Digital Commons Network^™

Race Matters More Than Racial Identity Disclosure When Evaluating Applicant Diversity Statements, Fiona Nguyen, Ellen M. Carroll, Ciara Atkinson, Tammy D. Walker

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The present research investigated whether a target applicant's race and disclosure of their race in a personal diversity statement influenced White evaluators' perceptions of the applicant's egalitarian motivations and their likelihood of contributing to organizational diversity and inclusion outcomes. In Study 1 (N = 206), participants evaluated a diversity statement that was ostensibly written by a White or Black applicant who either referenced or did not reference his race within the statement. Participants judged Black applicants as more internally motivated to be egalitarian and White applicants as more externally motivated, regardless of whether they disclosed their race in the statement. …

Becoming And Acting As An Ally Against Weight-Based Discrimination, Christopher J. Waterbury, Larry R. Martinez, Liana Bernard, Nicholas A. Smith

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We appreciate and agree with the importance of the Best Practices for Weight at Work Research outlined by Lemmon et al. (Reference Lemmon, Jensen and Kuljanin2023). To help further contribute to this body of literature, we connect the scholarship related to weight-basedFootnote1 discrimination to contemporary allyship scholarship. Allyship support and advocacy behaviors improve employee experiences on day-to-day and long-term bases, and are therefore critical to research about weight at work. It is critically important to examine the development of allies against weight-stigma for two reasons.

Engaging With Nature And Work: Associations Among The Built And Natural Environment, Experiences Outside, And Job Engagement And Creativity, Rebecca M. Brossoit, Tori Crain, Jordyn J. Leslie, Gwenith G. Fisher, Aaron M. Eakman

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: There is substantial evidence that contact with nature is related to positive health and well-being outcomes, but extensions of this research to work-related outcomes is sparse. Some organizations are redesigning workspaces to incorporate nature and adopting nature-related policies, warranting a need for empirical studies that test the influence of nature on employee outcomes.

Methods: The present mixed-methods study tests and extends the biophilic work design model to examine associations among the built and natural environment at work and home, experiences of time spent outside (i.e., amount of time outside, enjoyment of time outside, outdoor activities), and motivational work outcomes …

Facilitating Employee Recovery From Work: The Role Of Leader‑Member‑Exchange, Judith Volmer, Eva-Maria Schulte, Charlotte Fritz

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Building on Affective Events Theory (AET), this study examined within-person relationships between employee perceptions of day-level leader-member exchange (LMX) and day-level positive affect as well as between positive affect and recovery from work in the evening (i.e., relaxation, mastery, control, and psychological detachment from work). In addition, LMX variability was examined as a moderator of these within-person relationships. Employees (N = 160) completed surveys at the end of the workday and in the evening across five consecutive workdays. Results indicate direct relationships between perceptions of LMX and employee positive affect at work. In addition, positive affect was positively associated …

Quality Assessment Of Work Recovery Activities: Guidance For Recovering From Work-Related Demands, Emily Nixon

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study tested a revised work recovery process model and provides guidance for work recovery activities based on their recovery quality value. A diverse sample of 540 MTurk workers served as the participants for this in-depth, mixed method approach to evaluating workers’ recovery activities (preferred and actual) as well as recovery needs. Using a modified model of the stress-recovery process, recovery quality was measured in terms of psychological detachment, mastery, and control, with relaxation serving as an outcome state associated with the proposed three core recovery mechanisms. A variety of analyses were used to support the idea that active recovery …

Morning Reattachment To Work And Work Engagement During The Day: A Look At Day-Level Mediators, Sabine Sonnentag, Kathrin Eck, Charlotte Fritz, Jana Kühnel

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reattachment to work (i.e., rebuilding a mental connection to work) before actually starting work is important for work engagement during the day. Building on motivated action theory, this study examines anticipated task focus, positive affect, and job resources (job control and social support) as mediators that translate reattachment in the morning into work engagement during the day. We collected daily-survey data from 151 employees (total of 620 days) and analyzed these data with a multilevel path model. We found that day-level reattachment to work in the morning predicted anticipated task focus, positive affect, social support, and job control through goal …

The Complex Effects Of Equity Sensitivity On Job Commitment And Satisfaction: A Pilot Study, West Phifer

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

According to equity theory (Adams, 1963, 1965), employees determine whether they are being treated fairly by comparing what they give to and receive from their organization to that of other employees. However, individual perceptions of equity differ in the workplace, a phenomenon Huseman, Hatfield and Miles, (1987) labeled equity sensitivity, which ranges from benevolents, those who accept low levels of equity, to entitleds, who desire more favorable outcomes for themselves. Davison and Bing (2008) split the Huseman et al. continuum into its two components, benevolence and entitlement, and those are the focus of the present study. These dimensions were tested …

A Meta-Analysis Of The Nomological Network Of Work Ability, Grant Brady

Dissertations and Theses

As the workforces of industrialized countries around the world continue to age, research is needed to better understand how policies regarding retirement, and exit from the workforce, impact older workers. In particular, it is important to identify mechanisms that can be used to understand and promote the retention of older workers. Work ability (WA), a construct that has been predominately studied in Scandinavian and European countries, has been studied in this context, and identified as a predictor of exit from the workforce. Using the Job Demands-Resources model (JDR; Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001) as the theoretical basis, the goal …

Anticipated Work-Nonwork Balance And Conflict As Predictors Of Job Choice: Identity Salience As Moderator, Christopher R. Hudson Jr.

