Results of Walking in Faith: A Faith-Based Physical Activity Program for Clergy

Clergy are disproportionately affected by obesity and chronic disease. Physical activity (PA) offers a viable option for addressing the health of clergy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a culturally tailored PA program for clergy. Clergy (N = 44) were randomly assigned to an intervention group or wait-list control group. Baseline and follow-up measures included PA behavior and psychosocial measures. Analyses revealed a significant effect of the intervention on sedentary behavior, PA behavior, self-efficacy for PA, and outcome expectations for PA. Culturally tailored PA programs could potentially influence PA behavior and psychosocial mediators of PA among clergy.     

Ethical Care for Vulnerable Populations Receiving Psychotropic Treatment

The increasing use of pharmacotherapy raises specific ethical concerns for psychologists working with vulnerable populations. Due to a shortage of trained specialists, professionals without training in mental health, such as primary care providers, are increasingly prescribing and monitoring psychotropic medications. Vulnerable populations (e.g., older adults, people currently low in social status, immigrants, and racial/ethnic minorities) face additional barriers to mental health treatment and are at heightened risk when these factors intersect. Hence, these patients experience unique barriers to receiving optimal psychopharmacological care and are differentially vulnerable to deleterious outcomes associated with misdiagnosis and overmedication. Taken together, these factors fuel inequities in the access, quality, and utilization of mental health care. Psychologists working with these patients are ethically mandated to protect patients from harm and ensure equitable care across patient populations. Specifically, psychologists must respond to the dilemma of how to effectively treat patients within these vulnerable populations who have been misdiagnosed or poorly medicated while remaining within the bounds of their competence. This article recommends pathways to address these dilemmas through education, training, research, and advocacy.     

Exploring the route choice decision-making process: A comparison of planned and observed routes obtained using person-based GPS

Trip decisions are complex and involve choosing the activity destination, mode and subsequently the route for travel. This paper presents detailed information on the planned and observed route choices for the home-to-work commute. Specifically, the study examines how people formulate their route plans and describe their attitudes and preferences for their selected routes. A geographic information system (GIS) records the planned route information with the route planning sequence. Observing route choice is a difficult procedure; however, through the use of the global positioning system (GPS), one can accurately record route choice. An automated activity–trip detection algorithm processes GPS data and displays results within an internet-based prompted recall diary. The diary is used to verify trip start and end times. This combination of GPS, GIS and diary responses provides great insight into the route choice decision-making process. Thirty-one individuals from Ontario, Canada participated in answering survey questions and the collection of person-based GPS data. Results indicate a preference to minimize travel time as stated by participants in deciding what route to travel. Participants also affirmed a desire to minimize the number of stop lights/signs, as well as, avoid congestion and maximize route directness. A comparison between planned and observed routes, reveals about one-fifth of participants deviated from their planned route. This study demonstrates the need for qualitative and quantitative survey methods for exploring planned and observed route choice.     

Subjective Wellbeing on the Tibetan Plateau: An Exploratory Investigation

While working on a project to build a school for Tibetan nomad children in a remote part of the Tibetan plateau, the author carried out the first empirical exploration of personal wellbeing with a small (n = 102) sample of ethnic Tibetans. Using the PWI survey instrument, significant age, gender, and education differences with respect to satisfaction with life were revealed. In addition, the magnitude of overall satisfaction with life was found to be more consistent with Western rather than Asian populations and, future security, standard of living, gender and age were identified as the strongest predictors of life satisfaction. This paper reports on the findings drawing on the literature, Buddhist philosophy and the author’s observations for explanation.     

Perceived Organizational Support as a Moderator of Emotional Labor/Outcomes Relationships

The current study investigates the interactive effects of perceptions of organizational support on 2 emotional labor outcomes: job satisfaction and job performance. A sample of 2 retail service firms ( n  = 338) supported the moderating effect of perceived organizational support (POS) on the emotional labor/outcomes relationships. POS attenuated the negative effects of the emotional labor/job satisfaction and emotional labor/performance relationships. Implications of these results, strengths and limitations of the current study, and directions for future research are discussed.     

The role of leader relationship quality in the development of employee fit perceptions

Despite being a subject of scholarly inquiry for nearly a century, some components of person–environment fit remain enigmatic. This research seeks to explore the relational factors that are associated with employee identity and how this lens can provide explanatory factors that link leader–employee relationships to employee performance. Across a two‐study, multi‐rater constructive replication design, our results support the tenets of the identity theory that suggests the quality of the leader–employee relationships informs employees of their person–organization (PO) and person–job (PJ) fit, leading to higher performance. Across both the studies, high‐quality leader–employee relations (conceptualized as LMX and trust in leader) were related to higher levels of PO and PJ fit. Our results also indicate that PO and PJ fit uniquely drive higher levels of performance as rated by multiple constituents, helping delineate the impact of PO and PJ fit on work outcomes. Specifically, in Study One (N = 111), PJ fit mediated the relationship between LMX and leader‐rated performance, whereas in Study Two (N = 94), PO fit mediated the relationship between trust in leader and peer‐rated performance. This work provides preliminary support that leaders, through their relationships, can help shape employee fit perceptions and ultimately impact performance. Such knowledge can inform organizations and leaders, and emphasizes the formative role that leaders play in the organizational lives of their employees.     

The Occurrence of Bullying in Global Organizations: A Model and Issues Associated With Social/Emotional Contagion

Workplace bullying in global organizations occurs for several reasons, including growing diversity, increased dispersion of employees in geographic locations, lack of experience of managers with new environments, and varying requirements. To gain insight into the bullying phenomenon, one must examine the characteristics of the bully, the target of bullying activities (e.g., the victim or the bullied), observers of the bullying (e.g., bystanders), and resulting changes in the organizational culture because of the bullying. One additional element to be assessed is the means by which bullying activities are embodied in an organization's culture (i.e., social/emotional contagion). This paper proposes a model of bullying in global organizations and examines the potential of social/emotional contagion developing in global organizations' cultures.