Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

Big-Data Talent Analytics In The Public Sector: A Promotion And Firing Model Of Employees At Federal Agencies, Rabih Neouchi

Operations Research and Engineering Management Theses and Dissertations

Talent analytics is a relatively new area of focus to researchers working in analytics and data science. Talent Analytics has the potential to help companies make many informed critical decisions around talent acquisition, promotion and retention. This work investigates data science to predict “shiny star” employees in the U.S. public sector, defined as top-notch performers over the years of a given time span. Its scope falls within talent analytics, also called people analytics, a relatively new research area.

We clean a data set made available by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and present two models to predict the …

What Do Consistency And Personableness In The Interview Signal To Applicants? Investigating Indirect Effects On Organizational Attractiveness Through Symbolic Organizational Attributes, Annika Wilhelmy, Martin Kleinmann, Klaus G. Melchers, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Personnel selection research has recognized the importance of providing applicants with both standardized (i.e., “consistent”) and individualized (i.e., “personable”) treatment during interviews. However, research has yet to examine the mechanisms underlying the effects of perceived consistency and personableness in the interview on applicants’ attraction to organizations. Drawing from signaling theory, we investigate how interview consistency and personableness impact organizational attractiveness. To this end, we developed a conceptual model that proposes that applicants interpret perceived interview consistency and personableness as signals about what the organization is like in terms of symbolic organizational attributes (organizational competence and benevolence, Lievens and Highhouse 2003), …

Trust And Suspicion As A Function Of Cyber Security In Human Machine Team (Hmt) Of Unmanned Systems, Dhaher M. Alshammari

Theses and Dissertations

The research focuses on cyber-attacks on cyber-physical systems of the unmanned vehicles that are characteristically used in the military, particularly the Air Force. Unmanned systems are exposed to various risks as the capacity of cyber attackers continue to expand, raising the need for speedy and immediate responses. The advances in military technologies form the basis of the research that explores the challenges faced in the timely detection and response to cyber-attacks. The purpose of the research is to study the connections between operator suspicion and the detection and response to cyber-attacks alongside the identification of theory of suspicion as the …

Organizational Cognition As Intervened By Organizational Support And Engagement On Medical Coders’ Exhibition Of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors, David W. Conley

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

Informed by the social cognitive theory and social exchange theory, this study examined medical coders’ evaluation of organizational cognition in the presence or perception of organizational support and organization engagement and their resultant behavior. The reciprocal exchanges present in the employee and organization relationship are identified, as positive valuations facilitate mutually beneficial outcomes. Specifically, the examination of cognitions, implicit employee judgments, and behaviors provide a framework to examine the state of engagement and its related outcomes. The use of perceived organizational support and organization engagement as intervening variables provided insight into the complex relationships between medical coding employees’ evaluation of …

The Center Of Success: A Case Study On Hilton's Company Culture, Elsie G. Lamo

Experience Industry Management

Company culture is an essential element to the success of any organization. This is especially true in the hospitality industry where positive employee experiences are vital to customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to examine the company culture of Hilton. Data were sourced primarily from Hilton websites, third-party websites, and academic articles. This study found that Hilton’s culture is shaped by compelling mission, vision, and value statements that drive every organizational aspect. Additionally, award-winning reward, recognition, and training programs sustain and reinforce a culture that grants Hilton a unique competitive advantage. To maintain market leadership, Hilton must continually …

Overcoming The Race-Sex Barrier: What Matters Most In The Executive Sponsorship Of Black Women, Stephanie B. Smith

College of Business Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to examine the factors that are common, different and most important in the executive sponsorship of Black female protégés in comparison to the executive sponsorship of White male protégés. Drawing on social capital and social exchange theory, I propose a model that examines specific protégé and sponsor attributes relevant to career mobility and sponsorship for White male and Black female protégés. A sample of existing sponsors (n=72), comprised of C-suite executives (CEO, President, Managing Directors), and their protégés (n=59) who were senior level professionals (Division Presidents, General Managers, and Vice Presidents) participated in the study. Notwithstanding …

Job Transitioning Experiences Of Blue-Collar Employees After Federal Downsizing, Eduardo Hurtado

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

Downsizing, realignment, and closure of military bases have forced many low-skilled, blue-collar federal employees into involuntary job loss and job transition. The impact of involuntary job loss on blue-collar workers has been linked to stress and other adverse psychological effects. There is gap in the literature regarding the lived experiences of federal blue-collar employees following downsizing of military bases. The purpose of this qualitative, interpretive phenomenological study was to examine lived experiences of job loss and job transition for federal blue-collar employees following downsizing of military bases. Schlossberg’s transition theory provided a conceptual framework for the study. Ten ex-federal blue-collar …

