The impact of perceived effort–reward imbalance on workplace bullying: also a matter of organizational identification

Work environments characterized by inadequate work conditions have been widely recognized as being particularly prone to the occurrence and exacerbation of bullying behavior. Accordingly, this longitudinal study aimed to explore whether the impact of effort–reward imbalance (ERI) on workplace bullying was mediated by a lower perception of organizational justice, and whether the association between ERI and perceptions of justice was moderated by organizational identification. In the current study, a sample of N = 195 Spanish employees from different occupational sectors filled in an online questionnaire at two different times with a time lag of 8 months. In line with the hypothesized moderated mediation model, results showed that organizational justice mediated the impact of ERI on workplace bullying. Moreover, the effect of perceived ERI on organizational justice was stronger for employees with low organizational identification. Overall, this study can contribute to better understanding how and when ERI boosts the risk of workplace bullying. Accordingly, early intervention designed to buffer the negative effects of ERI should focus on increasing individual levels of organizational identification.     

Commentary on neoliberal ideology in work and organizational psychology

I welcome the paper on Neoliberal ideology in WOP as a valuable critique of Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP) encouraging practitioners and researchers to think carefully about what they are trying to achieve and how they make sense of the world of work.     

Validation of the Cycling Behavior Questionnaire: A tool for measuring cyclists' road behaviors

IntroductionEven though cycling is an activity whose benefits in terms of urban mobility and health are globally recognized, its disproportional growth during the past few decades has led to some unexpected dynamics. In fact, the increasing number of traffic injuries and deaths involving cyclists has a high cost for public health systems. Considering the available empirical evidence, aberrant and positive behaviors on the road constitute relevant predictors for the injuries suffered by road users. Nevertheless, the scarcity of tools that measure and evaluate the behavior of road users, especially in the case of cyclists, constitutes a serious lack in terms of explaining, intervening and preventing traffic crashes through behavioral approaches.ObjectiveThis study had two essential purposes: first, to describe in detail the validation of measurement of risky and positive road user behaviors of cyclists using the Cycling Behavior Questionnaire. Second, to compare the mean scores of the validated version of the CBQ according to demographic and cycling-related factors.MethodAs a part of a larger collaborative research project, our data was collected from 1064 Spanish-speaking cyclists (between 17 and 80 years old) from 20 countries, who filled out an anonymous electronic survey on their riding behaviors. The data was analyzed using competitive Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA), thus obtaining basic psychometric values and an optimized structure for the scale.ResultsThe obtained results suggest that the CBQ has a clear factorial structure, items with high factorial weight, and good internal consistency. In particular, the results of the latent variable model with three factors, which were labeled errors, violations and positive behaviors, show that the CBQ is satisfactorily adjusted.ConclusionThe findings of this research support the idea that the CBQ may have important applications in the improvement of road safety through the study of cyclists' behavioral factors and their relationship to demographic and cycling-related factors.     

Positive Metacognitions and Meta-Emotions as Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Growth in Survivors of a Natural Disaster

ABSTRACT

Exposure to natural disasters can lead to both negative and positive mental health consequences (i.e., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] and posttraumatic growth [PTG]). While there is evidence linking metacognition to these outcomes, the focus is mostly on maladaptive metacognitions. The present study investigated the role of positive metacognitions and meta-emotions (i.e., confidence in extinguishing perseveration [Extinguishing], confidence in interpreting emotions as cues [Interpreting], and confidence in setting flexible and attainable hierarchies of goals [Setting]) on PTSD and PTG among Filipino typhoon survivors. Findings supported a model wherein Extinguishing and Setting, but not Interpreting, predicted PTSD and PTG through posttraumatic cognitions.     

Comparing positive and negative patterning in human learning

In human causal learning, positive patterning (PP) and negative patterning (NP) discriminations are often acquired at roughly the same rate, whereas PP is learned faster than NP in most experiments with nonhuman animals. One likely reason for this discrepancy is that most causal learning scenarios encourage participants to treat the presentation and omission of the relevant outcome as two events of comparable significance and likelihood. To investigate this, the current experiments compared PP and NP using a predictive learning paradigm based on a mock gambling task. In Experiment 1, one outcome (winning) was made more salient by being less frequent than the alternative outcome (losing). Under these circumstances, PP was learned faster than NP. In Experiment 2, subjects learned two PP and two NP discriminations, one involved win versus no change outcomes, the other involved lose versus no change outcomes. The subjects learned PP faster than NP, but only when discriminating win from no change. We argue that a difference in difficulty between PP and NP relies on a difference in the salience of the outcomes, consistent with the predictions of a relatively simple model of associative learning.     

Employee Cynicism and Resistance to Organizational Change

We offer a reconceptualization of employee cynicism and present the results of two studies to test the hypotheses that (a) cynicism about an organizational change is distinguishable from skepticism about the change, more general forms of cynicism (disposition and management), and trust in management, (b) change-specific cynicism and skepticism relate differently to personal and situational antecedent variables, and (c) change-specific cynicism accounts for variance in employees intention to resist change not explained by skepticism, trust, and more general forms of cynicism. Study 1 was conducted with employees (N=65) from several organizations undergoing various changes, and Study 2 with employees (N=701) from a single organization undergoing restructuring and culture change. Results were generally consistent with prediction. Implications for future research and for the management of change are discussed.     

The Leadership of Service

Using experiences at Memorial University of Newfoundland as a basis, this essay suggests that leadership should be an expectation of professional academics in all the categories of their work, namely teaching, research and service. The desirability of developing the leadership of service in particular is advanced as an appropriate expectation for faculty members career progress. Developing a general leadership ethos is both philosophically appropriate and practically advantageous in collegial organisations.     

Preintervention analysis and improvement of customer greeting in a restaurant

We examined customer greeting by employees at one location of a sandwich restaurant chain. First, a preintervention analysis was conducted to determine the conditions under which greeting a customer within 3 s of his or her entry into the restaurant did and did not occur. Results suggested that an appropriate customer greeting was most likely to occur when a door chime was used to indicate that a customer had entered the store and when the store manager was present behind the service counter. Next, a performance improvement intervention, which consisted of the combination of the use of a door chime and manager presence, was evaluated. Results showed that during baseline, a mean of 6% of customers were greeted; during intervention a mean of 63% of customers were greeted. The addition of manager-delivered verbal and graphic group feedback resulted in 100% of customers being greeted across two consecutive sessions.     

Institutional culture and individual behavior: Creating an ethical environment

Much of the work in professional ethics sees ethical problems as resulting from ethical ignorance, ethical failure or evil intent. While this approach gets at real and valid concerns, it does not capture the whole story because it does not take into account the underlying professional or institutional culture in which moral decision making is imbedded. My argument in this paper is that this culture plays a powerful and sometimes determinant role in establishing the nature of the ethical debate; i.e., it helps to define what are viable action options, what is the organization’s genuine mission, and what behaviors will be rewarded or criticized. Given these conclusions, I also argue that consulting ethicists need more than an understanding of ethics theory, concepts and principles; they also need a sufficiently rich understanding of organizational culture and a willingness and an ability to critique that culture. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the “Ethics and Social Responsibility in Engineering and Technology” meeting, New Orleans, 2003.