Volume 28, Issue 2 THE CAREER FORUM Page 1

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The Career Forum Abstracts

Volume 28, Issue 2 Barrie E. Litzky, Editor Fall, 2008

2008-2009
Careers Division Officers
Jon Briscoe, Division Chair
Northern Illinois University
jonbriscoe@niu.edu
Hetty van Emmerik, Division Chair-Elect
Utrecht University
H.vanEmmerik@uu.nl
Barbara Ribbens, Past Division Chair
Western Illinois University
BA-Ribbens@wiu.edu
Suzanne de Janasz, Program Chair
University of Mary Washington
sjanasz@umw.edu
Dear All,
The Career Forum Abstracts is an important part of the services provided
by the Careers Division. The goal of the abstracting service is not to
simply repeat verbatim the abstracts written by the authors but rather to
highlight and provide an overview of research that has important
implications for careers research and practice. I hope that in this edition
we have met this important goal.
I would also like to thank the contributors for taking the time to peruse
the research and write their insightful abstracts. Please provide your
feedback! If you‘re looking for a way to be involved in the Careers
Division, please consider the abstracting service! Feel free to contact me
at barrielitzky@psu.edu if you are interested.
Hope you enjoy the abstracts!

Svetlana Khapova, PDW Chair

VU University Amsterdam Best Regards,
skhapova@feweb.vu.nl
Barrie Litzky
Holly Slay, Career Forum Editor
Seattle University Assistant Professor
slayh@seattleu.edu
The Pennsylvania State University,
Isabel Metz, Listserv Manager Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies
University of Melbourne
i.metz@mbs.edu.

Tom Wamalwa, Website Chair

Reading Area C. College
twamalwa@gmail.com

Barrie Litzky, Associate Editor:

The Career Forum
Pennsylvania State University
bxl26@gv.psu.edu
Abstracts

Academy of Management Journal (2008 Volume 51 (2) through 2008 Volume 51

(5)) abstracts by Lynda St. Clair

Trevor, C. O. and Nyberg, A. J. (2008) Keeping your headcount when all about you are losing theirs:
Downsizing, voluntary turnover rates, and the moderating role of HR practices. Academy of
Management Journal, 51(2): 259-276. Although not directly focused on careers, this article does
offer some insight into the question of whether individuals are more or less likely to voluntarily
leave an organization when downsizing is taking place. The authors propose a model in which
some HR practices, such as those that increase the perception of procedural justice and job
embeddedness, will reduce the likelihood of voluntary turnover, other HR practices, such as
career development, actually increase the likelihood of voluntary turnover by increasing the
number of employment options that employees have. The authors analyses suggest that
downsizing may be a trigger for individuals to make career changes, even if they are not actually
―downsized‖ from their jobs.

Chua, R. Y. J, Ingram, P. & Morris, M.W. From the head and the heart: Locating cognition- and affect-
based trust in managers‘ professional networks. Academy of Management Journal, 51(3): 436-
452. Because network connections are often a vital resource for people as they move through
their careers, this article, which addresses how different types of relationships engender different
types of trust, may be of interest to some careers researchers who are interested in the impact of
professional (and social) networks on career progression.

Tae H. L, Gerhart, B; Weller, I; Trevor, C. O. Understanding voluntary turnover: Path specific job
satisfaction effects and the importance of unsolicited job offers. Academy of Management
Journal, 51(4): 651-671. Careers researchers who are interested in transitions based on
voluntary turnover may want to consider this article which explores different variables that may
influence voluntary turnover beyond job dissatisfaction.

Margolis, J. D. and Molinsky, A. Navigating the bind of necessary evils: Psychological engagement and
the production of interpersonally sensitive behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 51 (5):
847-872. This article might serve as a basis for some new careers research that focuses on
professions that tend to require more behavior that fits in the category of ―necessary evils‖ and
the types of individuals who are attracted to and succeed in those professions. Questions also
arise concerning how career experience may influence the way in which individuals perceive and
respond to the necessity of doing things that cause ―emotional or physical harm to another
human being in the service of achieving some perceived greater good or purpose.‖ (p. 247) As
one example, the authors discuss physicians who have been in practice for several years as
compared to novice physicians who only recently graduated from medical school.

