ON THE INTERCHANGEABILITY OF OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE MEASURES OF EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: A META-ANALYSIS

A meta-analysis of studies containing both objective and subjective ratings of employee performance resulted in a corrected mean correlation of .389. This value, although significantly greater than zero, indicates that objective and subjective performance measures should not be used interchangeably. Moreover, in no moderator subgroup examined did the correlation suggest convergent validity. After discussing issues related to resolving the previous anomalies of primary and meta-analytic results, a secondary analysis suggested that objective and subjective measures of the same construct at the same level may be used inter-changeably. The secondary analysis, however, was based on a very limited sample. Future research should address the appropriate dimensionality of employee performance.     

EVIDENTIARY STANDARDS IN EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION: A VIEW TOWARD THE FUTURE

This article reviews recent changes in evidentiary standards in employment discrimination litigation as they relate to disparate impact theory. Precedents established in Watson v. Fort Worth Bank and Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio , altering the employee's and the employer's responsibilities in discrimination cases are analyzed. In reaction to these and other Supreme Court rulings, Congress introduced a civil rights bill which was eventually signed into law after numerous compromises. The debate surrounding the development of the 1991 Civil Rights Act and the legislation itself are reviewed. With respect to disparate impact, the Act addresses the criteria for establishing a prima facie case (causation), burden of proof standards, and a definition of business necessity. However, a close reading of the Act and a review of recent disparate impact cases suggest the causation and business necessity issues are not fully resolved. Potential implications for managing personnel decision systems in this new environment are discussed.     

Marx,Housework, and Alienation

For different feminist theorists, housework and child rearing are viewed in very different ways. I argue that Marx gives us the categories that allow us to see why housework and child care can be both a paradigm of unalienated labor and also involve the greatest oppression. In developing this argument, a distinction is made between alienation and oppression and the conditions are discussed under which unalienated housework can become oppressive or can become alienated.     

Individual, Congregational, and Denominational Effects on Church Members' Civic Participation

Previous research demonstrates two aspects of religion that affect civic activity—church participation and religious conservatism. Conservative religious beliefs and membership in conservative denominations are often associated with low levels of civic activity while church participation is said to increase civic activity. This article advances the discussion of the relationship between religion and civic participation by introducing the congregational context. Data from the 1987 Church and Community Planning Inventory show that congregations vary in their members' civic activity—congregational factors associated with conservative Christianity (high levels of biblical literalism and within-church friendships) are strongly and negatively associated with church members' activity in nonchurch organizations. At the individual level, the data show that education and participation in church activities other than religious services have particularly strong, positive effects on church members' activity in nonchurch organizations. The findings demonstrate that a conservative congregational context limits church members' activity in nonchurch organizations, potentially limiting their opportunities to build heterogeneous social networks and social capital that bridges church members to other people in their communities.     

CHALLENGE‐ORIENTED ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIORS AND ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS: DO CHALLENGE‐ORIENTED BEHAVIORS REALLY HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE ORGANIZATION'S BOTTOM LINE?

Virtually all of the studies that have examined the relationship between organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and unit or organizational effectiveness have focused on affiliation‐oriented as opposed to challenge‐oriented forms of OCB, and no study has examined the mechanisms through which OCBs influence unit or organizational effectiveness. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the main and interactive effects that challenge‐oriented and affiliation‐oriented OCBs have on organizational effectiveness through their impact on workgroup task performance. Results from a sample of 150 limited‐menu restaurants showed that the relationship between challenge‐oriented OCBs and workgroup task performance has an inverted‐U shape and is moderated by affiliation‐oriented OCBs, and that workgroup task performance completely mediated the impact of challenge‐ and affiliation‐oriented OCBs (and their interaction) on organizational outcomes (i.e., sales dollars, profit as a percentage of sales, and employee turnover). Specifically, the findings showed that challenge‐oriented OCBs have a positive impact on workgroup task performance up to a point, and beyond that point only when certain enabling conditions (i.e., high levels of affiliation‐oriented OCBs) are present. Implications are discussed.     

APPLICANT REACTIONS TO SELECTION: DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELECTION PROCEDURAL JUSTICE SCALE (SPJS)

This paper describes research that fills a void in the applicant reactions literature by developing a comprehensive measure of Gilliland's (1993) procedural justice rules, called the Selection Procedural Justice Scale (SPJS). Five separate phases of scale development were conducted. In Phase 1 we generated and refined the items. For Phase 2 we reduced the items through exploratory factor analysis using data gathered from 330 applicants for the job of court officer and found higher-order factors consistent with Greenberg (1993a, 1993b). In Phase 3 we confirmed the factor structure using a separate sample of 242 applicants and trainees for the court officer job. In Phase 4 we assessed the initial convergent and divergent validity of the scale. In Phase 5 we tested the generalizability of these items in general and for those receiving positive and negative selection outcomes using 2 student samples. The results demonstrated the usefulness of the SPJS in differentiating each of Gilliland's procedural justice rules and relating them to outcomes included in his model of applicant reactions. A copy of the SPJS is included in the Appendix.