Emotion in organizations: A neglected topic in I/O psychology, But with a bright future

In this chapter we present a review of some of the main threads of research on the role played by emotion and affect in organizations. In this respect, we refute the notion that organizations are totally rational., where the role of emotion is something that can be discounted or 'managed' out of existence.

Perceptions of a media campaign: The role of social identity and the changing intergroup context

This study examined the effects of political identity and the changing intergroup context on communication perceptions during an election campaign. Perceptions of media bias and of campaign impact on self and others were assessed before and after the election. The responses of politically aligned voters reflected their membership in a dominant or subordinate group preelection and in a losing or winning group postelection. Dominant group members were initially less biased in their views of the campaign and its impact but sought to blame their party's loss on media bias and on the gullibility of political out-group members and voters in general. Subordinate group members initially showed strong in-group-serving biases but were less critical of the media and the electorate after their party had won. Results highlight the dynamic, intergroup, nature of media perceptions.

Effects of coping strategies, social support and work-nonwork conflict on shift worker's health

Objectives This study examines the direct and mediated effects of shift workers' coping strategies and social support on structural work-nonwork conflict and subjective health. Methods The participants were 172 registered female nurses, aged 21 to 40 years. They all worked full-time, on rapidly rotating, 8-hour shifts in metropolitan general hospitals. All the respondents completed a self-administered questionnaire requesting demographic information and data on sources of social support, work-nonwork conflict, and coping strategies. Results A path model with good fit (chi(2)=28.88, df=23, P>.23, CFI=0.97) demonstrated complex effects of social support and coping on structural work-nonwork conflict and health. Conclusions Structural work-nonwork conflict mediated the effects of social support from supervisors and emotionally expressive coping on psychological symptoms. Control of shifts mediated the effect of social support from supervisors on structural work-nonwork conflict. Disengagement coping had direct and mediated effects on psychological and physical health. However, it also had mediated effects, with the effect on psychological health being mediated by support from co-workers and the effect on physical symptoms being mediated by family support. Go-worker support mediated the effect of social support from supervisors on psychological symptoms. Overall, these findings support previous research and clarify the process by which coping strategies and social support affect structural work-nonwork conflict and health in shift work.

Adolescent reputation enhancement: Differentiating delinquent, nondelinquent, and at-risk youths

This research reports the findings of two studies conducted to measure and then investigate differences between delinquent, nondelinquent, and at-risk youths' orientations towards reputation enhancement. In the first study, concerning item selection and scale development, the factor structure and content validity of a potential Reputation Enhancement Scale were tested by examining the item responses of the scale completed by 230 high-school students. In the second study, the scale was validated by comparing the item responses of 80 delinquent, 90 at-risk, and 90 nondelinquent adolescents with the responses of the original students. The instrument was found to be reliable (alphas from .64 to .92), indicating that the factors are dependable across different samples, and the coefficients of congruence were sufficiently high to investigate meaningful group differences. Three second-order factors (Conforming Reputation, Nonconforming Reputation, Self-presentation) were derived from the 15 first-order factors. Although multivariate analyses revealed significant differences between the reputational orientations of delinquent, at-risk, and nondelinquent participants, the self-presentation second-order factor did not differentiate the three groups.

Social identity and perceptions of media persuasion: Are we always less influenced than others?

People typically perceive negative media content (e.g., violence) to have more impact on others than on themselves (a third-person effect). To examine the perceived effects of positive content (e.g., public-service advertisements) and the moderating role of social identities, we examined students' perceptions of the impact of AIDS advertisements on self, students (in- group), nonstudents (out-group), and people in general. Perceived self-other differences varied with the salience of student identity. Low identifiers displayed the typical third-person effect, whereas high identifiers were more willing to acknowledge impact on themselves and the student in-group. Further, when influence was normatively accept able within the in-group, high identifiers perceived self and students (us) as more influenced than nonstudents (them). The theoretical and practical implications of this reversal in third-person perceptions are discussed.

Social identity and self-categorization processes in organizational contexts

Although aspects of social identity theory are familiar to organizational psychologists, its elaboration, through self-categorization theory, of how social categorization and prototype-based depersonalization actually produce social identity effects is less well known. We describe these processes, relate self-categorization theory to social identity theory, describe new theoretical developments in detail, and show how these developments can address a: range of organizational phenomena. We discuss cohesion and deviance, leadership, subgroup and sociodemographic structure, and mergers and acquisitions.

Malevolence, stigma, and social distance: Maximizing intergroup differences in HIV/AIDS discourse

This study examined the intergroup language used by young heterosexual Australians in conversations about HIV/AIDS and safe sex. Sixty male and 72 female heterosexuals participated in four-person facilitated conversations (same-sex or mixed-sex) about HIV/AIDS and safe sex, which were recorded and transcribed. We focused on extracts concerning strangers or malevolent individuals who appear to be group members, along with extracts involving foreign national groups. Discourse analysis showed that groups at lower levels of social distance were constructed mainly in terms of individual responsibility. At moderate social distance, stereotypes were more negative, but sub-typing was common, whereas at the highest levels, people were constructed entirely in intergroup terms. The findings of this study suggest that HN prevention programs should make reference to all salient outgroups, so as to neutralize communicative strategies that strengthen intergroup boundaries as a means of reducing perceived personal threat of HIV infection.

Self-awareness and psychosocial functioning following acquired brain injury: An evaluation of a group support programme

This study investigated a group support programme designed to improve self-awareness deficits and psychosocial functioning in a group of chronic patients (N = 21) with acquired brain injury (ABI). The participants were on average 8.6 years (range: 1-36 years) post-injury and were seen at the Brain Injury Association of Queensland, Australia. The assessment of participants involved two standardised measures of intellectual self-awareness with collateral reports from relatives. The present study introduced a new measure called the Self-Regulation Skills Interview (SRSI) which assessed higher levels of self awareness and self-regulation skills. Psychosocial functioning was assessed using a standardised self-report measure. At baseline the group had a relatively high level of intellectual self-awareness regarding their deficits, a low to moderate level of self-regulation skills, and significant psychosocial impairment. The participants were involved in a 16-week group programme which involved components of cognitive rehabilitation, cognitive-behavioural therapy, and social skills training. A post-intervention assessment indicated that participants had significantly improved levels of self-regulation skills and psychosocial functioning. A 6-month follow-up assessment indicated that overall, participants had maintained the gains made during the programme. The important role of self-regulation skills is emphasised as the principle factor contributing to the maintenance of the gains observed.

The moderating role of social support in Karasek's job strain model

This paper examines whether social support is a boundary-determining criterion in the job strain model of Karasek (1979). The particular focus is the extent to which different sources of social support, work overload and task control influence job satisfaction, depersonalization and supervisor assessments of work performance. Hypotheses are tested using prospective survey data from 80 clerical staff in a university setting. Results revealed 3-way interactions among levels of support (supervisor, co-worker, non-work), perceived task control and work overload on levels of work performance and employee adjustment (self-report). After controlling for levels of negative affect in all analyses, there was evidence that high levels of supervisor support mitigated against the negative effects of high strain jobs on levels of job satisfaction and reduced reported levels of depersonalization. Moreover, high levels of non-work support and co-worker support also mitigated against the negative effects of high strain jobs on levels of work performance. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of social support networks both at, and beyond, the work context.