Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perceptions Of Organizational Continuity: Scale Development And Implications For Organizational Outcomes, Gabino A. Gomez-Canul

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The following study examines the impact that perceptions of organizational continuity (POC) have on organizational identification (OI) and organizational outcomes, including organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and turnover intentions. It was proposed that POC would be an important factor in determining OI, OCBs, and turnover intentions. In order to test this proposition, a scale was developed that measured an individual’s POC within their organization with regards to the organization’s culture and history. A survey was distributed among working individuals that contained the new measure of POC and other established measures of an organization’s culture and values. The sample consisted of 394 …

Work-Family Conflict And Wellbeing Among Mothers In Higher Education, Brittany S. Bilodeau

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Numerous studies and meta analyses have been published on work-family conflict, including its antecedents and outcomes. However, the current body of literature is dominated by research that focuses on the corporate context. As a result, there is an underrepresentation of women employed in the academy. An increasing number of scholars are addressing this gap in the literature by focusing on women employed in higher education. This research serves the purpose of supporting this growing area of research. Instructional faculty members at James Madison University, who self-identified as mothers, completed a survey to assess work-family conflict, its contributing factors, and outcomes. …

The Effect Of Technology On Work-Life Balance: Women In Higher Education, Alexandra G. Hubbard

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This study aimed to contribute to the literature on women, technology, and work-life balance (WLB). By identifying both instructional and non-instructional female employees at an institution of higher education, the study facilitated a comparison between the perceived levels of WLB and technology’s impact on the balance. A mixed methods survey was sent to all female employees to identify potential commonalities or differences between the groups. Questions inquired about employees’ experiences with, and outlooks on, WLB and information and communication technologies (ICTs). For the purpose of the study, ICTs included technologies such as email, accessed through computers, cell-phones or tablets. The …

Leader-Member Exchange As A Predictor Of Leaders’ Positive Work Outcomes: A Field Study, Matthew Jason Shaffer

Doctoral Dissertations

Prior research found that the quality of the working relationships between leaders and their followers, or Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) quality in leader-member dyads, predicts positive work outcomes for followers, including job satisfaction, engagement, and performance. Though leaders might be expected to receive similar benefits from high quality LMX with their followers, almost no published, empirical research to-date has reported benefits of LMX for leaders. The current study tested the relationships of LMX and positive work outcomes for leaders among middle managers and their direct supervisees in a large manufacturing company. Hypotheses predicted that average leader-rated LMX and average follower-rated LMX …

Personality And Longevity In The Profession Of Athletic Training, Tyler Harris

All NMU Master's Theses

A survey was sent to 10,000 certified athletic trainers in various settings to examine personality characteristics and their relationship with satisfaction, intent to leave, and years practiced in the profession. The Employee Personality Inventory, included in the survey, separated respondents into five personality categories: communicators, directors, organizers, soothers and thinkers. Of the 1102 analyzed respondents, 216 were communicators, 51 were directors, 427 were organizers, 331 were soothers, and 77 were thinkers. The distribution of athletic training setting were as follows: academic instruction, 67; administration, 16; clinical medical, 53; clinical rehabilitation, 52; collegiate athletics, 331; high school athletics, 378; other, 65; …

Optimizing Workforce Performance: Perceived Differences Of Army Officer Critical Thinking Talent Across Level Of Education, Richard B. Ayers

Dissertations

The U.S. Army’s operating environment continues to become increasingly complex and unpredictable, where U.S. technological advantage continues to erode. The complexities stem from the Army’s doctrinal assumption that the future operating environment is unknown and constantly changing (Department of the Army [DA], 2014a). Diminishing technological advantage results in more reliance on soldiers’ cognitive capability, and less on high technology weapons systems (McMaster, 2015).

