Proactivity with image in mind: How employee and manager characteristics affect evaluations of proactive behaviours

This paper investigates image cost as a potential downside of proactivity. Drawing on attribution theory, we examine how people construct subjective evaluations of one manifestation of proactivity, feedback‐seeking behaviour. Using a scenario methodology, we examined how employees' performance history, their manager's implicit person theory (IPT), and the frequency of their feedback‐seeking affect how managers evaluate employees' feedback seeking. Results indicate that manager attribute average performers' feedback seeking significantly less to performance‐enhancement motives than superior performers' seeking. Results further show that the frequency of feedback seeking and a manager's IPT interact in influencing managers' attributions for feedback seeking, with more entity oriented managers attributing frequent feedback seeking significantly more to impression‐management motives than infrequent feedback requests. These results highlight the importance of not only the instrumental benefits of employee proactivity, but also its potential costs.     

Around the world,adolescence is a time of heightened sensation seeking and immature self‐regulation

The dual systems model of adolescent risk‐taking portrays the period as one characterized by a combination of heightened sensation seeking and still‐maturing self‐regulation, but most tests of this model have been conducted in the United States or Western Europe. In the present study, these propositions are tested in an international sample of more than 5000 individuals between ages 10 and 30 years from 11 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, using a multi‐method test battery that includes both self‐report and performance‐based measures of both constructs. Consistent with the dual systems model, sensation seeking increased between preadolescence and late adolescence, peaked at age 19, and declined thereafter, whereas self‐regulation increased steadily from preadolescence into young adulthood, reaching a plateau between ages 23 and 26. Although there were some variations in the magnitude of the observed age trends, the developmental patterns were largely similar across countries.     

Job Seeking Among Retirees Seeking Bridge Employment

Using a sample of recent retirees, the study described here sought to test the general propositions of the Wanberg, Watt, and Rumsey (1996) model by (a) including specific variables that are likely to be relevant to older adults seeking work after retirement (bridge employment) and (b) integrating more recent variable groups (e.g., situational constraints) suggested by recent research (e.g., Wanberg, Kanfer, & Rotundo (1999) and Kanfer, Wanberg, & Kantrowitz (2001) . Generally, the results support the efficacy of the Wanberg et al. model to predict job seeking among this group. Biographical variables such as older worker job search constraints, self-evaluations (e.g., job seeking self-efficacy), and motive/social variables (e.g., social support) were related to job seeking. Some of these, however, were not in the expected direction. Similarities and differences between "regular" job seeking and bridge employment job seeking are discussed.     

Influences on Newcomers' Adjustment Tactic Use

In recent years, organizational socialization research has focused increasingly on the tactics that newcomers use to guide their own adjustment. Various subsets of adjustment tactics have been studied, with minimal rationale as to why newcomers would use different behaviors. We present a typology for newcomer adjustment tactics, comprising opportunistic, self‐determined, and shared behaviors, to categorize and integrate all newcomer adjustment tactics identified to date. Next, we propose a model in which tactic use is a function of cost–benefit analyses – on performance, ego, and social dimensions – influenced by individual and contextual factors. This integrates the diverse literatures on socialization, adjustment, information seeking, feedback seeking, and coping. Integrating our initial tactics categorization and the cost–benefit model, we present a robust set of propositions that inform newcomers' perceptions and use of adjustment tactics. We conclude by presenting theoretical and practical implications for newcomer adjustment.     

CAN MULTI-SOURCE FEEDBACK CHANGE PERCEPTIONS OF GOAL ACCOMPLISHMENT,SELF-EVALUATIONS,AND PERFORMANCE-RELATED OUTCOMES? THEORY-BASED APPLICATIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR RESEARCH

Multi-source feedback extends traditional performance appraisal by collecting information from subordinates, peers, supervisors, and customers. Ratees often receive the results along with normative data and self-ratings. This paper explores how multi-source feedback goes beyond traditional performance appraisal by providing ratees with comparative information. Focusing on person perception and information processing dynamics, this paper develops a model and associated propositions to explain the effects of multi-source feedback on perceptions of goal accomplishment, re-evaluation of self-image, and changes in outcomes such as goals, development, behavior, and performance. Moderators of relationships between the major components in the model include individual difference variables (self-image, feedback seeking, self-monitoring, task-specific self-efficacy, and impression management) and situational conditions (the content and process of multi-source feedback and organizational performance standards). Issues of research and practice intended to improve understanding and effectiveness of multi-source feedback are discussed.     

