Journal of Applied Psychology

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again: Understanding race, age, and gender differences in retesting score improvement.
This article explores the intersection of 2 critical and timely concerns in personnel selection—applicant retesting and subgroup differences—by exploring demographic differences in retest effects across multiple assessments. Results from large samples of applicants taking 3 written tests (N = 7,031) and 5 performance tests (N = 2,060) revealed that Whites showed larger retest score improvements than Blacks or Hispanics on several of the assessments. However, the differential improvement of Whites was greater on the written tests than on the performance tests. In addition, women and applicants under 40 years of age showed larger improvements with retesting than did men and applicants over 40. We offer some preliminary theoretical explanations for these demographic differences in retesting gains, including differences in ability, testing attitudes and motivation, and receptivity to feedback. In terms of practical implications, the results suggest that allowing applicants to retake selection tests may, in some cases, exacerbate levels of adverse impact, which can have distinct implications for retesting policy and practices in organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
The effect of negative feedback on tension and subsequent performance: The main and interactive effects of goal content and conscientiousness.
The purpose of this experiment was to examine the interplay of goal content, conscientiousness, and tension on performance following negative feedback. Undergraduate students were assigned either a learning or performance goal and then were provided with false feedback indicating very poor performance on the task they performed. After assessing tension, participants performed the task again with the same learning or performance goal. A mediated moderation model was tested, and results were supportive of our hypotheses. Specifically, individuals assigned a learning goal experienced less tension and performed better following negative feedback than individuals assigned a performance goal. Individuals high in conscientiousness experienced greater tension than individuals low in conscientiousness. Conscientiousness and goal content interacted in relating to both tension and performance, with tension as a mediator, such that high conscientiousness amplified the detrimental effect of a performance goal on tension following negative feedback leading to lower performance. High conscientiousness facilitated performance for participants with a learning goal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Coping with employee, family, and student roles: Evidence of dispositional conflict and facilitation tendencies.
Balancing multiple roles is a challenge for individuals in many sectors of the population. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that individuals have dispositional tendencies to experience interrole conflict and facilitation. We also aimed to show that coping styles and life satisfaction are correlates of dispositional conflict and facilitation tendencies. Two survey studies were conducted with individuals involved in 3 life roles (i.e., employee, student, and family member; Study 1: N = 193; Study 2: N = 284). The hierarchical structure of conflict and facilitation was examined in both studies. Support for the dispositional model was found in both cases through the use of hierarchical confirmatory factor analyses. In Study 2, a longitudinal assessment of the nomological network surrounding conflict and facilitation tendencies was conducted with structural equation modeling analyses; we found that coping styles had synchronous relations with dispositional conflict and facilitation; dispositional conflict had a lagged and negative relation with life satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Revival of test bias research in preemployment testing.
We developed a new analytic proof and conducted Monte Carlo simulations to assess the effects of methodological and statistical artifacts on the relative accuracy of intercept- and slope-based test bias assessment. The main simulation design included 3,185,000 unique combinations of a wide range of values for true intercept- and slope-based test bias, total sample size, proportion of minority group sample size to total sample size, predictor (i.e., preemployment test scores) and criterion (i.e., job performance) reliability, predictor range restriction, correlation between predictor scores and the dummy-coded grouping variable (e.g., ethnicity), and mean difference between predictor scores across groups. Results based on 15 billion 925 million individual samples of scores and more than 8 trillion 662 million individual scores raise questions about the established conclusion that test bias in preemployment testing is nonexistent and, if it exists, it only occurs regarding intercept-based differences that favor minority group members. Because of the prominence of test fairness in the popular media, legislation, and litigation, our results point to the need to revive test bias research in preemployment testing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Implicit effects of justice on self-identity.
The authors provide one of the first tests of whether justice has effects at implicit or subconscious levels. By manipulating justice in a laboratory experiment, they found that the activation of interdependent and individual self-identities were higher when people experienced fairness and unfairness, respectively. Although these effects occurred at both implicit and explicit levels, they were stronger in the former case. These identity-based effects proved to be important because they mediated the effects of justice on trust and on cooperative and counterproductive behaviors. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
The effects of organizational embeddedness on development of social capital and human capital.
This article examines the effects of organizational embeddedness on employees' activities to build social capital and human capital. To test a latent growth model, we collected data from 375 managers at multiple points over an 8-month period. We found that the more embedded employees perceived themselves to be at Time 1, the more likely they were to show declines in social capital development behaviors over time. In addition, declines in social capital development behavior were directly related to declines in human capital development behavior over time. These findings highlight the potential negative consequences embeddedness can have on employees' career development activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Correction to Mathieu and Rapp (2009).
