Personality measures are often used by organizations to select and develop employees in a way that maximizes their performance. Studies examining the relationship between personality and job performance have found some evidence for their utility in a variety of situations. Data was collected from a large restaurant company (N=9,800) in which hourly employees took a personality test for selection. Supervisory performance ratings and turnover data were also included for some employees. A three factor model of contextual performance consisting of personal support, organizational support, and conscientiousness initiative was tested and supported. The personality scales with the strongest relationship to performance, included drive and energy, friendliness, and emotional consistency. Effect sizes were relatively similar to previous meta-analytic studies, with the exception of a facet of conscientiousness which revealed a lower correlation with performance than expected. A differential pattern of correlations between the personality scales and performance dimensions was observed that supported some of the theoretically aligned constructs. The correlations between the personality variables and performance were unexpectedly higher among customer facing employees than team-based employees. No hypothesized interaction effects were supported, but some nonlinear relationships were found among some of the personality scales and performance. Drive and energy was a statistically …

The research investigated the impact of sexual harassment on withdrawal behaviors and attitudes toward harassment by examining the gender composition of the harassment dyad and the organizational status of the perpetrator in relation to the victim. Archival data from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan was used to obtain surveys in which participants rated their attitudes and experiences related to sexual harassment. Only individuals who reported experiencing sexual harassment within the 24 months prior to data collection are included in the current research. A MANOVA was conducted to determine if withdrawal behaviors and attitudes of victims varied by the gender dyad and/or the organizational status of the perpetrator. Results indicated that individuals harassed by people with higher organizational status displayed more withdrawal behaviors in the form of decreased productivity and increased use of sick, annual, and unpaid leave. Individuals harassed by a member of the same gender also used more unpaid leave. Interestingly, individuals harassed by members of the opposite gender, tended to disagree more strongly with the attitude index measuring cautious awareness of sexual harassment.

Stereotype threat is a psychosocial dilemma experienced by members of a negatively stereotyped group in situations where they fear they may confirm the stereotype. This study examined the phenomenon in India, thereby extending previous research to another culture. In addition, with participation by students preparing to be professionals, the results are applicable to organizational settings. Ninety graduate students from a professional training institute viewed common Indian advertisements under three conditions: gender stereotypic (women depicted as homemakers), counter stereotypic (women represented as professionally employed individuals) and neutral (no reference to any gender identity). It was hypothesized that females in the stereotypic condition would be susceptible to stereotype threat effect and thus opt for problem solver over leadership role on a subsequent task, while females in the counter stereotypic condition were expected to choose leadership roles. ANOVA was employed to test for differences across the three conditions. The study also hypothesized mediation of the stereotype threat performance deficits by self-efficacy, evaluation apprehension, anxiety, role conflict, stereotype activation, father's and mother's education levels. Hierarchical multiple regression procedures as recommended by Baron and Kenny (1986) were conducted for mediational analysis. Data analysis provided partial support for the two hypotheses. In support of the stereotype …

A review of literature indicates limited effort to understand and explain employees' acclimation to, and adoption of, new behaviors required by organization change initiatives. Psychological theories of individual behavior change have, in restricted instances, been applied into organizational environments. The transtheoretical model of change (TTM) offers a comprehensive explanation of behavior change uniting multiple theories of individual change. TTM describes change as a series of stages that individual progress through before arriving at the decision to implement a change in behavior. Movement through the stages is facilitated by processes which increase the probability of a behavior change effort's success. The present research investigated the potential applicability of TTM for explaining individual level change within a new context, specifically, an organizational environment. To examine if individual change in the context of an organization occurs in the fashion described by TTM, measures of core TTM constructs were delivered to employees in a water department of a city in the American southwest. The water department was immersed in an organization change initiative necessitating individual behavior change by its employees. Results of TTM core construct measures and their relationships with each other and the stages of change were examined. Initial findings are indicative of …

Application of multisource feedback (MSF) increased dramatically and became widespread globally in the past two decades, but there was little conceptual work regarding self-other agreement and few empirical studies investigated self-other agreement in other cultural settings. This study developed a new conceptual framework of self-other agreement and used three samples to illustrate how national culture affected self-other agreement. These three samples included 428 participants from China, 818 participants from the US, and 871 participants from globally dispersed teams (GDTs). An EQS procedure and a polynomial regression procedure were used to examine whether the covariance matrices were equal across samples and whether the relationships between self-other agreement and performance would be different across cultures, respectively. The results indicated MSF could be applied to China and GDTs, but the pattern of relationships between self-other agreement and performance was different across samples, suggesting that the results found in the U.S. sample were the exception rather than rule. Demographics also affected self-other agreement disparately across perspectives and cultures, indicating self-concept was susceptible to cultural influences. The proposed framework only received partial support but showed great promise to guide future studies. This study contributed to the literature by: (a) developing a new framework of self-other …