Reasoning in moral conflicts

Following the assumptions of the mental model theory and its account of moral judgements, we argue for a main role of reasoning in moral judgements, especially in dealing with moral conflicts. In four experiments, we invited adult participants to evaluate scenarios describing moral or immoral actions. Our results confirm the predictions deriving from our assumptions: Given a moral or immoral scenario, the manipulation of the propositions which refer to norms and values results in a scenario eliciting a moral conflict (Experiment 1); when invited to create conflict versions from no-conflict versions of moral or immoral scenarios, individuals manipulate the propositions in the scenario which describe norms and values rather than emotional factors (Experiment 2); the evaluation of conflict scenarios takes longer than the evaluation of no-conflict scenarios (Experiment 3), and this is because conflict scenarios involve more deliberative reasoning (Experiment 4). We discuss our results in relation to competing theories of moral judgements.     

Status Seeking and Manipulative Self‐presentation

Three studies examine the relation of dispositional status‐seeking with workplace self‐presentation behaviors. The first study showed that the status‐seeking motive provided incremental prediction, over and above narcissism and self‐monitoring, in self‐reported exaggerating, faking, and fabricating in job search. The second study showed that, after controlling for the traits from the five factor model of personality, status‐seeking predicted the undesirable job‐search behaviors, as well as use of impression‐management tactics at work. A field study showed that employee status seeking explained supervisor impressions of employee supplication and ingratiation, even after controlling for task and contextual performance. Male status‐seekers were also more likely to engage in intimidation. Status‐seeking appears to be an important motive for understanding manipulative self‐presentation at work.     

Goal orientations and the seeking of different types of feedback information

Based on the goal orientation model of feedback‐seeking behaviour, goal orientations are proposed to influence employees in the type of information they seek from knowledgeable others in the work environment. As hypothesized, a survey conducted among 170 medical residents of a Dutch university hospital showed that a learning‐approach goal orientation had a positive relationship with the seeking of self‐improvement information and a negative relationship with the seeking of self‐validation information. In contrast, a performance‐approach goal orientation was negatively related to the seeking of self‐improvement information, while a performance‐avoidance goal orientation was positively related to the seeking of self‐validation information. Unexpectedly, a performance‐avoidance goal orientation was also found to be positively related to the seeking of self‐improvement information.     

Toward An Explanatory Model of Innovative Behavior

Research on innovative behavior has persistently focused on determining the correlations between numerous demographic and psychographic variables and specific external actions. Unfortunately, such research has consistently produced unreliable results. A preferred alternative to this line of research is an analysis of the causes of innovative behavior with the objective of understanding the process underlying this activity. A framework is proposed for examining innovative behavior based upon a comprehensive model of variety seeking, of which innovative behavior is one outcome. The framework attempts to depict the causes of, the processes involved, and the outcomes of variety seeking, particularly as it relates to innovative behavior. A number of propositions are presented.     

Self‐Supervisor Agreement: The Influence of Feedback Seeking on the Relationship Between Self and Supervisor Ratings of Performance1

Self‐assessment research has continued to search for those factors that increase self‐other rating agreement. The current field study investigated the feedback‐seeking strategies (i. e., monitoring and inquiry) used by 125 employees to obtain performance information, as well as the relationship between feedback‐seeking strategy use and self‐supervisor performance‐rating agreement. Results indicate that the frequency of monitoring reported by employees significantly moderated the relationship between self and supervisor ratings of performance. Individuals who reported higher levels of feedback seeking through monitoring were more likely to have self‐assessments that were congruent with their supervisors' ratings of performance.     

Using Ordinal Data to Estimate Cardinal Values

We investigate methods developed in multiple criteria decision‐making that use ordinal information to estimate numerical values. Such methods can be used to estimate attribute weights, attribute values, or event probabilities given ranks or partial ranks. We first review related studies and then develop a generalized rank‐sum (GRS) approach in which we provide a derivation of the rank‐sum approach that had been previously proposed. The GRS approach allows for incorporating the concept of degree of importance (or, difference in likelihood with respect to probabilities and difference in value for attribute values), information that most other rank‐based formulas do not utilize. We then present simulation results comparing the GRS method with other rank‐based formulas such as the rank order centroid method and comparing the GRS methods using as many as three levels of importance (i.e., GRS‐3) with Simos' procedure (which can also incorporate degree of importance). To our surprise, our results show that the incorporation of additional information (i.e., the degree of the importance), both GRS‐3 and Simos' procedure, did not result in better performance than rank order centroid or GRS. Further research is needed to investigate the modelling of such extra information. We also explore the scenario when a decision‐maker has indifference judgments and cannot provide a complete rank order. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self‐Construals,Motivation, and Feedback‐Seeking Behaviors

