Showing papers on "Job performance published in 1994"

Evidence that task performance should be distinguished from contextual performance.

Abstract: This study tests the merit of the distinction made by W. C. Borman and S. J. Motowidlo (1993) between task performance and contextual performance. Supervisors rated 421 U.S. Air Force mechanics on their task performance, contextual performance, and overall performance. Data on length of air force experience, ability, training performance, and personality were also available for many of these mechanics. Results showed that both task performance and contextual performance contribute independently to overall performance. Experience is more highly correlated with task performance than with contextual performance, and personality variables are more highly correlated with contextual performance than with task performance. These results support the distinction between task performance and contextual performance and confirm that performance, at least as judged by supervisors, is multidimensional

Organizational citizenship behaviors and sales unit effectiveness

Abstract: Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) are defined as discretionary, extra-role behaviors on the part of a salesperson that have been shown to influence managers’ evaluations of performance. I...

Learning orientation, working smart, and effective selling

Abstract: Learning and performance goal orientations, two motivational orientations that guide salespeople's behavior, are related to working smart and hard. Working smart is defined as the engagement in act...

The validity of employment interviews: A comprehensive review and meta-analysis.

Abstract: This meta-analytic review presents the findings of a project investigating the validity of the employment interview. Analyses are based on 245 coefficients derived from 86,311 individuals. Results show that interview validity depends on the content of the interview (situational, job related, or psychological), how the interview is conducted (structured vs. unstructured; board vs. individual), and the nature of the criterion (job performance, training performance, and tenure; research or administrative ratings). Situational interviews had higher validity than did job-related interviews, which, in turn, had higher validity than did psychologically based interviews. Structured interviews were found to have higher validity than unstructured interviews. Interviews showed similar validity for job performance and training performance criteria, but validity for the tenure criteria was lower. The interview is a selection procedure designed to predict future job performance on the basis of applicants' oral responses to oral inquiries. Interviews are one of the most frequently used selection procedures, perhaps because of their intuitive appeal for hiring authorities. Ulrich and Trumbo (1965) surveyed 852 organizations and found that 99% of them used interviews as a selection tool. Managers and personnel officials, especially those who are interviewers, tend to believe that the interview is valid for predicting future job performance. In this article, we quantitatively cumulate and summarize research on the criterion-related validity of the employment interview. Our purpose in this article is threefold. First, we summarize past narrative and quantitative reviews of criterion-related validity studies of the employment interview. Second, we report research that extends knowledge of the criterion-related validity of interviews through meta-analyses conducted on a more comprehensive database than has been available to earlier investigators. Third, we examine the criterion-related validity of different categories of interviews that vary in type and in structure.

Further assessments of Meyer and Allen's (1991) three-component model of organizational commitment.

Abstract: The construct validity of J. P. Meyer and N. J. Allen's (1991) 3-component model of organizational commitment was assessed. Despite the large error components associated with some of the items from Meyer and Allen's scales, the existence of 3 facets of commitment (affective, continuance, and normative) was generally supported by a confirmatory factor analysis of data from 2,301 nurses. Moreover, some of the expected differential relationships of these facets to antecedents and outcomes of commitment were observed in both the nurse sample and a sample comprising 80 bus operators. However, the facets generally did not relate strongly or differentially to a set of rating and nonrating measures of job performance

The effect of effort on sales performance and job satisfaction

Abstract: The authors address a fundamental gap in understanding how sales performance and job satisfaction are determined in an investigation of the sales force of a direct-selling organization. Results ind...

Pay preferences and job search decisions: a person-organization fit perspective

Abstract: The present study investigated the degree to which pay preferences influenced job search decisions in both hypothetical and actual organizations, and the degree to which preferences for particular compensation attributes depended on job seekers' dispositional characteristics. Based on prior theory and research, we hypothesized that certain pay systems generally would be preferred by job seekers, that these pay systems would affect applicant attraction to organizations, and that different types of job seekers would be attracted to different types of pay systems. The sample comprised 171 college students who were seeking jobs during the study, and who represented six majors, three degree types, and two degree levels. Experimental policy-capturing results and results obtained about actual companies with which the job seekers would potentially interview supported hypotheses that organizations perceived to offer high pay levels, flexible benefits, individualbased pay, and fixed pay policies were more attractive to job seekers. Results fiirther suggested that the attractiveness of these pay policies may be heightened by greater levels of fit between individual personality traits and compensation system characteristics. Pay is an important job attribute (Jurgensen, 1978) and has a significant influence on job attractiveness and subsequent job choice decisions (Rynes, 1987; Rynes, Schwab, & Heneman, 1983). Research on the relationship between compensation systems and job attractiveness typically has examined the effects of pay level (Barber, 1991; Gerhart & Milkovich, 1992). However, components of pay systems other than pay This article is based on the first author's master's thesis completed under the supervision of the second author. This study was funded by the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies, Cornell University. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Ninth Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology,

Effects of procedural and distributive justice on reactions to a selection system.

