Factor structure of an Arabic translation of the scale, preference for numerical information

An Arabic translation of Viswanathan's 1993 scale, Preference for Numerical Information, was administered to 157 tenth-grade students (M age = 16.1 yr.) in the United Arab Emirates. Analysis showed that the scale was homogeneous as the factor solution was comparable to that reported in the original study and item scores were moderately correlated with total scores when used in a different cultural setting.     

A mathematics content course and teaching efficacy beliefs of undergraduate majors in education

This study was designed to assess the mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs of undergraduates in elementary education through a manipulative-based course in mathematics. Responses of 106 university undergraduates to the 21-item Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs administered as pre- and posttest without a control group showed a significant immediate postcourse change in their efficacy beliefs using dependent t test.     

Impact of Perceived Authentic Leadership and Psychological Capital on Burnout: Mediating Role of Psychological Ownership

The present study is an empirical endeavor of exploring the role of promotive and preventative psychological ownership in the relationship of authentic leadership and psychological capital with burnout. A cross-sectional survey study was conducted among 500 faculty members of various public sector universities of Pakistan (209 male and 291 female teachers). PsyCap Questionnaire, Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, Psychological Ownership Questionnaire, and Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educator Survey were used to measure the focal constructs of the present study. Structured equation modeling reveals that promotive psychological ownership had a negative, whereas preventative psychological ownership had a positive relationship with burnout. Psychological capital and perceived authentic leadership had a negative influence on burnout. Promotive psychological ownership mediated the relationship of psychological capital and authentic leadership with burnout, whereas preventative psychological ownership mediated between perceived authentic leadership and burnout. Implications of the research along with its limitation and suggestions for further research were reflected upon.     

Accidents happen: Psychological empowerment as a moderator of accident involvement and its outcomes

Research in the occupational safety realm has tended to develop and test models aimed at predicting accident involvement in the workplace, with studies treating accident involvement as the starting point and examining its outcomes being more rare. In this study, we examine the relationship between accident involvement and a series of outcomes drawing upon a learned helplessness theory perspective. Specifically, we predicted that psychological empowerment would moderate the relationship between prior accident involvement and outcomes. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of 392 employees and their 66 supervisors working in an iron and steel manufacturing firm in Southern Turkey, using data collected from employees and their supervisors via four separate surveys. Results suggest that accident involvement was positively related to supervisor‐rated employee withdrawal, production deviance, and sabotage only when psychological empowerment was low. The results illustrate that workplace accidents have indirect costs in the form of higher withdrawal and maladaptive behaviors, and organizations may inoculate employees against some of these outcomes via higher psychological empowerment.     

Issues Involving Informed Consent for Research Participants with Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia which is estimated to impact 350,000 people over 65 years of age in Canada. The lack of effective treatment and the growing number of people who are expected to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the near future are compelling reasons why continued research is in this area is necessary. With additional research, there needs to be greater recognition of the complexity of seeking ongoing informed consent from those with Alzheimer’s disease. This complexity is because the impairment of memory and cognitive ability does not diminish in a linear manner, but rather fluctuates between periods of impairment and relatively normal cognitive lucidness. There is limited discussion in the guidelines of those progressing from early stages of Alzheimer’s disease who have intermittent cognitive function. Guidelines to research and Research Ethics Boards require further development to facilitate researcher including those with Alzheimer’s disease while protecting this growing pool of potential participants.     

Trust in organization as a moderator of the relationship between self‐efficacy and workplace outcomes: A social cognitive theory‐based examination

Drawing on a social cognitive theory perspective, we contend that an employee's trust in oneself, or self‐efficacy, will interact with the individual's trust in the system, or trust in organization, to predict job attitudes and behaviours. Specifically, we expected that self‐efficacy would have stronger effects on job attitudes (job satisfaction and turnover intentions) and behaviours (task performance and organizational citizenship behaviours) to the degree to which employees perceive high levels of trust in organization. Using data collected from 300 employees and their respective supervisors at a manufacturing organization in Turkey across three waves, we found that self‐efficacy had more positive effects on job satisfaction, task performance, and citizenship behaviours when trust in organization was high. Interestingly, self‐efficacy had a positive effect on turnover intentions when trust in organization was low, indicating that high trust in organization buffered the effects of self‐efficacy on intentions to leave. The results suggest that the motivational value of trust in oneself is stronger to the degree to which employees also have high trust in the system, whereas low trust in system neutralizes the motivational benefits of self‐efficacy.

Practitioner points

• Practicing managers should not only invest in increasing self‐efficacy of their employees, but also invest in building trust to improve employees’ attitudes, behaviours, and performance. This is because when employee trust in organization is high, employee self‐efficacy has greater potential to have a positive influence over job satisfaction, task performance, and organizational citizenship behaviours.
• Self‐efficacy may actually increase an employee's desire to leave the organization when organizational conditions are unfavourable, such as in the case of low trust in the organization. Practicing managers should be aware that employees who have high levels of confidence may be at higher risk of turnover when they are unhappy with the organization.

     

Development and Validation of Tawakkul Scale for Muslim Adults in Pakistan

Journal of Religion and Health - As a fundamental value in the Islamic belief system, tawakkul is defined as the belief in the sufficiency of God that involves positive efforts to achieve...     

Ideas and Interests Embedded in the Making of Ontario’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, 2006</Emphasis>

This paper examines the ideas-interests nexus in the making of Ontario’s Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, 2006, designed to level the playing field for internationally trained professionals. It conceives of the legislation as the outcome of a discursive contestation between two interest-based alignments. The access coalition led by organized immigrant professionals and settlement service providers communicated a discourse around the non-recognition of foreign credentials, questioning it on moral and economic grounds. Alternatively, regulatory bodies built their discourse around the skills and experience requirements of professions, emphasizing public protection, and, as a condition of that, professional autonomy. However, despite its weaker economic base, the access coalition carried the day with the passing of the fair access legislation because it framed its ideas more effectively and thus struck a better chord with the general and policy public.