A field study of employees' attitudes and behaviors after promotion decisions.

The impact of promotion decisions on equity, commitment, and behavioral outcomes was examined in a field setting. Workers in a service company who submitted their candidacy for promotion to either department or division heads were compared with their noncandidate counterparts (total N?=?191). Ss completed surveys after promotion decisions were made. In addition, measures of the Ss' lateness and absence before and after the promotion were available. Data analyzed by level of position (department vs division) and promotion decision (promoted, not promoted, and control) indicated that promotions resulting from self-initiated candidacies might actually produce undesirable outcomes. Failure to get a promotion was associated with feelings of inequity, a decrease in commitment, and an increase in absenteeism; positive promotion decisions increased commitment. Theoretical and organizational implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of emotional exhaustion to work attitudes, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors.

The authors investigated the negative consequences of emotional exhaustion for individual employees and their employers. On the basis of social exchange theory, the authors proposed that emotional exhaustion would predict job performance, 2 classes of organizational citizenship behavior, and turnover intentions. In addition, the authors posited that the relationship between emotional exhaustion and effective work behaviors would be mediated by organizational commitment. With only a few exceptions, the results of 2 field studies supported the authors' expectations. In addition, emotional exhaustion exerted an independent effect on these criterion variables beyond the impact of age, gender, and ethnicity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between work status congruence and work-related attitudes and behaviors.

Research investigating differences in attitudes among full-time and part-time employees has a long history. Unfortunately, the empirical results have been mixed and conflicting. To resolve inconsistencies in prior research, the authors conducted 2 studies. In the 1st study, the authors developed a measure of work status congruence, which measures the degree to which employers match employee preferences for full-time or part-time status, schedule, shift, and number of hours. The authors hypothesized that a match or congruence between worker preferences and organizational staffing practices would be associated with positive employee attitudes and behaviors. In the 2nd study, the authors tested these hypotheses. The results indicate that work status congruence is positively associated with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, employee retention, as well as in-role and extra-role performance. (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)     

Age differences in genetic and environmental influences on eating attitudes and behaviors in preadolescent and adolescent female twins.

A sample of 680 11- and 602 17-year-old female twins was used to examine (a) age differences in genetic and environmental influences on disordered eating attitudes and behaviors and (b) associations between body mass index (BMI) and eating attitudes and behaviors. Univariate, biometrical model-fitting analyses indicated that 11-year-old twins exhibited less genetic and greater shared environmental influence on eating attitudes and behaviors than 17-year-old twins. Bivariate model-fitting analyses indicated that the relationship between BMI and eating attitudes was mediated primarily by common shared environmental influences in 11-year-old twins and common genetic influences in 17-year-old twins. Nonetheless, the majority of genetic influences on eating attitudes and behaviors in older twins were due to genetic effects that are independent of those operating in BMI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic and environmental influences on perceptions of organizational climate.

Assessed genetic and environmental influences on perceptions of organizational climate by using a 4-group twin design. Data were obtained as part of the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. The Work Environment Scale (WES) was used to evaluate perceptions of organizational climate. A measure of job satisfaction was also used to evaluate the effects of genes and environments on job attitudes. Maximum likelihood estimates of genetic and environmental influence suggested significant genetic effects for Supportive Climate, 1 factor resulting from a factor analysis of the WES, but not for a 2nd factor, Time Pressure. Significant environmental effects were found for both Supportive Climate and Time Pressure. Genetic effects were not significant for job satisfaction. The relevance of findings to organizational climate research and personnel selection are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multiplant factor analysis of employees' attitudes toward their company.

Is an attitude questionnaire designed to measure a specific attitude unifactorial? If not, what is the nature of the factors? 735 mailed questionnaires, representing a 50% return, were analyzed. Although designed to measure one thing, attitude toward the company, it was found to contain a large general factor of general attitude or bias toward the company. 1 of the other 3 factors found was respect for personal rights; the 3rd was opportunity for self improvement. The factorial structure of employees' work attitudes may be more complex than previously thought. (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)     

Early influences on the development of industrial and organizational psychology.

Industrial and organizational psychology began as applied psychology. Hugo Münsterberg was well-known for his applications of psychology to forensics, psychotherapy, and industrial efficiency. James McKeen Cattell pioneered mental testing and argued for an applicable, if not applied, psychology. Walter Dill Scott and Walter VanDyke Bingham were devoted to the application of psychological principles to the problems of government and industry. The lives and accomplishments of these 4 figures are detailed as a way of examining the development of the subdiscipline between the years 1880 and 1920. The focus of the discussion is on how their efforts peculiarly changed the science and practice of industrial and organizational psychology. Each made a unique contribution in a unique time period. The field continues to benefit from their individual and collective influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of work attitudes.