Somaya, D., Williamson, I.O., and Lorinkova, N. Gone but not lost: The different performance impacts of
employee mobility between cooperators versus competitors. Academy of Management Journal,
51(5): 936-953. Although the focus of this article is on the impact of employees moving between
different companies and firm performance, it may be of interest to careers researchers who are
interested in employees who follow these different career paths.

Academy of Management Learning & Education (2008 Volume 7 (2)) abstracts by

Svetlana Khapova

Shepherd, D. A., Douglas, E. J. & Fitzsimmons, J. R. (2008). MBA admission criteria and an
entrepreneurial mind-set: Evidence from "Western" style MBAs in India and Thailand. Academy

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 of Management Learning & Education, 7 (2):158-172. The paper investigates the assessments of
career attractiveness by 283 MBA students from India and Thailand, to use GMAT and work
experience to explain variance in mind-sets that have previously been associated with successful
managers. The fast-moving global economy requires managers to have an entrepreneurial mind-
set, yet the authors found that MBA students with higher GMAT scores have career mind-sets
that are more averse to work effort and to risk, and therefore, the GMAT may discriminate
against applicants with a greater propensity to behave entrepreneurially.

Mirvis, P. (2008). Executive development through consciousness-raising experiences. Academy of

Management Learning & Education, 7 (2):173-188. The paper describes the design and use of
various "consciousness-raising" experiences in several corporate development programs and
report the author‘s firsthand observations and reflections from executives who participated in
these programs. The beginning makes the case for consciousness raising for business leaders
and then documents the impact of such experiences on executive's self-awareness,
understanding of others, dealings with diversity, and engagement with the larger world. Special
attention is given to how service experiences can help to connect individuals and their companies
to issues and interests in society, while the conclusion presents ideas and choices in creating
consciousness-raising experiences aimed at executive development.

Armstrong, S. J. & Mahmud, A. (2008). Experiential learning and the acquisition of managerial tacit
knowledge. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 7 (2):189-208. Tacit knowledge is
believed to be one factor that distinguishes successful managers from others. The authors sought
to determine whether levels of accumulated managerial tacit knowledge (LAMTK) were
associated with managers' dominant learning styles. Instruments used in the study, involving 356
Malaysian public sector employees, included Sternberg et al.'s (2000) Tacit Knowledge Inventory
for Managers and a normative version of Kolb's (1999 alpha) Learning Styles Inventory (LSI-III).
Findings suggest that LAMTK is independent of the length of subjects' general work experience,
but positively related to the amount of time spent working in a management context. Learning
styles also had a significant relationship. Subjects who spent most of their time performing
management functions and whose dominant learning styles were accommodating had
significantly higher LAMTK than those with different learning styles. The authors also found
support for the belief that learners with a strong preference for all four different abilities defined
in Kolb's learning theory may be critical for effective experiential learning.

Luthans, F., Avey, J. B. & Patera, J. L. (2008). Experimental analysis of a web-based training intervention
to develop positive psychological capital. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 7
(2):209-221. Psychological capital with components of hope, self-efficacy, optimism, and
resiliency has recently emerged as a core construct in taking positive psychology to the
workplace. A distinguishing feature is that it is "state-like" and thus open to development. We
analyze whether such psychological capital can be developed through a highly focused, 2-hour
web-based training intervention. Using a pretest, posttest experimental design (n = 187
randomly assigned to the treatment group and n = 177 to the control group), the authors found
support that psychological capital can be developed by such a training intervention.

