MOTIVATION AND VALUES AMONG JAPANESE AND AMERICAN MANAGERS

There have been recent claims in the popular literature about the superiority of the Japanese-inspired participative principles of "Theory Z" management for business productivity. Yet motivational and value differences that might support these principles have seldom been evaluated psychometrically. In response to this need, middle-aged Japanese and American business managers were administered the Rokeach Values Survey and a questionnaire measure of upward mobility desires (Sarnoff). Results showed the Japanese attached greater importance to socially beneficial values in contrast to the American emphasis on individuality and straightforwardness. Yet the Japanese also showed greater valuation of accomplishments and, on the motivational instrument, more interest in advancement, money, and forward striving. Since the latter characteristics tend to be those most associated with success, it is suggested that achievement and advancement motivation may be one fuel for Japanese productivity and collective actions only their method for disciplining and rewarding it.     

Stability and change in parental attitudes following an infant's birth into traditional and nontraditional Swedish families

Fifty-one Swedish couples were interviewed in the last trimester of their first pregnancy and again when their infants were 5 months old. Twenty-five of the couples indicated that the mothers would be primary caretakers throughout the first year (traditional families) whereas the other 26 couples said that the fathers would be primary caretakers for between 1 and 6.5 months during the year (nontraditional families). Analyses showed that the value of parenthood and the value of work were stable from the first (prenatal) to the second (postnatal) interview, although prenatally-anticipated paternal involvement was only marginally correlated with actual paternal involvement. Subjects agreed with their spouses when asked about the same issues, suggesting that the constructs had some validity. Parenthood and work were more highly valued by nontraditional parents than by traditional parents. Degree of paternal caretaking was positively correlated with the fathers satisfaction with and value of parenthood and negatively correlated with their resentment of the infant. Correlations differed somewhat among traditional and nontraditional mothers and fathers. Fathers were more involved with "difficult" sons and "easy" daughters than with "easy" sons and "difficult" daughters.     

EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE SURVEYS IN A MULTINATIONAL ORGANIZATION: CONSIDERING LANGUAGE AND CULTURE IN ASSESSING MEASUREMENT EQUIVALENCE

The cross-cultural equivalence of a multinational employee opinion survey was examined using multiple-groups covariance structure analysis to examine 4 scales in 4 countries. Cultural and linguistic influences were considered by assessing equivalence across 2 pairs of countries having the same language but different cultures (U.S. and Australia, Mexico and Spain) and across countries differing in culture and language (U.S. and Mexico). The measure was equivalent across U.S. and Australian samples only. Analyses indicated items that were the source of lack of invariance. One cause explored was translation problems. Practical issues in assessing measurement equivalence in employee opinion surveys are discussed.     

NEGLIGENT HIRING AND DEFAMATION: AREAS OF LIABILITY RELATED TO PRE-EMPLOYMENT INQUIRIES

Research on pre-employment inquiries has not been extensive. The limited validity and utility of employment references has been documented, but other types of background checks have not been adequately discussed. However, recent legal trends in the areas of negligent hiring and defamation are leading employers to reevaluate their use of pre-employment inquiries and, particularly, references in hiring. Principles of law in these two areas are discussed and issues of concern to I/O psychologists are presented.     

Meditation: The Forgotten Western Tradition

In this article we discuss aspects of the history of the demise of meditation in the West and its recent re-emergence as an Eastern system. Reasons for this phenomenon will be explored. The differences between Eastern and Western meditation, the psychology of meditation, research in the field, as well as applications of meditation to counseling will be discussed.     

COMMUNICATION CONCERNS OF PRESERVICE AND INSERVICE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

The purposes of this study were: (1) to identify the communication concerns of prospective, student, and inservice teachers and (2) to determine differences in the concerns of the three groups with regard to a three-phase conceptualization: concern with self, task, and impact. Findings were that: (1) prospective teachers expressed more self than task or impact concerns, (2) student teachers expressed more task than impact concerns, (3) inservice teachers expressed more impact than self or task concerns, and (4) prospective teachers expressed more self concerns than student or inservice teachers, student teachers expressed more task concerns than prospective or inservice teachers, and inservice teachers expressed more impact concerns than prospective or student teachers.     

Adolescents’ own suggestions for bullying interventions at age 13 and 16

Frisén, A. & Holmqvist, K. (2009). Adolescents’ own suggestions for bullying interventions at age 13 and 16. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 123–131. In this study we examined adolescents’ perspectives on what interventions they consider to be effective in order to stop the bullying of a student. The adolescents’ suggestions were reviewed at two time points, age 13 and 16. Participants were 474 girls and 403 boys at the first point of examination, and 429 girls and 332 boys at the second point of examination. The participants’ suggestions were divided into categories based on some of the anti‐bullying strategies commonly presented by researchers. Results showed that some anti‐bullying strategies were more salient than others in the adolescents’ suggestions, and that their suggestions differed as a function of age, sex and to some extent, current experience of victimization. Having serious talks with the students involved was among the most common suggestions at both ages. However, girls were more likely than boys, and non‐victims were more likely than victims, to suggest this particular strategy.