Illness And The American Workplace: Issues And Implications For Employers And Employees, Victoria R. Dolan

Student Theses and Dissertations

This project aims to identify American employee experiences and existing workplace policies and cultures surrounding illness, disability, and sick leave. This approach was taken in order to closely examine what looks to be working well for companies and workers, and what could benefit from a more human centric approach in regards to workplace policy and employee support programs. The study of employee experiences in particular represents a gap in the current scholarly literature regarding illness and illness policy in the American workplace, and more accurately represents the experiences for both employees and employers. Furthermore, it assists with distinguishing the types …

Together Apart: Influences And Barriers To Engagement Among Remote Workers, Stacey-Robin H. Johnson

Student Theses and Dissertations

Organizations recognize the importance of having employees who do more than 'show up' for work. Rather, the goal is to have employees who will adapt to, embody, and promote the values, agenda, and strategic purposes of the organization beyond their work life. In the efforts around engagement, there are key influences in the organizational lifespan of an employee that can inspire or discourage engagement attitudes and behaviors.

Remote workers (defined here as those who work outside of a central, collective work setting) present unique challenges, the most pressing being maintaining a sense of connection and inclusion among the group in …

Examining Inter-Relationships Between Supervisor Full-Range Leadership, Organizational Climate Strength, And Employee Job Satisfaction Using Multi-Level Modeling, Bharat Mohan

Dissertations

Employee job satisfaction, organizational climate, and supervisor leadership style have long been researched due to their influences on critical metrics for measuring organizational success. While the relationships between these three variables have been investigated, current research suffers from two major issues. First, no existing study has explored the inter-relationships between the aforementioned components within the same model. Second, existing studies are fraught with levels-of-analysis issues that yield findings that are either incomplete or inaccurate. This study addresses these issues by introducing organizational climate strength as a mediating variable (between supervisor leadership and employee satisfaction) and by employing multi-level modeling techniques. …

Promoting Workplace Health Using Wearable Technology: A Mixed Methods Study In A Nonprofit Organization, Mitchell Tarver

Dissertations

Despite efforts to improve the designs and benefits of workplace wellness programs (WWPs), there are two major problems preventing employers from optimizing the human capital of their employees: (a) many WWPs are limited and do not include an exercise component, which increases the potential for chronic health conditions; and (b) more than 50% of employees are reluctant to participate in WWPs due to the common barriers of time, convenience, and location. A lack of physical activity is a problem because studies have shown that chronic conditions increase rates of absenteeism and presenteeism, both of which increase productivity loss. Additionally, low …

Micro-Coaching As A Blend To Make E-Learning More Effective, Krishnan Narayanan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

While e-learning has taken a stronghold as the de-facto training medium in knowledge intensive technology sector organizations, several factors have been hypothesized to influence the efficacy of training efforts, such as educator presence, interaction levels and individual motivation for development. This dissertation looks at one blended learning intervention that organizations can make use of to significantly improve the learning outcomes. The paper introduces micro-coaching, a new construct referring to brief coaching and mentoring interventions, that in conjunction with the e-learning sessions can improve cognitive as well as behavioral changes in individuals, which are key to improving learning and the resultant …

Being Sensitive To Positives Has Its Negatives: An Approach/Avoidance Perspective On Reactivity To Ostracism, Ferris D. Lance, Shereen Fatimah, Ming Yan, Lindie H. Liang, Huiwen Lian, Douglas J. Brown

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Workplace mistreatment is typically conceptualized as being exposed to a negative stimulus – for example, a threat, verbal abuse, or other forms of harassment. Consequently, we expect workplace mistreatment will have the greatest effect on individuals who are sensitive to the presence and absence of negative stimuli – or those with a strong avoidance temperament. Although this may be the rule for most mistreatment constructs, we argue that ostracism may be the exception. Using an approach/avoidance framework to highlight unique elements of ostracism, we build on the definition of ostracism as being the absence of an expected positive stimulus (i.e., …

Constructed Response Formats And Their Effects On Minority-Majority Differences And Validity, Filip Lievens, Paul R. Sackett, Jeffrey Dahlke, Janneke Oostrom, Britt De Soete

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The inflow of immigrants challenges organizations to consider alternative selection procedures that reduce potential minority (immigrants)-majority (natives) differences, while maintaining valid predictions of performance. To deal with this challenge, this paper proposes response format as a practically and theoretically relevant factor for situational judgment tests (SJTs). We examine a range of response format categories (from traditional multiple-choice formats to more innovative constructed response formats) and conceptually link these response formats to mechanisms underlying minority-majority differences. Two field experiments are conducted with SJTs. Study 1 (274 job seekers) contrasts minority-majority differences in scores on a multiple-choice versus a written constructed response …

Exploring The Perceptions Of Leaders In Investor-Owned Utilities In California On Managing Organizational Change Initiatives, Maria Liza Legaspi

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study employing in-depth interviews was to identify the strategies and practices executive leaders and midlevel managers of investor-owned utilities (IOUs) perceive are effective in creating employee acceptance and support of organizational change and to identify the supports and barriers executive leaders and midlevel managers perceive as affecting employee acceptance or resistance to organizational change in IOUs.