Academy of Management Perspectives (2008 Volume 22 (2) through 2008 Volume

22 (3)) abstracts by Barrie Litzky

Manning, S., Massini, S., & Lewin, A. (2008). A dynamic perspective on next-generation offshoring: The
global sourcing of science and engineering talent. Academy of Management Perspectives, 22 (3):
35-54. This study examines the trend among U.S. and European companies to seek science and
engineering (S&E) talent from emerging economies. The limited amount of available talent in
advanced economies has given rise to this trend. The paper reports findings from the annual
Offshoring Research Network (ORN) survey, which tracks off shoring activities of more than

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 1,600 large, mid-cap, and small U.S. and European companies. The research cites
macroeconomic forces, domestic and offshore national policies, industry dynamics, and firm-level
offshoring capabilities as factors contributing to the decision to outsource. In addition to the
macro-level perspective discussed, the paper highlights three arguments seen as contributing to
the perceived difficulties firms have in recruiting talent in science and engineering. First, that
high school graduates have lost interest in S&E careers because they are ill prepared in math and
science to take on such careers. Second, that the lack of domestic S&E talent is a result of a
failure in the markets to create incentives to select such careers, and finally, that S&E jobs have
become less challenging and ‗sexy‘ than in the early days of the space program, for example.
Career scholars examining antecedents of career choice in S&E will find this paper highly useful.

Hazen, M. (2008, August). Grief and the workplace. Academy of Management Perspectives, 22(3): 78-
86. This paper examines the effects of grief on individuals in the workplace. The author
discusses coping mechanisms including seeking meaningfulness through work and career
changes, as well as managerial and organizational responses to the challenges presented when
grief and work intersect.

Human Resource Development Quarterly (2008 Volume 19 (3)) abstracts by Bruce

Prince

Goldman, Ellen F. (2008). The power of work experience: Characteristics critical to developing expertise
in strategic thinking. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 19 (3): 217-239. This research
uses data from phenomenological interviews of 36 CEOs to derive characteristics of nine types of
work experiences that are important to the development of the ability to think strategically.
Some examples include: General work experience (it is important to have a wide ranging variety
of experiences that are significant in scope and have the autonomy to act); Being mentored
(which should happen early in one‘s career, have frequent contact and immediate feedback on
performance); Being challenged one-on-one by a key colleague about one‘s thinking, and
Dealing with the threat of organizational survival by an external entity (such as a takeover threat
or the loss of a key customer). Strategic thinking and its development are important to the
careers of top managers and this article uses an inductive methodology to identify key
developmental experiences that should be considered in both individual career development
plans and organizational human capital development initiatives and research on these areas.

Human Resource Management (2008 Spring and Fall Issues) abstracts by Marya
Leatherwood

Gong, Y. and Chang, S. (2008) Institutional antecedents and performance consequences of employment
security and career advancement practices: Evidence from the people's republic of China. Human
Resource Management, Spring Issue. In this study, the authors examine the impact of
employment security and career advancement opportunities on employee and organization
outcomes. The analysis of a sample of 478 state-owned and non-state-owned firms in the
People‘s Republic of China indicated that employment security was greater in state-owned firms
while the provision of career advancement opportunities was greater in non-state-owned firms.
While employment security and the provision of career advancement opportunities were both
positively related to employee organizational commitment, career advancement opportunities
were found to be positively related to citizenship, and firm performance.

Adya, Monica P. (2008) Women at work: Differences in IT career experiences and perceptions between
South Asian and American women. Human Resource Management, 2008, Fall Issue. This study
compares the career perceptions and experiences of South Asian women with those of American
women in the U.S. IT workforce. An analysis of interviews with these two groups of IT
professionals indicated that American women perceived greater stereotyping and discrimination

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 than did South Asian women. While both groups of women reported pressures with respect to
worklife balance, worklife balance pressures resulted in a differential long-term commitment to IT
careers. In addition, the two groups of women reported differences in their perceptions of IT
work, mentoring relationships, and the coping mechanisms employed. The authors offer some
recommendations for improving diversity integration in the workplace.

