Showing papers in "Journal of Applied Psychology in 1991"

Relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behaviors : do fairness perceptions influence employee citizenship ?

Abstract: This study examined the relationship between perceptions of fairness and organizational citizenship (extrarole) behaviors in a sample drawn from two firms in the midwestern United States. A theoretical basis for a relationship between fairness and citizenship was drawn from equity theory and other theories of social exchange. Structural equation analysis with LISREL7 found support for four hypotheses, including support for a relationship between perceptions of procedural justice and four of five citizenship dimensions.

State or trait: Effects of positive mood on prosocial behaviors at work.

Abstract: Positive mood at work (as an affective state) was hypothesized to be significantly and positively associated with the performance of both extrarole and role-prescribed prosocial organizational behaviors. Moreover, positive mood was hypothesized to have effects on prosocial behavior above and beyond the effects of fairness cognitions. Conversely, positive mood as a trait (\\£., positive affectivity) was expected to be unrelated to either form of prosocial behavior. Finally, the form of role-prescribed prosocial behavior investigated, customer-service behavior or helpful behavior directed at customers, was hypothesized to be positively associated with sales performance. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of 221 salespeople. All of the hypotheses were supported. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.

Some differences make a difference: Individual dissimilarity and group heterogeneity as correlates of recruitment, promotions, and turnover.

Abstract: Schneider's (1987) attraction-selection-attrition model and Pfeffer's (1983) organization demography model were used to generate individual-level and group-level hypotheses relating interpersonal context to recruitment, promotion, and turnover patterns. Interpersonal context was operationalized as personal dissimilarity and group heterogeneity with respect to age, tenure, education level, curriculum, alma mater, military service, and career experiences. For 93 top management teams in bank holding companies examined over a 4-yr period, turnover rate was predicted by group heterogeneity. For individuals, turnover was predicted by dissimilarity to other group members, but promotion was not. Team heterogeneity was a relatively strong predictor of team turnover rates. Furthermore, reliance on internal recruitment predicted subsequent team homogeneity.

Perceived fairness of employee drug testing as a predictor of employee attitudes and job performance.

Abstract: Although management of drug testing programs is becoming a critical organizational issue, no systematic conceptual framework has been applied to the study of employee reactions to drug testing. In this study an organizational justice framework was used to explain and predict the relationships among two types of justice (procedural justice and outcome fairness) employee attitudes (job satisfaction, commitment, and management trust), and behavior (turnover intentions and performance). Survey data from 195 employees in a pathology laboratory indicated that justice predicts employee attitudes and performance. Specifically, procedural justice, but not outcome fairness, predicted all 5 criterion variables. These results demonstrate the importance of procedural justice perceptions for predicting employee reactions to drug testing programs.

Meeting trainees' expectations: The influence of training fulfillment on the development of commitment, self-efficacy, and motivation.

Abstract: The development of organizational commitment, academic self-efficacy, physical self-efficacy, and motivation was examined in a socialization-type training context with data collected from 666 military trainees. The hypotheses were that (a) training fulfillment, or the extent to which training meets or fulfills a trainee's expectations and desires, (b) trainee reactions, and (c) training performance would be related to the develpoment of posttraining attitudes. Support was obtained for each hypothesis.

A Construct Validity Study of the Survey of Perceived Organizational Support

Abstract: Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchinson, and Sowa (1986) recently conducted a study focused on ameasure of perceived employer commitment that they called the Survey of Perceived Organiza-tional Support (SPOS). In the present study, confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine thedimensionality of the SPOS and to determine the distinctiveness of this construct from othersimilar constructs. Participants were 330 employees in a large corporation headquartered in thesoutheastern United States. The results support the SPOS as a unidimensional scale that is distin-guishable from affective and continuance commitment. However, the data raise some question asto the empirical distinction between the SPOS and satisfaction.

Structural equations modeling test of a turnover theory: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.

