Relationship between self-rated performance and pay satisfaction among sales representatives.

Tested E. E. Lawler's (1971) hypothesis that when amount of pay is controlled people who evaluate their own performance highly are less satisfied with their pay. 101 sales representatives completed a questionnaire containing measures of self-perceived performance, pay satisfaction, and other variables. They were also rated on job performance by their supervisors. The partial correlation between self-rated performance and pay satisfaction, holding amount of pay constant, was –.30, thereby supporting the hypothesis. Self-perceived performance was only slightly related to an objective measure of total sales/representative, supervisory ratings of performance, self-perceived age/tenure, or education. When these other variables were also controlled, self-perceived performance still correlated negatively with pay satisfaction. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of verbal behavior and judgments of satisfaction in the supervision interview.

Nine staff supervisors were asked to audiotape Sessions 3, 6, and 9 of their regular weekly 1-hr supervision sessions with each of their counselor trainees (n?=?30). At the conclusion of each interview, supervisors and trainees completed instruments assessing their judgment of satisfaction with the supervisory session. Interactional analysis was used to code the interviews, and sequential analysis was employed to characterize interactional patterns. Three areas of satisfaction were assessed: supervisor's (or trainee's) evaluation of the (a) other, (b) self, and (c) level of comfort in the interview. Multiple regression was used to identify patterns of verbal behavior that predicted satisfaction in the 3 instances. Results support the claim that certain verbal behaviors are related to particular judgments made by participants in the interview; further, they indicate that some types of judgments are better predicted by interview variables than others. Findings reflect some generally held beliefs about dyadic communication and challenge some basic assumptions concerning the use of supportive communication in the supervision interview. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analysis of managers' reactions to their own performance appraisal feedback.

Individuals' reactions to their performance appraisal interviews were examined in two analyses of managers who appraised their subordinates. We hypothesized that managers' reactions toward their own appraisal interview would be influenced by both supervisor satisfaction and favorability of the feedback they received. We also hypothesized that managers' reactions would be affected by system satisfaction (i.e., their attitudes toward the system's ability to document the performance of their subordinates). Questionnaires were administered to managers in eight colleges and universities in one state system. Results indicated that managers distinguished between satisfaction with their own appraisal and its value in improving performance. Appraisal satisfaction was predicted by supervisor satisfaction and the recollection of their rating, but not system satisfaction. In a follow-up analysis, results were confirmed with managers in the original sample. The appraisal's improvement value was associated with supervisor satisfaction, and inversely related with performance rating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychosocial impact of caregiving on young people who have a parent with an illness or disability: Comparisons between young caregivers and noncaregivers.

Objective: To investigate the psychosocial impact of young caregiving by empirically validating prominent qualitative themes. This was achieved through developing an inventory called the Young Caregiver of Parents Inventory (YCOPI) designed to assess these themes and by comparing young caregivers and noncaregivers. Method: Two hundred forty-five participants between 10 and 25 years completed questionnaires: 100 young caregivers and 145 noncaregivers. In addition to the YCOPI, the following variables were measured: demographics, caregiving context, social support, appraisal, coping strategies, and adjustment (health, life satisfaction, distress, positive affect). Results: Eight reliable factors emerged from the YCOPI that described the diverse impacts of caregiving and reflected the key themes reported in prior research. The factors were related to most caregiving context variables and theoretically relevant stress and coping variables. Compared with noncaregivers, young caregivers reported higher levels of young caregiving impact, less reliance on problem-solving coping, and higher somatization and lower life satisfaction. Conclusions: Findings delineate key impacts of young caregiving and highlight the importance of ensuring that measures used in research on young caregivers are sensitive to issues pertinent to this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between supervisors' and trainees' cognitive styles and the supervision process.

33 beginning counseling practicum students and their supervisors rated their supervisory relationship and satisfaction with supervision; supervisors also evaluated their trainees. Ss' cognitive styles were determined through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory, Counselor Evaluation and Rating Scale, and individual Likert scales were used as measures of the independent variables. Trainees' scores on certain indices (most notably the Sensing–Intuition index) were related to supervisors' perceptions of the interpersonal nature of their relationship, supervisors' satisfaction with trainees' performances, and supervisors' evaluations of trainees. On the other hand, supervisors' cognitive styles were not related to the independent variables. Cognitive style similarity between supervisor and trainees on specific MBTI scales was related to mutual perceptions of their interpersonal relationships. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conscientiousness and performance of sales representatives: Test of the mediating effects of goal setting.

