Psychological contract breach and job attitudes: A meta-analysis of age as a moderator

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of age in the relation between psychological contract breach and the development of job attitudes. Based on affective events, social exchange, and lifespan theory, we hypothesized that (1) psychological contract breach would be related negatively to job attitudes, and (2) that age would moderate these relations. The hypotheses were tested by means of a meta-analysis of k = 60 studies, using Weighted Least Squares estimation. Our results supported both hypotheses for the outcomes trust and organizational commitment. However, for job satisfaction the moderating influence of age was in the unexpected direction. The relations between contract breach and trust and organizational commitment were indeed stronger for younger workers, whereas the relation between contract breach and job satisfaction was stronger for older workers. The implications are discussed, and a research agenda is presented.     

Production workers' reactions to a plant closing: The role of transfer,stress, and support

Abstract

This study investigated the reactions of Canadian unionized production workers following a plant closing announcement. Workers who had been transferred reported significantly greater job security, more trust in the company, greater commitment to the company, and higher job performance than workers who remained at the plant. They also reported less trust in their union than the remaining workers. Perceived supervisor support was positively related to company trust and company commitment and perceived union support was positively associated with union trust and union commitment. High stress appraisal (perceived injustice and job insecurity) was associated with increased strain, lower job performance, reduced trust in the company, and reduced company commitment, but had no significant effect on the union-related outcomes. The implications of these findings for companies and unions are discussed.     

CPM领导行为模式对员工利他行为及工作投入的作用机制

通过对我国26个省市企事业单位员工的问卷调查,探讨了CPM领导行为模式对员工利他行为和工作投入的影响途径。采用潜变量路径分析的方法,对两个阶段的模型进行检验和比较,结果表明：（1）C因素和M因素通过信任上司的完全中介作用影响利他行为和工作投入,而P因素则通过信任上司的部分中介作用对它们产生影响。（2）信任上司通过情感承诺的完全中介作用影响工作投入,通过情感承诺的部分中介作用影响员工的利他行为。     

Linking Individual Value Orientations to Employee Attitudes: An Exploratory Analysis

This study tested the relationships of individualism, power distance, and mastery orientation to 2 employee attitudes (organizational trust and organizational commitment) that are associated with employees’ psychological benefits within the organization. Results from university employees (N = 706) showed that individualism negatively, whereas mastery positively, related to trust and commitment. Power distance positively related to trust only. The moderating role of mastery was also identified. These findings can help employment or organizational counselors to appreciate value‐related factors that facilitate employees in psychologically integrating into the organization and to explore new ways for employers to foster employees’ positive attitudes.     

Social Contagion and Multiplexity Communication Networks as Predictors of Commitment and Role Ambiguity

This research compares two contrasting perspectives of social contagion processes associated with the organizational outcome variables of commitment and role ambiguity in organizations. The two perspectives are structural equivalence (which focuses on the positions of individuals in social networks) and cohesion (which focuses on an individual's direct communication contacts). It was hypothesized that structural equivalence would be more associated with role ambiguity and that commitment would be more associated with cohesion. The relationship between these variables and multiplex content networks was also studied. It was hypothesized that commitment was a much more broadly based concept in the sense that a number of functional content networks systematically relate to it. On the other hand, role ambiguity was hypothesized to be more closely associated with uniplex networks, especially those related to job duties and organizational goals. While there were exceptions, generally the research results supported the hypotheses relating to multiplexity. The hypotheses that structural equivalence was more associated with role ambiguity and that commitment was more associated with cohesion also were supported in this research.     

Factors explaining male/female differences in attitudes and purchase intention toward genetically engineered salmon

• Frequently observed male/female differences in attitudes toward genetically engineered (GE) foods have not received adequate explanations. We examined (a) the ability of two hypotheses (safety concern and institutional trust) to explain male/female attitudes toward GE salmon and (b) the effect of attitudes on male/female differences in purchase intent. A survey (n = 501) was administered in two branches of a regional supermarket chain. After reading an information booklet, men and women's scores on a knowledge quiz did not differ but women had significantly more negative attitudes toward GE salmon than men. Attitudinal male/female differences were attributed to women's lower trust in government agencies and scientific organizations, and higher level of perceived health risks compared to men – supporting both hypotheses. But the essential basis of these attitudinal male/female differences appeared to be women's greater concern about the ethics/morality of this application. Attitude differences were the major contributor to male/female differences in purchase intention.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Note on the Comparative Value of the “True” Index of Studiousness for the Purpose of Prognosis

It was hypothesized that observers would be less inclined to expect a person to shift from one task to another when the initial task had been chosen than when it had been assigned, and when costs incurred while working on the initial task could not be recouped. Choice was also hypothesized to favor attribution of preference for the initial task and optimism concerning its completion, while unrecoupable costs were expected to encourage the attribution of preference but inhibit the attribution of optimism. It was also hypothesized that the effects of choice on attributed preference and optimism would be negated by the individual's failure to shift tasks at the earliest opportunity, but the effects of unrecoupable costs would not be. Ss were 188 male undergraduates who twice responded to paper-and-pencil instruments while watching video-taped experimental sessions. The manipulations created a 2 × 2 × 2 design. All hypotheses were supported. It was concluded that unrecoupable costs establish a strong and lasting presumption of commitment, whereas the effects of choice vs. assignment tend not to persist in the face of contradictory evidence.     

