Fostering Financial Independence Self-Efficacy in AFDC Recipients Participating in a Vocational Training Program

Participants in this study were 183 recipients of Aid to Families With Dependent Children who were referred to Hawaii's Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Program. The systematic employment of four methods for changing self-efficacy resulted in significant changes in participants' financial independence self-efficacy over a relatively short time.     

Self‐Supervisor Agreement: The Influence of Feedback Seeking on the Relationship Between Self and Supervisor Ratings of Performance1

Self‐assessment research has continued to search for those factors that increase self‐other rating agreement. The current field study investigated the feedback‐seeking strategies (i. e., monitoring and inquiry) used by 125 employees to obtain performance information, as well as the relationship between feedback‐seeking strategy use and self‐supervisor performance‐rating agreement. Results indicate that the frequency of monitoring reported by employees significantly moderated the relationship between self and supervisor ratings of performance. Individuals who reported higher levels of feedback seeking through monitoring were more likely to have self‐assessments that were congruent with their supervisors' ratings of performance.     

INCREMENTAL VALIDITY OF EMPIRICALLY KEYED BIODATA SCALES OVER GMA AND THE FIVE FACTOR PERSONALITY CONSTRUCTS

The major purpose of this study was to determine whether empirically keyed, cross-validated biodata scales accounted for incremental variance over that accounted for by the five factor model (FFM) of personality and GMA predictors. A concurrent validation study was employed using 376 employees in a clerical job (222 in the developmental sample and 154 in the cross-validation sample). Results for the cross-validation sample provided support for the hypothesis that biodata predictors accounted for substantial incremental variance beyond that accounted for by the FFM predictors and GMA for 3 of the 4 criteria. Support was also found for the hypothesized zero-order correlations between GMA, FFM, and biodata predictors and the 4 criteria. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

CROSS-NATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN RELATIONSHIPS OF WORK DEMANDS, JOB SATISFACTION, AND TURNOVER INTENTIONS WITH WORK–FAMILY CONFLICT

A study of work interference with family (WIF) among managers is described, contrasting four clusters of countries, one of which is individualistic (Anglo) and three of which are collectivistic (Asia, East Europe, and Latin America). Country cluster (Anglo vs. each of the others) moderated the relation of work demands with strain-based WIF, with the Anglo country cluster having the strongest relationships. Country cluster moderated some of the relationships of strain-based WIF with both job satisfaction and turnover intentions, with Anglos showing the strongest relationships. Cluster differences in domestic help were ruled out as the possible explanation for these moderator results.     

BEALER ON THE AUTONOMY OF PHILOSOPHICAL AND SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

Abstract: In a series of influential articles, George Bealer argues for the autonomy of philosophical knowledge on the basis that philosophically known truths must be necessary truths. The main point of his argument is that the truths investigated by the sciences are contingent truths to be discovered a posteriori by observation, while the truths of philosophy are necessary truths to be discovered a priori by intuition. The project of assimilating philosophy to the sciences is supposed to be rendered illegitimate by the more or less sharp distinction in these characteristic methods and its modal basis. In this article Bealer's particular way of drawing the distinction between philosophy and science is challenged in a novel manner, and thereby philosophical naturalism is further defended.     

Overcoming Obstacles to Interpersonal Compliance A Principle of Message Construction

Scholars recognize that language can be used to accomplish goals. If so, messages should be constructed so as to overcome obstacles to the achievement of interpersonal objectives. Based upon this perspective, six hypotheses were deduced that predicted the linguistic features of help-seeking messages from obstacles associated with (a) the type of request (borrowing favors) and (b) relational intimacy. The results of a study that tested these hypotheses are reported; support for each was found. Specifically, messages seeking to borrow a resource proposed contractual arrangements aimed at reducing the costs of lending. On the other hand, favor-seeking messages included more inquiries about the costs of compliance to the target and offers of compensation. Relational obligations and resulting facework were also studied. As predicted, when seeking to borrow a resource, intimacy was negatively related to communicated facework; when seeking a favor intimacy was positively related to facework. Finally, when a request to borrow a resource was rejected, intimacy was positively related to counter persuasion cues and negatively related to expressed forgiveness; however, when a favor-seeking message was refused, intimacy was positively related to communicated forgiveness.