Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons^™

Mission Over Bureaucracy: Special Operations Command’S Warrior-Driven Model For Defense Innovation, Robert D. Seader

Joint Force Quarterly

In an era of accelerating technological change, military organizations must rapidly develop and field new capabilities to maintain battlefield superiority. Traditional defense acquisition processes, optimized for peacetime oversight and risk avoidance, now take four times longer than in the 1950s, threatening to undermine military effectiveness against rapidly modernizing adversaries. This paper examines how the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has pioneered a fundamentally different acquisition approach that delivers new capabilities in months rather than the decades typical of conventional programs.

Through extensive interviews with senior acquisition leaders, this analysis identifies three core elements of USSOCOM’s success: a mission-centric culture …

“When I’M Not Heard, I Feel Like I Don’T Matter”: Advancing Equity In Disability Policy Through Critical Participatory Action Research With People With Intellectual Disability, Cris Marchionne

Student Theses

People with intellectual disability deserve a system that offers flexible, timely, and person-centered support — one that is innovative, sustainable, and holistic in enabling them to live fulfilling lives. This qualitative study, grounded in Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR), examines how people with intellectual disability experience participation in decision-making within New York State's disability service system. By centering lived experience, the study identifies factors that facilitate or hinder participation in decision-making and examines structural, social, and policy-related barriers that limit agency. Through six focus groups and a Photovoice project with self-advocates receiving OPWDD services, participants described systemic barriers that limited …

The Problem With People: Signed Language Interpreter Disposition Match And Attrition, Dawn M. Wessling

Journal of Interpretation

In the United States, communication access is a legislated right for Deaf people in many settings; however, recent data suggest that the number of signed language interpreters does not meet current service demand. This multiple‑case study contributes to understanding interpreter attrition by examining how disposition mismatches between novice interpreters and more experienced co‑interpreters influence early exit from the field. Attrition among novice interpreters may exacerbate demand–supply imbalances and contribute to persistent shortages in interpreting services.

This study draws on applied and organizational psychology frameworks, specifically attraction, selection, and attrition (ASA) theory and person–organization fit (P–O fit). Using these theoretical lenses, …

Balancing Our Capacity To Serve: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Black Women Navigating Personal, Professional, And Community Leadership Roles, Shemeka K. Brathwaite

Student Theses

This phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of Black women community leaders as they navigate a balance between their professional, personal, and community leadership roles. The research design uses the theoretical frameworks of Black Feminist Intersectionality and Role Theory, specifically addressing the cultural burdens imposed by the Strong Black Woman archetype, which adds additional role strain. The study began with a questionnaire completed by 54 Black women community leaders, followed by 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews selected from this pool. The study’s key findings are illustrated in a Black Women’s Sustainable Community Leadership Framework. Black women community leaders exude high self-efficacy, …

Photovoice As A Resilience Tool For Helping Professionals In Complex Trauma Work, Pamela Lie

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

Helping professionals (HPs) working with complex trauma operate in emotionally demanding environments that place them at increased risk of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue. Resilience has therefore been identified as an important resource for sustaining well-being and effective practice. While photovoice has shown potential as a participatory approach for fostering resilience across diverse populations, its application among HPs engaged in complex trauma work, particularly within Asian contexts, remains limited. This study examined how seven HPs engaged in complex trauma work from a single organization in Singapore experienced and perceived photovoice as a resilience-building tool. The study employed a …

Behind The Curtain: A Literature Review Of Personal And Ecological Risk Factors And Current Multi-Level Interventions For Performing Artists, Christopher A. Robles

Social Work Theses

Performing artists experience psychological distress, including anxiety, depression, burnout, and substance use disorders, at rates significantly exceeding those of the general population. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (EST) and the Person-in-Environment (PIE) perspective, this structured literature review synthesizes research published between 2010 and 2026 to examine individual personality traits, environmental stressors across meso- and macro-systems, and existing multi-level mental health interventions for performing artists. Findings reveal that while traits such as high openness to experience, sensory processing sensitivity, and perfectionism foster artistic expression, they also heighten vulnerability to occupational stressors, financial precarity, social isolation, and venue-based substance exposure. Current …

Keeping The Beat: A Case On The Effects Of Communication In Musical Teams During Performances, Shane Christie

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This case study examined whether the effects of positive team affect and team communication quality on the performance quality, or taskwork quality, of teams comprised of musicians, and if team communication quality could further improve the taskwork quality of a group of musicians. It was believed that participants with higher positive team affect scores would perform at a higher taskwork quality than those with lower positive team affect scores. In addition, it was believed that participants that engaged in higher-quality team communication during performances would strengthen this relationship, further increasing taskwork quality. The participants were divided into teams, and the …

