The Interactive Effects of Positive Affect and a Sense of Competency on the Politics Perceptions-Job Satisfaction Relationship

Previous research has examined factors capable of moderating the relationship between politics perceptions and work outcomes. What is absent in the literature, however, is an assessment of multiple moderators, which include dispositional and ability factors. In the current study, positive affect (PA) and sense of competency (SOC) were hypothesized to affect the relationship between politics perceptions and job satisfaction. Data gathered from 210 employees provided evidence of moderation. Specifically, the inverse relationship between politics perceptions and job satisfaction was significant for the low PA-low SOC and low PA-high SOC subgroups. For individuals possessing high levels of PA and high levels of SOC, the relationship was minimal. These results suggest that having high PA and high SOC may serve to buffer the harmful effects of politics perceptions. Implications, strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are provided.     

Academic Integrity of Millennials: The Impact of Religion and Spirituality

The majority of traditional students enrolled at most colleges and universities are a part of what has been termed the Millennial Generation, also known as Generation Y, which typically describes the group of individuals born in most of the 1980s and 1990s. This cohort’s life has been shaped by corporate scandals, economic instability, and worldwide tragedies. Concurrently, business ethics has become a popular topic in the news within the last 2 decades due to the increase in the number of high-profile business scandals. Unfortunately, this trend has also been accompanied by an increased number of reported incidents of academic dishonesty at many major universities. Two underresearched factors that may be related to academic dishonesty and cheating behavior are religiosity and spirituality. This article attempts to shed more light on the relationship between religious beliefs and unethical behavior, with a focus on millennial college students. It is posited that religiosity and spirituality influence an individual’s attitudes, views, decisions, and ultimately behaviors. The results of this study indicate that religiosity but not spirituality is a predictor of students’ attitudes toward cheating and cheating behavior.     

Reputation as a moderator of political behavior-work outcomes relationships: a two-study investigation with convergent results

Personal reputation has been acknowledged to have an important influence on work outcomes. However, substantive research has been relatively scarce to date. The 2-study research plan reported here supports reputation's role as a moderator of the relationships between political behavior and the work outcomes of uncertainty, emotional exhaustion, and job performance ratings (i.e., self- and supervisor report). The 1st investigation contained both a pilot study, which was undertaken to demonstrate the consistency of self- and others' perceptions of reputation, and a test of the substantive relationships. The 2nd study served as a constructive replication of the hypothesized relationships. Supporting prior research, Study 1 demonstrated that self-reports of personal reputation were significantly related to peer report. In each study, political behavior was associated with decreased uncertainty and emotional exhaustion and increased job performance ratings for individuals with a favorable reputation. Conversely, political behavior predicted increased uncertainty and emotional exhaustion and decreased job performance ratings for individuals with an unfavorable reputation. Implications of these results, strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.