Much of the history of management and motivation theory is rooted in the desire to understand the factors that contribute to having a satisfied workforce. Job satisfaction is the most widely studied construct in the history of industrial/organizational psychology. The job characteristics model (JCM) holds that if jobs are enriched with high levels of specific job characteristics (i.e., task significance, task variety, task identity, autonomy and feedback), employees will report higher levels of job satisfaction. While this claim enjoys wide support in studies conducted in traditional, hierarchically based organizational environments, few studies have tested the JCM in team based organizational designs. This study also evaluated possible moderating influences of growth need strength (GNS; the need for personal growth and development within the job environment) and emotional reactivity (a measure of frustration with perceived obstacles in the work environment). It was hypothesized that employees with higher levels of GNS would respond more positively (via higher job satisfaction ratings) to enriched jobs than would employees with lower levels of GNS. Alternatively, it was hypothesized that employees with lower levels of emotional reactivity would respond more positively (via higher job satisfaction ratings) to enriched jobs than would employees with higher levels of emotional …

The purpose of this study is to explore the benefits of providing employee training and learning beyond the specific content covered in such interventions, and how personality constructs might moderate those benefits. Training refers to the imparting of specific knowledge and tasks. Learning involves processes and skills that support on the job learning experiences. This study builds on previous research linking training and development to increased job satisfaction, and reduced turnover intent, by considering additional factors. The relationships between independent variables training, learning, task variety and task significance and outcome variables job satisfaction, commitment and turnover intent are assessed. Personality constructs of need for achievement and growth need strength are explored as possible moderating variables. This research was conducted using archival data (N = 500) collected from technical professionals employed by fourteen organizations in the Southwest United States. Both task variety and task significance were found to significantly predict all three outcome variables. Growth need strength was found to moderate the prediction of commitment by task variety. Need for achievement was found to moderate the prediction of job satisfaction, commitment and turnover intent by training and learning. Need for achievement was also found to moderate the prediction of both commitment …

Scant research exists to illuminates the nature of organizational efforts, or support systems, designed to provide work teams with what is needed to be successful. The sample (N = 20) consists of experienced researchers and practitioners discussing work team implementations and the ongoing support needed for sustainability. The following seventeen team-based support systems were examined: (a) rewards and recognition, (b) team goal setting, (c) performance measurement, (d) performance appraisal, (e) team placement and structure, (f) communication and information systems, (g) culture, (h) training, (i) knowledge management, (j) business strategy, (k) leadership, (l) between teams integration, (m) resource distribution, (n) physical workspace, (o) program evaluation and renewal, (p) personnel selection system, and (q) work process design. This study uses a grounded theory approach to build a support system model and provide hypotheses for future research.

Multi-rater tools also referred to as 360-degree feedback tools, are frequently used in addition to traditional supervisory appraisals due to sources (i.e., supervisor, peer, direct report) unique perspectives and opportunities to view different aspects of job performance. Research has found that the differences among sources are most prevalent between self and other ratings, and the direction of agreement is related to overall job performance. Research has typically focused on one form of agreement, the direction of an individual's self-ratings compared to others' ratings. The current study expanded on past research on rater agreement using a data set (n = 215) consisting of multi-rater data for professionals participating in a leadership development process. The study examined the ability to predict job performance with three different measures of self-other agreement (i.e., difference between overall mean scores (difference), mean absolute difference across items (difference), and mean correlation across items (similarity)). The study also examined how the relationships may differ across performance dimensions. The final purpose was to explore how the importance of the performance dimensions, as rated by the participant, may moderate the relationship between self-other agreement and job performance. Partial support for study's hypotheses was found. The direction and difference measures of …

