Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons^™

Employer Perceptions About Addiction Recovery And Hiring Decisions, Haley Henderson, Joseph Barnet, Valerie Hoots, Andrea Clements

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Drug and alcohol addiction is a nationwide epidemic with an increasing number of Americans being affected. Individuals who seek treatment for their addiction often face barriers, such as costs, waiting time, and available support, and those who are able to receive treatment are likely to experience or anticipate stigma from others. Existing literature has found that many employers have negative perceptions of individuals in addiction recovery. However, there is limited research that has analyzed whether these negative perceptions affect hiring decisions. We predicted that employers would have negative perceptions of those in recovery, would be less likely to hire individuals …

Grit, Personality, And Job Performance: Exploring Nonlinear Relationships, Ellen Lovell

Doctoral Dissertations

Hiring employees suitable for specific jobs is a challenge facing organizations, as the cost of a poor hire is approximately 30% of that employee’s first-year earnings, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Employers look to individual differences, such as cognitive ability and personality, to help match applicants with appropriate jobs, as they are supported by research evidence. However, some variance in job performance is explained by differing combinations of these variables, among others.

Research in education and psychology have recently highlighted grit as a potentially strong predictor of success in non-work contexts. Grit was introduced by Angela Duckworth, who …

Investigating The Perceptions To And Effectiveness Of An Ally Skill-Building Workshop, Chelsea Wymer

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

There is limited research examining the antecedents, moderators, and determinants of ally skill-building workshops, a new methodology in the diversity management field. A three-part longitudinal quasi-experimental research design measured levels of implicit person beliefs, color blind racial attitudes, modern sexist attitudes, and perceptions of inclusive norms to determine effectiveness of an ally skill-skill building workshop and behavioral intentions over time. Data were collected from employees (N = 218) working for a Fortune 500 organization and were analyzed using simple moderation analysis using PROCESS and regression-based techniques. Results suggest that an ally skill-building workshop may be effective for increasing awareness of …

Effects Of Contemplative Practice Applications On Learning With An Adaptive Training System, Melissa Marie Walwanis

Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to test the impact of the contemplative practices of guided mindfulness and more traditional mindfulness compared to a standard educational practices control condition, on learning. Guided mindfulness practices are embedded concentrative psychoeducational practices of contingency planning and guided reflection that are systematically sequenced in experiential learning contexts. Traditional mindfulness practices are embodied interoceptive practices such as diaphragmatic breathing, mindfulness meditation, and body scan used in a generalized sense. The control condition standard educational practices include note taking and learning styles. By engaging learners in an embedded psychoeducational practice and embodied interoceptive practices, this study sought to: 1) …

Development And Validation Of Implicit Measures Of Organizational Climate, Kailey Ann Meyer

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Organizational climate is the shared perceptions that employees hold about their experiences in the workplace. The current research on organizational climate relies upon explicit (self-report) measures, which can be contaminated by impression management and inaccurate self-knowledge artifacts. This research used Implicit Association Test (IAT) procedures to develop implicit measures of selected aspects of organizational climate. The study examined the relationships of the implicit organizational climate measures with theoretically related explicit measures according to a multitrait-multimethod design. A series of confirmatory factor analyses of latent trait models were used to assess convergent and discriminant validity evidence. While results provided some construct …

Perspective Driven Behavior: The Effects Of Classroom Climate On A Student's Personality And Willingness To Communicate, Nicholas Weber

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Modern students are experiencing problems novel to the college environment. Much emphasis has been placed on learning in the classroom and the interactions with other students and professors, but this research has neglected features intrinsic to the student in question. The current study evaluates the student’s communication climate (or Connected Communication Climate Inventory (CCCI) score) within their classrooms as it relates to the relationship between key personality traits (i.e. Extraversion, Intellect/ Imagination, and Neuroticism) and their willingness to communicate (WTC) in those settings. College students have been given assessments to evaluate the prevalence of distinct personality traits and their relationships …

Determinants Of Safety Outcomes In Organizations: Exploring O*Net Data To Predict Occupational Accident Rates, Lavanya Shravan Kumar

Theses and Dissertations

Workplace safety is of utmost importance given the regular occurrence of both fatal and nonfatal occupational injuries all around the world. Although research in this area is hugely prevalent, it is focused mainly on safety climate and lacks an integrated approach when examining predictors of safety outcomes. The development of an occupational risk factor that predicts safety outcomes will aid in understanding the relative importance of different factors that contribute to safety and help organizations target their safety programs and interventions efficiently. The present study is an exploratory analysis utilizing publicly available O*NET data (work activities, work context features, and …

