Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons^™

"Hey, Are You Busy Right Now?" Stressor Appraisals Of Interruptions To Workflow, Camille Wheatley, Kristen Jennings Black

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

Academic research has studied interruptions to workflow under the pretext that all face-to-face interruptions are negative events, finding that frequent interruptions cause increases in employee stress and productivity loss. However, it is likely that not all interruptions are perceived as stressful by employees. Some interruptions could even be considered rejuvenating experiences that provide employees with renewed energy to return to their work tasks. We propose that employees’ stressor appraisals of various interruption events vary due to the characteristics of the event such as the content of the conversation and the length of the interaction. The proposed study is designed to …

Examining The Relationship Between Applicant Reactions And Selection Test Performance: Is The Relationship Curvilinear?, Catherine Meyer, Yalcin Acikgoz, Jacob Leslie

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

There is evidence in the literature that negative reactions to employee selection procedures such as high anxiety and low motivation are related to poor performance by job applicants on a selection test (McCarthy, Van Iddekinge, Lievens, Kung, Sinar, Campion, 2013). However, to date the studies examining this relationship were correlational, meaning that no causal relationship could be established. This implies that while it is possible that negative reactions predict low test performance, it is also plausible that the reverse is true (i.e., poor performance at the early stages of a selection test leads to high anxiety and low motivation) or …

Understanding Resilience As A Mediator On Mindfulness And Burnout, Kaitlyn Berry, Alexander Jackson

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

Resilience is a protective factor that allows an individual to overcome adversity such as trauma and large workloads. Resilience has been heavily studied both from the viewpoint of its countering effects to unfavorable outcomes and its relation to personality and other intraindividual variables. Mindfulness is one intraindividual trait that has been previously shown to be positively related to resilience. Mindfulness has also been negatively related to measures of psychological adjustment such as burnout. Past studies have failed to evaluate the relationship between these as resilience may mediate these relationships. A model proposed by Rees et al. (2015) to explain resilience …

Linking Psychology Curriculum With Career Skills: The Student Perspective, John Lang, Shawn Bergman, Donovan Mattox, Mulan Lee, John Lang

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

Students who obtain a bachelor’s degree in psychology gain a variety of knowledge and build an understanding of social constructs, behaviorism, empirical research designs, levels of statistical analysis, and a deeper understanding of problem-solving. However, psychology students who directly enter the workforce face dauntingly high unemployment rates despite having gained these skills . A possible explanation for psychology graduates’ chronic underemployment is that they do not understand how their learned skill sets translate into the workplace. The proposed study aims to address this gap by developing a survey to assess psychology students’ understanding of the knowledge and critical skill sets …

Motivational Contagion In A Leader-Follower Dynamic, Reed Priest, Richard Moffett, Alexander Jackson, Glenn Littlepage

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

Motivational contagion is a process where one individual’s intentions are adopted by others (Dragoni & Kuenzi, 2012). Leaders enact motivational contagion when they share their goal orientations with followers. The present work proposes applying motivational contagion to a leader-follower dynamic to identify how it occurs and if substitutes/neutralizers to leadership reduce the rates of motivational contagion. Data from 300 followers will be collected using MTurk. It is hypothesized that motivational contagion occurs because leaders behaviorally establish and reinforce a desired climate that signals similar goal orientations in followers. The presence of substitutes/neutralizers to leadership are hypothesized to reduce the rates …

Paid Time Off (Pto): Work Stress As A Potential Moderator Between Workaholism And Pto Usage, Natalie French

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

The aim of the current study is to examine the relationship between individual paid time off (PTO) usage and worker characteristics including, workaholism, work stress, and work engagement. Workaholism, the compulsive need to work excessively (Clark et al., 2016), has been related to several negative work and life outcomes such as burnout (Moyer et al., 2017) and higher levels of stress (Aziz et al., 2018). Work life balance initiatives, including PTO, are created in an effort to alleviate stress and have shown to improve overall life satisfaction (Blair-Loy & Wharton, 2002). However, the relationship between the work life initiatives and …

An Examination Of Ethnic Subgroup Score Differences Between Different Types Of Situational Judgement Tests, Brent Larison

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs) are assessments which place the respondent in a situation where they are asked to select, rate, or respond with the best given answer for a given scenario. One current issue for the use of SJTs today is finding ways to reduce levels of ethnic subgroup differences in scores which can lead to adverse impact. The purpose of the current study is to examine the components of SJTs having potential in reducing ethnic subgroup differences in scores. While there is ample research suggesting there are differences in ethnic subgroup scores that can be found using different formats …

