Richard E. Kopelman

Executive Coaching as a Transfer of Training Tool: Effects on Productivity in a Public Agency

This action research is the first reported attempt to examine the effects of executive coaching in a public sector municipal agency. Thirty-one managers underwent a conventional managerial training program, which was followed by eight weeks of one-on-one executive coaching. Training increased productivity by 22.4 percent. The coaching, which included: goal setting, collaborative problem solving, practice, feedback, supervisory involvement, evaluation of end-results, and a public presentation, increased productivity by 88.0 percent, a significantly greater gain compared to training alone. Descriptions of procedures, explanations for the results obtained, and suggestions for future research and practice are offered.

Rationale and Construct Validity Evidence for the Job Search Behavior Index: Because Intentions (and New Year's Resolutions) Often Come to Naught.

Abstract A conceptual framework for the determinants of organizational turnover which identifies five panels of variables—job properties, affective/attitudinal reactions, intentions to leave/stay, job search behavior, and turnover occurrences—is advanced. Accordingly, it is reasoned that job search behavior (e.g., revising ones resume) is a more immediate precursor of voluntary turnover than are antecedent variables, such as intentions. Further, it is argued that behavior is required to translate intentions into results. Data from three samples indicate that the Job Search Behavior Index (JSBI) is psychometrically sound and construct valid. Evidence also indicates that the JSBI is a superior predictor of organizational turnover (and intraorganizational job change) in comparison to attitudinal and intention measures. Moreover, stepwise multiple regression and discriminant analyses indicate that the JSBI explains significant incremental variance in turnover, over and beyond the variance explained by perceptual, affective, attitudinal, and intention measures combined.

The moderating effects of occupation, age, and urbanization on the relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction

Abstract A considerable body of research has accumulated concerning the strength of the relationship between job and life satisfaction. However, very few studies have examined the possible moderating effects of other variables. The present study, using a sample of 911 heads of households, examined the moderating effects of seven variables related to occupation, age, and urbanization. As hypothesized, education and income positively, and strongly, moderated the job satisfaction-life satisfaction relationship. Self-employment (vs non-self-employment) also had a significant impact; occupation, though, had only a modest effect. Age and job longevity exhibited strong, curvilinear effects. Urbanization did not attenuate the relationship. In view of national work force trends toward increased education, professionalization, income, and age, the relationship between job and life satisfaction will likely become stronger and more relevant over time.

Further Assessment of the Construct Validity of Four Measures of Narcissism: Replication and Extension

Abstract The authors build on earlier research by L. S. Mullins and R. E. Kopelman (1988) and R. E. Kopelman and L. S. Mullins (1992) to reexamine the construct validity of four narcissism scales: the Margolis-Thomas Measure of Narcissism (MT; H. D. Margolis & V. A. Thomas, 1980), the Narcissistic Personality Disorder Scale (NPDS; H. U. Ashby, R. R. Lee, E. H. Duke, 1979), the Narcissism-Hypersensitivity subscale of the MMPI, Scale 5, Masculinity-Femininity (NHMF; K. Serkownek, 1975), and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; R. Raskin & C. S. Hall, 1979). The present analysis included the revised NPI and its factors along with four measures of satisfaction and a number of other previously assessed variables. The MT exhibited the strongest validity, correlating positively with conceptually related constructs such as Machiavellianism, non- significantly with unrelated measures like the need to achieve, and inversely with all four satisfaction scales. Contrasts between the NPI and NPDS and NHMF seemed to parallel recent differentiations between overt and covert narcissism, but data for the NPI factors suggested instead that the four narcissism scales helped describe a complex psychological continuum related to adjustment.

NARCISSISM AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AS RELATED TO THREE FACETS OF THE SALES ROLE: ATTRACTION, SATISFACTION AND PERFORMANCE

Relationships were posited between two personality constructs—narcissism and achievement motivation—and three facets of the sales role: attraction, satisfaction and performance. As predicted, currently and previously employed salespeople were more narcissistic and had stronger needs for achievement than individuals who were never employed in sales. Narcissism was positively associated with overall sales satisfaction and with level of comfort with ethically questionable sales behaviors; narcissism was unrelated to sales performance. In contrast, need for achievement was unrelated to sales satisfaction, negatively related to comfort with ethically questionable sales behaviors, but positively related to sales performance. Practical implications of these findings for sales recruiters and trainers are discussed.

