Individual Differences and Construct System Content in Descriptions of Liked and Disliked Co-Workers

Structure of interpersonal construct systems: One system or many?

“…According to this view, construct systems are collections of interpretive structures with separate assessment functions and not coherently organized cognitive systems generalized across different domains. In support of the separate-domains position, B. D. Sypher and Zorn (1988) found that organizational members used different constructs to construe liked co-workers than they used to perceive disliked co-workers. B. J.…”

“…Some social cognition scholars have suggested that the interpersonal domain may be divided into subdomains that are functionally specific (Markus, 1977;Neimeyer & Zaken-Greenberg, 1988;B. J. O'Keefe, 1984;Scott, 1969;Soldz, 1989;B. D. Sypher & Zorn, 1988).…”

Business owner-managers' descriptions of entrepreneurship: A content analysis

“…Crockett (1965) observed a 4-month test-retest reliability of .95 for written observations, and O'Keefe and Sypher (1981) obtained a 4-week test-retest reliability of .84. Interrater reliabilities for coding constructs and for establishing construct categories from written responses often have been greater than 3 0 (e.g., B. D. Sypher & Zorn, 1988;H. E. Sypher, Witt, & Sypher, 1986).…”

“…A single construct consists of two contrasting or opposite characteristics, and it is this contrast that gives the construct its full definition. For example, Kelly (1955) used constructs made up of bipolar characteristics to describe self-concept, and B. D. Sypher and Zorn (1988) used descriptions of liked and disliked co-workers to examine upward mobility in an organization. Thus issues are clarified through a dialectic.…”

“…Types of assessments from written observations have been to tabulate the number of distinct constructs that subjects use and subsequently to sort these constructs into categories (O'Keefe & Sypher, 1981). B. D. Sypher and Zorn (1988) examined the constructs people used to evaluate liked and disliked co-workers and identified 28 specific construct categories. The greatest percentages of constructs for both liked and disliked co-workers were about communication issues.…”