Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons^™

The Effect Of Leader Behavior On After-Action Review Outcomes, Kelly Prange

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Organizational safety concerns are a critical issue for firefighters. Interventions such as after-action reviews (AARs) may be implemented within firefighter teams to facilitate sensemaking and learning, as well as to foster safety norms. The current study investigated AAR leaders in a Midwest fire department and how their behavior improves individual perceptions of AAR quality, thereby influencing how firefighters perceive team and organizational safety norms. Building upon high-reliability organization theory and theories on the influence of leadership on culture, career firefighters were surveyed to test the mediation model. Results indicated that good AAR leader behaviors promote positive team and organizational safety …

Cynical Towards What? Cynicism Towards Management And Cynicism Towards Diversity Training Differentially Relate To Post-Diversity-Training Measures, Danielle B. Rutz

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

We examined the role of organizational cynicism, that is, the belief that the management of an organization lacks integrity and cannot be trusted to provide truthful information (Dean, Brandes, & Dharwadkar, 1998). In the present research, we further developed our measure of cynicism, distinguishing between cynicism towards management and cynicism towards diversity training.

White participants (N=198; 55% female; M_age = 37.57, SD_age = 10.52) were recruited via MTurk for a study concerning impressions of diversity training. Participants responded to a cynicism measure and then read ostensible corporate memos that described the training as being supported by …

Volunteer Perceptions Of Upward And Downward Communication Facilitate Organizational Commitment, Kelly Prange

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Retaining productive volunteers is an essential issue nonprofit organizations face, as volunteers help extend the services of their target populations. The current study examined upward and downward communication and training as important volunteer management practices with respect to facilitating volunteer engagement and commitment. Using social exchange theory as a framework, the present study investigated the reasons why organizations should stress giving volunteers training and open communication and soliciting feedback from volunteers. Doing so may initiate a social exchange relationship in which volunteers receive training and communication from organizations and in turn become more engaged and committed to the organization. As …

Influence Of Meeting Humor Styles On Meeting Satisfaction, Michael Yoerger

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Drawing from theory on humor styles, impression management, and workplace meetings, we developed a video vignette followed by a survey to examine meeting satisfaction. We began by investigating whether there were differences in meeting satisfaction based on differences in the type of humor utilized. We then investigated how individual differences in impression management affects the perception of affiliative and aggressive humor. We found that there were a variety of statistically significant differences in t-test comparisons of humor conditions utilized. Differences in impression management were not associated with differences in meeting satisfaction in the affiliative or aggressive humor condition. One finding …

Aware Of What? The Structure And Meaning Of Gender Aware And Blind Ideologies Across Gender And Race, Abigail M. Folberg

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Aware and blind ideologies concerning race (i.e., multiculturalism and colorblindness) have received considerable attention. However, few studies have assessed parallel ideologies about gender, gender awareness (GA) and gender blindness (GB). We examined the relationships of GA/GB to benevolent (BS) and hostile (HS) sexism and assessed the factor structure and measurement invariance of GA and GB across gender and race. Evaluation of the GA/GB measure indicated the presence of two factors (GA and GB) that were invariant across gender and race. Further analyses indicated that greater GA was associated with HS but not GB, whereas greater GB was positively associated with …

Why Arriving Late To Meetings May Harm Workplace Relationships, Joseph Mroz, Nicole B. Lanowski

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Individuals often attend meetings at work to which at least one person arrives late. Building from attributional theories of interpersonal behavior, we conducted an experiment to determine the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of people’s reactions to meeting lateness. Participants read one of eight experimental vignettes that described someone arriving 5 or 15 mins late to an important or unimportant meeting, after which the person who arrived late offered either a controllable or an uncontrollable reason for being late. Participants reported greater anger and a willingness to punish the late arrival who gave a controllable excuse, whereas sympathy and pro-social …