The current study explores the relations between individualism, motivation, and feedback‐seeking behaviors. Specifically, we examined how three motivational factors (i.e., status‐striving, achievement‐striving, and affiliation‐striving) mediated or moderated the relations between individualism and feedback‐seeking behaviors. Data were collected from 154 Singaporean undergraduate students across two time periods. Results indicated that only status motivation mediates the individualism–feedback‐seeking relation. Affiliation was found to moderate that same relation but only for a specific subset of feedback‐seeking behaviors. The implications of these findings for performance management and development are discussed.     

Multiple Framing: Verbal,Facial, and Vocal Cues in Risky Choice

Verbal framing effects have been widely studied, but little is known about how people react to multiple framing cues in risk communication, where verbal messages are often accompanied by facial and vocal cues. We examined joint and differential effects of verbal, facial, and vocal framing on risk preference in hypothetical monetary and life–death situations. In the multiple framing condition with the factorial design (2 verbal frames × 2 vocal tones × 4 basic facial expressions × 2 task domains), each scenario was presented auditorily with a written message on a photo of the messenger's face. Compared with verbal framing effects resulting in preference reversal, multiple frames made risky choice more consistent and shifted risk preference without reversal. Moreover, a positive tone of voice increased risk‐seeking preference in women. When the valence of facial and vocal cues was incongruent with verbal frame, verbal framing effects were significant. In contrast, when the affect cues were congruent with verbal frame, framing effects disappeared. These results suggest that verbal framing is given higher priority when other affect cues are incongruent. Further analysis revealed that participants were more risk‐averse when positive affect cues (positive tone or facial expressions) were congruently paired with a positive verbal frame whereas participants were more risk‐seeking when positive affect cues were incongruent with the verbal frame. In contrast, for negative affect cues, congruency promoted risk‐seeking tendency whereas incongruency increased risk‐aversion. Overall, the results show that facial and vocal cues interact with verbal framing and significantly affect risk communication. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The HEXACO Model of Personality Structure and the Importance of the H Factor

We give a brief summary of recent research on the structure of personality characteristics, describing the six‐dimensional ‘HEXACO’ model that has emerged as the most accurate representation of that structure. We then discuss the importance of personality as a predictor of socially important criteria, describing a variety of examples involving the Honesty–Humility (H) factor. The H dimension, alone or in combination with other factors of the HEXACO model, is related inversely to a wide array of criteria, including criminal activity and other unethical behaviors as well as materialistic and power‐seeking tendencies.     

Peer Assessment of Aviation Performance: Inconsistent for Good Reasons

Research into expertise is relatively common in cognitive science concerning expertise existing across many domains. However, much less research has examined how experts within the same domain assess the performance of their peer experts. We report the results of a modified think‐aloud study conducted with 18 pilots (6 first officers, 6 captains, and 6 flight examiners). Pairs of same‐ranked pilots were asked to rate the performance of a captain flying in a critical pre‐recorded simulator scenario. Findings reveal (a) considerable variance within performance categories, (b) differences in the process used as evidence in support of a performance rating, (c) different numbers and types of facts (cues) identified, and (d) differences in how specific performance events affect choice of performance category and gravity of performance assessment. Such variance is consistent with low inter‐rater reliability. Because raters exhibited good, albeit imprecise, reasons and facts, a fuzzy mathematical model of performance rating was developed. The model provides good agreement with observed variations.     

The Quality of the Childrearing Environment of Refugee or Asylum‐Seeking Children and the Best Interests of the Child: Reliability and Validity of the BIC‐Q

The Best Interest of the Child Questionnaire (BIC‐Q) has been designed as an instrument for screening the quality of the rearing situation of asylum‐seeking or refugee children. It is intended to aid legal decisions in asylum procedures. The aim of this study was to determine the reliability and the construct validity of the BIC‐Q. Based on a study sample of refugee or asylum‐seeking children in the Netherlands (N = 74), the psychometric quality of the BIC‐Q was investigated using Cohen's kappa for the inter‐ and intrarater reliability and a nonparametric item response model for the construct validity. The interrater and intrarater reliabilities of the BIC‐Q were good (kappa = .65 and .74 respectively). The results of the item response model revealed that the 14 pedagogical environmental conditions formed a strong and valid measurement scale for the quality of the childrearing environment (H = .55; rho = .94). Preliminary results indicate that the BIC‐Q may be applied to support decisions on where the asylum‐seeking or refugee child has the best opportunities for development. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding,Self‐Evidence,and Justification

