Naughton proposed that workaholism may result from a combination of high job involvement with an obsessive-compulsive personality. This study was designed specifically to elaborate upon and to explore this proposal. Both obsessive-compulsive personality and workaholism, however, seem to be multidimensional rather than unidimensional variables, and their multidimensional nature needed clarification before the study could proceed. Obsessive-compulsive personality consisted of six distinct traits: obstinacy, orderliness, parsimony, perseverance, rigidity, and superego. Workaholism was operationalized as having two behavioral components: tendencies both to engage in non-required work activities, and to intrude actively on the work of others. This study predicted specifically that high job involvement coupled with high scores on the obstinacy, orderliness, rigidity, and superego traits would lead to high scores on tendencies to engage in non-required work. These four predictions received some support in data emerging from a sample of 278 employed persons, although support was strongest for the obstinacy and superego traits. These results add to understanding of the work attitude of job involvement given its associations with some obsessive-compulsive traits, suggest the relevance of obsessive-compulsive personality in non-clinical settings, and add to understanding of the phenomenon of workaholism as behavioral tendencies.Job involvement, obsessive-compulsive personality traits, and workaholic behavioral tendencies Job involvement refers to the degree to which individuals psychologically identify with their present job (Kanungo, 1982). For highly involved employees, their jobs seem inexorably connected with their very identities, interests, and life goals, and are crucially important. Individuals may become involved in their jobs in response to specific attributes of the work situation itself. Alternatively, some persons may possess a constellation of needs, values, or traits that predispose them to become involved in their jobs (Rabinowitz and Hall, 1977).The prevailing assumption in research seems to be that high job involvement is an inherently desirable attribute of employees. Indeed, highly job involved individuals seem also to be satisfied with their jobs, to be in characteristic positive moods at work, and to be highly committed to their employing organizations, their careers, and their professions (Carson et al., 1995;Cohen, 1995). Highly job involved persons rarely think about quitting their jobs and expect to be working for the same organization in the

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This study examines the influence of ethics instruction, religiosity, and intelligence on cheating behavior. A sample of 230 upper level, undergraduate business students had the opportunity to increase their chances of winning money in an experimental situation by falsely reporting their task performance. In general, the results indicate that students who attended worship services more frequently were less likely to cheat than those who attended worship services less frequently, but that students who had taken a course in business ethics were no less likely to cheat than students who had not taken such a course. However, the results do indicate that the extent to which taking a business ethics course influenced cheating behavior was moderated by the religiosity and intelligence of the individual student. In particular, while students who were highly religious were unlikely to cheat whether or not they had taken a business ethics course, students who were not highly religious demonstrated less cheating if they had taken a business ethics course. In addition, the extent of cheating among highly intelligent students was significantly reduced if such students had taken a course in business ethics. Likewise, individuals who were highly intelligent displayed significantly less cheating if they were also highly religious. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Although many organization researchers regard group cohesiveness as a key variable in their theorizing, the presumed importance of the cohesiveness construct has not always been accompanied by a corresponding emphasis on theoretical and empirical advances. This paper focuses primarily on the difficulties associated with the measurement of group cohesiveness, particularly as they pertain to the contentious relationship between group cohesiveness and productivity. Little is known for certain about this relationship in spite of four decades of investigation. One possible explanation for the inconclusive findings which characterize this literature is that no two studies reviewed here operationalized cohesiveness in exactly the same way. An emphasis on consistent and uniform measurement, and on the use of multiple measures of cohesiveness, should greatly improve the quality of future research.

The concept of equity sensitivity suggests profound differences in individual notions of fairness, and distinguishes between ‘benevolents’ (givers) and ‘entitleds’ (takers). This study extended existing research by exploring the connections between equity sensitivity and business ethics variables. It unfolded in three phases and utilized samples of employed North American respondents. Entitleds tended to respond in less conventionally ethical ways than benevolents; for example, by being more Machiavellian. A proposed model depicting the relationships among the variables provided a good fit to the data in the first of these samples, and some of the findings were replicated in the second sample. A portrait of benevolence began to emerge that contradicted earlier conceptualizations. Benevolents seemed to hold disparaging views of others who lack strong work ethics, and to regard ethically dubious behaviours in which the employing organization could benefit as relatively acceptable. In a third sample, benevolence was surprisingly associated with right‐wing authoritarianism. Implications for the conceptualization and etiology of benevolence were derived, and the assumption of homogeneity in concepts of what is fair and equitable was further challenged by the results.