Neal Schmitt

Gender and the Internet: Women Communicating and Men Searching

This research examined gender differences in Internet use and factors responsible for these differences. A sample of 630 Anglo American undergraduates completed the Student Computer and Internet Survey that contained questions about e-mail and Web use, and about potential affective and cognitive mediators of use. Based on a general model of Internet use, we predicted and found that females used e-mail more than did males, males used the Web more than did females, and females reported more computer anxiety, less computer self-efficacy, and less favorable and less stereotypic computer attitudes. Path analysis to identify mediators of gender differences in Internet use revealed that computer self-efficacy, loneliness, and depression accounted in part for gender differences, but that gender continued to have a direct effect on use after these factors were considered. Implications for realizing the democratizing potential and benefits of Internet use are discussed.

Process tracing methods: Contributions, problems, and neglected research questions

Process tracing approaches such as verbal protocol analysis and information board methodologies have been developed to study the cognitive processes underlying decision making. This review summarizes the growing body of literature using process tracing approaches to study decision making. Fortyfive studies were identified for this review and study characteristics were coded. The results firmly demonstrate that noncompensatory strategies were the dominant mode used by decision makers. Compensatory strategies were typically used only when the number of alternatives and dimensions were small or after a number of alternatives had been eliminated from consideration. The research also indicates that information processing in decision making is contingent on the demands of the task faced by the decision maker. Based on this review, methodological issues that could contribute to improving the rigor of process tracing research are discussed. The cost/benefit analysis framework of L. R. Beach and T. R. Mitchell (1978, Academy of Management Review, 3,

Video-based versus paper-and-pencil method of assessment in situational judgment tests: subgroup differences in test performance and face validity perceptions.

On the basis of a distinction between test content and method of testing, the present study examined several conceptually and practically important effects relating race, reading comprehension, method of assessment, face validity perceptions, and performance on a situational judgement test using a sample of 241 psychology undergraduates (113 Blacks and 128 Whites). Results showed that the Black-White differences in situational judgment test performance and face validity reactions to the test were substantially smaller in the video-based method of testing than in the paper-and-pencil method. The Race x Method interaction effect on test performance was attributable to differences in reading comprehension and face validity reactions associated with race and method of testing. Implications of the findings were discussed in the context of research on adverse impact and examinee test reactions.

Factors defined by negatively keyed items: The result of careless respondents?

A frequently occurring phenomenon in factor and cluster analysis of personality or attitude scale items is that all or nearly all questionnaire items that are nega tively keyed will define a single factor. Although sub stantive interpretations of these negative factors are usually attempted, this study demonstrates that the negative factor could be produced by a relatively small portion of the respondents who fail to attend to the negative-positive wording of the items. Data were generated using three different correlation matrices, which demonstrated that regardless of data source, when only 10% of the respondents are careless in this fashion, a clearly definable negative factor is gener ated. Recommendations for instrument development and data editing are presented.

Configurations of organizational effectiveness and efficiency.

This study examined the relationship between various characteristics of organizations—including resource inputs, context, rules and regulations, goals, climate, and informal systems—and the effecti...

Human resource practices, organizational climate, and customer satisfaction

The degree to which organizational climate mediates the relationship between human resource practices and customer satisfaction is investigated for 351 small businesses in the same industry. Results indicated support for the hypothesized mediated relationship. The indirect effects of HR practices on customer satisfaction were significant and relatively large while the direct effect was nonsignificant and near zero. The results were supportive of a social context model of the impact of human resource practices on organizational outcomes. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed.

The fidelity-adaptation debate: Implications for the implementation of public sector social programs

The modified Research, Development, and Diffusion (RD&D) model, as exemplified by change agents in federal organizations, was examined as a viable strategy for disseminating social program innovations. This study of seven nationally disseminated education and criminal justice projects was designed to refine the methodology for measuring innovation implementation. We measured program fidelity, reinvention, and effectiveness in a diverse set of program settings. Results of the research suggested that high-fidelity adopters tended to produce more effective implementations than low-fidelity adopters. Local modifications to the model were unrelated to effectiveness, whereas local additions to the model tended to enhance effectiveness. Findings supported the utility of the modified RD&D model of innovation dissemination with public sector social programs.

Predicting Adaptive Performance: Further Tests of a Model of Adaptability

This research further investigates an 8-dimension taxonomy of adaptive performance developed by Pulakos, Arad, Donovan, and Plamondon (2000) and the usefulness of past experience, interest, and self-efficacy predictors developed to measure these same 8 dimensions for predicting adaptive job performance. Participants in the concurrent, criterion-related validation study included 739 military personnel. They completed the 3 adaptability measures as well as more traditional cognitive and noncognitive predictors. Supervisors of the study participants rated their adaptive job performance. Results showed support for the 8-dimension model of adaptability. In addition, cognitive ability, personality, and the new adaptability predictors were shown to predict adaptive performance, with some past experience items adding incremental validity beyond the more traditional cognitive ability and personality measures. Results are discussed.

Reactions to cognitive ability tests : The relationships between race, test performance, face validity perceptions, and test-taking motivation

The relationships among race, face validity perceptions, test-taking motivation, and test performance on a cognitive ability test were examined. Undergraduates completed 2 parallel cognitive ability tests and a test reactions measure. Results showed that test-taking motivation was related positively to subsequent performance on a parallel test even after the effects of race and performance on the first test were controlled. The effect of race on subsequent test performance was found to be mediated partially by motivation that provided evidence that some portion of the Black-White difference in test performance may be explained through differences in test-taking motivation. Results also indicated that Black-White differences in face validity perceptions of the test may be a function of Black-White differences in test performance. Face validity perceptions of the test affected subsequent performance on the parallel test but only indirectly through test-taking motivation.

Developing a biodata measure and situational judgment inventory as predictors of college student performance.

This article describes the development and validation of a biographical data (biodata) measure and situational judgment inventory (SJI) as useful predictors of broadly defined college student performance outcomes. These measures provided incremental validity when considered in combination with standardized college-entrance tests (i.e., SAT/ACT) and a measure of Big Five personality constructs. Racial subgroup mean differences were much smaller on the biodata and SJI measures than on the standardized tests and college grade point average. Female students tended to outperform male students on most predictors and outcomes with the exception of the SAT/ACT. The biodata and SJI measures show promise for student development contexts and for selecting students on a wide range of outcomes with reduced adverse impact.