Relationship Commitment and Perceptions of Harm to Self

Commitment to a relationship is associated with a number of consequences, including willingness to sacrifice for the relationship, greater cognitive interdependence between partners, and increased trust in one's partner. Consistent with such consequences, we hypothesized that greater commitment is associated with decreased perceptions of one's partner as a source of harm to the self. We conducted two studies (one correlational, one experimental) to test hypotheses regarding the association between commitment level and personal harm perceptions, based on tenets from interdependence theory and balance theory. Study 1 revealed significant negative associations between commitment and personal harm perceptions. Results from Study 2 suggest that greater commitment leads to decreased perceptions of partner-based risk and increased risky behavioral tendencies.     

A Longitudinal Study of Shop Stewards’ Union Commitment and Perceptions of Union Instrumentality and Support

Although previous studies have hypothesised that union perceptions (e.g. perceived union instrumentality, perceived union support) predict members’ commitment to the union, these relationships have only been tested cross‐sectionally. Drawing on attitude–behavior consistency theory, this study hypothesised that union commitment may be an antecedent of union perceptions. Cross‐lagged structural equation models with one year separating waves of data collection (N = 676) provided the most support for a model suggesting that commitment precedes perceptions of the union. These results point to the need to consider new models of union commitment for shop stewards and, potentially, union members.     

Fairness Perceptions and Trust as Mediators on the Relationship Between Leadership Style,Unit Commitment,and Turnover Intentions of Canadian Forces Personnel

Whether fairness perceptions and leader trust mediate the relationship between leadership style and commitment and turnover was evaluated among Canadian Forces personnel (N = 1,443). Correlational analyses and structural equation modeling results provided support for the proposed meditational model. However, the influence of transactional leadership on commitment and turnover was due to its direct influence on fairness perceptions, whereas the influence of transformational leadership on these outcomes was based on its direct and indirect influence on both fairness perceptions and leader trust. It thus appears that both types of leadership style influence commitment and turnover, but the mechanism through which their effects occur may be distinct. The implications of these findings for theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

人-职务匹配、人-组织匹配对员工工作态度的效应机制研究

本研究采用结构方程建模方法检验了人与职务、组织匹配对员工工作满意感和组织承诺的效应,及“内部整合”与“人际预测”的中介作用。结果表明,人与职务、组织匹配对员工工作满意感和组织承诺有显著的积极效应,“内部整合”对这种效应起完全中介作用,而“人际预测”仅对“人-职务匹配”对员工工作满意感的效应起部分中介作用。研究为理解“人-环境匹配”对于员工工作态度的效应机制提供了理论框架和实证依据。     

The impact of adult attachment style on organizational commitment and adult attachment in the workplace

Adult attachment style has only recently been considered as having a role in explaining work behavior. The present research aimed to explore the impact of adult attachment style, assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), on organizational commitment (OC) and on adult attachment in the workplace (AAW). We hypothesized that a secure attachment style would be positively related to affective and normative commitment, while preoccupied and avoidant styles would be negatively related to affective commitment; we also hypothesized that there would be a correspondence between the AAI categories and the AAW dimensions. Using the AAI categories as group variable, analysis of average OC and AAW scores confirmed the hypotheses. Secure workers had a higher mean score for affective commitment than avoidant and preoccupied workers; normative commitment was higher in avoidant than in secure and preoccupied workers; continuance commitment was higher in preoccupied than in secure and avoidant workers. Moreover, AAI categories converged with AAW dimensions: secure workers had higher secure AAW scores than avoidant and preoccupied workers; avoidant workers had higher avoidant AAW scores than secure and preoccupied workers; preoccupied workers had higher preoccupied AAW scores than secure and avoidant workers.     

Catch me if I fall! Enacted uncertainty avoidance and the social safety net as country-level moderators in the job insecurity-job attitudes link

Job insecurity is related to many detrimental outcomes, with reduced job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment being the 2 most prominent reactions. Yet, effect sizes vary greatly, suggesting the presence of moderator variables. On the basis of Lazarus's cognitive appraisal theory, we assumed that country-level enacted uncertainty avoidance and a country's social safety net would affect an individual's appraisal of job insecurity. More specifically, we hypothesized that these 2 country-level variables would buffer the negative relationships between job insecurity and the 2 aforementioned job attitudes. Combining 3 different data sources, we tested the hypotheses in a sample of 15,200 employees from 24 countries by applying multilevel modeling. The results confirmed the hypotheses that both enacted uncertainty avoidance and the social safety net act as cross-level buffer variables. Furthermore, our data revealed that the 2 cross-level interactions share variance in explaining the 2 job attitudes. Our study responds to calls to look at stress processes from a multilevel perspective and highlights the potential importance of governmental regulation when it comes to individual stress processes.     

