Journal of Applied Psychology

Bad apples, bad cases, and bad barrels: Meta-analytic evidence about sources of unethical decisions at work.
As corporate scandals proliferate, practitioners and researchers alike need a cumulative, quantitative understanding of the antecedents associated with unethical decisions in organizations. In this meta-analysis, the authors draw from over 30 years of research and multiple literatures to examine individual (“bad apple”), moral issue (“bad case”), and organizational environment (“bad barrel”) antecedents of unethical choice. Findings provide empirical support for several foundational theories and paint a clearer picture of relationships characterized by mixed results. Structural equation modeling revealed the complexity (multidetermined nature) of unethical choice, as well as a need for research that simultaneously examines different sets of antecedents. Moderator analyses unexpectedly uncovered better prediction of unethical behavior than of intention for several variables. This suggests a need to more strongly consider a new “ethical impulse” perspective in addition to the traditional “ethical calculus” perspective. Results serve as a data-based foundation and guide for future theoretical and empirical development in the domain of behavioral ethics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
The cognitive underpinnings of effective teamwork: A meta-analysis.
Major theories of team effectiveness position emergent collective cognitive processes as central drivers of team performance. We meta-analytically cumulated 231 correlations culled from 65 independent studies of team cognition and its relations to teamwork processes, motivational states, and performance outcomes. We examined both broad relationships among cognition, behavior, motivation, and performance, as well as 3 underpinnings of team cognition as potential moderators of these relationships. Findings reveal there is indeed a cognitive foundation to teamwork; team cognition has strong positive relationships to team behavioral process, motivational states, and team performance. Meta-analytic regressions further indicate that team cognition explains significant incremental variance in team performance after the effects of behavioral and motivational dynamics have been controlled. The nature of emergence, form of cognition, and content of cognition moderate relationships among cognition, process, and performance, as do task interdependence and team type. Taken together, these findings not only cumulate extant research on team cognition but also provide a new interpretation of the impact of underlying dimensions of cognition as a way to frame and extend future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Emotional intelligence: An integrative meta-analysis and cascading model.
Research and valid practice in emotional intelligence (EI) have been impeded by lack of theoretical clarity regarding (a) the relative roles of emotion perception, emotion understanding, and emotion regulation facets in explaining job performance; (b) conceptual redundancy of EI with cognitive intelligence and Big Five personality; and (c) application of the EI label to 2 distinct sets of constructs (i.e., ability-based EI and mixed-based EI). In the current article, the authors propose and then test a theoretical model that integrates these factors. They specify a progressive (cascading) pattern among ability-based EI facets, in which emotion perception must causally precede emotion understanding, which in turn precedes conscious emotion regulation and job performance. The sequential elements in this progressive model are believed to selectively reflect Conscientiousness, cognitive ability, and Neuroticism, respectively. “Mixed-based” measures of EI are expected to explain variance in job performance beyond cognitive ability and personality. The cascading model of EI is empirically confirmed via meta-analytic data, although relationships between ability-based EI and job performance are shown to be inconsistent (i.e., EI positively predicts performance for high emotional labor jobs and negatively predicts performance for low emotional labor jobs). Gender and race differences in EI are also meta-analyzed. Implications for linking the EI fad in personnel selection to established psychological theory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Why do we trust? Moving beyond individual to dyadic perceptions.
Trust between coworkers is critical to the success of organizations and teams. This is especially true for those who are geographically dispersed and who must interact virtually. The authors studied the factors related to the development of trust between pairs of coworkers (dyads) in a new product development team. Some of the members were colocated, and others worked virtually. Using the actor–partner interdependence model, the authors found reciprocal effects for propensity to trust and trust in dyads. They found that propensity has greater influence on trust for virtual dyads and that trust has less influence on organizational citizenship when partners are virtual. Trustworthiness was shown to fully mediate the influence of trusting predisposition on trust. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Time is on my side: Time, general mental ability, human capital, and extrinsic career success.
