Improving our understanding of predictive bias in testing.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(3), Mar 2024, 402-414; doi:10.1037/apl0001152Predictive bias (i.e., differential prediction) means that regression equations predicting performance differ across groups based on protected status (e.g., ethnicity, sexual orientation, sexual identity, pregnancy, disability, and religion). Thus, making prescreening, admissions, and selection decisions when predictive bias exists violates principles of fairness based on equal treatment and opportunity. First, we conducted a two-part study showing that different types of predictive bias exist. Specifically, we conducted a Monte Carlo simul...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - October 12, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The ebb and flow of job engagement: Engagement variability and emotional stability as interactive predictors of job performance.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(2), Feb 2024, 257-282; doi:10.1037/apl0001129Scholars have long recognized that employees often ebb and flow in how engaged they are in their jobs—what we term “engagement variability.” Yet, to date, we have little insight into how an employee’s engagement variability—that is, the degree of inconsistency in their engagement—affects job performance. Drawing on and extending habit theory, we hypothesize that, controlling for average engagement, engagement variability is negatively related to job performance. We further hypothesize that emotional stability moderates this rela...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - October 5, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A creativity stereotype perspective on the Bamboo Ceiling: Low perceived creativity explains the underrepresentation of East Asian leaders in the United States.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(2), Feb 2024, 238-256; doi:10.1037/apl0001135The “Bamboo Ceiling” refers to the perplexing phenomenon that, despite the educational and economic achievements of East Asians (e.g., ethnic Chinese, Koreans) in the United States, they are disproportionately underrepresented in leadership positions. To help elucidate this phenomenon, we propose a novel theoretical perspective: East Asians are underselected for leadership positions partially because they are stereotyped as lacking creativity, a prized leadership attribute in U.S. culture. We first tested our proposition in two field st...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - October 5, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A dynamic, computational model of job insecurity and job performance.
This article introduces an ecumenical, dynamic, and computational model of the job insecurity–job performance relationship. That is, rather than representing a single theoretical perspective on job insecurity effects, the model includes three key mechanisms through which job insecurity is theorized to impact performance—stress, social exchange, and job preservation motivation—and grounds these in a self-regulatory computational architecture. The model incorporates multiple, dynamic feedback loops that include job performance and job insecurity, as well as individual difference and contextual constructs to project the...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - October 5, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A study of new labor market entrants’ job satisfaction trajectories during a series of consecutive job changes.
This study distinguishes adaptation to a single job change in the short term from adaptation to the process of job change in the long term. Drawing on two large-scale, long-running panel data sets from Britain and Australia, it examined how job satisfaction trajectory evolved as individuals made a series of consecutive job changes since they first entered the labor market. Our fixed effect analyses show that in both countries, individuals experienced a stronger honeymoon effect with each successive job change, before gradually reverting to their baseline job satisfaction. In short, the amplitude of the honeymoon–hangover...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - August 24, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Virtual work conditions impact negative work behaviors via ambiguity, anonymity, and (un)accountability: An integrative review.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(2), Feb 2024, 169-201; doi:10.1037/apl0001126Negative work behavior (NWB) occurs with concerning frequency in virtual work environments. Despite their prevalence and a substantial, multidisciplinary research literature on virtual negative behaviors in general, we lack clear answers regarding if, how, and why conditions differentiating virtual (i.e., computer-mediated) from face-to-face (F2F) work impact perpetrators’, victims’, and bystanders’ involvement in NWB. These questions remain because of an assumed isomorphism (i.e., identical form) within the literature on NWB in F2F a...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - August 24, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Reaping what you sow: A multilevel investigation of allocation from a pool of workers to teams.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(2), Feb 2024, 202-221; doi:10.1037/apl0001134Organizations commonly face the task of allocating workers to mutually exclusive teams from finite worker pools—a process called seeding. The approach an organization takes to seeding affects within-team and between-team distributions of performance or other outcomes. Substantial prior research explains the effects of combinations on team performance, but little is known about between-team combinations. I extend prior theory to a higher level of analysis, elaborating on the nature and function of between-team combinations on organization-...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - August 21, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