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines individual job choice decision making with the foreknowledge that such choices will impact the quality of a person’s future work-nonwork roles. It is likely that job applicants have at least some anticipation of the work-nonwork conflict (WNC) and work-nonwork balance (WNB) they will face if they accept a certain job offer. Although most research has provided reasons for organizations to promote WNB and reduce WNC in the workplace, little research has examined the influence of anticipated WNB and WNC on applicant job choice. The present study explores this question and considers whether a person’s work and nonwork …

Socializing To Recover From Work Stress: The Benefits Of Acting Extraverted, Robert Harste

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of socializing, or activities that are characterized by social interaction, on recovery from work stress. Drawing from consistent findings in personality research, we hypothesized that individuals who measure high in extraversion receive the greatest recovery benefits from socializing, and that this relationship is mediated by state positive affect. An online assessment was administered to 238 participants to measure trait extraversion, trait and state affect, and factors related to their social activities across two recent time periods. Hypotheses were tested using correlational and regression-based techniques. The findings provide support for a …

Active Or Passive? An Examination Of The Relationship Between The Valence Of Work Experiences And Choice Of Recovery Strategy, Ashley Keating

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Regular work days place a strain on employees, depleting precious resources which must be recovered. Recovery results from either passive or active activities. Little research has examined the effect of positive and negative experiences at work and their impact on recovery. The present study investigated how positive or negative experiences at work impact one’s choice of recovery strategy outside of work. I hypothesized that positive experiences at work are positively correlated with a person’s likelihood of engaging in active recovery due to gained resources, and vice versa. The sample for this study consisted of full-time employees with a regular working …

To Branch Out Or Stay Focused?: Affective Shifts Differentially Predict Organizational Citizenship Behavior And Task Performance, Liu-Qin Yang, Lauren S. Simon, Lei Wang, Xiaoming Zheng

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We draw from personality systems interaction theory (PSI; Kuhl, 2000) and regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997) to examine how dynamic positive and negative affective processes interact to predict both task and contextual performance. Using a twice-daily diary design over the course of a three-week period, results from multi-level regression analysis revealed that distinct patterns of change in positive and negative affect optimally predicted contextual and task performance among a sample of 71 individuals employed at a medium-sized technology company. Specifically, within persons, increases (upshifts) in positive affect over the course of a work day better predicted the subsequent day’s organizational …

Effects Of Information Processing Strategies On Rater Motivation In Job Analysis, Corey Alexander Cecil

ETD Archive

Accuracy of the output resulting from a job analysis is of utmost importance to practitioners and human resource professionals. Without this accuracy, many of the organizational actions that follow can be prone to failure. One of the notable sources of inaccuracy in job analysis is motivation. Evidence of motivation as a source of inaccuracy in job analysis comes from findings which have been largely adapted from cognitive and social psychology literature. To bridge the gap more directly, this study examined how different variables such as self-efficacy, need for cognition, job complexity, and job analysis purpose impacted the relationship between information …

A Marathon, Not A Sprint: The Benefits Of Taking Time To Recover From Work Demands, Charlotte Fritz, Allison Marie Ellis

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

“Are you binge working?” was the title of a recent NBC News article14 de-scribing recent cases in which people reported working as many as three days straight without any breaks, and in some cases literally dying as a result. Although cases like these are extreme, they point to a growing trend in today’s workplace—one that suggests employees are working longer hours, coping with increasing work demands, and readily adopting technology that tethers them to their work 24/7. Coupled with a working culture that equates face time and being “always on” with high job com-mitment, we’re left—perhaps not surprisingly—with a workforce …

The Effects Of Control And Work / Family Centrality On The Personal Use Of Work Computers, Jenna L. Gorsuch

ETD Archive

The personal use of work computers (PWC) is a common occurrence at all levels at an organization, from entry level employees to upper management. Constant connectivity to technology through the availability of the Internet at home, at work, and on mobile devices has led to work entering the non-work domain and vice versa. Participants (N = 341) were recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk service and were asked questions regarding levels of self-control, job autonomy, work centrality, work-family conflict, and PWC in order to determine how these relationships may interact to predict PWC. In addition, PWC was explored as a means …

Relationships Among Nursing Burnout, The Big Five Personality Factors, And Overall Self-Concept: The Impact Of Assessing Common Method Variance, Matthew Thomas Ecie

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the extent to which common method variance (CMV) impacted many of the relationships between personality traits and the construct of burnout among registered nurses. It was hypothesized that once CMV was calculated and controlled for, relationships between personality traits and burnout would be weakened. Data were collected from working registered nurses (N = 274) and from BSN student nurses (N = 8). Scales measuring the IPIP Big Five, burnout, hardiness, core self-evaluation, optimism, and stress in general were combined to create a survey questionnaire. Results indicated burnout among nurses was significantly …

Job Attribute Preferences In A Downward Economy, Anna Marie Deason

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The current study is a partial replication of Jurgensen (1978) and Johnson (2008) studies that examined job attribute preferences. The reasoning for a replication so soon after Johnson (2008) study is research how the current economic environment may influence these variables. The job attributes variables that are being studied are type of work, pay, insurance, job security, opportunity for advancement, time off, the company, location, coworkers, supervisor, flexible hours, retirement, and the presence of a career mentor. Each participant ranked their personal preference for each of these attributes and then were asked to rank the same items but for what …

Examining Perceived Subordinate Support, Timothy Paul Clayton Jr.

