PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate how community diversity climate indirectly affects employee intent to stay via two pathways. First, we assess organizational psychological safety as a mediator. Second, we evaluate organizational diversity climate as a moderator of the community diversity climate - organizational psychological safety relationship.Design/methodology/approachTo test the hypotheses, we collected data via an electronic survey (n = 151) from a US-based manufacturing company. Employees representing diverse functional areas, including marketing, production, operations, finance and human resources, participated in the study. Demographics included 66% White, 64% male and 46% between the age group 40-55 years.FindingsResults reveal that organizational psychological safety significantly mediates the positive effect of community diversity climate on employees' intent to stay. The results also indicate a significant interaction between community and organizational diversity climates on psychological safety. The plot for significant interaction between community and organizational diversity climates illustrates that community diversity climate strongly enhances psychological safety when organizational diversity climate is perceived as less supportive.Originality/valueThis study draws on and extends conservation of resources and spillover theories by examining the influence of community-based variables on employment relationships. The study also contributes to research on work-community interface by clarifying the role played by community diversity climate in indirectly influencing intent to stay. Few studies have examined community-based antecedents of work attitudes and behaviors; therefore, this study advances this understanding by highlighting how contextual resources from work and non-work domains interact and, in doing so, offers novel theoretical and practical insights into employee retention.
Fibrosarcoma is a rare, clinically aggressive soft-tissue sarcoma that can be difficult to treat once advanced, highlighting the need for new therapeutic strategies. Oncolytic virotherapy is an emerging approach that uses replication-competent viruses to selectively infect and lyse tumor cells while stimulating antitumor immune responses. Mammalian orthoreovirus (reovirus) is an attractive candidate due to its generally benign clinical profile and capacity to replicate in many cancer cells. Reoviruses exhibit substantial genetic diversity arising from mutations and reassortment of their segmented genomes during co-infection, enabling the emergence of variants with distinct phenotypes. However, most preclinical and clinical studies have relied on a single prototype strain (T3D; clinically formulated as pelareorep), leaving open the possibility that other variants may exhibit superior activity in rare cancers. Using an in vitro screen, HT-1080 human fibrosarcoma cells were infected with a diverse panel of parental and reassortant reoviruses and assessed for cytopathicity and infectivity. One reassortant emerged as a top-performing candidate, combining robust infectivity with pronounced cytotoxicity and increased viral protein accumulation over time compared with a prototype strain. Pharmacologic pathway interrogation indicated that virus-induced cytopathicity in this model was predominantly caspase-dependent, supporting apoptosis as the primary mode of cell death rather than necroptosis. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that reassortant reoviruses can markedly enhance oncolytic activity in fibrosarcoma cells relative to commonly used strains, motivating broader evaluation of genetically diverse reoviruses across additional sarcoma models and in combination regimens to optimize therapeutic potential.
This study examines how 84 Protestant women in the South understand the morality of their abortion decisions, offering a nuanced perspective on the complex relationship between religion and abortion and revealing that many women navigate abortion decisions with theological depth, moral reasoning, and a profound sense of responsibility. The in-depth interviews yield thick descriptions of participants' abortion decision-making and insight into how they make meaning of their abortion, particularly in relation to their Christian commitments and their relationship with God. Key contributions include a deepened understanding of how Southern Christian women having abortions think and talk about the category of sin in relation to their abortion; an expanded understanding of religious authority and religious women's moral agency; and a model that demonstrates the value to abortion and religion scholarship of rejecting the reductive constraints of the justification frame of abortion. Given the extent to which religion has been hijacked to tell a narrow, patriarchal, and profoundly polarizing story about abortion and religion in America, documenting the stories of religious people having abortions offers a deep source of moral wisdom and insight that can serve as an important corrective in both public and scholarly narratives about abortion.
PurposeThis study aims to explore the influence of Islamic value orientations on public relations conducts on Instagram accounts of five Islamic banks in Kuwait. It specifically looks at the influence of orientations on public relations functions as well as message delivery styles and communication appeals meant for communication in the Instagram accounts.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts Grunig and Hunt's Four Models of Public Relations to evaluate how the posts fulfill various public relations functions. It also uses Kent and Taylor's dialogic theory to assess public engagement with these religious posts. The study uses content analysis and personal interviews as methods of data collection.FindingsThe content analysis of 1,226 religious Instagram posts and personal interviews from five Kuwaiti Islamic banks indicated that the banks primarily used Instagram for community relations, followed by informational, marketing and interactive functions. The posts reflected an orientation toward seven key Islamic values, with a focus on spirituality and worship, followed by fatalism and communal kinship. Communication delivery styles in the posts varied, with the most common citing of Koranic verses and Hadith (sayings and deeds of Prophet Mohammed), followed by references to human activities. The most frequent appeals included financial and religious rewards, informational content and social messages. Posts incorporating interactive features or offering financial rewards were most effective for audience engagement.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited to Instagram content from five Kuwaiti Islamic banks, which may not fully represent the practices of Islamic financial institutions in other countries or across different social media platforms. Future research could expand the sample to include multiple nations, additional platforms and longitudinal data to strengthen generalizability and theoretical development.Practical implicationsThe findings offer valuable insights for public relations practitioners in Islamic financial institutions to align communication strategies with Islamic values while enhancing audience engagement. By integrating interactive and faith-based content, practitioners can strengthen community trust, improve brand reputation and apply the proposed Islamic public relations theory (IPRT) as a practical framework for ethical and effective communication.Social implicationsThis study highlights the role of Islamic banks in promoting social cohesion, moral values and community engagement through faith-driven communication. By integrating Islamic principles into digital media strategies, banks can foster stronger relationships with the public, encourage ethical financial behavior and contribute to the broader social and spiritual development of Muslim communities.Originality/valueThis study develops an IPRT that can replace Western public relations theories to provide practical guidelines for public relations professionals as well as educators at university level in the Muslim world.
We examine how retail and institutional real estate investors benchmark fund performance across a comprehensive set of performance metrics. Our analysis focuses on a subset of real estate funds for which fund flows, investor type (retail vs. institutional), and risk-adjusted performance are observable. We find that benchmarking practices differ systematically by investor type. Retail investors respond primarily to raw, unadjusted returns, whereas institutional investors are most sensitive to risk-adjusted performance, particularly CAPM alphas estimated using a real estate index as the market benchmark. Although multifactor models most accurately explain historical fund performance, they exert limited influence on the investment decisions or benchmarking practices of either investor group. Ultimately, what drives performance may not be what drives capital.
