Knowledge that Transforms

We explored whether voluntary survey completion by team members (in aggregate) is predictable from team members' collective evaluations of team-emergent states. In doing so, we reanalyze less-than-complete survey data on 110 teams from a published field study, using so-called traditional and modern missing data techniques to probe the sensitivity of these team-level relationships to data missingness. The multivariate findings revealed that a greater within-team participation rate was indeed related to a higher team-level (mean) score on team mental efficacy (across all four missing-data techniques) and less dispersion among team member judgments about internal cohesion (when the 2 modern methods were used). In addition, results show that a commonly used approach of retaining only those teams with high participation rates produces inflated standardized effect size (i.e., R²) estimates and decreased statistical power. Suggestions include research design considerations and a comprehensive methodology to account for team member data missingness.

This study assesses longitudinal effects of different training designs on joint negotiation performance. In so doing, the study experimentally compares (a) bilateral training of both the seller and the buyer within a dyad with both (b) a no-training control condition and 2 conditions with unilateral training of either (c) the buyer or (d) the seller. Moreover, underlying psychological mechanisms of the training effect are assessed. Results of the study with 360 participants reveal a significant overall training effect on negotiation outcomes that remains stable over time. Consistent with our hypotheses, unilateral negotiation training is only effective if the trained party is the seller, and it fails if the trained party is the buyer. Additional mediation analyses reveal exchange of priority-related information as a causal mechanism underlying these effects.

We argue that studying leaders experiencing a job transition offers a unique opportunity to explore initial changes in leaders' development in their cognition and action. Here, we examine 2 early indicators of leaders' development-their acquisition of knowledge regarding their new role (a cognitive outcome) and the time they allocate toward leading others (a behavioral outcome)-and how supervisors can facilitate these forms of development among transitioning leaders. With a sample of 110 first-line leaders who we tracked over approximately 10 months at 4 different points in time, we tested the efficacy of supervisors' support in the form of modeling effective leadership behavior (i.e., "show") and the provision of job information (i.e., "tell"). Results from random coefficient modeling revealed that the interactive effect of supervisors' "show" and "tell" accelerates the rate of transitioning leaders' self-perceived role knowledge acquisition over time. This upward trajectory is even more pronounced for transitioning leaders who have not been exposed to an exceptional leader during their careers. Further, with a lagged design, we found that leaders who report greater role knowledge allocate more time toward leading others, thus indicating initial changes in these leaders' behavior. We discuss these findings in light of their theoretical and practical importance to the field of leader development.

Although experiencing unfairness is a primary source of stress, there are surprisingly few studies that have examined the physiological underpinnings of unfairness. Drawing from social self-preservation theory, we derive predictions regarding the effects of interactional unfairness on activity in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis, which is one of the body's primary hormonal systems for responding to stress. Using an experimental design with objective physiological measures, we found support for our hypothesis that interactional unfairness triggers the release of cortisol by the HPA axis. This cortisol activity in turn mediated the effects of interactional unfairness on deviant behavior. This indirect effect remained significant after controlling for established attitudinal and self-construal mediators of the justice-deviance relationship. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for the occupational stress and organizational justice literatures.

Web-based training is frequently used by organizations as a convenient and low-cost way to teach employees new knowledge and skills. As web-based training is typically unproctored, employees may be held accountable to the organization by computer software that monitors their behaviors. The current study examines how the introduction of electronic performance monitoring may provoke negative emotional reactions and decrease learning among certain types of e-learners. Through motivated action theory and trait activation theory, we examine the role of performance goal orientation when e-learners are exposed to asynchronous and synchronous monitoring. We show that some e-learners are more susceptible than others to evaluation apprehension when they perceive their activities are being monitored electronically. Specifically, e-learners higher in avoid performance goal orientation exhibited increased evaluation apprehension if they believed asynchronous monitoring was present, and they showed decreased skill attainment as a result. E-learners higher on prove performance goal orientation showed greater evaluation apprehension if they believed real-time monitoring was occurring, resulting in decreased skill attainment.

