Toward an integrative theory of training motivation: A meta-analytic path analysis of 20 years of research.

This article meta-analytically summarizes the literature on training motivation, its antecedents, and its relationships with training outcomes such as declarative knowledge, skill acquisition, and transfer. Significant predictors of training motivation and outcomes included individual characteristics (e.g., locus of control, conscientiousness, anxiety, age, cognitive ability, self-efficacy, valence, job involvement) and situational characteristics (e.g., climate). Moreover, training motivation explained incremental variance in training outcomes beyond the effects of cognitive ability. Meta-analytic path analyses further showed that the effects of personality, climate, and age on training outcomes were only partially mediated by self-efficacy, valence, and job involvement. These findings are discussed in terms of their practical significance and their implications for an integrative theory of training motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

College seniors' theory of their academic motivation.

College seniors participated in an ethnographic interview study about their academic motivations. It was found that grades and graduation are 2 primary distal target goals that motivate their academic efforts during the senior year. A variety of proximal factors were also reported to affect the seniors' motivation. These factors can be divided into students' internal and external factors. Among the internal factors are student characteristics (e.g., social class, expectations) and student beliefs (e.g., belief about control, belief about learning and mastery), whereas the external factors comprise academic-related factors (i.e., course-, examination-, and assignment-related characteristics, reward, and feedback), social factors (i.e., instructors, family members, and peers), general college environment (i.e., physical environment, academic associations, and internship/volunteer opportunities), and extracurricular activities (i.e., fraternities/sororities and sports participation). These results suggest that there is much to learn about academic motivation during the college years. In particular, there is a need for research employing methodologies other than quantitative, survey-based method that can capture the complexities of motivation during college. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Can questionnaire reports correctly classify relationship distress and partner physical abuse?

Relationship adjustment (e.g., Dyadic Adjustment Scale; DAS) and physical aggression (e.g., Conflict Tactics Scale) measures are used both as screening tools and as the sole criterion for classification. This study created face valid diagnostic interviews for relationship distress and physical abuse, through which one could compare preliminarily the classification properties of questionnaire reports. The DAS (and a global measure of relationship satisfaction) had modest agreement with a structured diagnostic interview; both questionnaires tended to overdiagnose distress compared with the interview. Results for partner abuse reiterated the need to go beyond occurrence of aggression as the sole diagnostic criterion, because men's aggression was more likely than women's to rise to the level of "abuse" when diagnostic criteria (injury or substantial fear) were applied. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Labor market dimensions as predictors of the reenlistment decisions of military personnel.

Labor market variables (e.g., unemployment statistics) and perceptual measures of employment opportunity (e.g., perceived occupational demand) were used to predict the reenlistment decisions of 402 U.S. Air Force enlistees. With logistic regression analysis, 3 significant predictors of reenlistment were isolated. A combination of perceptual and objective job availability measures provided the best prediction of the reenlistment criterion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Latent constructs of proximal and distal motivation predicting performance under maximum test conditions.

The concept of a maximum-typical performance dimension has received theoretical and empirical support in research on the construct of job performance. The critical distinction between maximum and typical performance resides in the postulate that under maximum test conditions motivational factors will be constant and maximal. The present study challenges the notion of the maximum performance paradigm by testing the effects of proximal (self-efficacy) and distal (need for achievement) motivation on performance under maximum test conditions. The authors used a walk-through performance test to evaluate the performance of 90 employees. The structural model demonstrates significant pathways between latent measures of motivation and performance ratings. The findings confirm the explanatory power of the motivation construct under maximum test conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural equation models of sexual harassment: Longitudinal explorations and cross-sectional generalizations.

Sexual harassment and its corresponding outcomes develop and change over time, yet research on this issue has been limited primarily to cross-sectional data. In this article, longitudinal models of harassment were proposed and empirically evaluated via structural equations modeling using data from 217 women who responded to a computerized questionnaire in 1994 and again in 1996. Results indicate that sexual harassment influences both proximal and distal work-related variables (e.g., job satisfaction, work withdrawal, job withdrawal) and psychological outcomes (e.g., life satisfaction, psychological well-being, distress). In addition, a replication of the L. F. Fitzgerald, F. Drasgow, C. L. Hulin, M. J. Gelfand, and V. J. Magley (1997) model of harassment was supported. This research was an initial attempt to develop integrated models of the dynamic effects of sexual harassment over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of job facet importance: A multinational multicriteria study.

Compared the importance of various job aspects, or facets, in predicting different criteria. Questionnaire measures were obtained from 2,376 salesmen and 6,331 repairmen of an international firm in 5 countries. Employees' ratings of facet importance were compared to facet importance defined empirically (i.e., by the correlation of facet satisfaction with various criteria). The importance of job facets, while similar among the 5 countries, varied with the criterion used. Higher order job facets were most important for predicting overall satisfaction and intent to stay with the company but were least important for predicting work tension. In multiple correlations with facet satisfactions, adding employees' nationality improved predictions only of performance ratings; adding employees' occupation improved predictions only of intent to stay. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of job insecurity on employee safety outcomes: Cross-sectional and longitudinal explorations.