Journal of Career Assessment (2008 Volume 16 (2) through 2008 Volume 16 (3))
abstracts by Man Zhang

Bubany, S. Kerieshok, D. Black, and A. Mckay (2008) College Students‘ Perspectives on Their Career
Decision Making. Journal of Career Assessment, 16 (2): 177–197. This study provides a mixed
methods study to examine how college student participants discussed their approach to making
career decisions. It focuses on examining consistence of those students‘ perspectives with
rational and experiential models of career decision making, and consists of 20 college students.
The authors adopt sequential exploratory designs and provide an outline of 7 broad themes and
12 subthemes to capture the variability in the narrative data. After determining the extent to
which certain themes were expressed and exploring how themes correlate with each other, the
authors confirm that the participants express the view that individuals should approach decision
making in a manner consistent with experiential models. For example, the study agrees on the
prominence of social influence on decision making from the perspective of decision makers, and
supports that decision makers commonly perceive the involvement of others in a positive light
and indicate immediate family members often play supportive roles. Last, according to the
authors, it is fruitful to examine rational and intuitive orientations from an individual differences
standpoint and develop measures of germane variable.

Amir, Tamar; Gati Itamar; and Kleiman, Tali (2008) Understanding and interpreting career decision-
making difficulties. Journal of Career Assessment, 16 (3): 281-309. This research uses the
Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ) to interpret individuals‘ responses in
multiscale career assessments. The authors indicate that an ―ideal response pattern‖ in multiscale
assessment instruments can be characterized as credible, differentiated, and informative. They
provide the four stages of the proposed interpretation model to classify the individual‘s responses
by three-level classification, and the model can be conducted by the CDDQ. The authors test the
proposed four-stage model by Studies 1 to 4 and use Study 5 to apply the proposed model.
Furthermore, the authors provide implications for career counseling and research. According to
them, counselors can begin directly with interventions aimed at helping the clients overcome
their difficulties, saving experts‘ time and maximizing the human dimension in counseling. The
authors also propose that all data on the client could be presented simultaneously to the experts,
whose judgment could be elicited.

Journal of Management (2008 Volume 34 (3) through 2008 Volume 34 (5))

abstracts by Marya Leatherwood

Ashforth, Blake E., Harrison, Spencer H., Corley, Kevin G. (2008) Identification in organizations: An
examination of four fundamental questions. Journal of Management, 34 (3): 325-374. This
article provides a review of the literature on identification in organizations by addressing four
questions: What is identification? What does identification matter? How does identification
occur? and Is there one or are there many identification(s)? In addition to defining various forms
of identification and differentiating identification from other constructs, such as organizational
commitment, the authors offer a process model of identification. Finally, by addressing multiple
identifications, the authors consider how these identifications may conflict, converge, or combine.

Beltran-Martin, Immaculada, Roca-Puig, Vicente, Escrig-Tena, Ana, and Bou-Llusar, Juan Carlos. Human
resource flexibility as a mediating variable between high performance work systems and

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 performance. Journal of Management, 34 (5): 1009-1044. The authors consider prior research
in the area of human resource management that suggests high performance work systems
(HPWS) significantly impact organizational performance and posit that employee adaptability may
be a significant mediating variable in explaining the linkage between HPWS and organizational
performance. Using a sample of 226 Spanish firms, the results confirm that a HPWS affects
performance through its impact on the firm‘s human resource (HR) flexibility.

Dierdorff, Erich C. and Surface, Eric A. (2008) If you pay for skills, will they learn? Skill change and
maintenance under a skill-based pay system. Journal of Management, 34 (4): 721-743.
Considering the increasingly popular premise that ―pay to learn‖ systems, such as skill-based pay,
will promote individual learning, this study empirically examines this premise using latent growth
analysis on data spanning 5 years. The results indicate a relationship exists between skill-based
pay and individual skill change and maintenance. In addition, the outcomes of an employee‘s
initial attempt to earn skill-based pay affects subsequent rates of learning. Finally, the frequency
with which skill-based pay is received and the total amount of skill based pay that is earned are
both related to skill development and maintenance.

