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Whether to develop and/or conduct training can represent a significant decision for organizations due to associated financial, personnel, and time demands. Various stakeholders in that decision will want to know what to expect from such training, including its likely effectiveness. Informing such stakeholders of the magnitude of relevant previous results – from a single study or, better, from studies aggregated via a meta-analysis – can help their decisions to be as informed as possible. But explanations of the size of training effects as found in the literature are not always phrased in a way easy for an applied audience to understand. This brief article clarifies the ‘percent improvement due to training’ interpretation of d, and extends it to differing rates of pre-training success. This in turn suggests that customer involvement in estimating appropriate base-line success rates could make interpretations of the degree of training effectiveness more organizationally specific and hence more useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-work philosophy holds that work, in and of itself, tends to be harmful for most people. Some anti-work theorists even advocate for the abolition of paid employment altogether. We argue that, while endorsement of the radical ideology of anti-work is in no way necessary for I/O psychologists, considering the thinking behind these ideas can be beneficial. In fact, reviewing the tenets of anti-work may prompt some to a broad reconsideration of the nature and purpose of the I/O field and its role, nested as it is in potentially problematic power dynamics both within organizations and in broader society. In this article, after describing anti-work's core tenets, we outline a number of research directions and practical applications inspired by this perspective. While in some cases these may involve the creation of new theory, constructs, and interventions, they often simply entail the repurposing or refocusing of existing ones that are more attuned to the problematic nature of work. Possibilities for research include, but are not limited to, the examination of the prevalence and nature of "managerialism," how we might better understand the psychological character of organized labor and its outcomes, and how to encourage healthier manifestations of employee engagement. In terms of practice, we bring to the reader's attention how anti-work might inspire extensions or adjustments in how we recruit and onboard, train managers, improve job characteristics, measure performance and work with unions and other political advocates. Ultimately, consideration of anti-work's assertion of the inevitable authoritarian character of employment, combined with I/O psychology's emphases on objectivity and the translation of science into practice, can spark inquiry and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performed a meta-analysis of studies of the extent to which individuals can inflate their integrity test scores when coached or instructed to fake good. Results from 14 studies indicate that overt tests are more susceptible to both fake-good and coaching instructions than are personality-based measures. (SLD)

A total of 102 undergraduates rated overt test integrity items on the dimensions of invasion of privacy, ease of faking, and job relatedness. Items that required direct admission of counterproductive behaviors were identified as the most invasive but also the easiest to fake. Implications for test construction and future research are discussed. (SLD)

Metanalysis of 27 studies dealing with psychology students and the Graduate Record Examinations' (GRE) validity in predicting graduate school success was conducted. Overall, results do not indicate that the verbal and advanced psychology portions are valid predictors of grades, although the quantitative section predicts grades in quantitative courses.(SLD)

The internal consistency of a scale and various indices of rating scale response styles (such as halo, leniency, and positive or negative response bias) are related to mean scale item intercorrelation. The consequent relationship between internal consistency and rating scale response styles is discussed. (Author/SLD)

A method is proposed to combine a relative approach and an absolute approach to performance appraisal by combining graphic rating and ranking. Two studies involving 196 college undergraduates who rated their instructors illustrate the promise offered by the proposed Qualitative Ranking Scale. (SLD)

An augmented framework for training criteria based on Kirkpatrick's (1959a, 1959b, 1960a, 1960b) model divides training reactions into affective and utility reactions, and learning into post-training measures of learning, retention, and behavior/skill demonstration. A total of 34 studies yielding 115 correlations were analyzed meta-analytically. Results included substantial reliabilities across training criteria and reasonable convergence among subdivisions of criteria within a larger level. Utility-type reaction measures were more strongly related to learning or on-the-job performance (transfer) than affective-type reaction measures. Moreover, utility-type reaction measures were stronger correlates of transfer than were measures of immediate or retained learning. These latter findings support recent concurrent thinking regarding use of reactions in training (e.g., Warr & Bunce , 1995). Implications for choosing and developing training criteria are discussed. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

The authors clarified the relationship between 2 concepts that have been confused, and often used interchangeably, in the literature. Job involvement was defined as the degree to which one is cognitively preoccupied with, engaged in, and concerned with one's present job. Work centrality was defined as the degree of importance that work, in general, plays in one's life. Questionnaire measures consistent with these definitions were constructed and tested. Data were collected from 313 human services employees. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that, consistent with the authors' hypothesis, job involvement and work centrality appear to be 2 distinct constructs. There was also evidence to confirm the hypothesis that there are 2 distinct components of job involvement: job involvement-role and job involvement-setting. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

In this article, the advantages and drawbacks of using Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM), especially signal-contingent ESM, to study psychological variables in the workplace are described. It is argued that ESM can be a valuable tool in the field study of work, with the potential to answer different research questions than can be answered by traditional cross-sectional research. To illustrate ESM, an application of signal-contingent ESM to the examination of mood and concurrent task perceptions at work is presented. Study results indicate that both perceived goal progress and skill on task influence task enjoyment and mood. Also described and illustrated is an adaptation of pooled time-series hierarchical regression for analyzing immediate, short-term retrospective (end-of-day), and individual difference variables in a single framework. In conjunction, ESM data collection and hierarchical regression analysis provide a useful approach for studies that examine immediate work experiences., In this article, the advantages and drawbacks of using Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM), especially signal-contingent ESM, to study psychological variables in the workplace are described. It is argued that ESM can be a valuable tool in the field study of work, with the potential to answer different research questions that can be answered by traditional cross-sectional research. To illustrate ESM, an application of signal-contingent ESM to the examination of mood and concurrent task perceptions at work is presented. Study results indicate that both perceived goal progress and skill on task influence task enjoyment and mood. Also described and illustrated is an adaptation of pooled time-series hierarchical regression for analyzing immediate, short-term retrospective (end-of-day), and individual difference variables in a single framework. In conjuction, ESM data collection and hierarchical regression analysis provide a useful approach for studies that examine immediate work experiences. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Making a decision or final determination on one of several applicants for a job typically requires the consideration of several dimensions on which the applicant has been judged. For example, [...]

The effects of multiple role juggling (i.e., simultaneously attending to demands of different roles) on daily mood states of employed mothers were examined. Subjects completed activity and mood questionnaires 8 times a day for 8 days. Multiple role juggling had immediate negative effects on task enjoyment and mood. However, contrast effects and habituation to role juggling occurred when mood and satisfaction were examined over time. Furthermore, mood states tended to spill over from one episode to the next within a day, but contrast effects were found across days. These results reflect the complex nature of psychological adjustment to multiple role occupancy. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)