Abstract: Hom, Griffeth, and Sellaro's (1984) theoretical alternative to Mobley's (1977) turnover model was investigated in two studies. In Study 1, conceptual distinctions among model constructs and operationalizations of those constructs were validated. 206 nurses were surveyed, and constructs were assessed

Effects of Productivity Goals, Creativity Goals, and Personal Discretion on Individual Creativity

Abstract: A three-factor (3 × 3 × 2), between-subjects design was used to investigate effects of productivity goals (difficult, do your best, or no goals), creativity goals (difficult, do your best, or no goals), and personal discretion (high or low) on two dependent variables: creativity and productivity. Hi

Task interdependence and extrarole behavior : a test of the mediating effects of felt responsibility

Abstract: Author(s): Pearce, JL; Gregersen, HB | Abstract: A model hypothesizing that task interdependence affects supervisor-reported extrarole behavior indirectly through employee felt responsibility was tested in this study. The model was supported by path analysis in a sample of 290 health-care and administrative employees in two hospitals. The results (a) demonstrate the importance of asymmetric felt responsibility to extrarole behavior and (b) show the need to include mediating psychological states when testing the effects of workplace structures on extrarole behaviors. New scales for measured employee-perceived task interdependence are introduced.

Negative affectivity as the underlying cause of correlations between stressors and strains.

Abstract: The extent to which negative affectivity (NA), the tendency to experience a wide range of negative emotions, inflated correlations between chronic job stressors and strains was examined in this study. NA was found to account for a large proportion of shared variance between stressors and physical strains (as indicated by absence, doctor visits, and physical symptoms). Contrary to the results of Brief, Burke, George, Robinson, and Webster (1988), NA did not account for much of the variance shared by stressors and affective strains (job satisfaction, anger, and feelings of stress and frustration). Reasons for the failure of this and several earlier studies to successfully replicate Brief et al.'s results are explored.

Social influence processes affecting adolescent substance use.

Abstract: Social influence is central to models of adolescent substance use. Nonetheless, researchers fail to delineate the various forms of social influence. A framework that distinguishes between active (explicit drug offers) and passive (social modeling and overestimation of friends' use) social pressure was tested. The effect of these processes on alcohol and cigarette use was examined with 526 seventh graders taking part in an alcohol prevention program. Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that pretest measures of alcohol use, offers, modeling, and overestimation each accounted for unique variance in posttest alcohol use. Similar results were obtained for cigarette smoking. The general model was not significantly different for boys and girls, or for prior users and prior nonusers, supporting the generalizability of the framework. Implications for intervention programs are discussed.

Organizational Commitment, Job Involvement, and Turnover: A Substantive and Methodological Analysis

Abstract: This study was conducted to examine the hypothesis that organizational commitment and job involvement interact in the prediction of turnover (Blau & Boal, 1987). Prior work in this area has not incorporated a sufficiently broad definition of commitment, has omitted relevant covariates, and has utilized inappropriate estimation procedures (ordinary least-squares regression [OLS]). The presence of a commitment–involvement interaction was tested in three estimation models with data obtained from 138 supervisors. Models estimated with OLS replicated prior work (Blau & Boal, 1989) irrespective of whether additional covariates were included. Identical models estimated with logistic regression provided no support for the presence of a commitment–involvement interaction. It is concluded that results obtained with linear techniques are a function of an inappropriate estimation procedure when the dependent variable is binary. The potential impact of the widespread use of linear estimation procedures in turnover research is discussed. Organizational commitment and job involvement have been major themes in the organizational literature, especially with regard to the prediction of organizational outcomes, such as turnover. In fact, it is the potential influence of these variables on turnover that represents a particular methodological challenge for this line of research, namely the estimation of statistical models with binary dependent variables. In this article, we report the results of a study that extends prior work on organizational commitment, job involvement, and turnover, and we illustrate how the use of inappropriate estimation procedures raises significant questions about the validity of earlier research. The focus of this study, therefore, was twofold: one substantive, the other methodological. The substantive research question considered was a test of Blau and Boal’s (1987) hypothesis that organizational commitment and job involvement interact to influence turnover. The methodological issue (that nonlinear logistic regression is the appropriate estimation procedure for models with dichotomous dependent variables) is applicable to turnover research generally Although this issue is discussed in many statistics texts and has largely been resolved in practice in other disciplines, industrial psychologists and organizational researchers seem to have been reluctant to adopt the appropriate procedures. In this article, we review these procedures and graphically illustrate how the choice of estimation technique can influence both the pattern and significance of results.