Gruys, Melissa L., Stewart, Susan M., Goodstein, Jerry, Bing, Mark N., and Wicks, Andrew C. (2008)
Values enactment in organizations: A multi-level examination. Journal of Management, 34 (4):
806-843. This study, which analyzes longitudinal data on 2,622 employees, is the research to
empirically examine the antecedents and outcomes of values enactment in an organizational
context. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) results reveal that tenure and department-level
values enactment are significant predictors of individual values enactment. Employees who
demonstrated high levels of values enactment were also found to be less likely to leave. Finally,
employees of high or low levels of values enactment in departments whose levels of values
enactment were aligned with the employee‘s levels were the most likely to be promoted.

Journal of Organizational Behavior (2008 Volume 29 (3) through 2008 Volume 29

(7)) abstracts by Christy Weer

Becton, J.B., Feild, H.S., Giles, W.F., & Jones-Farmer, A. (2008). Racial differences in promotion
candidate performance and reactions to selection procedures: a field study in a diverse top-
management context. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29 (3): 265-285. This study examined
promotion candidate reactions to pencil-and-paper tests and situational interviews in an
organization with predominantly African-American leadership. Two forms of reactions were
examined: (a) candidates‘ perceptions of how well the selection procedures were related to the
job and (b) candidates‘ motivation to perform well on these procedures. Participants were actual
employees competing for promotion in a real organization. Results indicated that both African-
American and White promotion candidates viewed situational interviews as being more job-
related than pencil-and-paper job knowledge tests. African-American and White candidates
differed, however, in their perceptions of job relatedness and test-taking motivation. African-
America candidates had more positive perceptions of job relatedness and test-taking motivation
than White candidates did. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Shore, T.H., Bommer, W.H., & Shore, L.M. (2008). An integrative model of managerial perceptions of
employee commitment: antecedents and influences on employee treatment. Journal of
Organizational Behavior, 29 (5): 635-655. This study developed and tested an integrative model
of antecedents and consequences of managerial perceptions of employee affective and
continuance organizational commitment. Three sources of data were used to test the model:
employees, managers, and human resource managers. Results indicated that self-reported
affective commitment, supervisor-reported impression management, and job performance
predicted managerial perceptions of affective commitment, whereas age, tenure, education,
training and development, and self-focused impression management were related to managerial

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 perceptions of continuance commitment. Moreover, managerial perceptions of employees‘
affective and continuance commitment are related to the allocation of organizational rewards and
punishments. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Personnel Psychology (2008 Volume 61(1) through 2008 Volume 61 (3)) abstracts
by Kimberley Eddleston

Pyburn Jr., K.M., Ployhart, R.E. & Kravitz, D.A. (2008) The diversity-validity dilemma: Overview and legal
context, Personnel Psychology, 61 (1): 143-151. Due to racioethnic and sex subgroup
differences on predictor scores in many selection procedures, it is difficult for organizations to
simultaneously maximize the validity of their selection procedures and hire a diverse workforce.
One response to this diversity–validity dilemma is to revise the selection procedures, an approach
developed by Ployhart and Holtz (this issue, 2008). A second possible response is to use
affirmative action to increase workforce diversity, an approach developed by Kravitz (this issue,
2008). This paper briefly presents the legal context that motivates and constrains these
approaches. We begin by defining key terms, describing adverse impact, and outlining the
burden of proof in adverse impact cases. We then turn to the use of racioethnic minority and
female preferences, summarizing some key court decisions and the conditions under which
private and public employers may use preferences.

