Graham Leslie Bradley

Computer Experience, School Support, and Computer Anxiety

Past research has shown computer anxiety to be present in a sizeable minority of school teachers, and has identified some of the personal and school‐based correlates of this anxiety. Before effective interventions can be introduced, however, more needs to be known of the various forms and sources of this problem. The current study involved a survey of the experiences, attitudes and anxieties of a random sample of 350 Australian primary and secondary school teachers. Levels of self‐rated computing competence among these teachers were moderately low. Computing competence and anxiety were highly correlated, r= ‐ 0.78. Three distinctive types of computer anxiety were identified, as was a set of factors predictive of each. As hypothesised, computer anxieties were inversely related to the quality of prior computer learning experiences, and to the extent of current school support for computer usage. Implications for the reduction of computer anxiety among teachers are discussed.

The role of gender and negative affectivity in stressor appraisal and coping selection

How can individual differences in stress be explained? This study investigated some of the many possible answers to this question. Specifically, it assessed the extent to which gender and negative affectivity account for differences in stressor appraisal and coping selection. A sample comprising 121 females and 96 males rated the stressfulness of four hypothetical scenarios and indicated how they would likely cope with each. Hypotheses regarding differences in stressor appraisal were confirmed, with females rating the scenarios as more stressful than males, and perceptions of stressfulness increasing with participant negative affectivity (NA). Females endorsed the use of emotion-focused coping strategies more than males, even when differences in perceived scenario stressfulness were controlled. NA was positively linked to both emotion- and avoidance-focused coping, although only the latter association remained significant after controlling for stressor appraisals. Gender x NA interaction effects were not significant. Implications for the prediction and management of stress are discussed.

Psychosocial predictors of emerging adults' risk and reckless behaviors

Past researchers have identified a range of psychosocial predictors of problem behaviors during adolescence, but have been less active in addressing this same issue in relation to the 18–25-year age group. The current study investigated risk and reckless behaviors in emerging adults using self-report measures and a cross-sectional design. Several of the major limitations associated with past research were overcome by sampling widely, making clear conceptual distinctions, avoiding confounds between predictors and criteria, developing more direct measures of key constructs, and controlling for demographic variables and for social desirability. In this sample of 375 emerging adults, “risk” behaviors were found to be reliably predicted by sensation seeking, but not by antisocial peer pressure, whereas the reverse pattern of association was more true in relation to “reckless” behaviors. Gender differences, especially in relation to the impact of social desirability considerations, are explored.

The impact of staff empowerment and communication style on customer evaluations: The special case of service failure

Empowering front-line staff to deal with service failures has been proposed as a method of recovering from service breakdown and ensuring greater customer satisfaction. However, no empirical study has investigated consumer responses to empowerment strategies. This research investigates the effect on customer satisfaction and service quality of two employee characteristics: the degree to which the employee is empowered (full, limited, and none), and the employees communication style (accommodative - informal and personal, and underaccommodative-formal and impersonal). These employee characteristics are studied within the context of service failures. Subjects were shown videotaped service scenarios, and asked to complete satisfaction and service quality ratings. Results revealed that the fully empowered employee produced more customer satisfaction than the other conditions, but only when the service provider used an accommodating style of communication. Fully empowered and nonempowered employees were not judged differently when an underaccommodating style of communication was adopted

Investing in Interactional Justice: A Study of the Fair Process Effect within a Hospitality Failure Context:

Past research has demonstrated that considerations of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice independently influence customers’ fairness and satisfaction ratings in many contexts. Other research shows evidence of a “fair process” effect—a tendency for customers to be more accepting of poor outcomes when they perceive the outcome allocation process to be fair. Van den Bos, Lind, Vermunt, and Wilke (1997) have reported that this effect may operate only when the outcomes received by others are unknown. Set in a hospitality service recovery context, this study examined the impact of interactional justice and knowledge of others’ outcomes on customers’ service evaluations. A 2 (interactional justice) 4 (others’ outcomes) experimental design was employed in which 176 respondents reported their perceptions of fairness and levels of satisfaction after imagining themselves to be customers in a hypothetical service scenario. Contrary to previous research, evidence of the fair process effect was found irrespective of the presence or absence of information regarding others’ outcomes. Implications for the tourism and hospitality industry and justice theory development are discussed.