A review of military literature shows extensive research on the importance of Army leaders to be talented critical thinkers (Fischer, Spiker, & Riedel, 2008, 2009; Gerras, 2008; Thomas & Gentzler, 2013). Human capital literature reveals many college …

Waiting For The Right Place And Right Time: Belief Content Correlates Of Academic Procrastination, Steven S. Littrell

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The present study investigated a conditional model of dispositional and situational variables to predict academic procrastination and academic achievement. Traditional predictive models focus on personality traits, specifically conscientiousness and neuroticism. The dispositional variables of interest in the present study were self-regard, frustration intolerance, grit, and goal orientation. The situational variables were course/task self-efficacy, boredom, and task value. It was hypothesized that self-regard, frustration intolerance, grit, and goal orientation would each be associated with self-efficacy, boredom, task value, academic procrastination and academic achievement and that the conditional model would more strongly predict both academic procrastination and academic achievement than personality traits …

Analyzing The Relationship Between Job Demands, Job Resources, And Personal Resources On Employee Engagement And Exhaustion Of Juvenile Probation/Parole Officers, Danilo Estuardo Chavarria

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Organizations should constantly strive to improve their levels of employee engagement, because improving employee engagement influences the well-being of both employees and organizations (Bakker, 2011, p. 268). In today’s workplaces, organizations need employees who are psychologically connected to their work, who are willing and able to invest themselves in their roles, and who are proactive and committed to high quality standards.” (Bakker, Albrecht, & Leiter, 2011, pp. 4-5). This is important; not only for private organizations but for public organizations as well, especially organizations in the criminal justice system who continuously strive to keep the peace, have constant contact with …

The Use Of Criminal Background Checks: Does Type Of Offense Influence Likelihood To Interview, Likelihood To Hire, And Salary?, Brittany Sentell

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

To protect organizations from liabilities and litigation, background checks are becoming increasingly common during the hiring process. Correspondingly, many individuals have committed criminal offenses which often excludes them from being selected for a job. This study examines the effects of criminal offenses, such as those often identified through background checks, on selection decisions such as interviewing, hiring, and starting salary. For this study, a résumé with an accompanying background check similar to what is used in many organizations were provided to professionals and to undergraduate psychology and business students at a midsized university located in the southeastern United States. As …

Combined Influence Of Personality And Leader Member Exchange On Task And Citizenship Performance, Jennifer B. Scroggins

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

As organizations continue to focus on improving their effectiveness, research suggests that employee performance should be an obvious consideration due to the significant influence employee behavior can have on organizational outcomes. The present study evaluated the relationship between the personality traits of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, Leader Member Exchange (LMX), and two basic types of performance: task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Insights into how personality and LMX impacts employee performance has implications for both employee selection and organizational design. Using a sample composed of students and non-students (N = 215), results support a positive relationship between LMX, conscientiousness, and …

Authoritative Parenting And Transformational Leadership: An Example Of Family-To-Work Enrichment, Katherine Kearns

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The present study was designed to examine the relationship between authoritative parenting and transformational leadership as an example of family-work enrichment. Participants were working managers who are parents (N = 150), recruited from MBA programs, manufacturing companies, and social media. Participants responded to an internet-based survey composed of measures of parenting style, work-family enrichment, and transformational leadership. Participants also provided responses regarding the overall impact of having children on their personal leadership development. Analyses of self-reported data consisted of correlation and regression-based methods for identifying relationships and predictor variables. Qualitative data were also gathered and content analyzed, helping to illustrate …

From Creativity To Team Innovation: Building The Bridge In Organizations, Jonathan Brown

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The outcome of this project is a new model for team innovation. It was created as a result of the need for teams to be better prepared to innovate. The approach of this project was to investigate, clarify, combine, synthesize and finally propose useful ways to accelerate team innovation in organizations. It started with a diagram and evolved into an articulation of each step of the model. This prototype model is called Model for Purposeful Team Innovation. The model is divided in seven steps that include identity, mission, quality, targets for improvement, roadmap, execution, monitoring to assess the maturity and …

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 …

Exchange Patterns And Relations In Collaborative Governance., Charles Wharton Kaye-Essien

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collaborative governance has received considerable attention in recent years. From environmental resource management to public safety, collaborative governance continues to play a vital role in regional problem solving. In spite of this increasing popularity previous attempts to model the political, economic, and demographic determinants of collaboration have in most cases produced inconsistent results, thereby undermining the ability to generalize from such findings. Additionally, our understanding of the relational patterns that emanate from collaborative agreements remains fairly rudimentary. The main objective of this research is to address some of the gaps in the literature and improve our understanding of collaborative governance …

Proactive Coping Style And Employee Well-Being: Workplace Stressors And Recovery Experiences As Mediators, Erica Christine Keeton

