Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons^™

Too Many Constructs In The Kitchen: Toward A Feature-Based Approach To Mistreatment, Sarah Carver

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The field of workplace mistreatment has grown considerably over the last two decades yet continues to be plagued by construct overload and measurement challenges. Constructs such as incivility, bullying, abusive supervision, and social undermining are definitionally distinct in terms of their frequency, intensity, and intentionality but this is seldom explicitly measured. Across three studies, we created and developed the Features of Mistreatment (FOM) measure to explicitly measure frequency, intensity, and perceived intentionality. In Study 1 (N = 282), we examined the psychometric properties of the initial 28-item FOM measure and revised the subscales to four items each. We found …

Beyond Rank Attainment: Examining The Nature And Function Of Dominance And Prestige In Teams, Lynden Jensen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Social hierarchies are fundamental to human societies, shaping group dynamics and outcomes. Ongoing debates attempt to understand their functional and dysfunctional consequences. While the conflict account of hierarchy emphasizes the potentially detrimental conflict-inducing effects of hierarchies, the functionalist account proposes that hierarchies create contexts conducive to coordination. This study investigates if team-level dominance and prestige processes might account for these diverging consequences of hierarchy with dominance fueling conflict-prone environments and prestige nurturing coordination processes. Additionally, it examines whether the inherently competitive nature of team-level dominance yields more favorable outcomes in highly competitive, zero-sum, contexts.

Across two studies, I investigated the …

Developing And Validating A Measure Of Transformational Followership, Noelle Baird

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Leadership and followership are inherently interdependent, yet research has primarily focused on the unilateral influence of leaders. To advance a more balanced perspective and highlight how followers can positively contribute to the leadership process, I conceptualized and validated a measure of transformational followership. Transformational followership represents leaders’ perceptions of effective followership tendencies that enable productive, generative, and motivating engagements with and for their leader. After conducting a comprehensive literature review of both followership and leadership research, I created an initial item pool which was then subjected to rigorous testing across three distinct phases. Phase 1 leveraged feedback from organizational …

An Investigation Of Lgbtq+-Specific Workplace Microaggressions: Their Impact On Job Engagement And The Buffering Effects Of Organizational Trust And Identity Disclosure, Vishal Sooknanan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Minoritized employees are not protected from all forms of discrimination such as microaggressions. These are subtle discriminatory acts, with or without intent to harm, that target minoritized identities. Little research has investigated LGBTQ+ microaggressions even though the community is particularly at risk or tried to discern the unique nature of microaggressions when compared to other forms of subtle discrimination such as incivility. This study tested the relationship between LGBTQ+ microaggressions and job engagement, the roles of organizational trust and outness as moderators, as well as the unique contribution of microaggressions over and above incivility. LGBTQ+ microaggressions were not significantly related …

Psychometric Validation Of The Team Resilience Inventory, Alexander J. Mcgregor 6971928

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Work teams frequently face adversities that may affect group processes and ultimately lead to a loss of performance. Despite a large literature on the characteristics of high-performance work teams, we know little about the processes by which teams resist, persist through, adapt to, recover from, or otherwise be resilient to challenges that they encounter. In part, this is due to the lack of a psychometrically sound and well-validated measure for team resilience; how work teams collectively respond to and ‘bounce back’ from adversities. The present dissertation project addresses this need in the literature through the development and validation of the …

Affectivity And Its Role In Predicting Sociometric Position In Small Group Networks, Roy Hui

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An individual’s tendency to experience positive emotions can impact the likelihood they find themselves in advantageous positions within their social circle. Adopting a network perspective to map social relations, the current study examined the extent to which dispositional positive affectivity predicts one’s eigenvector centrality and indegree centrality within interaction networks and status networks, respectively. Gathering data during the Fall of 2023, I collected data from 16 student clubs and the members within them and utilised multilevel modeling to disaggregate data. Controlling for individual demographics and group-structure variables, the results suggest that dispositional positive affectivity significantly predicted eigenvector centrality for interaction …

Exploring The Experience Of Disclosing In The Workplace, Jillian Auger

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An alarming rate of workplace violence/harassment is observed each year, with negative outcomes that affect the organization (i.e., financial loss) and those directly involved (i.e., job loss, financial strain, fear of being blamed, being labeled a ‘troublemaker’). The literature indicates that, for many victim-survivors, there is little hope for positive outcomes following a disclosure of workplace violence/harassment. In fact, some studies show that negative reactions to disclosure can compound and intensify the impact of violence/harassment on psychological functioning. However, minimal research has been devoted to the experiences of victim-survivors regarding the outcomes of a disclosure. Utilizing virtual semi-structured interviews, the …

Self-Worth And Identity: The Influence Of Workplace Violence And Harassment In Canadian Workplaces, Chelsea Reid