The purpose of this study was to use the categorization-elaboration model (CEM) to examine the asymmetrical effects of goal faultlines in groups, which are present when hypothetical dividing lines are created on the basis of different performance goals, splitting the group into subgroups. On the basis of the CEM, we expected groups with goal faultlines to exhibit higher levels of creative task performance than (a) groups with specific, difficult goals and (b) groups with do-your-best goals. We expected the benefits of goal faultlines to be due to increases in reflective reframing, which occurs when group members build on each other's ideas by shifting to alternate frames. However, we expected groups with goal faultlines to exhibit lower levels of routine task performance than (a) groups with do-your-best goals and (b) groups with specific, difficult goals, due to increased perceptions of loafing. Results from 87 groups generally supported our hypothesized model. Implications are discussed as well as possible limitations and directions for future research.

The present research examines the influence of implicit and explicit personality characteristics on group process and effectiveness. Individuals from 112 groups participated in 2 problem-solving tasks and completed measures of group process and effectiveness. Results indicated that groups characterized by higher levels of psychopathy and implicit aggression tended to have more dysfunctional interactions and negative perceptions of the group. In addition, task participation and negative socioemotional behaviors fully mediated the relationship between group personality traits and group commitment and cohesion, and negative socioemotional behaviors fully mediated the relationship between group personality and performance on both tasks. Implications of antisocial traits for group interactions and performance, as well as for future theory and research, are discussed.

Ongoing concern about the construct validity of assessment center dimensions has focused on postexercise dimension ratings (PEDRs) that are consistently found to reflect exercise variance to a greater degree than dimension variance. Here, we present a solution to this problem. Based on the argument that PEDRs are an intermediate step toward an overall dimension rating, and that the overall dimension rating should be the focus of inquiry, we demonstrate that correlated sources of dimension variance accumulate and increasingly displace uncorrelated sources of both systematic variance and error. Viewing overall dimension ratings as a composite of PEDRs, we show dimension variance will commonly quickly overtake exercise-specific variance as the dominant source of variance as ratings from multiple exercises are combined. We embed our results in a new framework for categorizing different levels of construct variance dominance, and our results indicate that with as few as two exercises, dimension variance can reach our lowest level of construct variance dominance. However, the largest source of dimension variance is a general factor. We conclude that the construct validity problem in assessments centers never existed as historically framed, but the presence of a general factor may limit interpretation for developmental purposes.

Despite the wide use of physical ability tests for selection and placement decisions in physically demanding occupations, research has suggested that there are substantial male-female differences on the scores of such tests, contributing to adverse impact. In this study, we present updated, revised meta-analytic estimates of sex differences in physical abilities and test 3 moderators of these differences-selection system design, specificity of measurement, and training-in order to provide insight into possible methods of reducing sex differences on physical ability test scores. Findings revealed that males score substantially better on muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance tests but that there are no meaningful sex differences on movement quality tests. These estimates differ in several ways from past estimates. Results showed that sex differences are similar across selection systems that emphasize basic ability tests versus job simulations. Results also showed that sex differences are smaller for narrow dimensions of muscular strength and that there is substantial variance in the sex differences in muscular strength across different body regions. Finally, we found that training led to greater increases in performance for women than for men on both muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance tests. However, training reduced the male-female differences on muscular strengths tests only modestly and actually increased male-female differences on cardiovascular endurance. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on physical ability testing and adverse impact, as well as the practical implications of the results.

Taking a self-regulatory perspective, we develop a mediated moderation model explaining how within-person changes in job search efficacy and chronic regulatory focus interactively affect the number of job interview offers and whether job search effort mediates the cross-level interactive effects. A sample of 184 graduating college students provided monthly reports of their job search activities over a period of 8 months. Findings supported the hypothesized relationships. Specifically, at the within-person level, job search efficacy was positively related with the number of interview offers for job seekers with strong prevention focus and negatively related with the number of interview offers for job seekers with strong promotion focus. Results show that job search effort mediated the moderated relationships. Findings enhance understandings of the complex self-regulatory processes underlying job search.