The ingratiation construct: An assessment of the validity of the Measure of Ingratiatory Behaviors in Organizational Settings (MIBOS).

Independent samples were used to assess the construct validity of the Measure of Ingratiatory Behaviors in Organizational Settings (MIBOS) scale (K. Kumar & M. Beyerlein, 1991). The 4 samples included managerial personnel (n = 288), members of 2 professional organizations (n?=?144), clerical employees (n?=?110), and working students (n?=?279). Three distinct conceptualizations were examined using confirmatory factor analysis (LISREL 8). Alternative models included (a) a 4-factor conceptualization proposed by Kumar and Beyerlein; (b) a 4-factor, 2nd-order conceptualization; and (c) a unidimensional model. None of the models provided adequate support for the factor structure of the measure. Similarly, convergent and discriminant assessments failed to provide strong support for the validity of the scale. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interview reliability for assessing mental work demands.

This study presented and evaluated an interview method for the analysis of tasks included in a work situation. What mental demands and possibilities do the work tasks give rise to? When was the work more or less automatic? When was use of active knowledge required? When were problem solving and planning needed? The study included an assessment of the interobserver reliability of the interviews with employees from 5 different careers: bus drivers (n?=?10), home service workers (n?=?32), carpenters (n?=?11), farmers (n?=?14), and teachers (n?=?26). The extent to which this method can be reproduced in studies of different occupations is discussed. The interobserver reliability was good (.75–.82). There is support for the stability and usefulness of the interview for most types of work concerning the 3 categories of mental demands: routine, active knowledge, and problem solving/creativity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of training in procedural justice on perceptions of disciplinary fairness by unionized employees and disciplinary subject matter experts.

A training program, based on procedural justice theory, was developed for teaching supervisors to take effective disciplinary action with employees. Canadian supervisors of unionized employees were randomly assigned to the training (n?=?35) or the control group (n?=?36). Analyses of variance revealed that both supervisory self-efficacy and outcome expectancies were significantly higher in the training than in the control conditions. Following simulated role-play exercises derived from organizational incidents, both unionized employees and disciplinary subject matter experts (managers, union officials, and attorneys) rated the trained supervisors higher on disciplinary fairness behavior than the supervisors in the control group. Self-efficacy was found to mediate the relationship between training and perceptions of disciplinary fairness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Support for affirmative action, justice perceptions, and work attitudes: A study of gender and racial–ethnic group differences.

Do gender and race-ethnicity moderate people's reactions to perceptions that their organization supports affirmative action/equal opportunity (AA/EO)? This study compared relationships between perceptions of support for AA/EO, distributive and procedural justice, career development opportunities, and work attitudes in 4 groups of federal employees: White men (n?=?4,919), White women (n?=?1,622), Blacks/Hispanics (n?=?492), and Asians (n?=?195). Surprisingly, White men did not associate support for AA/EO with a loss in career development opportunities, organizational injustice, or negative work attitudes. For women and racial-ethnic minorities, support for AA/EO was positively linked to perceptions of organizational justice and increased career development opportunities. As predicted, Blacks/Hispanics had more positive reactions than other employee groups. We conclude that support for AA/EO is generally viewed as fair and has positive attitudinal consequences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigation of the factors that influence employees' participation in development activities.

In a field study, the factors that influence employees' participation in development activities are investigated. The proposed model hypothesized that the influence of self-efficacy and work environment perceptions on development activity is mediated by learning attitudes, perceptions of development needs, and perceived benefits. Attitudinal and perceptional data and self-report and objective measures of development activity were collected from employees in health maintenance (n?=?343), financial services (n?=?196), and public sector engineering firms (n?=?496). No statistical support was found for the proposed mediated relation. However, motivation to learn, perception of benefits, and work environment perceptions had significant unique effects on development activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affective commitment to the organization: The contribution of perceived organizational support.

Three studies examined the interrelationships among work experiences, perceived organizational support (POS), affective commitment (AC), and employee turnover. Using a diverse sample of 367 employees drawn from a variety of organizations, Study 1 found that POS mediated positive associations of organizational rewards, procedural justice, and supervisor support with AC. Study 2 examined changes of POS and AC in retail employees over a 2-year span (N?=?333) and a 3-year span (N?=?226). POS was positively related to temporal changes in AC, suggesting that POS leads to AC. Study 3 found a negative relationship between POS and subsequent voluntary employee turnover that was mediated by AC in retail employees (N?=?1,124) and in poultry- and feed-processing workers (N?=?262). These results suggest that favorable work conditions operate via POS to increase AC, which, in turn, decreases employee withdrawal behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A psychometric study of the McMaster Family Assessment Device in psychiatric, medical, and nonclinical samples.

