Browsing by Author "Samuel B. Pond, Committee Member"

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Assessing Measurement Equivalence of the KEYS(R) Climate for Creativity Scale Across Managerial Levels.
(2007-06-24) Rosenberg, Daniel Curtis; Lori Foster Thompson, Committee Member; S. Bartholomew Craig, Committee Chair; Samuel B. Pond, Committee Member
Employee creativity has been receiving increasing attention from organizations that wish to differentiate themselves in today's competitive global marketplace (Cummings & Oldham, 1997). An important element that can serve to either enable or hinder employee creativity is employees' perceptions of how conducive their work environment is to being creative, or what has been termed the organization's climate for creativity (Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby, & Herron, 1996). Because organization members' perceptions of the work environment serve as the basis for the climate for creativity, perceptual differences can have important implications for organizations that are striving to enable employee creativity. Recent research by Kwaśniewska and Nęcka (2004) found that employee perceptions of climate for creativity, as measured by the Barriers for Creativity in the Workplace Questionnaire (BCWQ), were significantly affected by managerial status. However, the BCWQ was never confirmed to display measurement equivalence, and therefore the authors' findings may not be interpretable as the group differences could be the result of measurement artifacts (Horn & McArdle, 1992; Reise, Widaman, & Pugh, 1993; Vandenberg, 2002). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the climate for creativity, as measured by the KEYS®: Assessing the Climate for Creativity Scale (Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby, & Herron, 1996), displayed measurement equivalence across three distinct managerial levels including supervisors (N = 2,100), middle managers (N = 15,829), and executives (N = 2, 960). Both confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), and the differential functioning of items and tests (DFIT; Raju, van der Linden, & Fleer, 1995), which is based on item response theory (IRT), were used to assess measurement equivalence in this study. Using the eight factor structure proposed by Rosenberg and Craig (2006), both the CFA and IRT analyses found that the KEYS scale displayed measurement equivalence across all managerial levels. Specifically, the CFA analyses found that the full 78 item KEYS scale displayed configural, metric, and scalar equivalence across all comparison groups. Additionally, two DFIT indices were used to determine that there was no differential functioning found at either the item (NCDIF) or the test (DTF) level when using the full KEYS scale. Results are discussed in terms of implications for practitioners and researchers as well as directions for future research.
The Impact of Work Context on the Prediction of Job Performance
(2006-04-26) Poncheri, Reanna Maureen; Mark A. Wilson, Committee Chair; S. Bartholomew Craig, Committee Member; Samuel B. Pond, Committee Member
Although it is widely accepted that individual behavior is determined by person and situation characteristics, much research in the domain of job performance focuses more on person variables, while focusing less on the role of the work context. This study shows that elements of the work context (i.e., job/task characteristics, resources, and social relationships) explain variance in self ratings of task performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and counterproductive work behavior above and beyond what can be explained by two individual difference predictors (i.e., general cognitive ability and conscientiousness). This study highlights the importance of considering both individual differences and elements of the work context as determinants of job performance.
Managing Life and Work Demands: The Impact of Organizational Support on Work-family Conflict in Public and Private Sectors
(2007-04-08) Dolcos, Sanda Monica; Dennis M. Daley, Committee Chair; Elizabethann O?Sullivan, Committee Member; Samuel B. Pond, Committee Member; Steven Greene, Committee Member
Various workforce and societal changes have made the issue of work-family conflict relevant for employees and organizations alike. The increasing pressures for attracting and retaining talented employees have forced many public and private organizations to develop formal family friendly policies aimed at providing employees with resources to balance their work and family responsibilities. However, the effects of implementing such formal policies are not clearly established. These formal supports are often underutilized and, even when employees use them, they may not always have the intended consequences. It has been suggested that informal workplace characteristics, such as supervisor support and a supportive work-family culture, may be as important as, or even more important than, the simple provision of formal benefits. Prior research on family-friendly policies and cultures and their effects on employees' attitudes and behaviors is limited in that it has focused almost exclusively on the experiences of individuals employed in private sector organizations, with the effects on public sector employees being largely unknown. Thus, the aim of this dissertation was to address this gap by examining and comparing work-family relationships between employees working in the public and the private sectors of the economy. This study uses data from the Families and Work Institute's 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce, and employs institutional theory, ecological systems theory, role theory, and social exchange theory to investigate how formal support, informal support, and work characteristics may affect employees' work-family conflict, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. The main objectives of this study were centered on practical concerns, as our investigation seeks to impact public sector's ability to recruit, motivate, and retain qualified employees. On the whole, the findings of this study suggest both similarities and differences between public and private sector organizations with respect to the constructs measured. Contrary to our expectations and the institutional theory, there were no significant differences in the provision of formal supports between the two sectors. However, consistent with the institutional theory, the results confirmed that public sector employees enjoy higher levels of informal support and HR practices than their private sector counterparts. This study also supports the idea of social exchange between employees and their employers related to work-family issues. By revealing the key role played by the informal support in all three outcomes of interest for this study (i.e., work-family conflict, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions), our findings suggest the importance for organizations to assist their employees in maintaining good work and family relationships. Therefore, both public and private organizations seeking to help their employees manage work and family responsibilities will benefit from knowing employees' perceptions of formal support, informal support, and work characteristics, along with their specific impact on employees' work-family conflict, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions.