on average twice those of trees (51·3 vs. 23·2 μm), resulting in an 18-fold difference in mean specific hydraulic conductivity (15·5 vs. 1·05 kg s−1 m−1 MPa−1). Lianas on average suffered higher levels of freeze–thaw embolism than trees (29·9 vs. 12·8%), reducing their potential hydraulically supported competitive advantage; however, partially embolized lianas still had greater water transport capacity than trees.
Specific hydraulic conductivity (Ks) was well correlated with vessel size in lianas but not in trees; however, plants with big vessels were more vulnerable to freeze embolism. Although all species of lianas developed root pressures and these tended to be higher than trees, root pressure were insufficient to repair embolism in plants > c. 7 m tall. The magnitudes of root pressure were well correlated with vessel size in lianas, but this relationship was not observed in trees.
Synthesis: Our results show empirical evidence that hydraulic performance of temperate lianas exceed the performance of coexisting trees, in similar magnitude than its tropical counterparts. Nevertheless, this hydraulic advantage is reduced as a consequence of freeze embolism. Temperate lianas appear to employ a bet-hedging strategy entailing significant embolism in winter, but likely enabling rapid carbon gain during frost-free periods. Loss of winter carbon gain opportunities because of embolism may explain the low success of lianas in temperate rain forest. However, predicted future climatic scenarios could are likely to increase liana abundance in mid-latitudes and allow lianas to expand their ranges towards higher latitudes and elevations.

year: 2013

title: Research and development absorptive capacity: a Māori perspective

authors: Ruckstuhl, Katharina

subjects: computer science

abstract: This paper presents a view of research and development absorptive capacity from a Māori perspective. The assessment is part of a case study of a longitudinal programme – Science for Technological Innovation: Kia kotahi mai – Te Ao Putaiao me te Ao Hanagarau that aims to increase Aotearoa New Zealand’s capacity to use sci-tech for economic benefit. The paper finds that while Aotearoa New Zealand’s macro policy and meso institutional levels have become more responsive to Māori research and development demands, at the micro level of the individual or the firm there are still constraints given the small numbers of Māori in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In response to this, a novel model of Māori sci-tech capacity is under development that considers not only research and development technical capacities, but also the human and relational capacities required to accelerate absorptive capacity to respond to Māori social and economic aspirations.

text: Research and development absorptive capacity: a Māori perspective This paper presents a view of research and development absorptive capacity from a Māori perspective. The assessment is part of a case study of a longitudinal programme – Science for Technological Innovation: Kia kotahi mai – Te Ao Putaiao me te Ao Hanagarau that aims to increase Aotearoa New Zealand’s capacity to use sci-tech for economic benefit. The paper finds that while Aotearoa New Zealand’s macro policy and meso institutional levels have become more responsive to Māori research and development demands, at the micro level of the individual or the firm there are still constraints given the small numbers of Māori in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In response to this, a novel model of Māori sci-tech capacity is under development that considers not only research and development technical capacities, but also the human and relational capacities required to accelerate absorptive capacity to respond to Māori social and economic aspirations.

year: 2019