Ployhart, R.E. & Holtz, B.C. (2008). The diversity-validity dilemma: Strategies for reducing racioethnic
and sex subgroup differences and adverse impact in selection, Personnel Psychology, 61 (1):
153-172. Pyburn, Ployhart, and Kravitz (this issue, 2008) introduced the diversity–validity
dilemma: that some of the most valid predictors of job performance are also associated with
large racioethnic and sex subgroup predictor score differences. This article examines 16 selection
strategies hypothesized to minimize racioethnic and sex subgroup differences and adverse impact
and, hence, balance diversity and validity. Rather than presenting a highly technical review, our
purpose is to provide practitioners with a concise summary, paying particular attention to
comparing and contrasting the effectiveness of the strategies and reporting new developments.
The paper is organized around 4 key questions: (a) Which strategies are most effective for
reducing subgroup differences? (b) Which strategies do not involve a validity tradeoff? (c) What
are the major new developments in strategies for reducing adverse impact? (d) What are the
major new developments in alternative predictor measurement methods (e.g., interviews,
situational judgment tests, assessment centers) for reducing adverse impact? We then conclude
with recommendations and caveats for how to best balance diversity and validity. These ideas
are developed further in Kravitz (this issue, 2008), who considers even broader approaches for
solving the diversity–validity dilemma.

Kravitz, D.A. (2008). The diversity-validity dilemma: Beyond selection – the role of affirmative action,
Personnel Psychology, 61 (1): 173-193. Several of the most valid predictors used to make
employment decisions create a diversity–validity dilemma (Pyburn, Ployhart, & Kravitz, this issue,
2008). This diversity–validity dilemma can be resolved by (a) reducing adverse impact through a
variety of technical steps (Ployhart & Holtz, this issue, 2008) or (b) using affirmative action to
increase representation of the disadvantaged groups. This paper focuses on the second
approach. The paper begins with a very brief review of the legal bases of affirmative action and a
summary of the research on affirmative action attitudes. This is followed with reviews of research
on the ongoing existence of workplace discrimination, the economic impact of affirmative action
on target groups and organizations, and stigmatization of target group members by others and
by target group members themselves. Most problems with affirmative action apply only or
primarily to preference-based forms, so nonpreferential approaches to affirmative action are
recommended to increase the attraction, selection, inclusion, and retention of underrepresented
group members.

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Taylor, P.J., Li, W.D., Shi, K. & Borman, W.C. (2008). The transportability of job information across
countries, Personnel Psychology, 61 (1): 69-111. Three Occupational Information Network
(O*NET) instruments (Generalized Work Activities, Basic and Cross-Functional Skills, Work Styles)
were administered to 1,007 job incumbents, from 369 organizations, performing 1 of 3 jobs
(first-line supervisor, office clerk, computer programmer) in New Zealand, China, and Hong Kong.
Data from these countries were compared with archival data collected from 370 incumbents
holding similar jobs in the United States. Hypothesized country differences, derived from cross-
cultural theory, received limited support. The magnitude of differences in mean item ratings
between incumbents from the United States and the other 3 countries were generally small to
moderate in size, and rank-orderings of the importance and level of work activities and job
requirements were quite similar, suggesting that, for most applications, job information is likely
to transport quite well across countries.

Mount, M.K., Oh, I.S. & Burns, M. (2008). Incremenal validity of perceptual speed and accuracy over
general mental ability, Personnel Psychology, 61 (1): 113-139. This study extends previous
research by examining the incremental validity of a specific aptitude, perceptual speed and
accuracy (PS), when it is operationalized as both the number correct (NC) and the number wrong
(NW). We test the hypotheses that the NC on the PS test predicts the criterion of task
performance and the NW predicts (negatively) rules compliance (RC). Based on the responses of
133 warehouse workers, hierarchical regression analyses supported both hypotheses. After
controlling for respondents' demographic characteristics (race, gender, and age) and general
mental ability (GMA), the NC on the PS test accounted for incremental validity in prediction of
task performance (ΔR= .06, 15% increase), and the NW on the PS test accounted for substantial
incremental validity in prediction of (lack of) RC (ΔR= .16, 73% increase). In addition, after
controlling for demographic characteristics and both GMA and the specific ability,
Conscientiousness accounted for unique validity in prediction of both task performance (ΔR= .07,
15% increase) and RC (ΔR= .06, 16% increase). Practical and theoretical implications for
selection practices and models of job performance are discussed.