The motivator-hygiene theory of work attitudes assumes 2 independent sets of variables (motivator and hygiene) important to employee job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The applicability of this assumption to the job attitudes of 117 blue-collar workers was determined through factor analyses of a 40-item work attitude survey. The job attitudes of blue-collar workers could be separated into 2 relatively independent sets of variables, comparable to motivator or hygiene variables. However both sets of variables were found to be positively related to job satisfaction, contrary to predictions from the theory. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infant attractiveness predicts maternal behaviors and attitudes.

The relations between infant attractiveness and maternal behavior were examined by observing mothers feeding and playing with their firstborn infants while they were still in the hospital after giving birth (N?=?144) and again when the infants were 3 months of age (N?=?115). The attitudes of the mothers toward their infants were also assessed. Mothers of more attractive infants were more affectionate and playful compared with mothers of less attractive infants. In contrast, the mothers of less attractive infants were more likely to be attentive to other people rather than to their infant and to engage in routine caregiving rather than affectionate behavior. The attitudes of the mothers of less attractive infants were also more negative than those of mothers of more attractive infants, but the number of differences in attitudes was not as great as the behavioral differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental child-rearing attitudes and preadolescents' problem behaviors.

Correlated teacher's ratings of 278 5th and 6th graders on internalization and externalization behaviors with scores on ss' reports of their parents' child-rearing behaviors as assessed by schaefer's child report of parental behavior inventory. While the degrees of both internalization and externalization were inversely related to reported parental acceptance, externalization alone was related to reported parental control in a positive direction. High correlations between internalization and externalization were also found. Results are discussed in terms of the ss' characteristics, past findings, and conceptualization of internalization and externalization as categories of a more general dimension of maladjustment. (28 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individuals' attitudes toward organizational drug testing policies and practices.

Using 2?×?2 experimental design and data from 73 blue-collar employees of a manufacturing firm, we assessed the effects of two hypothetical drug testing policies: (a) advance notice of drug testing (not provided vs provided) and (b) the consequences of detected drug use (termination vs rehabilitation) on attitudes toward drug testing. A multiple regression analysis for which R?=?.419, F (2, 70)?=?7.456, p?=?.001, showed that attitudes toward drug testing were influenced by both advance notice of drug testing (β?=?.227, p?p?     

Social attitudes and sexual behaviors of college students.

Investigated the hypothesis that high conservative Ss among 130 undergraduates would report a lower frequency and range of sexual experiences and fewer experiences with R- and X-rated movies. Results support the hypothesis. (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)     

Violence at work: Personal and organizational outcomes.

To date, little empirical research has examined the personal and organizational outcomes associated with exposure to workplace violence. On the basis of data from 194 bank tellers, the authors evaluated, and supported, a model suggesting that fear of future violence mediates the relationships between exposure to workplace violence and negative outcomes. Specifically, exposure to workplace violence predicted fear of future violence that, in turn, predicted psychological well-being, somatic symptoms, and intent to leave the organization. These effects emerged after controlling for self-report bias. The mediating role of fear was supported, and implications for future research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic relationships between personality and eating attitudes and behaviors.

Genetic and environmental factors underlying relationships between personality traits and disordered eating were examined in 256 female adolescent twin pairs (166 monozygotic, 90 dizygotic). Eating behaviors were assessed with the Total Score, Body Dissatisfaction, Weight Preoccupation, Binge Eating, and Compensatory Behavior subscales from the Minnesota Eating Disorders Inventory (M-EDI; K. L. Klump, M. McGue, & W. G. Iacono, 2000). Personality characteristics were assessed with the Negative Emotionality, Positive Emotionality, and Constraint scales from the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire: (MPQ; A. Tellegen, 1982). Model-fitting analyses indicated that although genetic factors were more likely to contribute to MPQ and M-EDI phenotypic associations than environmental factors, shared genetic variance between the 2 phenotypes was limited. MPQ personality characteristics may represent only some of several genetic risk factors for eating pathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental work schedules and adolescent risky behaviors.

Using a large contemporary data set (the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth–Child Supplement), the authors examined the effects of parental work schedules on adolescent risky behaviors at age 13 or 14 and the mechanisms that might explain them. Structural equation modeling suggests mothers who worked more often at night spent significantly less time with children and had lower quality home environments, and these mediators were significantly linked to adolescent risky behaviors. Similar effects were not found for evening work schedules, while other types of maternal and paternal nonstandard work schedules were linked to higher parental knowledge of children's whereabouts, which led to lower levels of adolescent risky behaviors. Subgroup analyses revealed that boys, those in families with low incomes, and those whose mothers never worked at professional jobs may particularly be affected by mothers working at nights, due to spending less time together, having a lower degree of maternal closeness, and experiencing lower quality home environments. In addition, the effects of maternal night shifts were particularly pronounced if children were in the preschool or middle-childhood years when their mothers worked those schedules. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)