Improving Student Resumes: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of The Ai-Assisted Wisedoc Platform, Juan Munoz, David Earnest

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

Resume quality is a critical factor in students’ transition into the workforce, yet many struggle to create documents aligned with employer expectations and validated competency frameworks. At the same time, most large organizations now rely on artificial intelligence (AI)-driven applicant tracking systems (ATS) to screen resumes. Because these systems filter applications before a human reviews them, resumes that are poorly formatted, lack keywords, or fail to highlight relevant competencies are often rejected automatically. This creates a barrier for students who may have the skills employers seek but lack the resume-writing expertise to communicate them effectively. This study investigates whether using …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Exploring A Holistic Conceptualization Of Destructive Leadership: Perspectives From The Lived Experiences Of Latino Law Enforcement Command Staff Officers, Carmelin Rivera

Dissertations

Recently, there has been an increased interest in destructive leadership or what is characterized as the dark side of leadership. There is, in fact, no consensus in the literature about the definition of destructive leadership, and this murkiness has led to two somewhat different approaches to understanding this phenomenon: 1) a leader-centric approach that emphasizes the bad behaviors and traits of so-called toxic leaders and 2) a much broader, holistic approach, often discussed as the toxic triangle (Padilla et al., 2007), that focuses on how destructive leadership is co-created by a toxic system of bad leaders and susceptible followers …

Through The Looking Glass : Diversity Through The Eyes Of A Dress Form, Amara Copeland

LSU Master's Theses

This article aims to look into educational institutions and how they address diversity using curatorial displays. Does fashion and costume curation add to the seclusion of luxury? Looking into this correlation, this study aims to answer these next couple of questions. How does museum curation add to fashion social norms? Is it a subconscious or conscious decision when deciding on a mannequin or dress form? How do museum and fashion curations add to the exclusion of minorities in the world of luxury? What is costume luxury, and who do we say can obtain it?

This research aims to understand the …

Podcasting Towards Togetherness: Utilizing Podcasts To Improve Departmental Camaraderie And Well-Being, Michael Petrauskis, Colleen Gutman, Rosemarie Fernandez

Journal of Wellness

Introduction: Physician burnout is on the rise, and this is of particular concern in emergency medicine. Burnout is associated with medical errors, adverse events, poor professionalism, and litigation. A sense of community can build engagement and mitigate workplace stressors on well-being. Emergency physicians may have trouble connecting due to the nature of shift-work and various practice settings. Communication technology, and particularly podcasting, has the potential to help overcome these barriers and positively impact relatedness and well-being.

Approach: We developed an inward-facing podcast, “The ER Break Room” within the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Florida. Through the …

A Change In Climate: Inclusion And Menopause Experience At Work, Janie D. Stuart

Industrial-Organizational Psychology Dissertations

Inclusion within workplace environments is increasingly important as workforce diversity continues to expand. Despite anti-discrimination laws, women and other underrepresented groups often face exclusion in the workplace, which negatively affects their professional growth, health, and well-being. This research focused on how menopause, a natural biological transition, compounds workplace exclusion for women. Specifically, the study investigated the relationship between Menopause Experience and two workplace outcomes, Organizational Commitment and Turnover Intention, and assessed the moderating effects of Inclusion in organizations, teams, and non-gendered workplace cultures. There were strong positive relationships between all three dimensions of Inclusion with both Organizational Commitment and Turnover …

It's Going To Be Okay: Experiences And Perceptions Of People Who Seek Reassurance At Work, Liana Bernard

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the experiences and perceptions of people who seek reassurance at work using a mixed methods (focus groups and experimental) approach. Reassurance-seeking is an attempt to elicit supportive communication from another person to help one reduce experienced anxiety. First, using focus groups with 32 participants, this study found that people seeking reassurance at work develop complex cognitive structures to reduce the prospective negative impacts of reassurance-seeking behaviors, particularly for those with marginalized identities. Then, in a 3x2 between-person experimental design in which employee gender and reassurance-seeking were manipulated, participants read a transcript of an interaction between an employee …

Investigating The Leaky Pipeline: Gendered Effects Of Caregiving Policies On Academics, Molly Simmons

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Despite implementation of caregiving policies in universities, women remain underrepresented in high faculty ranks in academia, particularly in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields. This study investigates the gendered effects of caregiving policies at regional comprehensive universities by integrating the Work-Home Resources (W-HR) Model and feminist economics. Using survey data and interviews, the research examines how caregiving responsibilities relate to work-life conflict and academic responsibilities, revealing nuanced influences on career trajectories. Hypotheses tested include the negative relationship between caregiving demands and research, the moderating effect of institutional support, the association of work-family guilt with research, and variations across faculty …

Understanding Ethical Leadership In Intelligence: Themes In Accountability, Self-Development, And Communication Among Cia Leaders, Caroline Walsh

Dissertations

This dissertation elucidates the concept of ethical leadership within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Based on interviews with ten former senior-level officers from across different departments, the study analyzes how these leaders understand issues of accountability, self-development, and communication. The research also provides insights into their processes of sense-making and their methodologies for fostering ethical conduct amidst the complexities of intelligence operations.