How are newcomer proactive behaviors received by leaders and peers? A relational perspective.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(2), Feb 2024, 283-292; doi:10.1037/apl0001123Although most studies have shown that newcomers benefit from proactive behaviors, these behaviors are not always viewed positively by colleagues, resulting in negative consequences for newcomers. Drawing on uncertainty reduction and social cognitive theories, we contend that newcomer proactive behaviors are viewed positively by competent leaders and peers but negatively by those with low competence. Further, we argue that newcomer proactive behaviors impact leader and peer threat perceptions, affecting subsequent workplace relationships, wh...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - August 17, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A breath of toxic air: The relationship between appraised air pollution, abusive supervision, and laissez-faire leadership through the dual-mediating pathways of negative affect and somatic complaints.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(2), Feb 2024, 157-168; doi:10.1037/apl0001113Air pollution has become a global public health hazard leading to debilitating effects on physical, mental, and emotional health. Management research has just begun to explore the effects of air pollution on employees’ work life. Drawing from the transactional theory of stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and crossover theory (Westman, 2001), we argue that appraisal of air pollution is an important factor that influences leaders and their behavior with subordinates. Specifically, we propose that when leaders appraise severe air pollution, th...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - August 17, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Looking forward or backward: A temporal lens to disentangle adaptive and maladaptive reactions to daily goal-performance discrepancy.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(1), Jan 2024, 99-114; doi:10.1037/apl0001137The fast-changing work environment has created growing hindrances to employee daily goal pursuits and rendered it not uncommon for employees to leave work with unachieved daily work goals. The significant ramifications of unachieved goals on employee well-being and performance thus call for more research efforts to understand how employees respond to unsatisfactory goal progress (e.g., goal-performance discrepancy [GPD]). Interestingly, two paradoxical theoretical perspectives exist on this matter, with the self-regulation perspective sugges...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - August 10, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Politics speak louder than skills: Political similarity effects in hireability judgments in multiparty contexts and the role of political interest.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(1), Jan 2024, 1-12; doi:10.1037/apl0001124Recruiters increasingly cybervet job applicants by checking their social media profiles. Theory (i.e., the political affiliation model, PAM) and research show that during cybervetting, recruiters are exposed to job-unrelated information such as political affiliation, which might trigger similarity-attraction effects and bias hireability judgments. However, as the PAM was developed in a more polarized two-party political system, it is pivotal to test and refine the PAM in a multiparty context. Therefore, we asked working professionals from the ...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - August 10, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Activation and valence in responses to organizational change: Development and validation of the change response circumplex scale.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(1), Jan 2024, 135-155; doi:10.1037/apl0001132Organizational members’ responses to organizational change have a key role in determining the success of the change. The predominant conceptualization of responses to change has focused on the valence of responses—the degree to which they are positive (e.g., openness to change) versus negative (e.g., resistance to change). Yet, recent theory suggests that rather than a single continuum, ranging from negative to positive, responses to change are better represented with a bidimensional framework including both a valence-based continuum an...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - August 3, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Distances and directions: An emotional journey into the recovery process.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(1), Jan 2024, 115-134; doi:10.1037/apl0001122Positive emotions stemming from leisure activities are often promoted as a way to achieve a state of recovery, in particular by counteracting negative emotions experienced throughout the workday. Yet the recovery literature frequently takes an undifferentiated view of both the positive emotions employees experience as well as the negative emotions employees are recovering from. This implicitly assumes that all positive emotions are equally effective in facilitating recovery from all negative emotions. Drawing from theory treating emotional ...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - August 3, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Unpacking on-task effort in performance-based learning: Information–knowledge gaps guide effort allocation decisions.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(1), Jan 2024, 77-98; doi:10.1037/apl0001140Learning and adaptation are essential for success. However, human effort is inherently finite, which creates a dilemma for employees. Is it better to prioritize capitalizing on existing knowledge structures to maximize immediate performance benefits (exploitation) or develop adaptive capabilities (exploration) at the expense of short-term productivity? Understanding how employees answer this question can inform the design of evidence-based interventions for optimizing and sustaining learning amidst workplace challenges. In this article, we at...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - August 3, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Moving on: Exploring the implications of leader departure and incoming temporary leaders for collective turnover and unit performance.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 109(1), Jan 2024, 61-76; doi:10.1037/apl0001120While leader departures from work units frequently occur within organizations and are assumed to negatively impact unit functioning, the collective reaction to a leader departure event can vary across time. While a common expectation of leader departure models is that the incoming leader is permanent, it is unclear how unit-level reactions, such as collective turnover and unit performance, might change over time in response to a departure event when the departing leader is replaced with a temporary leader. We draw on context emergent turnover...
Source: Journal of Applied Psychology - August 3, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