Methodology: A qualitative research design enabled the capture of deeper thoughts and insights of executive leaders and midlevel managers of 4 IOUs in California. The study delved into the strategies and practices used by IOUs that are perceived …

Unretentive Incentives, Rebekah Paradis

Student Scholar Showcase

In the workplace, managers often offer monetary rewards or incentives as instantaneous motivators in hopes that it will alter employee behavior. Unfortunately, although these rewards have been proven to yield desired outcomes, their impacts are short lived as managers create an environment based on extrinsic motivation. When an employee works solely to receive a paycheck it is already challenging to keep them, as other companies can offer them comparable, if not better, salaries. It is even harder to retain an employee who is accustomed to receiving an incentive with a particular behavior when the reward is no longer an option, …

Innovative And Introverted: How Introverts Function In The Creative Workplace, Rose Needle

Senior Theses

Open office plans have become the dominant style for creative workplaces, designed to encourage constant collaboration and proximity. Little research assesses the validity of that conventional practice, or the impact of open environments on creativity, productivity or employee satisfaction for introverts, who require time alone for highest functioning. Though the “Extrovert Ideal” permeates these industries, nearly 50% of the general population is introverted—and introverted traits correlate positively with creativity. This thesis includes a survey of 143 people working in creative industries, assessing perceptions of productivity and satisfaction along with personality type. A majority of respondents yearned for solitude to complete …

Flexible Moral Behavior In The Workplace, Kraivin Chintakananda

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In my dissertation, I systematically examine what it means to be morally flexible. I develop a scale to capture an individual’s willingness to adapt their moral behavior and examine both positive and negative consequences of this type of moral flexibility in the workplace. My dissertation consists of three studies. In Chapter 2, I draw from the personality strength literature and research on within-person variability in moral behavior to introduce the construct of moral adaptability (MA) defined as the willing to adjust moral behavior depending on the situation. I argue MA functions in a similar manner to personality strength (but in …

Mapping Cultural Tightness And Its Links To Innovation, Urbanization, And Happiness Across 31 Provinces In China, Roy Y. J. Chua, Kenneth Huang, Mengzi Jin

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We conduct a 3-y study involving 11,662 respondents to map cultural tightness—the degree to which a society is characterized by rules and norms and the extent to which people are punished or sanctioned when they deviate from these rules and norms—across 31 provinces in China. Consistent with prior research, we find that culturally tight provinces are associated with increased governmental control, constraints in daily life, religious practices, and exposure to threats. Departing from previous findings that tighter states are more rural, conservative, less creative, and less happy, cultural tightness in China is associated with urbanization, economic growth, better health, greater …

The Employment Relationship: Key Elements, Alternative Frames Of Reference, And Implications For Hrm, John W. Budd, Devasheesh P. Bhave

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The employment relationship is the connection between employees and employers through which people sell their labor. This might consist of an immigrant day laborer paid by the bushel to pick fruit in the hot sun, a tech industry freelancer completing episodic gigs without ever meeting a boss, a salaried manager who has been working in an air-conditioned office for the same company for 40 years, or innumerable other situations. Irrespective of situation, all employees and employers have fundamental interests they pursue through the employment relationship, all forms of this relationship are mediated by labor markets and states, and each instance …

Recruitment And Selection, Filip Lievens, Derek Chapman

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Few people question that recruitment and selection are key strategic domains in HRM. At the same time, recruitment and selection also have an image problem. First, recruitment and selection are often viewed as ‘old’ ingrained HRM domains. It seems like the traditional recruitment and selection procedures have been around for decades, which is at odds with the ever changing internal and external environment of organizations. Hence, practitioners often wonder whether there are any new research-based ways for recruiting and selecting personnel. Another image problem for recruitment and selection is that a false dichotomy is often created between so-called macro HR …

A Systematic Evaluation Process: Soliciting Client Participation And Working In A Cross‐Cultural Context, D'Jeane T. Peters, Lisa A. Giacumo

Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning Faculty Publications and Presentations

A systematic evaluation process helps performance improvement practitioners organize their work with clients to deliver valued results. Further, we implemented a strategic partnership approach to solicit client participation to conduct a feasible systemic training evaluation project. In this article, we share our experience and recommendations for performance improvement practitioners who work in cross‐cultural evaluation‐project contexts.