Volunteer Attrition: Reducing Incivility Among Coworkers, Sheridan Trent

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Although volunteers are vital to the success of many organizations, the rate of volunteerism in the US has been decreasing since 2002 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). One reason volunteers leave organizations is due to feeling burnt out from volunteer work (Chen & Yu, 2014; Winefield, Xanthopolou, & Metzer, 2012). Although multiple factors have been found to induce burnout in volunteers, studies examining relationships among volunteer coworkers as a potential stressor are sorely lacking. The current study sought to examine coworker incivility as a predictor of volunteer burnout and turnover intentions using Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. COR theory postulates …

Participate Or Else!: The Effect Of Participation In Decision-Making In Meetings On Employee Engagement, Michael Yoerger, John Crowe, Joseph A. Allen

Psychology Faculty Publications

In the scope of organizational life, few events are as universal or as influential as workplace meetings. In this study, we focused our attention on better understanding the relationship between meetings processes and post-meeting outcomes. More specifically, we investigated the relationship between participation in decision-making in meetings (PDM) and employee engagement, after controlling for the impact of meeting size and other demographic variables. We examined this from a theoretical perspective, providing particular consideration to the underlying basis of social exchange theory and norms of reciprocity at work in this relationship. Using a sample of working adults in the United States …

Organizational Identification: A Context-Specific Mitigating Resource Of Work–Family Conflict, Joseph A. Allen, John Crowe, Benjamin A. Baran, Cliff Scott

Psychology Faculty Publications

The tension between work and non-work life remains a critical issue in contemporary careers. This study explores the role of organizational identification (OI) in reducing work–family conflict (WFC) within demanding and high-stakes jobs in dynamic, uncertain and potentially dangerous contexts (e.g., firefighting). Survey data from 341 firefighters suggest that, congruent with conservation of resources theory and scarcity theory, OI may serve as a resource that mitigates WFC in these contexts. Additionally, the data suggest that the negative relationship between OI and WFC is stronger when trauma is low. For practice, this study provides important implications for employees in similar contexts …

How Fun Are Your Meetings? Investigating The Relationship Between Humor Patterns In Team Interactions And Team Performance, Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock, Joseph A. Allen

Psychology Faculty Publications

Research on humor in organizations has rarely considered the social context in which humor occurs. One such social setting that most of us experience on a daily basis concerns the team context. Building on recent theorizing about the humor—performance association in teams, this study seeks to increase our understanding of the function and effects of humor in team interaction settings. Specifically, we examine behavioral patterns of humor and laughter in real teams. We videotaped and coded humor and laughter during 54 regular organizational team meetings. Performance ratings were obtained immediately following the team meetings as well as at a later …

Suggested Practices For Making I-O Connections: Let’S Build Bridges And Grow I-O!, Joseph A. Allen, Tara S. Behrend, Suzanne T. Bell, Victoria J. Smoak

Psychology Faculty Publications

It may come as no surprise, but there are an awful lot of people who have no idea what I-O pychology is or what I-O psychologists do. Common reactions from new acquaintances include, “Ooo, I could really use some help organizing my home and be a more industrious person” or “Wow, that’s a mouthful” or “No really, what do you do for a living?” Perhaps even more alarming is the number of students across universities who aren’t introduced to I-O—even if they are psychology majors! We are struck by the number of prospective graduate students who tell us that they …

Constructing Creativity: Wisdom In Everyday Problem Solving, Audrey Defrank, Nicholas J. Arreola, Roni Reiter-Palmon

Criss Library Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Creativity is conceptualized as an idea or product that is both original and high in quality (Amabile, 1996). Researchers have sought to better understand the creative process by examining predictors of creative outcomes. Wisdom may play a predictive role in this process. According to Webster (2003), wisdom is the competency in, and application of, critical life experiences to optimize development of the self, as well as others. Research has suggested that wisdom supports creativity at an implicit level (Sternberg, 1985, 1999), and contributes to creative achievements (Helson & Srivastava, 2002).

