Ilke Inceoglu

Job Engagement, Job Satisfaction, and Contrasting Associations with Person- Job Fit

Forms of well-being vary in their activation as well as valence, differing in respect of energy-related arousal in addition to whether they are negative or positive. Those differences suggest the need to refine traditional assumptions that poor person-job fit causes lower well-being. More activated forms of well-being were proposed to be associated with poorer, rather than better, want-actual fit, since greater motivation raises wanted levels of job features and may thus reduce fit with actual levels. As predicted, activated well-being (illustrated by job engagement) and more quiescent well-being (here, job satisfaction) were found to be associated with poor fit in opposite directions--positively and negatively, respectively. Theories and organizational practices need to accommodate the partly contrasting implications of different forms of well-being.

Four-quadrant investigation of job-related affects and behaviours

Emphasizing differences in activation as well as valence, six studies across a range of situations examined relations between types of job-related core affect and 13 self-reported work behaviours. A theory-based measure of affect was developed, and its four-quadrant structure was found to be supported across studies. Also consistent with hypotheses, high-activation pleasant affect was more strongly correlated with positive behaviours than were low-activation pleasant feelings, and those associations tended to be greatest for discretionary behaviours in contrast to routine task proficiency. Additionally as predicted, unpleasant job-related affects that had low rather than high activation were more strongly linked to the negative work behaviours examined. Theory and practice would benefit from greater differentiation between affects and between behaviours.

Response Styles and Personality Traits A Multilevel Analysis

In two studies, we examined the shared and unique meaning of acquiescent, extreme, midpoint, and socially desirable responding in association with the Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ32), a forced-choice format personality measure designed to be less affected by these response styles, compared with personality inventories with Likert-type scales. Country-level response style indexes were derived from six waves of the International Social Survey Programme and from a meta-analysis of a social desirability scale. In the country-level correlational analysis, the four response styles formed a general response style (GRS) factor which was positively associated with (a) dominance (vs. submission) in interpersonal relationships, (b) competitive (vs. modest and democratic) feelings and emotions, and (c) data rational thinking. In a multilevel analysis, age showed a positive and education a negative effect on the individual-level GRS. Negative effects of country-level socioeconomic development and individualism and positive effects of competitiveness and data rational thinking on the individual-level response style were found. We conclude that country-level response styles are systematically associated with country personality measured by the OPQ32, suggesting that they can be viewed as having substantive meaning (i.e., culturally influenced response amplification vs. moderation). Implications are discussed.

Age Differences in Work Motivation in a Sample from Five Northern European Countries

Abstract. This paper investigates the relationship between employee age and levels of trait-like dispositional motivation in a sample of 7644 individuals from five Northern European countries (Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden) who completed a comprehensive motivation questionnaire for selection or development purposes. Age differences in motivation were examined by controlling for demographic variables and testing for non-linear relationships. On the whole, effects were small, with age explaining up to 7 % incremental variance in specific motivation scales. Small effects were found for five motivation scales, which indicated a tendency for older employees in this sample to be more motivated by intrinsically rewarding job features but less motivated by features that entail low perceived utility or that are mainly extrinsically rewarding. Results were generally consistent across the five Nordic countries but in countries where the average retirement age is higher (i. e., in late-exit cultures) ...

The Association between Work-Related Rumination and Heart Rate Variability: A Field Study

The objective of this study was to examine the association between perseverative cognition in the form of work-related rumination, and heart rate variability (HRV). We tested the hypothesis that high ruminators would show lower vagally mediated HRV relative to low ruminators during their leisure time. Individuals were classified as being low (n = 17) or high ruminators (n = 19), using the affective scale on the work-related rumination measure. HRV was assessed using a wrist sensor band (Microsoft Band 2). HRV was sampled between 8 pm and 10 pm over three workday evenings (Monday to Wednesday) while individuals carried out their normal evening routines. Compared to the low ruminators, high affective ruminators demonstrated lower HRV in the form of root mean square successive differences (RMSSDs), relative to the low ruminators, indicating lower parasympathetic activity. There was no significant difference in heart rate, or activity levels between the two groups during the recording periods. The current findings of this study may have implications for the design and delivery of interventions to help individuals unwind post work and to manage stress more effectively. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

Personality disorders in patients in a day-treatment programme for eating disorders

