An Examination of the Validity and Incremental Value of Needed‐at‐Entry Ratings for a Customer Service Job

We examined needed‐at‐entry ratings of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) provided by job experts (N= 285) during a job analysis for a customer service manager position. To serve as an external referent, a group of industrial and organisational psychologists (N= 31) rated the perceived trainability of each KSAO. Analyses revealed only limited support for the validity of inferences drawn from job experts' needed‐at‐entry ratings. Consistent with our hypotheses, less validity evidence was found for ratings of the more person‐oriented and abstract “AO” attributes than for the more job‐oriented and concrete “KS” attributes. In general, job experts tended to rate attributes as needed‐at‐entry that psychologists thought could be developed on the job. We also found that failing to collect needed‐at‐entry ratings, and relying on only the more common importance‐to‐the‐job ratings, would have resulted in a rather different set of critical KSAOs identified for assessment during the selection process.     

Beyond Emotional Intelligence at Work:: Adding Insight to Injury Through Group Psychotherapy

The author applies the popular concept of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) to the group treatment of work problems. Adding psychodynamic insight to the existing EQ dimension of understanding emotions and utilizing emotional awareness, helps patients improve their reactions to problematic situations and individuals. By focusing on discordant episodes that arise in group, the author employs a systematic approach to identifying unconscious contributors to diminished job performance. Methods for assessing deficits in EQ and for processing relevant group discords are described. Clinical illustrations are provided.     

More than g: Evidence for the Incremental Validity of Performance-Based Assessments for Predicting Training Performance

Past research has consistently shown that tests measuring specific cognitive abilities provide little if any incremental validity over tests of general mental ability when predicting performance on the job. In this study, we suggest that the seeming lack of incremental validity may have been due to the type of content that has traditionally been assessed. Therefore, we hypothesised that incremental validity can be obtained using specific cognitive abilities that are less highly correlated with g and are matched to the tasks performed on the job. To test this, we examined a recently developed performance-based measure that assesses a number of cognitive abilities related to training performance. In a sample of 310 US Navy student pilots, results indicated that performance-based scores added sizeable incremental validity to a measure of g. The significant increases in R² ranged from .08 to .10 across criteria. Similar results were obtained after correcting correlations for range restriction, though the magnitude of incremental validity was slightly smaller (ΔR² ranged from .05 to .07).     

Against all odds – is a more differentiated view of personality development in emerging adulthood needed? The case of young apprentices

Personality development in emerging adults who do not attend college after high school has been largely overlooked so far. In this study, we investigated personality development in emerging German adults (N_T1 = 1,886, M_ageT1 = 18.01 years, 29% female) undergoing vocational education and training (VET). The trainees were assessed at the start of VET, 1.5 years later, and another 1.5 years after that, just before graduation. Longitudinal latent change score analyses were applied. Bivariate analyses investigated life satisfaction and job strain as social and work‐related aspects that are potentially reciprocally related to personality development. Mean‐level personality changes included increases in neuroticism and decreases in agreeableness and conscientiousness in the first interval. In the second interval, neuroticism decreased and conscientiousness increased. Simultaneously, trainees reported a gradual decrease in extraversion and openness across the 3‐year time span. Personality, especially agreeableness and conscientiousness, emerged as a stronger predictor of changes in job strain and life satisfaction than vice versa. For example, more agreeable and more conscientious trainees subsequently showed increases in life satisfaction. Trainees reporting higher job strain subsequently showed decreases in agreeableness. Trajectories of personality development partly support the maturity principle that has been established in many college student samples.     

Ambient Sexual Harassment: An Integrated Model of Antecedents and Consequences

Research on sexual harassment as a prevalent job stressor has focused primarily on outcomes for the direct targets of harassment; the antecedents and consequences ofindirectexposure to sexual harassment have not been explored. Ambient Sexual Harassment is proposed as an assessment of indirect exposure to sexual harassment. Ambient Sexual Harassment is defined as the general or ambient level of sexual harassment in a work group as measured by the frequency of sexually harassing behaviors experienced by others in a woman's work group. The integration of Ambient Sexual Harassment into the model of sexual harassment developed by Fitzgerald, Drasgow, Hulin, Gelfand, and Magley (1997) proposes that indirect exposure to sexual harassment will have similar antecedents and job-related, psychological, and health outcomes as direct exposure. An empirical test of the model, using samples of female employees from a public utility company (N= 455) and a food processing plant (N= 194), generally supports predictions.     

