Michelle A. Dean

Inclusion and Diversity in Work Groups: A Review and Model for Future Research

A great deal of research has focused on work group diversity, but management scholars have only recently focused on inclusion. As a result, the inclusion literature is still under development, with limited agreement on the conceptual underpinnings of this construct. In this article, the authors first use Brewer’s optimal distinctiveness theory to develop a definition of employee inclusion in the work group as involving the satisfaction of the needs of both belongingness and uniqueness. Building on their definition, the authors then present a framework of inclusion. Their framework is subsequently used as a basis for reviewing the inclusion and diversity literature. Potential contextual factors and outcomes associated with inclusion are suggested in order to guide future research.

The Past, Present, and Future of Entrepreneurship Research: Data Analytic Trends and Training

Competent data analysis is essential to entrepreneurship research and to the disciplines progression. A three–study design was used to evaluate quantitative analytic trends and the adequacy of entrepreneurship doctoral training. First, trends were identified by assessing hypothesis–testing techniques in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and the Journal of Business Venturing. Second, top entrepreneurship scholars were surveyed regarding the importance of various quantitative analytical techniques to future research and their expectations regarding doctoral training. Third, newly minted entrepreneurship PhDs were queried regarding their perceived competence with these same techniques. These studies provide a past, present, and future perspective on data analysis techniques and competencies in entrepreneurship.

To Log or Not to Log: Bootstrap as an Alternative to the Parametric Estimation of Moderation Effects in the Presence of Skewed Dependent Variables

When gross deviations from parametric assumptions are observed, conventional data transformations are often applied with little regard for substantive theoretical implications. One such transformation involves using the logarithm of positively skewed dependent variables. Log transformations were shown to severely decrease estimates of true moderator effects using moderated regression procedures in a Monte Carlo simulation. Estimates of moderator effect sizes were substantially better estimates of the true latent moderator effect (i.e., larger by a multiple of 2.6 to 534) when estimated using a simple percentile bootstrap procedure in the original, positively skewed data. Conclusions with regard to the presence or absence of a true moderator effect using a simple bootstrap procedure were unaffected by the violation of parametric assumptions in the original, positively skewed data. In contrast, moderated regression analysis performed on a log-transformed dependent variable severely increased Type-II error. Implications are drawn for applied psychological and management research.

The Relationship Between Work Attitudes and Job Analysis Ratings: Do Rating Scale Type and Task Discretion Matter?

This study examined the association of work attitudes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job involvement) with job analysis ratings. The relation between work attitudes and job analysis ratings was examined relative to rating scale type (frequency and importance) and task discretion (low vs. high discretion tasks). Hypotheses linking work attitudes and job analysis ratings were developed and tested on a sample of 365 travel agents. The results indicated that the work attitudes were significantly associated with job analysis ratings of task frequency and importance. All 3 work attitudes had significantly higher correlations with frequency ratings of tasks that allowed high levels of discretion than those with prescribed behaviors (low discretion tasks). Applied implications and future directions for research linking work attitudes and job analysis ratings are discussed.

Leader inclusiveness, psychological diversity climate, and helping behaviors

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how psychological diversity climate and leader inclusiveness relate to an employee’s self-reported propensity to engage in helping behaviors toward the leader or work group. The authors also tested whether these elements operate differently for women and racioethnic minorities. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 534 respondents completed electronic surveys. Hypotheses were tested with hierarchical multiple regression. Findings – Results indicate a positive relationship between leader inclusiveness and leader-directed and work group-directed helping behaviors, particularly when accompanied by a positive psychological diversity climate. These relationships were stronger for racioethnic minorities and women relative to racioethnic majority members and men for leader-directed helping. Research limitations/implications – Data were self-report. Future research should incorporate data from other sources and additional outcomes. Practical/implications – Lea...

Testing the Effects of Striker Replacement and Employer Implementation of Final Offers on Employer and Union Bargaining Power

Many sorts of quantitative and qualitative empirical research are regularly used to answer questions related to work and workplace issues. However, some issues involving human behavior may be difficult to capture using standard empirical methods. Common barriers include access to people or information; problems with accurate or honest reporting; behavior that occurs over long periods of time; cost; and ethical barriers as to research using human subjects. Important information related to collective bargaining can be difficult to collect for all of these reasons. Participants in collective bargaining may not want outsiders present for all or critical parts of negotiations. They may not be candid about motives or actions, or they may be honest but not fully self-aware as to motives or actions. Bargaining sessions may be long and extend over months or years. In the case of gathering information about collective bargaining within the larger union-employer-employee contexts may require decades of access and involvement. As a result, costs in terms of time and funding and other issues may rule out examining certain sorts of questions using actual participants engaged in collective bargaining. Thus, one important area that would benefit from empirical research – testing the effects of law and proposals for law reform in general and collective bargaining law reform in particular – has so many of these problems that many important issues cannot be tested using standard methods. In addition, testing law reform proposals requires gathering data on actions that have not yet happened. Simulations provide one useful way to overcome many of these problems. In effect, simulations create a law reform laboratory. Of course, simulations are only useful if they are reflect reality. This article examines evidence as to participants’ actions in a simulation used to test various iterations of laws governing how collective bargaining impasses are to be resolved and whether those actions sufficiently mirror those of employer and union negotiators as to provide reliable data on the likely effects of law reform.