Journal of Applied Psychology

Examining the effectiveness of interventions to reduce discriminatory behavior at work: An attitude dimension consistency perspective.
Academic interest in reducing discrimination has produced substantial research testing interventions to mitigate biased outcomes. However, disparate findings and a scarcity of studies examining work-related behavioral measures make it challenging to determine which interventions are better suited to reduce workplace discrimination. Derived from the tripartite theory of attitudes and the principle of compatibility, I develop a conceptual model mapping the attitude focus of interventions and code studies in this literature from the past two decades for these common properties. Based on a meta-analysis of 70 articles totaling 208 effect sizes, I test this conceptual model, finding that it helps explain why some interventions to reduce discrimination yield superior outcomes relative to others. In particular, results indicate that passive interventions, such as short-term education or reminders of bias processes, are largely ineffective in shifting behavior. Conversely, the class of interventions that targets behavior directly by attempting to inhibit the manifestation of bias (e.g., making individuals accountable for their decisions or changing social norms) emerged as the most helpful category of interventions in this area. Overall, results support a key prediction of the attitude dimension consistency perspective, demonstrating that aligning the attitude dimension primarily targeted by an intervention and the outcome measured could lead to improved results in this area. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Personal narratives build trust across ideological divides.
Lack of trust is a key barrier to collaboration in organizations and is exacerbated in contexts when employees subscribe to different ideological beliefs. Across five preregistered experiments, we find that people judge ideological opponents as more trustworthy when opposing opinions are expressed through a self-revealing personal narrative than through either data or stories about third parties—even when the content of the messages is carefully controlled to be consistent. Trust does not suffer when explanations grounded in self-revealing personal narratives are augmented with data, suggesting that our results are not driven by quantitative aversion. Perceptions of trustworthiness are mediated by the speaker’s apparent vulnerability and are greater when the self-revelation is of a more sensitive nature. Consequently, people are more willing to collaborate with ideological opponents who support their views by embedding data in a self-revealing personal narrative, rather than relying on data-only explanations. We discuss the implications of these results for future research on trust as well as for organizational practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Disentangling the relational approach to organizational justice: Meta-analytic and field tests of distinct roles of social exchange and social identity.
Social exchange- and social identity-based mechanisms have been commonly juxtaposed as two pivotal proxies of the relational approach for studying organizational justice. Despite their distinct theoretical roots, less is known about whether and how these two proximal mechanisms complement one another in accounting for justice effects on key outcomes. Tracing back to their disparate fundamental premises—“reciprocity” underpinning social exchanges and “oneness” underpinning identity construction—we attempt to disentangle the relative mediating effects of these two mechanisms. Our empirical testing hinges on one meta-analytic study with 105 independent samples (N = 29,868), coupled with one preregistered experience-sampling study with 1,941 cross-day observations over 3 weeks from 147 subordinate–supervisor pairs. Overall, we find that exchange-based mechanisms account for more of the indirect effect of justice on task performance, whereas identity-based mechanisms (particularly interdependent identity) account for more of the indirect effect of justice on counterproductive work behavior. Regarding the indirect effect on organizational citizenship behavior, identity-based mechanisms (particularly positive self-evaluations) and exchange-based mechanisms respectively present great utility between the two studies. By providing nuanced insight into the complementary yet distinct nature of these two prominent mechanisms, our research encourages a more granular theoretical approach for studying organizational justice effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
A person-centered approach to behaving badly at work: An examination of workplace deviance patterns.