This study extends research findings directed at a micro-focus of change by assessing individual organizational members' perspectives and psychological constructs influencing change efforts by an organization. The change initiative in question regards the construction of a new facility and subsequent relocation to said facility. Moral commitment to the organization (negative), change initiative's fit with organizational vision, and social influence significantly contributed to variance in members' affective commitment to change. Trust in leadership and normative commitment to the organization (NCO) significantly contributed to variance in members' normative commitment to change. Continuance commitment to the organization and participation (negative) significantly contributed to variance in members' continuance commitment to change. NCO, change initiative's fit with organizational vision, and participation significantly contributed to variance in support of the proposed change initiative. Affective commitment to the organization (negative), NCO (negative), trust in leadership (negative), and disruption of influence significantly contributed to variance in members' intent to leave the organization.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether publicly disclosed violations by U.S corporations, resulting in convictions or settlements, erode shareholder investment in the offending organizations. This study was designed to assess whether or not the shareholders' reactions to corporations' violations were related to a decline in organizations' stock valuations across sectors. In addition, this study attempted to assess whether or not shareholder support, expressed by stock prices, declined more after a corporation was prosecuted or reached a settlement for violations, as compared to corporations that disclosed earnings disappointments. Also, this study investigated the stock prices of violating corporations compared to the non-offending corporations from within the same business sector, as well as considered the percentage decline for repeat offenders for violation two compared to violation one. Opposite to hypothesis, results showed that stock prices for the violating companies were significantly greater 12 months after the violation compared to the other months and no significant differences in percent decline between the eight sectors on any of the five decline measures. There were also no differences between violating companies and their matched companies. Companies with a violation had significantly greater stock prices overall than those without a violation.

This research evaluates the relationship between various individual differences constructs and performance on a past behavior interview (PBI)-one of the most popular forms of personnel selection interviews used today-within a sample of business unit leader level incumbents and applicants from organizations across the United States. Correlation analysis is conducted on the relationship between overall performance on a PBI and four work-related constructs: Experience, Motivation, Personality, and Cognitive Ability. The existing literature on PBIs and the four independent variables is critically reviewed. As limited research has been conducted on the influence of Experience and Motivation on PBI performance, this study makes unique contributions to the literature regarding impact of these two constructs. The major hypotheses stated that Experience and Motivation would yield significant, positive correlations with PBI performance while Personality and Cognitive Ability would not be significantly correlated with PBIs. Results partially supported the hypotheses-Experience, Motivation, and Personality were significantly related to overall PBI score, while Cognitive Ability was not. Implications for the findings as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.

This study focuses on the relationship of one cognitive ability test on long-term job performance as measured by personnel data. Archival data from over 3,000 employees at an international technology company were used to assess how aptitude test scores relate to both objective and subjective job performance measures. Supervisory performance ratings, level of promotion, and salary increase significantly contributed to variance in test scores; however, these results were inconsistent. Number of training courses did not have a significant relationship with test scores. Additionally, type of turnover did not moderate the relationship between aptitude test scores and job performance. These results indicate that although aptitude test score is related to long term job performance factors, other factors account for the majority of the variance. The implication is that aptitude should not be the sole consideration when predicting long term job success.

Mid-level leaders are often expected to implement employee empowerment initiatives, yet many do not have a clear understanding of how to empower employees. To address this issue, a model of empowering leadership was developed. The model presents specific, actionable behaviors that a leader should perform in order to empower employees. The model comprises 13 factors built around the areas of ability, accountability, and authority. First, leaders must ensure employees have the ability to be empowered. To do so, they must (a) build employee organizational knowledge, (b) provide access to pertinent information, (c) assure employees have the necessary skill set, and (d) identify and provide needed resources. Second, leaders must create systems of accountability for employee outcomes by (e) setting a standard of continuous improvement, (f) recognizing and rewarding good work, (g) regularly evaluating employee efforts, and (h) providing continuous feedback on employee efforts. Third, leaders should provide employees with the authority to be empowered by (i) serving as advocates of employee efforts, (j) providing an environment that is conducive to empowerment, (k) setting a clear and consistent direction to guide employee efforts, and (l) building systems and structures to support employee empowerment. The thirteenth factor of the model is a …

Voluntary turnover has historically been a problem for today's organizations. Traditional models of turnover continue to be utilized in a number of ways in both academia and industry. A newer model of turnover, job embeddedness, has recently been developed in an attempt to better predict voluntary turnover than existing models. Job embeddedness consists of organizational fit, organizational sacrifice, and organizational links. The purpose of this study is to two fold. First, psychometric analyses were conducted on the job embeddedness model. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted on the dimensions of job embeddedness, which revealed a combined model consisting of five factors. This structure was then analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, assessing a 1, 3, and 5 factor model structure. The confirmatory factor analysis established the use of the 5 factor model structure in subsequent analysis in this study. The second purpose of this study is to compare the predictive power of the job embeddedness model versus that of the traditional models of turnover. The traditional model of turnover is comprised of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and perceived job alternatives. In order to compare the predictive power of the job embeddedness and traditional model of voluntary turnover, a series of structural equation …