Used 91 sales representatives to test a process model that assessed the relationship of conscientiousness to job performance through mediating motivational (goal-setting) variables. Linear structural equation modeling showed that sales representatives high in conscientiousness are more likely to set goals and are more likely to be committed to goals, which in turn is associated with greater sales volume and higher supervisory ratings of job performance. Results also showed that conscientiousness is directly related to supervisory ratings. Consistent with previous research, results showed that ability was also related to supervisory ratings of job performance and, to a lesser extent, sales volume. Contrary to expectations, 1 other personality construct, extraversion, was not related to sales volume or to supervisory ratings of job performance. Implications and future research needs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological differentiation and psychotherapy

Patient's level of psychological differentiation was studied in relation to patients' and therapists' evaluations of the initial psychotherapy session. The evaluations assessed two broad dimensions of the interaction which generally have been considered important for psychotherapeutic success and which have been found to be related to patients' psychological differentiation: namely, patients' and therapists' satisfaction with the amount of structure, and therapists' impressions of patients' appropriateness for therapy. Significant correlations were obtained between patients' psychological differentiation and both of these dimensions. However, two control variables, socioeconomic status and alcohol use, were also found to be related to these dimensions. When the effects of these variables were partialed out, the relationships with therapists' impressions of appropriateness disappeared, but the relationships with patients' and therapists' satisfaction with the amount of structure remained significant. The relationship of these findings to other studies of psychological differentiation and psychotherapy is discussed. Finally, the contribution of the present results to the choice of the most appropriate measure of psychological differentiation is noted.     

Common comparison standards: An approach to improving agreement between self and supervisory performance ratings.

This study examined differential comparison standards (i.e., comparative bases for performance evaluation) and their effects on agreement between supervisory raters and self raters within the context of a performance appraisal system. The purpose of the research was to examine differential comparison standards as an underlying mechanism in the traditionally poor correlation between self and supervisor performance ratings. Supervisor and subordinate rater dyads (N ?=?106 dyads) evaluated job performance across 3 dimensions, using 5 different comparison standards (ambiguous, internal, absolute, relative, and multiple). Results support the hypotheses, indicating that more explicit and objective comparison standards produced higher levels of interrater agreement. The implications of these findings in terms of comparison standards being adopted in current research and future performance appraisal systems are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational communication and performance.

Five independent objective measures of overall organization performance (i.e., number of clients served, cost of operation) were examined as correlates of 4 perceived communication variables (adequacy of information, information exchange, supervisor communication, and performance feedback) among 12 district organizations within a federally funded social services system. Ss included 457 employees (mean age 34 yrs) in 3 major job categories (administrators, service providers, and clerical workers), 60% of whom were women. Results indicate that 2 perceived communication variables, the quality of supervisory communication and information exchange within the peer workgroup, were strongly related to critical revenue and workload measures of overall organization performance. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis.

Coded 9 variables in a meta-analysis of 74 empirical studies of job satisfaction–job performance. Aggregated studies had an S sample size of 12,192 and 217 satisfaction–performance correlations. Findings show that (1) the best estimate of the true population correlation between satisfaction and performance was relatively low (.17); (2) much of the variability in results obtained in previously research was due to the use of small sample sizes, while unreliable measurement of the satisfaction and performance constructs has contributed relatively little to this observed variability in correlations; and (3) the 9 variables coded (composite vs unidimensional criteria, longitudinal vs cross-sectional measurement of performance relative to satisfaction, the nature of the performance measure, self-reports vs other sources, use of specific performance measures, subjectivity or objectivity of measures, specific-facet satisfaction vs global satisfaction, well-documented vs researcher-developed measurement, and white-collar vs blue-collar) were only modestly related to the magnitude of the satisfaction–performance correlation. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Delay and distortion: Tacit influences on performance appraisal effectiveness.

A laboratory study of performance appraisal delay and distortion (a) investigated the effects of rater gender, performance level, and feedback requirement, and (b) defined feedback delay as the separate components of appraisal delay and feedback session scheduling delay. Subjects were 64 university business students who had at least 6 months of supervisory experience. Female raters delayed longer when conducting performance appraisals and when scheduling feedback sessions with subordinates, and more positively distorted ratings than did male raters. Moderately low performers were evaluated and scheduled for feedback sessions later, and were evaluated with more positive distortion than were moderately high performers. When required to provide feedback, raters delayed longer appraising performance and distorted ratings more positively. Significant interactions suggest that when feedback is required, female raters may delay appraisals, delay scheduling feedback sessions, and more positively distort their ratings of performance, particularly when rating low performers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance antecedents of voluntary and involuntary managerial turnover.

Examined the job performance of 420 credit managers (mean age at hiring 25 yrs) from a large finance company who either quit their job, were fired, or were promoted to a higher position in the company. Six biographical variables and 12 performance appraisal scores accumulated from data in employee files were used in a cross-validated multiple discriminant analysis to predict membership in the 3 classification groups. Results reveal a systematic relation between the performance appraisal variables and the classification groups: The performance of promoted Ss was significantly superior to that of Ss who quit, which in turn was significantly superior to the performance of the fired Ss. 18 discriminating variables accounted for a 46.7% hit rate in group membership. Findings are discussed in the context of research on performance antecedents of voluntary and involuntary turnover, as well as the feedback properties of performance appraisal information. It is suggested that no single performance–turnover relation exists. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Types of social support: Relation to stress and academic achievement among prospective teachers.