Investigated the psychometric properties of the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD [N. Epstein et al; see PA, Vol 71:2891]), a multidimensional measure of family functioning, using data from psychiatric (n?=?1,138), nonclinical (n?=?627), and medical (n?=?298) samples. Internal scale reliabilities and factorial validity were assessed for each group, and results were compared across groups. In general, scale reliabilities were favorable and the hypothesized factor structure of the FAD was supported. Results also support the use of the 60-item version over the original 53-item version. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with workplace stress: A multiple-group comparison of female managers and clerical workers.

This study cross-validated and refined a causal model of workplace stress (B. C. Long, S. E. Kahn, & R. W. Schutz, 1992). Multivariate analysis of variance and multiple-group structural equation modeling were used to contrast female clerical workers (n?=?214) with the original sample of managerial women (n?=?249). Consistent with the effects of social roles, clerical workers had fewer coping resources, appraised the stress event as less controllable, experienced more work demands and less support, used relatively less engagement coping, and were more distressed and less satisfied than managers. Moreover, the personality disposition of agentic traits had a stronger influence on coping strategies for clerical workers than for managers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Volunteer motivation and attendance decisions: Competitive theory testing in multiple samples from a homeless shelter.

The process underlying participation in episodic volunteer work is conceptualized as a form of attendance motivation. A decision-making theory of attendance motivation is expanded for the voluntarism context, then competitively tested against nested theories: the theory of planned behavior (I. Ajzen, 1991), the theory of reasoned action (M. Fishbein, 1980), and a benchmark theory emphasizing the subjective expected utility of anticipated rewards. Tests are conducted in a field study (n?=?53) predicting the motivation and attendance of male volunteers scheduled to work roughly 1 night per month at a homeless shelter. One panel (n?=?53) and 2 cross-sectional (n?=?51; n?=?53) replications of the field study are also described. Results are consistent across time and samples in their support of the expanded theory primarily because it includes a moral obligation component. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An intraorganizational analysis of the Roberts and O'Reilly organizational communication questionnaire.

Assessed the reliability and validity of a questionnaire developed by K. H. Roberts and C. A. O'Reilly (see record 1974-32415-001) to measure organizational communication. The questionnaire was administered to 2 samples of employees, both in the home office (n?=?270 ) and branch offices (n?=?404) of a large public utility. Ss covered a broad spectrum of occupations, both management and nonmanagement. The questionnaire items were factor analyzed for each sample. Results show a high degree of similarity between the samples in terms of scale reliabilities and factor structure. Similarities and differences between the findings in this study and those reported by Roberts and O'Reilly are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of White, African American, Hispanic, and Asian children on the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test.

This study examined differences between 3 matched samples of White (n?=?2,306) and African American (n?=?2,306), White (n?=?1,176) and Hispanic (n?=?1,176), and White (n?=?466) and Asian (n?=?466) children on the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT; J. A. Naglieri, 1997a). The groups were selected from 22,620 children included in the NNAT standardization sample and matched on geographic region, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and type of school setting (public or private). There was only a small difference between the NNAT scores for the White and African American samples (d ratio?=?.25) and minimal differences between the White and Hispanic (d ratio?=?.17) and between the White and Asian (d ratio?=?.02) groups. The NNAT was moderately correlated with achievement for the total sample and correlated similarly with achievement for the White and ethnic minority groups. The median correlation of NNAT with reading was .52 and NNAT with math was .63 across the samples. Results suggest that the NNAT scores have use for fair assessment of White and minority children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Listen while you work? Quasi-experimental relations between personal-stereo headset use and employee work responses.

Using a quasi-experimental design, this study examined relations between stereo headset use and employee work responses. Employees (N?=?256) worked on 32 jobs in an office of a retail organization. Employees indicated whether they were interested in using stereos at work. From those expressing an interest, a random sample (n?=?75) was assigned to a stereo condition. These employees used headsets at work for 4 weeks. The remaining employees (n?=?181) were assigned to a control condition and were not allowed to use stereos. Results indicated that employees in the stereo condition exhibited significant improvements in performance, turnover intentions, organization satisfaction, mood states, and other responses. The mood state of relaxation best explained the relation between stereo use and performance. Finally, employees in relatively simple jobs responded most positively to the stereos. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

WAIS—R factor structure in psychiatric and general medical patients.