Against the backdrop of the CIA's mission, structure, and norms, the study sheds light on the challenges and tensions inherent in the organization's operations. Through a thematic analysis of participant narratives, themes of moral cognition, personal values, and …

The Blurry Line Between Corporation And Cult: A Retrospective Autoethnographic Study, Ernst Graamans

The Qualitative Report

In popular management literature corporations are sometimes loosely compared to cults. The comparison is a severe allegation as it implies the transgression of subordinate employees’ integrity. This paper explores to what extent such comparisons with cults are warranted as well as the implications this has for the practice of corporate culture management. On grounds of the author’s unique, first-hand experience in both corporate and cultic environments a retrospective autoethnographic (RAE) approach was chosen to further explore the supposed resemblance. The comparison is structured along Lifton’s eight criteria of thought reform and reveals that although akin to cults in all aspects …

The Power Of Polish: Exploring The Impact Of Nail Adornments On Perceptions Of Attraction, Sara Demichele

Honors Theses

Understanding the significance of nail adornments in shaping perceptions of attractiveness and mate value provides insights into human behavior and preferences. In the current investigation, participants rated human nail length and color on physical attractiveness and partner desirability measures. Results revealed significant effects of nail length and color across different demographic groups. Medium-length nails consistently received higher ratings for physical attractiveness, cuteness, and partner desirability compared to short and long nails. White-colored nails were generally rated most attractive, while blue and black nails received the lowest ratings. Additionally, participants reported a moderate association between having manicured nails and feelings of …

Identifying Youth Appeals In Alcohol Alternative Social Media Content Through Framing, Melina Oneal

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Proposed regulations for alcohol advertising prevent beverage companies from targeting people under the legal drinking age. However, similar regulations for alcohol alternative beverages are less explored, which could allow alcohol alternative products to create awareness for alcoholic beverages among youth. Alcohol alternatives beverages, including no-alcohol and low-alcohol products, are increasing in popularity and can function as compliments to alcoholic products to decrease the total alcohol volume consumed or as substitutes for alcoholic products. Framing theory can be operationalized through the Content Appealing to Youth Index, an index of content elements found in research literature to be appealing to youth, to …

Predictors Of Occupational Distress Of Catholic Priests On The Eastern Seaboard Of The United States, Michael D. Kostick, Xihe Zhu, Justin A. Haegele, Pete Baker

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

With ever-increasing demands placed upon active priests in the United States, insight into protecting their mental health may help strengthen vocational resilience for individual priests. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of individual variables, workplace characteristics, and physical activity participation with occupational distress levels among Catholic priests. A 22-question survey consisting of a demographic questionnaire, the Clergy Occupational Distress Index, and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire was employed to collect individual variables, workplace characteristics, physical activity participation, and occupational distress levels of Catholic priests from the Eastern seaboard of the United States. Regression analyses showed that …

The Politics Of Expertise And The Articulation Of Authority In Democracy: Cognitive Style And Intelligibility In The Education Of Problem-Solving And Professional Decision-Making In The Domain Of Law, Michael W. Raphael

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Computational complexity refers to the representational aspect of problem-solving. This representational aspect is commonly understood to describe the regularities that organize the definition of the problem-situation, the qualities that designate its difficulty, either in terms of the process of arriving at a definition of the problem or in the process of arriving at a solution. It is for this reason, that it is commonly said that “representational design precedes computational efficacy.” The point of this maxim is to serve as a reminder that an efficient use of resources begins with the design of near decomposability, the specification of the properties …

Using Drama Therapy To Foster Peer Support Among Nurse Leaders, Chyela Rowe

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This study explored the use of drama therapy to support the social-emotional experiences of nurse leaders at a mid-sized regional hospital system in the Southeastern United States. Nurse leaders have experienced profound changes to their work environments in recent years and burnout has been at an all-time high among healthcare workers globally. Organizational supports for nurses and nurse leaders are both inadequate to meet the needs and under-resourced. The research questions explored 1) whether the drama therapy peer support initiative improved outcomes and 2) whether there was a significant relationship between measures, and 3) what nurse leaders described as facilitators …

Working Outside The Binary: Experiences Of Nonbinary Employees In The Workforce, Mordeky C. Dullum

