Measuring generalised expectancies for negative mood regulation in China: The Chinese language Negative Mood Regulation scale

Negative mood regulation expectancies (NMRE) represent people's confidence that they can alleviate their negative affect or induce a positive emotional state through thought or action. NMRE predict coping behaviour and mood outcomes for individuals under stress. Since 1990, much research documents the reliability and validity of the English language Negative Mood Regulation (NMR) scale as a measure of NMRE. The current research reports two studies developing a Chinese language translation of the NMR (NMR‐C) scale that goes beyond literal translation to be a culturally sensitive measure of NMRE in China. In Study 1, 713 college students from both a major city and a rural setting in China were surveyed. Data support the resulting 32‐item NMR‐C's reliability (alpha = .88) and validity. The NMR‐C showed both direct and indirect links to depression and anxiety; coping mediated the indirect effect. In Study 2, 331 prison police officers in three Chinese provinces participated. NMRE buffered the effect of high role pressure, moderating the relationship between prison police role stress and job engagement. Results of the two studies support the reliability and validity of the Chinese language NMR scale and parallel results found with measures of NMRE in the West and in other Asian countries.     

Five-factor personality domains and job performance: A second order meta-analysis

Several meta-analyses have investigated the job-related validities of the traits associated with the Five-Factor Model (FFM). The presence of second-order sampling error, however, might complicate the interpretation of these meta-analyses (i.e., random error across different meta-analyses). The current paper therefore evaluates variability across different meta-analyses and tests for key moderators (i.e., performance criteria, sources of ratings, and context). Results suggested that the variation in the predictive validity of several FFM traits and facets across multiple performance criteria was attributable to second-order sampling error. However, true variation existed for some moderators such as sources of personality information (self-reports versus informant reports). The current analyses therefore enhance knowledge about the usefulness and generalizability of personality traits in work contexts.     

中小学教师心理授权的测量

本研究旨在编制适合我国实际教育情境的中小学教师心理授权问卷。在文献分析的基础上,结合开放式和半开放式问卷调查、教师访谈、专家访谈,采用分问卷开发技术,对1272份有效问卷进行了分析,结果表明中小学教师心理授权由心理授权体验、心理授权技能和心理授权行为三个分问卷构成。其中,心理授权体验包括自我效能、影响力、地位和自主性4个因素;心理授权技能包括决策参与技能和沟通交流技能2个因素;心理授权行为包括影响教学行为和决策参与行为2个因素。本研究编制的心理授权问卷共44个题项,信效度均达到了心理测量学要求,可以用作教师心理授权的测量。     

Voluntary Retirement and Organizational Turnover Intentions: The Differential Associations with Work and Non-Work Commitment Constructs

The relationships of voluntary retirement and organizational turnover intentions to various commitment constructs in work and non-work settings were examined using a sample of 345 employees near retirement age (mean age = 53.71). The results demonstrated that work centrality and commitment to leisure activities were unique predictors of retirement intentions, while affective organizational commitment predicted turnover intentions but not retirement. Occupational commitment was a significant predictor of both retirement and turnover. The implications for revising the definition of work-role attachment theory and further developing a theoretical model to explain retirement decisions are also discussed.

The Relationship of Mobile Telephony to Job Mobility in China’s Pearl River Delta

In southern China, the use of mobile phones is becoming a ubiquitous part of everyday life for young migrant workers. What could be the possible relationship between mobile telephony and job mobility among migrants? A study of 655 migrant workers conducted in 2006 in the Pearl River Delta found a relationship between job change among migrant workers and the increasing use of mobile phones due to more information on jobs with better pay and working conditions being sent to them by friends, former coworkers, and clansmen. However, this portrait of migrant worker e-actors operating in a “broadband information society” can only be viewed in the context of the migrant labor shortage in southern China since 2004. Of fundamental concern are the vagrant identities of this new generation of young migrant workers who are excluded from the host society in which they work but also feel uncomfortable with their farmer status in their home towns.     