Process models of creativity have sought to demonstrate cognitive operations …

Understanding Workplace Meetings: A Qualitative Taxonomy Of Meeting Purposes, Joseph A. Allen, Tammy Beck, Cliff Scott, Steven G. Rogelberg

Psychology Faculty Publications

Purpose - Meetings are a workplace activity that deserves increased attention from researchers and practitioners. Previous researchers attempted to develop typologies of meeting purpose with limited success. Through a comparison of classification methodologies, we consider a taxonomy as the appropriate classification scheme for meeting purpose. The goal of our study is to propose a taxonomy of meeting purpose. We then utilize the developed taxonomy to investigate the frequency with which a representative sample of working adults engaged in meetings of these varying purposes. Our proposed taxonomy provides relevant classifications for future research on meetings and serves as a useful tool …

Linking Pre-Meeting Communication To Meeting Effectiveness, Joseph A. Allen, Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nicole Landowski

Psychology Faculty Publications

Purpose – This study investigates the importance of communication that occurs just before workplace meetings (i.e., pre-meeting talk). We explore how four specific types of pre-meeting talk (small talk, work talk, meeting preparatory talk, and shop talk) impact participants' experiences of meeting effectiveness. Moreover, we investigate the role of participants’ personality in the link between pre-meeting talk and perceived meeting effectiveness.

Design/methodology/approach – Data were obtained using an online survey of working adults (N = 252). Because pre-meeting talk has not been studied previously, a new survey measure of meeting talk was developed.

Findings – Pre-meeting small talk was a …

Manager-Led Group Meetings: A Context For Promoting Employee Engagement, Joseph A. Allen, Steven G. Rogelberg

Psychology Faculty Publications

Employee engagement is a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. Using Kahn’s theory of engagement, we look at an organizational context where employee engagement may be promoted—the workgroup meeting. Two time-separated Internet-based surveys were used to query a sample of working adults (N = 319). The findings provide support that the psychological conditions for engagement mediate the relationship between manager usage/facilitation of meetings and overall employee engagement. Specifically, as managers make their workgroup meetings relevant, allow for employee voice in their meetings where possible, and manage the meeting from a time perspective, employees …

Observing Culture: Differences In U.S.-American And German Team Meeting Behaviors, Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock, Joseph A. Allen, Annika L. Meinecke

Psychology Faculty Publications

Although previous research has theorized about team interaction differences between the German and U.S. cultures, actual behavioral observations of such differences are sparse. This study explores team meetings as a context for examining intercultural differences. We analyzed a total of 5,188 meeting behaviors in German and U.S. student teams. All teams discussed the same task to consensus. Results from behavioral process analyses showed that German teams focused significantly more on problem analysis, whereas U.S. teams focused more on solution production. Moreover, U.S. teams showed significantly more positive socioemotional meeting behavior than German teams. Finally, German teams showed significantly more counteractive …

A Theory-Driven, Longitudinal Evaluation Of The Impact Of Team Training On Safety Culture In 24 Hospitals, Katherine J. Jones, Anne M. Skinner, Robin High, Roni Reiter-Palmon

Psychology Faculty Publications

Effective teamwork facilitates collective learning, which is integral to safety culture. There are no rigorous evaluations of the impact of team training on the four components of safety culture—reporting, just, flexible and learning cultures. We evaluated the impact of a year-long team training programme on safety culture in 24 hospitals using two theoretical frameworks.

The Revolving Door: A Closer Look At Major Factors In Volunteers’ Intention To Quit, Joseph A. Allen, Stephanie L. Meuller

Psychology Faculty Publications

In nonprofit organizations, volunteer coordinators deal with high rates of volunteer turnover due, in part, to increased levels of volunteer burnout. This study sought to identify how burnout can help explain volunteers’ intention to quit and identify two potential antecedents of burnout: voice and role ambiguity. Specifically, it is hypothesized that volunteer voice and role ambiguity affects volunteers’ intention to quit through their relationship with volunteer burnout. Data were obtained from volunteers working in an animal welfare organization in the western United States (N = 151). An online survey was administered to volunteers who responded to a variety of questions …

Incorporating I-O Into An Introductory Psychology Course: A New Set Of Custom Modules By The Education And Training Committee, Joseph A. Allen