Examined the relationship between social support, anxiety and academic achievement among 3 groups differing along demographic variables of age, sex, and marital status. 81 students preparing to qualify as elementary teachers completed 2 anxiety measures and a social support questionnaire that measures a quantitative dimension and perceived satisfaction with 3 types of support (emotional, instrumental, and cognitive). Results indicate a positive correlation between the 2 anxiety measures, nonsignificant negative contribution of anxiety to GPA, and a differential effect of various support types to stress related anxiety among the 3 groups. Stepwise multiple regression analysis of social support variables to anxiety found emotional support negatively related to teaching anxiety, while satisfaction with instrumental support negatively related to trait anxiety. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting absenteeism from prior absenteeism and work attitudes.

Recent reviews of the absenteeism literature indicate that absenteeism as a phenomenon is still neither well understood nor accurately predicted. The present study incorporated many of the suggestions for improving absenteeism research that were made in the reviews. More specifically, a longitudinal design was used to assess the accuracy with which the 1977 absenteeism (i.e., total days absent, absence frequency, and supervisory absenteeism rating) of 112 research scientists could be predicted from their previous absenteeism (1974–1976). In addition, the relationships between 1977 absenteeism and 3 work attitudes (job satisfaction, job involvement, and supervisory satisfaction) were assessed. Findings show that past absenteeism was a better predictor of 1977 absenteeism than were the 3 work attitudes. Data relevant to the psychometric equivalence and stability of the absenteeism measures are also reported. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work resources, work-to-family conflict, and its consequences: A Taiwanese-British cross-cultural comparison.

The aim of this research was to explore relations between work resources (supervisory support and organizational family supportive values), work-to-family conflict (WFC), and work- and nonwork-related outcomes in a cross-cultural comparative context involving Taiwanese and British employees. The authors surveyed 264 Taiwanese employees and 137 British employees using structured questionnaires. For both Taiwanese and British employees, work resources were found to be negatively related to WFC but positively related to work satisfaction. WFC was negatively related to work and/or family satisfaction. More important, the authors found that nation moderated the relationship between supervisory support and WFC: Supervisory support had a stronger protective effect for Taiwanese than British employees. It is thus recommended that, in addition to introducing various family-friendly policies, companies should be more active in cultivating a family-supportive organizational culture and mobilizing managers to act as supporters of family life, especially in societies sanctioning collectivistic values and large power distance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of discipline in an organization: A field study.

526 hourly employees working in a refinery were surveyed about their perceptions of their immediate supervisor's disciplinary behavior as well as the kinds of factors supervisors take into account when applying discipline. Factor analytic and correlational procedures were explored to (a) determine the kinds of disciplinary factors that are perceived as operating in the organization; (b) determine the relationships between these disciplinary factors and other employee variables such as satisfaction with supervisor, disciplinary history, and grievances; and (c) determine the attributions that supervisors are perceived as forming within the disciplinary process and determine the relationships between these types of attributions and selected employee variables. Several reliable supervisory disciplinary factors are identified that showed high relationships with supervisory satisfaction and the evaluation of the organizational disciplinary program but low correlations with more distant and objective variables of disciplinary history, grievances, and absenteeism. Several attributional dimensions that Ss perceived their supervisor to be using when applying discipline were identified. However, these dimensions are not consistent with the kinds of attributional elements identified in previous literature. Both reward- and punishment-oriented supervisor behavior were independently and incrementally related to satisfaction with supervision, but reward-oriented behavior was more important. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teachers as leaders: A moderator variable approach.

A review of research on teachers as leaders shows that current approaches have produced unclear and inconsistent results. A new approach—viewing teachers in a situational context—is suggested. 155 students filled out 2 questionnaires; the 1st (administered during the 5th wk of class) contained measures of teacher leadership behavior and student role clarity, and the 2nd (administered during the 10th wk) measured overall student satisfaction with the class. Student performance was also assessed at the 10th wk. It was found that (a) student performance significantly correlated with teacher supportiveness and directiveness under low role clarity but not high role clarity, and (b) the differences in these correlations were statistically significant. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Romantic relationships: Love, satisfaction, and staying together.

Fifty-seven dating couples were studied on a variety of relationship measures. The interrelations among love attitudes and relationship satisfaction were of primary interest. However, for one subsample of couples, sexual attitudes, self-esteem, self-disclosure, commitment, investment, and relationship continuation/termination were also studied. Partners displayed similarity on a variety of measures, including several love attitudes, disclosure, investment, commitment, and relationship satisfaction. Some of the love attitudes were related to satisfaction, but several other measures (e.g., commitment, investment, self-esteem, and self-disclosure) were also important correlates of satisfaction. A follow up of 30 couples at 2 months after initial data collection assessed the variables that differentiated continuing and terminating couples. Implications of this set of results for other theories and for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Covariance Structure Analysis of Employees' Response to Performance Feedback.

This longitudinal study used D. R. Ilgen, C. D. Fisher, and M. S. Taylor's (1979) feedback process model as a theoretical framework to determine whether a sequential chain of cognitive variables mediates an individual's response to performance feedback. One hundred two employees were surveyed 2 weeks after their performance appraisal, and performance was assessed 11 months later at the end of the review cycle. Covariance structure analysis supported the convergent and discriminant validity of the constructs underlying the model and the constellation of structural relationships. A set of cognitive variables was found to completely mediate the relationship between an individual's receipt and response to feedback. Implications for the feedback process and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)