The Impact Of Turnover On Team Performance Within Major League Soccer Teams, Austin Boynton, Glenn Littlepage, Mike Hein, Dana Fuller

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

Success within teams is a result of many factors and may vary across situations and the teams themselves being examined (Morgan, Campione, and Jerrell, 2004). Take for example team success within business. Some may predict that success within teams is due to individual & collaborative efforts, individual & team efficacy, and a shared mental model. But success depends on the context in which the work takes places as well as other factors such as if the work encourages a highly collaborative environment versus work that requires low collaboration within job task completion. One factor not entirely addressed is variance within …

Moving Toward Sustainability: An Investigation Into The Relationship Between Esg Scores And Organizational Outcomes In Hrm, Nicolas Simard, Shawn Bergman, Jim Westerman Ph.D, Yalcin Acigkoz

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

The issue of sustainability in business has been a central topic of interest for some time. The role of Human Resource Management (HRM) professionals within those sustainable efforts may not be immediately apparent, but as a growing body of research in the field indicates, HRM Professionals are essential to successful company-wide sustainable initiatives. It would only make sense, then, that the impact of sustainable measures on HR outcomes be studied at length; using data from thousands of companies, our study examines the potential correlations between HR practices and sustainable efforts in business. This study will investigate the relationships that exist …

Generating A Predictive Model For Injury Rates For A Chemical Manufacturing Company, Jacob Ledford, Charles Riggs Matthews, Haley Henderson, Catherine Parks, Samuel Biggs, Royale Nicholson, Shawn Bergman, Yalcin Acikgoz, Timothy Ludwig

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

Workplace safety is not a new field of study, but the application of data analytics as a predictive tool is relatively new to the area. Beyond the obvious harm caused to workers, fatal and nonfatal injuries accrue a significant financial burden nationwide. Previous safety measures have focused largely on reactive tools. While these have done a significant job reducing nonfatal workplace injuries, they have done little to assuage fatal ones. Predictive analysis may be the next step in reducing workplace injury. By mining and processing safety-related data, predictive analysis can inform employers of high risk situations before they happen. By …

Will The Number Of Behavioral Anchors Increase Rater Accuracy In Performance Evaluations?, Kelsey Byerly, Mark Frame Ph.D.

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

This research project assesses whether the number of behavioral anchors increases rater accuracy in performance evaluations. Specifically, it observes whether a behavioral anchor rating scale (BARS) with five behavioral anchors will be more accurate in scoring performance evaluations than BARS with three behavioral anchors. The accuracy of the ratings is assessed in terms of scale alphas, absolute differences between ratings and true score estimates, and over and under rating. In addition, this study explores whether rating accuracy varies among raters with different degrees of conscientiousness. All participants will be recruited from Middle Tennessee State University and Amazon’s MTurk. The study …

Using The Job Demands-Resources Model To Predict Burnout In Police Officers In The Uk And The Us, Jackie Keaton, Kristen J. Black, Jonathan Houdmont

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model has been used in a number of research studies to predict burnout among human service professionals, including police officers. Rates of burnout among police officers can vary widely between countries and types of officers, which necessitates further exploration of the workplace stressors and conditions that impact how and why police officers experience burnout. In this study I will examine data from two samples of police officers, one from the United Kingdom and one from the United States, to explore if certain demands and resources have different weights in contributing to burnout for police officers in …

Re-Conceptualizing And Measuring Tacit Knowledge, Mariyam Sumaiya, Alexander Jackson, Ashley Pearson

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

This paper proposes to develop a new measure of tacit knowledge based on an updated definition that distinguishes tacit knowledge and tacit skills which we build based on Taylor’s taxonomy (2007). Since tacit knowledge is domain specific, we also propose a new method of measuring tacit knowledge that can be replicated across domains. Additionally, we study the connection between tacit knowledge and mindfulness. This study occurs in two stages. The participants in the first stage will be subject matter experts in the field of research methodology. These individuals will receive a questionnaire seeking critical incidents based on their experiences, which …

Y'All Ain't Fair: Discrimination Against Southern Accents In Hiring Decisions, Brenna Armfield

