Jochen Reb

Evaluating Dynamic Performance: The Influence of Salient Gestalt Characteristics on Performance Ratings

It is well recognized that performance changes over time. However, the effect of these changes on overall assessments of performance is largely unknown. In a laboratory experiment, we examined the influence of salient Gestalt characteristics of a dynamic performance profile on supervisory ratings. We manipulated performance trend (flat, linear-improving, linear-deteriorating, U-shaped, and inverted U-shaped), performance variation (small, large), and performance mean (negative, zero, positive) within subjects and display format (graphic, tabular) between subjects. Participants received and evaluated information about the weekly performance of different employees over a simulated 26-week period. Results showed strong main effects on performance ratings of both performance mean and performance trend, as well as interactions with display format. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Understanding Performance Ratings: Dynamic Performance, Attributions, and Rating Purpose

The present two studies integrate and extend the literatures on dynamic performance, performance attributions, and rating purpose, making several important contributions. First, examining attributions of dynamic performance, Study 1 predicted that performance mean and trend would affect judged ratee ability and effort and that performance variation would affect locus of causality; both predictions were supported by the results. Second, investigating the interaction between dynamic performance and rating purpose, Study 2 predicted that performance mean would have a stronger impact on administrative than on developmental ratings, whereas performance trend and variation would have a stronger impact on developmental than on administrative ratings; again, both predictions were borne out by the results. Third, both studies found that performance trend interacted with performance mean and variability to predict overall ratings. Fourth, both studies replicated main effects of dynamic performance characteristics on ratings in a different culture and, in Study 2, a sample of more experienced managers.

Toward interactive, Internet-based decision aid for vaccination decisions: better information alone is not enough.

Vaccination decisions, as in choosing whether or not to immunize ones small child against specific diseases, are both psychologically and computationally complex. The psychological complexities have been extensively studied, often in the context of shaping convincing or persuasive messages that will encourage parents to vaccinate their children. The computational complexity of the decision has been less noted. However, even if the parent has access to neutral, accurate, credible information on vaccination risks and benefits, he or she can easily be overwhelmed by the task of combining this information into a well-reasoned decision. We argue here that the Internet, in addition to its potential as an information source, could provide useful assistance to parents in integrating factual information with their own values and preferences - that is, in providing real decision aid as well as information aid. We sketch one approach for accomplishing this by means of a hierarchy of interactive decision aids ranging from simple advice to full-scale decision analysis.

The effects of action, normality, and decision carefulness on anticipated regret: Evidence for a broad mediating role of decision justifiability.

Two distinct theoretical views explain the effects of action/inaction and social normality on anticipated regret. Norm theory (Kahneman & Miller, 1986) emphasises the role of decision mutability, the ease with which one can imagine having made a different choice. Decision justification theory (Connolly & Zeelenberg, 2002) highlights the role of decision justifiability, the perception that the choice was made on a defensible basis, supported by convincing arguments or using a thoughtful, comprehensive decision process. The present paper tests several contrasting predictions from the two theoretical approaches in a series of four studies. Study 1 replicated earlier findings showing greater anticipated regret when the chosen option was abnormal than when it was normal, and perceived justifiability mediated the effect. Study 2 showed that anticipated regret was higher for careless than for careful decisions. Study 3 replicated this finding for a sample holding a different social norm towards the focal decision. Finally, Study 4 found that, when decision carefulness, normality and action/inaction were all specified, only the former showed a significant effect on anticipated regret, and the effect was again mediated by perceived justifiability. Decision justification theory thus appears to provide a better account of anticipated regret intensity in this context than does norm theory.

More than just the Mean: Moving to a Dynamic View of the Performance-based Compensation

Compensation decisions have important consequences for employees and organizations and affect factors such as retention, motivation, and recruitment. Past research has primarily focused on mean performance as a predictor of compensation, promoting the implicit assumption that alternative aspects of dynamic performance are not relevant. To address this gap in the literature, we examined the influence of dynamic performance characteristics on compensation decisions in the National Basketball Association (NBA). We predicted that, in addition to performance mean, performance trend and variability would also affect compensation decisions. Results revealed that performance mean and trend, but not variability, were significantly and positively related to changes in compensation levels of NBA players. Moreover, trend (but not mean or variability) predicted compensation when controlling for future performance, suggesting that organizations overweighted trend in their compensation decisions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

A Cross-Nations, Cross-Cultures, and Cross- Conditions Analysis on the Equivalence of the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR)

This article examines measurement equivalence of the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) across two nations (the United States and Singapore), two cultural values (horizontal individualism and horizontal collectivism) and two motivational conditions (standard and faking). One sample of undergraduate students from each country (N Singapore = 158, N United States = 166) participated in this study, and a within-subject experimental design is used. Specifically, at Time 1, participants were simply asked to respond to the BIDR and the INDCOL (standard condition). At Time 2, the participants were instructed to engage in social desirability (faking condition). Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses are used to evaluate the equivalence of the BIDR. The authors found support for the equivalence of the BIDR across the two cultural values. However, there is weaker support for the equivalence of the BIDR across the two countries and the two motivational conditions. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Mindfulness in Organizations: Foundations, Research, and Applications