To investigate research questions surrounding workplace deviance, scholars have primarily applied variable-centered approaches, such as overall deviance measures or those that separate interpersonal deviance and organizational deviance. These approaches, however, ignore that individuals might employ more complex combinations of deviance behaviors that do not fit neatly within the existing variable frameworks. The present study explores whether person-centered deviance classes emerge in a comprehensive database of the prior studies. We then investigated whether these classes showed differences in antecedents and correlates in an independent sample of working adults from multiple industries. In Study 1, a multilevel latent class analysis of 20 independent samples and 6,218 individuals revealed five classes of workplace deviance, thus providing preliminary support for a person-centered approach. In Study 2, a time-lagged sample of 553 individuals showed the emergence of five classes that largely reflected the patterns found in Study 1. Study 2 points to meaningful differences between classes of deviance behaviors and antecedents, including abusive supervision, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, and psychological entitlement; classes are also uniquely associated with correlates such as organizational citizenship behaviors, turnover intentions, job performance, and job satisfaction. Altogether, this work is an important first step toward understanding workplace deviance with a person-centered lens. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Coping with work–nonwork stressors over time: A person-centered, multistudy integration of coping breadth and depth.
Coping is a dynamic response to stressors that employees encounter in their work and nonwork roles. Scholars have argued that it is not just whether employees cope with work–nonwork stressors—but how they cope—that matters. Indeed, prior research assumes that adaptive coping strategies—planning, prioritizing, positive reframing, seeking emotional and instrumental support—are universally beneficial, suggesting that sustaining high levels of these strategies is ideal. By returning to the roots of coping theory, we adopt a person-centered, dynamic approach using latent profile analysis and latent transition analysis across three multiwave studies (N = 1,370) to consider whether employees combine coping strategies and how remaining in or shifting between such combinations also matters. In a pilot study (N = 361), we explored profiles and their transitions during a time frame punctuated with macrolevel transitions that amplified employees’ work–nonwork stressors (i.e., COVID-19), which revealed three profiles at Time 1 (comprehensive copers, emotion-focused copers, and individualistic copers) and a fourth profile at Time 2 (surviving copers). In Study 1 (N = 648), across all three time points, we replicated three profiles and found evidence for constrained copers instead of emotion-focused copers. In Study 2 (N = 361), across both time points, we replicated all four profiles from Study 1 and tested hypotheses regarding the profiles, their transition patterns, and implications of such patterns for work, well-being, and social functioning outcomes. Altogether, our work suggests that maintaining high-coping depth or increasing depth is generally beneficial, whereas maintaining or increasing coping breadth is generally harmful. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
How perceived lack of benevolence harms trust of artificial intelligence management.
As organizations continue to supplement and replace human management with artificial intelligence (AI), it is essential that we understand the factors that influence employees’ trust in AI management. Across one preregistered field study, where we survey 400 delivery riders in Mainland China, and three preregistered experiments (total N = 2,350), we find that AI management is perceived as less benevolent than human management. Given that benevolence is an important antecedent of trust in leaders, this perception has a negative effect on trust in AI management, even when controlling for perceived ability and integrity. Employees prefer human management to AI management in high empathy demand contexts, where individuals seek management that can empathize and experience the emotions that they are feeling, as opposed to low empathy demand contexts. These findings deepen our understanding of trust and provide important theoretical and practical insights on the implementation and adoption of AI management. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Rumor has it: CEO gender and response to organizational denials.
The ambiguous credibility of online allegations can pose a significant threat to an organization’s reputation, relationships with stakeholders, and future performance. As a result, addressing false or misleading allegations has emerged as an important priority among corporate executives. In this research, we examine how CEO gender influences the effectiveness of different types of denial responses in the wake of rumor crises. We find that, after reading damaging allegations about an organization, consumers react more favorably to denials issued by male versus female CEOs. We argue that this is attributable to the dominance that characterizes denial responses, which results in a greater (negative) expectancy violation for female (vs. male) CEOs issuing such statements. Such violations result in lower trust in, and less willingness to do business with, organizations led by women (vs. men) who issue a denial response. We show that these relationships are moderated by increased prescriptive agency (i.e., clarified denials) and the attribution of the response (i.e., to the CEO vs. organization). Taken together, our findings have implications for theory on agentic characteristics, crisis communication, and female leadership, as well as practical implications for how all organizations can adopt more effective crisis responses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Journal of Applied Psychology - Vol 109, Iss 11