Moderation in Management Research: What,Why, When,and How

Many theories in management, psychology, and other disciplines rely on moderating variables: those which affect the strength or nature of the relationship between two other variables. Despite the near-ubiquitous nature of such effects, the methods for testing and interpreting them are not always well understood. This article introduces the concept of moderation and describes how moderator effects are tested and interpreted for a series of model types, beginning with straightforward two-way interactions with Normal outcomes, moving to three-way and curvilinear interactions, and then to models with non-Normal outcomes including binary logistic regression and Poisson regression. In particular, methods of interpreting and probing these latter model types, such as simple slope analysis and slope difference tests, are described. It then gives answers to twelve frequently asked questions about testing and interpreting moderator effects.     

Ethical climate influences on employee commitment through job satisfaction in a transport sector industry

This study examined the extent to which an ethical climate moderates the relationship between job satisfaction and perceptions of organisational commitment. The study sample consisted of 839 employees of a railway organisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (women = 32%). Perceptions of the organisation’s ethical climate were measured using the Ethical Climate Questionnaire (Victor & Cullen, 1998), job satisfaction was measured using the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (Lock, 1976), and organisational commitment was measured using the Organisational Commitment Scale (Meyer & Allen, 1997). Data were analysed by applying hierarchical moderator regression analysis to predict employee commitment from job satisfaction, in interaction with the ethical climate. The findings indicated that the ethical climate dimensions of caring, law and code, rule, independence, and instrumental predicted 72% of the variance in job satisfaction and 73% of the variance in employee commitment. Positive perceptions of an ethical work atmosphere and clear code of conduct would enhance employees’ levels of dedication, loyalty, and commitment to the organisation.     

Adjustment and acceptance beliefs in achievement settings: Implications for student wellbeing

Social Psychology of Education - Research suggests that when dealing with personal setbacks, secondary control (SC) adjustment and acceptance beliefs can foster psychological wellbeing. However,...     

Do Hypothetical Imperatives Require Categorical Imperatives?

Abstract: Recently, the idea that every hypothetical imperative must somehow be 'backed up' by a prior categorical imperative has gained a certain influence among Kant interpreters and ethicists influenced by Kant. Since instrumentalism is the position that holds that hypothetical imperatives can by themselves and without the aid of categorical imperatives explain all valid forms of practical reasoning, the influential idea amounts to a rejection of instrumentalism as internally incoherent. This paper argues against this prevailing view both as an interpretation of Kant and as philosophical understanding of practical reason. In particular, it will be argued that many of the arguments that claim to show that hypothetical imperatives must be backed up by categorical imperatives mistakenly assume that the form of practical reasoning must itself occur as a premise within the reasoning. An alternative to this assumption will be offered. I will conclude that while instrumentalism may well be false, there is no reason to believe it is incoherent.     

Property law: A cognitive turn

Despite more than a century of research by psychologists on issues relating to the law, most such research has focused on a small subset of topics relevant to the legal system. Here, I review several legal topics amenable to psychological research that fall under the broad umbrella of property law: (1) how the concepts of property and ownership are represented cognitively; (2) the relationship between wealth and happiness, consumer behavior, and the priming effect of money concepts; (3) animal and child development in cognition about and behavior toward property and ownership; and (4) the relevance of psychological research on home to legal policy. These and other areas provide potential research agendas for cognitive and social cognitive psychologists. After noting the importance of such research for legal doctrine, theory, and policy, I close with suggestions for effectively communicating empirical findings to the legal community.     

Charles Rycroft’s Contribution to Contemporary Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

Charles Rycroft played a significant part in gaining psychoanalysis understanding and intellectual acceptance within the wider intellectual community of post-war Britain. However he became gradually disaffected with the schisms and inward-looking character of UK psychoanalysis in its post-controversial discussions phase. He was ahead of his time in his interest in psychoanalysis as semantics, links between psychoanalysis and evolutionary and attachment theories, literary resonances with psychoanalytic thinking, and of the role of support as well as interpretation as a mutative agent. Renewed interest in his writings is long overdue.     

Spatial and temporal separation fails to counteract the effects of low prevalence in visual search

Recent research has shown that, in visual search, participants can miss 30-40% of targets when they only appear rarely (i.e. on 1-2% of trials). Low target prevalence alters the behavior of the searcher. It can lead participants to quit their search prematurely (Wolfe et al., 2005), to shift their decision criteria (Wolfe et al., 2007) and/or to make motor or response errors (Fleck & Mitroff, 2007). In this paper we examine whether the LP Effect can be ameliorated if we split the search set in two, spreading the task out over space and/or time. Observers searched for the letter "T" among "L"s. In Experiment 1, the left or right half of the display was presented to the participants before the second half. In Experiment 2, items were spatially intermixed but half of the items were presented first, followed by the second half. Experiment 3 followed the methods of Experiment 2 but allowed observers to correct perceived errors. All three experiments produced robust low prevalence (LP) effects with higher errors at 2% prevalence than at 50% prevalence. Dividing up the display had no beneficial effect on errors. The opportunity to correct errors reduced but did not eliminate the LP effect. Low prevalence continues to elevate errors even when observers are forced to slow down and permitted to correct errors.     

Assessing functions of stimuli associated with rich‐to‐lean transitions using a choice procedure

Under fixed‐ratio schedules, transitions from more to less favorable conditions of reinforcement (rich‐to‐lean transitions) usually generate extended pausing. One possible explanation for this effect is that stimuli associated with rich‐to‐lean transitions are aversive and, thus, extended pausing functions as escape. The purpose of this study was to characterize further the aversive function of different transitions, and the stimuli associated with them, by allowing pigeons to choose to complete select ratios in the presence of either a mixed‐schedule stimulus or a transition‐specific multiple‐schedule stimulus. The mixed schedule was preferred during transitions that signaled an upcoming lean reinforcer (rich‐to‐lean and lean‐to‐lean), whereas the multiple schedule was preferred during transitions that signaled an upcoming rich reinforcer (lean‐to‐rich and rich‐to‐rich). These findings support the notion that stimuli associated with rich‐to‐lean (and to some extent lean‐to‐lean) transitions can function aversively; whereas stimuli associated with other transitions (e.g., lean‐to‐rich and rich‐to‐rich) can function as conditioned reinforcers. When the opportunity to choose between schedule‐correlated stimuli was available, however, choice latency was controlled exclusively by the multiple‐schedule stimulus. That is, the opportunity to select the mixed schedule did not attenuate rich‐to‐lean pauses, suggesting that extended pausing may be more than simply escape.