Journal of Applied Psychology

Eby, Lillian T.

doi: 10.1037/apl0001000pmid: 35084886

Sturman, Michael C.; Sturman, A. J.; Sturman, Caleb J.

doi: 10.1037/apl0000849pmid: 33661656

Researchers have increasingly warned about “p-hacking” and the improper use of control variables. This paper considers the risk that a “researcher’s degrees of freedom” with respect to the use of control variables has on the probability of Type I and Type II errors. We also examine the extent that control variables can make marginal effect sizes (i.e., nonzero effects but less than should be statistically significant) appear significant (which we refer to as Type III errors) and how much control variable use can increase effect sizes. We report the results of two computer simulations that include up to 10 control variables. We find that the inappropriate use of control variables is not really a risk for Type I errors, given that the chance of there being truly a null effect in a typical multivariate analysis is very low. We also show that the use of control variables does not have a large effect on Type II errors, and that the practice of running analyses both with and without control variables will most often yield the same conclusion in both analyses. That said, we did find that p-hacking substantially increases the probability of inappropriately being able to detect statistical significance and can notably increase effect sizes. The practice of running analyses both with and without control variables can indeed reveal the potential for p-hacking, and discrepant results between bivariate and multivariate analyses suggest that authors need to carefully and clearly explain why the noted differences are theoretically and logically appropriate.

Cho, Seonghee; Kim, Sooyeol

doi: 10.1037/apl0000890pmid: 33764080

With abundant health-related information, the modern workforce is advised to engage in health-promoting behaviors such as good sleep, physical activities, and a healthy diet to stay productive at work. However, no study has provided a theoretical framework or empirical evidence on the association between employees’ unhealthy eating behavior and the quality of their performance. Drawing from the stress and coping literature, the current study proposes a moderated mediation model to investigate the day-specific roles of (un)healthy lifestyle in regard to personal well-being and performance at work. We used daily diary data collected from 97 full-time employees and employed an experience sampling method (ESM) to examine this within-person phenomenon for 2 weeks. Our multilevel path analysis reveals that employees’ unhealthy eating behavior in the evening led to emotional strain (e.g., guilt) as well as physical strain (e.g., stomachache, diarrhea) on the next morning; the emotional and physical strains experienced in the morning served as key mediators resulting in decreased quality of performance (i.e., less helping and more withdrawal behaviors) in the afternoon. Furthermore, emotional stability was found to moderate the relationship between unhealthy eating behavior and morning strains, such that employees with higher emotional stability tended to experience less negative emotions and fewer physical symptoms. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed, along with suggestions for future studies on health-related behaviors.

Li, Hairong; Fan, Jinyan; Zhao, Guoxiang; Wang, Minghui; Zheng, Lu; Meng, Hui; Weng, Qingxiong (Derek); Liu, Yanping; Lievens, Filip

doi: 10.1037/apl0000885pmid: 33630620

This study focuses on the role of emotions in personnel selection and faking research. In particular, we posit that emotions are likely to be activated when applicants receive warning messages from organizations. Drawing on Nabi (Nabi, Communication Theory, 9, 1999, 292) cognitive-functional model of discrete negative emotions, we propose and empirically test the effects of three discrete negative emotions (guilt, fear, and anger) triggered by a warning message during a personality test on personality score accuracy and perceived test fairness. Participants in this within-subjects field experiment were 1,447 applicants for graduate school at a large public university in China. They completed two parallel forms of a personality test: one within a selection context, and another within a developmental context 6 months later as a baseline measure. In the selection context, a warning (or a control) message was randomly assigned to participants during the personality test. Emotions and perceived test fairness were measured after the test was completed. Results indicated that guilt, fear, and anger each played a unique role. Guilt explained how mid-test warnings improved personality score accuracy among fakers, whereas fear accounted for why nonfakers over-corrected their personality scores. Finally, anger explained why the mid-test warnings reduced perceived test fairness for both fakers and nonfakers. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Kim, Sooyeol; Cho, Seonghee; Park, YoungAh

doi: 10.1037/apl0000891pmid: 33646798

Grounded in self-regulatory resources and conservation of resources theories, the current research examines poor self-regulatory capacity as a precursor to microbreaks and their possible outcomes at work. Full-time employees completed multiple online surveys for 10 (n1 = 779 daily observations) and 5 workdays (n2 = 1,024 daily observations). In Study 1, multilevel path analysis results showed that on days when employees had poorer recovery at home (i.e., poor sleep quality), they experienced higher fatigue in the next morning (low self-regulatory capacity) and thus took microbreaks more frequently at work. In turn, their engagement in microbreaks was related to higher work engagement during the day and lower end-of-work fatigue. Furthermore, perceived health climate was found to moderate the path from morning fatigue to microbreaks. In Study 2, we replicated and confirmed the serial mediation paths found in Study 1 (poor sleep quality → morning fatigue → microbreaks → work engagement and end-of-work fatigue). Building on Study 1, Study 2 also identified microbreak autonomy as a mechanism by which perceived health climate moderates the path between morning fatigue and microbreaks (i.e., mediated moderation effect). Exploratory analyses discovered intriguing patterns of socialization microbreaks versus other microbreaks, providing further implications for the theoretical perspective. Overall, the findings support the theoretical resource perspective of microbreaks as an effective energy management strategy while at work.