The Study of Values: Construction of the fourth edition

Abstract Some forty years after its initial publication, the Allport–Vernon–Lindzey Study of Values (SOV) was the third most cited non-projective measure of personality in the field of psychology. However, by the early 1980s the measure had fallen into disuse, in large part—we argue—due to its increasingly archaic content, lack of religious inclusiveness, and dated language. We describe the development of an updated version of the SOV that incorporates modifications to 15 out of the 45 original items. One hundred and seventy-nine students completed both the original and updated versions (counter-balanced for order). Psychometric properties of the updated and original scales were comparable and acceptable. Rationales for use of the updated version in research and practice are advanced.

Is there a Preferred Performance Rating Format? A Non-psychometric Perspective

Les echelles d’appreciation constituent une forme d’evaluation des performances qui a rencontre un grand succes ces dernieres decennies. En particulier, de gros efforts ont ete consacres au developpement d’echelles relativement insensibles aux erreurs et biais cognitifs. Mais on s’est beaucoup moins interesse au fait de savoir si et comment le type d’evaluation affecte les attitudes professionnelles et les reactions des personnes evaluees. Des donnees en provenance de quatre etudes differentes avec des echantillons tires dans deux pays (lsrael et le Canada) apportent des elements en faveur de l’idee selon laquelle une evaluation de la performance basee sur le BOS peut etre superieure aux autres methodes en ce sens qu’elle entraine des consequences plus positives au niveau des attitudes. One aspect of performance appraisal that has received considerable attention over past decades is the rating format. In particular, much effort has been devoted to developing rating scales that are relatively impervious to cognitive rating errors and biases. However, much less attention has been accorded the issues of whether and how an appraisal’s format affects work attitudes and reactions of ratees. Data collected in four separate studies and with samples in two nations (Israel, Canada) lend credence to the proposition that a BOS-based performance appraisal and review may be superior to other appraisal methods in terms of yielding more favorable attitudinal effects.

Boundary Conditions for Expectancy Theory Predictions of Work Motivation and Job Performance

Expectancy theory predictions of work motivation and job performance are examined. As hypothesized, predictions were materially strengthened by taking into account the effects of five boundary cond...

Grouped Versus Randomized Format: An Investigation of Scale Convergent and Discriminant Validity Using LISREL Confirmatory Factor Analysis:

LISREL maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analyses (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 1984) were conducted to explore the effects of two questionnaire formats (grouping versus randomizing items) on the conver gent and discriminant validity of two sets of question naire measures. The first set of measures consisted of satisfaction scales that had demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties in earlier studies; the second set of scales were job characteristics measures that had shown discriminant validity problems in previous re search. Correlational data were collected from two groups of employed business administration students (N = 80 in each group) concurrently (Study 1) and at two points in time (Study 2). The results of the anal yses showed that the grouped format was superior to the random format, particularly with respect to the weaker measures (the job characteristics scales). The results also illustrated and supported the usefulness of LISREL confirmatory factor analysis in studies of con vergent and discriminant validity. Index terms: con firmatory factor analysis, convergent validity, discrim inant validity, LISREL analysis, questionnaire formats, scale validity.

The Effect of Grouped versus Randomized Questionnaire Format on Scale Reliability and Validity: A Three-Study Investigation

Three studies were conducted exploring the effects of two questionnaire formats (grouping versus randomized items) on internal consistency and test-retest reliability, convergent and discriminant validity, and accuracy in respondent-provided descriptions. The results of these studies (two correlational, one experimental) were reasonably consistent in showing that neither format is clearly superior to the other on any of the examined psychometric properties, although a weak trend showed that the grouped item format produced slightly superior measurement properties. Over-all, the results did not support the usefulness of grouping question-naire items. Implications and future research directions are briefly discussed.