The present study examined the prevalence of DSM-III-R personality disorders (PDs) and levels of depressive symptoms in patients in a day-hospital programme for eating disorders. Sixty-five patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa were administered the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire Revised (PDQ-R), the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In total, 49.2 per cent of all patients had at least one PD diagnosis. No significant difference was found between patients with bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. Eating Disorder patients with at least one PD had higher scores on the BDI and three EDI subscales compared to patients without a PD. In general, the prevalence of Personality Disorders in the present sample tended to be closer to results quoted by studies with eating-disordered outpatients rather than inpatients. Axis I disorders may affect personality state measures. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Preventing Rater Biases in 360-Degree Feedback by Forcing Choice

We examined the effects of response biases on 360-degree feedback using a large sample (N = 4,675) of organizational appraisal data. Sixteen competencies were assessed by peers, bosses, and subordinates of 922 managers as well as self-assessed using the Inventory of Management Competencies (IMC) administered in two formats—Likert scale and multidimensional forced choice. Likert ratings were subject to strong response biases, making even theoretically unrelated competencies correlate highly. Modeling a latent common method factor, which represented nonuniform distortions similar to those of “ideal-employee” factor in both self- and other assessments, improved validity of competency scores as evidenced by meaningful second-order factor structures, better interrater agreement, and better convergent correlations with an external personality measure. Forced-choice rankings modeled with Thurstonian item response theory (IRT) yielded as good construct and convergent validities as the bias-controlled Likert ratings and slightly better rater agreement. We suggest that the mechanism for these enhancements is finer differentiation between behaviors in comparative judgements and advocate the operational use of the multidimensional forced-choice response format as an effective bias prevention method.

Job features, job values, and affective strength

Job values and job characteristics are widely assumed to interact with each other, in that job-holders’ preferences are thought to moderate associations of job content with well-being. However, an examination of previous research revealed considerable between-feature inconsistency in findings about moderation, and a new contingency variable was introduced to account for that inconsistency. This construct, labelled “affective strength”, was defined and investigated through the spread of a feature’s desirability in a studied sample. A three-sample examination of feature-by-value interactions across a broad set of job features confirmed that moderation by job values is often weak and that patterns vary between features. As predicted, associations between job characteristics and well-being were found to be significantly more influenced by worker preference when those characteristics were of lower affective strength—having greater variance in desirability. Models of job design need to incorporate worker preferences but also the varying influence of those preferences—in effect, through a second-order interaction.

Die Validität von Persönlichkeitsfragebögen Zur Bedeutung des verwendeten Kriteriums

Zusammenfassung. Personlichkeitsfragebogen und Fahigkeitstests werden prinzipiell als gute Pradiktoren fur zukunftige berufliche Leistung anerkannt (vgl. Schmidt & Hunter, 1998) und haufig zur Personalauswahl und -entwicklung verwendet. Wahrend sich in den vergangenen Jahren durch die Akzeptanz der Big Five und einer Vielzahl von validen Instrumenten zur Personlichkeitsmessung die Pradiktorenseite gut etabliert hat, wurde der Erfassung der Kriterien vergleichsweise wenig Beachtung geschenkt. In der vorliegenden Studie wird mit Hilfe eines berufsbezogenen Personlichkeitsfragebogens (Occupational Personality Questionnaire; OPQ) und drei Fahigkeitstests die berufliche Leistung, gemessen anhand von Vorgesetztenbeurteilungen, vorhergesagt. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es zu veranschaulichen, wie die Hohe der Validitat durch unterschiedliche Operationalisierungen der Arbeitsleistung beeinflusst wird. Der Fokus richtet sich dabei zum einen auf die Erfassung des Konstruktes Arbeitsleistung durch spezifische Kompetenzdi...

Work orientations, well-being and job content of self-employed and employed professionals

Drawing on psychology-derived theories and methods, a questionnaire survey compared principal kinds of work orientation, job content and mental well-being between self-employed and organisationally employed professional workers. Self-employment was found to be particularly associated with energised well-being in the form of job engagement. The presence in self-employment of greater challenge, such as an enhanced requirement for personal innovation, accounted statistically for self-employed professionals’ greater job engagement, and self-employed professionals more strongly valued personal challenge than did professionals employed in an organisation. However, no between-role differences occurred in respect of supportive job features such as having a comfortable workplace. Differences in well-being, job content and work orientations were found primarily in comparison between self-employees and organisational non-managers. The study emphasises the need to distinguish conceptually and empirically between different forms of work orientation, job content and well-being, and points to the value of incorporating psychological thinking in some sociological research.