Prediction of clerical turnover in banks by means of a weighted application blank.

Replicated E. Fleishman and J. Berniger's (see PA, Vol. 37:2030) study utilizing a weighted application blank to predict clerical turnover for 100 bank clerks. The utility of the technique was confirmed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Voluntary female clerical turnover: The concurrent and predictive validity of a weighted application blank.

Through differential weighting of application-blank information (N = 152), 2 validations against voluntary female clerical-turnover criteria were accomplished. Concurrent (16 scoreable items with N = 72) and predictive (13 scoreable items with N = 60) cross validities are reported on holdout and follow-up samples, respectively. Statistically significant relationships are demontrated in both the concurrent and the predictive studies despite intervening variables, preceding the predictive study, sufficient to destroy validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of a weighted application blank in hiring seasonal employees.

Application blanks for 269 good-turnover-risk and 250 poor-turnover-risk seasonal canning plant employees were used to derive scoring weights for 12 biographical data items. Cross-validation on the following year's hires showed satisfactory discrimination between good and poor risks, as did subsequent use of the weights. It is concluded that the weighted application technique can be successfully extended from the sales and clerical fields to the selection of blue-collar workers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reevaluation of a weighted application blank for office personnel.

The validity of weighted application blank scores in predicting length of service of female office personnel of a large midwestern manufacturing company showed a slow but consistent decline from 1954 to 1959. After reweighting the application blank variables by the usual procedure, a Pearson r of .39 was obtained between WAB scores and tenure on a cross-validation sample of 208 individuals. Only 3 variables (high proficiency at shorthand; did not leave last job because of pregnancy, marriage, sickness, or home problems; and will begin work on the new job 1 week or more from now) retained their predictive validity from 1954 to 1959. Some of the variables were assigned different weights, and others were given weights for the 1st time. It was recommended that weights assigned to application blank responses be reviewed at least every 3-5 years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improving credit evaluation with a weighted application blank.

Using data from a credit application blank, how can poor credit risks be most effectively identified? 100 records of those who paid for their cars were compared with a like number of records of those who failed to do so. An item analysis was performed and weights assigned to items according to their ability to differentiate between the 2 sets of records. 24 items were chosen as working especially well. "A formula was presented which allows the profit obtaining from the use of any particular cut-off score to be estimated." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Double cross-validation of a weighted application blank over time.

Reports a 2nd cross-validation of a weighted application blank for predicting tenure of clerical employees. The sample consisted of 199 female employees hired during a later time period than the initial and cross-validation samples. Application blanks were scored using the weights previously developed. A substantial loss in predictive power was found in the additional cross-validation. Changes in labor market conditions, manpower needs, and specific changes in personnel policies appear to be responsible for the loss in efficiency. Results suggest cross-validation of such blanks with samples of employees hired during a later time period and periodic checks on their continuing validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applying the weighted application blank technique to a variety of office jobs.

"1. Application blanks of female office employees hired for the first time in 1954 were reviewed. Fifteen personal history variables were found to differentiate between long-term and short-term female office employees when weights were assigned to these variables. 2. A similar study was made on application blanks of female office employees hired for the first time in 1955. Similar results were obtained for this 1955 cross-validation group. The same 15 variables tended to differentiate markedly between long- and short-term employees… there was less overlap in total scores between long- and short-term groups in the cross-validation sample than in the validation group." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The problem of preselection in weighted application blank studies.

The problem of preselection in predictions based on application blanks was studied on the basis of data pertaining to 291 applicants for clerical jobs in Prudential's Western Home office in Los Angeles. "Among persons actually hired, only five of the 19 items were found to discriminate between terminated and nonterminated employees at or beyond the .05 level of confidence. At least one of the 10 preselection items was found to be predictive of turnover at the .001 level… . Three possibilities suggest themselves: 1… . allow preselection to operate prior to utilizing the weights. 2. Apply 'restriction in range' corrections to individual item validity co-efficients, where assumptions can be met… . 3. Develop 'preselection weights,' based upon differences between those hired and those rejected." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job satisfaction and turnover in a female clerical population.

Job-satisfaction questionnaires were administered to a sample of 350 female clerical workers. After a lapse of 5 mo. 31 girls had quit, 26 of whom had completed the questionnaire. These 26 girls reported significantly less satisfaction with their jobs than the 319 girls who remained on the job. An explanation of this finding in terms of the difficulty of finding a new job, economic pressures to remain on present job, and condition of the labor market is offered. The relationship between satisfaction and turnover is not regarded as general. The data from the subsequent 7-mo study indicate that job-satisfaction scores continue to exhibit a significant relationship to turnover over a 12-mo period. Even after a 12-mo period the terminators had reported lower job satisfaction at the time of the assessment than those who were still with the company. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a biographical inventory blank to predict faking on personality tests.