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

As innately social beings, individuals crave acceptance and yearn to find a sense of purpose in life. More often than not, this sense of purpose is linked to careers or roles within a system. Examination of individuals’ perception of self-worth following acts of violence in the workplace is limited. The gap in the literature on self-worth following experiences of violence and harassment is critical to explore because not only is self-worth linked to overall well-being, but individuals also vary in outcomes following the survival of violence (Breines et al., 2008; Sojo et al., 2016). Violence within the workplace is evident …

Examining The Structure And Outcomes Of Work Motivation Profiles: A Mindset-Based Approach, Leonid V. Beletski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Self-determination theory (SDT) distinguishes between both quality and quantity of motivation. Motivation within SDT has been treated both as a unidimensional (autonomy continuum) and multidimensional (motivation types) construct. Recently, Meyer et al. (2022) suggested that drawing a distinction between reasons for exerting effort and the mindset experienced while exerting effort may help reconcile the two approaches. Using profile analyses, Meyer and colleagues demonstrated that reasons for engaging in an activity combine in ways that are not unambiguously interpretable from an SDT standpoint. In the present study (N = 500), we replicate the results of Meyer et al. using reason-based motivation …

How Narcissism Relates To Social Rank Dynamics In Teams, Tianyue Xu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Team performance can be impaired when two team members both believe they outrank one another in status (upward-status disagreement; USD; Kilduff et al., 2016). Drawing from the narcissistic admiration and rivalry concept (Back et al., 2013), the current study examined how two forms of narcissism distinctively relate to USDs across a team’s lifecycle. Gathering data at four time points, I studied over 126 small task teams from inception to dissolution. The results indicate that narcissistic admiration did not predict one’s status perception tendency or absolute status. However, narcissistic admiration predicted the number of USDs one experiences during team formation and …

A Pilot Study Of The Effectiveness And Feasibility Of A Brief, Online, And Self-Guided Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Intervention For Intellectual And Developmental Disability Support Staff, Kristina Axenova

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present research pilots a brief, online, and self-guided adaptation of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention for intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) support staff to reduce burnout and psychological distress and increase psychological flexibility and work performance. A randomized waitlist control trial was implemented with an intervention group (n=5) and waitlist control group (n=11). Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II), the Comprehensive Assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes (CompACT), the Maslach Burnout Inventory – Human Service Version (MBI-HS), the Individual Work Performance …

The Need For Purpose: The Desire For Meaningful Direction As A Fundamental Human Motivation, Jose A. Espinoza Mogollon

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present research investigated the hypothesis that humans have an innate and fundamental need for purpose. This need is defined as a pervasive drive for a sense of meaningful direction and the experience of progress toward associated objectives. First, theoretical development of the need for purpose is presented, along with a review of the existing research literature covering evidence for the need for purpose’s fulfillment of well-established criteria for evaluating needs. This review is followed by three empirical studies developing a measure assessing satisfaction and frustration of purpose, examining an initial nomological network of the construct, and testing whether purpose …

The Attitudinal And Motivational Consequences Of Personality Differences In Teams, Kyle A. Cameron

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In our team-based world of work, understanding the effects of team member differences is critical. This research examined the effects of personality congruence (i.e., (dis)similarity) on individual team members’ satisfaction with the team and autonomous motivation. The potential role of psychological need fulfillment as a mediator of the relation between personality congruence and these outcomes was also considered.

Multilevel polynomial regression with response surface analysis provided no evidence for a congruence pattern relating any of the HEXACO model of personality’s six domains to individual satisfaction with the team, autonomous motivation, or any of the psychological needs. Supplemental analyses revealed a …

Improving The Accuracy Of References: The Effects Of Felt Accountability On Personality Ratings, Cullen W. D. Mccurrach

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

References are a useful preemployment assessment for gathering unique personality information about job applicants. However, despite the capacity for external observers to provide valid personality ratings, references tend to be less accurate than similar preemployment assessments. This problem is important to address, since almost all organizations use references of some kind when hiring. This study attempted to improve the accuracy of the personality ratings provided in references by using two novel interventions believed to improve referees’ felt accountability to the hiring organization. These interventions included (a) a more elaborative rating format that asked participants to provide the reasons underlying each …

More Than Just Shying Away From Conflict: The Relationship Between Social Anxiety And Workplace Incivility, Jocelyn Brown

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

For individuals who experience social anxiety, the workplace presents unique obstacles as they fear the social interactions. In particular, these individuals may struggle with workplace incivility. This study used questionnaires and vignettes to determine if the severity of social anxiety is related to heightened reports of social anxiety in their own workplace as well as increased negative valance associated with incivility events. In addition, the influence of various forms of self-efficacy and social support at work was measured. It was found that social anxiety increased reports of incivility at work. Self-efficacy had a nonsignificant influence and social support at work …