Psychology Faculty Publications

One concern that SIOP members often express at conferences and other gatherings of I-O psychologists is the general lack of visibility of I-O among the majority of the undergraduate students in psychology. Although interest in I-O psychology has grown among students, very few introductory psychology textbooks cover the topic. In an effort to address this concern, Mikki Hebl, the former Education and Training Committee Chair, invited a subcommittee composed of committee members and others who have expertise in undergraduate education to develop “shovel-ready” modules that introduce I-O topics to an introductory psychology audience. Those responsible for preparing the modules include …

Materials For Incorporating I/O Into An Introductory Psychology Course, Joseph A. Allen, Carrie Bulger, Chris Cunningham, Lisa Kath, Mike Horvath, Morrie Mullins, S. Tonidandel

Psychology Faculty Publications

The following materials were created by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) in an effort to produce some “shovel-ready” modules for incorporating I-O Psychology topics directly into Introductory Psychology courses. Although interest in I-O psychology has grown among students, very few introductory psychology textbooks cover the topic. Therefore, we have designed modules that correspond directly with the topics typically discussed in introductory psychology courses (e.g. Biopsychology in the workplace, Memory and Job Performance, etc.) that can be “cut-and-pasted” into already prepared lectures.

A Sequential Analysis Of Procedural Communication In Organizational Meetings: How Teams Facilitate Their Meetings, Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock, Joseph A. Allen, Simone Kauffeld

Psychology Faculty Publications

How do teams facilitate their own meetings? Unmanaged (or free) social interaction often leads to poor decision-making, unnecessary conformity, social loafing, and ineffective communication processes, practices, and products. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential benefits of procedural communication in team meetings. The role of procedural communication, defined as verbal behaviors that structure group discussion to facilitate goal accomplishment, was examined in 59 team meetings from 19 organizations. Meeting behaviors were videotaped and coded. Lag sequential analysis revealed that procedural meeting behaviors are sustained by supporting statements within the team interaction process. They promote proactive communication (e.g., …

Perfectionism: The Good, The Bad, And The Creative, Benjamin Wigert, Roni Reiter-Palmon, James C. Kaufman, Paul J. Silvia

Psychology Faculty Publications

The influence of adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism on creativity was examined. Initially, six measures of creativity were administered, including creative self-perceptions, behavior, and performance measures. Adaptive perfectionism was weakly positively related to creativity, whereas maladaptive perfectionism was unrelated to creativity across five of the six measures. A follow-up study assessed whether initial findings could be generalized to an everyday problem-solving task. Results indicated that adaptive perfectionism was related to higher quality but not originality of solutions. Further, a curvilinear relationship in the shape of an inverted “U” occurred between adaptive perfectionism and four of eight creativity measures. Overall, adaptive perfectionism …

Self-Awareness And The Evolution Of Leaders: The Need For A Better Measure Of Self-Awareness, Greg C. Ashley, Roni Reiter-Palmon

Psychology Faculty Publications

A growing body of empirical research suggests that self-awareness is associated with successful leadership. Although self-awareness research has generated a number of scales to measure self-awareness, none have done so with the explicit focus of leadership. The present research is a summary of three studies designed to develop and begin validation for a scale to measure self-awareness in the context of leadership and leader development. The result of Study 1 and 2 was a 54-item self-awareness scale. A confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence for a marginal fit. Predictive validity was assessed in Study 3 by looking for associations between self-awareness …

Evaluation Of Self-Perceptions Of Creativity: Is It A Useful Criterion?, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Erika Morral, James C. Kaufman, Jonathan Bruce Santo

Psychology Faculty Publications

Self-evaluations or self-perceptions of creativity have been used in the past both as predictors of creative performance and as a criterion. Four measures utilizing self-perceptions of creativity were assessed for their usefulness as criterion measures of creativity. Analyses provided evidence of domain specificity of self-perceptions. The scales correlated with self-report measures of creativity, but not with objective measures. Self-perceptions of creativity had strong to moderate relationships with personality and creative self-efficacy. These results suggest that while self-perceptions of creativity may provide some information about creativity, researchers should be cautious when using this measure as a criterion.