Tangirala, S. & Ramanujam, R. (2008). Employee silence on critical work issues: The cross level effects
of procedural justice climate, Personnel Psychology, 61 (1): 37-68. This study examined the
cross-level effects of procedural justice climate on employee silence—that is, the intentional
withholding of critical work-related information by employees from their workgroup members. In
a survey-based study of 606 nurses nested within 30 workgroups, we found that procedural
justice climate moderated the effects of individual-level antecedents of employee silence.
Specifically, when procedural justice climate was higher, the effects of antecedents that inhibit
employee silence (e.g., workgroup identification, professional commitment) were stronger.
Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Fugate, M., Kinicki, A. & Prussia, G.E. (2008). Employee coping with organizational change: An
examination of alternative theoretical perspectives and models, Personnel Psychology, 61 (1): 1-
36. This longitudinal study seeks to determine the appropriate theoretical structure for how
employees cope with organizational change. A model based on the appraisal theory of emotion
is compared to competing theoretical structures of coping found in the literature: stimulus–
response, partial mediation, and moderated. Structural equation model results showed that
coping with organizational change is a completely mediated process best represented by the
stimulus–response theoretical structure, whereby negative appraisal is associated with reduced
control and increased escape coping, which are positively related to positive and negative
emotions, respectively. Negative emotions predicted sick time used and intentions to quit, which
then predicted voluntary turnover. Implications for coping theory and organizational change
management are discussed.

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Tews, M.J. & Tracey, B. (2008). An empirical examination of posttraining on-the-job supplements for
enhancing the effectiveness of interpersonal skills training, Personnel Psychology, 61 (2): 375-
401. This study examined the impact of 2 posttraining on-the-job supplements to a training
program focused on interpersonal skill development for newly hired managers—self-coaching and
upward feedback. Utilizing a sample of 87 trainees from 75 units of a national restaurant chain,
the impact of these supplements was assessed by examining posttraining performance across 4
training conditions in a quasi-experimental framework: (1) classroom training only, (2) classroom
training with self-coaching, (3) classroom training with upward feedback, and (4) classroom
training with self-coaching and upward feedback. The results demonstrated that both
supplements are useful extensions to formal classroom training for enhancing trainees'
interpersonal performance. These findings are discussed along with directions for future training
effectiveness research.

Zimmerman, R.D. (2008). Understanding the impact of personality traits on individuals‘ turnover
decisions: A meta-analytic model, Personnel Psychology, 61 (2): 309-348. Historically,
researchers have sought to identify environmental causes of employee turnover. This paradigm
has led to the underemphasis of individual differences as being an important cause of individuals'
turnover decisions. The results of the meta-analysis show that personality traits do have an
impact on individuals' turnover intentions and behaviors. The trait of Emotional Stability best
predicted (negatively) employees' intentions to quit, whereas the traits of Conscientiousness and
Agreeableness best predicted (negatively) actual turnover decisions. A theoretically developed
path model showed important direct effects from personality to intentions to quit and turnover
behaviors that were not captured through job satisfaction or job performance. These direct
effects indicate that employees who are low on Emotional Stability may intend to quit for reasons
other than dissatisfaction with their jobs or not being able to perform their jobs well. The direct
effects on turnover suggest that individuals who are low on Agreeableness or high on Openness
may engage in unplanned quitting. Personality traits had stronger relationships with outcomes
than did non-self-report measures of job complexity/job characteristics.

