Personal and workgroup incivility: Impact on work and health outcomes.

This article develops a theoretical model of the impact of workplace incivility on employees' occupational and psychological well-being. In Study 1, the authors tested the model on 1,158 employees, finding that satisfaction with work and supervisors, as well as mental health, partially mediated effects of personal incivility on turnover intentions and physical health; this process did not vary by gender. Study 2 cross-validated and extended these results on an independent sample of 271 employees, showing negative effects of workgroup incivility that emerged over and above the impact of personal incivility. In both studies, all results held while controlling for general job stress. Implications for organizational science and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health issues at work: Opportunities for industrial/organizational psychology.

The workplace provides an excellent setting for addressing issues of health, and industrial/organizational psychologists have a great deal to contribute to this effort. Five models for addressing health at work are presented along with the recommendation to use the broader systems approach. A set of criteria for health research and practice is introduced, and the potential contributions of industrial-organizational psychology for addressing these criteria are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of linear and nonlinear relations between organizational commitment and work outcomes.

The authors compared linear and nonlinear relations between affective and continuance commitment and 3 commonly studied work outcomes (turnover cognitions, absenteeism, and job performance), observed in 3 separate research settings. Using a linear model, they replicated the common observation in the literature that affective commitment is more strongly related to work outcomes than continuance commitment. Introducing a higher order continuance commitment term into the same equations, however, they found that the linear model seriously understated the magnitude of continuance commitment's effect on all 3 criterion measures. These findings are consistent with recent developments that identify different motivational mindsets associated with affective and continuance commitment (J. P. Meyer, T. E. Becker, & C. Vandenberghe, 2004). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivations to work and organizational performance.

Measures of 3 types of motivation to work were related to 2 criteria of job performance, both of which reflect the degree to which the organization has rewarded individual behaviors. In the white-collar sample (N = 1047), composed largely of technical personnel, low performers were motivated primarily by the social environment of the job and, to a lesser extent, by the opportunity of gaining recognition through advancement; few significant relationships were found between intrinsic self-actualizing motivations and job performance. In the blue-collar sample (N = 421), no significant relationships were found between any of the motivational measures and job performance. With advancing age and tenure, work became more meaningful for high performers but less meaningful for low performers, although the importance of the social environment increased for both high and low performers. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A vacation from work: Changes in work and nonwork outcomes.

Compared pre- and postvacation measures in 6 areas: job satisfaction, job involvement (measured as central life interest [JIC] and as importance of performance to self-esteem), organizational commitment, turnover intention, and life satisfaction. Responses obtained from 92 female and 36 male employees (mean age 39 yrs) in technical, administrative, clerical, and service positions 1 wk prior to and 1 wk following their vacations indicate that the vacation had a significant overall effect on the variables studied, even with sex, education, income, and occupational prestige included as covariates. Specifically, JIC decreased and both life satisfaction and turnover intention increased. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that vacation satisfaction and an interaction term involving the prevacation measure and vacation satisfaction increased the predictability of the postvacation measure by 7% in 2 cases: life satisfaction and job satisfaction. Length of vacation did not contribute significantly to the prediction of any of the postvacation variables. The decrease in JIC is discussed in terms of the relative salience of work and nonwork domains and the allocation of psychological resources. Overall, the results are viewed as supporting an open-systems model of organizational behavior. (75 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job satisfaction and work excitement: organizational considerations

March and Simon's theory of participation provided the framework for a study of personal and organizational factors predictive of intent to stay. Findings indicate that job satisfaction correlates positively with intent to stay, although interaction effects between social climate, work excitement, and work frustration also are contributory. Conclusions suggest that accurate indicators of intent to stay are not captured with measures of job satisfaction alone. Organizational effects, such as social climate, work frustration, and work excitement are background forces that need to be considered in the evaluation of job satisfaction.     

Interpersonal conflict at work and psychological outcomes: Testing a model among young workers.

On the basis of A. P. Fiske's (1992) general theory of social relations, a model of interpersonal conflict at work was developed and tested in a sample of young workers. The model predicts that conflict with supervisors is predictive of organizationally relevant psychological outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions), whereas conflict with coworkers is predictive of personally relevant psychological outcomes (depression, self-esteem, and somatic symptoms). Data were obtained from a sample of 319 individuals ages 16–19 yrs. Structural equation modeling results supported the hypothesized relations. Secondary regression analysis of 2 data sets from M. A. Donovan, F. Drasgow, and L. J. Munson (1998) provides initial support for the generalizability of the hypothesized model to older employees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance and interactional dimensions of organizational work groups.

