Douglas D. Baker

Administrative Reorganization and Configurational Context: The Contingent Effects of Age, Size, and Change in Size

The administrative reorganization of top-level managers in 200 colleges and universities was examined over a ten-year period. Findings showed that organizational size, age, and change in size work in configurations to affect administrative reorganization. Arguments focusing on competing forces for structural change and stability provide explanations for differences in levels of reorganization. These forces originate in countervailing pressures from increased complexity associated with large size, the inertia of old age, and stimuli for change during growth and decline.

Predictive Validity and Time Dependency of Self-Efficacy, Self-Esteem, Personal Goals, and Academic Performance:

This article seeks to clarify some conceptual and empirical ambiguities regarding self-efficacy and self-esteem in the educational, psychological, and organizational literatures. The validity of self-efficacy versus self-esteem for predicting personal goals and performance and the subsequent reciprocal effects of personal goals and performance on self-efficacy and self-esteem were investigated. Also examined were the distal and proximal measures of self-efficacy, self-esteem, and personal goals in relation to performance because their conceptual meaning and predictive validity may vary depending on measurement timing. Across three performance trials (academic course exams), self efficacy had greater predictive validity than self-esteem for and was more affected by personal goals and performance. However, the lead and lag measurement times produced no significant differences. Theoretical and practical implications of differential predictive validity and measurement timing are discussed.

Outcomes of Sexual Harassment Charges

The article presents information on a study which examined a reported case of sexual harassment charges against an employer. Details are presented regarding the nature of the reported sexual harass...

Blau's Theory of Structural Differentiation Revisited: A Theory of Structural Change or Scale?

The major objective of this study was to determine if Blaus (1970) theory of structural differentiation better captures differences in scale between organizations or structural changes within orga...

A social-cognitive, attributional model of personal goals: An empirical evaluation

A model of cognitive and affective antecedents and consequences of personal goals, which integrates constructs from social-cognitive and attribution theories, was examined. Data were gathered before and after course examinations in a large university class. Hierarchical and moderated regression analyses supported the model indicating that (1) relationships between self-efficacy, goals, and performance were positive during repeated trials over 4 1/2 months in a naturally occurring setting; (2) the stability dimension of causal attributions moderated the relationship between goal-performance discrepancies and self-efficacy; and (3) the locus of causality dimension of causal attributions moderated the relationship between goal-performance discrepancies and affective responses.