Reports an error in "Laying the foundation for successful team performance trajectories: The roles of team charters and performance strategies" by John E. Mathieu and Tammy L. Rapp (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2009[Jan], Vol 94[1], 90-103). In the article “Laying the Foundation for Successful Team Performance Trajectories: The Roles of Team Charters and Performance Strategies,” by John E. Mathieu and Tammy L. Rapp (Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 90–103), the “High Chart–Low Strategy” and the “Low Chart–High Strategy” lines were inadvertently reversed in Figure 1. Below is the corrected version of Figure 1. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2009-00697-021.) This study examined the influences of team charters and performance strategies on the performance trajectories of 32 teams of master's of business administration students competing in a business strategy simulation over time. The authors extended existing theory on team development by demonstrating that devoting time to laying a foundation for both teamwork (i.e., team charters) and taskwork (performance strategies) can pay dividends in terms of more effective team performance over time. Using random coefficients growth modeling techniques, they found that teams with high-quality performance strategies outperformed teams with poorer quality strategies. However, a significant interaction between quality of the charters of teams and their performance strategies was found, such that the highest sustained performances were exhibited by teams that were high on both features. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Safety climate and injuries: An examination of theoretical and empirical relationships.
Our purpose in this study was to meta-analytically address several theoretical and empirical issues regarding the relationships between safety climate and injuries. First, we distinguished between extant safety climate→injury and injury→safety climate relationships for both organizational and psychological safety climates. Second, we examined several potential moderators of these relationships. Meta-analyses revealed that injuries were more predictive of organizational safety climate than safety climate was predictive of injuries. Additionally, the injury→safety climate relationship was stronger for organizational climate than for psychological climate. Moderator analyses revealed that the degree of content contamination in safety climate measures inflated effects, whereas measurement deficiency attenuated effects. Additionally, moderator analyses showed that as the time period over which injuries were assessed lengthened, the safety climate→injury relationship was attenuated. Supplemental meta-analyses of specific safety climate dimensions also revealed that perceived management commitment to safety is the most robust predictor of occupational injuries. Contrary to expectations, the operationalization of injuries did not meaningfully moderate safety climate–injury relationships. Implications and recommendations for future research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
A taxonomy of effect size measures for the differential functioning of items and scales.
Much progress has been made in the past 2 decades with respect to methods of identifying measurement invariance or a lack thereof. Until now, the focus of these efforts has been to establish criteria for statistical significance in items and scales that function differently across samples. The power associated with tests of differential functioning, as with all significance tests, is affected by sample size and other considerations. Additionally, statistical significance need not imply practical importance. There is a strong need as such for meaningful effect size indicators to describe the extent to which items and scales function differently. Recently developed effect size measures show promise for providing a metric to describe the amount of differential functioning present between groups. Expanding upon recent developments, this article presents a taxonomy of potential differential functioning effect sizes; several new indices of item and scale differential functioning effect size are proposed and illustrated with 2 data samples. Software created for computing these indices and graphing item- and scale-level differential functioning is described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Psychological contract breaches, organizational commitment, and innovation-related behaviors: A latent growth modeling approach.
This study examined the relationships among psychological contract breaches, organizational commitment, and innovation-related behaviors (generating, spreading, implementing innovative ideas at work) over a 6-month period. Results indicate that the effects of psychological contract breaches on employees are not static. Specifically, perceptions of psychological contract breaches strengthened over time and were associated with decreased levels of affective commitment over time. Further, increased perceptions of psychological contract breaches were associated with decreases in innovation-related behaviors. We also found evidence that organizational commitment mediates the relationship between psychological contract breaches and innovation-related behaviors. These results highlight the importance of examining the nomological network of psychological contract breaches from a change perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Automatic ethics: The effects of implicit assumptions and contextual cues on moral behavior.
We empirically examine the reflexive or automatic aspects of moral decision making. To begin, we develop and validate a measure of an individual's implicit assumption regarding the inherent morality of business. Then, using an in-basket exercise, we demonstrate that an implicit assumption that business is inherently moral impacts day-to-day business decisions and interacts with contextual cues to shape moral behavior. Ultimately, we offer evidence supporting a characterization of employees as reflexive interactionists: moral agents whose automatic decision-making processes interact with the environment to shape their moral behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
A meta-analytic examination of work and general locus of control.
