The determinants of job seekers' reputation perceptions

Although job seekers' reputation perceptions may be based on different factors than other constituents (e.g., investors, consumers), we know little about the antecedents of job seekers' reputation perceptions. The present study utilizes verbal protocol analysis to explore the factors that job seekers consider when evaluating employers' reputations. Results from this qualitative investigation are complemented and cross‐validated with an experimental policy capturing study and a field study of recruiting organizations. Data from all three methodologies suggest that some factors affecting job seekers' reputation perceptions are quite different from factors that have been revealed in previous reputation research, which has focused primarily on executives. For example, results from the present study reveal that the type of industry in which a firm operates, the opportunities that a firm provides for employee development, and organizational culture affect job seekers' reputation perceptions. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Work-Family conflict: The effect of job and family involvement

A review of past research revealed inconsistent findings concerning the relationship between job involvement and work-family conflict. This study tested whether family involvement moderates the relationship between job involvement and work-family conflict. Two types of family involvement (spouse and parent) and two types of work-family conflict (job-spouse and job-parent) were assessed. Data were gathered via questionnaire from a sample of nonteaching professionals employed by a large public university in the northeastern United States. As hypothesized, job involvement and job-spouse conflict were positively related for individuals high in spouse involvement and unrelated for individuals low in spouse involvement. Contrary to prediction, parental involvement did not moderate the relationship between job involvement and job-parent conflict. Instead, job involvement was positively related to job-parent conflict regardless of the level of parental involvement. Results are discussed in terms of standards for role performance and strength of role demands. Implications for future research are also discussed.     

The relationship between age and job performance evaluations for entry-level professionals

This study examined the relationship between age and job performance evaluations for newcomers recently hired into entry-level positions in public accounting firms. We predicted and found a negative relationship between age and job performance evaluations. This relationship was eliminated after controlling for undergraduate grade average and prior work experience, operationalized as the number of jobs that a newcomer had previously held. Results are discussed in terms of the possibility of negative age effects in entry-level positions and the potential reasons for such findings. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New recruit safety expectations: Relationships with trust and perceived job risk

Very little research has examined the safety expectations of new recruits, particularly those of individuals about to enter full-time work for the first time. There is evidence that new recruits have proportionally more accidents in the first period of their employment. One possible explanation for this is that the safety expectations of new recruits do not match the reality of the workplace they are about to enter. In Study 1 data on workplace safety expectations were collected from 142 final year high school students from six schools. Study 2 collected data from 40 organizations on the safety expectations of a new recruit and compared it with safety expectation data from a manager of the job they were entering. Both studies found that new recruit safety expectations were significantly correlated with ratings of safety specific trust in co-workers and management. Study 2 found that new recruits safety expectation scores were significantly higher than those given by managers. The results suggest that organizations need to develop a clear safety-specific psychological contract with new recruits.     

The relationship between perceived risk of being ticketed and self-reported seat belt use

PROBLEM: Twenty-nine percent of Americans failed to use their seat belts in 2000. Efforts to improve safety belt usage can be enhanced by identifying specific factors that motivate belt use. METHOD: Motorist survey data were used to examine the effect of Perceived Risk of being Ticketed (PRT) for a seat belt infraction on self-reported seat belt use. RESULTS: Analyses indicated that individuals and groups of individuals who have higher PRT typically report higher belt usage. Factorial analyses indicated that this perceived risk to belt use relationship holds both within groups with generally high (e.g., upper income) and generally low (e.g. young men) overall self-reported belt use. DISCUSSION: Applications of PRT to improve seat belt use are discussed. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Enforcement of existing laws, perhaps through selective traffic enforcement programs, and strengthening laws to create a higher perception of being ticketed by motorists should increase safety belt use thereby saving lives and reducing cost for individuals, government, and industry.     

The role of perceived system knowledge in predicting appraisal reactions,job satisfaction,and organizational commitment

There is a very large research base in Applied Psychology on the importance of affective reactions on organizational functioning. Likewise, performance appraisal has been a heavily researched area within the field. The present field studies attempt to bridge our understanding of these two areas by studying the relationship between performance appraisal process variables and employee affective reactions. In particular, the current studies examine the effects of a relatively new performance appraisal variable, Perceived System Knowledge (Williams and Levy, 1992), on appraisal reactions and job attitudes. In both studies, there was a strong relationship between employees' levels of perceived system knowledge and their appraisal reactions and job attitudes. In Study 1, when controlling for performance rating, PSK was positively related to appraisal reactions, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. The findings from Study 1 were replicated in the second study which employed a longitudinal design. In addition, Study 2 found a relationship between PSK and fairness perceptions. Implications for these results and suggestions for approaching performance appraisal from an organizational perspective are proposed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Objective job conditions,social support and perceived stress among blue collar workers