The Effect Of Regulatory Focus On Idea Generation And Idea Evaluation, Kanexa, Inc., Roni Reiter-Palmon

Psychology Faculty Publications

Regulatory focus, an individual difference characteristic, has been linked to decision making, such that those with a promotion focus show more risk taking and flexibility whereas those with a prevention focus are risk averse and more rigid. The relationship between regulatory focus and creativity has also been investigated, with similar results. However, the focus of these efforts has been on the idea generation phase (e.g., Friedman & Forster, 2001; Lam & Chiu, 2002). This study suggests that the influence of regulatory focus on creativity operates differently for the idea evaluation phase than with the idea generation phase. Furthermore, there are …

Inclusive Leadership And Employee Involvement In Creative Tasks In The Workplace: The Mediating Role Of Psychological Safety, Abraham Carmeli, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Enbal Ziv

Psychology Faculty Publications

This study examines how inclusive leadership (manifested by openness, accessibility, and availability of a leader) fosters employee creativity in the workplace. Using a sample of one hundred and fifty employees, we investigated the relationship between inclusive leadership (measured at Time 1), psychological safety and employee involvement in creative work tasks (measured at Time 2). The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicate that inclusive leadership is positively related to psychological safety, which, in turn, engenders employee involvement in creative work.

Exploring Asynchronous Brainstorming In Large Groups: A Field Comparison Of Serial And Parallel Subgroups, Gert-Jan De Vreede, Robert O. Briggs, Roni Reiter-Palmon

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective: To compare the results of two different modes of using multiple groups (instead of one large group) in order to identify problems and develop solutions.

Background: Many of the complex problems facing organizations today require the use of very large groups or collaborations of groups from multiple organizations. There are many logistical problems associated with the use of such large groups including the ability to bring everyone together at the same time and location.

Methods: A field study involving two different organizations, comparing productivity and satisfaction of group. The approaches included a) multiple small groups, each completing the entire …

Inclusive Leadership And Employee Involvement In Creative Tasks In The Workplace: The Mediating Role Of Psychological Safety, Abraham Carmeli, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Enbal Ziv

Psychology Faculty Publications

This study examines how inclusive leadership (manifested by openness, accessibility, and availability of a leader) fosters employee creativity in the workplace. Using a sample of 150 employees, we investigated the relationship between inclusive leadership (measured at Time 1), psychological safety, and employee involvement in creative work tasks (measured at Time 2). The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicate that inclusive leadership is positively related to psychological safety, which, in turn, engenders employee involvement in creative work.

Conscientiousness Is Not Always A Good Predictor Of Performance: The Case Of Creativity, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Jody J. Illies, Lisa M. Kobe-Cross

Psychology Faculty Publications

Meta-analyses investigating the relationship between Conscientiousness and performance suggest a positive relationship for a variety of criteria. However, recently it has been argued that Conscientiousness is not always a good predictor of performance, particularly for creative performance. Additionally, it has been suggested that Conscientiousness includes two distinct components, achievement and dependability, which may have different relationships with criterion measures. Two studies were conducted to determine whether the components of Conscientiousness predict creativity better than the full factor. Students in each study completed a measure of the Five Factor Model and a measure of creative performance. In the first study, creative …

Creativity And Domain Specificity: The Effect Of Task Type On Multiple Indexes Of Creative Problem-Solving, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Marcy Young Illies, Toleo, Infousa, Oriental Trading Co.

Psychology Faculty Publications

The study addresses the issue of domain specificity within creativity by understanding the characteristics of creative tasks and how participants react to the task. One hundred and eighty seven participants were given one of three realistic everyday problems to solve. The problems differed in terms of complexity, involvement, and problem-based efficacy. Problem solutions were evaluated on several measures of creativity. Results indicate that creativity was influenced by the type of problem solved and the measure of creativity used to evaluate the solution. Further, these results were obtained after controlling for the effect of ability. Results imply that not all real-world …