This chapter discusses the practice of mindfulness in organizations. In the first section we describe the growing interest in mindfulness training among organizations and discuss possible reasons for this development. We then review work on the definition and concept of mindfulness as they have been developed in psychology and organizational scholarship. In the second section, we discuss different forms of mindfulness practice in organizations, including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as the most prominent. The third section reviews empirical evidence on the effects of mindfulness on work-related outcomes and processes such as employee performance, employee wellbeing, leadership, and ethical decision making. We then discuss in more detail a recently developed self-administered mindfulness training program as it contains some unique and interesting features relevant to mindfulness intervention studies. In the fifth section, we present the results from qualitative interviews we conducted with participants of a corporate mindfulness training program. We conclude that the study and application of mindfulness in the workplace offers many promising directions; however, much more research is needed to create a basis of evidence for successful mindfulness training programs. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of the (intended and unintended) consequences, mediating mechanisms, moderating factors, and boundary conditions of mindfulness would benefit organizational scholarship.

Socially desirable responding : enhancement and denial in 20 countries

This article investigated the dimensionality, measurement invariance, and cross-cultural variations of social desirability. A total of 3,471 university students from 20 countries completed an adapted version of the Marlowe–Crowne scale. A two-dimensional structure was revealed in the pooled sample, distinguishing enhancement (endorsement of positive self-description) and denial (rejection of negative self-description). The factor structure was supported in most countries; medium-sized item bias was found in two denial items. In a multilevel analysis, we found that (a) there was more cross-cultural variation in denial than enhancement; (b) females tended to score higher on enhancement whereas males tended to score higher on denial; (c) the Human Development Index, an indicator of country socioeconomic development, was the best (negative) predictor of denial; and (d) both enhancement and denial seemed to be associated with country-level values and personality pertinent to “fitting in.” We conclude that social desirability has a positive and a negative impression management dimension that are meaningfully associated with country-level characteristics, and we argue that social desirability is better interpreted as culturally regulated response amplification.

Leading with mindfulness: Exploring the relation of mindfulness with leadership behaviors, styles, and development

Introduction A recent Forbes article stated that “Mindfulness is hot right now – Hollywood hot, Davos hot, Main Street hot … For business leaders, encouraging mindfulness is more than just being tuned in; its a strategy to improve person and company-wide performance and productivity” (Bruce 2014). Leadership is a perennially trendy topic, and its fusion with mindfulness creates a combination of potential uber-trendiness. But is this hype justified? Our endeavour in this chapter is to elaborate on the connections between mindfulness and leadership. A related goal is to take a critical look: generally both mindfulness and leadership are viewed in a positive light. Although “leadership” evokes ideas of strengths and charisma, transformation, and achievement. Yet at the same time, a “dark side” of leadership and leaders also surfaces in the form of leader arrogance, hubris, cronyism, abusive supervision, and outright dictatorships. Perhaps even more so than with leadership, mindfulness appears to be seen as almost universally positive. Indeed, a large number of studies have found beneficial effects of mindfulness for, among others, individual health, psychological wellbeing, and functioning (Chiesa and Serretti 2010; Eberth and Sedlmeier 2012). Also, as shown in the various chapters of this book and other work, a strong case can be made that mindfulness and mindfulness practice have substantial potential to improve the quality and outcomes of work life (see also Glomb et al . 2011). Finally, empirical research on the effects of leader mindfulness provides evidence of beneficial consequences for employees including increases in employee job performance, job satisfaction, and need satisfaction, and reductions in emotional exhaustion (Reb, Narayanan, and Chaturvedi 2014). Although we are in broad agreement with claims regarding the benefits of mindfulness in general and for leadership in particular, at the same time, one can wonder whether there are any downsides to leaders being mindful.

Methods of mindfulness: how mindfulness is studied in the workplace

Introduction Interest in mindfulness in the workplace has been on the rise. A recent surge of research has built a compelling case for mindfulness and its potential benefits continue to attract the attention of organizational scholars. To name but a few, in the past years we have seen research linking mindfulness to work-family balance (Allen and Kiburz 2012), work engagement (Leroy, Anseel, Dimitrova, and Sels 2013), negotiation outcomes (Reb and Narayanan 2014), job burnout (Roche and Haar 2013), resilience to bias (Hafenbrack, Kinias, and Barsade 2013), working memory (Mrazek et al . 2013) and performance (Dane and Brummel 2014; Reb, Narayanan, and Chaturvedi 2014). While mindfulness was initially studied as a method of treating ailing clinical populations (Kabat-Zinn 1990), today its application has expanded to executive boardrooms, elementary school classrooms, professional sports, and military Special Forces. The rapid expansion of mindfulness studies in non-clinical populations, particularly work environments, is exciting for practitioners but also raises a series of methodological concerns. It is to this end that we focus this chapter: a review and analysis of the study of mindfulness in the workplace. We hope this chapter will offer a roadmap to scholars new to mindfulness by summarizing prevailing methods and their areas for improvement. We also aim to offer innovative insights for more established researchers by reflecting on directions for further research. This chapter discusses the study of workplace mindfulness in three sections. First, we review how researchers have studied the various conceptualizations of mindfulness and the major issues concerning the construct of mindfulness altogether. Clearly operationalizing mindfulness is an important precursor to any other step in the research process for it stands to help define the scope and boundaries of the topic under investigation. In the second section, we review the most commonly used methods in mindfulness research such as experiments, surveys, and mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs).