Laura J. Stanley

Examining the Construct Validity of Mastery-Avoidance Achievement Goals: A Meta-Analysis

We used meta-analysis to obtain a comprehensive perspective on the construct validity of achievement goals, focusing on the most recent addition to the achievement goal framework, mastery-avoidance (Elliot & McGregor, 2001). Mastery-avoidance achievement goals positively correlated with need for achievement, perceived competence, competitiveness, interest, negative affect, and other achievement goals (mastery-approach, performance-approach, performance-avoidance) and negatively correlated with cognitive ability, help seeking, and performance. The correlations between mastery-avoidance and the other achievement goals were moderate. Thus, we conclude that mastery-avoidance is a conceptually and empirically distinct construct with unique antecedents and consequences and should be included in future studies on achievement goals.

Financial Decision Making in Family Firms: An Adaptation of the Theory of Planned Behavior

Adapting the theory of planned behavior to the area of financial choices in family firms, we argue that these choices in family firms are largely affected by family norms, attitude, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions. A time-lagged sample, estimated via structural equation modeling of 118 German family firms, supports a behavioral approach to the study of financing decisions. Specifically, we show that family norms and attitude toward external debt and external equity affect behavioral intention to use the respective financing choices, which in turn affects financing behavior. Perceived behavioral control, however, was shown to negatively affect behavioral intentions to use external equity and was positively related to the use of internal funds. Implications of these capital structure decisions and ideas for future research are discussed.

Emotions and Family Business Creation: An Extension and Implications

Morris, Allen, Kuratko, and Brannon found that family founders, nonfamily managers working in family firms, and nonfamily founders experience a wide range of emotions during the first 4 years of establishing a new business. They identify differences in the emotional experiences of these three groups. I extend their findings by suggesting that divergent emotional experiences may explain differences in risk–taking behavior between family and nonfamily firms, and between family firms. Furthermore, I suggest that family founders‘ early emotional experiences may affect the firms culture, strategy, and decision–making processes well beyond the start–up phase.

Latent Profile Analysis Understanding Family Firm Profiles

We demonstrate how latent profile analysis (LPA) can be applied to generate profiles (i.e., homogenous subgroups) in a sample of family firms. In doing so, we highlight how LPA can provide additional insight into family firm phenomena when used in conjunction with other methodological approaches (i.e., regression). We compare LPA with other techniques (i.e., cluster analysis and qualitative comparative analysis) and show LPA’s superior ability to capture complex patterns of important family firm characteristics. We demonstrate how profiles can be linked to differences in dependent variables, providing family firm scholars with a tool to assess heterogeneity and its consequences among family firms.

Disaffected Pollyannas: The influence of positive affect on salary expectations, turnover, and long‐term satisfaction

Using a longitudinal sample of MBA graduates, the present study investigates why employeeswhoarehighinpositiveaffect(PA)sometimesdisplayhigherratesofturnover, as well as the consequences of frequent turnover for long-term satisfaction. Results show that high PA employees had higher salary expectations than other employees, and that the relationship between low salary and frequent turnover in the 4 years following graduation was stronger among employees higher in PA. High PA employees who changed organizations more frequently in the first 4 years following graduation reported lower job satisfaction and lower life satisfaction 8 years into their careers, a trend that was reversed for low PA employees.

Profiles of commitment in standard and fixed-term employment arrangements: Implications for work outcomes

This paper develops and tests a framework for understanding the relative importance and predictive efficacy of commitment to one’s profession, organization, supervisor and job in both standard and fixed-term employment arrangements. Drawing from the commitment and employment arrangement literatures, we test a set of hypotheses identifying distinct patterns of commitments (i.e., commitment profiles) to these four targets that should yield desired work-related outcomes in standard and fixed-term employment arrangements. We test our hypotheses using latent profile analysis on data collected from two Finnish universities (N1 = 235, N2 = 233). A high macro profile, characterized by high commitment to profession, organization and job, and moderate commitment to supervisor, emerged for employees in standard employment relationships, and this profile was associated with significantly higher positive work behaviours and work effort and lower turnover intentions than the other profiles. For employees with fixed-term employment contracts, a high cosmopolitan profile emerged, characterized by high commitment to the profession and job and low commitment to the organization and supervisor. For these employees, this profile was associated with positive work behaviours and work effort comparable to the high macro profile. Implications for theory, research and practice are discussed.

Commentary: Who Are Your Friends? The Influence of Identification and Family In-Group and Out-Group Friendships on Nonfamily Employee OCB and Deviance:

We refine the findings of Vardaman, Allen, and Rogers that indicate the structural position of nonfamily employees in friendship networks can enhance organizational identification and reduce turnover in family firms. We extend their work by offering a more nuanced perspective that not all friendships are created equal. We propose that a family friend’s membership in the family in-group or out-group influences nonfamily employees’ organizational identification, and in turn, their behavior (i.e., organizational citizenship behavior and deviance). Our theorizing expands the nascent literature on nonfamily employees, offering a theoretical rationale for their complex and often poorly understood behavior.

EMOTION EXPRESSION AND DECISION MAKERS' RESPONSE TO THREAT.

We examined the relationship of negative affect and R&D investment decisions in two studies. In an archival study, negative affect expressed in the letter to shareholders resulted in reduced R&D in...