Super's Career Stages and the Decision to Change Careers

This study examined Super's (1990) concept of recycling through the stages of adult career development in a sample of 226 Australian men and women who were approximately evenly distributed across the following four steps in the uptake of a second career: (a) contemplating a change, (b) choosing a new field, (c) implementing a change, and (d) change fully completed. A group of adults of similar age, gender, education, occupation, and career history who had no intention of switching careers was also included for comparison. Recycling predictions were supported by the finding that the three groups who were in the throes of career change displayed greater concern with Super's first (exploration) stage than the nonchanging control group. In addition, the two groups who were most intensely involved in the change process (choosing field and implementing) scored higher in exploration concern than the group whose career change was fully completed. Satisfaction also varied as a function of the participant's stage in the process of switching to a new career. Global satisfaction with the present job was highest in workers who had completed the change to a new career, but nonchangers were more satisfied than the three groups who were actively caught up in the change process. On the other hand, satisfaction with the overall pattern of career development was higher in the two stable groups (nonchangers and change-completed) than among the three groups still actively involved in making a change. Implications of these results for midlife career counseling were considered.     

Organizational factors and work involvement

The aim of this paper is to describe a study which investigated the influence of organizational factors on job involvement and specialization involvement. It was hypothesized that rank, self-expression, participation in decision making, and career factors affect job and specialization involvement. The independent variables were chosen by considering an extension of Schein's (1971, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 7, 401–426) “career cone” concept. The hypotheses were tested using a sample of Australian Army officers (N = 384) in a questionnaire survey. The results showed that job involvement is associated primarily with self-expression, although the latter is influenced in turn by participation in decision making, and that specialization involvement is associated with both self-expression and career factors. Rank does not affect either involvement variable. It was concluded that Schein's concept is a useful guide to theory and research on career attitudes. The results support the proposition that job and specialization involvement are distinct constructs. Implications for organizations are discussed.     

Interactive effects of work group and organizational identification on job satisfaction and extra-role behavior

Past research has focused on the differential relationships of organizational and work group identification with attitudes and behavior. However, no systematic effort has been undertaken yet to explore interactive effects between these foci of identification. We predicted that in cases of positive overlap of identifications (i.e. high work group and organizational identification) identifications are more strongly associated with employee job satisfaction and extra-role behavior than when only one of the identifications is high—that is, the one identification augments the influence of the other. These hypotheses were tested and supported with data from two samples of bank employees (N = 358) and travel agency employees (N = 308).     

Mapping the contours of faith in the land of separation: spiritual geographies for children

According to Jean Piaget, children begin to develop a concept of an object, such as that it has sides that are not visible from the child's perspective or that it is likely to be where one saw it last, in early infancy. By the close of the prelinguistic phase at about 2 years old, the child has developed a mature object concept, one that comprehends the object as a continuing entity even when it is not visible. Many children's picture books demonstrate Piaget's concept of object permanence through narrative and image. This paper offers a close reading of three classics, Goodnight moon, Harold and the purple crayon and Where the wild things are, in an explanation of how children are able to develop faith in an invisible, omnipresent deity.     

Group Session Rating Scale: Preliminary psychometrics in substance abuse group interventions

Background: Although ultra‐brief outcome and process measures have been developed for individual therapy, currently there are no ultra‐brief alliance measures for group therapy. Method: The current study examined 105 clients in group therapy for issues related to substance abuse or with issues related to the substance abuse of a significant other. We tested whether a newly developed group therapy alliance measure – the Group Session Rating Scale would be related to other commonly used group process measures (Working Alliance Inventory, Group Cohesion, Group Climate) and early change (change over the first four sessions of group therapy). Results: The findings provided support for reliability based on Cronbach alphas and test‐retest coefficients. Additionally, the GSRS was a one‐factor measure that was related to other group process measures as well as predicted early change. Discussion: Clinical implications for how to utilise ultra‐brief outcome and alliance measures are provided.     

