It has been hypothesized that the positive relation between stress and strain responses is stronger for individuals who have low levels of social support than for those who have high levels of support. This hypothesis that social support buffers (moderates) the negative effects of stress has been tested extensively in a variety of setting with highly conflicting results. Some theorists have recently proposed that the moderating effect of social support is itself buffered by other variables such as sex or social class. The present study was designed to examine the role of social support in the experience of work stress with a sample large enough to provide statistically powerful tests of models of social support that specify two-way and three-way interactions. No support for higher order interactive models was found. In addition, no evidence emerged demonstrating any buffering effect for social support. Arguments are advanced for a parsimonious model in which social support has a modest direct effect of lowering experienced strain. This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (1-R01-MH34408), Daniel C. Ganster, Principal Investigator. We would like to thank Mary Barton and Pamela Perrewe for their assistance in data collection and coding. We would also like to acknowledge the helpful comments of Robert Guion and two anonymous reviewers.
The authors undertook a comprehensive examination of the construct validity of an assessment center in this study by (a) gathering many different types of evidence to evaluate the strength of the inference between predictor measures and constructs (e.g., reliability, accuracy, convergent and discriminant relationships), (b) introducing a theoretically relevant intervention (frame-of-reference [FOR] training) aimed at improving construct validity, and (c) examining the effect of this intervention on criterion-related validity (something heretofore unexamined in the assessment center literature). Results from 58 assessees and 122 assessors suggested that FOR training was effective at improving the reliability, accuracy, convergent and discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity of assessment center ratings. Findings are discussed in terms of implications and future directions for both FOR training and assessment center practice.
Managers' perceptions of political activity associated with different situations, functional areas, and hierarchical levels were studied in 30 organizations. Politics was perceived to be related to power, uncertainty, and importance of the issue to the organization and to the individual. Perceived negative andpositive instrumentalities of politics werefoundfor individuals and organizations.
This study empirically examined implicit sources of bias in employment interview judgments and decisions. We examined two ethnic cues, accent and name, as sources of bias that may trigger prejudicial attitudes and decisions. As predicted, there was an interaction between the applicant name and accent that affected participants' favorable judgments of applicant characteristics. The applicant with the ethnic name, speaking with an accent, was viewed less positively by interviewers than the ethnic named applicant without an accent and non-ethnic named applicants with and without an accent. Furthermore, modern ethnicity bias had a negative association with the favorable judgments of the applicants, which, in turn, affected hiring decisions. Implications of the results, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed.
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