Abstract: Procedural and distributive justice were examined in an employee selection situation. Along procedural justice dimensions, job relatedness of and explanation offered for the selection procedures were manipulated. Distributive justice was examined through manipulation of a selection decision and collection of a priori hiring expectations. Dependent measures included fairness reactions, recommendation intentions, self-efficacy, and actual work performance. Undergraduates (n = 260) were selected/rejected for paid employment. Job relatedness influenced performance and interacted with selection decision on perceptions of distributive fairness and self-efficacy. Explanations influenced recommendations of rejected applicants. Interactions between hiring expectations and selection decision were observed on perceived fairness and recommendation intentions.

Construct validation of two instruments designed to measure job involvement and work centrality.

Abstract: The authors clarified the relationship between 2 concepts that have been confused, and often used interchangeably, in the literature. Job involvement was defined as the degree to which one is cognitively preoccupied with, engaged in, and concerned with one's present job. Work centrality was defined as the degree of importance that work, in general, plays in one's life. Questionnaire measures consistent with these definitions were constructed and tested. Data were collected from 313 human services employees. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that, consistent with the authors' hypothesis, job involvement and work centrality appear to be 2 distinct constructs. There was also evidence to confirm the hypothesis that there are 2 distinct components of job involvement: job involvement-role and job involvement-setting

Predicting job performance: Not much more than g..

Abstract: The roles of general cognitive ability (g) and specific abilities or knowledge (s) were investigated as predictors of work sample job performance criteria in 7 jobs for U.S. Air Force enlistees. Both g and s (the interaction of general ability and experience) were defined by scores on the first and subsequent principal components of the enlistment selection and classification test (the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery). Multiple regression analyses, when corrected for range restriction, revealed that g was the best predictor of all criteria and that s added a statistically significant but practically small amount to predictive efficiency

The contributions of total quality management to a theory of work performance

Abstract: Based on recently proposed principles of total quality management (TQM), a system-focused perspective is considered here with regard to the determinants of work performance The system is seen as an important source of variance affecting performance both indirectly and interactively Moreover, the individual is seen as potentially affecting the system Hierarchical level and autonomy are considered as key moderating variables in understanding individual versus system influences on work performance Implications are discussed with regard to performance management processes in organizations

Office noise, satisfaction, and performance.

Abstract: A field study assessed disturbance by office noise in relation to environmental satisfaction, job satisfaction, and jot performance ratings among 2,391 employees at 58 sites before and/or after off...

What Executives Notice: Accurate Perceptions in Top Management Teams

Abstract: This study investigated the influence of managerial and organizational factors on the extent to which top executives accurately perceive environmental instability and environmental munificence. Env...

Gender Differences in Managers' Developmental Job Experiences

Abstract: It has been suggested that one reason so few women have been promoted to senior management positions is that during their careers they experience fewer developmental job opportunities than men. To test this idea, we surveyed male and female managers about developmental components in their current jobs. Results suggest that men experience some greater task-related developmental challenges, but women experience greater developmental challenges stemming from obstacles they face in their jobs.

Technology-Information Processing Fit and the Performance of R&D Project Groups: A Test of Contingency Theory

Abstract: A study of 98 R&D project groups using a longitudinal design found support for the contingency theory hypothesis that the fit between a task technology's nonroutineness and information-processing n...

Occupational Stress, Social Support, Job Control, and Psychological Well-Being

Abstract: The effects of social support, job control, participative decision making practices, and locus of control upon the relationship between occupational stress and psychological well-being have been well discussed and researched. In order to synthesize these areas of research, a 1-month follow-up study of 244 accountants was conducted. The results indicated complex interactions between stressors, locus of control, and social support or job autonomy in predicting psychological well-being, controlling for initial measures of well-being. These interactions reveal that an internal locus of control, and social support/job autonomy synergistically buffer the effects of stressors upon well-being.

Work experiences, job involvement, and quality of work life among information systems personnel

Abstract: This study assesses the job involvement of 464 professionals and managers in the information systems (IS) field and investigates the role of involvement in influencing the quality of work life. Results show significant variation in the level of job involvement displayed by IS employees and differential patterns of relationships among the work variables for IS personnel with low, moderate, and high levels of job involvement. The findings indicate that involvement serves as a complex moderator role in the pattern of relationships of work experiences, and job characteristics with career expectations and career outcomes. It has both linear and non-linear relationships with sevearl of the study variables. While in some cases, high levels of job involvement tend to enhance the beneficial effects of work experiences on the quality of work life, in others such involvement tends to heighten the negative effects of role stressors. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Job search behavior of employed managers

Abstract: Job search typically has been thought of as an antecedent to voluntary turnover or job choice. This study extends existing literature by proposing a model of the job search process and examining the search behavior of 1,388 employed managers. Managers were surveyed about their job search and voluntary turnover activities. Survey data were matched with job, organizational, and personal information contained in the data base of a large executive search firm. Results suggest that job satisfaction, compensation, and perceptions of organizational success were negatively related to job search, while desire for more work-family balance and ambition exhibited positive relations with search. Perceptions of greener pastures did not have much effect on job search among this group. Results also indicated that although some job search activity does facilitate turnover, a considerable amount of search does not lead to turnover. Thus, it appears that search serves many purposes.