Gilboa, S., Shirom, A., Fried, Y. & Cooper, C. (2008). A meta-analysis of work demand stressors and job
performance: examining main and moderating effects, Personnel Psychology, 61 (2): 227-271.
We quantitatively integrated 169 samples ( N= 35,265 employees) that have been used to
investigate the relationships of the following 7 work-related stressors with job performance: role
ambiguity, role conflict, role overload, job insecurity, work–family conflict, environmental
uncertainty, and situational constraints. Overall, we obtained a negative mean correlation
between each job performance measure and each stressor included in our analyses. As
hypothesized, role ambiguity and situational constraints were most strongly negatively related to
performance, relative to the other work-related stressors. Analysis of moderators revealed that
(a) the negative correlation of role overload and performance was higher among managers
relative to nonmanagers; (b) publication year moderated the relation of role ambiguity and role
overload with performance, although in opposite directions; (c) the correlations obtained for
published versus unpublished studies were not significantly different; and (d) using the Rizzo et
al. scale of role ambiguity and role conflict decreased the magnitude of the correlations of these
stressors with performance, relative to other scales. Theoretical contributions, future research
directions, and practical implications are discussed.

Nishii, L.H., Lepak, D.P. & Schneider, B. (2008). Employee attributions of the "why" of HR practices:
Their effects on employee attitudes and behaviors, and customer satisfaction, Personnel
Psychology, 61 (3): 503-545. The construct of human resource (HR) attributions is introduced.
We argue that the attributions that employees make about the reasons why management adopts
the HR practices that it does have consequences for their attitudes and behaviors, and ultimately,
unit performance. Drawing on the strategic HR literature, we propose a typology of 5 HR-
attribution dimensions. Utilizing data collected from a service firm, we show that employees make

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 varying attributions for the same HR practices, and that these attributions are differentially
associated with commitment and satisfaction. In turn, we show that these attitudes become
shared within units and that they are related to unit-level organizational citizenship behaviors and
customer satisfaction. Findings and implications are discussed.

Foldes, H.J., Duehr, E.E. & Ones, D. (2008). Group differences in personality: Meta-analyses comparing
five U.S. racial groups, Personnel Psychology, 61 (3): 579-616. This research poses 2 applied
questions: How large are racial group differences on personality scales and are these differences
likely to cause adverse impact in personnel selection? We examined the extent to which racial
groups differ across Big 5 personality factors and facets. Large-scale, quantitative estimates
based on over 700 effect sizes were meta-analytically summarized. Multiple personality
instruments and understudied racial groups, particularly Asian Americans and American Indians,
were included in the meta-analyses. Most group comparisons and personality scales yielded
negligible differences and are not likely to cause adverse impact in selection. However, facet-level
analyses produced different d-values, with some group comparisons showing moderate
differences, suggesting that the use of personality measures in selection does not uniformly
circumvent adverse impact concerns. The veracity of this conclusion depends on (a) the
particular trait in question, (b) the composition of the applicant pool (i.e., which groups are to be
compared with one another), (c) the effect size (i.e., d-value), and (d) the selection ratio. For
practitioners, we present a quantitatively informed summary of when and where to expect
adverse impact to result from personality measures used in personnel selection.

Tonidandel, S. Avery, D., Bucholtz, B. & McKay, P. (2008). An alternative explanation for the
asymmetrical effects in relational demography research, Personnel Psychology, 61 (3): 617-633.
Several relational demography studies have demonstrated asymmetrical effects of dissimilarity
across different groups of employees. Some groups of employees appear to be more influenced
by differences from fellow employees, whereas other groups of employees appear indifferent.
Although numerous theoretical explanations have been developed to account for these
asymmetrical effects, this paper argues that such effects are actually methodological artifacts
resulting from an imbalance in the proportion of group members and deficiencies in the most
commonly used measure of dissimilarity, Euclidean distance. This paper illustrates how such
asymmetrical effects can be observed even when none exist in the population. Suggestions for
methodological improvements in future diversity research are discussed along with
recommendations for managing diversity in organizations.

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