Research update

Okay, past time for another research update, so let's catch up!

Let's start with the Journal of Applied Social Psychology (Dec-Feb):

- Cultural intelligence plays a key role in multicultural teams

- Theory of Planned Behavior can be used to explain intent to submit video resumes

- More on weight-based discrimination, including additional evidence that this occurs more among women (free right now!)

- Does the physical attractiveness bias hold in same-sex evaluative situations?  Not so much, although it may depend on someone's social comparison orientation

- "Dark side" traits play a role in predicting career preference

- Evidence that efficacy beliefs play a significant role not only in individual performance, but in team performance


Next up, the January issue of JAP:

- The concept of differential validity among ethnic groups in cognitive ability testing has been much debated, and this study adds to the discussion by suggesting that the effects are largely artifactual due to range restriction.

- Or are they?  This study on the same topic found that range restriction could not account for observed differential validity findings.  So the debate continues...

- A suggestion for how to increase the salience of dimension ratings in assessment centers

- Ambition and emotional stability appear related to adaptive performance, particularly for managers


Spring Personnel Psych (free right now!)

- First, a fascinating study of P-E fit across various cultures.  Turns out relational fit may be more important in collectivistic and high power distance cultures (e.g., East Asia), whereas rational fit may be more important in individualistic and lower power distance cultures (e.g., the U.S.).

- Next, a study of recruitment messaging for job involving international travel.

- Last but definitely not least, a narrative and quantitative extensive review of the structured interview


Not quite done: One from Psychological Science on statistical power in testing mediation, and just in case you needed more evidence, the Nov/Dec issue of HRM has several research articles supporting the importance of line manager behavior and HRM practices on things like employee engagement.

The Spring issue of IJSA should be out soon, so see ya soon!

Another (smaller) research update

Seems like this always happens, I post a research update and then Personnel Psychology comes out with their latest issue.

Oh well!  At least you won't have to read as much this time  And while we're at it, let's take a look at the latest Journal of Applied Social Psychology.  But first, Personnel Psych:

- The relationship between task performance and citizenship behavior: more complicated than you might think

- Propensity scoring: a statistical technique that may improve our ability to make causal inferences from quasi-experimental designs

- Can creative employees drive higher organizational performance?  Well that seems to depend on how open to risk your organization is...

- It's easier said than done, but those looking for a job should try to stay positive: it influences how quickly you're likely to land your next position

- Last but not least, a small correction to a study posted earlier on the advantage of contextualizing personality inventory items


Okay, on to June 2013 JASP, which is a special issue on prejudice:

-Trying to reduce bias in your selection process? Make sure your raters get enough sleep.

- Discrimination against people based on their weight: it starts early!  (there's another study on weight discrimination that looked at its impact on perceived social status)

- Discrimination against men perceived to be Muslim increased among Western observers when subjects were presented in traditional dress.

- Those of Black/White biracial descent were less likely to be perceived as minorities and thus less appropriate receipts of affirmative action

- Okay, I like this one in particular, and it happens to be the last one I'll describe.  Researchers showed that competency perceptions of an African-American man hired varied depending on whether it was under "affirmative action" or a "diversity initiative"--the latter resulting in higher ratings.  This was particularly true for conservative, White raters.  Just goes to show how important words are, as any political consultant will tell you.

Fin.

Research update addendum

Okay, I know I just did a research update but but I had a couple stragglers, including a pretty important one, namely the Spring 2013 Personnel Psychology, which is free right now!

-  First, an important piece by Bobko and Roth updating d values for Black-White differences on selection measures.  Their updated analysis indicates measures such as biodata and assessment centers may have d values as large as paper-and-pencil tests of cognitive ability.  Personality measures still benefit from small differences.  They include a helpful table that breaks down the values by construct, and they also include a list of factors that can impact d, such as job complexity and range restriction.

- Second, a fascinating study of aberrant personality tendencies and their impact on career outcomes conceptualized using the Five-Factor Model and measured using the NEO PI-R.  More evidence that "dark side" personality traits are an important consideration in predicting career trajectories.


The other that just came out is the February 2013 Journal of Applied Social Psychology:

- First, a look at moderators of the relationship between employee weight and job-related outcomes.

- Second, a study that I think has implications for selection: looking at circumstances under which competitors copy their opponents choices.  I've observed over and over again that when an employee gets a competing offer, suddenly their attractiveness increases.  Perhaps not the same phenomenon, but worth exploring.

-  Next, another study of discrimination, this time age discrimination in within- and between-career job changes.  Results indicated discrimination against older workers was particularly pronounced when older applicants were making between- rather than within-career changes.

- Okay, I'm sensing a theme to this post.  In this study, the authors looked at how the wording of occupational descriptions activates gender stereotypes.

- Finally, something not about discrimination: the authors of this (small N) study found that a perceived aspect of emotional intelligence predicted perceived negotiation success beyond traditional personality traits.

And on that note...until next time!