Antecedents and outcomes of union loyalty: a constructive replication and an extension

Primary data obtained from unionized employees in Singapore were used to examine P. A. Bamberger, A. N. Kluger, and R. Suchard's (1999) integrative model of the antecedents and outcomes of union commitment. Structural equation modeling results revealed support for their integrative model. Specifically, the results revealed the influence of job satisfaction on union loyalty to be indirect through organizational commitment. However, the union-related antecedents (union socialization and union instrumentality) were both directly and indirectly related to union loyalty through pro-union attitudes. In addition, union loyalty was related to the individually and organizationally directed union citizenship behavior dimensions. Limitations of the study and implications of the findings are discussed.     

Taking a sickie: Job satisfaction and job involvement as interactive predictors of absenteeism in a public organization

Correlations between absenteeism and work attitudes such as job satisfaction have often been found to be disappointingly weak. As prior work reveals, this might be due to ignoring interactive effects of attitudes with different attitude targets (e.g. job involvement and organizational commitment). Drawing on basic principles in personality research and insights about the situational variability of job satisfaction judgments, we proposed that similar interactions should be present also for attitudes with the same target. More specifically, it was predicted that job involvement affects absenteeism more if job satisfaction is low as this indicates a situation with weak constraints. Both attitudes were assessed in a sample of 436 employees working in a large civil service organization, and two indexes of absence data (frequency and time lost) were drawn from personnel records covering a 12‐month period following the survey. Whereas simple correlations were not significant, a moderated regression documented that the hypothesized interaction was significant for both indicators of absence behaviour. As a range of controls (e.g. age, gender, job level) were accounted for, these findings lend strong support to the importance of this new, specific form of attitude interaction. Thus, we encourage researchers not only to consider interactions of attitudes with a different focus (e.g. job vs. organization) but also interactions between job involvement and job satisfaction as this will yield new insights into the complex function of attitudes in influencing absenteeism.     

Intergroup reconciliation: effects of adversary's expressions of empathy, responsibility, and recipients' trust

The present study explores the effects of expressions of empathy for the ingroup's conflict-related suffering and assumed responsibility for causing it by a representative of the rival outgroup on recipient's willingness for reconciliation. It is suggested that such positive expressions by an adversary will have positive effects on reconciliation only in the presence of a basic level of trust in the outgroup. In two studies, Israeli-Jewish participants were exposed to a Palestinian leader who either expressed or did not express empathy and/or Palestinian responsibility for Israelis' suffering. After reading the speech, participants completed a questionnaire that measured their attitudes toward reconciliation with Palestinians. Results of both studies show that whereas expression of empathy led to more positive attitudes when trust was high, it tended to have adverse effects when trust was low. Similar effects were not found for assumed responsibility. Implications for research on intergroup conflict and reconciliation are discussed.     

Goal assignment and performance: Assessing the mediating roles of goal commitment and self-efficacy and the moderating role of power distance

This study investigated the effect of goal assignment on the goal commitment, self-efficacy, and performance of individuals who differed on the power distance cultural value dimension. Data were collected from 143 university students in Australia. They were randomly assigned to either a participative or assigned goal setting condition to complete class schedules. Instructional method (i.e., “tell and sell”) and research administrator supportiveness were held constant across the two conditions. Consistent with previous findings, it was hypothesized that self-efficacy and goal commitment would mediate the relation of goal assignment and performance. Extending previous research, it was hypothesized that power distance would moderate the relation of goal assignment and each of goal commitment, self-efficacy, and performance. Hierarchical regression analyses fully supported the mediating and partially supported the moderating hypotheses. Moreover, multigroup structural equation modeling (MSEM) indicated that for low power distance individuals only, self-efficacy mediated the effect of goal assignment on performance.     

组织中上下级的双向信任：影响及机制

研究采取双向信任的视角,同时考虑组织中员工感知到的来自上级的信任(即,被信任感)和员工对上级信任对员工心理和行为的影响及机制。以737名企业员工为被试、运用问卷调查法、采用结构方程模型分析数据,结果显示：下级的被信任感与对上级的信任正相关;下级对上级的信任对下级工作绩效的影响主要通过心理安全的完全中介作用实现;而下级的被信任感分别通过感激和心理授权的完全中介作用影响下级工作绩效和满意度。     

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.

     

Personal and Group Acculturation Attitudes and Adjustment: Russian and Ethiopian Immigrants in Israel

The adjustment of 2 groups of immigrant students in an Israeli university was investigated as a function of their acculturation attitudes and the perceived attitude of the host society. Acculturation attitudes were divided into group attitudes representing generalized aims of the group, and personal attitudes pertaining to individual aims of acculturation that deviate from these group aims. We argued that a preference for acculturation attitudes that contradicted the group consensus would be detrimental to immigrants' psychological adjustment, whereas normative attitudes would not adversely affect this adjustment. It was hypothesized further that personal and group attitudes would not have different effects on social adjustment and that both facets of adjustment would be affected by the attitude of the majority. The data generally supported the research hypotheses.