The current meta-analysis examined the hypothesized consequences of work and general locus of control. As expected, work locus of control generally yielded stronger relationships with work-related criteria (e.g., job satisfaction, affective commitment, and burnout) than general locus of control. We also found some evidence that general locus of control yielded relatively stronger relationships with general criteria (e.g., life satisfaction, affective commitment, and burnout). Regression analysis found several unique effects for both work and general locus of control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Unethical behavior in the name of the company: The moderating effect of organizational identification and positive reciprocity beliefs on unethical pro-organizational behavior.
We examined the relationship between organizational identification and unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB)—unethical behaviors conducted by employees to potentially benefit the organization. We predicted that organizational identification would be positively related to UPB and that positive reciprocity beliefs would moderate and strengthen this relationship. The results from 2 field studies support the interaction effect and show that individuals who strongly identify with their organization are more likely to engage in UPB when they hold strong positive reciprocity beliefs. Given the nature of reciprocity, our findings may suggest that highly identified employees who hold strong reciprocity beliefs may conduct UPB with an anticipation of a future reward from their organization. Theoretical and managerial implications of our results for understanding unethical behaviors are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Measurement artifacts in the assessment of counterproductive work behavior and organizational citizenship behavior: Do we know what we think we know?
An experiment investigated whether measurement features affected observed relationships between counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and their relationships with other variables. As expected, correlations between CWB and OCB were significantly higher with ratings of agreement rather than frequency of behavior, when OCB scale content overlapped with CWB than when it did not, and with supervisor rather than self-ratings. Relationships with job satisfaction and job stressors were inconsistent across conditions. We concluded that CWB and OCB are likely unrelated and not necessarily oppositely related to other variables. Researchers should avoid overlapping content in CWB and OCB scales and should use frequency formats to assess how often individuals engage in each form of behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Clarification to Kish-Gephart et al. (2010).
Reports an error in "Bad apples, bad cases, and bad barrels: Meta-analytic evidence about sources of unethical decisions at work" by Jennifer J. Kish-Gephart, David A. Harrison and Linda Klebe Treviño (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2010[Jan], Vol 95[1], 1-31). In the recent article “Bad Apples, Bad Cases, and Bad Barrels: Meta-Analytic Evidence About Sources of Unethical Decisions at Work,” by Jennifer J. Kish-Gephart, David A. Harrison, and Linda Klebe Treviño (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2010, Vol. 95, No. 1, pp. 1–31), we quantitatively summarized and investigated moderators of the effects of individual, situational, and organizational variables on unethical behaviors and intentions. We used two meta-analytic procedures—one based on artifact corrections (Hunter & Schmidt, 2004) and the other based on hierarchical linear modeling (Erez, Bloom, & Wells, 1996). Following previous descriptions (Erez et al., 1996; Hedges & Vevea, 1998), we may have created confusion by characterizing the Hunter & Schmidt meta-analytic procedure as a “fixed effects” approach. As with Erez et al. (1996), the core assumption of Hunter and Schmidt (2004) is based on the random effects idea that observed correlations are sampled from a population distribution of heterogeneous effects. The Hunter and Schmidt model decomposes the observed distribution of effect sizes into a component of true population variation and artifact variation. Specifically, subtracting an estimate of artifact variation from the observed distribution provides an estimate of true population variation. However, Hedges and Vevea (1998) noted that the study effect sizes in the Hunter and Schmidt model are weighted with fixed effects weights (see also Viechtbauer, 2005). In the Erez et al. random effects model, true variation is estimated through an iterative estimation procedure; its modeling assumptions use iterative sampling weights that create different point estimates and confidence intervals for effect size distributions. Approaches commonly used to test for a priori moderators also differ across these methods. Most applications of Hunter and Schmidt for identifying moderators follow a successive, subgrouping process (see Hunter & Schmidt, 1990), whereas the Erez et al. and related procedures might adopt a weighted regression. In both cases, significant moderator effects are fixed effects, whereas remaining true variance not due to statistical artifacts reflects random effects. This is called a mixed effects model (see Overton, 1998). It is important to note that, as we reported in Tables 2–4, both procedures led to the same substantive findings about unethical choices in organizations. We encourage meta-analytic researchers to further explore differences among these methods and to evaluate when they materially affect research conclusions. (The abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-00343-001.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Journal of Applied Psychology - Vol 95, Iss 4