The hypothesis that perceived supportive relations mediate the association between extra-individual (objective) job conditions and perceptions of occupational stress is tested in a population of blue collar workers. Responses to a mailed questionnaire (N = 1830) include measures of social support from four sources (supervisor, coworkers, spouse, friends/relatives) and measures of perceived stress (five job pressures and four need deprivations). In addition, company records and expert ratings by company, union and study personnel provide measures of objective job conditions which are commensurate with the subjective reports. Associations between objective job conditions and perceived stress are significant but modest in size. Controls for age, education, exposure to noxious agents and physical effort on the job do not alter associations between objective conditions and perceived stress. For five of the nine indicators of perceived stress, social support and objective conditions interact in determining perceptions. This is interpreted as a buffering effect in which social support provides a context that significantly alters perceptions of job conditions. The effect of supervisor support is especially important in regard to buffering. It is suggested that research on the quality of work should be especially aware of the conditional nature of the relationship between objective job conditions and perceptions.     

The relationship between job experiences and psychological distress: A structural equation approach

Using structural equations, we estimated the relationship between employees' experiences of seven job conditions, that have been identified as potential job stressors, and psychological distress in a random sample of 504 full-time employed men and women in dual-earner couples. The seven job conditions were: skill discretion, decision authority, schedule control, job demands, pay adequacy, job security, and relations with supervisor. We found that two job conditions — skill discretion and job demands — were related to psychological distress, whereas five other conditions were not. These findings lend partial support to Karasek's job demand — job control model. In our analysis, skill discretion, one of the two components of job control (referred to jointly as decision latitude) was related to distress, however, decision authority, the second component, was not. A third aspect of control, schedule control, was also unrelated to distress. For full-time employed women and men in dual-earner couples, the additive effects of feeling concerned about having to do dull, monotonous work and having to work under pressure of time and conflicting demands were associated with psychological distress. Finally, the magnitude of the relationships between these job experiences and psychological distress did not differ between men and women.     

The relationship between emotional maturity and drinking-and-driving involvement among young adults

The relationship between emotional maturity and drinking-and-driving involvement among young adults aged 25–34 was investigated. The variables were sex, age broken down into two groups (25–29 and 30–39), and six drinking-and-driving categories. The Revised Huffman Inventory was used to measure emotional immaturity. The inventory was administered to graduate students enrolled at The University of Tennessee at Knoxville during the summer of 1981. A table of random numbers was used to obtain a sample of 326 subjects. A three-factor analysis of variance was used to test the hypotheses. If a difference among groups was significant (p< .05), Duncan's Multiple Range Test was applied to determine where those differences were. The conclusions were: (1) among females and males in the same age group, females are more emotionally mature than males; (2) age is a factor in emotional maturity in that emotional maturity increases with age; and (3) there appears to be a link between emotional maturity and drinking-and-driving involvement in that persons with lower emotional maturity are more likely to drive while under the influence of alcohol.     

The relationship between recruitment processes, familiarity, trust, perceived risk and safety

Introduction and Method

Participants′ perceptions of the safety-related aspects of their organization′s recruitment processes were examined, as were their perceptions of safety aspects associated with new recruits.

Results

One hundred and fifty-four professional fire fighters indicated the trust they held in the safety-related aspects of their organizations′ selection and pre-start training. Perceived trust in pre-start training was negatively correlated (r = -.24, p < .01) with the risk associated with new recruits, and positively correlated (r = .50, p < .01) with ratings of trust in recruits to immediately work safely. Furthermore, trust in recruits to immediately work safely was negatively correlated (r = -.21, p < .01) with crews′ safety behavior toward recruits.

Conclusions

These results are interpreted as particularly dangerous for workers, as new recruits lack familiarity with aspects of their new workplace that cannot be addressed by either selection or pre-start training, making them a risk.

Impact on Industry

Organizations should actively identify new recruits, and encourage existing team members not to immediately trust new recruits to work safely.     

The development of an occupational attributional style questionnaire

Ninety working adults completed the OASQ — an occupational attributional style questionnaire aimed specifically at examining attributions for work-related events. They also completed well-known and validated measures of job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation. The OASQ was shown to have satisfactory internal reliability. Attributions for positive events, rather than negative events, were significantly correlated with demographic variables like occupational status and salary but also job satisfaction and motivation. The study supports previous work to the effect that an ‘optimistic’ internal attributional style at work is associated with satisfaction and motivation.     

The organizational tenure — Job involvement relationship: A job-career experience explanation

Research on the job involvement-organizational tenure relationship has shown no consistent relationship, but recent job and career experience models suggest that a relationship should be found. Using data from three organizations (n = 216), polynomial regression analysis revealed a curvilinear job involvement-organizational tenure relationship. This finding is discussed with reference to changes in workplace sensemaking that occur as work experience is accumulated.     

The effects of perceived organizational support,perceived supervisor support and perceived co-worker support on safety and health compliance

Although knowledge is cumulating, very little is known about the effects of various sources of support on safety and health compliance. This study goes beyond previous research by investigating the relationships among perceived support from organizations, supervisors and co-workers, and employees’ safety and health compliance behaviour at chemical and petroleum process plants. The results of this study show that the support from organizations, supervisors and co-workers was significantly related to employees’ safety and health compliance. Also, the findings reveal that perceived supervisor support has the strongest influence in ensuring employees’ safety and health compliance behaviour.     