Perceptions of group adequacy and interaction processes by 91 members of 12 work groups in a research and development organization were factor analyzed. 6 reliable dimensions evolved which cut across several previously defined constructs and differentiated the 12 work groups from each other beyond the .01 level by analyses of variance. Of the total group phenomena variance, 33% was accounted for by a single dimension of group effectiveness in problem solving. This dimension correlated negatively with: (1) the occupational and educational level of the group, (2) the educational heterogeneity of the group, (3) group size, and (4) the level of the group in the organizational hierarchy. These findings suggest that different principles may govern traditionally organized work groups vs. ad hoc groups formed specifically for the purpose of an experiment. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Police work values during organizational entry and assimilation.

The impact of organizational entry and assimilation on the stability of the work values of 2 successive police recruit classes was assessed longitudinally. The 2 classes were hired 6 mo apart and differed in their method of organizational entry. The delayed-entry class (32 Ss) had initially been hired only provisionally, whereas the other class (55 Ss) had normal entry. Three repeated measures of work values were obtained (Survey of Work Values) from each class during its 1st yr: at pretraining (Time 1), at posttraining (Time 2), and after 8 mo of street duty (Time 3). All work values had stable test–retest reliabilities from Time 1 to Time 3 in both classes, but the Extrinsic and Upward Striving values were unstable across Time 1–Time 2 in the delayed-entry class. Mean longitudinal trends showed that for both classes, the intensity of Extrinsic work values increased, and Upward Striving remained stable; for the delayed-entry class, all Intrinsic values decreased between Time 1 and Time 2, whereas only the Job Involvement values decreased in the normal-entry class. The police socialization process and the moderating effects of type of organizational entry are discussed. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship among work-family conflict and enhancement, organizational work-family culture, and work outcomes for older working women.

This article examines the relationship among work-family conflict and enhancement, organizational work-family culture, and four work outcomes for 489 working women over the age of 50. Survey results from two U.S. health care organizations and one U.S. financial services organization indicate that older working women experience differing amounts of work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, work-to-family enhancement, and family-to-work enhancement. Hypotheses relating organizational work-family culture to work-family conflict and enhancement were partially supported, and hypotheses relating conflict and enhancement to four work outcomes were partially supported. Work-to-family conflict and work-to-family enhancement partially mediate the relationship between organizational work-family culture and selected work outcomes. Implications for theory and practice, limitations of this study, and directions for future research are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facets of work values: A structural analysis of work outcomes.

Attempted to analyze contents of work value items and to construct an explicit definition of the work values domain. A facet definition of work values is suggested that provides guidelines for selection items and the formulation of hypotheses about the structure of interrelationships among components of work values. Interview data were obtained from 2 samples of Israeli adults containing 489 Ss (median age 35 yrs) and 546 Ss (median age 38 yrs), respectively. Results of Guttman's smallest space analysis support the hypotheses. An empirical double-ordered conceptual system, a radex structure, was obtained that reflects the 2 facets of the definition: modality of outcome—material, social, and psychological—and type of outcome—performance relations (reward, resource). The fact that essentially the same structure was obtained in 2 independent samples lends substantial support to the definitional framework of work values suggested. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal work ethic and effort training affect cheating.

Assessed in 357 undergraduates the personal work ethic, an individual's general interest and satisfaction in performing tasks industriously, using a survey of work values (SWV). On the basis of the median SWV score, the high work-ethic Ss were separated from the low work-ethic Ss. Some Ss first were tested for cheating; others, before being tested for cheating, underwent low-effort training or high-effort training in mathematics and perceptual identifications. Ss could cheat by falsely stating that they had solved what was really an unsolvable anagram task. The Ss with a high work ethic persisted on the anagram task almost twice as long before cheating as did the Ss with a low work ethic. High-effort training did not affect the resistance of high work-ethic Ss to cheating, but it more than doubled the duration of the low work-ethic Ss. Strong resistance to cheating among high work-ethic Ss is consistent with their ideology that reward should be commensurate with achievement. The similar effects of effort training and work ethic on resistance to cheating support the view that long-term effort training contributes to the development of the work ethic. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional anguish at work: The mediating role of perceived rejection on workgroup mistreatment and affective outcomes.