Individual Differences And Social-Comparative Feedback, Kabir N. Daljeet

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of the overall program of research was to investigate whether there are individual differences that facilitate the acceptance of, or preferences for, social-comparative performance feedback. In doing so, we aimed to establish how individual differences could be leveraged to mitigate the negative reactions that some individuals experience in response to social-comparative feedback (Feeney, Goffin, & Schneider, 2016; Roch et al., 2007). Likewise, we sought to determine whether individual differences were associated with a preference for social-comparative feedback. The results of the first study (N = 255) advanced a novel experimental design and found that, with limited exception, …

Timber! How Loss Of Trust Contributes To The Downfall Of Narcissistic Leaders, Jennifer Lynch

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Individuals higher in grandiose narcissism are motivated to maintain a grandiose self-view, which can be accomplished through self-promotion and self-defence (Back et al., 2013). Drawing from the dual-process model of narcissistic admiration and rivalry, the current study examined how these forms of narcissism differentially relate to changes in perceived leader effectiveness. As well, I tested whether trust mediated these relationships. The final sample included 165 participants in 42 teams followed from team formation to dissolution, gathering data at four time points. During their lifecycle, the teams worked on a design project. Support was found for narcissistic rivalry corresponding to a …

Finding Teams That Fight Fair: Exploring Trajectories Of Team Conflict Over Time, Natasha E. Ouslis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Disagreements are a reality for teams. Yet how and when teams experience conflict may impact their chances of success. We know relatively little about how team conflict emerges over time, especially for project-based teams. Disagreements over personal topics, logistics, and contributions have been consistently damaging to team performance (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003; O’Neill, Allen, & Hastings, 2013). The implications of task-based conflict over time, however, are inconsistent and poorly understood. To resolve these questions, I conducted three studies examining how conflict developed over the lifetimes of 272 engineering design project teams. Study 1 explored the measurement and patterns of …

Intergroup Leadership: Two Paths To Encourage Positive Intergroup Behaviours, Zhuo Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An intergroup context can lead to decreased intentions to engage in positive intergroup behaviours. The current study examined the effect of a leader promoting an intergroup relational identity when there are potential tensions between groups. I used randomized between-subject experimental procedures. Participants (N = 281) were randomly assigned to work with outgroup members under a “collective” or “intergroup” leader. The main manipulation controlled for leader rhetorical focus. In the collective condition, the leader emphasized similarities. In the intergroup condition, the leader acknowledged contributions from both groups. Results showed that in the intergroup condition, participants were more likely to engage …

Sustainable Coping Among Experienced 911 Operators, Lisa Vanderloop

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Research has identified 911 operators to be at great risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and burnout. In light of this finding, there is a need for preventive practices as well as and interventions for this population of emergency personnel. In the present study, the focus is on individual coping strategies of those with on-the-job experience.

To explore the coping strategies used by 911 operators, this study focused on a sample population of experienced workers. Data was gathered through qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with a diverse sample of 911 operators from a Canadian police service. The interview data …

The Motherhood Penalty: Not So Black And White, Shruti Kumar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Working mothers experience discrimination in hiring, promotion, salary, and training opportunities. This “motherhood penalty” occurs, in part, due to stereotyped family role expectations: working mothers are often perceived as the primary caregivers in their families and are assumed to have additional domestic responsibilities compared to fathers or non-parents. Notably, when women are framed as breadwinners rather than caregivers, they do not experience a motherhood penalty. However, this line of research largely focuses on the experiences of White women and is lacking an intersectional approach. Using an experimental research design, I examined how candidate race and parenthood impacted breadwinner perceptions and …

A Longitudinal Person-Centred Investigation Of Commitment In Newcomers To The Military, Brittney K. Anderson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Organizational commitment is a force that binds individuals to their company through their desire, obligation, and need to stay. Employees who are committed to the organization are more likely to demonstrate higher engagement, greater satisfaction, and fewer intentions to leave their company. Research has also demonstrated that investigating how each of the three forms of commitment – affective, normative, and continuance – interact allows for better prediction of employee outcomes. Using person-centred approaches, previous research has shown that there are typically five to seven profiles of commitment, and that membership in these profiles has implications for employee behaviours. However, little …

The Measurement Of Job Satisfaction Among Workplace Leaders: Scale Development And Validation Of The Leader Satisfaction Assessment, Erica A. Sutherland

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

As one of the most well-researched constructs in I/O psychology, the job attitudes literature is saturated with assessments of job satisfaction. However, none of these measures have explicitly examined the nature of job satisfaction among workplace leaders, a subset of employees who have the potential to influence organizations in substantive and meaningful ways. As such, the purpose of this dissertation was to examine the measurement of job satisfaction among leaders. A series of interviews and open-ended survey questionnaires were administered to a diverse group of leaders, employed across a variety of organizations and industries, to identify what facets contributed most …