The Differential Impact Of Interactions Outside The Organization On Employee Well-Being, Devasheesh P. Bhave, Freyr Halldórsson, Eugene Kim, Alexandru M. Lefter

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine two different perspectives of interactions outside the organization: the relational work design perspective and the emotional labour perspective. The relational work design perspective suggests that interactions outside the organization have favourable outcomes for employees, whereas the emotional labour perspective suggests that such interactions have adverse outcomes for employees. Our goal is to reconcile findings from these two research streams. In Study 1, using data from employees working in diverse occupations, we find that interactions outside the organization have a positive indirect effect on employee well‐being via task significance, and a negative indirect effect on employee well‐being via surface …

Coping Mechanisms To Failure And Adversity, Jacob Thorpe

Marriott Student Review

No abstract provided.

The Empathetic Leader, Sarah Romney

Marriott Student Review

Research shows that “empathy” is an important quality in a leader and improves one’s ability to resolve group needs, obtain followers, perform prosocial behaviors, and get positive results. However, many business students do not recognize the value of empathy. Business schools can help improve this by teaching the importance of empathy and giving students the opportunity to develop it.

An Indentured Servant: The Impact Of Green Card Waiting Time On The Life Of Highly Skilled Indian Immigrants In The United States Of America, Pooja B. Vijayakumar, Christopher J. L. Cunningham

Industrial and Organizational Psychology Translational Research and Working Papers

Highlighting the archaic immigration system in the United States of America (US), the present study demonstrates for the first time the impact of green card waiting time on the work and family life of Indian immigrants living in the US. Our present findings show that 93.4% of our participants are very concerned about the estimated green card waiting time in the US. We find 70% of the total participants are seriously thinking at the present time about emigrating to a more visa-friendly country. Also, 30% of the participants have already applied for permanent residency in a visa friendly country and …

Managing Diverse Talent: Best Practices In Sourcing, Attracting, And Retaining Diverse Employees, Joseph Mastrocola

Publications & Research

This paper explores the importance of diversity in the workplace and how to create a more diverse workforce. It explores the competitive advantages associated with employing diverse talent and how that can translate to greater profits. It also looks at best practices in recruiting diverse employees, specifically where to find diverse talent and how to attract it. It also focuses on what efforts should be made to ensure the retention of diverse talent and how to foster an organizational culture that supports diversity and inclusion.

Developing Team Creativity: The Influence Of Psychological Safety And Relation-Oriented Shared Leadership, Soo Jeoung Han, Yunsoo Lee, Michael Beyerlein

Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines the effects of a psychosocially safe environment and two types of shared leadership on project team creativity. We focused on specific dimensions of shared leadership to examine their association with creative outcomes. To measure the dimensions, we conducted a survey of 260 graduate and undergraduate students working in project teams at a large Southwestern university. We found that a psychologically safe environment enabled team members to perform task-oriented and relation-oriented tasks. However, only relation-oriented shared leadership positively influenced team creativity. Based on our findings, we provided research and practical implications, as well as study limitations and future …

Virtual Proximity To Promote Expatriate Cultural Adjustment, Innovation, And The Reduction Of Stress Levels, Tom Coughlan, David J. Fogarty, Sara R. Fogarty

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Given the dramatic increase in the number of expatriates living and working abroad, there is a need to advance the research into how to make sure these employees achieve success on their assignments. Often, these expatriates assume managerial roles and are intended to be the gatekeepers of information. Typically, this information is necessary for the success of their colleagues, in both their home country and their host country. The expatriate’s role is to facilitate the integration of organizational knowledge from both their home and host countries, as well as key sources in their host country’s local environment. However, historically, there …

A Structural Equation Model Of Leader–Member Exchange, Employee–Supervisor Relationship, Performance Appraisal, And Career Development, William Joseph Henkel, Al C. Endres

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Some employees perceive that supervisors do not accurately reflect employees’ performance or effectively differentiate among employees’ performances during performance appraisals (PAs). Other employees believe the performance feedback they receive is not valuable for supporting their career development (CD). Leader–member exchange (LMX) and the distributive and interactional justice dimensions of organizational justice theories comprised the theoretical frameworks in this study for examining the significance of the relationships among LMX and employee–supervisor relationships (ESRs) and those relationships’ potential influence on employees’ CD through the PA process. Participants consisted of 44 defense contractor employees in the United States. Results from partial least squares …