Theses and Dissertations

The stressor-strain relationship has been a popular focal topic in organizational research. Workplace stressors have been found to relate to decreased well-being, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job performance and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), as well as increased counterproductive work behaviors and safety issues. This study investigated the relationships of proactive coping style with employee health, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, OCBs, and social support, as well as the mediating effects of workplace stressors and recovery experiences. Results indicated that the proactive coping style directly related to health, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, OCBs, social support and recovery experiences. Workplace stressors did not …

Implementation Of A Nursing Workload Tool To Reduce Nurse Burnout, Nicole K. Greives

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

Nursing burnout and workload is a complicated issue with far-reaching effects. Nursing burnout and inappropriate nursing workload have been linked to increased risk of urinary tract infection, respiratory infections, decreased patient satisfaction, decreased quality and safety of care, and increased mortality. The purpose of the project was to decrease nursing burnout on a Medical Progressive Care Unit (MPCU) by moving patients with high workloads and medical instability to a higher level of care. Within this project, Rosabeth Kanter’s Theory of Structural Power was used for the theoretical framework, and the Stetler Model guided the implementation. The intervention consisted of a …

The Impact Of Prior Experience Employees’ Perceptions And Beliefs About Workplace Policies And Practices, Michael D. Saxton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Domestic violence (DV) is associated with negative consequences for victims, children, families, and even national economies. More recently, research has demonstrated that DV also has a serious impact on workers and workplaces. Less is known about Canadians’ beliefs toward the impact DV has on workers or the extent to which individuals are able to identify co-workers’ experiences of DV. Using data from a pan-Canadian sample of 7,834 men and women, the current study examined: 1) how prior experiences with DV relates to beliefs toward the impact DV has on workers, 2) how gender and age relates to beliefs toward DV’s …

Demographic Faultlines And Team Cohesion On Team Performance, Maya S. Budovitch

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research examines team faultlines and their potential impact on team performance. Faultlines are defined as hypothetical dividing lines that split a group or team into two or more subgroups based on one or more individual attributes (e.g., gender and ethnicity). Investigations explored the possibility that team cohesion (i.e., team members’ attraction and commitment to their team) would moderate the relationship between faultlines and team performance. Participants (n = 867) completed The Task and Social Cohesion Questionnaire during one of two academic years (2013-14; 2014-15). Faultline strength was calculated for each team using two approaches, Thatcher’s Fau and Meyer’s Average …

Comparison Of The Effectiveness Of Different Observation Methods And An Exploratory Analysis Of The Importance Of Accuracy Of Various Observations On Safety Performance, Marlies Hagge

Dissertations

Behavior Based Safety (BBS) applies various types of safety observation to improve occupational safety in business. The purpose of the following study was to examine and compare different observation foci: peer-observation, self-observation and a combination of both options as well as supervisor observations and observations of employee behavior obtained by research assistants (RA). Participants were unionized employees of the facilities management department at a Midwestern university. Target behaviors included safe lifting and vacuuming. The dependent variables were safety performance and the discrepancy between the different observation types. Incident data were also reported. The different observational methods were investigated via a …

Leadership Initiatives: A Mixed Methods Assessment Of Psychological Empowerment, Candice Robbins

All Student Theses and Dissertations

The researcher of the present thesis aimed to determine if, and to what degree, the Women's Leadership Symposium and Student Leadership Institute at a small Midwestern university impacted psychological empowerment among program participants. In this mixed methods thesis on psychological empowerment among Women's Leadership Symposium and Student Leadership Institute participants, psychological empowerment was quantitatively measured two times: (1) before the participation in the Women's Leadership Symposium and Student Leadership Institute and (2) immediately after the Women's Leadership Symposium and Student Leadership Institute. After the measures were administered at Time 2, participants were asked to volunteer their contact information for participation …

Resiliency And Well-Being: Trajectories Of Change Over Time, Matthew Mclarnon

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Resiliency is often considered an attribute that can assist an individual in overcoming adversity. The predominant theme in the literature is that resiliency is positively related to achieving positive outcomes after a challenging experience. For example, stemming from Luthans and colleagues’ work on Psychological Capital (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007), resiliency has been positively linked to psychological well-being, job satisfaction, and job performance. However, scant research is available on the processes behind resiliency and the mechanisms that promote well-being in the face of adversity. Therefore, the two studies comprising this dissertation aimed to address focal research questions around a) why …

Effects If Clarity And Locus Of Control On Outcomes Of Rjps, Gregory F. Fernandes

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Realistic job previews (RJPs) are a common method of providing information about a job to an employee pre-hire. However, there is little understanding around how the way this information is presented might affect some of the well-research outcomes of RJPs, including decision to accept a job offer and organizational commitment. This study explores two potential issues of information presentation, clarity of the information and the locus of control that it activates, to determine whether they have an effect on job attitude outcomes of RJPs.

