Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons^™

Evaluating The Sustained Psychological Benefits Of On-Site Employee Health Programs, Stephen Spencer Clancy

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The present study was conducted to explore whether employee wellness programs actually promote long term changes in participating employees’ psychological health. Forty four participants were included in the final sample from a large southeastern organization currently offering three different structured wellness programs to its employees. A semi-longitudinal study design was implemented involving three data points over a 5 month time frame. Analyses were conducted to examine factors impacting participation in the programs and the changes those programs have on employees’ perceived levels of stress, psychological well-being, job-satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Results suggest that participation in these programs does result improved …

Understanding Time Use, Stress, And Recovery Among Medical Resident, Nicole Marie Cranley

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The medical resident population is especially likely to experience burnout and other negative health-related consequences due to the workplace stressors they encounter. A primary purpose of the present study was to provide insight into the stress and recovery challenges faced by medical residents in a typical hospital environment. Thirty-eight participants provided rich quantitative and qualitative data regarding their daily work and non-work time usage, recovery practices, and needs. Results showed that medical residents report (on average) longer working hours, less leisure time, and shorter amounts of sleep when compared with the average working American. A detailed assessment of time usage …

Testing Work Characteristics As Mediating Factors In The Relationships Among Nurse Leadership, Burnout, And Engagement, Heather Kaye Smith

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Nurse staff burnout is a critical element of the quality of worklife for nurses, due to burnout’s positive relationship with turnover/turnover intentions. This study attempted to bridge the gap between two areas of related research: transformational leadership and burnout/engagement, using work characteristics (i.e., areas of worklife: AWL) as mediators of the relationship between leadership and burnout/engagement. A sample (N = 142) of practicing nursing students and full-time working nurses who were recruited from a university, hospital, and social network connections completed a questionnaire that gathered their perceptions of nurse leadership, AWL, and burnout/engagement. Results suggested that transformational leadership is strongly …

Varying Task Demonstrability To Examine The Roles Of Social And Cognitive Factors In Group Transfer Learning, Adam J. Freedman

Psychology Honors Projects

I investigated the importance of cognitive exposure and social interaction for group-to-individual transfer for low-and high-demonstrability tasks. I tested the hypothesis that transfer occurs for high-demonstrability tasks with or without social interaction, but transfer for low-demonstrability tasks only occurs if subjects engage in social interaction. During the transfer phase, subjects either worked in a small group, which permitted social interaction, or viewed a video of a yolked group, which only permitted the transfer of cognitive processes. Analysis of subjects’ pre-post performance difference indicated that transfer is constant regardless of the level of demonstrability. However, overall transfer for the high demonstrability …

Study Of Driver’S Behavior Using Physiological Signals, Atul Sancheti, Pushkin Kachroo

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

Introduction

According to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) 58% of roadway crashes are safety related.

Factors such as fatigue and drowsiness causes significance decline in driver’s abilities of perception, recognition and vehicle control.

Exposes driver’s to a higher level of risk while driving with these conditions.

Being awake for 18 hours is equivalent to a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.08%.

Art And Space: Impacting The Workplace, Erin V. Mccool

Senior Honors Theses

Art in its various forms and applications has always been a part of the human experience. Art can be intrusive, thought provoking, or simply beautiful. Although art comes in many different styles and forms, art continues to capture our imagination. The purposes of this thesis are to discover how art affects human activity in the workplace as well as the qualities that make artwork in the workplace successful. Based on the findings of this study, artwork will be created for the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence at Liberty University in order to create a lively, creative environment. By …

Predicting Flow At Work: An Investigation Of Motivation, Task Characteristics, And Personality Traits, Katherine Wood '12

Honor Scholar Theses

The current study describes an Industrial /Organizational examination of the inter-relationships among individual differences (e5, Big Five’ personality traits, need for achievement, and intrinsic motivation), situational differences (e.g. task characteristics), indices of flow (e.g, Dispositional Flow Scale-2), and work-related ‘outcomes (e.g, job satisfaction and job performance). Overall, individual difference factors, including intrinsic motivation and need for achievement, as well as task characteristics (e.g. feedback from job and job autonomy), were strongly correlated with work-related flow. Further, individual differences were found to predict flow, above and beyond situational differences.