14 Biographical Inventory Blank items significantly predicted the propensity to fake personality inventories in a socially desirable manner, as measured by the K Scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personal Inventory. Item analyses were performed on the responses of 76 job applicants, and the derived scoring weights were cross-validated on the responses of 42 other job applicants (r = .66, p     

Job expectations and valences of job rewards for culturally disadvantaged and advantaged clerical employees.

Compared the job expectancies of 76 culturally advantaged and 74 disadvantaged female civil service clerical workers concerning whether effective job performance would lead to certain job rewards and the relative importance or valences of these rewards to the 2 groups. The disadvantaged group saw for themselves, as opposed to the advantaged group, less likelihood that effectiveness in their jobs would lead to advancement or to the use of one's own judgment. The disadvantaged group also indicated that a high salary was more important to them than to the advantaged group. (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)     

Weighted application blank analysis of "contingency" items.

This note discusses the effect of assigning weights independently to such related item categories as "marital status" and "number of children," where "single status" forces a "no children" response. It is suggested that, in the contingent item-category, the "can't respond" group be separated out before percents and weights are computed on the rest of the sample. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new approach for utility analysis.

A new utility analysis approach is presented. It is demonstrated that the new approach does not require the direct estimation of the most problematic component of current utility analysis equations, the standard deviation of Y. The parsimony of the new approach provides the potential for more directly linking decision-theoretic utility analysis with economic and accounting concepts. The development of the new approach highlights the many necessary and untested assumptions of current utility models. It also points to a need for reassessing the psychometric validity of correcting for criterion unreliability in utility analysis. Furthermore, the CREPID and 40% and 70% rules for estimating the standard deviation of Y are shown to be special cases of the new approach. Research on the efficacy of the assumptions and applicability of the new approach is advocated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of the relationship of commitment to turnover in recent hires and tenured employees.

Hypothesized that tenure in the organization moderates the relationship between organizational commitment and turnover. 209 nurses (mean age 36 yrs) were surveyed about moral commitment and organizational tenure, and 9 mo later information about organization staying or leaving by Ss was obtained from participating institutions. Results show no relationship between commitment and turnover with Ss who had been employed less than 1 yr. More tenured Ss had an inverse relationship between commitment and turnover. It is suggested that initial organizational commitment is based more on unrealistic expectations or postdecisional justification than stable psychological attachments. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal analysis of the turnover process.

A repeated-measures longitudinal design was used to analyze the turnover process among a cohort of 1,445 US Marine Corps enlistees. Behavioral intentions, expected utility for both military and civilian roles, and satisfaction (Job Diagnostic Survey) were tracked over a 4-yr period. Significant predictors of early turnover were found at the time of organizational entry and were indicative of individual and anticipatory socialization differences. Differences predicting subsequent turnover and reenlistment emerged over time, as evidenced by significant Time Group?×?Time effects. Results demonstrate the temporal process underlying the turnover phenomena. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analytical structural equations analysis of a model of employee turnover.

Combined meta-analysis with structural equations modeling (SEM) to validate the W. H. Mobley et al (1978) turnover theory as well as alternative structural networks proposed by A. Dalessio et al (1986), P. W. Hom et al (1984), and B. D. Bannister and R. W. Griffeth (1986). The authors aggregated correlations from 17 studies (N?=?5,013 employees), correcting for unreliability and sampling error. Then they used SEM to assess the models, comparing their relative fits to data. SEM analyses corroborated the Mobley et al model better than did past research, but these analyses also showed that the Dalessio et al and the Hom et al theories explained sample data more plausibly. Additional SEM tests found that turnover base rates, time lags between turnover and model assessments, unemployment rates, and occupational differences moderated the models' pathways. The present findings suggest various implications for these theories and for turnover research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on Thorndike's preference blank for psychologists.

The 50 items comprising the 5 Thorndike clusters were rated by 2 experienced job analysts in terms of the Methods Groups and Worker Functions factors. It was discovered that the ratings grouped themselves into functional areas. "It is suggested that the judgment of trained job analysts working within a conceptual framework of the world of work… can arrive at such decisions of classification and clustering without the involved and prolonged statistical treatment used by Thorndike. Moreover, it provides a device for generating and presenting this type of item in a meaningful manner." Four stages in the application of the "functional technique" are indicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multivariate analysis of the determinants of job turnover.

Developed and tested a multivariate analysis of the turnover process with 654 accountants (mean age 37 yrs). The following variables were measured: demographic variables, tenure, cognitive/affective orientation to current position (including multiple measures of job satisfaction and organizational commitment), perceived job security, intention to search for an alternative position, perceived existence of alternative positions, and intention to change positions. Turnover data were collected 1 yr later, and it was found that 22% of Ss had changed jobs. Results support the existence of significant relationships between the set of independent variables presented in the working model and actual turnover, but not the hypothesis that all variables influence turnover behavior through their impact on intentions to change position. Turnover was significantly influenced by age, tenure, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job security. Turnover behavior was also more strongly related to intentions to search for alternatives than to intentions to change positions. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)