Mark J. Martinko

Impression Management in Organizations

Evidence of the process through which organizational members create and maintain desired impressions is provided by this review of social psychological and relevant management research on impression management. Propositions regarding the stimuli and the cognitive, motivational, and affective processes related to impression management and audience responses are advanced. Finally, directions forfuture research into impression management in organizational settings are suggested.

Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to Study Managers: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

This paper provides a review of research into the relationships between psychological types, as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and managerial attributes, behaviors and effectiveness. The literature review includes an examination of the psychometric properties of the MBTI and the contributions and limitations of research on psychological types. Next, key findings are discussed and used to advance propositions that relate psychological type to diverse topics such as risk tolerance, problem solving, information systems design, conflict management and leadership. We conclude with a research agenda that advocates: (I) the exploration of potential psychometric refinements of the MBTI, (2) more rigorous research designs, and (3) a broadening of the scope of managerial research into type.

An attributional explanation of individual resistance to the introduction of information technologies in the workplace

Abstract This article proposes an attributional explanation for individual resistance (or acceptance of) information technology. The focus of the article is on the dynamic process of how individuals make attributions for failed as well as successful experiences with information technology and how this process influences individual resistance of new or changing information technologies. Procedures for decreasing individual resistance to (and, hence, increasing acceptance and use of) information technologies are suggested.

Attribution Theory: An Organizational Perspective

Introduction Attributions and the Emergence of Leadership Fixing Blame in N-Person Attributions: A Social Identity Model for Attributional Processes in Newly Formed Cross-Functional Groups Group Disruptive Justice Norms and Attributions for Performance Outcomes as a Function of Group Power Distribution Negative Affectivity and Failure at Work Attributions Concerning Absence from Work Computer Friend or Foe? The Influence of Optimistic vs. Pessimistic Attributional Styles and Gender on User Reactions and Performance Organizational Politics and Citizenship The Effect of Demographic Diversity on Casual Attributions of Work-Group Success and Failure Supervisory Attributions and Evaluative Judgments of Subordinate Performance A Mid-Range Theory of the Leader/Member Attribution Process in Professional Service Organizations The Measurement of Attributions in Organizational Research The Role of Cognitive Load in Supervisor Attributions of Subordinate Behavior Realizing the Advantages of Organizational Interdependencies: The Role of Attributionally-Mediated Emotions The Development and Evaluation of a Scale to Measure Organizational Attribution Style A Comparison of the Validity, Predictiveness and Consistency of a Trait vs. Situational Measure of Attributions Future Directions Index

Promoting Authentic Behavior in Organizations: An Attributional Perspective

Building on recent theories of authentic leadership, we introduce an attributional framework for understanding authenticity. It is proposed that authenticity implies an accurate and balanced attribution style - a relationship that we argue has been overlooked in past research on authentic leadership. We also suggest that organizations can take an active role in the development of authentic leaders by making leaders aware of the factors that might promote inaccurate attributions. Several techniques for accomplishing this goal are described along with suggestions for future research on the construct of authenticity.

Beyond Structured Observation: Methodological Issues and New Directions

Structured observation studies of managers and supervisors completed before Mintzberg (1068), Mintzbergs work (1968, 1973), and recent contributions are reviewed. Integration of the results of this body of literature reveals several severe limitations with methods currently in use. Methodologies are suggested that complement or build on structured observation as a technique for understanding the nature of managerial work.

Overt anger in response to victimization: attributional style and organizational norms as moderators.

Prior theory and research suggests a positive relation between perceived victimization and overt anger. The authors proposed and tested a theoretical extension of this link by investigating possible moderating effects of individual and contextual variables. A sample of 158 employees of a municipality was used to test hypotheses that the relationship between perceived victimization and overt anger is moderated by hostile attributional style and perceptions of organizational norms. The results showed that the relation between perceptions of direct victimization and overt anger was stronger when the employee had a more rather than less hostile attributional style and when the employee perceived the organizational norms as more rather than less oppositional.

An Integrative Attributional Perspective of Empowerment and Learned Helplessness: A Multimethod Field Study

A multimethod study was conducted to explore the relationship between empowerment and Learned Helplessness (LH). Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to examine the attributions, expectancies, affect, and behaviors associated with empowerment and LH. Thematic, nonparametric, and parametric analyses of interview, questionnaire, and observational data indicated reliable and reciprocal differences between empowered and LH individuals regardless of the method used for measuring the data. Implications of the results and refinements to theories of empowerment and LH are discussed.

Identifying Leader Social Cognitions: Integrating the Causal Reasoning Perspective into Social Cognitive Theory:

In this paper we propose a leadership model that combines Banduras (1997) social cognitive theory with the causal reasoning perspective (Martinko, 2002). The model suggests that leader causal reasoning processes affect leader perceptions of goals, self-efficacy, and leadership task schema that, in turn, affect the leaders selection of strategies and enactment of behaviors. Each leader social cognition is conceptually defined and developed. Particular emphasis is given to describing how the understanding of attributional explanations, dimensions, and biases can aid in the description of the causal reasoning processes that precede self-and member-regulation.

Attributional style as a predictor of success in a first computer science course

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between attributions and performance in a computer science course. It was found that students with an optimistic attributional style performed better in a computer programming course than those students with a pessimistic attributional style. A second purpose was to examine the specific causal attributions stated by the students and to determine their relationship to course performance. It was found that course performance was related to specific causal attributions regarding ability.