This study integrates ability, goal setting, self-efficacy, and multiple personality traits into a common framework that explains and predicts individual performance. A mediatorial model was tested using LISREL 8. Ability, learning goal orientation, and locus of control were positively related to self-efficacy, whereas performance goal orientation was negatively related to self-efficacy on an academic task. Self-efficacy and need for achievement were positively related to goal level, which was positively related to performance in combination with ability and self-efficacy. In addition to showing that personality traits can influence the motivational process at various stages, the results highlight the unique contributions of self-efficacy and goal level to the motivational process after the effects of ability and other individual differences have been identified.

The purpose of this research was to develop and test a theory of decision-making performance for hierarchical teams with distributed expertise. This theory identifies 3 core team-level constructs (team informity, staff validity, and hierarchical sensitivity) and 3 constructs below the team level that are central to decision-making accuracy in hierarchical teams with distributed expertise. Two studies are presented to test the proposed theory. A total of 492 college students worked on a computerized command-and-control simulator. Results from these studies are discussed in light of the theory. Similarities and differences in results across the 2 studies are discussed, as are potential modifications of the theory considering the data. Finally, implications of the theory for applied team contexts are elaborated.Much of human behavior in organizations occurs in teams. This is particularly true at present, due in part to a shift in the 1980s and early 1990s from organizing work around individual jobs toward organizing around larger clusters of tasks assigned to teams (Ilgen, 1992). Given the ubiquity of groups or teams, it is not surprising that a great deal of research has been conducted on them. Although the amount of research activity has varied across

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Existing job search research has been criticized for ignoring the dynamic nature of search. This study examined three models of changes in search behavior over time: sequential, learned change, and emotional response. Data on search behaviors were collected from a sample of 186 college and vocational‐technical school graduates early in their search, at graduation, and again 3 months following graduation for individuals who remained unemployed. Job searchers decreased the intensity of their search, increased their use of informal sources, and reduced their emphasis on information related to the availability of jobs between early search and graduation. These changes were reversed following graduation. This pattern is most consistent with the sequential model, which suggests that individuals first search broadly to develop a pool of potential jobs, then examine jobs within that pool in detail, reopening the search only if the initial pool does not lead to an acceptable job offer.

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