Quality Assessment Of Work Recovery Activities: Guidance For Recovering From Work-Related Demands, Emily Nixon

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study tested a revised work recovery process model and provides guidance for work recovery activities based on their recovery quality value. A diverse sample of 540 MTurk workers served as the participants for this in-depth, mixed method approach to evaluating workers’ recovery activities (preferred and actual) as well as recovery needs. Using a modified model of the stress-recovery process, recovery quality was measured in terms of psychological detachment, mastery, and control, with relaxation serving as an outcome state associated with the proposed three core recovery mechanisms. A variety of analyses were used to support the idea that active recovery …

Support From Below And Above: The Impact Of Perceived Subordinate Support, Leader-Member Exchange, And Perceived Supervisor Support On Supervisor Attitudes, Rachel Browder

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Existing research indicates that perceived support is positively related to job performance and can influence perceptions of support by those with whom they interact. While there is a large body of research examining employees’ perceived support from their supervisors (i.e., perceived supervisor support: PSS) and the organization (i.e., perceived organizational support: POS), little research has examined the impact of supervisors’ perceptions of support from their subordinates. The present study evaluates the relationship between Perceived Subordinate Support (PSubS) and organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions, and the moderating impact of PSS and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) on these relationships. Data were …

Working With Wildlife: The Effects Of Stressors And Resources On Burnout And Engagement For Animal Caretakers, Destiny Burns

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The present study was designed to identify the impacts of stressors experienced by animal caretakers within zoos, aquariums, and shelters. To analyze these impacts, I administered a survey to individuals within this population which assessed interactions with environmental, social, and financial stressors for animal caretakers in relation to engagement and burnout. In total, 112 animal caretakers participated in the study. Results supported that physical stressors were most commonly encountered within the workforce, but coworker conflict was the only stressor to have consistent significant effects on burnout and engagement. Specifically, more coworker conflict was associated with more burnout and less engagement. …

Perceptions Of Injustice Among Intercollegiate Athletes: Effects Of Response Type On Individual Well-Being And Perceived Team Cohesion, Linsey Klein

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

When individuals perceive the relationship between what they put into an exchange relationship to be unequal to the outcomes they receive, they are said to be in a state of inequity. This perceived lack of fairness is often referred to as injustice and can have negative effects on the individual and team. Currently, there have been few theory-based approaches to exploring perceptions of injustice within an athletic context. In the present study, online surveys were completed by 78 student-athletes at regional universities to identify the specific types of injustice they perceived, the behavioral and cognitive responses to those perceptions, and …

Motivational Factors And Job Performance Of Banking Industry Employees In Klang Valley, Zaini Muhammad Ariff

Student Works (2020-2029)

Employees’ job performance has been found decreasing and variation changes from time to time. The main objective of this research is to study the relationship between the working conditions, employees’ satisfaction, salaries and benefits, and achievement/recognition towards the job performance of banking industry employees in Klang Valley. In this research study, a total of two hundred (200) bank employees who work in bank around Klang Valley has been selected as respondents. Descriptive analysis (frequency, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential analysis (Pearson correlation coefficient) were used. Pearson correlation analysis’s result shows a significant relationship between the independent variables (working conditions, …

Perception Of County Extension Agents’ Organizational Fit After Participating In The Mentoring Component Of The Cooperative Extension Service Onboarding Program, Angela Blacklaw-Freel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine the perception employees of the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service (CES) after participating in a mentoring program. The CES implemented an onboarding program in 2010 which included a yearlong mentoring component for county extension agents because they were resigning at an alarming rate. The study aimed to illuminate if the mentoring program increased the county extension agents’ perception of fit after completing the program by determining if they felt they possessed characteristics that were compatible with the organization.

