The Effects Of Recruitment Message Specificity On Applicant Attraction To Organizations

We used the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) from marketing research to explain and examine how recruitment message specificity influences job seeker attraction to organizations. Using an experimental design and data from 171 college-level job seekers, the results showed that detailed recruitment messages led to enhanced perceptions of organization attributes and person–organization (P–O) fit. Perceptions of fit were found to mediate the relationship between message specificity and intention to apply to the organization. In addition, perceptions of organization attributes and P–O fit were found to influence intentions to apply under circumstances of explicit recruitment information while attractiveness and fit perceptions were shown to influence application intentions under conditions of implicit recruitment information. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Using task clarification, graphic feedback, and verbal feedback to increase closing-task completion in a privately owned restaurant

An informant functional assessment was used to evaluate closing-task completion by servers and dishwashers at a restaurant. Based on the functional assessment results, an intervention consisting of task clarification, posted graphic feedback, and verbal feedback was implemented and evaluated with a multiple baseline design across two groups of employees. Results showed an increase of 15% and 38% in task completion for the two groups.     

The development of organizational strategies in children: evidence from a microgenetic longitudinal study

The authors examined memory on a sort-recall task in children 8 to 12 years of age. Children were first classified as either strategic or nonstrategic on a sort-recall pretest and then participated in an 11-week microgenetic study involving nine sessions. Strategy use was assessed on each trial. Consistent with past longitudinal research, changes from nonstrategic to strategic behavior occurred suddenly rather than gradually. Once children began using organizational strategies, their recall performance improved immediately. Deliberate strategy use was clearly reflected by sorting behavior during encoding but not in clustering during recall. Conclusions about whether there are children with utilization deficiencies are thus affected by how the concept is defined and whether sorting or clustering is taken as the indicator of spontaneous strategy use.     

The adoption of innovation in collective action organizations

This study used a quantitative/qualitative methodology to explore how collective action organizations (CAOs) remain open to organizational change and innovation. It examined the adoption of inclusion—a recent innovation in the field of disabilities—by local chapters of The Arc Michigan (a disabilities CAO). We found considerable variability in the adoption of inclusion by local Arc chapters. This variability was significantly related to the ecology surrounding these chapters. Local Arc chapters that had adopted an inclusion philosophy had significantly different internal and external environments from those that had not adopted inclusion. Our qualitative findings make it clear, however, that innovative Arc chapters were not the passive recipients of these internal and external influences. These chapters were proactive players in defining and shaping the nature of their internal and external environments. Strategies that were related to a chapter's ability to remain open to innovation included (a) a change orientation, (b) a conscious philosophy or vision, (c) a proactive strategy for achieving chapter goals and overcoming barriers to change, (d) the creation of a supportive organizational network, and (e) avoidance of resource dependencies that required them to engage in activities that were inconsistent with the innovation. These findings provide a framework by which CAOs can maintain an openness to innovation and remain on the forefront of social change.     

The organizational context of children's mental health services

This paper reviews what is known about the organizational context of children's mental health services and describes organizational constructs, conceptual models, research methods, and intervention strategies that can be used to link organizational context to service quality and outcomes. Using evidence from studies of business and industrial organizations as well as studies of children's service organizations, the paper presents a model of organizational effectiveness that depends on several contextual characteristics that include organizational culture, structure, climate, and work attitudes. These characteristics are believed to affect the adoption of efficacious treatments (EBPs [evidence-based practices]), adherence to treatment protocols, therapeutic alliance, and the availability, responsiveness, and continuity of services. Finally, 10 components of the ARC(Availability Responsiveness and Continuity) organizational intervention are described as examples of strategies that can be used to develop organizational contexts with the prescribed characteristics. Mental health researchers are encouraged to consider including these constructs, conceptual models, research methods, and intervention strategies in dissemination, effectiveness, and implementation studies that address the gap between research-based knowledge about mental health treatment and what is actually offered in the community.     

The Role of Justice in Organizations: A Meta-Analysis

The correlates of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice were examined using 190 studies samples, totaling 64,757 participants. We found the distinction between the three justice types to be merited. While organizational practices and outcomes were related to the three justice types, demographic characteristics of the perceiver were, in large part, unrelated to perceived justice. Job performance and counterproductive work behaviors, considered to be outcomes of perceived justice, were mainly related to procedural justice, whereas organizational citizenship behavior was similarly predicted by distributive and procedural justice. Most satisfaction measures were similarly related to all justice types. Although organizational commitment and trust were mainly related to procedural justice, they were also substantially related to the other types of justice. Findings from laboratory and field studies are not always in agreement. Future research agendas are discussed.     

The roles of hopeful thinking in preventing problems and enhancing strengths

From its most famous tale, that of Pandora, hope was meant to prevent the emergence and reemergence of life difficulties. A new model defining hope as a combination of agentic pathways and goal-directed thinking is reviewed. Comparisons of the similarities of this theory to other existing theories are made. The beneficial roles of hope in primary (before the appearance of a problem) and secondary (after a problem has appeared) prevention are explored. Primary enhancement is introduced as involving those thoughts and actions that establish optimal functioning and satisfaction. Secondary enhancement is posited to describe those thoughts and actions that are undertaken over time so as to further functioning and satisfaction in order to reach peak levels. Using hope theory as a lens, these primary and secondary enhancement processes are described. The natural synergy between prevention and enhancement activities is discussed, along with the future priorities for using hope in prevention and enhancement efforts.     

Intensity of positive and negative emotions: Explaining the association between personality and depressive symptoms

The aim was to examine to what extent emotional intensity accounted for associations between the Big Five personality dimensions and depressive symptoms. Study 1 tested the model cross-sectionally, using survey data of 266 Dutch social science students. Study 2 experimentally examined how personality dimensions were related to emotional reactivity after exposure to various emotional stimuli. Dutch psychology students (N = 130) reported on their personality and viewed an amusing or sad film clip, after which the change in intensity of experienced positive and negative emotions was assessed. Individuals scoring higher on neuroticism generally experienced more intense negative emotions, through which they experienced a higher level of depressive symptoms. Individuals who were more agreeable experienced a lower level of depressive symptoms indirectly through higher general intensity of positive emotions. More agreeable individuals showed stronger increase in negative emotions and stronger decrease in positive emotions, though after exposure to the sad stimulus only. Although replication is needed, our results offer empirical support for a more taylor-made approach in decreasing nonclinical depressive symptoms taking into account both personality characteristics and emotion regulation.     

Dispositional bases of self-serving positive evaluations

Positive orientation (POS) is the name given to the latent dimension common to self-esteem, optimism and life satisfaction. Earlier findings attest to the trait-like nature of POS and to its unique contribution to well-adjustment across domains of functioning. The present study investigates the extent to which POS accounts for individuals’ tendency to distort their self-assessment in a positive direction. Taking a class of students (N = 190) at the beginning of their academic year, POS predicted the individuals’ tendency to perform academically better-than-average (BTA) peers. POS accounted for BTA beyond what is merely due to self-esteem, life satisfaction and optimism.     

Optimism and positive body image in women: The mediating role of the feared fat self

We predicted that an expectancy judgment about acquiring a feared fat self and an expectancy judgment about acquiring a hoped-for thin self would mediate dispositional optimism on positive body image. We also predicted that the mediation pathway through the feared self would be significantly stronger than that through the hoped-for self. Participants were 208 female college students who reported their age, height and weight and completed measures of dispositional optimism, the likelihood of acquiring the feared fat and hoped-for thin selves, and positive body image. Statistical analyses revealed that only the perceived likelihood of acquiring the feared fat self mediated dispositional optimism on positive body image. Implications for future research are discussed.