Health Factors And The To-Work, At-Work, And To-Retire Goals Of Older Workers, Thomas John Borawski Jr.

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Our workforce continues to gray due to advances in medical science and new technology, which allows workers to remain in the workforce longer. Furthermore, we need our current workforce to remain motivated and work until an older age due to decreased birth rates and the smaller size of the post baby boomer cohorts. An in-depth examination of the motivation of our aging workforce is necessary to determine how we can increase motivation and keep older workers (those 55 and older) in the workforce longer, while remaining productive. In this study, three divisions of health (i.e., Major Illnesses, Functional Impairments, and …

International Student Adaptability: The Influence Of The Sino-American 1+2+1 Dual Degree Program, Michael C. Rose

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

An increasing reliance on expatriate employees makes it critical that multinational organizations make a concerted effort to facilitate the successful transition of employees from foreign cultures. The parallels between the experience of expatriate employees and international students suggests that the results of research investigating issues of cross‑cultural adaptability that are conducted in academic settings should generalize to the workplace. The current study investigated the influence of the Sino‑American 1+2+1 Dual Degree Program on the cross‑cultural adaptability, acculturation, and withdrawal intentions of international students. It was hypothesized that participants in the 1+2+1 program would demonstrate higher levels of psychological adaptability and …

An Exploratory Analysis Of The Commitment-Turnover Intentions Relationship: The Moderating Effects Of Embeddedness, Michael Eugene Sisikin

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study was designed to investigate the moderating effect of embeddedness on the commitment and turnover intentions relationship. Embeddedness was examined as a key variable that links the commitment and turnover literatures together. Job embeddedness was expected to moderate the relationship between job commitment and job turnover intentions, while organizational embeddedness was expected to moderate the relationship between organizational commitment and organizational turnover intentions. Responses from 154 employed individuals were collect for this study. Data was collected using a web-based survey format. Psychometric data was collected with the use of a demographics questionnaire, as well as embeddedness (job and organizational), …

An Evaluation Of The Determinants Of Job Satisfaction In Canadian Family Physicians, Jana L. Malhotra

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Physicians as a group appear to be satisfied with their work. However, there are some gaps in our current understanding of the determinants that impact the job satisfaction of Canadian family physicians. This thesis examined determinants of family physician job satisfaction using in-depth interviews with family physicians to achieve a broad perspective on their job satisfaction. This was complemented by a multivariate analysis that examined the professional and work-life balance satisfaction of physicians across this country. The findings from this research confirm the significance of a number of factors to the professional and work-life balance satisfaction of family physicians. Novel …

Psychological Perspectives On The Under-Representation Of African Americans And Females In Entrepreneurship: The Relationship Between Perceptions Of Fit And Intentions To Leave, Rachel Pascall-Gonzalez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Advisor: Professor Charles Scherbaum

Entrepreneurship is widely recognized as a vehicle for economic growth (Ireland & Webb, 2007), and recent years have shown growing multi-disciplinary interest among entrepreneurship scholars. The primary focus of this study was to identify psychological and contextual variables that explain African American and females’ intent to quit entrepreneurship. Specifically, using Heilman’s (1983) lack-of-fit model as a theoretical lens, it tested the proposal that the intent to quit entrepreneurship could be explained by the extent of African American and females’ perceptions of fit and identification with the role. Data were collected via survey methodology from a sample …

The Attitude-Engagement Model Within-Persons: An Experience Sampling Study Of Job Attitudes And Behavioral Engagement, David Glerum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although a large body of research has attempted to answer the question, "Is a happy worker a more productive worker?" by examining the relationship between job attitudes and behaviors, results are often inconsistent. Drawing upon Fishbein and Ajzen's (1974) compatibility principle as well as theory on job attitude change and dynamic performance, the current study sought to answer this question by examining the attitudes-performance relationship at the within-persons level of analysis. Specifically, an Attitude-Engagement Model that specifies a broad conceptualization of job attitudes and behavioral engagement should exhibit the strongest relationship between job attitudes and job behaviors (Harrison, Newman, & …