Evidence for the role of self-priming in epistemic action: expertise and the effective use of memory

Epistemic actions are physical actions people take to simplify internal problem solving rather than to move closer to an external goal. When playing the video game Tetris, for instance, experts routinely rotate falling shapes more than is strictly needed to place the shapes. Maglio and Kirsh [Kirsh, D., & Maglio, P. (1994). On distinguishing epistemic from pragmatic action. Cognitive Science, 18, 513-549; Maglio, P. P. (1995). The computational basis of interactive skill. PhD thesis, University of California, San Diego] proposed that such actions might serve the purpose of priming memory by external means, reducing the need for internal computation (e.g., mental rotation), and resulting in performance improvements that exceed the cost of taking additional actions. The present study tests this priming hypothesis in a set of four experiments. The first three explored precisely the conditions under which priming produces benefits. Results showed that presentation of multiple orientations of a shape led to faster responses than did presentation of a single orientation, and that this effect depended on the interval between preview and test. The fourth explored whether the benefit of seeing shapes in multiple orientations outweighs the cost of taking the extra actions to rotate shapes physically. Benefits were measured using a novel statistical method for mapping reaction-time data onto an estimate of the increase in processing capacity afforded by seeing multiple orientations. Cost was measured using an empirical estimate of time needed to take action in Tetris. Results showed that indeed the increase in internal processing capacity obtained from seeing shapes in multiple orientations outweighed the time to take extra actions.     

Children's perceptions of the classroom environment and social and academic performance: A longitudinal analysis of the contribution of the Responsive Classroom approach

This study examines the contribution of the Responsive Classroom (RC) Approach, a set of teaching practices that integrate social and academic learning, to children's perceptions of their classroom, and children's academic and social performance over time. Three questions emerge: (a) What is the concurrent and cumulative relation between children's perceptions of the classroom and social and academic outcomes over time? (b) What is the contribution of teacher's use of RC practices to children's perceptions and social and academic outcomes? (c) Do children's perceptions of the classroom mediate the relation between RC teacher practices and child outcomes? Cross-lagged autoregressive structural equation models were used to analyze teacher and child-report questionnaire data, along with standardized test scores collected over 3 years from a sample of 520 children in grades 3-5. Results indicate a significant positive relation between RC teacher practices and child perceptions and outcomes over time. Further, children's perceptions partially mediated the relation between RC teacher practices and social competence. However, the models did not demonstrate that child perceptions mediated the relation between RC practices and achievement outcomes. Results are explained in terms of the contribution of teacher practices to children's perceptions and student performance.     

小学三年级句群教学实验研究

探讨在小学三年级句群教学条件下,样例的不同呈现方式与练习方法对形成有关图式及其技能的影响。同时,考察陈述性知识、认知技能(一般程序性知识)和策略相互间的关系及对被试任务操作的影响效果。研究结果表明：(1)在实验班中,同时呈现两个以上样例并加以归纳,再循序渐进地进行变式练习,有利于图式与技能形成以及类比迁移,且中差生获益较大;(2)在被试的任务操作中,陈述性知识主效应非常显著,其次为认知技能,再次为策略,陈述性知识和认知技能之间存在显著交互作用。     

Virtual HR: The impact of information technology on the human resource professional

Accelerated investment and innovation in information technology (IT) offers prospects for conducting business in ways that are radically different from the past. Despite the growing presence of IT within organizations, however, we do not have a clear understanding of how IT impacts the role of professionals. We address this issue by investigating how jobs in one professional occupational segment, human resources (HR) professionals are influenced by extensive use of IT within the human resource department. Specifically, we examine how HR professionals handle HR information as well as the expectations placed on them resulting from an increased reliance on IT. Our findings suggest that IT enables HR professionals to more efficiently access and disseminate information while it also influences what is expected of them. Implications and future directions are discussed.