Shifting toward cooperative tendencies and forgiveness: How partner‐focused prayer transforms motivation

Several studies tested whether partner‐focused prayer shifts individuals toward cooperative tendencies and forgiveness. In Studies 1 and 2, participants who prayed more frequently for their partner were rated by objective coders as less vengeful. Study 3 showed that, compared to partners of targets in the positive partner thought condition, the romantic partners of targets assigned to pray reported a positive change in their partner's forgiveness. In Study 4, participants who prayed following a partner's “hurtful behavior” were more cooperative with their partners in a mixed‐motive game compared to participants who engaged in positive thoughts about their partner. In Study 5, participants who prayed for a close relationship partner reported higher levels of cooperative tendencies and forgiveness.     

Effect of a Referent's Status on the Evaluation of Job Applicants

In this study, the authors found that the status of employment referents might affect the employers's evaluations of job applicants.     

EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: MAKING THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL CONNECTIONS

Previous research has established links between employee attitudes and customer satisfaction. Little theory has been used to help explain and build on the results of these studies. A theoretical model of the employee attitude-customer satisfaction process is proposed based on Bagozzi's (1992) model of attitudes, intentions and behavior. Employee attitudes and intentions, and customer satisfaction data from a service-oriented organization with 160 offices is used to provide an initial test of the usefulness of the model. Cross-validations of the model with and without common method variance were conducted. The results provide strong support for the model. Suggestions are offered on extensions of the model in future research.     

Relations between parent–child affect and synchrony and cognitive outcome at 5 years of age

This investigation involved the longitudinal assessment of 30 preterm and 39 full-term infants from 2 to 5 years of age. Measures of cognitive outcome at 2 and 5 years of age and mother-child dyadic synchrony and affect during free-play interaction were obtained at 5 years of age. Correlational and regression analyses indicated that 5-year cognitive outcome was predicted by 2-year cognitive status, mother education, and 5-year dyadic interaction. In addition, 5-year maternal positive affect contributed independently to children's cognitive status at age 5, above and beyond the contributions of early cognitive status and maternal education. Also, affect and synchrony interacted in predicting lower cognitive abilities. Findings are discussed in relation to the importance of maternal affect and synchronous interactions in transactional explanations of development during early childhood.     

THE EFFECTS OF UNREPRESENTED STUDIES ON THE ROBUSTNESS OF VALIDITY GENERALIZATION RESULTS

Researchers conducting meta-analyses such as validity generalization can never be certain that their review contains all studies relevant to the research domain. Indeed, several authors in the past have noted ways in which research reviews may be systematically biased. A few techniques have emerged for addressing the issue of "missing studies" including the use of Rosenthal's (1979) file-drawer equation. Noting that Rosenthal's technique is inappropriate when applied to validity generalization findings, this paper develops a new method for assessing the vulnerability of validity generalization results to unrepresented or missing studies. The results of this new procedure are compared to the results of file-drawer analyses for 103 findings from validity generalization studies. We illustrate that this procedure more appropriately estimates the robustness of validity generalization results.     

THE INFLUENCE OF LAYOFF SEVERITY ON POSTLAYOFF UNION COMMITMENT AMONG SURVIVORS: THE MODERATING EFFECT OF THE PERCEIVED LEGITIMACY OF A LAYOFF ACCOUNT

This study used a moderated cross-level design to predict union commitment among 355 union survivors after layoffs. Survivors experiencing varying degrees of layoffs at 15 job sites judged the legitimacy of the company's layoff explanation. In each case, the account implicated the union as the agent responsible for the layoff decision. Company records were used to aggregate layoff severity within job site. Survey measures were used to assess retrospective belief in the account and commitment to the union after the layoff event. Based on interactional justice theory, a significant interaction was predicted between layoff severity and belief in the account as related to postlayoff union commitment. Survivors with higher levels of belief in the account were expected to be less committed to the union than those with moderate or lower levels of belief under more severe layoffs. Moderated regression analyses of overall commitment supported the expected interaction. Regression analyses of commitment components revealed that only willingness to work for the union was affected by the interaction. Additional analyses, in which the willingness to work component was regressed onto layoff severity within high to low belief subgroups, were also consistent with the prediction. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings for company and union officials in managing union survivors are discussed.     

ORGANIZATIONAL RECRUITING AS MARKETING MANAGEMENT: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY OF ENGINEERING GRADUATES

With the intent of encouraging interdisciplinary research, this study applies principles, theories, and practices of marketing management to examine engineering recruitment as a process of "job marketing." Six hypotheses concerning campus recruiters and strategic recruiting issues were proposed and investigated through a national survey of 242 graduating engineers representing five engineering fields. Survey responses revealed that both overall satisfaction with recruiting processes and likelihood of job acceptance were significantly related to recruiter interpersonal skills and interview information provided about compensation/benefits, job/career, and security/success issues. Further, student satisfaction with recruiting processes was significantly related to recruiter/job applicant similarity in gender and educational characteristics. Contrary to conventional inferences of recruiting research, students did not respond more favorably to line management or engineering recruiters than to personnel representatives. Implications of these findings are identified and discussed in terms of both the marketing and management literatures.     

PROJECT A VALIDITY RESULTS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PREDICTOR AND CRITERION DOMAINS

A predictor battery of cognitive ability, perceptual-psychomotor ability, temperament/personality, interest, and job outcome preference measures was administered to enlisted soldiers in nine Army jobs. These measures were summarized in terms of 24 composite scores. The relationships between the predictor composite scores and five components of job performance were analyzed. Scores from the cognitive and perceptual-psychomotor ability tests provided the best prediction of job-specific and general task proficiency, while the temperament/personality composites were the best predictors of giving extra effort, supporting peers, and exhibiting personal discipline. Composite scores derived from the interest inventory were correlated more highly with task proficiency than with demonstrating effort and peer support. In particular, vocational interests were among the best predictors of task proficiency in combat jobs. The results suggest that the Army can improve the prediction of job performance by adding non-cognitive predictors to its present battery of predictor tests.     

Family Rituals

Family rituals, consisting of celebrations, traditions, and patterned family interactions, are defined and illustrated in this paper. The power of ritual practice in families is explained by three underlying processes — transformation, communication, and stabilization — concepts whose roots lie in anthropology and ethology. We propose that all families struggle with finding a suitable role for rituals in their collective lives but their actual achievement varies greatly. Commitment to ritual and adaptability of ritual practice throughout the family life cycle are important considerations. The utility of these concepts in the assessment and treatment of families is discussed.