Relations of job characteristics from multiple data sources with employee affect, absence, turnover intentions, and health

Abstract: Much of the evidence in support of job characteristics theory is limited to incumbent reports of job characteristics. In this study, job characteristics data from three independent sources--incumbents, ratings from job descriptions, and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles--were used. Convergent validities of incumbent reports with other sources were quite modest. Although incumbent reports of job characteristics correlated significantly with several employee outcomes (job satisfaction, work frustration, anxiety on the job, turnover intentions, and number of doctor visits), the other sources showed few significant correlations, except for number of doctor visits. Caution is urged in the use of incumbent self-reports of job characteristics as indicators of actual work environments. New methods for studying job characteristics are suggested.

Meaning and measurement of turnover: Comparison of alternative measures and recommendations for research.

Abstract: In a review of two areas of turnover researchuindividual motivated choice behavior and organizational consequences--five alternative turnover measures are defined: reasons, voluntariness, avoidability, functionality, and utility. Turnover data for one year (1987) were gathered from 325 former employees, 568 supervisors, 418 replacement employees, and the personnel files of a university. Analyses indicated that organizational records are deficient as a source of information, especially because of the usual practice of recording a single reason for turnover. Voluntariness may result in a classification system that is too gross for validating motivational models. Avoidability, functionality, and utility each measure unique aspects of organizational consequences, but each has limitations. Turnover measures should be viewed as continua rather than as dichotomies. Recommendations for future research are provided.

Familiarity and Group Productivity

Abstract: The effects of familiarity on group productivity were examined. Familiarity refers to the specific knowledge workers have of their jobs, co-workers, and work environment. In this study of coal-mining crews, absenteeism led to staffing changes that affected the level of familiarity in the work group. Data from 26 crews in two underground coal mines indicate that lower levels of familiarity are associated with lower productivity.

Modeling Galatea : boosting self-efficacy to increase volunteering

Abstract: The Galatea effect is a boost in performance caused by raising workers' self-expectations. Hypothesizing that self-efficacy is central to one's expectations for success and motivation to perform, we used vicarious experience and verbal persuasion to strengthen the self-efficacy of candidates and to increase the rate of volunteering for special-forces service.

Impact of management by objectives on organizational productivity.

Abstract: Goal setting, participation in decision making, and objective feedback have each been shown to increase productivity. As a combination of these three processes, management by objectives (MBO) also should increase productivity. A meta-analysis of studies supported this prediction: 68 out of 70 studie

Member competence, group interaction, and group decision making: A longitudinal study.

Abstract: The primary objective of this study was to examine the extent to which increased experience in working in a group would affect group versus individual problem solving. The duration and intensity of group involvement for subjects (over 30 hr) was extensive. In addition, the reward system provided a clear and direct tie between individual or group performance and a significant outcome (i.e., course grades). The decision-making task had a great deal in common with many of the aspects of group decision making in organizations. Results were overwhelming in favor of group decision making across time, given this type of task.

Time urgency: The construct and its measurement.

Abstract: Time urgency may be an important construct in industrial and organizational psychology. Preliminary analyses have indicated that time urgency may be multidimensional, and available self-report measures have been criticized on psychometric grounds. The present research addressed the dimensionality of time urgency. Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS), in which behavioral statements are substituted for qualitative anchors, were used to construct time urgency measures. The BARS technique produced multidimensional measures of time urgency that possessed adequate reliability and construct validity. The scales were tested on a wide variety of subjects. It is concluded that time urgency is a multidimensional construct. Relationships between the time urgency measures, job satisfaction, and work stress are discussed in light of previous research findings.

Group Decision Making Under Stress

Abstract: Understanding the processes by which task groups function is a major concern of social psychologists who study small groups. Equally important to the applied group researcher is the understanding of how group processes are altered by the external environment. Research suggests that organizations respond to stress with a centralization of authority so that decision making becomes concentrated in the higher levels of an organizational hierarchy. In this study, this hypothesis was extended to the small-group level of analysis, and the effects of stress on group status and decision making were examined. Experimental results clarify and delimit the centralization-of-authority hypothesis: Rather than centralizing authority and decision making under stress, group leaders and group members become more receptive to information provided by others. Implications for group decision making are discussed.

Models of supervisory job performance ratings

Abstract: Proposed and evaluated in this research were causal models that included measures of cognitive ability, job knowledge, task proficiency, two temperament constructs (achievement and dependability), awards, problem behavior, and supervisor ratings. The models were tested on a sample of 4362 US Army enlisted personel in nine different jobs.