Showing papers in "Journal of Applied Psychology in 1982"

Aggregation Bias in Estimates of Perceptual Agreement.

Abstract: : It is shown that estimates of agreement based on group mean scores have been incorrectly interpreted as applying to perceptual agreement among individuals. Of initial importance is a study by Drexler (1977), who concluded that a considerable proportion of the variance in climate perceptions is accounted for by organizational membership. This conclusion has been employed recently by other authors to support the assumption that individuals in the same environment tend to agree with respect to climate perceptions. The present paper demonstrates that Drexler's analysis provided inflated estimates of agreement among individuals. The logic of the approach is then extended to other studies in which inflated estimates of agreement appeared likely. (Author)

Measurement of job and work involvement

Abstract: Developed separate measures of job and work constructs using 3 techniques: semantic differential, questionnaire, and graphic. Assessment measures included the Job Involvement and Work Involvement Questionnaires, Job Involvement and Work Involvement Semantic Differentials, and Job Involvement and Wor

Causes of employee turnover: A test of the Mobley, Griffeth, Hand, and Meglino model.

Abstract: This study was a test of the Mobley, Griffeth, Hand, and Meglino turnover model. Data from employees of a mental health facility were collected on several variables contained in the model, including perceived job characteristics, personal employee characteristics, job satisfaction, perceived alternative employment opportunities, intention of quitting the job, and turnover. Two variables were added to those in the model—confirmation of preemployment expectancies and organizational commitment. The results of path analyses were consistent with the model, although with some modifications. Specifically, perceived alternative employment opportunities added nothing to the model as a direct cause of intention to quit or turnover, or as a moderator.

Boundary spanning and individual performance: The impact of self-monitoring

Abstract: Boundary-spanning positions require occupants to interact with groups whose norms may differ from one another. It was hypothesized that individuals holding these positions would perform better if they were sensitive to social cues and able to adapt their behavior to fit the circumstances. 93 field representatives (average age 30.5 yrs) who acted as boundary spanners were given the Self-Monitoring Scale. Results show that significant relationships existed between job performance and an individual difference variable (self-monitoring) that assessed the ability of respondents to adjust their self-presentation to fit the situation; self-monitoring was most important during the period of early tenure. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

Performance Evaluation in a Dynamic Context: A Laboratory Study of the Impact of a Prior Commitment to the Ratee

Abstract: A dynamic view of performance evaluation is proposed that argues that raterswho are provided with negative performance data on a previously promotedemployee will subsequently evaluate the employee more positively if they, ratherthan their predecessors, made the earlier promotion decision. A total of 298business majors participated in the study. The experimental group made a pro-motion decision by choosing among three candidates, whereas the control groupwas told that the decision had been made by someone else. Both groups evaluatedthe promoted employee's performance after reviewing 2 years of data. The hy-pothesized escalation of commitment effect was observed in that the experimentalgroup consistently evaluated the employee more favorably, provided larger re-wards, and made more optimistic projections of future performance than did thecontrol group.After a long history of attempting to identifyoptimal performance appraisal instruments andtechniques (cf. Landy & Farr, 1980), recent re-search has moved towards studies that describethe processes involved in making a judgmentabout performance (Borman, 1975; Feldman,1981; Schneier, 1977; Zedeck & Kafry, 1977).This article represents this latter paradigm andspecifically addresses the dynamic processes thatoccur within a rater across multiple judgments ofthe same ratee. It is concerned with a longitudinalview of the rating process in order to focus onjudgmental demands associated with rating thesame ratee at multiple points in time. This articlepresents: (a) a brief review of the trend towardsunderstanding rating processes, (b) presentationof a longitudinal viewpoint, (c) development ofa set of hypotheses from this new viewpoint, and(d) discussion of the results of the empirical testof these hypotheses.The traditional view of performance evaluationassumes that a rater has both a complete set ofinformation about the behavior of the ratee andan organizationally provided performance ap-praisal instrument. The instrument provides the

A comparison of LISREL and two-stage least squares analysis of a hypothesized life–job satisfaction reciprocal relationship.