In this study, the authors pay particular attention to mistreatment directed toward an organizational member from fellow workgroup members. The study contributes to the growing body of literature that examines the mistreatment of employees in the workplace. The authors propose that mistreatment by the workgroup would contribute to feelings of rejection, over and above mistreatment by the supervisor. In addition, the authors tested the mediating role of perceived rejection between workgroup mistreatment and affective outcomes such as depression and organization-based self-esteem. Part-time working participants (N = 142) took part in the study, which required them to complete a questionnaire on workplace behaviors. Results indicated that workgroup mistreatment contributed additional variance to perceived rejection over and above supervisory mistreatment when predicting depression and organization-based self-esteem. The results also indicated that perceived rejection mediates the relationship between mistreatment and affective outcomes. Results are discussed and implications for research and practice are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal and organizational predictors of workplace sexual harassment of women by men.

The authors investigated the predictors of workplace sexual harassment in 278 male university faculty and staff (M age?=?45 years). Workplace variables (perceptions of organizational sanctions against harassment and perceptions of a sexualized workplace) and personal variables (adversarial sexual beliefs, sexual harassment beliefs, perspective taking, and self-esteem) were studied as predictors of sexualized and gender harassment. Social desirability was controlled. Both organizational variables and beliefs about sexual harassment predicted gender harassment and sexualized harassment. Perspective taking, adversarial sexual beliefs, and sexual harassment beliefs moderated the effects of perceived organizational sanctions against harassment on sexualized harassment. Findings are discussed as they relate to organizational efforts to reduce or prevent sexual harassment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Turnover functionality versus turnover frequency: A note on work attitudes and organizational effectiveness.

Tested whether work attitudes, widely praised as predictors of turnover frequency (i.e., the number of separations), are also useful predictors of turnover functionality (i.e., the nature of separations). Measures on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job involvement, motivation to turnover, and turnover frequency and functionality were obtained from 112 retail salespersons. Results indicate that (a) the traditional measure of turnover frequency overstates the detrimental effects of turnover on organizational effectiveness, in that 53% of the turnover was functional and (b) turnover functionality, which emphasizes the performance levels of stayers and leavers, is unrelated to work attitudes. Findings suggest that organizations should not devote resources to programs designed to improve employee attitudes, based solely on the expectation that decreasing turnover frequency will result in beneficial consequences. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Violence against women by male partners: Prevalence, outcomes, and policy implications.

Violence against women has only recently been addressed in national policy and legislation. Responses by most societal institutions to women assaulted by male partners are still based primarily on a lack of knowledge about the prevalence, severity, and outcomes of violence perpetrated by men against female intimates. Although well suited to make a vital contribution, psychologists still rarely involve themselves in proactive interventions with women victims. This article reviews empirical literature on the physical and sexual assault of women by their male intimates and discusses potential physical and psychological outcomes, with a focus on linking what is known about abused women's reactions with the rich literature on survivors' responses to trauma. Implications for research, treatment interventions, and policy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Development in work and organizational psychology: Implications for international business.

Reviews the book, Development in work and organizational psychology: Implications for international business edited by Paul Jackson and Manfusa Shams (2006). This book is part of the Elsevier International Business and Management Series. Jackson and Shams state that the objective of this book is to "give authoritative accounts" of developments within work and organisational psychology for students and practitioners of international business. The editors emphasise that this book or any edited book cannot be a comprehensive work on all of the areas in organisational psychology, so they selected leading scholars from the United Kingdom and North America and invited these researchers to select a topic in their area of expertise. From this "reflective practitioner's perspective," the volume becomes a miscellany of chapters, some of which international business scholars would not consider to be international business. The main topics in international business (IB) include such things as international trade, foreign direct investment, global monetary system, international strategy, importing and exporting, global manufacturing and operations management, international marketing, global or international human resources management, international accounting, international finance, the international environment, economic and socioeconomic and sociocultural forces, and political and legal environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antecedents and outcomes of organizational support for development: The critical role of career opportunities.

This study examines antecedents and behavioral outcomes of employees' perceptions of organizational support for development. We first propose that employees' past participation in formal developmental activities and experience with developmental relationships positively relate to their perceptions of organizational support for development. We then propose that perceived career opportunity within the organization moderates the relationship between organizational support for development and employee performance and turnover. Using a sample of 264 exempt-level employees and their supervisors, we found that participation in training classes, leader–member exchange, and career mentoring were each positively related to employees' perceptions of organizational support for development. We also found support for the moderator hypotheses. Specifically, development support positively related to job performance, but only when perceived career opportunity within the organization was high. Further, development support was associated with reduced voluntary turnover when perceived career opportunity was high, but it was associated with increased turnover when perceived career opportunity was low. Our study demonstrates that social exchange and career motivation theory work together to explain when and how employees' perceptions of organizational support for development relate to turnover and job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)