Examined the factor structure of the WAIS—R in a sample of 200 general medical (GM) patients and 271 psychiatric patients. The mean age of the Ss was 38.9 yrs. Results of 2- and 3-factor principal factor solutions with varimax rotations were compared to the factor structure of the WAIS—R normative sample (n?=?1,880) and a sample of vocational counseling patients (n?=?84), as well as an additional sample of psychiatric patients (n?=?114). Across all of these samples, coefficients of congruence for the 1st 2 factors (Verbal, Performance) were .97 or greater, and coefficients of congruence for the 3rd factor (Freedom From Distractability) ranged from .93 to .97. Results indicate that the WAIS—R has a robust factor structure and provides empirical evidence for the existence of Verbal, Performance, and Freedom From Distractability factors on the WAIS—R in psychiatric and medical populations. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intrinsic, extrinsic, and risk propensity factors in the work attitudes of teachers, educational administrators, and business managers.

Used the Borgatta, Ford, and Bohrnstedt Work Components Study Questionnaire to compare the job orientations of college-educated employees in educational and business organizations. The sample was composed of 432 teachers, 118 educational administrators, and 192 business managers. Multiple- and single-classification analysis of variance procedures were used to explore relationships and group differences across the attitudinal subscales. The hypothesis that the attitudes of educators differ from the attitudes of business managers toward intrinsic-extrinsic rewards and risk orientations was supported. Finally, a continuum of differing group profiles was proposed. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of generational differences in endorsement of leadership practices with actual leadership skill level.

This study investigated whether managers from different generations considered certain leadership practices important for success in their organization, whether managers were skilled in those leadership practices, and the gap between perceived importance and skill ratings. Data were obtained between January 2008 and April 2009 from practicing American managers from three different generations: baby boomers (n = 3,317), gen Xers (n = 3,303), and millennials (n = 429). Participants were asked which 8 of 16 leadership practices they considered most important for success in their organizations and participants were rated by their boss on their skill level for all 16 practices. Differences among generations in the endorsement of 10 of the 16 leadership practices existed, but an examination of their effect sizes showed small practical significance. The magnitude of the gaps between importance and skill ratings were similar among the generations, with the biggest gaps in leading employees, change management, and building and mending relationships. In summary, managers from different generations are more similar than they are different with regard to the leadership practices they think are important, and how skilled they are at those leadership practices. Gap results have implications that may help managers, organizations, consultants, and practitioners understand what managers of all generations need to focus on for development. In particular, they reveal that leadership development initiatives should focus on how to lead employees better, how to manage change, and how to build and mend relationships at work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI in differentiation of temporal lobe and nontemporal lobe epilepsy: Investigation of three levels of test performance.

Using carefully matched samples, a variety of MMPI techniques were explored in an attempt to document the clinically accepted personality differences between temporal lobe (n?=?37) and nontemporal lobe (n?=?28) epileptics. Analysis of the traditional clinical scales, as well as additional procedures employed in an attempt to improve test sensitivity (content scales, code type, category frequencies, and item analyses), did not support the position that temporal lobe epileptics are more likely to manifest personality disturbance than are other epileptics. (10 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)     

Association of negative and positive social ties with fibrinogen levels in young women.

The associations between positive and negative aspects of social relationships and fibrinogen, a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD), were examined in young, healthy women recruited from the community (n?=?46) and from a college campus (n?=?42). For community women, the perception that individuals in their social networks frequently undermined them was related to higher fibrinogen, independent of perceived frequency of support. For college women, fibrinogen was elevated among women with frequent undermining only when they also reported infrequent support. After controlling for other risk factors, the associations between social ties and fibrinogen remained significant in both samples. These results indicate that positive and negative social ties are associated with fibrinogen levels and suggest that social relationships may affect CHD risk in part through their influence on fibrinogen. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Received and perceived social support in times of stress: A test of the social support deterioration deterrence model.

The authors evaluated the impact of receiving social support on subsequent levels of perceived social support and psychological distress in 2 independent samples of victims of severe natural disasters: Hurricane Hugo (n?=?498) and Hurricane Andrew (n?=?404). A social support deterioration deterrence model was proposed that stipulated that postdisaster mobilization of received support counteracts the deterioration in expectations of support often experienced by victims of major life events. LISREL analyses of data collected 12 and 24 months after Hugo and 6 and 28 months after Andrew provided strong evidence for the hypothesized model: Perceived support mediated the long-term effects on distress of both scope of disaster exposure and postdisaster received support. Theoretical and application issues of social support are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)