The impact of job demands and behavioral control on experienced job stress

The present study examines the impact of behavioral control on the experience of work strain under conditions of work overload. Extending experimental laboratory findings that suggest that control can lessen the impact of aversive stimuli on psychological and physiological strain responses, we hypothesized an interaction between control and workload such that the effects of high demands on strain would be less if the worker had behavioral control over the task. This hypothesis is also consistent with Karasek's job demands-job decision latitude model of work strain and health. The hypothesis was tested in a laboratory experiment in which 125 subjects worked on a mail sorting task with either a high or moderate level of workload and either a high or low level of behavioral control. Strain responses were assessed with measures of job satisfaction, anxiety, and physiological arousal. The hypothesis was only partially supported in that high control lessened the impact that work overload had on anxiety. While not fully supportive of the model, the results are seen as conservative given the constraints on the manipulation of work overload inherent in the laboratory environment.     

The derivation of job designs

This paper presents a theoretical account of the derivation of job designs incorporating consideration of technology, structure and managerial control, viewed from an information processing perspective. A conceptual distinction is made between tasks and roles which has practical relevance in that organizations have independent choices regarding their design. These choices are underpinned by economic and psychological values as well as by managerial needs for control. The paper argues that whilst options exist, organizations typically choose to simplify jobs, a strategy which may well be ineffective, especially under conditions of uncertainty. New, more complex job designs may be very difficult to implement for economic, psychological, managerial and political reasons. Research and development should now be directed towards a more detailed cognitive and social psychological understanding of the derivation and impact of job designs as well as towards study of the introduction and impact of new technology. These represent qualitative shifts in research emphasis.     

The measurement of job control

Subjective or perceived control over job-related activities or events is a frequently measured construct in organizational stress research. Karasek (1985) assessed perceived control as both decision authority and skill discretion at work (job decision latitude). Ganster (1989b; Dwyer and Ganster, 1991) developed a multidimensional or general measure of worker control, as well as a specific measure of work predictability. Because little published psychometric data exist for these scales, we investigated the item-level measurement properties of Karasek's and Ganster's measures. We hypothesized two separate, two-factor solutions, decision authority and skill discretion, for the job decision latitude scale, and general control and predictability, for the work control scale. The dimensionality of both measures was assessed in multiple, independent samples using confirmatory factor analyses (LISREL) with maximum likelihood estimation. Simultaneous solutions across samples were used to determine the fit of the factor models to the data. The hypothesized two-factor solutions were confirmed for both Karasek's and Ganster's scales, although item refinement is indicated. We also investigated the relative independence between Karasek's and Ganster's scales and found a lack of independence between the general control and decision authority items in one sample. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of job and environmental factors on job satisfaction in automotive industries.

A methodology was developed for diagnosing industrial work, which includes questionnaire, observation, measurements, data collection and statistical analysis. A survey was conducted to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and factors that affect work design in 2 automotives manufacturing companies in Malaysia. A basic work design model was proposed. The aim of this model was to determine the factors that influence employees' perception towards their work. A set of multiple-choice questionnaires was developed and data was collected by interviewing employees at a production plant. The survey focused on job and environmental factors. The results supported the proposed model and showed that job and environmental factors were significantly related to job satisfaction. They highlighted the significant influence of age, work experience and marital status on job satisfaction. Further, environmental factors, especially the surroundings, context dependence and the building's function, also had a significant impact on job satisfaction.     

The influence of subordinate age on managerial actions: An attributional analysis

The present research examined the effects of employee age on managers attributions and actions toward subordinates. The major prediction was that managers attributions would mediate the effects of age on managerial actions. One-hundred and twenty-four undergraduate management students participated in a laboratory experiment in which subordinate age (30 versus 60 years) and performance (high versus low) were manipulated. A laboratory study was conducted so that subordinate credentials and performance levels could be controlled. Analyses indicated that poor performance by older subordinates was attributed more to stable factors than similar performance by younger subordinates. In addition, job simplification was rated as more appropriate and training was recommended as less appropriate for older subordinates. A series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the differences in managerial actions were a function of subjects' attributional patterns. Implications of the findings for practice and future research are discussed.     

The justice perspective of job stress

The study presents a new variable, role justice, pertaining to the perceived fairness of role senders reaction when the focal individual is under conflict, ambiguity, overload, or restricted latitude. The effect of this variable on symptoms of strain was explored, with the expectation of finding either additive or interactive effects vis-à-vis the above four role stressors. Using hierarchical multiple regression, the data supported the additive model which suggested that role injustice constitutes an additional source of stress. The study was conducted with a sample of hospital nurses, known to have significant levels of job stress. The results suggest that the role stress model ought to be expanded to include social appraisal constructs because of the social origin of the stressor variables it deals with.