Aligning job redesign with leadership training to improve supervisor support: a quasi-experimental study of the integration of HR practices

In this quasi-experimental study, we examine the alignment of a job redesign initiative with leadership training aimed at increasing supervisors’ opportunities for providing support to employees. In addition, we examine intervention-mediated effects on climate for innovation through increases in perceived supervisor support. To test the hypothesized process, we used employee ratings (N = 524) of perceived supervisor support and climate for innovation collected at three time points over 2 years in the home help services in seven Swedish municipalities. Results of latent growth curve analyses showed that employees in the intervention group had a stronger and positive slope of perceived supervisor support relative to the comparison group. Further, the growth trajectories of perceived supervisor support were positively associated with climate for innovation at the 24-month follow-up. The study contributes to the human resource management literature by showing that alignment of employment practices such as training with work practices such as job redesign may be a promising strategy for achieving positive outcomes at multiple levels in organizations.     

Repentance and seeking forgiveness: the effects of spiritual therapy based on Islamic tenets to improve mental health

For years, spirituality has been utilised by many as an asset to improve mental and physical health. This study creates a valid argument that Islamic teachings specifically can have a notable effect on students’ overall health. This particular therapy originates from the Islamic concept of soul purification/cleansing (otherwise known as: tazkiyah al-nafs). The reason behind this was to evaluate the impact of tawba (meaning repentance) and istighfar (forgiveness) therapy for improving mental health in a selected group of Muslim college students. Participants were expected to attend eight consecutive sessions exploring both tawba and istighfar therapy. Both before they trialled the treatment and once they had completed it, all participants were also required to complete the ‘Social Emotional Health Survey-Higher Education’ (SEHS-HE). We concluded that in general this programme was in fact successful in improving the overall mental and even physical health in our select group of Islam practising students.     

Antidiscrimination Laws and Social Research on Disability: The Minority Group Perspective

In recent years, assessments of the difficulties confronting disabled persons have been altered both by the passage of antidiscrimination laws and by an emerging minority group model, based on a sociopolitical definition of disability, that has challenged studies shaped by the functional limitations paradigm. Unlike the latter orientation, the sociopolitical definition indicates that stigmatizing attitudes are the primary source of discrimination against disabled individuals. Both legal scholars and behavioral scientists also have neglected attitudinal research that seems at least comparable to the evidence cited by the Supreme Court to support the Brown decision. Further investigations based on the postulates of the minority group model and the concept of aesthetic anxiety may provide a means of combatting the effects of unconscious aversion toward disabled people in the courts.     

Relation between referential and reflexive processes: an explorative study

Referential process (RP) has been investigated in the psychotherapy domain to understand the mechanisms underlying clients’ problems and identify the process of change. RP shares some theoretical assumptions with another relevant construct in the psychotherapy domain, i.e. the reflexive process. However, the relation between RP and reflexive process has never been explored through an operational approach. This study aims at analyzing the relation between referential activity (RA), conceived as the linguistic index of RP, and two reflexive processes of different complexity, reflection and reflexivity, in a group counseling program. Audio recordings from seven group counseling sessions were analyzed through two procedures: (1) the latest Italian version of the computerized text analysis software developed for analyzing RA, and (2) the analysis of the narrative functions of reflection and reflexivity. Accordingly, reflection processes were mainly identified in the narrative excerpts by adopting the conventional procedure for RA software-based analysis and combining it with the analysis of the narrative functions. More complex processes of reflexivity were detected when the analysis of the narrative functions was combined with an innovative procedure for RA software-based analysis. Overall, these data indicated that a high level of RA is essential for activating reflexive processes of higher complexity.     

Fit with what? The influence of multiple self‐concept images on organizational attraction

This study tests the applicability of image congruity theory to the employment decision‐making process. A sample of workers from a variety of jobs/organizations (N = 193) read a series of job advertisements presenting unique organizational personalities, rated the extent to which these personalities matched their self‐concept perceptions, and reported evaluations of organizational attraction. In accordance with the tenets of image congruity theory, results suggest prospective job seekers are attracted to organizations with personalities they perceive as similar to their own actual and ideal self‐concepts. Actual congruence exerted a greater influence on organizational attraction than did ideal congruence. However, both ideal and actual image congruence explained significant unique variance in organizational attraction.     

