The Moderating Effect of Machiavellianism on the Psychological Contract Breach–Organizational Identification/Disidentification Relationships

Purpose

We explore whether Machiavellianism—a personality trait which describes the extent to which individuals ignore values and ethical considerations when the ends justify the means—will influence their responses to their employing organizations’ failure to fulfil promised obligations (psychological contracts). Specifically, we draw on psychological contracts theory and the group value model to argue that Machiavellianism will moderate the relationships between psychological contract breach and (1) organizational identification; and (2) organizational disidentification.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We tested our hypotheses in a study of 262 employees from various organizations at two points in time.

Findings

We found that psychological contract breach was negatively related to organizational identification and positively related to organizational disidentification. Furthermore, employees with higher levels of Machiavellianism tended to disidentify with their organizations to a greater extent (at Time 2) in response to psychological contract breach (at Time 1) than did employees with low levels of Machiavellianism. Machiavellianism did not moderate the relationship between psychological contract breach and organizational identification.

Implications

Our study contributes to extant research exploring the importance of Machiavellianism in the workplace. Specifically, we show that employees with high levels of Machiavellianism are more likely to disidentify in response to psychological contract breach but do not tend to identify to a lesser degree.

Originality/Value

This study builds on the extant research exploring individual differences in the psychological contract dynamics by considering Machiavellianism as a moderator of the breach–outcome relationship.     

The Effects of Recent Sleep Duration,Sleep Quality,and Current Sleepiness on Eyewitness Memory

This study examined whether three sleep‐related variables (current sleepiness, the duration of the previous night's sleep and the quality of that sleep) were predictors of an eyewitness's ability to remember central and peripheral details from a crime. Participants first completed a self‐report questionnaire assessing their current sleepiness, then watched a video of a bank robbery, next completed a self‐report questionnaire about their previous night's sleep, and then had their memory of the crime tested. It was found that as the eyewitnesses' sleep quality decreased and their sleepiness increased, their ability to accurately recollect peripheral details from the crime was compromised. This is the first demonstration that variations in sleep prior to witnessing a crime, and sleepiness at the time of a crime, can predict eyewitness memory. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Life Meaning Following Combat Among Air Force Security Forces Personnel

An active duty Air Force ground combat unit (n = 189) completed surveys about trauma and combat exposure, mood symptoms, and meaning in life. Two dimensions of deployment-related traumas were assessed: combat (e.g., firing weapons, being fired upon) and aftermath (e.g., seeing dead bodies, injury). Results of regression analyses indicated that Airmen who experienced more intense combat reported less presence of meaning in life, although the significant interaction with gender suggested declines in meaning in life were especially pronounced among males with higher combat intensity. In contrast, more intense aftermath exposure was associated with slightly stronger meaning in life, with no differences by gender. Intensity of combat exposure might differentially affect perceived meaning in life for male versus female combatants.     

Sir Isaac Newton,Alchemist

Contrary to the view of Sir Isaac Newton as a key perpetrator of mechanistic scientism, this paper describes Newton's alchemical research from a depth psychological perspective, offers an overview of some of his chymical experiments, and emphasizes Newton's belief in an animated cosmos not explainable only in terms of linear laws.     

The Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA): Internal Consistency (Q1 vs. Q2 and Q3 vs. Q4) in Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

The internal consistency of the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA) was examined in a cohort of 6- to 12-year-old children (N = 63) strictly diagnosed with ADHD. The internal consistency of errors of omission (OMM), errors of commission (COM), response time (RT), and response time variability (RTV) of different test conditions (stimulus infrequent condition [Q₁ vs. Q₂] and stimulus frequent condition [Q₃ vs. Q₄]) was assessed via correlation analyses. All TOVA index scores under investigation assessing its internal consistency exhibited statistically significant correlations. All correlations fell in the moderate-high range.     

Measurement tool for preoperative anxiety in young children: The yale preoperative anxiety scale

To develop a preoperative anxiety scale (YPAS) for children undergoing surgery, 21 specific behaviors indicating anxiety were defined within five domains (activity, emotional expressivity, state of arousal, vocalization, and use of adults). A reliability Kappa analysis revealed that inter-observer agreement ranged from .66 to .94, while intra-observer Kappa ranged from .66 to .91. Validity analysis between a Visual Analog Scale and the YPAS revealed an r of .59 for entering the operating room. Multiserial analysis comparing the YPAS to the Vernon Anxiety Scale ranged from .61 to .64. Showing good to excellent observer reliability and validity, the YPAS proves to be an appropriate tool for studying children's responses in preoperative settings. As such, the new assessment instrument should be of interest to clinical and research neuropsychologists who need to assess a child's anxiety level prior to the undertaking of a given surgical procedure.     

The empirical link between relationship marketing tools and consumer retention in retail marketing

This article focuses on the key relationship marketing tools of customer service, loyalty/rewards programs, brand/store community, personalization and customization, and their relationship with customer retention. The relationship between customer service, loyalty/rewards programs, customization, personalization, brand/store community and customer retention were examined via an empirical investigation of 450 loyalty/reward program members of three retail stores in Malaysia. The administration of the survey was personally administered but self‐completed. Four of the five relationship marketing tools, namely, customer service, loyalty/rewards programs, brand/store community and personalization, had a significant positive relationship with customer retention. The findings provided valuable insights into the loyalty program management practices of retail stores in a developing country context. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Controlled Pilot-Outcome Study of Sensory Integration (SI) in the Treatment of Complex Adaptation to Traumatic Stress

This study tested whether sensory integration (SI) treatment combined with psychotherapy would improve symptom outcome over psychotherapy alone in the treatment of complex posttraumatic stress, as measured by the Disorders of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified (DESNOS) clinical construct in a group of 10 adult patients with histories of childhood abuse. DESNOS symptoms were assessed at three time periods (T1, baseline; T2, after experimental group SI treatment; and T3, after wait-list control group SI treatment) using the Structured Interview for Disorders of Extreme Stress (SIDES). The Sensory Learning Program? (SLP), developed by the Sensory Learning Institute of Boulder, Colorado, was used as the SI treatment modality. Results indicated significant differential improvement for the group treated with SLP in SIDES Total Score (T1/T2 and T2/T3), Self Perception (T1/T2 and T2/T3), Affect Regulation (T2/T3), and Alterations in Meaning (T1/T2).     

Gaze bias: Selective encoding and liking effects

People look longer at things that they choose than things they do not choose. How much of this tendency—the gaze bias effect—is due to a liking effect compared to the information encoding aspect of the decision-making process? Do these processes compete under certain conditions? We monitored eye movements during a visual decision-making task with four decision prompts: Like, dislike, older, and newer. The gaze bias effect was present during the first dwell in all conditions except the dislike condition, when the preference to look at the liked item and the goal to identify the disliked item compete. Colour content (whether a photograph was colour or black-and-white), not decision type, influenced the gaze bias effect in the older/newer decisions because colour is a relevant feature for such decisions. These interactions appear early in the eye movement record, indicating that gaze bias is influenced during information encoding.