Knowledge that Transforms

James, Demaree, and Wolf (1984) developed an indes, r WG , for assessing within-group agreement appropriate when only a single target is rated. The assessment of interperceiver agreement in such situations is of particular relevance to the composition model for climate. Schmidt and Hunter (1989) have criticized the conceptual foundation of r WG because it is not consistent with the classical model of reliability. They proposed an alternative approach, the use of the rating standard deviation (SD X ), the standard error of the rating mean (SE M ), and the associated confidence intervals for SE M to index interrater agreement. This comment argues that the critique of r WG dit not clearly distinguish the concepts of interrater consensus (i.e., agreement) and interrater consistency (i.e., reliability)

This study assessed the ability of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to account for drivers' intentions to commit four specific driving violations: drinking and driving, speeding, close following, and overtaking in risky circumstances. A stratified sample of drivers (N = 881) was surveyed with a questionnaire constructed to measure attitudes toward behaviors, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions, the key constructs in TPB. Results showed that the addition of perceived behavioral control led to significant increments in the amount of explained variance in intentions, thereby supporting the theory The relation between subjective norms and behavioral intentions was consistently stronger than that between attitudes toward behaviors and behavioral intentions. Analyses of variance differentiated demographic subgroups of drivers in terms of behavioral beliefs, outcome evaluations, normative beliefs, motivation to comply, and control beliefs.

The present study combined meta-analysis with structural equations modeling (SEM) to validate Mobley, Horner, and Hollingsworth's (1978) turnover theory as well as alternative structural networks proposed by Dalessio, Silverman, and Schuck (1986), Hom, Griffeth, and Sellaro (1984), and Bannister and Griffeth (1986). We aggregated correlations from 17 studies (N = 5,013 employees), correcting for unreliability and sampling error. Then we used SEM to assess the models, comparing their relative fits to data

A field study was conducted to discover how a manager's use of 9 different influence tactics is related to target task commitment and the manager's effectiveness. The variables were measured with a questionnaire filled out by subordinates, peers, and the boss of each manager. The most effective tactics were rational persuasion, inspirational appeal, and consultation; the least effective tactics were pressure, coalition, and legitimating. Ingratiation and exchange were moderately effective for influencing subordinates and peers but were not effective for influencing superiors. Inspirational appeal, ingratiation, and pressure were used most in a downward direction; personal appeal, exchange, and legitimating were used most in a lateral direction; coalitions were used most in lateral and upward directions; and rational persuasion was used most in an upward direction.

Previous research has consistently shown little relationship between job satisfaction, job attitudes, and performance for individuals, but little work has investigated these relationships at the organizational level of analysis. This study investigated the relationship between employee satisfaction, other job-related attitudes (commitment, adjustment, and psychological stress), and organizational performance. Organizational performance data were collected for 298 schools; employee satisfaction and attitude data were collected from 13,808 teachers within these schools. Correlation and regression analyses supported the expected relationships between employee satisfaction/attitudes and organizational performance

A comprehensive model of the work-family interface was developed and tested. The proposed model extended prior research by explicitly distinguishing between work interfering with family and family interfering with work. This distinction allowed testing of hypotheses concerning the unique antecedents and outcomes of both forms of work-family conflict and a reciprocal relationship between them. The influence of gender, race, and job type on the generalizability of the model was also examined. Data were obtained through household interviews with a random sample of 631 individuals. The model was tested with structural equation modeling techniques. Results were strongly supportive. In addition, although the model was invariant across gender and race, there were differences across blue- and white-collar workers. Implications for future research on the work-family interface are discussed.

Substance use and job behaviors were assessed in a sample of municipal employees from a large city in the southwestern United States. Job behaviors included psychological and physical withdrawal, positive work behaviors, and antagonistic work behaviors. Employees who reported substance use at or away from work were found to more frequently engage in withdrawal activities and antagonistic work behaviors than did nonusers, although users and nonusers did not differ on positive work behaviors. We tested hierarchical regression models to determine whether substance use contributed unique variance to the prediction of job behaviors after we controlled for variance associated with personal and job background domains. Substance use added unique variance to the prediction of psychological and physical withdrawal behaviors but not to positive or antagonistic work behaviors.

The different conceptual and operational definitions of halo are reviewed, and problems when using halo as a dependent measure in performance rating research and practice are pointed out. Four major points are emphasized: (a) There is no agreed on conceptual definition of halo; (b) the different conceptual definitions of halo are not systematically related to different operational definitions (i.e., measures) of halo; (c) halo measures may be poor indexes of rating quality in that different halo measures are not strongly interrelated and halo measures are not related to measures of rating validity or accuracy; and (d) although halo may be a poor measure of rating quality, it may or may not be an important measure of the rating process

A review of research on the effects of met expectations for newcomers to organizations located 31 studies of 17,241 people. A meta-analysis found mean (corrected) correlations of .39 for job satisfaction and organizational commitment, .29 for intent to leave, .19 for job survival, and .11 for job performance. However, all of these mean correlations had significant between-studies variance. By using strict conformity with Porter and Steer's (1973) definition of met expectations, we identified a subset of studies that had nonsignificant between-studies variance for all correlations except job satisfaction. Furthermore, the mean correlations in these subgroups were very similar to those for the entire group. Future research should consider both the direction of the met expectations discrepancy (i.e., over- vs. underfulfillment) and alternative ways to measure organizational reality.