Investing In Happiness: An Analysis Of The Contributing Factors To The Positive Professional Work Environment, Alena Naff

Masters Theses

The professional workplace is an environment prone to both jubilation and disdain. Research indicates that employees in a more positive work environment are more productive and satisfied in their work. Understanding the contributing factors to a positive work environment is the first step to creating a more satisfying workplace for employees. These contributing factors may be material or relational and hold different levels of influence. Guided by the theory of structuration, this study employed a three-phased Q-methodology, including a Q-sort questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and a cluster analysis. Participants included the employees of the Southeastern region financial institution, BB&T. Two research …

Institutional Variables, Collegial Relationships, And Occupational Satisfaction: Testing The Conceptual Framework Of Faculty Job Satisfaction Among Counselor Educators, Rebecca E. Michel

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Occupational satisfaction is the extent to which individuals are fulfilled by their employment. The Conceptual Framework of Faculty Job Satisfaction (Hagedorn, 2000) describes how aspects of work impact occupational satisfaction, yet researchers have not previously used this model with counselor educators. This study investigated the applicability of the model, as well as the impact of institutional and interpersonal variables, on a sample of 296 counselor educators (26.86% response rate). Findings suggested the model predicted over half of the variance in occupational satisfaction. Significant predictors of satisfaction included work itself, responsibility, recognition, salary, collegial relationships, administration, and climate. Counselor educator occupational …

An Investigation Into The Relationship Between An Engineering Manager's Purpose-Seeking Beliefs And Behaviors And The Engineering Manager's Perception Of Employee Creativity, Initiative And Purpose-Seeking Behavior, Charles Burton Daniels

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Organizations have placed an overwhelming emphasis on extrinsic motivation of its workforce, normally in the form of financial incentives, in an attempt to assure individual and organizational high performance. While a significant level of financial resources is expended in this attempt to predict and influence employee behavior, no objective evidence exists of a favorable return of investment. In fact, the primary impact of most extrinsic motivation might actually be demotivation – the opposite of the intended use.

In this research the prevailing literature was examined and a conclusion about the power of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation was synthesized to …

The Relationship Between Key Supply Chain Process Implementation, Competitive Advantage, & Organizational Performance, Anthonelli White Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

In spite of an ever-accumulating body of research on the topic of supply chain management (SCM), an agreed upon definition or framework regarding its essential constructs or practices does not exist. There are, however, a few leading academic perspectives on SCM that have been bolstered by the acceptance of industry leaders. One such perspective is that presented by the Global Supply Chain Forum (GSCF). This study applies established survey methods to expand the body of knowledge pertaining to SCM by empirically validating the relationships conceptualized by the GSCF framework through an analysis of the perception of mid-level managers and senior-level …

Predictors And Predictive Effects Of Attitudinal Inconsistency Towards Organizational Change, Scott T. Drylie

Theses and Dissertations

Studies have largely portrayed individual resistance as a pervasive, irrational, and problematic response to organizational change initiatives. The current study confronts this interpretation with a model of attitudinal inconsistency that provides a more holistic perspective of the individual during times of change. Inconsistency reveals the degree to which the mental evaluations of a change initiative may conflict and produce weak attitudinal foundations to govern behavior. Measuring affective-cognitive consistency, the tests in this study demonstrate that employees may form inconsistent attitudes towards a change initiative. Inconsistency relates negatively to the perceived quality of management transition techniques such as participation, communication, structured …

I Can Do That: The Impact Of Implicit Theories On Leadership Role Model Effectiveness, Crystal L. Hoyt, Jeni L. Burnette, Audrey N. Innella

