Robert P. Steel

The development of a multidimensional measure of job market cognitions: the Employment Opportunity Index (EOI).

The purpose of this research was to develop a multidimensional measure of job market perceptions based on a meta-analysis. Item sets were developed to operationally define the dimensions and were tested among 3 samples. Results of a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in 3 samples indicated that the 5 scales have satisfactory psychometric properties, construct, and criterion-related validity. The 5 dimensions accounted for significant and relatively large amounts of turnover variance, even after a number of standard turnover predictors had been taken into account. The results suggest the presence of job search microprocesses in the employee turnover process. These microprocesses are described and integrated into current thinking about the turnover process.

An Investigation of Personality Traits in Relation to Adolescent School Absenteeism

We examined the Big Five personality traits of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and Openness, as well as four narrower traits of Aggression, Optimism, Tough-Mindedness, and Work Drive in relation to absences from school for middle- and high-school students. Participants were 248 seventh grade students, 321 tenth grade students, and 282 twelfth grade students. Most of the Big Five absence correlations were significant in the expected direction at all 3 grade levels. While Aggression, Optimism, Work Drive were significantly related to absences, only Work Drive added incremental variance to the prediction of absences beyond the Big Five traits. Study results were generally similar across grade levels. Findings were discussed in terms of dispositional absenteeism, the generalizability of the Big Five trait model, and the utility of more narrowband traits. Implications were drawn for early identification of absence-prone students and the precedent role of personality variables in school absence research on the effects of other variables, programs, and interventions.

What does unit-level absence mean? Issues for future unit-level absence research

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explore unit-level absence by focusing on absence culture research. Relevant unit-level and cross-level absence research is reviewed and is summarized in a conceptual framework. The framework is used to guide the discussion of future unit-level absence research. The discussion of future research includes relevant concepts from the research on organizational culture and work teams that are shown to integrate with or possibly augment future unit-level absence culture research.

Methodological and operational issues in the construction of absence variables

Abstract Methodological studies have materially altered thinking about the nature of absence variables. Because of this research, the research community is now aware that absence variables frequently follow irregular data distributions [J. Appl. Psychol. 66 (1981) 574; J. Appl. Psychol. 74 (1989) 300]. Researchers have also been made aware that the reliability of absence metrics depends on the way the measures are configured [Pers. Psychol. 24 (1971) 463; J. Appl. Psychol. 66 (1981) 574]. What has received less attention are research design decisions (i.e., procedural and operational) impacting the psychometric properties of absenteeism variables. The current discussion focuses on the operational and methodological decisions researchers make that impact the measurement properties of absence variables.

Personality traits and career satisfaction of human resource professionals

Occupational choice frameworks suggest that personality factors influence person-job fit. This paper focuses on personality factors and career satisfactions of human resources (HR) managers. ‘Big Five’ and narrow personality traits as well as managerial style variables were drawn from an archive of 1846 HR managers and 1375 non-managers. Results indicated that HR managers differed from 51,297 individuals in other occupations and from non-managerial HR specialists on many of the study variables, most of which were also related to career satisfaction. Implications for differentiation selection and development of HR managers were discussed.

Cross-Level Replication and Extension of Steel and Rentsch's (1995) Longitudinal Absence Findings

Absenteeism findings published by Steel and Rentsch (1995) were replicated and extended by correlating attitudinal, personal-demographic, and job stress variables with 34 months of work group absenteeism scores obtained on employees of a U.S. federal mint. Attitudinal and job stress results were consistent with previous findings, but results involving personal-demographic variables were not.

THE ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE CYCLE: LONGITUDINAL ASSESSMENT OF KEY FACTORS

The studys working model postulated static and temporal relationships among goal-setting variables, self-competence, and job performance. Two studies testing the working model are described. Study 1 involved administration of an employee survey to 225 employees of a military installation on two separate occasions. Self-report measures of ability, personal goals, and self- competence were used to predict self- and supervisory-performance ratings. Study 2 involved collection of comparable measures over three occasions from 191 employees of a U.S. Federal mint. Results of both studies indicated that a longitudinal path model fit the data better than a cross-sectional model.