PREDICTORS OF OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE CAREER SUCCESS: A META-ANALYSIS

Using the contest- and sponsored-mobility perspectives as theoretical guides, this meta-analysis reviewed 4 categories of predictors of objective and subjective career success: human capital, organizational sponsorship, sociodemographic status, and stable individual differences. Salary level and promotion served as dependent measures of objective career success, and subjective career success was represented by career satisfaction. Results demonstrated that both objective and subjective career success were related to a wide range of predictors. As a group, human capital and sociodemographic predictors generally displayed stronger relationships with objective career success, and organizational sponsorship and stable individual differences were generally more strongly related to subjective career success. Gender and time (date of the study) moderated several of the relationships examined.     

ON THE VALIDITY OF SUBJECTIVE MEASURES OF COMPANY PERFORMANCE

Subjective measures of company performance are widely used in research and typically are interpreted as equivalent to objective measures. Yet, the assumption of equivalence is open to challenge. We compared the use of both types of measure in 3 separate samples. Findings were consistent in showing that: (a) subjective and objective measures of company performance were positively associated (convergent validity); (b) those relationships were stronger than those between measures of differing aspects of performance using the same method (discriminant validity); and (c) the relationships of subjective and objective company performance measures with a range of independent variables were equivalent (construct validity).     

A COMPARISON OF VALIDATION CRITERIA: OBJECTIVE VERSUS SUBJECTIVE PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND SELF- VERSUS SUPERVISOR RATINGS

This study compared four criteria–two objective (production quantity and production quality) and two subjective (supervisor and self-ratings)–for their predictability in a criterion-related validity study. Results from this sample of 212 maintenance, mechanic, and field service workers replicated previous meta-analytic results with clerical workers (Nathan & Alexander, 1988); supervisor ratings and objective productivity indices provided similar and significant validity coefficients with a unit-weighted composite of five cognitive ability tests. The objective quality index and employee self-ratings resulted in near zero correlations with the same predictor battery. Additional productivity and quality objective criterion data were available for 2 years since the original validation study; no change in validity was found.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUPERVISORY RATINGS AND RESULTS-ORIENTED MEASURES OF PERFORMANCE: A META-ANALYSIS

A meta-analysis was conducted with 23 studies to assess the relationship between supervisory ratings and results-oriented measures of performance. As hypothesized, the corrected mean correlation was higher when a relative (versus absolute) rating format was used and when a composite (versus overall) rating method was used. These differences did not, however, account for all of the remaining variance around the relationship between ratings and results. Suggestions are offered for the direction of future research and practice.     

EFFECTS OF NITROUS OXIDE ON SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE VARIABLES

Effects of nitrous oxide in different subanaesthetic concentrations were studied in twelve subjects. Subjective scales of intoxication and of eight other mood variables were obtained by the method of magnitude estimation. Objective performance was examined by tests on memory and arithmetic. For most variables the dose-response curves obtained showed progressively larger effects with increasing dose-levels. At concentrations below 20 per cent the changes were, on the whole, very slight. The results are compared with similar data from an alcohol experiment.     

THE EFFECTS OF ON-SITE CHILD CARE ON EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES AND PERFORMANCE

Using a quasi-experimental posttest design, this study compared supervisor perceptions of performance and absenteeism and employee attitudes of 155 child care center users and waiting list employees. Although child care was not related to supervisor views of performance or absenteeism, employees were more likely to receive favorable appraisals if absenteeism was low. Child care had greatest impact on females and employees without a family buffer. Child care positively influenced users' attitudes toward managing work and child care responsibilities, and views on the attractiveness and administration of benefits. The greater the use of care across all dependents, the more favorable the attitudes. A "frustration effect" occurred involving the lowering of waiting list employees' perceptions of the attractiveness and fairness of child care. The study suggests that child care benefits are more likely to significantly effect employee attitudes and membership behaviors such as recruitment and retention than performance or absenteeism.     

OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE PERFORMANCE AS INFLUENCED BY DRUG-INDUCED VARIATIONS IN ACTIVATION LEVEL

Performance was measured by seven sensorimotor and perceptual tests given to 30 students in six successive trials, spread over five hours, before and after the intake of either 15 mg dexamphetamine, zoo mg Pentobarbitone, or a placebo. Subjective performance, level of aspiration, wakefulness, and mood were measured by a scaling method. A close agreement was found between the amount of objective and subjective improvement following dexamphetamine, whereas the objective impairment induced by Pentobarbitone was not reflected in the subjective measures. These results were examined in relation to the other indices of activation.     

THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND JOB PERFORMANCE: A META-ANALYSIS

This study investigated the relation of the "Big Five" personality dimensions (Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience) to three job performance criteria (job proficiency, training proficiency, and personnel data) for five occupational groups (professionals, police, managers, sales, and skilled/semi-skilled). Results indicated that one dimension of personality, Conscientiousness, showed consistent relations with all job performance criteria for all occupational groups. For the remaining personality dimensions, the estimated true score correlations varied by occupational group and criterion type. Extraversion was a valid predictor for two occupations involving social interaction, managers and sales (across criterion types). Also, both Openness to Experience and Extraversion were valid predictors of the training proficiency criterion (across occupations). Other personality dimensions were also found to be valid predictors for some occupations and some criterion types, but the magnitude of the estimated true score correlations was small (ρ < .10). Overall, the results illustrate the benefits of using the 5-factor model of personality to accumulate and communicate empirical findings. The findings have numerous implications for research and practice in personnel psychology , especially in the subfields of personnel selection, training and development, and performance appraisal.     

TIME RELATIONS OF OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE REACTIONS TO D-AMPHETAMINE AND PENTOBARBITONE

Successive measurements of pulse rate, blood pressure, objective and subjective reaction speed, and six mood variables were made on 12 healthy subjects during 135 min. periods following the intake of either 15 mg d-amphetamine, 200 mg Pentobarbitone, or a placebo. It was shown that (1) the two drugs had essentially opposite effects on all objective and most subjective variables; (2) after d-amphetamine subjective effects appeared earlier and reached their maximum more rapidly than objective effects; (3) both types of reaction were less pronounced after Pentobarbitone than after d-amphetamine under the present dose conditions; and that (4) after Pentobarbitone maximum objective effects were attained at an earlier point in time.     

COMPARISONS OF MANAGERIAL AND EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION WITH A PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM

Questionnaires were administered to managers and employees in a large multinational corporation to assess satisfaction with various aspects of a performance appraisal system. Comparisons of managers' and employees' satisfaction were made by conducting factor analyses for each sample. The results indicate moderate similarity between the two groups. However, two significant differences were revealed by the analysis. First, there is evidence that employees perceive certain aspects of the appraisal system in a global way, whereas managers differentiate among various components and see them as distinct entities. Second, the relative importance of the factors differs between the two groups. The largest portion of variance accounted for in the employee sample pertained to general satisfaction with the system whereas for managers it pertained to the types of ratings made on the appraisal form. The results are discussed in terms of the different perspectives managers and employees have in the appraisal process.     

PERSONALITY AND JOB PERFORMANCE: A CRITIQUE OF THE TETT, JACKSON, AND ROTHSTEIN (1991) META-ANALYSIS

Tett, Jackson, and Rothstein (1991) recently presented a meta-analysis of the relationship between personality and job performance. Many of their findings, particularly those pertaining to the Big Five personality dimensions, are at odds with one other large scale meta-analytic study (Barrick & Mount, 1991) investigating the relation between personality and performance. In order to reconcile these new results with previous findings, we examined differences in the sample sizes used, the process for assigning pre-existing scales to personality dimensions, and the nature of the jobs investigated. In addition, we found four technical errors in the Tett et al. moderator meta-analyses in computing sampling error, the bias correction, sampling error for bias corrected correlations, and computing sampling error variance across studies. These errors raise serious questions about the interpretation of their results for various moderators of the personality-job performance relationship.     