The present study linked general mental ability (GMA) to extrinsic career success using a multilevel framework that included time and 3 possible time-based mediators of the GMA–career success relationship. Results, based on a large national sample, revealed that over a 28-year period, GMA affected growth in 2 indicators of extrinsic career success (income and occupational prestige), such that the careers of high-GMA individuals ascended more steeply over time than those of low-GMA individuals. Part of the reason high-GMA individuals had steeper growth in extrinsic success over time was because they attained more education, completed more job training, and gravitated toward more complex jobs. GMA also moderated the degree to which within-individual variation in the mediating variables affected within-individual variation in extrinsic career success over time: Education, training, and job complexity were much more likely to translate into career success for more intelligent individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
I won’t let you down… or will I? Core self-evaluations, other-orientation, anticipated guilt and gratitude, and job performance.
Although core self-evaluations have been linked to higher job performance, research has shown variability in the strength of this relationship. We propose that high core self-evaluations are more likely to increase job performance for other-oriented employees, who tend to anticipate feelings of guilt and gratitude. We tested these hypotheses across 3 field studies using different operationalizations of both performance and other-orientation (prosocial motivation, agreeableness, and duty). In Study 1, prosocial motivation strengthened the association between core self-evaluations and the performance of professional university fundraisers. In Study 2, agreeableness strengthened the association between core self-evaluations and supervisor ratings of initiative among public service employees. In Study 3, duty strengthened the association between core self-evaluations and the objective productivity of call center employees, and this moderating relationship was mediated by feelings of anticipated guilt and gratitude. We discuss implications for theory and research on personality and job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
The effect of filmed versus personal after-event reviews on task performance: The mediating and moderating role of self-efficacy.
In the current study, we compared the effect of personal and filmed after-event reviews (AERs) on performance, and the role that self-efficacy plays in moderating and mediating the effects of these 2 types of AER on performance. The setting was one in which 49 men and 63 women participated twice in a simulated business decision-making task. In between, participants received a personal AER, watched a filmed AER, or had a break. We found that individuals who participated in an AER, whether personal or filmed, improved their performance significantly more than those who did not participate in a review. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in performance improvement between the personal and the filmed AER, which suggests that the 2 are quite similar in their effect. We also found that the differences in performance improvement between the personal AER group and the control group were somewhat greater than those found in the filmed AER group. Self-efficacy mediated the effect of AER on performance improvement in both types of AER. In addition, the effect of AER on performance improvement was moderated by initial self-efficacy in the personal but not in the filmed AER: The personal AER was more effective, the higher the initial self-efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Sometimes you need a reminder: The effects of prompting self-regulation on regulatory processes, learning, and attrition.
Prompting self-regulation involves asking trainees reflective questions to stimulate self-regulatory engagement. Research has found positive effects for prompting self-regulation on learning, but a scarcity of evidence exists regarding whether self-regulatory processes mediate the effect of prompting self-regulation, whether the intervention reduces attrition, and the optimal timing of implementing the intervention. Using a longitudinal design, we found that prompting self-regulation throughout training increased learning and reduced attrition, relative to the control condition. Moreover, the effect on learning was fully mediated by time on task. The intervention also moderated the effect of learning on subsequent self-regulatory activity and attrition. Learning performance had less of a positive effect on subsequent self-regulatory activity and less of a negative effect on subsequent attrition when trainees were prompted to self-regulate. These results highlight the importance of adopting a longitudinal design to examine how self-regulatory interventions affect the cyclical relationships among self-regulatory processes, learning, and attrition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Work–family conflict in work groups: Social information processing, support, and demographic dissimilarity.
We used social information processing theory to examine the effect of work–family conflict (WFC) at the work group level on individuals’ experience of WFC. Consistent with hypotheses, results suggest that WFC at the work group level influences individual WFC over and above the shared work environment and job demands. It was also observed that work group support and demographic dissimilarity moderate this relationship. Moderator analyses suggest that work group social support buffers WFC for individuals but is also associated with a stronger effect of work group WFC on individuals’ WFC. Moreover, the work group effect on individuals’ WFC was shown to be stronger for individuals who were demographically dissimilar to the work group in terms of sex and number of dependents. The interpretations and implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Why should I be left behind? Employees’ perceived relative deprivation and participation in development activities.
