Journal of Applied Psychology

Hogan, Joyce

doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.76.4.495pmid: 1917772

Two lines of research concerning the dimensionality of physical performance in occupational tasks are described. In the first, the physical requirements of tasks are analyzed as reflected in job analyses. In the second, the structure of physical abilities tests used to predict performance in physically demanding jobs is evaluated. Principal components analyses of both job analysis and test performance data suggest that the structure of physical abilities has three major components—strength, endurance, and movement quality. This structure appears to be independent of job type or level of incumbents’ performance.

Miceli, Marcia P.; Jung, Iljae; Near, Janet P.; Greenberger, David B.

doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.76.4.508pmid: N/A

In most previous research, pay satisfaction has been treated as satisfaction with pay level; little is known about how individuals respond to pay systems (H. Heneman, 1985). LISREL analyses of survey responses of approximately 2,000 managers and executives in pay-for-performance plans supported the models devised in this study. Perceived pay relative to external others predicted reactions to pay but not to pay systems. Pay-system reactions were associated with particpants’ perceptions that (a) the distribution of rewards was consistent with policy; (b) they fared better under the current pay system than under the previous seniority system; (c) performance appraisals adhered to written standards, and (d) the pay plan was adequately funded. Perceived overreward predicted more positive reactions than did perceived equitable reward or underreward. Global satisfaction, job search, and intent to leave before retirement were related to both types of reactions.

Bejar, Isaac I.

doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.76.4.522pmid: N/A

Psychometric and architectural principles were integrated to create a general approach for scoring open-ended architectural site-design test problems. In this approach, solutions are examined and described in terms of design features, and those features are then mapped onto a scoring scale by means of scoring rules. This methodology was applied to two problems that had been administered as part of a national certification test. Because the test is not currently administered by computer, the paper-and-pencil solutions were first converted to machine-readable form. One problem dealt with the spatial arrangement of buildings in a country club, and the other called for regrading of a site by rearranging contours. In both instances, the results suggest that computer scoring is feasible.

Kemp, Simon

doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.76.4.533pmid: N/A

Stevens’ (1957, 1975) method of magnitude estimation was investigated as a means of assessing the utility or subjective value of government-supplied goods and services. In Study 1, similar utility estimates of services provided by the West German government were obtained with different instruction sets, and, in Study 2, magnitude estimates and category ratings were highly correlated. In Study 3, student and general-public samples estimated the utility of both government- and privately supplied goods and services. Different utility–cost functions were found for the public and private items. In all studies, a weak positive relationship was found between estimated utilities and the costs of government-supplied services. Overall, the results suggest that there is an underlying construct of the utility of public goods and services, which magnitude estimation can be used to measure.

Gotlieb, Jerry B.; Dubinsky, Alan J.

doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.76.4.541pmid: N/A

Adaptation level theory was used to test whether advertised price and source credibility in an ad influence three components of consumers’ cognitive process. Ss were exposed to print ads having 2 levels of price information for 2 competing products and 2 levels of source credibility. An advertised price generally had a greater effect on consumer involvement, cognitive responses, and behavioral intentions when source credibility was relatively high and the competing-product price vis-a-vis the advertised price was higher than when the opposite conditions prevailed. It is concluded that price information about competing products, as well as about source credibility, should be included as part of a theoretical framework that seeks to explain the effect of an advertised price on consumers’ cognitive process. Future research avenues are noted.

Singer, Ming S.; Bruhns, Chris

doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.76.4.550pmid: N/A

This study examined the relative effect of two job-relevant factors, work experience and academic qualifications, on selection-interview decision making. The results for managers and students were compared in a 2 × 3 × 2 (Work Experience × Academic Qualifications × Sample) factorial design. Twelve videotapes of simulated interviews were used, with two hypothetical job candidates representing each of six treatment conditions. Based on omega squared statistics, results show that for managers, the effect of work experience was consistently greater than that of academic qualifications. For students, the effect of academic qualifications was relatively larger than that of work experience. Decision type moderated between-sample effect differences. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of predictor utilization in interview decision making.

Gutek, Barbara A.; Searle, Sabrina; Klepa, Lilian

doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.76.4.560pmid: N/A

Two conflicting frameworks for understanding work–family conflict are proposed. According to the rational view, conflict is related linearly to the total amount of time spent in paid and family work. According to the gender role perspective, gender role expectations mute the relationship between hours expended and perceived work–family conflict, and gender interacts with number of hours worked and work–family conflict. Two measures of work–family conflict were used to assess, respectively, work interference with family and family interference with work. Two separate samples of employed people with families were used: a systematically selected sample of psychologists and a volunteer sample of managers. The results generally support (a) the usefulness of separate indicators of work–family conflict and (b) aspects of both the rational view and the gender role view.

Mark, Melvin M.; Mellor, Steven

doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.76.4.569pmid: N/A

Past research has led to conflicting predictions about how hindsight bias is influenced by the self-relevance of an event. Some research suggests that self-relevance will increase hindsight (a) as individuals are motivated to restore a sense of predictability and (b) as self-relevant outcomes elicit sense making, which in turn leads to hindsight. Other research suggests that self-relevance will reduce hindsight, at least in the case of negative outcomes, (a) as individuals seek to avoid blame and (b) as the memories of the reaction to the self-relevant outcomes serve as a memory cue that inhibits hindsight bias. These contrasting predictions were tested by examining retrospections about the foreseeability of a job layoff. Responses were obtained from laid-off workers, from survivors of the layoffs, and from community members. Community members reported more foreseeability than survivors, who in turn reported more foreseeability than laid-off workers. The results held across several analyses, including a regression–discontinuity analysis of survivors and laid-off respondents. The self-relevance of an event such as a layoff seems to reduce hindsight.

Goodman, Paul S.; Leyden, Dennis Patrick

doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.76.4.578pmid: N/A

The effects of familiarity on group productivity were examined. Familiarity refers to the specific knowledge workers have of their jobs, co-workers, and work environment. In this study of coal-mining crews, absenteeism led to staffing changes that affected the level of familiarity in the work group. Data from 26 crews in two underground coal mines indicate that lower levels of familiarity are associated with lower productivity.

Lindsay, D. Stephen; Jack, Philip C.; Christian, Marcus A.

doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.76.4.587pmid: 1917773

The other-race effect (or own-race bias or cross-racial identification effect) refers to the finding that recognition memory tends to be better for faces of members of subjects’ own race than for faces of members of other races. The current study was designed to test the hypothesis that perceptual skills specific to identifying faces of particular racial groups contribute to this effect. On each of 50 trials, a photograph of a face was tachistoscopically presented for 120 ms, followed by a pattern mask and then a plain-view test pair composed of the previously presented face and a matched foil. As predicted, an other-race effect was obtained on this perceptual task: White subjects performed significantly more poorly on trials involving African American faces than on trials involving White faces, whereas no such difference was obtained among African American subjects.