This study was founded on the mentees’ viewpoints of their perceptions of person-organization (PO) fit, …

Leading Together: Exploring Conditions For Shared Leadership Emergence In Teams, Charles Percy Reed Scott

Theses and Dissertations

Modern workplaces require complex teamwork and leadership behaviors to innovate and achieve their goals effectively. Research has found that one of the best ways to help improve team collaboration and performance is to foster shared leadership across the team members. However, little research has been conducted to determine what factors actually drive the emergence of shared leadership in teams. This archival study examines the possible factors and pathways that lead to shared leadership emerging within teams. The data from sixty-six (66) three-person teams was used. Each team member had to collaborate to successfully complete a simulated spaceship bridge task. Six …

“Say Something!”: Examining The Bystander In Sexual Harassment, Lida Ponce

Theses and Dissertations

This research addresses the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace. Past research on harassment has primarily investigated the victim and the perpetrator, with limited research on bystanders in these events. However, bystanders can play an important role in the occurrence and outcomes of harassment by speaking up and intervening, particularly when the victim is too intimidated to do so. Therefore, this research examined this issue, focusing on factors influencing bystander intentions to intervene in sexual harassment incidents. Specifically, drawing from the Cognitive-Affective Processing System approach (Mischel & Shoda, 1995), this study investigated the construct of give/take/match (Grant, 2013) as …

Different Paths, Same Destination? Comparison Between Two Approaches To Developing Situational Judgment Tests On Cross Cultural Competency, Xiaowen Chen

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on developing SJTs to measure an individual’s cross-cultural competency, and comparing the two SJT development approaches in terms of development costs, reliability, validity, susceptibility to social desirability, and test-taker reactions. In the first phase, the two 3C SJTs were developed with the model-based approach and the SME-driven approach respectively. In the second phase, data were collected to examine the reliability and validity of the two SJTs. Both 3C SJTs demonstrated acceptable reliability (αSME = .72; αmodel =.70), and convergent to CQS (rSME = .35, p < .01; rmodel = . 24, p < .01). The SJTs psychometric properties were further examined in the third phase, wherein the SJTs displayed similar reliability and were convergent to CQS. Both SJTs predicted satisfaction with overseas life (βSME = .24, p < .01; βmodel = .18, p < .05) and sociocultural adaptability (βSME = -.20, p < .05; βmodel = -.21, p < .05), meanwhile, only having none or small correlation with satisfaction with general life (rSME = .10, n.s. and rmodel = .19, p < .05). The SME-driven SJT outperformed the model-based SJT and CQS in predicting the actual multicultural team performance that was rated by peers (βSME = .26, p < .05; βmodel = - .04, n.s.; βCQs = .01, n.s.). The utility of the two SJT development approaches, implications, future research directions and limitations were discussed in the end.

Mindfulness Arrives At Work: Deepening Our Understanding Of Mindfulness In Organizations, Jochen Reb, Tammy Allen, Timothy J. Vogus

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Mindfulness has become an increasingly popular practice and in parallel scholarly research has grown considerably. However, the study of mindfulness at work remains limited and motivates this special issue on “Mindfulness at Work: Pushing Theoretical and Empirical Boundaries.” In this introduction to the special issue we offer a brief initial grounding in the literature on mindfulness at work and in organizations. We then turn attention to how the six articles in this special issue advance this nascent field. We use both as a point of departure for considering the benefits and limits of mindfulness in organizations as well as the …

Job Knowledge Tests, Michelle Graef

Umbrella Summaries

What are job knowledge tests?

In an employment context, job knowledge tests are hiring tools that assess candidates’ knowledge of facts, principles, concepts, and other information that is important for performance of a job (Hunter, 1983). This knowledge falls into two general categories: (a) technical information and (b) the processes and judgmental criteria required to perform correctly and efficiently on the job (Hunter, 1983). Measures of job knowledge vary in the level of specificity of the content. Some measures are intended to test a candidate’s knowledge of specific content for a specific job, whereas other measures are designed to assess …

Longitudinal Applications Of Stepladder Technique For Enhancing Group Performance, Conner Lutterman

Discovery Day - Prescott

Stepladder technique is intended to improve decision making in small groups by structuring the entry of group members, ensuring that each member contributes to the decision-making process. Previous research has employed the stepladder technique for intellective exercises of short duration. Here, we examined a more realistic application of the stepladder technique to a longitudinal project team engaged in a design/build/ test engineering program. Application of stepladder technique beyond a laboratory/one-time setting is a unique addition to the team performance research. Preliminary data indicates that the stepladder technique is effective in a longitudinal project more aligned to typical organization applications; constraints, …

Job Embeddedness, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is job embeddedness?

Job embeddedness refers to the extent to which employees are connected to their jobs through a social web. It includes three aspects, each of which is considered in light of the job or organization (“on-the-job embeddedness”) and the community (“off-the job embeddedness”): (a) links—the extent to which people have links to other people or activities, (b) fit—the extent to which their job and community are similar to or fit with the other aspects in their life space, and (c) sacrifice—what they would give up if they left, especially if they had to move to another city …