Curhan, Jared R.; Overbeck, Jennifer R.; Cho, Yeri; Zhang, Teng; Yang, Yu

doi: 10.1037/apl0000877pmid: 33764081

We examine the previously unstudied effects of silent pauses in bilateral negotiations. Two theoretical perspectives are tested—(a) an internal reflection perspective, whereby silence leads to a deliberative mindset, which, in turn, prompts value creation, and (b) a social perception perspective, whereby silence leads to intimidation and value claiming. Study 1 reveals a direct correlation between naturally occurring silent pauses lasting at least 3 s (extended silence) and value creation behaviors and outcomes. Study 2 shows that instructing one or both parties to use extended silence leads to value creation. Additional studies establish a mechanism for this effect, whereby negotiators who use extended silence show evidence of greater deliberative mindset (Study 3) and a reduction in fixed-pie perceptions (Study 4), both of which are associated with value creation. Taken together, our findings are consistent with the internal reflection perspective, whereby extended silence increases value creation by interrupting default, fixed-pie thinking, and fostering a more deliberative mindset. Findings of Study 3 also suggest a boundary condition whereby when status differences are salient, the use of silence by higher status parties leads to value creation, whereas the use of silence by lower status parties does not. Finally, Study 4 shows that instructing negotiators to use silence is more effective for value creation than instructing them to problem-solve. Challenging the social perception perspective that silence is a form of intimidation, we find no evidence for any associations between extended silence and the proportion of value claimed or subjective value of the counterpart.

Kim, Ji Koung; LePine, Jeffery A.; Zhang, Zhen; Baer, Michael D.

doi: 10.1037/apl0000852pmid: 33705160

Research indicates that whereas ingratiation directed toward one’s supervisor enhances employee–supervisor social exchange quality, it diminishes social exchange quality with those who observe this behavior, such as team members. However, because researchers have largely overlooked the role of social context in shaping supervisors’ and teammates’ reactions to ingratiatory employees, current understanding of how ingratiation plays out in complex organizational settings may be incomplete, and perhaps misleading. In this study, we augment a social context perspective with social exchange theory to propose that comparative levels of ingratiation, determined by the focal employee’s ingratiation in the context of other team members’ ingratiation, shape social exchange quality with supervisors and teammates. The results from a multi-wave multi-source field study of 222 employees and their supervisors from 64 teams show that higher levels of ingratiation relative to other team members increases the employee’s social exchange quality with the supervisor, whereas congruence between the employee’s and other team members’ ingratiation enhances social exchange quality with team members. We also find that relative ingratiation and ingratiation congruence increase citizenship received from supervisors and team members, respectively, via social exchange quality with the corresponding actor(s). Overall, our research contributes to a more complete understanding of ingratiation, especially in regard to how reactions to this behavior are largely a function of the social context in which it occurs.

Van Zant, Alex B.

doi: 10.1037/apl0000879pmid: 33617278

Unlike judgments made in private, advice contexts invoke strategic social concerns that might increase overconfidence in advice. Many scholars have assumed that overconfident advice emerges as an adaptive response to advice seekers’ preference for confident advice and failure to punish overconfidence. However, another possibility is that advisors robustly display overconfidence as a self-promotion tactic—even when it is punished by others. Across four experiments and a survey of advice professionals, the current research finds support for this account. First, it shows that advisors express more overconfidence than private decision-makers. This pattern held even after advice recipients punished advisors for their overconfidence. Second, it identifies the underlying motivations of advisors’ overconfidence. Advisors’ overconfidence was not driven by self-deception or a sincere desire to be helpful. Instead, it reflected strategic self-promotion. Relative to the overconfidence revealed by their private beliefs, advisors purposely increased their overconfidence while broadcasting judgments when (a) it was salient that others would assess their competence and (b) looking competent served their self-interest.

Burrows, Dominique N.; Porter, Christopher O. L. H.; Amber, Brittney

doi: 10.1037/apl0000881pmid: 33617279

Job embeddedness is the net of influences in both work (on-the-job) and nonwork (off-the-job) domains that discourage employees from leaving their jobs. In this article, we argue that the entrenchment and increased investment associated with job embeddedness run parallel to the concept of role involvement from the work–family conflict literature. Drawing on this similarity, we extend theory and research regarding work–family conflict to develop and test predictions about the moderating role of off-the-job embeddedness on the effects of on-the-job embeddedness on involuntary turnover. Specifically, we predicted that being highly embedded on-the-job can reduce the likelihood of being fired because it increases job performance, but that these benefits are only accrued when employees are not also highly embedded off-the-job. We tested our predictions using a sample of 908 government employees from whom we collected performance and turnover data over time. Consistent with our predictions, among employees who were highly embedded on-the-job, those who were less embedded off-the-job were less likely to be terminated than those who were more embedded off-the-job. However, job performance did not explain this effect. In addition to providing a rare examination of involuntary turnover, we contribute to the job embeddedness literature by demonstrating the importance of distinguishing between, and simultaneously examining, on- and off-the-job embeddedness and their unique, multiplicative effects. We also demonstrate the utility of the WFC literature in advancing theory and research on job embeddedness.

Motro, Daphna; Evans, Jonathan B.; Ellis, Aleksander P. J.; Benson, Lehman

doi: 10.1037/apl0000884pmid: 33793257

Across two studies (n = 555), we examine the detrimental effects of the “angry black woman” stereotype in the workplace. Drawing on parallel-constraint-satisfaction theory, we argue that observers will be particularly sensitive to expressions of anger by black women due to widely held stereotypes. In Study 1, we examine a three-way interaction among anger, race, and gender, and find that observers are more likely to make internal attributions for expressions of anger when an individual is a black woman, which then leads to worse performance evaluations and assessments of leadership capability. In Study 2, we focus solely on women and expand our initial model by examining stereotype activation as a mechanism linking the effects of anger and race on internal attributions. We replicated findings from Study 1 and found support for stereotype activation as an underlying mechanism. We believe our work contributes to research on race, gender, and leadership, and highlights an overlooked stereotype in the management literature. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.