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

This research proposal investigates how southern accents impact hiring decisions. Specifically, it examines whether an applicant with a neutral American accent will be hired at a higher rate than an applicant with a southern accent. Perceived professionalism, competence, and intelligence are suggested mediators for the relationship between accent and hiring decision. Additionally, it is hypothesized that perceived similarity and geographical location will moderate the relationship between accent and evaluations related to hiring (professionalism, competence, and intelligence). Participants will be sampled from a geographically diverse range of universities and randomly assigned to one of four conditions: female applicant with a neutral …

The Effects Of Covid-19 On Organizational Trust, Hannah Ferriell, Courtney Keim

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

Organizational trust is vital to the psychological health of employees and is related to a myriad of benefits (job satisfaction, work engagement; Chughtai, Byrne, & Flood, 2015; Shockley-Zalabak, Ellis, & Winograd, 2000). Unfortunately, many employees do not trust their employers, which implies that the organizations for which those employees work may be missing out on the positive effects associated with trust (American Psychological Association, 2018). Organizational change can exacerbate feelings of distrust (Morgan & Zeffane, 2003). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations across the world are now having their employees work from home and are instituting new safety precautions, examples …

Workplace Telepressure And Workaholism: Ict Boundary Creation As A Potential Moderator, Emily Wilder, Shahnaz Aziz

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

The goal of this study is to investigate the relationships between workplace telepressure, workaholism, and information and communication technology (ICT) boundary creation. Workaholism is the compulsive need to work incessantly (Oates, 1971). It has been linked with adverse effects such as work stress, sleep problems, burnout, physical complaints, and lower mental health (Andreassen et al., 2018; Clark et al., 2016). A work-related construct associated with similar negative outcomes (e.g., physical exhaustion, burnout, sleep problems, and poor work-life balance; Barber et al., 2019; Kao et al., 2020; Santuzzi & Barber, 2018) is workplace telepressure. Workplace telepressure is the urge and preoccupation …

Appraisal-Tendency Framework And Gender: A Moderator In The Emotions And Judgement Process, Sarah Tucker, Alexander T. Jackson, Satoris Howes, Kaitlyn Berry

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

The study aims to clarify and understand the role that gender has on perceptions of justice through placement of blame and emotion. The Appraisal Tendency Framework explains how emotion impacts judgements, and the fairness theory explores how blame placement affects perceptions of justice. This research explores the impact of gender on both models. This study will utilize a 2 (emotional induction) x 2 (gender of actor) design. In the emotional induction portion, participants will view clips from movies to induce either sadness or anger. Following the video clip, all participants will be asked to write about a time they either …

The Disgust Sensitivity Scale, Ivory Tran

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

This study proposes a new measure of disgust sensitivity, specifically in four domains: core, animal-reminder, contamination-based, and moral-sexual disgust. The measure will be called the Disgust Sensitivity Scale (DSS). Previous measures have not been successful in showing an association between the moral-sexual disgust domain and overall disgust sensitivity. One of the suggested reasons is that moral and sexual transgressions often elicit a combination of anger and disgust rather than disgust alone. Thus, the current study attempts to measure moral-sexual disgust by designing test items that specifically target disgust as the elicited emotion. As the Disgust Scale – Revised (DS–R) is …

Perspectives On Multi-Intervention, Multi-Design Evaluation For The Child Welfare Workforce, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD is working with eight sites and the Children’s Bureau in a participatory fashion (Fetterman, 2014) to implement utilization-focused (Alkin & Vo, 2017; Patton, 2008) site-specific and cross-site evaluation strategies. The goal of this research is to build knowledge of interventions to improve child welfare workforce retention, and ultimately outcomes for children and families. A complex systems approach (Westhorp, 2012) is being taken to identify how factors such as organizational structures and culture, staff workload, supervision, and caseworker values influence outcomes, including safety and permanency of children. The QIC-WD team has extensive experience conducting rigorous evaluations within and across …

Coworker Influence, Megan Paul, Lauren Sparks

Umbrella Summaries

What is coworker influence?

Coworkers are the individuals in an organization that regularly work with a given employee, often performing similar tasks or collaborating in some way. Coworkers are typically in a similar hierarchical position in the organizational structure, differentiating them from subordinates, supervisors, or managers. Coworker influence is about how coworkers impact a given employee’s work experiences. There are two facets of coworker influence—coworker support and coworker antagonism (Chiaburu & Harrison, 2008). Coworker support is a positive influence, including desirable actions and behaviors. More specifically, there are two types of coworker support—instrumental and affective (Chiaburu & Harrison, 2008). Instrumental …