Maria Rotundo

Unemployed individuals: motives, job-search competencies, and job-search constraints as predictors of job seeking and reemployment.

This study investigated 3 broad classes of individual-differences variables (job-search motives, competencies, and constraints) as predictors of job-search intensity among unemployed job seekers. Also assessed was the relationship between job-search intensity and reemployment success in a longitudinal context. Results show significant relationships between the predictors employment commitment, financial hardship, job-search self-efficacy, and motivation control and the outcome job-search intensity. Support was not found for a relationship between perceived job-search constraints and job-search intensity. Motivation control was highlighted as the only lagged predictor of job-search intensity over time for those who were continuously unemployed. Job-search intensity predicted Time 2 reemployment status for the sample as a whole, but not reemployment quality for those who found jobs over the studys duration.

A meta-analytic review of gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment.

Research on gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment informs an ongoing legal debate regarding the use of a reasonable person standard instead of a reasonable woman standard to evaluate sexual harassment claims. The authors report a meta-analysis of 62 studies of gender differences in harassment perceptions. An earlier quantitative review combined all types of social-sexual behaviors for a single meta-analysis; the purpose of this study was to investigate whether the magnitude of the female-male difference varies by type of behavior. An overall standardized mean difference of 0.30 was found, suggesting that women perceive a broader range of social-sexual behaviors as harassing. However, the meta-analysis also found that the female-male difference was larger for behaviors that involve hostile work environment harassment, derogatory attitudes toward women, dating pressure, or physical sexual contact than sexual propositions or sexual coercion.

Emotional labor demands and compensating wage differentials.

The concept of emotional labor demands and their effects on workers has received considerable attention in recent years, with most studies concentrating on stress, burnout, satisfaction, or other affective outcomes. This study extends the literature by examining the relationship between emotional labor demands and wages at the occupational level. Theories describing the expected effects of job demands and working conditions on wages are described. Results suggest that higher levels of emotional labor demands are associated with lower wage rates for jobs low in cognitive demands and with higher wage rates for jobs high in cognitive demands. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Effect of rater race on conclusions regarding differential prediction in cognitive ability tests

The possibility of predictive bias by race in employment tests is commonly examined by across-group comparisons of the slopes and intercepts of regression lines using test scores to predict performance measures. This research assumed that the criteria, primarily supervisory ratings, were unbiased. However, a concern is that the apparent lack of differential prediction in cognitive ability tests may be an artifact of the predominant use of performance ratings provided by supervisors who are members of the majority group; a criterion that is potentially biased against members of the minority group. We posited that ratings by a supervisor of the same race as the employee being rated would be less open to claims of bias. We compared ability-performance relationships in samples of Black and White employees that allowed for between-subjects and within-subjects comparisons under 2 conditions: when all employees were rated by a White supervisor and when each employee was rated by a supervisor of the same race. Neither analysis found evidence of predictive bias against Black employees.

Understanding the domain of counterproductive work behaviour in China

Current conceptualizations of employee job performance in the Western literature include task performance, organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). Limited research has investigated the cross-cultural generalizability of these categories or their content. Convergence and divergence theorists present competing perspectives on the cross-cultural applicability of Western management practices. The growing role of China in the world economy makes this culture an important one to consider. The present study contributes to job performance research in two important ways. First, Study 1 investigates whether CWB in China is described by similar or different behaviours as in the Western literature. Second, Study 2 examines the importance that Chinese managers place on task performance, OCB, and CWB. Findings indicate that Chinese managers are similar to North American managers in the content of CWB. Furthermore, Chinese managers value all three groups of behaviours when rating overall performance, placing greater emphasis on task performance and less emphasis on CWB than North American managers. The results suggest that cross-cultural research on job performance needs to take both convergence and divergence perspectives into account.

Specific versus general skills and abilities: A job level examination of relationships with wage

The extensive literature purporting an upgrading in occupational skill requirements paired with the perception of a skill shortage in the workforce calls for the need to develop workplace skills and abilities. However, decisions about which skills to develop would be aided by information about which skills/abilities are valued most highly and lead to higher wage jobs. The job evaluation literature and labour-market wage theory present competing hypotheses about skill-wage relationships. The ACT Inc.s Work Keys® system, the prototype Occupational Information Network, and the fourth edition Dictionary of Occupational Titles job analytic databases were paired with concurrent wage data. These data made it possible to conduct a job-level evaluation of whether specific skills/abilities could be identified that were most strongly linked to wage or whether broad skill/ability factors accounted for a majority of wage variance. Results indicated that a majority of the wage variance explainable by skills/abilities could be attributed to a general cognitive factor.

When Competition Turns Ugly: Collective Injustice, Workgroup Identification, and Counterproductive Work Behavior

This research investigated the effects of competition and injustice between workgroups and workgroup identification (self-categorization) on individuals propensity to engage in counterproductive work behavior toward an opposing workgroup. One scenario study revealed that competition and collective injustice had an interactive effect on individuals willingness to engage in counterproductive behavior. In another scenario study, this effect was moderated by the strength of self-categorization with the group. Finally, a survey study of 110 working adults involving reported counterproductive behavior showed a three-way interaction between competition, collective injustice, and the strength of identification with the workgroup, thus providing additional support for the findings of Study 2. This collection of studies provides initial evidence for the positive influence of intergroup competition under conditions of collective injustice on counterproductive behavior.

Refocusing Effort Across Job Tasks: Implications for Understanding Temporal Change in Job Performance

This study introduces a component of adaptability, namely, a shift in the relative emphasis among different job tasks, to the measurement of employee job performance. Using a multiyear longitudinal data set on the performance of professional basketball players, the results indicate that (a) refocusing ones efforts among different job tasks exists in this context, (b) refocusing accounts for variation in performance, and (c) refocusing increases the odds of continued employment the following year. These findings have implications for understanding temporal change in job performance.

Multiple Monitors of Hemodynamics and Oxygenation during High Dose Thiopental

This study was carried out by systematically measuring the various parameters of systemic and cardiac hemodynamics and oxygenation during repeated high doses (90 mg/kg) of IV thiopental (TP). The purpose was to see which parameters were decreased or increased steadily with increment doses of thiopental. Measurement was performed at 5 minutes after the IV thiopental and after the 45 minute recovery period.