Christopher P. Parker

Perceptions of Organizational Politics: An Investigation of Antecedents and Consequences

Factor analyses of data from an organizational climate survey suggest that organizational politics is an important dimension of peoples’ perceptions of the work environment. These data were used to examine antecedents and consequences of politics perceptions using the framework suggested by Fandt Russ and Fandt (1989). Measures of perceived intergroup cooperation, clarity of roles and responsibilities, and fairness of rewards/recognition were most predictive of politics perceptions. Minority status was the only personal characteristic that predicted politics perceptions. when controlling for its antecedents, perceptions of organizational politics were only related to perceived innovation. Analyses using structural equation modeling indicated that the relationships between politics and its antecedents were not influenced by an overall affective response to the work environment.

Psychological climate: A comparison of organizational and individual level referents

Psychological climate is defined as individual employee perceptions of their work environment. This study advances our understanding of the psychological climate construct by addressing a generally ignored issue of frame of reference through measuring psychological climate with an organizational referent (PCo) and an individual referent (PCi). PCo reflects employee perceptions of their organizational environment in general; whereas, PCi reflects employee perceptions of their own experiences within an organization. This study found that a) there are mean level differences between the two types of psychological climate, b) the two types of psychological climate uniquely predict job satisfaction, and c) a discrepancy between the two types of psychological climate is found to relate to job satisfaction.

Predicting collective climates: assessing the role of shared work values, needs, employee interaction and work group membership

Previous research has debated whether the collective climates, produced through cluster analysis of psychological climate perceptions, are representative of meaningful organizational collectives or simply statistical artifacts. In this study we examined the extent to which collective climates are comprised of individuals with similar interpretive schemata such as work values and need strength or consist of individuals who share work group or interaction group membership. Measures of psychological climate, work values, need strength, and employee interaction patterns were collected from the management and administrative staff of a manufacturing organization. Results supported the symbolic interactionist perspective to the formation of collective climates. We found clear evidence that collective climates are related to employee interaction groups. Employee interaction based on sensemaking and information seeking activities was most strongly related to shared climate perceptions. There was also some evidence that individuals with similar levels of need strength share collective climate membership. Implications of these results on the debate over the use of collective climates are discussed. Copyright

A Comparison of Competing Models Underlying Responses to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator:

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI; Myers & McCaulley, 1985) is the most frequently used personality instrument in business, counseling, and education, but its construct validity remains largely unexplored (National Research Council, 1991). A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on a sample of 1,030 working adults to provide a competitive test of four alternative models of responses to MBTI items. Although the MBTI model was found to provide the best fit of the alternative models, none of the models provided an optimal fit. This confirmatory factor analysis and a follow-up exploratory factor analysis were used to identify necessary scoring changes and item deletions. Use of the revised scoring scheme would result in a change of the MBTI profile for 28.7% of respondents.

The Relationship between Self-Discrepancies and Affective States: The Moderating Roles of Self-Monitoring and Standpoints on the Self

Using self-discrepancy theory as a theoretical framework, this study examines the interactive effects of self-monitoring and type of self-guide (i.e., own vs. other standpoint) on the relationship between self-discrepancies and affective states. Over two sessions, 294 undergraduates completed the Self-Monitoring Scale, the Selves Questionnaire (either from the own or other standpoint), the Beck Depression Inventory, the Hopkins Symptom Checklist, and the Social Anxiety subscale of the Self-Consciousness Scale. For low self-monitors, depression and anxiety were predicted only by self-discrepancies from the own standpoint on the self. For high self-monitors, depression and anxiety were more strongly predicted by self-discrepancies from the other than the own standpoint on the self. The authors discuss the role of individual differences in understanding when self-discrepancies have implications for individuals’ affective states.

The Use of Multitrait–Multimethod Data for Detecting Nonlinear Relationships: The Case of Psychological Climate and Job Satisfaction

Previous monomethod research has found mixed support for nonlinear effects between certain job characteristics (e.g., job autonomy, job complexity) and outcome variables (e.g., job performance). We hypothesized that these weak nonlinear findings may be due to the prevalence of monomethod research that can lead to a lack of complete measurement and/or introduce common methods variance, either of which may mask the “true” shape of relationships. Using hierarchical regression analyses and a multitrait–multimethod (MTMM) research design, we found strikingly different results between monomethod and MTMM data when considering the relationships between three psychological climate variables and job satisfaction. While the monomethod results mirrored earlier inconclusive findings, the MTMM data indicated that nonlinear equations explained significantly more of the relationship between all three climate dimensions and job satisfaction. These results suggest that the use of MTMM data allows one to more effectively test for nonlinear effects. Furthermore, these nonlinear results suggest that the format of employee questionnaires should probably change from asking how much an employee has of certain constructs to asking does the employee want more or less of these constructs.

The Practical Utility of Importance Measures in Assessing the Relative Importance of Work-Related Perceptions and Organizational Characteristics on Work-Related Outcomes

The utility of dominance analysis and other importance indices is the subject of much debate in determining the relative importance of predictors in multiple regression. The goal in conducting this research was to bring an applied perspective to this issue by comparing the conclusions one would draw regarding predictors’ relative importance, when using various indices of importance with real-world data sets. The overall results indicate that researchers would reach only minor differences in their conclusions when using dominance analysis or other importance indices as compared to simply examining the traditional standardized beta weights or squared semipartial correlations. The lack of differences in conclusions drawn is particularly apparent when comparing the rank ordering of the predictor importance produced by the different indices.

A Test of Alternative Hierarchical Models of Psychological Climate: PCg, Satisfaction, or Common Method Variance?

Structural equation modeling was used to examine the construct validity of the James and James hierarchical model of psychological climate. Their hypothesis, that a general factor—representing an appraisal of the work environment as personally beneficial or detrimental (PCg)—underlies climate perceptions, was pitted against two alternative explanations. Although the results are somewhat supportive of the James and James model, the data also indicate that PCg may be an artifact of common method variance.

Measurement and Management of Work Climate: Cross-Validation of the CRISO Psychological Climate Questionnaire

This paper presents research results that offer answers to the “why,” “what” and “how” of work climate measurement. It also submits to the scientific community a confirmatory cross-validation procedure applied to a new measurement tool, consistent with the works of Jones and Jamess (1979) and of Parker et al. (2003) on psychological climate. The results depict a good model fit for both the English and French versions of the questionnaire. This new instrument offers a comprehensive and manageable approach for the development of a healthy workplace.

Linking Abusive Supervision to Employee Engagement and Exhaustion

ABSTRACT This research extends the differentiated job demands–resource model by integrating the main propositions of the transactional theory of stress to examine how cognitive appraisal processes link employee perceptions of abusive supervision to engagement and exhaustion. Two studies were conducted using a broad sample of employees. Study 1 developed the abusive supervision demand appraisal measure (ABSDAM). Study 2 examined the role that challenge or hindrance demand appraisals play in employee reactions to perceptions of abusive supervision. Study 1 determined that the ABSDAM was a valid means to measure how employees appraise abusive supervision as a challenge and/or hindrance demand. Study 2 found that hindrance demand appraisals mediate the relationship between perceived abusive supervision and exhaustion, while challenge demand appraisals mediate the relationship between perceived abusive supervision and engagement. This study suggests that accounting for demand appraisal processes provides further insight into how perceptions of abusive supervision may contribute to engagement and exhaustion.