Research on participation in development activities (PDA) has traditionally been examined from an advantage perspective: Employees engage in development activities out of a desire to enhance current and future advantages. In this study, the author examined PDA from a disadvantage perspective, which suggests that employees participate in development activities out of a desire to redress perceived disadvantages. Perceived individual relative deprivation was hypothesized to relate to PDA through intention to participate and counterfactual beliefs, and perceived behavioral control was proposed to interact with intention to participate in relating to development behaviors. In a sample of 144 employees from 27 companies in Ghana, an emerging economy, moderated structural equation modeling results confirm some of the hypotheses. Implications for PDA research and human resource management are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Leader vision and the development of adaptive and proactive performance: A longitudinal study.
In this study, the authors investigated how leader vision influences the change-oriented behaviors of adaptivity and proactivity in the workplace. The authors proposed that leader vision would lead to an increase in adaptivity for employees who were high in openness to work role change. In contrast, they proposed leader vision would be associated with an increase in proactivity when employees were high in role breadth self-efficacy. These propositions were supported in a longitudinal survey of 102 employees who provided self-report data about their leader and their work behaviors. The findings provide insight into the interaction between leaders and followers in responding to a change imperative. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Motivating interdependent teams: Individual rewards, shared rewards, or something in between?
The primary purpose in this study was to extend theory and research regarding the motivational process in teams by examining the effects of hybrid rewards on team performance. Further, to better understand the underlying team level mechanisms, the authors examined whether the hypothesized benefits of hybrid over shared and individual rewards were due to increased information allocation and reduced social loafing. Results from 90 teams working on a command-and-control simulation supported the hypotheses. Hybrid rewards led to higher levels of team performance than did individual and shared rewards; these effects were due to improvements in information allocation and reductions in social loafing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Building the infrastructure: The effects of role identification behaviors on team cognition development and performance.
The primary purpose of this study was to extend theory and research regarding the emergence of mental models and transactive memory in teams. Utilizing Kozlowski, Gully, Nason, and Smith’s (1999) model of team compilation, we examined the effect of role identification behaviors and posited that such behaviors represent the initial building blocks of team cognition during the role compilation phase of team development. We then hypothesized that team mental models and transactive memory would convey the effects of these behaviors onto team performance in the team compilation phase of development. Results from 60 teams working on a command-and-control simulation supported our hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
The relationship between stressors and creativity: A meta-analysis examining competing theoretical models.
Competing theoretical models and equivocal evidence leave unanswered questions regarding stressors’ effect on creativity. The present meta-analysis of 76 experimental studies (including 82 independent samples) aims to clarify this association and identify factors that may explain differences between studies. Our results suggest that the effect of stressors on creative performance depends on how stress-inducing the stressor is and what type of stress is induced. We found a curvilinear relationship between evaluative stress and creativity such that low evaluative contexts increased creative performance over control conditions, whereas highly evaluative contexts decreased creative performance. We found a linearly negative relationship between uncontrollability and creativity such that more uncontrollability decreased creative performance. The results suggest that stressors’ effect on creativity is more complex than previously assumed and points to the need for understanding boundary conditions that shed light on inconsistent findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Understanding performance ratings: Dynamic performance, attributions, and rating purpose.
The present two studies integrate and extend the literatures on dynamic performance, performance attributions, and rating purpose, making several important contributions. First, examining attributions of dynamic performance, Study 1 predicted that performance mean and trend would affect judged ratee ability and effort and that performance variation would affect locus of causality; both predictions were supported by the results. Second, investigating the interaction between dynamic performance and rating purpose, Study 2 predicted that performance mean would have a stronger impact on administrative than on developmental ratings, whereas performance trend and variation would have a stronger impact on developmental than on administrative ratings; again, both predictions were borne out by the results. Third, both studies found that performance trend interacted with performance mean and variability to predict overall ratings. Fourth, both studies replicated main effects of dynamic performance characteristics on ratings in a different culture and, in Study 2, a sample of more experienced managers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)

Journal of Applied Psychology - Vol 95, Iss 1