The present study was conducted to determine whether trainees’ general beliefs about training affect pretraining motivation and transfer of training in a large-scale training curriculum. In addition, the influence of social support for training from four organizational constituents (top management, supervisors, peers, and subordinates) and task constraints in the work environment on pretraining motivation and training transfer were evaluated. Nine hundred sixty-seven managers and supervisors completed a questionnaire that assessed 14 constructs. Structural equations analysis with LISREL VII indicated that the overall reputation of training, intrinsic and compliance incentives, organizational commitment, and three social support variables (subordinate, supervisor, and top management support) were predictive of pretraining motivation. In addition, pretraining motivation and subordinate, peer, and supervisor support were predictive of managers’ perceived training transfer. These findings suggests that previous theory and research (e.g., Noe, 1986; Noe & Schmitt, 1986) serve as a useful heuristic for predicting the effects of general beliefs about training on training effectiveness. Implications of the-findings for future research and practice are discussed.

SummaryWith the increasing use of work teams in U.S. industry, understanding team members' collectivistic orientation toward group goals and activities is critical for developing cooperative and productive teams. Using the research on expectancy theory, selfecacy, locus of control, and individualism±collectivism, collectivism is examined as both an individual dierence variable and a group composition variable. One hundred and forty-eight individuals (comprising 33 groups) working on a complex and interdependent task comprised the research sample. Results indicated that individual dierence variables of self-ecacy for teamwork, need for social approval, and positive past experience working in teams were related to self-report collectivism. Additionally, team collectivistic orientation was examined as a group composition variable and found to be related to cooperative team behaviors. In turn, these cooperative team behaviors acted as a mediator of the relationship between team collectivistic orientation and team performance. Results are discussed in terms of theory building and applied research.

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Using a sample of 982 leader-subordinate dyads drawn from nine different organizations in the Republic of China (i.e., Taiwan), self-ratings of performance were compared with supervisory ratings of subordinate performance. Results indicated that Chinese employees rated their job performance less favorably than did their supervisors (i.e., they exhibited a modesty bias). This modesty bias occurred relatively uniformly across gender, various educational levels, and age groups. These results are contrary to the typically reported U.S. finding that self-ratings of performance are more lenient than are supervisory ratings. A further comparison of the means of supervisory and self-ratings between this study and previous U.S. research revealed that the modesty bias appeared to be produced by the lower self-ratings made by Chinese workers as compared to their U.S. counterparts. The findings suggest that culture plays a critical role in shaping workers' perceptions of their own work performance. Results of this study are discussed in terms of their implications for future research and practice in international human resource management.

Affect, such as liking fora ratee, may adversely influence the accuracy of performance ratings. This investigation directly tested the possibility that liking may influence rating accuracy by operating as an integral dimension. Student raters evaluated vignettes of professors. Liking was manipulated with trait terms that engendered different liking levels but had little implication for professor performance. The significant effect on rating accuracy indicates that liking is an integral dimension, that is, a dimension difficult to separate from performance dimensions. The results support the potential importance of affect in appraisal and implications for appraisal and future research on affect are discussed.