Perceived fairness of employee drug testing as a predictor of employee attitudes and job performance

Although management of drug testing programs is becoming a critical organizational issue, no systematic conceptual framework has been applied to the study of employee reactions to drug testing. In this study an organizational justice framework was used to explain and predict the relationships among two types of justice (procedural justice and outcome fairness) employee attitudes (job satisfaction, commitment, and management trust), and behavior (turnover intentions and performance). Survey data from 195 employees in a pathology laboratory indicated that justice predicts employee attitudes and performance. Specifically, procedural justice, but not outcome fairness, predicted all 5 criterion variables. These results demonstrate the importance of procedural justice perceptions for predicting employee reactions to drug testing programs.     

Influence of job characteristics on the acceptability of employee drug testing

Measures of the acceptability of employee drug testing were obtained from a sample of college students (N = 371) and a second sample of nontraditional, older college students (N = 112) and were correlated with job-analysis data from the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) and Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) databases, and with measures of perceived danger from impaired performance in each job. Both PAQ and DOT data accounted for variance in ratings of acceptability. Perceptions of danger were the best single predictor of acceptability and appeared to mediate the relationships between job characteristics and the acceptability of employee drug testing.     

Potential job applicant reactions to employee drug testing: The effect of program characteristics and individual differences

An experiment varied two aspects of employee drug-testing programs: the purpose of the program (to rehabilitate or to punish) and the drug-testing selection method (for due cause or random and mandatory). Dependent variables were potential job applicants' attitudes toward, intention to apply to, and willingness to accept a job offer from the company. Although the manipulations had no effects, several individual difference variables (personal use of drugs, attitudes toward drugs and drug testing, and subjective norms toward drug testing) predicted the dependent variables.     

A study of drug discipline policies in secondary schools

Little is known about how secondary schools respond to substance abuse in terms of policies, practices, or procedures. A comprehensive survey of St. Louis County public secondary schools conducted in Fall 1979 suggests that many school officials are more punitive than their juvenile court counterparts when handling incidents of drug use. A range of exclusionary discipline policies is the predominant sanction invoked against students who violate established substance-abuse policies. Questionnaire results indicate the existence of due process violations and the differential enforcement of alcohol and marijuana offenses. Furthermore, unlike the criminal justice system, many schools do not consider the amount or type of drug use or students' prior behavior as criteria for determining an appropriate disciplinary sanction. Several areas for the revision of substance-abuse policies in schools are suggested, including: acknowledging alcohol as a potentially dangerous drug, assuring that school sanctions are individually tailored to pupils' best interests and needs, developing in-school alternative programs to suspension, and providing for the total compliance of substance-abuse policies with students' legal rights.     

An evaluation of preemployment drug testing

As part of a blind longitudinal study, 5,465 job applicants were tested for use of illicit drugs, and the relationships between these drug-test results and absenteeism, turnover, injuries, and accidents on the job were evaluated. After an average 1.3 years of employment, employees who had tested positive for illicit drugs had an absenteeism rate 59.3% higher than employees who had tested negative (6.63% vs. 4.16% of scheduled work hours, respectively). Employees who had tested positive also had a 47% higher rate of involuntary turnover than employees who had tested negative (15.41% vs. 10.51%, respectively). No significant associations were detected between drug-test results and measures of injury and accident occurrence. The practical implications of these results, in terms of economic utility and prediction errors, are discussed.     

The impact of pre-employment integrity testing on employee turnover and inventory shrinkage losses

A major home improvement chain located primarily in the western United States initiated the use of thePersonnel Selection Inventory, a written integrity test, as part of its pre-employment hiring process. For two years only, those job applicants who passed this test and other pre-employment criteria were hired by the chain. Following the introduction of the inventory, there was: (1) a 50% reduction in the number of employee terminations for theft, illegal drug use, and violence over a five year period and (2) a savings in shrinkage losses that amounted to over two million dollars over a two year period.     

The deterrent value of drug and integrity testing

Numerous studies have shown that job applicants may react negatively to drug, integrity, and personality testing and that these negative reactions can affect their attitudes and job search behavior. However, it is not clear if these negative reactions are equally strong among users and non-users of drugs. Using a sample of 509 subjects responding to a hypothetical employer, results showed that drug users had more negative reactions than non-users to urinalysis, overt integrity tests and personality inventories. Drug users responded equally negatively to all forms of testing, while non-users were especially negative towards personality tests.     

Resolving the justice dilemma by improving the outcomes: The case of employee drug screening

In this paper we seek to accomplish two objectives. First, we review and describe a phenomenon we call the justice dilemma. We argue that workers often perceive valid assessment practices to be unfair. By using these techniques, employers risk incurring hidden costs that are associated with perceived injustice. Thus, it is sometimes impractical to utilize an assessment technique even though the procedure has good validity evidence. Our second purpose is to propose and test one way that organizations can resolve the justice dilemma. We do this in the context of workplace drug screening. We argue that employees are often more tolerant of controversial assessment techniques to the extent that these procedures do not result in particularly negative outcomes. In a field study examining employee reactions to a drug screening program, this proposition was generally supported.     