Job insecurity research has focused primarily on attitudinal (e.g., job satisfaction), behavioral (e.g., employee turnover), and health outcomes. Moreover, research in the area of workplace safety has largely focused on ergonomic factors and personnel selection and training as primary antecedents of safety. Two cross-sectional structural equational modeling analyses and 1 longitudinal regression analysis of 237 food-processing plant employees unite these 2 disparate areas of research by exploring the relatively uncharted relationship between job insecurity and safety outcomes. Results indicate that employees who report high perceptions of job insecurity exhibit decreased safety motivation and compliance, which in turn are related to higher levels of workplace injuries and accidents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational rewards and retention of the hard-core unemployed.

Studied the relationship between 4 organizational rewards (pay, job status, promotion, and job security) and the retention of the hard-core unemployed (HCU), using data from 114 firms involved in hiring the HCU. The level of pay and the structure of raises positively affected retention, as did promotional opportunities (the percentage of minority members in supervisory positions). In firms with primarily minority members in the work force, the greater the percentage of minority supervisors the higher the HCU retention, but in primarily White firms the opposite relationship occurred. Job status and job security also were related to retention. Based on the relative effects of program characteristics (e.g., training) and organization characteristics (e.g., pay), recommendations are made for increased emphasis on organizational factors in developing strategies for employing the HCU. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Node-link mapping: A visual representation strategy for enhancing drug abuse counseling.

Taught a multipurpose visual representation strategy, node-link mapping, to randomly selected counselors in 3 methadone maintenance (MM) drug treatment programs. Counselors were trained to use mapping in their individual and group sessions as a communication, thinking, and memory aid. MM clients were randomly assigned to either mapping counselors or standard counselors (i.e., ones who did not receive mapping training). In Study 1, there were statistically significant differences in favor of mapping during the 1st 3 mo of treatment for measures of client commitment to counseling and counselor perceptions of the client (e.g., motivation). In Study 2, the results based on clients at more advanced stages of treatment were more limited, but the pattern of mean differences was similar to that of Study 1. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations between measures of typical and maximum job performance.

In this study we proposed that understanding of interrelations among criterion measures can be improved by differentiating between measures of typical and maximum job performance. We offered defining characteristics of typical and maximum performance measures and requirements for a fair examination of relations between the two. Typical and maximum performance measures of the speed and accuracy with which supermarket cashiers process items were obtained from two large samples (Ns?=?635 and 735) of cashiers from 12 supermarket chains. Relatively low correlations between typical and maximum performance measures were found. We discuss the implications of these findings for the use of maximum performance measures as criteria in the validation of selection systems and for the understanding of the impact of ability and motivation on job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Good maintenance of high-impact activity-induced bone gain by voluntary, unsupervised exercises: An 8-month follow-up of a randomized controlled trial

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether premenopausal women's voluntary unsupervised aerobic and step training could maintain the skeletal benefits obtained by an 18-month supervised high-impact training, and if so, to what extent. Thirty women of the original 39 study subjects (i. e., persons who completed the preceding 18-month randomized training intervention and who volunteered to continue the training on their own for a further 8 months) and 19 women of the 45 original control subjects (i.e., persons who volunteered to continue as controls) were included. The study group trained an average of twice per week and the training consisted of regular aerobic and step classes provided by local fitness centers. Areal bone mineral density (BMD, g/cm2) was measured from the lumbar spine, femoral neck, trochanter area of the femur, distal femur, patella, proximal tibia, calcaneus, and dominant distal radius at baseline and after 18 and 26 months. During the extended 8-month follow-up, the BMD of the study group increased more at the femoral neck (the intergroup change was +0.9% at 18 months and +2.8% at 26 months, p = 0.004 for the change between 18 and 26 months) and remained at the 18-month level at the distal femur, patella, proximal tibia, and calcaneus. In these sites, the statistically significant changes during the entire 26 months of training were 1.7-4.0% in the training group as compared with the changes of -0.9-1.5% in the control group. In the lumbar spine, BMD decreased from the 18-month level in both groups. In conclusion, the significant BMD increases that were obtained by supervised 18-month high-impact training were effectively maintained with subsequent unsupervised regular aerobic and step classes (twice per week). The finding emphasizes the effectiveness and feasibility of self-controlled aerobic and step exercises in the primary prevention of osteoporosis among healthy premenopausal women.     

Flexible and compressed workweek schedules: A meta-analysis of their effects on work-related criteria.

Meta-analytic techniques were used to estimate the effects of flexible and compressed workweek schedules on several work-related criteria (productivity/performance, job satisfaction, absenteeism, and satisfaction with work schedule). In general, the effects of both schedules were positive. However, the effects of both flextime and compressed workweek schedules were different across the outcome criteria (e.g., compressed workweek schedules did not significantly affect absenteeism). Thus, the level of positive impact associated with either schedule is dependent on the outcome criterion under consideration. Further, several variables were found to be moderators of flexible work schedules. For example, highly flexible flextime programs were less effective in comparison to less flexible programs, and the positive benefits of flextime schedules were found to diminish over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Like father, like son? Predicting male adolescents' adjustment from parents' distress and self-restraint.

