Head Coach Changes in Women’s College Soccer: An Investigation of Women Coaches Through the Lenses of Gender Stereotypes and the Glass Cliff

Sex Roles - Women are underrepresented in leadership positions in sport, including coaching. In the present study of women’s college soccer in the United States, the authors examine the...     

Lacking power impairs executive functions

Four experiments explored whether lacking power impairs executive functioning, testing the hypothesis that the cognitive presses of powerlessness increase vulnerability to performance decrements during complex executive tasks. In the first three experiments, low power impaired performance on executive-function tasks: The powerless were less effective than the powerful at updating (Experiment 1), inhibiting (Experiment 2), and planning (Experiment 3). Existing research suggests that the powerless have difficulty distinguishing between what is goal relevant and what is goal irrelevant in the environment. A fourth experiment established that the executive-function impairment associated with low power is driven by goal neglect. The current research implies that the cognitive alterations arising from powerlessness may help foster stable social hierarchies and that empowering employees may reduce costly organizational errors.     

Political skill as neutralizer of felt accountability—job tension effects on job performance ratings: A longitudinal investigation

This study examined the effects of felt accountability, political skill, and job tension on job performance ratings. Specifically, we hypothesized that felt accountability would lead to higher (lower) job performance ratings when coupled with high (low) levels of political skill, and that these relationships would be mediated by job tension. Data were gathered at multiple times over a one-year period (i.e., baseline performance, attitudinal variables one month later, supervisor reports of subordinate performance six months and one year after baseline performance was measured). Strong support was shown for the total effects model, whereby political skill moderated felt accountability—job performance ratings, felt accountability—job tension, and job tension—job performance ratings relationships. However, more focused analyses demonstrated that political skill most strongly moderated the job tension—job performance ratings linkage. Implications, strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are provided.     

When Are Tutorial Dialogues More Effective Than Reading?

It is often assumed that engaging in a one-on-one dialogue with a tutor is more effective than listening to a lecture or reading a text. Although earlier experiments have not always supported this hypothesis, this may be due in part to allowing the tutors to cover different content than the noninteractive instruction. In 7 experiments, we tested the interaction hypothesis under the constraint that (a) all students covered the same content during instruction, (b) the task domain was qualitative physics, (c) the instruction was in natural language as opposed to mathematical or other formal languages, and (d) the instruction conformed with a widely observed pattern in human tutoring: Graesser, Person, and Magliano's 5-step frame. In the experiments, we compared 2 kinds of human tutoring (spoken and computer mediated) with 2 kinds of natural-language-based computer tutoring (Why2-Atlas and Why2-AutoTutor) and 3 control conditions that involved studying texts. The results depended on whether the students' preparation matched the content of the instruction. When novices (students who had not taken college physics) studied content that was written for intermediates (students who had taken college physics), then tutorial dialogue was reliably more beneficial than less interactive instruction, with large effect sizes. When novices studied material written for novices or intermediates studied material written for intermediates, then tutorial dialogue was not reliably more effective than the text-based control conditions.     

Women with <Emphasis Type="Italic">BRCA1</Emphasis> or <Emphasis Type="Italic">BRCA2</Emphasis> Mutations Renegotiating a Post-Prophylactic Mastectomy Identity: Self-Image and Self-Disclosure.

The Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE) website is devoted to women at risk for hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. One of the most frequently discussed topics on the archived messaged board has been prophylactic mastectomy (PM) for women with a BRCA1/2 mutation. We reviewed the messages, over a 4 year period, of 21 high risk women and their “conversational” partners who originally posted on a thread about genetic testing, genetic counseling and family history. We used a qualitative research inductive process involving close reading, coding and identification of recurrent patterns, relationships and processes in the data. The women sought emotional support, specific experiential knowledge and information from each other. They frequently found revealing their post PM status problematic because of possible negative reactions and adopted self-protective strategies of evasion and concealment outside of their web-based community. The FORCE message board was considered to be a safe place in which the women could be truthful about their choices and feelings. Results are discussed in terms of Goffman’s concepts “stigma” and “disclosure” and Charmaz’s concepts “interruptions,” “intrusions” and a “dreaded future.”     

Black College Women's Career Values: A Preliminary Investigation

We identified nine values that guided the career decisions of a sample of Black college women, then explored whether these values were predicted by racial and feminist identify stage sentiments Findings from this study suggest the need for further research on the career development of women of color.     

The Effect of a Mindfulness Practice and Dispositional Mindfulness on Affective Forecasting

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate whether mindfulness produces higher affective forecasting accuracy. Participants were randomized into a mindfulness-task, control-task, or baseline condition and then forecasted their positive and negative affect upon completion of an exam and upon receiving the exam grade. They also predicted their exam score. Those in the mindfulness-task condition more accurately predicted positive and negative affect upon exam completion and more accurately predicted negative affect and exam performance upon receiving their actual exam grade. Dispositional mindfulness predicted more accuracy in forecasting negative affect upon exam completion. Results suggest that mindfulness produces higher affective forecasting accuracy, particularly for negative affect. However, evidence was more mixed when considering the dispositional mindfulness results and for positive affect.     

Got Resources? A Multi-Sample Constructive Replication of Perceived Resource Availability’s Role in Work Passion–Job Outcomes Relationships

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the moderating effect of perceived resource availability on the relationship between work passion and employee well-being (i.e., job satisfaction and job tension) and performance (i.e., job performance and citizenship behaviors) using self-determination theory.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained through surveys distributed via an online platform (Sample 1) and to employees of three professional organizations: a municipal agency (Sample 2), an engineering firm (Sample 3), and an advertising organization (Sample 4).

Findings

The interaction between employees’ work passion and their perceptions of available resources was associated with employees’ well-being and performance, such that greater work passion was associated with positive outcomes when resources were perceived as available. Conversely, heightened work passion was associated with job tension and fewer positive benefits when perceived available resources were low.

Implications

Work passion is often touted by employers as a valuable characteristic for employees, but, as these findings suggest, there are conditions that must be met in order for employees to experience positive well-being and performance outcomes. This information will likely prove invaluable for those employers seeking to best support their passionate employees.

Originality/Value

Research into the area of work passion is small but growing, and this study provides valuable insight into a key boundary condition for the effectiveness of passion: perceived resource availability. Additionally, this study identifies circumstances in which passionate employees actually experience a negative work outcome. Further, the multiple samples and constructive replication employed help provide confidence and a strong empirical foundation for the results.