Job Stressors and Their Effects on Physical Health, Emotional Health and Job Satisfaction in a University

Abstract: All staff at the University of New England were sent a personal particulars form and questionnaires designed to obtain information about job‐related factors which acted as stressors for them, their general stress, their emotional health, and their physical health. Factor analysis of the job stressors questionnaires revealed that six factors, namely, job significance, workload, work politics, interpersonal dealings at work, work conditions, and university reorganization, were the major stressors for the staff. In general, younger staff members reported more job stress than older staff. Staff belonging to the Faculty of Education, Nursing and Professional Studies at the Armidale campus and general staff at the Armidale campus reported more job stress than other staff. There was some indication that staff employed at the higher job levels were less stressed than those employed at the lower job levels and support staff. Both the job stress and non‐work stress were associated with poor physical health, poor em...

Work role ambiguity, job satisfaction, and job performance: Meta-analyses and review.

Abstract: Formal meta-analytic methods were used to examine studies of two primary correlates of work role ambiguity, (a) job satisfaction (global and intrinsic) and (b) job performance (self- and independently evaluated). 88 studies were examined, 39 of which were included in the meta-analyses. Results suggest role ambiguity is significantly and negatively related to both satisfaction and performance but very weakly to the latter. Also, true variance in correlations exists across studies, suggesting that the effects of role ambiguity vary depending upon other variables. Results are consistent with previous research and suggest that role ambiguity is a valid construct in organizational research and is usually associated with lower job satisfaction. The primary sources used in the meta-analysis are included.

Another Look at The Relationship Between Performance and Voluntary Turnover

Abstract: This study reexamined the critical relationship between performance and voluntary turnover. A meta-analysis based on 55 studies and a total sample size of 15,138 supported these conclusions: the ne...

Increasing Job Satisfaction of Service Personnel

Abstract: As customer satisfaction is gaining the highest priority among the interest of corporate America′s constituent groups and the economy becomes service‐oriented, more jobs than ever before require customer contacts. Investigates the relationship between employee satisfaction, job tension, role clarity, role conflict and empathetic concern among customer service personnel. Finds that the traditional variables, i.e. role conflict, role clarity, and job tension, do influence job satisfaction as hypothesized. Additionally, identifies empathy, a previously overlooked dimension of employee‐job interactions, as a significant determinant of job tension. Discusses the managerial implications resulting from these relationships.

A Structural Model Depicting Salespeople's Job Stress:

Abstract: The study develops and tests a model of salespeople’s job stress relative to its proposed determinants and outcomes. The study findings shed light on four questions concerning possible links between job stress and its precursors. The evidence gained suggests that job stress may influence intention to leave through reduced organizational commitment and that job satisfaction intervenes between salespeople’s role perceptions and job stress.

Relationship of Job Stressors to Job Performance: Linear or an Inverted-U?

Abstract: This study evaluated the potential positive effects of stressors on job performance by examining the shape of the relation between stressors and job performance. The 281 respondents were a demographically and organizationally heterogeneous group from the Detroit area, who were employed during the study. They were given four structured in-home interviews, approximately 6 weeks apart, over a period of 18 weeks. Interviews were also conducted with a significant other, nonminated by each respondent from work life. Stressors examined were role ambiguity, role conflict, and job insecurity. Strains, also examined as potential stressors, were job dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression, and anger. Technical and social aspects of respondents' job performance were measured separately, as were absenteeism and tardiness. All zero-order Pearson correlations were either statistically significant and in predicted directions or essentially zero. All relationships were monotonic, suggesting that, for these stressors, their optimal amounts are generally zero. Results are discussed in terms of arousal and activation, information-processing, and expectancy theory.

Structured interviewing: A note on incremental validity and alternative question types.

Abstract: The study assess whether a structured interview can have incremental validity in the prediction of job performance beyond a battery of cognitive ability tests and whether future-oriented (e.g., situational) or past-oriented (e.g., behavior description) questions have higher validity. A 30-item structured interview, with 15 future and 15 past questions, and a battery of nine test were correlated with job performance in a sample of 70 pulp mill employees. All measures exhibited high variance and high reliability. The validity for past questions was higher (but not significantly) than for future questions