University Honors Theses

Transgender issues in the workplace have only recently become a focus in research, and it is still new and understudied. Even less studied is the demographic of gender expansive individuals including nonbinary and gender non-conforming individuals. This qualitative study aims to explore and highlight workplace experiences for nonbinary people, with a particular focus on younger nonbinary people who experience less employment stability in more public facing jobs. Thirteen participants engaged in interviews where they were asked to describe their experiences dealing with discrimination, harassment and transphobia in the workplace, in addition to sharing their ideas for practical solutions or changes …

Exploring The Workplace Climate At Police Agencies During Civil Unrest And The Factors Influencing Officers' Participation In Black Lives Matter Protesting, Joshua R. Ruffin

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Scholars have long documented the negative relationship between police and communities of color. While these findings are of great importance, research remains limited on how connected police officers are to social justice movements (e.g., Black Lives Matter, or BLM for short) and the purposes behind why they exist. Furthermore, many studies focusing on police officer experiences tend to examine officer experiences with protesters, with limited studies focusing on their experiences with other officers during civil unrest and on the factors that influence their participation in protest movements when off duty. To help fill this gap, this study utilized semi-structured interviews …

“Part Of Something Larger Than Myself”: Lessons Learned From A Multidisciplinary, Multicultural, And Multilingual International Research Team Of Academic Women, Kristina S. Brown, Tricia M. Farwell, Sara Bender, Alpha A. Martinez-Suarez, Stefani Boutelier, Agata A. Lambrechts, Iwona Leonowicz-Bukała, Pipiet Larasatie

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Bringing our collective experiences of past collaborations through a virtual connection, we created an international research team of 16 multidiscipline, multicultural, and multilingual academic women called “COVID GAP” (Gendered Academic Productivity) to explore the ongoing challenges and effects of COVID-19. Identifying as insider researchers, we engaged in a two-phase, primarily qualitative research project to better understand the lived experiences of academics during the pandemic. Our past individual experiences with cooperative research informed our roles and responsibilities and how we organized and communicated. This article is a reflection of how COVID GAP has refined our collaborative process in response to an …

Emotion And Judgment In Young Women Of A Society In Transition, Maura A. E. Pilotti, Khadija El Alaoui

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The present study asked whether emotional responses to narratives of moral transgressions are shaped by the reader’s assumed relationship with the injured party (i.e., oneself, familiar other, and unfamiliar other). Its goal was to test a cultural, religious, and individualistic account of such responses in young females of a traditional society in transition towards a sustainable integration into the global economy. To this end, female college students from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were asked to identify their emotional reaction to each of several moral transgressions, report its intensity and then judge the severity of the transgression. In agreement with …

Transdisciplinarity In Experience Design: A Global Survey Of Higher Ed Programs In Exd/Xd, Yvonne Houy

Creative Collaborations

In our age of ubiquitous devices and digital media it is the perceived value of the end-to-end experience that brings people to a place. Designing inspiring and emotionally engaging end-to-end experiences requires experts in a wide range of disciplines committed to an interdisciplinary collaboration that can arrive at transdisciplinary design - the sum becomes greater than its parts.

Civil engineering, hospitality, business, psychology, digital User Experience (UX) design, and experience data analysis need to be seamless integrated with the fine and performing arts and design fields:

• Architecture, interior, landscape and sound design actively engage the senses.

• Graphic and fine arts …

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Pseudo-Science And ‘Fake’ News ‘Inventing’ Epidemics And The Police State, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

Biographical Data And Black Box Empiricism: Lessons Learned For Algorithmic Assessments In Personnel Selection, Ketaki Sodhi, Marc Cubrich

Psychology from the Margins

As the popularity of biodata in selection assessments grew in the 1980s and into the 1990s, the field of industrial and organizational psychology witnessed many attempts to develop biodata theories and guide the development of biodata items. The insights that emerged from this body of research are increasingly relevant in the current era of big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning. More than ever, AI and machine learning are being used to score candidates and make hiring recommendations. Many organizations are using data-driven approaches to develop machine learning and AI algorithms, which are frequently atheoretical, based on correlations or …

Confirmation Bias Susceptibility: Social Domains, Metacognitive Self, And Gender, Emily N. Roush

Student Publications

Confirmation bias is a daily and commonly under-recognized cognitive bias, one in which requires more research. More specifically, confirmation bias is when individuals seek out information to confirm beliefs and reject opposing views. This phenomenon is readily studied in economics and psychology to name a few. However, confirmation bias is often neglected in an empirical setting. Thus, with a gap in the literature, this study tested the susceptibility of confirmation bias in college students, and utilized social domains, Metacognitive Self Score (MCS), and gender to predict the level of confirmation bias. Using a between-subjects design, participants were randomly assigned to …