Second Nature,Critical Theory and Hegel’s Phenomenology

ABSTRACT

While Hegel’s concept of second nature has now received substantial attention from commentators, relatively little has been said about the place of this concept in the Phenomenology of Spirit. This neglect is understandable, since Hegel does not explicitly use the phrase ‘second nature’ in this text. Nonetheless, several closely related phrases reveal the centrality of this concept to the Phenomenology’s structure. In this paper, I develop new interpretations of the figures ‘natural consciousness’, ‘natural notion’, and ‘inorganic nature’, in order to elucidate the distinctive concept of second nature at work in the Phenomenology. I will argue that this concept of second nature supplements the ‘official’ version, developed in the Encyclopedia, with an ‘unofficial’ version that prefigures its use in critical theory. At the same time, this reconstruction will allow us to see how the Phenomenology essentially documents spirit’s acquisition of a ‘second nature’.     

Are effect sizes in self-efficacy field changing over time? A meta–meta analysis

Theories relating to self-efficacy have developed rapidly since Bandura first proposed the concept in 1977. In the past two decades, psychologists have carried out numerous studies to research the cultural and psychological changes in social development. The research topic of this study is whether self-efficacy changes over time. This study uses a meta–meta analysis and includes 13 meta-analyses, including 536 effect sizes, with a total sample size of 421,880. We find that individual self-efficacy increases over time, which may be related to social development trends. However, the effects of interventions on self-efficacy remain similar (Q_model = 1.807, df = 1, p > .05), and a possible explanation is that time effects of self-efficacy confuse the effects of intervention, because both in the intervention group and control group, the average of self-efficacy increases over time. And we find that a general decline in the predictive effects of self-efficacy (Q_model = 5.117, df = 1, p = .024), especially the ability to predict relatively objective variables (e.g. job performance, teaching effectiveness, and transfer of training). A possible explanation is that as social development people tend to overestimate their self-efficacy. Another possible explanation is that the effect sizes in the original studies being overrated, may due to intentional selective reporting or unintentional statistical errors.     

Job insecurity climate's influence on employees' job attitudes: Evidence from two European countries

An important amount of literature about job insecurity and its consequences has been developed during the past few decades (Sverke, Hellgren, & Näswall, 2002 Sverke, M., Hellgren, J. and Näswall, K. 2002. No security: A meta-analysis and review of job insecurity and its consequences. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 7(3): 242–264. [Crossref], [PubMed] , [Google Scholar]). Most of this research has focused on an individual-analysis perspective, without taking into account social context. Although job insecurity climate has not been empirically examined, several authors have implicitly assumed that job insecurity contexts exist in some organizations where layoffs have occurred. Therefore, they examined layoff survivors' reactions. From this perspective, the aim of this study was to validate the job insecurity climate concept and examine its influence on employees' job attitudes. In order to provide additional support, this objective was examined in two samples: 428 employees belonging to 20 Spanish organizations and 550 employees in 18 Belgian organizations. The results showed that job insecurity climate emerged within the organizations in both samples, and that it influenced employees' job satisfaction and organizational commitment above and beyond individual perceptions of job insecurity in the Spanish sample. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed.     

Applications of Personality Assessment to the Workplace: A Review

Our review of the relevant research literature in the recent past strongly supports the view that personality assessment has high utility in the workplace. We review the evidence that personality assessment measures, especially those based upon the Big Five factors of personality, can effectively predict job performance and thus can be used for personnel selection. The validity of integrity testing in predicting counterproductivity on the job has been demonstrated both for overt measures of integrity and, to a lesser degree, for more general (subtle) measures of personality. We also found good evidence of validity for measures of (supervisory) management and (transformational) leadership, a complex field which includes a number of multidimensional instruments each built around its own theory. Finally, we review the empirical literature that supports the use of assessment centers and the use of personality assessment in training and development.