Self‐evidence is plausibly taken to be a status that marks propositions as capable of being justifiedly believed (and known) on the basis of understanding them. This paper explicates and defends that view. The paper shows that the broadly linguistic kind of understanding implied by basic semantic comprehension of a formulation of a self‐evident proposition does not entail being justified in believing that proposition; that the kind of understanding adequate to yield such justification is multi‐dimensional; and that there are many variables partly constitutive of such understanding—all philosophically interesting in themselves—that a theory of self‐evidence must account for. The paper also shows why self‐evident propositions need not be obvious, need not be unprovable, and, far from being beyond dispute, can be rationally disputed. The concluding section shows how knowledge of self‐evident propositions is possible even if, on the one hand, their elements are abstract and causally inert and, on the other, beliefs constituting knowledge must meet both causal and reliability conditions connected with their truthmakers.     

“All‐or‐None” Versus “Most‐or‐Some” Options in Risky Choice: Effects of Domain and Handedness

Two methodological variants of Kahneman and Tversky's Asian disease scenario were investigated. One variant involved replacing the “all‐or‐none” outcome scenarios of the risky choice with “most‐or‐some” scenario outcomes, and the second variant involved replacing the negative domain of lives lost with a positive domain of jobs created. In addition, the effects of strength of handedness, a variable related to individual differences in risk perception, were examined. Results indicated that standard framing effects were obtained across both domains, with a decrease in risky choice under the gain domain. Scenario type also interacted with handedness, such that the all‐or‐none scenario yielded framing effects for consistent (strong)‐handers only, whereas the most‐or‐some scenario yielded framing effects for inconsistent (mixed)‐handers only (consistent‐handers are those who use the same hand exclusively for almost all activities). These results demonstrate that framing effects are strongly influenced by the presence versus absence of extreme/absolute outcomes and that individuals (in this case, decision makers with varying degrees of handedness strength) are differentially sensitive to different pieces of information. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Information‐Seeking Strategies,Uncertainty, and Computer‐Mediated Communication

This article argues that existing theory and research on computer‐mediated communication (CMC) provide a limited view of information‐seeking behavior and proposes a conceptual model for its examination via CMC and new media. Although most CMC environments eliminate or severely reduce nonverbal and contextual information available to address uncertainty, form impressions, and develop relationships, such environments offer alternative mechanisms for acquiring social information about others. The article discusses strategies for seeking social information and identifies factors influencing their selection from alternatives, incorporating them into a conceptual model. Finally, 2 promising approaches for examining the effects and effectiveness of social information seeking in CMC are described, with an emphasis on how the proposed conceptual model can aid in the development of each.     

The Role of Anxiety in Seeking and Retaining Risk Information: Testing the Risk Perception Attitude Framework in Two Studies

Despite the importance of health information seeking, not all people engage in such behaviors, especially when thinking about the disease is distressing. The focus of this paper is to examine the antecedents of information seeking and retention. Based on individuals’ risk perception and efficacy beliefs, the risk perception attitude framework is used to formulate four groups: responsive (high risk, high efficacy), avoidance (high risk, low efficacy), proactive (low risk, high efficacy), and indifference (low risk, low efficacy). In Study 1, a 2 (risk) × 2 (efficacy) between‐subjects experiment, participants’ perceived risk to skin cancer and skin cancer–related efficacy beliefs were induced to determine their information seeking, retention, and intentions to engage in future seeking. The responsive group, as predicted, was associated with the most information‐seeking behaviors and information‐seeking intentions. The avoidance group, however, sought information but exhibited the lowest retention scores. These results were used to derive two predictions—the incredulity hypothesis and the anxiety‐reduction hypothesis—that were then tested in Study 2. Study 2, also a 2 (risk) × 2 (efficacy) between‐subjects experiment dealing with diabetes, found support for the anxiety‐reduction hypothesis, which argues that the high‐risk, low‐efficacy group experiences more anxiety, which leads to high motivations to seek, but lower ability to retain information.