Mothers' and fathers' own subjective distress and self-restraint when their sons were preadolescents were related to 14 measures of sons' outcomes 4 yrs later. A sample of 82 adolescent boys, including 55 from 2-parent families, participated. Consistent with expectations, the sons of fathers prone to low self-restraint uniformly had subsequent difficulties across domains, including poor academic achievement (e.g., low grades, truancy), poor peer relations (e.g., low emotional support and intimacy), at-risk behaviors (e.g., drug and alcohol use, multiple sexual partners, poor conflict resolution skills), and adjustment problems (e.g., symptoms of depression). In 2-parent families, the associations between mothers' adjustment and sons' outcomes became nonsignificant once differences in fathers' self-restraint were taken into account. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are you interested? A meta-analysis of relations between vocational interests and employee performance and turnover.

A common belief among researchers is that vocational interests have limited value for personnel selection. However, no comprehensive quantitative summaries of interests validity research have been conducted to substantiate claims for or against the use of interests. To help address this gap, we conducted a meta-analysis of relations between interests and employee performance and turnover using data from 74 studies and 141 independent samples. Overall validity estimates (corrected for measurement error in the criterion but not for range restriction) for single interest scales were .14 for job performance, .26 for training performance, –.19 for turnover intentions, and –.15 for actual turnover. Several factors appeared to moderate interest–criterion relations. For example, validity estimates were larger when interests were theoretically relevant to the work performed in the target job. The type of interest scale also moderated validity, such that corrected validities were larger for scales designed to assess interests relevant to a particular job or vocation (e.g., .23 for job performance) than for scales designed to assess a single, job-relevant realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional (i.e., RIASEC) interest (.10) or a basic interest (.11). Finally, validity estimates were largest when studies used multiple interests for prediction, either by using a single job or vocation focused scale (which tend to tap multiple interests) or by using a regression-weighted composite of several RIASEC or basic interest scales. Overall, the results suggest that vocational interests may hold more promise for predicting employee performance and turnover than researchers may have thought. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prevention of emotional disorders in the school setting: A further investigation.

Children in the primary grades of a single experimental (E) school were exposed, for 3 yr., to a comprehensive program designed for the early detection and prevention of emotional disorders. At the end of that period they were contrasted, on a variety of school-record and adjustment measures, to control 3rd graders from 2 demographically comparable schools. Evidence was presented demonstrating the salutary effects of the preventive program with respect to several criterion measures of behavior, achievement, and adjustment. Additionally, within the E school, youngsters in whom manifest or incipient pathology was identified very early in their careers, were found, by the end of the 3rd yr., to be performing less adequately in school, showing greater indications of maladjustment on objective tests and behavioral ratings, obtaining lower standard achievement test scores, less well-rated by their peers, and manifesting more physical complaints than their nonaffected peers. The implications of these data for a preventively oriented, community-based approach to mental health problems were considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How shall we judge ourselves? Training evaluation in clinical psychology programs.

Examined the procedures, practices, and problems associated with clinical training evaluation. 62 directors of American Psychological Association (APA)-accredited clinical psychology doctoral programs completed a questionnaire assessing their use of informal and formal training evaluation procedures, the impact of these procedures, methods of data collection and dissemination, and obstacles to meaningful evaluation. Informal, qualitative evaluation measures (e.g., personal impressions, reputations) were used most frequently, and formal, quantitative comparison measures (e.g., pre–post comparisons) were employed least frequently. Supervisors' written evaluations, APA-accreditation reports, feedback from internship supervisors, and quantitative evaluation of supervisors by supervisees were perceived as having the greatest impact in determining the quality of clinical training. In over 75% of the programs, one person was responsible for the collection and dissemination of training evaluation data, typically to other faculty members. Inadequate evaluation methods and measures, time restraints, and lack of personnel were rated the most serious obstacles to successful evaluation. Clinical training evaluation appears to be in a preparadigmatic stage characterized by diversity, creativity, and informality. The classification of available measures and the establishment of a coordinated national program of training evaluation are discussed as possible correctives. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rational self-interest and other orientation in organizational behavior: A critical appraisal and extension of Meglino and Korsgaard (2004).

B. M. Meglino and M. A. Korsgaard (2004; see record 2004-21169-004). argued that rational self-interest varies across individuals and negatively relates to other orientation (OO). OO moderates effects of job characteristics on attitudes, motivation, and helping. Viewing organizations as social dilemmas in which employees face a mixture of competitive and cooperative incentives, the author argues in this article that strength of self-interest links to self-concern (SC), which should be distinguished from OO. SC and OO are orthogonal and unipolar. Implications are that some propositions by Meglino and Korsgaard need to be rewritten in terms of SC or OO, and that SC is predicted to moderate effects of self-related variables (e.g., job characteristics), whereas OO might moderate effects of social variables (e.g., team climate) on satisfaction, motivation, and helping. This also implies that when both SC and OO are strong (weak), individual- and group-level constructs are both (in)valid predictors of satisfaction, motivation, and helping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)