Turnover and organizational performance: A comparative analysis of the effects of voluntary, involuntary, and reduction-in-force turnover.

Data were collected from 31 regional subunits of a national financial services company to examine differential effects of 3 types of turnover (voluntary, involuntary, and reduction-in-force) on measures of organizational subunit performance. Although each form of turnover exhibited adverse effects on subunit performance when examined separately, partial correlation results revealed greater and more pervasive adverse effects for reduction-in-force turnover (i.e., downsizing) in comparison with the effects of voluntary and involuntary turnover. The results confirm the negative effects of downsizing, suggesting the need to move beyond the traditional voluntary-involuntary classification scheme used in turnover research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on the judgment of speaker effectiveness.

Ratings of the effectiveness of the speaker at each of 14 meetings (445 participants, some attending more than 1 meeting) on an 8-item rating scale showed that a simple rating procedure can yield useful discrimination as to the excellence of public-speaker addressed meetings. However, this discrimination is primarily on a general or overall factor, with little evidence of differentiation among such elements as the speaker's qualifications or ability, topic coverage, personal gain from meeting, or satisfaction of expectations. Ratings of "timeliness of topic" alone tended to be somewhat independent of the evaluation of the meeting itself. Ratings of the effectiveness of the speaker were not significantly correlated with attendance at the meetings. (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)     

A note on the relationship between age and sales effectiveness.

Manager's rankings of 539 salesmen converted into a stanine distribution and compared with chronological age showed that sales effectiveness increases until about 40 and then starts to decrease after that age. Even so, many older salesmen received high ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 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)     

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)     

Introducing survival analysis to organizational researchers: A selected application to turnover research.

Survival analysis, a powerful set of statistical techniques, is introduced. These methods can be useful for turnover research and other behavioral studies with a binary dependent variable and multiple independent variables, any or all of which may be measured over time. Because survival analysis explicitly incorporates time as a variable of interest, it is more flexible and better able to extract and use information from longitudinal studies than methods more commonly used in applied psychology. In this article, we present survival analysis in an intuitive and applications-oriented manner. An application to turnover research is presented for purposes of illustration. With survival analysis, turnover may be viewed as a process whose intensity (rate) is allowed to vary over time rather than remain fixed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When measurement causes task attitudes: A note from the laboratory.

Two experiments investigated 2 possible boundary conditions for the assumption that an attitude toward a task has been formed when measurements are taken. In Exp I, 28 undergraduates were used to explore the effects of time for reflection on the formation of attitudes toward tasks. Ss worked at a computer-administered in-basket exercise. Each problem was described in detail and followed by a series of multiple-choice questions and performance feedback. Performance scores were held constant across Ss. Time for reflection was manipulated by adjusting the pace at which the task was presented. Results show that the behavior attitude (as measured by a self-report) correlation for Ss given ample time to reflect was greater than for those denied time for reflection. In Exp II, the role of self-involving tasks in stimulating more attitude formation was studied using 56 graduate business students. Results show that involvement was a condition for attitude formation in tasks. It is suggested that under limited time and low-involvement conditions, attitude formation may occur only reactively in response to the attitude measure. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral self-handicaps versus self-reported handicaps: A conceptual note.

An examination of the literature on self-handicapping reveals that the construct has been operationalized in two different ways. Some writers have regarded self-handicapping as a behavioral strategy that would be expected to make success on a task more difficult, thereby augmenting a nonability explanation for failure. Other writers have treated self-handicapping as a verbal claim that one's performance has been handicapped by factors beyond one's control. These two uses of the term are discussed, and recommendations are made regarding ways of resolving the conceptual confusion resulting from using a single term to refer to both phenomena. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related differences in work attitudes and behavior: A review and conceptual analysis.

Presents a theoretical framework for understanding age-related differences in work attitudes and behavior. Based on a review of more than 185 research studies, age-related differences in 3 major categories of variables are examined: work attitudes, work behaviors, and values, needs, and preferences. The work attitudes include overall job satisfaction; satisfaction with work itself, pay, promotions, co-workers, and supervision; job involvement; internal work motivation; organizational commitment; and turnover intention. Among the behavioral characteristics are performance, turnover, absenteeism, and accidents. Consistent age-related differences are reported for a number of work attitudes and behaviors, but conceptual and methodological difficulties preclude identifying causal factors in the relationship between age and work attitudes and behaviors. Some theoretical orientations having utility for guiding theory development and research on age differences are discussed. (6 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential challenge stressor-hindrance stressor relationships with job attitudes, turnover intentions, turnover, and withdrawal behavior: A meta-analysis.

In this article, a 2-dimensional work stressor framework is used to explain inconsistencies in past research with respect to stressor relationships with retention-related criteria. Results of meta-analyses of 183 independent samples indicated that whereas hindrance stressors had dysfunctional relationships with these criteria (negative relationships with job satisfaction and organizational commitment and positive relationships with turnover intentions, turnover, and withdrawal behavior), relationships with challenge stressors were generally the opposite (positive relationships with job satisfaction and organizational commitment and negative relationships with turnover intentions and turnover). Results also suggested that the differential relationships between challenge stressors and hindrance stressors and the more distal criteria (withdrawal behavior and turnover) were due, in part, to the mediating effects of job attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Additivity versus nonadditivity of intrinsic and extrinsic incentives: Implications for work motivation, performance, and attitudes.

80 male Ss were randomly assigned to either an intrinsically appealing or an intrinsically nonappealing assembly task. Half of the Ss were paid according to a highly salient, continuous, contingent reward schedule, while the other half were paid according to an extremely noncontingent payment schedule. Thus, 20 Ss worked for both intrinsic and extrinsic incentives, 20 for extrinsic only, 20 for intrinsic only, and 20 for minimal incentives of either type. Data on 4 dependent variables (performance, intrinsic motivation, orientation toward the task, and intrinsic satisfaction) provided convergent support for E. L. Deci's (see record 1968-02190-001) hypothesis that intrinsic and extrinsic incentives are not additive in determining attitudes and behavior. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Background factors in airline mechanics work motivations: A research note.

A correlational analysis of a number of questionnaire items assessing the importance of various aspects of the work situation showed 2 themes: 1 referred primarily to needs for advancement and the other to needs for security and stability in job and interpersonal relations. Level of educational achievement bears a positive relationship with advancement motivation. Age is, independently, negatively related to advancement needs. Trends exist to indicate converse relationships between education and age and the need for security and stability. (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?     

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.     

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)     

A note concerning reflection effects versus framing effects.

A recent article discussing the costs and benefits of judgment errors and presenting a taxonomy of judgment behaviors (H. R. Arkes; see record 1992-04093-001) included an error. This note corrects the error in Arkes's article in which framing effects were mislabeled as reflection effects. In addition, readers may have mistakenly received the impression that evidence for reflection and framing effects is more consistent than it is. So, it is clarified that research evidence for reflection and framing effects is variable rather than uniformly positive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)