Mental Health Literacy And Initial Teacher Education: A Program Evaluation, Jasprit K. Pandori-Chuckal

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Utilizing a program evaluation framework, this study explored the effectiveness of a 10-week, mandatory, online mental health literacy course for 275 teacher candidates in a large central Canadian faculty of education. Shifts in teacher candidates’ mental health literacy (using the Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire; Rodger Johnson, & Weston, 2017), attitudes toward mental health (Opening Minds Scale; Modgill, Patten, Knaak, & Szeto, 2014), and two types of coping skills, seeking social support and self-control (Ways of Coping Scale; Folkman & Lazarus, 1985), were examined. The findings indicated that the course demonstrated efficacy in positively shifting teaching candidates’ mental health knowledge, stigma …

The Relations Between Newcomer Integration Processes And Youth Athletes’ Perceptions Of The Group Environment In Competitive Ice Hockey, Jeffrey J. Chamberlain

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Abstract

The ways in which new members are integrated into a particular group environment—also known as organizational socialization processes—have been shown to be a powerful predictor of newcomer adjustment in the workplace. Yet, there is a scarcity of research on how sport teams manage the integration of new team members, and the consequences of different tactics. The current research uses the recently developed Sport Team Socialization Tactics Questionnaire (STSTQ) to evaluate how socialization processes are systematically related to youth athletes’ perceptions of their group environment. Across two time points, 202 competitive adolescent ice hockey players (M_age = 14.47, …

The Effect Of Perceived Role Suitability On Prestige, Dominance, Performance, And Communication., Lynden Jensen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The pursuit of social rank is pervasive across societies and cultures. Previous studies have identified two distinct avenues for attaining social rank: prestige and dominance. While prestige (communication of skill/ability) and dominance (communication of superiority) are crucial to interpersonal interactions, it is unclear how people communicate prestige or dominance and how such communication affects team performance. To investigate these ideas, 206 individuals participated in a cooperative dyadic building task. A computer randomly assigned dyad members to one of two roles—builder (who handled and placed model pieces) and instructor (who directed the builder's actions). Additionally, using a false feedback paradigm, a …

Double Jeopardy: What Is Mentorship And Diversity-Valuing On Perceived Competence?, T. Eva Kwan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Previous research has found that female managers and those who might benefit from diversity initiatives receive lower perceived competence ratings when they engage in activities that support or value diversity. Theoretically, this is supported by the role congruity theory, expectation states theory, and stereotype content model. This study sought to replicate these findings in the context of highly competent non-managerial employees and to examine the impact of mentorship on perceived competence ratings. The demerit to perceived competence from gender and using one’s voice to support diversity was not replicated in this study. However, mentorship had a modest positive effect on …

Not In My Occupation: An Examination Of Occupational Identification And Unethical Pro-Organizational Behaviour, Trevor Thomas Coppins

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Workplace identification has been investigated as a predictor of unethical pro-organizational behaviour (UPB), a form of unethical behaviour that primarily benefits the organization. While there have been fruitful findings for organizational identification, there is currently a lack of understanding for how other sources of identification influence this relationship. I sought to investigate whether occupational identification, defining oneself as a member of an occupation, would negatively moderate the relationship between organizational identification and UPB in an ethical decision-making study utilizing a sample of 193 accountants. Similarly, to past research, I hypothesized that moral disengagement would be a mediator in the model. …

Leadership On The Ropes: How Hostile Followership Affects Leadership Behaviour, Noelle Baird

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The current study examined the effect of followership on leadership behaviours, and whether leaders’ responses to hostile followership varies as a function of individual differences. This study used a randomized controlled between-subjects experimental design. Participants were assigned to the role of either the “team leader” or a “team member”. As the focal manipulation, participants were assigned to a hostile followership condition or a control condition. In these two conditions, a confederate either antagonized and challenged the leader’s ideas (i.e., hostile followership) or engaged in neutral behaviours (i.e., control condition) throughout a virtually-mediated group decision-making task. Support was found for the …

Rudeness Is In The Eye Of The Beholder: How Gender Impacts Reactions To Incivility At Work, Sarah Carver

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Although incivility is a widely studied topic in IO Psychology, little is known about how gender influences observer reactions to incivility. Using experimental vignettes, we examined how gender of the observer, instigator, and target influenced observer reactions to identical uncivil behaviours. Women observers reported stronger negative reactions to incivility than men. Additionally, results revealed that uncivil behaviour between a man instigator and man target provoked fewer negative reactions compared to women engaging in the same behaviour. Thus, men engaging in incivility against other men may be disregarded as just ‘boys being boys’, whereas women engaging in the same behaviour may …