Job tenure as a moderator of stressor–strain relations: A comparison of experienced and new-start teachers

Abstract Few studies have investigated the extent to which the effects of work stressors on strain change over the duration of employees’ job incumbencies. Drawing on Karaseks (1979) job demands-control-support model, the current study examined the moderating influence of job tenure (experienced versus novice worker status) on stressor-strain relations. Using a sample of 422 experienced and 248 beginning schoolteachers in Australia, job factors and job strain were assessed on two occasions, 8 months apart. Analyses revealed that the three job factors were each correlated with strain as predicted, although the (elusive) demands×control interaction effect was evidenced amongst “new-start” teachers only. The findings provide mixed support for Karaseks model, and draw attention to the need to consider the role of job tenure and career stage in studies of work stress, as work stressor-strain effects may be routinely underestimated in research that ignores these factors.

The role of hardiness in stress and illness: An exploration of the effect of negative affectivity and gender

Past research into the effects of hardiness on stress and health has yielded inconsistent findings, possibly because of a failure to acknowledge the influence of variables such as negative affectivity and gender. This study examined the main, moderating and mediating effects of hardiness in a sample of 130 (50 male, 80 female) randomly selected university staff members. Controlling for negative affectivity, limited evidence was obtained for the direct effects of hardiness on stress and illness. Kobasas (1979) model that hardiness buffers the effects of stress on illness was supported for males, but not for females. The hypothesis that approach and avoidance coping mediate the hardiness-illness relationship was not supported for either sex, although there was evidence that relative coping mediated this relationship in females. Collectively, the results point to a need to reconsider the conceptualization and measurement of hardiness.

Service locus of control: its conceptualization and measurement

This article reports on the conceptualization of the construct of service locus of control, a dispositional variable with implications for consumer behavior in a range of service settings. The development of a self-administered scale to measure this construct is described. In its final form, the 14-item measure contains three subscales—Internal, Powerful Others, and Luck—which are shown through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to be robust and relatively independent of each other. Three studies are reported that provide evidence of the scale’s reliability and validity. Further tests of, and applications for, the instrument are discussed.

Work participation and academic performance: a test of alternative propositions

Increasing numbers of full‐time university students mix their studies with paid employment. The current research examined the nature, extent and correlates of paid work amongst a sample of 246 university students. Approximately 85% of the sample reported having a paid job during semester, a figure that exceeds that found in previous studies. Five propositions regarding the relationship between work participation and academic performance were tested, and none was found to adequately account for the relationships observed. Rather, Grade Point Averages were relatively high amongst two groups of students: those who did not work, and those working more than 20 hours per week. Future research should explore the strategies through which students who work long hours manage to perform well academically.

Antecedents and Consequences of Consumer Value: A Longitudinal Study of Timeshare Owners

Why do travel and tourism consumers appraise products as more or less favorable, and what makes them change their appraisals over time? In addressing these two fundamental questions, we focus on the construct of consumer value, a construct often regarded as pivotal in determining customer satisfaction and loyalty. In this article, we propose and test a model of the antecedents and consequences of change in consumer value. We used a key sector of the tourism industry, timeshare, as the context for this research. Self-report data were obtained from 580 owners of timeshare on two occasions, 12 months apart. Results from this longitudinal study showed that selected consumer, product, consumption experience, and learning experience factors predicted changes in value, and these value changes, in turn, predicted shifts over time in satisfaction and repurchase intent. The findings provide new insights as to the role of value in consumer appraisals and actions.