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This research investigates the role of implicit theories in influencing the effectiveness of successful role models in the leadership domain. Across two studies, we test the prediction that incremental theorists (‘leaders are made’) compared to entity theorists (‘leaders are born’) will respond more positively to being presented with a role model before undertaking a leadership task. In Study 1, measuring people’s naturally occurring implicit theories of leadership, we showed that after being primed with a role model, incremental theorists reported greater leadership confidence and less anxious-depressed affect than entity theorists following the leadership task. In Study 2, we demonstrated the …

Injury Risk At Work, Safety Motivation, And The Role Of Masculinity: A Moderated Mediation, Timothy J. Bauerle

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Emotional Intelligence And Team Cohesiveness, Myra M. Beam

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Emotional Intelligence is generally defined as encompassing the awareness and understanding of emotions. Emotional Intelligence also incorporates the application of this understanding to decision making, regulation, and self-management. Many theorists have shown that Emotional Intelligence has a significant positive impact on various aspects of teamwork. Today, more companies and organizations use teamwork to solve problems and complete tasks, so exploring elements that enhance teamwork would be beneficial.

This study was designed to support the notion that Emotional Intelligence is an integral part of teamwork. It was hypothesized that Emotional Intelligence has an impact on teamwork by making the team more …

The Mediating Effects Of Perceived Person Organizational Support And Perceived Person Supervisor Support On The Relationships Among Person-Organization Fit, Person-Supervisor Fit, And Organizational Commitment, Steven Mark Crocker

Theses Digitization Project

For the present study we are primarily interested in the match between individuals' characteristics and their work environments. This match between individuals' characteristics and their work environment is known as person-environment (PE) fit. The current study's aim was to integrate and build upon the PE fit literature by investigating the relationship between various forms of PE fit and two forms of organizational commitment with a proposed mediation of perceived organizational support (POS) for PO fit and perceived supervisor support (PSS) for PS fit. Two hundred and twenty-four participants who had been employed by their organization for at least six months, …

Evaluating Commensurability And Validity Of Work-Family Conflict, Enrichment, And Culture Measures In Low Income Populations, Kimberly Anne French

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this research is to examine the adequacy of our current work-family constructs and measures for studying under-represented populations by evaluating the commensurability and construct validity of three major work and family measures, conflict, enrichment, and cultre, when applied to the unique population of low income families.

Perceptions Of Advancement Opportunities As A Barrier For Women In Management, Michelle Espeleta Balisi

Theses Digitization Project

The present study will examine whether or not the experience of stereotype threat, a women's gender role perceptions, the presence of family-friendly work policies in organizations, and a woman's perception of the fairness of personnel practices will predict their perceptions of advancement opportunities. Furthermore, perceptions of advancement opportunities will be examined to determine whether or not it mediates the relationship between personal and organizational factors and organizational commitment. The present study included 113 participants recruited from Psychology classes at a mid-sized university in the southwest to complete the survey. They were also recruited from organizations within Riverside County, Orange County, …

Psychological Ownership And Individual Differences, Daniel Todd Kowallis

Theses Digitization Project

Psychological ownership is the state where an individual believes that a target of some kind belongs to him or her, separate and regardless of legal ownership. The purpose of this study is to further the psychological ownership literature by investigating of certain individual characteristics will predict psycholgocial ownership and of work contextual issues will moderate those relationships. Results of this study indicate that the personal initiative and locus of control characteristics do predict psychological ownership.

Dispositional Predictors Of Psychological Contract Perceptions, Karen Louise Grab

Theses Digitization Project

This study seeks to look at the impact of dispositional factors, specifically the Big 5 personality traits, on psychological contracts. Using a series of multiple regressions and moderated linear regressions, this study analyzed the predictive value of personality traits on psychological contract type, breach and violation, and whether exchange or creditor ideologies moderate these relationships. This study consisted of 223 adult, full-time employees who worked at least 30 hours per week and had been with their current organization for at least 6 months. The sample observed and analyzed were recruited through online requests via social networking websites and via email.