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Support relationships within organizations have been the subject of numerous empirical studies. Much of this research has focused on the influence of perceived organizational support and perceived supervisor support and their effects on subordinates. To date, however, no research has focused on how supervisors are influenced by their beliefs about support from their subordinates. I define perceived subordinate support (PSubS) as the extent to which a supervisor feels subordinates are concerned with the supervisor's well-being and value the supervisor as a leader. Previous research suggests that subordinates’ opinions and behaviors do influence supervisor behavior. In the present study, a measure …

The Relationship Between Person-Organization Fit, Attribution Theory, And Psychological Contract Violations Within Organizational Settings, Sarah Elizabeth Phillips

Theses Digitization Project

This study makes an attempt at bridging the theory between the constructs of person-organization (P-O) fit and psychological contract violations, through attribution theory.

Effects Of Goal Congruence On Withdrawal Behavior, As Mediated By Organizational Commitment, Amy Ines Quinones

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Activation On Recall And Perception Of A Negative Performance Appraisal, Cassandre M. Clarke

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Occupational Stress, Coping Styles, And Social Resources, Wayne L. Hill

Theses : Honours

Researchers in the stress and coping field have developed a variety of "stress and coping" models to explain the interaction between stressors, social resources, coping styles, and distress symptoms (Edwards & Baglioni, 1990). The present study examined three models to explain the relationship between the variables: direct effect, buffering effect and mediating effect. This study examined effective and non-effective coping styles at work: accommodation, change, avoidance, devaluation, and symptom management. Data were collected on 120 white collar workers' state of mental exhaustion, somatic symptoms, role stressors, coping styles, and perceived social support. The utility of the three models was examined …

The Effects Of Perceived Work Schedule Flexibility, Number Of Hours Worked, And Type Of Work Schedule On Work-Family Conflict, Tenora Dianne Grigsby

Dissertations and Theses

The interaction effects of perceived work schedule flexibility (PWSF) and the number of hours worked on work-family conflict, and the interaction effects of PWSF and the type of work schedule on work-family conflict were investigated for employees of a regional bank headquartered in the Pacific Northwest. A 50% response rate was obtained from a survey questionnaire administered to 2,000 randomly selected employees.

Hierarchial multiple regression analyses conducted on 526 subjects revealed no significant interaction effects for PWSF and type of work schedule. The interaction effect for PWSF and number of hours worked was not tested due to a significant correlation …

The Effect Of Social Support On Job Satisfaction At The Varying Levels Of Job Stress And Task Structure, Pei-Lin Zhou

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Work Experience On Graduate Students' Anxiety For Future Work, Gila A. Azar

Theses Digitization Project

Part-time vs. full-time students -- Age range of 23 to 51 years -- Business and social work majors -- Self-efficacy -- Work apprehension.

Job Characteristics Model: Test Of A Modified Four-Trait Model At The University Of Central Florida, Gena L. Cox-Jones

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

The study examined the number of significant factors in the Hackman and Oldham (1980) job characteristics model. The original factors were: Skill Variety, Task Significance, Task Identity, Autonomy, and Feedback. Scores on these dimensions for 84 employees of the University of Central Florida (21 supervisory and 63 non-supervisory subjects) were used as the basis for this study through a mail administration of the Hackman and Oldham Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) and their Job Rating Form (JRF). It was hypothesized that: (a) only four significant job dimensions would emerge from factor analysis of the data; (b) that the motivating potential ratings …

Work And Leisure Attitudes Among Health Services Personnel, Robert C. Frink

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between work and leisure satisfaction using Shepard's Status Recognition Model. The sample was made up of two groups of health services personnel each of which contained three work levels or groups: a support group, a clinical group, and an administrative group. Assuming that status recognition would be different for the low status jobs (support) and high status jobs (clinical and administrative), it was hypothesized that the high status group would display low work related alienation and thus show a positive correlation between work and leisure satisfaction (evidence of a spillover mechanism). The lower status group …

The Development Of Attitudes Toward Work Through "Career Education", Lonnie Fred Mcdonough Wheeler

Dissertations and Theses

Attitude measurement problems are discussed within the context of a contemporary movement in the field of education. A restricted definition of the alienation construct is suggested as a theoretical framework within which research in this area could be conducted. Construction and validation data on an instrument designed to measure attitudes toward work are reported. Pre and posttest scores (using the above measure as well as the Rotter I-E Scale) of two high school Career Education programs were compared. Neither program produced significant mean attitude change in terms of these measures. However, change detected by increase in the variance on the …