A META-ANALYSIS OF WORK DEMAND STRESSORS AND JOB PERFORMANCE: EXAMINING MAIN AND MODERATING EFFECTS

We quantitatively integrated 169 samples ( N = 35,265 employees) that have been used to investigate the relationships of the following 7 work-related stressors with job performance: role ambiguity, role conflict, role overload, job insecurity, work–family conflict, environmental uncertainty, and situational constraints. Overall, we obtained a negative mean correlation between each job performance measure and each stressor included in our analyses. As hypothesized, role ambiguity and situational constraints were most strongly negatively related to performance, relative to the other work-related stressors. Analysis of moderators revealed that (a) the negative correlation of role overload and performance was higher among managers relative to nonmanagers; (b) publication year moderated the relation of role ambiguity and role overload with performance, although in opposite directions; (c) the correlations obtained for published versus unpublished studies were not significantly different; and (d) using the Rizzo et al. scale of role ambiguity and role conflict decreased the magnitude of the correlations of these stressors with performance, relative to other scales. Theoretical contributions, future research directions, and practical implications are discussed.     

PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: A LATENT GROWTH MODELING APPROACH

The positive core construct of psychological capital (consisting of efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience) has been conceptually and empirically demonstrated to be related to employee performance. However, much of this work has relied on cross‐sectional designs to examine these relationships. This study utilizes longitudinal data from a large financial service organization (N= 179 financial advisory‐type employees) to examine within‐individual change in psychological capital over time and if this change relates to their change in performance. Latent growth modeling analyses revealed statistically significant within‐individual change in psychological capital over time, and that this change in psychological capital was related to change in 2 types of performance outcomes (supervisor‐rated performance and financial performance, i.e., individual sales revenue). Moreover, results of an exploratory cross‐lagged panel analysis suggested a causal relationship such that prior psychological capital leads to subsequent performance rather than vice versa. Taken together, these results highlight the impact employees’ psychological capital may have on their subjectively and objectively measured performance over time and offer evidence‐based practical guidelines for human resource selection, development, and performance management.     

THE VALIDITY OF THE JOB CHARACTERISTICS MODEL: A REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS

The validity of Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics Model was assessed by conducting a comprehensive review of nearly 200 relevant studies on the model as well as by applying meta-analytic procedures to a large portion of the data. The evidence indicated that the available correlational results are reasonably valid in light of the issues examined. Results tended to support the multidimensionality of job characteristics, but there was less agreement on the exact number of dimensions. The corrected correlational results of the meta-analysis indicated that job characteristics related both to psychological and behavioral outcomes. Concerning psychological states, the results tended to support their mediating (e.g., intervening) role between job characteristics and personal outcomes. The pattern of correlations between the job characteristics and psychological states was less supportive of the model. Meta-analytic results demonstrated that most of the cross-study variance was due to statistical artifacts. True variance across studies was found for the job characteristics-performance relationship, however, and subsequent analyses suggested that growth-need strength moderates this relationship. Implications for potential revisions of the model and for practice are discussed.     

EMPLOYEE REACTIONS TO PERFORMANCE STANDARDS: A REVIEW AND RESEARCH PROPOSITIONS

Although the use of evaluative performance standards is common in most organizations, research in our field has focused almost exclusively on selection standards (and predictor cut-off scores), rather than standards for subsequent performance. This review considers aspects of the performance standard-setting process that influence incumbents' job reactions, specifically in terms of motivated performance and job satisfaction. We draw upon the following literatures to specify future research needs and directions: goal setting, feedback and framing, performance expectations, job satisfaction, and utility analysis. The result is an outline of research propositions concerning the acceptance of performance standards, the content of performance standards, the communication of standards, and the difficulty levels of those standards.     

STRESS AND PERFORMANCE: EFFECTS OF SUBJECTIVE WORK LOAD AND TIME URGENCY1

Subjective work load, time urgency, and other stress/motivation variables were measured for management personnel taking a demanding problem-solving exam at the end of a two-week training course. Comparing measures of precourse ability and final exam performance, the primary findings were that the corrected performance scores had strong negative linear (not inverted-U) relations with both subjective work load and time urgency. General state anxiety and task involvement did not substantially relate to performance. The results are discussed in terms of the nature of this particular task and the predictions of various stress/performance theories. In problem solving or other tasks requiring novel responses, these data suggest that increases in psychological stresses like subjectively high work load and time urgency uniformly impair performance across the whole range of these variables.