Abstract: The nature of the relationship between life satisfaction and job satisfaction was investigated using both two-stage least squares and the analysis of linear structural equations by LISREL. These techniques were chosen because both provide the possibility of evaluating causal relationships that are bidirectional. The results are consistent with a model that hypothesizes a reciprocal relationship between job and life domains. Further, results concerning estimates of structural parameters were consistent across analysis techniques. Some comparisons and cautionary remarks regarding the use of both techniques are presented. The interrelationship of job satisfaction and life satisfaction has long been an area of concern in the literature on job attitudes (for reviews see Kabanoff, 1980; Near, Rice, & Hunt, 1980; Rice, Near, & Hunt, 1980). For the most part, the nature of the relationship between job and life satisfaction has been portrayed in terms of three rival hypotheses: (a) that there is a positive relationship; (b) that there is a negative relationship; and (c) that there is no relationship. The first hypothesis (known as the generalized or spillover model) suggests that satisfaction in one domain of a person's life spills over into other areas. Thus, for example, workers who experience discontentment in their work do not compensate for this lack of psychological gratification by finding satisfaction in other aspects of their life, but rather are more likely to experience a greater incidence of unhappiness in nonwork activities. The spillover model suggests that the causal flow is either from job to life satisfaction or from life to job satisfaction, but not both simultaneously. In contrast, the second hypothesis (known as the compensation model) argues that individuals who have jobs deficient in need fulfillment will compensate for this deficiency by seeking out challenging and interesting nonwork activi

Occupational stress among student nurses: a natural experiment.

Abstract: This article describes a natural experiment that overcomes a number of methodological problems inherent in previous studies of occupational stress and strengthens evidence for the causal role of the work setting in influencing mental health and well-being. Student nurses (N = 164) were randomly assigned to one of four possible combinations of ward types such that two factors—type of nursing (medical/surgical) and sex of patients (male/female)—were systematicall y varied with counterbalancing of order effects. Self-reported levels of affective symptoms and perceptions of the work environment, together with independent data on sickness/absence, performance, and the objective work environment, were recorded longitudinally over the two ward periods. Within-subjects analyses showed significant differences between medical and surgical wards in affective symptoms and in perceived and objective measures of the work environment. Male and female wards differed primarily in the perceived environment, work satisfaction, and performance. Correlational analyses were used to examine the relationships between different types of measures. Further analysis of the main effects, with control for covariance, indicated that the perceived work environment contributed to the observed differences in affective distress between medical and surgical wards, while mitigating differences between male and female wards. In spite of extensive research, the causal role of the work environment in influencing mental health and well-being has not yet been adequately demonstrated. The difficulties in resolving this important issue are primarily methodological, and several recent papers have emphasized the limitations of

Applications of item response theory to analysis of attitude scale translations.

Abstract: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champa ign Methods of detecting item bias developed from item response theory (IRT) are generalized to analyze the fidelity of translations of psychological scales into foreign languages. These IRT methods are considered as alternatives to classical methods. Item characteristic curves obtained from responses to the original and target language versions of the instrument are examined for significance of dif- ferences. Data from a Spanish translation of the Job Descriptive Index admin- istered to 203 Spanish-speaking employees are used to illustrate the method. Significance tests indicate that three items on the 72-item instrument are biased. Subsequent inspection of these three items by a language consultant revealed inadequate translation of one item. Because the number of items determined to be biased by significance testing is quite close to the expected number of Type I errors, it is concluded that the overall quality of the translation is quite good. Finally, it is argued that equivalent item characteristic curves across the original and translated items of a scale produce equivalent measurements in both lan- guages, and nonequivalent item characteristic curves pinpoint differences between the two versions of the scale. Two increasingly important areas of ap- plied psychological research are cross-cul- tural social psychology and cross-national in- dustrial-organizational psychology. The need to assess and make statements about differ- ences between cultures as well as within cul- tures is an integral part of both areas. Herein lies the problem addressed in this article: Cross-cultural research depends on cross-cul- tural comparisons, which, in turn, usually depend upon the meaningfulness of measur-

Managing Organizational Stress: A Field Experiment

Abstract: Although the deleterious effects of work-related stress on employee well-being and organizational effectiveness have received wide attention in the literature, few, if any, controlled experiments have been attempted to assess the effects of stress reduction interventions. In the present study, a stress management training program was evaluated in a field experiment with 79 public agency employees who were randomly assigned to treatment (« = 40) and control (n - 39) groups. The training program consisted of 16 hours of group exposure distributed over 8 weeks. Using procedures based upon those developed by Meichenbaum (1975), treatment subjects were taught to recognize and alter their cognitive interpretations to stressful events at work. Subjects were also taught progressive relaxation techniques to supplement this process. Dependent variables were epinephrine and norepinephrme excretion at work, anxiety, depression, irritation, and somatic complaints, all measured at three times (pretest, posttest, and 4 months after treatment). Treatment subjects exhibited significantly lower epinephrine and depression levels than did controls at the posttest, and 4-month follow-up levels did not regress to pretest levels. However, treatment effects were not replicated in a subsequent intervention on the original control group. The general adoption of such stress management programs was not recommended.