Resolving the justice dilemma by improving the outcomes: The case of employee drug screening

In this paper we seek to accomplish two objectives. First, we review and describe a phenomenon we call the justice dilemma. We argue that workers often perceive valid assessment practices to be unfair. By using these techniques, employers risk incurring hidden costs that are associated with perceived injustice. Thus, it is sometimes impractical to utilize an assessment technique even though the procedure has good validity evidence. Our second purpose is to propose and test one way that organizations can resolve the justice dilemma. We do this in the context of workplace drug screening We argue that employees are often more tolerant of controversial assessment techniques to the extent that these procedures do not result in particularly negative outcomes. In a field study examining employee reactions to a drug screening program, this proposition was generally supported.     

A critical review of the assumptions underlying drug testing

Current drug screening programs are based on a set of assumptions: That drug use adversely affects productivity, that available tests are accurate and cost-effective means of detecting and reducing drug use, and that drug testing is legal. When analyzed in the light of available evidence, little support was found for these assumptions. Used properly, drug testing may play a role in the overall management of employee performance; used improperly, it represents a profound threat to individual rights. Recommendations for additional research and for employers planning to use drug screening are offered.     

Determinants of employee punctuality

Although researchers have studied employee lateness empirically (e.g., S. Adler & J. Golan, 1981; C. W. Clegg, 1983), few have attempted to describe the punctual employee. In the present study, results of a discriminant analysis on employees in Israel indicated that a personality characteristic, time urgency, a subcomponent of Type A behavioral pattern, distinguished between punctual and late employees. Organizational commitment and age of employee's youngest child also distinguished between the groups.     

Organizational climate and company productivity: The role of employee affect and employee level

Consistent with a growing number of models about affect and behaviour and with a recognition that perception alone provides no impetus for action, it was predicted that associations between company climate and productivity would be mediated by average level of job satisfaction. In a study of 42 manufacturing companies, subsequent productivity was significantly correlated in controlled analyses with eight aspects of organizational climate (e.g. skill development and concern for employee welfare) and also with average job satisfaction. The mediation hypothesis was supported in hierarchical multiple regressions for separate aspects of climate. In addition, an overall analysis showed that company productivity was more strongly correlated with those aspects of climate that had stronger satisfaction loadings. A second prediction, that managers' perceptions of climate would be more closely linked to company productivity than would those of non‐managers, was not supported. However, managers' assessments of most aspects of their company's climate were significantly more positive than those of non‐managers.     

Ethics of research involving mandatory drug testing of high school athletes in Oregon

There is consensus that children have questionable decisional capacity and, therefore, in general a parent or a guardian must give permission to enroll a child in a research study. Moreover, freedom from duress and coercion, the cardinal rule in research involving adults, is even more important for children. This principle is embodied prominently in the Nuremberg Code (1947) and is embodied in various federal human research protection regulations. In a program named "SATURN" (Student Athletic Testing Using Random Notification), each school in the Oregon public-school system may implement a mandatory drug-testing program for high school student athletes. A prospective study to identify drug use among student-athletes, SATURN is designed both to evaluate the influence of random drug testing and to validate the survey data through identification of individuals who do not report drug use. The enrollment of students in the drug-testing study is a requirement for playing a school sport. In addition to the coercive nature of this study design, there were ethically questionable practices in recruitment, informed consent, and confidentiality. This article concerns the question of whether research can be conducted with high school students in conjunction with a mandatory drug-testing program, while adhering to prevailing ethical standards regarding human-subjects research and specifically the participation of children in research.     

Responses to patterns of employee absences

Simulated supervisory responses to different patterns of absence were examined in a 2×2×2 factorial experiment. Annual employee absence records were varied in terms of frequency of absence, when in the year absences occurred (timing) and the mean time between absences. The responses of 73 raters to these records were evaluated in terms of perceived intentions of the employee, perceived impact on the company and raters' intentions to act. The results cast doubts on the role of attributions of intentionality as a mediator between absences and supervisory action. A three-way interaction on supervisor action suggests a three stage model in which frequency has the dominant effect, followed by timing and mean time between absences.     

The determinants of employee benefits satisfaction

This study developed a multidimensional scale of benefits satisfaction and utilized a discrepancy model to examine the determinants of employee benefits satisfaction. The empirical findings are based on the survey responses of 205 employees in a hospital. The results indicate that pay level, female gender and exempt status employees are positively related to benefits satisfaction. Further, age and education level are negatively related to benefits satisfaction.     

Job stress and employee behaviors

The relationship between four job stresses (role ambiguity, role overload, underutilization of skills, and resource inadequacy) and two employee withdrawal behaviors (absenteeism and turnover) was investigated. The joint prediction of employee withdrawal from measures of job stress and selected backgroundd variables was also investigated. Data were obtained regarding 651 employees in five organizations through personal interviews and company records. Analysis indicated that job stress is related to employee withdrawal behaviors, that prediction of subsequent behaviors is stronger than prediction of prior behaviors, and that the predictive power of job stress and background variables taken together is as strong as, or stronger than, the predictive power of background variables alone. Confidence in the strength of the findings is enhanced by the use of multiple data sources and multiple data points.