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Few studies have examined the influence of organizational and environmental characteristics on human resource (HR) practices. To identify potential correlates of progressive HR practices, concepts from the innovation literature were applied. In particular, the extent was explored to which size, climate, organizational structure, external conditions, and workforce variables were related to the use of HR innovations in a sample of 40 New York State public agencies. Agency size and the external condition variables of labor availability and public scrutiny exhibited the strongest linear relationships with HR innovation. Formalization, centralization, and HR department climate demonstrated somewhat weaker linear effects. External favorability demonstrated a nonlinear relationship with HR innovation. The results are discussed with consideration given to the differences between idea generation and adoption, formal and informal innovations, organic and mechanistic organizational structures, and the role of the external environment. Diagnostic questions are provided to assist in the application of these findings to other settings.

One of the common explanations for the existence of divided government is that voters, preferring moderate public policy outcomes, split their tickets in voting for president and Congress. This argument presumes that divided government in fact results in more moderate policy outcomes than would be the case under unified government. To date, no one has examined the consequences of divided government for policymaking by the Supreme Court. Does appointment of Supreme Court justices under conditions of divided government produce a more moderate Court? The authors address this question in the context of civil rights and liberties cases, looking at liberal-conservative voting by justices between 1954 and 1989, inclusive. They test a model of Supreme Court decision making that incorporates a number of factors along with the existence of divided party government at the time of a justice's appointment. These factors include the number of years the individual justice has served on the Court, and the possible effects of the increased politicization of the Court and the judicial selection process since 1968. The authors find that appointment under divided party government is a significant predictor of moderation in civil rights and liberties decision making by the Court.

Beginning with Mueller's (1970) seminal work, researchers have wrestled with explanations of the movement of presidential approval over time. In his initial argument, Mueller states thatin tandem, the concepts underlying the coalition of minorities and rally round the flag variables predict that the president's popularity will continually decline over time and that international crises and similar events will explain short-term bumps and wiggles in this otherwise inexorable descent. (1970, 22)From this basis, Mueller posits "… a general downward trend in each president's popularity" (1970, 19) that is linear and deterministic over the course of a term. Others later moved away from arguments of linearity (e.g., Stimson 1976) and from the coalition of minorities concept (e.g., Kemell 1978), but these early characterizations of approval's time path, perpetuated in the "myth of the inexorable descent," remain to this day.

Between 1965 and 1988 the Journal of Broadcasting (and Electronic Media), Journalism Quarterly, and the Journal of Communication published 351 articles that focused on some economic aspect of communication. The numbers published increased in all three journals over the period studied. Comparisons among these journals are made according to sources used, themes and issues addressed, and levels of analysis and methods employed. A citation analysis identified core referents for these articles and provides evidence that communication scholars cite other communication journals more than they do outside economic fields.